Fangs of Fortune

Fangs of fortune: A Testament of grief , loyalty, sacrifice , forgiveness and soul-deep love

Fangs of Fortune isn’t just a drama; it’s a testament.
A testament to grief.
To loyalty.
To justice.
To love that doesn’t need grand gestures or loud words to feel real.

I rewatched this series for the second time, and it changed everything. The first time, I was captivated by the visuals, the beautiful costumes, the stunning cast, and the ethereal soundtrack. I was caught in the magic. But on the second watch… I truly listened. I cried. I reflected. I understood.

So many people say it’s too slow or filled with too much dialogue. But what they don’t see is this: the dialogue is the soul of this story. Every conversation, every silence,it's filled with meaning. This isn’t a story of flashy romance and easy battles. This is a story about sacrifice, redemption, identity, grief, forgiveness, love, and peace earned the hard way.

At the heart of it all is Zhu Yan, one of the most dignified and emotionally layered male leads I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t lash out or scream for justice; he endures. He is feared by the world but never lets that fear change who he is. That is strength in its rawest, most human form.

And then there’s his love for Wen Xiao, a love that’s not loud or typical. No kisses, no wedding, no dramatic confessions. Yet it was profound. Their connection was built through shared pain, mutual respect, and unspoken loyalty. She believed in him when the world turned its back and vice versa. He gave everything to protect her.
In the end… Zhu Yan dies, and Wen Xiao loses him. It’s her who is left behind. And it broke me.

But what absolutely crushed me was the arc of Zhuo Yichen (played powerfully by Tian Jiarui).
He began the story hating Zhu Yan, blaming him for the death of his father and brother. His anger was righteous, raw, and understandable. But when they were forced to fight side by side, through impossible odds, he started to see. And when he finally understood the man Zhu Yan truly was, it was a breakthrough.
Zhuo Yichen was left with that grief of killing his best friend. It’s one of the most powerful and heartbreaking emotional threads in the series. His transformation was one of my favourite parts of the entire story.

The acting in this drama is phenomenal.
Hou Minghao is unforgettable, reserved yet devastating. His OST “Yuanzhou’s Youth” is a masterpiece that echoes his entire character arc.
Chen Duling is elegant and emotionally grounded as Wen Xiao.
Tian Jiarui brought layers to Zhuo Yichen that made his development one of the most satisfying and painful arcs.
The rest of the cast, Cheng Xiao, Lin Ziye, and more, all brought depth to a world where no character felt one-dimensional.

The visuals are breathtaking, but never just for show.
The costumes, the cinematography, and the music were all crafted with care.
The OST is emotional and immersive, with standouts like “Fangs of Fortune” and “Dream’s Candlewick,” but it’s Hou Minghao’s song that gripped my heart and never let go.

I’ve watched nearly 150 Chinese dramas.
But I’ve never experienced something that hit me like this.
This isn’t just my favourite drama; it’s my favourite story.


This isn’t just a series you watch.
It’s one you feel.
One you carry with you.
This drama is a life lesson.

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Best Drama with all the beautiful Male Actors... But!!!! The FL is super useless --"

This is a very interesting drama about Human and Demon world. How the ML (A demon) and other characters (Demons and human) interact. The actors are ALL APPLES TO EYES trust me. ML SML are both so good. HOWEVER, 1 disappointing character is the FL. FL is utterly useless... I am sorry to say this bluntly but (spoiler coming) all she does throughout the drama is just: BEING WEAK and laying on the floor most of the time.

While her main job is SHE WAS BORN AS the GODDESS PROTECTOR of TWO REALMS. And as FL she should be Strong! At least she should know how to protect herself. Because she is the protector of two realms, but all she does through out the drama are basically:

1. given the power by her teacher (Previous Goddess who got killed), she didnt even realize that the 50% power has been inside her body all this time (8 years), and have been thinking the Goddess power is lost and caused the Demon realms starting to trembling and demons can have free access to human realms and caused lots of trouble.
2. Found the Goddess Power thanks to ML, and finally can use the 50% power (together with ML, cause another 50% lays in ML body), to restore the protection of Demon realms.
3. While both ML are fighting, all she does is laying on the floor. Cause she got the plague, while other characters still remain strong and fighting. All she does through that episode of ML fighting is laying on the floor. nothing else.
4. BUT!!!!! In the middle of restoring the protection, she got the flute (50% of Goddess power is in the form of Flute, and another 50% is in the form of bracelet) destroyed. The bracelet is fine, untouched. But the flute that is held by her, the FL, is just broken into two. LIKE WTF!!! She cant even protect the flute!!!
5. Since her flute is destroyed, she needs to make amend or fix the flute, after she fixes the flute, she and other characters SFL and team rush to awakening the good ML. On the way, they were blocked by the Bad Guys, while other characters (Pei and the Mountain DemonGod) fought their life to protect her and the flute she's holding, the bad guys so easily grabbed the flute from her hand, MARK MY NOTE: WITHOUT she even try to fight back. And the bad guy had the chance to input poison into the flute. Thus she's late going for awakening the good ML, so the bad ML had the chance to half destroyed the SML sword,
6. The flute is poisoned, thus she got the poisoned (stupidly). And finally, the ML had to sacrifice himself to save her (sucking all the poison from her body) and the rest of the people. ML died!!!
7. Even during the last fight, all characters are fighting till their last breath, even Pei who is pure HUMAN is fighting a semi zombie and won! She is just there to be easily strangled then laying on the floor being helpless.

Seriously, she is so useless, she should just die... In the near ending, there's an episode, where the Old Tree Goddess explains that She should not be saved (From poison). Because it's the Protector Goddess job to protect the realms, and when she dies, a new Goddess will be born and appointed next... I AM DYING HOPING that she would just die, and new born Goddess will be more useful. Since the FIRST ever GODDESS is powerful, even her teacher was also useful and powerful.

I mean, as FL and as GODDESS, please be more useful. ML and SML keeps on sacrificing and protecting her throughout the drama. WTF!!!!!! Even SFL (Pei) is more uselful and strong, and Pei is HUMAN!!!! Gosh.

But no... the script writer and the director decides that this useless Female Lead Character is better than the Male Character and keeps her alive, while killing the ML. This is the only part of the drama that utterly ruins it for me. I am so annoyed by her uselessness.

All she does throughout the drama is just laying on the floor... crying... being sick... only that.

sigh

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A Beautiful Mess

I'm not gonna lie, writing this review wasn't easy. I had to carefully organize my thoughts because I didn't know where to start. Fangs of Fortune is one of those dramas that either made me gasp because of how beautifully made it is or drove me nuts because of the all-over-the-place plot and contrived writing. It's highly divisive precisely because of that. It's either the fantastical world and its characters endear themselves to you or you hate everything about it with a vengeance. I am right smack in the middle, though. I can't hate it but I can't say I loved it either. I feel that if they had stuck with their bromance plot from the get-go and not added in romance, it would've been better. Or if they had changed it completely and just turned it into a romance drama, reducing the second male lead's importance in the plot by writing out the Ying Long and Bingyi subplot, this could've been better too. One thing is for sure, this drama will forever be engraved in my mind as one of the most stunningly filmed work that made giggle like a schoolgirl and obsess over the characters for days on end.

The story centers around a 34,000-year-old great demon named Zhu Yan (or Zhao Yuanzhou) and how his fate changes those of people closest to him. Like most xianxia and xuanhuan dramas, it's set in a world where demons and humans exist and racism is rampant. The demons are seen as inherently evil, while humans are supposed to be the so-called good guys. But nothing in this world is purely black and white and so both races are portrayed to be capable of doing both good and evil. The struggles and conflicts stem from such xenophobic thinking from both sides.

Zhu Yan was born as a vessel of malicious energy, meaning he absorbs all the excess malice that exists in the world to keep things balanced. But his gentle and kind nature makes him resent this. Even more so when he finds himself falling in love with humanity and the mortal world. This very fascination for mortals draws a wedge between him and his best friend, Li Lun, who has no love for mankind. Their falling out leads to a lot of strife and suffering for those around them.

The story itself is nothing new. As I've said, this has been done countless times before. But what makes this drama compelling for me was how particular dialogues were written and scenes were executed whenever the subject was about discrimination and racism. Oddly enough, my favorite parts of this drama is when characters sit down and just have meaningful conversations about life and such. And I'm such a sucker for the found-family trope that it really resonated with me. It blew my mind how provocative some of the dialogues are and how much depth the drama has when many of the scenes felt like they were hastily and lazily written and things were getting retconned left and right. Writing isn't this drama's strong suit, but there are some gems here and there. And I noticed that the ones that are written and executed well are those that involve the two male leads, Zhu Yan and Zhuo Yichen, and the anti-hero, Li Lun. Most of the major plot ploints involve the three of them. They even end up fighting in the final boss fight together. What does that tell you? If this were a true romantic story, it would've been the main couple fighting together.

Unfortunately, this was marketed as a romance with a female lead that is criminally underdeveloped and a subplot centering around her that is as mindboggling as her addition to this story. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Wen Xiao or the actress who portrays her. My issue is with her seemingly lack of value to the story unlike the other main characters. First of all, the concept behind the Baize goddess is already iffy to me. Why is there a need for a mortal woman to be given the powers of a goddess to regulate demons and monitor their comings and goings to the mortal world when the goddess herself could've done that? Being human herself, there is a possibility of racial discrimination with her favoring the mortals over demons even when it's the mortals that are at fault. The real goddess would've been a more just judge and a more powerful one to boot, someone who can actually deal with demons and not fall ill from a plague or die pointlessly after being accidentally hit by a sharp object. The function and powers of this mortal goddess are not clearly defined, and if I'm honest, I would say that they keep retconning things to fit the narrative they want to tell. How the next generation of Baize goddesses are chosen is unclear as well. Why was Wen Xiao chosen anyway? Yes, she has compassion for both demons and mortals, but then I'm pretty sure she's not the only one who feels that way, so why her?

And apart from her, all the major characters in this story, especially among the 6 members of the Demon Hunting Team, only her story doesn't quite connect with Zhu Yan's. Zhu Yan's fate directly or indirectly affects the fates of Zhuo Yichen, Pei Sijing, Bai Ju, and even Ying Lei. All of them reach this point in their lives because of Zhu Yan. Zhuo Yichen was only the second son and was not even meant to inherit the Cloud Light Sword but because Zhu Yan slaughters his family, he becomes the lord of the Bingyi clan and the most powerful wielder of that sword for generations. Pei Sijing loses her brother because of Zhu Yan's feud with Li Lun. Bai Ju loses his mother and vows to become an accomplished doctor because Zhu Yan causes a rift in the balance between the mortal world and the Wilderness. Ying Lei is afforded the chance to pursue his dreams of becoming a chef in the mortal world because his grandfather (and Zhu Yan's mentor) feels that it's important to give his grandson the choice that Zhu Yan never had. Even Li Lun becoming a full-blown villain and wreaking havoc is caused by his misunderstanding with Zhu Yan. Wen Xiao, on the other hand, is chosen to be the next goddess for reasons I still don't quite understand. Her fate is more tied with this drama's big bad. The quest to finding the Baize token, it being broken, her fixing it, and it poisoning her are nothing more than plot devices. You take those out and you would still be left with a solid plot that could've been better if they had focused more on Zhu Yan and his relationships.

I've said this before, this is a BL/bromance drama in disguise. This was never meant to be a romance. But for fear of the project getting shelved because of China's proverbial censorship axe, they felt the need to write in a female lead and pretend that there's actual romance. I don't mind slowburn romances, but when the drama ends without even a single kiss between the couple with their sweet moments few and far and between, that's not romance, at least not in terms of C-drama standards. The fans of the main CP can delude themselves all they want, but I firmly believe that Wen Xiao was not supposed to be part of this story at first and the romance is an add-on, like an extra side dish for good measure. Hence, the major events in this drama involve the male leads, and the last story arc and most important part of the series is all about them and their bond. Yes, it's unfair and I blame the writers for this. But let's be honest, there's no way in hell that this drama would've seen the light of day if they hadn't included a hetero romance side story with all the obvious BL elements they added into this. If you're familiar with BL/danmei, you'll see the tropes and signs. If not, then you'll probably just dismiss them as healthy male friendship. I'm pretty sure they cut some scenes down to minimize the “bromance” because I saw some behind-the-scenes photos of the male cast acting out scenes that aren't included in the finished product. If they had just done a purely romance drama, they wouldn't have this problem either. But they can't seem to decide which direction to pursue and so what we got is a beautiful mess of a drama that had the potential to be truly amazing and unforgettable.

Nothing beats this drama in terms of visuals, though. From the first episode, I was absolutely taken by how the sets, costumes, and cinematography looked. The opening fight sequence was so stylistically done that it made me want to watch more. Guo Jingming may be a lot of things, probably a real piece of work in real life, but damn, he knows how to make a stunningly crafted scene from the meticulously curated backdrop to every movement of the actors. I have never seen such a visual feast in a C-drama quite like this! I appreciate how this drama tries to be different and I seriously want to see more dramas like this. Sadly, I don't think this style of filming appeals much to Chinese viewers. I think it would've been better received by international audiences.

The cast, for lack of a better word, is great. I have no complaints about the actors. They did what they could with the material that they were given, and some even went over and beyond. I never expected to become so attached to this ragtag crew of demon hunters, but I did. I sorely miss them, especially the comedic moments in the earlier episodes.

Music-wise, this drama boasts of some of the most memorable songs in a C-drama to date, at least for me. I find the choice of songs very refreshing. I don't hear this kind of music in many C-dramas. My only complaint is the music plays a little too loudly during dialogue-heavy scenes. Whoever edited the sound must've been deaf. Like dude, we can't hear them talk! Turn it down a notch, will you?! It must've driven Mandarin-speakers crazy.

The overall production value of this drama is top notch. I think they used a led screen for the backgrounds which actually looks better on screen and most likely helped a lot with the acting too. The visual effects are some of the best I've seen in a C-drama. The costumes and makeup are so on point as well. None of it looks cheap. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was an S+ level drama.

As a whole, this is an entertaining drama that wowed me with its stunning visuals, elicited emotions I never thought I'd feel watching an idol drama such as this, and left me wondering why I became so emotionally attached to characters that don't exist despite the flaws in the writing. That's why I'm giving it an 8 and that's a generous rating coming from me.

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Worth to watch. The best cinematography and CGs.

I have been waiting for this drama since its trailer is released. The actings are superb especially Neo, ML. He is so different in here as he always acted bubbly characters. So it’s refreshing to see his another side. All actors and actresses have chemistry. No one is left out.
As the story wise, FL is so weak (who doesn’t possess power if she doesn’t have tool) except her goddess identity, I don’t think she deserves FL position. She has her good points tho. She is calm, rational, doesn’t always stay on the side of humans, empathize on some good demons, not blinded by emotions and knows how to handle love and hate. Maybe that’s why she became FL. Love the actress tho. It’s Chen Duling’s acting skill that FL is not hated and too annoying to watch.
The best point is the scenes! This kind of cinematography, using dark tone is rare to see in Chinese dramas. CGs are so amazing.
The story is fast pacing, not boring and fun to watch. But a little hypocrite from the side of humans.
Recommended to watch this.

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A beauty that can't hold you strongly....

Well... I must say this show is filmed beautifully. I was almost at awe at every frame, everything looked so good,set designs,costume,visual effects,action scenes,camera angle.... None of these has disappointed me.Also that little happy dance at the end of each episode was really refreshing,after whatever the mess they created in every episode.

All the actors looked amazing...The costumes, styling of everyone especially the male actors were so good!!I couldnt take my eyes off of ZYC,he looks majestic in every frame.Whoever styled him as Bingyi deserved an applause,he was looking ethereal!!!Even the villains or "Evil" demons looked terrific, especially Li Lun. The main trio, ZYZ,ZYC and Li Lun were just gorgeous whenever they appeared on screen.Probably one of the saving graces of the show.

The show did a good job in portraying the backstory of all of them.ZYZ, as a demon with morality,humanized emotions and lots of guilt and trauma who loves to make jokes and have fun was done brilliantly by Neo Hou.Second male lead was good too,his character development was very evident,his persona as a man who is cold outside cause of traumatic loss of his family,him growing up with hatred in his mind towards ZYZ but later letting himself grow as a better person who understood ZYZ and becoming his protector and friend/soulmate was portrayed rightfully.
There is amazing bromance,understanding and connection between him and ZYZ.From nemesis to besties,their relationship was the best one.They even had better chemistry than the main couple.

Now,about the other casts of the demon hunter group...Was the female lead casted only to cry and stand helplessly shouting for either ZYZ or ZYC to save her??? Isn’t she supposed to be a goddess... Yeah as per story she is weak cause the Baize token is lost/broken or whatever... But that doesn’t mean you would waste every potential of one of the most important characters of the show.When you are a part of a "Demon Hunter" team, the least you should know is how to fight and protect yourself. She does almost nothing every episode,her team mates are dying left and right and she's just there staring blankly...does it even make sense?????Two male leads keep saving her every time,her team mates are fighting for their lives...and she still somehow manages time to sit on the floor drowning in her tears!!! There's not even much chemistry going on between her and male lead,their relationship looks forced cause she doesn’t show any emotion except crying.... Even if she wasn’t in the show,I don't think there would be much of a problem.

Among the other teammates, I liked the Mountain God the most....and unfortunately he was the most ignored one. He cared about everyone,always made everyone smile, even gave his life to save them... And what did he get??? Nothing. They didn't even acknowledge him as one of them when two leads were talking with the ancestors.I really didn't understand this bit.The archer girl was extremely good in action scenes,but I just couldn’t look at her too much of a stone faced acting. She was even crying in stone face. The kid doctor and his screaming was just pure annoyance.But he did a great job as a possessed demon.

Li Lun...as a villain,his pov was quite understandable! He got betrayed by his best friend,abandoned by him,got caged for eternity,he witnessed his bestie giving more attention and showing more compassion to his new found human family than him..... He had every reason to be a villain.Yes he was wrong for killing those human but from his pov,it was his first time out of wilderness and he witnessed how vile human were while using low spirited demons only for their own benefit.He didn’t even get the chance to know about human. ZYZ was known to human nature,he knew they were not all bad,Li Lun didn’t. And ZYZ didn’t even try to sympathize with him...he just abandoned his best friend.ZYZ got new friends,new family...Li Lun was left all alone,he had none. He was one unfortunate misunderstood anti-hero.He could be used as one of the most powerful entity who was also at the same level of ZYZ,but that potential got wasted.At the later end,his character had the most beautiful redemption arc in the show.You would even feel sympathy for him and his action. And then...he died.They just killed him and ZYZ couldn’t even do anything cause the storyline made him powerless like that... WHY????

Now storywise... If it wasn’t for Li Lun's scheme, there wasn’t much things to do for our demon hunter team,the story wasn’t going anywhere. When Li Lun stopped being active,the whole team suddenly became jobless,just sitting,talking or crying. There's no romance,lots of backstories,flashbacks,slow mo actions.....and everything is going on on a real slow pace. Sometimes its so slow... Had to skip to the next scene.There's talking...they talk..A LOT. You can skip a few minutes of a scene...and they are still there,talking.Storytelling went completely downhill at the middle of the show,every thing was happening so randomly. It turned into a soapy draggy drama where everyone was crying in every two minutes and collecting random objects like dragon scale or something else from here and there or repairing Baize token or cloud light sword .... when it was supposed to be a thrilling demon hunting group.And then almost all of them died... The amount of tears they used in each episode was really something!!!That perfectly placed teardrops on everyone's glossy eyes couldn’t be more fake. Don't make so much tragedy if you can't make it bearable.... It became annoying at some point.

The backstory of BingYi and YingLong was really good. The visuals of the two leads as the ancestors,the action scenes and the way of showing the reasoning behind everything that happened between them,I enjoyed it a lot.

The OST's were good though..... But sometimes overused.Every character had their particular ost and lyrics were written according to their character and storyline, when the ost's were playing,they were taking the scenes another level up.

The action scenes,the connection and chemistry of the male leads,the visual effects and the cinematography, ost's...these are the things that were saving the show. Could be much much better if they put some efforts into the storytelling and avoided to make it into an emotional tearjerker which makes no sense.

Also...how much blood spitting is too much blood spitting?????

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A pure feast for the eyes

Better then this, Idk. This drama has literally everything: action, fantasy, mystery, romance, humor, suspense and so much more.
A fantastic cast, big chemistry, amazing fighting scenes, incredibly elegant shots and super mega aesthetic, slow motion close-ups. I seriously have not enough words to praise this drama.
And even OST + BGM!! are top notch. China slowly starts to understand the audience''s demands for big music and the full releasing! of the soundtracks.
This is an absolute must watch. One of the best c - dramas not only of 2024 but maybe of all times.

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A underdog demon slaying agency with demon´s!

I loved everything about this drama. I enjoyes the demon story but it´s not a new story. But to make rival agency and have an overhiped character that can not deliver. Brilliant! The Visuals where excellent, the cast and acting was on point. Only the actress Chen Du Ling did not fit the part. Well it´s a personal opinion, but I don´t like her being so sad and so sick and so frail. She is the personified weak female character. Shouldn´t she be a godes? Her character and her weak acting didn´t make any sence, and her tears are obviously... let´s just say, I loathe her fake crying!
Story: Cool story setting. Great well fleshed charactors. Amazing visuals effects 10/10
Acting/Cast: The demon - hunter - setting alowed a whide acting range. Great experienced actors, did an amazing jog. -0,5 points, because I personaly dont like Chen Du Ling being cast in another weak evercrying female goddes role! 9,5/10
Music: Great entertaining music. listening right now! 10/10
Rewatch Value: While I´m writing this review, I want to watch it again! 10/10

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Epic

Epic. Clear and simple, this is in a class all by itself. Granted, it might not be for everyone, and I certainly had a hard time following the complexities of the story itself. Being a lover of period pieces, I was enthralled with this fantasy series. Is it a BL? Nope. Is it romantic. Yes, and no. Certainly, it has impassionate connections between characters but to say they were romantic is a matter of interpretation. As a Westerner, I know next to nothing about Chinese culture, customs, religious practices, or history. So, I became intrigued by this story. It is difficult for me to separate fact from fiction here in a sense that these characters seem so relatable with human strengths and foibles, yet their circumstances were beyond my reference points of understanding. In addition, I find the Chinese language almost hypnotic and sounding like imagery poetry. I adored this series and felt a deeper connection to these characters, ironically. This is a long, long series and you invest a significant amount of time watching and therefore you become weirdly attached to them. Perhaps some more than others but all in general. Why? Because they all remind us of ourselves – be they mortals or demons. Watching this series becomes an experience. To some degree, it is representative of our own world.

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Perfect combination of comedy, romance and angst!!

Moony💕✨
I randomly added this drama to my page and soon after it started airing, I watched with no high hopes but oh my, I was hooked from the first episode. The banters/interactions between the characters were amazing!!!
Acting. Actors/Actresses did a really good job. This is the reason why while watching this drama, I cried, laughed and felt everything with them.
Storyline. The storyline is perfect. Some regarded female lead as the weakest character, but I think it is totally otherwise. Every character has its place just like a puzzle and they fill the gaps. This drama uses a found family trope, and I love it! Also, the plot twists were really good and actually unexpected.
Romance. Male and Female lead have great chemistry even though there are no kissing scenes (I hope that it is not a spoiler). In my opinion ML's protective and FL's caring sides were just enough as the main focus is not about romance and when I say great chemistry, I mean it! (watch the series, trust me)
OST/BGM. I think the background music really made me feel like as I was a part of the series. (Especially "Little poem/verses" and "Unintentional big dream" available on YT with pinyin and English lyrics). While some liked the background music, some didn't. But I think it's tolerable.
Comedy. The comedy in this drama held a special place and every single joke characters made didn't fail to make me cackle.
Action scenes. The action scenes were incredible that I had to make a special passage. Firstly, I love the weapons characters used (even the weapons have their backstory and quite interesting one actually!) Secondly, the fighting scenes between main and second main male lead were very professional (They have trained a lot BTS to show us such masterpiece)
Conclusion. The drama has only 34 episodes, yet every character's backstory was clear and well explained. Is this drama worthy of your time? Heck yes!!
(Maybe there were flaws but nothing is perfect so, I rate it 10 stars)

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Failed fantasy historical drama with weak leads

I watched Fangs of Fortune because of the beautiful trailer but sadly it didn’t live up to the hype.
The visuals and costumes looked nice but the story felt slow and emotionally flat.
The fight scenes used slow-motion way too much which didn’t feel exciting at all.
Instead, it felt awkward and annoying because the director relied on it too often instead of creating truly epic fights that move the story forward.
I found myself more interested in the side characters than the main couple which made it hard to stay emotionally involved. The drama started with a lot of potential but ended up being a big disappointment.
The male lead, Zhu Yan, he’s supposed to be a powerful, ancient demon but he felt weak and not believable.
Hou Minghao’s acting didn’t bring the character to life.
His expressions were either too flat or over the top and his emotional scenes didn’t convince me. Something about the way he spoke felt forced and unnatural which made watching him difficult.
The crying scenes were especially frustrating, he cried way too much and it never felt real.
It was like he was trying hard to make tears come out but couldn’t, almost like a beginner actor.
Instead of feeling sympathy, those scenes just felt repetitive and tiring.
His chemistry with the female lead didn’t feel real either which made their romance fall flat.
For such an important role, I expected much more emotion and presence.
Honestly, the drama felt like it was pushing BL vibes more than a real romance and I wasn’t even sure what it was trying to show me.
On the bright side, Cheng Lei was one of the few good things about the show.
His performance felt strong and layered and he caught my attention every time he was on screen.
He showed calm strength and real emotion which really stood out compared to the leads.
Even though he had less screen time, he made a much bigger impression.
I honestly wished the story focused more on him. They should have cast a male lead as good as Cheng Lei.

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