Overdo

Overdone

Overdo was one of my most anticipated dramas of the year. With Zhang Ling He and Wang Chu Ran leading the cast, I walked in with expectations through the roof. In hindsight, that might have been my first mistake. The irony is almost poetic because, much like its title, everything about this drama feels overdone. It constantly tries to raise the stakes, only to end up feeling exaggerated instead of impactful.

Set against the fading days of Republican-era Shanghai, the story follows Murong Qing Yi, a doctor whose life has been shaped by a cruel mistake made at birth. A chance exchange of letters leads him to Ren Su Su, an orphan carrying wounds just as deep as his own. Their relationship begins with quiet sincerity before fate tears them apart, leaving Qing Yi imprisoned under the belief that Su Su betrayed him while Su Su disappears without a trace. Three years later, she returns under a new identity, now engaged to his brother. Their reunion is fueled by resentment, misunderstandings, and buried truths, all unfolding as the nation inches toward war. On paper, it sounds like an emotional roller coaster filled with second chances, mistaken identities, and undying love. In execution, however, it often mistakes melodrama for emotional depth.

The problems start almost immediately with the cinematography and directing. The color grading, lighting, soft focus, and camera treatments constantly reminded me of a vertical drama. I have nothing against vertical dramas. I actually enjoy them. The issue is that I expected a high-budget long-form production, only to feel like I was watching one dressed up with a bigger cast and longer runtime. The directing only amplifies that impression. Many scenes feel unnecessarily dramatic, to the point where they become unintentionally funny.

The clearest example is the scene where Qing Yi jumps into the water to save Su Su. Instead of diving naturally, he launches himself flat into the water with his hands stretched forward, looking less like someone rescuing another person and more like someone accidentally participating in a belly flop competition. It completely took me out of the moment. If Zhang Ling He was unable to perform a proper dive, there were plenty of alternatives. He could have simply run into the water or jumped normally. Sometimes the simplest solution is the smartest one. Instead, the final result became comedy when it should have been life or death.

The use of AI in certain scenes also does not help. AI itself is not necessarily a deal breaker if it blends naturally into the production. Unfortunately, scenes like the airplane sequence look noticeably artificial, making it difficult to stay immersed. There are many moments throughout the drama where everything feels just a little too exaggerated, reinforcing that same vertical drama energy.

That said, not everything misses the mark. There are genuinely beautiful scenes scattered throughout the series, and several supporting actors deliver surprisingly strong performances. Li Bo Ze, Hai Tang Qing, and several other major supporting characters leave a positive impression. The drama also deserves credit for attempting to create morally layered characters. Li Rong Zhang, for example, is presented as both an abusive father and a patriot willing to sacrifice himself for the nation. That contradiction could have been fascinating, but the writing never explores it deeply enough. Rather than feeling like a complicated human being, he simply came across as confusing. Complexity only works when the audience is given enough time to understand it.

As for Zhang Ling He and Wang Chu Ran, they are easily among the drama's biggest strengths. Both actors maximize every opportunity they're given and deliver convincing performances despite the material. Unfortunately, they become victims of weak directing and increasingly outrageous plot twists. Qing Yi and Su Su are constantly trapped between personal desires and external responsibilities, which could have been compelling. Instead, their relationship becomes an endless cycle of misunderstandings, separation, reconciliation, love, hatred, and then back to misunderstanding again. I normally enjoy these kinds of tropes, but there is a difference between using them as seasoning and making them the entire meal. By the end, their relationship feels emotionally exhausting rather than heartbreaking.

One thing I cannot complain about, though, is the styling. The costumes, hairstyles, and makeup absolutely delivered. Everyone looked stunning, and the visual presentation of the cast deserved praise even when the script did not.

Ironically, the first half of the drama gave me hope. The early mysteries surrounding Su Su and Qing Yi immediately pulled me in. I especially found Su Su's past involving the women and the Huo family intriguing. The drama explores dark subjects including human trafficking, prostitution, and violence, and despite Chinese censorship, it presents these themes with surprising rawness. Some scenes are genuinely disturbing in ways that effectively capture the brutality of that world. Qing Yi's own mysterious past also kept me invested.

Unfortunately, once these mysteries are resolved around the middle of the series, the drama changes gears completely. Instead of building naturally upon what had already been established, it veers into increasingly dramatic territory filled with makjang-style twists and a storyline involving biochemical virus terrorism. It feels as though the writers kept asking, "How can we make this even bigger?" without asking whether it actually made the story better. Sometimes less really is more.

The ending perfectly reflects this issue. I actually prefer tragic endings for stories like this, but tragedy only works when it feels earned. Here, it often feels manufactured for the sake of making the audience cry. Certain sacrifices and plot developments seem unnecessary, and everything becomes so chaotic. Someone is gravely ill, then suddenly recovers. A terrorist incident appears out of nowhere. An entire village ends up paying the price. I found myself trying to justify the characters' decisions by assuming they simply had no better options under such desperate circumstances, but the story never fully convinces me that this was truly the only path available.

Overall, Overdo became an emotional graph that never quite stabilized. I started disappointed, became genuinely invested once the mysteries unfolded, then found myself disappointed all over again as the story spiraled into increasingly excessive territory. Thankfully, the short episode runtime made it easy enough to finish.

This is one of those dramas that I cannot confidently recommend, even if there are parts I appreciated. Whether you enjoy it will depend heavily on your tolerance for exaggerated melodrama, constant emotional whiplash, and makjang storytelling. If that sounds like your cup of tea, you may find much more to love here than I did. As for me, Overdo lived up to its title a little too well.

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Fei Wo Si Cun’s Worst Drama Adaptation to Date

Everything about this from the story to the music and the way it’s filmed/edited is over the top and not in beautiful melo way like Siege in Fog or other Republican dramas are, but in a low budget vertical short drama way that took all the seriousness out of serious scenes. I can’t believe this came from the same writer behind iconic angst dramas like Goodbye My Princess, Siege in Fog and Too Late to Say I Love You. The big suit executives at Tencent and Iqiyi clearly did not even bother hiring a good writer or really putting any effort into this cause they knew fans of the Zhang Linghe and Wang Churan will eat it up anyway.

The Background Music:
Somebody turn this off, there’s background music blaring at all times and overshadowing the dialogue. I seriously hate the “this is where you have to be sad” “this is where you laugh cause there’s funny music” sound effect thing dramas do and this was so excessive with it. Again in vertical short dramas where it’s more aesthetic vibes than substance, maybe the blaring is okay but this is a high budget full length drama, there’s no excuse.

Acting:

It’s your standard cdrama acting but somehow worse, I think both of them are no Oscar winning actors but ZLH and WCR has been better in other works I’ve seen them in so idk what happened here. Chemistry too I felt nothing.

Rewatch Value:

There’s nothing valuable about this. Just watch something else

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Give it a chance. Don’t drop it yet! This drama is not for the faint-hearted.

Flawed editing and messy pacing? Yes. Still watching every single second for the plot and the cast? Absolutely!

If you dropped it after episode one, this is your sign to pick it back up—Overdo really finds its footing and gets better with every single episode in my opinion. That intense chemistry between Zhang Linghe and Wang Churan is just too good to ignore, and I'm ready to dive back into all the messy love, hate, and second-chance tension. Hoping it delivers this time.

Also, the plot is heating up and I am officially hooked.

Let's see what happens next..

So far so good!!

UPDATE: My rating remains the same. The casts were all great and portrayed their roles really well. The whole story is not for the faint hearted though. Not the ending I was expecting, I believe Qingyi deserves a happy ending too. Read More

This cdrama is getting more interesting as more episodes releases

people dropping this drama because of ai and bad directing are losing gem, i feel bad for people not watching, this drama is blessing. people are taking things too seriously, after more episodes releases the more it gets to better drama, linghe's fans are too toxic, it's my first time feeling toxicity of the fandom, i feel bad for linghe and churan for the forced hate coming from poj's fans... i can't say overdo is year of drama but it's interesting to watch it like it feels so hurt to see how qingyi is getting treated fighting overdo! fighting linghe! fighting churan!
love you churan 💗

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Everyone forget that overdo is angst drama not romance

This drama had everyone's attention long before it even premiered. It attracted fans, casual viewers, and even haters simply because it brought together two of the industry's biggest visual stars. On top of that, many people were already arguing about the original novel, which is known for being extremely toxic especially the male lead's character.

However, the director and screenwriter made it clear from the beginning that they only borrowed the characters' names, not the novel's storyline. Even so, this was always intended to be an **angst drama**, filled with conflict, misunderstandings, and a constant push-and-pull relationship between the female lead and the male lead.

Then Episode 1 aired, and instead of discussing the story, the drama started trending because of its AI-generated opening sequence. Many people immediately said they had no interest in watching *Overdo* simply because it used AI. But if you think about it logically, the opening sequence has nothing to do with the quality of the story itself. You can literally skip the intro and still enjoy the entire drama. Unfortunately, many people had already decided to criticize it before giving it a fair chance.

After watching Episodes 1–25, I can honestly say the story is much more than just romance. It also explores serious social issues such as human trafficking, scams, illegal drugs, switched families, abusive families, and many other dark themes. The romance isn't meant to be sweet and fluffy. From the very beginning, this is a push-and-pull relationship where both leads constantly hurt each other with their words, yet deep down they genuinely love each other and can't let go.

The problem isn't that the drama is bad. It's that this kind of highly emotional, Republican-era angst drama simply isn't everyone's cup of tea. That doesn't automatically make it poorly made.

The performances from both lead actors are excellent. The editing improved significantly from Episode 6 onward, and the AI intro was even replaced. Yet some people kept bringing up the same complaints, making it feel as though they were more interested in hating the drama than actually watching it.

What's truly disappointing is that many viewers gave it low ratings simply because it wasn't their preferred genre, rather than judging it objectively. A drama should be evaluated based on its writing, acting, directing, and execution—not just on whether it matches someone's personal taste.

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MESSY, but worth it to the end.

The entire plot was a mess from beginning to end. The story was so painful, so torturous to watch. It was a sh*tshow after another. The ML and FL's lives were extremely cruel. Yet, as bad as it was, this drama was so alluring. I found myself not able to drop it, but instead, I was literally waiting for more. I wanted to believe that there was hope. Hope that it would get better soon. It doesn't.

The last 5 episodes were when it felt like a normal drama/storyline again. LOL. The ending was not as we all had hoped for. The alternative universe at the end was truly needed. It helped heal a part of me. It wasn't a satisfying ending, but it wasn't the worst either. I'm glad they gave us that what-if ending.

The most ironic to me was the people who MLs was trying to fight throughout the whole story turned out to be not so bad after all. This show had so much misunderstandings which led to all this drama.

I’m glad they didn’t turn Li Boze evil. He was seriously the last hope for us all.

Overall, this drama would be a 7 for me. Acting was very good from all of them. Would I rewatch it? Hard no. Not because it is bad, but because my heart can't go through this mess again. Not sure what the writer had in mind when writing the script, but DAMN. WT* haha!

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I didn't get bored

First off, please don't compare to pursuit of jade, it's not and it's not trying to be. It's beautiful in its own way.

I can't say it's the best production I've ever seen but the characters and relationships in this drama are something. I will say I watched every episode the day of release and then paid for the final 4 episodes so I could complete it. Zhang linghe is great in this. The way he can be intense and intimidating while still being vulnerable is incredible. I can't wait to see what else he does.
I loved the music but did notice small hitches in other parts of the sound production. It can disrupt a bit but it wasn't enough for me to stop watching.
Lighting seemed odd to me at some points, like it had a bright shimmer, what you'd usually see in a dream sequence, memory or something but it's just the main story. I was racking my brain to think why this would be a choice but couldn't figure it out.
The costumes and styling are beautiful.
Having said all that I'm m not sure I'd rush to watch it again.

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