What I Watched in 2026

8.25 so good up to ep 30 then the end got a bit messy felt like it didn't mesh as well into the story with the previous plot and pacing also i love rong shangbao and the sisters eventually getting closer even the bratty sister and the one played by cheng xiao had great character growth they opened their eyes to understanding the hardship of shanbao all these years and that blindly following their grandma isn't the best idea all the time while still showing respect ML and FL is actually more slow burn than i thought despite her devotion to him he had to focus on the cases

I HATED THE CAPITAL ARC Yunshu the fake blind sis was hella evil and got a slap on the wrist and also they acted out of character shanbao leaving him after all they've been through then finally accepting his love in the final 5 mins to cut abruptly and end there? WHERE'S THE WEDDING CEREMONY THE EPILOGUE? WHAT

A unique start they look good in republican drama costumes and it's a friends to lovers, he moves into the house she's renting but her family doesn't know she got laid off so now she's trying to interview at ML's company the rest go from there from workers of architecture design and occasionally going back to the  VR gaming world to lovers

SIZZLING Chemistry but i didnt finish it once they got together i got distracted, i like the side bestie character too 

FIRST KDRAMA OF THE YEAR something about January makes me want to watch a thriller and this was a hit i was on the edge of my seat the whole time i liked it more than Dear X but it's different Kim Go Eun as Mo Eun is a more calm and scary type of sociopath while Yoojung in dear X was Female Ted Bundy very charming so much gaslighting and manipulating all the men to fall for her to kill for her 

Wasn't bad yes production was poor but i was too excited to wait for How Dare You wang churan x cheng lei to come out so watched it as a movie night binge quite fun

NO THOUGHTS LOVED THEM the styling here is beyong my imagination so good and i already had high high high expectations and it was better than i thought WANG CHURAN THE WAY I DROOLED seeing the makeup and outfits on her so pretty

Cheng Lei plays such a layered character yes it's comedic but last 12 eps were very intense and unpredictable and sad Mr. Bei and the side characters Yong Eer were all very memorable ones too with great stories it's definitely not what it seems, goofy funny at first lots of twists turns and her being moved by the people in this world wanting to help them bc she cares for them even if it's all a fictional world

Tang Xiaotan played a great Prince Duan to the point where at first i was like yeah maybe he is redeemaable but ended up feeling like he's so slimy every time i saw his face it's all bc of the script and how it was slowly revealed that made the story interesting

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP my fave thing ever is how Dan MC treated Wanyin as his saving grace protecting her letting she do what she wants and seeing how brave and kind she is so moving especially that episode with the letter beautiful

POND IS PERFECT AS THEE i'm obsessed, he's a kdrama cringe king the only rich CEO type i like and it does well making fun of all the mdoern romance tropes u seen a billion times in romance tv shows dramas and media in general, he met his match MC who is literally the average person who gets the ICK and tells Thee ur so delusional and dramatic dude

And it's through the normal everyday guy that Mr Thee experiences love and it's really wholesome the reason why his personality is the CEO type is he received no familial love growing up trapped in a wealthy estate he only had these dramas to watch for comfort no contact with outsiders so it's so funny. i WOULD COMPARE HIM TO Boa Hancock from One Piece that type of Delulu comedic character which i love

BEST ROMANCE besdies How Dare You everything felt bland the first few months this year the TENSION between the 2 leads are insane and Mumu the ML is OBSESSED and Crazy about the FL he's so shameless and it's hilarious. I AM A ZHOU YI RAN STAN way before this yes WIFTY was great and even better was 12 letters. But his gaze here? Insane so melodramatic sooooooo spicy

Everything else is alright though a bit old school wuxia format mixed with the modern day edited down to under 40 eps is why besides the romance it's hard to follow with a billion people in these martial art mountains the side characters are alright besides 3 of them no one else matters all background noise and i found the way they move from place to place disorienting with random side quests it's all happening too quickly that it's hard to get atached or care about those stories for once they needed to not TRIM THE FAT and pull an Flourished Peony or Love like the galaxy move with 2 seasons

NOT FOR EVERYONE i would call it a popcorn MESSY SHOW FULL OF TOXIC RED FLAGS and in the world of bland CEO or cute high school romances every month this was a fun one for me, the only downside is liu yuning character compared to the messy FL and everyone in his friend group he's too sweet and normal so you feel bad for the dude he's so green flag but the main leads scenes are the most boring compared to everyone else

I stayed bc of Vengo Gao's baiting and little remarks he embodies this artsy lovesick character with an ambiguous friendship with FL who he thinks is his one true love he likes her coniving nature to act like the most desireable thing and lure men as her occupation but now she's down bad for his bestie liu yuning and her past is coming back to bite her behind, she was the best one in the biz so her boss a wealthy woman is trying to control her

So she asks Gong Vengo Gao's character who is in love with her to play as her fake boyfriend to appease the boss lady while keeping Bei out of it, so complicated and its kind of feels like a thriller so i like it a lot not perfect no one is besides Bei and maybe Sen are not red flags but yeah no one's perfect

The Luan Luan plot line in love with her bestfriend who fell out of love with his wife he's a loser coward both women should kick him to the curb for not choosing anyone and putting them in a uncomfortable place honestly it's kinda like ur waiting for the shoe to drop everytime they are together. So unhinged and unpredictable i like it

I really like Fei Ni and Feng Muyang he has amnesia and she takes care of im wholeheartedly thinking she will be sent to university as a reward from her employers he is so clingy and cute with her when he lost his memory and they have history too childhood friends

I LOVE THE 2ND COUPLE TOO so so good and WHOLESOME

starts off alright budget isn't good but Zheng Yecheng deserves bigger roles and FL here i recognize her too she was in a couple of 2nd FL leading roles before in bigger dramas that's the competitive reality more and more younger and new actors and actresses rise up nd sometimes even 10 years in the industry like Jeremy Xu and you end up retiring bc maybe you had 1 or 2 leading roles here or there but it's fruitless it's so sad

Hang in there, supporting the leads by watching but it's kind of cringe nothing crazy beyond the chemistry 

DROPPED the way she's severely under weight didn't affect me as much until i looked into it it;s a whole thing body dysmorphia someone save her

- I just dind't find the first 3 eps all to interesting no one character stands out to keep me watching the leads are both kind of boring i didn't care for the plot or her issues with her husband at least marry my husband had good cliffhangers and twists this is just mediocre