i do like your insight . I think one of the script writer is hired to do jsut fillers as our ML lead was out of…
5 days ago I've seen an interesting coment here of a person who was recomending other people to watch this drama but with a sort of disclaimer to watch it on 1,5-2 x speed in order to skip annoying parts... Rethinking, she was completely right
This would completely explain what's happening with the storyline. And I so agree with your assessment too. It's…
right, they've made me feel bipolar 🫥: on the one hand I still wish to see the (compelling part of the) story, but on the other I wish to drop it every time they "switch the gear" as Megumi said in one coment above, because those parts are totally irritating and unwatchable.
The cast & crew section mentions two scriptwriters (actually, they could be more than two), but nobody mentioned these authors are on totally divergent narrative paths: their storytelling is moving in opposite directions. At this point (ep. 30), I'm completely sure, the rating won't rise (it may even drop) and the fault is entirely on scriptwriting - or better - on the production that allowed mixing of incompatible ways of storytelling. I suppose (I may be wrong, ofc, the true dynamics could be different) the producers (from iqiyi) commissioned the story on subject "romantic compensation of the opposites", they even paid for using the opposites "shapeshifter-prosopagnostic" to the K-production which explored it first, with the idea of making the story as Chinese as possible. The scriptwriter who first handled the task wrote a good structure, we see logical arcs in linear progression (with just one little exception which is fine: flashback on FL's poisoning and the first childhood encounter of the main leads - this trope complies not only with Chinese, but with Asian taste in general, the memory which is connected with the death of ML's father). This narrative already mixed several genres (sc. "pastiche"): mystery, romance, comedy, investigation, pseudo-period, family-ensemble with hints of vengeance (for a ML: the death of his father, for FL, the poison which make her to shiftshape), a bit of politics and so on. It contained everything, but it was probably... too short (max. 24 eps), so they've hired another person to EXPAND this story to comply to their need of 40 eps. In all different arcs we've seen till this point, we witnessed that "something was off". Analitically: - Heman arc was originally max 3 eps, aiming to introduce the leads, "zornia problem" (investigated not only by the ML, but connected with the death of the ML's father) and the first marriage (nice, on the water) of the leading couple. Once "expanded", with totally unnecessary shamanic scenes of general's wife, or her snake-skin desease, it was transformed into 8 eps. - The 1st capital arc was tending to introduce the tension within Jiang family, the rivarly between two security forces, the 2nd and 3rd leads before they became couples, the introduction of "bad political guys". The original writing probably covered all these issues in 7 eps. It was expanded till ep 20 (12 eps), with totally unnecessary (yet, very Chinese) ghost market subplots, Suo Luo's long-unnatural persistence to fight her brother and so on. - The 2nd capital arc (espc. after the 2nd wedding): I think the best comedy (scenes ending with umbrella defence of ML's mother anxiety) was written by the first author, all the rest was totally unnecessary, including the rivarly between "beauty shops". And I can't blame the second scriptwriter either. He was hired to to expand and he followed the C-dramas trash & tropes guidelines perfectly.
I beg other productions not to follow this bad experiment.
the deadline was "to provide evidence of Lu and Li envolvement in zornia". That was provided in time but ended with murder and Lu's suicide in front of the emperor.
actually, the "price war" was that annoying because of the overracting in the scenes involving fuss (that fuss was really badly written) and FL's adoptive mother. The acting (of all the main crew) was great and convincing till this point, the actors "saved the stage" in other jarring scenes, but the authors truly could have spared us the ugly scene in a rival beauty shop.
It isn't ONLY a comedy. It's a pastiche of genres: crime solving, mystery solving, romance, comedy, fantasy, pseudo-period, even a bit family-ensamble and subtle-revenge drama... C-productions literally love to mix genres and the result of mixing is usually a disaster. But in 10% of cases they get it right and then... it's usually a great watch (eg. Joy of Life). I agree with you that "every drama has flows", I was just reflecting on Little Daisy's pov. And I can agree with you, too, we've got a great comedy (rom-com), but this joy was limited to ep. 20-25. I don't count farting Persian foreteller or silly country-girl coming to a big town in search of her never-seen fiancé, making fuss, neither as a "great comedy" nor "it's just for fun". It's a jarring fun, but if the rest is ok, fine, I'll continue watching. Finally, I don't mind "many plots" at all. I've checked The Beauty Inside (K-drama from which they've taken the subject of romantic compensation between shapeshifter-prosopagnostic person), finding out that the FYH is better, the scriptwriters actually did a great job: they've enriched the story not only adding many subplots, but also the main subject, we have seen a romantic compensation between a person who has a dog-smell and a person with no sense of smell at all (2nd cp), and we will probably see this between the 3rd couple as well. But it's too early to call it "great", we will see how it will end, for now, we can just coment on what we have seen to this point, flows included.
I agree we can't complain too much, but it is also true that the story consists of too many subplots and a person eventually lose their focus, because these subplots might not be particularly compelling for that particular person. Eg., I don't find compelling the "price war between beauty shops" with this newly introduced character, although I understand (having seen the preview for the next eps) she'll be important for revolving the story of YNX's poisoning.
The storytelling is too linear (with little or no hints at all) for a drama of 40 eps, I've actually noticed it since the Heman arc...
If first 4 episode are not so average. its rating would be at least 8.5. most people are dropped after watching…
I've thought I'd drop it every day till ep 16 (and "then, you'll sleep with me" turnpoint), the drama was lacking in comedy wich is indispensable for such a fantasy topic as shapeshifting... and little sparkles of fun were more jarring than comic (farting Persian foreteller, Sai'er's search of never-seen fiancé...). I've indured only because the acting was too good, actors literaly "saved the stage" in the first half of the drama. When actors are so confortable in their roles and convincing in interactions with each other, that usually implies they themselves are convinced with the overall script, which they know from the start (while the singular scenes are never shot in the sequence we see, almost certainly they've already shot and seen good scenes), so the story must be good. From ep 20 onwards, we've got comedy, romance, one subplot question solved (the identity of Sai'er's fiancé), political conflict intensified, family disorder became clearer/solvable etc. If the rest continues like this, the rating will rise.
the synopsis immediately reminded me of "the beauty inside", i loved that one so should i watch this too..?
the main subject (completing each other through mutual compensation) is the same, but the story in FYH is certainly richer in subplots, and better in development of characters and relations. Initially, this creates a bit of confusion, a viewer is uncertain of the genre (it starts with investigation, but the zornia-drug is not the only thing main leads want to investigate). but around ep 14-16, it is developed as a nice rom-com.
Exactly! In the first several episodes the comedy parts were so jarring and out there that they ended up being…
yes, those little hints of comedy were jarring, you used the right word, tnx. I was actually about to drop this drama when a glimmer of hope came out: "Then, you'll sleep with me" (ep 16). The fault is not entirely in scriptwriting, because the dialogues, misunderstandings and conflicts are mostly ok, they follow their inner logic in order to depict the characters. I think the imbalance was created by the lenght of subplots, 8 episodes of Heman arc ending with tragic suicide of general's wife and splitting of the CP were too long and heavy for a rom-com and the things didn't improve with their return to the capital with so many new characters and things happening: a viewer again was kept too busy connecting the dots and figuring out what's going on, left in an uncertainty what was important and what was not. It's a director's job to remedy such flows. Last night I've quickly checked the K-drama from which the main subject was taken: it isn't a great script either, the story looks even less interesting than FYH, but the comedy element was there from ep 1, offering relief and lightness to a rom-com. Luckily, the actors here were very confortable with each other and with what they were doing. They saved the stage.
3 
1 
I suppose (I may be wrong, ofc, the true dynamics could be different) the producers (from iqiyi) commissioned the story on subject "romantic compensation of the opposites", they even paid for using the opposites "shapeshifter-prosopagnostic" to the K-production which explored it first, with the idea of making the story as Chinese as possible.
The scriptwriter who first handled the task wrote a good structure, we see logical arcs in linear progression (with just one little exception which is fine: flashback on FL's poisoning and the first childhood encounter of the main leads - this trope complies not only with Chinese, but with Asian taste in general, the memory which is connected with the death of ML's father). This narrative already mixed several genres (sc. "pastiche"): mystery, romance, comedy, investigation, pseudo-period, family-ensemble with hints of vengeance (for a ML: the death of his father, for FL, the poison which make her to shiftshape), a bit of politics and so on. It contained everything, but it was probably... too short (max. 24 eps), so they've hired another person to EXPAND this story to comply to their need of 40 eps. In all different arcs we've seen till this point, we witnessed that "something was off".
Analitically:
- Heman arc was originally max 3 eps, aiming to introduce the leads, "zornia problem" (investigated not only by the ML, but connected with the death of the ML's father) and the first marriage (nice, on the water) of the leading couple. Once "expanded", with totally unnecessary shamanic scenes of general's wife, or her snake-skin desease, it was transformed into 8 eps.
- The 1st capital arc was tending to introduce the tension within Jiang family, the rivarly between two security forces, the 2nd and 3rd leads before they became couples, the introduction of "bad political guys". The original writing probably covered all these issues in 7 eps. It was expanded till ep 20 (12 eps), with totally unnecessary (yet, very Chinese) ghost market subplots, Suo Luo's long-unnatural persistence to fight her brother and so on.
- The 2nd capital arc (espc. after the 2nd wedding): I think the best comedy (scenes ending with umbrella defence of ML's mother anxiety) was written by the first author, all the rest was totally unnecessary, including the rivarly between "beauty shops".
And I can't blame the second scriptwriter either. He was hired to to expand and he followed the C-dramas trash & tropes guidelines perfectly.
I beg other productions not to follow this bad experiment.
Finger crossed 🙄
I agree with you that "every drama has flows", I was just reflecting on Little Daisy's pov.
And I can agree with you, too, we've got a great comedy (rom-com), but this joy was limited to ep. 20-25. I don't count farting Persian foreteller or silly country-girl coming to a big town in search of her never-seen fiancé, making fuss, neither as a "great comedy" nor "it's just for fun". It's a jarring fun, but if the rest is ok, fine, I'll continue watching.
Finally, I don't mind "many plots" at all. I've checked The Beauty Inside (K-drama from which they've taken the subject of romantic compensation between shapeshifter-prosopagnostic person), finding out that the FYH is better, the scriptwriters actually did a great job: they've enriched the story not only adding many subplots, but also the main subject, we have seen a romantic compensation between a person who has a dog-smell and a person with no sense of smell at all (2nd cp), and we will probably see this between the 3rd couple as well. But it's too early to call it "great", we will see how it will end, for now, we can just coment on what we have seen to this point, flows included.
Eg., I don't find compelling the "price war between beauty shops" with this newly introduced character, although I understand (having seen the preview for the next eps) she'll be important for revolving the story of YNX's poisoning.
The storytelling is too linear (with little or no hints at all) for a drama of 40 eps, I've actually noticed it since the Heman arc...
ep 30 https://www.iq.com/play/follow-your-heart-12gaefijtf0?lang=en_us
As if she knew her wedding night was the ideal moment to pretend to be a paid hitman... 😂😂😂
https://www.iq.com/play/follow-your-heart-1na9xzxynks?lang=en_us
I've indured only because the acting was too good, actors literaly "saved the stage" in the first half of the drama. When actors are so confortable in their roles and convincing in interactions with each other, that usually implies they themselves are convinced with the overall script, which they know from the start (while the singular scenes are never shot in the sequence we see, almost certainly they've already shot and seen good scenes), so the story must be good. From ep 20 onwards, we've got comedy, romance, one subplot question solved (the identity of Sai'er's fiancé), political conflict intensified, family disorder became clearer/solvable etc. If the rest continues like this, the rating will rise.
Could you pls post ep 24 trailer, too?
I was actually about to drop this drama when a glimmer of hope came out: "Then, you'll sleep with me" (ep 16).
The fault is not entirely in scriptwriting, because the dialogues, misunderstandings and conflicts are mostly ok, they follow their inner logic in order to depict the characters. I think the imbalance was created by the lenght of subplots, 8 episodes of Heman arc ending with tragic suicide of general's wife and splitting of the CP were too long and heavy for a rom-com and the things didn't improve with their return to the capital with so many new characters and things happening: a viewer again was kept too busy connecting the dots and figuring out what's going on, left in an uncertainty what was important and what was not. It's a director's job to remedy such flows. Last night I've quickly checked the K-drama from which the main subject was taken: it isn't a great script either, the story looks even less interesting than FYH, but the comedy element was there from ep 1, offering relief and lightness to a rom-com.
Luckily, the actors here were very confortable with each other and with what they were doing. They saved the stage.