TrashFire

A million holes to poke, but I love it anyway

Definitely not perfect in a lot of ways, but I loved so many other elements about it that I don't want to give it a lower score. Most characters who weren't the mains didn't have character arcs and often were dropped from the story, I wanted more foundational backstory of their shared past, more of her journey to become a great fighter, plus lots of other little things that bothered me. I find myself agreeing with a lot of the people who scored it lower because they're making good points.

But listing everything I loved would take a lot longer than listing what I disliked. I loved that the main leads didn't choose to sacrifice their entire lives for marriage, the continuous push in the writing against misogynist ideas (even if it was heavy handed at times), the chemistry and connection between the leads, hateable villains, a fl that can fight, the motif of the moon, the writing that connected past events to present ones, and that their journeys allowed both main leads to accomplish clear goals, complete their arcs, and be equal partners. And the show ending in a narrative circle where she showed up for him when she couldn't at the very beginning was the icing on the cake.

I haven't mad much luck finding cdramas that are enjoyable for me throughout the entire run, so this felt very satisfying to watch. There are a million holes to poke in this show, but I had a great time. Need to go stare at the moon for a while to process.

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Needed a Long Epilogue

SO DEEPLY SPECIAL TO ME! There are a lot of things I think were underdeveloped, but the two leads kept me hooked the entire time. They were so cute and I cherished the happy moments they had together, but I wish we had gotten more of them. I also wish that the magical elements had more time. I would have loved for more correspondence between the past and present. Liked all of the characters, but also wish characters outside the main leads had more room for change and growth. I will remember the main leads for a long time, but the side characters probably won't stick around for me. I need someone to cast the main leads again in a happier story so we can get the full romance story from them.

Basically every scene the main leads have together is my favorite, but my absolute favorite scene between them was the fl sacrificing her house, despite how hard she fought for it, despite what it meant to her -- simply telling the ml, "You matter more." So simple and so effective. In that gesture, she is finding a new home for herself and starting over, while he experiences what it feels like for someone to value him and his safety. I could rant all day about how perfect they were together.

Overall, the drama was just a little too short for a lot of the story elements and characters. I loved the themes of sacrifice, love, and regret. The main leads were outstanding, and I'm glad they got their happy ending, even if we don't get to see it.

(Also, I know they rewrote time to save their parents, but wouldn't any parent be horrified to lose their child? I guess if they never met their children they would care less, but they seemed very casual about it at the end lol)

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How to Succeed in Business if You're the Main Character

Pros:
- Has my favorite opening scene of any cdrama I've ever seen. It establishes the metaphor of life as a ship at sea, demonstrates the main lead's courage, brains, and kindness, and gives the viewers a memorable shot of our main girl staring at a beautiful view she won through hard work
- Fun love lines. The relationship between the main leads was trusting, mature, and fun to witness. I loved them together and that their journey as a couple felt natural to me. I loved all of the other couples that ended up together as well
- Complicated characters. I absolutely love that many of the characters weren't lumped into one basket of good or bad. Specifically, members of the Hwa family were flawed in a way I found engaging. When the family had arguments, it made their reconciliations more meaningful. The Emperor was also a deeply flawed person, yet I still cared about his relationship with his nephew. I especially loved the scene where he imagines the scene of his son, happy and carefree before he grew up twisted and power-hungry -- that gave a great insight into the Emperor's psyche and the struggles that he faced despite being the most powerful. Characters like the maids also got arcs, which doesn't always happen and I'm happy that it did in this show.
- Lu Yuxiao was far and away the best actor. Her performance was layered and infused with a lot of heart, and I was always rooting for her character.
- This is the first I've seen Hu Yitian but he was everything a ml needs to be
- Hard work pays off. Even though I think she was a successful business woman a little too easily, I still enjoyed watching our FL churn out ideas and plans to make money.
- The focus on family dynamics. Because you love your family even when you want to kill them


Cons:
- Incredibly strong live laugh love energy throughout the show, which won't be a con for some people. I just would have preferred to see the main characters fail a little more. The show makes her success a product of hard work, but the fact that she herself never fails because of decisions she makes causes her to be a little too perfect in my opinion. She does indirectly cause the Emperor to take their money and send them away, but the entire family is back to live laugh love in a few minutes. You're telling me that you're all the happiest you've ever been while doing back-breaking labor? This show is fiction for a reason.
- Not sure if this is an unpopular opinion, but I still find Zhang Jingyi's acting to be quite wooden. She played a high-achieving, put-together woman well, but failed to portray many subtle emotions that aren't abundantly happy or sad. I found myself wishing she could demonstrate more complicated emotions.
- Most of the men didn't have character arcs, which does make sense as they were absent for the majority of the story. But I would have liked seeing how they would have adjusted to living in a women-run household.
- The final villain's scheme felt rushed. I really enjoyed the connection between the FL and the female villain talking about the beauty of being at sea. That was a great moment, but there wasn't much else beyond it. Also, she was right that the Emperor was corrupt lol
- The concept that the ML could fix the security bureau/police force forever all by himself. The show was more nuanced with portraying women's struggles, but I guess they went with a magical, offscreen fix for this issue even though it's the reason for all of the men being exiled in the first place
- Not sure if this is a con but it was funny to see how many of the family's problems were solved by the Emperor dying. It wasn't their hard work that reunited the family in the end, just the death of a tyrant
- I didn't like the side braid. I was glad to see it go

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