Overall Lovely But Requires Patience
Over all, this is ultimately a lovely show. However, the story line bogs down quite a bit. First it is a slow start on the first act, taking several episodes to engage the audience in the characters. Then it slogs through the second act where the characters develop. But when it gets to the third act, it suddenly rushes through to the finale. Some plot tension threads are just dropped as everything is okay now without really understanding what changed and why. The acting is spot on even with some seriously contrived writing. The costumes are gorgeous. Music is very lovely.Was this review helpful to you?
Glorious Screwball Comedy
A true screwball comedy is rare in this world. It requires masterful acting to balance the physical and emotional comedy. Comedy is hard so the success of this show is a testament to the skill of the acting, especially Tan Jian Ci who manages to balance situations without letting it be overacting. He keeps the audience believing even when it is ridiculous. Landy Li does brilliantly moving between a range of characters in silly situations. She reminds me of Katherine Hepburn. The support characters are all clever and are well performed. The story develops with skill without breaking believability even when the audience in some part of their head knows this is too silly for words. I laughed so hard and I keep laughing.Was this review helpful to you?
Gorgeous, Well Acted, Captivating Story
This is a gorgeous show from costume design, music to cinematography. It has complex plot and character development. The primary characters grow and change, learning from plot actions, mistakes and misunderstandings. The antagonists however are largely one dimensional and the primary ones are cliche. The biggest complaint is a general over all complaint for so many of these dramas -- the plot goes on for too long and when it finally gets to resolution, it just speeds through everything rather than providing clean endings.Was this review helpful to you?
Too Much, Too Long
Good acting cannot keep an audience engaged through TOO many plot devices. Like did the writers put all the tropes in to see which ones would stick? The characters make the same bad decisions which lead to same relationship conflicts. This show is about 15 episodes too long. Needs cleaner editing not only of the writing at story development but in filming. There's repetitive scenes and elements that just drags everything out and down. Too much blatant produce placement and forced advertising of products.Was this review helpful to you?
So much Potential. So much waste
Ultimately, this show fails its actors on a massive scale. The story premise has potential with a woman entering into a male dominated sport and competing, but then the plot devolves into stereotype and cliché. It wants you to believe it is setting the FL up to break barriers and be successful, but then pulls her back down into tropes such as conversations about beauty standards and expectations or the color pink. Instead of making the FL the center of the story, it circles down into focusing on the idealized ML (also stuck in tropes) and the show becomes a less quality standardized romance plot. Ultimately, I've seen better romance stories and this one was just dull, dull, dull.Was this review helpful to you?
A Delightful Tangle of a Story
I loved that there are so many unexpected twists and turns. The layers of plot are so wrapped up that they carry through to the end. It's masterfully executed so that the the threads are carefully unwound to fulfilling conclusions. It isn't hasty, but tugs the audience through loops and knots, carefully revealing secrets as it goes. The writing recognizes there is often a fine line between comedy and tragedy and brilliantly moves between the two, so that when tensions are high, it reminds the audience to laugh. The acting is fantastic from leads to supporting cast and "NPCs". It's easy to be engaged with all of them. Liu Yuning is fabulous moving between different roles sometimes on a dime.Was this review helpful to you?
Light Romantic Relationship Drama
This is an adaptation of an early Zhu Yi novel. It's a delightful show, well acted. But really over all the plot narrative is simplistic and there's insufficient character development over all. Hidden Love and First Frost show more depth and growth. This is only a critique. This show is enjoyable and worth watching. And it is worth watching particularly if you are a fan of the other adaptions of Zhu Yi's work.Was this review helpful to you?
Trilling, Compelling and Gorgeous - The Glory
A very richly detailed Revenge drama. From costumes, make-up, music and story, this show is mystery finely layered with elegance and balance. All key characters are multi-dimensional and complex, with individual character arcs that push the story narrative effectively. It keeps the pace and tension effectively balanced so the audience doesn't get too anxious but remain engaged to see what happens next. I particularly loved that the lead characters grow and change in response to events in the plot. They develop from their mistakes and outcomes. Wen Zheng Rong is brilliant and gives a master class in acting as Ruan Xi Wen.Was this review helpful to you?
So much to Love but a Little too Long
This show is gorgeous with incredible cinematography, costume design and is very well acted. You are quickly drawn into the stories of the key characters and supporting cast. It drives the audience to want to know what's going to happen and how the the conflicts are going to resolve. The Antagonists are compelling if mostly one dimensional. Which is probably why the show feels too long. After 30 episodes, the tensions caused by the Antagonists are starting to wear thin and some things feel repetitive but there's still 10 more episodes. Over all, this show would have benefited from tighter story editing to reduce plot elements and use the stronger ones more effectively.Was this review helpful to you?
Fun, Engaging Mystery
Over all this show was fun, engaging with a clever plot that unravels at a good pace.. It doesn't give itself away until it is ready to reveal elements. Particularly enjoyable that it doesn't sacrifice character, especially romantic leads, for cliché plots. Both the Female Lead and Male lead are well developed and acted. The romance element doesn't subsume the story so things unravel naturally and characters develop, learning as things happen. Even the secondary characters have depth and are able to contribute to solving plot points. The only real flaw is that the Villain Lead when revealed feels over the top to the behavior of the character previously and becomes a bit stereotypical.Was this review helpful to you?
Complex Storytelling and Rich Visuals
This is excellent storytelling from all elements. Powerful visual, cinematography, costuming and well matched musical soundtrack. The show has strong storytelling arc with rich layers of intrigue, and tension balanced with just the right amount of comic relief. The complex characters are enhanced by strong acting. The actors are so on point they are able to convey subtext via nuanced facial expressions and body language. The narrative grabs you and keeps you engaged episode by episode so the viewer is desperate to know what happens next and how the story will resolve. Multiple viewings are encouraged to get all the small details and layers of development.Was this review helpful to you?
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