Lizzy

The Best Brother of the Year Award Goes to… Feng Suige!

WOW! What an incredible show! The storytelling was amazing, as was the showcase of all of the different types of relationships that the story had to offer. The relationship between Feng Suige and his younger siblings was one of the (many) highlights of Fated Hearts, and it’s still fresh in my mind upon finishing the story just minutes ago. He cared deeply for his family, cried for his family, and was on the brink of burning the whole damn place down to rescue his sister. I LOVED loved the sibling relationships. I also adored the complicated, dark, edgy relationship Suige had with his father, the Emperor, and some of my favorite scenes were the emotionally charged moments with them. I was engrossed. I also LOVED the relationship between Suige and his dead mother. One of the sweetest scenes was when he introduced Yixiao to his mom in her ancestral hall. Suige cried, Yixiao emoted and I cried. What a speech!

Yet, this show had so many other types of relationships that I was equally invested it. Feng Suige’s brotherhood with his battalion had me tearing up at several points throughout the course of the story. His loyalty towards them, and them to him, was incredibly touching and poignant. Not all family is blood. Sometimes family are those whom you have chosen for yourself.

A lot of people here have spoken at length about the main couple’s romance and I echo all of the sentiments that they were an incredible POWERHOUSE of a team. From being hated enemies, to having mutual respect and then the love - their whole journey had me engaged from beginning to end. They had some of the best scenes, and have risen in rank to one of my favorite TV couples - up there with Xiao Qiao & Wei Shao from The Prisoner of Beauty and Sima Jiao and Tingyan from When Destiny Brings the Demon. While their romance didn’t have as much steam as WDBtD or as TPoB, they had epic fights scenes together fighting side by side. They saved each other often, communicated like adults, and remained devoted to each other to the end.

One of the other things I loved about this show was all of the parallel stories. From Suige and Yixiao having similar wounds around their heart, to the mirrored scenes of them bathing in the hot spring, to the amnesia tropes… brilliant. I also noticed parallels between Suige and XJS - with Suige recognizing that he was heading down the path of hatred and darkness until Yixiao pulled him back up and helped him see her love and the love of his brothers in the Feng Battalion. Contrast that to Prince XJS who also had a difficult life of trauma, who descended into madness and delusion, no matter the love he had from his friends and military brothers. The show also showcased the parallels between the royal families of these two countries and how the sibling relationships saved Feng’s family, but the sibling hatred caused the demise of XJS’s family in the end. There were so many parallels, I am excited to watch this again.

This show was also very heavy on the common Asian themes of children paying for the sins of their parents. There has been some criticism of “shallow” villains, but I didn’t see it that way. While it was hard to understand why some of the villains went to the lengths that they did for revenge, I also recognize that their reasonings were closely linked to that collectivist mindset. It didn’t bother me.

So that basically sums up my deeper thoughts.

I LOVED Suige’s character so so much. He was the perfect blend of a pissed off coldhearted killer to a slightly flustered man catching the feels for Yixiao. His fight scenes were so EPIC. The rage in his face, his FABULOUS costumes while kicking ass and looking like a blood-spattered killer model while doing so. I loved seeing the famed “Killer God of Susha” in action. Muah! 🤌🏻I paid so much attention to his outfits. He was a beautiful, beautiful man. And when the God of War got betrayed or hurt, Chen Zhe Yuan could ACT. The way he emoted through his face, cried, raged - I felt it all. He has been through so much shit and betrayal.

Yixiao was AWESOME!!! 👏🏻 My god when she had her bow and was dancing around enemies kicking ass, shooting arrows, saving her man, looking FABULOUS. Gah. I was INTO IT. Watching her and her now fighting was just 🤌🏻🤌🏻 I cheered so much watching her during the fight scenes. I also appreciated that they developed her trauma and gave her PTSD. She had amazing character development and the perfect blend of crying beautifully during sad moments, being compassionate, and then kicking ass at other times.

So in terms of cons 🤷🏼‍♀️ I dunno. Maybe it dragged a little for a few episodes later on. I don’t know how much I was into the whole plot at Jinxiu with the CRAZY royal family and Suige’s sister. Maybe I think that that whole side plot could have been different or developed better. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I think also the OST was too loud, and music was alwaaaaaays playing. I perhaps wouldn’t have minded as much, but when there were words in the ost AND dialogue happening at the same time, IQIYI’s subtitles encroached halfway up the screen which was incredibly annoying at times. Other than that, this show was perfect. The greatness of this one made the flaws easy for me to overlook. Highly recommend!!!

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Wasted potential.

Full disclosure: I made it until halfway through episode 10 before I called it quits. I started this drama having high hopes for a love story of a married couple whose relationship is on the verge of divorce, them rediscovering the reasons why they used to love each other, rediscovering their attraction to each other and then painfully working through the issues that tore them apart in the first place. By episode 10, the leads were divorced. Thus far they hadn’t any deep, vulnerable conversations about that went wrong in their marriage, they both spent the last 10 episodes doing the same dance of not communicating, having moments of attraction to each other, and then dismissing them and deflecting. Their scenes, although they started off good in the first couple episodes, quickly became repetitive - like a hamster wheel with no forward movement.

This story had so much potential. I would have loved to see the main leads figuring out together how to navigate her shitty family situation, with the ML from a small farming village, marrying a wealthy heiress, and then feeling trapped in this prestigious family who completely controlled his life, his job and their marriage. I would have loved to see more development on how the FL was drawn to this innocent, upright small town man who was far removed from the kind of life she lived, and to see more of that dynamic with the pressures she was under as the heiress to this major conglomerate. I would have loved to see them explore how she has to be ruthless and cold and distant in order to survive in her world, and with such a family that she had. I would have loved to see the leads process the loss of their child, how differently they each handled grief, and how their difficulties in grieving together and was what began creating that rift in their marriage. I would have loved more emphasis on her and her husband’s journey with her terminal cancer. I would have loved more dialogue, more of a character-driven story.

Instead, all of the elements that drew me to this show in the first place got swallowed up by a menagerie of less interesting, inconsistent side characters, side plots, and filler scenes with characters I didn’t give a shit about. Her powerful, controlling family turned into a joke. The FL’s cancer diagnosis as of episode 10 felt more like an afterthought, basically just accepted by the leads and not really emphasized much. Oh, but there was some psychopathic, possessive SML who cared more about the FL dying than her own spouse. Instead of open and honest communication with the leads, we had episode upon episode of refusing to communicate, misunderstandings, pushing each other away and basically nothing getting talked through or resolved.

Perhaps these issues would have been addressed in the last six episodes, but with the leads having maybe 10-15% of the total screen time in each other’s presence (and hardly satisfying scenes at that), the hope for more resolution and better development between them stopped being worth the other 85% of filler BS with all the other side shit going on.

The show should have stuck to the simplicity of a love story between these two complex people whose love for each other over the years has been impacted by grief, controlling in-laws, fame, social status, societal pressure and differences in socioeconomic backgrounds.

The two stars I did give were solely due to the great acting with the leads.

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One of my absolute favorites!!

If I were to grab a shovel and try to dig up some flaws with this show, sure I may dig up a few pebbles. Was the plot repetitive? Sure. Sima Jiao was the shit. Everyone either wanted to imprison him, harvest his special blood or kill him because he consistently overpowers and outsmarts all of you lesser bitches. That’s basically the plot. Was the ending a little rushed? Sure. Do I wish we had a few more episodes in the mortal world and in the modern world? Absolutely (also who wouldn’t???). Was there some issues with pacing sometimes? Yeah, okay.

But the strengths of this show far, far outweigh any issues that snobby critics may come with. This main couple quickly rose in ranks to my top 1-3 favorite romances of all Asian shows I have ever watched (and I watch a lot). Their chemistry, the complementary nature of their personalities and the sheer amount of screen time they had together - all created this ultimate powerhouse of a couple. We were blessed with SO MANY sensual kisses, intimate touches, poetic dialogue, soulful gazes, powerful teamwork and open communication. No serious love triangles, no annoying incidences of noble idiocrisy or dragged out miscommunication. Conflict was resolved quickly, the amnesia subplots moved forward at a good pace with lovely soulful angst thanks to the writing and acting. It’s a total feast for us lovers of romance.

The ML also became one of my most favorite MLs of all time as well. Arthur Chen’s portrayal of Sima Jiao was flawless. His ability to just emote SO MUCH emotion through his eyes and through his intimate touches had me feeling all of the feels right alongside him. His ability to seamlessly shift from a dark, cold, ruthless, vindictive and wrathful god into a traumatized, tender, sensual, smiley, cute, vulnerable and enamored man in love with the FL showcased Arthur’s incredible range of abilities. Sima Jiao was beautifully complex. He was able to shed a single tear with the FL in one moment and completely annihilate anyone who threatened them in the next moment coldly and without batting an eye. The best part about all of this is that although Sima Jiao got fantastic character development he never lost the parts of himself that we loved the most. He never lost his dark edge, his powerful aura or his stoic exterior (except when he’s with our FL, of course). He remains delightfully consistent throughout the show in spite of the growth.

And our FL is the perfect balance to his personality. The yang to his yin. Carefree, nonjudgmental, empathetic, unassuming, easy-going, go with the flow type of gal. Although she sometimes disagreed with the ML’s methods or asked him not to do certain things, she never tried to change him. She never had a judgmental attitude toward his edgy darkness, but rather grew to understand that it was rooted in 500 years of physical torture and torment, trauma, and sadistic generational oppression against his kind. Her light brought out his innate goodness, and his dark edge also allowed her to connect with those parts of herself as well. And although sometimes I think her refusal to kill others was taken too far at times (seriously, they oppressed and tortured our ML since birth, did some other horrendous shit and will literally kill you now if you don’t kill them first), she did get some good development as well as the story progressed without losing her essence.

What I also loved about this drama was the development of the three major arcs throughout the show. The ML was the unstoppable, always-saving badass while she was developing her skills in the first arc, the second arc brought them to more of an equal footing in power, and in the final arc the roles were reversed and she protected him and held the power. In a parallel way, the first arc was about the main leads developing the foundation of their love for each other together, the second arc was all about the ML lovingly pursuing the FL, and then we got to see her chase after him for a bit in the final arc. We got it all, guys. This show was wonderful. I think it will be a while before I get hooked on another story in the way that this one captivated me.

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Good story, but the execution of plot could have been better.

So as some of you know, I have been complaining on the forums about parts of this show. A lot of people loved the last third of the show, whereas I found that stretch to be the weakest part in a lot of ways. I picked up SL right on the heels of another Cdrama that near topped the list of my favorite Asian dramas of all the time. That was my first mistake, as all of the things I loved about that one - the transparent communication and honesty, lack of love triangles and possessive third wheels, how the amnesia subplots were handled with the right amount of angst balanced with mutual affection - all only served to highlight all of the shortcomings in the last part of Shadow Love. Secrets were kept that did not need to be, secrets that had serious implications for the person that they were being kept from. It seemed like lies were told to just create more needless drama, information was withheld from each other “just because”. Especially in the last several episodes, soooo much of the drama could have been prevented if the leads just communicated honestly with each other. Both of them were prominent military leaders who have stared death in the face multiple times - why are y’all acting so immaturely? But what helped make up for the flaws a little bit was the fact that most of them were eventually addressed. The ML didn’t get off the hook for the horrible crap he did to the FL when he was losing / had lost his memories. He didn’t get off the hook for keeping the fact that he regained his memories of her a secret. I appreciated that, but it still doesn’t take away from how much stuff could have been prevented if they had just acted more like adults.

And I was very disappointed with the FL during the last stretch as well. She should have told Prince Annan who he was after he lost his memories of her completely, especially when he asked her directly, and I will die on this hill. He had the right to know who he was during the last year. It was HIS life, and with him being the prince, there were SERIOUS implications for him also being Jin An and the masked man. Her keeping that a secret and then later LYING to his face about it robbed him of his autonomy and his right to choose what to do with that information. It does not matter if he would have believed her or not. It was still his right to know and she took that from him. And what happened shortly after? The bitch Empress sprung that information on him as a weapon in front of all of his officials, catching him completely off guard and humiliating him. Like I said, so much of the silly drama could have been prevented if they had just acted like adults and communicated.

Other complaints- the memory loss of Shuang, and remembering his real identify could have been better. It was confusing, but the show had it seem like Jin An remembered his love for Shuang AND remembered that her father supposedly killed his brother when he was the prince, so he then proceeded to secretly plot the assassination of Shuang’s father at his birthday banquet with her right there… after telling her he loved her and wanted to be with her for life. He then tried to literally murder the FL’s dad in front of her. And then told her he loved her afterwords in the woods. What???? I get others have said that his memory was in and out during that time, and that’s fair, but it could have been better. How about we have him completely lose his memories of Shuang prior to the bday banquet, then have Shuang find him and be like “Hey my dads banquet is tonight” and for him to be like, “Oh, I can take advantage of this situation and kill this woman’s dad.” You get the gist. It didn’t sit with me at all having his surprise assassination attempt on his girlfriend’s beloved father sandwiched between two love confessions.

Oh, and the love triangle was annoying. There was a possessive third wheel and it felt like the FL was sending him a little bit of mixed signals until she set her firm boundaries later. Ugh. Even then he couldn’t take no for an answer and it took him waaay to long to pull his head out of his ass 🙃

Regardless, this show was enjoyable and I will probably rewatch it. The chemistry was great with the leads, the ML was delicious to watch shift in and out of his different personas. I missed the gorgeous silver-haired ninja man the last chunk of the show, though. We also didn’t get enough blood sharing scenes (tragedy). And despite my beef with Prince Annan, he was 🤌🏻 👌🏻to look at. Honestly this is probably a show that I will like more the second time around. I probably missed some of the nuances that other viewers have seen, and now that I know the big picture I may enjoy it more when I rewatch it.

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Started off great…

LOVED the first part SO MUCH! LOVED the ML, who stole the show. I was willing to tolerate the annoying af love triangle, the childishness of the FL, the contrived addition of her friend into the latter half of the show… I was really into it until she was taken to the ML’s realm… and then it became too angsty and riddled with drama with very little payoff and reprieve. If you love the angst and sadness, this one should be right up your alley. It wasn’t for me, unfortunately. I needed more pockets of happiness, more cuteness and fluff. It also didn’t help that we did not get any sort of payoff for the angst in the end. While it was a happy ending, it lasted like ten seconds.

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Very sweet, too many lies / secrets

A great story! LOTS of skinship, decent kisses and good emotional intimacy. The leads had great chemistry and talent for acting. My complaints about the show are mostly about how the lying / secrets ultimately came to a head. You start off seeing the ML as a ruthless guy, blatantly using the FL’s amnesia for his own agenda (he doesn’t coerce her to sex or anything though, quite the opposite). Then you start watching him catch the feels and damn, you understand why it became so difficult for him to just be honest with her. You really felt his inner turmoil, but the hole he dug for himself was already miles deep. I also understood him to a degree, with his desire to retreat to this fairytale away from the palace drama / scheming. Unfortunately… then it just dragged. He kept digging this pit of lies, pressured his friends to keep his deception a secret, and missed so many opportunities to just rip the bandaid off and come clean. Then it gets really uncomfortable and annoying when she recovers her memories, realizes that he’s been lying to her, and then decides to keep all of that a secret from him for a plan to take revenge on him. So it all culminates to a wonderful scene where they part ways… And then I became a little bit disappointed with how they handled his groveling / pursuit of her until they reunite. I wish there was a little more angst and less humor during these episodes. I wanted a bit more begging on his part, more sadness and more of a heartfelt (maybe even tearful) and remorseful apology. We did get a few good scenes, and he does apologize eventually, but I wish we saw more of the remorse from him.

Other things- man, I wish we got more of our leads battling together! The scene we did get was AMAZING, but I wish we had more teamwork badassery with the leads.

In other comments - the new empress was an AMAZING character. She may have been my favorite. Loved her relationship with the emperor.

So yeah- great show!

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That kiss ??

Yeah so this is a great show for easy, light viewing. If you’re looking for a show that’s emotionally easy to watch, not much plot, and a LOT of fluff then I would recommend this one. It just wasn’t for me. I wanted there to be a bit more angst - I wanted them to develop the impact of the FL’s emotionally abusive relationship more than they did. Alas, the most interesting part of the show lasted maybe 4-5 episodes and then it was done.

What I loved most about the show was the soundtrack! It was SO GOOD. Especially during that kissing scene! It was one of the best filmed kisses I’ve seen because of the way they shot it and because of the PERFECT song they chose to go along with it. 🔥Other producers need to take note on how to build passion within the bounds of the censorship. There were no curtains / veils, no bring lights blinding the view, and yet it was insanely sensual. That scene, oddly enough, was the best part of the show for me haha. The cinematography was also lovely, but the music was a big plus for me.

Other than that, I got annoyed often. I work in the healthcare field myself, so it drove me NUTS all of the times the doctors volunteered patient health information to individuals wholly unrelated to the patient. I wanted to pull my hair out several times during this show trying to understand if this is normal practice in China. Taking pictures of child patients to send to your girlfriend? Sending patient names to your girlfriend via texting? Allowing an abusing exboyfriend to barge into your office uninvited during an appointment with your patient to whom he was abusive? Letting him stay during her treatment? I mean and the whole premise is a doctor - patient romantic relationship. It was wild watching this show through the lens of being a U.S. healthcare worker. 🤦🏼‍♀️

But yeah, this is one to watch if you’re looking for some easygoing viewing. I preferred The First Frost due to the darker undertones of abuse and healing. I think there was also more chemistry between the leads in that one overall, because of having more substance to the story.

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Here comes the smolder…

This is a great show for folks who consider themselves introverted and socially awkward and terrible at making conversation 😂 I loved this one a lot. It’s about two strangers who meet and have instant attraction (thanks for normalizing that btw), but then they have to figure out how to get to know each other 😂 It was so incredibly endearing to me, and it gave me all of the butterflies. Others called it cringe, but not me! I loooved their chemistry and awkwardness as they bonded over dining out and attempts at small talk. They did grow more at ease with each other over time, and I loved their relationship. If two people who are attracted to each other, but struggle making small talk doesn’t sound like something you’d have fun watching 15 episodes of, then don’t watch ✌🏻

This was a great show to break up the intensity of high stakes shows, or if you’re struggling with a hangover from a show that had you in a chokehold. This one is slooooooowww paced with a simple plot. It’s relaxing, like a gentle breeze or a bubbling creek. Not much angst, no dragged out drama or miscommunications, no breakups; just pure chemistry, skinship and an older ML (by six years) who is sensual as hell and can set a brick on fire with his smoldering gazes. He’ll wrap you up in an all-encompassing hug, cocoon your face into his chest with his hand and gently kiss the top of your head. He’ll gently stroke your hair, whisper into your ear, and absentmindedly fidget with the hem of your sweater. The next moment he’ll press your body against a refrigerator and nuzzle your ear in pure, barely restrained lust and desire 👀;

…

ANNYYYWHOOO. And the crazy thing is that we actually did not get really any steamy make-out scenes or intimacy scenes on screen *grumbles*. But why does it feel like I watched an incredibly sensual show? I had to break my own tension that their chemistry created by getting up to get a snack or taking breaks 🤣

So yah my mind is probably 52.6% in the gutter, so I might as well talk about another important piece of the show, and that’s all of the gorgeous Chinese men in form-fitting formalwear holding cue sticks and showing off their physiques by leaning over billiard tables. Trust me when I say that you don’t need to give a f about billiards to enjoy this show. But you DO need to give a f about Leo Wu, Wang Xing Yue, Chen Jing Ke and Zhao Jin Mai wearing button up dress shirts, vests, and very… nicely fitted dress pants *ahem*. So I’m probably like 84.7% in the gutter now. Might as well just bring me some snacks and leave me here.

Sigh.

Other things of note. All of the bromance in this show is MWAH 🤌🏻 Loved LOVED the FL’s brother (Xing Yue). Loved her brother’s friendship with the ML. Loved Chen Jing Ke’s character. AAAALLL OF THE FRIENDSHIPS 🫶🏻 Loved the family love, both the FL’s family and the ML’s chosen family. Everyone’s cool. No drama.

Honestly, that’s all I got from this show. I zoned out for most of the billiards stuff because 🥱 🤷🏼‍♀️ Unless they were in their suits. Then I tuned in more. All of the English speaking pulled me out of the show here and there (it’s not the worst I’ve seen, but it’s still not great). The FL was too shy about the physical intimacy and kissing for my liking after dating him for OVER TWO YEARS, but hey- that’s her right. BUT COME ON GIRL. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I get that she’s six years younger than the guy, but she did act a lot younger than her chronological age which was a little annoying sometimes. 🫩She was between 21 & 24 years old and acted like she was like 12. Bless the ML, though. He was patient and respectful of her boundaries and was an overall saint. A mature, sexy, sensual, affectionate saint.

So there you go. This is my review. Thanks for reading. 🫶🏻

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In a word- eandearing

So let’s just first address the fact that this is a harem drama with the ML beginning the show with several wives. I initially put this show on hold for this reason, but after taking a break from a string of more intense shows, I decided to pick this one up. I’m glad I did. The reality of it is that having multiple wives was the cultural norm, and that marriage was rarely about love. Regardless of this, the show did a great job of both showing the reality of life for women who lived during the era of harems and concubines while also catering to what appeals to the audience. It was not long into the show when it became clear that the ML, bound by a sense of duty and filial piety, was guilted and manipulated into these marriages. While there may have been a faint glimmer of affection with his first “main wife”, who died early on, it was clear that he harbored no love for his other wives. He buried himself in work and avoided his home and the scheming women that needed to use whatever underhanded means necessary to gain status in the house. Some have criticized the ML for this because he had sired two sons, but I cannot say that I blame him. Which men don’t become workaholics in order to avoid unhappiness and strife in their home? He also gets called out for his neglect of them later on and is held accountable. For those of you who are hesitant simply due to this being a harem drama, it honestly was not as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. There was one concubine in particular who was terribly awful and villainous, but the ML ignores pretty much all of his concubines throughout the show and develops a romance with our FL, who takes his late main wife’s place as matron of the family. The ML does not harbor feelings towards anyone else, and he does not sleep with any of his concubines during the duration of the show. He does, however, have two sons at the start. And a little spoiler alert- he doesn’t have any concubines by the end of the show.

All that aside, I LOVED the slooooowww burn romance with the leads. I love the “love comes after marriage” trope and this show did it well. The ML, tired of the schemes and being surrounded by people who only wanted to use him for their own agendas, assumed the FL was no different… until he began to notice that she didn’t participate in the scheming, she didn’t get caught up in petty power struggles, and she didn’t not care whether or not he liked her or not. It was incredibly endearing watching the ML catch the feels for our gal, and doing the dance of pursuing her while also respecting the fact that she takes a lot longer to fall for him and initially resists his advances. The age gap between the two shined, as he was much older and had experience *ahem* (I love me a good age gap with an experienced man 👌🏻) It was endearing watching her begin to get flustered and begin to fall for him as well. The angst between them was believable and well done, and it was AWESOME seeing our gal chase after him after she severely hurt his feelings and unintentionally betrayed his trust while pursuing her agenda. It takes a looooong time for them to iron out their individual differences and get on the same page. I also wish they had a liiiiiiittle bit more screen time. When they finally do learn to communicate and acknowledge their feelings, we are blessed bed cuddles, a bit of pillow talk, and more skinship. I wish there was more, though. Sadly, after they got together they got a lot less screen time. I missed the romance a little.

Although this is a drama concubines and scheming women, it also showcases the awesomeness of women without being preachy. The FL is basically the Chinese version of Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice (actually this whole show could be compared to Jane Austen). She’s astute, confident in most areas, and overcomes the scheming with kindness and assertiveness. She maintains boundaries and holds her own, and wins over the hearts of almost everyone. It showcases how other women needed to backstab, compete and claw for status in a culture that is so oppressive towards them. Even the most hateful female characters have their glimmers humanity, and my most hated character felt more human at the end of her story arc.

In terms of complaints, well, there are a few. I had to suspend my disbelief at several points during this show with very conveniently placed pieces of evidence as the FL is investigating the murder of her mother a year after she died. At times the plot was inconsistent, probably with how scenes were cut. The show probably could have concluded in less than 45 episodes. I wish there was a little bit more screen time with the leads, especially after they acknowledged their feelings for each other. We didn’t get as many scenes of them after they “got together”. And if it wasn’t already clear from the synopsis, this show probably won’t be for you if you can’t stand plots centered around scheming and power struggles, and villains who are bitchy, entitled and don’t take responsibility. Oh, and the mother in law isn’t great either lol. Her character made a dramatic shift in the last bit of the show, almost unrealistically.

So if a Chinese version of a Jane Austen novel sounds like your cup of tea, I encourage you to give this one a try.

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Very Sweet

I’m very late getting to this show, so I am just going to echo what a lot of others have already said. This show is very character-driven with very little plot, so if that’s not what you’re after then you may want to pass on this one. The main couple’s relationship overshadowed everything else, which was both a positive and negative. I had no investment in the second couple or the other side characters due to the main romance stealing the show, and I often zoned out or fast forwarded the scenes that didn’t include the leads. I tried to get into the other stories, but as the main romance developed I found myself getting annoyed when their story was interrupted by the things less interesting.

The chemistry with the leads was delightfully wonderful, from the distant awkwardness in the beginning to the unguarded love and affection for each other at the end. All of their scenes had me in tunnel vision, feeling all of the emotions and pain. It was such a wonderful payoff seeing Sang Yan find so much joy and happiness in the end. To get acknowledgement for all of the quiet caring he did for her behind the scenes. I especially loved how he quietly took care of Yifan without making her feel like a burden. How he maintained distance, respected her space / boundaries, and indirectly took care of her. BJT did a great job walking the line of feeling incredibly hurt and guarded from when she devastated him in the past, while also still remaining constant in his love for her. The tension between those two emotions was palpable in his subtle facial expressions and his eyes. Very, very well done. And he never once punished her for hurting him. I loved how with the intimacy and skinship he kept it light and playful in the beginning, allowing her to move at her own pace. He had this brilliant knack for phrasing his “jokes” about affection / intimacy in such a way as to keep her in the position of power and control. After their romantic relationship became more secure, he took the reins more often. “It’s time to repay that debt.” 🔥❤️‍🔥THAT SCENE. They had a lot of them. It was amazing. 👏🏻 He set the bar for boyfriends pretty damn high.

Yifan was also incredible to watch as well. Her guardedness, social awkwardness and fearfulness was masterfully portrayed. Gosh, it was so hard watching her life her life without connectedness and keeping distance from everyone, even her few friends. She cried beautifully, and depicted the psychological damage of trauma very accurately. It was wonderful seeing her come out of her shell, smile more, take more initiative with skinship and intimacy, and find herself in a place where she was able to receive love from others. The idea that people need to heal from their trauma on their own is nonsense. People heal from trauma by experiencing the opposite messages that they received from the people who hurt them. Just as all trauma happens within the context of relationships, so does the healing. It was all very well done.

I loved the music in this show, and despite the darker elements of abuse and abandonment, I found the show to be relaxing to watch most of the time.

The reason I couldn’t give this one a 10 was because of the lack of investment in the side plots, but also there was one thing that the writers did later on in the show that totally derailed Yifan’s character development. If you have watched it, you’ll know. There were SO MANY ways that the whole situation could have been handled better, but the storytellers settled on extreme character regression with the FL. It was SO disappointing! However, the crap lasted only a few episodes and then it was like it never happened. I wish they allowed Sang Yan to be mad about it, but they did not. If I could have ignored that horrible character regression, this would have been a perfect show. Why, writers, why? 🙄 Regardless, I recommend this one if you like a sloooooooooooowwwwww burn romance, character-driven story, and great chemistry.

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Issues with FL and some of the plot

This show would have been a total 10 were it not for my difficulties getting over the FL’s treatment of the ML a couple of times during the show. I also did not like at all the reason why we had a happy ending, and who we had to thank for it. There was an annoying love triangle as well… Regardless, the ML was a dream. We had a LOT of skinship, cuddles, kisses and sneaking into each others bedrooms. We were also spoiled with the sheer amount of screen time that the main leads had. This is one I may rewatch at some point in the future, but the disappointment with the writing is pretty strong. What was shaping up to be one of my favorite dramas ended up being a letdown in a few ways.

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Awesome!

GREAT show!!! Wished for a bit less of a slow burn romance (we waited foreeeeever for them to make it official), but the amount of scenes they had throughout the show made up for a lot of it. I wish that they didn’t drag out the reunion in the last third of the show like they did, as it kinda killed the momentum and wasn’t as climactic as I would have liked. Yeah, the poor CGI pets were a little distracting, and some of the show was campy af, but this is one I would watch again. The CHEMISTRY between the leads OMG 🔥 I could watch some of their scenes on repeat. The fighting was epic. The music was epic. The special effects were epic… and the character development was great for the most part. The leads were a great blend of each being badass and independent, but there was also a lot of saving each other. And this has been the first show in a while that had me tearing up near the end. With some smaller changes this would have been 10/10.

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Great Story, Too Preachy

9/10 stars! At times it felt a little preachy and in your face with the Ra Ra Girl Power!, when I wish they would have cut out the cheesy speeches that felt out of place and instead let their characters tell the story through their actions. They didn’t need all of the speeches about feminism and equality, because they were already doing an excellent job conveying those themes through their storytelling and through their characters. It felt unnecessarily force-fed, which pulled me out of the story quite a bit during the middle part. Like I was already eating it up, so why feel the need to push it down my throat?

There were a handful of silly filler-y episodes in the middle, the ending was a bit rushed (pretty normal for cdramas), and I think the lying / secrets dragged on way too long (especially because he knew she was lying, and she knew that he wasn’t buying her lies). Also the (sort of) love triangle got a little annoying a few times, but as someone who will drop shows because of love triangles I was able to grudgingly tolerate this one.

It’s also a sloooooooow burn. Goodness. I mean it was clear from early on that the mutual connection was there, but damn, why make us wait as long as you did for the confession and the kisses? There were many great places earlier in the show to allow their relationship to progress, but for some reason they insisted on keeping the lying and the secrets dragging on and on, past what I thought would have been many natural places for the honesty.

Regardless, this is one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time and the positives far outweigh the negatives. I loved all of the wonderful screen time with our ML and FL! I loved that they saved each other many times and that there was mutual respect. Talk about a Green Light ML! 😍 I am also thankful that they didn’t push the feminism agenda to the point where she was never allowed to be rescued by the ML. It was truly an equal relationship with two badasses who were both capable and saved each other. Their fight scenes were a delight to watch 🔥 UGH. And the romance! The ML gave the most beautifully poetic romantic lines. Well done!

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Not enough couple screen time

Soooo I wish our leads had more screen time. There was literally only one on-screen kiss in the entire show! (The other one doesn’t count!) And there was very little skinship. The scenes they had were wonderful and filled with chemistry, but there just was not enough of them. I wish their agendas intersected more, and that we got to see them doing more things together. Sadly, we only had one episode of them actually investigating something together. Other than that they did their own thing. I also wish the ML got more scenes with his hair down 🔥 🔥 🔥 (or just more scenes of him in general). Other small criticisms - there was not a lot of variety with the costumes. I also wish the show focused a little less on the plot and more on developing the relationships. I would have liked to see more of the Duke’s friendship with the Emperor, more relationship development with the main couple that wasn’t centered on them asking each other for favors, etc. Maybe I’ve just been trying to find another show like Prisoner of Beauty with little luckkk.

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It was all right..

I think overall I liked Pillow Book a little better. The constant lying, keeping secrets, not communicating and dragging out the drama over practically the whole show got to me the most with this one. And unlike Pillow Book, we didn’t get a whopping 20 minute scene where they tell each other everything during cuddles. There was a LOT more angst in this one than in Pillow Book and it felt like we ultimately got less payoff / rewards for the sadness that we (and the characters) endured. There was also a LOT of annoying, possessive, scheming jealousy by a couple of the side characters who just could not take no for an answer.

That being said, the acting in this one by the ML was phenomenal! That man could emote through his eyes like nothing I have seen. I LOVE the lusty and angsty kisses we got, that beautiful hair draping over his shoulders, that jawline… how lovely he looks when he cries… sigh. Some of the best scenes in the Cdramas I’ve watched were in this one and I have been watching a few of them on repeat. Give that man a reward 🔥 His character had depth, and despite his passionate love toward the FL, he made some devastating mistakes with heavy consequences. That stretch of the show, his redemption arc, was my favorite.

Outside of the complaints I listed in the beginning, this was a good show.

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