AnneT

Watched it for the crazy emperor and princess xiyang (second half of season)

I watched a condensed version on youtube that just has the second couple's scenes, and was riveted from the start! Their story and their acting were top notch and I enjoyed the love triangle with the brother Xia Jingshi.

Their relationship was messy, abusive, and toxic but interestingly, the Princess matched the Emperor's freak and wouldn't back down. I have their scenes (all 7 of them) on rewatch, and I couldn't take my eyes off them! They said more with their eyes and actions than with their words. There is even humor to the dying end.

Qin Tianyu, the actor who played the emperor won a Wenrong breakthrough acting award for his acting in this role and I look forward to seeing him in more meaty roles in the future! He totally earned it.

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Interesting premise and characters ruined by cheesy and cringy script that is all over the place.

The ML is portrayed by Liu Xueyi, who delivers a solid performance as usual (in spite of being handed a dud of a script). He seems to have a knack for portraying powerful, cold, no-nonsense jerks with hearts of gold.

The first 15-19 episodes were okay with the ex-bf and the ML vying for the FL. Although the FL can see through her ex-bf's machinations, she is indecisive about what to do about it, which gets annoying. Regardless, she is drop-dead gorgeous and watchable for that reason.

After the main leads get together, the series starts to really drag.

The FL becomes immature and whiny. She's also a horrible cook, a fact that doesnt bother me but the script seems to like to show again and again - even the ML is a better cook! The only redeeming quality is that she's easy on the eyes. Towards the end though, even her posturing and fake, cutesy voice started grating on my nerves, and I had to ff the remainder of the series. I didn't even bother with the 2FL and 2ML side stories.

Tl;dr - Eye candy couldn't save this dog of a storyline!

Overall rating: 1.5. They should have ended it after the first arc ended.

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Like 500 days of summer, except ML gets the girl in the end

This is the best modern-day romance CDRAMA so far that I've seen, although I think the title should have been 白月光 （The One that Got Away). The acting, the visual appeal of the leads, the sound/music, cinematography and production quality is at a whole other level entirely compared to other cdramas (especially compared to Hidden Love, the prequel to this story and from the same universe).

Heavily influenced by Taiwanese filmmaking and directed by a veteran Taiwanese director, this series uses an ingenious set of flashbacks as a plot device to tell the childhood love story of the two main leads, Sang Yan and Wen Yifan (WYF) from the female lead's perspective: when they first met, how their relationship develops throughout high school and college, followed by the present when they meet again 6 years later. The end scenes of each episode also show flashbacks from the present and sometimes include the same scene from the ML's perspective. It's from his perspective that the audience realizes early on how much he's been secretly pining for her all along and how he hopes she will come back to him. Even as he acts brusque and aloof to the FL, he secretly yearns for her and does everything he can to stay within her orbit and protect her even as he waits for her to come around to him (he even set up his bar to wait for her).

My favorite arc was the first 10 episodes when they meet each other after being apart for 6 years and become roommates. Their awkwardness as they hide their feelings for each other is both heartwarming and heartbreaking as they inch towards a reconciliation and then more. Her sleepwalking becomes the catalyst that brings them closer together as it reveals her true feelings for him, something she doesn't have the courage to express to him initially (when in truth she had moved back for him). (Sang Yan's sister asks WYF if she ever loved him in high school and she confesses to her that she did, something that must have given Sang Yan further hope that reconciliation was possible).

Eventually they get back together, and my favorite scene (besides the finale with the tender proposal scene and final flashback) is in episode 31 when Wen Yifan tearfully confesses to Sang Yan that she regrets leaving him alone for 6 years and wants to make it up to him by living for 6 more years without him so she can live through the pain he experienced. Rarely do you see FLs apologizing for their actions in a relationship, and her opening up and confiding in him was really a sign of growth and maturity for her character. Sang Yan is very moved by what she says and suggests that she can pay him back in their next lives.

In episode 31, the first flashback of when they first met is repeated, this time from the ML's perspective, and the audience realizes that Sang Yan fell in love with WYF from the moment he laid eyes on her (WYF doesn't know this) and that his aloofness and cockiness had always just been an act. (As his best friend, Su Haoan says, Sang Yan may seem tough on the outside but is actually very vulnerable and easily hurt, while WYF seems vulnerable on the outside but is actually very strong and resilient. )

The soundtrack was released before the cdrama and it has some incredible songs on it, including my favorite from the Taiwanese band, Crispy Band: 雨滴中有你 (There Is You Amidst Raindrops). Other standouts include: 任性 (Willful) by Taiwanese band: 五月天 (Mayday) - Sang Yan's theme song, 像晴天像雨天 (Like A Sunny Day, Like A Rainy Day) by 汪苏泷 (Silence Wang), 看着我 (Look At Me) by 严艺丹, 只在今夜 (Serenade) by 毛不易, My Dear by 张洢豪, 倔强 (Stubborn) by 陈珊妮

Overall rating: 9.5/10 - I deducted for the boring side plots like the annoying news intern and grandpa Su and 2ML/2FL romance that weren't really interesting or relevant to the main storyline and for 32 episodes that could easily have been cut in to half that number had the series focused solely on the story of the two main leads.

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Not as bad as everyone says it is

I binged this season over the course of 5 hours. Here's what I loved about this new season:

The mood, acting and games - I love this series for the vibe and the music and the third season delivered. While the games were more drawn out, I liked the fact they were more team oriented and showed side stories of the minor characters playing the games. It made me care more about them. The games were also more interesting this time. I also liked seeing cameos of the characters from Season 2 (in the last episode).

What I disliked: **SPOILERS AHEAD**

First, I disliked how Usagi just goes off with a virtual stranger (Ryuji) and leaves Arisu behind. It felt like she was cheating on Arisu (and clearly Arisu felt the same). If it wasn't for the fact that she was already pregnant and Ryuji died, I think their marriage would have been on the rocks... They could have tweaked this premise easily by having her think her dad WAS in the Borderland all along and that she went back because she wanted to rescue him! I also wanted to see her turn against Ryuji when she realized he'd lied to her. It would have made for interesting game dynamics esp. in the last game. Instead she never knew he pulled a gun on her and that his intent was to kill her.

Now for Episode 6: Banda's death, the flood, the Watchman instead of the Joker??? After the buildup of Banda vs Arisu, the Watchman just lasers Banda? So anticlimactic. And after all the hype about the Joker, there was NO final boss game against the Joker or the Joker blimp crashing in flames. I felt ripped off.

The final, flood scene dragged on forever when it could have been cut down to 5 min (the final episode was 90 minutes long and this last scene took up at least 20 minutes).

I really did not like the fact that Netflix clearly is trying to move the series to America and continue it with teasers for a season 4 of Alice in Borderland (this time with a waitress in California, named "Alice").

Up until Episode 6, I would still rate the season 3 highly, an 8.5 out of 10.

The last episode was more of a 6 and draggy, especially the last 30 minutes. (It was the only time I considered dropping an episode in this otherwise wonderful series!)

Overall, season 3 is still not bad, it's mostly episode 6 that feels off.

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Good cast, good script, fast pacing - what's not to love?

BEST CDRAMA I've seen so far! My top 1 of my top 3 list. Run, don't walk to see this. If you only see one cdrama ever in your life, this is the one. First off, the pacing is faster than the normal cdrama, which makes it almost on par with western movies. and the leads: Zhao Jinmai and Bai Jingting are absolutely convincing in their earnest attempts to save all the passengers. (I predict both will have long careers ahead of them and are the future of Chinese cinema.)

The suspense feels real as does the frustration of the leads in having to repeat the cycle again and again. (Some loops are unintentionally laugh out loud funny as they try different approaches to save passengers on the bus only to get thwarted), They could have reduced the number of time loop cycles but you start to root for them and then feel as frustrated as they must feel as they repeatedly fail to stop the bomb on the bus from going off, which is both riveting and heartbreaking.

You also learn the side stories of the passengers on the fated bus, even that of the perpetrators which are funny and sad at times. For once their side stories are interesting and not filler and they make you root for every passenger on the doomed bus (even the motive for the criminal masterminds is explained in a way that makes their pain relatable). The Police Chief and his crew as side characters get a lot of screen time and serve a dual purpose in helping to promote the police department in China!

This drama needs to be seen by more international audiences. Netflix would do well to pick up this series over another costume period piece.

Overall rating: 9.5/10

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Hilarious

Started watching this variety show because Liu Xueyi was one of the regulars but continued watching for the witty interactions between the actors and singers as they competed in silly games for lunch money and prizes.

Favorite celebrities on the show besides LXY, included Shen Yue, Xia Zhiguang and Yue Yunpeng (especially in episode 7!).
(I also found some of the celebs really annoying, especially Wang Feng, Sha Yi, Ji Ling Chen, and Shang Xiaoju.) The cheaters also got their backsides handed to them in subsequent episodes.

While the participants outsmarted and often renegotiated the rules of the games and tried to cheat, the directors often rolled with them and captured the celebs' funny and improvised interactions with one another - which seemed to be the whole point of the show. It made the show very funny and watchable.

The funniest episodes: 8, 7, first part of epi 9, 1 and 2.

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Watch it all the way through before judging this one! (Don't skip or you may miss key plotpoints!)

This is my first cdrama and definitely still the best costume period cdrama in my opinion. The two main leads are gorgeous, and their natural acting and the lush visuals and production quality of the series is better than any other costume cdrama I've seen before and is what got me interested in watching cdramas in the first place.

This is not a conventional romance. It's about political intrigue first. There is a huge revenge arc for 2/3rd of the series but for the remaining half of the series, it is about fate and bad choices and star-crossed lovers who never seem to catch a break. The ending is a sad one but so meaningful for the protagonist and changes him for the better.

Liu Xueyi as Murong Jinghe steals every scene he shows up in and is in his best role yet as a sinister, unhinged, disillusioned prince. He looks amazing in period costume long hair and makeup and the camera seems to eat him up. He oozes a non-chalant sex appeal and the commanding presence of someone who is supremely confident in his abilities and his power over others.

Wu Jinyan matches him beat for beat as the assassin trained beauty, Meilin, who stands up to him and then beside him as his ally and ultimately as his partner. Her earnestness and willingness to die for her cause is both endearing and captivating and it's easy to see why Jinghe falls for her quickly. (She essentially plays the same personality as she does in The Double.)

The surprising thing about this series is there are hardly any plotholes but it took several rewatches for me to catch all the details. Jinghe is the narrator and if you listen to what he says, you can see what he is thinking, where the storyline is headed and a lot of perceived plotholes are actually explained. That's why I caveat that this is not a series you want to fast forward or else you'll quickly lose track of the plot! For example, how they go from trying to escape the crown prince to frolicking in laowozi village as a couple is ALL explained.

The only major plothole I could find is that the series never explains how Jinghe was able to disguise himself as the Momai Shadow Master without anyone ever finding out. Having the full back story to the Momai warriors and what happens to them when they get disbanded would have been nice. Also, it was just plain dumb to poison her without having a real antidote at the ready, even if he got what he deserved in the end for doing it.

Overall rating: 9.5/10.

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Better than I expected (in the first half)

As toxic as the ML (Yin Ji ) is towards the FL (Xie Yun), he makes it pretty clear from the beginning that he still loves her since their teenage days (when he was a nobody), and he is very frustrated that all she wants to do is escape as he is trying to protect her by keeping her close and convincing her to love him back.

He doesn't realize that she does not perceive his protectiveness as love but rather as torture. Every time she tries to escape he recaptures her and punishes her. (Meanwhile, he avoids having sex with his wife finding her unattractive and to avoid his rival Xiao family politics and because he presumably only wants to be with Xie Yun.)

I dropped the series once she escapes, develops amnesia and returns to avenge her father's death because the tension between the leads disappears and the ML becomes a total simp for the FL.

First part was interesting though and had a lot of promise. The angst between the leads was palpable and it's sexy as hell when he cannot resist hugging or kissing her.

Note: The ML looks like a younger Liu Xueyi and while his acting is not as good as his, it's still pretty good!

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