Katie Cruz

It was.. alright.

I started watching this back in March 2024 and JUST finished it yesterday. Tbh, I stopped watching it because I got a little bored. I gave this a chance because I adored the main leads in previous dramas like FL in Celebrity and ML in True Beauty. I’ve never read the whole Webtoon, just an episode and that was it. It looked interesting from the start but it really didn’t pull me in the way I hoped. The main leads were super cute. That’s a given. They portrayed their roles well. Okay, maybe the FL only, in my opinion. Honestly, Cha Eun Woo was way better in True Beauty. At least I saw more of his acting skills there. He needs to work more on his craft and hopefully he could get more different roles in the future. I agree with the people that he has the same cookie cutter roles. I want to see him act differently. Maybe a villain next time, you know? I’m afraid he’s stuck with the Webtoon only characters and that’s not good for his career. I enjoyed the FL’s family, and Yul, the ML’s nephew. The supporting cast did an awesome job for making me laugh. I enjoyed the FL’s fashion style as well. FL’s dog form was super cute. Can’t miss that. Another great thing were the kisses. Now that’s how a couple should kiss! No dead fish kisses here. A yay for that. Now let’s talk a out Bo-gyeom, the mountain god. He’s supposed to be a SMART mountain spirit. His character irritated me so much. At first I liked him, but when I found out what he was really like and how he wanted revenge, I was like wait, what?? NO. WAY. How did he NOT see what really happened? Give me a break. How stupid and selfish of him to give FL’s family a curse and then at the end he disappears like it was nothing?? No apologies or whatsoever. What a POS. You can’t change my mind about him. What a horrible person. I found myself skipping the parts whenever he was in it. I had to skip the repetitive memories of their past lives. It was just too much. With that one episode with the epilogue at the end, I thought it was over. Then I remembered there was a total of 14 episodes. Bring in more chaos to the mix. The more, the merrier, right? I heard that the show’s episode was posted like once a week and there were postponements as well. I don’t blame them, I’d probably drop it too. I can’t really stop you from watching it, but do give it a try if you still want to watch it.

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The Rise of… Third Brother

After watching the whole thing, I really hoped they named this drama with a different title. The Rise of Ning wasn’t t just about Yi Ning. It was mostly about Shen Yuan’s quest to rise up to the top and avenge his teacher and fellow disciple. It’s a beautiful drama. The FL calling Shen Yuan “Third brother” up until the last episode was just kinda weird. I know they’re not blood related, but still. How can you have feelings right away with a person who’s from the same family and you call him “Third brother” all the time? Anyway, I know it’s fiction, and I’m not the writer. The adoptive sibling trope is a little tricky for me. There’s not much romantic scenes between them. Kisses were meh. I wanted to see more. Great acting goes to the actor of Lu Jiaxue. Great job. He really got under my skin. I adored the fight scenes very much. I love the female empowerment message here. Love the characters, especially Duke Ying. Best dad ever! I just wish they didn’t spend so much time on the wedding scenes. We all know what happens in wedding scenes anyway. 40 episodes should have been cut down to 32. A lot of people were complaining about how Yi Ning should be more successful having a business. I mean, she does have a business. They had their struggles. It became successful with the help of her sixth uncle and his wife overtime. We don’t have to see everything. The FL is pretty, but her voice. OMG it’s like listening to a little girl. I get a little distracted by that. Especially when she keeps calling Shen Yuan her brother here. I blame it on the writers. Overall, I’m happy with the ending. I watched this because of Zhang Wan Yi. He’s a great actor to me.

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Love So Divine

I finished this in 11 days. When I watched the first episode, I wasn’t really expecting a lot from it. I had to watch it because when I first saw the first trailer last year, I got so excited. It looked really promising. Plus, Deng Wei was the ML. Tbh, I did not like him in Lost You Forever even though he was the endgame there. I did like him in Miss the Dragon, though. That’s where I saw him first. Anyway, I just finished watching Moonlight Mystique and that show really made me feel empty because I just loved it so much. So glad I watched this show. I enjoyed the whole thing, from beginning to the end. It got me engaged. I’m so sad it’s over. Ugh. I love reincarnation stories. The storyline of the reincarnated FL, Mu Qingge, who was called a demoness in the past life, a sovereign from Wester sect, was now reborn as Xue Ranran. She was born along with a little plant named Ling Xiao who always protected her. Ranran meets her disciple, Su Yushui, now the sovereign of Wester sect, who has a half mask on due to the scars he got from a curse given by Qingge before she passed away. Using half of his golden core, he used it for the reincarnation tree he obtained from heaven. I just love everything about the show. The two actors had so much chemistry. First time watching Julia Xiang here, and she was amazing! So cute and funny. Deng Wei was awesome here as well. He did not disappoint! Lots of blood spitting as usual. The kissing scenes were alright. Music was heart gripping. The CG effects were great. I enjoyed the part where Ranran uses the soul controlling technique to become a small plant puppet. The actor who played Su Yu was great as a villain here. I remember he played a boring character in The Double. I saw his acting skills here. Everyone else did a great job. As for the sister, Ranwu, OMG. I don’t know what to feel for her character. Let’s just say I feel sorry for her. It’s just sad that she didn’t end up apologizing for what she did. She was pure evil. I hated her guts. This was truly a wonderful show. It has a happy ending. It definitely didn’t kill off characters you loved. I recommend it second to Moonlight Mystique. 5/5 for me.

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Fantasy Game or Book?

I’ve actually been putting this drama off since it came out on Netflix. The trailer wasn’t pulling me in. Every time the trailer comes by, I kept saying NOPE, not right now. Plus, Esther Yu’s baby voice just irritates me. No hate to her. She is really cute with her acting. I did watch her in Love Between Fairy and Devil and enjoyed it. I never read anything about this drama, so one day in the beginning of May 2025, I decided to dive into it without high expectations as always. I’m glad I gave it a chance. I surprisingly enjoyed it. We follow the story of the FL, Ling Miaomiao, who lives in the modern world and one day gets sucked in the book she was reading. A female voice starts talking to her and gives her missions of what to do. I was kind of confused, because the title says it’s a game, but it’s actually someone’s novel? I didn’t know who the ML was going to be. First time watching a full drama with Ding Yuxi in it. He did a great job here. Now I’m officially a fan and can watch all his other dramas now. I love the storyline, the twists and turns, the characters, and how they were all intertwined. The CG effects were great, too. Love the little dust demons that looked like tiny white mushrooms. I loved everything about this drama. It made me laugh and cry so much. There’s a lot to learn in this story, like not giving up on hope, friendships, love, family, and coexisting peacefully with everyone. Music was so good, too. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. It was a little meh, to be honest. They could’ve made it better. Why do writers do this? The dramas starts out so good and when it comes to the end, and it’s as if they lost their momentum on delivering a good ending. My heart hurts at the end. I just wanted a better one. *sigh*

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Second Chance

As how most rebirth stories are, we see the bad things happen, the setting is bloody and all, and the FL gets killed, and wakes up again giving herself a second chance in life. I love how as soon as Jiang Si woke up, she saw Yu Qi and slapped him asking him why he killed her. The words just slipped out her mouth. I also love how when Long Dan asked him why she saved her, he said that way she could remember him. It’s like a hint in their past life that she needed to remember him again in this present life. The couple here have the same fate or being a “bringer of misfortune”. What a load of crap. A story is not complete with annoying characters like competing family members. So far I despise the FL’s family (except for the dad, the bro, and that one sister). The grandmother was so annoying. The grandmother’s always thinking about their family’s reputation. Fudge that. It’s a bit painful to watch the women getting abused and tortured at the Marquis’ mansion. The villains here sure knew how to get under my skin. The biatches Princess Royal and that Princess Mingyue. I don’t understand how the Emperor didn’t catch any news on what they have been doing outside. He’s stupid. He cares so much for those two. Watching this story and seeing Zhang Wan Yi again feels like watching Are You the One and The Rise of Ning. Pretending, secretive, knows how to fight, funny, caring, and sweet. They’re all similar. I love how the FL doesn’t take any sh-t from anyone especially when they wanted to slap her. I didn’t like that part with the imperial concubine Xian (Yu Qi’s mother) who let the maids slap her. What a biatch. I like how there’s no misunderstanding in this story. It has a happy ending as well. Plus I love Erniu, Yu Qi’s dog. So cute. What I don’t understand is when grand elder told her that Yu Qi was the one who made the sacrifice. Um, what sacrifice are we talking about exactly? He shot her with his arrow. Why did he aim at her?? I feel like that part was a little blurry. I didn’t see much of the FL actress acting skills here. I feel like her acting was a bit bland. Overall, I enjoyed this story.

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Make it Make Sense

I chose to watch this drama because I just finished watching Ao Rui Peng’s Moonlight Mystique and Wrong Carriage, Right Groom. It started out great. FL was cute and funny. The sickly ML Murong Chong’s mother was using Murong Zhuwan’s blood (his sister) to heal his poisoned body. Things got out of hand, an explosion happened and the real Murong Zhuwan died. I don’t like the mother, because after using the FL to stand as Zhuwan, she sends people to kill her a few times, and the ML, her son, wasn’t aware of this. So when she died inside that room along with the enemies, I had no ounce of sympathy for her. The ML was always angry and wanted to kill the FL every chance he got, then all of a sudden, after FL healed his chest wound, he was like “Why is she so nice to me? Has she fallen in love with me?” What the heck? Was that the first thing that came to your mind?? No wonder she didn’t choose you or Fu Hong. I didn’t like the plan they did. It cost some lives of important people like Xi, the maid who is with the FL all the time. The actor who played Fu Hong didn’t really impress me. There wasn’t much to see due to lack of expressions. FL wanted to know her origin, and when she does, she just looked up and smiled. Like, what the fudge was that?? She told the two ML’s that she wasn’t from that world. Wait, what?? Come again? I had a head ache from the ending. Forget it. 2 is bc I enjoyed the FL at the beginning. But that’s about it. Oh well.

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Matches Made in Heaven

I watched this for 4 days. I enjoyed the main couple Qi Tianlei and Li Yuhu here since I’m a huge fan of the actors. The title says it all, it’s a switcheroo trope where two brides get on the wrong wedding sedan but found the right grooms. The story is pretty simple and has a happy ending. This story also has multiple couples, so it’s just not focused on the main couple. The conversations between the main couple is really cute and funny. I love how the main female lead didn’t fall for Ke Shizao’s evil plans especially by breaking them up using a third party. Glad Qi Tianlei and Li Yuhu communicate well, they really are a match made in heaven. Anyway, what I don’t understand is… it’s their wedding day, so where are the parents?? How come the only one’s present are Tianlei’s Master and his side of the family? I didn’t expect much when I started this show, but it’s a pretty light romcom that’s easy to watch. It has only 24 episodes so you’ll probably finish it in a day or two.

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Too Depressing

I really wanted to love this show but the FL was just too bland. She’s cute, but her character was just… Idk. Draining? There were funny moments, but that’s about it. I watched it because I did enjoy Bai Jing Ting in Destined. It has lots of bullying scenes which can be triggering for most people. I enjoyed watching the ML do a lot of things for the FL. The FL remained close in her shell. She’s so naive. Like how can you not know that he has feelings for you?? Some scenes were just repetitive. It’s like going around in circles. No development at all. It was just so boring after a while. I started this in February on Netflix and it’s already April. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue or to just DNF it.

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I’m Over the Moon

Three letters. O.M.G.

This Chinese drama was soooo good. This tops Love and Redemption and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms in my list of dramas. The actors, the acting, the storyline, the set, the costumes were all amazing. They did a great job pulling my heart out. What a great performance from the whole staff! I’m a huge Bai Lu fan, so of course I had to watch this after watching her in Till the End of the Moon. The drama title had “Moon” in it, so it gotta be good, right? She’s perfect as Bai Shuo. I love her in costume dramas, I swear. She’s like a true goddess. This is my first Ao Rui Peng drama, so now I’m an officially a fan. You know, Ao Rui Peng looks like a cross between Dylan Wang and Deng Lun. I’ve never watched him in other dramas before, but him as a demon lord here impressed me. They acted so well here. I cried buckets, seriously. I was sick while watching this so I kept crying and blowing my nose at the same time. I love purple so much and this show had a lot of purple colors in it. The villains were great as well. The whole message of this story is all about sacrifices and walking down your own path. It was repeatedly mentioned throughout the whole story. I devoured it within a week. I did not have huge expectations with this show because I once read a comment from someone saying Moonlight Mystique wasn’t as good as they thought. Excuse you?? Just kidding. Well, that’s their opinion. At first look you’d think it looks similar to the Cdrama Love between Fairy and Devil, but it’s really not. It’s actually far from it. I love the demon lord there, the Moon Supreme Dongfang Qingcang played by Dylan Wang. But honestly, out of all the demon lords I’ve seen, Ao Rui Peng’s demon lord character’s the best for me. Followed by Dylan Wang’s. Now I’m looking forward watching his other shows. It does have a lot of character deaths, though, so be ready. I love the twists and turns, the friendships, the chemistry between the couples, the music, everything is just pure perfection. I love it so much. I don’t know how much I can stress this. I’m in love with this show. But now that this drama is over, I feel empty inside. Bummer. This is how I always feel after watching a really good drama. It’s like a group of friends that you won’t be able to see anymore. The story’s done, so it’s time to move on to another one. There are so many dramas out there that starts out so good and then the amazing factor just dwindles halfway through. Perfect example would be misunderstandings. This story doesn’t have that, and it has a happy ending. This is a perfect rating for me. It’ll hold a special place in my heart. I’m consoling myself by watching the Behind the Scenes clips on how they made it. I feel so happy how this group got along so well. The casting director did a great job choosing the right people for the show. And thank you to the writers for giving us a healthy couple. Love sure has no bounds.

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