Kim Yoonmi 김윤미 金潤美

This isn't spoiler heavy, BTW. The spoilers are quite mild.

So, overall, I don't particularly follow careers of actors or care about my faves that much, beyond talent. I do admit I tend to favor if the story was good, but leave me out of the whole, s/he was hot so this drama was good. I also tend not to pay attention to if reviewers liked it or not.

This is roughly in order from good to worst.
Good:
• The best friend, Lin Yuan, the acting the writing on the character clicked in almost lock step to the point I was 100% convinced that character was real and out there in real life.
For me, Lin Yuan eclipsed some of the other characters because it was a deeply complex, yet compelling character.
• The directing was very good. You could tell the director kept a firm, yet forgiving leash on the actors playing ChengCheng to make sure they visually matched, not just in small actions that were supposed to tip off the character, but small things like directing the actors to walk like Chengcheng and change their smaller movements. I had to remind myself that I was watching acting several times because it was that convincing. There was very little difference between the Chengchengs. Quan Sheng Tang even was convincing and not "over-the top" but more rooted in the character than the gender portrayed which was perfect. I liked several of the carefully thought out shots. Chen Yue Jin really did an excellent job. This type of directing is difficult to perform on shared-body.
• The theming Especially in the beginning, the theming of appearances was really well done. I don't think it outstripped The Beauty Inside (movie and drama, Korean, BTW), but it did manage to look at several angles of the theme throughout the run that was very funny and entertaining. The theme of acceptance and self-acceptance really rang true.
•The Meta ReferencesI cracked up when they made meta references to various dramas and made it as outlandish as possible.
• The character arcs I thought Tang Qi's character arc was a bit weaker, but it's a lot stronger than some I've seen. His sudden conversion I thought was a bit on the weaker side. I thought they could have explored some of the flashbacks a bit more before he got together with ChengCheng, so I disagree on the timing a bit on that. However, Cheng Cheng's character arc was one of the strongest I've seen from Chinese TV.

Bad:
• Gu Yu The nature bits were fine, and making him also physically weak was fine. I don't even mind the play boy attitude. It just didn't gel for me. I don't know what it exactly was. The acting, the writing on the character, or the fact he was persistent without really asking or checking on boundaries. I don't know why he felt flat.
• I was iffy about the third ranked romance. The third boss and the sister... was a meh.
• I wasn't very thrilled with the execution of the pregnancy plot. I felt like it was crammed in to make a happy ending rather than given correct screen time to explore it and the themes within it. The conversion was too fast, and the whole 6 weeks and that's a real heartbeat really seemed ham fisted. We passed a whole 6 weeks in the span of one episode?
• The ending was too drawn out I get that particularly white European viewers are demanding a longer ending, but it started to feel more like filler rather than an exploration of how to tie the themes together. For me, I dislike when the ending is drawn out too much. I know that the majority of fans will hate on this part of the review, but I debated putting this down in the Worst Category a few times.
• Music cues I thought was OK, but like didn't send me over the top. The Alpaca song, though, is a jam.
• Murky Messaging on make up I was a bit murky on the typing theme with make up towards the end. I thought they could have tied that bit a bit better so it didn't sound like they were paying service to their sponsors...


Worst
• The stalking made romantic? It wasn't as bad as some other dramas (US, UK, AUS, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese), I mean Tang Qi was punished for being overly aggressive story-wise, but I still felt iffy about it. The fact no one sat him down and told him that it was wrong, and even if he did reflect it was wrong at a later date, it was iffy for me. This might also be why I hated Gu Yu. Gu Yu egged his friend on, rather than telling him to ask about boundaries. And Gu Yu didn't learn boundaries by the end.
•No baby? The supposed baby disappeared under baggy clothing. But really, how long does it take to plan a wedding? I suppose getting a kid special-made for it was outside of budget, but I'd have taken a fake-wrapped doll too. (You won't understand this until you watch the show).


Nitpick
• The housing of the animals was questionably shown in the drama. Turtles were housed improperly. TT They need a sunlamp so their shell doesn't grow soft . The alpaca, wasn't housed properly either. I get it, smaller cage means you can see the animal.

Pure speculation
Yeah, a bit of fan canon, but I kinda thought Tang Qi by the end looked very Grey-a if not demi. He's definitely in Grey-a. His romantic and sexual attraction are tuned to characteristics of personality and bond, not to aesthetics. He also kinda seems to lack aesthetic attraction. If they had made him slowly notice how like these other characters were to Chengcheng and highlighted how he misunderstood her earlier, it would be a cinch to be sure.

Summary
So I would say give it a watch... but it's not a drama I think I would think back fondly on and want to replay for certain scenes (at least for me). For stronger theming that's more touching than funny, The Beauty Inside (Korean), especially the movie. If you really hated the fact that the stalkers were rewarded in this drama, then Love and Redemption is the drama for you. If you're like Asexuality? WTH, and want a drama, Koisenu Futari (Japanese drama) will help in that direction.