Lessa

As I understood that maid didn't actually try to seduce him, he killed her to show everyone his power and make them fear. He showed her that he was interested in her body (at that time it was normal to sleep with maids) she kinda hoped that maybe she had a chance to become a concubine but she didn't even have time to do anything as he just ordered to beat her to death.
It was the same as with feeding that other maid to the dog just because she belonged to someone else (his brother?) before so there was a possibility that she will betray him one day.
I dropped the novel after LSY went to the capital to study not because I disliked the character but because FL didn't really see anything wrong with ML even though she knew all that and had information about his future. To me it is fine to read romance between two cruel characters, not romance between a cruel character and his blind stupid pawn. And your comment told me that everything was going exactly in that direction.

Well, I haven't watched the drama yet but as far as I remember from the novel, the problem may be that it is purely a slice of life for now. There was no real conflict it the novel (I have read until a big timeskip when ML went to the capital for several years to study and then learned that there will be an adaptation and decided not to read the rest for now).

The thing is that in this part of the story FL was a 7-years old girl who I never actually worried about. She was protected by grandmother, ML and stepmother (though stepmother was not too clever), she had an older sister married in a really good family who was ready to return home every time she heard her little sister had any problems. In the very beginning there were several times her father was not on her side (basically because FL was reincarnated as always while the original girl was spoiled rotten so before it was always her who was in the wrong and needed discipline). So after several mistakes her father believed that she had changed. Also, he had a favourite concubine but the peak of the conflict was that the concubine wanted to sleep with the husband more often, no intrigues or evil plans, nothing. Even ML who was supposed to be mistreated just got less money than his brothers and had less servants because father didn't believe he will achieve something in his studies while grandmother disliked his schemings. Other than that he was free to do what he wanted and studied under some monk who knows where. And the moment he passed his exam he became the most loved son in the house.

So, if this follows the novel, it is something similar to The Story of Minglan, your slow historical slice of life with no villains and intrigues but with weaker drama adaptation. Also, lately mydramalist comment sections have allergic reaction to such themes because, you see, it is t-t-toxic to show that females are mistreated in the society. Don't know why those people even leave their twitter nest to watch historical drama...
Most likely the rating is low because for a lot of people this is either boring or toxic. Also, people in comments seem to dislike FL acting.

Don't really get the idea behind this trilogy. The original is manhua with 157-episode donghua adaptation. It is a collection of short stories about different characters (each story is like 15 anime episodes 10-15 minutes length each, a lot is happening in the modern world while the drama is only about past lifes). Those stories are not even connected that much. The ones we get here are ML/FL past life and the one about FL's ugly disciple, not sure about others.

That means all three CDrama are original works instead of actual adaptations. And that is the reason why this one failed that badly. Screenwriters had to make the whole story from scratch and it didn't work. They failed to create any actual character - for example, FL's greedy sister was also greedy in anime but since the story was short that was enough. But if the only thing we can say about one of the main characters in 36 episode drama is that she is greedy then something went really really wrong. They failed to create a world - it is just your ordinary cultivators vs demons with zero details. They failed to create the villains - those pathetic creatures only want to do something evil, no backstory, no development, nothing (the white fox at least tried). By the way, I didn't understand where did villains in the last arc come from and, well, what was going on...

The question is why they decided to bet so much money on something almost without an original source and didn't check the script before filming. If they couldn't create the story themselves, why not take a novel with good enough plot, not several very short stories?
Most likely next parts will suffer from the same problem.

Probably not enough romance for romance lovers and male actors not cute enough for... well... the other type of romance lovers. Most really serious CDrama are rated low here (The Wind Blows from Longxi, the Advisors Alliance, Three Kingdoms, The Longest Day in Chang'an is the highest of them at 8.5). Though for some reason that didn't work with Nirvana in Fire and the Joy of Life.
That is a mistery for me as I found the Advisors Alliance to be the best political CDrama while both NiF and JoL were much more simple. Even more, I've seen praises about The Double having a strong serious political plot while it was your typical reincarnation light novel just with better adaptation than most of them - not something with actual politics.

Too many good CDrama right now. Lost You Forever is ending soon (though it went too far into romance direction for my taste), the second season of Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty has started a few days ago.
Also, the prequel to The Blood of Youth has started (the beginning doesn't feel serious but I hope characters will grow up soon - it feels like watching Japanese shounen anime right now - ML of the first season at least had brains instead of power...)

Maybe I am wrong but that looks exactly like low-budget cringe romance full of stupid humor...
Sometimes the result turns out to be much better than could be expected from early trailers - but I would wait for reviews first.
If you want something with good plot and bromance, the second season of Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty starts in a week.

If I am not wrong, Iqiyi has 9.999 rating for most CDrama - I am not sure if ratings lower than 9.5 even exist there. Impossible to tell anything from those ratings, of course.

In MDL 7.9-8.2 is normal for historical romance CDrama. The only ones which get more are either more serious ones (like the Story of Ming Lan or Love Like the Galaxy) or more cute slice-of-life ones (like New Life Begins or Blossoms in Adversity - I've started those ones because of high ratings but found it impossible to watch because there was literally no plot. But a lot of people love that genre). Also, when FL is managing some business it magically increases ratings - especially when there is no details on how it works but she is swimming in money (FL in Blossom in Adversity sold cheap street food for a few months and that was enough to buy two huge mansions in the capital - I still hope that her family is actually doing some shady stuff which FL just doesn't know about and that will lead to problems and start some plot...)

This one is normal - not heavy enough to get higher ratings for story, not pure slice-of-life romance, some cringe solutions like changing appearance through magic and fake underwater kiss, pretty slow start.

I think if the story will be good enough and will not fall apart in later episodes that will be the higher part of the normal historical romance rating - somewhere at 8.2-8.3 - because of good actors. Of course, on Douban it will have much lower rating - because it has higher range (bad CDrama have 7-7.5 here but 4-6 there) and historical setting itself is less exotic for them. Also, they don't overrate movies just for "the strong FL" trope because their wuxia and harem CDrama always have strong female characters.

You can try The Double - it is really good but still ongoing. Also, this year I liked The Legend of Shen Li (but the plot was a bit too simple and predictable), Spirealm (really good small stories but the main plot... well... the journey is more important than destination). There is also the second season of the Joy of Life (this one has a lot in common with Sha Po Lang but be warned that it is the second season out of 3).
I have also waited for Fox Spirit Matchmaker (that was one of my most anticipated fantasy along with The Longest Promise and Immortality). Second disappointment there so wouln't really recommend that one.
Haven't watched Blossoms in Adversity yet but it has good reviews.

Same people in director/screenwriter list. Dig a deep grave for your expectations...

Worth it. The cat looks cringe sometimes but it is not even close to the worst CGI I've seen (the rat ML turned into in the Longest Promise, the caterpillar from the Journey of Flower and the dog from the Untamed can give you immunity to all weird animals you can see in CDrama).
And all non-romance case solving CDrama are interesting to watch (the only one I didn't like was Pledge of Allegiance because the plot there was really hard to follow). This one is pretty simple though (that doesn't make it worse).

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (the same author as Thousand Autumns)
League of Noblemen
Heroes (2022, wuxia, it is hard to find without the date)
Winter Begonia (be warned of Chinese opera there)
Handsome Siblings (I watched 2020 version)
Don't remember details but the first part of Condor trilogy had the friends/rivals plotline.

Someone needs to touch some grass. Probably saw main cast without any girls and expected sweet gay romance (I saw such comments in both MLC - Mysterious Lotus Casebook and LON - League of Noblemen, don't know what WOK stands for but probably the same).
Apparently, those people think that it is homophobic to not include gay sex in adaptations of non-romance stories. I wish for their favourite non-romance book to be adapted into cringiest romance ever, everything in pink color, kisses every minute and no plot.
Or maybe it is a shout from their crazy metaverse when one of them hates his kin who went too far with all that.

Well, I dislike romance in general as it often kills any logic in the plot. I was waiting for a'Mai (Fighting for Love) because the book had solid war-focused plot without characters being moved by feelings instead of their duty. Spoiler: it didn't work, someone out there probably thought it would be boring so it would be wise to rewrite everything from the scratch. The same happened with the Longest Promise where the book had logical and coherent plot but something went wrong (probably because in the book FL didn't have any feelings for ML until the second half and there was no second couple... so it was a good idea to rewrite all character motivation into unconditional love, right? What could possibly go wrong?). A Journey to Love was great but if I am not wrong it didn't have the original book to butcher so the screenwriter actually wanted to make a good story...

And, you see, there is a difference between non romance focused stories with classic relationships and BL ones. In the classic one screenwriter may (and will) think the story is too complicated for the watchers and will create a brain-dead version where the only motivation will be love, all characters will be ruined and the politics will remind a fight in the kindergarten. But in the BL ones Chinese censorship will not allow that so screenwriters will not be able to cover plot holes with a kiss or make romance the key point in the plot. So they have to actually use their brains and follow the original story instead. And when the screenwriter is forced to use his brain, the result unexpectedly turns out much better...

Also, all Chinese BLs I've seen can be watched as bromance/brotherhood just fine (that is The Untamed, Word of Honor, Winter Begonia and the Sleuth of Ming Dynasty). I've heard that Winter Begonia novel is just what I hate (the cringe romance) but the drama version is actually good. Other novels in that list are just as plot-focused as their drama versions while in non-BL novel adaptations 9 out of 10 good stories are turned into cringe romance by screenwriters.

This one (Sha Po Lang) has a good war-focused plot with very little romance and since it is BL I am 99% sure its adaptation will NOT follow a'Mai route.

Well, I've read it pretty long ago so don't remember details.

The thing is that there were no huge revelations about the door system. MC was just one of many who were chosen by the door, his story was not that different from others. He didn't try to destroy the system or find its rulers or anything, he just survived through the doors (I kinda finished the novel just to get to that revelation part which never happened...)

And I had the feeling that in the end MC remained in the 12th door. In the real world there was no RNZ so it was MC who was the leader of their organization. By the time he reached the last door, he has lost everyone he knew, abandoned his real life for years and had literally nothing to return to. So the door has shown him the perfect world where everyone were alive and the door system never existed which he obviously rejected (likely because at that point doors were the only meaning in his life). Then the door gave him what he desired - someone to share his responsibility and mistakes with - and he stayed there.

I remember that in the ending the door system still existed (probably because MC's life would be meaningless without that experience) but the last door was locked forever. And the only possible reason is that he is still on the other side - because, again, his story is not different from others' so it is not because he is the first one to return (as there is nothing behind that door which only MC can solve, you just need to be a decent person in previous doors and to have a desire to return).

Though I fail to see why this can be considered a bad ending. I mean, there is no indication that 12th door's world in inferior to the real one (and if the fist world actually is real) so it doesn't matter in which world MC will live happily ever after...

Wait. This is Kaleidoscope of Death adaptation, right? It would be totally cringe if it was uncensored. I mean, it is fun when a character crossdresses as a woman for 10-20 minutes (still weird - I've only seen 2-3 movies when it looked fine) but for 70+ episodes... That would be really bad... Just like all those girls dressed in man clothes when I don't even understand that the girl is hiding her gender and then SUDDENLY another girl confesses her love...

Exact values don't really matter. The real problem with ratings on MDL is that all dramas get close enough ratings in the end. Most decent CDramas are somewhere at 8.0-8.5 and great ones are 8.6-9.0 while only true abominations get below 7.5.
It kind of makes the whole rating part useless. I just can't feel that huge and important difference between 8.3 and 8.5 - it feels more like statistical error to me.

Well, to me feelings of both MLs for FL seemed like an obsession instead of something romantic.

ML behaves like a spoiled little child who always gets what he wants (and he always wants something forbidden - the girl protected by Flower Realm or the girl who is his half-sister with 50% chance - she is a water flower like her mother so that chance still remains - or his brother's fiancee or a nun who made a vow of chastity). I mean, he just met a random nun who saved his life and his first reaction was to try to seduce her and then lock her in his mansion and try again and again until she surrenders. He never actually cares of her feelings or her safety and the very idea of going to the Human World was retarded (for his mortal self it was impossible to save her from assassins or even remember their existence so he literally just went there to seduce his brother's fiancee and even asked his uncle to create a sweet little love story for them). Exact copy of his father. I wonder if his "love" also ends when the target is finally conquered...

SML gave his brother everything he had and allowed him to cover his mother's "good deeds" for too long so that was the final straw and he decided that this cute little accessory (I mean FL) will belong to him. He is a bit better (he also doesn't care for FL's feelings but at least he actually protects her) but for both of them FL is just a thing without its own will and feelings. If ML knows FL for a hundred of years (she was his servant for a long time) and still doesn't understand that she can't feel emotions, it speaks for itself.

So if you don't melt when ML is trying to finally sleep with his drunk FL or lies with her corpse, just consider this for what it is.
It is a very good story about two brothers who were once good friends but the problems were piling up until one day they finally started fighting over a new shining toy (which is FL though that would happen even without her). FL is not a real part of the plot, nor does she know what is going on around her. But the whole Heaven story (the crimes of the Emperor and his wife and how everyone hates them but no one dares to do something and the heavenly realm is just an embodiment of corruption, injustice and prejudice) is beautifully done. Two of the best (the most hated, I mean) villains in CDramas rule there.

That is a traditional way to translate most Chinese supernatural beings. Even if you read classics like The Journey to the West there will be demons.
There are creatures which are often translated as fairies in Chinese fantasy but it is either goddesses or a way to politely call a female cultivator in xuanxuan. Translating Yao as animal spirits is fine but "demon" is still more common - probably because most buddhist monks in such stories are hunting Yao regardless of their behavior so "demons" makes more sense.

That is not a "good" or a "bad" translation but an established one. In the official translation of the Journey to the West afterworld is ruled by the "demons" - so now everyone uses that word in xianxia translation. Just like if you read Japanese folklore, it will also be full of demons. The only other way is to use english transcriptions like Yao for chinese animal spirits, Ayakashi for japanese ghosts and so on. But it becomes too hard to understand when translator leaves too many original words. It is the same as all those "martial brothers" relationships. When the text is full of "shixiongs" people will not understand it, when you go in depth like "the third martial uncle" it will be too long so they mostly use something in between. The only reason to actually use original words like Yao is when there are several different types of creatures all of which are commonly translated as "demons" and you need to distinguish them - most of the time translator just calls one faction "demons" and the other ones are "spirits".

Angels in any translation of any Chinese fantasy setting would sound extremelly cringe. That is because "demon" is a common word to translate any weird folklore thing (it is not a christian term and may mean any supernatural creature from any religion - the word itself literally means "spirit") while "angel" is strictly restricted to Christianity (or Kabbalah which is just too exotic).

Well, MLC with its open ending is already better than what we get in most CDrama (as least 2 out of 3 main characters are certainly fine in the end and the remaining one is still alive at the time of extra episode so it is up to you to decide if he lives or dies later. Not the first story when the character is going to die in several weeks but gets better, cough, the Blood of Youth and half of other wuxia I watched. I remember somewhere (in Listening Snow Tower?) MC literally threw away that magical flower which was the only way to cure him and several episodes later it turned out that sitting in cold water was an even better way to treat his uncurable illness. I had a weird desire to strangle the screenwriter).

Also, as far as I remember, WoH had one of the most shameless happy endings I've ever seen in CDrama (at least for the main characters, side ones were not so lucky). I mean, they've shown two main characters teaching younger generation somewhere 10+ years in the future and it seemed they were going to remain the elders of that school for a very long time. Though that is a much better future that they actually deserve...

Be warned that it is a common trope in chinese stories (especially in fantasy). If you are going to watch more CDrama, just remember that those guys in white with good reputations are often hypocrites who are committing worse crimes than anyone else but are experts in hiding their little secrets. Light side in CDrama is about maintaining a facade and not being actually a nice person.
Demons (or demonic sects in wuxia) is mostly about following their hearts instead of some rules or heavenly laws. That means they may be openly evil, like torturing people for pleasure, or they may be nice loyal friends but they are never pretending to be noble while stabbing you in the back.
Of xianxia (stories about gods) I watched LBFaD, LaR, AoL, ALP, tBW, IS all of which had one of the highest ranked gods as the worst evil, not sure about EL (Heaven Emperor was definitely not nice but not a total beast either). Untamed, The Legends and BFTB were about taoists and the light side there was absolutely rotten.
Also, keep in mind that "demons" in chinese stories are not demons from western fantasy. Instead they are inspired by the Journey to the West (and there is definitely no "good" and "evil" there) and classic romance stories like the legend of the White Snake (about a human and a snake demon) and the word "demon" is just used as a translation. Sometimes there are several different races in the novel (like animal spirits, beasts and ghosts) and translator calls all of them demons which makes the plot impossible to follow...