Juuu

i also love drama and villains - did you only get hooked on ep 34? I'm still around ep 12 but it's so boring to me :/

I'm confused, what do you mean by this

same, she deserves more lead roles!!

Oh man, I really love Jeon So Nee and I like Lee Jun Young but I unfortunately can't stand Choi Woo Sik and don't really care for Park Bo Young's acting at all :/ Not sure if I'll watch, wish the cast was different lol

it'll be difficult to take this serious bc the male actor sure as hell does not look young enough to pass for a high school student lol

I just watched the trailer and omg this is right up my alley I NEED THIS RELEASED ASAP

I'm on Episode 11 but so far I'm not really hooked ? The plot feels all over the place with random stuff happening and the build up between the FL/ML is a bit lame/boring. Does it get better? Should I stick to it? (I enjoy angsty stuff, so if it's sad it's fine with me!)

yes true, I don't necessarily care all that much about cousins but to me when two characters grew up together as siblings - which was the case here, since XY's mother raised CX after his mother died - it just gives weird incestuous vibes when one of them is in love with the other. So the fact they were basically growing up as brother and sister and then later on still called each other brother/sister (I know it's normal in China, but still) and also XY clearly seeing CX as purely platonic, just made it a bit weird to me, that's why I couldn't ship them at all. But I still really liked their dynamics and prefered them over Jing/XY tbh LOL. Jing and XY felt like a son and mother lol

yes the actor was perfect in this role

yes, he amazed me. He stole the show!

yes, he was the main character without actually being the main character lol
Respect to the actor, who was able to bring this complex character to life perfectly!

I saw so many people complaining about S2 being terrible, so I prepared myself to be really frustrated with it, but surprisingly I thought it was quite well done. Ok, I did skip a bunch of scenes of side characters which didn't interest me, but I was really satisfied with the way they wrapped everything up. I did notice that Jing didn't have as many scenes as expected (thankfully - sorry to the TJ fans but at some point I couldn't stand him anymore) and XL had many great scenes, so I was actually quite happy with S2. Also, despite CX's character doing questionable things, I never lost my sympathy for him - either the actor is very good at his job or the character was really well written. I never ever shipped CX with XY since I saw them as absolutely platonic but I still felt for CX.

Imo it felt like the show writers/directors loved XL the most and he was their favorite character because even though he might not have had the *most* screen time, his scenes were always such a highlight and had a different weight than other scenes. It gave the feeling that the writers/directors would want the audience to be holding their breath whenever XL enters the scene. Not only the dialogue, the settings, the way the light fell on him, everything set the scene for XL to shine. The actor is really remarkable, being able to deliver every single look, gesture and word with so much emotion even though his character is holding back his feelings. He's really charismatic and his chemistry with the FL was by far the strongest.

I actually loved the last scene of them returning to where it all began, but us not knowing where XY ended up. It gave me a nostalgic feeling, as if I had gone on a long journey with these characters. Overall, it was really well done!

thank your for this. It's still really complicated though lol
It did give me some incestous vibes at times so I just forced myself to think that they were step-cousins, unrelated. But it was still a bit weird to me

Yes, TJ kept repeating the same stuff about putting her first but as soon as there was something from his family he would just do what the filial son should, disappointing and humiliating her in the process...

Yes, tbh I found TJ's behavior many many times extremely frustrating and couldn't understand how XY forgave him so many times. I know she said she liked him for being a gentle grandson but excuse me! If a grandmother keeps insisting in a marriage with another woman, he has to stand up and say NO once and for all, her being on her deathbed or not. He was way less pro-active than the other MLs and often just accepted his fate which to me came across as not putting XY's feelings first. Everytime XL gave an exasperated sigh about TJ hurting XY *again* I sighed with him. XL was working overtime to provide a happy outcome for XY but TJ kept getting in the way ....

Yes XY's character definitely regressed, to me it was because she was so fixated on TJ or on being happy with a companion. This was her only life purpose somehow, which was kind of...disappointing. She put so much emphasis on men - either TJ or CX - and it got pretty annoying. She improved on S2 though, at least a bit. But not as much for me to say that I liked her...

I've seen that probably the majority of viewers were XL/XY shippers and I'm 100% part of that group. At first I actually really liked TJ and XY's storyline but very soon I found their chemistry lacking and they came across as friends rather than lovers. XY was desperately lonely and had high hopes that TJ would be a companion to her and to me it felt like she decided to fall in love with him as he was the best option for her. But their scenes lacked depth - I think the only time I felt a deeper connection between them was when he told her about the torture he went through - and it was based on pity and gratitude. Very soon, his behavior became extremely boring to me as he was always stuck in a pity party and never did anything interesting. It might've been the actor's fault, or the character is simply boring? In their dynamic it was always XY who was doing something fun and it seemed like she took over the role to reassure him and cheer him up even though he was the cause for issues most of the time (or his family).
CX is a really interesting character, I really enjoyed his scenes with XY because their dynamic was much more fun and their chemistry was better than the TJ actor. I was very confused in the beginning if they were actually in fact blood-related or if they just grew up together so I wasn't sure if it was weird to ship them or not. I think their platonic relationship is really nice and can't wait to see how it's going to develop into the S2.

Now, XL is a whole different story. He might be the best written C-Drama character I've yet to see. He's absolutely fascinatig, unpredictable and irresistible. The chemistry between the two actors is so strong that the others seem very dull in comparison. Even though he's a bad guy and pretty sad and serious, he's the only one with whom XY actually has some fun which shows his depth as well. It's obvious that he would be her number one choice if she were less afraid of being abandoned again, and if he showed one tiny bit of his real feelings to her. In contrast to XY's other relationships, XL is the least selfish and is the one who's trying to spare her of getting hurt the most - even if he has to hide his good deeds towards her. TJ never really put her first bc he decided to be the filial grandson and ended up breaking her heart. XL also didn't put XY first because he wouldn't give up his cause/loyalty to Hong Jian and just wander off with her but at least he didn't insist on giving her hope only to then shatter it (like TJ did). Anyway, the actor is amazing and XL is the reason why I picked up the novel to read.
Now, XY is honestly not the most likeable character, in the beginning I sympathized much more with her (even tho Yang Zi's 'tough masculine' acting was a bit too much imo and it got annoying) but once she became the princess, she turned into a pretty spoiled person. Not sure if it's the same in the novel but I felt like there was lack of character development for her or even regression, as she seemed more mature in the beginning of the story. Hope to see more character development from her in S2.

I finally watched this and for all the sad drama lovers, this is a good one. It has this melancholic tone and the soundtrack is perfect. I do have some issues with some things that I'm going to point out in the spoiler below, but if you've been undecided about watching I can tell you that it's a very complex story with complex characters, a sad storyline and lots of heartbreaking moments but it's a fun watch anyway. The acting of most of the cast is also well done and no annoying dubbing either. I'll continue in the spoiler now

yes

Sorry if I say something that upsets anyone who likes this drama but I had to drop it after the second episode because of the awful editing, acting and dubbing :( The excessive use of slow motion with dramatic music gave this drama cheap Mexican telenovela vibes and it was happening in nearly every scene. The actors were also overacting, especially for Chinese standards, it was off-putting and it threw me out of the story too much. Also the ML has a very unnatural whispery dubbing-voice that doesn't fit the surroundings so the dubbing sounds extremely strange and was also off putting. Too bad, I was looking forward to a new enemies-to-lover drama :/

I couldn't get into it even though it was so hyped. I thought it would be better but the storyline is confusing to me and it's not as suspenseful or interesting as others. Also I felt like the two leads lack chemistry..