TheMoonEmpress

Both the dramas were well received actually. STOTD is even gearing up for season 2

This is a fan video and they've suggested maybe 6 to 8 actresses as a replacement. Don't know what will happen in the end. The project looked promising and I really want to see LYN in a lead role in period drama. Fingers crossed 🤞🏽

I was like this in 2021 . I followed the drama as it was airing and it was torture to wait for the new episodes. Plus I couldn't move on after the drama finished airing.🥺 i really love and miss my TuJu CP 😍🥺

Got goosebumps when he said "Hands off her" So far all actors are so convincing in their acting. Ep 7 was heartbreaking, Ru Lan and Shen Mu made everything so believable

It's one of my most favorite cdramas and couples too!!! I love that drama so much, really miss seeing her as a part of a romantic lead couple, the chemistry is so good 😍 she always looks more beautiful in period dramas with that kind of makeup and hair, in ARRTI they went for a more natural, no makeup kind of look since she was your average teenager in the 90s in that drama

His acting and dialogue delivery is so good. It was a pleasant surprise since he was not known to me before this drama.

True. It's a breath of fresh air. Quite different from the saturated market of cdramas. I liked today's episode. It was filled with so many ups and downs, quite thrilling tbh.

I like some of the callbacks in the drama. Will make the rewatch more interesting. Like callback to the unique embroidery worn by MW in ep 2, callback to Ding Ru's mother telling RL that life matters the most, callback to other girls speaking in favour of WL to save their reputation. Hence I find the two timelines interesting. I hope it continues this pacing and storytelling.

Seven Unfortunate Lifetimes suffered from the Unfortunate curse of having a crappy drama adaptation. I wish people would not touch IPs unless they're completely dedicated and faithful to the material like Untamed, TMOPB, TLBFAD, etc

People in China are already making videos about replacing SZE. Is it a done deal then?
【导演不哭，选一个小乔带回剧组补拍吧！-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/UFJztRc

Actually from what I've seen on YouTube during Deng Lun's case was that China is pretty lenient with tax evasion and gives plenty of prior notice and advance warnings. No idea why this still happens. There's also a provision for paying late fee and clearing all dues before it becomes public knowledge

Me too. It's a bit inappropriate but I kinda ship them 💫🙈
And we're not the only ones:
【▸ 张康乐 x 胡意旋｜沈牧 x 蔺如兰｜沈捕快和蔺小娘子一场短暂相识与回忆🤧-哔哩哔哩】 https://b23.tv/A23EfUp

In revenge story like this, half the clues, intrigue and suspense lies in the past when the things actually happened. It makes the journey more thrilling and meaningful. I for one really like the alternate timelines. It unfolds the story in a very interesting pattern and doesn't give all the answers to the viewers all at once. Which is how it should be in a suspense/thriller

I also like that her bravery does not come off the left field, she is shown to be a brave character who is not afraid to stand up to bullies from the beginning, even before her case really happened. Even later scenes show her to be someone who always comes to the rescue of those who are wronged

Shen Mu and Ru Lan did an outstanding job in that episode, acting and dialogue delivery were on point. I like thay the show is willing to explore the more heartwrenching spectrum of emotions too.

As to why Ru Lan is still cold towards Meng Wan, I have a theory based on the aired episodes. Twice references wete made that all was not as it appeared. Once when Ru Lan says take care of yourself after shutting the door MW's face and once when MW makes a reference to someone sacrificing a lot to protect her. I think RL wishes to keep MW far away from her case so that she's not adversely affected by it. I hope this unfolds in the coming episodes.

I loved the acting of both Ru Lan and Shen Mu in the scene plus all the other side characters... Their great acting made the scene feel all the more real and nail biting

Yes, i have a feeling i will watch it again in the future, since the earlier episodes are already done with so once the memory of those constantly repeated messages and tropes has faded, then i can start it again with a fresh mind .

The Long Ballad

Right now, I'm not too receptive to this drama, maybe someday I will pick it up again. I can't comment for others but I really liked TLB. The pacing was good, I never had to fast forward, didn't see many filler or throw away scenes, characters and relations were very endearing and natural. Characters were punished for their flaws and every episode ended in a way that left me wanting more. That's just my personal opinion, I'm not a fan of any of the actors involved. But I pretty much liked everyone's performance in that drama, however there are better actors out there. The storytelling was good, not a lot of wasted time and cushioning.
Maybe I'll take up LLTG again but right now, there's no hook that's keeping me glued to the screen. Lot of annoyance only lol

I braved through as much of it as I could but I dropped it at ep 26 which is all I could manage. My first impression of the initial few episodes was that the buildup was very slow, which I don't mind, i don't hate slow paced dramas. But episode after episode would end and I'd be left with the thought, "that's it? But nothing happened in this episode!". I felt like many scenes were a waste of my time and I had to use the fast forward button quite liberally. Scenes of the nasty women characters, Yuan and his master, side character arcs... They weren't grounded enough to make me want to stay and watch them, i would simply skip those scenes and realise they don't really hinder my understanding of the story so I found them really unnecessary. It can be argued that it's a more character driven story than plot driven, but even the characters didn't retain my attention nor empathy. I wasn't cheering for any of the characters and though they're flawed and grey characters (which I generally like), instead of being endearing and relatable, they started to get annoying. For instance, the constant repetition of how unruly, wild and disobedient CSS is in almost every episode and the way people around her, especially her mother, were constantly parroting essentially the same dialogues pertaining to her (like how she misbehaves or is ill mannered etc) started to feel like it was being forced down my throat. One example of this is how she has to be reminded all the time(mostly by her monther) to greet people. She is shown to be smart in a certain way so it's difficult to believe that this simple instruction has to be repeated several times before she learns to do it on her own. Even if she is not taught properly due to her absent parents, this is a simple and common enough thing that can be learnt through observation alone. This drumming down of the same message over and over again started to feel like rote and I was honestly over it to the point where I just couldn't like that character anymore. The writing and execution of this character was not to my taste. The male lead also felt meh, I mean I know he's painted to be this ruthless general with hidden motives and manipulative tendencies (that whole court scene when he declares his intentions is manipulative as all hell omg 😂) , the performance was not enough to convince me of this multi dimensional quality (which, again, I generally like) and fell rather flat in the episodes i saw. Overall he wasn't charismatic or compelling enough on either fronts to win me over to his morally grey side. WL was actually more charismatic and convincing as Ashile Sun, Ling Buyi was a bit too cookie cutter version of what I was being told through the dialogues but sadly not shown through his thoughts, actions or performance. The relationships between various characters were a bit too orchestrated and tropey, their interactions didn't feel natural (maybe except for the third madam and the third cheng son). Also,some scene or plot transitions were too jarring for me, I had to keep going back to see if i I missed anything. At the ep 24 mark, I started to feel like I was wading through this drama with difficulty and i finally had to surrender at ep 26. Since I had nothing else to watch, I decided to take up this super hit drama as a sure shot good watch. Sadly, I'll have to keep looking for something more to my taste.