Heather Branson

Absolutely recommend you give it a watch if you like to laugh, if you like nontoxic MLs, a strong intelligent FL, and a found family that becomes as close or closer than blood.

This took me awhile to find a good english translation as the first one that was uploaded was mangled and the second one I found had the wrong subs for the entire second episode, but after a month I found it and omg I am sooooo glad I came back around to watch it! It was hilarious, very well written, the show never dragged, and there was only really two things I disagreed with plot wise.
I can understand why the writers made those decisions, one was to move quite a few episodes worth of plot along and bring multiple characters together, so it does make sense to make that decision even if I don't like it 😭😭😭 The other thing I disagreed with, the writers did it to leave themselves an opening in case they get the green light to develop a second season. I think the series ended rather well and I don't think it needs to have a second season, but I also kind of want to see more of this type of drama with these great well written characters again, so I'm on the fence. If they can pull it off just as well as they did in the first season though of course I'll watch the second season!
All I can say without spoiling things is one person died that shouldn't have and one person lived that shouldn't have. My poor heart 😭
But even with that, I still rate this drama as almost perfect.

I can't remember details for this drama since I've binged watched quite a few series this last week, but for a 40 episode series I never once felt it was draggy or that the romance was taking too long to develop.
I do have to give you one minor spoiler, there is a "villain" who honestly is just too adorable to be evil and he ends up having a well deserved growth arc though it does take him a bit to get all the way there.
Watch this series, you absolutely won't regret it.

This drama could have been done better with a more rapid growth of relationship and emotional maturity on the part of the ML character, he really had to have things explained to him repeatedly before he understood and changed. I blame the writers for repeatedly making male characters soooo out of touch with their feelings that it takes a brick to the head sometimes to break their shell open. (the first half of the drama especially!)

The actor and actress can only do as good as the script lets them do, and you can see the potential that XZL has an actor if he can just break out of these roles that don't suit his range. When he's paired with a good leading lady he can make it work, but this isn't his strong suit and when he's paired with a mediocre one it shows.

Thankfully the kisses were on fire because Bai Lu can match the energy of her co-stars intuitively and it makes them both give a better performance. Their chemistry towards the second half of the series picked up steam but kept getting knocked back down by the writers putting up ridiculous roadblocks.

Hey writers, we don't want to just see them get together and that is the end, we want to go on the first dates, we want to see them hold hands, we want to see them struggle to juggle work and romance balance...ie sometimes he is the boss and has the final say and sometimes he's your boyfriend and you are equals and how to make that work for you both happily. We want the mushy 15 minute dates you have to cram in to keep the romance going in between important business issues, staying up late together to finish one last big project before launch ect.

Give us the life that happens in between the "we are finally a couple" and the "I want to marry this person and have my happy ever after" finale.

My finale opinion is that this is a 6/10 that could have been a solid 8 or 8.5 if the first half hadn't had the FL start with zero experience and just jump into a random "relationship" because of nonsensical reasons that only made any sense if you thought about it from a plot point instead of "this is something real humans would do" point.

lol Thank goodness I wasn't the only one who thought that! I know it was a serious moment but I was like, ummmm that's not a good spot to put your head. 😂

I heard it's because she shot a drama before this one with military haircut and not enough time passed for her hair to be "long enough" for this drama....but I agree that wig is AWFUL! There are so many amazing wigs out there, but that one is just not cared for properly and looks like a dollar store wig.

I swear the person who wrote the character for this drama wrote the exact same behavior in the last drama XZL starred in. "Choice Husband" may be set in historical period but had the same toxic traits of lying and manipulating but secretly caring for someone cause of loooove. It's a bad trope that needs to die off asap.

I was hesitant to get started because a 20 episode historical seemed like a long commitment, but I binged all 6 episodes in one day and I'm hooked like a mofo. I love the FL being a strong and smart character, I hope she continues that way and doesn't get weakened or watered down later on once she falls in love. Honestly though, I would love to see her be in love but not get married...cause if she does get married she'd be so restricted and unable to be herself I think.

I agree, the editing is really jarring at times. I haven't had any issue with the FL's acting at all...I think PHS is a dominating presence so her contribution seems a little less than it actually is.

I was like wait a minute...is that who I think it is! lol So handsome! But a much smaller part.
For me the sml in this one had a sweet personality to begin with and he seemed to really look forward to their marriage unlike some guys, but his personality is quickly changing to jealousy and distrustful and makes him a lot less attractive. I don't think I will have much second lead syndrome in this one like I did in The Forbidden Marriage.

Yes he does! I really appreciate it when they don't dub over cause there are some very manly voices that have gotten hidden by dubbing over the years.

This one really grabbed me right from the get go, I binged it in a day and caught up already...now I have to wait for the episodes to drop like everyone else 😭

thank you

thx!

Is this using Chen Xing Xu's natural voice? He seems to have a much deeper sound than in other drama I saw him in.

I've seen some that were strict to a fault when it came to rules, some that honestly were flat out evil with a veneer of goodness, and some that were middle of the road...but you're right, I don't think I've ever liked any of the iterations of Heavenly Emperors that I've come across. Maybe that one Xiaxian that had one actor play dual roles as Emperor of Heaven and his twin the Demon Emperor, I think it was Destiny of White Snake maybe? He actually seemed humane and compassionate compared to most of the heavenly emperors in this types of drama.

I hope they change it for the drama, I don't want to grow to love them and then have my heart ripped to shreds in the finale!!!

I agree, the second couple were the real MVPs of this drama but I did like the ML as a dragon.

Ok I finished it finally...I have to say it takes a certain strength of character for the viewers to get through the very first part of this series, the FL character (Yin Yin) is really mentally challenged or something. She's full of herself, convinced she's a special chosen one, the most beautiful and most talented ect ect. She lives in a fantasy that her father told her about basically, which is a mix of half truths and a miracle that she was born dead but was revived by the blessing of the sea dragon...so I guess in some sense she was special and she does end up being destined for something unique, but still...those first few episodes of her, you just want to smack her around a little because she would absolutely test the patience of a saint...and I'm no saint!
One the mega plus side, Yin Yin has a lovely cousin named Lin Lin who is AMAZING and her friendship, loyalty, and eventual hopeless( or is it?) romance with the Crown Prince should have been the lead storyline instead of Yin Yin and her Dragon destiny.
Come for the dragon but stay for the second lead couple. I'd give this a 6.5/10

Had to wait a bit for the english subs, but I enjoyed this little short format series

For those who haven't gotten to ep 18, thought I'd better put my thoughts under the spoiler tag, cause there were a few scenes described in detail that maybe you want to watch first without knowing they are coming and specifically when they are coming in the drama :)