HardTruth

Well, this isn't real life. We are talking about fiction and it's only 12 episodes long. Not enough time to dilly dally or meander like it would in real life... So they have to fit her character growth into that & I am saying they have done a poor job so far wrt Meri's character. It's all about how a character works for you to make your viewing experience enjoyable in a fictional world. Not how the character would have worked out in real life. Otherwise if you equate & expect every 12 ep shows to how it is in real life, no show will make sense lol.

I am with majority of the comments after EP 6. Personally, I think the screenwriter made a mistake by keeping Meri too passive for too long. It worked in the beginning but by episode 6, she should have started showing more strength and assertiveness imo. The way she was toyed by the ex despite her declining him & she was still willing to help him out at the hospital felt excessive in terms of portraying her as overly saintly & it really undermines her character growth. We knew this show as full of cliche but wish this 'overly saint' main character symptom was not one of it.. Duh

It would’ve been far more satisfying to see her character toughen up & become really assertive as well as strong by now but it seems the writers are saving that transformation for the very end probably the last two or three episodes. Regardless of the flaws & common sense aside, it’s still light, fun & enjoyable without having to rack your brains.

In a way, that’s true. There are a gazillion shows out there already, so some level of saturation and recycled plots is inevitable. I also think it depends a lot on the age group. For instance, I’m pretty sure people in the 15–early 20s range would still enjoy this kind of story anytime & that’s a pretty large demographic. A more mature audience might just grow distant from it over time from such cliched romcoms and that’s fair too.

Sometimes, it’s not the story that’s new, it’s the way it’s told that keeps us watching. That’s why some fail, some becomes a hit & why we still get shows with same plots again and again ;)

I feel like some of the criticism for this show is a bit unwarranted. Here’s my take after watching 3 episodes.

I actually put it aside after the initial wave of negative reviews thinking I’d binge it later coz shows like this usually work better when you watch them all at once. But today I was bored and didn’t have anything else to watch, so I finally started it assuming I will anyway drop it midway. And honestly, it turned out to be a pleasant surprise atleast for me.

Basically, it’s got every single kdrama cliche you can think of.. like fake marriage, childhood connection, childhood trauma, those sudden kisses to prevent someone from noticing it's you 😂 , the usual stupid accident after drinking something 🤦‍♂️, evil family member, cheating ex coming back... you name any cliche, it’s there in this 😂 But funnily enough, I was in the mood for something lighthearted to lift my mood today & this hit the spot perfectly. It genuinely evoked laughter in certain scenes.

So I guess it really depends on your expectations & mood with which you start this. If you go in hoping for something fresh, emotionally deep or truly groundbreaking, you’ll probably end up disappointed for sure & honestly, that’s completely fair from your pov. Totally respect that. I do get where those viewers are coming from coz from a storytelling standpoint, this show doesn’t break any new ground at all.

I still think shows like this click best when you binge all 12/16 episodes in one go .. preferably on a lazy Sunday surfing through them on your couch with snacks. It’s really not that bad at all, I swear ;)

So the spoilers ended up true after all without a single change. Wonder how the script got leaked in chinese socials considering many of these things didn't happen in the novel. They knew what was the exact end game since several weeks before.. duh (https://kisskh.at/768987-wan-xin-ji#comment-23829242)

I said it few days before & I say it again after finishing the show, Qin Tian Yu/Xia Jing Yan is the bloody MVP in carrying the show towards the end. His acting delivered the goods, ate the hell out of it & left no crumbs. If not for him or his arc with princess , the latter part of the show would have become a proper drag. He is already 32 but he is a ML material by far. Let's see what good this show does to him next.

But for me, I want this spoiler to be wrong 😭 Even if XJY dies, I badly hope she gets to keep the child. He maybe a bad guy but atleast he genuinely loved her. :/

He is seen as a character who helped princess awaken from her love slumber. Coz if you have seen in most of his scenes with her, he has been totally blunt with truth bombs right on her face lol. So he helped her the most in a way. Great character although a lunatic lol

No idea haha. That's why I said take to it with a grain of salt. I just wanted to share what I read from the spoilers in their sns. it's spilled all over. You can check for yourself too.

The reason why I even posted it is coz I was surprised after seeing the preview coz she really got pregnant because apparently this was never the case in novel? I was seeing this pregnancy spoiler since few weeks back. So I was surprised their spoiler actually became true so we never know.. Maybe they figured with some bts or on location leaked clips or something.. I really don't know lol

You have not made a single valid point lmao. Yeah, it's better to stop here. One less fool to interact with

It's interesting this seems completely different but whatever spoilers I see on chinese socials seems to be exactly what's happening in the show. For ex: her getting pregnant with XJY. So I wonder how the chinese netizens found out these spoilers if it's not from novel haha. It makes me curious

Just to counter your foolish take. Of course the main leads pull higher character ratings. Lmao, did you feel smart saying that? For context, Li Qin + CZY alone have collectively have 45M followers on Weibo versus the QTY & XM lingering around 3M. Did you think the fans of such humongous stars would let their favorite stars go down against unknown players in field? I said the princess × XJY arc has been outperforming in current engagement and edits which is exactly the damn case in chinese socials. Read what’s written before flexing the obvious like a doofus. Gender is meaningless when you are so stupid to comprehend anything & yap on which is exactly you. Simple as that.

Don't embarrass yourself any further. You are lucky MDL doesn't have screenshot options or else I would have shut your clown takes already with receipts. I ain't responding to a dumbass any further than this.

You are too damn stupid girl. Which part of my comment said they carried the entire show? Lmao, being a dumbass & still confident? "Carrying the show in last few episodes" - Are you brain dead to even get what 'last few episodes' here means. Stupid ass trying to act all smart. This is the reason why I said you lack reading comprehension. Lol, get your ass back to school first before offering sermons confidently. And FYI, the actor playing XJY was never planned to be in any promotions btw. It was just after the surge in engagement for his acting he is roped in

Sorry, I misread it. But again it's unfortunately the actor's issue. The actor who played prince zhennan is not well received by chinese people because of his poor acting. So people jumped the ship to enjoy XJY instead who nailed his performance

I guess you really cannot read haha. Girl, first learn to frigginread & then yap. You wrote some random BS here completely missing entire point around my comment's context. Come again, when you actually learn to read better ;) (And no, it was not planned with XJY actor. He wasn't even in the promotions. Stop talking if you have no clue about what you are talking about)

As per the spoilers on chinese sns which have come true mostly from what I followed but take it with a grain of salt -Basically XJY gets betrayed and XJS kills XJY (It is said XJY begged for the first time ever infront of XJS to spare the life of his wife & kid in the womb, so i guess they marry? ), But XJS still tries to kill pregnant FXY as well coz their kid is the legal heir to throne & is a threat to his emperor ambition. He ends up killing their unborn kid but she is saved by the ML at last. It is said that princess regretted not being able to keep the child for the one who actually loved her & vows to never have another man in her life but it's disputed if she really developed any feelings for him or only used him. The half brother emperor gives up the throne to become a monk & she basically becomes the empress of Susha. ML & FL move away from this mess to live their life.

Like I said, take it with grain of salt but it's not far from it is what I feel . They were accurate about princess getting pregnant which was apparently not in the novel? ;)

It's true. Amnesia is a trope universally hated. So many of em are naturally attracted to the more explosive princess turning grey plot with XJY. And for real, their chemistry is top tier & XJY actor is just phenomenal

Lol, just because you’re irritated doesn’t make it a fact. MDL isn’t exactly the benchmark for gauging what resonates in China. Locals are genuinely loving the princess arc with Xia Jingyan. The princess and XJY edits are literally blowing up in chinese socials compared to main leads from recent episodes. It is a fact that the intended local audience are enjoying the princess arc with XJY far more than main leads in the last several episodes (it doesn't mean leads are poor but just their story got a bit uninteresting) to the point they even ended up scheduling a watch party together with second leads (XJY, XJS & FXY) after after the surge of attention this week for the XJY-FXY arc. Why would I lie about this? Learn to read first :)

And btw guess what's funny? You said you would rather prefer watching XJS. That very same actor is literally the one blasted all over by locals for his piss poor acting & dragging the entire show down & they are commenting this directly under the offical show's pages 😂

Let’s be honest — Xia Jingyan has been absolutely carrying the show in the last few episodes solely on his shoulders, especially alongside the princess. What a phenomenal actor & what a performance here. Nailed his role. He’s also starting to blow up a lot on Chinese social media too now. Unfortunately main leads plot ended up super boring since amnesia. But it's good we have this pair to compensate. Basically the main leads carried first half & this pair carrying the second half

In fact we have a mini “My Journey to You” situation here, where the second leads are drawing plenty of attention. While it’s not quite on the same astronomical level as MJTY, this pair and especially Qin Tianyu have started gaining lot of well-deserved buzz after the recent episodes. Just simply look at the numbers on the edits of princess & XJY from recent episodes on chinese socials haha. Always love it when actors with actual acting prowess break out after playing second fiddle roles. It's also a cool fact that both Xia meng & Qin tianyu have majored from same Beijing film academy 👏

It seems the spoilers were true. She indeed got pregnant with Xia Jingyan. So it means the fact about Xia jingshi killing Xia Jingyan and their unborn kid also has to be true in next episodes towards finale I guess. Also many chinese netizens said this is the same in the novel. Perhaps you got it wrong maybe?

Ah alright. so lot of speculations then. sigh. but thank you for clearly explaining the situation. Appreciate it