How does this have an 8.8 rating on MDL?
After watching the entire 34 episodes, I don't know why or how this show got its 8.8 rating on MDL! The plotlines and story were good but in no way compares or comes close to the levels of intrigue, suspense and mental complexity of other shows like The Vendetta of An which only scored 8.5, or The Legend of Zang Hai only scored 8.4, which drives me to want to ask in despair, "Wèishénme?"!!!The sole reason I can fathom why this show has scored 8.8 on MDL is down to the fan-base and popularity of male lead, Li Yun Rui, not only incredibly hot but a skilled actor who's ended up carrying the entire show on his back. In comparison, his female lead, Meng Zi Yi, is completely missing in action with zero on-screen charisma or presence and zero chemistry with Yun Rui. Why was Zi Yi cast in the lead at all? Who makes these decisions? It's the second time I’ve noticed this issue repeatedly with her. She also had zero chemistry playing alongside Liu Xue Yi in "The Princess' Gambit". This firms up my belief that Meng Zi Yi is the problem and I do wish she would do the world a favour and change careers, but I guess after investing so much irreversible effort into her physical appearance, there's no chance of this ever happening.
Her performance in Blossom clearly demonstrates she has absolutely nothing to do with its 8.8 MDL rating - certainly not based on her performance - which leads me to speculate on what behind-the-scenes mafioso force of power is keeping this uninteresting, extremely-forgettable actress on our screens and forcing her down the collective throats of a public viewing audience? The fact she's got 6 upcoming TBA roles on MDL defies all logic. Do production houses really analyse her poor performances and think "Yes, we want to see more of that and so does a gullible paying audience".
Most upsetting is how talented up-and-coming actresses are losing out when someone like Meng Zi Yi keeps being offered cushy slots when she hasn't the talent to justify such blatantly brazen favouritism. It would be a different case if she did have some acting skillset but was still cast due to having powerful connections. An example of such a would-be scenario (in my own personal opinion) is Story of Kunning Palace, where I've always felt that the female there, Bai Lu, while obviously a skilled actress, still did not embody the role of Jiang Xue Ning in Kunning Palace well enough. She was physically much older than the character she was playing, as well as much older than her male romantic co-leads which I found jarring. She also came off a little jaded and worn in the show. I resented her performance even as I admit that she was proficient enough in it - just not the most suitable person to be cast for it. The Bai Lu issue is very different to the Meng Zi Yi issue. The latter case is not only a mis-cast, but a mis-cast of a poorly skilled actress. Any actor can say lines, but when that actor lacks any screen presence, charisma or genuine talent, they become talking-mouths like Meng Zi Yi - just people who always dreamt of acting when young regardless of whether or not they possessed the talent or not. And then they get offered a chance to actually do it - invariably meaning that some other actor with the requisite talent and skillset just lost out due to not having the kind of powerful support Meng Zi Yi has. Such a pity!
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Struggling to continue this drama but lost the battle after episode 4
I watch loads of C-dramas and so I want to be fair in this review. I was excited to start Love's Ambition firstly because of Zhao Lu Si (I adore her previous work) and because of the 8.4 rating on MDL. Unfortunately, after only 5 episodes I have never been so bored by a C-drama in my life. Love's Ambition has criminally slow pacing, uninspiringly dull conflicts, a dull, uninteresting male lead, a lack of plot twists, and a female lead exuding Cyborg-vibes while posing like a frail weed with an eerie smile across her face as she takes dished-out insults like a champ! None of these elements is compelling! Now I'm struggling to start episode 6 but don't think I can honestly continue.I love narrative styles that create quiet emotional conflicts and build long-term character growth with subtle shifts - rather than the more dramatic turns, sharper stakes and huge emotional pay-offs we usually get in K-dramas, but Love's Ambition's pacing and story-telling narrative structure is just dead in the water. And I'm talking as someone who absolutely adores loads of C-dramas like "Go Ahead", "Find Yourself", "The Rational Life", "Amidst a Snowstorm of Love" and "Nothing but You" just to name a few. If the first 5 episodes have left me unimpressed, i doubt anything is going to suddenly pick up after episode 6, so I'll bow out now and choose to be wrong on this one -- or right.
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