Nelly

You are not alone, my friend! haha

Yeah, I just didn't notice. But that's why I didn't give it a bad rating, because I would remember if it was terrible. It just didn't attract my attention, like background noise. I will google the titles you gave me because now I'm curious, but it wasn't love at first sight (or first listen!) for me.

In my book, looking for the truth is no excuse for being disrespectful. Innocent until proven guilty, you don't just go off on a widow because she MIGHT be guilty of stealing some money. Regardless of the fact that I am truly jaded of seeing rude male leads in dramas, I don't think in this case it's okay.

It is, my mistake!

I had the same problem! To be honest, you won't miss much if you skip them haha But it's always good to finish things nicely!

Maybe one or two, but not as important as this one haha If you're really into suspense dramas you should still give it a shot, the way it's produced is really thrilling. But since you already know the major twist, if you're not super into that, just skip. Try Flower of Evil if you haven't watched it, it's much better! :)

But it's not because you think that that everyone should; I happened to have a different definition of what overrated is. For me overrated is anything that's been hyped too much (and one person is enough to hype something up). It's a valid use of the term, since when you google it the definition says "rated OR valued very highly". Doesn't have to have anything to do with how many people watched the drama or what the actual rating was (even though an 8.3 is actually pretty high for a Chinese drama here on MDL). The fact that you consider the drama "a hidden gem" can seem overrated to someone who doesn't. Anyway, I only commented because when I'm looking for drama reviews I like to see the good as well as the not so good comments, but couldn't see that much here. I'm giving the other side of the spectrum for anyone who cares to know. You don't need to agree with me, you can totally (respectfully) disagree with my arguments! It just feels a bit extra to focus on semantics...

Lol Obviously, I was referring to this comment section, which is mostly praising the drama. But maybe you could tell me what me saying the drama is overrated is supposed to have to do with the number of viewers of this drama, or why I couldn't possibly think an 8.3 is overrated. Just curious.

Haha Exactly! He's just such a creep, all around, I find it really hard to feel anything positive towards him. It's like asking someone to feel sympathy for an assassin or something. But I think it's fascinating to hear other people's opinion. It shows we focus on different things when we look into characters.

That's true, he's not really that pitiful. We don't see him losing all his life purpose because FL doesn't like him. I just meant that to me, he's still more pitiful than Lu. I do think it would have been good character depth to make LYQ kind of a scarred and desperate guy, but they should have toned down the psychopath vibes and given more sad backstory. The way they did it, he's too far gone for me to feel any sympathy for him...

I didn't see him in a bad light because back in the day if the king says no one should know then don't you dare go rogue. He probably had no choice. Also, asking for separation is the logical thing in his situation. If the roles were reversed she probably would have done the same. I just think the whole incident is not at all realistic (or is poor writing) because there're just so many things that could have gone wrong. Minglan could have killed herself, or she and others could have died trying to help because of all those lies. I just don't think it was the big twist I wanted to see at the end of the drama. Still an awesome one though!

Most of the main good characters survive, only one dies! And Jing will become king.!

First 4 episodes are bomb, but then it kind of slows down until episode 30-ish. It's all on purpose, to give the OTP's backstory, but it can feel a bit long. Just know it's all worth it!

I mean, this was life back then. If it puts you off I don't think you should keep on watching haha But if it helps (and since you don't mind spoilers), he won't stay with her (the mistress). The romance is really nice in this drama so I would give it a bit more of a try! Just know that the romance only really picks up around ep 30!

Depends what you like. If you don't mind harem stories and slow burn romance go ahead. This drama's actually very good. The romance is cute, the female lead is smart and there's a bit of mystery too, so it's worth it. But if you really can't stand harem stories or want a drama that focuses on love and where the romance is fast-paced, this isn't it!.

I guess I'm in the minority who didn't feel like this drama was anything special. Don't get me wrong, it's fine, but it's not memorable. Nothing "wow!" about it. Male lead isn't toxic (which is great!), he's nurturing and kind, but he's got no life of his own. Female lead is outspoken (which is great!), but she also doesn't have much depth. Their "falling in love" is cute and promising, but once they get together their scenes become a bit lackluster, with only a few exceptions. Chemistry was alright, but again, I've seen better. The writing also has good stuff like the flashbacks, and then terrible clichés. Everything only goes halfway, nothing is stellar. It's an easy watch though, for anyone who doesn't have anything to watch. Not emotional or swoon-worthy, but not boring or super annoying. I just feel it's overrated...

I find it so interesting how many people feel bad for Lu. I feel bad for Ning, who's only flaw is not having been chosen as main lead, but Lu is just nuts haha Maybe I would feel worse if the drama had given us more of his backstory. So far we've seen him more in psychopath mode, ruining everybody's life, than in pitiful mode. Only one tiny scene of his childhood, and a bit of bullying doesn't explain such a twisted mind...

I loved Ding Ding's song, that one was the best! But you're right, Long Ballad is better than this one!

Oh! Probably explains why I never saw it before! haha I knew I'd considered this drama before :)

Really? I tried it so many times because it has such high reviews and people say it's as good as NIF, but I never could get into it. But I think the farthest I've gone is episode 3. One day maybe I'll skip right to episode 5 to see if it helps!