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I enjoyed this drama thoroughly. It's a slice of life story about four college dorm roommates and their coming of age story as they go through the last year of college. Although the story seemed simple and nothing special, what makes this drama enjoyable is the characters and seeing their journey as they become an adult and face life's challenges. I like how strong their friendship is and how they depend on each other. The drama shows the characters' up and down as they navigate through life. It's not always sunny. They fight, they bicker and they get jealous of each other. But when trouble comes, they provide each other's helping hands. Here are my review of the main (and notable supporting) characters.Duan Jia Bao:
She is a spoiled rich kid. Her parents are super rich, so she gets through college life pretty easy and seemed to have no qualms in spending money. In the beginning we see her being taken advantage of someone she met who faked being a fanboy of the same artists. Turns out she only befriended her because of her money. Her character at first seemed like an annoying brat who takes everything for granted. But she became my favorite character as she showed her virtues. Like Da Xiong said, even though she is rich, she is happy at any gift that he gave her and never look down. She is very loyal and always willing to help her friends when they are in need. She is not the brightest student, and can be lazy in studying at times, but she is very passionate at what she does and willing to go through mountains to accomplish the job. We get to see her being humble and really does her job as an agent. She is also a very loving person, she has a tremendously big heart. How she sacrificed her feeling for YouXiu for Liang Shuang requires a big heart. I love her relationship with her brother and how close of a sibling they are. She is by far my favorite character of the occupants of 419.
Liang Shuang:
She is my second favorite character. She maybe fierce on the outside, but nice on the inside. When she was first introduced, she seemed like a scary characters and all the other 419 occupants are so afraid of her that they even mock her as the WiFi password. She, like Duan Jia Bao showed her virtues. She is very filial to her grandmother. She is very passionate in chasing her dreams to become a fashion blogger. And although it hurt her, she stood up for her mistakes and willing to accept the consequences. As the drama progresses we will see that she is a good friend which the other occupants started to realize and that's how she got into the close circle of room 419.
Jiang Xiao Guo:
She is the glue of the friendship. She is a goody two shoes, a straight A student, very frugal, lives within her means and works hard to achieve her dreams in the financial world. She is loyal to her friends and very caring. I love to see her relationship with her mom. She has a big heart too and showed that when she met her step brother for the first time. She is a hardworker and displayed that at her job despite being just an intern. She is a friend that you would like to have in your life. She is always there for you.
Luo Yan/Shi Tou:
She is my least favorite character. I don't like her. She is weird, she can be a close book even to her closest friend. She is very rude to her mom. She can be thick headed at times.
The male characters are just your ordinary guy. The focus is not on them but the four female leads. However, I have to give a special mention to Duan Zhen Yu. He, like her sister Duan Jia Bao, looks like a spoiled brat (he is even more than his sister), but he showed character development and became a better person. Plus, Wang An Yu is so cute :) The second one is Zhou Xun. He looks fierce, not nice and unapproachable, but he is actually soft on the inside.
Overall, I would recommend this drama if you like coming of age stories. There is romance but it's more like "real life" romance than drama romance, it has its ups and downs. The friendship is great, that you wish you have dorm mates like them. I'm continuing to season 2 immediately as Netflix has both seasons.
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Not Just A Love Story
This drama is not your typical love story. The chemistry and relationship between the main couple is indeed cute and heartwarming, but this drama is about so much more than that. This is also about family and friendship as well. The main couple started out as childhood friends who grow to like each other, not just as friends. I like that this drama also explores psychological issues, such as FL growing up without a mother, ML also has psychological disorders (I forgot what it's called, but he needs to be under pressure to perform well in archery). I like how the FL and ML supports each other through the ups and downs of their relationship. I also like the music of this drama. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the chemistry between the main couple is great! Ireine Song is so cute and lovable. I will definitely rewatch this when I have time (Plus side: it's only 24 episodes)Was this review helpful to you?
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A loooooonnnngggg drama
Taiwanese dramas are usually only 13-15 episodes with 1 hour 15 minutes duration (so in c-drama land this would be 24-30 episode drama). However, this one is longer that Chinese costume drama, even longer than Story of Yanxi palace, which is 70 episodes long.Anyway, I decided to watch this series because I like the main couple and the synopsis sounds really interesting. I thought I can breeze through 72 episodes if I really like to see the main couple and I did enjoy the first 30 episodes. [SPOILER] However, it started to get boring and downhill after the main couple got together. It's nice to see them be lovey dovey instead of bickering, but it kinda lost its appeal for me. The story started to move to secondary characters... Which is fine, I have no issue since I like some of the secondary characters too, but what I don't like is that this feels like a VLOG instead of a drama series. I feel like just watching the characters daily life without any conflicts much of the time.. Thus it gets really boring.. There are some cliches too and I couldn't stand Lan Shi-De's aunt. She is just so annoying... Grandma is too sometimes, but mostly the aunt that gets on my nerves. I ended up just having this drama in the background until the last 2 episodes when I really watch it again.
This is a long drama that is not worth the time investment... It is only worth it if you really really like the actors and actresses and want more screen time of them. Otherwise, this is just a simple drama that is not worth your time.
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Well done well acted light on series
I was introduced to iQiyi's Light On series through The Bad Kids, which is until now, one of the best drama that I've watched. This is the second Light On Series that I've watched. Although it is not as good as The Bad Kids, but it is a pretty good mystery drama that keeps you at the edge of your seat. The story is told really well in 12 episodes, which makes the pace of this drama just right. The end of each episode ends with another piece of the torn photograph that will contain the clue to the mystery and every episode almost always ends in a cliffhanger and will leave you hanging if you don't click that next episode button. I was hooked from the first episode until the last one The acting is also top notch from the main and supporting characters. Special applause goes to Bai Yu who portrays the Jiang Yang character, who is the main character and the central of the whole drama once you've watched the whole drama. If you like mystery dramas, I would definitely recommend you check this drama out with advance warning: the drama deals with dark and difficult issue which can be sad and depressing for some.Was this review helpful to you?
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I am so fooled into watching this drama from the rave reviews and comments that I've read. Obviously they are not on MDL. If I'd read the comments and reviews on MDL, I probably would not have given this drama a shot. Well, to be fair, the first 10 episodes are kinda okay and watchable when you leave your brain off and just feast on the eyes looking at Xu Kai Cheng. But after that things started to go downhill. The FL gets more annoying and irritating, and you just want to slap her to "wake her" up sometimes. The evil guy (I forgot his name) is an absolute bore and his acting is so bad......... The mom storyline is also weird and to me doesn't make sense, how you would betray your own son just because she loves her second husband? That to me is super outrageous! Unfortunately, I'm not one to drop dramas, so I have to just soldier on and finish it all - Netflix combines both seasons, so it just kept on playing. But I do other things while it plays on the background. Somehow I'm interested to see what crappy ending this drama has :) Was this review helpful to you?
A tragically beautiful love story
After being put on my "To-Watch" list on Netflix for too long, I finally delved into watching this drama series. I have already been warned of the no happy ending of this drama. Personally, sad endings are fine with me. Sometimes it's what makes a drama stay with you for a long time and being etched in your memory while happy endings are usually just fade away with time. This is also my first time watching any drama starring both of the main leads, Chen Xing Xu and Peng and their chemistry here is through the roof! In fact, I think the best part about this drama is actually their acting. I thought they suit their character and played the part so well. Chen Xing Xu played a really complex character and you can see the happiness and pain that he experienced from his expression. I enjoyed the two leads' bickering once they are married. Qu Xiao Feng is not your typical princess or queen in a Chinese drama. She is strong, carefree, doesn't really conform to the norm observed by most traditional princess in any kingdom. But I like her. She is different. Although this drama has a long 52 episodes, I found that I only skip or no-focus watch for very little of it. Mostly involving the unimportant side characters and the political story and the feud between Gao and Zhao family. That, to me is not very interesting. Oh and I loathed the Zhao Se Se character, although i should sympathize with her but she just gets on my nerves :)Overall, I really enjoyed watching this drama and will definitely rewatch it in the future.
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You can never really know a person, even though you're really close friends and the drama says that when you have a friend like Jing Jing, one that you go to when you're feeling sad and happy, you have to understand that she has the same needs.
Anyway, you have to watch it to really appreciate this drama. This is a unique drama that's different from your usual modern chinese drama, but in a good way.
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This drama is 62 episodes long, so if you don't have the patience (or a huge fan of anyone of the actors and actresses), I would suggest you skip this one.
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If you're looking for something to watch that's light and easy to follow, I would recommend watching Refresh Man. Of course, the sight of cool and handsome Aaron Yan is a definite bonus too! The chemistry between Aaron Yan and Joanne Tseng is very interesting. For the the first 1/3 of the drama, all they do is bickering and fighting and they irritate each other all the time. However, as the drama progresses, you start to see a change in their character and relationship. I like how Aaron's character starts to show that he cares for Yu Tang in ways that would make me go super ga-ga over him. The kissing scenes are wow too! It's not your usual awkward just closed lips touching closed lips, but this is real kissing :) I would re-watch this drama just for these scenes alone!. The reason I did not give this drama a higher score is because of the business storyline. I get that this shows the inspirational part of the drama, about team work and friendship and how to find motivation at your "supposedly" dead-end job. In fact, Yu Tang's team and colleagues are an interesting bunch of characters. But there are many parts of the business storyline that just doesn't make any sense to me and some of the villains are just despicable human beings that I keep skipping their parts because they are just too annoying (especially Managed Jia and Wendy)!
Overall, this is a good and enjoyable drama. I also like the OST, especially the ending theme song by Weibird, it immediately got on my playlist and I must have listened to it tens of times each day. Go and definitely watch this if you are a fan of Aaron Yan. He looks amazingly cool and handsome here!
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The first 30 episodes are excellent. The story moves in a good pace, the chemistry of Ethan Juan and Yang Mi for the first part was through the roof! The fighting scenes are also superb. I can see some bad CGI but the scenes are very exciting, edge of your seat kinds, so it's not too bothersome for me. Ethan Juan as Zhangsun Wuji is excellent. I have seen him in a couple of Taiwanese drama, but I thought that his acting in Legend of Fu Yao tops everything that he's ever done. He's amazingly charming and that smile can melt my heart! Yang Mi's acting as Fu Yao is also much better than Ten Miles of Peach Blossom.
Fast forward to the second half of the drama. The pace slows down and they introduce new characters as the two main leads move on to other kingdoms and meet new villains. However, unfortunately, it's not as exciting as the first half. The focus on the other characters get boring and I thought that they can do without these part of the storyline, and just skip to the last 5 (or maybe 10) episodes to close the loop.
The ending I thought was a bit rushed too, although it's a satisfying ending. I don't like those dramas with open-ended endings.
Overall, this is a very good drama that i would recommend for sure. The music is great too, ones that I would add to my playlist and listen over and over again. And... you've got to watch it for Ethan and Yang Mi's excellent chemistry. I would definitely re-watch the first part of the drama.
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