DramaloverPanda

I wouldn't say this is the type of drama that hooks you from the beginning. Its the kind that you continue watching wondering to yourself if you are enjoying it or not. The first couple of episodes move very quickly, in fact it moves too quickly and fails to give an impactful back story to anchor the characters. Our female lead is 'reborn' into someone else's body 3 years after her death and she is able to retain her old memories and personality but also the memories of the body's previous soul. Her and the male lead meet by chance and he decides to use the very precious life saving plant he just risked his life to obtain to save this complete stranger. Later, to retrieve the rest of the plant he inserts himself in to her life and in doing so finds himself helplessly in love with her.

I have so many questions that end up never being answered and the charisma of the male lead and beauty of the costumes can't make up for the consistent plot holes. What was the point of the female lead being reborn? Her family had been massacred but she took her revenge by using her life to end the perpetrators so she had no reason to hang around. Rebirth often needs fuel for the soul like revenge or desperation. Instead our female lead is just sucked back into life and her sole purpose from that point will be to obtain power. What happened to the original soul? Did the original Shen Xihe not want to live anymore? Her rebirth was used only as a plot device to make the 5th Prince crazy and that was all.

The male lead's instant love is pretty off putting in the beginning but he grows on you as the drama progresses because of the performance that the actor gives. His flamboyancy and charisma is what saves the show for me and made me complete it. Too much of defining moments are done off screen, especially in the first half where problems arise and are solved easily but done off screen. And then most of the drama felt staged making it difficult to feel immersion or much emotion. Scenes where the director obviously wanted a shot of them alone finding each other even if it makes no sense for either of them to be alone, or of sick villagers huddled under eaves of perfectly fine buildings instead of inside. There were many times where I could feel the staging and direction and it felt so unnatural that I could not connect with the drama.

Overall its a very pretty drama, it definitely feels very similar to the many other popular dramas just like this one out and is easy to watch. But it lacks a coherent plot outside of it just being a love story. We are led to believe that Xihe is brilliant and independent but then Crown Prince is actually the one doing everything for her. The Crown Prince is another sickly lead but is secretly a master martial artist and strategist. Problems are often handled with ease, certain villains are given plot armor to keep them in the story rather than actual intelligence, and the 'picture perfect' staging is often distracting.

Also I found the end to be so unsatisfying even though we were given a happy ending. It felt rushed but also unnecessary in many aspects.

**What I mean by scenes feeling staged: in the latter half we have a scene where the male lead is missing and everyone is looking for him, our female lead is with her group of guards also searching but then goes ahead on her own and happens to come across him for a picture perfect running reunion. In what world does it make sense that they would let their Crown Princess walk off alone in the dark with the Crown Prince having been kidnapped and the 5th Prince returned injured? There are many times when this kind of thing occurs and once you notice it, it reminds you that you are watching a story.