Joyce Lite Fulgencio

I honestly did not expect Pull Strings to make me laugh this much.
I've watched plenty of C-dramas with comedy sprinkled into the story, but this is probably the first one where I genuinely found myself laughing out loud episode after episode. Not just smiling at a funny scene. Actually laughing. 🤣
And yes, a huge part of that is Ao Ruipeng.
I have already watched him in more serious roles, so seeing him completely unleash this side of himself as Li Changshou was such a pleasant surprise. His expressions, timing, deadpan reactions, and the way he plays Changshou's constant calculation are basically comedy gold.
But what makes Pull Strings work for me is that underneath all the ridiculous situations, there is an actual story.
This is not a no-brainer comedy.
Li Changshou is a reincarnated cultivator whose greatest ambition isn't to become the strongest, save the world, or become famous. He simply wants to survive, cultivate quietly, avoid unnecessary karma, and eventually secure a peaceful life.
So naturally, the universe refuses to cooperate. 😂
His entire philosophy is basically: stay hidden, keep your cards close, calculate everything, avoid unnecessary fights, and never reveal more than you absolutely have to.
The irony is that he becomes so good at pulling strings from behind the scenes that his carefully calculated actions keep creating increasingly huge consequences.
And THAT is where the title makes sense.
He really is the man behind the scenes.
What I loved about Changshou is that his intelligence isn't presented in the usual “look how powerful I am” way. He is cautious almost to an absurd degree. He prepares escape routes, hides his abilities, plans around possible outcomes, and tries to make other people believe they're acting independently.
Sometimes watching him plan is almost funnier than watching the actual comedy.
Because while everyone else is panicking, Changshou is already three steps ahead—
and then something completely ridiculous happens that forces him to pull another string. 🤣
The supporting characters make this even better.
One of the biggest strengths of the drama is that the comedy doesn't depend entirely on one character making stupid jokes. A lot of the humor comes from misunderstandings created by incomplete information. Everyone thinks they understand the situation, everyone has their own mission, and somehow everyone ends up talking about completely different things while assuming they're on the same page.
Some of those scenes had me absolutely losing it.
The characters can be incredibly cautious and competent individually, yet put them together and suddenly the situation becomes pure chaos. 😂
And somehow, it still fits the story.
That's what I appreciated most: the comedy comes from the characters and the world, rather than feeling randomly pasted onto a serious plot.
There is also a surprising amount of strategy underneath the humor.
The story gradually expands beyond Changshou simply trying to survive. Different factions, the Dragon Clan, the Heavenly Court, the approaching calamity, hidden identities, alliances, betrayals, and long-term schemes all become part of the bigger picture.
So while I initially watched this thinking, “Okay, this is going to be my funny palate cleanser,” I eventually realized that I was actually invested in the larger story.
It still made me laugh, but there was enough substance underneath it to keep me watching.
And then there's the ending.
I have to admit, I felt a little bit cheated. 😂
Not because it was terrible, but because after spending 30 episodes with these characters, I wanted just a little more closure. The final stretch suddenly becomes much more emotional, and there is a genuine little kurot after all the comedy that came before it.
The story ends with the feeling that this journey isn't completely over, which made me understand immediately why I finished it and went:
“HUH? BITIN?!” 😭
And yes, that is probably my biggest complaint.
Thirty episodes felt too short for the amount of story this drama was trying to cover.
The original story is much larger, and you can feel that the adaptation has a lot of material competing for limited episode space. Some later developments move very quickly, while the ending leaves you wanting more. Critics have similarly noted the compression and the amount of source material behind the adaptation.
But despite that, I had an absolute blast watching this.
And I think that's worth saying because I don't usually rate a drama highly simply because it's funny.
For me, Pull Strings worked because it gave me three things at once:
Comedy.
A genuinely clever protagonist.
And an actual story underneath the chaos.
Ao Ruipeng was the biggest surprise for me. I've seen him in serious roles before, but this was the first time I really got to appreciate just how funny he can be when given the right material.
His Li Changshou is cautious, paranoid, calculating, secretly powerful, and constantly trying to avoid becoming the center of attention.
Which, of course, guarantees that he becomes exactly that.
😂😂😂
💚 Would Watch Again?
Absolutely.
Especially when I need something that can make me laugh without feeling completely empty underneath the comedy.
⚖️ What Worked
• Ao Ruipeng — easily one of the biggest highlights
• Li Changshou's unusual “stay hidden and survive” philosophy
• Smart/strategic ML rather than the usual reckless hero
• Situational comedy and character-based humor
• Great ensemble chemistry
• Clever schemes and behind-the-scenes manipulation
• The story actually has substance beneath the comedy
• Fun xianxia world-building
• Surprisingly emotional moments toward the end
• A very refreshing change of pace from heavier historical/xianxia dramas
🚩 What Didn't
• The final stretch felt rushed
• Too much story for only 30 episodes
• Some plot developments could have used more breathing room
• The ending left me BITIN. 😭
• I wanted more closure after becoming this attached to the characters
Angst
Low–Medium, with a noticeable increase toward the finale.
Chemistry
Good, but romance isn't the reason I watched this.
Slow Burn
Not really the selling point. The drama is much more about strategy, survival, relationships, and the larger cultivation conflict than romance.
Genre Type
Xianxia • Fantasy • Comedy • Adventure • Strategy • Cultivation
My Rating
9.5/10⭐
Not because it's flawless—it isn't.
But because I had an absolute blast watching it.
I came in expecting a light xianxia comedy.
I got a clever ML who spends the entire drama trying NOT to become important, an ensemble of characters who somehow turn careful planning into absolute chaos, and Ao Ruipeng making me laugh harder than any C-drama has managed to in a long time.
And honestly?
That alone made the 30 episodes worth it. 🤣❤️