Knavery

Some messy aspects but I think the cast does a good job of masking the weakness by having good chemistry together.

She has a memorable look and she would do well playing a mischievous lead character.

Yes, I am glad as well. She was a sympathetic character for me in The Song of Glory. I will definitely be checking out her new dramas.

Plus reading the descriptions down below of the webtoon or whatever - the character doesn't seem too complex. Confident and flirty (or teasing). She's a former idol who had experience with both before moving to acting and she has a bunch of dramas under her belt.

I can't say I will watch this - we're simply way too far out and I might be watching, doing other things but it's not a bad casting in my opinion.

I gave it a second watch and the comparable for this drama to me is probably the Get Smart movie starring Steve Carrell.

It's not the best thing ever but it made me laugh and I think Dong Shik has similar vibes to Steve Carrell's character in Get Smart - believe in yourself and fake it until you make it. And the audience is along for the trainwreck of a ride.

This is a really strong start to this drama. In terms of making a TV show, I think it's easier to make a good romantic comedy but hard to make a great and memorable one.

With only three episodes I think this is a show that could likely end up in that "great and memorable" category. The cast is good, the female lead has strong facial expressions. The male lead also manages to have his moments. The side characters are fun and light.

They keep setting up tropes for the characters and then mocking them in their drama-within-a-drama. They subvert other tropes especially with the second leads and the grandpa.

This could be a hit or an all-time favorite romantic comedy for me if they can keep the momentum going.

It's probably a good idea this is only 12 episodes. They can keep it fun and light, the leads can show chemistry and they can end it before the clichés pile up too high. There were quite a few in episode 1. I guess the flipside is they aren't shy about making fun of themselves with that TV show within the TV show.

Jing Tian seems like she was born with the physical traits, presence and demeanor to play Republican era characters.

As for the drama I think it starts really strong but the last 5 or so episodes go at a bit of a frantic pace and it's jarring when you compare it to the rest of the drama.

This reminds me of an American indie movie. I feel like it would have been a bit better with one or two fewer 'heavy' topics some of which you see in the tags. Still, really strong drama. Hope the leads get more roles in the future.

I didn't have an issue with the cast but the story feels off and I dropped it. Maybe I'll come back to it later. It's unfortunate. Again no issue with anyone on the cast... the story just felt so light and was already going in circles.

I want to add - Teresa Li and her character got a lot of crap from the comments I saw especially on Viki. It seems unfair and missing the bigger picture.

Lets start with the looks criticism - she looks fine. The male lead isn't the best looking in this drama so why does the female lead need to be the most beautiful? She wasn't my favorite female character but it was a good performance, a good contrast to the other women close to the male lead and she fits with him the best.

If you take a step back from the silly moments and look at her seriously she's pretty good at figuring out what the male lead is thinking or planning around. She's his foil that he can run many of his thoughts and ideas past. She's his emotional support beam as well when he needs reassurance and love.

I think one of the issues is the show uses her as a bit of comedic relief from heavier moments. Her obsession with money is injected to lighten things up.

I'll end with: Qing Niao was my favorite character. I wish her character had been explored more.

I'll start off with what I enjoyed - I think the first thing is the story was reasonably well done with some hiccups here and there in the back half. The characters were compelling and memorable. The characters also had a pretty good dynamic between them. I think pretty much anyone can find at least one character they like.

The show was put together well and I enjoyed it.

The big "negative" here is that they build a complex world for the cast to navigate and in the end... it feels more like a setup for a season 2 and maybe even 3. I want to make it clear that there is a story. There is a reason. There is an ending. This show can stand alone with one season and no additions and say "I told a story".

But despite this it feels like season 1 is to set you up with the background and start of an even larger journey for the characters. I don't know this but I would imagine the web-novel likely does continue past where season 1 ends.

And I'm always wary of planning for season 2 and beyond with Chinese dramas. Season to season they have no issue swapping out the lead actor or actress or both. And the writing and performances are good in this show so these are memorable characters... even those listed as 'supporting' are memorable. I don't want anyone swapped out. It won't feel the same.

This is one of those few dramas that I wish was longer so it could have dealt with a "bigger" story. My complaint about this show is "it could have been even longer and better!".

I think this drama struggles with what it wants to be. Seems like it will be a forgettable to mediocre drama despite the cast doing a good job. Something you recommend from the historical genre but not close to the "best of" list for any of the sub genres (comedy, romance, intrigue, detective, etc...).

There were opportunities to explore things as others have suggested below. And it seems that other mediums like for example the anime did explore these topics.

When there was an opportunity to explore or dive into a topic it felt like the show swerved away in favor of political melodrama and hamfisted twists to the plot. It's a decent show but to me it feels like squandered potential.

It reminds me of Terra Nova on a low budget. An American show about climate disaster and finding a time-slip so people could travel back and 'restart' civilization in a parallel universe. That show could have also explored so many different angles but instead chose a relatively simple plot dynamic with hamfisted twists. Visually stunning but not impressive beyond that.

And don't get me wrong, I liked both shows and I'm not trashing either one. But the first thing that comes to mind when I think of either show is - squandered potential. Super interesting premise but poor execution leading to mediocre watchable TV.

To me this feels like it's going off the rails in the last few episodes.

I'll never understand playing serious games on your phone. That being said the writers did a good job on getting terminology and stuff right. A lot of times writers write a bunch of nonsense that might fool people who know nothing about the subject like hacking or medicine but in this case the things they said were all pretty believable and accurate.

Show kind of drags in the middle. It's cute but not amazing. Strong start. Weak middle. Okay ending. The leads really help with this drama. Both have expressive faces.

Yeah it's certainly less distracting or noticeable in modern shows. He's in another 2022 iQiyi platform drama set in present day and with a normal haircut it's much less distracting. I dropped that one but not because of him.

Maybe it's just period/costume dramas that make him look distracting in a not-good way at least in my eyes.

The male lead looks like the living embodiment of plastic surgery and it's difficult for me to get past that. I guess I've made it through a few dramas where the female lead looked like plastic surgery even though it was a bit of a struggle. Thankfully at 15 episodes this might be easier. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and his look is natural but it looks so not-natural to me.

I think this is a tough one for me because his face is not expressive (just like the female leads I've seen with that plastic look) and Chinese TV everything is dubbed. I feel like you need an expressive face and/or an amazing voice actor who can bring life to the lines. I'm not seeing either after 2 episodes

It's a majorly flawed drama in terms of plot but it's constantly twisting and moving so I guess a flawed plot is better than a slow one or an uninteresting one. Preview doesn't look particularly inspiring on plot front. Seems the bigger play is to get the leads back together in scenes like they had earlier on in the show and hope the chemistry can carry it.

It wasn't that good but at the same time a nice quick short story without getting too heavy. Given that I liked My Heroic Husband the tv show, this was decent enough.

I kind of feel bad for the male lead like they should have given him a bit more success but overall pretty well done and funny.