TTR - The Truth Review

Frustrating from the beginning to the absolute bitter end

There are 24 episodes at approximately 45 minutes each and it’s clear they spent a bit of money on this drama.
The women are stupid, immature, incapable and weak and by episode 10. I’m completely sick of the FL.
She’s totally useless. She wouldn’t solve a single case and would be dead without ML intervention every time. She’s just an oxygen thief at this point and makes it unwatchable.
When she was collecting money for the flower show, she still can’t do anything but rely on the ML to bail her out.
Why did she take responsibility from Ms Deng in the first place? Because she’s an overwhelming idiot is the answer.
SHE LITERALLY CAN’T DO ANYTHING.
In episode 11 when the whole family were having a meal together, everyone was stupid about their own love lives but switched on to everyone else’s. The family is ridiculous.
ML helped them sooooo much, but they have the audacity to not only disapprove but actively go against him. WHY? This was never made clear apart from FL being their ‘precious daughter.’
The marquis is used to move the plot forward by introducing new characters felt like a blunt hammer. No finesse at all. Soon as anyone is threatened in the slightest. Like the marquise’s Steward telling Ms Cleng they might visit associates if she doesn’t accept the Marquis invitation. They immediately fold like a pack of cards. It’s weak and lazy writing.
Annoyed me that everyone is just waiting for the Marquise to attack them. No one ever takes any initiative, but as soon as they foil his plans, they just wait to be attacked by him again.

In episode 18 or 19 the FL best friend’s ex fiance was allowed to destroy her shop and after he got beaten up by our ML he was allowed to just walk away without taking any responsibility or paying for the damages??????
Stupid, ridiculous nonsense as usual.
Episode 21. Qiyue, Qiyue, Qiyue (the foreign land princess). Is the most idiotic, stupidest woman in the world.
Why are women in Chinese dramas as thick as pig poop?
It’s embarrassing at this point.

They decide to give the marquis an honourable burial????? which just comes across as weak and pathetic nonsense

In episode 24 why is the FL constantly torturing Qiyue when she could just say that Mr Huang is the painter, the painter is the Emperor?. ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.
I must admit, their wedding is kind of cute, but it was ruined by our ML and FL wedding where she ran away to take a matchmaking wedding emergency during the middle of her own ceremony. The ending is not cute or funny but quite ridiculously stupid.

I also feel that the FL‘s family should be kow towing to the male lead at least 100 times a day because he clearly was too good for her and all of them.

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If you don’t have power and influence, you are literally nothing

This is an interesting story, but not in a good way, but I’ll get to that.
It takes place in the Qing Dynasty and revolves around our male lead Gu Pingyuan who goes to the capital to take part in the imperial exam but is tricked into thinking his mother is ill and he causes a scene and gets exiled for 10 years in the harshest of lands where he is surrounded by evildoers but uses his wit and intellect to stay alive. He finds love but has to separateand escapes the hell hole and is reunited with his family. He then goes into various different businesses and is constantly challenged by the establishment but manages to thwart their plans at every turn making several enemies.. though these people including his father, ms Su, various officials and royalty all plan his demise and death he always manages to find a way out. The story finishes with him going back to his wife and them living a peaceful life, even though he is declared officially dead..

The problem with this story is too many to list, but the point I will make is that it is supposed to be about Aspiration. The show uses Gu Pingyuan as a highly idealised aspirational figure. The issue I have with this is that it makes it very clear that the average Joe literally has no chance to succeed. The fact that only a person of Gu Pingyuan's extraordinary caliber can survive and effect change highlights just how flawed and brutal that society was.
They also try and show us this is about Nationalism/Patriotism: The core message emphasises that qualities like intelligence, resilience, and integrity, when dedicated to the good of the nation, lead to ultimate triumph and national salvation. This suggests that extraordinary individuals are needed to correct systemic injustice, and shows the average person is disposable.
But in my opinion, all this show does is reinforce Hierarchies. The status quo. Influence matters above all else, and the system is so brutal that typical hard work won't save you. My perspective views the show as subtly discouraging mass dissent and encouraging reliance on exceptional, virtuous leaders.
So while the show aims for a message of "virtue triumphs," the mechanics of how it gets there (requiring the ML to be essentially a genius superhero with incredible luck) inadvertently support the reasoning that the average person doesn't stand a chance.
It’s clearly Chinese state propaganda and this stems from this contrast between an individual's struggle and the state's message of strong, morally sound leadership being necessary to overcome challenges.

My final thought is I also hated the fact that every time somebody did something to the ML not only did he forgive them but he somehow found a way to reward them for their despicable actions by either becoming allies and cooperating with them in business or allowing their business to flourish successfully .

The whole thing is just stupid.

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This show is an 11/10

The best show and by far the best Chinese drama I have ever seen. I love the story, the cast, the music the side characters. EVERYTHING. I’ve re-watched it three times in the space of 18 months.

Key moments for me:
1. Looking after him while he was getting his appendix removed because he had no family was very moving, tender and touching.
2. Defending him in the restaurant when the stalker girl confronted him was exquisite.
3. In a flashback scene with him bowing to her parents for looking after him after his mother‘s death had me in floods of tears.
4. The scene at the airport when she thought her parents had scared him away and she chased back after him was absolutely everything. The sincerity of her confession, the way the realisation of her hidden love came across his face was giving so much and more.

I even like the villains, especially the stalker girl whose dad was killed by his dad was just the right side of demented.
The brother was a top boy and both sets of friends had depth and character.

I must watch for anyone who likes sweet love with not too much angst.

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When apologies, just forgive all you’re ridiculous and henious crimes

I thought this show was fairly non-offensive to begin with. 24 episodes at 10 minutes each and it was generally quite boring.. low budget, low quality where everybody seem to try their best.

Then 75% of the way through at the beginning of episode 18 it turned into a complete nonsensical farce. The Guardian who was by the ML side throughout turns out to be a spy for the villain and he immediately forgives her because she apologises and kneel down.. the FL’s sister prostitutes herself to a villain and kills him but none of this is ever exposed or even mentioned apart from her looking depressed and becoming jealous because the FLNML are together when she was in love with him. She then even kidnaps the FL so she can be sold but is immediately double crossed by the ridiculous love rival for the ML and his immediately forgiven.. the love rival who threatened to kill everybody changes her mind and they let her go without even an apology because she’s powerful and influential. The whole thing just stank and was completely rotten to the core by the end.

What even made it funny was when the spy was apologising to the ML for betraying him she even sounded completely dumbfounded at how ridiculous it was that he was forgiving her. That’s how stupid the show is.

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Face swap and ridiculous heroic sacrifice tropes

18 episodes at about 10 minutes each and I was still annoyed. The FL was tricked and ended up having her face swapped with the main villain who was to be married to the general, but the main villain was in love with the Crown Prince who was an evil so an so. Then we began this ridiculous. Will she tell him the truth about her identity which seemed to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Then came the big twist by the end that her sister was actually the one who was planning all of the FL’s misfortune because she wanted to secure the Crown Prince position for her lover. It really was quite annoying and I’m glad I ended up getting through it quite quickly with the fast forward button even though as I’ve already said there was only 18 episodes at about 10 minutes each..

The other thing that bothered me with this kind of trope is that we’d already established that the FL was the villain before the face swap so it was really hard for me to root for her no matter how nice she was to all the servants, maids and guards at the general’s mansion.

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What kind of utopian nonsense is this? Where every evil act gets you a free pass

So the story is set around e-commerce market which is interesting I suppose and the ML and FL are superstars particularly the FL. But that’s the only good thing I can say about this drama.

It is so excruciatingly bad that I wished I’d never watched it. I get it it’s an idol drama and I get you’re supposed to suspend belief but……

The female lead is immature, reckless, impulsive, bratty and stupid yet she is the CEO of a large company. Hmmm? The male lead is immature at the beginning has a significant character development where he matures into a fine man however he never calls out the bratty behaviour of the FL and just constantly placates her.

The main antagonist Chen Lang commits five gross acts of atrocities against our heroes company trying to destroy their livelihoods and business and when he is finally backed into a corner because of another heinous crime of plagiarise some designs he is immediately forgiven and maintains control of his company thanks to the ML’s father.

I’m totally baffled and struggling to understand how the message of forgiveness and redemption can be soo twisted that it leaves me utterly disturbed at this kind of storytelling.

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I hate the female lead with a passion

All I will say about this show is that she left for six years finding out she was pregnant and not letting the ML know and then turns up and despite an apology I never fully feel satisfied at the gravity of her unforgivable actions in robbing her son and his father of five years of his life because she was just selfish and immature. It’s quite disgusting actually that this has scored so high because he forgave her so quickly that iy just made me think this is common place in China for a parent to be separated from their kid for many years and it regarded as being not a big deal because I’ve seen it in many dramas..

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Moral of the story. Make your partner feel as insecure as possible

So this story is basically from the FL‘s perspective. The ML was there and though he wasn’t irrelevant, it was really all about her.. there are 24 episodes at approximately 40 minutes each and the FL is persistently annoying, self absorbed and selfish throughout. They both try and make each other as insecure as possible at every opportunity which is not cute, it’s not endearing, it’s just stupid. All the female characters were pretty pathetic and all had a big attitude problem which again makes the show annoying and frankly rubbish. The MLs sister chasing after the pathetic business rival made her look unbelievably ridiculous. The FL‘s best friend had an attitude problem and kept flip-flopping between preferring the ML and the love rival which also look pathetic. The FL constantly encouraging the love rival was ridiculous because he never had a chance but she kept annoying the ML by constantly being in contact with him.. he wasn’t much better and for such a wholesome family show. I really wonder if Chinese people find this kind of stuff entertaining because it’s annoying and frustrating. The business rivals Mum committing crime such as kidnapping and attempted murder was just brushed under the carpet because she turned herself in yet the rest of her company and son went unpunished which just doesn’t seem right.

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A showcase of Chinese excellence in their emergency services

This is my kind of show. It’s compassionate, empathetic, wholesome and really showcases Chinese excellence in their emergency services through the special police force and skilled doctors.. they dragged it out for 40 episodes at 45 minutes each, but I still enjoyed it. A couple of things I didn’t like were the sister story.. they ended up being rewarded for bad behaviour and though they explained it well because their father was the MLs captain and mentor before he passed away the ML and his sister felt a duty to take care of them but at the point where they were given an opportunity to start living their life properly they could’ve added some remorse or redemption or gratitude from the two sisters rather than them just staring in silence while the sister basically saved their lives. The other part I didn’t really like was the bus hostage scene. It was basically the FL‘s fault because she was sticking her nosing where it wasn’t required trying to be a hero.. even when another passenger who was clearly an undercover police officer because he had a thing in his ear was telling her to mind our own business. She still decided to meddle and caused all the ensuring chaos which nearly cost the ML his life and we didn’t get to see any reflection from her actions after she created that big mess. Overall, I really enjoyed it and it really is my cup of tea this kind of drama. Well done.

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The horrific sickness and diabolical perversion of this drama has left me deeply disturbed

Utterly Horrendous and horrific. On IQIYL it is classed as a romance but this is absolutely a horror sprinkled with inhumane torture and abuse for the female lead throughout.
They’ve already established in the first couple of episodes how horrifically and brutally she was tortured showing us her being beaten to a bloody pulp with open wounds and even losing an eye with blood gushing out and even showing her mum getting thrown off a building and slamming into a parked car to her death. Yet we barely saw the villains get laid a finger on and when they did demise it was short and sharp and quick without any suffering while for 98% of the drama, they were still standing on the female leads neck for most of it.. this can’t be just a cultural thing, it can’t be due to censorship regulations and guidelines because you are more than happy to show us the horrific torture the FL was getting uncensored yet you didn’t really wanna show the villains getting their comeuppance. I really don’t understand. It’s as if the writers just decided that they’re gonna stop pretending to have a moral code because what they want is deeply horrific, physical and emotional abuse to be inflicted on the good guys with little or no accountability for the villains.. and it can’t be just to get clicks and it can’t just be lazy writing. is this something in the psyche of the Chinese? content like this has such massive audiences and are popular. Serious questions need to be asked about this kind of content because all it would do is desensitise Chinese people into the horrors of these horrific crimes and make people believe this is part of the norm. It’s frankly disgusting..

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Female lead is annoying from the beginning to the end

This is a weird one because it’s a pile of rubbish, but it’s not a complete shambles.

FL and ML were in a virtual reality game but I don’t think the FL realised the ML was real?????? But I’m not really sure. A bit confusing.

Anyway, the female lead was wilful and stubborn to put it politely. I think her objective was to get a divorce letter from the ML and his objective in the game was to win her heart.??? But I’m not really sure.

The palace intrigued stuff was quite interesting, but I was a bit annoyed at the female lead and her ridiculous antics for me to enjoy that side of the story.

They’re 24 episodes at approximately 8 minutes each so you can get through it quite quickly and easily forget.

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I HATE THIS SHOW!

Great cast, nice story but the nuance and execution was diabolical.

The moral of the story is to lie, manipulate, lie, deceive, lie and stalk your love interest until your hearts content and you will succeed in life.

There are 35 episodes at approximately 45 minutes and all we get is the female lead deceiving and manipulating the male lead for most of the show and we don’t know why he allowed it all. Female lead boss was doing the exact same thing to the female lead best friend.

Annoying, annoying, annoying.

We had an irrelevant love rival who was just taking up space and by episode 10 I was done and was fast forwarding as much as possible. The whole thing is not cute or sweet but disturbing that this is regarded as entertainment. Yuck.!

The only good thing was the fl best friend watching go-go squid throughout the first half, which was quite funny. We had this weird villain girl plotting and scheming, but the whole thing was very meh!
We even had this bizarre portion where gangsters were trying to make money from the conservation site by stealing some rare birds. Surely gangsters can find easier ways of making money rather than this very niche and specialised area *I say while laughing out loud* Funny!

The whole thing is so problematic, I’d be here all day listing the issues. Avoid this at all costs.

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After 41 episodes approximately 45 minutes each, I still don’t know what game they were playing

This was a tricky one to score because while it was a lovely story with a decent cast and okay acting overall I have to say it is average.

Some of the reviews on here are spot on because I didn’t really buy the chemistry between the leads and it annoyed me how the female lead lacked communication skills when everybody was badmouthing the male lead when all he was doing was saving her from embarrassment.
All she had to say was
“actually mum, I pursued him relentlessly and everything he’s done and said is to save me embarrassment”
then everything would’ve been fine.

The story lagged midway and was a bit boring and while I enjoy nationalism, it was a little OTT.

I’ve realised there’s a go-go squid 2 because I was trying so hard to work out what the hell was going on with male leads cousin as he was just there without any purpose or depth.

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The worst ML and FL in history???

Update: 23/06/2025: The actors are fantastic but were poorly written. No scores have been changed and I knew my reviews were authentic because I gave the actors a decent rating.

So this is another one of these messes from these Chinese drama people that tells the story of a rich spoilt, psychotic brat of a male lead being able to do any nasty and vile thing he wants to our female lead knowing that they will end up with their happy ever after. Know your place girl.

Mr Grabby ml is completely psychotic, and stalkerish and our female lead is a total pushover who clearly enjoys making bad decisions for her life. She loves a toxic, damaging relationship..

Every single character in this pile of rubbish is the worst.

From demented MLs mom who loves to slap the FL. To the SFL who also loves to slap our female lead but also causes her to miscarriage.

Before you know it, FL and mother-in-law become best friends and she’s supportive of the relationship.
Never mind the fact that she engineered SML‘s grudge against the gu family.

Our FL never once gives SML the benefit of the doubt and was always supportive of the nasty, vindictive and grabby ML.

I realised I must’ve watched this when this was released but dropped it after eight episodes. I managed to fast forward through most of it this time to get to the end and I realised why I dropped it..

Total rubbish!

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