TTR - The Truth Review

Could’ve been so much better had the writers not given up on the last two episodes

There are 21 episodes at approximately 10 minutes each and I really like the story.
Two incognito lovers and it turns out that one of them is the emperor.
There is lots of angst and misunderstanding before the ML and FL finally get together and it all flowed quite well.
However……
The acting was mediocre at best apart from the FL who was actually quite good. The villains were all despicable and over the top in their villainy, but I could accept that.
What I can’t accept is how they completely butchered the last two episodes.
Not only did his half brother and the Empress Dowager try repeatedly to assassinate our ML, the half brother even plotted a rebellion and committed treason.
What did the ML do?
Not only did he let him off, but he actually gave him the throne……..My mind is blown..
If this wasn’t bad enough, we then had the empress dowager poison the female lead making it look like she died after being repeatedly let off by the ML and confined to a luxury palace as punishment. They just completely wrote her out of the story at the end so we don’t know whether she was arrested, executed or was confined to her luxury Palace..
It’s like they gave up in the last two episodes because they could’ve had a hidden gem, but they completely wasted it with the terrible ending. It turns out the FL didn’t die and they lived happily ever after. Whatever. Just total rubbish.

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Started off pretty good, but I was disappointed with the FL by the end

For 24 episodes approximately 10 minutes each it really wasn’t too bad. If this was going to be the story for a full length drama, I would’ve probably been pulling my hair out.
Overall, it was alright and I like the fact the male lead was part of some clandestine justice league trying to keep the city in check from his evil overlord sister.
The FL was an assassin sent to infiltrate the palace to kill the evil overlord sister but it was all part of a scheme by the ML to have her by his side because she can cure his poison.
Anyway, by episode 19 I was really beginning to question the FLs decision-making. Not only was she impulsive and blaming the ML when the truth came out and the whole heart blood debacle. She also played with the 2ML’s feelings for the entire time..
She really didn’t care about him or his feelings and use him as a shield which ultimately led to his demise and her crying so heartbrokenly, you would think that she was actually in love with him when she didn’t actually care about him at all.
Anyway, I quite like the fact that most of the villains got proper justice even though they had to drag it out over 24 episodes which was still infuriating and they all got their throats slit and died instantly. The ML and FL did NOT end up together..

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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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Quite a hard watch to begin with, but ultimately quite a gripping tale

I enjoyed most of this 24 episode 10 minute drama because it all came together perfectly by the end. The heartless tyrant, Emperor and the naive silly girl resolve all their misunderstanding satisfactorily after her rebirth.. it was quite gripping how we got there with him killing her by mistake because he was insane and her punishing him after her rebirth with pretty brutal torture. Turns out he was drugged by his evil Mum who appeared late in the show which made him act insane. I enjoyed it most of the political intrigue except the Mum’s appearance near the end, but it all worked out well.

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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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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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Did the female lead even like the male lead at all?

I didn’t really like this drama. Spoiled rich kid slums it in the countryside with a chef and her rundown restaurant. The premise is okay, but I was quickly disappointed with how rude the female lead was to the male lead. It was okay up to a certain point, but it happened from the beginning to the end of this drama. Where she was gentle and demure with the second male lead she was rude, violent, insulting and looked down on the male lead for pretty much the entirety of the drama.. the Mum was diabolical and faced no accountability or self reflected on her behaviour. The brother was pretty horrendous but at least he grew a conscience by the end. The side characters were all meh! and I have to ask the question if the FL even liked the ML at all. He was smitten and she just looked like she settled. The whole thing left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.

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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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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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Get rid of Jiang Yunqing early doors!

24 episodes approximately 40 mins each.

The first 16 episodes I thought this was going to be a strong 8 because it was fantastic. Funny, not too much political intrigue and an excellent story. I really liked the Emperor and he had some gravitas for the role he was playing. He was smart, righteous and a real benevolent leader.

Even 20 episodes in I was still thinking this could be around about 4 rating.

Then it became a complete and utter shambles.

I can forgive you for billing it as a romance when the love interests barely have any screen time together when it’s actually more of a bromance drama, I can even probably forgive the terrible production, including the loud music which drowned out the dialogue at times.

But what I can’t forgive is constantly letting the villains off because you want peace but EVERY… SINGLE… TIME…. They go back to plotting and scheming how to kill everybody.

And what were we left with? Most of their friends and families got killed by the end episode war and even Yue Chi just stood there while the fake princess stabbed him and tried to blow everything up.

She was then allowed to just jump off the building to her death and that was that…… hmmm!

The white haired prince then turns around to our hero and says, “actually we are the same and have the same goals. I’m good now and will look after my people.”

Okay dokey then. Sigh!

It ended up being a complete farce and became really unwatchable.

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Where is season two?

I’ve just finished watching this in 2025.

31 episodes at 10 minutes each and I was still bored for most of it.

Episode 16 to 18 was a complete mess. Why didn’t our female lead just tell our male lead that it was wheelchair boy who was the big bad villain when she was arrested? Instead, she just screamed that it was all a misunderstanding and she needed to explain.

The writing choices in the show were atrocious. I get it in low budget, but does that mean we can’t have a decent story?

The only good thing out of this was the male lead who definitely has something. I don’t know if it’s the X factor or stage presence but he was the only one I was convinced of that had some level of talent and acting skills.

I knew that by the time we got to episode 29 the ending was gonna be a disaster because there was way too much to be done to cover in 20 minutes of two episodes.

Turns out it was a set up for a second season, but I’m not surprised it hasn’t got one because it was total rubbish.

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This is not a romance and quite disappointing despite the happy ending

There are eight episodes under 45 minutes, but it’s still felt like it dragged on.
The female lead can’t stare at people in the eye and the male lead is allergic to touching people. They meet and the female lead literally can’t stand the male lead though he appears indifferent but not nearly as dismissive as her.. anyway they realise they have feelings and end up together. the end.
The problem with this show is they made the female lead act as though she was mentally retarded because she couldn’t stare at people in the eyes. They had her twitching and shaking and hiding. It just looked ridiculous.. though the male lead had his own quirks like carrying around a suitcase with several different shirts to change into, he was generally calm and his demeanour never looked stressed. She had an unrequited crush on the mail leads best friendbecause it was a mistaken identity but I didn’t like the fact that until the last episode is when we saw her actually showing affection towards the male lead. He’d been stepping closer to her every single opportunity for her to actually just be mean and a bit cruel at points. I wasn’t really rooting for her and her redemption, growth appeared to be negligible. The corporate intrigue was a bit flimsy and not well thought out but I suppose that’s what you get for such a short series even though as I said it did seem to drag and I was pleased when it ended.

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