TTR - The Truth Review

Had to knock a point off for the ending

It’s a good show, the story has lots of palace intrigue, convincing villains. I like the heroes and the actors were top-notch..

This seemed like a big budget but 16 episodes ant approximately 20 minutes each it packed quite a story.

The biggest problem I had with this show is the FL‘s best friend Yin Cong.

Let’s recap, she actually killed the ML and was fully involved in the plot for the FL to have a miscarriage and was front and centre in the rebellion to take the throne from the ML and FL.

Just because she did one decent thing doesn’t forgive the fact that she’s a total and utter scumbag.

And the reason I took a point off my score is because the FL was crying so hard at her friends death she seemed more distraught than when the ML died.

Still a pretty good show, nevertheless.

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It took me an absolute age to get through this drama

33 episodes at approximately 42 minutes each of pure boredom.

Could’ve been an interesting story I was a bit tired of the female lead and her best friend acting so spoilt and entitled at the beginning while the men simped after them constantly.

It took a weird turn as well from all the corporate intrigue to where they all just suddenly disappeared and it became some military drama in the country.

It had lots of star power and the acting was fantastic. The story was just boring and too convoluted..

Anyway, it’s very easy to forgettable and did she ever regain her memory from when they were kids? 🤷🏾‍♂️

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I wish I could give it less than a one rating

So there’s 40 episodes at approximately 42 minutes each which could’ve easily been 24 episodes at 30 minutes each and you wouldn’t have lost anything. It was excruciatingly slow but was quite a sweet story for the first 15 episodes.
The show had a feel of an epic. I thought it was gonna be similar to the spectacular ‘hidden love’ but that quickly disappeared.
Dad was a bit of a dick, but not the devil. Didn’t like how she left without saying goodbye. I get the familial thing in Chinese culture but the problem was when they reunited she didn’t try to explain. she didn’t seem to want to know the struggle he’s been through and just wanted to start a fresh and sweep everything under the carpet.

It was also a bit of a confusing timeline at one point because we heard somebody say six months she was gone, then roommate said a year then the FL was saying she’d been gone 18 months???
She lied about being at the library when she was at the beach. There was no apology. She caused the whole mess with the secret relationship because her roommates misunderstood when the ML had already clarified the situation regards the senior girl but she still let him handle it and didn’t take any accountability for her ridiculous actions.
Mind blown.
The bratty immature spoiled rich girl at school became her Bestie at college. Urgh!
Why did the writers make this terrible choice when the sweet, timid and shy Ruxi was right there and we could’ve enjoyed her growth to becoming a beautiful confident woman alongside the FL.

Episode 16 I was more invested in her love story with he songnan because I was annoyed at the FL who looked too old for the role anyway.

I love the male lead and his deep, brooding, complex character but by episode 16 I was more annoyed by the female lead always seeming so happy at his jealousy. Pathetic!
It’s become a hard watch now, cause I’m really beginning to dislike the FL.
By episode 18 I’m beginning to like the FL again she seems supportive and confident in her feelings and relationship with the ML. Even the bratty roommate became mature and her budding romance with FL step bro (top level actor by the way) was quite cute.
He definitely fancied his stepsister, which was weird, but I can just about brush over that.

The shooting stuff was quite interesting and intense. I liked it.

In episode 22, we see her mum blackmailing her own daughter. What a wholesome lovely message that is. *Eyes roll*
Filial piety in China must have some limit surely?? no matter what disgusting and despicable actions parents do, it appears you still have to follow their lead. Absolutely horrific!
In episode 27, we get to see Ninghe crying and we’re supposed to feel sorry for him is truly disgusting.
Let’s recap.
He blamed ML for uncle’s death and provoked him relentlessly where he beat Ninghe up and got a year suspension from school. He then released reports about him to his university and FL’s mum to ruin his reputation and get him kicked out of the shooting team, ultimately ruining his participation in the provincial team. He then unlawfully set up an online store selling the uncles designs which caused a big plagiarism dispute which he did nothing but sabotage the ML and FL finding the truth. It then turns out it was his fault that uncle was driving in the rain and I had the accident and it had nothing to do with the ML AT ALL.
The result: he gets given full ownership of the shop naming and propriety rights over his uncle’s designs from the male lead.
I’m absolutely disgusted and I hate this message that if you commit despicable acts from beginning to end you will succeed in life.
Even the guy who stole uncles designs was let off because he gave a written apology. HE STOLE THE DESIGNS, SLANDERED AND DECEIVED THE ML. He got away unscathed…….

I’m horrified and I now hate this show with a passion.
Forgiveness is one thing, but to reward evil it’s just an utterly ridiculous message.

In episode 28 the writers then try to justify this nonsense by letting the male lead give the most ridiculous and nonsensical speech to FL telling her he’s just ‘respecting uncles wishes’.
Do these people think the viewers are stupid? There are some dark forces at play here. It’s quite disturbing.

Even 20 minutes before the end of episode 30 everybody was miserable and driven to despair by life. Just totally awful.

Ending, inconclusive and a disaster. I watched ‘you are desire extra’ and reviewed there..

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If you like watching heros suffer and the villains get away with it, this is for you

It’s okay. It’s not a complete shambles, but it is pretty rubbish..
Female lead was annoying for 75% of the show and the male lead doesn’t have star power but second male lead energy.

The villains in the show do many despicable things including killing many innocent people but don’t really get served proper justice.

Firstly, the villain’s dad thought he killed the male lead 18 years ago but when he realised he hadn’t he planned to murder him and anybody close to him.

After he got found out and was put in prison, he then made our male lead promise not to kill his scumbag son. Why on earth would he agree, is still baffling to me.

The scumbag son then plotted and schemed with evil bro against our heroes throughout using every despicable means and when he got found out, they conveniently turned him crazy so he didn’t have to face any judgement for his crimes.

What the hell happened to evil brother?

All very confusing and easily forgettable.

Shout out to Lin Lin (female lead cousin and best friend) she was a strong and capable character and definitely the highlight of this show.

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It’s not the sweet love I was expecting

This was alright. Just alright..
It was cast quite well and the story was nice. The leads were a bit annoying. And I really liked the best friend and I would’ve loved them to explore her a bit more because she was complex and had real star presence. I really wouldn’t mind a story from her perspective or a sequel. I would definitely watch it.

Poppet is really cute and I don’t know what it is about Chinese dramas but child actors I find, are really excellent. They generally don’t have a lot to do, like in this, but what they do, they seem to do really well unlike those stage school brats from North America, who I find way too cringe.

The love rival couple were a waste of time and I fast forwarded those scenes.

This was billed as a sweet love story. There are 24 episodes under 40 minutes each but we only got the sweet love from episode 23.

Overall, it was nice but utterly forgettable

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This is a new story and you would be confused if you hadn’t watched the original at some points

This is a really strange one because I quite enjoyed go-go squid but this story is kind of baffling.

Firstly, it’s not a sequel. It’s not a continuation of the story. It’s not even the same story from a different perspective of Appledog and DT.

It’s a totally new story and though the players are mostly the same, it’s like we’re in a parallel universe from the original go-go squid.

Secondly,, this is all about combat robots. At least I understood what game they were playing because I still don’t have a clue what they were doing in the original..

Finally, they recast Appledog which was a terrible choice.

I don’t know what it is about this female lead, but I saw her in ‘warm on a cold night’ and she was completely outshone by the second female lead and I feel she was outshone by her sister in this and not to mention the stunning original Appledog from the first one. Such a shame they didn’t keep her and recast DT like they did for grunt, which elevated his role in my opinion.

I just don’t think she has main character energy.

Anyway, the story was quite boring and I didn’t feel the chemistry between the leads. It annoyed me that she joined team SP when DT set up the whole K&K team for her in the first place.

Anyway, easily forgettable.

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Consistently lie and deceive the person you love and it will all work out for you in the end

Stupid, ridiculous, petulant, stupid and naive stupid female lead.

The whole drama was a frustrating watch and seemed to go on and on even though there were only 24 episodes at just over 30 minutes each.

I won’t get into too much because it was a few years ago and I’ve only just watched it but it is absolute rubbish from beginning to end.

Best friend and assistant were very annoying. Evil secondary couple were just ridiculous and evil twin was just weird.

Even with eight minutes to go of the 24th episode she was still pushing our male lead away after he pathetically and like a loser turned up to apologise and beg for her to take him back even though she was the one who had been lying and deceiving him throughout the whole flipping drama.

TOTAL AND UTTER USELESS NONSENSE!

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Team Big Brother all the way

At the beginning, I thought this was going to be a strong 7 and then as it progressed it went down to a 2 but I’ll settle with a 4.5 because it wasn’t a complete disaster but it was problematic.

Firstly, I am team big brother. All this righteousness and moralistic viewpoint actually stopped anybody doing anything.

The villains can plot and scheme and try and murder, rape and do what they like with impunity. Because all they say is let bygones be bygones..

I have to talk about the young Masters boyfriend. He plotted and schemed and murdered innocent people and actually date raped his love, even deceived the old master to get married to her daughter and put her into a coma (which she died from, not his fault by the way) but they were all crying for him when he died. The music was all sentimental and were we supposed to feel sorry for him at this point?? because he was a despicable character.

Big brother was the only decent character who tried to right the wrongs of his past for his family being slaughtered where his brother, our male lead was serving the people who ordered his family‘s execution without any grievance whatsoever.

The ending was totally useless.

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Just about watchable

At the start, I thought this is going to be at least 4 1/2 out of 10 because even though the FL lead was annoying, immature and a spoilt brat she seemed to have a good heart and apologised when she was clearly overmatched. I like this kind of stoic male lead and he didn’t have to do too much but still had main character energy and presence.

I like the gay twin brother (even though he didn’t realise it yet) and the introduction of the gay doctor was quite amusing.

2ML started off decent but quickly became murderous and psychotic and was forgiven every single time which was annoying highlighted through episode 15 to 17 which brought the score down because the sequence of episodes were a complete mess. The crazy Mum the crazy uncle and our heroes just constantly gave them the benefit of the doubt every time they showed you who they were..

Even in the end by episode 20 when psychotic 2ml turned up, it was clear he had no good intentions yet they still entertained him.

And the worst for me was right at the end when everybody seemed to be taking evil uncles kill shots, fl was was standing next to 2ml, allowing him to embrace her and when he took evil uncles kill shot for her (his dad btw) and died, she looked like she was in mourning and was actually crying for him.

Blew my mind!

Music was atrocious and was not appropriate for the scenes in many instances.

20 episodes about 25mins each but if you’re like me, you’ll get through in half the time.

At least we got a happy ending

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It’s just Meh!

I’m giving this drama a two, which I know is quite a high score that’s because I have seen much worse but it is still really rubbish.

The story isn’t too bad and for the first 15 episodes the acting wasn’t terrible, even though the FL lead is a bit bratty and the ML lead is simping after her constantly..

I am confused at what message it is trying to say because ultimately the female lead stole the body of a prostitute. Yes, she was a prostitute who tried to kill herself because the one she loved wouldn’t marry her.

I’m surprised the Chinese drama would allow this morally questionable story to play out.

There are 24 episodes each less than 10 minutes long so if like me if you really push, you could get the whole series done in less than two hours.

After episode 16, it becomes a total mess and I don’t know if they run out of budget but the acting just got worse and make up on things like blood, we’re laughably woeful.

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All Duty, No Dignity: Why I’m clocking out of Bright Eyes in the Dark

After enduring twenty-four episodes of this high-budget production, I have finally decided to hand in my resignation. What began as a polished tribute to the excellence of the Chinese Fire and Rescue Service has devolved into a deeply unsettling display of institutional masochism and state-sanctioned bullying.
The primary issue is the show’s pathological obsession with saving face. We are expected to admire a protagonist who behaves like a doormat in the name of professional discipline. Watching talented, heroic individuals tolerate the gross incompetence and malicious interference of civilian interlopers and bureaucratic superiors isn't inspiring; it is infuriating. By Episode 15, when a blatant act of arson is swept under the rug during a scripted press conference to protect a PR project, the show’s moral compass doesn’t just spin it, it shatters it.
The narrative logic is fundamentally broken and we are presented with a Station Director in Lou Mingye who turns an elite unit into a toxic war zone of infighting, yet the narrative expects the former leader to return in a subordinate role to fix the very mess his replacement created. It is a perverse meritocracy where talent is punished with more work and arrogance is rewarded with absolute authority.
Ultimately, Bright Eyes in the Dark isn't a drama about human beings; it is a recruitment film for a lifestyle of total self-erasure. The characters have no personal lives, no agency and seemingly no breaking point. They are mere cogs in a machine that values the image of the institution over the lives and dignity of the people within it. If the heroism on display requires one to abandon their spine and ignore basic justice for the sake of the status quo, then I’m afraid I’ve seen quite enough.
It is overall an impressive technical achievement, but a total failure in human storytelling.

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A Masterclass in Gaslighting and Narrative Sickness

If Part 1 was a struggle, Part 2 is a complete, utter narrative shipwreck. The writing abandons all common human decency. When the ML finally takes rough justice against the people who butchered his family, the story has the audacity to demonize him with foreboding music while his hypocritical parents cry self-serving tears.
The final arc is a horrific soap opera. From the ludicrous cliff-side murder attempt by General Zuo to the explosion caused by Wang Yanji, the plot is purely designed to provoke rage. The 5-year time jump is a disaster, and the FL's cold breakup while the ML is half-dead is the height of heartless storytelling. The most insulting part is the expectation that we accept a "Happy Family" finale where the abusive parents are forgiven with a honey cake and the grandmother is treated with reverence. It is pure sickness to frame this level of emotional neglect as "harmony." Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi give elite performances, but they are trapped in a script that is pure, unadulterated nonsense.

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Brain-rot writing that makes the "strong female lead" trope feel like a total scam

With 36 episodes of approximately 45 minutes each and with an iQ IYI rating of 9.7 I was expecting a spectacular epic but it failed pretty miserably.

Firstly, I liked a few things about this drama including the acting (especially the FL), the ML was alright, nothing special but okay. It’s a good story with good music and they clearly spent a bit of money on everything to give it that high-end production feel which it probably is.

There are many things that I don’t like about this drama, but I’m sure you will see that in other reviews. I’m only going to focus on the FL‘s family dynamics, particularly the grandmother.

I don’t know what other people think, but in my opinion the "filial piety" trap is used as a lazy excuse to reset the plot whenever the writers run out of ideas.
The Grandmother literally casts out the FL, humiliated her and tried to strip her of her livelihood. In any logical world, the FL would use her "Tea King" skills to start a rival business and succeed independently. Instead, the show forces her back into "Dutiful Granddaughter" mode the second the Grandmother shows any hint of vulnerability or mentions "family honour“.
The Grandmother is actively destroying the only thing she claims to care about—the family’s wealth—just to prove she still has the FL under her thumb. It’s illogical behavior. None of the other elders or business partners speak up about the massive financial loss because the script requires them to be oblivious so the Grandma can remain the final antagonist.
It makes the FL look spineless and inconsistent. You cannot market a character as a "strategic genius" who outsmarts imperial officials, only to have her become subservient to a woman who treated her poorly. It’s not "virtue"—it’s a total lack of self-respect that hinders the character's growth.
The fact Grandma face zero consequences while the FL just takes it, is what makes the show difficult to watch. It creates a frustration loop where the antagonists are never punished and the heroes never learn.
The showrunners basically prioritize melodrama over character consistency. They want the heartbreaking scenes of her sacrificing her happiness, but they forgot they spent the last 20 episodes making her a capable character who shouldn't tolerate this treatment.
I have quite a few examples of this behaviour throughout the drama but I would be here all day.

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