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An incredible story that probably deserved a 10
I really really really really really like this show. The acting was fantastic. I enjoyed the music and the story was excellent. The female lead was interesting looking… I liked her… and she reminded me of Cate Blanchett. (If you know, you know). I really liked how she evolved from a timid and shy girl to quite a bold and confident and assertive character.There were a few reasons why I couldn’t give this a 10 but this is a must watch and at 36 episodes and approximately 45 minutes each you will enjoy it.
The reasons I marked it down:
1. The time at the Reunion Inn seemed to go on and on and it was definitely a few episodes overkill. I enjoyed the story with the weird, psycho, puppet girl, but it did seem to drag on.
2. If I thought the reunion inn stuff dragged on then it wasn’t nearly as bad as the underworld city painting world. I get it was Groundhog Day but once you’d seen the same thing three or four times, I needed it to wrap up.
3. And probably the biggest crime was with the bullied girl Xinging who was not only beaten and abused by her husband but from the story, she was repeatedly raped by the local scumbag and they just seemed to brush the whole thing under the carpet like it wasn’t a big deal and it really left a bitter taste in my mouth.
4. I’m a romantic so though the ending was good I was still disappointed for the tragic duo.
Overall, it was really excellent, and I will remember it for a long time and I probably would’ve marked it higher if there was, let’s say…. 30 episodes.
It was a shame we didn’t see more of commissioner Sima because I really liked her character being so strong confident and powerful but I didn’t really like the fact that she kept on chasing the chief constable because she was much better than him even though he was a decent bloke.
The other side characters we’re all really interesting and I enjoyed their parts as much as our leads.
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A complete disaster from beginning to end
There were 24 episodes at approximately 25 minutes each of this complete and utter mess.We started with this ridiculous quirky comedy and it ended up being this dark, malevolent fight between good versus evil. Romantic comedy it ain’t.
What the hell happened to the casting here because our female lead looked about 15 and if you would’ve told me she was younger I wouldn’t have argued with you. The old man (our male lead) could’ve easily passed for 30. it was a weird dynamic to say the least.
For the first 15 episodes we had to endure the most annoying, childlike, stupid, immature, self absorbed and totally useless female lead.
She went against our male lead at every opportunity and I was shouting at the TV for him to tell her to get lost. (I wasn’t using the words get lost by the way)
She entertained 2ml all the time and the moment another woman even blinked at our male lead. She was throwing a tantrum.
By the time she found some growth and realised her feelings I checked out.
From episode 16 onwards she almost became a bit part character and barely said two words. It was very strange.
Then the story had its dark phase and I thought it was picking up until at the end they decided to let all the villains go even though they killed both of our male and female leads parents and had plotted and schemed to undermine the martial arts world for 13 years.
They just let them go, Scott free.
By the way, what was going on with matey boys teeth in episode 21? I must’ve missed something because he was clearly from the gold teeth sect. That can’t be right because his daughter, our female lead didn’t have gold teeth… Yeah… Weird!
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This is definitely not a romance
I can’t work out whether this is really good or not. So I gave it a 4.5.The main reason for this is because our hero Li Wu lies all the time and though they play up to this, it really doesn’t serve the story that well. Both our male leads get stabbed, beaten and tortured way too much for any payoff to be really meaningful and you don’t get a clear understanding of why they’re doing what they’re doing.
I get it is based on historical events where no one is wholly righteous and the complicated political intrigued becomes nonsensical to the point of boring at points.
My favourite character is definitely Shu Tang (female lead of sorts) but we just don’t see enough of her.
The sisters redemption Arc is a bit weird because we don’t spend enough time understanding her relationships to care about her.
The Bromance is strong at the end, but I don’t see any reason why they don’t hate each other.
It’s not total rubbish, but I feel no satisfaction with any of it.
This will be easily forgotten.
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From a rich spoiled kid to letting go of past regrets to becoming a new energy business boss
This is a good show. It really is. Despite my initial frustrations at the FL. Nie Xiguang’s lack of awareness and archetypal spoiled rich kid. the second half of the show was extremely good except for the last episode. This is the reason why I gave it a 7.5 because I feel giving it an 8 endorses this as a must watch but I can’t say that because of how they handled the last episode but I will get to that.Our ML. Yin Lusen is a Doctor who has a car accident which ruins his left hand so he can’t operate anymore and goes into business with the backing of his powerful and influential family, even though, as his mothers son, he doesn’t have any inheritance rights. The FL is a college student also from a very influential and powerful family.
My initial frustration is the set up for the show where we see the spoiled rich kid female lead going into the workplace where she’s working alongside the ML yet she shows him no respect is constantly defensive and the atmosphere is pretty hostile if not a little toxic.
It turns out he’s always been in love with her and because her father’s first love’s daughter has been using her name for clout he misunderstands that his accident was caused because she wanted to see him and he was a little resentful to her because she never visited him in hospital but it turns out it was all a misunderstanding due to that wicked stepdaughter trope.
Anyway, one of my other really frustrating points about this show and I don’t know if this was by design but it feel again like another status quo propaganda piece from China. If you’re rich and powerful then anybody beneath you is not worthy of you. That was the impression you got from the 2ML, even though the FL had been pursuing him and he did like her, he could never tell her because he didn’t think he was worthy of her because he was from a poor family.
What was interesting after she started dating the FL and there was a big confrontation with the 2ML she said something that really disturbed me.
After he was too late in confessing to her and became a bit obsessed and mad, she made the point that she would’ve chosen the ML anyway because they were always going to be together. I don’t know if this was intentional, but it really reinforced that trope of status and power only belong together and if you’re below that you can just forget about it.
Anyway, we see the FL going from this very spoiled shielded up bringing little girl, with a stunning lack of self-awareness into this slow burn growth arc, becoming a powerful business woman with clear goals and ability. Our ML went back into medicine and became a leading figure in his field.
The main problem why I had to deduct points is because of the last episode. The time jumps just got totally out of hand.
It’s like the writers forgot that this was set around 2012 2013 and they needed to catch up so they just decided to throw it all into the last episode.
Firstly, we jumped two years to their wedding and we watched that for 30 seconds and I thought, okay, that’s fine.
Then incredibly, we jumped 10 years to 2025 and I thought, okay that’s fine, I guess, because the technology that they were trying to develop was in its infancy so they needed to catch up to modern times and I thought, fair enough. Just about. We watched that for about a minute.
Then inexplicably, we jumped another three years to 2028.
I’m not really sure why they did that because all these people now are near their 40s but of course, haven’t aged a day since 2012,
The other thing that slightly bothered me was the FL was in Saudi Arabia signing a big deal for this new energy business and when she came back I got the impression she’s been away for quite awhile because when they were talking to their little daughter, she wasn’t aware of her academic development, which is a bit troubling.
Also this last episode plodded along and it was just the two of them reminiscing about the good old days.
They made a bit of a mess of it so I can only give it a 7.5 as it is good but it is definitely not a must watch.
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The way the female lead is written is ridiculous
So I understand the script is a complete disaster and I also understand why the female lead was written as she was.However you’ve made her a pilot and yes, she’s immature but why make her so childish, reckless, impulsive and annoying.
I am not rooting for her, and I hope she gets fired. I will eventually get through it, but I have a feeling it’s gonna take me a long time..
I got she’s talented, but her attitude and temperament stinks and I hate that she’s being constantly protected where she shows absolutely no gratitude or understanding for what is happening in her own selfish and absorbed existence.
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Sister is a nightmare and female lead is annoying, but I actually really enjoyed it
I’ve given this a 7, but it should’ve been much higher because it was actually a really good show from beginning to end. 30 episode approximately 45 minutes each.The male lead really carries the show and I’m sure he is a very popular actor.
The things that annoyed me were the spoilt and entitled female lead who the minute somebody said something about our male lead she immediately switched up on him and doubted him. I didn’t mind this in the beginning because she didn’t know him but halfway through the drama when the chancellor was filling her head with rubbish about the prince she once again doubted him and for me, she surely should’ve known his intentions by now to trust him.
The other annoying trait she had was immediately becoming spoilt and entitled. The moment he spoke to another woman when it seemed to be fine for her to be receiving the attention of several different men without any accountability.
The sister was too much and the fact that she was a willing accomplice in trying to get her sister RAPED made it ridiculous that they kept forgiving her and gave her this weird redemption arc after all of the demented schemes that she did.
Anyway, the story was excellent. The acting was really good. I even enjoyed the side characters and their couples,, including her annoying cousin.
There were a couple of unnecessary time jumps throughout the show, which really didn’t add anything.
The villains were good and we didn’t labour too much on our heroes having their necks stood on for the entirety of the drama. They had some successes and the demise of all the villains was generally satisfying and a good payoff.
I enjoyed the ending because the last episode was completely devoted to happy times after all the villains have been defeated so it wrapped up the drama quite beautifully I think.
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I’ve watched a "power" drama that is actually a misery marathon of eating bitterness
I’ve survived watching the FL being beaten, humiliated, undocumented and harassed by another "waste of space" ex-husband while the Male Lead stands around like a statue for 32 episodes at approximately 45 minutes each.Here is the honest truth: This show is a slow-burn slog of pure misery.
The Problem is the writers think "suffering = character depth." They’ve spent 32 episodes proving she can survive, but almost zero time showing her actually winning.
There is literally no payoff as we continually watch her struggling against those who face no consequences. Also like everybody else, I am a fan of the ML and FL from their time together in Gogo squid but we never get to see the Male Lead show any level of basic human empathy for her bruises and suffering and he remains a "cold strategist" for a massive chunk of the entire show.
The "misery porn" is why my fatigue has set in so early for this drama. Most people recommend Flourished Peony as an "empowerment" story, but they fail to mention that the writers use prolonged victimisation as their only way to create drama.
It is straight-up sadistic from a Western storytelling perspective. To me, it’s pretty demented and perverse. A complete waste of time; to the writers, it’s "character building." You are seeing the ugly side of a genre that fetishises the martyr complex..
it feels pretty disgusting that this show prioritises the virtue of suffering over the logic of survival.
The FL spends most of her time at the graveyard, burying her friends who are systematically killed one by one throughout the drama. Her mercy for these evil doers is not a virtue. It’s just plain stupid.
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