Don't read if you're enjoying the show. Year end round up thoughts.
I've been going over all the shows I finished in 2025. So I've been revisiting scores and reviews(I don't always post them on this site) to make a rank list for my self, and I'm still sad that this drama didn't get adapted well by the screenwriter/director. All of his edits to the story dulled the shine of the main characters. I thought it was going to be a new rewatch drama, but every time I think about rewatching it I remember all the actual awful changes made. I just can't get behind character changes on a novel that I really enjoyed. It was always going to be darker in nature, but the fact the director chose to lean even more into that side of the story is actually insane to me. (I'm talking about adding things that were not in the original source material to sensationalize the drama more. I hear that some of those scenes have been edited out because of complaints from readers/viewers, but I haven't watched again to double check.)
Anytime someone uses the word simp unironically to describe behavior from a male character that actual living breathing women respond to positively makes me laugh. Calling a ML a simp in a negative context is like watching a point go right over someone's head. It's giving "I didn't like Barbie because of how the Kens were treated." Anytime there are shows with role reversals it's like they ALMOST get it, and then the point passes about a mile over their head because they duck down to tie their shoes. Toxic masculinity is ruining media literacy, I fear.
I think you've misunderstood me. The production missed the opportunity to have more interesting photos/styling for the posters for the drama. They normally take the poster photos first, before principal photography even starts as kind of a test shoot for various reasons. With two worlds being the focus of their dynamic, they don't really convey that well with the poster chosen to represent the drama for PR. So, on set photographers could have been used during production to get shots that would better represent both sides of the story. With the English title being a great play on words "lines" both for an actor in a game, and lines of architecture/drawing. I just feel like they missed the mark on the image used to represent the show/characters. The artwork on their scripts gives a better overall vibe. From a marketing standpoint I just feel like there could some more interesting uses of the photos taken on set earlier on. Still waiting for that horse shot to come out.
Nice to watch? I don't watch republican era C-dramas, but the setting is VR games n rating seems good hmmm. 🤔
It's great. They balance the back and forth between the real world and the game world well. It's just cheesy enough to make you kick your feet and giggle. The republican era game really adds to their dynamic in the real world.
Im looking forward to the actors at Midnight Express reactions to Qin XiaoYu & Hu Xiu being a couple. They arent a couple yet but its a romance drama so its going to happen & I can't wait to see how everyone around them reacts to the news.
This isn't about the show itself but about an aspect of production that I'm hoping will prove to be a wrong assumption in a few weeks. So I went through all the photos that people have added on My Drama List for this drama, and I just have to say this. I can clearly see that they had an on set photographer taking professional set photos and not just paps in the trees or fans on the set. So my side eye is this....why on EARTH would you waste those sets and those outfits and not do photo shoots between takes/setups? I went through all the photos looking for poster photos for my journal only to be struck by the lack of styled set photos for future poster/promotional use. Maybe we'll get more later, or maybe it's simply a case of those photos not yet being up loaded to this site. But as a photographer I'm just sitting here behind my screen screaming omg please tell me they have a HD still of this. I don't know if there are any other photographers in this comment section and seeing the potential and how it has so far been underutilized in poster/promotional images. The art they used on the scripts is amazing. I just wish we could have gotten a few on set photoshoots in character for their game characters.
I love all the sisters and Lu side eyeing the shit out of Rong Shan Bao when she pulled out that handkerchief and started to wipe away tears. They all looked at her like they were thinking "Bitch what the f*ck? dont laugh dont laugh dont laugh."
I'm about to make my "They better get what's coming to them" list. Granny is #1 closely followed by that little pissant of a cousin(Wen Can) and that backstabbing-doesn't-know-his-place Steward, Cheng Guan Yu. (I don't like having to draw a hard line between master and servant, even in fiction, but by god does his character ever make it clear why they drew such a harsh line in the sand. Seriously so many of the Rong servants and other attendants just act against their own master's interest, and thus their own interests. He's like a palace eunuch manipulating the Emperor with his poison. I just finish episode 19 and I'm pretty 100 he was the one who slipped the "secret letter" to Lu Jiang Lai about where to find Madame Yang and WanWan. Aka he put the person Rong Shan Bao love's most in danger just to get rid of a "love rival".) So far all the sisters, imo, could potentially be redeemed. 2nd Rong if she just focuses on the fact Rong Shan Bao brought her daughter in with no ill intent, Rong Yun Yin, needs to wake up and smell the roses, or tea leaves and stop blaming everyone for her own mistakes and hardships. And 5th Rong...Yun Shu...she's still at the top of my side-eye list as I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. She's only looking out for herself, and I can't trust anytime she "helps" someone. She's too clever and hiding that cleverness from too many people. But with a grandmother like that, I don't know if I really blame her...don't know what she has up her sleeves and I'm nervous about it.
PS. Please tell me Wen Can's family comes and gets his ass out of that house soon. I can't stand him and he obviously don't actually love Rong Shan Bao if all he wants is for her to feel heartbreak and pain because she treated him like a little brother instead of a lover. Tiny dick energy🙄. He's such a 🤡
in ep19 did the grandma just say, "because I couldn't be loved, no one is allowed to love or be loved"? Cause that's what it fucking sounded like to me. I hate this woman so much. She doesn't care about anyone in her family at all. Only about her tea.
This show got me googling snakes at 5am...they say Green Bamboo Viper...I see common Chinese Green Snake aka they used a boop noodle in place of a danger noodle...for obvious reasons.
Now THAT is a final episode for a show about romance....other productions please take notes...looking directly at you no kiss in final episode Speed & Love...directly at YOU!(still liked that show, but a romance show needs a whole episode of epilogue) Seriously, so glad they mainly focused on just the leads in the final episode. We got a brief insight into some personal growth for Zhuang Xu but didnt have him interacting with them, thank god. The last few episodes could all be subtitled Karma because everyone got their both good & bad karma handed out in fist fulls.
ep30karaokeThe mystery of the love for Zhuang Xu by the home crowd is explained! He must be an idol? the way he…
he must be, all the bts footage he's smiley and dancing around all extroverted & bubbly trying to get the others to play with him. Seems the complete opposite of his character in the show, which is a great thing imo.
2 
I've been going over all the shows I finished in 2025. So I've been revisiting scores and reviews(I don't always post them on this site) to make a rank list for my self, and I'm still sad that this drama didn't get adapted well by the screenwriter/director. All of his edits to the story dulled the shine of the main characters. I thought it was going to be a new rewatch drama, but every time I think about rewatching it I remember all the actual awful changes made. I just can't get behind character changes on a novel that I really enjoyed. It was always going to be darker in nature, but the fact the director chose to lean even more into that side of the story is actually insane to me. (I'm talking about adding things that were not in the original source material to sensationalize the drama more. I hear that some of those scenes have been edited out because of complaints from readers/viewers, but I haven't watched again to double check.)
Anytime there are shows with role reversals it's like they ALMOST get it, and then the point passes about a mile over their head because they duck down to tie their shoes. Toxic masculinity is ruining media literacy, I fear.
So, on set photographers could have been used during production to get shots that would better represent both sides of the story.
With the English title being a great play on words "lines" both for an actor in a game, and lines of architecture/drawing. I just feel like they missed the mark on the image used to represent the show/characters. The artwork on their scripts gives a better overall vibe.
From a marketing standpoint I just feel like there could some more interesting uses of the photos taken on set earlier on.
Still waiting for that horse shot to come out.
So I went through all the photos that people have added on My Drama List for this drama, and I just have to say this. I can clearly see that they had an on set photographer taking professional set photos and not just paps in the trees or fans on the set.
So my side eye is this....why on EARTH would you waste those sets and those outfits and not do photo shoots between takes/setups? I went through all the photos looking for poster photos for my journal only to be struck by the lack of styled set photos for future poster/promotional use. Maybe we'll get more later, or maybe it's simply a case of those photos not yet being up loaded to this site. But as a photographer I'm just sitting here behind my screen screaming omg please tell me they have a HD still of this.
I don't know if there are any other photographers in this comment section and seeing the potential and how it has so far been underutilized in poster/promotional images. The art they used on the scripts is amazing. I just wish we could have gotten a few on set photoshoots in character for their game characters.
So far all the sisters, imo, could potentially be redeemed. 2nd Rong if she just focuses on the fact Rong Shan Bao brought her daughter in with no ill intent, Rong Yun Yin, needs to wake up and smell the roses, or tea leaves and stop blaming everyone for her own mistakes and hardships. And 5th Rong...Yun Shu...she's still at the top of my side-eye list as I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. She's only looking out for herself, and I can't trust anytime she "helps" someone. She's too clever and hiding that cleverness from too many people. But with a grandmother like that, I don't know if I really blame her...don't know what she has up her sleeves and I'm nervous about it.
PS. Please tell me Wen Can's family comes and gets his ass out of that house soon. I can't stand him and he obviously don't actually love Rong Shan Bao if all he wants is for her to feel heartbreak and pain because she treated him like a little brother instead of a lover.
Tiny dick energy🙄. He's such a 🤡
I hate this woman so much. She doesn't care about anyone in her family at all. Only about her tea.
Seriously, so glad they mainly focused on just the leads in the final episode. We got a brief insight into some personal growth for Zhuang Xu but didnt have him interacting with them, thank god.
The last few episodes could all be subtitled Karma because everyone got their both good & bad karma handed out in fist fulls.