Michelle Topham

No, it's not BL.

"Their" country. It's my country too, you fool. So, yes, you bet I damn well care.

I don't, however, care about the ROLE CHOICES of a Chinese actress. A role she, her management and likely her parents decided was an excellent opportunity for her.

An excellent opportunity the so-called "offended" here have refused to accept as HER choice, and instead are treating her like she's mentally incapable of making the right decisions for herself and her career. Ye Gods, she's almost an adult and, I would guess, not an idiot.

And as for "performative activism" that would be the clueless ones attacking a production company and a 17-year old for choosing a main role. As that's exactly what you're all doing here with your fake "concern".

Concern she certainly didn't ask for, and I would guess 1,000 percent doesn't want. But... that doesn't stop you with your "performative activism" on "her behalf" does it?

Ye Gods, I would love to be a fly on the wall of the production meetings of so many of these actors' y'all supposedly "care about" that you're constantly in there "battling for them" when they didn't ask you to.

You must be the brunt of so many of their jokes.

Fake outrage prettied up as "concern" just to make yourselves feel "superior" than others. It's dishonest and, frankly, quite vile.

And now, I'm out. As I've better things to spend my time on than communicate with fools. Enjoy your outrage!

First loved her in Who Rules the World and again in Blood of Youth and was amazed how someone still so young (only 13 or so when they filmed) pulled off such maturity in those roles. She's incredibly talented, and going far in the industry, IMO.

Yawn. But no worries, you'll be "offended" by something else tomorrow.

And you know what I'm more offended by? The Pakistani r*pe gangs that have r*ped hundreds of thousands of little British girls over the last few decades. And with a British government that is refusing to do anything about it.

But I'll bet you're not screaming about that happening in your own country, eh? No, because you're "outraged" by a 17-year-old Chinese actress with YEARS of experience in the drama industry who CHOSE this role, and is obviously thrilled to be the FL.

I just can't with the fake outrage from so many people nowadays. And ALWAYS about the wrong g-damn thing.

This one is going to be soooooo good. The main cast is epic (so happy to see Riley Wang get another ML role, he's brilliant in A Dream Within a Dream, and Ai Mi is phenomenal in every role she has played, plus Neo never fails to please :)

Just such a pity we're going to have to wait so long for it to drop :)

She's a superb actress. Been in the industry for a long time. Really looking forward to this one, as the main cast is superb.

Premiere date July 21st -- 3 new posters out. New title 'HER'.

https://leosigh.com/c-drama-ta-de-sheng-cun-zhi-dao-aka-her-gets-premiere-date-leah-dou-and-eric-wang-posters-drop/

YOUKU announced it wouldn't be available on YOUKU International. So it's dependent on your region which streaming service is carrying it. In Europe, it's on Viki and on Netflix (very surprising as we usually get one or the other), and in other areas its on Viu.

That's definitely the reason. If you also rewatch the first episode, as NF is leaving the production meeting, he looks back at Song Xiao Yu. He's from the script world so he's already in love with her, but she isn't yet, as she doesn't go there until AFTER the production meeting.

Hated that one too. There's nothing wrong you. 🤣

Hahaha, no worries. I never feel attacked. And I know people stand up for dramas when their favorite actors are in them. I wouldn't expect otherwise.

For me this is a huge disappointment as it looked like it would be beautifully done from the pre-premiere clips I saw, and as both Landy Li and Ao Rui Peng are talented actors, it seemed like something I would enjoy. But everything about it just feels 'wrong' right from the get-go.

And with you 1000% on The Princess's Gambit. That disintegrated so fast it became completely unwatchable. I'm just angry with myself I sat through 24 episodes before finally deciding I'd rather stab myself repeatedly with a hot poker rather than watch one more second.

At least with this one, I gave up fast :)

Easy.

It's badly directed, it's amateurishly acted by most of the actors (that's the directors' fault - and the leads are decent, but no more than that), the LOUD music is unbearable, and the whole premise is so badly done it's like they think the viewer is stupid so they're going to SMACK you over the head with everything just to be sure.

A first episode is supposed to be one of the best of any drama, as it's the set up of the entire story.

It's meant to make you empathize with the characters, get you interested in continuing to watch, and give you something you enjoy -- whether that is the performances, the plot, the soundtrack, or the mystery -- this has NONE of those things.

So, if a director, in this case two directors with a body of work featuring mostly poor dramas, cannot even create a first episode that manages to encompass any of those things, it's already doomed to failure.

Not going to argue with you because, let's face it "Ao Rui Peng" it's GOT to be good :) You enjoy. I'll move onto something better.

Ye Gods, this is terrible.

Overly-dramatic acting, a ridiculously dramatic and laughably silly opening scene (jump into the water to dodge those arrows, don't just block them with your body), and loud dramatic background music over almost every scene. Yep, they're going to hit you over the head with the fact that this is 'dramatic'. LOL.

Not surprising though, as it's "directed" by two directors who have produced little but some of the worst Chinese dramas in recent years.

Pretty cinematography, but that's all this has going for it. Couldn't make it passed Ep 1. An easy drop.

Of course, it will end up rated much higher than it needs to be by the fan girls who looooove Ao Rui Peng. That's to be expected :)

Enjoy. I'm out.

They almost always choose non-actors for parts in Asian dramas as there aren't many western actors living in Asian countries. That's why they're always terrible.

I lived in Thailand for a decade and a half and was offered the chance at appearing in Thai dramas twice just through friends I knew in the industry. Turned them down both times. Didn't want to look like one of those wooden westerners on screen, LOL.

I also knew an American actor in Bangkok who spoke fluent Thai, and did appear in Thai movies and dramas. He was excellent. But, even for him, with parts for westerners being few and far between, he also had to teach on the side just to make a living.

Until there are more parts for westerns in Asian dramas/films, I'm afraid we'll be stuck with stiff accidental 'actors' :)

Same :) Watched all 30 episodes in just a 28-hour period, and I worked 10 hours of that time :).

One of biggest binges I've done in a while, and worth every second of viewing time :)

Yeah, I was worried about that ending :), but it's soooooo satisfying.

Then you missed the best drama of 2025. What a shame. For you.

Blossom was on my list to watch, but I'll be avoiding it for now as I can't stand 10 more seconds of Meng Zi Yi for the foreseeable future :)

I rarely dislike any actor or actress enough to avoid their work. She's one of only 2 actresses I will be avoiding from now on. (The other being Korean).

And I've heard mixed comments on Blossom. Some people love her performance in it, while others say it suffers from the same problem as her performance here. I'm not taking the chance right now. Maybe later :)

Anyway, not hating on her. Just moving on to dramas with better female leads :)

Same. It's the worst-written Chinese drama I have watched in a long time. And what you say is exactly the reason, and it's always the same on MDL. Fan girls rating a drama simply because of the guy/girl in it.

It's a shame as it wastes people's time when they expect a decent drama, and then get THIS.

Few of the events made sense after about Episode 8, but they really went downhill after she fell off that cliff (and Meng Zi Yi still had the same blank, empty face as she was falling, as she did in every other scene - an horrendous performance).

The female lead's actions didn't make sense for most of the drama (I dropped it at Ep 24), Meng Zi Yi's performance was one of the worst I've seen in any Asian drama -- Chinese or otherwise -- with poor suffering Liu Xue Yi's performance carrying her through every single scene she was in.

And I'm still trying to figure out why his sister was ever in it. A more useless character it would be difficult to find, in a whole series of pointless characters.

In all good conscience, I couldn't rate this above a 2 regardless that Liu Xue Yi did his usual superb job, and that 2 was for HIS performance. It's a draggy, horribly written, abysmal in every respect mess.

The whole thing just made me so angry, as the writer of the novel it is based on deserved better, and Liu Xue Yi, one of China's best current younger actors, definitely deserved better.

She has one expression throughout the entire drama. A blank look with big eyes and a pouty mouth. She was obviously more concerned about how she looked than any feelings she could portray. Everyone was joking with emojis of 'eyes, mouth' as that's all she was.

To the point that she's literally being attacked by a wolf, about to be stabbed to death, poisoned, whatever, and she still has the same blank but 'pretty' look. Awful performance.

I liked her in The Untamed, but became unable to watch her in TPG, because once you've seen that blank look, and realize that's it for the next 36 episodes, she becomes unwatchable.