Montfan2026

I read that the drama This Thriving Land was absolutely huge in China, one of the most viewed dramas and she won several awards for her acting in it. But outside of China the drama has hardly any exposure. I see she has a couple of dramas coming out this year but she does not seem to be getting opportunities for big blockbuster cdramas like POJ, Love Between Lines and similar stuff. And I find it surprising given she has a good name reputation and quality past resume.

This is one of my comfort dramas. Very well directed, scripted and acted. The main and supporting actors were exceptional. So many themes in this drama resonate with me but I especially enjoyed how they wove the past and present for the primary leads to build the story and use the past to build an adult relationship in the present.

And the 2nd leads and their journey to a couple was equally endearing.

The 8.2 MDL ranking is woefully inadequate. I have read that Park Shin Hye is a frequent target of negative campaigns and I wonder why as she is such an outstanding actress. Apparently her international fame works against her at home with some fans?

I rate this drama a 9 and it is earned and deserved. A great romance drama with good comedy but also possessing some fine psychological aspects of adult life. This is a drama for adults. I can see it having less appeal to the 16-28 yrs old cohort.

Thanks for replying to my very new comment! I am new to MDL - what is the Calendar Episode Schedule? I click on episodes and checked out the future episodes but they are all empty of content.

I rate this an 8. I watched this show on recommendation of a reddit user in the cdramafans sub. Their take on it was bang on the money. Its a fairly linear uncomplicated drama. The subplot introduced at the end seemed like filler to me. The dance of romance was mostly enjoyable but there were essentially no actual passionate scenes. The drama could have been ended very successfully in 20 episodes.

The plus side is that Xu Ruo Han was gorgeous. At the outset I thought she was attractive but not special. As the drama rolled on I became more and more impressed with her femininity. The wardrobe dept knew how to dress her to show off her face, neck and shoulders which for a guy like me are big turn-ons along with her long flowing hair. I would say she is beautiful. More so then some other more popular cdrama stars. She has a unique look and is athletic slim rather then stick thin which seems to be common among many of the cdrama women.

I did dislike that both leads were what we term "wet mops" for a solid portion of the drama. There is respect for the other person which I applaud, and there is being indecisive and afraid of your own shadow to the point that you are self muted all the time. They spent more time being the latter then I think 2 adults of their age would do when considering both possess lots of people experience due to work and for both being good at their job is all about reading people.

As a result I think I found the romance a bit superficial. The leads are eye candy and watching her flirt once she got her groove on was nice but I finished the drama a bit underwhelmed. It was like eating candy - a great taste while chewing but the moment it was swallowed there was an empty feeling.

As I said I viewed this due to the recommendation of a reddit user. Along with another drama which also starred Zhang Ling He: The Princess Royal costarring Zhao Jin Mai. In my opinion that drama is really superior for the depth of the relationship between them. The Best Thing is eye candy and The Princess Royal is a full course banquet. I would recommend The Best Thing but with lots of caveats. Whereas I would have no caveats for The Princess Royal as it simply was much superior for the relationship depth and drama.

I commented above about this as well. I think the writing here is reflective of writers who "imagine" how team sports work but have little experience themselves with actual team sports in their life.

Very true.

I am with the worldkdrama user on this. Your thoughts on the reasoning the writers are using is interesting and I appreciate them but I think the show writing reflects a lack of experience with competitive team sports (not intramural but league competition). I too grew up playing team sports and it is absolutely unheard of for a coach not to coach during a game. Its one of if not the primary purposes of a head coach. The coach has the full field vision and perspective so as to make adjustments on the fly. All coaches have a plan, but also teach players to think while on the field. Flexibility and creative thinking on the field are not something "unique" although I have had coaches who have been very rigid as well.

I think you are correct about the secondary adult relationships. They are mostly one and done. Which for me is a bit unfortunate as I am an adult and the children's soccer is mildly interesting but not really a primary attractant for me. The field action is moderately exciting but I was not anticipating when I commenced this drama that the children and their sport were going to be the dominant factor.

I am still rating the drama highly as overall I think it is well done, and the 2 adult leads are excellent. But I will have to be careful to whom I recommend this drama. Most of my life circle would not appreciate it. Perhaps the final episodes will rescue it for me from an interest perspective.

Thank you for explaining this. I have no knowledge of the novel so I would not have known it was staying true to it, at least as much as any tv show can.

Good drama so far. For me some of the soccer stuff is a bit outside my interest. I am enjoying it but I did not realize it was going to be children's sports drama forward. I would like to see more interactions among the adults. I came to the drama mainly for Esther Yu and I think she is doing a great job in a role that is very different from her past dramas. I have watched to episode 21 and they don't have a lot of episodes left for the romance portion of this show.