rachfull

Super cute drama, doesn't do anything new but does the "drama thing" really well. Great for a light, quick watch. It's easy to skip through if you just want romance. It definitely lost its momentum about 3 episodes before the end, but I was skipping through anyway.

Sure this is a fun drama, but I keep coming back for one reason alone: Gao Wei Guang in fitted suits and vests...

* also Dylan is the only actor whose crying scenes have made me cry. Ever. I've watched him in Meteor Garden, The Rational Life, and now LBFAD, and he consistently makes me tear up with him. That's talent.

I think Dylan's performance affected me more than Luo Yunxi's because it was so unexpectedly mature for such a young actor. I've had my eye on Dylan since Meteor Garden because I suspected he was more than just a pretty face (unlike what a lot of international viewers seem to think), and LBFAD finally confirmed it.
Luo Yunxi is a fantastic actor, but everybody already knew that. He's a seasoned actor capable of carrying an entire drama like TTEOTM on his shoulders.

"As for the story, it is almost typical"
This is exactly how I feel. The story could've been a lot more than it was, but it fell prey to the same misunderstandings and miscommunication tropes that have been tread and re-tread way too many times to be entertaining.
The costumes, acting, effects, and overall feel of the drama are great. The writing isn't bad, either. It's the story itself that's mediocre.

This show was advertised to me as "Love Between Fairy and Devil but better," but LBFAD had a way more interesting plot for me plus a healthier relationship between the leads.

"Perhaps if they had made him less of a sympathetic character, I would feel a different way"
I think this would have improved the drama for me. At least there would've been some kind of justification for the FL betraying the ML over and over again. With the drama as it is, she's constantly acting of her own volition for no apparent reason, since the way the ML is portrayed makes it seem like he would do anything for her if he thought it would make her happy. He needed to be more evil imo. Even the people he killed were justified in my mind because every single one of them was trying to kill him, which makes it self-defense.
I think it also might've gone better if the drama had spent more time on the FL's trauma. Maybe she was betraying Tantai Jin repeatedly because part of her still hated him. She probably felt very conflicted because she loved pre-devil god Tantai Jin and despised Devil God Tantai Jin. The drama doesn't make that clear, though. That conflict also could've justified her actions for me.
As it was, the FL was being all lovey-dovey with Tantai Jin one second, then out of nowhere decides to betray him for no apparent reason. I can't ship a couple like that.

The leads in TTEOTM do have chemistry, but not until about halfway through the drama. It really took a while-- and then even when they finally had chemistry and I finally felt like I could ship them, there were other problems.

The issue that a lot of cdramas have is not realizing that more than just two actors need to have chemistry in order for the drama to work-- the characters also need to have chemistry. TTEOTM didn't develop that until later. I gave it the benefit of the doubt because I already knew Luo Yunxi and Bai Lu have good chemistry together. LBFAD's leads had chemistry right off the bat, from the very first episode. It's one of many things LBFAD did right.

It's been about 6 months since I watched it all the way through and I think I'm finally ready for a re-watch! I've been waiting to forget it so I can start fresh

That's interesting and probably true. Wang He Di is well-known in the international community because of Meteor Garden, but that's not entirely a good thing since that was his first drama and the drama was a dumpster fire. Yu Shu Xin wasn't known at all. Most people know Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi from their drama Love Is Sweet-- I still can't figure out why that one was as popular as it was (at least internationally). There's no doubt that the leads of both dramas did excellent work; the leads of LBFAD just had better material to work with.

By not having 10 draggy episodes in the middle that every xianxia has XD

I ended up dropping this one.
The production itself is great, but I had too many issues with the plot itself. I finally dropped the drama when I realized that the FL was going to continue to a) not ever communicate or ask the ML for anything, and b) betray him repeatedly. I get the FL is traumatized by the devil guy and all that, but it got painful to watch her betray him over and over again for no good reason -- knowing that if she had just asked any favor of him, he would have done it instantly-- and watching him forgive her every time. I couldn't even believe Tantai Jin was supposed to be bad after a while, because all he really did was kill people who were trying to kill him. The FL was just contributing to his villain origin story every time she went behind his back.

I think this is the fault of the way the drama is written-- I could've kept watching if Tantai Jin had been less sympathetic as a character, or if the FL's trauma had been more explicitly stated as the reason for her betraying him, or if anyone the FL "saved" while betraying TTJ was actually in real danger of him. I couldn't take one more betrayal on the FL's part, and the story wasn't interesting enough to make me want to keep watching.

There's still a lot of good things about this drama (casting, wardrobe, set design, etc.), but it isn't a good love story at all. I've heard it described as more of a "story about love," but it was marketed and presented as a tragic love story, so that's what I ended up wanting from it.

Side note to mention that up until I dropped the drama, there were two instances of r*pe that were just brushed off in the drama. Drugging someone in order to have sex with them is definitely r*pe. I know the first instance didn't actually happen so I can give it a pass, but the second instance with Ming Ye was uncomfortable. I feel like most people would feel differently about that scene if it had been the FL who was drugged by the ML.

I was really surprised, because I feel like a lot of people in the international community liked TTEOTM better (probably just because of the lack of Esther's high-pitched baby voice). I even went into that one thinking it would be better, but it just... wasn't.

I guess this is a sign that it's time for me to rewatch LBFAD XD

Good for you if you enjoy this drama, but it's ok for people to acknowledge that the drama isn't very good. I love both the stars and am happy to see them finding success, but I also want to support good writing and directing for all the actors I like. If studios start to rely only on star power to sell dramas, the dramas will start to tank and fewer talented up-and-coming actors will be given lead roles.

Not that the comparison matters, but I liked this a lot better than Till the End of the Moon. The plot is more interesting than "poor misunderstood devil man" and the relationship is actually healthy and not toxic like TTEOTM. Some people like both and that's cool, but I personally found this version of good FL/evil ML to be better. This drama hit all of my emotions in the best way and still managed a happy ending. Definitely one of my favorites.

and he's the dad from Go Ahead, so he's the best

Put this one on hold after I realized that I didn't like the ML at all. He's such a grouch and doesn't seem to have any qualities aside from liking cats and being a grouch. I was also a little disappointed in how the FL behaved like a cat-- it wasn't bad, but I felt like she could have picked up on more tiny details in cat behavior. Her performance felt lacking.
I like the unique premise, but the characters in this drama just aren't interesting to me at all.

You might like Full House 2014. The leads separate for a bit (2 episodes, shorter episode length though) without divorcing. It's my favorite drama about a marriage of convenience.

Does anybody know what the paper Shang Zhi opened at the very end said? The version I watched didn't translate it.

This drama definitely earned its hype. The pacing is nearly perfect (which never happens with cdramas), the chemistry great, the story compelling, and the directing on-point. It focuses on the leads almost exclusively without all the stupid side character stuff you normally see in cdramas. The ending isn't rushed (another thing that never happens in cdramas). So glad I watched this one!

Zhao Lu Si was fantastic as always, but man Chen Zhe Yuan matched her perfectly. If anything, his acting stood out to me more than hers did. The way he looked at her in some scenes... I'm gonna have to start a support group because Jiaxu might've finally done what cdrama MLs have been threatening to do for years: ruined real-life men for me.

I really don't know how this drama could be any better than it was. It was nearly perfect in what it was trying to do.

Wow I could tell the director was the same as the woman who directed Mr. Bad. She's really good at these light-hearted romances. I'm nearly finished and I love what I've seen! Hidden Love may not add anything new to the type of drama it is (light-hearted modern rom-com/school romance), but it fits its niche perfectly.