Rike

Watched this after finishing ' Behind Your Smile' not long ago, and what can I say? I just love this pairing, even prefer Eugenie's role here a lot and their smiles kept me going even when it got a little draggy in the middle/end.
What impressed me the most was that I ended up liking all the side characters, as well (except Kai Chi maybe) when I didn't even care for the SL couple or the younger brother in the first eps at all.
The only two things that reaally bother me:
1. I wouldn't even say that they dragged out the conflict too much because building trust again just takes time and feelings can indeed be that complicated. But even having said that, did they really have to throw in all drama tropes that ever existed along the way just to fill the 40 eps.? I think they could have done better without some of them, using the time wiser.
2. Idk if it's just the version on Viki, but the sound was so bad sometimes. The background noise's volume switches with the camera angles and was almost louder than the dialogue/scene at times. The music overlay/onset was really choppy and that one song they always used for the slow-mo/freeze scenes wasn't bad per se but sometimes just so unfitting that it totally took me out of emotionally loaded scenes that I started laughing though I had just been tearing up.

In the end, I really enjoyed this more than I imagined because the FL, who acts like she is 5 till ep. 14 or so when she finally starts thinking on her own, was kinda annoying . But what can say, even though being naive and believing in the good nature of humans doesn't mean you have to act like a child, I liked her character development and she grew on me.
But I still can't believe we were robbed of a kiss in the last eps! They had time to squeeze in so much drama into the final ep. but had no time for a single kiss?... I went back to ep. 12 to rewatch that one scene, so I could let go of that drama with a smile on my face :')

Thanks for clearing up a few things! Actually, I think my comment comes off as harsher than I intended it to sound and looking back now after some time passed, I enjoyed the show more than you might think reading my comment. I think many of my complaints, especially my critique about the pacing and unrealistic parts, were due it being my first (or maybe second?) C-drama, so not really being used to so many eps and dramas with that much fantasy elements. After having watched a few now and getting more used to them, I think I would rate this quite differently. I might even rewatch this thanks to your comment and reminding me of it. Anyways, thanks again for taking time to reply! :)

I'm not even mad at the ending. What makes me really sad though is the wasted efforts of the actors whose potential and acting was actually good.
To summarize: Seemingly incompetent ML who for whatever reason still has some followers and a FL with Stockholm syndrome paired with endless spinning around and not even half an ep. of happiness and no misunderstandings. That's what this fever dream of a drama is that not even the hot kisses (that were really the only saving grace if you ignore the SA that the first eps actually were filled with) could save.

Maybe I should have listened to the comments but somehow the viewers' rage was so intriguing that I had to see for myself. 😂 At least I had a good laugh bcs of the swirling through the air and circling around each other which was so unnecessary and seemingly neverending although the eps are just 15 min long. Also the the funny sound effect in the first eps when she bites him made me laugh so hard - no matter if there is clothing or his skin between her teeth it always sounds like a fresh apple 😂

Thank you so much for the quick reply! At least now I know I didn't miss anything. Though I still find it a bit weird to never mention the spikes again bcs the pain was described as almost unbearable and the first night was portrayed equally as dramatic, but okay I guess DFQC is strong enough to get used to anything... 😂
Ah okay, so that's the backstory of those 2 special eps, no wonder they seemed a bit out of place(?). And yes, you're right - their wedding would have been the perfect ending for the drama!! 😭

1. What bothers me most is the question what happened to the bone devouring spikes? Like did I just miss that part or were they just never mentioned again? Didn't they say he would suffer every night till they take them out? Or was the subtitle wrong and it was a one time thing?
Like that's one of the scenes that made me cry the most and afterwards this big sacrifice by the ML was just treated as a small side-plot? I imagined that he might get them removed when the war starts even if he hadn't freed the soldiers yet as not to be weakened by the spikes. But then again that would kinda nullify his pledge to his tribe... Maybe I should rewatch to see if I really haven't missed sth. bcs I'm kinda bummed out bcs of this.

2. Why did they end it so abruptly? I don't really care for the short special eps - they were sweet and all but it's not the same if it's not part of the main drama. I would have wished they just gave them a few more happy minutes before they ended the show and not a cliff-hanger like last kiss...

3. The body swap scenes in ep 11+12 were almost unbearably cringey (nothing against the actors - they did great in portraying their roles!), bcs I'm not good with second hand embarrassment, especially as the FL was going on my nerves with her slow-wittedness not getting they'll both be done for if sb. notices that the ML is weak now. But at least I liked most other comedic scenes and loved how the music helped to get me into that mood.

There are a few things that bothered or puzzled me a bit (I'll put them in a reply bcs spoiler alert) but when I arrived at the end of the drama, I almost had forgotten about them. Because I just loved the overall message and how they portrayed that love can break down all boundaries and overcome any obstacles. And how the ML came to the realization that feeling nothing is worse than having to bear sadness and pain in order to also be able to feel happiness and love.

Just came here after finishing 'Till the End of The Moon", so I've already seen their chemistry... but "Chem. Is. Tree" made me laugh so hard 🤣 I think I have to watch this show now thanks to you.

I am usually not that picky about OSTs, but here the OST ruined the mood several times. Why choose a a song that obviously fits a funny scene when the mood is serious/emotional? I get this drama is meant to be light-hearted, funny and catering to clichés, but imo trying to turn every scene into a comedic one doesn't work...
Besides questionable OST choices, the editing was weird here and there, as well. What especially bothered me is that they started ep 10 with a scenes which skips ahead and gave the ending away??? Took all the tension away for the last ep...
But nevermind, I still enjoyed the rest a lot! You can expect cliches, but it's finally a show that didn't feel draggy but also not too rushed for me, something light and sweet to watch inbetween longer dramas.
I especially loved his friend Hachi and Negi of course ^^

Unexplained things examples:
1) Weird that Qi Pa never noticed that his hands are normal during daytime till she was blind. It was just too easily visible so many times.
2) What happened to the creep who wanted to marry Qi Pa after they beat him up? Did they actually kill him? Why didn't they bring him back to her kingdom?
3) When Qi Pa returned to her world, she almost immediately decided to leave again and didn't even say anyone goodbye or inform them of her plan? It wasn't mentioned when they visited again as couple in the end either.
4) Why did Qi Pa not notice when Kitty basically disappeared from her side after being poisoned? And why didn't the effect of the poison wear out when they were searching for Kui Mu Lang and Qi Pa in the forrest till night, so def. past dinner time?
5) In the beginning, Kui Mu Lang fills the holy fountain quite often with his energy. But whenever there is a crisis and lots of things happening, he isn't doing so for long period of time, but nothing happens to the clan, as if it shouldn't have dried up already considering how often they said it's going to happen soon. Kinda unbelievable.
6) Qi Pa and Kui Mu Lang being injured and puking blood various times, but then next thing you know they are suddenly walking around, visibly better without any treatment.

Usually I don't mind such small inconsistencies that much but when a story drags this muchs you start noticing so many things that could have just been avoided by cutting the chase and making the characters less blind to what happens around them or by just not dragging-out the story so much that there is just less time for such obvious mistakes.

What I liked:
+ The premise of the story itsef:
That's actually what kept me watching because I was intrigued by the set-up of the two kingdoms, the fantasy elements and the holy pearl and true love trope. So much potential!
+ Acting: Especially the ML did a great job!
+ Side characters + Chemistry between all the couples
+ OST + Costumes

What I liked at the beginning and then slowly started to dislike bcs of over-repetition/draggy story-telling:
+/- humor and the overacting
+/- FL's stubbornness (and her way of only thinking of herself in earlier scenes, e.g. if she really liked her Kitty Maid she would have acted much more considerate or at least worried for her)

What I disliked:
- PACING:
It took 10 episodes for half of the main lie to be cleared up. At that point I was already over the humor and when I got my hopes up that the story would pick up momentum after ep 11, I got disappointed again, just to wait more than 10 episodes till the lies/misunderstanding were cleared up. They only left 5 eps to resolve everything and despite that little time they decided to add in a love triangle. So there was almost no time for some carefree, happy and funny romance (not based on lies).
I just think the pacing was off bcs they introduced too many elements/side stories which made the whole drama almost unbearably draggy at times and made them lose focus (the holy pearl only getting like a split of a second of the attention in the end as an example).
- Weird dialogues used to explain the backstory, although -logically speaking- the characters talking to each other must know that history -at least partially- already (happened especially with the villains who kept talking about the past and their grand plans - instead of finally doing something)
- Plot Holes or unexplained things: I don't even have anything to complain about the fantasy elements. It's rather the ordinary things that they just left unexplained or just got overlooked. Maybe some are not as relevant for the story but leaving them unexplained left a strange, unfinished feeling for me, making it seem as if they just did so to make it easier for them to tell the story. For examples see my reply marked as spoiler down below.

Reading so many bad comments I started watching with very low expectations and maybe that's why I was rather positively surprised. If you don't have too high expectations, it's a easily binge-watchable, cute BL.
Contarely to many reviews here, I loved their acting and thought their chemistry was good. Also, the OST fit nicely and gave the whole drama a feel-good vibe (minus that one song with the nonsense lyrics :'D).
The only thing that really bothered me was how rushed the development of their relationship felt as they seemed to cut out important scenes, but left in long scenes of them running around to music as if they were filming an MV even though the given eps were so few. Them making up again was equally rushed and no real explanaition as to why Choi chose to lie etc was given.
And what I really didn't get was to what extent he lied. Why make up a new past - like did he really not go abroad? So the whole Smile of Meatball dish story was also a lie? But why, so unnecessary?

The only thing that I wondered about was why her parents suddenly didn't appear again for many eps, when they were so eager to marry their daughter off and the mother wanted to visit her friend's exhibition. Especially when she was involved in the scandal with Gao, I thought it's unrealistic that these news didn't reach her parents and they recognized her in the video. But to be honest, so much other stuff was happening that I forgot about them at some point till they reappeared in the last ep and it was fine with me how they resolved everything.

I just started watching because I came across some video on yt by coincidence. As far as I remember it's the first c-drama that I've watched and definitely the first with so many episodes I finished. What can I say? - I am speechless. I am so impressed because I not once felt like I wanted to skip forward, I wasn't even bored for a second (even though I watched many dramas where I disliked it when the main focus wasn't on the romance plot, I somehow enjoyed how the romance was sometimes just the second most important thing here). Also, I didn't find any of the side characters annoying or unnecessary which is a pleasant surprise. Overall, I just enjoyed the whole ride and loved the chemistry of the main couple and how much depth their characters had. I'm already afraid this will leave me missing them for months and wishing I could rewatch this for the first time.

I'm kinda confused why I liked it... I think I found the idea behind it intriguing, the cinematography was beautiful and the OST also fit nicely. That's probably what kept me watching and I wanted to know how they would resolve all the questions. But after reading so many explanations and theories after finishing it, I have even more questions than before. Maybe I'm just too dumb for this genre and shouldn't have tried to understand it.
Normally I'm good at just focusing on the romance but I disliked how LG was chasing after TE in the first eps and although I enjoyed their chemistry and the romance storyline later on, I just didn't like how TE suddenly seemed to have loved him from the beginning. She was absolutely not believing him and pushing him away, when she suddenly started to miss him after he disappeared to the point of getting teary-eyed when he returned. I felt like I missed sth. - Where was I when their relationship developped from 0 to 100? Maybe even if it might be somewhat explainable through the whole time travel stuff later, it just wasn't a fun watch till ep. 6 or 7 for me. The product placement was also kinda annoying in this one for me.
But even having said that, since I enjoyed it from ep. 7 and there are many good elements, I still would recommend watching and judging it for yourself.

This was the first drama I've ever watched. Rewatched this for the 3rd or 4th time now and I still love this so much, especially the OST which makes you really get into the scenes. And while I hated the ending the first time, I came to appreciate it now. I just wished it was a tiny bit more emotionally expressive 🥹

Started out slow, then when I finally started liking it, it became draggy and although the last eps were picking up the pace again, it kinda was all over the place and ended too abruptly. Overall, I enjoyed it mostly because of the main couple's chemistry, but I think it could have been much better with more scenes of them, especially because I didn't really care for the second lead couple. :/

I went into this fully aware that it's from 2011 and maybe that's why I wasn't disappointed. The pace is slow and it gets a little draggy in some parts, but overall I enjoyed that it wasn't as hectic and there weren't 100 things happening as in some newer dramas, which leave you with lots of questions. There are the typical drama clichés as the naive FL, hero-like ML and the back-and-white side characters (which are quite annoying at times tbh), but I was pleasantly surprised that the FL even matured a bit in the end and seemed to think more reasonably bcs I wasn't even expecting that given that the drama is that old.
Conclusively, if you watch it without comparing it to newer dramas, you might be able to enjoy a slow but funny and light-hearted ride which, if you've been watching dramas since the 2010s, will definitely make you feel nostalgic and make you giggle sometimes .

Just read a comment that the ending was rushed... but I for my part think that it's the first BL in a while that didn't felt rushed and had no open questions (at least among those I watched that had so few episodes). I liked the slow build up and how they let enough time pass for them to develop/deepen their feelings without using a time skip. Because in the beginning, I didn't feel their chemistry tbh but I believe chemistry can also be build over time if they convey well how the characters really grow fond of each other. I didn't get impatient for something to happen because their scenes felt so heartwarming even without much intimacy displayed.
Did I want more scenes of them together and was sad that it ended so quickly - yes, but did it make the story that much better that they left enough time for the feelings to develop that made the final scenes more convincing and realistic - also a big YES! from me :) <3

I'm confused... I think I liked it, or did I? I mean at least it made me laugh the whole time?
First, I just laughed because one of them was a ridiculous red flag in the beginning and the other one was overly complicated.
Then I laughed bcs it was sooo rushed - they were suddenly having healthy conversations without any time for character development which could lead to that level of maturity.
Then it suddenly became almost too cringey, before some unnecessary drama happened (as always), which did get resolved, but not really well and then it just ended happily ever after.
Overall, it was not that bad and had cute parts, but it just felt so extremely rushed, like so. shook a soda bottle which exploded in ep. 4 or 5, but after that one was left only with some fizzy parts, which just fizzled out till the end and kinda left me a bit disappointed and not even knowing if I want more of whatever that was?