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Wasted Potential

Three words to describe this drama: A Wasted Potential.This drama had everything it needed to rise to greatness: good acting, gorgeous cinematography, and beautiful costumes. However, this drama crumbled faster than my grandma’s rusk cookies due to few big problems.

ISSUE #1: Continuity (lack of)-> Watching this drama felt like playing connect the dots. But, for this drama, half of the dots were missing, and the rest were randomly scattered across the page. Just when I started getting invested, BAM! There was either a jarring cut or a sudden switch up that threw me off. At one point, I just gave up trying to understand and just kept watching.

ISSUE #2: Draggy filler scenes -> i honestly felt like the director didn't know how to extend then storyline properly and just ended having a lot of filler/draggy scenes. It's like ordering a small plate of delicious pasta, only for the director to stretch it into a buffet with endless breadsticks. The breadsticks can be delicious based on the restaurant, but I came for the yummy pasta! This drama stretched itself so thin that the fast-forwarding and playback speed change button became my best friends (mostly used 1.25x and 1.5x for the speed change options). Seriously, why is everything just sooo slow?? Like, how long do I need to see them wandering around??

ISSUE#3: Weird romance between the main leads. Idk how to explain this, but their relationship felt kinda awkward for me. The pacing was weird and the relationship felt not very convincing in many areas. The lack of chemistry also doesn't help at all!!

I will give credit where it's due though. I LOVED the side couples. The acting and their relationships were so well done and I was able to emotionally connect with them. Episode 9 was also AMAZING! The best part of the show for me. That's all I'm gonna say.

Overall, This drama is like Rachel's trifle from Friends. The recipe was perfect, but it wasn't made correctly. Weird ass ingredients were used, which ended up making it not as good. If any of you guys are planning on watching it, I highly recommend getting familiar with the playback speed change option. Another rec to read through the comments in order to read theories and understand the story. It'll save you a lot of time lol!

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Pretty good watch

PROS
1. The first half was really exciting with the tomb adventures scenes.

2. The bromance worked really well.

3. The second half is not as bad as people claim it to be. Is it as good as the first half? The answer is no, but there are still some interesting scenes in it.

4. The acting is really good (especially the one who plays Wu Xie).

5. Had a lot of heart racing moments and jump scares.

CONS
1. The romance aspects with fatty and Piao Piao were totally unnecessary. It didn't contribute anything to the storyline except Wu Xie having some realizations. I would say the same about the mute girl, but she has a much better character and romance storyline compared to Piao Piao.

2. I was uncomfortable about the show trying to add a romance line to Wu Xie (nearly 40 year old) and Bai (20), but I am glad that they weren't endgame.

3. Xiao Ge (one of the main characters) completely disappeared in the second half. What happened to my iron triangle!?

4. We don't know what happened to Wu Erbai and Xiao He's group during the search for the underwater river. It's like the director completely forgot about them in the second half.

Overall I would say that this is a pretty good watch. The first half is definitely better, so I might only rewatch the first part. I would recommend people not to skip the second half when they watch this show the first time. Many people skip a lot of it because they don't see Xiao Ge, but they're missing out on some important story details.

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Decent watch with a fairly action packed storyline

PROS
1. Really really good villain (made it really enjoyable for me). The villain had a well-rounded character which made me understand her more yet hate her.
2. Really interesting story (even though there was some dragging parts). I couldn't stop watching I kept wanting to know what was gonna happen next.
3. I really enjoyed the amount of action I witnessed.
CONS
1. While I love Yoona, the character that she was given made it slightly disappointing for me. Her role in the drama - running away, trauma, tidbits of cute moments. I really wish they gave her character a little bit more personality so that we can see her character and relationships grow in a smooth manner. Due to the lack of character growth, her relationship with the main character seemed a little forced and confusing. I noticed a few comments saying that Yoona's acting was bad. I personally think it's just because of the character she was given (I've seen some of her other acting stuff and she did well in those).
2. Some of the fighting moments seemed a bit weird/unrealistic to me but, this is not really a major problem unless you're really into action scenes.
Overall, I mostly enjoyed watching this and I would recommend you give it a try before making any decisions.

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I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!!

I'm extremely impressed on how much I liked this drama.
PROS
1. The plot kept making me want to know what happens nexts and it was a good pace for me. 2. The acting was impressive, especially Gong Jun's! He perfectly portrayed the multiple sides of Wen Kexing (innocent and adorable vs ruthless and a straight up maniac).
3. One of the things I enjoyed in this drama was how well-rounded the characters were. No one was completely good, evil, or innocent. Each character had his or her own flaws which made it interesting and not one dimensional. 4. This show made me cry, smile, and become furious at times. I personally feel that this is a well-rounded show.
5. I also enjoyed the starting ost so I often didn't skip the intro.
6. Has good character growth - I could see how much the characters evolved by the end of the show.
RECOMMENDATION - The production cleverly managed to wiggle through some of the ban by having secret lines throughout the show. I would recommend international viewers to watch some of avenueX's videos on woh because she shows and explains the hidden lines which are dubbed over due to the ban, through lip reading. You'll be surprised to find how many there are. She also talks about the meaning of Kexing's poetry which can help with understanding the drama.
CONS
Terrible graphics - I shouldn't be surprised since this is a low budget drama but the graphics made me cringe when I initially started watching it.
Over-dramatic moments - There are a quite a bit of these in the drama. I was personally not bothered by it but, some people might find it quite cheesy.

I would definitely recommend people to give this show a try. This show is something I won't forget and I'm definitely going to rewatch this again to catch all the details of this story. I'm really glad to have chosen this as my first wuxia drama!

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Okay

I'm finding this series okay. I'm mainly watching it for Lukmo-Simai and the copy couple. Lukmo and Simai's storyline was the most intense and interesting for me (which makes me want to know what's going to happen to their story). I found the copy couple's storyline simply adorable and couldn't stop watching them.
CONS
I skipped all of the other couples for multiple reasons. The basketball couple - didn't have much of a storyline (too short to play is the main thing) and too young for me to watch comfortably. Both-Newyear - I haven't seen any sort of storyline or conflict, all I've seen so far are just lovey-dovey moments (even though it's in the 8th episode. I'm still waiting to see what happens with them. Eak-Phob - This one just doesn't work for me. I tried to keep watching it but, it really just annoyed me.

Thoughts - I personally think this drama would've been better if they didn't have so many couples. Instead, if they just had the main + a side couple with more focus to the plot and development, it could've been a lot better.
Rewatch value - 5/10 Might only watch for the two couples mentioned above.

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Diabetes Inducing with hints of drama

Honestly, I liked this show a lot. While it did have a fe w cringe moments, there is a lot of other things I like more.
1. The entire show is a green forest for one. I love how non-toxic and healthy all the CP relationships are.

2. (The point is my fav) Healthy and open com munication! The leads have such a healthy communication thing going on that it's healing my trauma from all the misunderstanding-heavy BL's.

3. Both the first and second couple have really good c hemistry. There's absolutely no doubt about that for me. Didn't feel anything for the third couple, but we also didn't get much from them, so that's probably why…

4. Massive character growth from the MC.

5. Вecause it's really fucking cute and creating unrealistic expectations. Just seeing Fah and Rak's relationship made me squeal, but also I feel kinda jealous lol.

CONS
On to the negative side, there’s quite a few things that annoyed me. I, personally was able to look over it, but definitely will not be able to.

1. MC is quite childish and naive. Honestly, I can understand why he’s the way he is, but many viewers might find this trait unlikable or unbearable.

2. In classic BL fashion, some things that should be taken seriously were taken too lightly. In an attempt to keep the show in the cutesy stage, the drama has just glossed over a few things that I found very problematic.

3. Cringe Dialogues- While I found this mostly cute, some of the dialogues were just too much. It just felt like even the most cutesy adults shouldn’t be saying such things.

4. Some stiff acting moments- there was a couldn’t le of moments that felt a bit too stiff and took me out of the story, but considering most of the actors are new, this was a very good performance.

Overall, I would say that if you’re looking for a light, fluffy, and cutesy show, then you might be in the right page. However, this show isn't for everyone. It isn't really plot driven and is just a cute fluffy show(my cup of tea), so if you prefer plot heavy shows like Not Me or ITSAY, then this is definitely NOT for you!

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It's a mess

I was really interested in watching this because I've watched the Korean version 'Antique Bakery'; however, there's just so many problems with this show that I cannot ignore.
1. The murder mystery feels like an extra segment that was added to make the show longer when it should be one of the main elements.
2. The journalists were completely unconvincing and annoying.
3. The romance seemed to come out of blue and a lot of the the show's side stories seemed to pop out all of a sudden without any hint of it in earlier episodes.
I feel like this show tried to be a lot of different things, which made the show messy and confusing. The friendship between the four main characters was cute and I liked how they realistically showed that trauma is not something you get over immediately, but that's all I liked about the show.

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