Nepeta 22

The pacing is not the issue. It's the way the story unfolds using excessive flash-backs to push along/solving and closing story lines. For viewers, that leaves very little of suspense or connection. There is very little given about each character's excessive crying. So far, the the over use of water works feels like a shallow way of telling us their grief. There are many ways to do that, but I feel it's a very basic and simplistic choice which does not give the story telling any imagination.

I also don't think it's driven by word of mouth. GJM is well known for using fandom to do his bidding, and the excessive promotion and dance videos along with some nice black press, it's his signature to how to promote. Even others are copying that template. A drama that is good will pick up, and with the amount of promotion already, this is the time to see the results without the "inside the circle" fans doing the bidding. I hope the drama changes course. Because right now, it's OK, but nothing spectacular or new.

I think that is what the format will be. Nothing wrong with that as many dramas with investigative style end up like that. The issue is the execution. The excessive flash backs being used to help explain things leaving very little for viewers to guess or feel connected. Often the ML seems to know near enough all the answers and whys, which then leaves the side-kicks looking like tools for the misplaced humour which is a very poor attempt at dead-pan. It should really be dialled down. GJM can't read the room.

The problem with GJM is he has a very dated view on comedy. We saw in MJTY, the butt of jokes will be the only actress that sticks out like a sore thumb in character and aesthetics. Here LL's character is reduced to a cartoon caricature screaming banshee.

The flash backs are a cop-out. It also prolongs the story and drags out the already slow pace and light script. I suspect GJM looked at past successes such as investigative dramas like STof TD1/2 and thought the weird and wonderful is what viewers' tastes lie, but cannot understand the pacing and how a story is meant to unfold to keep viewers interested.

Here, he gives everything away through flash backs with very little room for suspense, and worst still, ML always seem to just know the reason or answer. The side-kicks are always left floundering. The excessive crying also emits no feelings for the viewers because they spend either too much time on why they might feel sad but quite often it's for basic reasons with no depth. PSJ's prolonged crying had me counting how many tear drops had dripped off her face. Surely that's not a good thing when you don't care or feel sad for her, but end up counting how many teardrops have landed on the floor. I was begging for that arc to move on.

Great drama, it gets better in the second half, but for the life of me, how did this level of violence pass the review? Many fight scenes were just scary. As for Wang Zi Qi's portrayal of a Cantonese speaker, there seems to be no attempt on his part at practicing the dialect. It would have been better if they had left some of those scenes out.

Charmaine Sheh & Selena Lee are both nominated for best actress at the Asian Television awards for 2024. The drama has also been nominated too. Good luck, all deserve this accolade.

To The Wonder has been nominated as best drama for this year's Asian Television Awards. Held in Jakarta.

Zhou Xun has been nominated as best FL in this drama for Asian Television Awards 2024. Good luck.

Seen you've re-edited your comment & made it clear. Bye girl🤦‍♀️

Like Editor said, what do you mean?

Is it just me? This actor Zhang Yu is a spitting image of Liu Yuning.

Both of them are IQIYI actors. Super Up is their subsidiary. They also have Chen Duling & Wang Yu Wen. On My Journey To You, it was a co-production between ZUI and IQIYI, and both of these companies had their actors in support roles. Wang Duo is with DUI, but there seems to be some sort of falling out with GJM, and he has been sidelined.

Yes, it's a slog. Definitely pacing issues. The ending is drawn out and should have finished in the early thirties. It's got to be ranked as one of the worst endings and I'm almost giving up on finding out what happened to Shen Du's father! That's not good.

Be honest, it's the type of drama you'd need to leave your brain at the door. I'm also struggling to finish it, but mainly due to the slow output because I'm not a VIP member but I'm not rushing to see the end. It's long and drawn out. A good story has been messed up with poor pacing and no attempt to re-write some illogical actions, especially as you state the FL's actions. I can only say it's just to try and create an independent persona, but in reality, it's making her seem silly and being naive just for the sake of the scriptwriters. This is where the drama falls flat. It's not the actors' fault, but the whole story.

As for Pan Chi, he is some annoying character! No amount of redeeming in the end can make him seem nice and decent.

I have no issue with your viewpoint. It's just I watch this as a pinch of salt. It's clearly not a serious ansty type of drama from what I can see so far. It's not meant to be taken as literal and serious. As explained in my post, I find modern day rom-com style dramas such as Lighter and Princess far more problematic because they try to portray this as a slice of life setting.

Wuxias, I take on with a special filter and that includes some level of violence which includes loss of lives and revenge, all part of the genre. Just like in Xanxias, it's part and parcel of stabbing and killing people who you will love or have loved. Then miraculously they tend to survive after a bit of TCM and care, and the cycle repeats.

I guess we all have different levels of what's acceptable. Here, I think it's not offensive for me. I am seeing a strong FL trying to survive in a time where women have very little power and the story is telling us how she manages to outsmart the 2 MLs, so I think it appeals strangely to the modern audience.

I have not watched enough episodes to know whether the cruelty is excessive, so cannot comment, but from what I've seen so far, FL is presented as smart but still very naive. I feel the tempo is deliberate, to create a character that always lands on her feet without knowing she's cheated death numerous times. I take that as light hearted comedy and not literal. But, I can see how others find that unsavoury.

Everyone has a right to drop dramas, but when you put a comment with an opinion, you can expect another view-point as well. I'm not trying to persuade anyone. I want to let others know, I see the character portrayal differently.

I find modern romance dramas with 'try-hard' realism, trying to depict toxic relationships by re-branding them as passionate more jarring and problematic. Lighter and Princess springs to mind.

I'm just going to be honest here. If dramas were to focus on normal relationships, it's a risk and may turn out to be making a loss because in reality, audiences tend to look for something unreal.

For me, Wuxias, ancient times and the relationships, I tend to not take too seriously. Firstly, we know women had limited rights, secondly how much of the truth can be bent to cater for the modern audiences? That's something that's been going on for decades for historic dramas where relationships are concerned.

The issue may be the focus to kill someone drags out for too long, the editing is not done in a humorous enough way, or the ML is just not dashing looking enough to allow watchers to forgive him.

Don't know if you have watched A Journey to Love? In the first quarter of the drama, FL & ML are trying to kill each other. The FL was an exceptional martial artist. I didn't see many complaining on either side? I wonder whether this is the fact that she's a female trying to kill the ML (high female audiences wanting to see the balance re-dressed), or the fact that the editing was clearly done in a way to be humorous and (tongue in cheek style) that many seemed to enjoy rather than feel repelled. Just a thought.

When it comes to Wuxias, I tend to allow for classics that won't fly in reality, such as killing people like it's a walk in the park. Falling off cliffs and then landing well. Superb ability to recover from life changing looking injuries in record time which definitely makes modern medicine look useless and puts TCM right up there. And finally, revenge is to get even.

Don't remind me of that drama! I honestly sat through that for Zhang Jingyi. It's called band-aid romance and typically not really love but more an unhealthy balance where one wants to help the other and they think the thrill or rewards will be they get love and approval in response.

There's nothing grey about his character either. As you say, he was just a glorified bully with controlling tendencies. Not all poor people or people from challenging backgrounds end up like him and need excusing.

I thought you might pick that comment up. Yes, I mean by average dramas not specifically about romance. As soon as you see "historical romance", that also means the same. Aimed for young women.

Remember, how can a historical drama be acceptable for modern female audiences? Hand pick someone that's gone out of the norm to be a heroine. That's not average, that's curated for the target audience.

She will speak up, break out from traditional family ranks and of course be able to speak to ML or men like an equal, or above them. We all know in history, women's voices are more limited. But we are in a "historical romance" with modern day spin😉.

I'm here to see Li Landi and Zhang Ya Qin. I'm not here to immerse myself into the possibly unrealistic story line. Who knows, it may turn out to be a sleeper hit.

A Lonely Hero's Journey didn't get a good rating on Douban in China, but I'm sure on IQIYI and here, it might. Most rom-coms are aimed for teenagers or young women. The writers think they need to empower young women and it's not a reflection of real-life. More an idealise world for women, and since a core portion are female audiences, men will be a fantasy of being perfect and dropping everything for the FL. I get that. Perhaps, you need to branch into more mainstream dramas rather than rom-coms. There, you should see a more normal and realistic portrayal.