Final thoughts before I write that review (with snark):
RIP Zheng Shi - the Rosy Clouds world did not deserve you. With love and nurturing, you could have been free to live your life and actually do some good. Unfortunately, you got stuck in a predetermined plot and character fail at the last minute. I feel like the writers wrote themselves into a corner here. They changed his character from the original inspiration, making him less a psycho and more of a complicated, misguided young man. As such, his "death" ending doesn't really make much sense. Kudos to Deng Wei's performance for making me actually care about the character. In my head canon, he planned to fake his death, which actually makes that sequence work. Ok, I'm gonna go watch Reuters of Divas Hit the Road season 8 now and wait for The Days of Seclusion and Love and upcoming works to get over this little bump in the road.
Fan Yun - you deserved better. I wanted to see your brains and girl power on full display and less of the mumbling and undecidedness when 2 clingy men tried to force an answer from you. Dude, give her space and figure out your own lives first. Li Yitong, I need more of that energy from A Dream Within A Dream, where the plot and characters finally won the day. Hmm, maybe it's time I go rewatch that. Good luck with your new dramas - The Noble looks amazing.
Qi Zheng - the script really wronged you the most here. Your pettiness, childishness and just plain zero charisma is due to a script without a clear structure and goal for the character's growth. It didn't help that your back story was essentially cut out (or maybe it wasn't even there, hah). Joseph Zeng, I'm so glad there are better dramas with you in them out there. Looking forward to Inverted Fate.
And to all the supporting cast, including Dai Luwa, Riley, Cheng Hongxin, Tian Jia Rui and Omid as my fave mask man, thank you for bringing heart, humor and some color to an otherwise dull drama. Best of luck to you all in your future dramas! Special shoutout to the veterans who played the 3 elders: you all were sorely underused and so funny in this.
I don’t know what the original story had for Zheng Shi’s character, but I liked what they did here in the…
Yep, I’m glad to have finally watched it. If anything, it shows how much potential Deng Wei has as an actor, even 3 years ago. There was already so much improvement in Love of the Divine Tree, which he filmed right after this one. Can’t wait to see what he does next.
Oof, let me modify my comment. It's the 3rd grandson who is the real snake.
This was the most interesting arc though, so again, a waste that it wasn’t built up properly. Honestly, Tian Xing and Yong city arc should have been cut and expanded this one, but that’s just my preference.
Watching ep 33 and 34 now. The 4th Zheng sister is a great character - this family and this arc was totally rushed and a missed opportunity. Also Zheng Jin is trash.
His story with grandfather was most enjoyable for me. The rest of the story was so hard to digest. Especially…
Yeah, not a great showing for Joseph here. It’s all good. All the main cast have moved on to better projects since they filmed this one. I’m really looking forward to TDOSAL, so they better release that someday or I’m going to throw a fit at iQiyi.
His storyline is actually pretty watchable. I haven’t finished the last few eps, but basically he fancies FL,…
Nah I don’t think he jumped just because of that but mainly because of FL’s rejection. Although there was apparently a cut scene of him having survived and going on to live as Lou Qiyan, which would have been an awesome ending for his story arc, but they just wanted to be tragic just because? His Granduncle’s grandson poisoned him I believe.
Although i have been staying positive throughout. But i really can't help i have disappointments in this drama.I…
I don’t know what the original story had for Zheng Shi’s character, but I liked what they did here in the drama, making him more of a gray character. It’s unfortunate that the writing fails his character in the end, because the ending makes no sense for such a generally smart character. All to fit a doomed unrequited love storyline that could have been changed honestly. If they removed the love triangle at least in the second half of the show, I think they could’ve focused on making the leads’ storyline better and showed all 3 main character’s growth beyond petulant jealousy and childishness.
https://x.com/remedy_weid/status/2074886395215163736?s=46 Heard they cut this scene where ZhengShi dies but LouQiyan…
That actually would have made the ending better and fit the drama’s version of SML. He’s not a complete psycho villain in the drama, so I don’t see why they have to make him take the fall. Again, bad writing and editing…failing to understand what character arcs are. 🤦‍♀️
I dropped this at like episode 10 because I couldn't stand the main couple's idiotic/childish behavior 🤮 but…
His storyline is actually pretty watchable. I haven’t finished the last few eps, but basically he fancies FL, and that unfortunately drives him to his death ultimately. Part of it probably is losing his grandfather (who commits suicide in a fake coup to drive out the real traitors, which are the other branch of the Zheng family), who he truly loved and who truly loved him. Another part is probably in the last few eps the arc in Jing city dealing with his family (apparently he was poisoned and dying by the time he tried to force FL to marry him). I could be missing details since I have yet to conclude the Jing city arc.
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RIP Zheng Shi - the Rosy Clouds world did not deserve you. With love and nurturing, you could have been free to live your life and actually do some good. Unfortunately, you got stuck in a predetermined plot and character fail at the last minute. I feel like the writers wrote themselves into a corner here. They changed his character from the original inspiration, making him less a psycho and more of a complicated, misguided young man. As such, his "death" ending doesn't really make much sense. Kudos to Deng Wei's performance for making me actually care about the character. In my head canon, he planned to fake his death, which actually makes that sequence work. Ok, I'm gonna go watch Reuters of Divas Hit the Road season 8 now and wait for The Days of Seclusion and Love and upcoming works to get over this little bump in the road.
Fan Yun - you deserved better. I wanted to see your brains and girl power on full display and less of the mumbling and undecidedness when 2 clingy men tried to force an answer from you. Dude, give her space and figure out your own lives first. Li Yitong, I need more of that energy from A Dream Within A Dream, where the plot and characters finally won the day. Hmm, maybe it's time I go rewatch that. Good luck with your new dramas - The Noble looks amazing.
Qi Zheng - the script really wronged you the most here. Your pettiness, childishness and just plain zero charisma is due to a script without a clear structure and goal for the character's growth. It didn't help that your back story was essentially cut out (or maybe it wasn't even there, hah). Joseph Zeng, I'm so glad there are better dramas with you in them out there. Looking forward to Inverted Fate.
And to all the supporting cast, including Dai Luwa, Riley, Cheng Hongxin, Tian Jia Rui and Omid as my fave mask man, thank you for bringing heart, humor and some color to an otherwise dull drama. Best of luck to you all in your future dramas! Special shoutout to the veterans who played the 3 elders: you all were sorely underused and so funny in this.