Tempest

If you don't like to see FL being blamed for everything that goes wrong, skip this one.

First things first, the description of the show on MDL is not entirely accurate.

Since going in I already knew that this was going to be at least 3 different lifetimes for the lead couple to finally get together, i was waiting with abated breath for Chong Zi to die. I did read some reviews but majority were moaning about the actress's skills. Honestly, she isn't bad. I have seen other actresses do worse. So, to me, she wasn't that annoying, just a minor tolerable nuisance int he back of my mind.

1st Lifetime: Episode 1 to Episode 14/15
The one thing I was curious about the most was how did she die in the 1st lifetime, lo and behold, the ML killed her himself. The FL was too devoted to him, while he was devoted to her, his major concern was controlling her evil miasma. And even though he had feelings for her, they were not enough to find a way to save her in that lifetime. It was especially saddening to watch because Chong Zi though the world of him and he did seem like a intelligent and powerful sage, maybe it was his plan to kill her and allow her be reborn and he did go out of his way to ensure she was reborn again. But pretty coldhearted no.

2nd lifetime: Starts episode 15 & doesn't really end at least not until ep 39/40.
The leads are super messed up, in the second life they continue the same cycle. Chong Zi was such a goner over Luo Yin Fan that she was quick to forgive him no matter how many times he let her down. She just went right back to him. In Chong Zi's second lifetime, Luo Yin Fan decided that he would protect her at all costs but he was the most unsuitable person to protect her. He actually put her in more harm and no matter how many things his sect did wrong, they all just blindly decided to overlook those things, but Chong Zi took one misstep and it was a crime. They all, including Luo Yin Fan treated her abominably. Although he claimed to love her, he never really accepted all of her. It wasn't a love story that I rooted for.

Instead I was hoping that Qin Ke would win her over. Even though he didn't much help Chong Zi in the beginning, in her second lifetime, he always helped her, protected her and stood up for her against the sect, even when Luo Yin Fan tried to kill her on numerous occasions.

The immortal sect, all high and mighty was so corrupt. None of the people in the sect were logical at all. Its all black and white to them, immortals= good and demons= evil. All they see is evil miasma/breath, and they get murder in their eyes. Anything anytime goes wrong, kill Chong Zi! They really had so much hatred for someone who had done nothing to them. It was just plain awful to see.

And how does it all end, Luo Yin Fan sacrifices himself, but even with a powerful actor the scene was so underwhelming for me.

3rd lifetime: 3rd for Chong Zi & 2nd for Luo Yin Fan. (Episode 41 *Special mini episode*)
It was too short and not really interesting to my liking. The first 2 lifetime while not really romantic were at least interesting to watch. At times, they were intense. But its fine for people who hoped they ended up together.

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Gets Intense From Time To Time

Initially, I thought this was one of those mini dramas that are just fluffs that make you happy, but that wasn't the case. While it had some of those elements that make you feel giddy, it also had some pretty terrible moments.

FL is such a cutie, too damn trusting for her own good. I had so much fun watching her and see her become friends with the woman who tried to hate her in the beginning. Since the moment she married the ML, she was suspected of being a mole. The ML wet out of his way to treat her poorly, let's all forget "innocent until proven guilty". When that arc was over, we got the better version of ML but he blew too hot and cold a little too fast.

In my books, the worst thing a ML/FL can do is marry another woman and be cruel to the FL/ML. That is the line I draw. This cliched marry another woman/man to protect their partner trope has been used so many times that I'm over it. It just sheds light on the imbalance between their relationship. Can the fools not trust each other and play the game together? No, instead it is better to play the other. What's worse the poor FL had to be the bridesmaid and give him away to that women and he still went through with the marriage. What a spectacle. Even before that, the ML treated FL poorly when he found out his brother's death. Yes, you are allowed time to grieve and push people away for a while, but to not trust her at all. Just the whole lack of trust dynamics makes him ill-suited for her. What's the use of all the sacrifices, when all you ever do is leave your partner behind. Wouldn't she be better off?

The later half of the drama is too depressing. With these dramas, you have to got to know, when one of the lead couple makes a promise, its bound to be broken and worst is yet to come. And it has a sad ending, which is thankfully overtaken by the special episode.

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Loved This Version Of Story For Little Red Fox & Imperial lord.

I started watched this right after Eternal Love. I wasn't a big fan of the ending these two got over there and am glad that this sequel was made.

If you watch it right after Eternal Love, right off the bat, you'll notice the difference in production, some of the central cast members, and character behaviors. Bai Feng Jiu from Eternal Love was a bit more mature compared to this one. But that stopped bothering me once we see her turn into a fox, she is so damn adorable. The male lead is of course gorgeous, however his appearance in the Eternal Love was a bit better, in terms of styling, the hair, the outfits, the colors in this one took some time getting used to.

I was hoping to see Mo Yuan/Ye Hua, but that didn't happen. At first, I thought that they didn't exist in this universe but they do they are just never seen.

This is one of the shows where the female lead falls first and falls very hard, whereas the Male lead takes forever to notice her affection. While he is not one of those who falls harder but he wasn't able to figure out his feelings on his own, his friends had to prompt him and tell him about all FL has done for him. Anyways, once he decides to pursue the FL, he is all in. That's what matters.

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What a rollercoaster! (lot of spoilers, avoid reading if you don't want major spoilers)

This was one of the dramas that I put off watching for a while. Mainly because it has too many female antagonists trying to ensure the female lead's life is full of sufferings.
1. Xuan Nü: She fell in the love with Li Jing, a guy the FL was dating at the time. So, she put in some efforts to split them apart. However, the guy was really no angel. He claimed to love the FL but was easily seduced by the Xuan Nu. He found ways to justify being with her and didn't really put in any effort to stay with FL, resulting in the breakup and him getting married to Xuan Nu.
2. Su Jin: She had such a good beginning with Ye Hua. They could have been friends who shared each other troubles. Instead, she tried to force her attentions on him. When that didn't work, she did everything possible to make sure he didn't have happy life with anyone else, even when he clearly stated many times that he didn't care for her. But her schemes were the reason that the ML had to treat the FL like utter crap, and he also had his share of blame to take for that part. Anyways talking about Su Jin , she just didn't know when to admit defeat and made everyone miserable.
3. Miao Qing: Another person who liked the crown prince Ye Hua. She was easily manipulated by Su Jin into trying to seduce Ye Hua, who saw through it often enough.
4. Le Xu: Ye Hua's mother. I had expected her to treat Su Su fairly when she was in nine heavens, but her neglect was the worse. She was biased towards Su Jin and made sure to show it every time, not really seeing that she didn't have her son's best interest in heart. Even when everything was out in the open, she still kept Bai Qian from visiting her Ye Hua's body, showing that she really was so heartless.

One of the worst and repulsive characters was Hao De [Heavenly Lord]. I remember one thing he said to Ye Hua, "You can have as many concubines as you want but don't get tangled with a woman who'll lead you astray" He said so many misogynistic things that his character was hardly tolerable. He also was one of the people who allowed Su Jin to torment poor Su Su.

Now about the male lead (Ye Hua), there are times when you think he is adorable and then you just want to outright murder him for hurting Su Su so much.
The period when I hated him:
In the beginning when he tried to be indifferent to to her to protect her, I was thinking, okay i can roll with this punch. But then things took a drastic turn. When Su Jin framed Su Su, he leapt to his feet, picking up Su Jin and leaving a confused and a bit hearbroken Su Su behind, who was questioning her sanity at this point. He did this knowing that Su Jin framed Su Su, but he had to pretend that he didn't care much about Su Su. And if that wasn't enough, he took Su Su's eyes and gave it to Su Jin, quite unforgiveable in my books. But since I knew this show had a happy ending, I wanted to see how Ye Hua would redeem himself, that is if he could at all.
The period when he redeemed himself:
When Su Su jumped off the Zhu Xian Terrace, he dived in after her when he could have clearly stopped himself in time. Later, when he met her as Bai Qian, he went out of his way to be good to her. Even when he thought that Bai Qian might love Mo Yuan, he was okay with it as long as she had a little affection for him as well. Not only that, he also went through many challenges to bring Mo Yuan back to life for Bai Qian, knowing that she might choose Mo Yuan. Also, the Male lead has never been unfaithful. He hated Su Jin and didn't every look at any other women.

Mo Yuan (The one we all thought was the male lead): From the get go, it was easy to notice that Mo Yuan treated Si Jin (Bai Qian disguised as man) differently, with affection. But with the way Si Jin treated Mo Yuan, it was hard to guess if the devotion was one of purely of disciple towards that of a master or anything romantic. Had Ye Hua not existed, may be there would have been something between the two. When Mo Yuan came back to life, it was easy to see how bothered he was that Bai Qian loved Ye Hua. It was plain to see in his eyes. However, by the end of the show we could see that he had accepted it.

Let's talk about the female lead (Si Jin/Su Su/Bai Qian )
Its hard not to love Si Jin and her shenanigans. It was nice to her grow into someone who could lead an army alongside her brothers from Kunlun Mountain. Her loyalty to her master remains unchallenged. After she left the mountain with Mo Yuan's body, she continued to grow into her identity of Bai Qian, the great lady.
As Su Su, she was kind but had the worst fates. The words "this world can be so cruel to the kind," remind me of her. All of the people in the nine heavens messed her up. The only person who grieved her passing was Ye hua, for others she was just a passing mortal. She was so messed up that she left her child behind, something that I'm conflicted about. I don't like her for abandoning her child, but at the same time she was too messed up to care for one. Even when she regained her memories as Bai Qian, she made the decision to forget not just her worries but also her baby.

Coming to the story, when it comes to Bai Qian's identity as the monarch of Qingqiu, there were times when she didn't pull her weight. I felt the same way about the Mo Yuan, the god of war, especially when he came back to life. All the Xianxia dramas I have watched have so much corruption in the heavenly realm, starting with the emperor himself. So, there are a lot of characters we end up wanting to punch.

I have been binge watching continuously without even taking time to leave reviews, but this one made me want to take the time and write everything down! That's how much I was invested in it. Although the ML eventually grew on me, once in a while I let out that silly giggle because he kept reminding me of Professor Snape.

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Could have been better

I have seen the original Korean Drama W (2016) and its natural to make comparisons. The chemistry between the two leads in W (2016) is undeniable.

I was glad to come across The Next Stop W (2023) but its not very well-written or executed. Everything is a miss.
The lead actors didn't have much of a chemistry.
While the ML is attractive, he lacks the charm that Lee Jong Suk brings to the table.
The FL was fine, the script poorly written, trying to smash everything together, just rushing to the ending.

I believe this could have turned out better if the durations of the episodes were longer, and the script better written.

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Love the outifts, the characters, and the concept.

While both Ding Yu X and Yang Chao Yue played all their characters to the T, Ding Yu X is a pro. They both also looked great in all the life times they shared together. Except for Chu Kong's standoffishness after the couple's first love tribulation together, he was pretty decent to the FL. They also had good chemistry.

We got to see so much of their lives as Lu Chang Kong & Song Xiang Yun that I had hoped, we could have gotten more details about the other life times as well. The ending was also too rushed and just not enough closure for us who sat through all these lifetimes.

Except for the first tribulation where Xiu Ming practically engineered their sad fates, his characters mellowed down and didn't do much damage. There was too much wasted potential there.

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Enemies To Lovers, Hilarious Body Swaps Occasions, & Great Outfits

Loved watching it. The lead couple were good together and there were only a few times that I had to curse at them for being idiots. But the drama was interesting. Having seen the ML in other modern shows, I didn't actually think much of his acting skills, but this show changed my mind. He along with the FL did a fantastic job. I did find Orchid's character annoying the beginning, but eventually got used to it.

The supporting characters were decent. Shang Que was adorable. You also can't help but like both Fairy Dan Yin & Jie Li. Other characters didn't' leave much of an impression.

The characters are great, but lets also talk about the beautiful outfits worn by Dongfang Qing Cang! He had some great headdress! The stylist did a wonderful job on all his outfits as well as look.

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Was written by a teenager for teen audience?

If it wasn't for my curiosity, I would have dropped this drama in the 1st 10 episodes. The central plot of this drama goes like this, The Lead couple get together for 2 minutes, promise to be together forever, and then separate 2 minutes later. Every episodes is just a weird version of this. They are constantly stuck in this loop. As if that wasn't enough in season 1, they decided to do the same in season 2 as well.

There were only two things i liked about this drama, first were the characters, however none of them got a good story arc. Second, the ending. While it isn't usually an ending i prefer, the entire drama was so childish that I thought the ending was wonderful.

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Second Couple Had More Chemistry Than The Leads

The only good thing about the lead couple casting was that the female lead could actually be mistaken for a pretty boy.

They not only lacked chemistry but their story was so boring. Despite such a interesting trope, they weren't able to hold my interest. I finished all the 40 episodes in 6 hours, skipping to scenes that featured the second couple. Now, these two were so well-written and cast perfectly for their roles. They had amazing chemistry.

In the beginning, I though the SML's resting face was too bland and it just made in look expressionless but when he starts interacting with the SFL magic happens. If it wasn't for my curiosity about what happens in the end and how it happens, I would have dropped the show.

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The lead characters made things interesting but ending was so poorly written (Happy ending)

When I started watching, I wasn't exactly a fan of the pairing but they both grew on me. I enjoyed some of their interactions, some were far too silly which again points to poor writing. In the hands of a good writer, this drama could have done a much better job.

The time travel element wasn't ever fully explained.
Why did it happen?
Who sent her the message?
What happened when she back?

What spoils the story is that they went so far to create a clear distinction between Lin Miao and Lin Wei Jun, so much so that it is very difficult to reconcile that they are one person. The ending is so rushed and ambiguous that the viewers are left to figure out what happened.

The simplest explanation should be: Lin Miao went back to her time 10 years in the future, during these 10 years Lin Wei Jun grew into herself becoming Lin Miao and that was who came back for Jiao Yang who waited for her.

But then so many new questions arise. Since Lin Wei Jun life was altered by her future self and Jiao Yang, wouldn't her future self have new memories? Would she be the same Lin Miao that visited the past? Or would she be more like her past self? And what does that mean for their relationship?

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Not a fan of the ending

Both Victoria Song and Luo Yun Xi are terrific actors and powerhouses, however the chemistry between them just wasn't properly utilized. The kissing scenes between the two were very dry, just quick pecks. There's one good intimate scene in this show and it isn't between ML and FL, but flashback between ML and his ex.

Don't even get me started with the ending. Another disappointing ending from a drama where where the ML has ulterior motives for approaching the FL. *Major Spoiler* The ML dies at the end. (I wish I had the reviews and someone had clearly stated that this happened.

What's more, apart from the fast-paced beginning, most of the show was boring, the second couple was the only reason I didn't skip most of it. In the beginning , both the SFL and SML were a bit cringey and too childish but thankfully they were not so bad by the end of it. I liked them together.

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The story could have done without the jealous stepmother angle

I loved the cast and romance bit of the story. Seo Do Guk is another green flag of a character we got to see this year. He was always looking out for Yi Joo even when she didn't really notice his actions and was drowning in grief. His support through it all made her pull through all the horrible things she went through.

Yi Joo's adopted mother was in a class herself. In the beginning, she was psychopath who decided to toy with her adopted daughter's feelings and later took her life. That was enough, they didn't need to make Yi Joo biological daughter of Jeon Noh Min (adopted father), it was too cliche. That guy got an redemption arc, he purposefully neglected the abuse Yi Joo was put through all these years and then had the guts to deny that Yi Joo was his daughter even when she brought him the proof. The point is he stood by, the bystanders of the abuse make it harder for the victim to trust anyone, a point they failed to focus on.

Yoo Se Hyeok, the ex husband was garbage, like Yi Joo rightfully said. His wife was lying in the hospital bed about to die and he couldn't muster up an ounce of feeling. At the time, all he cared about was his crush on a women who had zero morals. His character was honestly very disgusting . Him begging Yi Joo to forgive him on knees was not even that deep because it lacked sincerity and someone who only apologizes because they are in deep shit.

Saying that, all of these actors did a great job in portraying the characters. I had expected a bit more from Do Guk's grandma ad sister since the cousin made them out to be such difficult characters but his mother made up for that personality. I'm just glad that Yi Joo got her happy ending, she deserved it.

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What a hot mess!

It sucked.

The central love story:
The ML is an idiot and has zero reasoning skills. He decides to believe his gf time and again and just ghosts the FL and then pop's back up in her life without any explanations.
The FL gives in too easily and deserved a lot better. Her character proved how blind love can be, she kept loving despite the push and pull and didn't even stop to think that this was far too toxic for her.
They ending was confusing, claiming that they ended up together. Why? She deserved better and ML was honestly too in love with himself to ever trust anyone and went out of his way to prove that he didn't need her in his life.

When they packed up their bags and departed to home, I knew something messed up was coming.

Other characters:
My heart went out to Jiang Bai Li, FL's best friend. She just couldn't give up on a guy who was so toxic that he hit on FL the first time they met and Bai Li was right there. She deserved so much better.
Zhang Ming Rui, friend to both ML & FL was the only sane person in this entire show. I wished he would have ended up with Bail Li.

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