Vespertyne29

I think it’s on mydramanovel

I'm so disappointed in this drama. (And yes, I agree with all who say that the novel was much better).

I enjoyed the first half of the drama, but then it just fizzled out, and the storyline of the second ML going psycho over the FL, and all the things he did as a result, was just ridiculous and ruined the drama for me. Not that he was ever anything but a flawed character in the novel, but his actions at the end or the drama were completely out of character.

But then, that's the problem - everyone from the king to 2nd ML to the main couple acted out of character in the last 6 or 7 episodes. I could barely keep watching.

I always know it's a very bad sign when I start fast forwarding through the romantic scenes with the 2 leads, but that's how this ended up for me.

I do really like both of the leads, and I'm sorry to say that I ended up being disappointed in this drama. It's not horrible, but this isn't ever going to be a rewatch for me.

(Speaking of rewatches, while waiting for episodes to drop in this drama I rewatched Blossom for the 3rd time. I love that drama! And now I'm rereading the novel it was based on just because. I think it may be time to rewatch Blossoms in Adversity. Or maybe I'll rewatch Prisoner of Beauty,. I think there have been some really good Cdramas in the last few years).

I started this drama and after two episodes, I'm giving up. I enjoyed the ML - or the demon bad guy who I assume is the ML, with the good childhood friend as the second ML - but the FL is intolerable. I actually am not surprised - BL has one act, and can play one character, and that's it. And unfortunately, I almost always loathe that character.

I'm a bit sorry to drop it already, because the ML is quite interesting, and I enjoyed Coroner’s Diary, but I will look for other dramas with him, and mabye read the novel this drama is based on.

Currently I'm watching Legend of the Female General - enjoyed the novel, and LOVE the drama and both leads. Previously watched Coroner's Diary, Prisoner of Beauty and A Dream Within a Dream and enjoyed them all. But this one is a no go for me. There are certain actors I almost always dislike, and end up dropping their dramas. Unfortunately BL is one of them.

Thanks!

Who on earth could hate this drama and the fun, charming, good looking leads???

It's been a while since I read the novel, so if you're reading it now, can you say whether ML realizes that FL is a woman when they are at the academy together? I know he pays attention to her, leaving notes that instruct her in swordplay, IIRC, but it seems to me that he may have also figured out she was female. I just can't remember, although watching how awesome the drama is has made me think I'll reread it while waiting for new episodes. (I reread my favorite novels - I've read Joy of Life 3 times already!!)

This drama is fantastic!
I read the novel and enjoyed it, but felt that the protagonist was very likable, but a bit lacking as far as a sense of humor, and almost devoid of any feminine charm. Still a very, very good story.
However, the drama has added just the right touch of comedy to this compelling story, and I absolutely adore both the ML and FL.
I've liked the FL for a long time, but the ML is new to me. He's very good looking and doing a great job with the stoic-but-still-showing-expression role.
This is shaping up to be one of my favorite dramas so far this year.

Such a typical "my opinions are facts" response.
Why should I do your research for you? Just read all the comments here if you're too lazy to go look up what was published at the time.
Tiresome.

And yet you’re so uninformed. But thanks gor the entertainment!

You must not have been around when they were in the process of getting the divorce and GHS was acting crazy, posting extremely personal texts (often only part of a conversation, and taken out of context) between her and AHJ, and implying he was having an affair with OYS. It was embarrassing and she sounded psycho. She eventually hired an attorney - or maybe just switched to a new attorney - and eventually listened to the attorney's advice and STFU.

I don't follow personal stories like this, but it was unavoidable, and while she had started out with the Netizens being sympathetic, her craziness completely reversed public opinion. I am not that interested in her or her ex, but I felt sorry for him.

In watching AvenueX's reviews of this drama, I picked up that it is partly inspired by the "drama" (?) around the making (and maybe marketing and reception?) of A Journey to Love.

Maybe I misunderstood that, but if this is accurate, can anyone explain what the "drama" round AJtL was? All I remember is that poor Liu Yue Ning got a lot of criticism for his looks not being good enough for a ML (which is total BS as far as I'm concerned - I find him attractive and quite sexy!), and actually apologized for not being handsome enough on social media, which made me feel sorry for him and also outraged on his behalf. But other than the mean criticism about LYN's looks, I'm unaware of any other scandals or drama surrounding the drama.

Anyone have a comment on this?

You obviously didn't read my comment.
Basically, I don't like drama with people who can't act or don't put any effort into their acting.

Thanks for the comment. I watched the first two episodes last night, and I agree 100% with you! The drama is so much better than the novel, which is one of the worst Chinese novels I've read (and I read A LOT of Chinese novels!) I love Meng ZiYi's character - so much more intelligent, likable, and classy/elegant than the female protagonist in the novel. I am impressed that the screenwriter made such excellent changes in the storyline. HUGE improvement! And it's even more impressive since this appears to be only her/his (?) second drama as screenwriter!

I want to watch this because I really like both leads. But I'm reading the novel and I hate every character, especially the FL.
It's mostly really bad writing, or possibly bad translation, but the translation seems pretty accurate. I just think the FL comes across as vulgar, tacky and dumb, and the way she "figures out" what the ML is doing makes no sense.
So I hope the drama is better.

As a general comment on Chinese novels, the sex scenes leave A LOT to be desired. They are uniformly awful and NOT sexy. The man is always forceful, demanding and only interested in his own pleasure. The woman is reluctant, tense and always in pain. Even after the (mostly mythological) "pain" of the first time, the woman almost always remains reluctant and unwilling, and even when the authors try to write a scene in which the woman feels pleasure, it's always still accompanied by pain and exhaustion. It really makes me wonder if some of these authors have ever actually had ANY sexual experiences, much less enjoyed good sex. The sex scenes are just bad. I'd rather not have any such scenes than read the ones in these novels. This novel was no exception. Bad, unromantic, unsexy sex scenes.

I'm not really into seeing graphic sex scenes in dramas - I like good kisses where the couple falls onto the bed and the camera pulls away, or curtains are drawn. I also don't want to see scenes of quasi-rape of the wife by the husband, Kudos to the screenwriter and director for not giving us those awful scenes in this drama, and showing a lot of passion and chemistry between the leads. With the exception of the initial scene when the ML has been drugged with an aphrodisiac by his mother, and basically is barely able to control himself after he escapes the trap his mother and the woman his mother wants him to marry set up to snare him, the romantic scenes between the leads are sweet, passionate and - most importantly - mutually desired and enjoyed.

The time moved pretty quickly in a very short period of time - she is heavily pregnant in just a few scenes after we see her telling Wei Shao she's pregnant (which was a funny scene - he was so clueless! ha!) So even though it seemed like back to back scenes happened within hours/days, her pregnancy showed it was actually months, not days. Or at least that's how I interpreted it. It's pretty clear the last 2 episodes were "rushed," possibly due to the eternal editing that the strict censorship rules cause. Sometimes it's obvious that scenes are missing, Other times the cut scenes are not as obvious, but we get the "rushed" ending.

Thank you for saying this! It is so easy to put a spoiler tag on a post. And so rude to complain about someone who asks people to respect that. There is a reason 99% of the reviews on MDL do not go into the details of the plot, and if they do, they always note that there are spoilers ahead so people can skip the review if they don't want to be spoiled.
This site makes it very easy to be polite.

From the comments I read on Viki, people just couldn't seem to understand that the ML had to deal with marrying the daughter (and granddaughter) of the men who deliberately went back on their word to his grandfather and father, which directly resulted in their deaths. The last thing he saw was his grandfather, father and brother being brutally killed because of the Qiao family breaking their pledge, and literally the last words his beloved elder brother said to him was for him to promise to get revenge upon the Qiao family.

It is VERY rare in dramas for a character whose family is killed because of another family, and a character who is a descendant of that other family, to end up having a relationship. If they do end up marrying (I can think of several Chinese novels where this happens), the wronged family member always ends up plotting against and often betraying and/or killing the person they are married to. It's always either a veiled hate relationship or a love-hate relationship. But the killing of their family is never ever something that can be forgotten or forgiven. Revenge for one's wrongly executed family is a major and consistent theme in Cdramas.

For that reason alone, this drama was very original and "fresh" in its story. And as the one whose family was betrayed and murdered, and whose brother used his dying words to extract a promise of revenge, the ML really had many years of resentment - and a lot of guilt - to deal with when he started to fall in love with the granddaughter/daughter of those against whom he had sworn to get revenge. That internal struggle - which juggled loyalty, sworn oaths and heartbreaking loss, with respect, admiration and romantic love - made his character fascinating, IMO.

And don't forget that he can really deliver the comedy as well. I laughed a lot at his reactions to figuring out that the FL was leading him just where she wanted him to be! (And their comedic timing was perfect).

WORD!! They took an intelligent, physically strong, loving character from the book and turned him into a stupid henpecked fool. Ruined the character.