KimchiByTheSea

I would recommend giving it a go. I ended up getting sucked in by it and I had avoided xianxia dramas for the eights years I'd been watching dramas. Now they're one of the types of dramas I seek out xD

Saaamme. They're all okay, but not the best out there. One of my favorites is Chicago Typewriter, which is so good but it didn't get much hype to it. If you like fantasy, you might enjoy Gu Family Book and Goblin.

Yass, you're the best! It would be the ultimate mike drop, lol. Just dropping an informative link and going back to business as usual ^^

I agree, that's why I tend to avoid reading reviews, especially on super hyped shows. I've watched some dramas that other people tore apart, but I enjoyed the and vice versa. I did the same thing with CLOY, where I avoiding it for a long time just because I didn't think it was my thing. A lot of people loved that drama, and I was sorely disappointed in it tbh. I only got into it in the second half, and was left severely underwhelmed. Hype can definitely be detrimental for sure.

Since you don't have anything on your watch list, I'm not sure what kind of dramas you enjoy, but CQL is really quite good. I would recommend it if you like xianxia, stories with a deep plot-line, and a mystery/slow reveal. When I starting watching it, I almost dropped it, but ended up sticking to it because I saw the users on this page encouraged a lot of other people to stick with it. I'm super glad I did. If you're not feeling gung-ho about it right now, there's no harm in waiting until you feel pumped to watch it but I do recommend giving it a chance at some point.

Thank you for being understanding! I also didn't know about the downvotes on reviews as I tend to float around MDL, and check in for new content every so often. Plus, I rarely read reviews, especially on dramas I've already finished.

It's not so much the production, as I know the CGI is subpar at best and it is obvious that the budget went in to some things, but not others. There are often complaints about it on here, which I have noticed. I overlooked those things for the beautiful costumes, and the Lotus Pier and Guzu were particularly beautiful sets. I was too drawn in to the storyline most the time to notice some of the other things viewers felt took away from the experience. Some where definitely overlooked, but others I felt made up for it. The acting was also really good in my opinion and I consequently found myself crying my heart out or grinning for the majority of this drama.

I also found more substance in certain scenes and meanings, and I appreciate the work that went in to many of these things. Especially after reading the book (it's not needed to enjoy the drama), which is the origin work, I appreciated how much thought went in to the storyline. Many works fall short of the book, but this definitely elevated it in my opinion.

It's more that there's intersecting storylines which confuses many watchers, and I felt the same thing going in to it. It starts in the present, goes to the backstory, and brings it all back again. If you don't feel super warm towards it, but still want to give it a go, you could always wait until you feel better about it. CQL isn't going anywhere :)

I made it more than halfway through this drama before losing the will to continue with it after accidently learning of the suffering ahead. Thank you for the article though! This makes me want to pick it back up again. :)

I did the same exact thing going through the list xD They're all so good and important to the different stages of their relationship. I really love the rain scene, the end scene where WWX smiles, and the sticking to the single log bridge scene. Those are probably my top favorites, but I feel like it changes as they're all so good. I was a little surprised the ending scene wasn't in the ranking as well tbh.

My rating of this drama was made lower by how toxic they're relationship was as well, however it is definitely a growth journey. My ending take on it was that Gang Tae helped her mental growth along by caring for her, giving her the realization that she couldn't have everything she wanted by throwing a tantrum, and also making her realize she had to work for something to make it worth it. Vice versa, I think she helped him by making him go against his principles. If you've gotten to the end by now, I think is shows it better, but Gang Tae has lived in a box of his own making his whole life. Only by pushing him so far did she invoke in him the ability to make a decision for himself rather than someone else. To really feel what he wanted to feel, and be himself. That in itself is a big step for some people. I totally agree with the toxic part, but watching the growth of all the characters really made the annoyance worth it in my opinion. :)

I also loved Gang Tae's and Sang Tae's relationship and their character development from start to finish. Their story was so good!

If you're looking fore straight up creepy, I would suggest Strangers From Hell as well. I would also emphasize ponnu's suggestions of Chicago Typewriter as it is very good and narrates differently. Circle has a parallel story/narration. However, I don't think I've seen anything quite like the narration and animations in this drama tbh.

My apologies for assuming as this page gets many people creating new accounts to spam bad things. For all the love we have, there is a lot of hate targeted here. That's why so many people react negatively to such posts, especially from those who have not watched it. If you had come on this page and asked actual questions and asked for the opinions of people who had already watched CQL, it would be different than posting things attacking people/the show right off. Both posts I saw from you were negative, and so that leaves a bad impression.

If you want to know why so many people watch this and stay, there are a lot of things to love about it. The storyline is quite complex once you look for and start connecting the dots, and the relationships between the characters is very deep, sweet, and can be heart wrenching. The sets and costumes were beautiful (in my opinion) and you can tell a lot of effort went in to the production.

I personally am a BL fan, but almost skipped over this one because it had a "censored romance" tag. I ended up seeing the recommendations for it and gave it a shot. I probably didn't get hooked until ep 18/20 tbh. After that though I remained hooked, and stayed for the plotline and chemistry between all the actors. I had never watched a xianxia drama before this, but now I watch them quite often thanks to CQL xD.

There is actually very little talk of MDL ratings on this page, but the rating fluctuation ha everyone in a tizzy. Fans/ the CQL family just want everyone to enjoy and experience why we love this drama so much. If you ask other questions and inquire opinions seriously, you will get positive responses. Negative will always like to negative. :)

From what I gathered about the LW/JS situation (this is just my personal take-away) is that JS was in love with her and she led him on to get closer to QS. I'm pretty sure he fakes being nice to her again (I seem to remember him making a mildly sarcastic face in the restaurant when she was talking to him) so he can get he can see if she's trying to use him again/get his revenge on her later. I also don't think QS and LW were ever close, but she pursued him relentlessly causing him to be cold to her. QS referred to her mind games at one point, which furthered my theory that he knew about her using JS and the people around him to get closer to him. That's just the impression I was left with though! I do wish we had gotten more backstory on those three, but I think they tried to keep it pretty fluffy.

I think someone posted a link below, but it looks like the newest MDL update is devoted to the rating algorithm so a lot of drama ratings are fluctuating I guess.

This drama is very dear to a lot of people. Also, it looks like you haven't watched it, so why are you judging other people on what they like and how they react when you're posting on a page for something you haven't checked out?

It doesn't do a work justice if you judge it before you finish it, whether good or bad. That being said, everybody had different tastes, and a lot of people who rated it so highly finished it :)

It lasts for the majority of the drama tbh. It's not too terribly bad, but it definitely gets annoying at times. However, the love story is super cute and makes up for it.

As someone who has gone through the coming out journey, I loved the ending message that they put in the last episode. I have so much appreciation for this series and everything that it set out to convey. Hopefully this is beginning to a whole new story. ^^

It's not very scary at all. There are a few times the ML zombies out, but they make the zombie elements more comical than anything else. There are a couple more graphic scenes near the end, but they're not necessarily scary. More bloody. Hope this helps! :)

No. It has light undertones, but there really isn't much romance at all.

Yeah, I'm a little worried about the ending since I'm weak with those too, but the show itself is SO good.

I totally wish there was more Bi-rep in the BL community! Every time I think there is some, they change it to suddenly gay (not that there's a problem with that obvs). While I love a good and cheesy BL drama as much as the next person, the Thai BL scene has it's own issues and rarely represents the community very well. I don't go in expecting too much. If you're looking for something more LGBTQ realistic and you haven't seen it already, I would highly suggest Like In The Movies! It's a great script, the story is pretty good, and the acting is on point. They also tackle a lot of real issues as well. :)

I really don't like her either. She's everything an ally should not be. This show tackles a lot of real problems in the LGBTQ+ community though, and I honestly took her as plot device, lol. She embodies the people that believe that they're an ally and all for the community, but then pressure and push to come out and "just be yourself" when someone isn't ready. I wanted to fight her whenever she was on the screen. Considering Vlad was going to call the whole thing off, I don't blame him too much, but shame on everyone else not minding their own dayum business. Karl's freak-out was totally understandable. It's a rough journey and never easy to share with the world all at once. His character is so relatable, I honestly started tearing up when he ran away.