Amy

Xing Zhao Lin ghosted on his ex girlfriend while he was filming this drama. They were getting along really fine, he often asked her to visit him on set, go to the hotel with him and stuff like that, and they kept contact while he was filming, but suddenly one day he deleted/blocked her in the chat app they were using and she could no longer contact him afterwards. He had dumped her the moment he rose to fame from this drama. It's kind of hard for me to accept the fact that while he's been saying all those words of love on set, at the same time he had cut off his gf literally behind the scenes.

Her gf was heartbroken so she posted a long text on Weibo explaining how sad she was not being able to see him again and took screencaps of their chat history. Then his other ex (from a different time) saw her post and the two exes started arguing with each other. The other ex said she was inconsiderate for posting his history out and ruining his reputation, while some netizens sympathized with her and supported her.

You can't find it on english sites because the scandal is in Chinese. It happened around the time this drama aired. I'll put it in the spoilers for those who want to know the details.

I just found out about the dark history of the actor who plays Mo Lian Cheng and it ruined the drama for me. I used to love this drama because of the epic love from the 8th prince but I'm sad to find out that the actor is complete opposite from the character. I can never look at 8th prince the same way anymore :(

Glad I wasn't the only one who didn't like the OSTs (except part. 1 and part. 2). First time I couldn't hum the melodies of the songs even after finishing a drama.

I also liked The Korean Odyssey's cast interactions more.

I feel the same about the ghost stories. The ones in The Master's Sun actually made me tear up, and I actually cared about the ghosts. In this one however, the ghost stories are just plot devices to facilitate the main plot, but ironically the main plot still didn't receive enough screentime. There was a really poor balance between the main and side stories and both sides ended up being lukewarm. Plus the ending was too predictable from the start, so it didn't give me the subsequent emotions.

I was actually a big fan of the Hong Sisters, but I found this to be nowhere near their past dramas. People are comparing this to The Master's Sun since they are the same genre, but I didn't think it was anywhere close to The Master's Sun. In fact, this bored me even more than Big, which was my least favorite Hong Sisters' drama.

Yeah it appears that k-drama isn't doing that well both internationally and domestically in recent years. Hopefully there will be some good dramas before the end of 2019 to spice things up and regain our interest. *silently praying for Vagabond, Melting Me Softly and The Eternal Monarch to be good*

Depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a sophisticated story, good character development and groundbreaking romance, you're not going to find it here. But if you're looking for something light and cute to watch, with a lot of fluttery moments and skinship, whilst willing to disregard ridiculous character actions such as the FL being a complete pushover and can never say no to harassment or protect herself properly, then you could try and watch it. This drama was a guilty pleasure for me. I had to not take it seriously to really enjoy it.

Exactly! That's why my conclusion is that it has something to do with current dramas being different, or in some sense, not on par with the shows we loved in the past. It might be that newer k-dramas are experimenting with new ways of storytelling that we aren't used to and may find weird, or not using old tropes in a good way to make them feel fresh. There's a limit to the amount of new ideas that can build rapport with the audience, and classic dramas have set the bars too high for their descendants. Meanwhile, C-dramas are relatively new in the scene so there's a certain novelty to them. All in all, you are definitely not alone and there are many MDLers who are experiencing the same thing as seen from the comments, regardless of the year they started watching k-dramas. It seems to be a large-scale epidemic more than an individual slump issue.

Oh, great! Thought you haven't watched them cuz they weren't in your list.

I feel like the k-drama industry has passed its prime since 2017. It was good between 2009-2016, with 2016 being the best year (with the highest number of popular dramas - Goblin, DOTS, W, WLFKBJ, Scarlet Heart Ryeo, LoTBS, Love in the Moonlight, etc.). That being said, I still didn't think these dramas were as good as the even older ones, but I regard 2016 as the best year in general. K-dramas then started going downhill afterwards, with occasional decent ones from time to time but still incomparable to pre-2017.

Yeah, sth like that! Old series certainly have their charms don't they? Else they wouldn't be called the classics, everything afterwards is just trying to extend the legacy and try to mimic their success by reusing the tropes over and over. But then it's getting increasingly difficult to use the tropes in a way that makes it fresh to the audience.

Btw, if you're looking for C-dramas that are romantic and have good couples that you can ship, I highly recommend Ashes of Love, and The Eternal Love 1 & 2. I see you haven't watched them yet, according to your list.

Omg I think I just found a soulmate!!!! I relate to this on a personal level. It takes forever for me to finish a k-drama now, the new dramas just doesn't interest me as much as the old ones do (not even Angel's Last Mission: Love, My Mister, DOTS or Hotel del Luna). I started watching k-dramas since 2010 and Secret Garden was my all time favorite and I watched it like 8 times. I also loved Queen In Hyun's Man, Rooftop Prince, You're Beautiful, City Hunter, My GF is a Gumiho etc. I can rewatch those dramas as much as I want without ever feeling bored. But current dramas, I can't even get past the first watch-through. Meanwhile, I can watch 50+ episodes of C-dramas (just like your case). I don't know why, but whatever it is it doesn't seem like a burnout to me, cuz I can still enjoy old dramas as much as before. Maybe it has something to do with the storytelling change of current dramas. There's just something different about them that I can't pinpoint. Maybe I'm just getting old and have a nostalgic liking for the classics. Anything newer that resembles the style of classic dramas, I'd like. Healer, Goblin, are comparatively newer ones that I enjoyed because they took on traditional storytelling. Everything else that falls into the "new style" feels lackluster to me, especially the dramas from this and last year. C-dramas on the other hand, are a bit behind in their era of idol drama development, their dramas actually resemble K-dramas from 8-10 years ago, which is why I enjoy them. Maybe that's what OP you're experiencing too?

Basically all of the original cast is there (except for some minor characters)

I personally found it super boring and lackluster and I watched up till ep.11, but everyone has different preferences so you won't know if you'll like it until you actually try. Sometimes ratings and reviews don't matter because you might think differently from other people.

Can I still apply without 3 years of experience?

I'm so mad that there wasn't any mentioning of the whereabouts of S1 XT. This plot hole is preventing me from fully enjoying this show. S2 XT is from an alternate universe so she isn't even S1 XT. It just bothers me that instead of trying to find S1 XT, S1 MLC decides to go and pursue S2 XT who should have belonged to S2 MLC. And then in the end, both MLCs are combined into one, while S2 XT regains S1 XT's memories, but that still doesn't mean she is S1 XT??? I'm so confused. How is it even an eternal love if S1 MLC abandons his original consort for the other? I'm sure S1 XT is all alone somewhere in another parallel universe living without her loved one, and that's so sad. Also, the original child they had will become an orphan in the original universe. I really hope they can explain all this in S3.

From what I understood, my explanation is that since MLC and XT are reincarnations of deities, no matter which parallel universe they're in, they're still the same soul, since deities shouldn't be bound by the principles of time-space. So when they get back to the heaven realm, all the alternate souls will somehow reunite and become one again. S2 XT and S1 XT become the same person again once she turns back into Qu Xiang Tan.

I feel you. I'm still struggling to finish the last 4 episodes. It's just too boring :(

This sums up my love-hate relationship with this drama:

First 2 episodes - 9/10 - off with a good start!
Next 11 episodes - 6/10 - this is SO boriiiing how can I even finish this??
Last 4 episodes - 10/10 - suspenseful, beautiful, absolutely epic... the best drama of all time!!!