Overrated drama with wasted potential; second half drags, messy ending, and an overhyped actress.
What I liked –1. Honestly, I watched this drama only for Ding Yuxi, but I was surprised by the second FL’s (Zhu Shu Dan) acting. Both of them were absolute saviours, along with the kid who played the role of the bamboo shoot.
2. The OST was amazing, especially the song “Stare Intently” — it perfectly matched the scenes whenever it played. Also, “Surge” by Yu Shuxin was pretty good.
3. The costumes were great, unlike most other Chinese dramas which tend to be dull or repetitive.
4. The CGI was impressive.
Disliked –
1. The second half of the story didn’t make much sense. Somewhere around the 20th or 23rd episode, it started feeling dragged and boring. I watched it at 1.5x speed — honestly, wish Netflix had a 2x option. I kept waiting for a real turning point. I BLAME the WRITERS for not doing justice to the actors, the plot, or even the drama’s name.
2. Yu Shuxin’s acting was the worst part. It started off fine, but she didn’t need to act cute in every scene. I was really hoping to see her in a serious role for once. Her cutesy act in "Love Between Fairy & Devil" was acceptable because her character was gullible at first. But in "Love Game in Eastern Fantasy", it was completely unnecessary — she was an employee first, and a game character later. She was constantly baby-talking. The ML falling for such a weirdly written character was beyond my wits.
3. The lack of romance — there was more chemistry between the second leads, making them feel like the real main couple. Although 2nd ML's expression were flat.
4. Overall, I expected a lot from this drama. It feels overrated. I just hope the reviews on MDL were genuine.
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Unnecessarily lengthy
The series could have been shorter like hidden love, most scenes seemed like a drag. It started well, the romance part was good, however I watched the last few episodes in 1.5X speed on Netflix, too much filler and wait time in between dialogues, male lead being hopelessly romantic and supportive from start. I never understood his craze or love for her, they even showed he liked her from the very instance he saw her and tried to woo her.They never told us why the male lead left his job. She even left him twice and lacked communication skills being a reporter which is even weirder, chose a wrong profession clearly. Is there no restraining order against the offender to help protect the victim, the show didn’t address it. The convict roamed freely and did as he pleased, he even messed with the male leads business, I don’t know why he did it when there was clearly no outcome , he was after compensation as well as causing fear for female lead,
I was highly disappointed with the overall English subtitles seemed a miss for me, didn’t feel right at certain places, I am not a Chinese speaker but I felt the sentences could be framed better, so whoever gave the subtitles needs improvement. The outfits for the ladies were plain boring for first as well as second leads, don’t know what they were trying to achieve, as well as the second lead had weird hairstyles in some scenes.
None of the scenes exactly touched my heart for me to cry, hidden love was far better. I naturally kept comparing the songs, dialogues, acting, the depth of conversations between characters, especially Sang Yan played by Victor Ma, although Bai Jung Ting was good for the role. Zhang Ruonan looks naturally beautiful compared to other Chinese actresses who wear lots of makeup. However both leads could have performed better towards the end. I felt bored sometimes instead of feeling connected.
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Surprisingly a great watch, quite relaxing, feel good drama
There was never a dull moment in this feel-good kind of drama, my only regret is that it ended. I wish there were more siblings to get married or 20 more episodes😂 That's my wishful thinking.The 3rd sibling was shown as quite eloquent and her pair were an exceptional match, while the 5th one was too funny when she beat people around her, wish she had shown more love to her pair, her way of showing love was beating people to pulp. The 4th pair was good when it came to character development, though it could have been better for the 1st and 2nd pairs. The second-pair guy was funny. The romance between the 1st and 2nd pairs was never shown well. The romance between the 1st pair seemed lifeless — it didn’t feel convincing, and the characters felt stiff. It felt like a disappointment because I was really looking forward to it.
Having said that, you will eventually love all the characters for sure, because the minor things I listed don’t take away the charm of this drama.
The wedding clothes were beautiful and pretty, however, the everyday clothes were quite dull for everyone and repetitive. Wished they had more costume.
Cons - the last 2-3 episodes felt rushed, they could have shown some more romance between the 5th sibling and her pair. Also the romance between the sixth pair seemed non-existent, they were suddenly brought together, if she was adopted then why did her mother-in-law not treat her well from the start and show some love, the mother-in-law started looking after the adopted one only after she made a mistake, Anyways they could have shown some more affection towards the adopted girl
Music — non-existent, although background soft music was a good choice in most scenes.
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