Beatrice

The positive part of the show is the two main characters Hai Yuan and Xi Cha. Hai Yuan is smart and has a strong boundaries though has some anger issues while Xi Cha is very friendly and cheery with everyone. Their entangled fates spans lifetimes, but their current selves get along in their unique way. They have good chemistry and it's really good how grounded and quick on the uptick Hai Yuan is to Xi Cha's supernatural situation. It's also nice that Hai Yuan's bar gig bosses are the most lovey dovey lesbians as a elder queer mentors for Hai Yuan and also Xi Cha. It's unfortunate the episodes are so short that there is no time to further elaborate on Hai Yuan's former lifetime's relationship with Xi Cha as the young master that we do see a glimpse of and as Xi Cha's wife who was never shown, and to also reconnect with Xi Cha's mom at any point later in the story. It's weird she's not around for her son's university graduation. Xi Cha getting to live a second life time and having to head straight into sophomore year of college and needing to do different extracurriculars and contests was a idea for him to experience new things that could have been used more. The dorm RA who told fortunes for a little bit and enjoys though has no talent in calligraphy had a weird side plot of being at the school for some kind of mission that was never explained though he was a fun character that Xi Cha got to interact with outside of Hai Yuan's roommate that is also Hai Yuan's distant cousin.

It would had been great if the show was confident in the already very interesting reincarnation and soul swap premise and characters and not resort to rape, especially as an introduction to the very important character of Xia Zefang who may or may not be trans because Zefang could have just been desperate to do anything to get with Hai Yuan, which makes it even worse that the only trans adjacent character is also the one portrayed as an obsessive creep. The episode runtimes are so short, instead of the attempted rape, the time should have been spent on Zefang's regular personality before death so there is some clear delineation between Zefang and Xia Cha who takes over Zefang's body aside from the fact that the grandpa is not a rapist unlike the grand kid. Hai Yuan and Xia Cha never talk about Zefang's terrifying behavior although only at the very end Xia Cha does recognize that he spoiled Zefang when he should have been teaching him right from wrong. Xia Cha in his original body also spoke with a very distinctive Mandarin and Cantonese speech that should have continued for a little bit more than the one Cantonese phrase he spoke at the hair salon before completely speaking in only Mandarin when he has to live as his own grandkid at University. The setting is also confusing, it's alluded to be Hong Kong because Hai Yuan's mom said Xia Cha helped her out when she first moved to Hong Kong, but aside from her and Xia Cha, but everyone speaks Mandarin and it looks like Taiwan. As soon as Xia Cha gets to university, it's yet another attempted rape scene and there will be another one later in the series by the same person who is both Zefang's now ex-boyfriend and Hai Yuan's half brother Ri Qing who also makes a creepy incest joke at the end that's more a commentary on Taiwanese drama's obsession with awful assault scenes than funny. There is no real consequence for Ri Qing's assault. Xia Cha moves out of their shared dorm, but the assault is never mentioned as an issue ever again. I hope Taiwainese dramas will stop trivializing sexual assault.