Good drama, but had the potential to be much better.
What I liked:I feel like there are very few romance dramas I’ve watched that actually explore the FML’s trauma in great detail, as it’s done here. In Hidden Love and WIFTY, we get a glimpse of the ML’s trauma but the FML’s issues are rarely discussed, if ever at all. It was nice seeing the reverse for the change. As with every ML that Zhu Yi has written, Sang Yan is such a green flag and I really liked how protective and supportive he was of the FML despite how frustrating she was at times. The FML, despite her issues, was a very interesting character and I think the show did a good job of depicting how she didn’t let her childhood trauma affect her ability to become successful in life.
What I disliked:
Given the premise, I expected this story to be darker compared to Hidden Love, with the FML’s trauma serving as a central plot point in moving the narrative forward. While this drama does a good job of illustrating how Yifan’s trauma has shaped her personality and career, it falls short in portraying her character growth, and how she was able to heal and move past her fears despite her past experiences. Throughout the story, we saw some signs of growth, such as her standing up for Sang Yan and going to her mother’s house after her uncle appeared to frame Sang Yan’s restaurant for food poisoning. Also her choosing not to forgive her mother for not taking care of her after her father died. Aside from that though, I feel like it could’ve been executed a lot better. Yifan never opened up to anyone about her issues, which is understandable to an extent given the negative circumstances she was in. Although I was getting increasingly annoyed in the later half of the story when she and Sang Yan were already in a relationship, and not only did she lie to him about what happened but she completely up and left him and her entire life in Nanwu without any warning. I understand that in certain situations, people with PTSD have a tendency to make irrational decisions. But I really wish she had at the very least, told her friends and Sang Yan the reason behind why she left. Their reunion felt extremely underwhelming too. I feel like Sang Yan and Yifan needed to have a more serious conversation about her issues. I was also hoping she’d finally open up to her best friend about her past trauma after they reunited, but that never happened. I feel like this show had more opportunities to delve into her communication issues and family trauma but instead half of its runtime was spent on the 2nd lead couple (which btw, barely contributed anything to the main leads’ story) and grandparent’s relationship, which I did not care for at all. Speaking of which, I thought the 2nd leads’ relationship had a lot of potential in the beginning, but fell short because much of their relationship revolved around Su Hao’an’s grandpa, rather than them actually getting to know each other as people. Another complaint I have about the ML and FML’s romance is the development of their relationship felt a little shallow for my liking. Aside from being conventionally attractive, I’m not entirely sure what it was about the FML that captivated the ML so much. Don’t get me wrong I loved seeing Sang Yan display his unconditional love for Yifan but some of his actions felt a little over exaggerated. For example, him following the FML home without her knowing, flying to Yihe for her graduation, following her around the airport. I also felt like it was obvious that his devotion to the FML was also probably the only reason she even noticed him to begin with. As a result, Sang Yan’s character felt a little bit one dimensional for me and I wish the story could’ve explored his struggles separate from Yifan’s.
Despite the glaring issues I had with this drama, it was still enough of an enjoyable experience for me to recommend watching it. Although if you’re like me, and get frustrated with a lack of communication, slow pacing, and too much screen time spent on the secondary couple, then you might be left somewhat disappointed.
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Cute unproblematic youth drama, but had the potential to be better
I had relatively high expectations for this drama partly because I’ve heard the story is written by the same author as Hidden Love, and also because a lot of people who enjoyed Hidden Loved kept recommending WIFTY. Similar to Hidden Love, there were very little misunderstandings and no conflicts that were dragged on for too long. It did feel a bit slow sometimes as a result, but I liked the characters enough to stay engaged for the most part. There were no 3rd act break-ups, and no toxic relationships, just pure fluff. The last few episodes were my favorite because I felt like things were finally happening, but I wish the vibe had been the same throughout the entire drama.While I still enjoyed watching for the most part, I feel there wasn’t really enough going on with the characters or the story for it to stand out to me. I liked seeing Zhang Lurang reconnect with his brother, and I also liked watching the backstory of Guan Fang and his grandma. However, I felt like the FML’s could’ve been given more depth or at least more scenes of them dealing with their own struggles too. The only time ZaiZai actually struggled was towards the end when she was being harassed by a guy at work. Maybe I’m just being nitpicky but I feel like it could’ve been handled a bit better. Another issue I had was the portrayal of the 2nd FML’s feelings towards the ML. I loved them as a couple, but I found it a little difficult to believe she actually started having feelings towards the ML until the very end. I think the last few episodes were the most interesting for me, yet at the same time it felt rushed and I feel like we were robbed of more scenes of both couples.
Going into this I was expecting more of a coming-of-age story but I feel like I just got a fluffy slice of life friendship that dragged for half the time I was watching. It was good, but just a little overrated. Nonetheless, I don’t regret watching it and I can definitely understand why many people enjoy it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great fantasy romance drama with complex characters and an engaging storyline
I started watching this drama to fill in the void left by Alchemy of Souls, and fortunately, I was not disappointed. When I first started this drama, I was annoyed with how childish the FML was and wasn’t as invested in the story as I wanted to be. I picked up this drama again after putting it on hold for a while, and I was pleasantly surprised with how good it was. The FML’s character growth and the buildup of the main lead’s relationship was done really well. I went from not really liked her character in the first few episodes to loving her halfway through the show. Even the side characters and villains (e.g Changfeng, Black Dragon, Jielei, Xunfeng) were really well developed and had a lot of depth. One thing I did appreciate about this drama that I feel like I haven’t seen much in other romantic dramas is the equal amount of focus on both the FML’s and ML’s character development. I feel like sometimes dramas tend to focus much on only one of the ML/FL storyline to the point where the other character doesn’t get much development, but we don’t see that here. Both Dongfang Qingcang and Xiao Lanhua had very interesting backstories which contributed to their character growth and I think the drama did an excellent job at gradually unveiling them as the story progressed.If I had a few things to criticize this drama for, one would probably be the lack of development of some of the secondary characters in this show. While Orchid’s development was great, I think I would’ve liked if Jieli had more character growth throughout the show. It feels like the writer’s mainly used to her character as a plot device to move the story forward, although it would’ve been nice to see her change as well especially given her friendship with Orchid and relationship with Shang Que. Not necessarily a huge issue though, (I still liked learning about her backstory plus Danyin’s) the story definitely did get more interesting for me when she was introduced. Speaking of the 2nd leads, they had an interesting dynamic but their romance felt a little forced in my opinion. I was rooting for Jieli to become a better person as the story progressed but I ended up feeling like she did not deserve Shang Que, nor did she deserve Orchid’s friendship. It didn’t necessarily take away from my overall enjoyment of the drama but I was beginning to get annoyed with her scenes towards the end. Another issue for me is the last 4 episodes of the drama. Although the ending wasn’t necessarily a bad ending, it just felt mildly underwhelming and rushed. It felt like most of the drama’s runtime for the last few episodes were spent trying to wrap up the side plots in such a short amount of time to the point where DFQC and Xiao Lanhua barely got enough screen time. I also didn’t really like how their personalities suddenly changed after she reincarnated. The back and forth sacrificial trope got annoying after some point, and honestly I probably would’ve preferred the drama had ended at episode 31 instead of this was how they had planned to wrap up the story. Overall though, this was a solid xianxia drama and I would highly recommend this for anyone trying to get into Xianxia since there is not too many episodes and the plot is simple yet engaging enough for newcomers to follow.
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