geechoo

there's no specific stat lol but last year, in the year-end round up, his character was the only non-lead character that showed up on a lot of platform's popularity ranking. his own popularity shot up because of this role too.

I remember this drama only finished filming in March right? 9 months of post-production is incredibly fast for xian xia which requires a lot of cgi. I just hope the drama is ready to air and they aren't rushing it for year-end financial reasons.

maybe his character in MJTY lol because that's the one I see people being annoyed with. his character in LBFAD is one of the most popular cdrama SML in recent times.

you were annoyed with ChangHeng?? no way. that's still my favorite ZLH character so far. ChangHeng is so perfect and heartbreaking

LBFAD is just a better drama overall imo and the leads have a lot more chemistry. Part of the reason I can't get into TTEOTM is because I can't see the chemistry between the leads. They look like sisters more than anything u_u

there was no filter lol you could see the powder on the actress' face. with better cinematography, this could've been a classic because it's rare for cdramas to have this kind of dark story.

so when will this finish filming? it started in early October so if it follows the average 120 days/4 months of filming schedule, it should finish early Feb? I don't even know when this will air because I took a look at the director's filmography and he has so many dramas in post-production with no air date.

should be 2024 Q2 so between April to June

this director looks a lot more reliable than Zhu Rui Bin so I hope this drama will at least capture ZLH's visuals better lol

you should watch Love Between Fairy and Devil lol ZLH plays a very nice and gentle character in that drama.

seriously. imo ADoS has a weak script but the visuals are soo gorgeous that I still rewatch some of the episodes often. Zhu Rui Bin and Guo Hu are the two directors that have the most "straight men aesthetics" in cdramas lol

"I will give him credits for being able to direct ZLH in his scenes though. He taught him well how to bring the scenes to life."

idk about that lol I feel like he is largely responsible for some of the criticism ZLH received. I watched the BTS and he kept telling Linghe to overact more lol

I know this drama achieved good results but I kind of wish it had a higher budget and a director with a better eye for visuals. Most of the time, I find political subplots in romance dramas a chore to get through, but this wasn't the case here. The plot is very fast paced and characters all have depth.

however, when I'm watching some of the bigger set pieces, I can't help but wish this had more budget lol like when they held the wedding banquet, there were only 3 tables of guests lol or when there's parades, there's barely any guards lol the lack of budget is really apparent in these scenarios.

also the director.. jeez. he is what I'd call having a "straight man's aesthetics". His use of lens flair is annoying, but the copious amounts of ugly angles he puts the actors under is ridiculous. this is a romance drama! lol at the end of the day, we wanna see pretty people filmed with pretty cinematography. I can't help but think of dramas like A Dream of Splendor which was filmed by a female director and how gorgeous it was, and think of all the missed opportunities with this drama. sigh

there's probably more discussion around TTEOTM because the leads are established stars whereas when LBFAD came out, the leads were nobodies. But in mainland china, LBFAD had much better critical reviews. TTEOTM had high streams but negative reactions was more than positive ones.

ahh the special episode is so cute! they should've put it in the drama!

omgg thank you!!

yes.

GMP has a sad ending, yes, and imo it's the only acceptable kind of ending because ML is AWFUL to FL lol but he's very well acted

I just watched a compilation of Xiewei walking (lol yes) and I just realized how much I like his clothes and that ribbon on his head. I guess it helps that ZLH is over 190cm so he makes everything look like runway fashion lol

if you want something more romance based, Love Like the Galaxy with Leo Wu has a similar type of morally grey character seeking revenge. Goodbye My Princess ML is also kind of deranged

I understand chinese so I forgot about the subs issue