godscow

i started with modern rom coms (cuz thats where i reached with kdramas) - and eventually went into historical/wuxia/xanxia - and its VERY hard to switch..but once i ran out of things im willing to watch, i started mixing them lol
xu kai is awesome. i actually loved his performance in royal feast. not the best show out there (not fulfilling enough in its context) - but he did a great job portraying someone stoic and royal - i was surprised given his age.
LY7T is available on iqiyi as well. it tencent and youku (aside from viki) are worth the subs. moreso than netflix tbh. anything on netflix i honestly stream on those free sites (i have netflix i just cant stand it lol). i got mango as well but man sometimes their subtitles are painful so i just watch on alternatives (free or other subscription apps)

oh do watch LBFaD. - fair warning with short ending as they do in these shows - ull see its the major complaint in the comments. otherwise awesome show. there is a lulled/boring area in the middle somewhere - but i powered through and honestly still didnt feel anything negative. worth the watch.
moonlight - was where i fell in love with esther (and ryan frankly). i had just gotten into cdramas after kdramas and i found the whole cutesy aesthetic i saw in their shows so weird, but when i saw esther in this it just clicked in me " this is who should play all those roles i dont get - cuz she makes me get it" 🤣🤣. i dont remember if moonlight has any annoying tropes but i remember loving it a ton

i love esther in anything. she has a unique cute thing and she masters at it without anyome assuming shes a child. she owns it. i feel no other actress does tbh hence why the rest of them just look stupid in my opinion
this show (moga) does get a tad better in terms of fl/ml interactions once theyre together but i feel it utterly failed overall. i loved ryan and i feel they failed him here in both writing and characterization melt down.

heres some off the top of my head. theres just so many off balanced ML/FL shows that my mind goes kinda blank.
-i think wifty was balanced.
-that wang yu owym romance with his high jumping was apt in terms of his behaviour (given his age),
-that other owym - my something boy was good i think - he wasnt reduced to less than he was.
-angels fall - but more serious show - no place for simping.
-legend of shen li.
-ming lan (although i feel it did go a bit simpish at one point when he couldn't get her to be on the same spot as him in terms of feelings).
-sword and brocade.
-im hearing good things about the recent one with deng wei and julia (something about a divine tree).
-my sunshine or you are my sunshine (the one where shes a designer and hes a ceo of a fashion group) (but that actor in general never crosses the too simpy line i noticed - i guess cuz he is older and has this suaveness (and massive ego lol) to his persona)
-boss and me(same actor as above - i dont remember too clearly but i dont think he simps. he fucks up and has to chase back but he did fuck up massively)
-forever and ever - i personally loved this relationship - they were adorable and never gave each other any headaches.
-a dream of splendor. has plenty of other issues but their relationship was nice to watch
- are you the one. he did fuck up. but they never change him to a moron. he remains who he is (a prince who puts his responsibility first) even when chasing
- love the way you are. he wasnt reduced to anything less than he was even when trying to get her
- road home - loved this one
- my glory (i dont remember him simping - maybe im wrong) - but they certainly never reduced him to less than what he was - a die hard scientist with his pursuit of space above all
- why women love. he remained confident and didnt turn into a pool of simpage even when unsure
- the love equations (he fucked up so has to chase but no dumbassery i think)
- hi venus
- day of becoming you
- time flies and you are here (plenty of issues but characters stay true to how they were written and never become something else)
there are probably a lot more but this is off the top of my head and a peek at my viki watchlist. there may be some simping in some of them (its not cdrama if they dont simp here and there i guess) - i might have forgotten but im guessing not much cuz id have remembered it as it irritates the hell out of me. thats not to say they dont have all together other issues 🤣🤣. cdramas are plagued with many a faults

she did it adorably and it was apt for her character. plus woman knows how to play the cute angle with her voice etc without coming off retarded. i love esther. the rest of them do it for some mythical reason beyond me and look like idiots most of the time; ie in this show

also Jeremy is the visual split copy of edward scissorhands. even his mannerisms and way of acting is so johnny deppish. i love it

such a hidden gem. definition of. didnt understand the ratings until we got to the post-taifu part. they didnt stick that landing
i wished they spent the post memory recovery episodes on the couples build up and how they find their way back only instead of randomly jumping scenes and adding that stupid dad/daughter plot. it was utterly annoying and useless. also the two complimentary episodes of the ancient plot was useless - shoulda been used to further flesh out our couples new relationship or build up to it.
overall - cool story, very touching love and definitely conflicting in its essence. i loved all the characters - no snobby annoying overreacting idiots here. ML was what he was - hence i dont find him annoying either.
coulda been a top show if they didnt mess up eps 21-28 (it wasnt bad or ridiculous - they fucked up on focus, editing and failed to blend their new interactions/relationships how they did in the first portion of the show. also the characters personalities kinda changed and the script gave them ridiculous reasonings sometimes which wasnt in line with their initial behavior). definitely recommend for a one time watch. just lower your emotional impact expectations for the post-taifu portion

the FLs business arrogance here is so cringey its unwatchable - its literally not even cartoonish how pathetic they wrote it 🤦🏻‍♀️. why write adults in an adult world if youre gonna lower them all to children pretend playing business in a playpen ffs. literally beyond cringey..
They shoulda stuck to the romance and just vagued their way through the business and the ratings woulda been higher. also she shoulda at least admitted what she did was literally criminal....instead of being pompous about it 🤦🏻‍♀️. of course show made her innocent and him apologetic/chasing her later.
the romance idea was fun in the beginning, MLs chemistry with FL was really good - FL seemed uncomfortable and her expressions were too childish. side characters were all mute worthy
another wasted potential cuz the writer seems to be an idiot teenager whos mental level is stuck somewhere in preteens. shame for the ML cuz he can carry good manly roles, with a unique sex appeal to them, but gets stuck in kindergarten level productions with moronic FLs.
woth watching for time pass - cuz the romance idea is cool or if you crave a typical cliche ceo romcom. i recommend ffwd literally everything else

Very meh show. too many utterly boring empty characters. the build up between the leads had literally at 0 chemistry and a few meaningless interactions - and because of that, even though they were a sweet couple later - you couldnt really enjoy or care much for it. no build up, no connection.
They spent waaay too much time on a very stupid identity misunderstanding and 2ML. Worlds most bland 2ML there is. FL wasnt problematic, but she was dull and unlikeable. her "trauma" was not very believable and felt very forced the entire show.

Theres no heavy conflict - and essentially its a peaceful watch - but i got no peace - instead i was bored senseless by the utter lack of connection or interesting story line. the characters were all so bland. the story was bland. there was no story actually. noone really did anything...like at all. and when they did - it was random, not really interesting and without any meaning to the show (ie saving their club at which they do nothing btw....what are you saving??? a sofa lounge?

ah apologies. i thought you meant censorship was against the original ending and therefore they copped out with the ending we got instead

why would censorship not allow them to keep the novels ending? from what i read here in the comments (and yours) - the novels ending seemed normal (ie nothing to censor) - whereas the actual shows ending seemed like something to censor instead, no?

meh the comments made it sound better than it turned out. very tepid and empty show

no clue. im still powering through the beginning. she irked me enough in the first 4 eps to not like the overall set up - ie except plot armor and forced pity parties - whats likeable about her?

its so hard to watch because of this in the beginning. really turns you away from her and makes everything feel so forced in terms of audience perception of her. no clue why people are comparing this to wifty

yea its not a new trend. see dream of splendor. it was definitely worth a watch but the arrogance of the FL literally relying on MLs money non stop was annoying - she was blindly demanding it basically. meanwhile arrogantly ruining 2MLs life over some spoken words 🤦🏻‍♀️.
that said - this show was 1000 times worse than dream of splendor in terms of overall result. there is a show where i didnt mind it much - flourished peony. the FL admitted she relied on him for most of her wealth - i appreciated the awareness for a change and it made for a good watch because of this awareness.
i agree on the MLs being constantly reduced to simping idiots while FLs remain arrogant and annoying till the end - grind my teeth on how many shows get ruined with this idiotic insistence. not sure which bitter writers keep writing everything this way. who hurt them so much that they seethe at writing decent characters

although i agree this drama abuses misunderstandings to the max, i have to defend it as one of the first dramas where these misunderstandings (although too many happen) really reflect the CPs characters. it shows us these young opposites in their given timeline (ie spoilt prince and a woman who yearns education but also knows the limitations of WHEN shes living). its realistic unlike so many dramas where characters act completely out of TIME context and have misunderstandings for the sake of the plot, these two had misunderstandings because of their young character traits. and thats what i liked about it. their constant fighting and bickering was the result of their characters and placement on the societal ladder and frankly expected of them given everything. so although they dragged the misunderstandings a lot, i appreciated the growth they showed of these characters as a result of these misunderstandings. its actually a very good coming of age love story in a different timeline.

i absolutely hated that the last few epsiodes were so little. if they could have expanded the amount of time spent on that second arc - this could have been so good.it had a lot of valid situations that could have really allowed the show to be elevated . again, most people are complaining cuz we're used to these dramas giving us a lot of fake narratives to.suit todays mentality, but this one didnt. it didnt go too deep into past narratives but it touched them in an honest manner. MC wasnt perfect, but they were true to their timelines. it just didnt dive deeply enough to allow audiences to appreciate it tbh. had this been done by perhaps the ming lan director and in that many episodes (without changing anything but instead giving longer and more immersive experiences of all the situations they went through, i feel this would be a really well rated show). yes there are idiot cliches (ie pushing you away for.you own good nonsense) but it was still done better than most shows if you think about the situation he was in, and his plans and what it could have done to.her (and already did do.to her) it made some sense. why tell her? because he wasnt planning to survive. i loved him battling himself as he fell in love with someone he deemed not good enough in the beginning, and then battling that strong love against the danger it could put her in. and i loved how she knowing her place and options, didnt give off any arrogance about it (a lot of shows like to stick in very arrogant fls when it makes no sense that theyd even live past one week if they behaved that way). our fl knew her limitations and played within them - and throughout all that still managed to fall in love with someone completely out.of her depth and opposite of her ideals. people hated him cuz he was awful - but thats reality back then. people complain she was submissive, but thats also reality back then. within those embedded limitations, its plausible these people could fall in love. might not be understood by modern minds, but this is a historical.

i wont recommend this since it seems to irritate a lot of people, but i do recommend to those who can read between the lines of misunderstandings. also this CP has amazing chemistry on screen. i was surprised just how much the ML could subtly show in his growing up with just facial expressions. the FL was inexperienced in her acting in this. her voice was too strained and annoying, and her reaction acting was over the top. overall it wasnt the biggest budget production but i think the director did everything he possibly could to smooth out the budget lack. i still personally enjoyed the journey of the entire cast. wish someone could redo this story with a bigger budget. id even want the same cast back

this was a very sweet show. i loved how grown up everyone was. all their reactions and behaviors were that of adults. that was refreshing. their (mc)deep friendship was also refreshing. it was a true friendship.
one thing that i feel brought the ratings down - a lot of meandering in this show. this made it all a little boring and disconnected. id expect to be a bit more immersed in the CPs relationship - but because the show kinda ebbed and swayed, it didnt allow the viewers to connect to their relationship as strongly as it could have (cdramas are famous for those connections - here i feel they missed by a few inches). also the extra senior story was very unnecessary. they could have used those episodes to showcase the couples to connect us to them some more instead

definitely recommend but abuse of the ffwd button will definitely be a big choice for many

i really liked this but it also felt weird at the same time. it felt like this was some hollywood promo tape for the FL 🤔. it was all very pretty, the ML was so awesomely charming, the sets/scenes were all done well, the stories were interesting and intense enough - but somehow it still felt like FL was catwalking the whole thing. everything was just about her her her, not in a natural way when shows are about 1 main hero, and everyone else was almost purposely muted to allow her to shine even more. like making it about her wasnt even written properly. many situations just theoretically shouldnt have been with just her/involved her. like one big promo for her...i dunno. weird. ML is such an awesome actor - i wish hed be in more of our fast food like dramas tbh (i know hes more of a serious actor so he wont grace our screens with the romantic mumbo jumbo we all love to watch but a girl can wish 😁).

another question - why do all cdrama women think "cute" equates to chewing like a chipmunk with your front teeth? are they all missing their full set of teeth?? do fls go through some side-teeth castration initiation?

Oh another one of those dramas where the FL proclaims "i dont need to rely on a man. im strong. i can do everything myself" and then proceeds to rely on the man for literally EVERYTHING. she said it twice and not ONCE was it true. lol shed be dead and jobless had she relied on herself. her strength is then shown in - brashness, pouting, self righteous retardation to the extreme and other annoying traits,. outside of this - shes dull. sometimes shes more caring than the average annoying FL, and the actresses facial acting does redeem her here and there. she plays nicely visually against a very expressive Ryan (although in this show i saw a bit too much overacting from him, which was surprising). i had no problems at all at how she threw herself into solving cases. that was the essence of her character. it was a very strong drive of a very young girl obsessed with justice and crime solving. alas, plot armour on this was diamond level hard cased.

Meanwhile ML is reduced to a pile of simping goo to suit FL cuz shes too perfect to change. why give us a dark grey kinda start and then disassemble him into such an irrelevant sap. awesome. dont think ive ever seen that before 🤦🏻‍♀️.

The whodunit cases are scooby doo level hence theres no story to watch for really if the characters are made like monkeys and their interactions just dont gel. the powerful ML pited against these pompous teenager like characters who suffer self righteous indignation just feels off. the ML started off serious but then pandered to these cheap romcom characters (the villain was so cartoonish) - it all fell flat and felt off. their romance was also very...boring. frankly the ML/FL actors saved it with their abilities - without them it would be skippable all together.
MM didnt have some amazing story, but it was gobbled up happily by the majority because the characters there were normal and their interactions enjoyable - not taking away from the stories in between.

i still watched it to the end because the sets and premise did have its entertainment value - overall it wasnt sloppy or not worth it for the most part - and i do like the leads. but id never watch this twice only because the FL scripting and her sidekicks just ruined this massively, as did the weird persistent nausea inducing slowmo, and in the last 10 episodes everyone suddenly became very stupid and the scenarios even more stupid. the whole show started pandering to idiots with zero comprehension skills it seems - i couldnt tell whether this should be taken as a serious production or another one of those cheap filler dramas with unknown actors you use to pass time when youve run out of dramas to watch and are scraping the barrel

i do wish ryan gets better shows - hes very charismatic on screen - just keeps being shoved into these mediocre shows. and i hope the fls career can take off as shes very interesting and capable. she can definitely light up the screen given the right script