Finally finished the drama, and I have a lot of thoughts, especially about the last third. I actually liked it enough to pause and wait for the remaining episodes to drop. I stopped around the Han Ba arc. When I resumed, I still genuinely enjoyed it. The story is strong, to the point that it even felt like it was adapted from a novel.
For the acting, TJR is really amazing! A very versatile actor. He can go from serious to scheming to bubbly to emotional scenes effortlessly. JJY has definitely improved. I don’t really understand why some people still criticize her acting here because I’ve watched her since Legend of Yunxi, and her growth is very noticeable. ZSX, CDL, and YA also delivered solid performances in this drama. I also want to commend WH as You Chi. Can you all believe this is his debut drama? Because he didn’t feel awkward at all.
For the CGI, I think it was well done. I especially thought about it during the fight between BZ and LJ, the cinematography and effects were really good. Considering the GJM worked on FoF, the visuals are definitely a strong point here.
Now for the roles and plot. I understand how billing works, but in this case, the gap between billing and actual story focus felt too extreme. The overall plot clearly centered more on JL and LWY. When I first started, I honestly thought WSG would be the main ML, especially since he’s the last dragon and supposedly the strongest. But as the episodes progressed, the story shifted more toward JL’s past, his regrets, and the sacrifices tied to love.
I also remember there was quite a discourse during the Star Stone arc. Some viewers said it focused too much on MM/DZ, while others argued that WSG/WWY’s timeline had equal attention. I actually agreed with that at the time, since all five leads were still being shown fairly.
However, toward the ending, WSG, WWY, and LJ started to feel more like supporting characters. I’ve seen situations where higher-billed actors have less screen time, but this one felt especially noticeable. To explain what I mean, I’ll use an example (sorry for using unrelated artists). Imagine Yang Yang and Dilraba are top billed, then Bai Lu, and then Zhang Linghe. Let's say the plot is about the lives of 2 brothers, but instead, the plot shifts into focusing on Zhang Linghe’s romance with Dilraba, while Yang Yang’s role as his brother becomes more of a supporting storyline, along with Bai Lu. That’s how the shift in this drama felt. This isn’t hate toward any of the actors. I like them all but the issue between billing and plot direction was very noticeable.
And honestly because of the billing, I expected the later episodes to focus more on WSG’s development as the 10th dragon, but that didn’t really happen.
The time reversal aspect was another issue for me. It became quite repetitive. At the same time, I did enjoy those moments. It felt like an “Avengers” moment seeing characters who had already died come back to support them. However, this is also where things started to feel a bit messy. The final reversal wasn’t clearly explained. How was WSG able to remember everything while others didn’t?
I even saw an alternate interpretation in the comments. The Fox Queen died 50 years earlier. LWY was created at the same time, and JL had already been the dragon deity for 100 years (so he is supposedly the dragon deity for 50 years by that time). In that version, the borrowing of power and major events would still happen, with the main difference being that no one from Formless Moon would be there when WSG gained his dragon power. That would still lead to JL sacrificing himself in the end because Han Ba mission happened before LWY was created (the memory was used by then in original timeline). But then again, was he consumed by Lonescale as originally written? Maybe that explains why JL isn’t there while WSG becomes the dragon deity but it still doesn’t explain why WSG retains his memories while others don’t. And the ending kind of felt like a giveaway to viewers who loved JiLu because where did they even come from?
Because of the time reversal, a lot of questions come up, and the show doesn’t fully address them. This is why I usually don’t like stories that play heavily with timelines unless they can explain things clearly within the narrative.
Overall, it was still a good and interesting watch. The cast and cinematography were strong. It could have been even better if the final part focused more on the plot rather than leaning heavily into romance (though I did like JiLu and WuWu. They have great chemistry). I think I just have to accept some of the questionable parts so I don’t end up nitpicking everything. Still a good drama overall!
I like the first 2 episodes. I don't know why I kept reading posts saying they're disappointed because it was hyped. Yes, it was hyped bc that's how you gain viewers. It needs hype so that people will start watching it. So it is not yet overhyped because we aren't even half the series for you to judge the plot lol, how is it overhyped when there are only 2/12 episodes out. People are so quick to judge these days. This is a romcom drama, it is supposed to be light and easy to watch. I don't know what other people are expecting but if it isn't to your liking then drop it, no need to spread negative comments esp hate towards the cast
most probably bcs of chi wen. when YWH first met JL, he was just a fox who have simple magic from CW. He couldn't…
I was also thinking about that at first but from what was shown, JL has turned in his human form while imprisoned so I don't think CW helped him. And from his words with JY, he suffered. Also, the way he describe the doll accompanying him means he did suffer while being imprisoned by YWH. That's also why this question popped up in my head about how they were so close in Shilin sect despite that past 😂 But yes, we will have our answers in the next episodes. Thank you!
It's original script. But from spoilers as far I know...⬇️
thanks! that is something that confuse me too, why is Xizai the same face as him and the doll from the memory is for Xizai(?) given by YWH so how did it went to JL and accompanied him. I guess we really have to wait for everything to be revealed. Thank you!!
I'll try to start this one but do I need to rewatch Princess Agents or will they show a summary? I already watched Princess Agents but it was yearsssss ago so I don't really remember it much.
I'm loving it so far!! I was able to catch up with the episodes so now I am also part of the waiting game. Question: if YWH imprisoned JL for a long time, did they ever get over this? I mean wouldn't JL supposed to hate YWH for that but the past memories showed they were so close. Don’t kno if this is a novel so please spoil me below. If not, then I guess we will have to wait for JL's full story. The truths revealing one by one, I can already feel the ending.....but still hoping for HE
On ep 16 now, can someone spoil me below if Jiang Ai will betray Simu? or even Yan ke will start obsessive love issues with Simu? I watched Zhang Li with Reba drama last time sooooo I am not yet over with her image as technically the villain in that one hahahahaha
and is she's also like him the cream of women or another cdrama about ml simp and fl have more important things…
yes, both of them have good personalities, both are brave, courageous and caring. they are focused on their own careers and help each other. although the story is FL centric since this is about her but she helped a lot of people along the way including ML's dilemma about helping other people and his cases. she is also very kind to her friends. a simp sml? not sml but there is a guy who has one sided love at her. you can try watching it 😊
Some people have too many irrelevant gripes here .1. Cinematography is bad. Really? Is that the only thing that…
This is what actually made me quite annoyed with new fans of cdrama that watched only POJ. I am happy for the success but I really dislike the fact that because of it, they don't give chance to older or recent cdramas. I understand that they like the drama but for me (preference wise) POJ is not the best out there. Yes, it has great cinematography. Some dramas won't focus on that. Even POJ didn't focused well on their 2nd half and fans would defend it as "40 episode limit" when that rule has been going on for years. Each drama has their own charm and to always compare it to your fav cdrama literally destroys your chance to discover cdramas with amazing plots.
I'm still at ep 3 but none bothered me as of yet since I'm still at the beginning and I am still waiting for the story to unfold. I just hope that the comment section would be more of a discussion about this drama rather than stupidly comparing it to others. They don't even belong to the same genre
Honestly, didn't expect I would love this drama. I just casually watched it since I need to watch something new and I found the plot and trailer interesting. It was such a good drama and story. The character development of Xiaolan and her friends and family is amazing. I also love how supportive Zhou Cheng is, as Xiaolan said, until the modern times, the likes of Zhou Cheng will be the cream of the crop personality of men. I also love how her mom grew and developed herself along with her uncle and aunt. The development of Zhao Hui into a more righteous person is a good story too. Even the side characters like Hong Xia and her family got their character development moment. I wished we could have seen Granny Yu and her son's reunion. And I wish this story didn't have to be a "all of this is just a dream" plot. I knew it would be like this but I was hoping for another ending. The ending kind of just shown it for the purpose of "happy ending" bc there is no way Zhou Cheng would be in that current age if it were really time travel. So since I didn't read the novel, it is most likely another Zhou Cheng who also dreamed or I will assume that both are 2 timelines that just happened to intertwined. And it ended just like that with no other explanations like Xiaolan leaving the 1983 timeline, will the people there still remember her, and things like that.
But anyway, apart from the last 10 minutes of the ending that I didn't quite like, the whole drama is amazing. Great job for Zhou Ye and Xiao Wen, and also all of the casts. Also, Zhou Ye is so pretty. She could rock any era from 1983 to 2026.
I am already done but before that, can someone explain to me below (put spoilers) the whole story of the massacre…
So basically, since the Emperor is wary of CP Chengde, he started scheming against him. And Wei Yan's word was then the trigger? When he said the Emperor can abdicate and Li told it to the Emperor, the Emperor then asked Prince Changxin to lie about tiger tally being fake regardless of who brings it to ask for subordinates? At the same time, he forged a letter so that Wei Yan will go to the capital. So it's like a dual trap by the Emperor, either he gets branded as traitor for not being able to bring support and grains OR be branded as someone leaving his post due to personal affair. Am I right? Therefore, he sent Wei Qilin, despite knowing the after effects of sending him. And also, he knew CP and his brother-in-law will die on that war. So he still decided to go to the capital. The Emperor was the one who wanted to kill the Crown Princess and Qi Min, so Crown Princess started the fire. However, on that fire, to protect Wei Yan, Consort Shu sacrificed herself, so the affair won't be publicized and that he can still save himself from "abandoning his post" trap and have his whole clan dead. So his mistake in all of these, is letting it happen and sacrificing others for his personal agenda. Am I right? I hope I get that right from reading all the comments hahahahaha
I am already done but before that, can someone explain to me below (put spoilers) the whole story of the massacre bc I don't seem to get it. Why Wei Yan was said to be claiming the blame but then he is still sinful? Please explain to me like I'm slow (well, I am after a week of no sleep, my brain is foggy now). Thank youuuu!!!!
Update. Thanks to everyone who answered. I have the gist now from the commenta, if you can read it and confirm if I get it correctly then I am very thankful
Among people who hanged in front of the city gate, FCY's dad cannot be there, because he was alive and living…
oh yea you are right. I totally forgot. I just remember in the previews, FCY was talking about his father being a Wei then the camera pans to those hanged corpses so I forgot that his dad just died at the start of the drama. ok so then we wait for the next episodes to reveal it, thank youuu
Did they already explain what happened before? I kinda don't get it. All I know is there was a massacre and that XZ's dad was involved. I don't understand how is FCY's dad was related to it and the letter that was sent to WY. I also don't get or remember if they explained why were there 3 people hanged in front of the city gate which I assume was XZ's dad, FCY's dad and how is the Crown Prince related to this?
I felt like I missed out a huge chunk of information. Or is this not yet discussed in the drama?
It's so hard waiting for the next episodes. Anyway, just want to comment as well about the cinematography. Absolutely beautiful. I'm happy noticing slight color differences to change the mood. My mom is watching this drama with me as well. It's hard waiting bc I don't have a number of other dramas to fill my waiting time 🥲
Good drama, I'd say. I think the casts did ok with the acting. The story tho is interestingly ok, esp from the first parts. Chemistry is there, the love story tho, kind of messy but it's fine, they look good together. The ending tho, I don’t know if that's how it is in the novel but it felt rushed. I don't know why the ML was written so not ML. Was the whole story in the novel the same which revolved mostly with FL and Aunt? It's fine if it is but in the drama, it feels like the ML was a 2ML, his story was like side story. No solid ending for him. Even their HE was so predictable. Introduction to disintegration came out of nowhere that he suddenly decided to really learn that skill (when?) and suddenly it miraculously healed his poison. Also, another story of master-disciple betrayal. I've seen it quite a few times that any drama with that trope of having a master and disciple, I automatically suspect betrayal now which kind of makes it a little predictable. Overall, still a good drama. I enjoyed it
For the acting, TJR is really amazing! A very versatile actor. He can go from serious to scheming to bubbly to emotional scenes effortlessly. JJY has definitely improved. I don’t really understand why some people still criticize her acting here because I’ve watched her since Legend of Yunxi, and her growth is very noticeable. ZSX, CDL, and YA also delivered solid performances in this drama. I also want to commend WH as You Chi. Can you all believe this is his debut drama? Because he didn’t feel awkward at all.
For the CGI, I think it was well done. I especially thought about it during the fight between BZ and LJ, the cinematography and effects were really good. Considering the GJM worked on FoF, the visuals are definitely a strong point here.
Now for the roles and plot. I understand how billing works, but in this case, the gap between billing and actual story focus felt too extreme. The overall plot clearly centered more on JL and LWY. When I first started, I honestly thought WSG would be the main ML, especially since he’s the last dragon and supposedly the strongest. But as the episodes progressed, the story shifted more toward JL’s past, his regrets, and the sacrifices tied to love.
I also remember there was quite a discourse during the Star Stone arc. Some viewers said it focused too much on MM/DZ, while others argued that WSG/WWY’s timeline had equal attention. I actually agreed with that at the time, since all five leads were still being shown fairly.
However, toward the ending, WSG, WWY, and LJ started to feel more like supporting characters. I’ve seen situations where higher-billed actors have less screen time, but this one felt especially noticeable. To explain what I mean, I’ll use an example (sorry for using unrelated artists). Imagine Yang Yang and Dilraba are top billed, then Bai Lu, and then Zhang Linghe. Let's say the plot is about the lives of 2 brothers, but instead, the plot shifts into focusing on Zhang Linghe’s romance with Dilraba, while Yang Yang’s role as his brother becomes more of a supporting storyline, along with Bai Lu. That’s how the shift in this drama felt. This isn’t hate toward any of the actors. I like them all but the issue between billing and plot direction was very noticeable.
And honestly because of the billing, I expected the later episodes to focus more on WSG’s development as the 10th dragon, but that didn’t really happen.
The time reversal aspect was another issue for me. It became quite repetitive. At the same time, I did enjoy those moments. It felt like an “Avengers” moment seeing characters who had already died come back to support them. However, this is also where things started to feel a bit messy. The final reversal wasn’t clearly explained. How was WSG able to remember everything while others didn’t?
I even saw an alternate interpretation in the comments. The Fox Queen died 50 years earlier. LWY was created at the same time, and JL had already been the dragon deity for 100 years (so he is supposedly the dragon deity for 50 years by that time). In that version, the borrowing of power and major events would still happen, with the main difference being that no one from Formless Moon would be there when WSG gained his dragon power. That would still lead to JL sacrificing himself in the end because Han Ba mission happened before LWY was created (the memory was used by then in original timeline). But then again, was he consumed by Lonescale as originally written? Maybe that explains why JL isn’t there while WSG becomes the dragon deity but it still doesn’t explain why WSG retains his memories while others don’t. And the ending kind of felt like a giveaway to viewers who loved JiLu because where did they even come from?
Because of the time reversal, a lot of questions come up, and the show doesn’t fully address them. This is why I usually don’t like stories that play heavily with timelines unless they can explain things clearly within the narrative.
Overall, it was still a good and interesting watch. The cast and cinematography were strong. It could have been even better if the final part focused more on the plot rather than leaning heavily into romance (though I did like JiLu and WuWu. They have great chemistry). I think I just have to accept some of the questionable parts so I don’t end up nitpicking everything. Still a good drama overall!
I'm still at ep 3 but none bothered me as of yet since I'm still at the beginning and I am still waiting for the story to unfold. I just hope that the comment section would be more of a discussion about this drama rather than stupidly comparing it to others. They don't even belong to the same genre
But anyway, apart from the last 10 minutes of the ending that I didn't quite like, the whole drama is amazing. Great job for Zhou Ye and Xiao Wen, and also all of the casts. Also, Zhou Ye is so pretty. She could rock any era from 1983 to 2026.
Update. Thanks to everyone who answered. I have the gist now from the commenta, if you can read it and confirm if I get it correctly then I am very thankful
I felt like I missed out a huge chunk of information. Or is this not yet discussed in the drama?
It's so hard waiting for the next episodes. Anyway, just want to comment as well about the cinematography. Absolutely beautiful. I'm happy noticing slight color differences to change the mood. My mom is watching this drama with me as well. It's hard waiting bc I don't have a number of other dramas to fill my waiting time 🥲