Jess4163

Ugh...I couldn’t even make it through the first episode of “General and I” due to her dead fish eyes. My god, what a godawful adaptation...has a well-deserved 3 stars on Douban (notoriously very strict on mainland productions, esp. IP dramas).

Lol, yeah, take some time and clean out your Lusi viewing palate from “Love of thousand years” first.

Luckily, I had no pre-conceived biases since my first impression of her was the one in “Tiger and Rose,,” which she rocked in. I love her voice too since it wasn’t dubbed.

You can also find the director’s cut version here on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkvG4EWPDB0m_P2xowQFJqINtBz0VP3a1&feature=share

It only has Chinese captions, but you understand Mandarin, right?

The one on Netflix cut out many scenes, so don’t watch that version. Watch the 55 episode director’s cut on viki instead.

Thank you! This drama is truly one for the ages and will go down as my all-time favorite romance along with "Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms!" Both Ye Hua and Chengyin are my favorite male leads of all time.

I'm so jealous you haven't watched "Goodbye my princess" yet as it's one of those dramas that will poison/haunt you for ages if you get into it. I haven't felt this way about a leading couple since YH and BQ. Xiaofeng and Chengyin from GMP are the kind of couple that stole my soul and had me live for every moment they're onscreen together. I can't get them out of my head. I don't ever watch tragedies, but made this drama an exception after my sister showed me some of their scenes together. I found the ending to be incredibly powerful and very fitting. There was also a sweet epilogue of the lead couple living happily in modern times that eased my heartache: They couldn't be together in their previous lifetime, but found a way to be together in their third lifetime.

If you ever decide to watch "Goodbye my princess," make sure to watch the 55 episode director's cut version instead of the original 52 episode cut version. The director's cut added many crucial scenes that helped build the ML's backstory in the beginning. There were also more songs added in that made key scenes more effective. It's the definitive drama version.

Yeah, my sister really likes the ML from "Maiden Holmes" and finds him to be very charismatic. Both she and I are all about charisma, facial expressions, and eye expressions. I personally can't stand actors who have "dead" eyes.

Yeah, my sister watched some of "Love of Thousand Years," but dropped it due to various drama issues and one of them was Lusi's acting: She kind of fell flat in this role and needs to learn how to act properly in serious, non-comedic roles. Thus far, she's limited to being the comedy queen.

But I've only watched Lusi in "Romance of Tiger and Rose" and trust me, she's fabulous in this one and shares awesome chemistry with the ML. Aside from their chemistry, the drama just works on all levels from story, script, supporting cast, and overall production. Even though the drama sticks to its comedic roots, the plot does build and features some heavier angst later. It's very much a drama worth watching and I hope you give it another chance :)

“Goodbye my princess” doesn’t have a happy ending, but it’s incredible and the ending really fits the story. It’s the only tragic romance drama I’ve watched in ages and was so worth it due to the story and explosive chemistry btw the leads. There was also a happy epilogue that eased my heartache: The leads lived happily in modern times.

Since I'm currently in love with both Han Shuo (Tiger and rose -more lighthearted drama) and Chengyin (Goodbye my princess), here's some MVs featuring them:

Chengyin (his eyes are gorgeous and I love their expressions):

https://youtu.be/yupt0GNG8A8
https://youtu.be/i7IK3zrgD_8

Han Shuo:

https://youtu.be/Y2iJyDxEf2g

Sign...currently Ye Hua and Li Chengyin are my favorite male leads of all time and both actors were incredible with their portrayal to the point where they immortalized their characters. I can't imagine anyone else ever playing those roles again.

I love reviewers like you and Avenuex because you guys are capable of judging dramas with objectivity: Storytelling, production quality, script quality, etc.

So many people judge everything purely based on how it made them feel that I can never take their reviews seriously since the way an individual reacts to anything varies. That tells me nothing about the actual quality of the work.

That's why I cherish reviewers who place importance on storytelling and character development first and foremost. Chemistry btw leads can't carry a drama with a messy/non-existent plot.

There's a good story somewhere in "The Untamed" due to the source material (I read half of the book in Chinese and it made a lot more sense), but the drama has the worst production I've ever seen and fails to properly tell the story. Everything the drama changes due to censorship is not well thought out, but they're too lazy to work on the script more and just assume people have read the book. I also don't understand why the editing and camerawork is so shoddy. But all this gets a free pass just because many people are in love with the cast/chemistry btw characters. The best rating I can give this drama is an 8/10 and that's only because I fell in love with the Yi City arc (loved Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen) and I also loved the chemistry btw Jiang Chen and Wei WuXian (similar to you, I found them to have the spark and angst that's missing btw the lead couple -this is largely due to censorship preventing the leads' romance from having central focus).

Overall, your review is absolutely spot on and I greatly appreciate your input!

My all-time favorite dramas (all are well-crafted with a stellar cast) are:

"Ten Miles Peach Blossoms" -Best romance I've ever watched and nothing beats it
"Nirvana in Fire" -probably the most flawless drama, but since I prefer romance, I prefer "Ten Miles" more (this is all subjective)

"Goodbye my princess" (director's cut version) -recent drama I watched that torn my heart out with a leading couple who's chemistry rivals YH and BQ and I can't get enough of them

"Someday or One Day" (touching romance with an external plot that's very cleverly woven)

Two recent dramas that deserve an honorable mention:

"Romance of Tiger and Rose" -love the story and leads in this and I also fell hard for the ML, "Han Shuo." He's the type of hero I love the most: Ruthless, powerful, hot/charismatic, but only soft towards the heroine and never commits noble idiocy (push her away for her own good, etc.). Lol, both Ye Hua and Li Chengyin (Goodbye my princess) are also similar in this regard: All three are aggressive/relentless when it comes to being with their beloved heroine and none will ever give up the chase.

"Love and Redemption" -loved the external plot/supporting characters (Teng She and Wu Zhi Qi are the BEST) the most and was impressed by the way the drama unraveled the story. Although the leads shared great chemistry, the ML isn't my favorite type of hero: He is crazily in love with the FL, but he has the annoying tendency to over-analyze and think the worst of every misunderstanding involving the FL. This causes him to back off or push her away at times and she had to be the one chasing after him (lucky for him, the FL isn't shy about always running after him). He's not shameless or aggressive enough in his pursuit unlike my favorite heroes, so although I enjoyed his character, I don't prefer heroes like him in a romance. If "Love and Redemption" didn't have such a good external plot, I wouldn't have watched it.

Like you, I've very very picky about my dramas and will only watch ones with a decent script/production. Even then, there's no guarantee I'll connect and fall for the characters, so it's really hard for me to get into a drama nowadays. There's just too much crap out there.

I highly recommend "Romance of Tiger and Rose" for a ML who's just as relentless as Ye Hua when it comes to the FL. This was a very well-crafted drama with awesome chemistry btw the leads. I fell in love with the ML, Han Shuo. He's ruthless to everyone, but soft towards the FL. Similar to Ye Hua, he won't ever give up or push the FL away even when he thought she betrayed him. The drama's more comedic in tone, but there was some heavier angst in the later episodes when the ML got darker -I found it delicious!

The only other ML I fell in love with that's similar when it comes to obsession/relentlessness for the FL is the ML from "Goodbye my princess." Here's an mv showcasing his love for her: https://youtu.be/yupt0GNG8A8

Both of those dramas stole my heart and will be ranked right up there with "Ten Miles" as my favorite romances of all time! Lol, it's no coincidence that all three feature leads with explosive chemistry and MLs who are powerful/ruthless, sexy/charismatic, and aggressive when it comes to the FL. All will stop at nothing to be with the FL and none commit noble idiocy (push her away for her own good, etc.). My favorite type of hero in a romance...

Si Feng, however much he loves the FL, isn't as relentless as Ye Hua is when it comes to the "chase." He tends to cower and doubt himself whenever a misunderstanding arises concerning the FL's feelings for him. He's not shameless like Ye Hua when it comes to going after his woman. Ye Hua, regardless of any misunderstanding, will always run after BQ and want to be around her no matter what. Ye Hua also doesn't push the FL away the way Si Feng does several times. When it comes to "courting the FL," I still prefer Ye Hua's shameless and aggressive ways, lol!

Ten Miles is rated lower on Douban due to the plagiarism scandal surrounding the source material. Without the plagiarism issue, the drama definitely would have been rated much higher

No, ML has never liked Sese. He’s only using her as she’s a helpful pawn in his plans.

Watch this on viki (director’s cut) as the subs are better

I think many feel the same way since this drama's ratings are fairly low for something so widely anticipated (leads had a huge fanbase too) and popular. It had everything going for it to top the mydramalist rankings -its sister drama, "Eternal Love," certainly gave it a leg up. Look at the other recent drama, "Crash landing on you," catapulting to number 9 so quickly. The rankings are extremely biased towards hyped up recent dramas.

"Eternal Love/Ten Miles" had a rating of 9.3 after its initial release back in 2017 and stayed in the top 10 a long time. Heck, it's still in the top 20 practically three years later. This drama just ended and it only has an 8.8 rating (barely in the top 50). I can only see it falling further down the rankings in the next few years due to recency bias. Plus, I don't think it's as well loved as "Ten Miles" or "Ashes of Love."

All in all, I think the main problem for this drama is the overall story adaptation: I see many complaints about the inconsistent lore, shoddy world-building, and "all over the place" plot. These kind of complaints were nonexistent when "Eternal Love/Ten Miles" first came out: Almost every comment was full of praise and giddiness for the entire drama, from the production/director to the actors. This drama just ended and you already see quite a few negative comments. That just tells me that there are definitely major problems.

It just seems like the directors/production team for this drama just didn't do a good enough job at bringing the web novel to life. They relied too much on the leads' fanbase and chemistry to carry the story. Perhaps they should have worked on the script more. The story told by the web novel certainly seemed to make sense and is well-loved.

I think people love this drama solely for the chemistry and sweet moments between the two leads. Everything story or plot-wise is sort of glossed over. For me, I don't care how much chemistry characters have, if the overall story's not well told, I won't like the drama or movie. I loved "Eternal love" so much because first and foremost, the overall love story (really the main focus) was very well told/directed by the production team. Of course, the incredible acting and chemistry just solidifies it into a masterpiece romance drama. It really was one of those "lightning in a bottle" dramas where everything worked out.

I feel the same way about "Nirvana in Fire" and "Someday or One Day." All three dramas fired on all fronts: Great script, production, directing, and acting/chemistry!

So many romance dramas these days are lazy/sloppy when it comes to the story/writing. They seem to rely more on celebrity names, gorgeous faces, chemistry, and beautiful cinematography to carry a drama. But for me, if the core foundation (the main plot) is missing, there really is no point to the drama. An increasing number of romance dramas these days have episode after episode of pointless filler. I need scenes to be relevant and to build towards an overall arc or something. Sigh...I can no longer watch anything without a halfway descent script.

Lol, I loved both Mo Yuan and Ye Hua. Amazing love triangle and truly two guys who, although different, are both equally worthy of the main girl.

I loved Mo Yuan too, but to be fair, he and Ye Hua's positions were completely different. During Ba Qian's time with Mo Yuan, he was already ruler of his own territory, Kunlun mountain. Basically, he's on equal footing with all the other realm rulers (heavenly emperor, ghost realm king, fox king, etc.). So, naturally, being in an apex position means he has full control over his fate/life decisions. He doesn't have to defer to anyone else.

Ye Hua, on the other hand, was not yet at that level due to his precocious age. Despite being the heavenly crown prince, he still has many trials to face and is still under the jurisdiction of his grandfather, the heavenly emperor. He needs to solidify his position by gaining more power through the heavenly trials before being able to become his own master. At the time of the eye gouging, he had yet to gain the heavenly seal and still had to answer to his grandfather, someone more higher up than him. He was just treading very carefully because he's scared that one mistake could cause him to lose the main girl, his worst nightmare.

His biggest problem is his tendency to keep everything in the dark and make decisions for the main girl. He sort of just takes it upon himself to do everything without communicating anything to his beloved. That kind of personality makes it easy for misunderstandings to arise. Luckily, Ye Hua balances this flaw out with his shameless persistence/undying love when it comes to being with the main girl. He will never give up or let her go -a trait I love to death (I hate guys who push the girl away or let her go for any reason). In addition, he will never cheat on her. Therefore, he has all the qualities that matter to me the most in a lover, so I can forgive him for anything else.

I think this drama might not be for you if you're still not into it (most start liking it after episode 11, when the leads meet), which can happen, because nothing accounts for how an individual responds to a piece of work. Something can be objectively good/well made (I disliked the movie, "A Beautiful Mind," but admit it's well-done), but you're just unable to connect with the story and the characters...it definitely happens to us all.

But at least you're into the second leads, Feng Jiu and Dijun, so there's something to keep you watching. As for me, I wasn't into them at all and was completely invested/hooked onto the Ye Hua/Bai Qian romance as well as the worldbuilding/overall story. But then again, I was hooked from the very beginning as I understand Mandarin and was able to appreciate the dialogue/script. Being able to understand the native language and not rely on translations is a huge advantage.

Anyways, we all have different tastes, but since there's something in this drama that keeps you watching, maybe hang in there until episode 26? Then you can give up if you're still not into the main story at all.