13 Fireflies

Indeed...not to take the place of actions or to overexplain a scene, when the acting and situation alone is enough. It's almost like "...and now I feel like this person is acting weird, but I don't know why" when a single gesture already made that obvious. Acting is always key and in that department we got served with TSL. I love how much of a consensus there is about the high quality of CXX and LLD's acting in China.

I pretty much agree with you on everything, down to the appearance mismatch. I just feel like the story is a bit muddled at present and I'm not sure how to feel about their couple dynamics which tells me something isn't quite gelling at the writing level. The moments of levity felt a bit forced too. I hope to have a more solid grasp on what exactly this story is going for by the 10 episode mark.

Yeah, if anything I think it probably helped to make the story tighter, considering they didn't have the extra 10 minutes TTEOTM was allowed per episode. It probably hurt the ending though, where it felt like they suddenly ran out of time.

There's been a lot of commentary about how the level of marketing seems to be inversely equivalent to the actual quality of the drama, so Blood of Youth and TSL (low marketing, great dramas) vs. TTEOTM (enormous marketing, kinda just all right drama), also people saying TSL is better blah blah. I agree that comparing these two dramas is a bit of a disservice because they're just SO different in tone and aim. A more fitting comparison would be LBFAD, if anything.

Oh, yeah...we're just discussing it as part of our "Withdrawals Anonymous" situation lol, but this page should be first and foremost about TSL...it's interesting when the convo deviates a little though because it allows us to see how much our tastes align, especially considering how much we all collectively loved TSL.

AFAIK TSL did suffer from having to edit down to 40 episodes. I can't remember where I read that it was originally supposed to be 48 eps or somewhere around that number. I can kinda see the issues related to editing in TTEOTM, a lot of voice over narration (someone on Douban agreed with me that there's excessive inner monologue at times) and a lot of "telling not showing". I'm a big fan of angst as well and I'm definitely being as generous as possible with this one to compensate for any TSL bias. I'm usually very much into gothicky vibes, which LBFAD had and I'm hoping we get more of in this one. I feel like it's at a point where it either shapes up to be amazing or starts falling apart, we'll see!

By the way, not saying they're hating it in China...just that the reaction isn't as crazy positive as here.

yeah fans of TSL are angry that TSL is being used as a "hammer" against TTEOTM and are aggresively fighting against being used that way. I love TSL fans, they're wishing TTEOTM a lot of success to counter all the comparisons.

in a nutshell, I'm much more aligned with the general sentiment on Douban. It's fine. I watched the first 6 episodes and didn't feel the urge to watch at a faster speed but nearly fell asleep a few times. I don't really mind LYX's weight as much as the audience in China though, they're making a huge deal out of it. Overall I think it's okay...not great not terrible. The plot / editing is a bit all over the place, second CP definitely flat for now, third CP at least shows some sign of life...main CP not truly working for me yet tbh, no "sense of CP" but I'm sure fans of Bai Lu and LYX are happy.

The reactions I'm reading in China are so wildly different than on MDL. It's funny that there's been a lot of comparison to TSL already and some controversy. Oh and by the way, I can't say goodbye...I suck at goodbyes, so all I'll say is I hope to run into you many times more on this site! I'll probably check this comment section with some frequency still because I love reading new reactions haha.

I've watched the first 6 episodes and it's definitely watchable. I'm having some issues with the editing and directing though...and I'm not 100% sure that the story is as interesting as I would have wanted, but I'm sticking with it.

yeah I can't bring myself to say goodbye. I obviously probably won't be on here nearly as much...but I'll keep checking from time to time because this is lit one of my favorite dramas ever and I enjoy this comment section.

Yeah... I second everything you said. I was actually kinda pissed off when I saw that contest. NiuDi shouldn't even bother...it's nothing but clickbait.

Oh no... now you've made me curious because I have a lot of opinions but I'm keeping them to myself as well. Should we just give our honest opinion here? It's safe...I think lol

wow but the 227 thing was so long ago and he did a full recovery. A lot of his dramas that were backlogged suffered delays because of that, but eventually aired. His fans will definitely wait, but it feels super unfair to keep them hanging that way.

yes...this

If anyone here still hasn't reviewed TSL...we're only 16 reviews away from 100...that would be a great milestone to reach. Please, take a few minutes to write a few lines on how much you loved it. Reviews count in MDL's algorithm.

Any idea why that is? I am baffled, considering how popular he is. You'd think he'd have no problem getting his dramas aired. Massive delays can be so detrimental because styles go out of fashion, new stars start sucking up resources, etc. His last drama aired over a year ago iirc...which is, just odd.

TTEOTM
The Longest Promise (if it ever airs)
Legend of Anle
Back from the Brink
Kunning Palace
Love you Seven Times
^ Pretty much all the ones you'd expect. I'll give them at least a try. I'm actually between dramas rn, and I'm going to need something else to watch while TTEOTM airs and I can't decide! I'm leaning towards LLTG to balance out all the xianxia.

Mission accomplished, fam...and it wasn't even hard lol