justjacky

Romantic, Angsty, Cliche, Nonsensical

I had high hopes for this drama as I absolutely love the main leads but the scriptwriting left much to be desired. This drama is about the love story between a sexy, poisoned Prince seeking revenge and a courageous, beautiful girl caught up in between the chaos. Imagine, a republican era angst but in a historical style, that’s the drama you are getting here. The main leads are the star of the show and the only reason you want to watch more. The plot and writing is bad even for a mini drama and yet this is still an entertaining mindless watch (at least in the first half).

POSITIVE:
- Sexy blindfold scenes and beautiful main leads.
- Morally grey male lead (he appears to be a red flag but is more green flag).
- Feisty female lead.
- Lots of nice kiss scenes, wrist grabs and sensual vibes between the leads (definitely the best part of the drama).
- Angst with lots of tension with over the top dramatic scenes.
- Romantic scenes and aesthetics.
- Enemies to lovers.
- Mystery plot. At the start you have no idea what’s going on which makes it intriguing.
- Second couple stole the show for me as they are better written than the main leads. Their story was short but heartbreaking and realistic for that area.
- Fantastic acting from the main leads Richard Li and He Xuan Lin. Seriously, these two need main roles in full length dramas at this point.

NEGATIVE:
- Cliche. My biggest complaint is that the writers have literally put every cliche ever known to cdrama watches here. There is nothing original and nothing you haven’t seen before. In fact, I suppose you could give them an award for putting the most cliche tropes and situations in one drama (there are literally in every single episode). But actually, it's not even the cliches that are the problem as much as that those cliches were put together in a way that made a lot of the emotional scenes feel very fabricated and the characters not real.
- Nonsensical. I usually don’t care much about logic and especially in short dramas as they have limited time but the world building, fantasy elements and basically the whole plot makes zero sense. You really need to completely turn off your brain for this one.
- Too dramatic. The characters turning into maniacs/psychopaths as a cheap and fast way to create tension and angst.
- Visuals. The main leads and costumes are great but the filter/colouring/lighting sometimes appeared too bright and made them look washed out. I feel in later episodes this gets better.
- Too fast-paced. Yes, short dramas are usually fast paced but here everything looks like it’s shot at 1.5x speed. People coming in and out of frame, people talking etc. The drama needed a breather especially at the start. Although this did improve in the later episodes.
- Second half is a snooze fest. Literally, the ridiculous situations, overused cliches and psychotic characters made me want to drop this but my NDD (Never Drop Disease) made me pull through the end.
- (MINOR SPOILER HERE) Unsatisfying ending of the Emperor. This guy. You will want to burn him, skin him alive and then feed him to the pigs. It’s been a while since I’ve hated a character so much I literally wanted to start throwing furniture in my room while watching his scenes. You will want this disgusting grandpa to suffer. But what happens to him in the end is NOT satisfying.

OVERALL:
If you want to see sexy main leads in a very cliche romantic story with many nonsensical but entertaining parts, oh and lots of nice kiss scenes, watch this drama.

TRIGGER WARNING:
This drama is heavy on abuse so bare that in mind (multiple attempts of r*pe, multiple scenes leading up to actual r*pe shown).

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A beautiful story about a woman’s growth journey of love and life

This drama tells the story of a villainous type female lead who, due to her love obsession, ends up causing the death of her family. Before her seemingly final breath of life, she loses consciousness, only to suddenly wake up two years prior to all events that had happened. Convinced she is living a second life, she decides to do everything in her power to fix her mistakes and change her family’s fate.

The drama is not a love story but about the female lead’s growth journey as she learns valuable lessons about life and love. A strong message about unconditional love is shown in this drama as well as how every person could be good or bad, depending on the perspective. There are three love interests. No kiss scenes however the intense, fire chemistry between the main leads makes up for it.

POSITIVE:
- All characters are morally grey. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and learns their lessons.
- Well written perspective for each character. At every moment the viewer clearly understands everyone’s motives (good or bad) which makes the drama very human and realistic.
- No predictable, draggy parts or cliche plot lines.
- No love triangles. Even though there are three love interests there is no typical love rivery and cliche jealousy shown.
- Conflicts are resolved quickly. Mystery aspects are done well and the audience learns everything alongside the female lead.
- All characters are well-developed and fleshed out, nobody does stupid things without a reason.
- Fantastic execution of seeing the flashbacks of the female lead’s first life that are parallel to the second life. We clearly get to see how she is acting differently and changing things in the second life.
- Beautiful message about unconditional love at the end of the drama.

NEGATIVE:
- I would have loved it if there were more romantic scenes between the male and female lead.
- Second male lead (who is the husband) does get quite a lot of screen time at the start compared to the male lead which can annoy some people.

LOVE INTERESTS:
- Male lead - a Lord, who secretly loves the female lead.
- Second male lead - female lead’s husband and the man she is obsessed with at the start of the drama.
- Third male lead - an orphan who the female lead helps and later becomes her loyal guard.

OVERALL:
If you are looking for a mature, slow paced, historical drama about a woman’s growth journey related to love, with morally grey characters (no one is just good or bad) and beautiful messages about all types of love (unconditional love, selfless love and self-love), this drama is for you.

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Overhyped. Quite disappointing. Mostly boring.

I was excited to watch this drama because of the high praise and rating on here. However I was quite disappointed. The story had great potential but fell flat for me. Most of the episodes felt like fillers as nothing much happened to advance the plot. You could probably condense the story into 10 episodes and still get the whole plot. In fact, that would have probably made me enjoy it a lot more.

ML story is the best part of the drama and I enjoyed seeing his journey. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the FL. Known as the greatest assassin, we spend all episodes watching her be a maid - clean, cook and run errands. She does have a sharp mind which she occasionally uses well but even that wasn't enough to make her an exciting character to watch. Their love story is sadly not convincing as I felt little chemistry and most of their romantic scenes were cringy. I actually loved the FL with the SML more and the fact that they had a connection since childhood made their relationship more real, sweet and wholesome. Even the older couple's love story was more enjoyable to watch than the main lead's.

Acting was good. Settings looked awesome. Fight & magic scenes were done nice but not enough. Overall, I would personally not recommend this drama to a fantasy lover. Cdramas (xianxia) are a much better choice in my personal opinion.

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Everyday life of the hubby and wifey who have secret identities

This drama is about the love story between a smart and beautiful woman and a royal, morally grey but secretly softie man. The female lead suffers from amnesia and has a secret identity while the male lead pretends to be her loser husband for his schemes to catch a bandit.

I loved the first half of the drama that focused on the everyday life of the main leads. We could slowly see the male lead from constantly deceiving and manipulating the female lead, to subtly falling madly in love with her. Even though there wasn’t much going on aside from watching the daily interactions, somehow the two joking and teasing each other but also caring and nurturing each other, really warmed my heart. I love that sometimes it felt like a cat a mouse game or Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibes due to the double identity of both leads. To the outside public they are known to be ruthless and cold, while at home they are both cute softballs. The comedy was fantastic, with the male lead being a capable and high ranked leader but having to pretend to be a complete loser in front of his fake wife. A big part of this fantastic dynamic I have to give it to the main actors Zhang Wanyi and Wang Churan who did a fabulous job portraying their roles.

However, the drama felt short for me in the second half where it becomes unnecessary draggy. I felt the political plot was cliche and the main leads not being together took away from my enjoyment of the couple to the point I stopped caring about them. I feel like the charm of the drama was the main leads and their secret identities, which should have continued to be the focal point of the drama instead of the court stuff.

POSITIVE:
- Hot chemistry between the leads.
- Morally grey leads.
- Secret identity (both leads).
- Great comedy and light-hearted scenes. The jokes revolved around the characters and their actions/personality rather than some random jokes. And despite all the laughter, the drama balances well, the maturity of the characters.
- Mystery backstory plot.
- Truman Show vibes in the first half.
- Smart, mature, composed female lead.
- Fake marriage trope that’s written well.
- Business scenes that provided the female lead’s character to shine with her intelligence.

NEGATIVE:
- Second half of the drama was a snooze fest. The amnesia plot in the first half felt well written but once the female lead regains her memories, she feels too much of a different character. Even though I liked her cold-hearted nature, I wanted to see more of her inner thoughts to connect with her more. The drama felt very draggy (ep 24-30) because for many episodes she was cold towards the male lead while he was grovelling and trying to win her back. By the time the main leads got back together, the drama had already lost me and I started skipping lots in order to finish it. From absolutely loving the main leads, in the end I simply didn’t care about them.

OVERALL:
The plot of the drama starts off great and the first half delivers in terms of romance, comedy, character development and everyday hubby/wifey vibes. But the second half being draggy and boring, took away all my enjoyment and care for this drama and characters. So, I don’t really know if I would recommend this. It’s all about personal choice I guess. For me, this drama is very forgettable.

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This drama is like eating Liquorice and chocolate all freaking day and night

Hidden Love is a diary drama about an introvert girl that secretly falls for her brother's friend, and their journey to falling in love and healing each other. This drama is like eating Liquorice and chocolate all freaking day and night. If each scene was a candy I would have probably become diabetic by the end. There are tons of romantic scenes, a sweet dating era, both ML and FL protecting and taking care of each other. Usually you see the male chasing the female and doing most of the work but here it is a subtle love, both equally loving and taking care of each other.

No break ups, no love triangles, no angst, no annoying second male or female leads that are obsessed with the main leads and want to break them apart. It's purely focused on the main couple with no unnecessary side couples and filler plot lines. Most of the episodes are heartwarming with a few sad scenes that don't last long and the conflicts are quickly resolved.

The drama is definitely one to watch when you need something sweet and loving, when you are depressed and want to smile, when you are going through hard times and need a free loving therapy session, when you are laying on your bed in the evening with a warm cup of tea watching this. Basically if you want something that pulls on your heartstrings and reminds you of your childhood/teenage/college years, this drama is for you.

Note: An important thing to address is that there is an unnecessary controversial topic about how ML meets FL when she is 14 (and the actress looks 10). He is only 5 years older than her and the drama clearly states and portrays that he starts to fall for her romantically as they meet again when she is already an adult.

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Best 2023 feel good drama. Sweet & innocent romance with singing, travel, food and friendship.

It’s rare to find a drama like this. This drama is perfect if you are struggling with stress and difficulties in life and need something to warm your heart and put a big smile on your face at the end of your day. Every single episode contains an overflow of sugary romance with zero toxicity, no conflicts, no misunderstandings, no stupid love triangles, no angst, no break ups. The romance is so good you will definitely feel like a third wheel while watching.

The drama is about the daily lives of the main leads and their friends and work colleagues. There is no unnecessary drama or side stories that you don’t care about. Male lead is a doctor (but we don’t see much of his job), and a voice actor (which is the main focus of his character), he is also an amazing cook (which he shows us often with amazing recipes) and total green flag boyfriend. Female lead is a university student who composes music in her spare time. They fall in love with each other's voices and personality first instead of their physical looks.

POSITIVE:
- Every episode makes you smile like a teenager in love for the first time.
- Sizzling chemistry between the leads. Their eye contact is enough to ship them instantly.
- Stage performances with singing and acting that are absolutely phenomenal and feel like you are watching a live concert.
- Fantastic travel episodes that feel like an awesome variety show/video blog.
- Many cooking scenes with delicious food.
- Every episode you are immersed in the story, like you are living with the characters and are part of their fun daily lives.
- Teasing, hilarious and supportive group of friends with very natural and organic interactions.
- Unique pairing: introverted male lead with a shy female lead.
- Fluffy romance that is all about innocence and first love.
- Story is about the main leads. There are no unnecessary side plots about side characters that ain’t nobody cares about.
- No stupid drama, no misunderstandings, no breakups, no annoying characters that try to break apart the main leads.
- Second couple is just as adorable and the second male lead and brings in all the comedy.
- Main leads fall in love with each other’s voices first rather than physical appearance.
- 100% green flag male and female lead.

NEGATIVE:
- Diabetes alert. The drama is so sweet you might get a sugar overload.
- Hungry alert. The characters are always cooking or eating food so you must bring snacks in order to survive watching.
P.S. The two points above are obviously jokes. I couldn’t find a single negative thing about this drama!

OST:
The music in this drama deserves special attention as it’s one of the most heartwarming and beautiful I’ve ever heard.

OVERALL:
If you want to see an innocent, fluffy romance and healthy relationships with travel, music, food and adorable friendship groups AND If you need a drama to make you smile and warm your heart after a stressful day, WATCH THIS DRAMA.

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Sweet romance but draggy plot

This drama is about the main leads who are both after an illegal poisonous drug. The male lead is the investigator of the drug, suffering from face blindness while the female lead is a travelling doctor (but more like beauty shop owner) that has the uncontrollable ability to shape-shitft.

I pretty much started this drama for the cast, especially my favourite guys Luo Yunxi and Ryan Cheng. The best part of this drama is the cute romance between the three couples. In fact, the romance is what kept me going to finish this drama. The worst part is the boring and extremely draggy plot.

POSITIVE:
- Sweet romance between the 3 couples. I was very much invested emotionally, especially the two side couples. The main couple is ok, still sweet. Everyone did “follow their hearts” just like the title alludes to.
- Platonic friendships between men and women. The second male and female leads are friends, the third male and female leads are also friends. But in terms of couples, the second leads get with the third leads. I truly loved seeing this dynamic play out as it's very rare in cdramas.
- Light-hearted with some funny moments (although sometimes the comedy can turn cringy).
- Cool fight scenes (not a lot but what you get is nice. Although in the later episodes due to LYX leg injury his fights are not as good. But Ryan Cheng slayed all the way).
- Awesome finale episode. One of the sweetest and happiest I’ve ever seen.

NEGATIVE:
- One overstretched plot line for 40 episodes. Apparently the drama was written as 24 episodes but then got re-written and extended for 40 (greedy producers). I can totally see that because there are many filler episodes and I had to skip tons (I’m talking whole episodes). In general the plot was a snooze fest and if it was only 24 episodes it would have been 10x better.
- Mix of good and bad. Some episodes were super fun and engaging, others super boring and draggy.
- Annoying mother. In general I hate cdrama nagging mothers. This one was no exception.

OVERALL:
This felt like a light-hearted mindless watch. It's an ok drama to pass the time but nothing more. I feel like the cast’s talents got wasted here.

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Revenge is best served cold! Scheming & slow burn romance as subplot.

The story is about the female lead who returns home after being cast out for 17 years. Though searching for home and love, she quickly finds herself thrust into the web of lies and schemes. Things get more complicated when the male lead, who is her ‘former’ brother-in-law, takes an interest in her and sees right through her mask of lies.

The revenge plot is one, if not, THE best I’ve ever seen. Ep 1-19 kept me at the edge of my seat. However Ep 20-25 were… I wouldn’t say a let down but definitely not as strong. Lots of new characters were introduced with the focus on side stories that DID connect with the main plot but were just… not as interesting to watch. However, Ep 26-30 picked up the pacing and delivered a fantastic conclusion to the story.

Unexpectedly, one of the biggest highlight for me was the mother-daughter relationship. At first I hated the mother and per usual expected to dislike her till the end however I ended up absolutely loving her character. It’s rare to see a mother-daughter relationship so real and raw, it was written beautifully.

As a romance girlie, I was very much satisfied with the romance here. Some might say that there is barely any, but for me it WAS absolutely part of the story. If you expect grand gestures of love, fluffy dialogue, lots of intimacy or passionate kisses, you won’t find that kind of romance. What I loved was the slow burn, the fact that the relationship was always will-they-won't-they tension, the gradual build of trust, the way they unknowingly fell for each other, and the way they supported each other even though they were simultaneously against each other. Their love story felt organic, not forced, and connected seamlessly into the intense revenge plot.

POSITIVE:
- Revenge + scheming. A female centric story.
- Morally grey male and female lead.
- Badass female lead.
- Slow burn romance as sub-plot.
- Angsty and intense vibes.
- Lots of twists and turns.
- Captivating story with nicely written characters and their motives.
- Mother-daughter relationship. The true highlight of the drama.
- Great pacing.
- Best villain. I’m trying not to spoil anything, but this villain is the best psychopath I’ve seen in a historical cdrama. The way he kept one-upping the leads till the end had me going crazy.
- Fantastic OST.

NEGATIVE:
Ep 20-25 were not as strong as the rest of the drama (mentioned above).

OVERALL:
I picked this up as I was intrigued by the trailer but I truly had low expectations going in. I wasn’t a fan of Chen Du Ling but this drama completely changed my view of her. This role was MADE for her and she was brilliant in it. The revenge was 10/10 perfection, the characters were multilayered, the villain was so psychotic that he had me going crazy, and the slow burn romance was a nice cherry on top. That said, it's clear I absolutely LOVED this drama (especially as I’m in a huge drama slump and yet I binged this so fast). I wholeheartedly recommend this if you want a badass, scheming female lead with intense revenge and angst.

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Dark, toxic love with obsessive & abusive male lead

What the hell did I just finish watching, was my first thought as the end credits rolled. This is the darkest and most disturbing cdrama I’ve ever seen. You are not only getting an angsty, toxic love story but a full on psychological thriller.

The drama is about the female lead who pretends to be a Princess to avenge her family and the male lead, a Prince who is mysteriously scheming behind the scenes.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
- Love-hate relationship. In fact it’s more of a lovers to enemies trope.
- Beautiful aesthetics and cinematography.
- Strong-willed female lead.
- The epitome of red flag, toxic, obsessive, abusive and pretty much psychotic male lead.
- 1000% angst. Check the trigger warnings below. Nothing is sugar coated here and not many can stomach it.
- Republican era cdrama vibes but in historical style.
- Fantastic acting from the main leads. I watched this for He Xuan Lin and she didn’t disappoint with her fantastic aura on screen.
- Hot kisses (only those that were consensual). The male actor looks like a great kisser.
- Sped up politics/revenge. The focus is on the love story so the actual plot stuff is kind of glossed over.
- A very fitting ending that brought me to tears.
- A big contrast between the first and second half of the drama. After ep 12 the plot turns 180.

OVERALL:
Horrible things happen in this drama and yet it’s written well for the most part. Only the last few episodes felt quite draggy. I loved the aesthetics and the female lead as a character. My big complaint is that I didn’t truly understand why the male lead became so deeply obsessed and toxic with her but who knows, I might have missed that detail. Anyway, to be honest if I knew how dark the story would get, I probably wouldn’t have even started it.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Disturbing scenes of abuse, r*pe and forced kisses.

FAVOURITE QUOTE:
“I hope you never meet someone like me again” by the male lead.

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Silly rom-com with bickering main leads & slow burn romance

The main leads Zhou Ye and Lin Yi definitely carried the drama. The script was lacking but their chemistry and strong on-screen presence made up for it. The drama is about the female lead who fakes her personality in order to catch the attention of the male lead. She confesses to him and he rejects her, only for him to find out that she is also the gaming girl he’s had a secret crush on. Their love story includes the gaming world, where they work together to create a new generation of gaming experience.

The start of the drama is not the strongest. The female lead spends the first few episodes chasing the male lead with a fake personality and pretty much becoming a doormat for him. As soon as he rejects her at episode 7, the drama begins to get real good, with now the male lead chasing her and trying to win her back. The main lead’s bickering dynamic is top-notch and the highlight of this drama, as well as the many cute and silly interactions between them.

The drama fell short for me in the final episodes (19-24) that focused on unnecessary work problems instead of seeing the main leads go on romantic dates. The romance is slow burn which I usually love, however I feel the script didn’t allow for the audience to truly experience their dating era as they only became a couple in the last few episodes. Even though the main leads had many cute and romantic interactions between them throughout the drama, when they became a couple we didn’t see them go on an actual date or see any grand romantic gestures.

POSITIVE:
- Silly and light-hearted vibes.
- Top-notch bickering dynamic and fun comedy moments between the main leads.
- Zhou Ye and Lin Yi had natural on-screen chemistry with fantastic acting. They were the star of the drama and carried the whole show.
- Good push and pull dynamic between the leads.
- Cute/romantic scenes.
- No love triangles. The main leads only have eyes for each other. (Note, there are two love rivals that try to get with the female lead).
- No annoying side characters.
- Female lead acting like a delulu girl in the first episodes.
- Male lead chasing her for the longest time in the best way possible.
- Fun gaming scenes that didn’t take too much screen time.
- Work scenes in the first half of the drama provided good character development for the female lead.
- Approving and supportive parents (that’s a huge plus for me).

NEGATIVE:
- First 6 episodes were not strong.
- Ordinary plot. The script doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
- Not enough spark. I felt something was always missing in this drama.
- Dating era didn’t fully deliver. There was a lot of build up and yet the execution was lacking. We don’t see the main leads go on an actual date or have any grand romantic gestures.
- Episodes 19-24 felt underwhelming, the plot was draggy and the romance didn’t fully deliver.

OVERALL:
This is a silly and light-hearted rom-com with cute, bickering main leads. It’s perfect for those who want to watch a fun and entertaining drama after a long day to unwind.

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I swam through the galaxy to find the beautiful love story among the boring and repetitive scenes

I only started watching this for the main leads (Zhao Lusi and Leo Wu) and was able to finish this only for them. Last year I dropped this at episode 8 and this year I decided to give it another chance. Truthfully I probably did waste my time watching this but at the same time I feel good as I will no longer experience FOMO (fear of missing out).

This drama is what I consider a timeless love story, it truly feels like a classic. Both leads learn valuable lessons about love as well as go through their own personal challenges and inner struggles. The female lead in particular learns how to open up to love while the male lead is on the path of revenge.

The highlight of this drama is definitely the sizzling chemistry between the leads. All of their scenes touched my heart. Mostly, I loved the communication style between them. It always felt raw and authentic. There were also notable scenes with the support cast that I enjoyed. All dialogue in the drama felt mature and real for that matter.

The bad side of this drama is the many, many, many annoying side characters and filler/boring scenes. The plot was lacking big time and I constantly felt everything was repeating but with just different characters. The pacing was painfully slow which added to the boredom and frustration. FF/skip button was my best friend here.

PART 1:
Ep 1-10 mostly focused on the family (which irritated me), especially the grandmother who kept screaming and crying every 2 seconds. The scenes between the female lead and her mother were repetitive. The female lead is rebellious and doesn’t feel loved. The mother is strict and doesn’t know how to show her love. I get it. I definitely didn’t need 10 episodes and more of that same scenario to drive the point across.

Ep 11-20 had a useless love story between the female lead and the second male lead. If by the end I saw the female lead actually realising that she doesn’t truly love him and he is not the right man for him, I would have considered this story worth it. But nope. They break up only because of external forces.

Ep 21-27 finally started the romance between the main leads (even if it is a one-sided love so far). However there was tons of repetition of bullying that felt totally useless and just filler.

Overall, I would have enjoyed part 1 more if it was condensed in half without the many unnecessary side characters, fillers and repetition of bullying.

PART 2:
To be honest I didn’t pay attention to the episodes as I was on a mission to simply finish this. I did use the FF button A LOT, especially I massively skipped ep 40-50. Overall, I enjoyed the love story between the leads and the way they communicated with each other. But part 2 was extremely boring. I felt like I was again watching the same things as part 1. The best part was definitely the last 6 episodes which touched my heart and I even found myself crying at that one scene.

POSITIVE:
- Raw and real communication between the leads. Their talks always felt real, deep and authentic. They would fight but later talk about it and become closer. This to me portrayed beautifully how even if two people are at odds with each other, they can still work on finding common ground. With good communication and willingness to empathise with the other person, every relationship is able to succeed.
- Hot, hot, hot chemistry between the leads. All of their scenes are attention grabbing.
- Brilliant acting from the whole cast, especially the main leads.
- Wonderful cinematography and emotional bgm.
- The funniest and best matchmaker emperor in cdrama land.
- Mature, realistic feel with non-cliche dialogue.
- Gripping last 6 episodes.

NEGATIVE:
- Too slow paced, too drawn out, too many scenes that felt like fillers, too many scenes with side characters, too prolonged dialogue at times. In general, the drama would have been better for me if it was condensed in half and mostly focused on the main leads.
- Too many women vs women scenes, constant bullying, constant women against the female lead that felt very boring and extremely repetitive.
- Boring plot. Yes, many things were happening but most of the time I felt like nothing significant was happening for many, many episodes.
- No side couples. Instead of filler scenes with annoying characters who were against the female lead, I wish we had more romance.
- Repetition of the same conflicts (different characters that are doing the same thing to the female lead). This really made my blood boil.
- Love story issue. First part of the drama the female lead is engaged and likes another man. I felt like she learned nothing from that experience and was totally pointless. Their relationship could have just been a few episodes, not 10.
- No wedding! Seriously after enduring 56 episodes I cannot believe we didn’t get to see that.
- Many annoying characters. Like for real the drama just kept introducing more and more and more characters (especially women) that made my blood boil.
- Love like the galaxy where the love felt lost in the galaxy most of the time among the many, many boring and filler scenes.
- Took me literally months to finish this (you get my point).

OVERALL:
This drama is NOT my cup of tea (but it could have been if it was condensed in half and mainly focused on the main lead). However, if you like slow paced, mature and realistic historical stories, you might enjoy this more than I did.

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Entertaining rom-com with great skinship and hot kisses

The drama tells the story of the female lead who has been in love with her boss (male lead) for the past four years. One day she decides to confess her love, only to be rejected by him. But this is not the end of their love story.

Male lead is your typical CEO. Female lead is a writer who also becomes a scriptwriter to her upcoming movie (adapted from her novel). Second couple is male lead’s younger sister who becomes the actress in the movie and her love interest is the director.

THE REJECTION (episode 4)
Some people might be apprehensive to start this drama because how could the male lead suddenly like her after he rejected her and how could the female lead accept him after that. Well, I personally found the drama handled that storyline quite well. The female lead is a prideful and closed off woman so when confessing she gave him only superficial reasons for why she liked him (for his money and looks) instead of the truth. This didn’t sit well with the male lead and he rejected her. The female lead cried all night and the next day quitted her job and moved on from him. The male lead on the other hand had initial prejudice against her (believing she indeed only liked him for his money and looks) and was blind to his feelings for her until it was too late. As soon as he rejected her, we saw him instantly sad and regretful. He realised his mistake and hence began to pursue the female lead for many, many episodes.

POSITIVE:
- One of the best skinship and hot kiss scenes in a cdrama (seriously you need to watch this drama to know what I mean).
- Fun, relaxing and light-hearted rom-com vibe.
- No stupid love triangles or second male/female leads that try to break them up.
- No break ups. Male lead does take his time to pursue her but once they get together there is no separation.
- Great chemistry between the main leads. I could always feel the tension, angst and love between them.
- Healthy and supportive parents of both leads which is rare in a cdrama.
- Adorable cat pet.

NEGATIVE:
- Second half of the drama can feel a little draggy.
- Female lead force kisses the male lead. This scene can upset more sensitive people. I’m ok with it since it’s a drama not real life but people complained about it so I thought it’s worth pointing it out for those that are more sensitive to these things.

OVERALL:
If you are looking for a light-hearted rom-com where male chases the female, with very hot skinship and kiss scenes, you will enjoy this drama.

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Flat romance, lacklustre politics & ML reduced to side accessory

I usually start my reviews explaining what the drama is about but this one is misleading as hell. You think you get a second chance romance where the main leads rebirth from their late 30s back to 18, work on repairing their broken relationship and the corrupt court. But the story revolves around the past history and family rivalry between the female lead and the second male lead. If you are a fan of Zhang Linghe or like your male leads to be more than a love puppy support role, you will be massively disappointed with this drama.

Even though I very much enjoyed the first 12 episodes, the drama totally lost me afterwards. I was only able to finish it for ZLH, and also because of my NDD + FOMO.

The female lead in terms of her interpersonal relationships is a bully at first and emotionally insensitive to others. Although a smart cookie, confident and authority at court, in matters of the heart, she spends half the drama confused about her feelings. The second male lead has many romantic scenes with the female lead, and the focus is on his tragic first life. The director creates scenarios to make you want to sympathise with him but it all falls short and in fact annoys the audience even more. The male lead’s sole purpose in the drama is to be a love puppy and nothing more.

If the story was actually about the female lead and second male lead, I would have liked it. You have a love-hate relationship, power or love dynamic, family or love themes. I see the potential. But the writers did ZLH dirty by making him a lovesick puppy with no purpose in the plot. The poster of this drama is totally misleading and they should have put the second male lead in there (no hate to the actor, he is super cute) instead of ZLH.

POSITIVE:
- Zhang Linghe (ML). He is hands down the best part of this drama. I loved him in every scene, all his line deliveries were wonderful, he was great at comedy too. His character is a sweet, green flag cutie pie and the actor brings in the sexy factor too.
- Confident and authoritative female lead in terms of court/politics scenes.
- Lighthearted for the most part.
- Flashbacks from previous life are woven well into the story.
- Good comedy for the most part.
- Male lead’s jealousy scenes were 10/10. He cracked me up every time.
- Great acting from the main leads Zhang Linghe and Zhao Jin Mai.

NEGATIVE:
- Second male lead is actually the male lead. First half of the drama he has many romantic moments with the female lead (and even a special OST), and in the second half his story completely takes over the screen time. Giving him screen time is not as much of an issue as the way he was written and portrayed which drove many viewers into angry fits. He became an unwatchable character to the point that a lot of people were skipping his scenes. If the writers wanted to create a tragic villain, they failed.

- Male lead is just a side accessory and has no story arc. His emotional world is never explored. In all the major political plot points, he doesn’t contribute much to anything. His sole purpose is to be a love interest for the female lead. In fact, the female lead treats him badly many times but he still stays madly devoted to her. His mad devotion is never properly explained either which makes his character feel very one dimensional.

- Flat romance. The foundation of the romance is written poorly which didn’t allow me to connect with the couple. The reason their marriage failed in the first life is due to a somewhat silly misunderstanding. Even if I can find reasons why it makes sense, my biggest issue is that in episode 11 the male lead suddenly confesses that he has always loved her. But we aren’t shown why, how or when he fell for her. Aside from 2 second flashbacks where they glance at each other lovingly, we have no substance for this confession. It’s just a fact we are supposed to blindly accept. Throughout the drama he is blindly devoted to her and the writers failed to show me why. So even though the main leads looked good together, even though ZLH delivered beautiful romantic lines, I felt nothing for the couple. On top of that, their one steamy bath scene was abruptly cut, leaving the audience very unsatisfied.

- Love triangle. Usually in cdramas the female lead only has eyes for the male lead so love triangles are not really triangles for me and don’t bother me. But in this case, the female lead has actual confusing feelings for both men and is pondering for many episodes which one to choose. The worst part is that, even at episode 30 the director shows us romantic shots with her and the second male lead. In fact, they even have telepathy scenes where they stare at each other and speak the dialogue in their minds. Total soulmates right. Well, this love triangle could have worked if it was written right. But the fact is that pretty much everyone hated the second male lead and absolutely nobody was rooting for him to get the girl.

- Lacklustre politics. Nothing new I haven’t seen before, very simple and boring at times. In fact, the first life's story has more angst and is definitely a more exciting story to tell than the second life (which is the main plot of the drama).

- No logic. The male lead is the hottest piece of cake walking in and outside the court and the writers tell me that nobody wants a piece of that? (not even his wife for the most part?) #plothole (Ok it’s more of a joke but you know it’s true. It would have been a bit more realistic if he had at least one girl pining over him).

OVERALL:
Even though I didn’t have extremely high expectations I found myself very disappointed and misled by this drama. It’s one thing to highlight a second male lead and deepen the story but it’s unacceptable to reduce the male lead to nothing when he is one of the reasons many people have tuned in to watch. But even without the male lead issue, I found the plot of this drama very forgettable and boring. Nothing much stands out. Considering this is a S++ production (one of Youku’s highest budgeted dramas), this is a fail for me and one of my 2024 biggest disappointments.

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Chaotic, angsty & hilarious satire of the cdrama industry. Enemies to lovers + slow burn.

Hands down one of the best 2025 cdramas! This drama is about the female lead, who is an actress hired to star in a new drama as the female lead. Unexpectedly, she gets transported into the script of the drama, and becomes the actual female lead of that world. Forced to re-enach iconic scenes (that would ultimately lead to her death), she sets on a path to change the script, avoid the villainous male lead, and stay alive until the end.

POSITIVE:
- Handsome, strong and tragic male lead (scripts words, not mine haha). Liu Yu Ning does a perfect job at playing three different versions of his character. We get to see the male lead as a red flag villain, morally grey prince and soft-hearted martial artists.

- Brilliant satire of the cdrama industry. The best thing about the drama is that it uses the cliche tropes and scenes we are all painfully familiar with, but spins them into hilarious parodies. The drama totally makes fun of itself and mocks things like no-death during cliff falls, plot armour, save and beauty moments etc. I love that we get to see re-creation of some iconic scenes from popular dramas such as Till the End of the Moon, Love Like the Galaxy, A Journey to Love, One and Only, Story of Kunning Palace.

- Top-notch comedy. There is not a single episode where I wasn’t cracking up like crazy.

- Mix of comedy, politics, romance and sad/angsty moments. The drama blends to perfection the emotional highs and lows. One minute I would be crying buckets of tears or be extremely stressed, and then the next, cracking up like crazy.

- Enemies to lovers + slow burn romance + male chases female. The burn is slow, alright. It takes the female lead around 30 episodes to accept and reveal her feelings for the male lead. The romance is more angsty than fluffy.

- Complex script. The plot has so many layers I don’t even know where to begin with. Yes, the focus is the satire/parody, but at the same time, the drama delves into political intrigue, angsty family dynamics, as well as more abstract concepts like the butterfly dream (real vs fake world) and scriptwriting. The script is so well written that it’s amazing how it told us beforehand all the iconic scenes that were coming, and yet managed to create such unpredictable twists, it surprised us all. The most brilliant thing is that so many things didn’t make sense but at the same time, made perfect sense.

- Stunning production. From the setting designs, to costumes, action/fight scenes, cinematography. I especially love Li Shi Liu unique martial arts costumes.

- Great chemistry between the cast, especially the main leads. Everyone’s performance was brilliant. Liu Yu Ning shined the brightest in this role, his crying scenes were beautifully raw and he slayed the comedy timing too. His co-star, Li Yi Tong, did a phenomenal job too, it was my first time seeing her and I’m impressed. Noteworthy to mention is the Emperor’s scenes, that literally had me ready to throw rocks at my screen, fantastic performance.

- Great OST + BGM. Plus, the insert of A Journey to Love song was chef’s kiss.

- Ending. Brilliantly crafted. All character's arcs were wrapped up well and the transmigration portion was satisfying (considering the tight censorship).

NEGATIVE:
- I have to admit that in the middle of the drama there were a few things that annoyed me. First was the female lead’s prejudice. She kept rejecting the male lead and believing him to be the villain. She never wanted to hear him out or understand his pov. She had pre-conceive notions of how the script would play out, what he would do, and all this lasted for 30 episodes. She was stubborn and stuck in her ways. Also, she felt a bit undeveloped compared to the male lead, who was more fleshed out as a character. Second, the 18th Prince was slightly more irritating than funny. Third, the second couple felt like an odd pair, and I couldn’t ship them as much as I wanted to. HOWEVER, the last 8 episodes made all of these things better. The female lead shined bright when she finally trusted the male lead and started fighting alongside him. The 18th Prince development was fantastic and I even began to enjoy the second couple after their angsty scenes. So, although I was irritated in the middle, the final episodes made up for it!

OVERALL:
This IS the cdrama to watch if you are a cdrama lover. The satire of the whole cdrama industry is top notch and I feel like cdrama watchers will greatly appreciate it. A perfect blend of comedy, politics, angst and romance. The twists are too good to miss out on. This stunning production is extremely unique and brilliantly crafted. Best 2025 cdrama for me, I highly recommend it.

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Great cast & characters but weak plot

The drama is about the love story between the Floral Deity (male lead) and the camellia pixie (female lead). Although slow paced, the drama started off really well and I quickly fell in love with the characters and romance. But my excitement died down too quickly and the drama ended up disappointing me with its weak plot.

It’s worth mentioning that the first thing that pleasantly surprised me was the amazing AI face-swap. I literally couldn’t tell the new actress had re-shot all her scenes on a green screen. To me, she did an amazing job, knowing how tough it is to replace the previous actress. Having said that, I feel like the whole allure of this drama was that it was meant to be the reunion of Liu Xue Yi and Yuan Bing Yan. The initial vibe I got was totally that this is an alternative timeline of Love and Redemption where the second male lead actually gets the girl. As I mentioned, Hu Yi Xuan was amazing but at the same time, I always felt off, maybe because I knew she wasn’t there for all the scenes, or maybe because I watched the original trailer and I loved YBY’s scenes so much more. But when you think about it, the shooting, the clothes, hair, makeup were all designed for YBY so of course HYX was at a huge disadvantage. Anyway that’s just my observation, I don't want to get into any sort of fan wars about it.

PLOT BREAKDOWN:

Ep 1-11 / Immortal realm: 1st life
Very slow paced but the blossoming romance between the leads was cute.

Ep 12-22 / Mortal realm: 2nd life
Cultivation academy setting. Male lead is the master and the female lead is his disciple, pretending to be a man. Except for the female lead and second male lead, everyone else remembers the 1st life.

Ep 23-29 / Mortal realm: 3rd life
Palace setting + demon hunting. Male lead is a general and the female lead is a demon hunter. Only the female lead and second female lead remember the previous lives.

Ep 30-40 / Immortal realm
At this point I had lost interest in the drama and skipped lots just to finish it.

POSITIVE:
- Bromance. Liu Xue Yi and Ao Rui Peng’s characters and their relationship was the highlights for me. LXY’s character started off as grumpy and unapproachable but gradually softened up. He was strict and duty bound but still stood up for what he believed in and wanted. ARP’s character started off as an air-head and total clown (in a good way) but became mature and endearing at the end. I love that despite their opposite personalities, they always supported and loved each other.
- Sweet romance (for the most part). The main couple was the emotional type while the second couple leaned on the comedy.
- Masculine and authority male lead. Let’s face it, most of us watched the drama for him. I truly loved him in this role.
- Nice CGI and visual settings. Even though the style is very “old school" (since it was filmed in 2021), visually it still looked good and I can tell a lot of effort was put into the production.
- Second couple surprised me with their fun banter and good relationship development throughout the drama. The second female lead appeared to want the male lead at first but really, she just wanted to be an Empress. She definitely wasn’t the most likable character but knowing the second male lead liked her, I wanted them to work out for his sake.

NEGATIVE:
- Weak plot. My main issue with this drama is the boring plot. 40 episodes and almost NOTHING happens. Yes, the characters do things but it has very little impact on the story. The drama focuses on the love story between the leads which consists of constant back-and-forth. After ep 11 there was almost zero development of their romance. In fact I’m pretty sure if you skip to ep 30, you won’t miss a thing. Their 2 mortal lives (ep 12-29) felt like fillers, for the most part. A few significant things would happen to drive the plot forward but the rest was just blah blah blah. These lives could have literally been condensed to 3-4 episodes and would have had the same effect. Things like the male lead’s origin or female lead’’s cultivation were brushed over which is a shame as I think these would have at least added SOMETHING. The plot just felt bare-bones.
- Obsessively “in love” villain that was whiny the whole time. He was so pathetic and one dimensional that I HAD to skip his scenes.

OVERALL:
The romance started off great but after ep 11, had almost zero development. The plot was a bunch of nothingness, most of the time things were happening but nothing significant really happened. The leads had good chemistry but something felt off, maybe it was the bad plot or the fact that I knew the female lead was face-swapped/re-shot. In conclusion, I’d say this drama is boring, filled with the typical xianxia tropes and not really worth the watch.

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