I wanted to really like this as I enjoy both the main leads - but, in the end, its just did not work for me - on so many fronts. But, lets start with the good - the show performance were the best and I wish the had done more of these Now - what is wrong of rme: Primarily, the main relationship, I had so many issues with this. Starting with the very idea that a man who is a cardiac surgeon, a famous voice actor and gourmet chef (they seriously made him too perfect) - would be interested in a college student - I just found a bit creepy. Besides the singing/music - she was kind of bland. It didnt help that they completely infantilized her character (and this is completely on the writers and directors - NOT the actress) - dressed her like a small child (dear lord - those white socks all the time just made me want to scream), had her behave like she was a teenager and she was just never really comfortable around him (I put some of this on the actress herself as its clear she is still not comfortable in these roles). A good example of the actress not fitting this role was how she always stared at him like a fangirl instead of someone who is in love - the actress herself is young and couldn't pull off the difference - which then made it weird, cause it just always made it feel like the teenage fangirl who has this crush on her idol, instead of an adult relationship. Then there was the whole 'she's just shy' narrative - , but that only works for so long and after a certain amount of time -this just doesn't fly. Then there was the weird moments in the kitchen (of which there were way too many) - where she stood there awkwardly and just watched him while standing way too close - it was bizarre. I also get that is just a weird asian obsession to have submissive women - but this was a bit much. It honestly bothered me how much he behaved more like a parent, than an equal partner (telling her how to dress, gently steering her into things and the final kicker was the photo shoot at the end where he picks everything out and arranges without telling her). And, that right there was my biggest issue -they were NOT equal partners in any-way-shape-or form, there was a HUGE maturity gap between them and it just was awkward, cringey and a bit uncomfortable in places. As for the rest of the drama - I suppose, if you like slice of life dramas - you might like this - but, man, this one is draggy and, honestly, kind of boring. I could only take so many group eating/cooking scenes - it was just this on rinse and repeat.
Not much of a rom or a com. You dont really get any of the rom until the last 5 episodes and i dont find any of the trope antics comedic at all (of which there were way too many and just not done very well). I know most people thought the ML was rude in the beginning - but he just wasn’t into her and she kept being weird trying to pull of the ‘frail princess’ act - I would have kicked her to the curb as well. Another FL that I didn’t get why everyone likes her - she is kind of toxic and exhausting in that she gets mad every 5 seconds, jumps to wrong conclusions and doesnt listen. Annoyed me when they finally do get together and he is constantly apologizing for stuff that wasn’t even his fault just cause she got mad. If you are into gaming - you might like this as the majority of the story is about developing this game. They squeeze in some rom and corporate intrigue at the end And, for the love of god - can we stop with the ‘let’s date, but not tell anyone, except we aren’t very discreet and everyone figures it out pretty quickly’ trope - its just stupid in this day and age
I always have a hard time with a drama that tries to gaslight me into believing one of its main characters a a bad person when they haven’t actually done anything wrong. We are supposed to be mad at the ML for breaking up with the FL - but it just doesnt work given that she has lied about who she is from the beginning. This is our setup. And this just wanted some small white lie - it was a whopper. She then claims to have ‘tried’ to tell him multiple times and he just wouldn’t listen. Meanwhile he really finds out at the 11th hour and from someone else in a pretty awful way. He tells her to get lost, has a medical crisis and they part ways. She finds out after they break up she is pregnant and doesnt let him know. Which, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have a problem with - but the child is born with a heart condition he inherited from his dad. FF 4rs later - they happens to meet again and she still doesn’t let him know. Now, he is still pissed about the big lie and then later discovers he has a son - soooo, now two pretty big lies - yet, somehow, he gets portrayed as the bad guy because he was ‘mean to her’ FL turns out to be another, horribly insecure woman and they dont really give anough background to really understand her trust and insecurity issues - and she get a bit unreasonable about it all - but, if I had been given some understanding of why she was this way - it may have helped - maybe.
If an historical mystery/thriller is your thing - this one is pretty good. Good production quality and the story stays on track and has a good pace. Definitely worth a watch. While I loves me some Wang Yibo - really felt Huang Xuan really carried this. As for our two main female characters -not so much. I had trouble with both the Siyue and Liu Ran characters. While i loved how kickass Siyue could be - turns out she wasn’t really all that good at her job - it really was the boys who mostly figured everything out and she just kind of showed up. She was supposed to have grown up in the guards unit - but she was kind of clueless most of the time. And they just do her WRONG at the end - so not ok. But, the worst of it was the Liu Ran characters - dear lord - I don’t know who thought this was a good idea - but if I heard her screech out ‘Erlang” one more time - i was gonna break something. It does temper out towards the end - but it was such a distraction to the story and show. I just hated that they made her so clingy and childish - it was just such a drag on things whenever she was in the scene. And, what was probably the most completely useless character - Liu Ran’s brother. Complete plot ploy. He shows up halfway through, no backstory - he’s just kind of there and then his weird obsession with the childhood friend - just this weird side-story thst isn’t really connected to anything beyond to serve as a plot point for the last episode.
Just finished that I honestly cant give it that high of a rating - good it short and if you enjoy the domineering CEO, contact marriage, poor girl who makes it story - then give it a go. BUT, if you have an issue with poorly written FL characters - this one might just annoy you too much. This is not on the actress at all - but purely a writers/directors issue (as is all to often the case in these dramas) They made her clumsy (seriously, how many times did she trip and fall - it got ridiculous), while clearly creative - not very bright, horribly insecure, completely clueless about stuff around her (myopic vision to the point of annoyance), horrible fashion sense - compounded by the fact that the character is a fashion designer - she spent way too much time in poorly fitting jeans and t-shirts and big bows in her hair (seriously, is she 12!), overly stubborn, jumps to wrong conclusions, gets mad easily, doesn't want anyone's help (this whole narrative just drives me bonkers in general - this idea that getting/asking/receiving help in anyway is somehow a bad thing). She had a very low EQ, couldn't be honest about her own feelings until pushed past the wall and REALLy hated that you had this already stick-skinny woman and they had her constantly talk about being fat and crash dieting (to the point of becoming physically ill). And, finally, start her out as 'tough' to just devolve her into this childish, damsel in distress character at the end On the ML side - the cold CEO - what killed this for me was how verbally abusive he was - if her called her stupid one more time - I thought I might throw my screen against the wall. He was manipulative and controlling to a level that was not ok and to somehow try and romanticize this is just not cool. This drama clearly had a low clothing budget - while I do appreciate seeing characters wear things more than once - this got a bit much - the SML literally wore the same tie the entire show, the villain childhood girl wore the same green Chanel outfit wya too often, the bad jeans for the FL and someone how a very disturbing obsession with big bows Weird hair and makeup choices for some of the male characters - his secretary looked like vampire and his friend/coworker looked like he just got electrocuted (the hair frizz, mop head was awful) - and can we PLEASE stop with the bad red hair dying jobs. And, last but not least - if you are going to make your FL a fashion designer - dress her better to start with (its was the bad cross between frumpy and teenager). And if you are going to do a fashion show - do some fashion - most of those dresses looked off-the-rack.
Just wrapped this up and its was just ok I want to give props for the creators of this drama for trying to tackle any sort of mental illness in a drama - given how pervasive of a taboo this is in most asian countries. That being said - unfortunately they did a big disservice to people dealing with acutal deperession - cause that is NOT what this woman was suffereing from. I mean, it would have been enough to just tackle the horrendous pressure and unrealistic work/family expectation that exist - so much so that one gets burnt-out, has anxiety and suffers from low self-esteem - cause that is what was going on here, not depression (and I say this having grown up with someone who actually suffered from depression). I was also really bothered that they really failed to address, what was essentially her biggest issue and where it started it all - her unhealthy obsession with studying. She developed this unhealthy studying habit at an early age - which is really what led to most of her issues - and that was really pushed aside. I mean, she was physically harming herself in order to study so much - this is not ok. The other issue really never addressed is this mindset of - I must suffer alone, not get help (super-happy that they do show her getting mental help from a therapist - but won't get help from anyone else around her or for anything else) Her friend was kind of pointless -as a character - didnt add much to the story besides helping with the 2nd lead pairing and trop - beyond that she kind wasn't that helpful and more often than not gave really bad advice (this is common in these dramas and annoying af.) SERIOUS issue with the amount of alcohol being consumed - bye EVERYONE - especially her family. Again, not a healthy relationship with alcohol in any-way-shape-or-form. And, even worse that someone who is taking depression meds would be drinking this much is just wrong. And, the biggest issue with all the drinking is they all mostly did it as a way to deal with emotions and drank in excess - it was kind of disturbing SOOOOO do not get the obsession with HS - these are grown adults in their 30's and still obsessed with stuff that happened in HS While I mostly ended up loving her mom - she did have a moment that bothered me - FL has just been diagnoses with depression, quite her job and mom thinks - yeah, this would be perfect time to set her up on a blind date. Luckily, she learns from it all and this is what I loved about this character - thought she was actually the one character that had the most growth. On the flip side - his mom - JUST. THE.WORST! and I am so glad there wasn't a reconciliation here. And, can we please stop having the FL go running off with the villain to confront them by themselves - its just getting to be a really bad cliche. I love the ML - but the decision to have him play this character that was a mix between his Heirs character and his SWDBS character - when he should have been more like his Happiness or Soundtrack character, I thought was a poor decision. The fl character was a toss-up for me - mostly because its clear they dont what depression is - so the character doesn't work because you are saying she has one thing, yet she is not behaving that way. Their relationship was just ok - it worked in some place, but not others - mostly because they overplayed his childishness and her lack of social skills. In the end - if you like this genre - its worth a watch, but dont have high expectations.
Learning to lower my expectations of drama’s that I have been waiting for - this was no exception. I was so excited for this for DXY and the whole cat thing after Love you Seven Times - but, have to say, it was a huge let down (except for him) - man does he have the cat mojo down (and I wish they have played with that more). Also need to see him in more white hair! As for the rest of it - I found it quite boring until the last 10 episodes. The relationship between the ML and Chen Shi is good - but the rest of it was just - ‘meh’ - the rest of the characters where just not that interesting Kind of sad with how they wrapped up the WZM character - could have doe better here DID NOT get the whole Alibaba character AT ALL - and almost felt insulted by it - almost Weird that they didn’t bring the Ren Min character back at the end - while she wasn’t a central character - it was weird to just ship her off and never bring her back The other stragenge piece was the the whole empress character - they tease early on about her agin backward (which plays into the whole bone and blood stuff the Yong’an old farts were doing) - and then dont do anything with it. Over all - starts off fun, then gets REALLY boring through the middle and then more interesting towards the end when we get back to the ML’s story and mystery
Why are you disappointed with Shen Yue she's good at everything not only Chen Zhe Yuan who carried the drama but…
I wasn’t disappointed in Shen Yue, the actress, I was disappointed in the character as written by the writers and directed by the director and styled by the stylist. learn the difference
Only made it to ep 21 and had to drop it because the FL was soooo fricking annoying. She is that spoiled, little princess who never really grows up. She kinda lost me at the beginning with the whole hypnotizing the ML without his consent - just,not ok in any way - and I just could never really like her after that. Waited for some character growth and she had it for a moment and then as soon as they get back together - back to being the spoiled, self-absorbed child again. Not mention, just how utterly dumb she was - like, box of rocks dumb. She was another one of those female leads that you just dont get why everyone is fawning al over her. Came here for Alan Feng - but just couldn’t hang on any more.
Holy hell, what was that hot mess of a short drama. I feel like i lost a few brain cells after watching it. Only worth binging for ML and his abs - the rest is just a disjointed mess.
Just finished this and dont have much to add from what has already been commented on. Just a HUGE disappointment. I enjoy most of the actors - it really was just a crap script at the end of the day. LOVE, love, love that KKY finally got a lead role and he did well with what he had FL was just weird - a poorly written FL character that starts out good and then just devolves into this stupid woman. Not sure what is going on with the actresses face - but it was weird that she has no movement in it, which gives her very little to no emotional expression (I dont know the reason and am NOT going to speculate the why - just commenting that it was noticeable and weird)
Just finished this up and if you like this genre - give it a watch Jo Jung Suk gives a great performance as the King - he really does carry this drama and his performance is enough to watch it FL is just ok - got kind of bored with the blind, revenge part of it - she is supposed to be smart and part of the noble class and then doesnt get that there might be more to it than she knows and she spends NO time trying to find out exactly what happened. Another Asian actress that doesnt know how to kiss - while the leads do have some ok chemistry (mostly carried by the ML) - it gets ruined whenever they go in for the kiss because she is practically non-participatory - I mean, come on - at least embrace him and act like you are in to it to some degree - you are supposed to be in-love with this person- that last scene is just pathetic and it just ruins the reunion.
Just finished this up and if you like this genre - give it a watch Jo Jung Suk gives a great performance as the King - he really does carry this drama and his performance is enough to watch it FL is just ok - got kind of bored with the blind, revenge part of it - she is supposed to be smart and part of the noble class and then doesnt get that there might be more to it than she knows and she spends NO time trying to find out exactly what happened. Another Asian actress that doesnt know how to kiss - while they leads do have some ok chemistry (mostly carried by the ML) - it gets ruined whenever they go in for the kiss because she is practically non-participatory - I mean, come on - at least embrace him and act like you are ending it to some degree - you are supposed to be in-love it’s this person- that last scene is just pathetic and it just ruins the reunion.
Just finished this and my god, what a horrible script - it is very clear that whoever wrote this doesn’t not think very well of women. Almost all of them were pretty horrible in some way. The FL character was so toxic - especially in the first half. I get that they were trying to go for badass - but she just came off as mean-spirited, petty and arrogant. Never apologizes, makes the ML chase her around apologize all the time (which he does and it was annoying - especially when he was not at fault at all) Childhood sweetheart/neighbor girl was just annoying - whined, pouted and threw tantrums all over the place BFF.colleague of FL was super-judgmental, had serious trust issues (which weren’t really explained) Her mom was a bit cray-cray and the usual Asian mom who is obsessed with marrying off her daughter and try to match her someone she doesnt like. Just, all around bad story - save your time and go watch something else.
Finished this up a couple of days ago and it was just ok for me. Certainly though Leo Wu did a great job with the intense stares - but I just couldn't get with the FL character. She was just too young for me and I definitely felt a maturity gap between the two of them - which makes sense given their life experiences when they meet. But the character growth for her just takes waaayyy too long and the relationship just sits in a weird place - like, they have been dating for over two years an she is still very furtive and shy with him as if they just met and its just weird. I am also realizing as I reading the novel - that so much of this is because the damn censors, writers and directors - took what is essentially a pretty erotic novel and ran with it through the super-conservative censor filter and its just doesn't come out the same way. Everything about the novel is much more gritty - from being in NYC, to the ML being much scruffier, to a FL who isn't so timid. But hey, this is just my take and not everything is for everyone.
Just finished this and can I jsut say - what cray-cray person wrote this? Could have been a fun rom-com - but jsut a horrible script - right from the get-go. Let’s start with the opening set - a FL who ‘falls’ for her boss at first site (can we PLEASE stop with trope). Secretly and creepily takes photos of him (even has a stalker wall). Gets roped into helping him woo her best friend (which she does, knowing her friend doesnt like him and it’s all a set up for her to spend time with him). He eventually breaks up with said friend and then she proceeds to try to get his attention. She finally decides she is going to ‘confess’ and does so in THE most awkward way. -shows up at WORK no less, in a fancy dress, confesses, he rejects, she sexually assaults him. Now -for some reason the writers decided to then spend 20+ episodes making us try and believe he is the bad guy and she is the victim and she was in-love with him (as opposed to just having a crush and being a bit obsesses (refer back to the stalker wall) - so its all on him. Yeah, no. He then realizes he does actually like her and spend myriads of time apologizing and telling her how much he likes her and she is just petty and mean - seriously, this went on FOREVER and he should have just walked away - but, no - its a rom-com, so lets drag it out. The whole thing is just awful and tries to romanticize having a crush, being obsessed with someone, stalker behavior and toxic behavior. If this was a male character doing this, we would all be even more outraged. Why they think having a female character do this is ok is beyond me. Then we get to the last 5 episodes or so - where we start filming her movie and then we move into Dingding and Director Lu time - sooooo much screen time given to Dingding which I so could have done without. But by this time - we have kind of runout the clock on the main leads and we need filler. But Dingding is such an annoying, childish, whiney character - I just didn’t even want to spend any time here - which was hard because Director Lu is HOT! Did appreciate that there was no awful parents (both sets were quite enjoyable) and no annoying friends giving terrible advice Lastly - lets talk to whoever the stylist was on this show - cause they got go. The absolutely horrible cut-off jean shorts everyone, the combat boots on the girls (listen - they were both way too skinny to be pulling off these looks). The awful hair for almost everyone (her bun and director Lu’s man bun - which made NO SENSE as his hair was not long enoug, so it served NO purpose) - just all really bad. And the typical - let’s dress the FL in super-frumpy clothes all the time. Basically - unless you are REALLY craving some Miles time and Lu Zhi Xing - just move right along.
But, lets start with the good - the show performance were the best and I wish the had done more of these
Now - what is wrong of rme:
Primarily, the main relationship, I had so many issues with this. Starting with the very idea that a man who is a cardiac surgeon, a famous voice actor and gourmet chef (they seriously made him too perfect) - would be interested in a college student - I just found a bit creepy. Besides the singing/music - she was kind of bland.
It didnt help that they completely infantilized her character (and this is completely on the writers and directors - NOT the actress) - dressed her like a small child (dear lord - those white socks all the time just made me want to scream), had her behave like she was a teenager and she was just never really comfortable around him (I put some of this on the actress herself as its clear she is still not comfortable in these roles).
A good example of the actress not fitting this role was how she always stared at him like a fangirl instead of someone who is in love - the actress herself is young and couldn't pull off the difference - which then made it weird, cause it just always made it feel like the teenage fangirl who has this crush on her idol, instead of an adult relationship.
Then there was the whole 'she's just shy' narrative - , but that only works for so long and after a certain amount of time -this just doesn't fly.
Then there was the weird moments in the kitchen (of which there were way too many) - where she stood there awkwardly and just watched him while standing way too close - it was bizarre.
I also get that is just a weird asian obsession to have submissive women - but this was a bit much. It honestly bothered me how much he behaved more like a parent, than an equal partner (telling her how to dress, gently steering her into things and the final kicker was the photo shoot at the end where he picks everything out and arranges without telling her).
And, that right there was my biggest issue -they were NOT equal partners in any-way-shape-or form, there was a HUGE maturity gap between them and it just was awkward, cringey and a bit uncomfortable in places.
As for the rest of the drama - I suppose, if you like slice of life dramas - you might like this - but, man, this one is draggy and, honestly, kind of boring. I could only take so many group eating/cooking scenes - it was just this on rinse and repeat.
You dont really get any of the rom until the last 5 episodes and i dont find any of the trope antics comedic at all (of which there were way too many and just not done very well).
I know most people thought the ML was rude in the beginning - but he just wasn’t into her and she kept being weird trying to pull of the ‘frail princess’ act - I would have kicked her to the curb as well.
Another FL that I didn’t get why everyone likes her - she is kind of toxic and exhausting in that she gets mad every 5 seconds, jumps to wrong conclusions and doesnt listen.
Annoyed me when they finally do get together and he is constantly apologizing for stuff that wasn’t even his fault just cause she got mad.
If you are into gaming - you might like this as the majority of the story is about developing this game.
They squeeze in some rom and corporate intrigue at the end
And, for the love of god - can we stop with the ‘let’s date, but not tell anyone, except we aren’t very discreet and everyone figures it out pretty quickly’ trope - its just stupid in this day and age
And this just wanted some small white lie - it was a whopper. She then claims to have ‘tried’ to tell him multiple times and he just wouldn’t listen. Meanwhile he really finds out at the 11th hour and from someone else in a pretty awful way. He tells her to get lost, has a medical crisis and they part ways. She finds out after they break up she is pregnant and doesnt let him know. Which, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have a problem with - but the child is born with a heart condition he inherited from his dad. FF 4rs later - they happens to meet again and she still doesn’t let him know. Now, he is still pissed about the big lie and then later discovers he has a son - soooo, now two pretty big lies - yet, somehow, he gets portrayed as the bad guy because he was ‘mean to her’
FL turns out to be another, horribly insecure woman and they dont really give anough background to really understand her trust and insecurity issues - and she get a bit unreasonable about it all - but, if I had been given some understanding of why she was this way - it may have helped - maybe.
While I loves me some Wang Yibo - really felt Huang Xuan really carried this.
As for our two main female characters -not so much.
I had trouble with both the Siyue and Liu Ran characters.
While i loved how kickass Siyue could be - turns out she wasn’t really all that good at her job - it really was the boys who mostly figured everything out and she just kind of showed up. She was supposed to have grown up in the guards unit - but she was kind of clueless most of the time.
And they just do her WRONG at the end - so not ok.
But, the worst of it was the Liu Ran characters - dear lord - I don’t know who thought this was a good idea - but if I heard her screech out ‘Erlang” one more time - i was gonna break something. It does temper out towards the end - but it was such a distraction to the story and show. I just hated that they made her so clingy and childish - it was just such a drag on things whenever she was in the scene.
And, what was probably the most completely useless character - Liu Ran’s brother. Complete plot ploy. He shows up halfway through, no backstory - he’s just kind of there and then his weird obsession with the childhood friend - just this weird side-story thst isn’t really connected to anything beyond to serve as a plot point for the last episode.
BUT, if you have an issue with poorly written FL characters - this one might just annoy you too much. This is not on the actress at all - but purely a writers/directors issue (as is all to often the case in these dramas)
They made her clumsy (seriously, how many times did she trip and fall - it got ridiculous), while clearly creative - not very bright, horribly insecure, completely clueless about stuff around her (myopic vision to the point of annoyance), horrible fashion sense - compounded by the fact that the character is a fashion designer - she spent way too much time in poorly fitting jeans and t-shirts and big bows in her hair (seriously, is she 12!), overly stubborn, jumps to wrong conclusions, gets mad easily, doesn't want anyone's help (this whole narrative just drives me bonkers in general - this idea that getting/asking/receiving help in anyway is somehow a bad thing). She had a very low EQ, couldn't be honest about her own feelings until pushed past the wall and REALLy hated that you had this already stick-skinny woman and they had her constantly talk about being fat and crash dieting (to the point of becoming physically ill). And, finally, start her out as 'tough' to just devolve her into this childish, damsel in distress character at the end
On the ML side - the cold CEO - what killed this for me was how verbally abusive he was - if her called her stupid one more time - I thought I might throw my screen against the wall. He was manipulative and controlling to a level that was not ok and to somehow try and romanticize this is just not cool.
This drama clearly had a low clothing budget - while I do appreciate seeing characters wear things more than once - this got a bit much - the SML literally wore the same tie the entire show, the villain childhood girl wore the same green Chanel outfit wya too often, the bad jeans for the FL and someone how a very disturbing obsession with big bows
Weird hair and makeup choices for some of the male characters - his secretary looked like vampire and his friend/coworker looked like he just got electrocuted (the hair frizz, mop head was awful) - and can we PLEASE stop with the bad red hair dying jobs.
And, last but not least - if you are going to make your FL a fashion designer - dress her better to start with (its was the bad cross between frumpy and teenager). And if you are going to do a fashion show - do some fashion - most of those dresses looked off-the-rack.
I want to give props for the creators of this drama for trying to tackle any sort of mental illness in a drama - given how pervasive of a taboo this is in most asian countries.
That being said - unfortunately they did a big disservice to people dealing with acutal deperession - cause that is NOT what this woman was suffereing from. I mean, it would have been enough to just tackle the horrendous pressure and unrealistic work/family expectation that exist - so much so that one gets burnt-out, has anxiety and suffers from low self-esteem - cause that is what was going on here, not depression (and I say this having grown up with someone who actually suffered from depression). I was also really bothered that they really failed to address, what was essentially her biggest issue and where it started it all - her unhealthy obsession with studying. She developed this unhealthy studying habit at an early age - which is really what led to most of her issues - and that was really pushed aside. I mean, she was physically harming herself in order to study so much - this is not ok.
The other issue really never addressed is this mindset of - I must suffer alone, not get help (super-happy that they do show her getting mental help from a therapist - but won't get help from anyone else around her or for anything else)
Her friend was kind of pointless -as a character - didnt add much to the story besides helping with the 2nd lead pairing and trop - beyond that she kind wasn't that helpful and more often than not gave really bad advice (this is common in these dramas and annoying af.)
SERIOUS issue with the amount of alcohol being consumed - bye EVERYONE - especially her family. Again, not a healthy relationship with alcohol in any-way-shape-or-form. And, even worse that someone who is taking depression meds would be drinking this much is just wrong. And, the biggest issue with all the drinking is they all mostly did it as a way to deal with emotions and drank in excess - it was kind of disturbing
SOOOOO do not get the obsession with HS - these are grown adults in their 30's and still obsessed with stuff that happened in HS
While I mostly ended up loving her mom - she did have a moment that bothered me - FL has just been diagnoses with depression, quite her job and mom thinks - yeah, this would be perfect time to set her up on a blind date. Luckily, she learns from it all and this is what I loved about this character - thought she was actually the one character that had the most growth.
On the flip side - his mom - JUST. THE.WORST! and I am so glad there wasn't a reconciliation here.
And, can we please stop having the FL go running off with the villain to confront them by themselves - its just getting to be a really bad cliche.
I love the ML - but the decision to have him play this character that was a mix between his Heirs character and his SWDBS character - when he should have been more like his Happiness or Soundtrack character, I thought was a poor decision.
The fl character was a toss-up for me - mostly because its clear they dont what depression is - so the character doesn't work because you are saying she has one thing, yet she is not behaving that way.
Their relationship was just ok - it worked in some place, but not others - mostly because they overplayed his childishness and her lack of social skills.
In the end - if you like this genre - its worth a watch, but dont have high expectations.
I was so excited for this for DXY and the whole cat thing after Love you Seven Times - but, have to say, it was a huge let down (except for him) - man does he have the cat mojo down (and I wish they have played with that more). Also need to see him in more white hair!
As for the rest of it - I found it quite boring until the last 10 episodes.
The relationship between the ML and Chen Shi is good - but the rest of it was just - ‘meh’ - the rest of the characters where just not that interesting
Kind of sad with how they wrapped up the WZM character - could have doe better here
DID NOT get the whole Alibaba character AT ALL - and almost felt insulted by it - almost
Weird that they didn’t bring the Ren Min character back at the end - while she wasn’t a central character - it was weird to just ship her off and never bring her back
The other stragenge piece was the the whole empress character - they tease early on about her agin backward (which plays into the whole bone and blood stuff the Yong’an old farts were doing) - and then dont do anything with it.
Over all - starts off fun, then gets REALLY boring through the middle and then more interesting towards the end when we get back to the ML’s story and mystery
Came here for Alan Feng - but just couldn’t hang on any more.
Only worth binging for ML and his abs - the rest is just a disjointed mess.
LOVE, love, love that KKY finally got a lead role and he did well with what he had
FL was just weird - a poorly written FL character that starts out good and then just devolves into this stupid woman. Not sure what is going on with the actresses face - but it was weird that she has no movement in it, which gives her very little to no emotional expression (I dont know the reason and am NOT going to speculate the why - just commenting that it was noticeable and weird)
Jo Jung Suk gives a great performance as the King - he really does carry this drama and his performance is enough to watch it
FL is just ok - got kind of bored with the blind, revenge part of it - she is supposed to be smart and part of the noble class and then doesnt get that there might be more to it than she knows and she spends NO time trying to find out exactly what happened.
Another Asian actress that doesnt know how to kiss - while the leads do have some ok chemistry (mostly carried by the ML) - it gets ruined whenever they go in for the kiss because she is practically non-participatory - I mean, come on - at least embrace him and act like you are in to it to some degree - you are supposed to be in-love with this person- that last scene is just pathetic and it just ruins the reunion.
Jo Jung Suk gives a great performance as the King - he really does carry this drama and his performance is enough to watch it
FL is just ok - got kind of bored with the blind, revenge part of it - she is supposed to be smart and part of the noble class and then doesnt get that there might be more to it than she knows and she spends NO time trying to find out exactly what happened.
Another Asian actress that doesnt know how to kiss - while they leads do have some ok chemistry (mostly carried by the ML) - it gets ruined whenever they go in for the kiss because she is practically non-participatory - I mean, come on - at least embrace him and act like you are ending it to some degree - you are supposed to be in-love it’s this person- that last scene is just pathetic and it just ruins the reunion.
The FL character was so toxic - especially in the first half.
I get that they were trying to go for badass - but she just came off as mean-spirited, petty and arrogant. Never apologizes, makes the ML chase her around apologize all the time (which he does and it was annoying - especially when he was not at fault at all)
Childhood sweetheart/neighbor girl was just annoying - whined, pouted and threw tantrums all over the place
BFF.colleague of FL was super-judgmental, had serious trust issues (which weren’t really explained)
Her mom was a bit cray-cray and the usual Asian mom who is obsessed with marrying off her daughter and try to match her someone she doesnt like.
Just, all around bad story - save your time and go watch something else.
I am also realizing as I reading the novel - that so much of this is because the damn censors, writers and directors - took what is essentially a pretty erotic novel and ran with it through the super-conservative censor filter and its just doesn't come out the same way. Everything about the novel is much more gritty - from being in NYC, to the ML being much scruffier, to a FL who isn't so timid.
But hey, this is just my take and not everything is for everyone.
Could have been a fun rom-com - but jsut a horrible script - right from the get-go.
Let’s start with the opening set - a FL who ‘falls’ for her boss at first site (can we PLEASE stop with trope). Secretly and creepily takes photos of him (even has a stalker wall). Gets roped into helping him woo her best friend (which she does, knowing her friend doesnt like him and it’s all a set up for her to spend time with him). He eventually breaks up with said friend and then she proceeds to try to get his attention. She finally decides she is going to ‘confess’ and does so in THE most awkward way. -shows up at WORK no less, in a fancy dress, confesses, he rejects, she sexually assaults him.
Now -for some reason the writers decided to then spend 20+ episodes making us try and believe he is the bad guy and she is the victim and she was in-love with him (as opposed to just having a crush and being a bit obsesses (refer back to the stalker wall) - so its all on him. Yeah, no.
He then realizes he does actually like her and spend myriads of time apologizing and telling her how much he likes her and she is just petty and mean - seriously, this went on FOREVER and he should have just walked away - but, no - its a rom-com, so lets drag it out.
The whole thing is just awful and tries to romanticize having a crush, being obsessed with someone, stalker behavior and toxic behavior. If this was a male character doing this, we would all be even more outraged. Why they think having a female character do this is ok is beyond me.
Then we get to the last 5 episodes or so - where we start filming her movie and then we move into Dingding and Director Lu time - sooooo much screen time given to Dingding which I so could have done without. But by this time - we have kind of runout the clock on the main leads and we need filler. But Dingding is such an annoying, childish, whiney character - I just didn’t even want to spend any time here - which was hard because Director Lu is HOT!
Did appreciate that there was no awful parents (both sets were quite enjoyable) and no annoying friends giving terrible advice
Lastly - lets talk to whoever the stylist was on this show - cause they got go. The absolutely horrible cut-off jean shorts everyone, the combat boots on the girls (listen - they were both way too skinny to be pulling off these looks). The awful hair for almost everyone (her bun and director Lu’s man bun - which made NO SENSE as his hair was not long enoug, so it served NO purpose) - just all really bad. And the typical - let’s dress the FL in super-frumpy clothes all the time.
Basically - unless you are REALLY craving some Miles time and Lu Zhi Xing - just move right along.