First I want to say that despite all of the problems with the drama's writing and especially the leads, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Director Yang Lei did an amazing job of portraying the more toxic aspects of the story with the fantasy sequences, lighting, music choices, color story and staging. If you're on the fence about starting it, I'd say if you're able to deal with toxic and often unlikable characters, including the FL, and are interested in innovative filmmaking then give this a shot.
Rating: 7.5/10. That seems low but that's the rating I give to dramas with serious flaws that I enjoyed anyway.
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The drama turned into a wacky comedy in the final episode which is deranged. And we got zero sweet moments between Bei and Xiaoxi and instead an ambiguous ending that implies they're together but doesn't actually confirm it. I honestly think it should have ended when she jumped into the lake and swam away from both of them, that would have made more sense and thematically fit the rest of the drama. Instead we got this weird buddy comedy and forced happy endings for everyone.
The reveal about Xiaoxi's father was not dealt with well. She was so traumatized by discovering her father had another daughter that she entered a profession that is borderline sex work and never had a healthy romantic relationship and yet the whole thing got wrapped up in 2 minutes with no negative reaction from her and instant forgiveness for her father. The really unforgivable thing was her parents not telling her sooner, she's in her thirties so why didn't daddy say something, especially when his older daughter got married? Maybe Xiaoxi would like to meet her older sister? What a mess.
Throughout the drama I thought Olivia Wang was miscast because the character is 24-years-old in the manhua and her behavior is a lot more forgivable coming from an immature woman who doesn't know herself yet and is figuring out life. But in the final episode I realized that her performance was exactly what the screenwriter and director wanted from her. I think it was a mistake. It made her seem narcissistic, cynical, manipulative and lacking in empathy and her supposed character growth came very late and very suddenly.
Gong getting someone to film his manhua with the happy ending he wanted was pretty funny but why the hell were all his friends at the shoot? Also, the comedy is tonally completely off from the rest of the drama. Also also, I can't believe that the shoot is the only time we see Xiaoxi and Bei together after she swims away from the men at the lake. Just, wat? The last we see of Xiaoxi and Bei is Gong still carrying a torch for her to the extent he makes a fucking drama about her???? They weren't even holding hands, lawd. (FYI, the director in that scene was played by the drama's real director, Yang Lei.)
Something else occurred to me: Bei beat the shit out of Lin Chen, leaving him with bruises, bandages and a limp, but Gong openly goes after Xiaoxi but essentially no reaction from Bei except a buddy comedy. Make it make sense.
Xiu and Yu were the most realistic. My ex-husband is a musician and we went through very similar problems only he didn't cheat on me, thankfully. After we divorced we both succeeded in our careers and were much happier. I think the production did really well to show that journey. That was my favorite happy ending out of all of them.
Sen and Mingming had a lot of cute moments and I hope they go the distance but I wonder if we visit them 10 years down the road whether they'll be in the same place as Xiu and Yu.
I didn't think Luan Luan, Guan, Lin Chen and Zhan needed hints at being coupled/reconciling. It felt very forced.
This was by far the weakest episode and a very annoying ending but I will still be thinking about this drama for a long time. Some of my favorite scenes include the restaurant debacle that looked like it was filmed in a literal cage, the movie theater scene with Lin Chen and Xiaoxi. and the stage play aimed at Xiu and Yu. It's rare to see this level of creativity and risk taking in a Cdrama so I appreciate the story for that alone.
I liked the sweet flashback to how Sen met Mingming but she was already in the middle of that mess with Lun. Ugh. Too bad they couldn't meet without that relationship hanging over both of them.
Zhen's confession had me sputtering. Lying and stalking are crazytown. Why are all these women doing the most to get with Bei??? Yes he looks like Liu Yuning but otherwise there's nothing interesting about him.
Xiaoxi and Bei's confrontation was the first time I felt sympathy for her because it would hurt a lot to know that your boyfriend gave you special chocolate because his ex liked it and that he can't let go of the old car they drove together. Also getting together on the same day that Zhen lied about getting married screams rebound relationship. I think Bei has zero emotional intelligence and doesn't understand himself. He's finally got a personality, a kind of crappy one.
Got nothing to say about Gong's confession, it's 100% screenwriter needs to fill ten episodes so let's throw character development under the bus.
I love love love how they wrapped things up with Yu and Xiu! They're both better off without each other! Yu can finally shake off her mother's judgment, put 6000 miles of distance between them and live her own life happily. Xiu can wholeheartedly pursue music and live with the dog he wanted. Yes, divorce is good and necessary sometimes (there better not be a last minute reconciliation or I'll have to flip a fucking table)
Sen's proposal was very sweet and um I hope they stay the distance but I think if we drop in on them ten years from now we may see something similar to Yu and Xiu.
I approve of Xiaoxi blocking Bei and Gong but the problem is she's going to unblock them 😠I actually liked the little scene with the cringey dialogue between Bei and Gong because Sen and Mingming were doing that obnoxious thing of being extremely coupled while they twisted in the wind.
Do you think Xiaoxi will ever ask her father about the stupid memory? Dad isn't acting guilty at all so it's going to turn out to be something innocuous and I'll have to flip another table.
There's coincidences and then there's randomly run into the ex-husband of the woman who pimped me out and ruined my life. I feel like we've entered vShort territory. But the most improbable thing about that scene was Xiaoxi expressing empathy.
Maybe I'm just numb at this point but I still have no regrets about watching this drama, everyone needs a wtf watch once in a while.
because if answer is yes, you could understand her ambiguity towards Gong: she has some feelings for him (he's…
Bei and Xiaoxi will end up together but I saw an interview with Olivia Wang and she thinks that Gong-Xiaoxi-Bei are a love triangle. So I think that carried over to her performance and also the director made that scene really ambiguous by not letting us see her answer. I'm very sure that in the final episode we will get a flashback to her say no I never had feelings for you.
Everyone saying ml deserve better,bt i think i'm the one.My head is hurt.🤒
The only thing Bei has going for him is he looks like Liu Yuning 😅 otherwise he's a 2D person with no personality. And yes he kept things from Xiaoxi too.
After episode 23 all I can say is Bei deserves whatever he gets
Also, yes An Miu is way out of line but she's also a good example of why people don't want to tell friends when their partners are cheating on them. She was 100% right to call out Bei for blaming everyone except Xiaoxi for her lies and generally shitty behavior.
I gave this a higher score than you did because of the mostly excellent acting (tho not Hu Ge, especially at the end which was a big problem for me). I can't say I wasn't entertained but all of the problems you cited are absolutely correct. Plus you brought up things I wouldn't know as someone who isn't of Chinese descent so thank you for that.
Ooh I found out from Xiaohongshu that episode 22 and beyond are original content because the manhua hasn't finished yet. So this is very interesting, I'm curious to see what the screenwriter is going to do.
Is it just me or is anyone else having a great time watching this drama ? i m actually in ep14 fingers crossed…
I actually love it even though I think I hate most of the people in the story 😂 it's just so interesting to watch these messy people be messy all over each other. ETA: this drama definitely doesn't deserve a 7.1 if for no other reason than the directing is so creative and well done. The cinematography is fantastic my mind. The OST is great too.
She is a castrating wife. She always talks to him so badly. It seems that at the beginning she was really admiring…
She's wrong to speak to him that way but I think she's also exhausted by being the adult in the relationship and having to take on all the responsibility. Of all the situations in the drama I think this one is the most realistic, I've seen this dynamic in real life
Ning Ge, I’m so sorry. You’ve worked so hard for this drama and you did such an amazing job with your character.…
He knew that the character didn't have a lot of screentime when he signed up for the project because it was the same in the manhua so don't feel too sorry for him. He decided to make this drama so he'd have a chance to work with an acclaimed director and even if the role isn't ideal his stardom led to the drama being released at all and doing as well as it has so it's a win for him in terms of image and marketability.
I'm so irritated that I can't access the final episodes without paying $7.99 and installing an app on my phone that has a 3.7/5 rating on the Google play store and complaints about people paying but not getting VIP access. At least with iQIYI you don't have to install the app to subscribe to VIP, it will allow you to subscribe through their web page. Tencent, you suck.
The director has nothing to do with it, it's the author of the original manhua
I thought he was one of the screenwriters on the series but I was wrong. But something I just found out is that the drama has nine screenwriters credited. That seems like a lot of people but I don't know how many screenwriters normally work on a drama.
First I want to say that despite all of the problems with the drama's writing and especially the leads, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Director Yang Lei did an amazing job of portraying the more toxic aspects of the story with the fantasy sequences, lighting, music choices, color story and staging. If you're on the fence about starting it, I'd say if you're able to deal with toxic and often unlikable characters, including the FL, and are interested in innovative filmmaking then give this a shot.
Rating: 7.5/10. That seems low but that's the rating I give to dramas with serious flaws that I enjoyed anyway.
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The drama turned into a wacky comedy in the final episode which is deranged. And we got zero sweet moments between Bei and Xiaoxi and instead an ambiguous ending that implies they're together but doesn't actually confirm it. I honestly think it should have ended when she jumped into the lake and swam away from both of them, that would have made more sense and thematically fit the rest of the drama. Instead we got this weird buddy comedy and forced happy endings for everyone.
The reveal about Xiaoxi's father was not dealt with well. She was so traumatized by discovering her father had another daughter that she entered a profession that is borderline sex work and never had a healthy romantic relationship and yet the whole thing got wrapped up in 2 minutes with no negative reaction from her and instant forgiveness for her father. The really unforgivable thing was her parents not telling her sooner, she's in her thirties so why didn't daddy say something, especially when his older daughter got married? Maybe Xiaoxi would like to meet her older sister? What a mess.
Throughout the drama I thought Olivia Wang was miscast because the character is 24-years-old in the manhua and her behavior is a lot more forgivable coming from an immature woman who doesn't know herself yet and is figuring out life. But in the final episode I realized that her performance was exactly what the screenwriter and director wanted from her. I think it was a mistake. It made her seem narcissistic, cynical, manipulative and lacking in empathy and her supposed character growth came very late and very suddenly.
Gong getting someone to film his manhua with the happy ending he wanted was pretty funny but why the hell were all his friends at the shoot? Also, the comedy is tonally completely off from the rest of the drama. Also also, I can't believe that the shoot is the only time we see Xiaoxi and Bei together after she swims away from the men at the lake. Just, wat? The last we see of Xiaoxi and Bei is Gong still carrying a torch for her to the extent he makes a fucking drama about her???? They weren't even holding hands, lawd. (FYI, the director in that scene was played by the drama's real director, Yang Lei.)
Something else occurred to me: Bei beat the shit out of Lin Chen, leaving him with bruises, bandages and a limp, but Gong openly goes after Xiaoxi but essentially no reaction from Bei except a buddy comedy. Make it make sense.
Xiu and Yu were the most realistic. My ex-husband is a musician and we went through very similar problems only he didn't cheat on me, thankfully. After we divorced we both succeeded in our careers and were much happier. I think the production did really well to show that journey. That was my favorite happy ending out of all of them.
Sen and Mingming had a lot of cute moments and I hope they go the distance but I wonder if we visit them 10 years down the road whether they'll be in the same place as Xiu and Yu.
I didn't think Luan Luan, Guan, Lin Chen and Zhan needed hints at being coupled/reconciling. It felt very forced.
This was by far the weakest episode and a very annoying ending but I will still be thinking about this drama for a long time. Some of my favorite scenes include the restaurant debacle that looked like it was filmed in a literal cage, the movie theater scene with Lin Chen and Xiaoxi. and the stage play aimed at Xiu and Yu. It's rare to see this level of creativity and risk taking in a Cdrama so I appreciate the story for that alone.
Zhen's confession had me sputtering. Lying and stalking are crazytown. Why are all these women doing the most to get with Bei??? Yes he looks like Liu Yuning but otherwise there's nothing interesting about him.
Xiaoxi and Bei's confrontation was the first time I felt sympathy for her because it would hurt a lot to know that your boyfriend gave you special chocolate because his ex liked it and that he can't let go of the old car they drove together. Also getting together on the same day that Zhen lied about getting married screams rebound relationship. I think Bei has zero emotional intelligence and doesn't understand himself. He's finally got a personality, a kind of crappy one.
Got nothing to say about Gong's confession, it's 100% screenwriter needs to fill ten episodes so let's throw character development under the bus.
I love love love how they wrapped things up with Yu and Xiu! They're both better off without each other! Yu can finally shake off her mother's judgment, put 6000 miles of distance between them and live her own life happily. Xiu can wholeheartedly pursue music and live with the dog he wanted. Yes, divorce is good and necessary sometimes (there better not be a last minute reconciliation or I'll have to flip a fucking table)
Sen's proposal was very sweet and um I hope they stay the distance but I think if we drop in on them ten years from now we may see something similar to Yu and Xiu.
I approve of Xiaoxi blocking Bei and Gong but the problem is she's going to unblock them 😠I actually liked the little scene with the cringey dialogue between Bei and Gong because Sen and Mingming were doing that obnoxious thing of being extremely coupled while they twisted in the wind.
Do you think Xiaoxi will ever ask her father about the stupid memory? Dad isn't acting guilty at all so it's going to turn out to be something innocuous and I'll have to flip another table.
There's coincidences and then there's randomly run into the ex-husband of the woman who pimped me out and ruined my life. I feel like we've entered vShort territory. But the most improbable thing about that scene was Xiaoxi expressing empathy.
Maybe I'm just numb at this point but I still have no regrets about watching this drama, everyone needs a wtf watch once in a while.