littleberry09

I finished it. He did improve as it goes along, but I still never felt any chemistry between the leads. Infact they were quite boring in the adult arc, especially compared to her brother and her friend.

And just because someone might object or criticise against an actor, it doesn't necessarily mean bias. For one I did not care about Hu Yi Tian given I had never watched him before. I was just saying what I was seeing and the impression I had.

Sadly not uncommon for costume dramas. The First Jasmine - 8.2. A Splendid Match - 8.3.

I think Pursuit of Jade has been the only costume drama so far to get into the 9's this year 😭

She was in The First Jasmine this year and she has grown up a lot! So cute 😍

There 2 significant things you can tell from this -

1) that less people are reviewing and rating this drama. It's only been reviewed by 5k or so users.

2) that those who are rating tend to give it a mid rating.

Very few historical dramas get higher than 8.5 initially because MDL has a higher modern drama viewing audience. Unless a costume drama is highly popular (which has gone to Pursuit of Jade this year) a lot of them seems to stay in the low 8's. Compared to most modern dramas. Never-Ending Summer already has a LOT of reviews and is rated as high as 8.6 eventhough it's a very mid drama, and came out a few months after this drama.

Very good historicals like The First Jasmine or A Splendid Match rated lower 8.2 and 8.3 doesn't mean they aren't actually better.

I love Male Chases Female First drama, especially when it's XU KAI 😭😍😭😍

Till Ep 16, but that year still carries on till Ep 17. Present time arc starts in Ep 18.

I haven't watched Dazzling, it might be one of the next dramas I watch. But I did like this more than Never-Ending Summer even if the leads in that one did better than the leads here. Genius Girlfriend just felt like the better drama in terms of vibes

Same. I waited every time for their scenes to come. They suited each other so much. Whereas the main couple just felt so flat once they get past their problems and get together.

An excellent review! You perfectly summed up everything I feel about this drama. Ultimately not a bad drama, but just too bland and doesn't meet many expectations the main couple should realistically do. I was also much more invested in Lin Zeqiu and Jin Baihui's love story.

Same I think the lack of chemistry between the leads is why it becomes boring after Ep 20. Once they reconcile it doesn't have that tension and slight oomph anymore. They just feel more flat even when they say loving things or become intimate.

Whereas I really liked Lin Zeqiu and Jin Baihui's story! They had chemistry and looked good together onscreen eventhough they don't get much screentime. That little scene where she covers him with a blanket and he's actually secretly awake was sooo cute. In the adult arc they overtake the leads for me.

But overall I wouldn't recommend this drama if you want a strong main couple. It works if you specifically like fun youth, friendship dramas.

Episodes 5-20 was by far the best section of this drama. It starts of quite weak but gets better, and until the end of Ep 20 is doing great. The High School Arc until when the main leads reconcile in the present time is very well done. It's a great light hearted drama to watch for themes of youth, coming of age, friendship group, friends to lovers.

But I feel this suffers from the common syndrome of when the leads are together as adults post Ep 20 it becomes boring. I was more invested in Lin Zeqiu and Jin Baihui's love story over the main leads. Apart from them the last 6-7 episodes were quite boring and I was fast forwarding all the business and work related parts which felt like too many.

7⭐ /10

Thanks I've requested it 😊

If they wanted to fit in all the politics, war AND couple relationships then it should have been a 50 episode drama in my opinion (although realistically I realise this doesn't happen with dramas anymore)

There's so much that was missing from the lead couple, and also supporting characters and their couples. A lot of the main supporting characters vanish after the leads get married apart from Ye Xian and the main villains. Even FL's sister, who was a pretty big character until then, only gets 5 min's screentime after that and her love story doesn't get any attention. So whilst I rated this quite highly because I still enjoyed it, it was still disappointing in this aspect. With some changes it could have been an even better drama.

Yess I agree totally with this. She isn't actually socially inept - just unpopular with the crowd and initially a bit awkward. But once they form the friend group by after Ep 7 or so she is able to get along fine with all of them. One of the other girls, Ting Ting even says that LI Zixia is very nice when you get to know her, it's just because most people didn't bother to befriend Little Miss Smarty Pants before.

I'm half way through now and I've forgotten how she is any different from a usual FL in this kind of drama. I'm also not strictly complaining though, it's still a cute and entertaining drama.

Yep even the negative reviews don't fully capture it haha. I also came across lot of comments saying the ending really wasn't that good, but actually it wasn't just the ending...but the whole last bunch of episodes felt like they had been written by someone else 😂. It just changes direction altogether, no focus on the main leads who spent 29 episodes getting together, or of the other couples at all.

So surprising - I have a very similar backstory to you! 3 years of watching Cdramas, and whilst SOKP wasn't my first historical it was definitely a 10/10. I rated PoJ a 9.5 initially but now I'm starting to feel it could be 9.0. The middle part when she goes off to join the army, saves all the men and goes back to save her village felt like it really dragged to me. Yes I know it helped her character development, but I think that was still the slowest part of the drama. I also had the same issue with what happened 17 years ago? And to be frank as someone who had not read the novel, all the character ties and relationships were really confusing to me. I never understood how Qi Min was related for example. Thankfully other people had this problem too and there were character/family trees posted online.

I've not seen either actors in other dramas so I wouldn't know how they are generally. Maybe he doesn't in other dramas. But the 2ML does stand out compared to the ML when comparing them in this drama. Even if he fits the bill of another idol actor, I don't really mind that tbh.

It's both his face and his acting. Hu Yi Tian being stiff in his acting only shows him lacking when beside TXW who is far better. Whereas the 2ML actor is less awkward and stiff, you can tell when he's happy and when he's not, etc. I didn't get that impression with Hu Yi Tian even in 4 episodes. It's very rare for me to feel this way about one of the leads but I do this time.

Right, they should have swapped the actors round

Is it just me or does anyone else also think the actor who plays Shen Fu Xuan stands out more than the ML? Just my initial thoughts on Ep 3 and 4 - Hu Yi Tian doesn't really suit main role alongside TXW