ramblingromantic

a show about finding love but also one's journey of healing

WAAHHHH why is it over? I kid you not, I stopped watching 2/3s in BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT IT TO END. I have also literally booked an appointment with a TCM clinic too. I already have a husband locked in though so no rich TCM cutie patootie for me.

Shen Xi Fan and He Su Ye were written in the stars, in the flowers, and in the universe. I have soooo many thoughts about this show but I forgot to write them all down ASAP so I don’t know where to start. I just know that this show is a very HAPPY and LIGHT show for the most part DESPITE the premise also being about healing. While Shen Xi Fan has to heal from her emotionally abusive ex, He Su Ye is also having to re-confront his relationship with his semi-estranged father despite the resentment of his father’s lack of care while his mother died of breast cancer. Somehow, the bright & blossoming cinematography as the backdrop of their pure healing chemistry alleviates the heaviness of the show’s topics.

Watching He Su Ye try to “lowkey” win Shen Xi Fan over was perfection. Fake drunk, fake asleep, swooping in to defend her, making her scent sachets – the list goes onnnn.

While the show was more “slice of life” vibes overall, the main climax is when Shen Xi Fan’s mother is sick. This puts pressure on Shen Xi Fan to “choose” between her family and her dream to study abroad. While I wish her mother was never actually sick, it is the reality overall that so many women are affected by breast cancer. Luckily, the show gives her a HFN and she is on the mend. I did love Shen Xi Fan and her mom’s heart to heart about Shen Xi Fan still pursuing her education. It’s nice because Shen Xi Fan can say she did it, tried it, and still chose to come back to her home and family.

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a romance fated to be my obsession

FIRST WATCH REVIEW (10/24-27/25)
Lets start with the negatives of this show because it’s a short list. Basically, whoever was in charge of music, liked the song “fated hearts” a bit too much. Maybe because it was named the same as the show? I don’t know but in the show it was OVER PLAYED. That said, if I ignore that and just listen to the OST on it’s own the other songs are great and I’m not sure why they used them so much less than the first song. Someone else pointed out the music was too loud to hear the actual actors which I can’t say matters to me since I need subtitles regardless, but that is something that can be noted. Not a deal breaker for me though. Lastly, I really wish that Fu Yi Xiao had called Xia Jing Shi on the fact that he was running death camps. I know some things don’t need to be said, but I feel like sometimes the villain is SO blind to their hypocrisy that I just want it said out loud.

That’s it. Those are all my negative thoughts. I’m sure if I realllly wanted to nit pick I could find some other small things, but this show was just so excellent. I hate blood and gore but with this show, I can excuse the squelches and blood for the good of the plot.

Time for a break down!!! I had so many thoughts as I was watching but ofc now it’s hard to remember everything. For now, I think a review for this show makes more sense by per person rather than chronological plot.

Fu Yi Xiao and Feng Sui Ge were phenomenal. I loved just how regal and benevolent **Fu Yi Xiao** is throughout the show. We *meet* her shooting down Feng Sui Ge with no remorse but then killing several assassins and trying to help a stranger from being caught in the crossfire. We know from this, she is a strong and determined woman. From there her personality only strengthens and grows as she investigates the truth. **Feng Sui Ge** is just so *melt worthy.* Chen Zhe Yuan does SUCH an excellent job of the hard as stone man melting for an amazing woman. She is useful to him so he compromises, but the cold hearted First Prince doesn’t seem to be so cold hearted as time goes by. **The two of them** really take on the world as everyone tries to betray and kill them. I love that they both fight amazingly, but mourn almost every death. When they killed the people they trust but that betrayed them, the way the memories flash is so well done. Its this balance of remorse but fight for maintaining integrity (1). I love that for the romance, once they are together, they do not break apart but rather continue to fight to be together. It was BEAUTIFUL AND I WANT MORE. I want them to really be happy and living well haha.

Murong Yao and his father, Murong Zhong, were interesting to watch unfold. I had a gut feeling **Murong Yao** was going to be a villain and the man in the mask not right away, but pretty early on. It was a tad disappointing because you really sympathize with all the betrayals Feng Sui Ge has had to experience. Murong Yao was hard to “figure out” other than he was traumatized by that childhood event and never unpacked it – because what do you mean Feng Sui Ge has been your *best friend* since childhood, but you have wanted vengeance for over 10 years of that friendship? Its weird because he claims to have cared for Feng Sui Ge but everything feels tainted by the fact that he’s been wanting to “reclaim the Murong family name”. It was painful to watch Feng Sui Ge suffer deeply as he thought of all their memories and closeness. If only Murong had just said something to Feng Sui Ge all those years ago, maybe he could have had a healthy path forward. I was also frustrated because Feng Sui Ge was a CHILD. He was protected because he is the First Prince, but that was never his choice. He was never malicious or arrogant with Murong Yao due to his position (4). He spoiled Murong Yao if anything and Yao was afforded such an extravagant and wasteful life, but still he wasn’t satisfied because to him Feng Sui Ge had it even better and the Emperor was to blame for all his woes. I think what really disappointed me though, is **Murong Zhong**. I loved that Murong Zhong was such a simple and loyal man. All he cared about was his son’s happiness and the royal family’s safety. I had really hoped he’d hold his son accountable but instead joined him in treachery (2). This show was SMART though because in the Murong family home, one of the “courts” is called **“**e***mbrace simplicity and uphold the truth”** (3)*. I wanted him to hold Murong Yao accountable but the way the plot unfolded was still well done. It was curious though, that when Murong Zhong was begging the Emperor for leniency, I thought the Empror gave it. But Murong Zhong kept asking the Emperor and the First Prince for help, so I thought I misunderstood the Emperor. ONLY FOR Feng Sui Ge’s last words to Murong Zhong to be that he and the Emperor never actually planned to kill Murong Yao anyways. But of course, the bad guys have to force the good guys’ hand.

Feng Cheng Yang and his mother, Empress Zhuang, where almost a precise contrast to Murong Yao and his father. While Murong Yao leads his father astray, **Cheng Yang** tries to get his mother to turn away from evil. **Cheng Yang** is not an unloyal son – he does what he can to keep the peace between his parents, brother, and even his grandfather. He has no desire to steal the throne from his brother, but **his mother** was obsessed with the Emperor and hated the previous Empress. Rather than be content with the life she had after her father killed the previous Empress, she projected her sins and hatred onto Feng Sui Ge. She was adamant that Feng Sui Ge wanted to kill her, and while he hated her for obvious and fair reasons, her manic disposition and insistence that Feng Cheng Yang must become Emperor or they will die was her way of deflecting her own role in the tragic past. Her spiral into insanity felt very Lady Macbeth-ian. I think it was executed well, because she never really got her hands “dirty” until she actively killed the Emperor but her jealousy and paranoia had already been eating at her. I LOVED when Feng Cheng Yang clocked his mother’s own hypocrisy. She was livid that the Zhuang’s had been sidelined by the Emperor, but was ready and eager to do the same to the Murong family (4).

Now to talk about Xia Jing Shi, Xia Jing Yan, and Feng Xi Yang. They need to be talked about specifically for the context and lens of viewing Xia Jing Yan (Emperor of Jinxiu). **Xia Jing Shi** was tormented as a kid and lived a horrible life with his brother and step-mother. This is undeniable and clear. He had to get scrappy and harden to survive, but in true film fashion he is the foil to Feng Sui Ge. Feng Sui Ge wasn’t tortured quite the same way but his own father wanted him to be so heartless as to usrp the throne and at every turn people would betray and try to kill him. And yet, Feng Sui Ge leads an army loyal to him not out of pity or fear, but rather out of a shared desire to protect the kingdom and it’s people (1). But Xia Jing Shi has his army from death camps. He fosters a false sense of care from the people he wants to use. He torments and tortures to *force* loyalty. Fu Yi Xiao thought he saved her, she thought he was a man of principle that cared for those around him. But at the end of the day, his revenge was worth the lives of endless innocent people including but not limited to Feng Xi Yang. **Feng Xi Yang** was inarguably very stupid for not heeding her brother’s warning about Xia Jing Shi. Never does a healthy romance start with “I can change him”, but that said, her one mistake was loving him. Can’t fault her when she was indeed sheltered and clueless about reality. I love that she actually is VERY similar to Feng Sui Ge becoming as decisive & unbending as him. She does not let her circumstance cage her in from pushing back. Last but not least, **Xia Jing Yan**. As an actor, Qin Tian Yu is getting his flowers for such an excellent portrayal and I couldn’t agree more. Xia Jing Yan is temperamental at best, a murderous manic at worst. He bullies his brother endlessly and I do think his abuse directly led to his own demise. It felt very much a self-fulfilling prophecy. Would Xia Jing Shi been so evil if his brother had loved him and treated him well? We will never know, but of course constantly treating Xia Jing Shi like an outsider and a person who will rebel only encouraged that to become true. But the depth the writers gave Xia Jing Yan was unparalleled to *anyone* else in the show including the protagonists. His character as Feng Xi Yang 1000% gave dark romance because he is in fact unwell, but that doesn’t change the reality that when he told his mom Feng Xi Yang didn’t need to bewitch him, all she did was need him, I understood where he was coming from immediately. I cannot relate to him at all in reality, but when he told his mom why he was so into Feng Xi Yang, I immediately sympathized with him. As the Emperor, he can do whatever he wants, but his mother has always undermined him and based of the few flashbacks, his father preferred Jing Shi so expectations of him were so low he had no reason to try or be better. Feng Xi Yang is terribly honest with him that she need him so she will do whatever to get what she wants. When she insists on going back to Susha his sadness was palpable because he would have to return to a life where he is alone and no one needs him. Ironically Xi Yang wanted to change Jing Shi with her love, but changed Jing Yan with their symbiotic relationship. When Jing Yan is being beaten and bruised, he still refuses to bend to Jing Shi. But once Jing Shi sets his eyes on Xi Yang, Jing Yan immediately crumbles. He begs for Jing Shi to spare her and the unborn child. And it is that moment that both viewers and Xi Yang realize how much more of a man for Jing Yan was for Xi Yang than Jing Shi ever was. Regardless of his many sins, he had officially changed. I honestly think if Jing Yan had survived the coup, he and Xi Yang *could* have had a new chapter.

**Feng Ping Cheng** was an infuriating emperor but even more frustrating father. When we learn about Wei Qing Yu’s death and how Feng Ping Cheng resented her, it truly explained his stupid parenting. He only wanted Feng Sui Ge to be Emperor, but wanted Feng Sui Ge to break as an empathetic warrior and rebuild as a power crazy man. The show does a good job of showing Ping Cheng’s obsession with power and his son taking the throne, but I still wish we saw a bit more. We know that he fought wars and is the first ruler for the land but I will never understand his logic. Probably because I would be more aligned with Wei Qing Yu’s logic. He also had an interesting form of love for Wei Qing Yu and Feng Sui Ge. He “loved” them but really he just wanted to “possess” and have control over them.

Honorable mentions, **Ling Xue Ying** was a cute doctor character and her father was also integral to the plot as a miracle healer saving all my babies to maintain my HEA.

**Xiao Wei Ran** was layered and complicated, but ultimately dullened by the reality he forsake his principles and brotherhood. ~~I really wish he knew just how horrible Jing Shi truly is. We know he has an idea, but I can’t help but wonder how his choices might have differed if he knew Jing Shi still had the death camps running.~~ [After second watch, I realize he DID know. What an idiot.]

**Ning Fei** was a wholesome character and I am glad Fu Yi Xiao got to maintain at least one brother. I knew he was going to end up with Ling Xue Ying haha. I am so glad he didn’t die.

Overall, the pacing of the show is amazing. It felt so seamless how each plot point folded into the next. It’s also well done specifically because the plot doesn’t linger. We are wondering if the protagonists can get along, then slowly but also quickly they do. We wonder who shot Fu Yi Xiao, then we find out and move on to the masked man but then we find that out too. Honestly by the 20th episode I didn’t understand how there would still be 18 episodes when issues were resolved so quickly, but the writers maintained such a healthy tempo for the plot as we watch the lives of so many different characters unfold.

### Original Thoughts & Ideas
I had SO MUCH to say in my review that I am linking the “plot points” in my review to my thoughts here.
1. Fu Yi Xiao grew up an orphan and in a death camp. After Feng Sui Ge’s mother was framed and murdered, he had no one he could trust or rely on *and* took on a paternal role to care for his sister. I think when you compare all the “antagonists” with the “protagonists”, you really hit up against the age old “trauma/being wronged does not mean you can disregard the life of others”. You can’t fight evil with kindness, but at what point does fighting back turn you into the same kind of person that wronged you? Xia Jing Shi hates his brother, Xia Jing Yan, with a passion and honestly I would too if I were him, but while Xia Jing Yan was able to find compassion for Feng Xi Yang and his unborn child, Xia Jing Shi still could not think beyond himself and tried to kill Feng Xi Yang simply for getting pregnant with Xia Jing Yan’s child.
2. This was a great example of why you should *not* love your child to the point of evil. I would like to think if my son tried killing the man he thought of as his best friend, I would hold him accountable and even if I don’t want him to die, I wouldn’t kill so many others in that cause. It actually makes me think about Prophet Ibrahim and how he almost killed his son Ismail. I honestly understood this story only on the most surface level of it’s lesson, but after this show, I realize that having devoted loyalty to a human is a dangerous game. This is proven several times in this show but more so between this father and son duo.
3. Embrace simplicity and uphold the truth: to what end is simplicity about being a pushover? Was Murong Zhong a pushover with how corrupt he let himself become? He went against the family governance of truth - he actively buried the truth. his son *literally* buried the truth when he thought Feng Sui Ge was dead. There’s something to be said that the Emperor, for all his many faults, *ACKNOWLEDGED* that if Murong Zhong wasn’t always away at the border, maybe Murong Yao would have been a better son and man. I felt like that moment was the epitome of all of Murong Zhong’s hard work truly being recognized, so to turn back on it just makes you think – what is a person’s line? what is their real goal? Is it recognition, power, money or maybe even something as debased as just revenge.
4. Power is an active evil. When Feng Cheng Yang called his mom out for wanting to sideline the Murong family, it highlighted that power is always insidiously working to corrupt. The Emperor couldn’t trust the Zhuang’s after they helped him claim the throne and the Empress couldn’t trust the Murong’s in the same situation, but so many humans do not know when to recognize enough is enough. They don’t know how to be grateful for all the things they do have, and instead dwell on what they don’t have.

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A Heroine's Journey (versus the generation before her with a whole lot of yearning from the ML)

WHAT A GOOD SHOW. ITS EXACTLY WHAT I’D BEEN CRAVING.

I just love a good costume or fantasy with mostly yearning and romance and love. This show had it! It’s not a 50/50 split, definitely more a “from the female leads pov” but I didn’t mind because Zhou Yi Ran did soooo good conveying his thoughts/emotions with just his face let alone his delivery of lines.

The good of this show:
- **The Plot:** it’s simple and relatively straightforward in a way some fantasies are not, but is a way that allowed the real messages of the show shine AND that allowed us to just enjoy Cai Zhao’s journey (and her romance with Mu Qing Yan)
- I love this more literally visual/breakdown of generational trauma in this show. You can clearly see how her aunt’s choices (and the choices of those around her) affected everyone and in turn colored how the kids grow up.
- **The Romance:** As I mentioned, we don’t get scenes with Mu Qing Yan much without Cai Zhao, but Zhou Yi Ran does such a good job that I don’t think we needed more than what we got. Mu Qing Yan clearly falls for Cai Zhao almost instantly, wanting to be around her as much as possible, being clearly upset when he learns she betrothed, following her on all her adventures for no other reason than to make sure she is safe.
- I adored their “break up scene” as much as anyone could adore it. Cai Zhao loves him, but he was being toxic, a bit too manipulative, selfish, and shortsighted. She saw that, she STILL loved him, BUT she told him, they were not going to work with that set up. Lo and behold, he stops trying to learn the Wu method, he stops being as aggressive as he was at the start, and he start letting her make her own choices properly – even when he really wanted to just throw her over his shoulder and hide them away somewhere safe.
- The Main Leads: I know I talk about them in the romance point, but their characters were great.
- Cai Zhao is a caring young woman determined to follow the path of justice like her beloved aunt. I loved how she kinda breezes by peoples negative opinions, but you can see how she has to struggle with prioritizing her own feelings vs her morals vs what the adults she admire tell her.
- Mu Qing Yan is an iconic male lead imo. Is he a little bit “toxic”? Sure, but not so much so that is unreasonable. To say his upbringing was traumatic is an understatement. The man could probably do with some therapy but his arc is clear – he was a young man on the road set for revenge and then death. But in meeting Cai Zhao, his softer side is slowly exposed and freed from the wall around his heart. He was totally smitten with her and I ate up every second of it.
- The secondary leads! I didn’t think I would like Qi Ling Bo or even her mom because they were definitely annoying at the start, but their growth and pain and struggles were legit and I loved them both by the end. The rest of the secondary leads were great too. I feel bad for my guy Song Yu Zhi, but hope he finds love with someone else. I also actually loved his dad LOL the way he was trying to get his son to woo Cai Zhao was highly entertaining and he spoke facts when he said that Cai Zhao likes how unrestrained Mu Qing Yan is with and around her which is why she isn’t into Song Yu Zhi.

So for the “flaws” of the show, I think some were less “serious” than others but:
- There are some “logistics” of the story that are conveniently skipped but threw me off. Like Cai Zhao’s sheath for her sword makes no sense. How does the sword come out of the sheath when the tip of the sword is way bigger than the base but the base of the sheath is small? And how did Mu Qing Yan get his sword when she hijacked his “execution”? Those were the more obvious ones, but there were other little things like that, that I wished they properly resolved even with a sentence or something. If it’s going to happen off screen it needs to be something you can obviously stitch together which wasn’t the case for those moments.
- The plot was solid, but I was kinda hoping for some kind of “wow” climax. I don’t think it was horrible, but heaven knows some shows overkill on red herrings and “plot twists” for shock value, but I could see Qi Yun Ke being the villain from a mile away and no one else would have made sense but still – would have been nice if they thought more on how to make the antagonist more dynamic and not the “leader of all the good sects” lol

That are my only two complains. Some people claim that the show is confusing, which considering my second complaint, I wholeheartedly disagreed. But then some people say there were too many characters introduced all at once. To which I say: I am not a native Chinese speaker so I am *used* to being confused by fantasy plots in the beginning...but this show is no more confusing than others similar to it. If anything it’s a pretty simple fantasy with just two sides: the demons vs the “amazing perfect six sect”. There's a range of characters, but you really don't need to "keep tabs" as the last names do most of the heavy lifting. After finishing it, anyone that I could not really "remember" well was not more important than if they were "good" or "bad" tbh LOL.

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A tad disappointed but was entertianed

This show was *not* bad. In fact, production and acting wise it was pretty solid. However, the plot? Not for me. The slivers of romance and my enjoyment of all the actors faces (esp. Jospeh’s) is really what kept me, and my own burning curiosity to see the ending. Being able to foster said curiosity out of me is credit to the show because I usually just don’t care enough.

Let me break down what I enjoyed:

- **The actors**. Literally everyone was impeccable and felt truly like the character(s) they were playing.
- **The sliver of romance.** It truly is not a lot of romance as I would say this is more a fantasy action than romantasy by any means. But the two main pairs that have a romance do not hold back. You get some fated mates, some “enemies to lovers” to close proximity to “fake dating”. A nice range of tropes with a questionable but classifiable “happy ending” for both. I actually get it a 9 for *both* the pairings because they were equally the main characters. It was a 9 and not a ten bc of the said questionable happy endings.
- The general pace of the plot. I think the reason I was able to finish the show was that it maintained a solid tempo. Anytime I was getting sick of a storyline, the storyline changed to something new.

Time to highlight what didn’t work:
- The synopsis does not set the viewer up for what is to come. It only covers Xiao Wei and the Dragon Deity's power but it should have focused on trying to defeat Jiu Ying. I don’t think saying it up frount would have been a spoiler as the show has so many twists its hard enough to keep up. I genuinely started the show thinking we would spend 29 episodes in Wei Manor and was getting a bit confused by the shows tempo as we got closer to finding Xiao Wei.
- I have to say the synopsis doesn’t lean into romance but the trailer and tone of the show seem, not light hearted but not so serious either so I did expect more romance and levity overall. As such, the show was doomed to be a hit for me. I am not a fan of being given a show I wasn’t expecting lol
- The show overdoes red herrings. In an effort to impress the viewer with plot creativity, the show actually just achieved frustrating me and also becoming a bit redundant in its “plot twists”.
- 9.9x out of 10 I am not a fan of time travel because the show usually just ignores its own plot holes and causes more of a headache than less. While the show did a decent job with the time travel for the whole Lu Wu Yi & Ji Ling’s stuffed fox, it also just felt overwhelming and unnecessary. It was romantic enough but we’re told she *cannot* change the future, but then to prevent him from committing suicide she conveniently could by cutting her tail which was conveniently “fixed” by Ji Ling STILL “committing suicide” by giving her his dragon scale which is conveniently resolved by the DEAD Chi Wen’s last power giving energy to a special rock which is conveniently fast tracked by the ALSO *supposedly* DEAD star stone and idk what else.
- See how conveniently everything unfolded? I am a happily ever after girl so I don’t mind convenient plot solutions but with all those conveniences, why the heck did the show end with 3 out of 4 of the main lead forgetting EVERYTHING that happened in the show? Two of whom randomly land in a different timeline.
- Also circling back to the time travel, the secondary time travel makes less sense because if Jiu Ying was killed back in time before Lu Wu Yi is part of the nine-tailed fox clan, then how does Wu Shi Guang still end up as the 10th dragon deity–everything we watched has been undone and we have 0 real knowledge of the “actual” timeline that happened in the show. We see You Chi
alive again and more serious, but that’s it. Does that mean You Chi’s father isn’t dead because that whole situation didn’t happen? Does that mean Wu Shi Guang never had the sliver of Jiu Ying’s essence in him? If so, why does he remember everything that technically didn’t happen?

See what I mean? The show tried so hard to *be* and instead it was just a snake eating it’s own tail (pun intended bc Jiu Ying is a snake). I enjoyed it at face value but with all the twists and turns that led to dead ends, it’s clear this show wanted to appear intellectual to some degree. If you like fantasy, and don’t mind the headache involved in keeping up with everything, I would recommend, otherwise, eh.

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Too Young to Communicate

This show was had a strong start for what it was as a light-hearted, youth, slice-of-life type show. It reminded me of Exclusive Fairytale and a little bit of When I Fly Towards You. However, the biggest issue with the show was the last four episodes. Up until then, it was actually very engaging in terms of complex characters. Instead of having a one-all, be-all antagonist, they had characters with depth. Each character had their flaws or moments of attitude/stubbornness that was more realistic than if there were just two characters that were point blank evil for the sake of plot.

That said, the ending was actually so disappointing. I only had 4 episodes left, but I genuinely contemplated not finishing it because of how badly they set up the ending.

SPOILERS BELOW
For the first 20 episodes, the main leads are excellent communicators. They have loved and trusted each other as friends since childhood, and it only strengthened as time went on. So it made no sense for us to just time jump and be told that they took a break because they needed to go their own way, and that led to a breakup basically…and then work backwards from there to show us flashbacks of her missing her recital, him being MIA, and then them not talking for over 12 months properly because both of them felt slighted by the other. Both felt the other had broken up with them, rather than the reality of the situation. It was just absolutely chaotic, and it made no sense for their characters at all for them to have fallen apart the way that they did. It definitely felt forced for the sake of the plot.

The show would have been better off with us actively watching them during the breakup time. Instead of it lasting for a year and a half, it should have only lasted a month or two. We should see them breaking up and figuring themselves out, figuring out how to communicate, rather than them just going silent with each other for over 12 months. That's just so unrealistic, and it made no sense because literally they're just a phone call away. I don't believe that they could not have communicated better.

Similarly, Ning was a solid character, and I understood she didn’t want to rely on her boyfriend but after everything, she ditched Chen Fan only to rely HEAVILY on a man that didn’t give two sh*** about her and almost helped her get assaulted??? Like, make that make sense?

I also want to note they succeeded in casting actors who passed as high schoolers, then college students, then adults. But I really don’t understand why they cast 30-year-olds for these kinds of shows…

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Enjoyed, but wasn't as pulled in

I liked the show, I really did, but I also hated, *like really hated*, the age gap set up, especially when the “secondary lead” was the male lead’s *nephew*. Lord Ding looks older than Zhuo Hua and kept being presented as “a sickly old man about to die” and I just was not a fan of it at all. It was the *main* thing that held this show back. Every time I “forgot” about it or accepted it, they would make some comment or other about his age and how he’s at death’s door or her age and how she has so much life to live. They are both *grown* so it wasn’t creepy, but the gap just served no more purpose than him being sickly.

I also loathed the empress dowager. I can respect the use of a straight-forward antagonist but every time her face was on screen I wanted to throw my phone. The complexity of the first princess really made up for the pain of listening to the empress dowager.

Lastly, I originally kind of liked the monotone baseline personality they gave to both Lord Ding and the first princess. However, since the show was on the longer side, it did start to get frustrating as they did the same ish over and over again. I guess they were solid foils with tragic childhoods that shaped their defensive/offensive personalities.

While Zhuo Hua and Lord Ding’s romance was very slow and *subtle*, I thoroughly enjoyed Zhi Mo & Ju Li’s romance. Just two sweet cuties that deserve nothing but good things. I also enjoyed how Zhi Jian interacted with them.

I wouldn’t rewatch this show just because it is on the longer end and most of the plot is more political than romantic. The show was just barely entertaining to me at first (the FML was an actress I liked and her character as Zhuo Hua was fun) *but* it ramped up once we get the “reveal” *but then* gets a tad repetitive near the end.

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Started for the mystery, stayed for Shen Du

Real rating is 11 for the music & 10 for romance so 8.9/10

I have a crush on Ding YuXi. He’s so *hawt* in this role and I wish the show was faster to get better *hits* of hotness seretonin. That said it takes about 10 episodes for us to get more of that the serious/stoic Shen Du.

I think the plot overall could have been a bit tighter. There’s a lot of moving variables and characters that make sense and connect well, but at the same time don’t really affect the plot. We spend so much time on the prince and princess but they don’t really actually add to the plot and their storylines dragged the overall experience. I know it was to cause intrigue and make us think maybe one of them is evil but that line of thought doesn’t even sustain itself with what we are given so I feel like the show would have been much stronger if it was closer to 35 episodes instead and removed some of the extra noise.

Also did they really have to kill Marshall Xu and Yun Que 😭 I know they were the “least important couple” but they were still so cute and their death was so sad. Always gotta kill a couple or something for the tears and stakes but I feel like coma and they wake up would have sufficed. Whatever. I saw it coming that a secondary couple would end with tragedy and once he had that cute moment about the wedding it was game over.

I would definitely rewatch it but skip the parts that were more espionage than general mystery or romance. The antagonist is just an actual crazy man that needed a better mother and therapy so he was pretty one dimensional and boring in that way. I’m still not sure I understand his mother’s motives for traumatizing her child but sure let’s go with that.

Last but not least THIS OST was amazing. I have been pretty generous to music of shows giving 10 if they fit the overall show, but even when I took a break from this show I was listing to the OST so I had to give it an 11 bc it was THAT good. I wish Ryan Ding had more songs!

### Original Thoughts & Ideas
- Good vs evil is pretty black and white in this show unlike something like The Prisoner of Beauty. We have some “gray” characters but even they are mostly good or mostly bad. The Empress Dowager seemed to have in fact not wanted the consort’s child be the emperor but it’s not clear how much of a role she *actually* played in the consort’s suicide. But the Black Fiend was truly just a man who saw his mom die and made a cult about reincarnation to kinda, not really deal with the trauma. I almost want to label him a victim and in a way he is because his whole life was built off this narrative his mother fed him. But he’s still a “black” character. He isn’t nice to his adoptive sisters, he attacks the woman he claims to love, and throws any blame of his actions on the Empress Dowager for believing what was pretty solid evidence against innocent but framed people. We could label Shen Du as “gray” because he’s a “dark horse” type guy but I would more call him “good” with a wall as protection due to his own childhood trauma.
- It is interesting that both men witnessed extreme wrong doing to their parent(s) but one chose the path of righteousness and the other of sinister obsession.

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a slice of fun and comfort

Real Review with Romance category is 8.9/10

First, let’s talk about what I didn’t like.

1. There’s no way being an aerospace engineer needs to be be THIS TAXING. Why are they so dramatic (I assume in real life too lol)
2. The plot had no plot after about the half way mark (a lil after they get together) and starts jumping all over the place.

That’s about it….these are few but I will say the watch experience is heavily held back by these few concerns. We’re set up to believe that the plot is going to be about her winning the guest gaming competition, but that happens before the halfway mark and we slowly switch out to a different setting and environment entirely which I don’t think is bad, but I do think this show felt like five different shows as opposed to one show.

With that in mind, I still ate up all of it because the chemistry between the main leads was impeccable. I actually quite liked the fact that a lot of of the tension in the second half of the storyline is less about them having issues and more about them living their life as a couple. It’s really nice when the plot deviates from the cliché oh actually we have to break up because of my ex-girlfriend or something like that. I also think they turned a lot of clichés on their head. Like his ex and her role in the plot was a lot simpler than what would normally be the case and that was refreshing. I also really liked how they got married because I think a lot of the times they do backpedal and decide to have an extravagant wedding, especially when the female lead is some kind of celebrity. I also thought her role as an actress was interesting because we were told at the beginning she’s super popular and famous but because again it’s focusing on her winning the competition she’s not leaving the house — No one‘s taking photos of her in that way so you don’t really believe that she’s famous. Then when they switch settings/plot line and she’s finally actually in the spotlight again you see that she is a really popular actress but she’s such a nice actress it’s almost like there’s no way she’s an actress. 😂

I understand that we needed his point of view as an aerospace engineer, but I personally skipped some parts of it just because it was too in the weeds and didn’t feel relevant to me. They did a great job of building suspense around the aerospace engineering department though, I will give them that.

We get to see them fall in love and I am so glad that he has to work and ache a bit for her after rejecting her like a fool.

The paparazzi scene was hilarious and while I hate paparazzi, I did feel bad that three of their days were wasted in terms of their photos being deleted. I do feel like after the paparazzi scene is kind of where we lose the plot because each episode feels so separate from the last one that the show starts to feel like a slice of life as opposed to a series with a continuous plot. We have three time jumps of 2 years, 1 month, and 5 years. This was jarring and aggressive, it takes you out the story especially because we don’t time jump at all until the last 5 episodes or so.

But because the couple has such good chemistry, they really do carry so much of the weight of the show and I was kicking and squealing every time they were together on screen. I would watch so many more episodes of just them gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes as they promise to be together forever because they were perfect. I’m actually really wishing that there was an aerospace + actress duo out there in the world right now that everyone could look up to as a super cute & healthy couple.

***Original Thoughts & Ideas***
- Honestly, the show really does a good job of showing how complex love can be while still being so simple and straightforward. Yu Tu overthinks, overcomplicates and over-stresses about the little things to the point that he almost missed out on a good relationship with a partner that truly understands him. Qiao Jing Jing loves him very wholeheartedly and through the innocence of adolescence. Once they are together, their struggle is distance because of their work but it’s balanced by the fact that they truly adore one another which ig I’m bias bc I was long distance with my husband and I’m also truly obsessed with him too.

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This show has me wishing there were more light sci-fi comedy romances to watch

What a show. The comedy was def a 9.5/10, I was laughing out loud all through out the show.

Here are the main things I loved about the show:
- Tang Qi and Su Cheng Cheng’s dynamic. I did think it interesting Tang Qi was convinced she was a bully in middle school while she viewed it all as an innocent crush. Its def not a common occurrence in these shows so while it felt “overblown”, that is what made it so funny and entertaining to watch. Especially as Tang Qi finds himself falling in love with different “versions” of her.
- Su Cheng Cheng’s self-perception was all too relatable. I also like that it *wasn’t* her being fat or *actually* ugly but rather “plain” and not feminine enough (especially compared to her sister) because I think comparison is the crux of the beauty industry. She also was a fun balance of wishing she was prettier, but also knowing she is a good person.
- Further than that, the plot addresses “extremes”. Once Su Cheng Cheng lets go of the bracelet, she doesn’t want to touch any type of beautification tool and Tang Qi does a great job of reminding her she is beautiful as is, but can also “dress up” as she pleases.
- Lin Yuan as a person and then doubly in her relationship with Gu Yu. I feel a bit mixed about their ending. I would always chose to keep my child personally, but we see her so adamant against being “tied down” I wish they gave us a bit more of her walls coming down prior to her finding out she is pregnant to have her keeping the baby feel more authentic than just the predetermined “happy ending of not aborting”.
- I hated Su Cheng Cheng’s sister at first, but I do think her personality was pivotal to the plot and Su Cheng Cheng’s self-perception. In that way I respect how her character wasn’t one dimensional, and a “realistic” sister relationship.

However, the few things I didn’t like:
- There is that line where comedy is funny but then also frustrating:
- I really felt *killing* the two of the three was overkill. Su Cheng Cheng could have told him she/he was moving to America, say bye and then turn off her secondary number.
- And ofc Tang Qi being unable to accept a no from a woman for the life of him. If he wasn’t the MML of a comedy romance, he would be your regular audacious nuisance of a man.
- While I get it’s just the “Trigger” for the plot, but I would have loved a bit more substance around the origins and logic of the bracelet. I know in those magic Christmas movies its reduced to “Christmas miracle” but since this show went in a more Sci-Fi direction, I was left wondering exactly the goal and mission of the old lady that gave Su Cheng Cheng the bracelet.

Overall, this was a very *fun* show. I enjoyed it (especially because I low-key wasn’t too invested in watching it based off the trailer). I think the acting all around was great and now I’m kinda wishing there were more light sci-fi romances to watch.

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Mo Qing Cheng is a quiet but thoughtful type. His voice is deep and resounding so it makes so much sense why all the girls love his voice. I didn’t find myself interested in his character off the bat, but he played his role well and by the end of it, I was looking up the actor’s shows list.

Gu Sheng is cute and passionate. I appreciated that she didn’t fit some cookie cuter person for a female lead. She can sing but loves to compose. She has a fan crush on Qiang Qing Ci but slowly falls in love with the man that is Mo Qing Cheng. She is bubbly but shy.

I loved how their relationship truly unfolds from “strangers” to acquaintances to lovers. We get to see them blossom as a pair without any dramatic third act breakup. I found the “climax” around his retirement to be refreshing and more realistic than any kind of misunderstanding or miscommunication between the two.

(PERSONALLY) I arguably loved Zhou Zheng’s voice (and looks) more than Mo Qing Cheng. His character of level headed CEO but bashful crushing was too entertaining so I was pretty disappointed with how his and Geng Xiao Xing’s romance played out. While it was there on the side lines it was very “jumpy” with their interactions only every random moment with lots of gaps of time in between. Thus leading to the ending just telling us they “got together at some indeterminable time” which I think was a waste of an opportunity to give us double the love serotonin. Romance aside, I also enjoyed Geng Xiao Xing’s personality. She made a great friend to Gu Sheng and was also more dynamic than one would expect given her overall role and screen time.

Feng Ya Song and Dou Bing were cute but similarly, I wish they had more of their romance unfold on screen rather than go from 0 to 100.

Love stories aside, I loved all the characters. Everyone interacted and bounced off each other so well. The *community* of the podcast/dubbing group really shifts into the show itself. You feel a connection and fandom that is hard to describe and like nothing I’ve experienced in other shows. It’s unfortunate (but maybe for the best) that I didn’t watch this show the year it came out to bond with other viewers the way listers were fans of Perfect Voice Studio.

Wang Ke was a cute character and I call it out because I actually really enjoyed when he would be on screen which is kinda rare and random for me when watching romance so again props to the writing making every character so interesting and props to the actor of Wang Ke as well.

The flaw of the show for me was the pacing. I kind of had to push myself to keep watching at the start, then i was fully invested, and then near the end the last few episodes felt dragged out.

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Cute & Bubbly, But Def Different

I don’t have too much to say about this show as it was a tad more slice of life than anything. The MML and FML get together by the second episode and the rest of the seven episodes are more about them navigating a relationship than anything else.

My favorite thing about this show was their healthy communication. It really carries the show because most romances are about the couple *getting* together while this show leans more into them *staying* together. Yaeshima Asako is shy about her sweat and being smelly. Natori Kotaro is bubbly and adores her but has his own worries and concerns. Seeing them navigate their individual concerns as a couple was truly a breath of fresh air.

While I can’t say I “loved it” I did also appreciate the creative approach they took for the *sex* scenes. They were funny and very much interpretive. I don’t know that I could watch them again, but this show is def it’s own brand of entertainment.

I loved the background music of the show overall – it was mostly like this bubbly lo-fi mix. But I wasn’t a fan of the songs with actual singing.

Some things I thought we interesting/could have been set up better was:

- They do a one year time jump and then have him freak about about a break up because he can’t smell her emotions. I don’t know how I feel about him freaking out a year into their relationship? I feel like 3 or 6 months in would make more sense than a year. Especially since they don’t seem to have too much “growth” in that one year span of dating. *(This is the reason for a docked .5 in Romance.)*
- I really wish the FML called out her childhood bully even though it makes *sense* for her personality that she didn’t.
- For the sake of comedy, we have her in the work bathroom spraying the hell out of her body spray – but all I could think is how has no one reported her and how can SHE breath when other people in the bathroom cannot.

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Fun & light but frustrating side character(s)

8.8

SPOILERS BELOW

Ling Yue and Gu An Xin were a rare insta-ish love that you can totally believe and root for. The softness in Yue’s eyes when he looks at An Xin within like the third episode is disarming and I ate it up.

I would say overall they are a solid couple that needed to navigate communication and self-confidence to get to their HEA as a couple. It was frustrating to see them build walls at every inconvenience at the start but it makes their relationship a lot more hard earned than other “insta-love” stories so I think that is why they work.

Moving away from them, I LOVED Ling Fang’s character arc. I think the “evil stepbrother” set up was super well done and to have him really realize he’s just fighting himself as opposed to Ling Yue was a nice reprieve from cliches. Which made Ling Sheng’s plot twist reveal all the more suprising and a solid contrast to the brother dynamics.

Gu An Sheng was alright. I see how his role was needed but I just wish he had a bit more depth and that we could learn more about why he loved Gu An Xin so much. Especially since he seems to have been her step-brother while the sisters are half siblings?

I wanted to know more about Gu Yuan Chao because he is given a decent amount of importance but then in the end he’s just sick and bed ridden so that was disappointing. I know Yang Hong is revealed to be the “real villain” but I still feel like the resolution here was tepid at most.

Last but not least, Gu Xin Er was the most headache inducing, exhausting to look at, pathetic character. The fact that her story ends with her promising to wait for Ling Sheng regardless of the fact that he almost killed half her family is the ending I guess she deserves but was embarrassing to witness. I think she needs therapy more than a man.

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