sunshine75

It's a happy ending (the last 3 minutes..)

"I love the chemistry between Neo Hou and Zhou Ye"

It's the best one I have seen so far in Neo Hou's series.

Yes.

In this series, he plays a man who constantly has to hide his emotions, so it's understandable that his acting seems 'one-dimensional'. I have seen him in Lost You Forever, it was an other story..

At first, I found it strange too, but I got used to it after a while, and it turned out to be one of my favorite series.

"it explores much broader themes than just focusing on “romance”."

I usually enjoy dramas where romance is just one of the themes, but here, I found it strange to see the poor ML trying to kiss his loving wife, only to be politely rejected every time. Those scenes didn't fit the story, since they weren't arguing and there was no confusion about how they felt about each other. The only reason for this was the actress’s age - it had nothing to do with the story itself.

I would say, none..

I dropped this series because the romance factor is basically zero here. (And it’s not the fault of the main leads—they’re both excellent.) But these days, I’m watching "Love in the clouds" and I’m finding it excellent so far. Hopefully, it stays this good until the end.. So if you liked "Love in the clouds", this one is not as good imo.

I loved Back from the Brink, and I was surprised by Hou Minghao's acting in this drama. It felt very artificial to me, almost ridiculous, just as you wrote.

"FL in costume dramas are depicted treating the ML with disdain or cold hearted indifference most of the times. Despite the ML going out of his way to save/help the FL!! 😒"

I don't like this trend... 😕

For me, the romance wasn't convincing, even though both FL and ML are good actors.

"I'm on episode 4; the first consort and Rui Sheng make a bet about Xiao Wu Yi (the ML) already being in love with the FL and I'm like... what?"

I think they do that in the script to make it clear to us, the viewers, that ML has feelings for FL. Since they never actually showed it, I guess that's their way of communicating that fact to us. 🙄

"the romance feels a bit predictable and flat."

I didn't finish this drama because of that. It’s difficult to maintain a good balance between romance, action, and political intrigue throughout the entire drama, and unfortunately, they didn’t manage to achieve that here.

I think this is due to the age of the actress, who was too young for a romantic role, yet for some reason, they chose her to play the FL.

"I wish they would stop putting actors with obvious plastic surgery in these period dramas, its distracting and doesnt fit.."

I agree. I’m always surprised to see those actors with their figures completely reshaped. I can’t really get invested in their characters, it' so distracting. :((

I agree completely.

"watching a MARRIED COUPLE in a drama, no matter the GENRE, who don't even share a kiss is ridiculous because it doesn't mirror reality in any way."

It was very bizarre to watch how they avoided those scenes because of the actress’s age, which was in complete contradiction to what they were trying to portray on screen: a married couple deeply in love with each other.

"If the story was always going to require the romance to be toned down because of her age, then the casting choice itself was the problem."

I agree 100%.

I agree :))

"im in CX team."

Welcome to the club! :D

I would say: Be ready for a long depression after watching this “happy ending.”