Overall: Great leads, cute stories
THE GOOD
- The leads are great, very comfortable and charming
- Strong FL despite plot keeping her powered down most of the time, she still has the agency and perspective of a strong character
- Some of the supporting characters are very charming
- Spirit beast companion friendships are everything
- Certain side characters are notable examples of strong women, portrayed in ways that not many dramas manage to pull off
THE CONFUSING
- The world presents itself has a pretty high fantasy (xianxia?) vibe at first but that premise drops away after the intro and the setting becomes a strangely low-magic wuxia. We clearly have major magic in this world but almost nobody actually uses it
- Certain angst cycle plotlines are overused seemingly to stretch the story. Frequently there will be only a very thin and vague reason for certain people to be apart or mad at each other.
THE BAD
- A certain antagonist gets WAY too much screen time. I actually think he got more screentime than the leads, like what actual reason was there to focus this much on one dude. Also he is worst combination of a character that is just unpleasant to watch PLUS he just never changes at all. No complexity revealed. No growth. Buckle in to watch the same characters do and say the same things over and over. The middle section was rough to get through just for the fact that nothing fun is happening and all the focus is on this one dude who is just cringey and gross.
- The main couple's conflicts are often thin, which makes it hard to conceive of their motivations and perspectives. A lot of "this makes good angst" on paper, but when actually played out within a story it needs to hold up to scrutiny. Many situations fall apart if you ask any questions -- Just why are you sacrificing so much? Just what level of trust do you have for them? The answers will just change depending on the moment.
- Some of the background relationships also don't hold up to scrutiny, if these characters are living in this world then why don't they have any human relationships from their backstories? If these dynasty squabbles are supposed to have impact then I would need something to make me invested in the families but none of that ever lands. It's just a flat backdrop for the main romance. Which is fine for what it is, but let's be honest about it.
- Fight scenes seem to be straight up avoided or heavily simplified. There seems to be some implied budget constraint? Or just intentionally avoiding luring audience looking for fight scenes. Which is fine, but the intro definitely fails to communicate this expectation accurately -- Beginning is VERY focused on a fight, and then barely any comparable fight will happen again.
THE GOOD
- The leads are great, very comfortable and charming
- Strong FL despite plot keeping her powered down most of the time, she still has the agency and perspective of a strong character
- Some of the supporting characters are very charming
- Spirit beast companion friendships are everything
- Certain side characters are notable examples of strong women, portrayed in ways that not many dramas manage to pull off
THE CONFUSING
- The world presents itself has a pretty high fantasy (xianxia?) vibe at first but that premise drops away after the intro and the setting becomes a strangely low-magic wuxia. We clearly have major magic in this world but almost nobody actually uses it
- Certain angst cycle plotlines are overused seemingly to stretch the story. Frequently there will be only a very thin and vague reason for certain people to be apart or mad at each other.
THE BAD
- A certain antagonist gets WAY too much screen time. I actually think he got more screentime than the leads, like what actual reason was there to focus this much on one dude. Also he is worst combination of a character that is just unpleasant to watch PLUS he just never changes at all. No complexity revealed. No growth. Buckle in to watch the same characters do and say the same things over and over. The middle section was rough to get through just for the fact that nothing fun is happening and all the focus is on this one dude who is just cringey and gross.
- The main couple's conflicts are often thin, which makes it hard to conceive of their motivations and perspectives. A lot of "this makes good angst" on paper, but when actually played out within a story it needs to hold up to scrutiny. Many situations fall apart if you ask any questions -- Just why are you sacrificing so much? Just what level of trust do you have for them? The answers will just change depending on the moment.
- Some of the background relationships also don't hold up to scrutiny, if these characters are living in this world then why don't they have any human relationships from their backstories? If these dynasty squabbles are supposed to have impact then I would need something to make me invested in the families but none of that ever lands. It's just a flat backdrop for the main romance. Which is fine for what it is, but let's be honest about it.
- Fight scenes seem to be straight up avoided or heavily simplified. There seems to be some implied budget constraint? Or just intentionally avoiding luring audience looking for fight scenes. Which is fine, but the intro definitely fails to communicate this expectation accurately -- Beginning is VERY focused on a fight, and then barely any comparable fight will happen again.
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