AH

Thank you day. Romance is the main draw for me. Sounds like there will be enough to keep my attention ^^

My criticism is very, very limited. There were a few instances where the ML's territorialness / possesiveness crossed the line a bit and made me uncomfortable. There were also a few instances where the drama really focused on age and weight, and a few instances where the parents reaction to the young FL dressing the young ML up in girls clothes was transphobic / close minded about gender (yes, unfortunately none of these things are uncommon in asian dramas). There was also one scene at a concert that was a bit underwhelming.

And that's it. That's pretty much the full extent of my criticism. Everything else was so much fun to watch, ​I watched it all in one day. It's one of those dramas where it's so easy to just keep clicking "next episode" again and again.

He Yu did an incredible job of conveying the ML's feelings. It was so palpable and apparent, and the leads' chemistry builds on it really nicely. The childhood / family dynamics are really sweet, especially as the drama progresses and we get to see some of the moments that really strengthened and defined the leads' relationship when they were young.

This drama is going in my top 10 and might actually be my favourite drama of 2021 so far.

I agree, everyone has their own taste and reasons for rating dramas the way they do.

I'm surprised by the rating because MDLers overall tend to complain about sad endings and to give dramas with tragic endings like this lower ratings, but of course there are exceptions.

I also agree that skinship isn't necessary for a great drama, and bad skinship can be worse than no skinship. I have only ever given two dramas 10/10. One of them is the Princess Wei Young, which has very little skinship and a bittersweet ending. But I found the romance and the ending in that drama to both be extremely satisfying. That said, I usually find great skinship to be very satisfying, so if a drama has it, it's a major plus for me.

OaO had a lot going for it, but ultimately it left me feeling disappointed. As mtzmtz pointed out, perhaps FaE will make up for it.

Fair point. I'm planning to wait until it finishes airing and I can get a sense of viewers' feedback to decide whether to watch it. If there's more skinship / satisfying moments in FaE perhaps it will make up for the frustrating parts of OaO.

I can only give this drama 7/10. I liked most of the main characters, including the main couple. But the lack of skinship, lack of a happy ending or at least a more romantic ending (like the Princess Wei Young, for example) for the main couple and everyone else was depressing...

Plus there were so many sacrifices and it didn't really feel like they were worth it. So much effort was put into avoiding turmoil that would cause the people of the nation to suffer, and in the end they still had to deal with years of war and internal conflict anyway and ultimately another child Emperor. They could've at least shown us moments where he followed Shiyi's teachings of putting the people first, but they didn't. The villains only died after inflicting great suffering, and they didn't show any of the good guys having happy marriages or lives. As Shiyi said "...and for what?" It all made for so few moments of satisfaction. I can't rate this higher and wouldn't recommend this to others as a drama worth their time.

I also felt that another weakness of the story was Shiyi's character. I just wish she would've contributed a bit more. I won'tsay that she contributed nothing. She had a few brief moments where she did contribute something. But each time it seemed like the story line was finally giving her something important to do, it ended up being much less than I hoped for.

The whole ending also caught me off guard. I wasn't at all fussed when the Prince died because, given the high rating, I thought for sure he had just faked his death and would reunite with Shiyi later. Same thing when Shiyi was walking up to the wall. I thought the Prince was going to reappear. If they had died with each other or for each other it would be different. I don't mind sad endings when they're still romantic or meaningful, but this one was so unsatisfying. I have to say I'm surprised that this drama has such a high rating.

Thank you ^^

Thank you ^^

How much romance does this drama have? And what kind of romance is it?

100% agree with all those factors :)

Yu Tu agreeing to spend basically his entire vacation coaching Jing Jing on how to play a game right after meeting her again reminded me of a quote from Just Between Lovers. "To a woman he didn't even like, what man would lend his shoulder all night?"

I definitely don't think he had fallen for her at that point, but I do think that some part of him must have liked her a little bit (subconsciously and maybe platonically at that point) for someone with his personality to agree to that request.

True. My re-watches tend to focus on my favourite feel good or bittersweet moments from dramas, so I'm not sure if I'll rewatch this one. But we'll see.

Thank you, that's very helpful. I think I might end up watching the rest on my own.

He's in the second episode. The shower scene was pretty much the only reason I included "almost" in my first comment. Do his antics ramp up in the later episodes?

I started watching this with a friend on the premise that this was a black comedy but it didn't feel like that was an accurate description of what we watched. My friend doesn't normally watch kdramas, military shows, or shows that could be described as "brutal". She's hesitant to continue, so I'm trying to gauge whether the later episodes are as dark / heavy as the first two without some humor or lightness to balance it out a bit.

After watching the first two episodes, there seems to be almost no comedy (black comedy or otherwise). Does that change in later episodes?

A great feel good drama where the romance felt right and genuine (although not from the very beginning - I didn't love the tricks at first), the unnecessary drama was minimal but the writers and actors did a great job of making me care about / be engaged by low-stakes events like workplace basketball games, an all-around likeable (and beautiful) cast, a lovely OST, and so many beautiful location shots.

This drama gave me so much nostalgia for the summer I spent working in Shanghai (there were several shots of my office ^^!). I even felt nostalgic about the subway, which is quite a feat!

It was much lighter than I was expecting given all the hype, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

I added My Mister, Mr. Sunshine and Misty. Can't believe those weren't in the top 30 already.

Wang Lao Ji is absolutely gorgeous. I'd love to see her character in a full-length drama. I enjoyed the humour but hope Peng Jing Xian's character will get a little more depth too.

The FL never plays with the ML's feelings. Think about the circumstances of the scenes you mentioned. The FL is young commoner and effectively an orphan with no family influence or status to protect her. She was kidnapped and taken into the palace against her will, and has to carefully hide her gender every day because if it's discovered that she's a girl she will almost certainly be executed. The difference in power and status between her and the ML are enormous. As she said, she wouldn't have become friends with him if he hadn't hidden his identity from her. Then the ML saves her life from the Chinese envoy at great personal risk. The fact that she developed feelings for the ML even when she knows they definitely can't be together is completely understandable.

Then the ML confesses his own feelings for her and what is her very first reaction? They can't be together. The crown prince and a eunuch? That would be an impossible couple that no one would support. The ML kisses her anyway despite everything the FL said, and the next time we see her she's still in a bit of a daze after her first kiss. It seems very unfair to insist that she's a terrible person or toying with the ML just because she carefully and hesitantly (still always worrying about being discovered) accepts the ML's advances at that point instead of continuing her protests. She's head over heals for him, he's very sweet and charming to her, and he didn't listen when she pointed out the reasons they couldn't be together. And the Crown Prince of all people should know that he can't possibly have a real, not secret, long term relationship with a eunuch. The FL should not have to explain that to him, but she tried to anyway.

Then she sees the ML in the same garden where he kissed her speaking to a beautiful noble woman in a friendly manner. It's not totally crazy for her to worry that he might also be flirting with / have feelings for that woman. After all, there's no possible future where he could marry a eunuch, so it's logical to conclude that he might only intend to have a fling with her. And the FL confronts him right away and asks him to stop toying with her feelings if he also has (in his own words) a beautiful woman that he loves. And the FL responsibly distances herself from the ML at that point. She doesn't lead him on.

Then the ML reveals that he knows the FL is a woman and says he'll cherish her as a woman. But he should know that that's completely impossible. There's virtually no scenario the ML could come up with where she could live publicly as a woman and have a proper relationship with the ML that wouldn't result in the FL being sentenced to death and the ML likely facing consequences as well (as the FL says, she worries that he'll be injured trying to protect her from the inevitable consequences). He should be aware of that, but he doesn't consider the danger to the FL at all. He just knows that he can't stand to not have her by his side. At that point the FL steps back from him again and distances herself from him. She does not lead him on.

After all of that and hearing the FL's valid concerns several times, the ML still asks her to bear the danger to both of them (in her case, the risk of being killed) and constant worry of being exposed and to stay by his side where she will have to continue hiding her gender and their relationship. After several very heartfelt asks from the ML, the FL gives in.

I love both of the leads, but if one of them should be criticized as you say for not acting in the other person's best interests, it's definitely not the FL! She was always concerned about the ML's safety and well being, while he was so focused on keeping her by his side that he completely ignored the danger he was asking her to face.

Rewatched, but I stopped at 15 minutes and 15 seconds into the last episode. A bit abrupt, but still more satisfying that way.

The contract was only "invalid" (not really the best word for it - more like "null") when MM and TDK couldn't remember making it. When their memories returned, the contract came back into force. That's whey MM disappears - on TDK's fated death day he is the person she loves most, so when the contract penalty is invoked (in the drama, MM says something about the contract being void at this point, but again it's not that the contract isn't in force - he just means that TDK has breached her obligations under the contract by not completing her wish for doom to befall the world before her fated death day, so the penalty is invoked) he "dies" / disappears in her place. TDK survives past her fated death day because that is also part of the contract penalty.