John Smith

While not as bad as Japanese dramas, trying to find Chinese dramas can be a bit challenging with the translations and different titles. Just from looking at the different titles here, it gives me totally different vibes. She and Her Perfect Husband sounds like a suspense/thriller, and The 80/20 Rule of Love sounds like a classic romantic comedy.
There have been several dramas on iQIYI and Tencent that I saw previews for months before one day they just popped up to watch on the apps. Maybe that will be the case here and it will just pop up for viewing when you check the site/app. (Don't go checking it right now, or you might be disappointed.)

I even tried to search it to see how popular they really are, but I could not easily find a photo, so not sure how fashionable they are.
Deng Jia Jia is 39 (for which I cannot wrap my mind around), and Victoria Song is 35 (more believable). I agree that after watching this drama, no matter how handsome you think the ML is here, a baby-faced actor seemed to work against the character they seemed to be going for. The ML did not have to be some rough, arrogant boss/love interest, but I thought he would have been a bit more ruggedly dashing (if that makes sense). They did not ask me for my opinion though.
Readers must read this and think we are just crushing the drama, but I feel the story and the FL had so much potential that was wasted on a bunch of little things.

I will suppose it is 40 unless MDL marks it differently. The title She and Her Perfect Husband sounds like one of those 24 episode fluffy Chinese romantic comedies, not some 40 episode legal/medical/military/imperial romance (basically romance+). I am sure there is a drama book that is filled with all kinds of angst and draggy plots that could be used to fill the time, but I do not like that.
Give me 12 to 20 episodes that are about 40 minutes long. The second to last episode signals the start of the ending. The last episode should be devoted to wrapping up all the loose ends. And if that is not possible and a drama needs angst, miscommunication, drag, time skips, or whatever, at least make it make sense.

We should hope you are not saying that about this drama in 2024.

I did not want to name names, but that is one that ended up being firmly in my "we waited for that" camp. I got to the 20s, but just could not finish it. It was just another Chinese drama that has its issues. Its good qualities could not encourage me to finish.

I agree with your agree!

Not to overly simplify it, but I think there are the 24 episode fluffy Chinese romantic comedies, the much longer 40+ historical/fantasy/imperial dramas, and a bunch of genres of various lengths in between. I like the 24 episode romantic comedies when I want to relax and not think about too much. I find it harder to get into the historical dramas because they have much more time for angst and drag and those are two things I do not like. Other dramas are hit and miss because of the cast, quality, script, etc. and there are just so many of them. It can be difficult to find good ones to watch, but there seems to be dramas out there for just about anyone.
I think the fact that Taiwanese entertainment has a much smaller talent pool to draw from means the quality of acting is better overall. Their dramas can have the same problems all dramas have, but I think they are able to show the many layers a drama can and should have. Plus Taiwanese dramas are some of the first ones I have seen so it sticks with me. Maybe it is a first love kind of thing too. Hard to forget, yet easy to misremember.

Their chemistry really does elevate the entire drama. From interviews and BTS, it looks like they enjoyed filming and promoting it, and that translates on screen.

I have not seen Find Yourself (if that is one of the dramas you are referring to), but in the photos, he does not look out of place. I have nothing against age gap romances provided they are portrayed well. My Fated Boy and I Need Romance 3 come to mind. I think this drama made me ask so many questions about what was going on that I just began to find small issues with a lot of things. With top notch dramas, I either do not notice or everything else makes up for what it might be lacking. I am thankful for Deng Jia Jia, but just about everything else is forgettable. Well maybe not the jacket belts the ML wore. It looked weird.

If it is possible, the to-do list for this drama has gotten longer instead of shorter as the episodes have flown by. Six left and nothing has really been dealt with, just piling up. My hope is that the drama has lined everything up in a way that stories resolve like dominoes instead of a mad race to the finish.

I have not read the novel, but I doubt it is like Beautiful Bones which was made into two dramas (One and Only, Forever and Ever). One being the past life, and the other being the story based on the memories of that life. That being said, I would watch the main couple in a modern drama. They both have been that good.

I wish they would have showed more of their relationship because from what we see, it was a one-sided obsession and they loved each other in different ways. He was a blind boy playing the flute in the cold, but it is not like he suffered so much afterwards to make him want to do anything to bring her back even if it was not going to be her. The evil spirit seemed to prey on his weakness. Redemption and forgiveness seem pretty far off, but maybe he will show just enough to deserve better in his next life like a lot of the fantasy style dramas tend to do for some of their worst characters. These dramas tend to have their own ethics so I would not be surprised either way.

I took another look at his character in the light, and perhaps it is more of a dark slate or charcoal. I think the next few episodes will go a long way in determining his true colors, but the writers have seemed to go out of the way to make him very obsessive towards his master. For a master which we have seen very little, and even less of their interactions. That is one part of the drama I did not really understand or connect with.

I do not see how Rong Hao is a grey character. He reminds me of those vicious SFLs in romance dramas who do anything to get what they want. In quite a few dramas I have seen, the bad guys are often fueled by desires they should not have and often end up deceiving themselves or being deceived by others to do more harm. Rong Hao seems to be a bit different in that he made a deal with the devil, and the devil actually walked him through the deal. He cannot say he did not know, nor that he was unaware of what would happen. He may have some sort of self-realization or redemption, but that has not happened yet.

I think another problem with the delayed release (regardless of the reason) is that people get so hyped up, and it keeps building. Eventually no matter how good the drama turns out to be, it cannot match the idea that people have in their minds already. There will probably be more "we waited for that" versus "it was worth the wait" viewers. I suppose Chinese viewers are used to the system, but international viewers are not (even though we know).

Which is probably why the "good guys" have not come together to compare notes.

Noble idiocy knows no bounds.

Some people like cake, some like pie. Both are sweet, but does not mean they are both the same. I am more of a buffet style watcher (I watch Asian dramas), but I do find I prefer Chinese dramas (maybe Taiwanese but there just are not as many).

I actually did watch No Boundary. I thought he was in his element there. The rest of the cast was also in the same age range I think, so he did not look so baby-faced. I was never trying to be critical of his acting, but like you said, I think he was not a good fit for this role. The character needed to be someone younger than the FL with an older soul. His character was too sweet? Maybe if I would have seen more bitterness or depth of his character (again, could be the writing), it might have made a difference.

I thought that the Kunlun Mountains was more of symbolic journey that that we all take in life. We all want the treasure of our lives whether it be riches, power, love, or simply something to look as good in the restaurant as it does on the commercial. Most of us are lost because we do not know what we are looking for or the way we are looking for it makes us undeserving of the treasure we seek... Okay, okay. The drama was cut, edited, censored, and I am just making this stuff up. I think the treasure might just be an ancient IOU.

I think the escape tunnel was literally behind the star map. So simple that no one would figure it out except Yun Qi because he is the star of the drama.