vicki

First of all, the beginning was just weirdly rushed. Like, Fang Fei barely even knew this girl before she suddenly takes her identity and swears revenge in her name. At first I was like, “girl, you don't even know her??” It felt kind of silly, like the whole foundation of the story was shaky. But then I thought about it more, she basically had no choice if she wanted to survive, right? So in that sense, it makes sense. Still, I wish they’d shown more bonding between them before the betrayal, so the whole thing didn’t feel so flimsy. But okay, I got over it by the time the plot really started moving.

The politics… honestly, they were fun but confusing. There were so many names, it was hard to follow. But I didn’t hate it. I actually liked digging into it and trying to keep track, even if it felt less grounded than in Love Like the Galaxy or Prisoner of Beauty. In those dramas, the politics were tied to real issues like food, crops, canals - stuff that affects actual people and makes all the difference for me. That made it easier to connect emotionally. In The Double, it was more about elites playing chess with each other’s lives, so it didn’t hit me as hard. Definitely not as strong world-building compared to those.

Now, the romance… this was probably my favorite part. I loved that it wasn’t built on stupid misunderstandings (I hate when writers do that). Their relationship was about trust and respect, and honestly, that kind of dynamic would work in any setting, even modern. I didn’t need the politics to make me love them as a couple, but the high stakes did make their love feel even more intense.

But Fang Fei herself… she was too perfect. I know they wanted her to be this strong, smart, untouchable woman, but for me it felt a little flat. Like, it’s not that she wasn’t complicated, but making her a “superwoman” isn’t exactly hard writing, you know? If she’d had some real flaws or failures, her revenge would’ve hit harder. Instead, it was like, “of course she wins, she’s flawless.” Meh.

As for the antagonist - evil for the sake of evil. That’s just boring. If they’d made her more gray, with actual motivations you could sympathize with, it would’ve made the whole thing more layered. They do show reasoning for her character, so we can kind of understand where her character comes from, but it wasn't convincing for me.

Overall, the plot was solid, the romance was beautiful, but the characters could’ve been written better. And yeah, those melodramatic face-close-ups made me laugh more than they made me feel. So… good drama, but not perfect.