Finally picked a dud
I don't mind a fluffy gamer romance drama even if it has some eye-rolling and teeth-gritting parts. The King's Avatar was OK and so was Falling Into Your Smile. This one is terrible. It gets a pity two stars for the potential it started out with, good casting, and one of the background romances, but it completely blew all of my initial goodwill. I was excited for a CS major FL, and thought this drama might outdo the other two, but the way they handled her personal character arc was abysmal. Maybe the fact that The King's Avatar and Falling Into Your Smile are more recent has something to do with the gross gender politics in Love O2O, which is from 2016? Still, I don't feel like that's much of an excuse. Honestly can't believe that women co- produced/directed/wrote this. (It's got 3 screenwriters, which might explain some of its incoherence to its own setup.) I hear that the novel is better and the Japanese remake is worse, but haven't tried either. Rewatch value is not just 0 but -1 because I wish I hadn't watched it.Yang Yang sure has nice eyebrows though!
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Some of my favorite side characters ever
Whether you like the main plot/couple/romance is so up to your taste that I'm not going into it. In the end it worked for me.A real standout for me: A+ side characters. This drama could have been 2 episodes shorter if they'd cut the repetitive insert songs (seriously, it's WAY over the top) but I would've wanted them to spend the time with Fu Rong (He Yu) and You Lan (Jackie Li), the Heavenly Emperor's grandson and granddaughter, instead. At first they were hilariously irritating: Fu Rong is the ultimate do-nothing playboy; You Lan is both arrogant and one of those really obsessive fan types. I thought they'd just be minor antagonists continuing these gags, but it's not that simple! Other secondary and minor characters were memorable as well. Really entertaining writing.
The final episode is more like an epilogue but it's full length. If you're always sad that you don't get time with the characters after the big moment, you'll be happy.
Aside from the repetitive insert songs, there's some epic music on this soundtrack (the whole album is on YT Music legitimately under its Chinese name). The opening theme gives me absolute chills when the suona comes in.
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mostly goofy fun with some heartfelt moments, but then it just ... stops
Honestly, I can't forgive it for just stopping so abruptly at the end. I admit that's affected by watching it in 2024 when it seems pretty clear that there will never be a second season. (I guess I'll be visiting AO3 for some resolution.)It's mostly a silly show with a lot of meta-humor. If you don't enjoy the gaming jokes, trope references, and so on, it won't be your thing. I know there were a lot of jokes I didn't catch, but there were still plenty that I did, and a few times I was howling with laughter. There were some cringey jokes at the expense of some of the characters that I didn't love.
It has some surprisingly effective emotional subplots and relationships! Don't expect them all to have happy endings because it's a goofy comedy, though. There might have been a few tears shed in the audience at my house. Unfortunately the subplot I was most invested in is one that would only have been resolved with a second season, so. (muffled screaming)
I think the cast did a good job with their characters. It's broad comedy, no need to be super subtle about it. Part of the joke, I think, is that some characters know they're in a wuxia novel/game/show and some...do not.
The thing that drove up me up the wall the most (other than the final episode!) was actually the costuming. It's like their budget was distributed randomly. There are some great and totally OK costumes! But also there are a truly couple of the worst costumes ever (see Wang Wu's lavender single-cold-shoulder dress, which fits absolutely no part of her body--I could do better in 5 minutes on Shein). And there's just a lot of visible poor quality.
I could see the raw edges of materials more than once. I'm pretty certain multiple characters are wearing a visible underlayer with their robes that's just some loose tulle or cheap chiffon wrapped around their necks and tucked under, not even flattened/stitched down. It looks terrible! A lot of the hair accessories and other things look like I made them from the jewelry findings section of Joann's. I imagine the costuming staff were doing the best with what they had but wow, I feel bad for the time and/or money crunch that forced them into those choices!
(Maybe this is normal for lower-budget shows. I've only seen a handful of post-2010 shows and the others must have all had bigger budgets.)
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