zaldrizes

Stuck on Repeat

Promising at first for the plot, but you need to bear with the repetitiveness and editing.

Repetitiveness of the plot

The plot keeps repeating itself in every aspect, and the pacing feels quite off. There are no major events that truly shift the direction of the story, instead, it's a series of small problems that feel artificially inserted just to keep the viewer going until the finale, which itself turns out to be not particularly thrilling. A bad guy appears, there's a forced kiss, the FL accuses the ML of deception and tries to kill him. Then they reconcile, a new bad guy appears, a new forced kiss or hug, and the FL accuses the ML again. The intrigue doesn't help either, since they need to find three different objects to cultivate the Ziwei Method, which creates the same cycle of plot twists over and over.
Another issue: Cai Zhao seems to be living out the same storyline as her aunt. First, it becomes tedious to watch a Cai Zhao scene only for it to be immediately followed by a flashback of her aunt doing essentially the same thing. Second, I would have appreciated more diversity in their respective developments and experiences.
In their defense, I think the writers focused less on making the overall plot compelling and more on showing how the characters were growing, which would make sense given the title of the drama. I liked the idea of an elder generation that faced many of the same challenges the younger generation is now encountering, and how the younger generation tries to avoid repeating the same mistakes. It's a genuinely nice concept, and I enjoyed all the flashbacks to the previous generation, which made for interesting comparisons. Overall, though, I think this is a case of wasted potential. It's like having a great idea for a book but being unable to write it well, or envisioning a beautiful drawing that ends up looking terrible in execution.

Production Issues

Setting aside the repetitive plot, the production itself is quite questionable. On the positive side, the costumes and some of the sets are nice. However, the editing is poorly done, the makeup on Cai Zhao is baffling (why is she so pale?), and the acting sometimes feels excessive, though that may partly be due to the strange editing choices (e.g., shots of Mu Qingyan making odd faces). Some scenes don't flow well together, and certain shots feel out of place. At times, we hear Mu Qingyan shouting something to Cai Zhao while the camera shows a wide shot of a mansion and garden filled with fighting characters. I found this very disorienting, as your eyes instinctively search for the people involved in the dialogue.

Romance and relationships

The romance, though, was completely wasted by Mu Qingyan's repeated unsettling behavior and Cai Zhao's constant rejection. Frustrating at first, then simply boring. I was hoping he would let go sooner, and that she would start chasing him a little. Their dynamic at the beginning was actually quite good: she was flirty and he showed nothing more than simple affection. Then came several awkward kiss attempts. Why not let her fall so deeply in love that she's the one trying to kiss him? Instead, they kept the obsessed-pursuer-and-rejecting dynamic all the way through, what a waste. I would have preferred the introduction of a woman he could have grown close to, to shake things up. As for Yuzhi, he should have either been simply her friend or someone she had some romantic interest in. What did his unrequited love actually bring to the plot?
That question, honestly, could be asked about many elements of this drama.
For example, I think they could have done something really compelling with Mu Qingyan's mother. He has so many repeated creepy scenes and moments of coughing up blood, they could have used that screen time to explore his mother issues, showing her trying to manipulate him and him resisting. That would have been far more interesting. His mother brought nothing to the plot tbh.

Good points

On the other hand, I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Lingbo and her mother, especially the one where Lingbo pushes back against her mother's advice, pointing out that her guidance didn't exactly lead to the best outcome given how her mother's own story ended. I also really liked Cai Zhao and Mu Qingyan's first meeting when she encounters him as himself. The enemies-to-lovers energy there was genuinely great. It was so promising and I actually loved the few episodes after this moment.

Conclusion

The repetitive plot combined with the production flaws makes the drama genuinely uninteresting at a certain point. They could have ended it after 20 episodes and it would have been tighter. I think it gets better toward the end, but I honestly couldn't watch at normal playback speed. It feels like the producers had a clear vision of the broad strokes and the ending, but didn't really know what to fill in between, which, for me, is the most important part.

Also, Rebirth has been in my watchlist for a while, but now that I've found out it's from the same director, I'm seriously reconsidering.

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Intrigue, Comedy, and Characters that captivate

⚠️ Written after completed the show, this review contains minor spoilers. I have not read the web novel.

This wasn’t the typical enemies-to-lovers trope I expected. Ji Bozai never truly thought he would kill Mingxian — he even had respect for her. And Mingxian didn’t want to kill him either. The story felt more like a lying trope than a pure enemies-to-lovers dynamic.

Let’s first talk about what I especially enjoyed.

I was amazed by how involved I was while watching this drama. It’s quite rare for me to binge a fully released drama this quickly. I can’t exactly explain why I was so captivated this time, but the story and characters kept me hooked. I believe the actors were great, although I’m not the best judge of acting skills. I also liked visual effects and the combat scenes, which I usually find quite laughable in wuxia dramas. The comedic moments were enjoyable as well; they help ease the tension when it gets too intense.

The story was by far my favorite part of the drama. One reason is that new villains keep appearing throughout the show, each with their own motivations, which keeps the plot dynamic and engaging. But the main reason I loved it was Mingyi’s prolonged deception. It added a tragic layer to the love story and prevented things from becoming too predictable or smooth between the leads. Even though some plot twists, like the true identities of the main characters, were easy to predict, I actually enjoyed that—I love when I can figure out the story ahead of time.

Mu Tianji was an amazing character. I could write a lot about her and how touching she was. I really liked the actress He Nan’s expressions. Mu Qibai behaved terribly, but he was right about the need for a change in the political direction of Jixing Abyss. While I did not hope for great political strategy when watching this drama, it’s interesting to consider it when it comes to Mu Tianji’s role. She was effective in both ambition and leadership, which men in the royal family were unable to. She forced communication — something many characters lacked — to make decisions. She trusted people based on her instincts and emotions, and she was right each time, as shown by how she built the successful Shouhua Academy.

The visuals were incredible, and the actors and costumes were beautiful. I especially liked the makeup on Xunming and Situ Long — they looked very handsome!

However, there were also elements that frustrated me to some extent.

First, the repeated patterns of plots and miscommunication. The plot can be a bit repetitive at times, especially with Mingyi’s identity storyline. There is also a lot of push-and-pull, which I usually enjoy, but overall it sometimes felt like the drama existed just for the sake of drama. This might seem contradictory with the fact that I liked Mingyi continuing to lie, but Ji Bozai was questioning things like the love Mingyi had for him — which he couldn’t really doubt. The tension worked well when it was about her not revealing her true identity, but the repeated questioning of her feelings felt irrelevant. Ji Bozai irritated me so much when he decided to misunderstand Mingyi, even though she had just slept with him. Near the end of the show, I was also so exhausted when he started being distant again because he wanted to sacrifice himself.
The miscommunication between the leads was very frustrating. Ji Bozai jumped to off-base conclusions, while Mingyi was too passive to clarify the real issues. Miscommunication is such a typical element in drama series, but I would love to see some innovation with communicating leads one day, lol.

Then, let’s talk about Situ Long’s character development. I saw a review saying Situ Long went from being a good villain to an obsessive creep, that is so real lol. I liked his initial role, Mingyi saying that he mistook gratitude for love, and I was hoping he would focus on getting the Golden Millet Dream for himself, especially when Mingyi never showed any interest in him. She was so polite and kept her distance, without any ambiguity. It makes the shifting from being a supportive intelligent ally to this manipulative obsessed guy even worse. I hoped he would gradually let go of his interest and would eventually stop, especially since he didn’t seem to mind hurting himself, but in the end his partner Fuyue also suffered because of his actions. In the end, the purpose of his character was for anything else that the need of an ultimate villain with charisma.

Finally, the missed opportunity of a tragic love-and-friendship. I also had high hopes for a tragedy regarding Zhangtai and Mingyi friendship regarding Zhangtai and Xunming’s marriage. When it was showed as love at first sight, I was hoping for a story where Mingyi might hesitate to harm Xunming because of his relationship with Zhangtai — a tragic love-and-friendship element. But my hopes died as soon as we saw that the wedding happened so quickly, understanding Zhangtai has become the victim of Xunming and that there was no true love between them.

So, I would recommend this drama to anyone. While it’s not entirely unique and some parts aren’t perfect, I think its main strength lies in the constant renewal of its plotlines and the fact that many of the characters are interesting. It never feels boring, and overall, it’s easy to watch.

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A Breath of Fresh Air

Finally writing my review!
At first I was not particularly into the drama, but I found it very funny and light, and it ended up being a pleasant surprise.

A rare and healthy romance

I am not a fan of friends-to-lovers romance developments, but here I really loved it. Because I like intense romance, I was not especially obsessed with the couple at the beginning, but when they started showing softness and attraction toward each other it was so cute. And it feels really good to see a healthy relationship like theirs, I think this is so RARE and it feels quite refreshing. Especially in cdramas, where we often see misunderstandings come out of nowhere (like characters are perfectly rational all along, and then out of nowhere they fail to grasp something that would obviously make sense to them), so it was nice that there were none of that here.

The beauty of diverse relationships

What I loved the most is the diversity of relationships shown in this drama: friendship, romantic love, an almost filial bond between Mr. Bei and the little girl, fellowship, respect for an enemy, caring for the people and their opposites. All the characters have a precise role, either as individuals or as a group (like the concubines), and I enjoyed most of them.

Light but not shallow

I liked the fact that it gets heavier at times and then lightens back up. Overall, this is still more of a comedy than anything else. Unlike Yu Wanyin, I also kept in mind throughout that this was all a story and did not get too attached, but I think the fact that the drama shows us this is even more of a testament to what a great story it is, especially when we know the original plot and see how everything ultimately unfolds with the two main characters and Xie Yonger's actions.

A plot that serves its purpose

The plot may be the least interesting element here, I had no particular expectations and was only moderately captivated by the overall story and schemes. But I think this is precisely the intention of the producers, or at least the effect they would naturally provoke in viewers. This is well illustrated through the character of Yu Wanyin, who at first just wants to save the emperor and herself, but whose heart gradually softens through the wonderful people she meets. I also liked the fact that when it comes to her father from the book, she always refuses to see him so that he can remain just a character in a story. I was already a little protective of him because he was so sweet and was being targeted by the court.

Props to the on-screen team

The costumes and makeup, especially Yu Wanyin's and the concubines', were SO beautiful! The acting is very nice too.

Conclusion

Most of all, there was not really anything that upset me. I think most of the drama was smooth and well done. A drama that does not make you absolutely passionate can feel refreshing in its own way, and this one managed to be exactly that.
There is one thing I have been thinking about that I don't think we ever got an answer for: which period of time was Xie Yonger from? Is it an alternative future? I did some research and Beijing has always been fairly well known, so I'm not sure what to make of it.

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