Reviews

UHHHH

ALRIGHT so I don't have much to say but I didn't find it THATT interesting! TBH, i didn't complete the drama so I don't fully know but till how much I watched, I would say only the first few eps were interesting. I dropped it pretty fast, i tried to watch it later but the acting got the best of me...I DROPPED IT AGAIN. I do love He Yu's acting but Esther's threw me off. I didn't like the fact she kept on acting like a child. As a person who notices facial expressions....yeah no. The story till was pretty boring, it was a typical script. They could have made it better by maybe adding plot twists and better reasoning for He Yu to be gone for that MANY YEARS. Overall, I would recommend it to the people who enjoy romance and a lot of SMOOCH scenes!

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First Impression: Sculpted Light

Overall: I'm giving this an indie bump/benefit of the doubt: 5 episodes about 6 minutes each. Airing on the Sculpted Light YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqcT2jynQLycM-G7RCQ4cM5P9pVnUKjXS&si=9vGdrAkRh7E_5JwB

Content Warnings: punch, violence, manipulation, abuse/held against will

What I Liked
- one guy is trying to have some agency
- tie pull in episode 2
- visuals

Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward and then back to the present
- didn't take off points, but hardcoded subtitles are very difficult to read

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took a turn in episode 3

Overall: I enjoyed the first 2 episodes (though the end of episode 2 seemed sudden), but things took a turn in episode 3 and the story tried to cover too much ground. 6 episodes about 10 minutes each. Aired on Secret of Us YouTube channel https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BSona1dmx6MOq-2_V50NJrjuUGS-UjO&si=h06-k6G1Bz0RiX3k

Content Warnings: dub/non con kiss, sexual assault, past deaths mentioned, manipulation

What I Liked
- vistas
- visuals

Room For Improvement
- started with a flash forward and then to the present
- one guy seemed completely non interested and then after the sexual assault in the tent they were suddenly soulmates???
- too many story threads, should not have introduced the mom/terminal illness

Ending Spoiler: they reunite but 1 guy appears to have a terminal illness

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Disappointing season

Some things were done better than the first like the prison games, but most things made the season worse.

1. The players were divided early on where half the members were sent to the prison to face death. Not only are these low piece players who can be easily targeted during main games, but they also have to face a second elimination during the prison game. So the living room players more or less remained the same throughout the season and the people who went to prison never came out other than Choi Hyun joon who didnt even want to attempt the secret room game.

2. The huge divide after the main game created early alliances where people with strong alliances kept winning games and weaker players are sent to prison and have no hope of getting out of there. There was no room for people like Lee Sedol or Justin Min who were interested to play their own game. The whole season depending on alliance where weak players like So hui and Tinno (they were both very smart and played the games with strong strategy, but had weak nerves and therefore easy to manipulate) held on to strong players to survive until the end (no comments on what happens later because that's ridiculous).

4. What's the point of having a secret room in the living area? The game is already heavily favored towards high piece players and this doesn't help. This secret room game also came with no consequences aka no elimination, like wtf??? This game also came no surprise to the player vs the prison side secret game was more innovative with elimination risks that gave the exact same reward for winning i.e. 10 pieces except with a major advantage i.e. the winner can claim the 10 pieces at any point even when he is just about to get eliminated. Like why do we even need to watch 12 episodes when everything was decided on the very first episode? Did the producers think the secret room wont be unveiled until much later? These are extremely smart people on the show, especially after the first season, everyone is going to be on the look out for this stuff in this season. The secret rooms were solved in the very first episode. This was too easy as opposed to the first season where the clue was super hard to find and can be solved by the living room player (the one with more pieces) to unlock the secret room on the prison side.

5. Lots of manipulation by few players. In the first season I loved watching people get along with each other despite differing alliances. Except of Dong Jae and See Won who were aggressively competitive and had strong alliance opinions, most people were friendly and mixed well with everyone. In this season the prison divide just ensured alliances were fixed and the cast itself seem to play to that game play. I liked a few players, those who were strong strategically but also competitive and straightforward and played well with everyone: Sedol, Justin, 7high were my favorites. the others who were not terrible, but somewhat strategically selfish that I could root for was eun yu, har in, je yeong. I absolutely disliked Hyun gyu, so hui and later Tinno when he backstabbed 7high.

6. Why were there so many auction/betting games? Why were the final games so simple? Why were so many of the main games to be played in teams or easy to form team and play? Prison games were more fun since we got to see the player's real skill while playing it. They also need high reward for people playing the death games so they can recover from their poor fates. I personally think the people in the prison should be fed better to be able to have the energy to play multiple games in a day. If anything this season shows how stupid the producers unbalanced the prison side of the game sort of a mimic to represent society where rich gets richer and the poor have no hopes to improve their fates. But game shows are fun only if events are unpredictable and when everyone has an equal opportunity to win.

7. Poor casting. I wont say the first season cast was absolutely perfect. There were a few weaker players even if their IQ was supposed to be high like Yu Min, Hye Sung or the Go player who hung on to some stronger players for longer than they deserved. But the strong players played their game fair for the most part like Orbit or Dong Jae or Seok Jin. Some people though Dong Jae doesnt deserve to leave soon, while I agree to some extent, he does deserve to be eliminated because he didnt have a back-up plan to maximize his points or the vision to stick with his original alliance that would guarantee he prob wont get betrayed by forming teams with newer players who were part of a major alliance.
Anyway, the casting this season also has a few weak players, but most of them were very strong strategically but its frustrating to see them get so blatantly manipulated by not so strong, cunning players like hyun gyu. He didnt find the clocks, kyuhyun did. He didnt find the secret room, So hui found the birds and trees. He didnt solve the puzzle, So hui did by finding "Insert". He just "accidentally" drops his piece after they solve the puzzle and enters the room without discussing with the other living room people if any of them wanted to go esp So hui or kyun hyun. The prison room people on the other hand actually decided fairly on who wanted to enter and everyone played a part in solving the puzzle. hyun gyu is smart in the sense where he knows how to play the people (like a sociopath) but has no real skills in playing the game. He wins by forming strong living room alliances with strategically strong players like So hui, Tinno and 7High and later Hyun Joon. When he realized he was betrayed by hyun joon in the mancala game and he now had to play alone, he desperately manipulates his older alliances like So hui and Kyuhyun to betray their new group so he "doesnt feel alone". And they agree....they dont have a backbone and kyuhyun deserves to be eliminated because of this poor decision (Remember he doesnt even know hyun gyu had the 10 piece advantage when he decided to help him because of fake tears). So hui is even worse than hyun gyu imo. She is so smart, yet so easily manipulated by hyun gyu every moment is just so unbelievable. She wanted to take pieces from the living room players after winning her game because they had tons of pieces but instead didnt question once when hyun gyu suggested she take from prison players instead because that would ensure they remain weak. Then she cries on how she feels bad to do this. She sends Tinno to the prison because hyun gyu tells her he has the best chance of coming back to the living room (but not him ofc) and she just agrees and then cries and feels bad when he gets eliminated that day. Hyun gyu just keeps evading prison because no one has the spine to send him to prison and he had an unfairly acquired secret room advantage. Send him to prison and we would have seen how much he truly was capable to strategically winning solo games. But we already know he isnt that smart and purely relies on manipulating others to cover for him. Did he play devil's game well? Sure, he kind of did and he did play a huge part in securing that lucky advantage that the producers screw up. But was it fun to watch? No, its not fun to watch the Devil win an unfair game. When he said things like "Are you scared (derogatory)?", "Do you know how to math?" to hyun joon who he knows goes to top tier school in S. Korea for mathematics, and that sealed the deal for me. He is arrogant, not even the smartest in the room but calculative, unemotional, selfish i.e. completely unlikeable and undeserved winner. I would not have hated him as much as I did if he had to play the game in alliance with smarter players like 7high, eun yu, harin or hyun joon who are not afraid of playing the game or betraying him, aka people with courage and strategy to take risks. Unfortunately most of these people were in the prison away from him for the most part and he instead ended up forming alliance with lucky loyal doormats like kyuhyun, Tinno and the pick-me girl So hui. They should really stop casting celebs like So hui and kyuhyun who are afraid to play the game like it should be because they are worried about societal backlash if they are found playing dirty but instead actual smart non-celebs who care about winning the final pot and ruthless enough to do whatever it takes for maximum entertainment. If

Anyway once my favorite players got eliminated playing the game, I just fastforwarded to see who the winner was, though I already know but still hoped it was hyun joon. In my opinion, hyun gyu is a sociopath without finesse and So hui is a high IQ coward. I want justice for 7high, Justin Min, SeDol, Eun Yu who played courageously and strategically but in unfair conditions. I hope season 3 cast, game design is better than this one, at least please revert back to season 1 prison rules at the minimum. If you are going to cast a sociopath, please cast more than one.

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Tries to be more interesting than it is…

This is the lowest rating I’ve given for any Jdrama- I feel like this drama tries too hard to be deep or profound. It paints the Mary Magdalene figure not just as a “sinful” woman but a serial killer, mixes some Adam and Eve in there, with the last supper. All of it divorced from their true archetypal meeting and flattened to glorify this random Maria woman. Mary Magdalene is once again trashed in pop culture with falsities. They have no depth or context for any of these Christian symbols and simply throw it all together into one big messy soup. And it tastes weird, sour, and bitter. It tries so hard to be mysterious, scandalous, dangerous, and interesting, but the show is just bad and boring. The acting is uniformly bad and the director of the show has no purpose for the story whatsoever other than to run around in circles and waste time. I watched it till the last episode hoping to find something interesting or some kind of depth or something that would “make it make sense,” but it was just utterly stupid. People die and then don’t die, Maria is glorified as this serial killer whom Akechi keeps saving, kisses in a burning building for no good reason, and falls down this deadly hole with. Akechi makes no sense either. His primary dialog is “warukunai” (not bad) when tasting food and “Maria..”They try to be deep and interesting but in the end it just all falls flat and hollow. I’m not impressed with this. The lady who acts in “Marry my Husband” is also in this but far less likable- she’s annoying and screechy. Perhaps the only thing that’s good is the Utada Hikaru song that plays at the end of every episode. In the end it’s utterly pointless and left a bad taste in my mouth.

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a nice quick watch

If you have a free two hours to kill this is a vertical that actually has a decent story to it and was easy to watch. highly recommend

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Hong Ye, Moral Economy, and the Squandered Potential of The Unclouded Soul

Hong Ye, the Demon Lord of the recently aired C-drama The Unclouded Soul, is not an inherently unsatisfying character. Rather, he is a case study in how narrative structure and genre conventions can suppress complexity in favor of ideological convenience.

At first glance, Hong Ye appears to conform to a familiar xianxia archetype: the emotionally closed-off, jaded lover whose cruelty masks an essentially gentle soul. For nearly two-thirds of the drama, the series reiterates this characterization without meaningful development, asking the audience to accept repetition in place of evolution. The result is a protagonist who feels static, even as the plot insists on his emotional transformation.

The Unclouded Soul is a 40-episode xianxia idol drama starring Hou Minghao and Tan Songyan, framed as a female-centric narrative centered on Xiao Yao—a heroine defined by her unrestrained sense of joy and justice. The drama employs a time-traveling plot device to gradually unfold the mystery of her connection to Hong Ye across multiple lifetimes, positioning their romance as both fated and cyclical. This structure, in theory, should deepen the emotional stakes by layering past lives onto present consequences.

It is only in the third major arc—revealed to be their very first life—that the series briefly fulfills this promise. In this incarnation, Hong Ye is not a demon but a human burdened with the responsibility of saving humanity from extinction. His love for Xiao Yao motivates him to pursue immortality, not out of ambition or malice, but from a desperate desire to remain by her side forever. He steals demon pearls to gain power, fully aware of the moral cost of his actions. This arc finally grants Hong Ye agency, contradiction, and tragedy.

Hou Minghao delivers the pain and complexity of these decisions with remarkable precision. His portrayal captures a man torn between ethical compromise and emotional devotion, embodying the kind of moral ambiguity that xianxia narratives often gesture toward but rarely sustain. For the first time, Hong Ye feels less like a symbolic figure and more like a human subject navigating impossible choices.

Yet this is also where The Unclouded Soul exposes its most troubling ideological framework. Xiao Yao, who is gradually revealed to possess a savior complex, becomes the moral axis around which judgment is distributed. Her unwavering sense of justice—ostensibly virtuous—ultimately condemns Hong Ye to an endless cycle of atonement for sins rooted in love and desperation rather than cruelty. Meanwhile, other characters who commit far more egregious acts are narratively excused through death, narrative convenience, or symbolic punishment. The drama’s moral economy is uneven: suffering is not proportionate to wrongdoing but rather allocated according to narrative usefulness.

Hong Ye’s punishment is not framed as tragic injustice but as necessary balance, positioning him as a sacrificial figure whose suffering stabilizes the world order. In contrast, Xiao Yao’s moral absolutism remains largely unchallenged, despite the devastating consequences of her judgments. The series thus reinforces a familiar pattern in xianxia storytelling: the male lead’s redemption must be endless, while the heroine’s righteousness is treated as inherently correct, even when it is destructive.

Compounding this issue is the prolonged and narratively redundant storyline of the second leads. Their arc serves little purpose beyond manufacturing villains and crises, conveniently positioning Hong Ye to sacrifice himself repeatedly for the “greater good.” This narrative padding not only drags the pacing but actively undermines Hong Ye’s character by reducing his complexity to a functional role within the plot.

Ultimately, The Unclouded Soul gestures toward a far more compelling story than it allows itself to tell. Hong Ye’s character contains the potential for a rich exploration of moral compromise, love, and unjust punishment. Instead, that potential is curtailed by an overextended runtime, misplaced narrative priorities, and an ideological framework that demands his suffering as proof of cosmic balance. The tragedy of Hong Ye is not merely within the story—it is embedded in the storytelling itself.

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Lovely story

There's a famous saying that claims "the way to a man's heart was through his stomach" and this story, from the anthology kdrama series Love Track, explores it with a twist.

A lonely office worker, with very little going on in his life, finds himself lost in life. Not really happy with how things are going, falling into a mindless routine and feeling ignored by people. Until one day, he visits a new restaurant and tries the french onion soup and feels instantly revitalized. Now, when things don't go his way, he visits that same restaurant and asks for his new favourite dish. That's until the chef from the restaurant decides to no longer have this particular dish on the menu.

I really like this story because it felt really relatable. In the busy everyday life, it's easy to feel lonely and not really see beyond what's in front of us, thinking we go unnoticed by other people. But, if we look up from our plate, we can see there's actually kindness, friendship and, even, love waiting for us as long as we are willing to take a chance.

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I rewatched this to prove myself wrong but Cherry Magic is still the gold standard for a reason

It might be late for a review, but I just recently rewatched Cherry Magic while carefully re-ranking my top 15 Japanese BLs. It’s been about 4 years, and I mainly revisited it to sort out my feelings between this and School Trip. For a long time, I thought Cherry Magic only held a special place because it was my first Japanese BL, so I ranked School Trip higher. Turns out, I was wrong lol. Rewatching it reminded me exactly why I fell in love with this series in the first place

Story
The premise still feels refreshing even years later. The show moves at a steady, confident pace and knows exactly when to lean into comedy and when to sit quietly with its emotional moments. Nothing feels dragged, nothing feels rushed. It’s restrained in a way other BLs don’t always manage.

Both protagonists are immediately likable without needing justification. Kurosawa is the textbook definition of a green flag, but what really anchors the show is Adachi. His low self-esteem and quiet awkwardness feel painfully real, especially as someone who’s been a corporate worker. Office dramas rarely focus on employees like him. I mean... the introverted, unconfident, overlooked ones who just blend into the background of an office and seeing that reflected made the character hit harder. For once, I could actually see myself on screen

The supporting cast is just as thoughtfully handled. Fujisaki stood out to me even more this time, an aro representation and a woman in a BL who isn’t villainized felt genuinely progressive, especially for its time. It’s also refreshing how the show never pits women against the romance. Rokkaku, meanwhile, is charming and funny without being annoying

I initially thought Tsuge’s storyline would function just as the secondary couple, and while I still feel that his relationship with Minato is underdeveloped, Masato’s role works thematically. He’s odd, a little uncomfortable, and clearly not meant to be easily digestible and I actually appreciate that this time. Cherry Magic isn’t afraid to introduce characters and tropes that feel awkward or offbeat, then gently humanize them instead of sanding off their rough edges. It trusts the audience to sit with that discomfort

Acting
There’s really no debate here. The performances are natural across the board. None of the exaggerated, anime or manga-coded acting that often plagues Japanese drama and everything feels lived-in and grounded

Music
It’s funny revisiting this now because I completely forgot this show was what got me into Omoinotake. It became a gateway for me to dig deeper into their music. The musical score used throughout the show is pretty good, and I honestly didn’t notice it much on my first watch

Rewatch Value
This might be the one area where the show doesn’t fully win for me. It’s not as instantly rewatchable as fluffier BLs, and I did feel myself getting tired during this revisit 3 years ago. That said, time works in its favor. Rewatching it years later made me appreciate it more deeply, almost like discovering it again for the first time

At the end of the day, Cherry Magic holds up not because of nostalgia but it’s just damn good storytelling. In a genre that usually tries way too hard to be loud or 'extra,' this show has the balls to be sincere. It’s not trying to sell you a fantasy but it’s showing you the terrifying, messy, and eventually beautiful process of letting someone actually see you. It’s confident, it’s kind, and it’s remarkably human. I came back to it thinking I’d grown out of it but it turns out I just finally grew into the person who could appreciate why it’s a masterpiece

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Love is Patient, Love does not eek its own way

I gave this drama a 10 because it showed tge true meaning of what love is all about - committing one’s self to another person and working through problems together; it protects each other from harm and does not run away. It does not seek individual desires outside of that bond, and doesn’t keep score to prove who has done more.

People complained about the last scene calling it weird. There was nothing weird about it.

He came downstairs and looked at the photos, then watched the video of her playing the piano because he was reminding himself. It was his way of keeping the amnesia under control and clinging to what he saw in the photos and hearing the song she wrote when they first met.

Music is pieerful and can reach places that words cannot. It can dig down past the clutter of confusion and panic and calm the heart and mind.

He may have sensed a reset coming at that time, based on his darting eye movements, but those photos, the music, his child and his wife steadied him and brought him back.

The greatest redemption was brought about by love, and when we make life and marriage all about romantic feelings, we miss out on the reward that faithfulness in all situations brings.

It is a beautiful love story.

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Slow Burn done right

I didn’t plan to watch this at first because I’m not really a fan of the ML. I’ve seen some of his previous dramas and they just weren’t my style. I gave this one a try after hearing good reviews, and honestly, it lived up to the hype.

It’s a slow burn, but once it picks up, it’s hard to stop watching. What I really liked is that both leads are rich and on equal footing—no power imbalance. They grow together, which made the story more satisfying.

In terms of acting, the FL stood out more than the ML for me (just my personal take). The OST was really cute, and the ending was chef’s kiss.

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it was very different from the other bl's. i decided to watch it when i saw the actor who played khunkao promoting the series on the streets of thailand, telling people to watch it. as i said, the series was very different. i got a little lost in the historical narratives, and frankly, the sets and acting in the timelines were bad. but the acting in general is very impressive. i honestly didn't expect such an ending. i especially didn't know how to react to the plot twist in the very last scene. my favorite character in the series was pun. his relationship with kor was amazing, and it was the thing that affected me the most. kor's death was very tragic. although many people died in the series, the fact that no one, including their lovers, cried was very unrealistic. honestly, i don't know if i liked it or not. the acting and the chemistry between the main couple were very good. it felt like it could have been a great series, but the scriptwriting prevented it.

p.s.: there are significant omissions in the cast, particularly regarding the actors who had an impact under the series title. this looks a bit bad in terms of credit. even the most minor characters were very well-acted. i don't know the actors; it would be great if someone who knows them could add their names.

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When the Morning Sun Meets a Forest, The Right Pieces Fall into Place.

This drama was the first modern one of SWL that I had seen as before it was only some costume ones which were hit or miss. Here though, he nailed his character. I know ZJM from several other shows and knew she would do well. I also knew several of the supporting characters like the SML or LWM and others. This was a story of when the morning sun met a very green forest, the right pieces would fall into place.

Pros: Being a work of Gu Man, who had a lot of say in her works, as she was always the screenwriter as well as apparently selecting the leads and others herself which was a great thing as we saw in YAMG as well. All of her work have been successful in one way or another. In this story, you had two people destined to meet each but due to a misunderstanding orchestrated by a wicked person (we had several here), the ML played by SWL or LYS, a one in a million protégé neurosurgeon got into a car accident and lost his ability to be a surgeon so he became a businessman instead in his family's rather massive and successful empire in the PV industry. He was angry because he thought the person who had invited him somewhere and after his accident ghosted him was a young lady he fell for at first sight, herself the daughter of a wealthy businessman in a different field. That young lady our FL or NXG however wasn't obviously responsible and didn't even know he existed. She was a college student elsewhere with a crush of her own on the SML or ZX whom I gave the nickname "hunk of junk/lack of balls" to. Though she confessed to hunk of junk/lack of balls, he rejected her, because even though he himself liked her but because of his inferiority complex of her being rich and him poor along with the fact that he seemed completely oblivious to how their mutual "friends" treated her, her roommates; once right before graduation letting others accuse her of letting an important interview call for one of them be forgotten by her without any proof other than the ring leader aka toxic chick who along with her wing woman both liking him just came at her. It was later discovered and admitted that another girl had been in the room when the call came through and she was the one who forgot plus at the company itself, though the company made the call, they didn't write it down. So a lot of people dropped the ball but only when the girl remembered, told the college committee and NXG investigated as well as hunk of junk's senior sister (who worked at the company) came forward and apologized to him on the phone only but not to the involved parties, was NXG's name cleared; hunk of junk knew the truth but never said a word. Only the two girls NXG was friends with ever truly apologized.

Because he and toxic chick knew each other since childhood, she used every opportunity to shove that fact into NXG's face and basically imply that they kind of were together or he would always do things for her most of which were lies. NXG texted him about it apologizing for the confession and that she never meant to steal him away but he never replied basically in her mind confirming those suspicions. Their last two years, he spent either never saying a word, sending her mixed signals with his actions like the thesis help attempt, or plain putting her down with his words. In other words, he expected her to be telepathic to his thoughts and feelings. Once they graduated, and she and her cousin JR, went on a little 2 month vacation to Europe which they called a study tour (I'll talk about cheap faux tour in the cons); which was somehow misconstrued to her studying abroad thanks to the cousin's housekeeper telling hunk of junk that when he came by the house looking for her.

I will say that Z "hunk of junk" X played by LWM whom I've previously seen in a tiny role in Moonlit Reunion but more memorably in FOF, was the most complex character in the entire show. Also, he's probably LWM's most different character from both others that he’s done and himself IRL, though only starting in c-ent 3 years ago. He absolutely nailed the part of a guy, oblivious in college of the girl he liked feelings choosing to stay quiet or “resist; hold back” as he pointed out during his tantrum as opposed to saying something back like "wait for me" or "I'm not ready just yet". ZX always thought she would be there, single waiting for him always taking her for granted (as she pointed out to him during his tantrum and her just spelling everything out for him saying he was lying to himself, that with his IQ and EQ, he didn't understand obvious things she said and did, because he didn't want to understand, that he had many opportunities but failed each one and why LYS got her was because he had openly told her he liked her and when she said she liked someone else, he didn't have a problem with that, but would let her pick. He treated her like an adult and pursued her showing her what real love and open communication going both ways looked like) until it was way too late. All of the push and pull between and inside him was shown in his micro-expressions and how only when he started working and came across a situation where bad rumors were spread about him and a few of his coworkers including one of the women, how he recalled the frame job and toxic chick's constant bashing and belittling of NXG in college and how she must have felt after hearing Chris' words; how he nearly sent NXG an “I'm sorry” but instead decided to sit in the darkness and cry. This was after the tantrum episode. Everything was about him and he didn't seem to understand how others felt until he experienced it for himself or someone he was close with now as an adult spoke about it. Though on the contradictory side, he wasn't a complete narcissist as he was able to make genuine good friends; two of whom he later started a successful business with, he himself got that status he always wanted through hard work, and he was able to express gratitude like he did to LYS for helping his friend/colleague after the latter experienced a medical emergency on the slopes. And that's why I'm proud of LWM because he was able to pull off a rather complex character in a show that didn't require that much, if at all.

Now when ML met FL as he downgraded himself from the main office in Shanghai to Suzhou it was half because of the misunderstanding and also because he still had feelings for her. Their start wasn't smooth as he moved her from her department to his and gave her extra work to do in a way to give her a hard time but also to be close to her and get to know her. He was quite puzzled that she didn't remember him and each time that came out in conversation he grew cold and distant toward her and assigned her more work. It wasn't until she landed in the hospital after falling from the balcony and him catching her and venting his frustration at her in the hospital though not completely saying the entire thing and her saying that he was the reason for her bad luck and crying plus later on one of her coworkers telling him how often she got hurt at the factory where she didn't have to be but he made her work there during his as she called it "bipolar" moments, that he finally called a truce between them though she had no idea why. He confessed to her not long after that after running into the university classmates along with toxic chick (who's fake apology and implication of her and hunk of junk being together; who was standing behind her and was only shocked when the study abroad to study tour misunderstanding was cleared up) and hunk of junk, he rescued her from also giving them the impression that they were together causing hunk of junk to panic, get wasted, say really rude things to her, making her cry for the last time over him.

After that, the show just showed two people getting to know each other properly and spending time together as we also learned of both families dysfunctions, his father died when he was young in a different country after he was set up by an uncle or two for a mistake within the conglomerate and was shipped out to work in some remote location where a war broke out. LYS' mom never got over what her family did and moved to Switzerland while letting ML grow up and go to school while living with his paternal grandparents. Mom met and married a wonderful man. FL's mom divorced her bastard husband and FL's father for cheating and the entire series shows him and his first love and her daughter living in a villa. That daughter pretending to be FL is the wicked person spoken about who liked LYS and was the reason for him being on that highway and then ghosting him in the hospital later. When the truth came out, LYS was stunned and distraught understandably, and took a few days leave to travel around for both himself and work. After receiving the letter with the entire story from his side of how they met or when he first saw her and her remembering that day as well, she called him and told him to stop over in her hometown on the way back to Suzhou. They went to walk around the cherry blossoms which was kind of a full circle from two years before when the fake invited him to do the same, and this was when they--both real people--officially got together.

The rest you'll have to watch, but I'd like to point out that like YAMG both mom's of the leads were amazing people who knew each other from a while back so the ski trip other then both moms, also included FL's uncle, aunt, and semi annoying cousin JR, and ML's stepfather was a very happy one filled with love and fun; LYS with his surprise to NXG made the trip even more memorable. Hunk of junk and coworkers ended up vacationing up there as well; didn’t dampen the spirits too much (though it was his younger bro that set him up). NXG's paternal grandparents were also great people; they could barely stand their asshole son; especially after learning what he essentially allowed gold digger first love and fake daughter to do, after NXG laid it all on the table for him and both mom and grandma found out the despicable actions of all three and how he treated both his only actual daughter and LYS. ML's grandfather was alright, he learned a hard lesson himself finally understanding his wrongdoing with ML's father. Other great people were ML's niece (who was ultimately named successor of the big company) and nephew. Having non-toxic family members is rare in cdrama land. Also NXG's coworkers/friends were night and day from her college roommates. They were always supportive and accepting and fun to be around. ZX's coworkers were also nice people.

OSTs were my favorite especially the one in English called "You Are the Light of my Love." The desert scenes were great and costumes as usual per modern drama; I liked it more when FL started dressing like a young lady and not a kid.

Cons: Whoever thought putting so much propaganda into a romantic drama was a good idea, didn't think things through. At first it wasn't a big deal, here and there in a conversation, one could brush it off but than in a college lecture the leads went to, that started talking about their industry and than proceeded to vilify the West and go into politics before trying to tie things up with a pretty little bow with "all countries in the world under the sun will prosper." It was ridiculous and unnecessary. Afterwards at the end of the series it was all countries bad and China the leading in everything technological especially last year and I'm like y'all blind or something? This is a romantic drama not a lesson in business politics. Or the off the cuff remarks that Mr. Zhang would suffer in America because the food and atmosphere is bad/different. I felt like that was a slap in the face to every Chinese American because there's plenty of Chinese food in every city not to mention places like NYC and San Fran having Chinatowns taking up whole portions of the cities where you literally feel like you went to their country. It's not like Mr. Zhang's son lived in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio, for Pete's sake! Stupid.

This show had plenty of money but apparently not enough to even have CGI of European cities on NXG's and JR's study tour that they had to use a green screen and stickers or posters. Continuing, it felt very disheartening when every single evil doer got a slap on the wrist instead of real consequences; bastard father after NXG read him the riot act and grandma and mom found out the extent of his stupidity and harm, just had the benign tumor removed, but though it had supposedly done some harm to his hearing and facial movement; the actor never acted it out so it was a loophole and his business never suffered like in the book. He was still as arrogant as ever. Gold digger and fake daughter were presumably kicked out of the villa with some money intact but no one went to jail and we never actually saw that. Asshole uncle and his son; were allowed to continue being in the company or one at least and both retained their wealth. Toxic chick quit her job and left the city; that was it. None of them got any real punishment. We were all waiting for karma and she forgot about them; I felt that was lax writing; two screenwriters so whomever wrote it, didn't do it well.

While we got a strange proposal and an equally strange wedding (just them two, no family or friends seen anywhere); the time jumps in the last episode didn't make sense especially the last two. One after 10 years and one after 3. Why wait a whole decade after getting married to have a child? And why jump 3 years into the future, just to show a walking creepy as hell robot and cars that can do everything but fly when everyone knows not one country on earth is that advanced nor will be in 2-3 years. It just didn't jive with the rest of the show. Showing a family of 3 with the cute daughter was great, also exiting out ZX with his coworkers was appropriate but the majority disappeared before the wedding and were never seen again, with no explanation given. Things could have been done better at the end with that especially given how important they were to the rest of the show and the leads.

Would I recommend it? I absolutely would. Despite the cons and there were enough to definitely pose questions, pros outweighed them by far. This was a great lesson in how to have the right type of relationship and the right type of friends as well as whom to cherish as family and whom to disregard.

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