Reviews

I appreciate the ambition and the willingness to try something different

I think the vision behind The Last Oath was clear and ambitious. I genuinely appreciate the production team's effort to explore something different by combining BL romance with a zombie apocalypse and survival storyline. It's an interesting concept, and I believe it has so much potential.

One thing I absolutely have to praise is the MUSIC and OST! They were a BANGER. The music really added to the atmosphere and emotional impact of the series. It helped make certain scenes more engaging and memorable, and I think the soundtrack was one of the production's strongest points. -I hope its created for the series and not ai generated

That said, I think the series could have been even better with a bigger production budget. I noticed what appeared to be some AI-assisted visuals and effects, which I can understand might have been a practical choice to work within budget limitations. Nevertheless, I hope the production team can secure more resources in the future to improve the visual effects, set designs, action sequences, and overall realism.

I would love to see more productions like this rather than having the BL genre stick to familiar themes and settings. Hopefully, we can get a Season 2 with a bigger budget, better production quality, and an even more immersive post-apocalyptic world.

And honestly, if there's one thing I would ask for, it's MORE ZOMBIES! More zombie encounters, bigger hordes, more intense survival scenes, and more action! There's so much potential in this concept, and I would love to see the production team push it even further.

Overall, I appreciate the ambition and the willingness to try something different. I hope this production gets the support and resources it deserves because I'd definitely be interested in seeing what they could accomplish with a bigger budget.

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Jo Jung Suk Carries This Flight, But the Script Loses Altitude! ✈️

Pilot had the potential to be a really entertaining comedy with a meaningful message, but unfortunately, it didn't quite reach its full potential.

The biggest highlight for me was definitely Jo Jung Suk. This man knows how to deliver comedy, and his performance was easily the best part of the movie. His expressions, comic timing, and ability to pull off such an unusual role made several scenes genuinely funny. He carried the movie effortlessly.

The premise was interesting, and I liked how the story explored gender stereotypes, workplace discrimination, and the way women are treated differently in society. There were some good opportunities for the movie to deliver a stronger social message, especially through the main character's experiences. However, I felt the character development and his personal growth were a little underdeveloped. Some important realizations were touched upon but never explored deeply enough.

The comedy was entertaining in parts, although not every joke landed for me. The story also felt a little too exaggerated at times, and a few characters and subplots could have been handled better. I especially wish the movie had given more attention to the emotional side of the story instead of rushing through certain developments.

Final thoughts: Pilot is a decent, lighthearted comedy that offers a few laughs and an interesting premise, but it could have been so much more. Jo Jung Suk's fantastic performance definitely makes it worth watching, but the writing needed more depth, better character development, and a stronger payoff to its social message. Not a bad watch, but not particularly memorable either. Worth a watch for Jo Jung Suk, but don't go in expecting a masterpiece!

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Supreme harmony – friendship, beauty and music

The story is built around the dynamics of friendship between two protagonists. It is a familiar theme, one explored particularly often in Chinese literature and cinema, but in the hands of this screenwriter it acquires an extraordinary depth of meaning. The story unfolds naturally and authentically, offering no easy shortcuts or simple solutions to its conflicts. And above all, music reigns supreme.

Acting: Every actor delivered an exceptional performance. Although the two main characters captured all our attention, everyone who appeared on screen contributed to this emotional spectacle, filled with tender glances, angry outbursts and tears of genuine emotion.
Lee Jun Young – His performance is energetic and self-assured. His Choi Jeong Yo is always arrogant and independent; only Kang PiO manages to bring out both the very best and the very worst in him.
Song Kang – Once again, he portrays a sensitive artist. Here, his performance is refined and delicate. Kang PiO's despair is always touchable, always genuine.
The third protagonist of this drama is music itself. Never before has music carried so many layers of meaning. You can literally lose yourself in a cascade of sounds. We come to understand the main characters' passion for music so deeply because it accompanies us throughout the entire story, from beginning to end.
The combination of visuals and sound is one of the drama's greatest strengths. The director has achieved a remarkable harmony between the leads' friendship and their music. Watching Song Kang and Jun Young play together on the same piano is an absolute delight!
Special applause must also go to the mother, played by Yoon SeA – she can love and hate. She portrays an incredibly complex character, a woman with many layers within her: love for her son and hatred for his father, faith and naivety, gratitude and ambition. Every one of these facets is revealed to the audience and portrayed to perfection.

The Prague cinematography also deserves praise. Although the scenes feature only a single bridge, a tram and a small stretch of street, even this brief glimpse of the city is a pleasure to behold.
This story reminds us that beauty, love and happiness do exist in the world and that they can become part of our own lives, too, although achieving them requires effort and sacrifice. Friendship also exists in this world, and it is closely connected with beauty and love. Haven't we become just a little better after watching this drama?

I can`t stop thinking about this story and characters without my heart beginning to race. And I can`t get that wonderful music, played by four hands, out of my head.

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A Little Time Travel, A Lot of Love, and Endless Feels

Lovely Runner is one of those dramas that completely pulls you into its world and makes you laugh, cry, swoon, and believe in a love that can survive even time itself.

The biggest strength of this drama is undoubtedly its cast. Byeon Woo Seok and Kim Hye Yoon have incredible chemistry and bring Seon Jae and Im Sol to life in such a heartfelt and lovable way. Their performances make even the simplest moments feel special, and the romance is filled with so much yearning that it's impossible not to root for them.

The time-travel concept, high school nostalgia, comedy, romance, and emotional moments all come together beautifully, especially in the first half. The drama does have its flaws—some storylines feel repetitive, a few conflicts seem unnecessarily stretched, and the villain's storyline could have been handled much better. At times, it feels like the story is going in circles just to fill all sixteen episodes.

I also have to give credit to the supporting cast. Their friends bring so much life, humor, and warmth to the story. Whether it's the funny interactions, loyal friendships, or the little moments of support, they add another layer of enjoyment to the drama. Song Geon Hee also deserves a special mention for his excellent performance. The supporting characters truly make this drama feel more complete.

But honestly? The emotional connection I developed with these characters made me overlook quite a few flaws. Sol and Seon Jae's story is sweet, heartbreaking, funny, and genuinely memorable. No matter how many timelines or obstacles stood between them, their connection remained the heart of the show.

Final thoughts: Lovely Runner may not be perfect, but it's one of the most charming and emotionally addictive rom-coms I've watched. It has its plot holes and unnecessary detours, but the fantastic cast, unforgettable chemistry, beautiful soundtrack, hilarious moments, and heartfelt romance make the journey absolutely worth it.

A beautiful story about love, fate, second chances, and finding your way back to the person you're meant to be with. That's why I give it a rating of 9. Highly recommended! 💛⏳

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Not for romcom lovers

I always thought I would write my very first review for a crime thriller drama. Instead, here I am.

First 6 eps have so much potential. The drama has the opportunity to only focus on our main leads and their conversations rather than keeping all the secrets and twists until the very end. Communication is the only thing our couple needs but the writer decided to focus on second leads and pile up all important details at the end. And for what?
However, I think the drama wrapped up nicely and how I feel about the ending summed up everything I need to say about this drama: it feels so painful and so wrong, but it also feels right...

If you're ready and eager to watch a complicated relationship between two people, you're in for the treat.
But if you want romcom, this is not for you.

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A Fun Ride That Lost Some of Its Spooky Charm

I honestly have mixed feelings about this drama, but one thing is certain, it was definitely an entertaining ride from beginning to end!

Spooky in Love started off so strong. It gave us a ghost-seeing heiress, a stubborn but charming prosecutor, fun supernatural mysteries, great chemistry, and plenty of hilarious moments. Honestly, the cast did a fantastic job across the board, and the two leads completely carried the show with their chemistry and performances.

My biggest complaint? We needed more ghosts! 😭

This drama had the audacity to give me an interesting supernatural mythology and fun ghost mechanics, only to spend a huge part of the later episodes on corporate drama, shareholder meetings, money laundering, succession battles, and a million unnecessary subplots fighting for attention. I only have two eyes and twelve episodes! Please let me watch the ghosts!

The middle-to-late episodes definitely lost some of the spooky charm that made the beginning so enjoyable. Still, the drama delivered a worthwhile climax and a satisfying ending, and I had a lot of fun with it overall.

Final thoughts: Spooky in Love is a fun and entertaining ride with interesting characters, memorable humor, great acting, and fantastic lead chemistry. There is a genuinely amazing supernatural drama buried somewhere underneath all the corporate chaos. Despite its flaws, I enjoyed it and would still recommend giving it a watch!

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Great Chemistry, Gorgeous Leads and a Story That Couldn't Keep Its Promises

The official trailer immediately caught my attention. I was expecting a university romance with supernatural and psychological elements, a mysterious wish-granting character, dark secrets, manipulation and complicated relationship dynamics. I didn't initially recognise Tee Boonyakait Wongsajaem and Heng Thatpong Rojsangruang, although I eventually realised I'd seen both actors in other series. With Tee Bundit Sintanaparadee directing and Dee Hup House producing in collaboration with iQIYI, I was genuinely looking forward to this adaptation of Hwang Sol's novel.

The premise was easily one of the series' strongest selling points. Jane Patrick, or Big Jane, is a mysterious university senior who has built a reputation for granting people's wishes in exchange for favours. Through his network, Favor, he can manipulate situations, establish obligations and make people indebted to him. Little Jane, or Jane Aree, is a university football player and comic artist who is refreshingly uninterested in exploiting Patrick's influence. Their unexpected encounter, followed by being paired for a ballroom dancing class, gradually develops into an intriguing relationship. Patrick becomes interested in someone who doesn't want anything from him, while Little Jane starts discovering that the intimidating senior has a softer side.

Unfortunately, the storytelling became increasingly uneven after the initial episodes. The recurring conflict between Big Jane and Little Jane started feeling repetitive, and the series relied heavily on exposition to explain its characters and motivations. The middle stretch was considerably more entertaining, largely because P'Jane was such an interesting character. I enjoyed trying to understand his behaviour, intentions and complicated relationship with Little Jane. However, the show never quite delivered the psychological depth I was hoping for, and several supporting characters felt more like plot devices than fully developed individuals.

My biggest issue was the relationship itself. Big Jane is presented as the ultimate red flag, supposedly someone with a devilish reputation who should never be trusted. Yet, I often found him to be the one more emotionally invested in the relationship. He was blinded by his feelings, constantly trying to protect Little Jane and repeatedly chasing after him despite being pushed away. Little Jane, meanwhile, seemed emotionally half-committed and consistently chose to leave whenever misunderstandings or problems arose. I genuinely started wondering who was actually the red flag.

Little Jane's characterisation was particularly frustrating. He frequently made questionable decisions, struggled to communicate and rarely seemed willing to confront Patrick properly. He would hear something, misunderstand the situation and immediately distance himself rather than attempt to resolve the problem. Heng is undeniably cute, but I found his performance rather wooden in certain scenes, with limited emotional expression and some unusual facial reactions. He reminded me of Bella Swan in Twilight. I honestly felt the character could have been written with considerably more depth, allowing the actor to demonstrate more of his potential.

Big Jane was easily my favourite character. Tee delivered a solid performance, and the man is ridiculously handsome and attractive. However, I couldn't entirely understand Patrick's obsession with doing favours or why he remained so devoted to someone who repeatedly hurt him. The series never adequately explored the origins of their feelings or the deeper motivations behind their actions. There was so much potential in Patrick's morally grey personality, but the writing never fully capitalised on it.

Dan's storyline was another missed opportunity. While he could certainly be annoying, I struggled to understand why he was treated as such a terrible person when his initial intentions were largely protective. His eventual transformation into an antagonist, complete with an increasingly contrived revenge and kidnapping storyline, felt forced. The actor did a decent job, though, considering how ungrateful the role was. Putt's storyline was equally frustrating, with his fate serving more as a convenient excuse to separate the leads than a meaningful development that genuinely strengthened the narrative.

I was also disappointed by the lack of an actual supernatural element. The trailers gave me the impression that we were getting something much darker, perhaps along the lines of My Demon or Lucifer. I wanted wings, blood-signed agreements, a genuinely demonic mythology and a Big Jane who was more than just an influential university senior running a questionable favour business. Instead, the supernatural promise amounted to very little. Even the blood-filled lockets Patrick collected felt rather silly without a convincing explanation. They looked like cheap accessories with glued-in thumbtacks, and I couldn't take them seriously.

The series also struggled with its tone. What initially appeared to be a dark supernatural romance gradually shifted into a conventional romantic drama before eventually becoming an over-the-top soap opera. The constant misunderstandings, separations, reconciliations and conveniently manufactured disasters became exhausting. Every time the leads seemed to be making progress, another unnecessary complication appeared. Putt's storyline, the repeated break-ups and the eventual amnesia arc all contributed to an increasingly disjointed narrative.

The amnesia was particularly unnecessary. It felt like another lazy storytelling device designed to reset the relationship and prolong the inevitable conclusion. The accident and the resulting conflict could have been explored without taking away Little Jane's memories. Instead, the storyline wasted valuable time that could have been used to develop the characters and give their relationship the emotional payoff it desperately needed.

I actually stopped watching around episode eight because I was becoming bored and increasingly disconnected from the story. I eventually resumed watching because I wanted to finish the series before writing my review. Unfortunately, the final episodes didn't improve my overall impression. The plot holes became more noticeable, character motivations remained underdeveloped, and the repetitive storytelling made it difficult to care about the outcome. I simply couldn't establish the emotional connection the series expected from its viewers.

On a more positive note, the cast deserves credit for their efforts. There are several capable performances, particularly from Tee, and the supporting actors do their best with the material they've been given. The soundtrack is another highlight, especially 'You're a Red Flag but I'm Colourblind', which is ridiculously catchy and arguably captures the central relationship better than the actual script.

Ultimately, Don't Be Too Emotional had an interesting premise, an appealing lead pairing and plenty of opportunities to become something genuinely compelling. Unfortunately, the execution fell short. The series needed a more coherent storyline, better pacing, stronger character development and, most importantly, characters who actually communicate and think before making decisions. Being based on a novel doesn't automatically excuse reproducing storytelling problems in a television adaptation.

It's disappointing because I genuinely wanted to enjoy this. Big Jane was fascinating, the cast was appealing, and the supernatural concept had so much potential. Instead, I got repetitive relationship drama, questionable character decisions, unnecessary tropes and a romance I struggled to connect with.

A massive case of wasted potential. I hope to see the cast again in a better-written series that gives them more room to shine.

And Big Jane, you're gorgeous, but where are your wings?

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Every Light Holds a Story

I didn't expect this drama to be a horror story at all, and the first two episodes definitely got me with those jump scares! I had no particular expectations about how good the story would be, but I was pretty confident that a Park Bo-young drama would be worth watching.

One thing I've noticed about her drama choices is that they tend to be more character-driven and emotionally grounded rather than overly explosive. Think of Melo Movie, Our Unwritten Seoul, Daily Dose of Sunshine, and even On Your Wedding Day. Their stories might not always sound particularly extraordinary at first. They don't necessarily rely on complicated mysteries, intense action, or romance filled with endless obstacles.

Instead, they focus on characters and situations that feel familiar to us. They're people we could encounter in everyday life, carrying emotions, struggles, and experiences that we can recognize in ourselves. In a way, the characters become a reflection of human nature.

And I think that's what makes her drama choices interesting. Regardless of whether she's playing in a romance, mystery, action, or horror story, there's always something deeply human behind the characters.

Light Shop is another example of that. What initially seems like a horror story turns out to be something much more heartwarming and unpredictable. Every character has their own story, and each one brings a different emotion to the bigger picture.

Definitely worth watching!

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A drama with a story writing of a nightmare, only it's much vivid

The show had absolutely no point. Maybe I am not the right audience but I am not soo dumb to not understand anything at all. I mean each episode had a different story but who are these creature, where are the coming form, what is their aim, why only this male lead was selected, nothing was answered. The show left on a big cliffhanger. Personally, was not a fan of the main character, he had no skills, strengths or intelligence. He was very gullible and kind of person who will always die first in a horror story. His sister was a much better character.
Lastly, only the acting of Jae wook made me watch the show until the end otherwise I would have dropped it right after the 3rd-4th episode.

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The Douban website is apparently (as advised by AI 🧐) the sounding board of students, artists & white collared workers. These native Chinese cohorts are possibly not so keen to be faced with re-enactments of their native contemporary history. Even less do they tolerate in silence being witness to the protrayal of abusive intergender behaviours or inequitable social situations even if some of the actions involve the delectable Cheng Lei (that he is at times is the face of the abuse bits even more).

Regardless of the intentions of the original web novel IP, this film version was clearly conceived as a veiled propaganda vehicle. The non Chinese public would have no difficulty in decoding this fact & presumably so have cohorts of native Chinese who are in no doubt as to how their lifes to all effects is under the control of an authoritarian central power. Not quite the reaction expected by the Authorities: a modicum of enthusiasm for all that the Communism movement achieved post the end of the Japanese invasion of China, perhaps.

Neither can it truthfully be said that the political/social situation in China has really shifted totally & irrevocably from what existed in the past feudal eras or when the Warlords set the law for everyone within the regions under their control.

Another consideration is that nowhere in the world has abusive behaviour towards members of either gender been stamped out. Awareness of its inhumanity is stronger, that yes, but this is as far as it has come. China is no exception in this regard whatever the powers-that-be will claim. Hence the criticism leveled at the drama for the scenes which depicted various forms of entitled or possessive behaviour, with or without the use of physical force or a sexual assault overtone. What personally surprised me is that torture scenes or references to the use of torture were not targeted with similar sharp disapproval.

It will also not have escaped the drama viewers' notice that the meek have yet to inherit the earth as worldwide (China being no exception) the association of material wealthy with increased social clout is as strong as it ever was in the Republican Era.

The Lament of Autumn is indeed a work of fiction set in an era a 100 years ago but the human behaviours & social conflicts it mirrors are not fictional & in so many aspects still painfully present in the lives of those alive today (and not just on the Chinese mainland). This drama imparts a veritable deluge of importance points for personal reflection & is therefore very much worthy, in my modest opinion, of the viewer's time.

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Why does it take 'Death' to dive into 'Living'

An overarching message about taking things, people, and love for granted that really hit home.

The story captured this sentiment beautifully, albeit not perfectly. Sometimes it takes tragedy to wake us up to the person who has always loved us, and to help us realize that we love them just as much. Add a little time travel involving her twin, and you get Dive Into You.

As mentioned, the story was poignant and fairly well balanced. The chemistry between the characters was lovely, and the actors did a great job bringing their roles to life. I found myself pleasantly engaged for much of the show, although the final episodes left a little to be desired when it came to the writing and the overall cleanup and wrap-up of the time travel element.

I also absolutely loved the surprise crossover from another show. That was such a fun and unexpected touch!

Overall, I quite enjoyed this one and think others will too. The ending felt a little sloppy to me, which is reflected in my rating, but there's still plenty to appreciate here. Definitely one I'd recommend!

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Great Premise Uneven Execution

Dead-End Job started much stronger than it finished for me. Even when the CGI wasn't always convincing, the monsters and weird part-time jobs kept things entertaining. There are some genuinely creepy creature designs. The lamprey like creature was the stuff of my nightmares.

Unfortunately, as the series progressed, the story became increasingly disjointed. Instead of feeling like one connected narrative, it often felt more like a collection of supernatural vignettes loosely tied together by the Agency. The mythology and rules of the world frequently raised more questions than answers and some plot developments simply didn't make much sense. While the later episodes tried to bring everything together through the father storyline and Agency reveals, the emotional payoff never fully landed for me.

I also think the inconsistent episode runtimes hurt the pacing. Some episodes felt rushed while others lingered too long on individual concepts, and I believe the overall story would have flowed much better if each episode had been a consistent 45 minutes. Despite my issues with the narrative, I was never bored thanks to the show's creativity, humor, and memorable monsters.

Ep 2's Mime was a standout, and I almost didn't recognize Choi Hyun Wook in ep 1. I needed more of his chaotic energy.

11/2/26

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A Delicious Beginning, a Diluted Ending

The beginning was actually quite promising, despite being so tropey. They have collected all the short vertical drama tropes under the sun, but what made it work for me initially was how unapologetically soap-opera-y the whole thing was. The drama wasn't particularly interested in subtlety, and honestly, neither was I. It was campy, exaggerated, occasionally ridiculous, and seemed perfectly happy to embrace all of it.

There's also something very Princess and the Pauper about the whole identity situation, which, as someone who grew up watching the Barbie movie, I found rather entertaining. The more you get to know Achu and Jundai, the more you realise that they're not as different as their circumstances might suggest. In fact, I got the impression that Achu could have easily turned out like Jundai had they switched places. It's an interesting take on the identical-girls trope, and one of the things I genuinely appreciated about the story.

Tian Xiewei's portrayal of the two girls was particularly entertaining because she gives them such distinct mannerisms. Jundai is portrayed with exaggerated facial expressions, wide-eyed stares, peculiar sneers, and a habit of overpronouncing every word. She talks with her whole body. Achu, by contrast, is much more restrained, but there's always an underlying sense of distrust and uneasiness about her, as if she's barely holding herself together. Even when she's trying to appear composed, you can feel that she's constantly on guard.

The whole concept of an auspicious bride being brought in to awaken her groom from a coma was another element I found genuinely intriguing. Add to that the gorgeous visuals, and I was already having a pretty good time. I was also particularly excited to see Yan An finally getting a male lead role after waiting for him to have this opportunity for so long. And with Dai Gaozheng making his move into longer-form dramas, there was quite a bit to look forward to in the cast department as well.
I should mention that I had also tried reading the novel this drama is supposedly adapted from. I didn't finish it, but I did get through the first few chapters and skimmed some of the later ones, so I had at least a rough idea of the original story. When the drama started, my immediate reaction was basically: This has almost nothing to do with the novel. Why did they even bother buying the IP if they were going to change practically everything? The character names were about the only familiar thing. But I decided to put that aside because, well, the drama was still entertaining me. I was invested, the melodrama was working, and I especially enjoyed watching Weirao slap the living hell out of everyone in the first episode. Very satisfying. I may have some anger issues.

Looking back, though, I think those changes ended up doing the story more harm than good. From what I read, there were only a couple of episodes that even vaguely resembled the novel, and they were somewhere in the middle. The adaptation leans much more heavily into the revenge angle, but in doing so, it also strips away a lot of the male lead's character and, more importantly, changes the dynamic between the two leads. And that, as I would come to realize, is where a lot of my problems with the drama begin.

So yes, despite the ridiculous number of tropes piled on top of one another, I was genuinely entertained. The drama had a certain shamelessness about its storytelling that I found quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, that initial enthusiasm didn't last.
For the first half of the drama, the central objective is fairly clear: Find out why these girls are identical, figure out who actual Weirao is, how the identity swap happened, and who has been deceiving whom. There's a mystery to unravel, and even when the story gets ridiculous, there's something that keeps you curious about what happened and how it's all going to come out. But the moment the truth is finally revealed and Weirao returns to her rightful place, the drama seems eager to move on. Jundai is killed off in a rather anticlimactic and unsatisfying way, and just like that, the entire focus shifts.

Now we're following Weirao as she navigates her newfound life of status, wealth, and power. Of course, that also means a whole new collection of enemies who want to bring her down, so she has to outmaneuver them while dealing with one palace scheme after another. At the same time, she wants to use her position and all the resources available to her to protect ordinary people, fight injustice, and generally make the world a better place. Very Disney princess of her, honestly. All she's missing is a musical number.

The problem is that this new direction never manages to capture my interest in the same way the identity mystery did. What follows is an endless cycle of schemes, counter-schemes, and people reacting to other people's schemes. It's like watching a thousand balls being thrown around and ping-ponging inside the same royal court. There's certainly no shortage of things happening, but I eventually stopped caring about most of them.
Following Weirao through all of this eventually becomes rather exhausting. The story presents her as someone who is constantly progressing: she keeps taking people down, getting revenge, securing her position, and eventually even gets her romantic counterpart. And yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was somehow stuck in the same place. She's still guarded, emotionally distant, and perpetually on alert, moving from one confrontation to another without much of a sense that anything is changing internally. It's one victory after another, but the character herself feels strangely stagnant.

There is also something rather convenient about where Achu's story ultimately takes her. Throughout the drama, she is presented as ridiculously competent at pretty much everything. Politics, Business, household Management, navigating the streets, outsmarting her enemies—you name it, she seems capable of doing it. The story spends all this time showing us that a commoner can be just as intelligent, capable, and deserving of power as anyone born into privilege. And then, of course, she turns out not to be a commoner at all, but a noblewoman.

This is something I often find frustrating in these kinds of stories. They seem determined to tell us that blood and birth don't define a person's worth, only to eventually reveal that the extraordinary commoner was secretly special by birth all along. Instead of proving that there is no meaningful difference between a noblewoman and an ordinary person, the story almost ends up suggesting the opposite: look at how exceptional she is—and surprise, she had noble blood in her veins all along.

And the way these revenge arcs are handled doesn't help. The drama will introduce some supposedly formidable opponent, build them up as this enormous obstacle that Weirao is going to have to struggle against, and then have her defeat them in about half an episode. That's it. Meanwhile, the gambling brother, who should have been a relatively minor nuisance, somehow keeps surviving every storyline and popping up episode after episode to cause more trouble. It's almost impressive. The major threats are disposed of with barely any effort, but this one persistent pest just refuses to leave.

Another thing that made the whole palace storyline really exhausting was just how overcrowded it felt with awful people. And I'm not asking for everyone to be morally upright, well-adjusted individuals. But surely we could have a little less evil? Between the scheming consorts, manipulative family members, abusive parents, spoiled princes, creepy officials, and whatever else this story decided to throw at us, it sometimes felt like everyone was competing to be the most vile person in the room. There's so much hostility coming from every direction that it eventually becomes numbing. I don't mind morally questionable characters; I just want a little more quality rather than quantity.

And then there are all the characters who simply overstay their welcome. The male lead's sidekick, for example, spends an absurd amount of time fawning over Weirao despite her making it painfully obvious that she's not interested. At some point, his behavior stops being amusing and just becomes invasive and annoying. Then there's the gambling brother, who, as I've already mentioned, prevails for some reason. And don't even get me started on the endless cousins, wives, and other assorted family members who could easily have been cut without anyone noticing. I watched this entire drama to the end and I still couldn't tell you who half of Lu Zhou's relatives were. That's how little I cared.

Now my biggest problem with this drama is the male lead. He's flat, underwritten, and has absolutely nothing going on beyond being the female lead's romantic interest and occasional plot device. No meaningful ambition, no particularly interesting personality, no independent motivation that makes me want to follow his story. And before someone tells me this is a female-centric drama and therefore the male lead isn't supposed to take up much space: I don't care. Female-centric storytelling doesn't require the male lead to have the personality of a piece of cardboard. He's essentially there to accommodate Weirao, support her, and arrange his entire existence around her. To the point where he has absolutely no problem with being used by her. And I understand that romance audiences seem to be drawn to two ends of extremes these days. Nobody wants a mere green flag anymore; they want a whole green forest. Nobody wants red flags either, apparently, just straight-up abusive psychos. That's the state of recent dramas. But surely there's some middle ground? I'd just like him to have a personality, or is that not allowed? The absolute audacity of casting this gorgeous, sexy, ripped man just to make him give out puppy stares all the time. Because honestly, why am I supposed to care about this man when the drama itself seems to have so little interest in who he is outside of loving her? Steamy kisses are nice, but they can't compensate for a romance that has absolutely no emotional groundwork.

The romance plot is the weakest plot in this story. They hit all the relationship milestones but Im not in the journey with them. He is jealous? Well that came out of nowhere. He loves her? That was really fast. They are divorced? I don’t care actually. He is trying to win her back? Huh. Ok I guess. You get the idea. The drama keeps moving their relationship forward, but I'm never given enough of a reason to feel invested in any of it. And I know this is partly a matter of personal taste, but his excessive devotion just doesn't do much for me as a romantic lead. And to add some insult to the injury they try to overcompensate this by throwing in kissing scenes left, right and center but here is the catch: they are edited because of censorship so some of them came out looking a bit choppy.

Speaking of choppy, weird editing hit this drama real hard. Episode 25 was jumping forward in an unnatural way. I don’t know why would they cut out important scenes with no intimacy in it but alas ….. why would we want to see their long awaited real wedding when we can watch them kiss again?
Another thing that has been bothering me since the very first episode is the male lead's voice. It simply doesn't suit him. It's so deep, overly polished and theatrical that sometimes he sounds less like a human being having a conversation and more like an animated character delivering a dramatic monologue. And I genuinely don't understand the decision behind it, especially when Yan An has dubbed himself before and has a perfectly good voice. Meanwhile, Tian Xiewei dubbed both of her characters herself. Why was one actor's original voice retained while the other was replaced? I don't know, but the result is distracting.

The first half was indulgent, sweet, creamy and unhealthy. From the mid point it got diluted and now it taste like nothing. 25 episodes in and its safe to say I don't care about anyone's fate no more.

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TL;DR genuinely offensive and triggering

as someone who's intimately aware of how bipolar disorder works, not only is the ending medically inaccurate, it's genuinely harmful and offensive. I'm genuinely tired of dramas using mental illness as an excuse for toxic, abusive relationships-- I don't care that it's fiction, fiction still harms people. it's genuinely triggering that it wrapped up with this whole "you're not a bad person, you're just crazy. lets cure you." narrative too-- first of all mental illness does not mean crazy... second of all there is no cure for bipolar disorder. if this man was "cured" then HE DIDN'T HAVE TS!!!!!

TL;DR everyone who likes this ending: i'm looking at you sideways and I hope you burn in hell <3

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