Reviews

So when are we getting a spin-off focusing on Xiao Sheng and Lan Jiang?

Expectations can ruin this drama. They definitely made me enjoy it less than I could have. With the angsty set up, I did expect the show to be a bit more dark, the stakes to be higher and the leads to be in constant danger. What I’ve got was a light version of that.

The tone of the show was probably what I found the most disappointing. The number of times the plot hit the point when they could have easily leaned into a more serious and angsty story, yet more often than not it was used for comedic undertones. Why?

What’s more, I honestly did not care that much about the “big picture”. Separate cases were interesting, well written and engaging, but the overall plot and the mystery I could not care less about. They kept the bad guy in the dark for too long so when he was finally revealed I was like “okay” and then shortly after that the drama ended. Last episode was basically an underwhelming podcast - all talking, no action.

The separate investigations were interesting, told in an easy to follow, but engaging manner. With every story we’ve got some info about the overall plot too. They were setting it up close to perfection. Loved how they were morally not clear - the victims being perpetrators, the abusers becoming victims. They left a lot of room for reflection and many uneasy feelings. Sadly it’s like having great materials, but the final design needs improvement. Separate stories were great, the final main plot was mediocre.

Then we have the romance, which was fine, but not really enticing. Surprisingly more in the background than I expected. I don’t mind, since it was the weakest part of the whole drama. If it was in the front and center, I’d probably drop the show mid way through. I think the moment that Pan Yue started to develop feelings for Cai Wei with her new face is unclear and questionable. They did hint at him being confused about his feelings and starting to develop them before he found out the truth and it honestly bothered me. He was devoted to one girl from his childhood, but now shortly after what he thought was her death, he starts to warm up to a girl whom he remembered to be an awful human being and had zero interest in? Even with her reminding him of his lover, it still did not make much sense for me.

Casting wise… you do not put the stronger actress to first portrayal the character that will be replaced by the actual leading actress. It took me around 15 episodes to truly warm up to Ju Jing Yi. I felt like there was no communication between her and Zheng He Hui Zi about who the female lead is and how she should be played. Cai Wei from the first two episodes is not the Cai Wei we see in the rest of the show.

I don’t really have much to say about Liu Xue Yi. He looked extremely fine throughout the drama, but Pan Yue was such a mid character with not many ups and downs I was getting bored. On the other hand Li Ge Yang completely stole my heart as Zhuo Lan Jiang. The way I wished him and Wu Jia Yi were the leads, the way I found their story to be more engaging and interesting. They were criminally underused.

Visually speaking, I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve seen a few dramas that tried to make every shot visually stimulating, and it does get exhausting. Here they kept it well balanced - highlighting specific moments with more grand visuals, while keeping the rest pleasant to the eye, but not overwhelming.

Overall, it was a fine show. The first half was for sure better than the second. The more they focused on the main mystery, the more boring it became.

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BEST DRAMA IN 2025 SO FAR

this review, maybe is not about the plot or story, but what i felt after watched TPOB and keep in mind that this is just my opinion.

i never planned to watch this drama at the first place.
i made a lot of list for drama that i want to watch, but TPOB wasn't even on my list. I just knew that there will be historical drama with Song Zuer and Liu Yuning as the main lead and honestly i don't even remember the exact time i read those article, probably when the cast just announced or when reuters came out, but i'm sure it was quite long time ago.

when the news of sudden airing of this drama emerged and many fan account that i followed on twitter (X) made so many buzz about this, there's no single curiosity urge me to watch TPOB immediately. Until.... one day, i saw that scene. When Wei Shao opened the curtain and saw Manman for the first time.

i obviously knew Liu Yuning because he sang one of my favorite drama opening ost (Love and Redemption) and i knew him as an actor from The Long Ballad. On the other hand, i knew Song Zuer but i never watched any of her project before, so.. after watched that scene, when she sat beautifully with those red dress... i felt like i saw an angel lol. i just thought "oh she's really pretty in those Han dynasty costume" but Wei Shao reaction after he saw Manman made me watched TPOB right away.

zero expectation and boom, i just watch a whole masterpiece, perfect plot, perfect relationship build up, amazing character development, perfect story and perfect cast.

i can't say anything other than grateful. i'm glad after so many things that happened, The Prisoner of Beauty break through the difficulties and take all the spotlight right now. I'm relieved that this drama wasn't canceled and gave the whole world a chance to know that TPOB is worth airing.

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This was a great emotional drama

This was a great emotional drama. It was a drama that I had been putting off for a long time for personal reasons. I knew it would touch on my sensitive and painful parts. I also knew it would be an emotional roller coaster, but I still don't regret watching it. I was really drawn to it. It was a very realistic, well-made, and mature drama. I loved the witty monologues, and it was a drama that would suit any couple in the world (not just Koreans). The casting, acting, and fantastic chemistry between the characters are perfect. It was a drama that included friendship, support, love, toxic love, and obsessive love. It started with love and created a seemingly perfect family but ended with hatred and divorce, parental alienation and using children as a tool and means of conflict during the divorce/marriage process, the endless love between couples, the love between parents and children, and the price of choice... It was a really great drama. 10/10

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Cute & Enjoyable

This was much more enjoyable to watch than I anticipated. I found the story line to be very good and the four main characters fit together like a perfect puzzle. What made this great to watch was the simple fact that everyone was likable through this series. Even the supporting cast were good. Normally in these BL's, the female roles are made out to be antagonists and not supportive, but thats not the case here. There were several good characters in that position.
All the actors definitely did a great job in front of the camera and made for an entertaining series to watch.
Happy endings for all!

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The same thing as Study Group or Weak Hero Class 1,2 etc.... fighting violence with violence.

School violence, bad distant parents, broken families, nuclear families and abandoned lost kids without any positive adult guidance is a problem, globally, and it is good that some art tries to call attention to children's and teenagers' and young adults' needs, .....
But... with all due respect.. there is a flood of fight dramas now and such "art" will not solve the problem but make it worse.... it promotes fighting as "fun" and promotes solving violence by applying violence.

Esp the ML in this drama gets addicted to fighting and thinks he is a great person fighting against bad ppl, but in reality, he goes bananas and sooner or later will cause an accident and kill or injure someone. He is an abused kid who vents out all his anger by fighting and beating up other people.

THE SAME OLD SAME OLD.... the root cause of all problems, advertised as the solution.

THE GANGSTA BOYS SEE FIGHTING AS GOOD and try to be the top dog in the violent world.... THEY SEE NO OTHER WAY TO EXIST.
Of course nasty ppl are like that... but also... kids who are gray area and who get beaten to serve the gang lords... AND the entire school is like that.... AND PARENTS .... AND ADULTS ....

The root question is: Why did so many "gray area" kids and even "good" kids turn out like that too.... ? and what is the proper way to solve this?
WHY would anyone organize into these gangs where they get entertained by beating others up... ? WHY would some stupid moron enjoy looking ah so grand by dolling it over others and harming them, "entertaining" others who are trying to kiss the ass of the lead bully... ? WHAT IS ENTERTAINING, OR USEFUL IN THIS KIND OF BEHAVIORS.... ? they are all mentally ill.

THEY ARE ALL MENTALLY ILL.... and then we get to watch them on tv

WHY SHOULD WE WATCH MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE SMASHING THINGS AND PEOPLE?
IS IT ENJOYABLE TO BE WATCHING A PSYCH WARD?????
no it isnt...

This drama has slightly better portrayal of the problems than most in this new flood of fight dramas, and it is good that the ML is not DEAD inside and does think of himself highly enough to deserve to exist .....

but he then ENJOYS fighting as "fun" and the drama is essentially the same thing or even worse than Study Group or Weak Hero seasons 1 and 2...

The same environment: All male school, and lots of fighting, enabled by boys not standing up for each other and by parents and teachers who do NOT care.
The same plot: a very shy boy who becomes a fighter and uses violence to solve the school violence problems.
The same approach - cartoon-like fights where MAGICALLY NOBODY EVER GETS REALLY HURT although they fight and there is blood all over, and they kick into all internal organs and ribs and bones..... All of them should have lost teeth, facial bones, cranial bones, brain damage, rib damage, kidney, spleen, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, intestinal etc damage and should have ended up as Mr. Plankton... but all that is conveniently swept under the rug, glorifying hitting and kicking each other ANYWHERE

The same pathetic tunnelvision reactive crude script - NO communication, NO talking things trough, NO big vision solutions, .... Basically, the script is mostly meaningless and shallow

The same pathetic tunnelvision characters - very closed off, emotionally supressed, dead ppl , who get SOME emotion when they fight

The same idea - that violence is only solved by violence

THE SAME GROSS VIEW OF MALE - DOMINATED ENVIRONMENT -
THE BULLIES BEAT UP VARIOUS BOYS AND **** NO OTHER BOY STEPS IN TO DEFEND THE VICTIM ***** and the parents and teachers could care less.

In short... this type of kdrama is great for perverts, for those who love sex and violence and love to watch pretty boys drenched in blood and bleading and breathing heavily
And this type of drama is great for psychopaths, who love seeing how others get hurt

In short, this type of drama is getting boys ready to enter French Foreign League, or gangsters, or some kind of assassin special forces.
Or at least to become crude brutal dumb corrupt policeman and fight violence with more violence.

In short - this type of drama is a strong advocacy and advertisement for feminism, for a female-dominated environment where things would be solved with kindness and talking things through.
Well not the kind of woman "The Glory" is about LOL she is no better than these... she orchestrated murder on several people. Yeah they deserved it but removing them was done ... in a very gross way.
The Glory contributed positively by showing that women are no less bullies than men, and that the sex partnership between male and female bullies creates even more chaos and suffering and damage

The pluses in comparison between this drama with other dramas of this type:
This one shows more of WHAT THE PARENTS ARE LIKE who created kids like these - we see the bullying that father does to the son, and his medication-addicted useless mother; AND WE SEE HOW THE KID TRIED TO COMMIT SUICIDE . So that is better. THat really helps to understand bullying. Kids never do it just because. They come from homes that create this disorder.

This one unfortunately tries to put together violence and sex - there is the starting video where we see all bloody face of the kid and he is breathing deeply as he listens to music, so it is behavior seen at sexual activity coupled with bloody violence look. Very pervert ready

So imo this is the "Hollywood type" of drama that Netflix and Disney are trying to put on, to essentially make american moves with korean actors and then sell it in the West where the audience IS conditioned to be perverts, they are all so conditioned to watch MOSTLY sex and violence in their entertainment, without ANY meaningful content.

I think this is abuse of kdrama reputation and an artistic fall of kdramas
FOR THE SAKE OF MONEY, getting americans to pay to watch this
And I also think for the sake of runing korean culture and families

bc if S Korea keeps making dramas like these, kdrama reputation will go down AND they will lose their culture
all for the sake of grabbing a few $$$$$$ by making dramas similar to what americans already watch

this type of "art" is really a clever cultural colonization move, counting and enhancing the most vile, the most low, the most primitive impulses in the audience, conditioning the audience to be MEANINGLESS
The script that is shocking, gross, distracting, scandalous, "catchy" bc it is so grossly disgusting.... the meaningless script that DUMBS DOWN THE AUDIENCE

so yeah welcome to america where school shootings are a normal thing and all kids have to practice shooting drills, and where parents are totally absent. It is a miracle if a family has a father at home. THERE ARE PRACTICALLT NO FATHERS LIVING AT HOME IN THE USA. Black ppl are 99% without a father at home, white kids maybe 80% have no father at home and probably 99% in big cities, so only fathers at home are Mexicans, Arabs, Asians and other RECENT immigrants

Also, in the USA, there is a huge epidemic of drug use and everyone uses drugs, from sleeping pills, painkillers, legal pot, all the way to cocaine, crystal meth, extasy, and who knows what else, you just see huge billboards in all big cities about drug epidemic AND ALSO syphilis, Hep C, and AIDS epidemics.

Kdramas do not talk about that bc it is NOT YET prevalent in their culture but ... if they keepmaking and watching this kind of "entertainment" that is where S Korea is going .... there is no other way...

If you want solutions, you would not support this type of art, because this does NOT show the solution, only the demise

SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE KDRAMAS ABOUT REAL SOLUTIONS TO SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND BULLYING

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Strong start, then spiralled downwards

May 2025
This started strong and I was quickly invested, however, sadly it started to go very askew from ep9.

It got much too stretched out for me, with the story becoming far too convoluted. The writer should have kept it simple.

I soon grew tired of the FL character's increasingly questionable thought processes, and decisions/actions. No thought seemed given to the effects of the past on the future, with their love encompassing everything.

The leads were nice to watch. I loved BWS in Moonshine, which I started watching to get a break from this 🫣 His character in this was more likeable (possibly because none of the scenarios he was drawn into, were of his making). I have to say, BWS really has great screen presence, with a great aura, whatever his part.

Supporting characters were OK. No one really stood out, although the way Kim Tae-song's (actor Song Geon-hee) personality was bounced around, gave me whiplash.

I didn't get the urge to drop it, didn't use the FFWD button (tempted, but always worry I'll miss something crucial), but did get bored. Such a shame the writer took the story back, more than once too often.

So disappointed.

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a bloody family history erased by the power of love ?

finished 9/10 ✨
One of the dramas I was most looking forward to in 2025. Overall, I really liked it. It highlighted the main couple, who were very well executed in terms of chemistry and development 👏
Liu Yuning is an actor with whom I had the pleasure of seeing previous works, in my opinion he never disappoints and is one of those whose historical roles fit him like a glove
It's the first time I've seen a song zuer and that fell in love not only with her beauty but with her facial expressions... She has the gift of showing you every facet in a very eloquent way and that is not done by any actress
As for the script, I will say that I liked the first part of the story the most... There were some chapters where the filler predominated and the ending seemed very rushed... But it is very enjoyable.
Special mention to the ost which was phenomenal 💗

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Wow this is so good!

LIKE

Touching bromance between Yi Chen, Yuan Zhou and Li Lun

So hilarious especially when Yi Chen was tricked by everyone - that conversation where Ying Lei commented on fishes... I died

Lots of sacrifices, love and friendship

DISLIKE

Probably Wen Xiao who doesn't contribute much

MUSIC - personal fav

Yuan Zhou De Shao Nian 远舟的少年 - Hou Ming Hao 侯明昊
Wu Xin Sheng Da Meng 无心生大梦 - Liu Yu Ning 刘宇宁
Bu Nian Bu Xiang 不念不响 - Tian Jia Rui 田嘉瑞
Chun Feng Bu Wen 春风不问 - Guo Cai Jie 郭采洁
Duan Wei Niao 断尾鸟 - Tian Jia Rui 田嘉瑞
Xiao Shi Ju 小诗句 - everyone

REWATCH VAUE

Definitely

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Fast & Flirtatious: Macau Drift!" ?

**Begin Again (2024) – 6/10: A Chaotic Cocktail of Romance, Race Cars & “Wait, what?”**

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WHY IT’S A GUILTY PLEASURE: 😏

Macau looks so good it deserves its own credit.
Sunny Sun is the kind of guy your mom wants you to marry—too bad the script treats him like background noise.
Language mix-ups? Hilarious. Love in translation, baby.

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THE “GIRL, PLEASE” MOMENTS: 🙄

Plot twists like a soap opera on Red Bull.
The dubbing sounds like someone left the GPS on.
Emotional arcs? Nah, just emotional drive-bys.

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ICONIC SCENES: 🔥

Motorcycle flirting—because helmets are for cowards.
Heart-shaped plants = peak romance capitalism.
That bus ride? Weirdly deep for two people avoiding eye contact.

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VERDICT:
“Like ordering romance and getting a side of car chase and mild confusion.”

**Paired with:** 🍜 Leftover takeout and your last ounce of patience.

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