Reviews

Soundtrack # 1 was a delight!

***This review may contain spoilers***

It is a miniseries which tells a gentle, soft and pure love story. I love how we slowly discover that Eun Soo and Sun Woo have loved each other since a long time ago. I enjoyed all the “Bonus Track” at the end of each episode. These details showed how they truly love each other. I also like the theme of loving and respecting each other. They didn’t want to confess because they don’t want to break their friendship, but they also don’t want to restrain each other to achieve their dream in their career. The ending was very satisfying to finally see them happy together!

Han Soo Hee as Eun Soo was perfect. I haven’t seen her for a long time, and I forgot that she was very charming! She portrayed Eun Soo very well. Eun Soo is lively but also sensitive. I also like how stylish she was in this series. Her hair, her makeup, her clothes and her bags fit her very well!
Park Hyung Sik as Sun Woo was also great. He portrayed the gentle, nice, caring Sun Woo very well. I especially love all the scenes he saw Eun Soo with Woo Il. He was very jealous, and it made Sun Woo livelier and funny! I did love the scene in which Eun Soo met Woo Il for work and Sun Woo insisted on drinking the orange juice that Woo Il offered to Eun Soo because he knew she didn’t like it. His acting was great, and he showed a childish side of Sun Woo, which I really love!
The other actors also did a great job and added fun scenes to the series.

Finally, I really enjoyed this series. It was short, soft and gentle. There were no villains. Everybody has great intentions. It was only about love. It was like a breath of fresh air!

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Speechless

A happy ending was never my thing and for me this was perfect. All started off as if it was another dangerous investigation and by the end of it, no one was the same as they were. Either dead physically or dead mentally, no in-between. The emotions that humans can go through spending time in a dangerous environment so much you start to lose yourself, and forget who you are. Not knowing who to love, who to save or who to arrest. This is a 10/10 for me. He got what he wanted, the double promotion then what? They were happily married but they could never be the same. He won but at what cost?

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Zhao Mu Yan was fantastic in this fake brother-sister romantic tale

I added this drama to my watchlist months ago but only got the mood to watch it today. A reddit friend highly recommended this drama and now I understand why she enjoys this drama a lot. I like it very much too!

What I liked:
1. FL characterisation - She was cunning & cute at the same time. She dug her own grave when she lied to ML and for a long period of time. Zhao Mu Yan gave a fabulous performance!
2. ML characterisation - He was stuffy & unintentionally funny. I liked that his character grew - he loosened up as he spent more time with FL.
3. Supporting characters - ML's grandma was awesome for catching FL's BS right from the start. I also like ML's assistant who quietly supported ML and FL's entanglement. I appreciated FL's brother for pointing out FL's lies & the implications. FL's friend brought in comedic relief.
4. Romance - Slow burn with a lot of sexual tension. The forbidden brother-sister entanglement was done well. There were 2 passionate kisses - ML was hot for FL both times.
5. Comic book - What a great plot device! I loved that it was featured in the drama from start until the ending. Those moments were funny.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - ML's niece stole FL's boyfriend and both of them were jerks. Wan Xin Yue was a delusional woman pining for ML. Regardless of their bad behaviour, I was happy that their arc were not draggy.
2. Voice - Does Wang Yi Ran sound like that? I felt ML's voice was dubbed by voice actor. Well the voice made ML seemee older.

Favourite scene
The proposal

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Painted Skin (2008) offers a haunting exploration of identity, desire, and the human heart—an intricate tapestry woven from themes of love, sacrifice, and the price of transformation. Beneath the surface of what might seem like a supernatural thriller, Painted Skin dives into the most vulnerable and complicated aspects of the human condition, asking timeless questions about who we are and what we are willing to give up to become something else.

At its core, Painted Skin is a meditation on the fragility of identity and the destructive nature of longing. The film’s central characters are not defined by their external appearances but by the emotional scars they carry within them. It is a story of transformation, but not in the conventional sense. The transformations here are not merely physical—they are psychological and emotional, as the characters grapple with the masks they wear, both literally and figuratively.

The film’s central character, the fox spirit, embodies the deep conflict between what one desires and what one must sacrifice to achieve it. The psychological complexity of the fox spirit’s journey is not that of an evil creature, but of a being tormented by an insatiable hunger—for love, for acceptance, for connection. Her struggle is a poignant reminder of the danger in seeking fulfillment at the expense of one's own humanity. Her desire for human love transcends mere attraction—it becomes an existential craving that pushes her toward destruction, and yet, her vulnerability invites empathy. She is both predator and prey, trapped in the web of her own desires.

This duality—between desire and sacrifice, between love and destruction—is reflected in the human characters as well. The warrior, torn between duty and love, and the princess, caught between loyalty and her own yearning for something deeper than mere obligation, both embody the tension between social roles and personal truth. They are complex, multi-layered individuals whose emotional journeys unfold with heartbreaking authenticity. Their internal struggles are portrayed not as melodramatic outbursts, but as subtle, almost imperceptible shifts—quiet moments of recognition that speak volumes about the intricacies of human longing.

The film’s pacing, deliberate and contemplative, allows these emotional complexities to settle and breathe. It is not a fast-moving narrative driven by spectacle, but a slow, deliberate unfolding that invites the audience to reflect on the characters’ innermost motivations. Every moment of hesitation, every quiet glance between characters, speaks volumes about the deep emotional currents flowing beneath the surface. These moments are not merely dramatic devices; they are the emotional heart of the film.

What makes Painted Skin so emotionally resonant is its exploration of the masks we wear to protect ourselves from vulnerability. The supernatural elements of the story—the fox spirit’s ability to shed her human skin—become a powerful metaphor for the way people hide their true selves. Each character is trapped in a form of self-deception, afraid to confront their true desires or fears. The cost of this deception is not just personal, but relational, as it leads to heartbreaking misunderstandings and betrayals. In this way, Painted Skin reveals that the most terrifying thing is not the otherworldly monster, but the fragile human heart, susceptible to fear, doubt, and unacknowledged pain.

The performances in Painted Skin are quietly extraordinary in their emotional depth. The fox spirit’s portrayal is particularly notable for its nuanced balance between strength and fragility. There is an otherworldly beauty in her presence, but beneath it lies an aching loneliness that makes her tragic fate all the more poignant. The human characters, too, are portrayed with a remarkable subtlety, each actor capturing the complexity of their emotional landscapes. It is not just the external conflicts that drive them, but the internal battles—the fear of being unworthy of love, the fear of losing oneself in the process of loving another.

The philosophical depth of Painted Skin lies in its exploration of what it means to be human. The film asks difficult questions about the nature of love and desire—how we chase after that which we think will complete us, only to find that the price of that completion may be too high. It also delves into the idea of identity as something fluid, something that can be shaped and reshaped by our experiences, desires, and the people we love. In this way, the film subtly critiques the notion of a "fixed" self, suggesting that identity is not something we find, but something we must continuously negotiate and redefine.

At its most philosophical, Painted Skin is a film about transformation, not just in a supernatural sense, but in a deeply human one. It explores the idea that the masks we wear—whether to protect ourselves or to hide our darkest desires—can lead to profound consequences. The film suggests that true freedom comes not from becoming someone else, but from embracing the complexity of who we already are.

For all its otherworldly elements, Painted Skin is a deeply human film—a reflection on love, loss, and the masks we wear to protect ourselves from the world and from each other. It asks us to look beyond the surface, beyond the external beauty, and to confront the raw, unspoken truths that lie beneath. It is a film that lingers with you, not just because of its striking visuals or its supernatural intrigue, but because it dares to ask the hardest questions about the human heart and the nature of love.

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FL is Beautiful.

The basic storyline, where both ML and FL had switched identities had great potential that were not well developed. There's much confusing major details that didn't make sense.

How did the FL and ML ended up journeying together to the capital? A father not recognising his son? Confusing time frames, e. g. Yan Lin seem to know JXN way before XW but they kinda arrive in the capital simultaneously....

What exactly is XW's disease that is so incapacitating at times and yet is miraculously absent at the end?

The Emperor, Lord Linzi and Princess are siblings. With different degrees of friends...... YL knowing JXN long time but Prince only meeting JXH later. Same for relationships between Princess, YL, XW and JXN etc. It's like these people exist within their own specific time frames that may or may not overlap.

Within a short time period, not well chronicled, XW arrived and rose to be the most trusted advisor to the Emperor. Its not clear how this happened. And of course it happened with him incognito to the Emperor.

And the baddies are just so underwhelming and totally undeserving of the heroic exploits of the good guys.

There's enough to keep moving on to the next episode .....much prob due to a forlorn hope that the storyline would fill up the gaps ....or to the enigmatic FL.

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not really worth watching

I usually don't write reviews, but I saw that this only has two reviews so I thought I'd share my thoughts on this series.

I'm gonna start with the things that I did like or that were solid:
The overall production was satisfying. Sound, music, camera quality and how it was filmed was all good. Nothing that stood out to me, but solid.

The things I did not like:
- story:
as multiple people have stated, this story is a bit confusing. it's not told well, that might be the fault of the subtitles as well. at some point you just accept it as it is. there were things that I wished were explained further, and also some things that simply didn't really make sense to me and seemed stupid. it's also rather clichee, but I don't really expect a complex story from these short shows anyway. towards the end it also felt like things very quickly and suddenly changed for ian (talking vaguely to avoid spoilers), which I found very unrealistic and unsatisfying. he did a 180° with his feelings it seemed. or just very suddenly showed his real feelings. there was no real transition in my eyes, not even slightly, which bothers me. it's fine to have a change of heart or to finally be brave, but it wasn't done well. that might also be a problem of the acting.
- acting/chemistry:
to me the chemistry was not there. you could tell that jayden really likes ian, but it felt like ian didn't like jayden at all. I couldn't feel any chemistry between these actors, and I also disliked the acting of ians actor. it felt very flat. I did like jaydens actor however. He is very sweet and I thought his acting was fine.
- rewatch value:
isn't really given here. it's too boring and too flawed, lacks excitement. I do not mind watching "bad" bls", I actually find they often have its own charme, the cringe being very entertaining and funny. But this doesn't even really have "cringe", it's just very flat and unexciting.

My review sounds very negative, but it's not the worst BL there is. You could watch it, but it's not worth it in my eyes. I think it would've done a lot better with better chemistry between the actors. That can save a lot, even with an average story.

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When chemistry meets electricity

That opening scene jump started the whole series. It grabbed me and got me excited until the end. I truly enjoy the focus on both ML, including the child actors.

This s a RomCom at a higher level. Most BL series tend to add too many distractions with your typical highs and lows. Secret Lover is truly about deep friendship, it’s light-hearted and if you want a feel good show, this is highly recommended.

The chemistry of the MLnis just electric. I mean, every stare, every touch and every kiss can be felt. It’s like bein fb in the room with them. You just froze and kept asking yourself did that really happen. I wouldn’t be surprise if they’re dating for real because they might as well, they’re perfect for each other. And our young Junxi and Atuo were perfectly casted for their roles, as little actors their performances were incredible. Even the sexier scenes were beautifully crafted, enough to get you excited for both of them. The kiss, oh those kisses that came naturally. This is not a BL story, this is love and friendship.

And that music. I had to download the OST so I can listen while walking and driving, and imagine the two of them together.

Like Revenged Love, I will kiss them both and yet I am glad to have two beautiful RomCom series I can enjoy rewatching for years.

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ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL AND A MUST-WATCH!

where do i even start? good God! this is everything - EVERYTHING - i could hope for in a love story, and the fact that it was delivered through a mm romance just made it 100x better!
the childhood friends to strangers to lovers to enemies to lovers trope was executed with such brilliance and perfection UGH i fear no other mm/bl will catch up to the masterpiece this show was! and i found out it was a low budget show???? like WHERE? the acting was delivered so well i did not even notice any lack in production quality! i wish i could make everyone i know watch this series
the ending was bittersweet but it also made so much sense, especially to their character arcs! i can't believe they made me feel such a myriad of emotions over the span of 12 episodes, esp because each episode was only 35 minutes! but i'm also glad they didn't drag it further because the pacing was JUST RIGHT.
loved everything about this series, man. i hope we get more Chinese bl/mm dramas. K-bls are always too bloody short and Thai bls are just NC scenes and p0rn without plot at this point. It was such a breath of fresh air to watch Kill To Love. absolute perfection.

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Thanks for covering sensitive topic like cheating, inferior complexity and etc. What a rare gem.

Dislike
They both cheated on each other but only vee part was shown
Cheating is choice, i think we should stop glorifying cheating, once a cheater always cheater,
Even mark slept with someone when he is perusing someone
Well if we do what vee did with mark i mean following desperately everywhere people will file case against you

Like
Like the way they include all the sensitive top like inferior complexity, cheating, trust issues, trauma, depression, pain, social insecurities, and list goes. These topics are very rare is asian bl series. So kudos to makers for showing actual real life story especially what we go through just coz of one cheating
The way actors protray their character it was good. Its hard to see bl actors with amazing acting skills especially vee and mark.
Even though this drama was set in university, I like this drama is different unlike other university where handsome and popular fall in love, they fake their relationship and carry guitar.

Yeah we have our taste which genre we gonna watch. But according to story and acting we should stop giving negative review. At first i avoided this drama coz i saw so many negative review and i avoided till yesterday but when i started to watch I finished this series in one day. This drama is rare gem.

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gaslight the audience into thinking stalker-y behavior is cute ✨

So the lead, Kris, randomly dreams about Karn and then sees that she's a newscaster and becomes scarily obsessed with her. Like, harassing her online kind of scary. Kris then hears that Karn is leaving her job and she writes her a fan letter to try to convince her out of this decision. Like.... Kris you do not know this woman and are trying to influence her decisions because you are weirdly dependent on her after seeing her face in a dream..... get a grip on reality!! Anyway, turns out that Karn is leaving her current job to work with Kris' brother and Kris has just started working for him too. Cue Kris and Karn being paired together on a project and Kris acting in such a way that it's impossible to read her behavior as anything other than her despising Karn even though her inner monologue tries really hard to give a plausible reason for why her crush on Karn is making her behave in such an odd manner. Their dynamic deteriorates further when Kris sees that Karn is holding onto the letter she sent to her (under the name Apple) and Kris mocks Karn for thinking she has a fan. Again, the inner monologue is trying to tell me that this is Kris panicking but I just don't buy that someone would be acting this batshit towards their crush. Kris then talks with her brother after basically running away from Karn and he mentions that Karn is going through a rough time bc she's all alone since her mom died and Kris suddenly jumps to asking about Karn's love life and gets all f*cking excited about this?!?!?! Like, girl what the f*ck is wrong with you why are you eager to swoop in and start dating a woman when she's emotionally vulnerable???? Manipulative stalker weirdo.

Anyway this was episode 1 and I will not be watching more. I'm good thanks, I don't care to see them become a couple 👋

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Cheng Yi’s first flop drama

Neither inspiring nor entertaining. One moment he needs to learn how to fight and become a hero, and the next he is suddenly fighting like a hero—then again he doesn’t know how to do it, and the same loop repeats. The fights are boring. If it weren’t for him, I would have dropped it after episode 3, but I pushed myself to be patient and see how it would progress, only to be left disappointed.

I like this actor a lot, and I know he can deliver top performances, but in this drama something felt off and unnatural—from his acting, to how he looked, to the costumes. The pink outfit at the start didn’t suit him at all, and the rest looked cheap. The scene of him standing in the pouring rain with perfectly dry clothes and hair was ridiculous. The shallow conversations and cheap, banal comedy only made it worse. The script is boring.

I really didn’t enjoy anything about this drama, I’m not even sure what genre this drama was meant to be, since it doesn’t fit into any I’ve watched so far.

I am looking forward to his next two dramas, hopefully, the scripts and directors will make better use of his skills. I do like Cheng Yi very much, but I don’t want to be biased when rating something that, in my opinion, is simply not good. I also think he still has room to mature as an actor. This role didn’t suit him, or maybe the director wasn’t good enough, and he isn’t yet at the level to pull off all kinds of roles.
I couldn’t make it past episode 8.

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ITS MY FIRST DRAMA

I guess iam too late to write this review 🤣 after 3 year damn me a classic romance drama it's first time watching any Chinese series and it was good 👍

cast did well

music okok

ok remember nothing after 3 years I tried to switch to k dramas it's boring. so switched back to cdramas. anyways it's a good drama to watch if you want a some cute little love story. ONLY THING I don't understand that is the strange illness of ML 🤣🤣🤣 I was laughing so hard. A cute start of my C-drama journey started from it and its still going and go forever


so

BYE

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