Reviews

How to land on the moon while dreaming of the stars...

Although we would always have a male lead and a female lead in romantic dramas, the story is often told through the eyes of the female lead. It gives a sense of "fluff" and warm fuzzy feeling. It is refreshing and truly complex how this drama tells the struggle of the male lead. It serves the male lead's vulnerabilities and 'pathetic-ness' straight up on a silver platter for the audience to digest. Because who else has not struggled with coping to give the best for their loved ones while fighting for a dream since youth? Contrary to the usual trope of soft FL falling head over heels for an ego-centric tough guy, this drama explores what more can be told in a romantic set-up without needing to bring in great detail messy past relationships or obsessive exes -- the realities of choosing your partner whether it be in consideration of difference in income, career, or the pursuit of a long-kept passion. Bonus on the metaphor of Qiao Jingjing (alluding to the passionate dream ML has always aimed for from his childhood days) and Xia Qing (alluding to the realities of choosing practical, rational choices in today's economic setting). Re-watching this again and again has always given me a profound sense of insight into the makings of what it means to pursue a life-long career and keep loving the life that you live everyday. For that, I'm eternally grateful to this drama and story, in particular. Always a renewed sense of purpose in life, relationships, and a sense of duty to the wider world. Indeed, there must be some middle-ground between aiming to land on the moon while dreaming about the countless stars in the galaxy.

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Strange plot. This bodyguard who agrees to marry her boss who is old and sick in order to be able to stand up to his heirs. A lot of crazy people.
Episodes 7 and 8, what a nervous. She has money, she's able to defend her and she's still under the thumb (subjugated) of her mother? Tell her to go to hell!
Maybe hide the money and not leave it available to everyone?
Her character, who acts "strong" but has so many weaknesses, disappointed me a little. But more than that it's the plot that doesn't convince.
While I liked the male character, the father who raises his son alone, better. A kind, honest and helpful person.
Episode 10 I lowered the rating. What a bad idea to let this father be blamed in a murder case.
She played her game badly against the heirs (people stabbed, people kidnapped, money wasted left and right, etc.) all to get what? A piece of paper and a gun to commit suicide?
This poor protagonist certainly had a terrible life, but who made her put herself in such a situation?
All in all, she wasn't much of a bodyguard!

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Better acting and romance element in this version of "assassin disguising as weak heiress" drama

I got to know about this drama from subreddit CShortDramas. I watched Heiress of the Underworld aka Accidental Favourite before I watched this drama so I sort of knew what to expect. I must say I enjoyed this drama so much more than Heiress of the Underworld.

What I liked:
1. FL characterisation - She was smart and cunning. I liked her duality.
2. Romance - This drama has a stronger romance element. I liked the complicated relationship between FL and ML. Their first encounter was fascinating because FL outsmarted ML and their first kiss was hot.
3. Acting - I really liked Cui Xiao Xuan's acting because she managed to convey the two different personas of her character. She gave a better performance than Wang Xiao Yi. I also liked Song Yu Bo's acting. Good chemistry between the two of them.
4. Supporting characters - I liked FL's family especially the third brother. Always love a protective older brother.
5. Styling - I loved the contrasting style for FL's dual identity. The anime look was great on CXX.
6. Wedding - The surrender of weapons was funny moment! I also liked seeing the wedding as a gathering of FL's eccentric friends / allies.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonist - The Han family was horrible.
2. Screentime - I wish FL's brothers were given more screentime.

Favourite scene
When FL first appeared in her gangster persona and taught the baddie a lesson

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Love Ambition: From Lies to Love

Love Ambition
Wow. This show has the perfect balance of love, heartbreak, drama, and comedy. The main actor, Willan Chen, I have not seen anywhere and I think he is a pretty good actor. Though after finding out the 13 year age gap , I was concerned it would be weird but his character, Shen Hao Ming, was executed well . He is good at showing diversion of emotions and makes you believe what he portrays . I also have never seen Zhao Lu Si, play a “sneaky and deceiving” role, but I honestly enjoyed it. The plot was great, thought a bit confusing if you aren’t paying attention well. To be honest I did stop watching half way through, but the thought of not finishing another show got to me and I’m really glad that I didn’t go back to finish it. When you feel the show getting a little boring, they bring you back in with tension and more drama. Some characters are annoying but they are just playing the part really well since that’s the point. I also felt that some parts of the story was inconsistent. Overall, It’s been a while since I liked a Chinese show, but this one won me over and this show was not hard to get into. 9/10

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I liked the actors who played FL's brothers

I was in the mood for Zhang Ruo Chen dramas so I decided to watch the very first drama listed here on MDL. I was surprised to see the cast list because I had seen the work of the male supporting actors. The only person unfamiliar to me was Sean Pai - this is my first drama of his. I realised that ZRC has acted in three different biological vs adopted siblings drama and I enjoyed this drama.

Trigger warning: Self-harm

What I liked:
1. Opening - I really liked the opening scene because it gave some limelight to the three biological brothers unlike any other rebirth dramas.
2. Reconciliation - I liked how the reconciliation scenes were written. There was a little "fantasy" twist to create awareness of past mistakes. Nice to see them plead to FL for forgiveness.
3. Acting - I enjoyed watching the actors who played supporting characters such as Wu Ming Yu, Ye Yang and Liu Bo Yang more than Sean Pai. Zhang Ruo Chen's acting fit the character which was a mixed bag for me.
4. Supporting characters - I liked that the brothers were given a lot of screentime unlike other biological vs. adopted family dramas. I also enjoyed the interactions amongst the brothers even though there were not many.
5. FL characterisation - I liked that she learnt lessons from past life and decided to cut off from her biological family and live independently. I liked that she didn't want her relationship with second brother to be revealed at the company.
6. Tone - It was lighthearted most of the time but there was some violence.

What I disliked:
1. Beneficiary - I was dismayed that FL went to live an easy life with ML, who was essentially her sugar daddy, when she insisted to her brothers that she would make it on her own.
2. Antagonists - Adopted sister was insecure and manipulative. FL's colleague was another horrible person. Serves her right for trusting the adopted sister.
3. Romance - I liked the teasing in their first "intimate" scene post-rebirth. Their relationship was sweet & based on love at first sight but lacked depth. I wish there were more couple moments outside of FL's family drama because the romance was not believable to me.

Favourite scene
Grandfather's birthday celebration

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Beautiful drama about friendship & redemption with many heartfelt moments

I needed something different after watching Fated Hearts like 3 times lol and picked this up because of Cheng Lei, but wow I loved Fangs of Fortune! Different vibe and atmosphere. Very beautiful, artistic production from the team behind My Journey to You which I also loved.

I got so attached to the main characters, especially Zhao Yuan Zhu and Zhuo Yi Chen ♥️. I feel so sad with the incredibly poignant ending but it makes one reflect and appreciate life and all of its joys & messiness 💔.

Another amazing part of FoF is the beautiful OST ♥️. I'll be listening to this for a while.

If there was any kind of weakness, I think the ending could have been paced better. Also the plot / journey was a bit chaotic and I had to stop a few times and think, ok what are they doing and why, but then I just let it go and let the plot flow. Also had some issues with the acting like I didn't think the actor that played the main antagonist, the doctor, was that great. Also a bit disappointed that Wen Xiao was not able to do much at the end. Otherwise, I loved it ♥️.

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A flawed experiment that dared to dream — and changed the landscape of Chinese BL forever.

Omega verse… from China? Are you kidding me? No one could have imagined this would actually happen..... yet here we are. ABO Desire is groundbreaking simply for existing, and I’m rating it higher purely because of that bold step. It’s not every day you see a Chinese production daring enough to touch the Omegaverse genre, and that in itself feels like a huge leap for the BL community there. Credit where it’s due: Desire 4 deserves genuine appreciation for creating the first ever alpha-beta-omega-enigma dynamic in the Chinese entertainment industry. The courage to introduce such a world, one so layered with power structures, instincts, and emotional intensity — is commendable. I’m truly thankful to the entire team for pushing those creative boundaries and making it possible.

That said, if we strip away the excitement of the genre itself and focus purely on the series’ execution, the flaws become impossible to ignore. The editing was choppy, the pacing rushed, and the direction uneven. Certain emotional beats didn’t have the time to settle — everything felt like it was constantly hurrying toward the next scene. The final episode was especially disappointing, as the LangTu couple’s arc was cut and edited so poorly that it lost all impact. I was genuinely looking forward to their story, and seeing it reduced that way was frustrating.

Still, I can’t help but appreciate the ambition. For a first attempt at such a sensitive and technically challenging concept, the cast and crew gave it their all. The actors clearly put in effort — you can feel their sincerity, even when the production quality doesn’t always support it. I only wish the team had worked with a more experienced director and editor, because the raw potential here could have turned into something exceptional with the right guidance.

So yes ...... while ABO Desire falters in its storytelling and editing, it deserves recognition for its bravery. It broke barriers, opened new creative possibilities, and made people talk. I’m thankful to Desire 4 for giving this genre a voice in China, and I genuinely hope their next project builds on this foundation with stronger direction, tighter editing, and the same fearless spirit.

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sigh... horrified i spent time on this

I honestly regretted putting in time to complete this series, even though I skipped parts and played this back at x1.25. I think it tried too hard to incorporate suspense, horror (that was mainly manifested in make-up and unnaturally echoey voice effects), star-crossed lovers type romance, introduce thai culture and rural thailand, and do justice to the fans. The base material and dialogues were written like it was ripped off some soap opera in the 90s. Story was predictable (with the exception of final plot twist) and characters were poorly designed...

I was hoping for a sassy, resilient, 'fuck-off-death' type protagonist and a hopeless yet restrained type of romance since the character Khem is destined to die and the character Paran should technically be completely resolute in protecting him. Instead we got a Khem who couldn't make up his mind if he was going to fight fate tooth and nail or just let his kharma be and a Paran who didn't give the audience confidence that he was committed to protecting Khem right from the start (think my commitment to finishing this series beat his). The character Khem was jealous, filled with self-pity and just cried a lot. The character Paran flashed a lot of skin (I'm guessing much to his fans' delight) and was full of inconsistency (turning horny all of a sudden like some switch had gone off in his head).

Saving grace? The side story with the second leads (who had more personality) was mildly entertaining and thai culture was interesting for the first part. The choice of music was also decent.

Had high expectations and now I want my time back.

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Quick sparks

Short, simple, and to-the-point... And enjoyable plot, though it seemed rushed around important developments.... especially the leads’ love story, which developed too quickly even for a short format. Fang Tong was amazing as always, but Fang Xiao Dong seemed a bit immature in his acting. No one in the supporting cast really caught my attention.

A few things that felt a little annoying:
1. The music was louder than the dialogue.
2. The side villain was literally on the loose, and no one held her accountable for anything. At this point, it felt like there was a big creative gap in building a proper conspiracy.

Still, It was a decent one time watch.

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