Past Life and Life (2020)

Chen Yukee's acting was great, but Yu Menglong's was not...

This drama was enjoyable for like the first episode. I liked the plot and everything was nice, but then Yu Menglong's acting got very boring. He seemed to have no emotion. Yukee Chen/Chen Yuqi's acting was very good, and that was probably the only thing that kept me watching this drama.
The songs were nice, though. I especially like Shuang Sheng's song.
I think that this drama is not really worth watching because Yu Menglong's acting makes it boring. While watching it, I would rather Yukee Chen's character end up with the other man who liked her than Yu Menglong's character because I feel like Yu Menglong was boring and also pretty cruel to Yukee Chen even though she treated him so well.

Lire davantage

Got better in the last 10 episodes

Honestly I had to drag myself through most of this. 2 ML and 2 FL outshone the leads. Yuan Qingli’s mother was excellent.

There were way too many flashback sequences with music, and some oddly bad costumes. Why the cowboy fringe on Lord Ye’s concubine? Why does the only princess of Zhao have only one outfit? And why does Madam Yuan wear an entire Christmas tree on her head at times? I digress.

The single most offensive thing about this drama, the thing I could not unsee, was that someone very clearly took a curling iron to Mo Beiyan’s wig.

Unforgivable.

Lire davantage

Not a very good watch

This drama aired on iQiyi and I watched it on the app when it came out. I recently discovered this awesome site so I'm here to spill my two-cents.
I was attracted to Luo Yunxi after completing Ashes of Love so I wanted to see more. He is an "okay" actor, i don't find him spectacular or outstanding. But what he has is face. His visuals are soft and feminine- very different from the actors casted at the time.
The actor casted for the female lead gave me a cute impression from Princess of Weiyong. She is consistent in her immature acting and limited display of emotions and understanding of her role. There is a disconnect between her and the character that she plays. It's hard to become engrossed in the drama when the main actor struggles to grasp her role.
I also think the plot is bland and poorly written. There's not a lot of depth and the development is not that great either. The length and the scenes they decided were "relevant" to the plot felt distracting and out of place.

I do not reccomend this drama.

Lire davantage

I watched this before on Feb 23, 2020, but never reviewed it. This is when I was learning how to review dramas'. Yu Meng Long who played Jing Ci was really awesome, his personality of calmness brought this story to the front. I remember his acting in Eternal Love and loved the way he puts his personality on the screen. A lot of fans will be bored with YML because of how he plays the character. He knows how to perform an action when it comes to martial arts but that is just him. I feel he is a different type of actor and I love it. Chen Yu Qi who played Yuan Qing Li, also made the character hers. I love Yu Qi, she is also a great actress. I loved her in Ashes of Love, etc. I loved all the wardrobes the actor and actresses were wearing. The visuals were on point as well as the music. The only thing I had a problem with is writers in China always write similarly to one another going back n forth between romance and death scenes. I guess in the historical world, death by poison was the thing. In a sense that is still true, with the all chemicals they put in foods, it is a wonder we are all still alive.

Lire davantage

FL Hard Carried the 1st Half + MLs inexpressiveness and mistrust complicates everything.

Before anything else, I wanna tell people to watch out and bear on how this story revolves around the calm, almost expressionless and inexpressive yet loving ML and the way it became more complicated because of his mistrust and overprotective treatment for the FL.

At this point, I guess i'm just glad that this drama was concluded with a happy ending despite all the excruciating and frustrating scenes it has. The amount of dark and grim energy I've accumulated from this show is unexpectedly great that I was extremely irritated at some point. >< So please take a 'bearing pill' before starting this drama. Hahaha!

Honestly, this drama overall is really good but unfortunately ruined by 3 major things— 1st, Overly mismanaged characters, 2nd is the extreme display of favoritism for the ML and 3rd, actual purpose for the 2nd ML.

× For some reason a lot of supposed relevant supporting characters tends to be missing whenever they're most needed to. Like, there are countless segments where the most crucial people are absent and god knows why did the writer and producer exclude them there when they're supposedly relevant in those scenes... and these occurences happened because of their immense greed of making the plot more substancial and complicated.

× This productions obsession with the ML is what probably ruined it for me— their undying love and greed to justify the ML made me role my eyes tons of times and even got me to the point where I'm simply sick of it all. He's 'hot & cold' and loves doing the 'push & pull' act without even explaining even the tiniest bit to the FL and he's expecting her to understand him. Like how? Man!! You deserved to be demoted as the 2nd ML in all honesty.

× The lack of actual purpose and usage for the 2nd ML felt so unfair and ridiculous. Like, I expected him to do some stunts to win the FL because that's his supposed 'role' but he's rather a mess. The 1st half of this drama did him dirty and it's really disgusting. Instead of being a reliable support he started off as a menace— stubborn and quite immature then gradually became an emotional mess... Huh! He need some serious justice right there. ><"

× Last but not the least is how hypocrite of a character Zao Yan Xi is. He hated the FL a lot for 'hurting' the ML when he tolerated the woman he loves even when she killed countless of people just to keep her father safe. The most deserving death of this whole drama I would say. Hahaha!

Anyways, moving away from the negative side... This drama got a lot of good qualities as well, most specifically the amazing color schemes that always blended so well with the setting. Next is the simple looking yet beautiful and eye-catching costume that was made perfect by its color shading, followed by the background and overall setting that complements the whole drama every single time and lastly, the satisfying crime and investigation cases that was made even more entertaining because of the great fighting scenes.

P.S. The 2nd ML 'Zhang Si Fan' deserved better! That guy was downplayed and played dirty throughout the entire show. Hell, he even deserved the Main Role!

Story - 9.0, Story is actually good and would've been better if only they lessen their obsession and greed to make the ML mysterious and inexpressive. It made the drama hollow, frustrating and complicated to the point where things seemed overboard several times.

Acting/Cast - 9.0, More than the acting... I highly think that this dramas excessive misused of great actors/actresses is what made me all irritated overall. Some of them were missing in the most crucial times and felt like they got no concrete direction aside from being an end game plot device. + Overall acting is good and god knows how Chen Yu Qi hard carried this show.

Music - 10, It was love at first hear. Hahaha! Seriously, I was already captivated the moment I heard the 1st BGM and I was in a complete trance upon hearing all of them. The music from this drama serenaded me from the start till the end of the show.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, I just wouldn't. I hated how I have to endure and went through all those frustrations while watching this drama. The amount of dark energy and hollow feeling it gave was enough and I don't want to go over it again. The only reason why I gave it an 8.0 is because of its happy ending and good story progression.

Overall - 9.0, This is a rating in consideration of all the positive things this story offered despite all its flaws and mishaps. Thank god they redeemed themselves and successfully bounced back at the last 6 episodes. I almost give it an 8 honestly.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know

Lire davantage

Can say it is just a love story which completed at the end of the story.

First male and female character grown up together ,they spend 18 years of life with together but due to status barrier they hide their feelings from each other but indirectly always shown possession to each other. There is a misunderstanding created between and because of it female lead angry with him and that's the reason they separated . Along with the misunderstanding the story moves forward . They both together solve some crime mystery and with this their misunderstanding clear in last few episodes and drama over .
Starting was good ,but then it was a cliché.
Because of leads I watched this drama .they did amazing job but story had not powerful impact.
I felt that it was useless to kill the doctor character .

Lire davantage

The Story

Overall semuanya bagus, kecuali ekspresi male lead yang kurang kalo menurutku, tapi karakter dia, Jing ci, sangat bagus. Jing Ci sangat handal akan semua hal, tapi tidak bisa bertindak tegas kepada orang kepercayaannya, seperti bibinya, ayah angkatnya, tabibnya, dll. Untuk karakter female lead, A Yuan, Feng Mianwan, Yuan Qingli bagus sekali, berbeda-beda karakter satu sama lain. Cuma yang kurang adalah saat A Yuan langsung jatuh cinta pada Jing Ci pada pandangan pertama, walaupun dia adalah Feng mianwan tapi agaknya tidak logis jika dia langsung mengejar-ngejar lead male.
Yang paling saya suka adalah ostnya sangat bagus cocok sekali untuk drama ini.
Alurnya banyak plot twist terutama yang terkait kasus-kasus itu.
Adegan paling sedih adalah ketika xiao lu meninggal di penjara ?
Adegan paling saya suka adalah ketika A Yuan tegas kepada JingCi dan memutuskan hubungan mereka dengan memotong dompet yang dia sulam dengan pedang dihadapan semua orang ? itu sangat keren. Dan akhirnya membuat Jing ci sadar akan semua tindakannya.
Overall drama ini sangat seru!! Cocok untuk yang suka romance + Misteri, apalagi kedua main leadnya sama - sama pintar ? aplause

Lire davantage

Although the story line is simple, if developed further, this could have scored higher. Aside from the story line not being fully developed, we have the Main Lead, Alan Yu, who really needs to work on his expressions. It was painful for me to watch the first part of this series. It was even that I was busy or there was no more English subtitles or missing episode of the series; it was simply pain staking to see no chemistry between Jing Ci and Feng Manwan. There was more chemistry between Mu Beiyan and Feng Manwan/Yuan from the beginning to the end. And the delay on the romance did not help.

The story tells about how people in your life will love you only in the word love, hence they will use and abuse you by any extent for their own needs/wants, like Jing Ci's step father and Jing Ci's Emperor Father. Those who feel entitled and superior because of their birth not their deeds, like Jing Ci's step sister. Then there are those who love you so much, that they go to any extent to protect you, but in reality, they are hurting you and themselves unknowingly, like Jing Ci's Aunt. Finally, there are those who love you unconditionally and truly only want your happiness while sacrificing themselves on way or the other, like Feng Manwan/Yuan - intimate love. Then there is respect and love among friends and family, like Jing Ci, Lord Qing (New Emperor appointed by Jing Ci), the princess, and her guy, Mu Beiyan.

It is full of betrayal from all different directions along with all different shades of "love". The Emperor only has his best interest at hand then his family and friends come. Just about everyone is so devious in this series, it is crazy.

Disliked majorly that they murder Lu. And killed Zhao Yanxi and Tan.

The second part was a bit more endearing then the first part of the series.

The biggest let down though was the supposed fight out that did not happen.

Loved Yukee Chen!!!!!

Lire davantage

I think the story is very simple like an ordinary love story,The male lead character is unstable and sometimes feels tired haha

the progress of love happens very suddenly,suddenly said they meet before

The scene very confusing not showing of explaining full before but add in the next episode just for explaining the condition,but the positive is they do it from the first of episode,they just add the explaining in the episode when the incident and condition was discussed,example : when madam yuan discover that her big daughter coming back,and lost her memory, not showing in the scene before but explaining when they talking about qingli attacked case, so not have alot of repeat scene
Very confusing but overall all problems are resolved

Some scene i feel weird>>>
Ep 1, she catch the wild chicken very hard,but when zhixia come the chicken already beside her.... Hmm

Jing ci cloth just 2 blue and with spot black but when editing episode 1 and 2 go when go to night market use blue dress but when opening ep 2 use white dress when meeting with JI envoy use blue dress again, for the first i didnt botice but when i watch back the episode to find some scene accidentally noticed

Ep 11 suddenly a yuan say she saw he feel very pain when fighting, but i rewatch ,i not see the scene, and suddenly ayuan said "he said they familiar with each other before",but from i know jing ci always that they know each other before and said she already at YONG since she birth, but he just arrived YONG ,他有说过吗？！，make me confused

how YONG king know about mastermind of qinghe? They just exoose affair between qiao concubine and lord of ye?

Lire davantage

Interesting plot

The story line was really interesting and I really enjoyed watching it, but I wouldn't say that it's a must watch or one of my favourite drama. There were many scenes and details that could have been more elaborated as there were some scenes that felt kind of lacking and others just weren't that well explained. The acting was okay, not the best not the worst. Some characters were super annoying but I did like the personal growth of some of them like Princess Chang Le or Mu BeiYan. Personally, I got hooked once I started watching it and kinda ended up binge watching it. I'm a big fan of strong female leads who know how to fight and don't need a ml to protect them so that's a huge plus in this drama. The mysteries and murder cases were really well thought and I love how the solved the cases. Although I do enjoy dramas and misunderstandings to spice things up, the lack of communication from the ml drove me crazy and it ended up being a bit annoying how he took the fl for granted and how he tried to plan her life without consulting her. The ending also felt too rushed and I feel that some characters deserved a little bit more of screen time and background story to at least relate to them a bit better. For example, the background story of Yanxi and Jiang Tan, and how she ended up working for the enemy would have been interesting. All in all, it's a nice costume drama and I really enjoyed the plot.

Lire davantage