Slapstick romantic comedy, simple plot, mindless enjoyment

While I watched the entire drama, I felt that I was more hyped to catch each episode earlier in the series, and the enthusiasm fell off as the story progressed. Overall, I still found it enjoyable to watch at the end of the day after work but it might not be for everyone and it's certainly not something I'm always in the mood to watch.

Story - While the classic case of mix-up is always fun to run with, about 1/4 way through I feel it was already fairly predictable how things would unfold. The bad guys are not overly complex nor their motives very clear other than they're. just. bad. people. I'm also not entirely sure how one of the couples ended up taking a liking to each other, like "when...how...?"

Acting - I was not blown away by the acting, nor was I overly disappointed in them. It got the job done, but I won't be going out of my way to follow their other works. Sometimes it was a bit cheesy but I think it was the style and feel of the drama in general

Music - Did not make an impression. I watched every episode and still have to think hard to remember OST or melody from this drama

Rewatch - No. Once is enough. It was not bad but don't need to rewatch, it would be too boring.

Overall - This is the type of show I don't mind watching if I've had a rough day or am just tired and want something mindless (simple plot, simple characters) to watch. Mostly humor, the bad guys get kicked by karma, angst if any is light and brief and quickly soothed over. It works as a lighthearted little story to take your mind off things. But if I'm in the mood for a deeper more satisfying story, if I want acting that immerses me in the story and characters that I feel invested in, this drama would fall way short of expectations

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Gold Standard for C-Dramas

Its 2023, years since NIF has been out and I STILL have friends who have not watched despite hearing rave reviews. Please give this drama a chance. At first glance it might not have the pretty young faces of idol dramas but what it does have is a deep and intricate plot, good overall pacing and a stellar cast.

Story - It might start a bit slow as it lays down the groundwork and setting for the story, but quickly gets more interesting after 6th or 7th episode after you get a feel for the context of the story. Its a battle of wits and smarts, righting old wrongs, enduring friendships, and betrayals by those you thought could be trusted. And its about an unfavored prince who, with the right advisor, grows the motivation to also fight for the throne with his brothers.

Acting/Cast - Wang Kai and Hu Ge were amazing as the main characters. Wang Kai as that unfavored prince who transformed in the story from someone resigned to being unfavored with no shot at the throne, to someone who is determined to fight for it for the sake of the people and for the sake of those wronged in the past. Hu Ge did great as that mastermind manipulator navigating all the political schemes like a chess grandmaster, while at times showing some regret/sorrow for who he needs to manipulate to accomplish his plan. I also loved the supporting cast, especially Liu Min Tao's character as Jing Yan's mother. There really was not a single character from the main leads to the minor characters that I was disappointed with. Even supporting characters who only showed up in a few episodes a small handful of times, I remember their backstory well and what their role was and was invested in what happened to them--even the supporting cast was memorable. I wish I could thank the entire cast and crew for creating this wonderful drama.

I've rewatched this drama a couple times already and while I don't usually enjoy stories with power scheming and the backstabbing/cunning of harem politics as much, I really loved this drama. As far as pacing and storytelling, fleshing out the characters, finding the right cast for the roles INCLUDING the supporting characters, I hold this drama up as the gold standard for other dramas to aim for.

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AMAZING Chemistry Between ML and FL (amongst the pain and angst and blood)

In full disclosure, I'm a Bai Lu fan, have been for years, OF COURSE I was going to watch this show no matter what.
Also, I actually think Bai Lu has good chemistry with most other ML she has worked with, but her together with LYX is near or at the top of the spectrum.

Story - Docked a point here, because as much as I loved this drama, if I'm being a bit picky, I still felt the final arc was a bit rushed and some things left a bit TOO open or w/o closure. Not just with the main couple, but some side characters as well. I have read (ok, skimmed) the original webnovel as well. They are different enough that the stories shouldn't be compared, but I would say the webnovel had a bit more explanation and closure at the end at least. Wish they had made this longer, given it more episodes, even if it would require 2 seasons, and taken their time with the storytelling.

Acting/Cast - its Bai Lu, I'm giving a 10. But in seriousness, the acting carried this drama for me. And despite me picking this drama up for Bai Lu (who was amazing as always, and beautiful of course), you really have to appreciate how well Luo Yunxi did, portraying not just multiple characters, but also the complexity of Tantai Jin's personality and his growth as the story progressed. This role was a tall order and LYX delivered it beautifully. The supporting characters also did their parts well. I might've found the Xiao Lin/Ye Bingchang couple a bit bland but I think it was how they were in the story itself and not an acting issue. CDL did a fantastic job portraying the two-faced little b*tch of a sister, and as much as I wanted to slap her (a sign of a successful villain), she still was able to somehow convey a sense of her motivations/reasons for turning out the way she did. Bai Lu's character Li Susu does not go through AS drastic of a change as Tantai Jin through the story but you can still clearly see her gradual transformation from a more naive girl with this world-saving mission who doesn't yet fully understand all that this mission would entail to someone who has had to make tough decisions, who has sacrificed, who bears the weight of heavy responsibility, who has felt guilt, who has been tricked and deceived, who has had her heart broken--and all the while her unwavering determination to protect the world.

Music - Love LYN's voice. I screeched when I heard the opening theme. Other songs are beautiful too--evokes alot of emotion. Especially when they play certain themes at certain key points. It always reminds of those scenes when i hear the song.

Rewatch - If I DO rewatch, certain parts at least. Lets be honest, there's a whole lot of misunderstandings and a whole lot of angst. I might skip over the REALLY painful parts if I'm rewatching.

Nitpicks - So much blood. Some parts I really wish they didn't vomit blood or toned it down to a small trickle rather than a big mouthful. Makeup was sometimes a bit heavy, especially on Tantai Jin. He looked great but its just very apparent he has a helluva lot more makeup on than the people around him. Besides Tantai Jin, there was a scene where Ye Qingyu gets into a fight with Tantai Jin where Tantai Jin refuses to leave his dead wife's side--I was shocked with his makeup there--but at least the actors knew and poked fun at it too (Ye Qingyu's actor joked he looked more like a corpse than Ye Xiwu who was actually supposed to be a corpse).

Overall - Love the drama, love the actors, love the music, loved the details in the beautiful costumes (although c'mon whats up with the devil world wedding outfits...i know its devil world and costumes are used to portray the state of character/plot to a degree, but can't they have prettier clothes that don't make me want to wish them Happy Halloween). Just be prepared for alot of angst and pain so if you're not ready for something that isn't all light and sweet and fluffy, table it for until you're ready.

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Rebirth and Revenge

The first episodes caught my attention and I decided to continue watching it. It isn't much of a time drain since each episode is quite short. I did enjoy it in a simple-minded way but did roll my eyes at certain moments. Its not a particularly deep story, nor did I particularly like any of the characters. I guess there is something satisfying about watching people get whats coming to them, even if there is some hypocrisy on the part of those delivering "justice"

Story: In the original life FL is betrayed horribly after aiding and abetting the person she loved (2nd prince) in rising to the throne, even plotting against and poisoning her legal husband (7th prince). Yea, she's no saint. But when she is betrayed and killed by 2nd prince and her own sister, she swears if she had another chance she would make them pay. And she is reborn and gets her chance. Now, FL died in a horrific manner in her original life, she is very focused on revenge and I get that--but until the later episodes (where FL somewhat acknowledged that she and her sister weren't that different) it seemed like she carried a 'you lot are scum, you brought this on yourself, you're the worst kind of traitors' attitude...and yet did she not do pretty much the same thing to her own husband? In the original life, he had rushed to save her even though he suspected it was likely a trap...but still went, in case. He figured she may make more attempts on his life but still willingly drank tea she prepared for him, and was poisoned to death. As a result for most of the drama, while there is a certain satisfaction in watching people's evil plans backfire on them, I'm also viewing the person who is ruining those evil plans as quite the hypocrite. Some parts of the story also made little sense, such as the lack of logical sense and coordination of 2nd prince's schemes. In the reborn life, FL was still pretending to be on the side of 2nd prince to take down 7th prince. For this, they need to get 7th prince to trust FL so that she can successfully poison him (she wouldn't do it in the reborn life but this is just the 2nd prince's plot). 2nd prince then goes and gets his own wife to sow discord between FL and 7th prince so he can test and see FL's reaction and see if she is still devoted to him. So plan A requires building trust and plan B sows discord and breaks trust...its like left hand is slapping right hand, its no wonder he failed at life. This is just an example but there were several points in the story where you facepalm as characters do utterly stupid things just to move the drama along but actually takes away from the story. The ending is also a bit weird, implying its a dream but...what part is the dream? All of it? just the original life? Are we supposed to just guess?
There were some moments I got my hopes up--like there was potential for a good plot twist or conflict, but inevitably it is shallowly and quickly resolved without issue...sometimes too quickly that I'm left wondering why that plot point was even added.

Acting: Not bad. Not outstanding, but good enough to keep your focus on the drama and not be jarred out of story immersion due to cheesy acting. For the actors costumes/makeup though, I found the outline of 7th prince's wig/headpiece VERY noticeable. I could see the edge outline around his face in many episodes and scenes, sometimes the edges if that hairpiece obviously did not match his skin. They need to do a better job hiding it.

Music: Nothing is particularly memorable but nothing stuck out as unsuitable for the drama either

Rewatch: Not really something I'd recommend re-watching, the story and characters are so simple there really isn't a need and it would probably be boring

Overall: Its a simple minded revenge story and I think the enjoyment for me was based on satisfaction of watching evildoers have their evil scheme blow up in their face. But the characters are simple, the plot is shallow, this is not the place to look for nuanced characters that are undergo strong development thru the drama, nor for a deep immersive story.

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Female Friendships for the Win

I stumbled across this drama awhile back purely by accident, and somehow got hooked into watching the whole thing.
Its a story of 3 very different ladies and their trials and triumphs in life and love, and how they support each other throughout.
Gu Jia, the Type A supermom/superwife who tries to be on-point with everything (but at what cost), Wang Manni who is a single girl trying to make it in the big city and has certain standards she wants to meet whether in wealth/income or love (but there are no free lunches, good things must be worked for), and then there is Xiao Qin who I feel contrasts nicely with her 2 pals (as far as ambitions go anyway) and is your average 'i just want a simple, quiet, happy marriage' kind of girl (but perhaps has yet to learn what goes into a happy marriage).

Story: As an over-30 female, some of the difficulties these ladies face are very relatable, as is their friendship and how they support each other and cry it out with each other. I had a little bit of trouble following Wang Manni's storyline a little, and it may be because personality and background wise, she was the most unrelatable for me. The story is very well balanced in that while most of the events perspectives will be more from the ladies' POV, you do sometimes perceive see the guys' side of things (sometimes, and sometimes maybe the male character is just simply a playboy asshole) and can sympathize with them (to a degree). These ladies are flawed, and each of them go through different hardships to grow and improve themselves--i thought it might be too confusing essentially telling the stories of 3 women but its actually very well paced and melds together well, their close friendship being the glue that holds these 3 tales together. The messaging in the drama I think is also good and are things we should be cognizant of as we go through life too: being fair to yourself in relationships, not taking others (loved ones) for granted, maintaining integrity even if it seems its the harder path

Acting: I didn't really know any of the actors prior to watching this drama, but everything from the cast was solid. Sometimes with dramas, you can tell when the acting is a bit forced and it breaks the immersion. Did not have this issue at all with this drama, the leading ladies had me laughing and crying with them. Even Xu Huan Shan--this cheating scumbag husband...there were still moments i felt for him--the major characters aren't one dimensional after all--they are flawed, sometimes very flawed but there will be some good things about them, and some of the circumstances you can still understand WHY they react a certain way even if we condemn the action. One of the scenes that stuck with me (might be because its related to personal fears) was when Xiao Qin got into a random cab/uber car and the driver started heading an unfamiliar route to a more remote area. Her tension was palpable and it was like I could also feel her terror when she jumped out of the car, hid and then tried to navigate in the dark to someplace she could get cell service to call (cry) for help. And the intense relief flooding her when she was finally found

Music: Honestly, I don't remember the music too much. I think it just went well with the drama but its not like I would find myself humming the tunes like with other dramas with especially nice soundtracks

Rewatch: Worth rewatching if in the mood for these girl friendship/slice of life/growth dramas. I've only found myself in the mood to rewatch once but it was still enjoyable.

Overall: Really liked this drama, so glad I stumbled upon it. Generally I tend to stick with period dramas and watch fewer modern ones but this one is definitely worth it. Well paced, good script/story, good acting--can't ask for more.

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A Chaotic Mess

This is gonna be hard to review. This drama had so many big names I'm not sure how it turned out to be the hot mess it is.
Also, I tried to watch this twice: once earlier on, near when it was first broadcasted, and then again more recently (late 2023) because I couldn't finish the 1st time and thought I'd try again--and I STILL could not force myself to watch it all (and I really did want to like it, I really tried...more on this later)

Story - Admittedly, I enjoyed the story in the earlier episodes for the most part. Enough to watch consecutive episodes and wonder what will happen next. And then suddenly there was some strange plot twist and I still can't clearly wrap my head around what exactly happened but the story was very jarring and confusing between 2 apparently very different arcs. There are dramas with multiple time skips and alternate universes that are far less confusing. From there it just goes downhill, I'm trying to relearn the characters. I'm trying to understand new characters. I'm trying to understand how this ties into earlier episodes and where the hell this drama is going. I will give up before figuring it out since I never finished, whether it was my first watch attempt or second. Perhaps if all the actors and specifically the main leads were stellar, their performances might've been able to carry but no, there were issues there for me as well.

Acting/Cast - Mixed bag here. I will start with the positives.
Bai Lu. She had a supporting role here in this drama. I am her fan now but I was not at the time I first watched this drama. Her portrayal of the female general really stuck with me. She convincingly portrays a female who is at times a strong bad-ass, at times vulnerable, someone who has her flaws and was focused on an old flame but also holds strongly to her moral integrity even when it put her at odds with loved ones. This role put Bai Lu on my radar and for that at least, I do have to thank this drama. I've seen complaints that Bai Lu as 2FL got too much screen time. In my opinion this was partially due to the discrepancy in acting caliber between FL and 2FL. After I gave up watching this drama, I did at least seek out Bai Lu's scenes in remaining episodes just to see more of her portrayal.
Song Weilong. He did alright as ML. Did not make as much of an impression as Bai Lu but I didn't really have major issues with his acting--perhaps a bit wooden at times but got the job done IMO. As a side note, I'm currently watching a 2023 drama of Song Weilong's and I do think his acting has improved over the years.
Also, I did overall like the Dr. Gu/Tianji Pavilion master--on a few occasions I felt the acting was a just a tad overdone but generally a commendable job.
And then there are the problems:
Guan Xiao Tong. The FL seemed alright in the beginning, although her acting was somehow jarring for me in that it couldn't really pull me into the story. I can't quite put my finger on what--maybe expressions were a bit forced or unconvincing, or maybe there was not enough breadth in conveying her different emotions and mental states (I felt like she had much the same expression and tone of voice all the time) but she was unable to evoke emotions from me as a viewer. Her cry scenes did not make me feel sympathetic or want to cry with/for her. It made me cringe, I felt it was unconvincing. But when the story in the beginning was still decently compelling, I could somewhat overlook it as passable and press on (the acting is not SO off that it can't be somewhat salvaged by a decent plot). Once the story itself took a nosedive, having a lead who I felt could not carry and contribute to viewer immersion was hugely detrimental and even more noticeable when she is right there in comparison-distance to Bai Lu's acting chops. Were there complaints about too much screen time for 2FL vs FL? Well then, perhaps FL should work on making her scenes more compelling.

Music - Did not make an impression on me but did not find it distracting either so I figure its good enough.

Rewatch - Well as someone who actually TRIED to rewatch it and still failed to force myself through the whole thing, I'd say no. I had tried to rewatch recently since I'm now a Bai Lu fan and thought I should go back and try and finish this. Still couldn't do it, and best I could do was skip to General Huo Xuan's scenes and call it a day.

Overall - I really don't want to rate any of the dramas that Bai Lu is in low, but gotta be honest. I couldn't even force myself to finish this drama, how could I possibly rate it highly. =\ I suppose maybe if breaks in story arc continuity and a disappointing performance from a main actor is not a deal breaker for you, you might still be able to find something to enjoy.

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I'm trying so hard to be objective in the review ratings on this, being a fan of both XZ and WYB. Questioning whether I'm scoring it too high and readjusting. First off, The Untamed is based off of MDZS, which was a webnovel by MXTX. I started off watching the animated version of MDZS , and shortly after (while waiting for more episodes), read the original MDZS webnovel, so went into The Untamed knowing the story on which it is based.

Story - This drama was really well-adapted. I was surprised. Yes the BL elements were removed but it does not take away from portraying the loyalty and bond of the main leads (and really some of it is open to interpretation). There is some jumping between timelines to explain the story but I also think they handled it well without making it too confusing. Of course there are changes from the original webnovel but it stayed surprisingly true to the original work as far as character relationships and themes. I do rather wish the ending was not as open-ended in the drama since the original work was pretty clear on where things went--but its fine. Also, while the main leads and most supporting characters are male, I DO appreciate the presence of strong female characters even if they are minor. Yu Ziyuan might not have been the kindest to WWX (she has reasons although still unjustified), but this woman is strong, can fight, and does not hesitate to give her own special weapon to her son and send him away with WWX while she faces a planned massacre bearing down on their home while her husband is away (and when he finally comes back after she has been fending them off on her own all day he STILL is taken down before her--i might have facepalmed a bit here). Jiang Yanli and Wenqing may not be the greatest in combat but they will standup for their younger brothers in the face of authority and won't shy away from danger to protect them if they feel it is necessary. In XianXia stories where female characters can sometimes be portrayed as weak, needing some kind of protector, or just...not smart, it is refreshing to have strong females (flawed but definitely still having clear strengths).

Cast - As much as I'd love to give a 10 here because I'm a fan of both the leads, I think a 9 is more fair from an objective standpoint as there were still parts that could be more polished in general from both leads and supporting cast. The cast was fantastic but objectively, did not have the subtlety and polish of some more experienced actors although there were definitely many moments of brilliance. But then I also want to take into account that these ARE newer actors and they DID to an amazing job on this production. XZ and WYB were fantastic for their roles. Especially considering they do not have that much acting experience under their belt at this point in time, their performance was actually very impressive. And you can actually SEE the improvement in the drama itself as they got a better understanding of their roles and finetuned and polished their portrayals. As an example, some of the earlier episodes had scenes where WYB had "dead fish eyes" and some viewers commented he looked sleepy (he kinda did lol). Actually he said himself he didn't have a full understanding of LWJ right away but sharpened his gaze later which made a huge difference. Its actually really hard to act LWJ since he doesn't talk much and doesn't have alot of lines, so the portrayal has to come from minute facial expressions, eyes, posture. WYB did an amazing job. Xiao Zhan was also excellent portraying both the playful mischievous side of WWX as well as the intimidating "Don't F with me" side. His character has to play out a huge range of emotions, from playfulness to grief to rage. With XianXia since things are often not filmed in order as much as a modern drama, sometimes he would have to film a playful scene followed by a raging scene and would need to get himself into the appropriate state for that character. I don't imagine this to be easy but he did so well. The supporting cast in general did well too, especially considering many were very young and very new--some scenes where they needed to emote came across a bit exaggerated but overall the entire cast did an excellent job.

Music - I have the OST regularly playing. Enough said.

Overall this drama is a very well put together package and I wonder if the cast/crew surprised themselves a bit. The actors were not big names at the time but all of them (main and supporting cast) put on a performance that they should be proud of given their yrs of experience at that time. The music and OST is just lovely and really boosts certain scenes. The CGI....*cough* lets skip this and chalk it up to smaller budget. Worth watching, worth rewatching.

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