The story did not age well

I really wanted to love this drama. I've watched the Korean version and even though I knew that the storyline was outdated because it's been a long time since it came out, I gave it a chance because I really really loved the very first episodes. However, I was very disappointed.

First, let's talk about the story. Since it's a remake I, of course, didn't expect the storyline from the previous ones to be changed a lot but while watching the first few episodes I was very excited because I thought they had modernized the plot since it's 2020 which led me to get my hope up for a fresh take on this story but boy was I wrong. All the good points the story had made in its first maybe 20 episodes just gradually went downhill until I honestly skipped pretty much half of the last ten episodes of the drama. The way they dragged the plot was unbearable to me and I found myself not even being the slightest bit happy whenever the leads had a moment during those 10 episodes. My biggest let down was that they dragged the last 10 episodes so much with so many unnecessary fillers but when it came to the ending they just resolved everything in the last five minutes of the drama, They could have very well used 4 episodes out of those 10 insufferable ones to give it a better ending.

Now let's move on the acting/cast:
I'm a fan of both the main leads, especially Xing Zao Lin, however, I feel like I've seen him do these types of characters too much. I wish they had both chosen a different drama to be in since I really feel like their acting skills were wasted. They did the best with what they could but the writing was just not there.

I really liked the cast overall, especially Xiyi's family. I think they all did what they could with this script.


For the music, I gave it a low rating because honestly, I didn't even notice it was there half of the time. I can't even remember one single song that caught my attention and I've literally just finished watching this.

Rewatch Value: I don't see myself rewatching this. It made me very frustrated, to the point where I just had to write this even when I've never written a review before. I'd give it a 0 if I could.

Overall, the story certainly didn't age well. There were a lot of problematic things that just ruined the whole experience for me. There were so many things they could have changed for the better without losing the essence of the original but they just went with the same old. I would have given it a lower score but since it's a remake of a beloved story, I'm giving it a 6 for nostalgia's sake.

If anyone is interested for more details (probably with some spoilers) as to what specific things I didn't like, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.

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