Watch it for ML (Chen Zhe Yuan). Light-hearted, goofy, a bit of beauty and the beast vibes.

The plot is Chen Zhe Yuan. Not really but he is phenomenal in this role and the drama is worth the watch for him. If you want to see the most loving, patient, protective, kind, loyal and unconditional loving ML, this drama is for you.

PLOT:
Most of the plot is how the ML tries to win over the FL so he can receive her true love kiss and get his pearl back meanwhile the FL keeps making elaborate schemes and crazy plans to escape from him. The backstory is that ML is the King of a hidden place called the Beast City. Every character in that clan has animal characteristics. ML is searching for the Holy Pearl which will help him regain his powers and continue to protect his clan. While escaping his enemies with the newly obtained Holy Pearl he opens a portal to the FL’s world. He accidentally clashes into FL and she absorbs his Holy Pearl. 5 years later, he finds the FL and kidnaps her. And this is where the first episode really starts.

MAIN CHARACTERS:
- ML is playing two roles. A day (handsome version) of Li Xiong that pretends to be a palace guard and protects the FL and a night (beast version) of Kui Mulang that is the King and FL’s kidnapper. His day version is his real look but his night version is his real identity. His character is loyal, endearing and protective. He is a wolf and only loves one person in his life. For the majority of the episodes the FL believes there are two different people. She first falls for his day version and towards the end of the drama for his night version.
- FL is a Princess from a mortal kingdom. Smart and well-spoken, her background also makes her a quirky character. The prequel tells us that her mother was a man that was transported from the modern times to historical. His soul (as a man) went into her mother’s female body, fell in love with a man and had the FL. So FL has a modern outlook on life, speaks english and uses modern terminology. She definitely brings in the comedy aspect in the drama.


POSITIVE:
- Chen Zhe Yuan - honestly, he is the highlight of the drama, his character is so endearing and loving. I’m repeating myself but he is worth the watch.
- Acting is 10/10 for everyone and especially ML as he fantastically plays two different characters and I’m guilty for falling in love with his beast look more.
- Goofy and very light-hearted drama, it doesn't take itself too seriously and I like that. The humour is done well.
- A bit of beauty and the beast retelling vibes which I love.
- Romance is slow burn, playful and cute.
- 4 side couples (which is the most I’ve ever seen in a cdrama) but they are all really cute and don’t take too much screen time.
- The drama has a happy ending for the main leads and a nice conclusion to the story (almost the whole final episode is the epilogue of them being together).

NEGATIVE:
- FL’s plans to escape are hilarious and the highlight of the drama however there is not much plot beyond that. Her trying to escape takes more than half of the drama which makes it a little draggy.
- The reveal of ML being the same person happens towards the end of the drama so I feel the leads don’t get enough opportunities to spend time together as their true selves. I loved his beast look more and I wished FL had more romantic moments with him.
- Villains are very weak and they add nothing to the story. However their screen time is also very short so they don’t really annoy you.

OVERALL:
Watch it if you want to see more of Chen Zhe Yuan as he is a heart candy and if you need a drama to lift up your spirits after a long and stressful day as it will definitely make you laugh and keep you entertained.

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A hero’s journey through personal growth, love and friendship

Don’t let the first episodes fool you into believing that this is a childish drama. Yes, the drama starts off as goofy and light-hearted but from episode 13 the tone completely changes to serious and mature and it stays that way until the end. The drama is about the male lead who has lived in isolation all his life until he meets the female lead. Together, with their two newfound friends, they go on a journey to find the truth about the male lead’s parents and the mystical sword left to him by his father.

This drama is based on a video game of the same name thus the atmosphere and script feel quite different from the usual wuxia cdramas (in fact I believe it’s xuanhuan genre). All Sword and Fairy dramas are stand alone, they take place in the same world but have different stories.

PLOT:
This is a plot driven drama with some romance on the side. The first 6 episodes are extremely goofy and lighthearted. Until episode 12 the story is at the setting stage, we discover about the world, get introduced to the four main leads and see their adventure side quests with other side characters.

Episode 13 is when the main story begins. The tone is changed from lighthearted to more serious and mature. The main conflict is addressed and we begin to learn the truth of what has happened 19 years ago (which all characters are involved with). The good guys meet the bad guys and the angst begins. Here the drama does a fantastic job showing the characters growth and the many wise life lessons they learn.

MAIN LEADS + ACTING:
The male lead appears dumb at the start but is actually uneducated as he has spent all his life in isolation. Despite that he adapts very quickly and shows us the wisdom he has learned from his father. He is kind-hearted, brave and protective. He has tremendous character growth throughout the drama. The actor Chen Zhe Yuan showed brilliant performance as always. He is the reason I started to watch this and his on screen presence did not disappoint me. The actor has such expressive eyes that all his emotional scenes HIT ME HARD.

The female lead is confident, outspoken, perceptively and brave without being annoying. She appears tough on the outside but is actually soft-hearted. She is quite unique from the typical female leads that I’ve watched. She has fantastic character growth from being morally conflicted and somewhat selfish to becoming the most supportive friend who is the glue of the friendship group. The actress Ju Jing Yi shines brightly like a diamond in this role, her on screen presence is fantastic and her acting radiant.

The second male and female lead are both more reserved and their stories are directly connected to the main leads. The male lead is called an Ice Cube. Despite his cold nature, he has the warmest heart. The actor is fantastic in his performance with micro-expressions and has a strong on screen presence. The female lead is kind but firm.

POSITIVE:
- A fantastic execution of a hero’s journey - from zero to hero.
- Engaging main plot. From episode 13 the plot was executed fantastically and I didn’t find a single episode boring or having the urge to skip parts.
- Villains are usually boring and evil for the purpose of being evil but in this drama the characters were well developed and a delight to watch. Everyone in this drama has a strong purpose and legitimate reason for what they were doing.
- Chen Zhe Yuan and Ju Jing Yi shone bright on screen with their brilliant acting and fabulous character’s growth. Both actors really stood out to me and pulled me into the story. Their performance was wonderful to watch.
- Pacing of the drama was perfect. The mystery and plot was built very well. With each episode the stakes were higher and higher and I could feel the angst towards the approaching end. Until the finale episode, I couldn’t guess what would happen.
- Cute romantic moments.
- Nice visual fight scenes especially towards the end of the drama.
- Great chemistry between the main leads. I was rooting for them from the start. I loved their banter and bickering.
- Many morally grey characters (including the female lead at the start) which I loved to see.
- Fantastic character growth for all important characters.
- Wise life lessons shown.
- Epic adventure vibes.

NEGATIVE:
- The first 12 episodes gave a wrong impression of the drama and were not particularly strong which is a shame as it made a lot of people drop this. There were side stories of side characters that I found boring. The main leads would help side characters and receive a small amount of information which meant it wasn’t a filler but at the same time the actual stories didn’t add any value to the plot. However the guest appearance of these side characters were done by actors that I knew and their acting was really good.
- At the start of the drama there was focus on the romance which made me believe that it would be a huge part of the drama but it wasn’t. In most episodes the romance was completely gone and the plot took the driver’s seat. The hopeless romantic in me needed more romance.
- One sided love stories that I wish weren’t there at all. Not really love triangles but both the second male and female lead fell for the main leads. They didn’t interfere in their relationship and were very respectful so I’ll give them that but I felt it kind of ruined the friendship aspect of the drama. Whenever the main leads would have a romantic moment, the director would always zoom in on the second male and female lead’s unhappy faces which didn’t sit right with me. I wish the focus was more on developing their friendship with each other rather than them falling in love with each other.
- I didn’t like the second female lead most of the time. Her character’s reserved personality was quite boring for me and I found her acting wooden at times especially compared to the rest of the cast. However she did improve towards the end of the drama. Despite what I said, many people loved her character so this is just a personal preference.
- Second male lead stole all romantic moments with the female lead. I honestly didn’t understand why the writers did it this way. But the female lead had so many emotional bonding scenes with the second male lead that were very impactful compared to her scenes with the male lead. I wish the writers focused on writing platonic friendships between them.

OVERALL:
If you are looking for a well executed plot driven drama about a hero’s journey through many trials and emotional growths with morally grey villans + you love Chen Zhe Yuan, give this drama a chance.

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Sweet xianxia with seven beautiful interconnected lives

The drama tells the love story between the God of War and a Fairy and their seven lives together. Due to accidentally entangling each other with a love thread, the main leads are tasked to go through seven love tribulations together in order to repair the male lead's primordial spirit. But with each passing tribulation, secrets of the past begin to surface and a long forgotten truth is finally revealed.

POSITIVE:
- The story has tons and I mean TONS of parallels in between all lives and tribulations that the main leads experience. Everything is woven together to perfection. All the characters have meaningful roles in each tribulation, all little details like a simple hairpin are connected through all tribulations and this is very, very difficult to do so I'm absolutely blown away how it was all put together. And there are NO plot holes.
- I was sceptical at first as seven lives seemed like it might get repetitive and boring but there are not the typical 3 lives xianxia style. All lives are connected but at the same time move the plot forward in a very clever way. Each life is very different, with different settings and length of episodes. Some of the lives only FL remembers her present self, others only ML, and we also have lives where they both remember so it gives a unique experience in each one.
- I absolutely loved, loved, loved ML performance in the drama. He really brought all of his characters to life, when he was happy, I was happy, when he was in pain, I was in pain, when he was crying, I was crying. Even when I felt the script was lacking in certain scenes his brilliant performance really moved me and made up for it. I've only seen his other drama with Lusi and I have to say he has now become one of my favourite actors.
- Beautiful costumes and settings (they are done by the same production team as LBFAD).
- Secondary couple has an interesting plot twist so it's quite unique to watch.
- Happy ending for everyone (well except the bad guys lol).

NEGATIVE:
- Doesn't have that addictive factor where you totally obsess over the drama. Like there was something missing, perhaps the lack of emotional impact I was looking for.
- FL acting is very lacking. I rarely discuss acting but unfortunately this one was very obviously bad in comparison to the brilliant job that the ML actor did. I felt the FL actress was specifically bad in delivering scenes where she was supposed to be scared, distressed and in extreme pain. She was making all the facial expressions, I could see the tears but somehow there was no real emotion behind it especially compared to the ML.
- It has a slow start and the 2nd tribulation (the first human one) is the longest one so it feels very dragged out.
- The ending is quite.. well boring. Lots of unnecessary talks and excessive weird effects (almost like they ran out of budget). Without spoiling it, I feel there is a very interesting plot line relating to the tribulations that's very unique and would have made an epic final however it was brushed off and instead we were given a very typical xianxia ending.
- SML has a very typical "I'm obsessively in love with the FL" syndrome at the beginning but he gets very much redeemed in my eyes. He does get a lot of screen time and very much feels like a main character so that might be positive or negative depending how much you like his character. In general the actor did a great job and I didn't mind his scenes however in certain episodes he got more screen time than the male lead which I didn't like.
- Editing feels choppy and weird at times.
- Effects and CGI in the last episodes are a bit weird.

OVERALL:
The drama is a sweet xianxia with beautiful interconnecting themes and parallels, lots of interesting characters and some character's growth. The main focus is the love story between the leads so it's a nice comfort drama to watch. Great rewatch value because of the mystery and all parallels.

GUIDE:
Read my short episodes guide (with minor spoilers) about the 7 tribulations:
https://mydramalist.com/discussions/the-seventh-generation/110999-all-tribulation-lives-brief-info-with-minor-spoilers

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Choice A or Choice B, live life without regrets

This is not your typical rom-com. The drama’s concept of “what if” is that the female lead is at a crossroad and has to choose between two paths. The drama shows us how these two choices play out at the same time in a parallel sort of way (think the USA movie Sliding Doors). In episode 3, the drama splits in two. Timeline 1, the female lead gets off the bus and stays at her small town with her loving boyfriend. Timeline 2, the female lead stays on the bus and moves to the big city for work. Both timelines are real.

Note, this is a female centric drama so the whole story focuses on Zhong Chu Xi two characters. There are two male leads Liu Xue Yi (small town boyfriend) and Lin Yu Shen (boss in the big city) which I felt shared almost equal screen time.

“Live life without regrets” is the message of the drama that the writers executed perfectly. The best thing about this drama is that it doesn’t sugar coat anything. It shows us the realistic and very human side of life. Relationships are not perfect, they are messy, filled with miscommunication, confusion but also love and warmth. Life is not perfect either and we should cherish the happiness we have, even if sometimes it’s only a little bliss. No choice is wrong or right, we just have to take it all in and navigate through the ups and downs of life.

POSITIVE:
- Realistic story about flawed characters with relatable and real life issues.
- No sugar coating. The drama always keeps it real to make sure we remember that sometimes real life does not work like a cute rom-com.
- Unique plot with deeper meaning about life behind it.
- Real life problems. The drama shows us raw and flawed communication between people that might not be considered healthy but it’s very much authentic to real life.
- Cute romantic scenes.
- No fillers or side stories. Almost all scenes show the main lead’s story (the female lead and her two male leads).
- No cheating. Even though there are two male leads in the story, the female lead doesn’t cheat and there are no love triangles.
- Realistic portrayal of life's highs and lows.
- Blend between daily mundane life in a small time vs a lavishing lifestyle in the big city.
- A mix of very sad and very heartwarming moments.

NEGATIVE:
- Melodrama vibe. The characters were constantly going through many challenges which made the drama very stressful to watch at times.
- Third party vibes. There is no cheating and no love triangles however the female lead does end up dating another man in one of the timelines so for some people that might be difficult to watch.
- Transitions between the two timelines are not always clear and sometimes it takes a few moments to realise we are watching the other timeline. You really have to pay close attention to not confuse the two timelines. It would have been better if the two timelines were more distinguishable, whether with different colours or the female lead’s appearance.
- Female lead being the scapegoat. The writers wanted to create more engaging drama for the viewers but at the cost of their female lead. Unfortunately, a lot of the times I felt all the problems and conflicts steamed from the female lead.
- Happy ending for both timelines however it also felt a bit open. I wish the drama showed us a few years into the future in each of the timelines.

OVERALL:
If you want a melodrama vibe, with a realistic story about flawed characters and the raw portrayal of messy relationships, watch this drama.

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
“We should cherish the happiness we have, even if it’s a little bliss”
“Whatever road you may choose, you may regret. But once you decide, you have to go on. It will end well”

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Stunning cast & visuals BUT horrible script, badly executed plot & editing

This drama is my 2024 Biggest Disappointment. I had high expectations for the first instalment in the Fox Spirit Matchmaker series since it was iQiyi most anticipated high budgeted drama for 2024. As a xianxia lover + hopeless romantic + fan of the cast, I thought for sure this would be an easy 10/10. But unfortunately, this drama felt like I was introduced to the most stunningly beautiful wedding cake, only to be told it’s inedible. I truly feel the drama had the potential to be one of the best xianxias but it was totally ruined by the script writers whose budget must have been 0.99$... oh and don’t get me started on the horrible editing.

The drama is about the female lead who is an ancient fox and Chief of Tushan, a magical land where fox spirits can live freely and humans are not allowed in. Except one human, the male lead, who, as a child, is rescued by her due to his magical blood. 16 years later, an evil fox shows up and tries to destroy Tushan and kill all humans. Also, part of the story is the Grief Tree, a place where humans and spirits can ask for love blessings. The female lead indirectly serves as a matchmaker to the three side couple whose stories are also woven into the plot.

The story that’s off well and is quite enjoyable in the early episodes although I always felt something big was missing. Up until episode 20 it was a decent watch but then the drama created a useless amnesia plot that ruined everything. The last episodes were the worst and the ending kind of made me feel like it was a waste of a watch.

Are all Fox Spirit Matchmaker dramas connected?
The world and characters are interconnected but each drama is a different story. IMPORTANT NOTE: this drama directly spoils the ending for the prequel Love in Pavilion.

THE COUPLES:
✨ Ancient Fox and her Human Disciple (Yang Mi and Gong Jun) main cp / cold woman and warm male vibes. Badly written love story. Read my negative point below.
✨ Carefree Fox and her Cheeky Prince Spirit (Cristy Guo and Miles Wei) second cp / bickering friends vibes / ep 5 love story beings. My favourite ship, I love them dearly however I hated the way they treated the male lead during the amnesia plot. All of their scenes were super adorable but at the same time they didn’t really have much of a love story.
✨ Human Princess and her Spirit Bodyguard (Bambi Zhu and Yang Shi Ze) third cp / Aladdin and Jasmine vibes / ep 7-13 love story. The best side story of them all with great political intrigue. The actor’s chemistry was fantastic. The plot had some much potential to be expanded into a full story.
✨ Human Detective and her Flirty Thousand-Faces Spirit (Sebrina Chen and Mao Zi Jun) forth cp / Beauty and the Beast vibes / ep 21-29 love story. Great chemistry, their love story had a lot of potential but not enough time to be fully explored. I loved the message of inner beauty. The only thing I hated was the massive red flag that guy displayed at their final scene.
✨ Mischievous Tree Spirit and her Dummy-cute Human (Chen Du Ling and Zhang Ling He) fifth couple / Fairytale vibes / ep 30-34 love story. The most hilarious and funny side story. Their screen time was extremely short but the actor’s chemistry made up for it.

POSITIVE:
- Good-looking and well-known cast.
- Stunning costumes.
- Beautiful scenery and a world that looks truly magical and fairy-tale like.
- Awesome side couples/stories. Hands down the best part of the drama is the side couples and their stories. Granted, they had limited screen time but were still impactful. The chemistry between the actors was sizzling and the only reason I kept watching. The stories were woven well into the main plot and it all felt connected
- Badass women. Pretty much all the women in the drama were always high ranked, independent and powerful.
- Male eye candy. All the men in the drama were feast for the eyes. I loved seeing Gong Jun as the male lead, his cheeky and youthful character was different from the unhinged and morally grey roles I had previously seen him in. Miles Wei was very charming, Zhang Ling He was super hilarious and Mao Zi Jun was wonderful to watch.
- Stunning artwork. A bit off topic but worth mentioning that the drama released more than beautiful 10 different art works with all 10 characters.
- Brainless watch. Well, it’s not exactly a positive but some days I was very tired so watching this drama was easy as it didn’t require much brain power.

NEGATIVE:
- Badly written main lead’s story. No proper foundation, no proper development and totally butchered in the second half. I feel the best love stories are those where we follow the leads, meet up for the first time, face challenges and fall in love. But in this case, the main leads have already lived in the same place for 16 years and then the male lead suddenly falls for her. Their love story doesn’t help the controversial fact that she has known him since he was a child. However she did look more like a mentor than mother figure to me. On top of all that, 98% of the time, the female lead was cold and wooden towards him which didn’t allow for any chemistry to be explored. The nail in the coffin was the amnesia plot after ep 20 that was totally useless, stalled any sort of development and in fact ruined the couple completely. In the end, I couldn’t root for the leads at all and in fact felt the male lead deserved better.

- Clown villains. Black Fox is the most one-dimensional villain I’ve ever seen. We are never given a backstory of her motives. She just wants to kill humans. Her only real superpower is boring the audience to death with her dialogue. Her scenes are useless and frankly embarrassing to watch. Her subordinate is just as useless, repeatedly failing to kill the heroes. The only worthy villain is the White Fox who unfortunately the writers never allowed to gain power and be an actual threat. He had a good backstory and unhinged personality to be a compelling villain that could have elevated the plot.

- Repetitive plot. The main plot was an absolute joke of useless and boring repetitions of heroes vs villains, tons of illogical parts and stupid things the characters said and did. Many things were happening but actually nothing significant or impactful ever happened. The worst past was the amnesia plot which lasted for 10 episodes and was beyond useless as literally nothing happened.

- Lackluster fight scenes. No martial arts ever used, just static hands up in the air and colours coming out of them to “fight”. In the rare cases of a weapon being used, the fight scenes end after 2 seconds.

- Horrible editing. All scenes are cut weirdly. This is especially noticeable when the emotional scenes end abruptly as the audience is not given enough time to process what’s happening and connect with the characters. All the key scenes end up anti-climatic. Sometimes, the characters pop up out of nowhere and you do wonder where they came from and what they were doing.

- Surface level relationships. As discussed above, the main love story was badly executed. The rest of the couples also suffered from a lack of build up and their dialogue at times felt forced and/or odd. I could argue that they didn’t have enough screen time for their love stories to be explored. But I do think the issue lies in the fact that the drama spent more time focusing on the useless plot rather than developing the characters, seeing them interact with each other and building the relationships between them. I never felt the characters were real people, I never felt I knew anything about them, who they were, what their dreams and fears were. Everything just lacked depth.

- Wooden female lead. This is my first time seeing the actress so I don’t have much data to go by. At the start of the drama her character was stoic and expressionless which suited her role as a Chief and ancient being however during the whole drama she lacked any sort of personality and portrayal of feelings. She could easily pass for wood in the forest. Towards the end though, when her character was evil, the actress did shine as the writers actually gave her a personality. Overall, I feel her character was badly written but I also wasn’t quite impressed with the actress’ micro-expressions.

- Underwhelming ending. It was boring, cheap, cliche, and lazily written. To satisfy the audience, the writers literally introduced a new random concept in the last 5 minutes of the drama.

OVERALL:
With a heavy heart, I award this drama as my 2024 Biggest Disappointment. A pretty package without any substance inside. iQiyi flopped badly with this one and I feel sad for the cast for being given such a bad script. Granted, it’s not the worst xianxia out there but due to the huge anticipation and money invested, it was a total waste of a production. The potential was definitely there but the execution was horrendous. I suppose, it’s only worth watching if you really love the cast, you are new to cdramas and/or you want a brainless watch after a tiring day. I can only hope the next two instalments don’t follow the same fate as this one.

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Your Inner Beauty Speaks to Me

Face swap. Murder investigations. Blossoming romance. Gothic cinematography. These are the four ingredients that create this stunning drama. The story is about the female lead who has a scar on her face. On her wedding day, a beautiful and obsessed woman swaps her face with the female lead, in order to marry her husband (the male lead). But ends up being killed the same day. With a new face and body, the female lead begins to investigate her death in the sinful city, alongside her husband who doesn’t know her true identity.

It’s important to mention that the first two episodes are unusual as they give all the screen time to the guest actress who portrays the original body of the female lead (scar face). This is a great exposition in establishing the relationship between the main leads and enhancing their love story. However, the drawback is that when the main actress shows up at episode three, it feels a little off and it takes a few episodes to get used to seeing the same character portrayed by someone else. (I discuss more about this below).

The biggest highlight for me is the wonderful writing of the male lead who truly makes us all believe that he falls in love with the female lead’s personality and that no matter what face or body she possesses, he will always choose her and love her unconditionally. I loved seeing their blossoming romance, which was kind of slow burn but more like steadily built up in a realistic and mature way.

What truly surprised me in this drama is the intricate murder investigation cases which felt real, raw and well developed. They had the right amount of mystery and cool twists to keep the audience engaged. They never felt like filler scenes as they always connected to the main conflict of the plot. The fact is that I absolutely loved the cases despite being someone who rarely watches investigation dramas or even likes them.

MAIN CHARACTERS/ACTORS:
- Pan Yue (male lead) is written to perfection. You cannot not fall in love with him. He puts personality above looks. He is a great fighter, great poet and probably great lover (hello kiss scenes). The actor Liu Xue Yi has such a strong on-screen presence, he is smoking hot and totally underrated. His character felt well developed especially in showing how he falls in love with the female lead. Perhaps his only flaw is that he might be too perfect but I ain’t complaining.
- Yang Cai Wei / Shangguan Zhi (female lead) is shown as strong-willed, brave, intelligent with a unique forensic skill. My only issue with the way the character is written is the slight inconsistency of her personality after her face is swapped (I’ll discuss in more detail the negative points below). The main actress Ju Jing Yi was fantastic in her role and especially her acting impressed me massively when she portrayed the villain in the first two episodes. I feel she did really well in playing two distinctly different characters and I was easily convinced of the face swap.

POSITIVE:
- Blossoming romance that’s built well and steadily (like a mature and realistic relationship).
- Devilishly handsome male lead with strong on-screen presence.
- Dark and mysterious murder cases that are well written and show the brutality of humanity.
- Male lead falls in love with the female lead’s personality, not her physical looks.
- Smart female lead with unique forensic skills.
- Hot shirtless scenes (yes I said it).
- Hot kiss scene (one but worth the watch).
- Perfect balance between the romance story and the investigation plot. I never felt one overpowered the other.
- Gothic and sexy cinematography.
- Liu Xue Yi (male lead) brilliant acting in every possible way. The way he speaks, the way he moves, the way he walks. He is simply captivating to watch.
- Ju Jing Yi (female lead) portrays two characters beautifully. Her villainous role, although short, is a total scene stealer.
- Engaging and well executed plot.
- Beautiful OST.
- Great support cast and guest actors that stand out with their acting.
- Nice push and pull dynamic between the leads (at the start).

NEGATIVE:
!!! No drama is without flaws and although there are negative points here, none of them took away from my enjoyment. The main issue I had was how the face swap was handled at the beginning of the drama.

- The drama gives all the screen time in the first two episodes to the guest actress (who portrays the original female lead) which creates an awkward emotional bond with the audience when she is suddenly replaced by the main lead at episode three (after the face swap). In terms of the love story, this is great as it emphasised the male lead’s love for the female lead and clearly showed the audience that he did not fall in love with her because she suddenly had a nice face and body. However I feel the actual female lead JJY suffered since the audience had to get used to seeing the same character as her. What would have made it better is, if they had started the drama with JJY (as the villain) and given her more screen time to establish her as the main lead.
- The actual face swap remained a mystery in the whole drama. It was never explained how it was done. In fact it felt very unrealistic that the characters kept referring to it as a face swap when it is very clear that the two actresses have different body types, weight and skin tone. I feel it would have been better if they had chosen an actress similar to JJY or just called it a body/soul swap.
- Personality switch. The original YCW (main character) is shown as mature, calm and level-headed but after the face swap she oddly becomes extremely carefree as SZ. We are told that the character is trying to pretend to be SZ but even when she is alone, we don’t really see her as the original YCW from the first two episodes. Having said that, in the later episodes and especially when her identity is revealed, her personality does appear very similar to the original YCW. So I do blame the writers for this inconsistency. I believe the reason they made her carefree after the switch was to give us light-hearted scenes (especially with the male lead) which meant they sacrificed logic for cuteness.
- Although the drama wraps up well and resolves the main conflict related to the leads, it still leaves it open for a second season. But we all know chinese dramas rarely do second seasons so I kind of wish the last 10 seconds of the drama were cut.

OVERALL:
This is the Best 2024 Historical drama for me so far. Even better, it’s the best 2024 drama for Youku so far too. It has gathered millions of views with a 10,000 heat index by day three of its release. In fact, it became such a huge success that Youku upgraded it to S+ treatment (promotion and live events). I’m very much impressed by what the production has done with an A level (low budget) drama.

If you are looking for a drama with blossoming romance, murder investigations, beautiful gothic cinematography with smart and skillful main leads + a male lead who falls for the female lead’s personality not her looks, watch this drama now.

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Best 2023 feel good drama. Sweet & innocent romance with singing, travel, food and friendship.

It’s rare to find a drama like this. This drama is perfect if you are struggling with stress and difficulties in life and need something to warm your heart and put a big smile on your face at the end of your day. Every single episode contains an overflow of sugary romance with zero toxicity, no conflicts, no misunderstandings, no stupid love triangles, no angst, no break ups. The romance is so good you will definitely feel like a third wheel while watching.

The drama is about the daily lives of the main leads and their friends and work colleagues. There is no unnecessary drama or side stories that you don’t care about. Male lead is a doctor (but we don’t see much of his job), and a voice actor (which is the main focus of his character), he is also an amazing cook (which he shows us often with amazing recipes) and total green flag boyfriend. Female lead is a university student who composes music in her spare time. They fall in love with each other's voices and personality first instead of their physical looks.

POSITIVE:
- Every episode makes you smile like a teenager in love for the first time.
- Sizzling chemistry between the leads. Their eye contact is enough to ship them instantly.
- Stage performances with singing and acting that are absolutely phenomenal and feel like you are watching a live concert.
- Fantastic travel episodes that feel like an awesome variety show/video blog.
- Many cooking scenes with delicious food.
- Every episode you are immersed in the story, like you are living with the characters and are part of their fun daily lives.
- Teasing, hilarious and supportive group of friends with very natural and organic interactions.
- Unique pairing: introverted male lead with a shy female lead.
- Fluffy romance that is all about innocence and first love.
- Story is about the main leads. There are no unnecessary side plots about side characters that ain’t nobody cares about.
- No stupid drama, no misunderstandings, no breakups, no annoying characters that try to break apart the main leads.
- Second couple is just as adorable and the second male lead and brings in all the comedy.
- Main leads fall in love with each other’s voices first rather than physical appearance.
- 100% green flag male and female lead.

NEGATIVE:
- Diabetes alert. The drama is so sweet you might get a sugar overload.
- Hungry alert. The characters are always cooking or eating food so you must bring snacks in order to survive watching.
P.S. The two points above are obviously jokes. I couldn’t find a single negative thing about this drama!

OST:
The music in this drama deserves special attention as it’s one of the most heartwarming and beautiful I’ve ever heard.

OVERALL:
If you want to see an innocent, fluffy romance and healthy relationships with travel, music, food and adorable friendship groups AND If you need a drama to make you smile and warm your heart after a stressful day, WATCH THIS DRAMA.

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Novel transmigration with cute romance and reverse gender roles

Don’t let the negative comments about the ending stop you from watching this! I really loved everything about this drama except the censored ending. But thankfully we have the secret clip from douyin that wraps up the story (link below).

This drama is about the female lead who is transported from the modern world to a historical novel. In the novel, the Peacock City is run by women and women have the same rights as men. The female lead drops from the sky and is appointed as the Peacock Holy Envoy. The male lead is the Minister of Rites who seemingly befriends her but has secret schemes.

POSITIVE:
- Bad boy with a good heart male lead.
- Cute romance and kiss scenes.
- Great chemistry between the leads.
- Frenemies to lovers trope (push and pull dynamic).
- Mix of political intrigue, investigations and revenge.
- Reverse gender roles.
- Smart and quirky female lead who uses her science knowledge to bypass the plot.
- Mostly light-hearted with great comedy moments + a bit of angst towards the end.
- Similar vibes (not plot) to The Romance of Tiger and Rose.
- Prophetic dreams (I loved that bit).

NEGATIVE:
- Censored ending. However there is a secret clip on douyin that wraps up the story. So the drama is still worth watching. Scroll below for spoilers and link.
- Some small parts lack logic but it’s part of the charm and comedy for me.
- Female lead is a bit of a baby sometimes (not a lot).

OVERALL:
If you want a light-hearted transmigration story with reverse gender roles and cute romance, watch this drama.
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It’s a shame that this got zero promotion. I’m going to guess and say it’s because the male lead had issues with the government and had to leave the industry. So they not only censored the drama by giving us an odd ending but also cut it to appear as a short drama (perhaps short dramas pass easier?). I’m pretty sure this was originally done as a typical full length drama (each episode is 20 minutes, that’s around 20 full episodes if it’s 40 minutes each).

SECRET CLIP:
1. Douyin (provided by @Suzette Ser):
https://www.douyin.com/user/MS4wLjABAAAA8Gft2z08CjrLcEI3BGbNk6CLkePD5pUTxQbD0haYQBF7uU0hiAy4KW651lRC_yAL?modal_id=7360304476701396239
2. Twitter:
https://x.com/Fatum____Tempus/status/1782076978369061012

BONUS: BTS of the modern world scenes
https://x.com/Fatum____Tempus/status/1786669698790367614

ENDING SPOILER:
In the finale episode, the female lead dies and is transported back to the modern world. She reads the novel, the story is now changed and doesn’t include her (which we see that play out on screen). There are ambiguous details to suggest the male lead is aware of the book change. END of drama. NOW, thanks to the secret clip uploaded on douyin, we can see the male lead (sports jacket) is reading the same novel in the modern world. The female lead calls his name and he turns around to face her. So they end up meeting each other in the modern world too.

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Hilarious & chaotic love story of two con-artists

This drama is one of the most hilarious and chaotic rom-coms I’ve seen! It’s truly underrated. The drama is a story within a story. The female lead begins to write her novel and the story is her novel (this was only done to pass censorship). The story is about the female lead who has the power to make any rich man fall in love with her as long as he gazes into her eyes. She is a con-artist, and a good one, until she meets her match, the male lead. He is also a con-artist, a fake rich man. As they try to one up each other (think cat and mouse game) and untangle the mysteries of their past, they end up falling in love.

The drama blends seamlessly the comedy, romance and very light thriller vibes. The chemistry between the leads is fire and their supportive friends/partners in crime are the most endearing! There is no stupid love triangle, no annoying characters, no boring work stuff, no filler scenes. Only tons of romance, cuteness and laughter.

POSITIVE:
- Hot chemistry between the leads.
- Tons of cute romantic scenes.
- Sweet kiss scenes.
- Top notch comedy. Seriously, this is one of the most hilarious modern cdramas I’ve watched!
- Great support cast. A perfect blend of friendship/partners in crime/cute side couples.
- Main leads who are always shamelessly trying to one up each other in the best way possible.
- No love triangles.
- No annoying characters.
- No boring work stuff/ filler scenes.
- Fast paced (never a dull moment).
- Fun bickering scenes balanced with heartwarming moments.
- Tragic past for both main leads which adds more depth to their characters.
- One of the most satisfying and well wrapped up endings!

NEGATIVE:
- There are some scenes where logic has left the room. However, that's what makes this drama so hilarious. The writers are aware of that and they shamelessly say “this drama is ridiculous and crazy, and that’s the point”. Basically, this negative point did not take away from my enjoyment at all!

OVERALL:
If you want a highly entertaining, hilarious and silly rom-com with hot chemistry between the leads and strong friendship bonds, watch this drama!

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Best 2023 Modern Drama. Realistic, non-cliche story, slow burn romance & fantastic cinematography

This drama tells the story of a female lead who is a spoiled princess until her father dies and she loses everything, and a male lead who is a ruthless investor but despite all odds, decides to help her revive her father’s old shoe company. The drama shows the realistic side of life and starting a business, with morally grey and flawed characters who make mistakes but learn from them. Both male and female leads go through a major character development, from a spoiled princess the female lead becomes a hard-working business woman and from a ruthless investor the male lead opens up emotionally and becomes more caring and loving towards others, realising that money and making the most profitable deals is not the most important thing in life.

The drama executed fantastically many important life lessons such as never giving up, no matter how much challenges life throws at you, that money is not everything, about selfless love and sticking to your morals and promises no matter what.

POSITIVE:
- Realistic drama about the struggles of life and starting a new business
- Morally grey characters that feel like real human beings (make mistakes and are not perfect).
- Non-cliche/predictable storylines.
- Hot chemistry between the main leads.
- Platonic relationships between men and women are done well (which is very rare to see in cdramas).
- Breathtaking cinematography - the aesthetics from colours to buildings and people’s wardrobe is on point.
- Exceptionally well done directing - when characters are experiencing internal struggles, it's visually represented very well.
- Stella cast with brilliant acting (especially the female lead).
- Slow burn romance.
- Cute dog scenes.
- Great pacing, engaging plot, no filler episodes or boring parts.
- Business talks are part of the plot and meaningful compared to other dramas that feel more like filler scenes.
- Male and female lead that are both strong willed and determined.
- Happy ending for both couples.

NEGATIVE:
- The first 8-10 episodes of the drama are quite heavy on business talks. If you don’t know anything about business you might find it hard to follow. But the talks are done really well and easy to digest. I especially learned a lot from this drama so it's not a hard negative but personal preference.

OVERALL:
This is one of the best modern cdramas that I’ve watched with fantastic cast, meaningful storyline and beautiful cinematography and OST. If you want to watch a realistic drama that feels like a biography, with an engaging and non-cliche/predictable story about reviving a business and a slow burn romance with characters that are human and real, this drama is for you.

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A beautiful story about a woman’s growth journey of love and life

This drama tells the story of a villainous type female lead who, due to her love obsession, ends up causing the death of her family. Before her seemingly final breath of life, she loses consciousness, only to suddenly wake up two years prior to all events that had happened. Convinced she is living a second life, she decides to do everything in her power to fix her mistakes and change her family’s fate.

The drama is not a love story but about the female lead’s growth journey as she learns valuable lessons about life and love. A strong message about unconditional love is shown in this drama as well as how every person could be good or bad, depending on the perspective. There are three love interests. No kiss scenes however the intense, fire chemistry between the main leads makes up for it.

POSITIVE:
- All characters are morally grey. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes and learns their lessons.
- Well written perspective for each character. At every moment the viewer clearly understands everyone’s motives (good or bad) which makes the drama very human and realistic.
- No predictable, draggy parts or cliche plot lines.
- No love triangles. Even though there are three love interests there is no typical love rivery and cliche jealousy shown.
- Conflicts are resolved quickly. Mystery aspects are done well and the audience learns everything alongside the female lead.
- All characters are well-developed and fleshed out, nobody does stupid things without a reason.
- Fantastic execution of seeing the flashbacks of the female lead’s first life that are parallel to the second life. We clearly get to see how she is acting differently and changing things in the second life.
- Beautiful message about unconditional love at the end of the drama.

NEGATIVE:
- I would have loved it if there were more romantic scenes between the male and female lead.
- Second male lead (who is the husband) does get quite a lot of screen time at the start compared to the male lead which can annoy some people.

LOVE INTERESTS:
- Male lead - a Lord, who secretly loves the female lead.
- Second male lead - female lead’s husband and the man she is obsessed with at the start of the drama.
- Third male lead - an orphan who the female lead helps and later becomes her loyal guard.

OVERALL:
If you are looking for a mature, slow paced, historical drama about a woman’s growth journey related to love, with morally grey characters (no one is just good or bad) and beautiful messages about all types of love (unconditional love, selfless love and self-love), this drama is for you.

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Everyday life of the hubby and wifey who have secret identities

This drama is about the love story between a smart and beautiful woman and a royal, morally grey but secretly softie man. The female lead suffers from amnesia and has a secret identity while the male lead pretends to be her loser husband for his schemes to catch a bandit.

I loved the first half of the drama that focused on the everyday life of the main leads. We could slowly see the male lead from constantly deceiving and manipulating the female lead, to subtly falling madly in love with her. Even though there wasn’t much going on aside from watching the daily interactions, somehow the two joking and teasing each other but also caring and nurturing each other, really warmed my heart. I love that sometimes it felt like a cat a mouse game or Mr. and Mrs. Smith vibes due to the double identity of both leads. To the outside public they are known to be ruthless and cold, while at home they are both cute softballs. The comedy was fantastic, with the male lead being a capable and high ranked leader but having to pretend to be a complete loser in front of his fake wife. A big part of this fantastic dynamic I have to give it to the main actors Zhang Wanyi and Wang Churan who did a fabulous job portraying their roles.

However, the drama felt short for me in the second half where it becomes unnecessary draggy. I felt the political plot was cliche and the main leads not being together took away from my enjoyment of the couple to the point I stopped caring about them. I feel like the charm of the drama was the main leads and their secret identities, which should have continued to be the focal point of the drama instead of the court stuff.

POSITIVE:
- Hot chemistry between the leads.
- Morally grey leads.
- Secret identity (both leads).
- Great comedy and light-hearted scenes. The jokes revolved around the characters and their actions/personality rather than some random jokes. And despite all the laughter, the drama balances well, the maturity of the characters.
- Mystery backstory plot.
- Truman Show vibes in the first half.
- Smart, mature, composed female lead.
- Fake marriage trope that’s written well.
- Business scenes that provided the female lead’s character to shine with her intelligence.

NEGATIVE:
- Second half of the drama was a snooze fest. The amnesia plot in the first half felt well written but once the female lead regains her memories, she feels too much of a different character. Even though I liked her cold-hearted nature, I wanted to see more of her inner thoughts to connect with her more. The drama felt very draggy (ep 24-30) because for many episodes she was cold towards the male lead while he was grovelling and trying to win her back. By the time the main leads got back together, the drama had already lost me and I started skipping lots in order to finish it. From absolutely loving the main leads, in the end I simply didn’t care about them.

OVERALL:
The plot of the drama starts off great and the first half delivers in terms of romance, comedy, character development and everyday hubby/wifey vibes. But the second half being draggy and boring, took away all my enjoyment and care for this drama and characters. So, I don’t really know if I would recommend this. It’s all about personal choice I guess. For me, this drama is very forgettable.

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Romantic, Angsty, Cliche, Nonsensical

I had high hopes for this drama as I absolutely love the main leads but the scriptwriting left much to be desired. This drama is about the love story between a sexy, poisoned Prince seeking revenge and a courageous, beautiful girl caught up in between the chaos. Imagine, a republican era angst but in a historical style, that’s the drama you are getting here. The main leads are the star of the show and the only reason you want to watch more. The plot and writing is bad even for a mini drama and yet this is still an entertaining mindless watch (at least in the first half).

POSITIVE:
- Sexy blindfold scenes and beautiful main leads.
- Morally grey male lead (he appears to be a red flag but is more green flag).
- Feisty female lead.
- Lots of nice kiss scenes, wrist grabs and sensual vibes between the leads (definitely the best part of the drama).
- Angst with lots of tension with over the top dramatic scenes.
- Romantic scenes and aesthetics.
- Enemies to lovers.
- Mystery plot. At the start you have no idea what’s going on which makes it intriguing.
- Second couple stole the show for me as they are better written than the main leads. Their story was short but heartbreaking and realistic for that area.
- Fantastic acting from the main leads Richard Li and He Xuan Lin. Seriously, these two need main roles in full length dramas at this point.

NEGATIVE:
- Cliche. My biggest complaint is that the writers have literally put every cliche ever known to cdrama watches here. There is nothing original and nothing you haven’t seen before. In fact, I suppose you could give them an award for putting the most cliche tropes and situations in one drama (there are literally in every single episode). But actually, it's not even the cliches that are the problem as much as that those cliches were put together in a way that made a lot of the emotional scenes feel very fabricated and the characters not real.
- Nonsensical. I usually don’t care much about logic and especially in short dramas as they have limited time but the world building, fantasy elements and basically the whole plot makes zero sense. You really need to completely turn off your brain for this one.
- Too dramatic. The characters turning into maniacs/psychopaths as a cheap and fast way to create tension and angst.
- Visuals. The main leads and costumes are great but the filter/colouring/lighting sometimes appeared too bright and made them look washed out. I feel in later episodes this gets better.
- Too fast-paced. Yes, short dramas are usually fast paced but here everything looks like it’s shot at 1.5x speed. People coming in and out of frame, people talking etc. The drama needed a breather especially at the start. Although this did improve in the later episodes.
- Second half is a snooze fest. Literally, the ridiculous situations, overused cliches and psychotic characters made me want to drop this but my NDD (Never Drop Disease) made me pull through the end.
- (MINOR SPOILER HERE) Unsatisfying ending of the Emperor. This guy. You will want to burn him, skin him alive and then feed him to the pigs. It’s been a while since I’ve hated a character so much I literally wanted to start throwing furniture in my room while watching his scenes. You will want this disgusting grandpa to suffer. But what happens to him in the end is NOT satisfying.

OVERALL:
If you want to see sexy main leads in a very cliche romantic story with many nonsensical but entertaining parts, oh and lots of nice kiss scenes, watch this drama.

TRIGGER WARNING:
This drama is heavy on abuse so bare that in mind (multiple attempts of r*pe, multiple scenes leading up to actual r*pe shown).

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Beautiful cinematography, very angsty, love-hate relationship

This mini drama is about the female lead who is married off to the enemy’s kingdom as a peace treaty. After three years of hell in the palace, she manages to escape. With tons of injuries, a man uses his medicine skills to heal her, in the process changing her face. Just when she thinks she is safe and sound, her husband (the male lead) shows up and thus their cat and mouse game begins.

POSITIVE:
- 100% angst vibes.
- Love-hate relationship.
- Face swap trope.
- Villain/morally grey male lead (basically a total red flag).
- Beautiful cinematography.
- Cat and mouse game between the leads.
- Soft, beautiful and strong-willed female lead.
- Selfless second male lead.

NEGATIVE:
- Very dark vibes, definitely not for the faint hearted.
- Not much soft and sweet romance.
- Male lead who is perhaps too dark which makes it harder to ship him with the female lead.

OVERALL:
If you are looking for a very angsty, love-hate relationship with a morally grey male lead and beautiful cinematography, watch this drama.

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Flat romance, lacklustre politics & ML reduced to side accessory

I usually start my reviews explaining what the drama is about but this one is misleading as hell. You think you get a second chance romance where the main leads rebirth from their late 30s back to 18, work on repairing their broken relationship and the corrupt court. But the story revolves around the past history and family rivalry between the female lead and the second male lead. If you are a fan of Zhang Linghe or like your male leads to be more than a love puppy support role, you will be massively disappointed with this drama.

Even though I very much enjoyed the first 12 episodes, the drama totally lost me afterwards. I was only able to finish it for ZLH, and also because of my NDD + FOMO.

The female lead in terms of her interpersonal relationships is a bully at first and emotionally insensitive to others. Although a smart cookie, confident and authority at court, in matters of the heart, she spends half the drama confused about her feelings. The second male lead has many romantic scenes with the female lead, and the focus is on his tragic first life. The director creates scenarios to make you want to sympathise with him but it all falls short and in fact annoys the audience even more. The male lead’s sole purpose in the drama is to be a love puppy and nothing more.

If the story was actually about the female lead and second male lead, I would have liked it. You have a love-hate relationship, power or love dynamic, family or love themes. I see the potential. But the writers did ZLH dirty by making him a lovesick puppy with no purpose in the plot. The poster of this drama is totally misleading and they should have put the second male lead in there (no hate to the actor, he is super cute) instead of ZLH.

POSITIVE:
- Zhang Linghe (ML). He is hands down the best part of this drama. I loved him in every scene, all his line deliveries were wonderful, he was great at comedy too. His character is a sweet, green flag cutie pie and the actor brings in the sexy factor too.
- Confident and authoritative female lead in terms of court/politics scenes.
- Lighthearted for the most part.
- Flashbacks from previous life are woven well into the story.
- Good comedy for the most part.
- Male lead’s jealousy scenes were 10/10. He cracked me up every time.
- Great acting from the main leads Zhang Linghe and Zhao Jin Mai.

NEGATIVE:
- Second male lead is actually the male lead. First half of the drama he has many romantic moments with the female lead (and even a special OST), and in the second half his story completely takes over the screen time. Giving him screen time is not as much of an issue as the way he was written and portrayed which drove many viewers into angry fits. He became an unwatchable character to the point that a lot of people were skipping his scenes. If the writers wanted to create a tragic villain, they failed.

- Male lead is just a side accessory and has no story arc. His emotional world is never explored. In all the major political plot points, he doesn’t contribute much to anything. His sole purpose is to be a love interest for the female lead. In fact, the female lead treats him badly many times but he still stays madly devoted to her. His mad devotion is never properly explained either which makes his character feel very one dimensional.

- Flat romance. The foundation of the romance is written poorly which didn’t allow me to connect with the couple. The reason their marriage failed in the first life is due to a somewhat silly misunderstanding. Even if I can find reasons why it makes sense, my biggest issue is that in episode 11 the male lead suddenly confesses that he has always loved her. But we aren’t shown why, how or when he fell for her. Aside from 2 second flashbacks where they glance at each other lovingly, we have no substance for this confession. It’s just a fact we are supposed to blindly accept. Throughout the drama he is blindly devoted to her and the writers failed to show me why. So even though the main leads looked good together, even though ZLH delivered beautiful romantic lines, I felt nothing for the couple. On top of that, their one steamy bath scene was abruptly cut, leaving the audience very unsatisfied.

- Love triangle. Usually in cdramas the female lead only has eyes for the male lead so love triangles are not really triangles for me and don’t bother me. But in this case, the female lead has actual confusing feelings for both men and is pondering for many episodes which one to choose. The worst part is that, even at episode 30 the director shows us romantic shots with her and the second male lead. In fact, they even have telepathy scenes where they stare at each other and speak the dialogue in their minds. Total soulmates right. Well, this love triangle could have worked if it was written right. But the fact is that pretty much everyone hated the second male lead and absolutely nobody was rooting for him to get the girl.

- Lacklustre politics. Nothing new I haven’t seen before, very simple and boring at times. In fact, the first life's story has more angst and is definitely a more exciting story to tell than the second life (which is the main plot of the drama).

- No logic. The male lead is the hottest piece of cake walking in and outside the court and the writers tell me that nobody wants a piece of that? (not even his wife for the most part?) #plothole (Ok it’s more of a joke but you know it’s true. It would have been a bit more realistic if he had at least one girl pining over him).

OVERALL:
Even though I didn’t have extremely high expectations I found myself very disappointed and misled by this drama. It’s one thing to highlight a second male lead and deepen the story but it’s unacceptable to reduce the male lead to nothing when he is one of the reasons many people have tuned in to watch. But even without the male lead issue, I found the plot of this drama very forgettable and boring. Nothing much stands out. Considering this is a S++ production (one of Youku’s highest budgeted dramas), this is a fail for me and one of my 2024 biggest disappointments.

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