Drama Watchlist of 2024

What I liked: Very heartwarming. Coming from Till the End of the Moon, I needed a light romance with comedy to lift my spirits and LIS did exactly that. I loved the chemistry between the leads and their journey to becoming a couple. 

What I disliked: While I do love when dramas have a good number of episodes, LIS didn't need 36. While I've seen draggy-er dramas, I feel like this one could've easily been wrapped up in 25 episodes or atleast at episode 30 where all of the main conflict is resolved for the most part. 

Recommend?: ✅

What I liked: Growth of the FL in terms of prowess, maturity and chemistry with the ML. 

What I disliked: The villains. Too obvious, not fleshed out or gone too soon and then brought back for an unnecessary "shock" factor, which makes me wonder if they were even needed at all.  The story is also very predictable and some characters that were meant to be important were not fully developed or rushed to complete the story.  Those last few episodes as well.. were a piece of work. 

Recommend: ❌

What I liked: The shining light of this show was the family aspect. I loved quanquan and what he brought to the story. 

What I disliked: The insane amount of miscommunication and draggyness of the plot. I didn't love the FL, I wanted her to grow in maturity and it felt like majority of the time I couldn't agree with her actions. Once the main drama was resolved, it felt like more obstacles were being thrown in to prolong the story where it wasn't necessary. 

Recommend: ❌

What I liked: AJTY is very purposeful in what is shown to viewers episode by episode. I enjoyed unraveling the mysteries behind character's actions before they were revealed and I loved that there were moments in the show that I couldn't have imagined or guessed would happen. 

AJTY also portrays chemistry very well between the FL & ML. The characters in this show feel fleshed out and well written. I like the challenging aspect that I felt when trying to dechiper if some characters (i.e. Shangguan and Shang Jue) were playing a game/not following for each other or if they were truly moved by each others actions despite the fact that Shangguan has a mission and Shang Jue is skeptical of those around him.  

AJTY made me think in more ways than one and I can appreciate unique storytelling when I see it. 

What I disliked: Gong Zi Shang. I feel like this character was meant to be the comedic relief of the show but it's very exaggerated comedic relief that I seldom found entertaining. I think I could've dealt away from this and instead kept the shows focus on developing pivotal characters, relationships and the history behind Wufeng and the Gong Family.

The pacing was extremely slow. 

The ending. End the show at 42:27 to avoid cliffhangers. 

Recommend: ✅

What I Liked: I loved the female empowerment. The three female lleads stuck with each other and even when their sisterhood was challenged, they always found their way back to each other.  I found myself in awe of Pan'er's confidence, bravery and intelligence as she navigated through the series as a proud businesswoman of the Song era. 

The cinemetography was also absolutely beautiful. 

What I disliked: The plot is slow which I expected but there is immense dragging in the middle of the story that I didn't love. 

Recommend: ✅

What I liked: The show brought me the feels in every way possible. I didn’t think I’d be interested in the world of billiards but it was exciting watching Yin Guo competitive fire when playing in the sport and Lin Yiyang reignite his spark and love in the sport through Yin Guo. As we watch Yin Guo and Yiyang get to know each other over the course of episodes, I found the romance to be adorable. I felt so much chemistry watching these two together and the pairing felt natural.

In the later half of the series, I liked seeing Yiyang finally face his past and reunite with his friends — i felt emotional as the character was able to overcome that sense of pride to progress in his maturity.

There are zero love rivals (that had a serious chance) or annoying side characters that disrupt the flow of the show.  

The cinematography + location was beautiful and added a different layer to the story.

What I disliked: The pacing is quite faster than i expected with getting the leads together. Usually I’m happy to avoid a slowburn romance but given that the show is 30 episodes, it does feel like the story/plot was not enough to keep up for the faster paced romance. By this, i mean that while I was interested in Yiyang’s past and the romance, the show in between revealing this felt very slow and a less engaging watch.

This drama features an attraction at first sight and feelings progress rather quickly between the two as discussed above. Even as I completed this drama, I still wonder what attracted him to Yin Guo (before even speaking to her he was insta attracted) out of all women in the show. 

At the end of it all, I would recommend watching for the performance of our leads when portraying an adorable first love romance (to my knowledge it was their first times being swayed by someone) and the initial growth to our ML as he finds his passion again.

Recommend:✅

What I liked: Chemistry between the leads, bold, strong and intelligent female lead. There was also a really beautiful + satisfying end to the story. 

What I disliked: Horribly written characters -- especially the King! The king is insufferable, the main villain/second male lead is tedious and the conflict between the main couple is frequent and unrelenting. The villains and the conflict in the story do not show us anything we haven't seen before and it's repetitive throughout the story. 

There are many episodes (that should’ve been downsized) where the ML has so much intelligence and prowess and yet we still have the airhead king, the ML’s scheming brothers, the second female lead and second male lead that he continuously falls victim to. Not to mention the endless amount of conflict and bickering between the leads for small reasons. 

There would be moments where one episode would be “let’s forget who we are and have a great day” and the next episode problems will continue to make a breakthrough. 

Recommend: Undecided. If you're used to endless amount of tropes, nonsense and repetitive conflicts -- you may be able to sit through this and still enjoy the gem of romance we were allowed to see. This was a hard watch for me and I wish the conflicts, villains and story showed me something different. The saving grace was the acting of our leads and the romance/chemistry they shared telling the story.