I like it I think

The story was really cute for me, and what kept me watching.
I don't know if it's because I absolutely place Love O2O and Eternal Love in my top 5 dramas that I struggled with Yang Yang and Dilabra so much as the leads.

The Issues:
Yang Yang 's character is too similar to the Love O2O character (some of the lines even feel the same as from Love O2O).
Dilabra also seems to have a lot of similarities in how she played Bai Fengjiu in Eternal Love temperament-wise.

What I liked:
The chemistry between Yang Yang and Dilabra allowed me to snap back into the show when I was pulled out by similarities to other shows. How the love story progressed was sweet and heartwarming. I laughed, cried, and cheered through out.

This is one I'll certainly rewatch but will make sure to do it with more time after a rewatch of Love O2O and Eternal Love which I had rewatched within a month of the first time watching this Drama.

Read More

Everything must have it's place

I honestly loved the story, acting, and twists and turns in this show. The BTS on this were even more fun to watch. The 'Husband' is so wholesome in real life, and as much as the show makes you hate him, watching his interviews and the BTS of the show makes him much like Tom Felton for Harry Potter fans. They hate him as Malfoy but love him as a person.

Kang Ji Won with stage 4 cancer, and a best friend who can't live without her is dying. Her deadbeat of a husband isn't paying her medical, so she heads home, only to find her husband and best friend in bed, planning on how to spend the insurance money once she's dead.
She confronts them and, in the process, falls on a glass table, leading to her death. When she wakes up, it's 10 years earlier, and she has a second chance to forego all the bad. Her first lesson: What happened before still must happen. Her goal: Make her "Best Friend" marry her once-husband (who is currently her fiance/boyfriend? Honestly, I had trouble keeping this straight as she broke it off a few times at the start). Can she escape her fate of marrying a deadbeat cheater and find the happiness she deserves?

Yoo Ji Hyeok, her Chief Manager at work, starts to notice her, and their feelings grow. He starts to help her with her goals. He, too, has a secret.

I absolutely loved Kang Ji Won and Yoo Ji Hyeok together, and their chemistry was off the charts. His unwavering support of whatever she needed was heartbreaking to watch as he struggled with her plans, but it was heartwarming to know he trusted her reasons.

I fully recommend this as a watch albeit for older teens and adults, and not children.

Read More

I have mixed feelings on this one

So I have a lot of mixed feelings about this drama.

Yes, it's cliche, but what drama isn't nowadays?

The MFL and MML are cute together when they can actually communicate, but the age gap doesn't scale in the back story.
This leads to way too many plot holes overall.
The MML is awful at best, and abusive at worst. He doesn't communicate, and his double standards for what is okay for him but not the MFL pissed me off.
The MFL and MML are both so oblivious to what is going on around them and others' feelings that it's painful to watch. They constantly hurt others with their blatant obliviousness.
The MFL at least attempts to communicate, but lets her feelings get in the way of actual communication.
The MML's female assistant (love rival) is a total witch. I was upset that she didn't get a comeuppance at the end for all her bad deeds. She is a first-class witch. She played her part well but at some point, it became too much.
The MFL's assistant, I mean the puppy dog following her with big heart eyes, is a much better choice for the MFL. The MFL deserves so much better than the MML.
The Secondary couple was actually my favorite part of the show and they got way too little screen time.

Read More

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Like a puzzle or a rich tapestry, the individual pieces may not be exquisite when viewed individually. Put together, they create a stunning picture. General and I is one of these masterpieces where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Yes, it has flaws. Angelababy's acting, especially the opposite of Sun Yizhou's, is lackluster, and a dead fish could emit more EQ or facial expressions than Angelababy. When paired with Wallace Chung, she can shine like the luminous jade hairpin she wears. The production quality suffered for the CGI budget (which was mediocre at best). The story left something to be desired (especially when it comes to the female cast being suicidal or depressed over misunderstandings or that falling in love with someone you grew up with was the primary way to fall in love in this world). Weave all these imperfect pieces together, and the whole became greater than the sum of its parts.

Wallace Chung (Chu Beijie) shines in every scene he is in. The other actors around him become the scenery to complement him. His ability to shine the spotlight on the other actor or actress when needed makes him one of the acting gods of Chinese filmography.

The Story between Bai Pingting and He Xia at the beginning felt flat. He Xia's feelings for her felt insincere and fleeting at best. His refusal to let go of the past, accept change he doesn't like, and disregard for the feelings of others makes him a perfect villain to Chu Beijie. Add to that Bai Pingting's self-doubt and Beijie's willingness to accept blame for any event that goes wrong, and you have two people who love each other deeply but spend too much of the show separated.

The plots within plots within plots and one-sided love interest stories add to the misunderstandings between the two. The plot arc between Shisan (Thirteenth Lady) and Beijie/PingTing felt unnecessary, especially given that Beijie was more than upfront with her on many occasions, letting her know that she had no chance to weasel her way into his heart and that he would only ever see her as a colleague and friend. Her selfishness cost him several episodes of extra estrangement from the person he loved, and while she eventually rights her wrongs, the story arc could have been that of friendship, not only with Beijie but with PingTing as well. It would have made her actions in episode 61 more meaningful to the story.

Read More