An Interesting Variety Show with a New Concept

This is a very interesting variety show where six pairs write their own love script. I'm describing their stories first then the cps.

Ranking them on the basis of my liking:

如果爱情有味道 (If Romance Had Taste): This story by Wang Yanlin and Li Yitong is the best among the three, the only one having no science-fiction elements. Their romance is the most believable, as they have known each other and are friends for years, and Yanlin and Yitong's characters always liked each other. And no over-the-top, cheesy characters and dialogues!! And that scene when Yanlin+Yitong dance to All Izz Well in Indian dresses in the drama lol (Yitong jiejie looks gorgeous)XD XD but as someone who understands what the song was trying to say (which means, in simple words, letting go of all the unnecessary pressures in life), I don't think this suited the theme, but it's alright as they don't understand the language. Overall, this story is the most realistic and down-to-earth, and it's a lot about life.

我一定记得你 (I Should Remember You): This story by Neo and Chaoyue revolves around campus romance and memory erasing. So far, it's good. I heard one person say that their story is pretty "meh", but I don't think so. This is an interesting story, because of the memory-erasing, campus, and cohabitation concept, although it's sci-fi. And ofc Neo and Chaoyue have great chemistry. They make me smile whenever I watch them :) And I liked that in this, no character was perfect, which shows that the characters were human, and not fairytale-like, and there was a twist in the second-last episode (not spoiling any further). This drama was also realistic if we exclude the memory-erasing concept.


你是我时光的秘密 (You Are the Secret of My Time): This story by Jasper and Qin Lan is ok. But that time travel concept is...
I wish they would have thought about something other than time travel, as there are many more concepts that are much better. And some of their dialogues also sound a bit cheesy to me (my personal opinion), although they have good chemistry, but not as great compared to the other two cps. And Ming Dao's (he's the host of the show, as well as the guest in two episodes) character looked over-the-top (I don't think arrogant men speak like that in real life!). And the romance was too quick, as in, the characters don't know each other THAT well and yet they still fall in love. They enjoyed the chase (there was a chase scene here), which is weird because usually, someone panics when they are chased by big men. It would have been better if the chase scene was like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (if you have watched the film, then you would understand what I'm trying to say) but shorter. And there was one episode showing Qin Lan as a damsel in distress (which is disappointing as she did characters like Mo Xiangwan from We Are All Alone and Shen Ruoxin from The Rational Life, who are strong, independent female leads). Episode 7 of their drama is the best for me, it had a lot of funny scenes, but otherwise meh, as most parts were confusing. I wish this was a May-December or office romance. Both of them have the maturity to do dramas of those themes.

Ranking Couples:
My favorite is Neo+Chaoyue!!!
Their chemistry stands out the most. Their interactions are the least staged, interesting and entertaining, as seeing their trademark bickering and love/hate relationship put me to splits XD. They're like Tom and Jerry; they bicker a lot and yet they have each other's backs. I started liking Chaoyue because of this. First got to know her because of Dylan Wang (she played a character in Ever Night 2. Those who watched it would recognize her as Haotian, the other-self of Sangsang, and seeing her offscreen persona in this show won't make you believe that she was the same actress who played the stone-faced goddess in EN2!), but didn't really follow her till I watched this show. As for Neo, I never actually knew him till I watched this show. But he's not that much experienced with reality shows, so initially, he appears more reserved yet straightforward, while Chaoyue is more chatty and spunky. As the series progress, we see how they compromise, as well as how Neo starts opening up even more. I liked them the most in episode 5, where they were composing their OST 平行轨迹/Paralell Tracks (Neo+Chaoyue wrote the lyrics, and Neo was the music composed of this song) for their drama, and that Neo helped Chaoyue improve her vocals, as she was struggling. (Neo graduated from a music school, and he's a very talented singer). That part was the best. This is why the majority of the viewers loved the Neo+Chaoyue tandem.

Second favorite: Yitong+Yanlin
They give BFF vibes, and their conversations on love and life are very interesting and meaningful. You'll get engaged in their conversations. Also, Yanlin is genuinely funny. So even they are fun to watch. Their interactions are as natural as the Neo+Chaoyue tandem except they don't bicker in general. I like that they have each other's backs, and they have good teamwork and knowledge about life and love, as they're older (and this is obvious for WYL as he is married now, and his current wife, Ai Jiani was his longtime girlfriend back then. So of course he knows a lot about love and romance. Can't ship Yitong+Yanlin because of this reason though), which is why they made the best story out of the three. In short, they are the wisest among the 3 couples. Looks like I should check out their works!

Least favorite: Jasper+Lan
And guys! Please don't hate me for that! They have good chemistry, friendship, and teamwork, but for me, their interactions seemed the most unbelievable and unrealistic, like all that constant hugging, acting romantic and all. But I don't blame them. It can be a possibility that the producers are making them act like that so that the show could sell or something? Their BTS interactions (as in when they were filming their drama) were more natural tbh. They only got interesting when Ying Cai'er visited them, or when Jasper video-called Yanlin. *Spoiler alert!* In episode 7, they acted all romantic, when Qin Lan surprised Jasper by coming to Xiamen to visit him, Jasper fed soup to Qin Lan after feeling "touched" that she made such delicious soup for him, and then watching the sunrise when Qin Lan clung to Jasper and put her head on his shoulder, which is pretty funny as they aren't an actual couple! Also, in their farewell part, as they parted ways, Jasper ran to hug her tight after Qin Lan asked him to hug her through her walkie-talkie Jasper gifted her in the last episode. It looked unbelievable and scripted. It would have been better if they acted like buddies/siblings, because all these kinds of interactions may give false hope to the viewers.

So that's it! That's my perception of this show, the stories, and the CPs. If you agree/disagree with me, then please feel free to express it in the comment section (just be nice). To someone who reads this, thanks for sitting through this LONG review XD.

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Extreme Amount of Slapstick and Dumbness Go Hand in Hand

Congrats My Ex! is a Thai comedy film starring Bella Ranee, Bright Vachirawit, Mahir Pandhi and Anahita Bhooshan in lead roles. It is about Risa, a wedding planner who has to plan an extravagant wedding of Arun, her Indian ex-boyfriend, to his fiancée Monica and accommodate their extremely large respective families, all for the money. To make things worse, she has to hire her jack-of-all-trades younger ex Tim to be their wedding photographer under certain circumstances, leading to chaotic and comical events.

The start of it was a chaotic mess, but in a good way. I enjoyed the first half of it a lot, especially when Risa’s friends embarrass her with the story of her and Arun’s past, which they did it in a musical, that was enjoyable since I am a music person, and when Risa went to meet Tim, while he was doing a magic show and the chase sequence followed by them arguing was hilarious. The other things I liked about it was that the depiction of Indian wedding was a lot on point, and Coolforthesummer already mentioned it so I’d suggest you read their review first for better insight, but I also liked the Sangeet the mot, because I loved how “Bollywood” it was and that all of the four actors mentioned danced to a Hindi song. I also liked the chemistry between Bright and Bella, much more than that of Bella and Mahir. I liked it when they were in conflict because it was the most fun out of the movie (plus when Tim couldn’t swim in shallow water, it had me in splits). I somehow find it refreshing that they incorporate a lot of Bollywoodness in another movie though I’m not the biggest fan of Bollywood musicals. In short, the depiction of Indo-Thai culture was nice, because a lot of it didn’t feel real, and I’ll get to that. The settings and location was very pretty, as well as the costumes (I can’t stop gushing over how good Bright and Bella look in Indian cloths in the Sangeet part).

This is my first-time seeing Bella Ranee’s work, and she did well in her job. She and Bright made me laugh. Mahir Pandhi was decent, though I didn’t like his character at all, and his line delivery seemed forced. Anahita Bhooshan was actually good.

Now to what I disliked about this movie. The second half of it got on my nerves, and I only endured it for Bright, not only because I like him, but also his character is the most tolerable out of all the characters on this movie. I hated how the part that Monica knew that Risa was Arun’s ex and that Arun is still in love with her was dealt with, and when Arun was about to have a moment with Risa in the climax, and I really felt sorry for Monica at that time. They could’ve kept the basic plot with Arun being open about Risa being his ex and having conflicts about it prior going to Thailand to get married. Or if this was dealt with better.

Risa also annoyed me to an extent. This character lacks maturity as a full-grown woman. However, out of all the characters, Arun annoyed me the most. God, whenever I see him confused/still in love with Risa, I was like, “Indian men, Indian men”, yeah!! Like please make a clear decision, and also what’s there to hide about the fact that Risa was his ex to his fiancée? Why did you even choose to marry her and at the same time have a moment with Risa, a day before the wedding? This is beyond my comprehension, and I actually felt sorry for Monica in the end. But it was dealt with poorly, when Monica chose to marry him anyways! They wouldn’t even last a month of divorce was seen on a more positive light and if anyone stopped caring about “log kya kahenge?” (What will people say?). Another thing I want to point out is that when Arun’s dad had a heart attack, why did Tim do the CPR himself instead of calling the ambulance?

The English dialogues made me cringe. It was written in a really cheesy way that no one would be convinced by that kind of speech, especially Arun’s monologues and all! And also, it makes sense for young generation urban Indians to speak English to each other but I didn’t understand why the older generation Indian characters in this movie spoke English? As an Indian myself, I observed that older-generation Indians would speak to each other in Hindi, unless if they’re from different states or so. But in this movie, all of them are families, and even Arun’s parents are speaking to each other in English in private. That robs the authenticity of the portrayal of a different culture. Although the Hindu/Indian culture was depicted well, I wish a native Hindi-speaking scriptwriter wrote the dialogues spoken by the Indian characters, because the characters seem to come from North India if I’m not mistaken.

Overall, it was a fun watch, with a lot comedy and all, but the story was really dumb in the end, though I’m glad Risa and Tim actually got together in the end because Bella and Bright indeed have chemistry. But it got straight-up dumb in the end combined with slapstick comedy. It isn’t completely unwatchable, but the only way to watch and tolerate this movie is 1. Turn off your brain and enjoy the ride and 2. Only focus on Bright.

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Promising Start Meets a Messy End

(Before I write this review, I just want to give a disclaimer saying that I'm obsessed with this show despite the title, and I like MileApo both as a pair and as individuals. This is my first BL and first Thai drama overall, so I'm not very familiar with the tropes.

Directors: Khom Kongkiat Khomsiri, Pepzi Banchorn Vorasataree and Pond Krisda Witthayakhajorndet

Cast (as mentioned):
Mile Phakphum Romsaitong; Kinn Theerapanyakul
Apo Nattawin Wattanagitiphat; “Porsche” Pachara Kittasawasd
Bible Wichapas Sumettikul; Vegas Theerapanyakul
Build Jakapan Puttha; Pete
Jeff Satur; Kim Theerapanyakul
Barcode Tinnasit Isarapongporn; “Chay” Porchay Kittasawasd
Tong Thanayut Thakoonauttaya; Tankhun Theerapanyakul
Bas Asavapatr Ponpiboon; Arm
Job Yosatorn Konglikit; Pol
Notd Nutthasid Panyangarm; Big
Perth Nakhun Sreaigh; Ken
Kob Songsit Rungnopakunsi; Korn Theerapanyakul (Kinn, Tankhun and Kim’s dad)
Ex Piya Vimuktayon; Kan Theerapanyakul (Vegas’s Dad)



I got to know this drama through a classmate of mine, and on a vacation I randomly checked it out and saw videos of it on YouTube, Shorts and fan edits of them, and I fell in love with Mile Phakphum and Apo Nattawin's amazing chemistry there. However, another classmate warned me by saying that this show is "horrible" and told me not to watch it; hence, I changed my plan to watch 2gether first, then KinnPorsche.

However, I was way too curious about this drama, and I kept seeing spoilers all the time, all thanks to the YouTube algorithm; hence, I decided to just watch it. Even though "Messy End" is part of the title, I'll say without regret that I enjoyed this drama a lot, but that doesn't mean that I won't point out things I didn't like about it.

Before commenting on the strong acting here, this review will be incomplete without mentioning the amazing cinematography. Almost every scene is beautiful, and I would feel tempted to screenshot every scene if I didn't watch it pirated. I know that the team worked very hard here, but still, I'll have to pay iQIYI for watching it, which I couldn't do. Dailymotion still saved me. This drama is definitely expensive! I loved the production here, from the locations to the cars (yep, a bit of an emphasis here) to the costumes, everything is on point! There is definitely symbolism in every outfit the characters wear, but for this, you need to see an interesting Tumblr post on it because I'm not an expert in fashion nor am I interested in it. I just mentioned it after seeing that post, which I will link after this review.

The performances exhibited by the actors, especially Mile, Apo, and Bible, were commendable. My praise goes to these three actors for putting their all into their performances. Mile and Bible, as first-time actors, portrayed such complicated characters to near-perfection, and it didn't even seem that it was their debut. Mile nailed it as Kinn, having the right amount of charisma and acting prowess in his cold, confident, and badass persona and also being equally convincing as a romantic softie with the same kind of prowess (I have to admit that soft Kinn hits different).

Bible really made me hate Vegas at the start, but I gradually grew to like him. He also shows a good range in his performance, from being a cunning, sadistic, and manipulative bastard to showing more of his caring and a more complex side as someone who experienced parental abuse and is always wanting to make his father proud of him. I heard that in the book Vegas was 10x worse and this was a more "healthier" version, but still, I wish he was a bit more humanised. (Although I think that Vegas isn't the best-written character.)

Apo showed that his previous acting experience did not go to waste, and he does an excellent job acting with his eyes. His transition from being a jovial bartender to a serious and confident person in the end is commendable. He shined in episode 5, expressing confusion, vulnerability and frustration to near-perfection, and it was totally worth it for someone who is allegedly the most experienced out of the cast. Apo was very good at doing action scenes, since his prior training in martial arts came in handy.

Build performed very well as Pete, from an adorable bodyguard to having a more darker side shown to him; however, he wasn't as good with the intimate scenes and doesn't have so much sexual chemistry with Bible, but more emotional (someone on Reddit said that, and I agree with it). He is better at doing comedic scenes and excels at showing a lot of vulnerability.

Kob was understated as Korn Theerapanyakul, a cunning and manipulative mafia boss who, in my interpretation, sees Kinn as a pawn in the game. Ex as Kan Theerapanyakul was okay; it just didn't have so much impact (I really despised Kan till the end, though).

Bas and Job as Arm and Pol, respectively, bring comic relief; Nodt performed well as Big; Perth as Ken didn't make much of an impact.

But the one who stole the show is Tong Thanayut as Tankhun! He was amazing and memorable throughout the series. This actor provides the most comedic relief with a lot of sass. He makes me laugh and smile whenever he is on screen! From his “grief” and anger at the deaths of his fishes Elizabeth and Sebastian, his excitement when Kinn confesses his love for Porsche, everything, I really enjoyed seeing him and Tong acted amazingly in it.

Jeff Satur's character Kim was an interesting one, but he didn't make much of an impression on screen. This is my first time seeing Jeff act, so I don't know how he is as an actor, but I see him more as a musician than an actor.

Barcode was adorable as Porchay (Chay) in the first half of the series. He charmed me with the innocence of his character and his heartbreak as well (that's where it went downhill, according to me).

I watched it for these three characters: Kinn, Porsche, and Tankhun! I love these three, especially seeing Mile and Apo sizzle on screen, and they have a really versatile chemistry (warning: obvious biases because I love them a lot). People may emphasise their NC scenes, but they also need to see that they shine in their action, comedic, romantic, and cute scenes as well. From episode 6 onward, I started loving them even more! Because Kinn wasn't the cold mafia boss everyone sees, he showed his childlike innocence there, especially when both of them were constantly arguing. And I live for their date in episode 8! (No word pun intended.)

I'd see all of their scenes repeatedly and never get bored of them. I also love how Kinn is willing to take responsibility for what he did wrong to Porsche, as shown in the climax of episode 6, where he said sorry to him for "that night" (episode 4), where Kinn technically raped him since Porsche was drugged and wasn't fully consenting to it, as well as telling Porsche that he is willing to erase all the things he did him wrong, as well as letting him go so that Porsche could fulfill his dream of having his own bar and to go back to his brother (till circumstances brought them back). He constantly apologised to Porsche in episode 12, where Porsche got to know how he actually got hired, even going out to his house to live with him. At the end of episode 7, Kinn genuinely felt guilty for calling Porsche a whore, and before he went further, there was a gesture in which Kinn nodded his head to Porsche, hence asking his consent before going further (source: Reddit/Tumblr, and I watched this scene many times.) This proves that his apology in episode 6 wasn't empty; he actually learned a lesson from what he did to Porsche in episode 4, and he was honest in saying that he would erase whatever he did wrong to him. That "small" gesture proves that. I also love that Kinn is willing to wholeheartedly trust Porsche and shed his persona, since his ex Tawan (god I hated him!) betrayed him.

Also, Porsche was obviously confused about his feelings for Kinn after "that night", since throughout his life he never had any sexual activity with a man or had feelings for a man either. He was disturbed and furious at what Kinn did in the aftermath of "that night," and deservedly so (though I don't exactly blame Kinn for that). But in my interpretation, after their time in the forest handcuffed together, he realised that the one who punished him and did terrible things to him wasn't the real him at all; that same Kinn was always smiling endlessly around Porsche and was also willing to share his piece of fish with him. The moment he saw Kinn's excitement at catching fish for the first time in one go, it made him fall for him all the more. That mafia-boss aura is gone, and Porsche got to see this side of his for the first time.

Someone wrote this on the YouTube comment section, and I'm paraphrasing it here: as someone who never had a parental figure and had to be a parent to a younger sibling, having someone so caring and loving to him is a huge deal, and hence he felt attached to Kinn, and this was the time where he didn't have to bear the burden of being the older one anymore. We also need to keep in mind that Porsche had to take an informal loan and had to face a lot of pressure from the mafia gang he took a loan from, seeing his uncle getting physically assaulted by them, and hated them a lot, hence his lack of seriousness about his job in the initial days that really cost him.

And in episode 8, I love how dedicated Porsche was on their first date together. Although he thought that he "sucked", this was definitely memorable for Kinn, and he wasn't shocked or angry at seeing the contacts of Kinn's past sex partners (to be fair, Porsche was engaged in sexual activities with a lot of women before Kinn). Alright, that's it—racing about them! They did go a bit downhill in the ending episode (not spoiling it any further), but their amazing chemistry is what prevented me from dropping this drama (and Tankhun ofc).

And TANKHUN! MY MAN! I really loved his character throughout the series. I love how hilarious, over-the-top, sassy, and caring he is! His past as someone who got kidnapped as a child isn't a joke, but what I love about him is that despite his "crazy" personality, he is not shown as a "retard". Instead, he is a very intelligent person and a realist, too. It's just that he is underestimated because of his behaviour and personality. *Spoiler Alert* There was a scene in the last episode where Vegas, having his foot on a lying Porsche, was "about" to shoot him, then Tankhun and Arm saved them with a toy car that contained explosives that would explode as programmed. I think the toy car symbolises Tankhun's worth because it is seen as a child's toy; they may be underestimated at first impression, but they are actually not how they seem to be.

Another positive thing about this drama is the bond between Porsche and Chay. The scenes of Porsche and Chay in episode 5 nearly made me tear up, after all Porsche went through. Imagine seeing your older brother, who is the only guardian for you, after such a long time, and being with him. I love how Porsche is willing to work his entire ass off just for Chay. Before Kinn, Chay was the only one Porsche truly had love and affection for. He meant everything for him, and the reason he decided to take his job as a bodyguard was to provide for Chay. It's understandable why he never told him about his job, but Chay never had any hard feelings for Porsche, even when he got kidnapped and got to know Porsche's job, because Porsche is all he has, and hence he wouldn't know what to do if Porsche dies. He knows that the environment Porsche is in is very dangerous, the reason being that he himself knows the amount of pressure and doorknocking they both have to experience after the informal loan. I wish it had delved deeper, but then again, this is a 14-episode drama. And I wish there was a scene in which Porsche confronts him for throwing his resume.

KimChay are my second favourite pair, but I just enjoyed watching them among the angst in the first half. Chay was too innocent, and I liked Kim's reaction to Chay's shrine filled with his pictures (I'd die of embarrassment if anyone saw my shrine). Thankfully, I don't have one. However, their story was very underdeveloped, and Kim's feelings for Chay weren't explored enough. I wish Chay thought of his brother before throwing his resume in the trash bin! But I preferred the innocent Chay more than the sassy side of him. Barcode portrayed the innocent side of Chay very well, but he needed to improve in case he had to act sassy, but I think that's the point of his character. Jeff suited the cold and mysterious side of Kim well, and he performed decently, but I couldn't feel much for him. His character isn't explored enough, but that's okay. I really liked his fight scenes, though. However, although this is a plot armour, I'm more than glad Kim saved him when Chay's "friend" was about to feed him some drugs. In short, KimChay was only written for fluff in the first half, then got a bit angsty in the end.

The soundtrack was great as well. Slot Machine makes us jump, groove, and shout the lyrics to Phiang Waichai and Free Fall (the English version of Phiang Waichai, though). Jeff and Aek Season 5 soothes us and makes us teary-eyed with their beautiful voices and compositions with Ka Ter/Why Don't You Stay and Contradict, respectively. Barcode reminds us of our first high school crush in "This song is called 'You'", which his character wrote for Kim when he was told to write a love song. My favourites were WDYS and Contradict.

Now, coming to the negatives: The first thing is VegasPete (and I might be biassed here). Now I know that the fans of VegasPete will have pitchforks at me, but this is my honest opinion: I didn't like them, and that is because of the toxicity. I know that Kinn did shit to Porsche, but what he did doesn't compare to what Vegas did to Pete, who tortured him for pleasure till he nearly died, constantly dehumanised him (that dog bowl scene), and electrocuted his "thing" a lot. I understand where he comes from, but this doesn't justify what he does to Pete. This drama doesn't justify it as well, but their story was way too rushed. They were surely very compelling, but I would've enjoyed them more if their story wasn't sold as a romantic one but rather as a Stockholm/Lima Syndrome one. Fans like them a lot because they were both willing to see the good in each other despite all this, but I would be more convinced if Vegas was more humanised from the beginning than what is shown in the series and if it was made clear from the start that Vegas experiences abuse every single day and has a trauma bonding with his dad. Speaking of which, VegasPete revolves around the trauma bond (so do Kinn and Porsche to some extent). But Vegas really needs help. I liked their bit in the end, though, with Macau. (And I just forgot to add that the BGM in their NC scene was quite creepy; maybe discussing their personalities and the state of their relationship? (And they used a romantic theme in Kinn and Porsche’s dubcon scene.)

Another negative is that it was weak in direction, especially when Pete went to spy on Vegas alone. Knowing who Vegas is, Kinn should've sent more bodyguards to accompany him, and Kinn forgetting about Pete. Plus, Pete and Porsche are roommates, so Porsche should've shown some concern. How did he know that Pete was "on vacation"? Also, how come Arm and Pol aren't concerned when he hasn't come for a long time? Well, their characters are pretty minor, so I'll give it a pass, plus Tankhun was there. But Porsche being gullible to Vegas despite being warned multiple times that Vegas is the enemy annoyed me a lot, and that it wasn't explored enough about Vegas nearly raping him while Porsche was drugged in episode 4. Thankfully, Porsche learned his lesson after seeing Vegas being a snake through his own eyes. Also, why did Porsche, despite being a former bartender, just drink without thinking when he should've known not to even touch a glass given by someone without seeing for himself what is mixed in it (YT comments and Redditors said it)? Keep this in mind: these are just nitpicks, and it didn't stop me from enjoying the show. I just wrote it for the sake of the review, but I can't deny that the ending was a mess when this cousin thing happened between Kinn and Porsche, which was so stupid! Also, Porsche's mother turned out to be alive. Yeah, Korn is cunning and all that, but why should they connect everything between Kinn and Porsche? This was so unnecessary! It would've been much better if Porsche remained an orphan and that there was no such "connection" between them.

In conclusion, this series is a good entertainer and is pretty compelling. But as the title says, the first half showed a lot of promise, but in the end it became a huge mess.

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Too Good a Storyline for a Shampoo Ad

I just finished watching this and I'll have to say, this is my intro to GLs! I hope I see more in the future and that they're good ones.

The story is a very sad one. The title is "A Tale of Yearning", and somehow I yearned for Noble Lady and Madam Liu San to end up together, which unfortunately is not meant to happen. It is a very short piece, not even a full drama or movie, but a shampoo advertisement (this is too good to be one). It was edited in an FMV-like format except that the story was original.

The plot goes like this: A Noble Lady feels entrenched by the performance of an opera artist as she performs the script the Noble Lady has beem studying a lot in secret. She goes to the opera actress to seek her tutelage. What follows is a deeply special relationship that they have for each other. Seriously this is a tragically beautiful story that makes me feel things. I would've cried if the actors were better or are exceptional, but this is an advertisement anyway. The storyline is way too good for just a shampoo ad.

There's nothing much to say about the acting. Being an ad, we don't get to explore the characters enough. However, provided a limited amount of depth, both Sheng Wei Vivi and Ai Ye performed really well. It was nothing exceptional, but not unwatchable either. However, Sheng Wei and Ai Ye have electric chemistry. I'm thinking about them a lot as I'm writing this, nearly getting emotional. Whenever I see them together in this short, I'm like "THEY'RE DEFINITELY IN LOVE!!" Their characters had me feeling a lot of things, even the mentioning of the shampoo! But for me to be in tears, they needed to up their acting skills. I know that it's a short advertisement, so nothing wrong with that.

This short is aesthetically pleasing, from the costumes to the makeup to the sceneries, and the way it's edited, like an FMV. It is the aesthetics too that made me like this ad a lot.

If only dreams and wishes can come true, I'd love it if it gets adapted to a real GL drama with the same actors, because it has a lot of potential to be one. No matter how decent the acting is, I'd watch an entire drama just for Sheng Wei and Ai Ye. I hope they get more recognition internationally. The storyline is great, but if adapted into one, it would definitely be a masterpiece, plus we would get to explore each and every character. It was a beautiful tragic story.

It is an advertisement I'd watch again and again, breaking the rules of heteronormative society. Overall, I enjoyed watching it, though I wish I could cry.

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A Good Slow-Burn Slice of Life Drama which Shows the Outdated Mindset if the Society

This drama is a great series. I know that a lot of people found the romance to be too slow, which is understandable, but it's still realisitc, given their age gap in which the woman is much much older than the man. This drama is a lot about life: the hardships women face, struggles to look for a job, marital problems which include casual chauvinism and negligence, pressure to have kids and most importantly, the pressure of a single thirty-something woman to get married (what the female protagonist faces in the drama) and prejudices surfacing a May-December romance.

I binged it and finished it in 4-5 days ever since it released on Netflix. This drama is an interesting and mature outlook on the regressive mindset of the society. This is the first ever drama that I binged, as it kept me hooked. I may not relate to it now as I'm a teen, but I may, if I get older. It's still worth a watch. It has some funny moments too, but most of it is for flavour.

I find this drama very refreshing, seeing a strong, intelligent and older female lead, and a sweet, extremely supportive, mature, understanding but smart male lead. All of the actors performed very well here. I want to praise Qin Lan jiejie for of course, giving a great performance as Shen Ruoxin, who shined on her own and didn't need a man to help her, and also being a great mentor to Dylan Wang. And also, I want to praise Dylan for nailing this role, keeping in mind that Qi Xiao is very different from his actual personality, and that he had not training in acting and has 4 years of experience. It's very refreshing to see him shed his bad-boy image which was created in his Meteor Garden days, and I didn't even see a trace of Daoming Si in it! His acting is very natural here, and this is his best character so far. He was a delight to watch. Okay! Enough fangirling! Moving on further:

Despite the 19-year age gap, the leads had great chemistry, even before their characters were in a relationship, as they also made a great team when he was her assistant. I love that Shen Ruoxin and Qi Xiao had a mature relationship in which there was a great understanding between them. Qi Xiao was always there as emotional support for Shen Ruoxin whenever she was in trouble, and was also caring and protective of her, while also focussing on his own goals. I actually find this refreshing from the usual completely self-sacrificing characters he played (I've explained this in my feed), while also seeing an intelligent, strong, mature and ambitious female lead, quite contrary to the usual, dumb and childish FLs in CDramas. Apart from being ambitious, she was also calm and composed (another very refreshing thing about her). The romance developed slowly, and both the characters were well written: both of them had a mature as well as a childish side to them, and were always there for each other. That is important. And yes, Shen Ruoxin shined on her own ;)

My second favourite is the married couple: Song Ziyan and Zou Cheng. Their arc was also very interesting, because of their initial conflicts as their respective egos take place, to how they work on mending their relationship in which both of them compromised. This shows that marriage means being inclusive and considerate to each other's feelings, and also about self-respect. Great job Bao Wenjing and Kang Kang! *clap*

And apart from those two arcs, my favourite is the friendship shared by both Shen Ruoxin and Qi Xiao's mothers. Both of them are of opposite personalities: Mother Shen is a domineering and traditional woman (because of what she's experienced) who mostly takes control of her daughter's life and pressurises her to get married, while Mother Qi is a very sweet, caring, kind and a liberal woman who never interfered in her son's life. Unlike many comments here, I'm not hating Mother Shen, as she's also a good person, but her experiences made her like that. It's because of Qi Xiao's mom that Ruoxin's mom changes her outlook on life and her daughter.

I like that there was no typical love triangle and unnecessary scenes of the main leads trying to convince their parents about how serious they are (as said in one of the comments here)! And that Xu Mingjie never became a "villain" here (it would've been very disappointing otherwise)! These are also the refreshing things about this drama.

Props to the writers for making each and every scene realistic, and also writing all of the characters as humans and not making fairytale-like characters, and unnecessarily complicated plots which would have been an extremely cliched idol drama, while also making women the hero of their own lives, as all the women were portrayed strong, smart and capable. This is a great feminist drama. I recommend you to watch it if you want dramas that are not so frustratingly cliched. This is definitely a great watch.

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Not a perfect xianxia drama, but fairly entertaining.

Initially, it looked a bit nonsensical, but it got better from around episode 18-20 onwards, when Liu Ying was reincarnated as Feng Chenyue, a brave general. Actually, it was a refresher, as the previous 2 lifetimes: Liu Ying and Ruan Ayu looked like damsels in distress (which bothers me!) And the chemistry between Dylan and Bambi stood out at that part. Otherwise, the main parts were pretty meh :( I prefered seeing their offscreen interactions. They would have much better chemistry in a modern drama, like Tom and Jerry type.

I think that the writers of MTD wrote Dylan's character as an eye-candy than an actual protagonist. This doesn't show his true potential. He's a much better and a more expressive actor than what is shown in MTD (although he was expressive in his and Deng Wei's scenes).

The show savers of the show were actually the funny scenes here. Like, when Qingqing often catches Yuchi Longyan and Xue Qianxun in an awkward position whenever they argue XD and many more XD plus the trio: Yuchi Longyan, Xue Qianxun and Qingqing, when they interact! Lol they put me to splits XD XD XD and ofc, the Feng Chenyue part, which was the most interesting and the best written part. And I have to add: the chemistry between Dylan and Deng Wei (I wish this was BL though).

The second leading couple also had good chemistry and were very entertaining. I wish the main cp was as well written as them.

Out of all the characters, my favourite is Qingqing and Feng Chenyue. They are the only characters which stood out.

All of the actors did a decent job in their performances.

The writers needed to do better. The plot had loopholes, some scenes made me cringe a bit, a lot of parts were cheesy, but I liked that sudden twist in the tale. This is not a perfect drama, but according to me, it's a good one-time watch, although the trailer showed a lot of promise.
And overall, if you are expecting a lot of entertainment, like pure entertainment, some comedy, then this if for you. If you're looking for serious logical xianxia drama and not eye-candied characters, then it's ok to give it a miss.

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