Fairyland Lovers (2020)

Watching this while waiting drama that I want to watch to be completed so i can binge-watching it ^_^, never expected to be liking this drama. The idea behind this drama quite intriguing for me, they have other explanation about the gods (in here they called it heavenly soldier, so we can have the same view with what I mean with gods). Yeah we human always been wonder with alien & other stuff that our brain can't explained.

This drama actually more about human obsession's. Yeah we every human have our own obsession & like the evil spirit, if our obsession already too much it will gonna clouded our mind & make us like devil who will gonna do anything in the sake of our obsession.

This drama so funny yet still romantic at the same time. Really like the chemistry between our cast (not only our main couple) & the development of their character feel natural. What i like:
° Bai Qi / Hei Qi (BQ / HQ). i more like Hei Qi than Bai Qi, HQ is have more bad boy aura than evil ^_^. I also really like the chemistry between Xia / Xiao Zhou (LX) & BQ. The feeling between them quite mature & childish at the same time. Really feeling the pain when LX have to erase BQ memory in order to save him.
° Yang Jian (YJ). Like chase_potato wrote in her/his review. YJ developed 2x in here. How he learn to be human & understand everything is not only black or white, until he can learn & want to acknowledge his feeling for Xiao Xiao.
° Ah Li (AL). So cute of Ah Li. Especially in the last episode where he actually already became the director but he still have his nature childish. But so far I only watch Marcus Li as easy going man, who you can say as a connector for everyone.

What I don't like:
- They make it a little bit beyond makes sense. I mean with Shang Guan Lian, he is dead not even have heart anymore, but they still make him alive again. Yeah yeah I know he is not human & this is drama, but still doesn't makes sense at all...

What i admire is Amano Kotetsu. His loyalty very good. He still stick to Shang Guan Lian even though he is already dead. Never understand that kind of loyalty actually.

So far Johnny Bai can attract me with his acting, fist i watched him as cao guang in Love 020 & i don't really like him, but with different character he play every time make me more and more attract with him & feel he is not that bad (in the look or acting, I finally feel he has his own charm & turn out he is not that bad/ugly. I think in love 020 he just have other cast that more attractive or handsome than him, so he's not that handsome)

So far i only watched Jade Cheng with the same type of character. In unique lady & in here overall her character is that simple girl who is cute but also have a little bit temperament. Looking forward for her other type of character, wonder what kind of character can she play next.

Overall: This is one good drama to be watched. They have good story & good chemistry. Re-watch...? Still not sure though.

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despite the stellar cast and good overall plot, the series seemed to lose its focus from early on in favour of a pain-filled subplot involving the characters since their past lives. Indeed, the series initially introduced the idea of solving mysteries by following Bai Qi and Lin Xia into the minds of their clients. This premise was really exciting and fresh, and the few cases that they solved were all interesting and original. Unfortunately, after only four of these side stories, the plot shifted to focus on Bai Qi’s inner dilemma and appearance of his alter-ego, Hei Qi, and completely moved away from its original detective-esque plotline. While I enjoyed the Bai Qi/Hei Qi subplot, I found myself wishing for more client-based cases and mysterious hauntings.

Overall, the plot was really original with the whole spirit doctor idea and the two warring factions of heavenly soldier and evil spirit, but that unique element was left aside in the latter half of the drama with a heavy focus on Bai Qi and Lin Xia’s romance. Still, the love story between the two was truly beautiful and heart-wrenching, and had me cheering for their happiness from the get-go.

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I find the plot very unique and interesting, i was hooked even before i knew it. i appreciate that it tries to have some funny scenes, but it turns out to be cringey. the leads lack chemistry too. the male lead is always reading books which i think aims to make him look cool but for me, it makes him look annoying and trying hard to look cool.

i also dont really like when the female lead is wearing a pullover 10 times larger than her body size.

having said that, i will continue to watch this and still give it a chance. i might like it more in the coming episodes.

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Thought it would be my type but turns out it wasn't

Maybe I'll get back to it one day? But for now... nah. I'm good.
[Be careful of spoilers below]

PROS
❀ The first episodes definitely drew me in... | I was looking for a romantic cdrama that wasn't pure fluff, and Fairyland Lovers caught my eye. I'm a big fan of stories within stories, which this show has. Inside the overarching plotline between the main leads, we also have sub-stories of spirits that the spirit doctor heals. This lends it an anthology-like feeling, which I'm really into. While I only watched up to the stories of the first two spirits, they had bittersweet backgrounds and nicely done resolutions.
❀ Acting and OST were pretty good | I have no complaints on this end. I haven't seen these actors before but I think they all did their jobs well. And yet, something just didn't click with me...

CONS
✕ This is the first cdrama I've seen where the ML has facial hair | And I'm not a fan. The actor looked great - really! Kind of a rugged energy, paired with the dashing, kdrama combo of long coat + turtleneck. But I'm not sure the facial hair was necessary, because you would think a being who's been alive for hundreds of years would want to look more... polished, I guess? Instead of the facial hair making him look 'immortal,' it just made him look older. Which, again, is fine! BUT in contrast to the FL?? Well.
Visually, the main leads' wardrobe and mannerisms make this drama look like an age gap romance between a schoolgirl and a businessman. (I guess technically it is, since the ML is older.)
✕ But the FL wasn't a schoolgirl? | She wasn't! However, she sure acted like one. In the beginning, I was impressed by her emboldened attitude. She was brash and mouthed off about being the 26th descendant of some martial arts technique or whatnot. Fun! All too quickly, she loses some of that luster and shine. Every other episode, she gets saved by the ML (is there a need??? Once or twice is alright, but I can only stand oh-so-many 'fall into ML's arms scenes. PLS . Even the second couple gets such a scene.) Her outfits consist of exceptionally baggy clothes and overalls. Pair that with unkempt hair that's sometimes in braids, and the FL gave off VERY young vibes. She acts like how she dresses, too. I remember getting irritated when I saw her beg the ML to help heal the spirit in the second sub-story. And as someone who has a pretty low tolerance for imbalanced relationships, it irked me to see the ML basically renovate/re-model her entire living space and buy her dad's IOUs. I commend her for trying to live off of being an actress/artist, but her hard work gets tossed away once the super rich ML waltzes in. OH and the fighting - why does the FL get a couple of kicking scenes (lots of waving her hands around and appearing intimidating rather than instigating action) while the male leads get kung-fu fight scenes? It hurt me to see a FL start off so strong and quickly veer off the originally written path so quickly into the drama.
✕ Yeah so I read recaps of the later episodes and it basically becomes a makjang | Spare me from the multiple personalities, amnesia plots, kidnapping plots, "let me leave you for your own sake" scenes, and more. ✕
✕ Misunderstanding level: 0/10 | Where I stopped (ep 7/35), no misunderstandings happened. The ML just figured out the FL was his past lover.

OVERALL
This drama wasn't what I expected at all, and not in a positive way. Maybe if they toned it back with the main plotline and instead focused on creating more detailed and complex sub-stories, I would have enjoyed it more. (And if the FL was a little more mature/acted her age, I would have continued watching.) As it stands, I'm left scratching my head because this show tried to do so much: have a love that spans through time, while following another couple, while saving the world, while having smaller stories about spirits, etc. I think I'm leaving this a 3/5 because it has potential, but at the end of the day this story is just not my type despite a promising beginning.

(Note: My rewatch value is set to 5.0 always as a default as I'm not the type to rewatch dramas EVER. Thus, I do not take it into account when calculating overall score.)

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