Wonderful Fate (2021)

Makes for a pleasant watch, but could have been better

OK, first things first, what I liked:

- the cast did a pretty decent job, imho;
- I liked both leads, which is something that doesn't happen all the time;
- it had one of the funniest characters *ever*, imho (the crazily hilarious Chef Xue!)
- the music was also nice, particularly the opening credits song;
- the very last message about reading the Classics was a very nice touch.

As a matter of fact, after the first half or so I thought I was gonna give this a much higher grade, but then the second half unfortunately had several things that weren't my cup of tea, namely:

- in what had been, until then, a light, silly comedy, the sudden bouts of violence and tragedy felt totally misplaced; not poorly written nor acted, mind it...they worked very well *per se*, but they just felt horribly out of place (I don't want to spoil too much, but try to imagine going to the movies and, to your utter surprise, being shown something whose 1st half reminds a John Belushi comedy - what with all those toilet jokes, LOL - while the 2nd half has much more in common, say, with Hamlet's 5th Act...weird, huh? >__<);
- when you build up such despicable villains that kill, lie, bully and generally make everybody elses's lives hell all the time, then as a writer you just *have to* give them what they deserve at the end (one of the many things I like about Chinese culture: in their traditional crime stories, at the end there's an entire chapter depicting the culprits' punishment - sometimes including very gruesome details!); letting the afore-mentioned villains get away with some jail time or even a quick, painless death isn't sufficient to appease the viewers' natural need to see them crushed!
- being the history buff I am, seeing the writers sending out the message that the past was hell and the present times basically heaven on earth, well, as unsurprising as that was, still deeply annoyed me.

So, all in all, kind of a missed opportunity.

Read More

Good for binge-watching only?

I understood why many people in the comments would hate on the FL because of her acting. I would say her acting in the first half of the show is really quite lacklustre, but if you can watch pass like ep 5 or so I think you should be able to finish the whole show.

For me personally, I didn't really care too much about their acting. The male acting is not bad. The trailer for this show did hype me up but to bring me down somehow because I was expecting more from the plot but it was stagnant and remain the way I would say most of you envision. Splash splash love was way better IMO but we cannot compare these 2 dramas.

Throughout the whole drama, I was expecting more from the plot, like I wish that a certain plot will happen over here but it didn't. This show is great for binge-watching only if you have time. I do honestly had quite an enjoyable time with this show because I'm lacking the vibes of happy cheerful girls in shows that are ongoing nowadays. It is a good like getaway from all the shows but I think more of these shows will be coming up soon in the Chinese industry during this period.

Overall, not the worst drama. I really enjoyed it, enough to finish it in one sitting even though I do skip it. It is like each ep is one problem solved so I think it is quite enjoyable.

I watched it without subs. So if you guys are looking for subs, you might need to wait. The chinese isn't too difficult in this drama so I think fans who are learning chinese are able to understand.

Read More

Disappointing but cute

I liked the synopsis of this story so I came into it open minded but finished it feeling uninspired. There are three major things that didn't work in this drama: the casting, the plot, and the tone. The casting was not done well in my opinion because I felt no real chemistry or attraction between the main leads or even the second leads. In a romance there has to be some level of believing these two people want to be together and other than the cliche close slow motion moments I didn't feel a connection between them. The next issues are the plot and tone which go hand and hand. The show is trying to be a romantic comedy (heavy on the comedy) while still having very serious events happening which I felt didn't go well together. I don't like a scene where there is threats on a persons life and then fart jokes. It lessens the stakes and I am confused whether I as a viewer need to feel worried for the leads or laugh. Maybe if the jokes were funny I'd enjoy it but I felt like a lot of it was childish and weird. I wouldn't recommend this drama...

Read More

Interesting concept, average execution (spoilers marked at halfway point)

Brief plot: the FL is sent into the story of a manhua she was reading. She knows details about how the story ends, and who is the real perpetrator, and must navigate the challenges of a palace while doing so.

I love a good, classic transmigration story. In this case, rather than being transported into someone else's body, the FL was transported in as *herself* and seen as a goddess, and treated as such. The humour was also actually very good at the start. Then, it became quite dark in tone surprisingly. I'll talk more about the concept below, but without spoiling anything, I personally think if you see this series as less of a transmigration story, and more of an FL's development story, you'll find the ending less unappealing.

That being said, as a whole, this story could have been executed better.

***[[[SPOILERS START]]]***

Unfortunately, the FL remaining passive right until the end was this story's weakest point. We watch 15 episodes of her struggle passively as events happened to her. Understandably, it's because she did not study in school nor learn about the manhua plot nor pay attention to the palace goings-on. It's almost a cautionary tale, promising that if she had only focussed on something, perhaps she could have changed an event from within rather than after. But we're not here to watch cautionary tales, are we? No matter the moral of the story, it was unsatisfying and frustrating to watch.

What happens is, tragedy strikes over and over, and the ending of the manhua more or less ends the same though it is more "open", and then FL is transported back into her normal life. As promised, she studies hard and ends up writing a sequel to the manhua, hereby allowing the emperor to live. Unfortunately, most of the cast dies in the manhua. FL's friend, the guard, the chef, the chef's friends, the Empress Dowager... at least the Emperor reveals to the antagonist that he knows what she did (because he overheard her) and he poisons himself. This frames the antagonist because to people afar it appears she poisoned the emperor. Furious, the Empress Dowager stabs her and throws her over the edge, along with herself.

FL's sequel allows the emperor to survive, his brother to usurp the Proctor, and the Proctor to be jailed and charged for his crimes. The emperor then appears to have either survived the timeline to the present day or reincarnated (and it appears they may have all reincarnated), where it's revealed that he is FL's classmate all along. This gives some semblance of control to the FL back over the story. Ideally, she should have had tried harder earlier on instead of constantly being irrational.

***[[[SPOILERS END]]]***

While certainly the story was unique in how it went, it was also unfortunately really too frustrating in the second half of the series. It could have been executed so much better. The second half, bar the ending, was really disappointing. At the least, the revelations at the end made the story somewhat worth it.

Overall, a fun way to pass time and started strong, but do consider skipping forward in parts of it.

Read More

First half was hilarious and then did a 180

This started off really strong as a comedy. I started watching this show because of Zhang Yue Nan, the actress for the FL. I like that she's lively and full of expression, although some people may find her expressions overexaggerated. But given the comedic tone of the beginning of this show, I think her acting is appropriate.

I breezed through the first 10 episodes. There were multiple moments where I laughed out loud, and I enjoyed the light-heartedness of the drama. I like that the FL stands up for herself and speaks up (even though things don't always go her way). Also the brothers get along and don't get jealous and start undermining each other. The actors were generally solid.

Then somewhere along the way the drama did a total 180 and I was just left in shock at how quickly things just went downhill. The story turned really dark and it was so frustrating and hard to watch. Everything seemed futile. This turn of events is just very poor and ruins the second half of the drama for me. It felt like the writer purposely wanted to add some drama to it and make it emotional, so they twisted the story. Not cool.

Overall I still give this a 7.5 rating given that I still enjoyed a good majority of the drama.

Read More

Two different stories mashed together

I wanted to watch something fluffy, and the trailers looked like they'd deliver.

For the most part, I enjoyed this. I could watch on autopilot during insomnia nights, as the plot was easy to follow. Where I liked it best were the comedy scenes. The supporting actors especially were terrific comedic actors.

But then it took a sharp left turn into tragedy, which such a fluffy storyline simply didn't support. The same thing ruined I WILL NEVER LET YOU GO, which incidentally had much better music, and two terrific male leads. But the storyline was fun fluff, so when everybody started getting killed off and the villains win, I'm left staring at the TV, wondering if the wrong series got shuffled in.

No quarrel with the acting. The actor playing the chef especially was dynamite--funny until his death scene, then really affecting. But the story itself simply didn't support that weight of tragedy after all the silliness.

Then at the end there's a weird preachy tag about how one should value education, and referring to "Nanke's Dream," a Tang Era tale about the futility of a life full of riches and honor. (Futility of life) with a heavy dose of Daoism. Despite the episodic structure (the heroine from contemporary times, remembering lessons in order to solve problems for this ancient kingdom) the emotional structure of the story, the random actions of the villains especially, totally undercut the heavy hand of the Message.

Read More

Out of expectation

Maybe it is because of my high expectation haha.. I was expecting it will be like Splash Splash Love K-drama, yeah

I watched first 5 episode while it was on going, and it was good, but I am waiting for all episode out.
Than, I just finished watching it on Iqiyi, and... after I watced 6-16 episode the plot is getting worse haha
their acting is not bad, buttt the plot please..

first, I dont like how it ends, it is like they forced the story to finished like wth..
second, drama does not focused the male first lead and female first lead,,, actualy yun lai and li fuzhu have chemistry but drama does not show it much,, I hate it..
third, the more episode near to end, the more headache to think the story.. hahaha

Read More

Splash Toilet Love

This is China's version of the Korean drama: Splash Splash Love. Instead of entering the timeslip through a puddle, she enters through a toilet, somehow.

She doesn't have the intelligence of the FL in "Splash Splash Love", unfortunately. I doubt if she could solve those math equations, for example. However, she is somewhat charming in her strong will and her loyalty to her friends, which should be a minor detail, but in C dramaland, this can't be taken for granted of any FL.

This FL trips over herself every few steps though, which became pretty annoying, but overall, she had a mind of her own and was outspoken, not like many human doormat female characters.

The ML, well, he didn't really need to act much, he was just there for show. I don't remember who played the SML, but I do remember I liked him better. If the FL didn't act like a typical teenager (and that smart phone charm was ugly and tacky, and just expressed her lack of taste very well).

The story started out quite strong. The time-travel toilet was a funny and cute idea, had the writers committed to it. Unfortunately, the writers committed the worst storyline crime of all, and went with the "everything was just a dream" route, which is the laziest, most non-committal storyline choice you can possible choose!! Don't waste your time. This could have just been a charming and fun tale, but the writers completely ruined it.

Read More

Could've Been Good

This drama was supposed to be a light one with touches of romance and comedy. That was initially the case towards the first half of it, as the drama progressed, it became darker. It became a stark contrast of how it originally started. While I did enjoy watching it, I truly think that towards the end it became excessively bloody and angsty. Honestly, the saving grace of this drama was the surprise ending and the character growth that the female lead showed towards the end. The leads in this drama did well in their acting, I feel that the weak point is actually the story.

Read More

Unbearable to watch

Ok...I gave it try 4 episodes. Actors are so childish, acting skill is 5 the most, they both are messy in appearance and NOT eye candy, probably beauty/handsomeness isn't everything but helps especially when acting skill is also a doubt. It's only 16 episodes in total but I don't think I can make it to the 5th episode...some people investing their money, trust, time and effort to create this drama but the whole production blew it off...they give opportunity for these (not great talent) young actors. This is one of the drama that will be forgotten soon as people start with only first episode...

Read More