A Familiar Stranger (2022)

Face off.

While looking for her long lost sister, Shi Qi is overpowered by the scheming Prime Minister's daughter Shen Qin. When she wakes up, she discovers that a magician used dark magic to swap her face with that of Shen Qin. She finds herself married to General Xiao Hansheng in Shen Qin's place. Shen Qin assumes Shi Qi's identity and returns to the side of her lover the ambitious and ruthless Prince Ning. Shi Qi is unable to expose Shen Qin to either man as her sister is held hostage by Shen Qin. The plot tightly weaves together lurid affairs, murder and intrigue, treason and breathtaking, titillating romance. The suspenseful tension climaxes in a satisfying face off between the two women with a gobsmacking twist. Best to steer well clear of spoilers for this one.

While the chemistry between the lead couple sizzles with passionate intensity, there is a quiet authenticity in how their relationship blossoms. The powerful hook of this romance is the simple convincingly articulated idea that Shi Qi has a unique identity that transcends her physical appearance and her true soulmate can sense her soul, the core of who she is. This is at sharp contrast with Prince Ning who lacks insight and does not have the same connection with his lover. That said, the second couple's dark chemistry is also alluring enough to make me root for them. While the story is quite dark, the dialogue is infused with wit and humour. The rapport and banter between the general and his much aggrieved military advisor hilariously and effectively captures the evolution of the general's feelings.

There is little to find fault with in the crisp, intriguing plot and the heartfelt performances by the young cast. Indeed these gorgeous young actors can give lessons to their more established peers on how kiss scenes should really be done and how not to sleepwalk through a drama. Is it a masterpiece? Nope but it is addictive enough for me to rate it an 8.0.

Bottom line - this is a total find of a delectably sexy and suspenseful romantic short-length drama that you must start watching now. Just do it. And thank @Noel for this stupendously good recommendation.

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Surprisingly Good Historical Mini Drama

I am very glad I came across this and decided to give it a try. I didn't have any expectations. After reading the description and summary and some of the discussion postings on mydramalist, the storyline intrigued me enough to give it a go. This is NOT a fluffy youth drama and it seems like there was a decent budget and thought spent on its production for a short web series. Its not a high budget drama like some of the hyped up full fledged CDramas; for a short web series, it was decent and above par compared to its peers. While it is a VERY different drama from Goodbye My Princess, it's similar in the sense its a web series with a unique take and a decent production feel to it that makes it stand out.

The costumes and settings are beautiful and do not look cheap. It is not a fluffy youth drama but it has comedic elements and liked how there really aren't any draggy parts since each episode is pretty compact. I do wish it was made into a full featured drama as there are plenty other CDramas that are bad but given so much more production time than this. I wasn't familiar with any of the actors and actresses which is a bonus since sometimes it gets tiring seeing the same popular actors and actresses over and over again. Glad there are others who are given a chance to provide a refreshing take on characters. I thought the actors and actresses did a pretty good job and they were engaging and believable in their roles. I was skeptical with how they would pull off the love story of the ML and FL characters in the midst of mystery and political intrigue and with each episode being pretty short, they pulled it off.

As a warning, the english subs are limited and aren't great; it was good enough series that I overlooked it and replayed some parts again to get a better understanding.

Whoever penned the web series, original story and the director should be given more projects in the future. Good Job. Its so refreshing to find this after a few disappointing CDramas

Finally finished this, the ending didn't quite hit the mark but overall it is still a very good short web series.

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