Overdo

Overdo: Too Much Pain, Too Little Payoff

Honestly, Overdo was not an enjoyable drama for me. Even though the drama had a cast with actors who have already shown strong performances in other projects, the story itself was full of flaws. The plot felt weak, overly negative, and emotionally exhausting. Many events happened in a way that felt forced rather than natural, and instead of creating meaningful tension, the drama often relied too much on sadness, stress, misunderstandings, and darkness.
One of my biggest disappointments was the role given to Wang Churan. I personally think she shines much more in lively, clever, warm, and charming characters. In dramas like How Dare You, Are You the One, and Love Has Fireworks, her roles suited her much better. Those characters allowed her to show a fun, bright, energetic, witty, brave, loving, and kind side. She has a natural charm when she plays characters who are emotionally expressive, smart, playful, and full of life.
That is why Susu felt like such a poor fit for her. Susu was written as a dark, depressed, and emotionally heavy character who kept making wrong decisions. Instead of feeling deep or tragic in a meaningful way, her actions often became frustrating to watch. Her so-called love and care sometimes felt suffocating rather than touching, and her choices often caused pain for the person she loved. This made it very hard for me to connect with her character or support the romance.
Wang Churan is a talented actress, but this role did not highlight her strengths. In her better roles, she can be funny, smart, brave, sweet, and emotionally engaging. Here, however, the writing forced her into a gloomy and exhausting character who lacked the warmth and spark that usually make her so enjoyable to watch. It felt like the drama took away the qualities that make her stand out and replaced them with constant sadness and poor decisions.
I was also disappointed with the role given to Zhang Linghe. He has already shown in dramas like Pursuit of Jade and Story of Kunning Palace that he can handle strong, charismatic, and emotionally layered characters very well. In Pursuit of Jade, his performance had charm, intensity, and a natural heroic presence that suited him much better. He was able to show both strength and emotional depth, and his character felt far more engaging and believable.
In Story of Kuning Palace, he was even more impressive. His role had power, intelligence, emotional restraint, and a captivating kind of darkness. That character allowed him to show his strong screen presence and the kind of quiet intensity that makes his performances memorable. These roles fit him because they gave him complex, purposeful characters with emotional tension.
However, in Overdo, the character Murong Qingyi did not suit him at all. Compared to his previous roles, this character lacked impact, charm, and proper development. Instead of giving him a role that could show his strengths, the drama placed him in a poorly written character that felt flat and frustrating. Zhang Linghe is at his best when his characters have intelligence, emotional tension, dignity, and depth, but Murong Qingyi did not have enough of those qualities.
Another major issue was the writing. The story was full of plot holes and unnatural conflicts. The negative events felt excessive and sometimes unrealistic, as if the drama was trying too hard to be painful and dramatic. But darkness alone does not make a story deep. Without strong logic, believable character development, and emotional balance, it only becomes tiring.
The ending made everything worse. Instead of giving the story a satisfying or meaningful conclusion, it ended with a heavy feeling of sadness, frustration, and resentment. After watching so many stressful and painful events, the final impression was not emotional depth, but disappointment.

Overall, Overdo had potential because of its cast, but the weak writing, overly dark atmosphere, frustrating characters, and unnatural conflicts made it a disappointing watch for me. I would rather remember Wang Churan from her bright, clever, and lovable roles in How Dare You, Are You the One, and Love Has Fireworks, and Zhang Linghe from his much stronger performances in Pursuit of Jade and Story of Kunning Palace.
Rating: 4/10
Mostly for the actors, because the writing really did them no favors.

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Not worth 6 months of wait

Starting off it was still better till I assume episode 7. After that oh lord. The leads had no chemistry AT ALL and I don’t think there’s been a single episode where both of them ACTUALLY willingly loved eachother.

I see a lot of people who had issues with the ai intro but that wasn’t even important considering how bad the plot got.

I felt like I was watching a vertical drama with unnecessary drama. Ep 15ish till the end was really boring to a point I felt— “What even is happening in this?”

The ending was the cherry on top– It was so messy. I was hoping for a resolution, maybe it’s a sad ending or maybe it’s a happy one, but unfortunately it seemed as if the ending was hurried with no proper ending.

I mean you had 7 episodes till 40 episodes and you still give us a horrid ending?

In my opinion, it was not worth the wait AT ALL. I had so much expectations from this considering how well it was promoted but the direction was horrible, plot wasn’t well written and somehow the acting was cringe at some points too.

The only reason I’m giving rewatch value a 1 is because I apparently can’t leave it at 0 😓

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ML: the punching bag

So quickly I’ll say this supposedly high budget drama looked cheap, used a lot of AI(ew) and the music was…woooo, horrific. Moving on, I have never sided with a republican era ML and never thought I would, until now. I won’t say much about the FL, I found her mostly unlikable and selfish but she had valid reasons sometimes. ML was a good guy despite his circumstances. He had good intentions, loved his brothers, he loved FL, he continued to obey both parents despite how they abused him. Now what does he get in return? Everyone around him(including FL) controlling, manipulating, hiding things from him and just being outright mean to his face. Some claimed to be doing these things for his sake out of “love”, but it was just completely ignoring his feelings and what he wanted. Now after spending 98.7% of the series being treated poorly, ML who sacrificed so much should get a happy ending right? LOL, guess not. ML has the *tiniest* glimpse of happiness before it all ends for him. And not only did the ML spend the entire drama miserable, all the other characters did too. Which made it miserable to watch and a waste of time.

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Overhate and Overhype at the same time.

This drama generated a lot of early hype. The teasers, pre-release photos, gorgeous costumes, and early plot hints created incredibly high expectations. The Republican era visuals looked stunning, and the cast seemed perfectly chosen for their roles.

After waiting for months for this drama to finally air, I ended up feeling disappointed. Putting aside the AI-generated opening sequence. Even though an opening is the first impression of any drama, especially one that so many fans were eagerly anticipating, I found the story itself to be the biggest letdown.

To be honest, I think the drama has managed to keep a lot of its viewers thanks to Zhang Linghe's popularity after The Pursuit of Jade. I was already struggling to continue after the first 10 episodes, but I kept watching because I wanted to see if it would eventually prove the haters critics wrong and become better in the second half.

But sadly the overall pacing and storytelling style felt more like a short drama than a large scale Republican era production. Important plot developments happened too quickly, while other scenes dragged on without adding much to the story.

Because of that, I think it's best to watch this drama with moderate expectations and simply enjoy the parts that work for you. If some scenes feel slow or fail to hold your attention, there's nothing wrong with skipping ahead. Fans of the main lead actors like me will probably still find plenty to enjoy, as both of them deliver solid performances and look absolutely stunning on screen.

I'm a fan of both Wang Churan and Zhang Linghe, which honestly makes this disappointment even bigger. Their acting is good, but in my opinion, a weak script prevents them from showing their full potential. I don't mind the ending where the male lead sacrifices his life for his country. In fact, I thought it was a meaningful and fitting conclusion for his character. My issue is everything that came before it.

For some reason, I never felt the chemistry between the two leads. I didn't truly believe they loved each other enough to make the sacrifices the story asked of them. Their relationship looked beautiful visually, but emotionally it never convinced me.

I also feel that Wang Churan once again chose a role that didn't showcase her strengths, similar to LHF. In many of her previous dramas, she completely captivated me with both her performance and charisma, but here I found myself appreciating her visuals more than her character. As for Zhang Linghe, he's as handsome and charismatic as ever, and I sincerely hope he gets more diverse roles in the future with stronger scripts that allow his talent to shine.

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The creative choices...INSANE

Like many others, this was one of my most highly anticipated of the year. And like many others, I ended up being really disappointed.

Let’s start with the good: the fashion looks great, and the physical sets look pretty immersive as well. We’ll get into bad CGI later, but when they’re actually filming around props and sets, everything looks decent. I really like the second chance romance and the revenge premise; there’s a really interesting story here, it’s just buried under all the other problems.

Now, for the bad. The acting is…questionable. I’ve seen both of these actors in other things and I know they’re capable of emoting, but the facial expressions and line delivery in this show feel unnecessarily dramatic and the dubbing never matches; dialogue is always delivered with the same loud, emotionless, intonation. There are moments where I can feel the chemistry between the leads (see Ep. 2 where ML sees FL for the first time) but other than that I wasn’t really sold on the romance at all due to the lack of build-up and wishy-washiness.

The plot is really choppy and the pacing is really weird; we’re jumping from one scene to the next without any sort of logical progression and without any time for the plot to breathe. There are time jumps all over the place and I’m never sure how long they are until they randomly say it in conversation. There is one big time jump in the last quarter of the show that introduces several tropes that I just dislike on principle, and it sort of just rehashes the exact same relationship dynamics all over again. The ending is confusing and unsatisfying.

Which brings me to the ugly; the editing choices in this show are just utterly BIZARRE. The rapid pacing and jumping from one scene to the next is emphasized by the fact that the music never stops. EVER. Seriously. There are moments where up to THREE different OSTs are strung together, back-to-back, sometimes within the same conversation. It’s insane. Sometimes the characters are just having a normal conversation and there is crazy violin playing going on the entire time.

Visually, the rapid zooms on character faces does the opposite of what’s intended, making scenes feel funny instead of serious and dramatic. There are some scenes that just should’ve been filmed from different angles to avoid weird reflections or cuts, or fights/slaps where we can clearly see that the characters were standing super far from each other and didn’t make contact at all. There are moments where the CGI is really bad and you can tell the actors aren’t interacting with their surroundings correctly. Zhang Ling-he is belly-flopping into a pond. Wang Chu-ran is floating vertically out of an airplane.

I feel like I also have to mention the AI intro. I’m glad they received enough backlash and changed it; it boggles my mind that they said it was supposed to “help viewers quickly grasp the protagonists' emotional backstory.” You had the actors on set and actual footage?? Put something together?? The new intro showed that they could and it would be even more effective storytelling. I hope IQIYI keeps receiving criticism for leaning into AI; I’m seeing more and more of it pop up in their drama intros, and viewers deserve better. My favorite, never-skip intros are the ones with adorable scenes, great songs, or really beautiful art.

In conclusion, I’m sad that this turned out the way it was because there’s a really interesting story here with actual high-stakes and consequences, and I grieve the show we could’ve gotten. “Provoke” is a similar premise and it’s a short drama, but it’s one I actually enjoyed if anyone is looking for something similar.

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Not even the cast could save this

The main issue with this drama—and the aspect most open to criticism—has been the consistently poor use of AI, which creates a sense of low quality. It wasn't just the terrible intro they had to change; the entire series constantly featured images that were clearly AI-generated.

On top of that, a dramatic story that seemed to have potential ended up relying on many excessively exaggerated scenes, giving the impression that you were watching a short-form drama. It didn't help at all in connecting with a story that carries such heavy emotional weight. That sort of thing works fine for rom-coms or series with a more lighthearted tone, but certainly not for this one.

It really saddens me because I was so looking forward to the series for the cast—I love both leads. But between the AI ​​and the terrible script, even they couldn't help the show fly by for me. I'll be waiting for another series featuring the two of them where they can actually give a proper performance.

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So disappointed... "Overdo" is totally overrated ?

I just finished Overdo, and honestly, I'm so let down. Looking at what other people are saying online, it seems like I'm definitely not the only one.

They had a top-tier cast and a massive budget, but they completely wasted it. Because of all the obvious sponsoring, the show honestly felt more like a long commercial than an actual drama.

Here is what really ruined it for me (and a lot of other viewers):

The CGI is a joke: With that much money, how did the special effects look so cheap? It was hard to take seriously.

Too much overacting: I love this cast, but their acting was way too extravagant this time. It felt unnatural and kept pulling me right out of the story.

An exhausting plot: The story relied way too much on stupid misunderstandings. Just talk to each other! It got so frustrating to watch after a while.

That ending: After dragging us through all that stress, we get an open ending? It was so disappointing and left me feeling like I wasted my time.

Honestly, this drama is all hype and no substance. Save your time and skip it!

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Simping Gone Wrong

✅Simping Gone Wrong

Overdo is peak "Proud Simp" nonsense, and not the fun kind. The show wants you to believe it's a sweeping, tragic romance set in Republican-era Shanghai, but strip away the pretty costumes and dramatic music and what you're left with is one of the most one-sided, emotionally manipulative relationships in recent cdrama history.

✅The Setup That Could've Worked

Murong Qingyi (Zhang Linghe), the abused youngest son of a warlord family, falls hard for Ren Susu (Wang Churan) after a brief but intense connection. Classic melodrama setup. Tragedy strikes, he takes the fall for her, ends up in prison. Believes she died. Heartbreaking, right?

✅The Twist That Breaks Everything

She didn't die. She faked it. Escaped. And let him rot in jail for three years. No letter, no explanation, no looking back. When she finally resurfaces, she's engaged to marry his brother. The woman he destroyed his life for is about to become his sister-in-law. You'd think this would be the moment he wakes up. Nope.

✅The Simping Never Stops

Qingyi still pines for her. Still shows her affection. Still looks at her like she's the sun while she's standing there in his brother's arms. The drama frames this as "enduring love" and "love-hate entanglement," but let's be real—it's pathetic. There's a difference between devotion and self-debasement, and Overdo doesn't know where that line is. The man went to prison for her. She let him. He got out. She married his brother. And he's still chasing? That's not romantic. That's a mental health crisis.

✅The FL Problem

And Ren Susu? Zero remorse. The show tries to handwave her actions with vague "secrets she cannot reveal" and "pain she cannot express," but three years of silence while your supposed soulmate suffers for your sake isn't tragic it's cruel. When she finally faces him again, there's no genuine apology, no real reckoning. Just more mysterious suffering and emotional manipulation disguised as complexity. We're supposed to feel for her because she's "troubled," but all I see is someone who got away clean while her fall guy took the punishment.

✅What Kind of Romance Is This?

The show asks us to root for their reunion, to believe that love conquers all including common sense, self-respect, and basic human decency. But what kind of romance demands that one party suffer endlessly while the other faces zero consequences? Where's the balance? Where's the mutual growth? Qingyi doesn't grow from this; he just suffers more. Susu doesn't grow; she just keeps being mysterious and sad. Nobody wins except the writers who think suffering equals depth.

✅The Wasted Potential

It's frustrating because the pieces are there. Zhang Linghe brings real wounded intensity to Qingyi you genuinely feel his pain, which makes his inability to move on even more maddening. Wang Churan has the look and presence of a compelling tragic heroine, but the script gives her nothing to work with beyond "beautiful woman with secrets." The Republican-era Shanghai setting is gorgeous. The production values are solid. The chemistry between the leads is undeniable. All of it wasted on a dynamic that asks us to romanticize emotional abuse.

✅My final say on the drama

Overdo is a beautifully packaged drama with a rotten core. If you enjoy watching one character suffer endlessly while the other gets away with emotional negligence, congratulations—this is your show. For everyone else, it's a masterclass in how not to write a romance. Love shouldn't mean letting someone destroy you. It shouldn't mean forgiving betrayal without so much as an apology. And it definitely shouldn't mean simping for the person who let you rot in jail while they started a new life. Hard pass.

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All Bark and No Bite

For all the hype this show had it just isn't really hitting that hard. I don't really care much about the intro being made with AI and all that stuff but it's the editing and characters of the drama that is somewhat of a letdown.

I wanted to see an ML who is grey, clever and ready to go scorched earth after all the pain he went through but all I see is a zero self respect love struck idiot who is still naive and weak when it comes to planning and plotting plus keeps getting played again and again. One tear from FL and in a second he loses his manhood and anger only to give in to her words, it's quite pathetic to watch. One of the most pathetic male lead characters I have ever seen. I really hoped they will make a man out of ML by the end but he was the same old pussy.

The show really did ruin FL's character too, they wanted to show her all tragic and some one who is mission focused but only ended up showing her as a selfish and extremely toxic woman. Frankly by the end you will be guessing did she even love ml or only wanted a zero self respect doormat of a man who keeps licking her shoes no matter how many times she ruins his life or worse she treats him.

This is one of the dramas where I cared more for the side characters than the main leads. I loved Li Boze , Qingyu, Zi Hong characters and really rooted for them. Frankly even the antagonists were more interesting to watch than the leads.

The story is decent and too some extent keeps you engaged but it's the character arcs that are a mess overall. The acting is decent by everyone nothing too great but not too bad. The cinematography is average and VFX is simply bad for a big budget drama it was promoted as.

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Not worth it

This drama is so over-dramatized. So many sequences don't make any sense at all, just a bunch of high budget added scenes to glorify the the story. Every five minutes there is flash back trying to create moments and chemistry between the leads when there is non at all. Music is ear-drum crushing and unnecessarily loud and mismatched to so many scenes.
The female lead is just so plain and blank of emotions based on quite a selfish character while Linghe's acting is very repetitive from facial nuances to body language. His previous acting jobs were so natural but here he just seems to be acting. Overall a very performance by the director because there is no flow or connectivity to make it a pleasing watch. Its a total stress wreck.

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"Overdo: 'We Take You for Granted' — A Drama That Forgot Its Viewers"

Where do I even start with Overdo?

Actually, let me start by saying this: I really wanted to love this drama. I genuinely did.

With Zhang Linghe and Wang Churan as the leads, beautiful costumes, and what looked like a promising Republican-era setting, I went in expecting something emotional, dramatic, and memorable. I was ready to suffer in the best possible way.

Well... I definitely suffered. Just not in the way I expected.

The first episode started, and I was excited. Then the opening credits appeared, and I honestly had to stop for a second because I couldn't believe what I was watching.

Was this a serious historical drama, or did someone accidentally upload an unfinished AI slideshow?

The opening looked like someone collected random AI-generated images, added dramatic music, and decided, "Yes, this is good enough." The characters looked stiff, the movements were unnatural, and everything had that strange artificial feeling. I actually checked my internet connection because I thought maybe the quality had dropped.

Nope.

That was the actual opening.

And then, after people criticized it online, they replaced it with a live-action version. Which honestly made it even funnier because... wait a minute. You had the footage all along? You could have done this properly from the beginning?

So why did viewers get the AI experiment first?

Anyway, I tried to be fair. An opening doesn't make or break a drama. Maybe the actual story would save it.

Spoiler alert: it didn't.

The biggest problem with Overdo is that nothing feels believable. You're supposed to be immersed in a dangerous and chaotic Republican-era world, but the characters often look like they are filming a luxury skincare advertisement.

The best example is the airplane scene.

Yes, the airplane scene.

The ML and FL literally fall out of an airplane. Not jump. Not land safely. Fall.

And somehow they survive without a scratch.

Not a scratch.

No injuries. No dirt. No torn clothes. No messy hair. Nothing.

They fall from an airplane and land looking like they just finished a professional photoshoot.

I watched that scene again because I genuinely thought I had missed something. Maybe there was some explanation. Maybe there was a hidden parachute. Maybe something would make sense.

Nope.

They just floated down like beautiful human balloons.

At that point, I stopped questioning the logic of the drama because clearly logic had already left the building.

And this happens throughout the entire show. Characters can walk through explosions, survive dangerous situations, and fight enemies, yet somehow their hair and makeup remain absolutely perfect.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting there thinking: "Can someone please give these characters a little dirt? They are supposed to be suffering, not promoting a beauty brand."

The filters don't help either. The skin smoothing is so intense that everyone looks like porcelain dolls. The close-ups are everywhere, and after a while, it feels less like storytelling and more like the camera is personally investigating every facial expression.

Even the action scenes struggle. The slap scenes especially made me laugh because the actors are standing several feet apart, swinging at empty air, and we're expected to believe there was contact.

I've seen more realistic fights between children arguing over a toy.

The CGI and effects also don't help. There are moments where the actors look like they are floating inside a fake world instead of actually being part of the scene.

But visuals are not the only problem.

The writing is where this drama really loses me.

The story had potential. The original novel had a strong foundation, interesting characters, and enough material to create something great.

Somehow, the drama took that potential and turned it into endless emotional suffering, repetitive conflicts, and characters making decisions that change depending on what the next episode needs.

The male lead is probably the biggest victim of this. One moment he is full of anger and determined to get revenge. The next moment, one emotional scene with the female lead happens, and suddenly everything changes.

Pick a personality. Pick a direction. Please.

The characters often feel like they exist to create drama rather than because they are real people with consistent motivations.

But the biggest disappointment for me is not only the weak writing or poor direction. It is the way the final product feels like it was handled by the production team — the people responsible for the quality control, editing, visuals, sound, and overall experience.

Because at the end of the day, a drama is not only the actors. There is an entire team behind it whose job is to deliver a finished product that respects the audience.

And honestly, the final result gives the impression that viewers and fans were taken for granted.

It feels like Zhang Linghe's recent popularity and the support of his fanbase were treated as a guarantee that the drama would succeed automatically. Like someone pressed the "autopilot success" button and assumed viewers would watch no matter what.

But viewers are not just numbers. Fans are not guaranteed ratings. People give their time, emotions, and support to these dramas. They deserve a production team that cares about delivering quality.

Having popular actors is not an excuse to lower standards. It should be the opposite. When you have talented actors, beautiful costumes, a big budget, and an audience waiting for your project, that should push you to do better.

What makes this even more frustrating is that Overdo had everything it needed to succeed. The cast was there. The resources were there. The opportunity was there.

But instead of creating something worthy of the actors and the audience, it feels like the drama relied too heavily on popularity to carry it.

And honestly, the direction doesn't help. The drama has beautiful actors, beautiful costumes, and a big production behind it, but somehow it still feels cheap.

The cinematography becomes repetitive very quickly: close-up, close-up, emotional stare, another close-up.

After a while, I started feeling like I was watching a collection of beautiful faces instead of an actual story.

The editing is also strange. Some transitions feel random, the music is everywhere, and there are moments where several songs seem to compete for attention during one scene.

I kept wondering: did anyone watch the final version before releasing it and think, "Yes, this works"?

Because I have questions.

And then we reached the ending.

After 33 episodes of watching these characters suffer, especially the male lead, the drama gives us an open ending.

An open ending.

After everything.

I didn't spend all those hours just to receive a giant question mark as a conclusion.

It felt like reading a 500-page novel and reaching the last page only to find a note saying: "Now imagine what happened."

No. I already imagined enough during the previous 33 episodes.

So here I am, 33 hours of my life later, with only one achievement unlocked:

I watched the leads fall from an airplane and land looking better than I do after a full night's sleep.

I wanted to love Overdo. I really did.

The cast had potential, the production had the resources, and the story had the foundation.

That's what makes it even more disappointing.

This wasn't a drama that had no chance. This was a drama that had everything it needed and somehow managed to waste it.

The actors tried. The visuals were pretty. The costumes were gorgeous.

But a beautiful package doesn't matter if there is nothing satisfying inside.

Thank you, Overdo, for teaching me an important lesson:

Sometimes the biggest plot twist is realizing the drama itself was the disaster.

ALWAYS REMEMBER: To the production team
The audience is not your safety net.
Fans are not something you can take for granted.
They are the reason your drama exists, your actors shine, and your success is possible.
Treat them with respect, because eventually they will stop giving you theirs.

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