I was excited to start this one - I loved the trailer and I have been wanting to give Ivy Shao another chance. I waited for all the episodes to come out so I could do a proper binge, as I knew I was really going to like this one and would probably finish the 20 eps in a weekend. Instead, I felt that this drama fell flat.

I liked how it contained mythology that I assume was realistic and would have provided a much-needed background for the viewers. Unfortunately, this was not the case for me so I sat back and just tried to enjoy the storyline, assuming that these "rules" or "laws" were true. I also enjoyed that this wasn't a traditional drama where the two mains meet and become friends and fall in love - the two mains were "star-lovers" who have been fated for the past 1000 years, but have also been "separated" due to an agreement that was made in the past. During this 1000 year "separation,' they have been both working in the underworld; Cheng Kui, as a superstar devil punisher, and Lady Meng, as an underworld tea maker that creates a serum that helps recently deceased spirits forget their troubles and memories of their past life in order to be ready to be reincarnated. One day, a malicious spirit takes Lady Meng hostage while blowing up an important bridge in the underworld, and Cheng Kui makes it his mission to find her in the mortal realm. But this isn't a story about him only trying to find her and bring her back to the underworld, as this happens within the first episode. This was a mystery crime drama about the two mains, while being accompanied by other supernatural characters and some mortal ones, trying to solve the mystery of the malicious spirit behind the underworld explosion that results in a bigger issue and test that goes back 1000 years.

I saw a lot of similarities from this series as I did in Korean dramas Black (2017) https://mydramalist.com/23772-black & Bring It On, Ghost (2016) https://mydramalist.com/18468-bring-it-on-ghost; and honestly, if you are looking for a "better" drama, I would recommend these 100%.

I felt that this drama was lacking emotion and character building. Yes, it did have these elements in it, but I needed more. There were so many scenes that were supposed to be extremely emotional, such as all the goodbye scenes between families and their deceased loved ones before they had to go to the underworld, but ultimately fell flat due to us not really knowing these people and connecting with them. Plus all the scenes felt a little long and the goodbyes a little dragged out. I wanted to sob along with these families, but I honestly felt that I had no heart while watching this.

I also didn't connect with the mains as much as I wanted to. If they were fated lovers from the past, I wanted to know their stories from the past and felt that the writer/director could have done a better job with this. Yes, Lady Meng was learning and getting her memories back slowly (after losing them all when she came to the mortal realm), but I wish we got to learn more about the past as she did. Everything was told to us in the present and I didn't feel a connection whenever they brought up anything from the past.

The things that I liked -->

- Cheng Kui's hamster smile
- Cheng Kui, Lady Meng, Lu Bo Ya, Ouyang Kai, & Cheng Huang's teamwork
- Everything really about Ouyang Kai
- Everything about Lu Po Ya also

I honestly did feel extremely bad for Ouyang Kai as he was forever always getting beat down by Li En Xi, but he played a very important role in this drama. And honestly, he went through the MOST if not the only one who went through character development. I loved how he was this son of a mobster who accidentally ran into Lady Meng & En Xi completely on accident, but ended up getting wrapped up in their world and became Cheng Kui's sidekick. There, he learned that he could use his admirable skills in a positive way, and also hopefully become a better man and also get the girl. He was my favorite.

Then we have actor Anson Chen, who was out here doing his best at playing Po-Ya. He wasn't the "best" actor, BUT he did bring something extra to his role that I admire.

Overall, this drama did fall a bit flat for me. I think around episode 5, I really wanted to drop it, but I kept pushing on for my two boys. I think around episode 15, it started to pick up again as Lady Meng decided she was going to take matters into her owns hands and needing to figure out her memories and how she was related to the villain. And I will say that I am happy that I decided to finish this drama because the last episode was really good. I honestly, wished that the emotion from the last episode (because yes - I did tear up a little because of one of the side characters) would have played out more in the previous 19 episodes. It was almost like they finally figured out how to go about these emotional scenes, but it was too late as it was the last 30 minutes of the last ep. But as much as I liked the last episode, I felt that the writer just couldn't leave it with an emotional happy ending and decided to add a few "bubblegum" details to make it extremely positive. I was honestly...a bit irked by the added details, but whatever. Me giving this drama 6.5 is being generous.