Bright Dimples start but Crash landing 2nd half!

Just got watching Zhou Yi Ran (ML) in School drama "When I fly to you" now here he is in another lovely school drama.

First 15 Ep. 9 stars!

1. It's not a drama where there's one sided love of an academically challenged FL acting 10 years younger & chasing a silent ML trying to overcome some trauma. FL lead is smart and complex. She's a little bit of everything.
2. Drama feels more realistic. FL is from a divorced family trying to deal with all the sudden changes on her own. Adjusting to a new city, new school & a new blended family forced her to be more mature.
3. ML: Zhou Yi Ran plays another quiet boy role but his character comes from a different kind of family hardship.
These 2 meet and a connection forms as they can relate to each other through thoughts and actions even before finding out about each other's situations.
4. Chemistry: FL has cute dimples & ML has cute dimples. What a GREAT pairing! Yes I am a sucker for dimples.
5. Good supporting characters. Good friends & characters is a must!
6. No unrealistic over toxic characters so far.......
7. The brother from the blended family. He will grow on you.

After ep 15 it drops to 3 stars. It feels like a complete different drama! What just happened!?!? Did they change writers?
Anticlimactic the way they met again in college and resolved the past
Lack of time on supporting character's development and relationship development.
Introduction of toxic characters that's not needed
FL takes a back seat and the focus is 70% on the ML's dream
Choices became less logical

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10 episodes that should've been cut in 5

Let's just start with Season 1 was a 10 for me. It had ALL The exciting elements that YES finally S2 is here! And then it felt ..... draggy & flat, completely anti climatic. NO fault to the actors and I know people are complaining about the change of the FL. No chemistry etc. Personally I think the script is the problem. Naksu's character shouldn't have deteriorated to a sick love puppy that only in ep 8 did her original personality started to show. Progression was terrible!! If the story isn't there don't drag it out like what C dramas tend to do & just ended. Instead they filled it with flashbacks, blank stares, forced comic lines at the wrong times, and hot red birds ep 1-7.

S2 managed to recover the initial glory in ep 8-10 and ended with a semi satisfying ending but it should've been so much better. The cast did an amazing job regardless!

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Easy to love the cast but hard to love story

I love thrillers/murder mysteries and it's been a while since new psycho killer dramas. Kim Young Kwang with his jokerish smile was a great choice for this role and there's no question the whole cast can act but the weakness is in the script.  
The dialogue felt slow.

By Ep 6 I am just like what is this sloppy nonsense?  Literally poor decisions all around.

Why did disabled cop go meet him alone?
Why did she go party first before calling her colleague about discovering ...?
LGBT Shaman storyline felt random
ML and ML only shared a few lines and deeply connected?  There really should've been some development with that.
Overly dark lighting
Radom fingers on the phone screen...............

Lost potential with this great cast because there could've been so many interesting storylines:
ML back scar story?
FL first gambling hall employer?
FL and Cop friend, how were they able to grow close then fell apart at some point?
How did she become that way?
Shaman and cop, what's the story there?
FL & ML 's emotional connection at a deeper level?

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Almost worked

I usually skip Dilraba Dilmurat works as I don't think she has chemistry with anyone. Yes she's beautiful and her acting skills gotten better but she still didn't pull off what the story required. Her big eyes always looked kind of blank & I am sure there will be lots of people offended with that comment.

What worked:
Story - overall interesting at least for the first 30 ep. Then the last portion dragged on w/ the the evil witch
Character growth was well written: FL, the princess & Hao Du were my top 3
Strong overall cast and supporting cast:
Zhao Lu Si (Princess) - I always watch her dramas even the subpar ones. She's always a delight to watch. Her character growth was the best in this drama.
Liu Yu Ning (Hao Du) - Loved his character the most
Leo Wu (Ashile Sun) - The little kid that was in Nirvana Fire grew up! Ok I didn't think he had any character development but every drama needs that hero
Random super cool swordsman - standard new character introduction with a pop in rescue
Ending - It's NOT the typical everyone dies kind

What didn't work:
2nd 1/2 - dragged on and the whole evil plot wasn't that entertaining
The disappearing martial arts of the FL. It happens a lot in many dramas. Fierce FL started out can beat a 100 men and then as the story goes, she needs to get rescued by literally everyone
Not enough screen time of Zhao Lu Si & Hao Du. There was a huge gap where she just didn't even appear in any episodes

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Should've been 24 ep.

There's nothing special about this series so the fact that they stretched out to 42 is pretty tiring. I do like easy watch cliche dramas but it has to be executed well with cute dialogue and a fun cast.

1. FL - insanely gorgeous but her personality wasn't consistently likeable . The start was rough with her randomly accusing the ML of stealing. They should've wrote some believable encounter.
2. ML - Over controlling passed the likeable stage. He's bi - polar through out most of the series: sometimes nice, most times unbearable.
3. 2nd ML - Very cute, this character was executed well. This is your standard non existent human like supportive male character who just want the FL's happiness

Side characters:
Too many nasty characters all targeting the FL
It was a struggle to finish the series with all the crappy side characters

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Can't escape the typical drama trope

I am sure every XZ fan has been waiting for this highly anticipated drama.

This is a big production so definitely some beautiful costumes, sets & cinematography (i.e ep 1 with the dessert)
XZ visuals .... I mean probably the most important reason why I can't drop this drama. It is a shame that they used too much orange tone on his face. Some scenes the lighting makes both his cheeks and eye lids super ORANGE which is completely distracting.
Good supporting cast overall with many familiar faces. I particularly like Zhi Yuan's character, a worthy 2nd lead.
FL .... This is a tough one as I never felt any female lead in his past works ever matched him equal level. Zhao Lusi (in Oh! My Emperor) was pretty good but XZ was the 2nd lead there. Wu Xuan Yi (in Douluo Continent) came very close but I am still waiting for that perfect pairing.
It doesn't help that Ren Min's character falls into that typical drama trope FL (which is not the actress fault). The character never really matured. She's did a decent job but I just don't see the chemistry. She's cute in her own way but not FL worthy.

Ep 31 in that's when the drama gets into the ridiculous misunderstandings followed by a hot mess of an ending:
-Multiple resurrections & death
-Multiple memory loss
-Multiple soul possessions

Sadly this will be a just another ok watch that's completely forgettable.

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Best Cutest FL ever!

This is one of those cliches done right for me. Yes you can't avoid the catch and fall, piggy back moments but doesn't mean a standard plot can't be amazing!

What I love:
1. Great dialogue. One of the wittiest dramas ever (and I watched plenty). I hope English translations later on can capture 1/2 of the cleverness of the conversations.
2. FL - She's not a big name yet but she can act. Her cute expressions are not "forced". I love her character so much. She's smart and witty but far from perfect. She's a genius in her designs but can't cook and doesn't know much about Chinese poetry. Love that she's confident and doesn't let her short comings get to her.
3. ML - Visually he's a bit old for her but his character is classic cold on the outside but kind on the inside. This part is pretty standard for most of these dramas however they didn't over do on the standard cold CEO because he actually has a personality! 1. He doesn't have a scar that spark up any illness (just pure hatred and plan to destroy the world but still!) and 2. He doesn't do those over the top male dominating scenes.
He's witty with lots of comebacks, straight forward without cheesy lines. I love the way he turned down the other girl. Maybe some people will see him as cold and mean but way to nip that in the butt.
4. It's not a cheesy love at first sight but through time working together and understanding each other that they fell for each other.
5. Divorced parents - no overbearing mom here but she adopted 2 more children. Heartwarming family dynamic.
6. Very few disgusting characters - they limited them here and w/ minimal lines. Well done! lets not waste drama time on this
7. 2ML Lu Yi Ming - The adopted brother who's perfect! I loved his character in Mr. Fighting as Zhao Xiao Bei and his character here is completely different and yet still perfect.

Downfall
1. Ke Ke character - self pity to the fullest peaked at disgusting level at ep 29.

Hope more people will discover this drama.

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For YY fans only

The script is nothing new & dialogue is boring. The ONLY reason to watch this is for YY fans. If you are average YY fan then "You are my Hero" is similar to this but with way better characters & dialogue.

Nothing against the actors but you can only do so much with a boring script.
FL has no reasons to be so timid in front of the mom
FL has zero personality based on the script
Creepy bro has no reason to be so possessive of FL
ML is overly cold towards FL
FL's adoptive mom is a must skip
Only positive is the actual rescue parts. Very patriotic and something to be wished for actual rescue workers.

Strong supporting characters but with little screen time.
Why is Vin Zhang ONLY a guest role?

Sadly this drama failed expectations. Watch "you are my hero" instead.

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Hard to watch

As much as this drama is filled w/ A list cast and A list supporting cast but the script itself its hard to like. The story started off intense with badass ML that even Italian Mafia can't mess with. Song Joong Ki's baby face wasn't exactly believable for the role but I still enjoy his acting. So as flames go up in ep 1 I am thinking K2 kind of drama coming up, hopefully he'll stop trying to speak Italian and just go into more action! Then came the over the top characters trying too hard to be funny. Most are just filler side characters that failed to be humorous at all. Maybe some people do enjoy this but the frequent switching back and forth between cool Vincenzo & idiotic forced humor really threw the whole drama off for me.

I love all the actors so I made myself watch through the drama however it was a struggle to be engaged in the drama. If they just stick to the story as an action drama instead of the absurd comedy nonsense it would've been a hit. My favorite part of the story is Jang Han Seo's character and the relationship developed between him & Vincenzo. Story deserves a redo!

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Niche comedy drama

If you only enjoy idol costume drama you'll just need to avoid this one. This is a niche comedy drama probably only Chinese speakers can understand.
The whole cast has a local accent, not like an imitated one but natural sounding heavy accent.

Story starts out with Chang Zai, a timid cook (ML) just want a wife. He end up standing in for his Twin brother Chang Hai as the legendary sect leader navigating his way through the world of martial arts. I don't think there's really a directional plot because most of the episodes are just silly every day happenings.

Most of the comedy pokes fun of the martial arts world and not everyone will find it funny. I personally enjoyed it on the side and thought it was pretty entertaining.

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Wish ZLS would stop picking these roles

Being a ZLS fan I wish she'd be more selective with her roles.

Troubled drama:
1. Single line story line. It's fine if its paper thin story line with some witty dialogue but .... you can sum this up in 1 line so why so many episodes?
2. Wrong age casting: Little zls played by a great young actress but she's 10 playing a 14 yr old. In love like galaxy ZLS played a 15 year old just fine. Total avoidable pedophile feel.
3. ML keep on referring himself as "Ge ge" in 3rd person. Like no one talks like that EVER. In English, it's like saying something like : "Big bro will take you home... " "Tell big bro blahblahblah" "Big bro refer to self as big bro...."
4. ZLS downplay her age way too much. Her voice is always baby sounding even when she reached college age.
5. She keeps saying "I am adult now." "I am mature now." while sounding 14.....
5. Making big deal on 5 year difference even in college. That's just silly....

Few positives:
1. Her parents are both characters I loved in Love like Galaxy. Both positive parenting in this drama.
2. Her real brother scenes are funny, like a real brother "Big Dumb Dog"
3. ZLS's hair. She has great hair, beautiful highlights.

I can see 12 year olds would probably like this drama....

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Boring typical script

Watch it on the side if you really REALLY like Xu Kai else this is too similar to
Fight Break Sphere and The Blood of Youth (2022) but less interesting....

Typical script but too boring:
Hard life for the ML growing up parent-less.
Suppressed unspeakable power waiting to break out.
Jealous "friend" waiting to turn into foe.
Love at first sight but no chemistry.
Few forced comedic moments but not funny.
No strong interesting side characters.
Good vs Evil (with the signature black smoke) on the quest for the ultimate power.

Typical story/script works just fine if the dialogue is interesting along with all the other enjoyable elements of ancient drama land (cinematography, costume design, fight choreography, casting, side characters etc)

Sadly it never got better.

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Never ending staring contest

As much I love the actress (she's in Bloody Romance) and as much as I enjoyed the first Go Go Squid this was a struggle for me to continue. I'll probably play on the side and eventually finish it.

Boring start and really not romantic if you think through:

1. Love at first sight feeling <-- ML liked her for 7 years prior to meeting her. Meets her instantly reaffirming he only wants to be with her (w/o any deeper understanding) but I guess that's "romantic" to some? He goes away boom ! another 3 years pass by and that's a total of 10 years already!!! They meet again the story continues.
4 ep in and already lots of staring ............... w/o words ............ just staring with some drama blinks.
14 ep in still not together but lots lots lots eye meets eye w/o words .... frozen in ep.

2. Supporting couple: the sister & Grunt <--- again immediate like w/o no interaction? He hijacks her drink, hoovers over her while she just stares at his hotness and that's how they met. Ep later in the bar she asks him while drunk "Do you like me?" and makes you wonder did you miss all the interaction in between?
First kiss ------------- kissing a drunk girl 1/2 conscious ? yeah NOT romantic

Story so boring compared to Go Go Squid 1 but there are quite a few fine looking faces if that can hold your interest.

**Update** Amazing I finished it at 2x speed because I am not a quitter. But nothing happened. Plot stayed boring as ever.

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HARD left field PLOT turn @ ep 16

This is a low budget Xian Xia drama started with a promising story line 8/10

I didn't mind the mediocre acting as I've seen the actors in their other works. I even enjoyed "A girl like me" with Neo Hou in it. But you are not going to feel the sadness when there's death or crying scenes because it's just not that moving. Not to mention there isn't an OST to help with that kinds of scenes.
I also didn't mind the cheesy CGI as some of the "Yao" are super kiddish cute and silly

Positives so far:
1. Good story line until ep 16
2. Beautiful cast not ruined by Xian Xia OTP makeup (i.e. Till the end of the moon)
3. Good multi dimensional interesting characters
-FL not overly annoying or weak. I love that she's honest and forthcoming with her feelings
- ML dragon emotional scars warranted for the initial reactions
- Bai Xiao Sheng (with his bad hair) provided so many comical relief
- Su Ying , crazy dragon stabber. I love that she's NOT a single dimensional antagonist. There is actual a reason to her hatred towards all Yao. Sure she took it to the crazy psycho B level but hey all xian xia dramas need one.

Then ...... ep 16 happens and then you are like uhhhh that came out of left field!
Literally the plot turn could've been avoided by 1 line "BRB" but "Bruh..."
Bai Xiao Sheng becomes the 2nd lead flip switch
Enters a flood of characters.... but I am happy to see (Liu Yao Yuan who was in The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty)

Last 10 ep plot is a hot mess IMO and feels like they are trying to stretch out the episodes with prolonged slow motions. 1.25x speed and they are still walking in slow motion.... Super draggy until the end.

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Fantastic Acting by the Trio! Bai Lu is the best character!

Crime thrillers in C-dramas often lacks graphic scenes and it's probably best as one of the case is quite grotesque. Rather than focusing on the detail of the cases, the character Bai Lu is what's most captivating about this drama.

These are rather short episodes, only 20 min long so 32 ep goes by quickly although 2 of the cases were pretty average and predictable. 1st 1/2 way better than 1/2 half (common themes in C-dramas)

Bai Lu played by Li Yuan is the best that I've seen of that manly independent strong female character. She's semi broken & complex. Her comebacks can be witty or fierce.
Actor Yuan Hao is always solid in every role that I've seen him in but his screen time is rather limited.
GuYu is a forensic doctor that teams up after the first case. There's a great scene with her and Bai Lu in ep 14 that showcased both actresses acting skills.

The only thing I wished for and this goes for most crime C dramas is that the pace of solving each case should be way slower. There should be more build up finding evidence leading to suspects.

Last case circles back to GuYu but ..... kinda lacking in plausibility.

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