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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Clever Spoof on C-dramas. Ep 22-23 is the best!

I probably only have 1 % interest in short dramas as I enjoy slow burn development but this one is hilarious! Its explores on all the standard custom c-drama tropes so if you watched enough of them you'll identify the scenes.

The starting scene: A crew shooting a costume drama but due to the female lead missing they used a stand in with a green face. Producer/ML actor yells cut !! and that's how the story begins. He keeps telling the screen writer to change the story and 9 FL later....... you pretty much will see a hot mess of all drama tropes. The best episodes are where the screen writer gets more lines and tells him what to do. (ep 22-23).

For such a short drama, I was surprised that the acting was pretty good. All 9 FL are beautiful and can act better than some well known actresses. The ML was definitely funny and his makeup going from a white idol skin face to a brown assassin face made me laugh so hard.

The only down side is that I heard there are 2 more stories (~6 ep) that didn't pass censorship. Such a shame because I would love to watch more!

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= Day Time Soap

I guess this is C-drama version of American Day Time soap and how did it ever get high stars that's just puzzling!

7 years of "misunderstanding" due to even tho we were married BUT I am going to believe any A Mao A Gou's words.
Scene started out w/ Evil jealous model followed by Evil jealous sister ex in law
followed by some over dramatic soapy music enters the FL
ML FL hate each other through hearsay. Nasty grandpa comes in chews her head off
Jealous rival of ML has a grand evil plot continues to target FL but no wait, final episode reveal it was over a hamburger!
This is straight up day time soap just needed some hair pulling and water splash on face action

What was good?
hmmm the little kid? Cutest boy ever memorizing all those lines.. Impressive!

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What's not to love about Zhang zi yi?

Yes not having a 16 year looking face is really distracting in the beginning but once you reach ep 10 you'll probably enjoy the story. Even her personality in the story is like a 30 year old so I wish they made the character at least in her late 20s. They also could've slowed down the love between the ML & FL as she seemed to fall for him pretty fast. It picks up more ep 16 on so be patient with this title as the cast, the story is very good. Although the story with political scheming isn't new but the stellar cast makes this drama a good watch. The high quality production with amazing costume design & cinematography is impressive esp ep 28 I was absolutely in awe.

Helan Zhen being the stand out character. He played a similar role in Rise of the Phoenix but it was short lived so happy to see him in this role.

Now I am near the end, the story is slow but I can't stop watching it because it feels like a fashion show with the endless costume designs. There are quite a few character's development that made the story have some depth but it's not a captivating. I didn't feel the love story was epic and I felt the love development was a bit quick no fault to the actors of course. The cast of actors were all very good. In the end despite the production / stellar cast , the story is not on the same level as a Joy of Life or Rise of Phoenix.

And I still love Zhangziyi !!

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Perfect 10 then crash & fall into the typical dreaded C-Drama ending!

Will this drama be remembered as one of the best of 23 or Worst ending of 23?

Up to Ep 18:
Legendary actress paired up with OST fan fav = Chemistry Explosion! Unlikely pairing magical to watch!
Granted going into this drama I was already a fan of both leads so my tolerance for possible drama plot holes may be higher.

Already what's working:
1. ML/FL Paring: You have ML Liu Yu Ning who may not be the best actor (but lots potential) has been a fan favorite for his personality and music talent. He is paired up with a veteran actress Liu Shi Shi, who pulls off the badass female assassin way better than idol actresses. She's beautiful & fierce and even though it's been ages since she's done a period costume drama, she still can do those fight scenes well. Together the chemistry is intense with the slow burn romance brewing. By ep 11 it will definitely hit those emotions.

2. Script/Storyline/Execution: The script flows very well with just the right amount of humor. Characters (including the important supporting characters) are multidimensional.

3. Strong supporting cast. The rescue princess group is very entertaining.
-Love seeing Alen Fang playing a flirtatious character rather than the typical serious prince. The character allowed him to showcase his range of acting skills. When he cried, it hit.
-Wang Yi Zhe, the doctor that delivers the one liner at the opportunist time is interesting as well.
-He Lan Dou: The naive princess with the MOST character growth in the drama. She's probably my favorite character.
-Chen You Wei: Such a cute character.
Kudos to the casting & acting!

4. Fight choreography. Superb for actors that are not professionally trained. Superb for Liu Shi Shi who's no longer in her prime. But yes, there's a lot of freeze shots ....

5. Lighting, make up is not crazy pasty makeup in overly dark lit settings.

6. OST - Amazing!

Cinematography is not amazing but good enough. I could use a little less comedic sound effects but all that is minor consider the quality of this drama.

30s episodes in, the drama went into a direction I was NOT hoping for. In too many C-dramas they just kill off all the characters and call it a day (probably they got tired of writing) I get it, much of the drama is about sacrificing for the greater good. When will script writers learn that there's a 1000 other ways to end the drama....

Even though ending sucked to me I still think it's an exceptional drama and worth rewatching until the leads got together.

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Crash course in proper casting

Honestly I don't understand why the rating is so high for this drama. There are 2 major issues that killed the drama for me.

1. Proper casting complete fail
Really no offense to the FL as I've seen her other works, however this is all about age appropriate casting based on the character. Lets say FL's character was around ~22 years old & ~13 years later she should at MOST be in the late 30s. FL actress is 50 and definitely looks older than her age. Literally ALL the other moms looked younger than her. So when there are comments like "Oh she looks too young to be a mom." .... umm she can be grandma status. Needless to say there was zero chemistry between the leads. Scenes were cringe worthy....

2. For a drama that was promoted as a romantic comedy it turned into a dark theme with murder suicide? Whole story line felt forced but predicable.

The only reason I continued is because of the strong student cast and some more interesting characters like Chi Yeol's scretary, the Detective & FL's bestie. This story line would've been better if it was more of a school series like Solomon's Perjury. It's already got the beautiful young talented actors in all the classic student roles. So if you skip literally all the ML/FL's scenes, this drama will be actually enjoyable.

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Important lessons from the imperfect victim

I've read a few reviews where the reviewer blames the victims of poor choices. This drama is for the mature audience with an open mind and a open heart. As the title suggests "imperfect victim" is just that. The young victim made all the wrong choices but that doesn't mean she deserved to be assaulted. Victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and/or rape often face society prosecution in addition to dealing with legal hurdles. Even in the U.S. the stats of % of women that are sexually harassed, assaulted, raped are staggering. Although this subject is rather heavy, the drama does contain a lot of good information worth knowing.

Cast:
FL lawyer - Amazing! I love her acting & her character.
FL Victim - I think she improved a lot as an actress but could be better.
ML the accused - He's one of my favorite veteran actors.
Strong supporting cast all around, my favorite being FL lawyer's side kick, the female cop & the ex security guard.

The drama introduces the FL lawyer entering a dinner party responding to a guest pressuring her to drink: "I will only have one drink. Anyone that expects more than 1 drink I will leave." She's confident, successful & powerful.

Separately the victim, who's young & beautiful. She's timid and one night got pressured into drinking till she passes out leading to a night of unfortunate events. Later on she's judged as the gold digger and a party girl because she was drinking with powerful old men. She didn't say "No" therefore she was "fine" with it even if all her body language clearly shows she detested all that was going on.

There are going to be lots of frustrating scenes but it's also realistic and maybe it can bring more awareness on social norms that need to be changed & on laws that need to be improved upon.

Well done drama with a very good cast on a topic that's often overlooked. Probably not going to be a popular drama but I think it would be beneficial especially for women to watch this.

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Thrilling all the way

If you love crime solving mysteries this would be very enjoyable. The story involves the tragic death of a beautiful girl who's life was already miserable. It will hit home with many of us who grew up under these unhealthy cultural norms. It will hit home when the victim's parents yelled out "I gave you life!" Therefore that gift of life justifies controlling the kid's every decision in life ultimately leading to her death. The toxic love that prior generation can't see as an issue until it's too late.

As the story continues it also focuses on the FL cop marriage struggles. Her inability to separate her job from her husband. Her mental state deteriorated as the case continued to the point of ruining her relationship with a perfect husband. Although the story ended on a high note, it was frustrating watching that relationship breakdown.

What I loved:
1. Cast. Every actor played their character well. This is the first time I've watched Song Jia (FL)'s work and she's amazing in this role.
Wang Yang - He's been one of my favorite veteran actor.
Hou Wen Yuan (supporting cop) - Hope I see him in more roles in the future
2. Overall story. Satisfying ending with many love & love to hate characters
3. Pacing of the story was very good. I like that the case had few twist and turns but not excessive.
4. Dialogue - Mature, insightful, relatable

Only dislike:
1. FL went overboard IMO by ep 12

It would be cool to see future dramas based off on this FL.

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Hope they stop making the series but....

S4 ended w/ well S5

I watched S1, S2, and S4. S1 is still my favorite.

S3 not available on Viki or Netflix so can't watch it. It's not that the acting wasn't great because despite the ML changing, each MLs were excellent.
The English actors weren't great though. They sounded like they were reading a script just memorized.
S4 story wasn't strong, rather it felt unnecessary grotesque. I was distracted by the bad wig many episodes.
FL: There's utterly no character development on her part. How she started acting is how she ended.

My favorite part is actually the supporting role of Shim Dae Shik (Golden time detective that was in S1) who came back. I loved his character. There's depth and complexity in his acting which is much more memorable to me than the FL. If you watched him in While you were sleeping, you'll just love his acting all that much more.

If they move on to S5 I'll still feel pot committed to watch it, but I won't expect much either.

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