Noway

For me it's going just great. They were confused and even angry with each other, and now when they start to see each other's real personalities, they are already involved with other people and have to deal with that. Romance part develops not too fast, quite realistic and exciting.

I watched the beginning of episode 34 and feel a bit better now, there is still hope.

I finished 33 and can't even continue, cause I am so devastated about how it all ended for Yu Huan and Xiao. My only hope is that while they didn't show her die, maybe she will survive somehow 😭. The whole river poisoning arc was very intense, friends turn to enemies and enemies to friends. Fei Lian really surprised me, I never expected him to become one of the most enjoyable characters for me. And Yu Huan and Xiao... they just have that dark chemistry, a feeling of impossible and doomed romance (sigh) 😭

Nooo, not the only one, but I nearly lost hope. The only option... that purple smoke that entered his head, remember? What if he became more cruel because of that...

I didn't read the novel, and I watched only some parts from animation, but I would prefer a more complicated Su Mo character. Currently he is just predictable and boring, while when he was angry or in that scene where he got his mirror power - that was exciting to watch! I would love to see more of that. I also think that they simplified relations between Kong San and mermaids too much, there was only one conflict initiated by elders, but there should have been more of that, And Su Mo and Zhen Lan could have much more nerve in their interactions, but in the drama there is no nerve at all, which is a pity. Everything is just too... pale.
That's why I like Yu Huan's part of the story. It has some nerve and mistery, which I can't yet figure out, while mistery of the story from 7000 years ago is very predictable and just makes me frustrated that it takes so much time for main characters to figure it out.

I am struggling through that, but I don't have impression of a strong FL at all there. She lost most of her fights, and I feel like she is gonna faint every time she speaks :D

Also, if characters are not gonna figure out faster, who the man in the Mirror Tower is, I am gonna smash my laptop. THINK FASTER FOR GODS SAKE.

I am on episode 31, and my assumption is that in drama version it's gonna be Zhen Lan who sacrifices himself at the end to open Wu city. He feels so useless (and scriptwriter just doesn't give him any chance to be usefull) and keeps being late/in coma/too weak to do something... Also, he probably gonna feel guity for what Lang Gan did.

You know, the problem is not in the length of screen time, but in the quality of scenes. You don't need 10 minutes to build emotions, 10 seconds could be enough, if done right. Main leads have quite long scenes together, but... nothing important or emotional happens. That's not a problem of secondary characters taking their time, but the writing of main leads' scenes and their acting. Unfortunately, for me it's more fun to watch, idk, Fei Lian and Yan Xi scenes or Yu Huan with his mermaid.

He is a delight. I love when he smiles while his eyes are sad, great acting.

I like his scenes and don't mind if they take time from main leads, who are quite boring. I actually like most of secondary characters more than main leads, so... if you don't need them, other viewers do 😝

In the novel this character does change, he drops his villainous plans after finding out some truth (I don't know the details, unfortunately). Yun Huan as character has a lot of fans, some continue to read novels only for him, this might be the reason creators changed his name in the drama - because they were gonna ruin this character :D
Liu Haikuan himself says that his character is very pitiful, being manipulated by other villains. It's a first time he plays villain, but unfortunately the script for his storyline is also not great, so for me it's hard even to tell what kind of a person he is or what he really wants. Maybe we will find out more at the very end.

I think there will be a twist about Yu Huan, at least Chinese fans suspect it.

I think these two dramas have a bit similar pattern and pacing. One investigation follows another, all being a part of one huge crime (I think it might be similar in The Autumn Ballad). But main leads relations are very different, and for now I enjoy TAB more, as I like [their bickering] how they start being very prejudiced towards each other, but still work together and just can't resist mutual attraction.

Long Ballad did struggle with plot and pacing near the end, but FL there was very cool. ALP on the other hand was slow to begin, but after about 10 episodes it has very good pacing, action, adventures and emotions. I really like the FL in the middle part, where she is reborn, she is weak in powers but sooo strong in character.

Ancient Love Poetry, The Long Ballad.
If you haven't watched "Imperial coroner", you should try it, I wouldn't say that FL is kickass there, but she has a strong will and is smart too, and she investigates together with a very smart main lead, so I find these two dramas a bit similar in this aspect.

I think she can act, but as some other viewers here I would expect a bit different behavior from a character she portrays. But her chemistry with the ML is just great, and that's why I ignore some acting flaws.

It's easy to say that she could think another way, but imagine you don't have job to earn money, property, power, influence, freedom to travel and live alone, imagine there are no authorities who would care that your family wants to basically sell you in sex slavery, and you have limited time to do something - and now think a way out. She does her best to not harm anyone's interests in the situation where noone cares about her interests at all.

I don't really like it too, but at least it's her own voice, lately I watched some dubbed dramas, and voices were terrible, also sounding slurred even for me, who doesn't understand Chinese 😀

Looks like in ep 13 she will tell him that she was the girl whom he saved?