Cambear
Although it’s contempary, it’s a bit of a fantasy about life as a superstar and the luxury life. Not totally realistic, but this is a rom com and not a documentary. Just focus on the love-hate-love romance which is well executed by capable actors. Additionally, there’s a young Dilraba who demonstrates she started her schtick early and has refined it in recent years.
So this is a sweet rom com that’s fluffy and fun.
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I really enjoyed the ensemble parts of this with the three main leads. All of them play their roles well and are a lot of fun. The super complicated second half with the big serial killer was a bit too much for me when I really wanted them to get back to the characters and less on the story. I like Wallace and Sandra so I was hoping the end story would also include them more, but it’s really plot focused.
People who love crime thrillers will undoubtedly like the second half more than I did.
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Also, the adorable child tends to steal a lot of his scenes. Thank goodness he’s not bratty and it’s his endearing warmth and energy that makes this critical character work.
This is solid viewing and one that holds up over time. If you want to give your heart a workout, this is a good choice.
(Also loved the tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss it Ethan Ruan cameo.)
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What worked? There are some fun bits with the gender reversal and a slow-burn hate-to-love romance that I’m always a sucker for.
What didn’t work? The humor was extremely broad (fart jokes, vomiting) which is not my favorite kind of comedy. Also, some of the male-gaze scenes way too broad as well. This is a comedy and fairly low-brow so it’s not like the characters are well-developed or there’s a a great plot.
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The comedy isn’t based on broad characters, but rather having fun with time travel and pop culture. It’s earnest and happy which makes for a lot of fun in a unique way.
The leads handle the fun and romance so you just cheer them on, no matter how ridiculous or outrageous the situation.
After bingeing so many long dramas, it’s nice to have a short and complete story in two episodes. No needless plot twists to keep things going. Watch this one for a refreshing light rom com.
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The series starts off strong with the game play and reality stories mixing things up. After a while, the focus shifts more towards the real world and some of the fun and novelty wear off. The characters prize looks waaaaaaayyyyyy too much and the secondary love story was completely not interesting once the girl turned overly cutesy and obnoxious.
So very strong start, but things sputter a bit later on. Thankfully it stays away from some tropes which redeems back some stars.
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There’s also plenty of romance with sparkling chemistry between the leads and great supporting cast. It’s nice to see some new and talented folks shine.
This is lower budget so some of the special effects are cheesy and the costumes are, well, different. (Several muppets died to provide the 14th prince’s wardrobe.) Still, that doesn’t takeaway from the overall impact of this fun series.
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Fun rom com that breaks common tropes
This was a fun rom com that breaks a lot of tropes (which I can’t mention because they are spoilers) and it’s refreshing to see that wealth is not the most important thing. (People actually ride the bus!) So the story has more original and likeable characters thanks to a terrific cast.Sure there’s a few plot points that dragged a bit, but overall I liked this a lot more than I expected. It’s funny and it’s got heart and it really tries to shake up the usual characters.
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Both of the leads are great and can sell some awful storylines. They are the reason that I made it to the end of this series.
The writers think the audience is too since the flashbacks are excess, sometimes random and sometimes quoting something that happened 10 seconds before. Literally. ugh.
There is no character development. The really awful characters get away with everything and the good guys are so stupid they let them. I liked the second male lead in Goodbye My Princess, but his character is so inconsistent (and stupid) that I started to question his acting capabilities. The writing is THAT BAD. Characters pop up for their plot point and then leave for a half dozen episodes for no reason. it’s super lazy writing.
And the plot! So predictable and every cliche you can imagine.
Really I watched for the adorableness of Zhang Ming En, but towards the end, the writers really shortchanged him with very little material. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
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But with 20 episodes, there isn’t as much character development as you normally see in a series. There are some bits here and there, but not a lot. The inevitable relationships are pretty predictable, but not totally satisfying.
So it’s a popcorn adventure with some interesting twists, but not very involving.
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Lots of great stuff and one character I could do without
Epic fantasy with lots of action, conflict and slow-burn romance. Great characters to power the 58 episodes....with one notable exception.I know some people are fans of the hyper cutsey Dilraba, but she plays the same character and it gets on my nerves. This time, her character seems like a bubbly, selfish doll with the mental age of 13 who wants to get their way no matter what damage it does to others. A-Li is far more mature. To me, no one is cute enough to get away with the selfish stuff she does so I started to roll my eyes whenever her character was on screen. Also, she’s so immature, it’s kind of icky when she’s chasing relentlessly after someone who’s got the gravitas of great grandpa. Ick.
Luckily the main romantic conflict works with a couple of the usual misunderstandings and such.
Also, there is the most adorable child in the story which is just too cute for words.
Overall, I enjoyed the story though it feels a bit more by-the-numbers. Aside from the one big fault (that some people actually like), I liked this one a lot.
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