Chokao

Thank you but as mentioned I don't like streaming illegally because of the ads. Also I'm a millenial. I do most of literally everything on my computer not on my phone. I'm just gonna be patient until I can see the series on a proper screen in good conditions.

Fine by me ^^ as I said, as I haven't read the novel I'm glad the drama ML is alive and well once she wakes up in present time.

This being said, the drama is not available on Prime in my country and for some reason, it doesn't work even using a VPN. I guess I need to have an account created with a VPN set in the US to access it...

Only hope now is either this getting available on Viki or on some 🏴‍☠️ websites... Because I have an account on IQiyi but it's not there either. I don't want illegal streaming websites because it's full of ads... I prefer to download but my usual website's links are all dead. Hopefully they reupload them or it gets available on Viki.

I don't mind that much though, because I've only started to really get into C drama 3 years ago... and the amount of C dramas that I want to watch is just insane so... Even if it only gets available in 5 years, that's fine.

Depends.
Basically just so you know: the ending... is a VERY open one so that can be frustrating.
I also personally thought that the drama felt slow... Some people like the directing... Others don't.

It's beautiful but the drama is DARK. Like it feels dark. I haven't seen a single C drama so far that has such a dark atmosphere. Everything feels heavy.

This being said, this was actually the drama that made me discover Cheng Lei... and he literally stole the show. I'd say he's the main draw here with the dude acting as his younger brother. Cheng Lei is the master of brooding and he doesn't it perfectly here. He has this dark, mysterious and menacing aura that literally draw viewers in.

Anyway I personally have conflicted feelings about this drama... But if you want to watch it for Cheng Lei... Well go for it. I've only seen him in Familiar Stranger, this drama and The Legend of the Female General but out of all three, this is to me, his best role... But not necessarily his best drama if you see what I mean.

It's not the familiar tropes. I really DON'T MIND the tropes. In fact I LOVE tropes including the ones you personally mentioned you were tired off i.e toxic ML. IN FICTION, I love my ML to be walking red flags, jealous, possessive and suspiscious. And enemies to lovers is one my ultimate favorite trope ( with gender bender.... btw I wish we could get BOTH all the time :D)

It's more how the story has been woven. It's an endless loop of damsel in distress due to naivety most of the time, than Sima Jiao saving the day and hurting himself in the process. And you get that several times on repeat.
The problem to me stems not from the repetitiveness of the situation but rather on the fact that you cannot help but notice that the same situation is on repeat which is basically a writing issue.

But again, I'm not saying the show is bad... I mean a rating of 7.5 or 8 (depending on how I'll feel watching the last episode) is not a bad rating.

Some people (not you) are acting like the "opinion police" and we should all think the same and want to argue as if you could convince people to change how they feel. Or as if the fact that I feel differently from them puts a stain on the drama or like I'm raining on their parade or something. I just don't get it.

Lol. It's cool I understand I'm part of the minority. I don't mind diverging opinion. Just as I wrote above, there's quite a lot of things that works better in this drama if you're really digging the main couple... which is sadly not my case.

I see the intention but I can't get into them... When I see both actors looking at each other, I don't see "love", I see "actors acting love"... probably because to me their romance is way overplayed.

This being said that's not my main issue with this drama, it's the fact that the plot is basically running in an endless repetitive loop. But It's cool you feel differently. MDL is also a place to share diverging opinions.

Yeah I think Wasted Potential is the right expression. It could have been GREAT, but now I'm only going to remember this one as a one-time watch.

Ah sorry about that.
The baby voice in LBAFD was horrendous... Took me a while to get used to it as well but I loved the show too much to give it up because of it.

Yeah Sima Jiao becomes a major Simp... In fact he becomes SO MUCH of a simp that even already weakened, he weakens himself even more just to satisfy the FL.

For instance, without spoiling too much, at some point the FL has lost lots of her cultivation because of some things... So in order for her to regain her cultivation, Sima Jiao asks one of his lackey to make some blood pills (his blood of course) to help her regain her cultivation... BUT before giving them to her, he tastes them to see if they're not too bitter... And they redo them literally 3 TIMES until the sweetness is okay for her.

Each time they have to extract his blood and at that point in the story, Sima Jiao is in such a state that every wound he gets takes a ridiculous amount of time to heal. He's already REALLY weakened and yet to satisfy her tastebuds, dude literally bleeds out repeatedly.

And that's not the only thing he does for her at the cost of his own safety.

The FL, honestly... The only times she's showing some spunk or some spark of intelligence is when she has to basically make up for the consequences of her stupidity... which backfired on Sima Jiao of course...

Not everything is her fault... But at some point, when you've been fooled repeatedly, you should learn a thing or two about being cautious around your "supposed friends" especially when the person who treats you with such devotion is not liked by said "friends".

I understand they wanted to tell this huge love story but I'm like you on that... WHY OH WHY Do SO MANY C drama MLs become such idiots once they're smitten with their girls?

I disagree about the CGI... Honestly it's top notch...
But no it doesn't get better later. Don't feel bad for dropping it. LBFAD is an ultimate favorite of mine as well and plotwise this show has a lot in common with it from an outside point of view but it just doesn't hold a candle to it imho. I wrote a comment about it below.

Anyway, I think the majority is really in love with the main couple so they're able to get past most of the flaws of this show but if you're part of the minority, it's okay. You're not alone. Especially the "sluggish part". I can totally relate. I felt it from the first episode but it didn't bother me but now (watching on Viki so last episode 27), it's starting to make watching this show, pretty tedious. I think it has a lot to do with the directing.

The story is turning pretty repetitive. If you're not that much into the main couple for a variety of reasons which I'm too lazy to detail, past the first arc... Well not that great.
One review compared this show to Love Between Fairy and Devil... and sadly it's pretty spot on... except that in LBFAD you're not under the impression that the story is just an endless loop of plot points repeating themselves.

Some people have commented that the story went downhill at some point... and I used to disagree... But now on episode 27, I understand. Once this couple get together there is no character progress whatsoever, Sima Jiao becomes a simp, and Ting Yan is repeatedly endangered with Sima Jiao sacrificing himself to save her.

It's getting old.

The music is Ok, but for the life of me, that Rock action song they put everytime makes my ears bleed. It just doesn't fit the genre in my opinion.

Still, it's beautiful, CGIs are top notch, costumes are a treat, direction is not the greatest but visually it's so beautiful one can disregard it...
Sadly, the story started great and fell flat on its face.

Well... I'm probably gonna rate this one between 7.5 and 8. It's not that bad of a drama, but all its visual quality cannot save the repetitiveness of the plot.

Forgot I had watched that drama yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaars ago when it came out. Really enjoyed it. It was before Park So Dam was diagnosed and she was getting lots of roles... Sadly her health plummeted soon after and we don't see much of her these days... I guess she's prioritizing her health to avoid getting other health issues back but it's sad... She should have been so big now...

Yeah I saw that comment... I'm planning on watching it at some point... But for the moment I'm going to stick to dramas with MLs with descent haircuts. Yeah I'm shallow, but the ML's haircut in that drama makes my eyes bleed.

I personally suggested in another comment that they could have made a first episode with the FL and the ML still in their youth. They get into a common accident in which they dream of the future and see what's in store for them.
That would only take 1 episode, 2 at most because that's basically the only thing we see in the present during the first episode.
Than they wake up from their comma in episode 2 or 3 and act based on what they've seen and we get the drama we saw without the frustration and shitty ending.

So basically what they did with Legally Romance. I just don't understand why they didn't do that to get past the censorship issue. That's the easiest solution ever and at least you don't alienate your audience. It's not like they really followed the novel anyway.

I read somewhere that in the novel the FL and ML mostly communicate through emails or whatev' so they're not even lovey dovey like in the drama so why care about sticking strictly to the original premise?

I think they really didn't care about it ended... It was just the "reglementary 10 minutes BS to pass the censorship bureau" hence why they didn't even bother to wrap it up properly.

Also the real world Zhou Shi Yun hasn't changed at all. She got her job in the company by basically using her ( supposedly) romantic relation with Lin Jia Dong to steal a position from Xue Jiao (though the drama doesn't tell if she knows Xue Jiao was supposed to get that job). It doesn't make sense that she would call back Gu Ming Ze as if she has some romantic interest in him when he ended up working at an internet café.

Anyway. This shitty ending only remotely works for the main couple not the rest... But since as far as I'm concerned the drama ended at the marriage proposal I really don't care.

I think we all need to learn something regarding these time travel/reincarnation C dramas. If it's well done, remember the ending, but if it's a whole bunch of frustrating nonsense like here, just consider it's not cannon and after the happy ending, they all partied and drank too much which led to this final hallucination.

Lol Yes ^^This being said if you do fall for the Novel ML or Drama Love Interest n°3, you can just stop Scent of Time at episode 29 according to
what theotherayn has told me.

Personally I understand readers were frustrated, but I mean... The poster does show the Drama ML so... err come on' they should have known!

As for me, in my long drama journey, I only rooted 3 times for the 2nd ML, and it was only because the ML was just a terrible person... So no risk ^^

I won't. I'm always team ML because I don't like to break my heart... I only rooted 3 times for the SML in my very long drama journey so no stress ^^

Which is also why I dropped the drama Love Alarm after the first season.

Dunno if you've watched it but basically they introduced 2 guys in the first season. Made us beleive one was the main love interest. They go out together then in the second season, for some stupid reason they're no longer together when the ML has NEVER forgotten the FL and she ends up choosing the SML.

Some people loved it but since we spent literally the whole first season rooting for the other dude, for me the trust was broken and I never bothered with the second season. In fact I had known I wouldn't even have bothered with the first season.

I personally find that one of the appeal of Romance is that you know at the back of your head that whatever happens the main couple is going to end up together... I get enough heartbreaks in real life, I don't need that in my dramas.

Hey there! Regarding the conversation we had about "Scent of Time"!

Another member answered me here:

https://mydramalist.com/705969-xi-qian-hua#comment-23300314

And actually it's not a bad ending.

Basically according to theotherayn, the drama is different from the novel.

In the drama, the ML has been changed. In the novel ML is actually the 3rd love interest of the FL in the drama.

So in the drama, after she wakes up from her hallucination, dream, whatever you wanna call it, it's hinted the FL does get married with the ML of the drama, but apparently people who read the novel didn't like it because she didn't end up with the Novel ML.

So I guess readers couldn't let go of the fact that their ML was just not the ML of the drama and complained about it... But since I didn't read the book, I really DON'T CARE.

Hence, I'll definitely watch it.

I'm so happy 🎉🎊

OH! SO she ends up with the REAL ML in the drama then! So basically even if it's a réincarnation censor BS it's still THE RIGHT ENDING for me!
Ok thanks for clearing that up! Will definitely watch it then, since she ends up with the RIGHT guy.
I haven't read the book so I don't care!

Gotta tell the person who told me that then 😊

Somebody answered me a couple of days ago to tell me that the ML in real life doesn't exist and she ends up with somebody who apparently loved her IRL but who we don't care about since we didn't follow him in the end...

Lol I'm sure the guy's nice but sorry, I honestly really don't care about celibrities' private life. Except when they did something awful, I'd rather not give them nor my time or money but apart from that, I really don't give a fudge about his real life personality, wife or whatnot.

He's entitled to do what he wants, but I sure do hope that what you wrote wasn't the case for this drama. It's really unprofessional.

Hadn't read that comment. Glad you liked it but saying that no K dramas from that period did that is wrong. Melos, including melos with legal aspects were a stapple of K dramas of the early 2000s way before Autumn's Concerto came out.

On the other side, I watched a bit over half the drama back then before dropping it since I couldn't find episodes in good quality, and I wasn't that familiar with Chinese as well. It sure is very different once your ears are used to the language. For instance, I hadn't noticed how different the Taiwanese accent differed from mainland China. It's difficult to know how he fares accent-wise compared to his co-actors though, given how terrible the sound quality is.

I thought Viki would have better image and sound quality than what I saw back then... but sadly the poor quality is the original source 😑

Finally finished it:

CONS:

1. Series feel very slow at the beginning.
2. Fake kisses with mouth moving in the emptiness, no tongue and not-so-clever use of camera angles. The KISSES SUCK. I'm sorry. I like to have good kisses when watching my ROMANCE.
3. Some very irritating characters. They get better but you do have to "suffer them" for quite a number of episodes before they turn around.
4. Shitty ending. As mentioned by everybody just skip the last 10 minutes or so if you want to forget it... Honestly I watched it and it's easily skippable. You won't be missing anything, but it's not as terrible as people have made it out to be, if you're mentally prepared.
5. Useless and unfair breakup in ep 19. FL lied as well, I still don't understand in what way exactly the ML was more at fault.
6. End of Ep 20 to beginning of episode 23. The Show is turning all dramatic for no good reason. It feels like, like in many C dramas, they don't want us to have even the slightest of slightest of second lead syndrome so they had to completely ruin Yi Tian Yu's character. SML deserved a better treatment.

PROS:

1. Adorable and easy to root for leads.
2. Lots of skinship in spite of the fake kisses.
3. Both leads bring the best out of each other, though the FL benefits more from the ML than the opposite.
4. Relaxing show. Not too much angst, but not nothing happening either.

CONCLUSION

I would say the pros count double in my book. Not extraordinary compared to other dramas in the genre... If you don't watch it you won't miss much... But if you do, it's a very relaxing show. As far as Modern drama MLs go, Lin Zhi Hua is top tier.

Best watched without binging at a leisurely pace. Watch this after a shitty day at work/school, it will bring a smile to your face.
Worth the time invested.

Removing 2 points for the CONS.

Final rating: 8