Deirdre19

Yes, I also like to look at pretty faces, but after a while, purely relying on the eye-candy effect gets a bit boring. Fortunately, there are quite a few middle-aged actors/actresses who are both beautiful and capable. They need to be given more opportunities.

There are currently two main problems with C-dramas:
a) Instead of having capable actors, they're filled with eye-candy to draw in the teenage crowds.
b) The plots are dumbed down to pre-school level so that even the people who keep fast-forwarding half of the scenes instead of watching them can still follow.

Thank you! I agree, we need more men, not boys...
It would, however, be good if also the voice artists dubbing the FLs sounded a bit more mature. The childish voices they put on some grown-up actresses are an absolute insult both to the ears and to the image of women. It's not "cute", it's just unnatural.

So do I! I hope this is some sort of "test balloon" and if it goes well, we will get a few more wuxia/costume dramas with grown-up actors.

LOL - you took the words right out of my mouth!
I'm sure the Joseph-boy will find another drama. This one has Jeremy written all over it!!!

This looks interesting! I hope there will be English subtitles...

I think the problem with CZ wasn't just his co-star (she may be slightly better now, but her acting is still cringe-worthy...) It was the whole way this role was written and directed, condeming him to keep a stiff face not showing any emotion for 90% of the time. Not to mention that dreadful clownish face-whitening/make-up.
I've just recently seen him in Fairyland Lovers (he is the ONLY attraction in that one). Man, that guy can give you an acting firework when his face is allowed to move!

i'm sorry, no link. It was on the Tencent Weibo page which has a continuous feed and I don't know how to isolate a link to an individual post.
It was similar to this one, only what he wore a red gown. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-0YQcg0rjH4

They fell together into the pond... that sounds suspiciously like "The Trust" 😂
Is this going to be a new trope in Chinese costume drama that body swaps can only happen in ponds???

Shhhhsh! Don't draw that calamity 😂😂

Tencent posted a promotional clip of this on their Weibo page... ZRY looks good in red!

I've only seen her in TJOCZ where she was absolutely unbearable. Here the role is slightly better, but the acting hasn't improved at all. He standard setting is still wide-open-eyes + pouting-lips, no matter the context. I try to concentrate on the side characters and the ML, so overall it's ok to watch.
Yes, the ML is pretty good and his attendant is really funny. There's a lot more chemistry between the two of them than between the FL/ML.

Considering she is supposed to be an immortal and one who's worked in the marriage temple for a few thousand years, it's quite incredible that she is so totally clueless about anything. Not just politically, also the whole "setting the ML up with another person" scheme of hers is incredibly naive. They are tied together by the red strings (she should know what that means) and were sent to the mortal world for their love tribulation. Why would she still be delusional enough to believe that she can escape this fate?
Maybe initially (in the book) she was meant to be a character that would defy destiny, but the drama FL is far too meek to make this believable.

Right now I feel they have about equal screentime, but I try to focus on the ML whose acting is actually quite pleasant to watch and do the washing up when the FL has her pouting scenes.

Without having read the book I think it's ok as a filler drama. I'm watching while packing moving boxes. Personally, I'm not a fan of the pastel-colour, pink colour-scheme and the FL's bad acting makes me enjoy all the side characters a lot more than her scenes.
As you said, it's not horrible, it's nothing extraordinary either.

Well, I'm all for giving people opportunities to improve their skills. However, usually actors in their learning phase try to gain acting experience in supporting roles. Casting someone with such mediocre acting skills as the lead is unfair both to the other lead and to the viewers who have to suffer through this "practice run".

This one! Definitely this one!
I also prefer him in historicals rather than xianxia. Hopefully, less clown make-up and better plot. For me, the most important criteria would be direction and co-star. I'm sick and tired of seeing him paired with little girls just learning to act.

Haha, I feel your disappointment. There's been a lot of "toned-down" badass female leads lately.
To be honest, for me, her motivation in this 2nd life-time isn't clear at all. She didn't come across as hating the guy before, so it is quite unclear to me why she's doing everything to escape from the arranged marriage. She has the memories of her previous life, so she knows they are supposed to end up together.

So I managed to watch 4 episodes of this... basically because there isn't much else to watch right now.
Episodes 1-2 were so boring and uneventful that I nearly dropped it already. Episodes 3-4 were a bit better and occasionally made me laugh. The jokes in this are actually quite good and always unpredictable. I really liked the ML's mother in those episodes, she was fun to watch. Sadly any random side-character, including the supposed villains, is more fun to watch (and can act more naturally) than the FL. Her standard facial expression of wide open eyes and pouted lips reminds me of a blow-up doll and she has about the same level of charisma.
I'll give it a few more episodes before I decide whether to drop or continue this.

Sure, that's the easiest way to dismiss arguments that you cannot refute. Guess what, I DON'T CARE what you call me 😂😂😂😂