A Hit For Very New Fans, A Miss for Me
This wasn’t a major hit for me, though it seemed to be the drama that put Li Fei on the map for many viewers. Patrick Quan delivers an excellent performance as a quietly lethal and unsettling antagonist—you could feel the tension every time he appeared onscreen. And the chemistry between Ming Jiajia and Li Fei was electric, but I was disappointed in how their characters were written. They leaned too heavily into familiar dramatic tropes for me to fully appreciate—she played the naive girl, and he was the emotionally distant lead. The subplots were equally frustrating, often feeling overcomplicated and weighed down by hidden motives and misunderstandings that lasted until the very end. The overall tone felt whimsical and veered far from the source novel, which could be felt onscreen. That said, there were several poignant scenes, and the backstory was genuinely intriguing. If you're looking for steam, it's definitely there—but this one might be best suited for devoted Li Fei fans. So for me and others, it was a must watch.
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