Michael_0718

The rebellious disciples ~ It will always be you, in all lifetimes | Great ending—Baby Machine CP!

"Everyone has their own fate. Sometimes, you can save a person but can't change their fate." - Ye Xin

Alright, I am totally sold! That was such an enjoyable and satisfying story overall. I love a lot of things about this but my love and adoration for Mu Qing Ge/Xue Ranran is the greatest!

I typically jot down notes on how I feel about a drama I'm currently watching and upon checking it minutes ago, it was full of high praises and words of adoration for the FL. She's one of my most favorite FL character this year. I love everything about her and what she does...her broad-minded, non-condescending and appreciative view of everyone's potential and capabilities was truly commendable. + The way she finds meaning and fun in almost everything brings this delightful charm to her. A well-written character who made the story beautiful and admirable—the backbone of this story!

The story as I mentioned above was well-written and despite it being a Xianxia drama, the amount of cliché plot sand scenes were minimized to offer just the right amount and I would say that they did a spectacular job for that. Every scenes are interconnected to one another and I never felt at lost even once while watching it. The scenes were engaging and enjoyable that I don't feel bored at all.

Phasing was good and they were able to maximize all of the episodes to the fullest. No major nor minor plot holes I can think of, and I don't have any dissatisfactions either. Maybe something I 'hoped' was included even as a short scene is the wedding ceremony of Gao Cang & Xi Er (If they really ended up together)—I like this pairing a lot and I find the both of them adorable. It's just sad that we didn't get to see them be wedded but anyways, that's fine and totally understandable as it's not their story. Just wanna mention here that Xi Er's commentaries about what she smells to describe feelings and emotions is very unique and funny to me. She's even nonchalant whenever she delivers them which makes it even funnier. Haha!

The most important and noteworthy part of this story would probably be Mu Qing Ge's journey in making Su Yi Shui a better and kinder person. Her approach towards his violent reactions and retaliations is that one thing that made me look up and admire her. She was understanding, patient and sincere in dealing with him—Explaining things carefully in different ways in order for him to understand every situation. She's like a mother raising and correcting her juvenile naughty son.—She uses warmth to melt his frozen cold heart, gentleness to mend his maimed soul and love to lighten the darkness surrounding his world which made him gradually open up and love her in return.

The same credits should be given to Xue Ran Ran as she also suffered quite a lot dealing with his "Master". Although it was a completely different scenario this time as Su Yi Shui has already been tamed, felt indebted and of course, in love. He at the same time was the toughest to deal with, in his hot and cold, confused and full of hesitation phase. Thank god Xue Ran Ran's persistence and passion for him was boundless. Because if not? then I don't know anymore. Also, XRR & SYS chemistry gives off this extra cheerful and playful vibe which makes watching them more entertaining than ever!

Rising action and climax of the story were greatly executed and I hereby say that the most entertaining part of the whole drama is the last 10 episodes. I never felt that they were rushing anything at all. More so, they seemed like a water flowing smoothly in a river. The director and writers certainly got a good grasp of the story—on how should it flow and how should it be ended.

The conclusion was logically done as I don't expect Mortal Cultivators (no matter how powerful they are) to defeat an Immortal. So, kudos to the team for giving us such a satisfying and rational ending. Mu Ran Wu's ending on the otherhand felt lacking to me. That b*tch deserves an excruciating death more than that gone-insane trope.

Ending is my most favorite part of the whole drama. Xue Ran Ran & Su Yi Shui settling down, retiring and living their happiest days (becoming baby machines lol) with their kids is the best ending we drama fans could ever receive from a drama. So I truly appreciate and extremely grateful to the entire team for giving us such a happy ending.

P.S. Seeing kindness and reasons through Su Yi Shui's display of cruelty is Mu Qing Ge/Xue Ran Ran's real charm and power. Her words of affirmation and strong relentless love gave him warmth—She lit his life and provided him HOME.

Story - 10, Best Xianxia I have watched this year (2025) and in a while. Story is compact and has a smooth sailing flow. Like I mentioned above, the director and writer got a flawless idea of how the story should progress and perfect control on how to conclude it.

Acting/Cast - 10, I so love each one of the cast! Deng Wei is the perfect leading man and no one in my opinion can top Julia Xiang's performance in this show—She excels in this mischievous and silly acts/expressions which suits her the best + Flawless and effortless execution of both Mu Qing Ge & Xue Ran Ran was truly amazing. The supporting roles are great as well. It's also nice to see Ai Mi and Fo Bo Han again (since I have been seeing them in almost all of the dramas I watched. Haha!)

Music - 10, beautiful and lovely. It accentuates the mood and color of the drama. + It brought out the emotions of the scenes they're used in.

Rewatch Value - 10, A drama that I will surely re-watch if I can and would also recommend to people to watch.

Overall - 10, Everything about this drama is exceptional to me. Thinking about this drama reminds me of how beautiful the story and visuals/CGI are. I wish more directors can start making Xianxia dramas like this.

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The Lovesick Queen Maker and his peace-loving & compassionate Wife.

This would have been incredible if they had made it longer and if it had been handled by a better production company with a sufficient budget. The core concept and setup are things creators have been attempting for years, and I truly feel bad that such a potentially great story went to a mediocre company, resulting in something so underwhelming and disappointing.

Although the entire show is full of plot holes, like literally left and right, I can really see that this type of narrative could have been built into a more comprehensive and detailed platform where it can be given a chance to elaborate and incorporate the real message of the story with more precision. The way it was created and ended felt so rushed, that I myself started feeling bad that it was treated and squandered like that.

Something I initially like about this drama is its pacing—It went by so quickly not wasting any episodes throughout its first half but ended up ruining the other half eventually. All I can say is that their idea of putting up the story like that escalated pretty quickly which causes it to backfire at the very end. I still find it crazy how they leaped through the most important events like it was nothing important. It genuinely felt like the climax was skipped over just so that they can end it—which is a very dumb decision to be very honest.

Another thing I find ridiculous is the fighting and martial arts scenes. They tried so hard to make it look great at first but I guess they gave up on it as the story goes on because the way it was executed on the succeeding episodes was simply terrible you won't even have to think twice to say it's really that bad. It was too evident and crystal clear like they didn't even try hiding it. Hahaha!

Lastly, I just wanna say that the way they depicted women here with resolute resolve is something I truly like. However, the execution is where it all went wrong... such scenes could have ended great and inspiring but for some reason it looked prematurely done. The power and determination is there but the lack of conviction and weak representation made it feel and look like a literal staged play—an act.

P.S. The ML (Yuan Hao) is an expert in playful-cuddly-romantic scenes. I swear! He makes my heart leap countless of beats everytime he acts like that.

Story - 8.5, It is promising and is actually good, however, the people who directed and created it is disappointing otherwise. How I wish it was handled by a better director, script writer and production company with sufficient funding.

Acting/Cast - 7.5, The acting is very inconsistent! I had to pause multiple times and mentally consider a lot of things e.g. dubbing, voice syncing and so on. Because I thought the problem may have been caused by that. But at the end of the day, none of those are the reason why I was bothered. The problem really lies on the facial expression, emotion and overall body language of the actors and actresses. Most of the time I think they do not even know how to act their scenes and were just doing the best they can do; as a result it turned out pretty awkward and bad. Yuan Hao did great though!

Music - 9.5, Music is Good. There's this one song they used I believe on Ep.8 that I can't find the tittle of which I really love and I will surely hunt that one down. For sure!

Rewatch Value - 8.0, It was not that bad for me not to rewatch it. I would say it's worth my time and as I mentioned, is a potentially promising production and could have been more, with better team working for it.

Overall - 8.5, I contemplated so much with this rating. I was set to give it a 9.0 - 9.5 however the unexpected ending made me retract on how I feel about this drama. I understand that they lack the resources and all but I cannot accept that they chose to off screen most of the exciting scenes and eventually ruling all the commotions they have started from the very beginning to a draw. Like, did you all just wasted your entire effort from the very beginning for nothing? Hahaha!

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The Most Tormented, Desolated Soul: A Mission for Justice & Revenge by the Woman Who Braved It All.

"The nation, including the people, is never an empire owned by one person. To blame oneself and one's kin is all for the sake of being blameless before the world." - Emperor Xuan (Mo Yan Qi)

Right from the outset of this review, I want to declare that I experienced little to no worry or frustration while watching this drama. In fact, I was deeply captivated and swayed by how the narrative was delivered in a solemn, yet excruciatingly heart-wrenching manner. Truly a job well done.

From the beginning up to the three-quarters mark of the drama, the narrative delivered nothing but an inspirational and captivating story—one that tenderly cradles while simultaneously veiling the evocative, passionate, yet devastating elements of the plot. If I were to compare it to an object, it would be a jigsaw puzzle—a mysterious one that holds and conceals an underlying depth despite its seemingly light and entertaining appearance. Watching this show felt like an interactive activity of patiently collecting a single puzzle piece each episode until you can finally assemble all the fragments to see its full glory and discover the earth-shattering secret it has been ostensibly hiding all this time. It was a narrative where the plot was shallowly concealed by its craftsmen deliberately, as if they never genuinely wanted to hide its secrets at all, leaving them right out in the open, waiting for the audience's curiosity and foresight to figure everything out. That is why by episode 5, I already had a clear idea of the direction they were steering this emotional story toward, and even before reaching the halfway point, I had already perceived what the whole picture might actually look like—one so grim, saddening, and devastating that I knew for sure it would render me completely speechless with a heavy heart. A prediction that turned out to be entirely accurate. 😭

For the record, although the pattern of the main plot may seem to follow a formulaic structure—one so well-worn you can already predict what's going to happen—to me, it was more of the writers' leniency and consideration toward the viewers. It's like they never really intended to make this a heavy drama to start with. So as to lessen the impact and prevent us from being utterly devastated once the mysteries are finally unfolded, they instead deliberately left obvious clues early on to make things easier for us and to maintain its fun and entertaining vibe.

Sadly, in spite of its highly compelling run, the drama still suffered an unexpected low point—a hiccup around the final quarter of the story that spoiled the otherwise smooth and almost perfect momentum of the show. What bothered me, though, is that this misstep could have easily been avoided if the writers had wanted to, since the logical groundwork for the conflicts had already been aligned and laid out beforehand. Therefore, I was truly dumbfounded that they still pushed through with the whole divorce plotline when it was entirely unnecessary. It felt like a blatant plot contrivance, manufactured solely to engineer the friction needed to expose a specific outcome—the truth behind the disastrous incident at Lishan Academy. It became apparent that the writers wanted to reveal this truth all along but either missed the opportune moment or were simply uncertain of where it logically fit. Unfortunately, this narrative miscalculation undeniably disrupted the story's seamless run for me.

Looking at it from another perspective, what I appreciated most about this misstep was that the narrative didn't linger too much on it. Instead, they moved on almost immediately in the subsequent episode, resolving the conflict to finally stage the outcome they had so desperately wanted to reveal all along. This perfectly illustrates the "missed timing/plot uncertainty" I noted above; because the whole divorce plotline lacked the structural weight of a major conflict, it functioned merely as an instrument to pave the way for their long-awaited tragic revelation.

Conversely, the story's climax and conclusion were otherwise executed very well. It was deeply satisfying to witness how Feng Zhiyao successfully avenged Princess Lingyun, and how Ye Ying was finally reunited with her husband, Prince Li—only to be slapped with the harsh reality that his ambitions far outweighed their relationship, which shortly concluded in a complete tragedy as Prince Li was defeated and ultimately faced his inevitable downfall. Above all, what really stood out was the Empress Dowager's well-deserved utter demise. She was rebuked by her own son, stripped of her posthumous titles, and buried simply as a commoner, with all her abominable misdeeds exposed to the world to serve as justice for the unimaginable atrocities she committed.

If there is anything I want to express my dissatisfaction with, it would be Ye Li's duel with Mo Jingli. The execution, dialogue, and emotions infused into their fight scenes were nicely done. However, it was totally disappointing to see Ye Li getting floored by him when all this time her character was built up as someone who possesses formidable martial arts skills—which she learned from her renowned Master Zhu. For me, this is the most significant missed opportunity of the show. Her skills received immense hype but were ultimately proven to be useless and decent at best, as they were technically hidden—except for a couple of scenes where she was in a dire situation—until her duel with Mo Jingli. Honestly, it could have been a game-changer and a huge mood booster if they had only allowed her to fight alongside Mo Xiuyao. Instead, they kept her detained in the palace as a hostage. I am not saying it is a bad decision, as it completely aligns with the dramatic tension of the plot; it is just that I have been craving to witness her battle prowess for a long time, only to be provided with palace intrigue that, presumably, no one really wanted. In the end, I can genuinely say that her martial arts prowess was overhyped for nothing.

"The wise mend their deficiencies, while the foolish offer others their weaknesses." - Empress Dowager (Guo Jin)

Finally, for my closing statements, let me just dedicate some words of admiration to our female lead, Ye Li.

One key feature I incredibly admire about this drama is Ye Li's tenacity, perseverance, and determination to seek revenge, uphold justice, and demand retribution from the people who brought harm to Lishan Academy, at the same time diligently repaying their debt of gratitude to all the people, significant or not, who extended a helping hand when they needed it most. I deeply appreciate that her purpose was not entirely fixated on revenge, but also on returning the kindness they received, regardless of how big or small it is. She stands as the ultimate embodiment of the deceased and the living proof of Lishan Academy's existence.

I literally binge-watched the first three-quarters of the show without blinking an eye—aside from the several instances where I had to wipe away tears that unconsciously slipped through. It was a thoroughly emotional journey of endurance and painstaking effort to exact a delicately cultivated revenge. What made it more agonizing though was the fact that Ye Li suffered unimaginable grief and anguish in desolation, until she eventually developed bereavement psychosis—a trauma-induced, deceptive coping mechanism rooted in severe denial and dissociation, a condition that preserves one's sanity and life itself from an unbearable reality by creating an illusory bubble where everything remains the same as if nothing has changed, which was triggered by going through an agony so intense it led to self-exhaustion, leaving a sharp, world-shattering impact deep within her.

All that said, it breaks my heart to smithereens how she still managed to become a literal sun—irradiating the dark and gloomy lives of those around her, especially her husband, Mo Xiuyao, and the residents of the Prince Ding mansion—despite being engulfed in complete darkness herself. It is astonishing how she illuminated and bestowed blinding light upon the people around her, vitalizing them and bringing hope to their dreary lives while she, on the other hand, was being enveloped and consumed by loneliness inside. She is the very figure who raised the family up from its devastating ruins and mended its foundation to make it strong and whole again. Consequently, watching the plot unfold little by little made me slowly sink into great misery myself. She is the kind of character I want to envelop in my tight and warm embrace while gently patting her on the back for bearing through it all, knowing just how exhausting and excruciating it had been all along.

"Mo Xiuyao, don't let your life become a show in their eyes." - Ye Li

Story - 9.5, This could have been an easy 10 if not for the contrived divorce plot they reinforced to save their asses for their seeming lack of discernment on when the best timing was to unveil the biggest revelation of the story—Lishan Academy's demise. Although it wasn't highly dramatized, it still remains the biggest factor that disrupted my seamless emotional experience watching this show. Aside from that, I tremendously enjoyed this story. I was highly entertained by how Ye Li was orchestrating her own revenge schemes behind Mo Xiuyao. She played him big time there. Hahaha!

Acting/Cast - 9.5, I undeniably adore both of our main leads, but Bai Lu's masterful portrayal of her character—by properly conveying every emotion and how strongly it was received by the viewers—stood out the best to me. Watching Cheng Lei, on the other hand, reminded me of another drama (Scent of Time), specifically during his irritated, enraged, and beaming scenes. For some reason, while watching his portrayal, I unconsciously became so fixated and overly discerning of his facial expressions that I started getting bothered and weirded out by how different and unnatural they were from his usually calm, stoic, and dangerous demeanor, to the point that I started thinking of another actor (Wang Xingyue) while watching him, imagining that the character would fit him better... I am so sorry, Cheng Lei! In conclusion, I realized that he needs improvement for roles that require a wide variety of overly animated expressions. Other than that, I love that both of their characters are mature and adaptable, given how their conflicts are getting resolved shortly within the same episode—majority of the time thanks to Ye Li. Therefore, I want to give extra credit to her, as she practically carried 80% of the conflicts and emotional aspects of this show on her back.

Music - 10, Each track is individually remarkable, but when infused with the drama's sequences, their value immediately skyrocketed beyond expectations. They accompanied every scene they were played in very well, enhancing and bringing forth even more of the emotions hidden deep within. My top favorites are: 吻合 (In Harmony), 爱，不止如此 (Love is More Than This), 来日方长 (There's Plenty of Time Ahead), and lastly—I know it's weird—but I was overly captivated by the Sutra chanting part in the song 心世界 (World of the Heart).

Rewatch Value - 9.5, This is a drama I wouldn't mind watching again despite the plot contrivance I mentioned above. Thank heavens the writers didn't treat it as a major plot device; if it had turned out to be a major conflict, my perspective would certainly not be as light and calm as it is right now.

Overall - 9.5, Personally, I can say that this is close to a solid narrative, with the exception of the forced divorce plot. Therefore, I cannot understand the "hate train" of the viewers' dissatisfied reviews posted on MDL for this drama. The emotions were delivered perfectly, and so was the story, so, why???

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Short lived...but it's better than nothing.

That was too short!!! They should've added "A Glimpse" on the title of this extremely ephemeral special episode.

Anyways, I am still grateful that they took some time to give us this brief yet meaningful quick peak of XFF and XH marriage life. It brings me joy just seeing them casually enjoying their day to day marriage life like a normal couple. Not to mention how they even gave us some of their typical "Flirting" skits. I will miss them so much!

P.S. I will forever have this longing towards Xiao Heng's jealousy moments. He's rarely jealous and we seldom see it so I am glad they included tiny bits of it as an introduction of this special episode..

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Went a little below expectations...

I had high expectations since I waited years for this and because the prequel starring Neo Hou is one of my favorites among all the adaptations. Long story short, I went into it thinking, 'I'm used to them changing Wu Xie and Zhang Qilin, so let me just enjoy the ride.' So, I watched it with a totally clean slate, full of love and excitement.

I honestly LOVE that we finally got this sequel! Even though the plot shifted a bit from where The Lost Tomb 2 left us hanging, I managed to pick up the pieces after a few episodes and just happily enjoyed it. That said, my ultimate standout scene has to be in Episode 18. It is hands-down the most gay-ish skinship we have ever gotten between WX & ZQL across all the story adaptations so far. I practically died of sheer joy during the entire fleeting duration the camera was focused on them for that scene. Also, I love that WX finally called out WPZ. Don't get me wrong, I love the Iron Triangle and I'm used to him, but his behavior has been low-key bothering me for a while, so I'm so glad they finally highlighted and addressed it.

The things I dislike are mostly the underwhelming production and story execution. I feel like they could have done a better job with the plot twists and special effects, but it just didn't happen. As always, I'm used to the jumpy storytelling of The Lost Tomb series, but something about this one just didn't sit right with me. The middle part felt a bit too dragged out, while the ending felt rushed. This is probably my second least favorite installment, right after The Lost Tomb 1 starring Li Yifeng.

Story - 8.0, As I said, it felt both dragged out and rushed—they really could have done a better job to make it work!

Acting/Cast - 9.5, I've never had an issue with the WX and ZQL character changes, but they felt a little distant in this series. I felt like they weren't as close, but the skinship made up for that. In terms of acting, Bai Shu did his best, and I LOVE that he has expressions that look exactly like Neo Hou—he looked like him countless times as well! Zhao Dong Ze, on the other hand, reminded me of Arata Mackenyu and Suho of EXO, so I was satisfied watching him the entire time too. Their acting itself felt a little different, but it was still passable!"

Music - 9.0, Like I always say in my reviews, 'We can never go wrong with music' (at least, not often lol). It has a decent set of music that fits the scenes perfectly and never bothered me. I gave it a 9.0 simply because I'm not a big fan of suspenseful, creepy music, as I usually prefer ballads and pop. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the musical accompaniment in this series.

Rewatch Value - 7.5, I likely won't rewatch this unless I commit to a full marathon of The Lost Tomb franchise once the entire story is finally adapted. Until then? Nope, I won't be hitting play again. But hey! The series is still pretty decent.

Overall - 8.5, I really wanted to give this a higher rating, but the most important factors for me are the plot and production, and I felt like they lacked a lot in those areas. Nonetheless, this is a decent adaptation; it's probably not the best, but it's certainly not the worst either.

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The Ultimate Wuxia of this Generation | Unyielding swords of the Youth | Accurate Powerscaling

I'm so thrilled to write this review simply because I'm overflowing with positive words to say. So, shall we start then?

Hey! I don't mean to compare but this is like the 'Nirvana in Fire' of the new generation... but in a more lighter and peaceful take.

If I were to describe this drama in 1 word or 2 I would probably use Brilliance and Accuracy.Brilliance in a way that it was able to convey the story in a smooth and flawless manner without spoiling and/or tainting the entire narrative and plot; and Accuracy for delivering well-balanced, highly satisfying and strictly accurate powerscaling that I've always yearned for years now. Damn! This story just got it all right on the proper places and it feel so good to watch it cause I never felt disrespected by any ridiculous made up scenes.

One of the best selling point of this drama for me is their subtle yet deep kinship and brotherhood. At first, I only felt it with the 3 main leads (Xiao Se, Wuxin & Lei Wujie) but as time passes by I've also started to include Tang Lian on the line up. The way they effortlessly broadens this circle of people without throwing me off is beyond me and I'm just glad they did, cause it added more color to their group.

Chemistry and overall synergy of the characters are insanely good. They're like the perfect match handpicked by heaven for their specific roles. Xiao Se/Xiao Chuhe may have been the main protagonist of the story but you'll never feel that he outshined anybody. Probably because he was always surrounded by the other characters which also made the ambiance booming with their crazy antics and entertaining interactions.

CGI, Settings, Mood and Color of the drama is considerably and exquisitely done. One thing this production never went wrong is how they nailed each and every scene that requires skilled editing. Background, effects and positioning is always on point and I will never ever stop praising them for giving us such quality drama that showed us how it is when properly done and directed. It was beautiful—gorgeous and stunning more so. and Hey! Just wanna mention Xiao Se's spacious carriage that looks like a hotel room inside but is normal size looking from the outside. That cracked me up so bad. Hahaha!

And even when I find this drama to be extremely great in almost all aspects. I still have some expectations and discontentment they failed to meet but with a justifiable reason. First is how Wuxin got manipulated by Night crow's Blood manipulation scheme but it was all reasonable because he's fully aware of it and even took precautions by teaching Lei Wujie & Xiao Se the Secret Arts to free him eventually. Second, the way the original new set of Tianqi 4 Guardians never get to meet and bond completely. Not to mention how Tang Lian was replaced by tang Ze during the showdown between Yan Zhantian and the 4 Guardians. He was robbed off of that momentum he greatly deserved for doing his utmost best since Ep1 and was killed in the middle of the show. Gosh! One of the most unexpected yet rational death. Third and Last is the Tragic love stories. Above all I was really shocked on how they've decided to kill Zhao Yuzhen right after his Wedding with Li Hanyi. I honestly saw it coming but it still hurts when they finally concluded it that way. Thank god we got several new pairings afterwards.

Lastly, I just wanna reiterate how this drama is a combination of everything nice mixed all together. And I almost forgot to mention how truly spectacular, exquisite, well built and elegant the swords play execution of this production. Hoping to see more of its greatness on the 2nd Season. ♡

P.S. I will leave and comeback with a Wife - Zhao Yuzhen — I was traumatized by this because he never came back and was dead right after.

Story - 10, I'll boldly say the BEST Wuxia drama of this new era. Story pacing is great. It was like a flowing river... constant, unbothered and smooth sailing. I never felt disgusted by any random leaps of the plot and the entire journey of the protagonists felt so right in every direction.

Acting/Cast - 10, Excellent set of Actors/actresses. I'm familiar with 3/4 of the actors' in this production but I never expected them to perform this GOOD!! This drama is oozing with chemistry from the cast, not to mention their impeccable synergy that resonates one another. A perfect match. P.S. I've always adored Li Hongyi & Liu Xueyi but this drama made me love them even more.

Music - 10, I initially wanna give it a 9.5 simply because I wasn't vibing with the opening theme but then after deliberate consideration and looking back on how they utilized the overall sound and music. I've decided to straight out give them the perfect score they clearly deserves. Sound utilization, placement and timing are always on point and I just love all the instrumentals they used in this drama.

Rewatch Value - 10, No question needed. I'm glad and more than willing to watch this show right away or whenever. I will forever regard this show as one of the best Wuxia drama of this generation.

Overall - 10, Like, mentioned above. This is a combination of all greatness mixed together. I enjoyed their story and the fun and exciting journey that comes with it. It's just unfortunate that it wasn't as popular and mainstreamed in comparison to some other overly clichėd popular romance xianxia and wuxia drama out there. Hoping for it get immense appreciation moving forward.

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3 Inspiring women fighting relentlessly for their rights. + Savoury & Mouthwatering kissing scenes.

God knows how this pair drained all the sweetness in me... They're sucking it every coming episode that I was all dried-up and left with no juice to squeeze during the finale. Hahaha!

This drama got tons of positive qualities but something that stands out to me was its plot. It went on in an orderly manner with proper phasing which helped the story not look clichė at all; and the way they fall in love gradually through their simultaneous interactions made their relationship more natural and acceptable.

The outstanding and flawless chemistry the Main leads brought to this drama is simply remarkable. Their casual 'fight-slash-flirting' scenes is too much for the heart. Not to mention the adoration and hearts you can see through the MLs eyes whenever he's looking at FL made it even more romantic— He's too smitten and it resonates. + The FLs clever way of solving things made the story more interesting and fun to watch.

I was full of giggles all the time and my adrenaline felt exhausted from running everytime they're flirting on screen. Like they were created to make me feel jealous and envious. Haha!

Another thing that made this drama standout from the rest is its great production design & beautiful costumes— Their styling is extremely pleasing and god knows how enchanting they all look with proper hairstyle, make up and clothing. I also love the color grading of this drama. Very warm, smooth and comfortable. It helps to escalate a lot of things to great heights specially with the overall look and feel of the drama.

One last thing that made this drama fun to watch is its light yet solid story progression and great character development. It never felt too rushed and forced so the characters got to grow and shine on their own. Although it was not always rainbows and colors for the leads, but they made sure that they improve and learn from all of it; and that made the story more interesting and enjoyable.

Something worthy to mention is the great dubbing. Finally for once. I felt comfortable and satisfied with how their mouth synchronized with the actual sound. So tired of other ridiculous ones.

P.S. The most ridiculous scene goes to the Final Episode when the ML was trying to feed the FL the circular coin-size pill using his mouth. The FL was laying by her chest so how the heck does she even swallow that? Hahaha!

Story - 10, The story was well created with good phasing. A comfortable run I would say. I was never bothered and disappointed of anything. + I just love the positivity and fun it brought to me the whole time I was watching it.

Acting - 10, Flawless and beyond convincing. Chen Xiao look so smitten. Like, was he even acting? I felt like he enjoyed it more than anyone. Hahaha! Also, Liu Yifei's excellence when it comes to controlling her facial expression made her character delightful and eye candy to watch. + All of the actors and actresses really did well in expressing and delivering their roles through their good acting and portrayal.

Music - 9.5, Decent BGM overall. It added lots of emotions and helps the overall feels of this drama. Good choice of songs and proper music placement I would say.

Rewatch Value - 10, Highly Recommended!! I finished it in over 3 days... The fastest since last year considering its 40 episodes. Every bits of it is worth watching.

Overall - 10, I would never have it any lesser. Everything is great. Not to mention how they were able to create this story without staining it with clichė and tropey plot. A drama that's worth every single second of my time.

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You don't know me yet, so I will wait patiently until you can recognize me | Satisfying Ending!

I would like to start my review by telling everyone that this drama is all worth it! I will admit that the first few episodes got me thinking "Let's not take this seriously as it's a fictional idol drama after all." However the more the story goes on, the more engrossing it becomes; and from then on, I find myself binge-watching it until I ended up finishing it even ahead of my expected deadline.

I also want to take this opportunity to encourage people to just give it a try and ignore all the negative comments you have read on MDL so far because I assure you that this story is more than those negative feedbacks; and that this show belongs to those dramas who started rough but ended to be one of the most satisfying among its peers. It's like the 'Dark Horse' of the typical tropey time travel idol drama simply because it was able to elevate itself from the disastrous and ridiculous path into a level where it can be considered as one of the better—best even, in the genre it categorizes in.

If I were to describe this drama in two (2) words, I think it would be "Unexpectedly satisfying"— First, I have never expected to like, more so, love this drama even a little bit and I was actually on the 'gradually hating' side along with everyone else who already have prejudice and got little to no expectation of this story and is just watching it hoping that the one (1) positive review I read on MDL is accurate about this drama being good. I can even say that I just took a gamble by watching this drama because that specific review got my curiosity, and I'm just glad I did. Because if I didn't, I would have missed this enjoyable and lovely show. Second, the sudden improvement of the storytelling/writing. This drama started really rough...like the introduction is absurd and the following episodes are unreasonable that I even reached a point where I thought of giving it a 7/10 rating right away because it doesn't conform to any of the basic ethics, etiquettes and customs of the ancient chinese times and even though it stayed that way for almost half of the show I suddenly found myself getting more and more entertained and excited to watch the upcoming episodes to the point where I asked myself "What have changed?" and all I can think of is the sudden improvement and increase of quality when it comes to how the drama became comical in an ingenious way. It's like they hired a different writer in the middle of the filming/script writing which made the story direction become more innovative and interesting as the story progresses.

I also just wanna add up that their silly yet amusing antics made this drama extra entertaining to watch. The Zumba dance exercise is my favorite of them all. Like who would even think of incorporating that into a historical drama? to the extent of making the Empress Dowager dance to it and technically breaking some of the etiquettes in the palace? Not to mention how witty her other ideas are with her phone. Like the voice recording, the calculator stuff, camera tricks and even taking pictures using her polaroid. They really went above and beyond their limit with this drama and although it can be considered as an impertinent move, I just unconsciously found myself enjoying it more and more. Maybe because at that time I have already accepted that this is not a serious historical drama and I should just enjoy and absorb all the positivity and laughter I can get from it.

Another important factor this drama was able to highlight is the Parental love and how often children misunderstood their parents guidance into something restrictive and confining. I appreciate how this story showcases the hard work and selflessness of our parents just to keep us safe and sound. I think this is a must watch for teenagers for them to realize the painstaking their parents have to go through for them to live comfortably and worry free. I'm genuinely hoping for more people to discover and watch this silly yet wonderful show.

Lastly is the ending... I'm honestly overjoyed and flabbergasted (in a good way) on how they concluded this drama. I extremely appreciate how they gave us an entire episode and a half (1½) of the characters' life back in the modern world and not just some sneak peek but a whole flashback of what had happened, the progression of their relationship and even a reunion of the whole Gang! This drama truly flattered me in the most special and fulfilling way.

P.S. Its sweet how Qi Yan (ML) waited for Li Meng Meng (FL) to finally remember him. This made me realize that patience and diligence will always be paid off. It also reminded me that "Time" is a story teller and that everyone has their own turn and chance in life. So we must wait patiently, endure and persevere until time aligns with our destiny.

Story - 9.5, Some people may raise their eyebrows but Hell! I don't care! This drama is certainly not perfect and has a lot of flaws in it (specially during the first 1-10 episodes) however what I enjoyed and love about this is that they're able to improve as the story progresses and although some of the scenes may seem jumpy, they will never let any part of it unaddressed. And even when most of the ridiculous scenes on the first half threw me off; I just really found myself vibing and cackling to it as time passes by. I'd say it's on the mentality and your view of the show and on how you would treat it. Like...will you consider it as a serious historical drama or will you categorize it accordingly as an Idol time travel drama? You decide!

Acting/Cast - 9.0, for the major roles I'd say I am greatly surprised on how good they are in executing their characters and delivering their emotions and movements. I really thought they are all ready to take on some serious roles on TV dramas. The supporting roles on the other hand needs more polishing while the Minor roles needs to be send to the acting class immediately. They're so bad I wanna kick them off of the screen. Lol

Music - 10, I'm in love with the BGMs! Their refreshing and lovely tune made me feel so comfortable at the same time giddy. It also helped me go through those outrageous scenes as well as feel the joy and emotions of the lovely and heavy scenes.

Rewatch Value - 9.5, Honestly, I wouldn't mind watching this again. I have watched a lot of Idol historical dramas for the past few years and I would dare say that this is one of the best among all of them.

Overall - 9.5, It's really funny cause I initially wanted to rate it as 7-8 but then after countless consideration, I have decided that this is the most accurate rating I could give this drama. One of my biggest deciding factor is the ending and how the story captured my attention on the 2nd half of the show. They really went 360° in terms of putting quality and structure to the story.

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The aftermath of going against the Emperor's will | The favored river God's illogical death & legacy

"Without a body after death, the soul gains true freedom." - Kang Xi

I want to start this review by stating how dissatisfied and disappointed I am on the path they took to conclude Chen Huang's role and character in this story. I understand that they want him to be viewed as someone who died valiantly and unyielding, however, I want to retort back and say that he was played dirty by the writer instead. His legacy was later set up as monumental worthy of nobel prize but in reality it was their way to make up for their incompetence to develop and expand his characters purpose and abilities. Like, they know he's extremely capable but the problem is that they are not talented enough to cultivate and utilize it properly. Hence his unjustifiable and illogical death.

Also, after scrutinizing this story, I wanted to say that they should have not given this drama the title 'The Long River' and instead come up with something related to the Emperor's ambition and regrets. I feel like the title doesn't live up to the screen time the 'Long River' has gotten. Not to mention how neglected the characters (Cheng Huang & Jin Fu) working on the actual river are.

On the good side, I wanna say that the writer of this story is exceptionally gifted in giving in depth purpose and development to the side characters. Heck! I feel like all of them combined has gotten more focus and screen time compared to the actual protagonists of this show. Which is really annoying because it seems like all his attention was diverted to them to the point where he had forgotten who the real leads are!!

In addition, the writer also seemed to be well-versed to topics related to politics—its structures, components and system. Reason why he's totally engrossed and invested to the political infighting of the story. I can even proclaim that this is heavily centered to that; which is understandable since river construction has to go through such thorough planning, discussions and approvals. The problem is... it's extremely focused on the dramas happening between the 2 different political faction that it has strayed away from the main issue of the story.

One thing I want to sincerely praise and applaud this drama for is its attempt to depict the struggles of the righteous and upstanding officials under the well established and deeply rooted corruption in the government; as it proves that attaining good governance was and will never be easy even to those incorruptible officials; and that it automatically puts anyone on the spotlight that risks their life to an apparent tragic ending.

Just to add up, I had this idea written while I was watching this drama "A nation will thrive and flourish under a good governance" and I must say that it proves me wrong as this story demostrates how even the Emperor was tolerant and susceptible to corruption.

Timeline and phasing - The transition between timelines are smoothly executed to the point where I almost got out of track on how much time/days/months/years have passed since the previous events. lol

Graphics, site set up and design were impressively realistic! You can clearly see that this production was greatly supported through their budget. I mean, even the placards are grandly designed.

Lastly, I just want to mention how everything went south when Emperor Kang Xi's patience and tolerance towards Chen Huang & Jin Fu finally snapped!

Story - 9.0, You will only notice that something is wrong while watching the last 3-5 episodes. Even with my grave rants above, I still wanna say that this drama was well produced and directed. It's just that they focused too much on 1 aspect of the story and was never able to get out of it till the end. The story strayed away from how I expected it to be, which is about the 'Long River'.

Acting/Cast - 10, Perfect set of artists! I'm out of words of how good all the actors are and honestly, this is one of the drama where I don't really have to worry about the acting and perfomance. It's highly visible that they're mostly skilled veteran and even those who are not, acted and blended really well.

Music - 10, At first, I thought it is too 'opera' based but then I realized that the overall music was selected to correspond to the era this story was set on. The music delivers this melancholy vibe and feeling that made me feel the sorrow and pain shown on screen. It depicted and helps hightens the emotions of the scenes.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, I never really thought that something was wrong with this drama until I reached the denouement. I hate how it was ended in a rather loosely manner and that's also the reason why I don't think I can watch it again. This rating is actually more on how good the drama is during my initial watch. It was good but I probably will not re-watch it.

Overall - 9.0, This drama could have been one of my favorite, only if they didn't spend so much time focusing on the political propaganda and agenda of the story. This show was promising but was tainted by how lazy and unreasonable they delivered its ending.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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The upstanding, straightforward & gullible version of Conan | Teamwork of Noblemen's brilliant minds

I know it's weird to say this, but I find this crime and investigation drama easy, comfortable and exciting to watch. Although there is that one moment when the show went astray of its usual set up (that I will talk about later) I'm glad that they were still able to pull it all together and end it nicely following how it started with a peaceful and cozy vibe to it.

In order not to spoil the good image I have created with the introduction of this drama. Let me start this review by listing down some of the best attributes I like about it.

Plot and story flow is neat and meticulously constructed. I was so indulged that time flew by while I was watching it. The introduction of the characters were smooth, clean and I really love how they started it with a casual yet interesting incident that gradually became a bigger case. The scenes of the story is well connected and I'm glad that they didn't simply threw out cases after cases and instead created a sequence of events that slowly build the relationship between the main leads while working/clashing with each other.

Chemistry of the main Leads including the supporting roles are surprisingly good. I love how they didn't immediately set both of the leads as partners in crime and solving cases after their initial meeting and rather gave us an opposite context of them fighting and competing with each other in a harmless way while showing us their capabilities along with their strengths and weaknesses. In adddition, I just wanna mention how the male supporting roles connected to Lan Jue felt like a great romantic pair for him e.g Wang Yan and Gu Qing Zhang. I even thought their relationship can pass as a side story for a romantic affair of some sorts just base on how they set it up and portrayed it. Lol!

And while we're at it. Let me talk about that one moment this drama took the bland and unexpected route AKA the introduction of Gu Qing Zhang. I was bothered by this for quite some time because I was thinking what has gone wrong that made me feel that empty space in my stomach; and after pondering a lot about it, I realized that it was a result of the sudden mood change of the drama. We're on the 'Rising Action' part of the story where all the conflicts and problems are happening. Then all of a sudden we were given this melodramatic back story, reminiscing of the past and introduction of GQZ and his relationship with Lan Jue. Like, what the hell was that? those moments truly threw me off of my mood and made me feel tasteless about this drama. I get that he's the main villain of the story but was it really necessary to make his back story that dramatic and subtle romantic? Thank god it only lasted for 2½ episodes because more of it would have completely change my view of this drama.

In regards to the entire cinematic experience of this drama. I must say I'm extremely satisfied. I love the balance of the colors, more specifically between the grayness and darkness of the scenes. It gave me chills and somehow has this cozy effect on me that made me feel relaxed while watching it. I even reached a point where even when the tension is high and conflicts are rising left and right I still feel calm, at ease and simply enjoying the whole show.

Lastly, I want to recognize the state of mind and/or behavioral disorder of the characters; specially Lan Jue's episodes of having confusion and anxiety whether to continue taking his revenge in a rightful way or to cheat his way to claim justice. Those sequences are some of my most favorite scenes of this show and has left this significant mark on me that made me acknowledged Jing Bo Ran's acting capabilities. Special mentions are GQZs strong obsession to hear his Mother's regret of abandoning him and getting the acknowledgement as her son and Zhang Ping recovering his memories after going a traumatic experience as a child.

Story - 9.5, The story construction is great! same goes on how they connected each of the scenes. The only issue I have had is the sudden change of mood when GQZ was introduced. That section truly left me hanging for quite some time and made me felt tasteless and bothered inside.

Acting/Cast - 10, This is my first time watching all of the actors casted in this drama; and all I can say is that it created a good impression to me of them and their acting capabilities/skills. Jing Bo Ran is great but Wan Duo and Song Wei Long are equally good too. Not to mention Hong Yao and Guo Cheng.

Music - 10, Overall it is excellent. I love the neutral sounds of the BGMs used. They are nice, harmonious and blended well with the vibe of the drama. I also love that the music didn't overpower any scene of show, not even once! and the sound effects are greatly emphasized. Specially the scene right after the bomb was detonated where it gave them that realistic echoing, defeaning and dreadful silence that we usually experience after hearing a loud explosive noise. Great Job!

Rewatch Value - 9.5, It could have been a perfect 10 only if they didn't caught me off guard with GQZs introduction. Sorry not sorry, but I can never let that pass. Nonetheless, I would still recommend it to people who love watching problem solving and case investigation genre of dramas.

Overall - 9.5, Still a note worthy drama to watch and Please don't get me wrong. GQZ as a character is great. It is just that the way the director had decided to introduce him in such a melodramatic way doesn't fit my palate at all. Overall, this drama is really good, nicely done and easy to watch. I would still recommend this to anyone who loves the actors' casted in it and those people who enjoys investigation and crime historical dramas.

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The Highly Intellectual & Devoted Husband + An Interesting Fresh New Concept.

What a breath of fresh air... Hmm, So where to start? Honestly speaking this 'Matrilocal Wedding' Custom is something I never heard of before so I was intrigued and is expecting a lot from how they will unfold and handle the story from here on and I must say that it both has its positive and negative sides to it...

From all these years i've been watching dramas from different countries, I never once expected to ever encounter a new concept that can catch my interest this much. I mean, getting used to repetitive plots and concepts can really worn out one's standard at some point. So having to encounter new ideas once after a long while made me anticipate a lot. So let me share some of my thoughts after completing this drama.

×× Positive Feedbacks

+ I love how they incorporated comical scenes here and there to make the story lighter and more enjoyable to watch and I was very satisfied on how they executed and resolved the critical conflicts in such an innovative and brilliant way with the help of the MLs exceptional Business Prowess.

+ The relationship between the Main Leads is really something to look forward to. The way they trust and depend on each other left an impact to me. It may seem like the FLs always a liabilty at first but eventually you'll see how she understand her husband the best.

×× Negative Feedbacks

+ The story got so draggy after the first 1-15 episodes. I felt like they strayed so much from their original storyline in hopes to make the story more interesting but for some reason it got too draggy and heavy to the point where they don't know how to end it.

+ Giving us 6 episodes to resolve the supposed main issue of the story still made me question things... Everything felt so rushed and fast-paced (althought it was carried out smoothly) to the point where I was asking why they spend almost half of the drama to hype things up when they can simply give us more by making most of them short and use the remaining episodes to give us more interesting scenes to watch.

Story - 9.0, I really wanted to give it a higher score but the way they dragged and barely get out of that black hole still left distaste in me. I felt like this story could've been more interesting if only they shorten most of the Lin'an situation and made use of those episodes to give us more of the Main Lead's interactions.

Acting/Cast - 10, Great execution from all of the cast. I simply love the natural and funny synergy they all have when they're acting together.

Music - 8.0, I almost never notice any BGMs honestly. Well, aside from those overly dubbed singing performances and opening theme that's all about humming, the rest felt like air to me. Invisible.

Rewatch Value - 8.5, Probably not... and If ever I do, I'll make sure to skim-through some of my considered 'not so important' scenes. I don't want to go all through this again.

Overall - 9.0, Despite all of my complains about the story; I must admit that it was still well executed and the script is well-written. It's just that they got so engrossed in polishing a specific part that they almost neglect the story as a whole.

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It's never late to change & make amends. Afterall, Love is sweeter & stronger the 2nd time around <3

Looking once and remembering it for 10,000 years - Cheng Shaosheng

First thing first, I just wanna let you know that this review is mainly about the Part 2 since i've created a different one for the Part 1 respectively. Nonetheless, this will most probably include plenty of this drama's positive points as a whole so please keep an eye for it.

Also, If you're reading this just to get some idea whether to watch the drama or not... Just don't think anymore and simply dive into it. I promise that you'll never regret it one bit.

That was a wrap! This story as a whole truly brought so much happiness and entertainment to me this year. The drama I was able to finish in 6 days considering its whooping 56 episodes. It's been a great pleasure to witness Cheng Shaoshang & Huo Buyi's tireless and relentless pursuit of their love.

I think what divides Part 2 to the earliest part was that it was more on how they deal with their misconceptions, disagreements, lack of trust and understanding for each other— which is mostly on Huo Buyi's side. The Part 1 featured all the tricky, ridiculous and funny scenes while this part focuses on the consequences and challenges they need to face and went through to further strengthen their bond and relationship.

Plot twists of this drama is something very unexpected for me. All this while, I was under the impression that the ML is simply too loving and protective of the FL yet I was proven wrong because of how well calculated and planned all his moves were. It's something I was astounded to witness, at the same time made me realized how well written this story was. It was full of unexpectedly good heartbreaking and emotional scenes that will surely make anyone satisfied as an audience.

Timeskips - There may be a lot of timeleaps but they were able to cover, express, and deliver every single discontentment, pain and sorrow i've been longing to hear and see from the characters all this time. I felt catered and comforted to see how they took extra effort to address all that.

Fighting and martial arts scenes from this drama were overall satisfying. Wu Lei's domineering and proud posture made him very convincing so does impacting the entire time he's performing such combatant scenes.

Overall design and color grading were delicately done which makes it more comfortable to watch. Not even once do I feel ridiculed and bothered while watching this production. I'm just glad that the editor did great in processing things beyond the eyes discernment.

Positive perception and interpretation for the Rulers (Emperor, Empress and Consort). This drama may have been questionable and controversial on how bias they're but for me It passed through all that. The fact that for once, we got to experience loving and tolerable set of monarch is really impressive for me. I love how they are united to actually make everything peaceful and always there to provide support and assurance for the Leads. Not to mention how entertaining they're themselves.

Supporting and Side characters. Another charm of this drama for me is how they created a space for each and almost everyone of the main Supporting cast. It just proves how considerate they're to the viewers and I really appreciate that.

Something I badly wanna mention is how much I feel for Empress Xuan Shen'an. She was the epitome of restraint, virtue and kindness in this story. She was in so much pain and suffering but not even once does she let it overtake her. A truly inspring and motherly character.

P.S. I still need the Wedding Banquet!! I feel like we deserve that after all the setbacks, struggles and challenges the Main leads went through.

Story - 10, I was taken a back on how they managed to alter the part 1 to its succeeding part and I feel like it's something not many production can successfully pull off these days. It was bittersweet but overall satisfying and nostalgic.

Acting/Cast - 10, Strong and Perfect set of casts. From the very major to the most minor characters felt sensible and effective for me. I just appreciate all of them and I love how they all did excellent in portraying their respecting roles.

Music - 10, Music accompaniment were really good and god! the dubbing is great! I don't know if they do it themselves but even Wu Lei's shouting scenes felt in-sync and accurate for me.

Rewatch Value - 10, This drama is a representation of how bittersweet life's journey is and I would love to take that journey again sometime in the future to re-live and realize all the things i've went through to get to where I am right now.

Overall - 10, Extremely satisfied with this production. The drama felt like it went through a lot of intricate discussions and processing; and I just know that they gave their best to make this drama as impactful, touching and heartfelt as possible.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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A fateful mistake which later translates as Heaven's will and redirection—Match made in Heaven!

Sometimes, things works out unexpectedly and everyone finds their rightful match - Qi Tian Lei

This drama got it all right for me. I used to think this story simply possessed all the good traits I'm searching for in a drama. However, looking at the bigger picture, I realized that the production was actually built on a foundation that heavily prioritizes entertainment and positivity, which they were able to successfully channel into balancing and reducing the problematic and ridiculous scenes to an absolute minimum. Ultimately, it’s a story full of fun, healthy, and admirable moments from both the main leads and the supporting characters.

I also want to talk about the efficient utilization of all the characters. This production created multiple pairings that they successfully pulled through till the very end, which is extremely rare since most side pairings are typically left out to focus on the main leads. In contrast, with this drama, I never, even once, felt like they were left out. They were able to create a sequence of events that allowed the characters to shine on their own without getting neglected.

Another thing that truly impacted my watch experience is the actors/actresses effortless chemistry. Everyone fits perfectly with their characters that I never felt awkward watching them. I feel like they all communicated well during the filming that it resonates through their acting performances. Everyone is on the right track executing what is expected of them without feeling any uncertainty simply because they were able to enter their characters flawlessly without inhibitions of whether they're doing it right or not. In short, they have achieved the confidence and comfortability they need to execute their roles perfectly and effortlessly.

Surprisingly, this Production Team was able to deliver intricately in terms of the story line, costumes, designs, settings (filming location) and almost every little details and aspects of the drama you can think of; which is uncommon for an Idol drama. Story line is well constructed and polished, Costumes looked stunning and truly compliments and accentuates each characters beauty, status and personality, designs and settings of each scene is well-themed and greatly decorated to fit the mood. Just watching all those details will make you realise that this is a product of countless sleepless nights, abundant ideas and suggestions, good communication and hardwork from all the people who worked hard in front and behind the scene. Considering all that... the Budget and funding must have been great to make this happen. /Grins/

The only thing that made me feel bad about this drama is the custom of Fixed-forced marriages in the primeval times and the brutal scheming the people has to go through simply because there are individuals who are so ambitious and cunning they will do anything to achieve their goals. Speaking about that, I honestly think that they did excellent in executing those sequences very well. The vicious character remained extremely hateful and I love how they sticked with that till the very end. Kudos to Patrick Quan for delivering above and beyond!

Lastly, I wanna say that I enjoyed this drama so much and I'm really happy to have watched this after stumbling upon dramas that are good but doesn't fully satisfy my expectations.

Story - 10, The conflicts, plot twists and turn of events are smoothly executed, explained and most importantly wasn't over done. I feel like they were able to follow through the original script that's why everything effortlessly fell onto its proper places in accordance to how it was written. I would describe this a smooth sailing and well-constructed drama.

Acting/Cast - 10, Perfection! Oh wow! I don't even know where to start. Everyone has performed and executed their own roles very well—exemplery even. I don't think I have been this satisfied of a production's casts for such a long time. Every single one of them did great that I became speechless right now. I'm just overflowing with praises and compliments for each one of the casts. P.S. This is definitely one of my Fave Tian Xi Wei drama right behind New Life Begins.

Music - 10, I love the soft tone yet fun, playful and exciting opening theme of this drama which truly fits its genre and vibe. + The use of background music and sound is really good as well. The editor and sound engineers must have paid a good amount of attention to it because it was able to elevate the whole mood of the scenes they are used in.

Rewatch Value - 10, One of the dramas I can and will confidently recommend to people. It's just so good that I feel excited to let people know how much I enjoyed watching this drama.

Overall - 10, Well deserved! The whole production is a Chef's kiss and I never even once felt bored and/or conflicted watching it. It's a combination of people crafting their best works to put them together to create this one enjoyable and great drama. I'm just full of good words for this production overall. Extremely satisfied!

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Cute and lovely CP | Great crime and investigation scenes but unfortunately got a Half-arsed Ending!

Standing apart from the crowd allows one to calmly assess the entirety of a situation." - Han Zheng

Finally, A long overdue review. I unintentionally procrastinated watching the last 6 episodes of this drama because I got distracted reading a couple of stories from my favourite author. Another thing is that I lost my interest quite a bit because I got spoiled by the ending from watching too much snippets from Youtube. My bad! I swear not to do it again (as much as I can Hahaha).

Anyways, this is one of the dramas I find easy and light to watch as we are focused on mainly 2 things. First is the progression of the main leads love story and second is them solving cases; which made it particularly more entertaining and easy to follow because I don't really have to constantly think critically of what might happen. And although it involved various complex cases that needs to be unraveled, I just find myself watching it leisurely without really minding how are they gonna resolve it. I guess it really has something to do with it being an "Idol drama" which helped me watch it with ease and without any reservations and overly high expectations. I even came to the point where I told myself to just enjoy it as it is and stop overly thinking of the plot; and I must say that it actually worked because I got to let go of my obsession and concern on how the story will unfold.

The crime and cases are well thought and the investigation process were done impressively in a clever and entertaining way. However, I feel like they gave the spotlight and credits too much on the FL to the point where I felt weird about it after just watching the first 10 episodes. I understand that she's the main "brain" of this story but there are just so much time when I felt like the credits aren't properly given to where it's due. It never appeared to be forced because of how well it was presented however as time goes by, I developed this significant feeling that she's getting so much more compared to what she actually deserves and worked for. She got pushed so much that I find it inorganic and weird because I know that the other characters worked even harder than her yet she's receiving most of the recognition and glory from it all. Not to mention how she typically handles her cases in an amateur and novice like way as if she's new to the job. I would say that she's carefree to the point of being careless. I am just glad that the ML was always with her while resolving almost all of her dangerous cases because she might have been long dead if he is not.

When it comes to the story progression, I would say that they spent plenty of time with all the occurences on the first half of the story that they lacked a huge amount of screentime at the end to address and deal with the main antagonist/hurdle of the show. The last 15 episodes of the story was rushed and I just knew how they most certainly had a hardtime with the editing and stuff because of how time constraint they are with the #s of episodes they got approved of (I don't know much about distribution licence but it surely is connected to that). Overall this impacted the drama a lot (objectively speaking) as anyone can visibly see and feel how quick things are going on (I can't even use "dealth with" because they didn't even show that to us) and how are we jumping from one scene to another without any proper explanation of what had actually transpired and how we arrived to the result they have showed us.

In terms of chemistry, I'd say that they all fit in with perfection. I never feel any awkward aura for all the characters and I can even feel the synergy and mutual affinity of the actors of this show. The vibe of the whole production team must have been light for the drama to exude this comfortability.

Lastly, the Ending...and as I mentioned above, it really left a significant impact to the whole show. Because what do you mean we're getting the revelation of the main antagonist, Final fight, resolution and conclusion of the story at the last 2 episodes of the drama? They never even provide as a proper wedding scene. Grr!

Story - 8.5, Don't get me wrong the story is actually good and WAS on a good pace however it's the Editing Team who didn't consider the entirety of the show and have decide to screw the ending which resulted for the whole drama to look incomplete and half-arsed. What a waste of good story honestly.

Acting/Cast - 10, I won't pick on the actors' acting because they did it according to how to story required them to do so and its genre. But I would love to commend Li Yitong and Bi Wenjun for nailing their respective characters. This is my first project of them both and I like it a lot already.

Music - 10, I'm not gonna lie, I love the music! Opening is really cute, easy to listen to and entertaining; same goes with the inserts music/tunes. The placement of the songs are good too and is always on point. Kudos to the Sound/Audio Team.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, This honestly is a good drama overall and I can give it a higher rating only if they exert some more effort on showing us the ending. I still feel bad on how it was too JUMPY at the end! We missed and was robbed of a lot of scenes. Daheck!!

Overall - 9.0, Despite all of my feedbacks above, I guess I am just glad that they still end this happily and in a good note. I would at least commend them for keeping it light and easy to watch until the every end (But that was just TOO easy to watch). Nonetheless, I still hate the Editing Team for submitting such incomplete and lacking work and for the Director for approving it.

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The Business-centric Wife and her Benovelent Husband + Would've been better with lesser episodes.

In this world, everyone has their own identity. If everyone is the protagonist, this story would be too boring - Gu Gu (NPC)

So, to put things into simple words... This is a story that has been going under multiple revision to achieve the best quality yet— A work in progress.

In terms of how the story progresses, I'd say that it was rather mundane at first, like a straight-up tropey and corny comedy skit from a gag show that slowly gets dull and stagnant after achieving its momentum but was still able to keep things all together at the very end. It was imperfect and can be very boring several times but wasn't that bad for me to halt or drop it. It's one of those dramas that made me realize how tolerant and trustful I am that there's always a good side in everything. Even to the point where I had to ask myself "Why do I feel stupid watching this?" and "Am I that credulous for continuing this even when I know how ridiculous the entire drama has been going?" Hahaha! But, Fret not! This drama is still enjoyeable overall, specially with how they ended it.

Ending - It was unexpected yet fulfilling... For some reason they made the ML kinda lose his credibility for not being able to cure the FL even after years of practicing and researching on how to cure that specific disease; then kept things hanging by making them going 'Missing in Action' for years, resulting to a timeskip and finally be presented with the Main Leads coming back... FL still alive and apparently in great health and even with 2 kids. It was surprising but I'm just glad and grateful they gave them a happy ending.

Main Leads - I guess what I love about our leads is that they balance each other. Male lead is always there to provide advisement and correction to his wife whenever she's doing something accidentally harmful to others. While Female lead kept things more exciting and lively by filling his husbands weaknesses and providing countless entertaining scenes with her clever business tricks and ideas. Also, their chemistry might have been a bit questionable at first but they make it all out flawlessly as the story goes on.

2nd Male Lead, 2nd CP and Supporting Roles - Xue Mu as a character is simply hateful. Someone who goes deeper and deeper into darkness because of his loathe and greed. Ye Wenzhao & Xia Liuqing on the other hand is an interesting combo. They're unique in their own way. While the siblings Xia Lan & Xia Yaozu are that foolish, naive and hateful characters who was given a chance to turn into a new leaf.

Xia, Xu & Ye Patriarch - One thing I find odd about this drama is how the Matriach's were all dead... Like, do the writers have some kind of resentment? Lol. Anyways, the additional chaos the patriarchs brought made this show extra boisterous. They serve like a secret weapon that made this drama different and fascinating in a really good way.

Lastly, I wanna say that I love how rich this show is when it comes to marketing and business ideas. The way they innovate and expand their business everytime it fails is an interesting and worthy progress to see. I just find the used of Child labor very wrong and problematic at some point... But I guess, reality hits really hard, huh?

P.S. I'm captivated with the Female leads yellow costume. It was very pretty and one of a kind. Something rarely seen. Simple yet explicitly beautiful.

Story - 8.0, It was actually fun and entertaining in general but the repetitive dull and boring scenes worn me out eventually. I feel like it could've work out much better if they reduce the episodes to 20 and concluded Xue Mu's infuriating revenge agendas as early as possible.

Acting/Cast - 9.0, I'm pretty satisfied with the casting and acting is actually good, but the way they set up the scenes tends to have this unnatural and forced vibe in it, like a self-explanatory thing that it's all scripted. + Although I find the Main leads chemistry a bit rough at first, they surprisingly carried each other very well with how comfortable they act with each other. The only acting I find really cringy up until the last moments are from Thea Xi, who feels like she needed all the direction she could get and Xu Bingchao's portrayal that feels exaggerated at times. Special mention to Liu Yaoyuan! He freaking nailed it!

Music - 9.0, The BGMs used fits the overall theme of the drama. Although I find the opening a bit too lively and intrumentally loud at first, I'd say it fits perfectly with the playful and funky feel of this drama and helped out a lot to better accentuate the overall vibe of the show. While the other Ballad song just sounds really good as well.

Rewatch Value - 8.0, Just, so-so... I'd rather watch other shows with better story direction than this. I still feel like they could reduce the episodes and get rid of the repetitive and wearisome plots that made this show draggy. The Xue Mu plot still makes me sick up till this point! The way he came back all the time after getting defeated felt like a loophole that truly exhausted and irritated the hell outta me.

Overall - 8.5, This drama could've been better if they didn't purposely drag/prolong the entire plot. It feels like they tried really hard to make it seem interesting and unique but it ended up getting tiring and boring. I guess, trying hard wasn't always good? P.S. The ending made this rating a bit higher. Thank god they didn't murder the leads or something.

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