Wenxia

Rewatched this one a few times over the years, def one of my favourites both in romance and comedy. Funny and heartwarming with a zany take on the joys and tensions in a new relationship;) Honestly, I could watch a 500-episode soap opera about Mai Ding and Ziyan's life together and not get bored:))
On the bright side:
wonderful quirky characters and compelling dynamics. Spot-on comedy with no holds barred banter<3. Acting and chemistry is definitely what made this story work so well. Both actors have pretty good delivery and comedic timing. Ok, at times Ziyan looks like he's seconds from bursting into laughter and Mai Ding barely controls his face, but somehow it worked here, just added to their quirky charm without going overboard on the silly.

On the dark side:
sadly this looks like it was filmed by first year remedial students who skipped the class on composition altogether. There was definitely someone colourblind on the team too. The gaudiness of some of these sets was just eyeball-scorching bad. Visually striking gets new meaning here.
Luckily also, because Kong Chuinan has one of the most beautiful smiles I've ever seen through the camera lenses;)

Damn, I walked right into this one, didn't I lol. Sorry, I didn't mean to challenge you, more illustrate the fact that a suspiciously large number of shows on iqiyi have near-masterpiece level scores. Btw have you actually watched any of these shows? Now I'm curious what they did to miss that 9 star bandwagon.
Trust noone least of all MDL:)

Umm because iqiyi is a commercial site with a vested interest in having as much high rated content as possible and probably not stupid enough to publish low ratings for their own shows? Be honest, have you ever watched a show on iqiyi that was rated less than 9? I haven't. But if you had, please let me know:)

Yes, you've got a point. This may have mature theme and darker undertones, but it's still made for a specific audience. So it makes sense it'll have elements that cater to their target viewers. Btw my culture also has similar type of comedy, but ...only in comedies:)

Nooooo seriously?! ROTFL That gives new meaning to the phrase comedic timing:D Was that trolling? Did they troll their viewers? It's hilarious! I mean your comment. Watching that scene probably less so... I do like outrageous humour though, maybe I should check out some Thai comedies lol.
I guess you could call me very unfamiliar. I've watched 3 no 2.5 shows so far. 1st I dropped halfway, 2nd I felt insulted my intelligence, 3rd I quite liked. Not the best track record;)

Thanks for the rec. I like the title:) Will check it out. Did I go for the darker BLs? Perhaps. I guess I am slightly allergic to fluff and romantic tropes;) I actually have a bit of a love hate relationship with Japanese cinema in general. It's either endlessly fascinating to me or incomprehensibly disturbing. I have a few shows on my mental shortlist, just need to find the right mood to start. Which titles did you like?

Wait, I didn't mean only sexual tension between the main pair. Any and all, 'I wanna break your legs' or 'cut off your balls' type of tension would've been totally fine with me;) I wouldn't have minded them being into each other from day one either. For this type of mafia setting, I don't even need any romance. Devastating chemistry is enough:)
Seriously though, what I meant was an overall more tense, dangerous and edgy mood/atmosphere, that I saw a lot of potential for. And that's more on the way it was filmed, than the plot.
Btw I never said that the show should ditch the comedy altogether, just have it better balanced, and perhaps include more original material.
So he was pulling that childish shit because he felt resentful over the job? Lol didn't exactly solve his problems now, did it? What about pantsing that poor guy then? The pool pee? The wasabi? Believe me bratty is the mildest word I had for that behaviour...
And it's just my opinion that Porsche could do with some spanking;)

Let's hope so:) I guess they'll either find a balance that works with this plot or there'll be more tonal shifts moving on.
Btw I'm not gonna begrudge you your fun;) I've resigned myself to being a weirdly contrary person that never laughs at the same moments with others at the cinema. I also find melodramas to be the best comedies, while scripted jokes rarely make me laugh:))

Respect back bro;)) I no longer expect anything. Just fervently hope for no more pantsing jokes;p

Ok, this is not at all what I was expecting after that hot trailer lol. I was gearing up for violence and sexual tension but got exaggerated comedy instead?! I do love black comedies and I def prefer my tragedies served with a side of humour. But this is not dark humour, rather some juvenile wack. Did I seriously hear a sheep (goat?) sound in that theatrical trip 'n fall?! I mean slapstick is totally fine ...in a comedic show. In a mature and sexy show, it's a major mood and tension killer.
Not that the direction helped much with the mood setting… There were so many scenes that could've been milked for tension with longer build-up, some extreme close-ups, music, etc. Why wouldn't they let me see that rumoured leashed crazy in Kinns eyes? That apple scene f.e. could've been an epic staring contest/battle of wills thing - and that comedy bit at the end would've fit well to break the tension. Except, that scene was so short, there was no tension building at all, and the comedy overshadowed everything. Same with that party scene. The champagne temptation was a pretty funny bit of comedy. It could've worked great to offset the intense fighting and 1:1 in the bathroom later. But, again, they went overboard with unoriginal comedy and the mood got killed. Btw why is Porsche suddenly acting (or more like overacting) like an immature brat? I much preferred the impulsive happy-go-lucky vibe he had in ep1.
Anyway, three times a charm! Plus three directors. Maybe next ep the mood will switch again (hopefully to the dark side;) and I'll enjoy it more.

I think all sites like this show weighted ratings, where not every vote has the same 'weight' for the final score. Problem with Mdl is that they seem biased. For example take a look at 2 recently aired series Reset and Not Me. The stars/verified numbers are identical for both. Not Me also has almost twice as many viewers and user ratings, more reviews and 10k more comments. Could you explain to me why then Not Me went down to 8.5, while Reset stayed at 9.0 after it aired?
Every once in a while there's a glitch in the new algorithm. Take a look next time it happens which series ratings jump the most.
Fun fact - Word of Honor's rating hasn't moved even a single point since 1,5k to 12k ratings. I don't have to count probability to know how likely that is:)

Btw it's free now on iqiyi. No VIP needed anymore ...at least today:)

Producer C creeps me tf out!!! Lol the level of second-hand embarrassment I got from watching all those ganga/awkward moments... The show's been put together in a pretty hilarious way - there's a lot of funny moments but also a lot of talking, so be prepared:)

Can't believe it's been almost 3 months already ...and what a crazy suspenseful emotional ride it's been. The number of red herrings they threw at us was on another level. It was a completely different experience to watch the last 3 eps in a row. I was legit laughing to myself after ep12 ended - and with that preview! imagining what must've been happening in this thread:)
Can't say I have no complaints, but in the end for every scene that made me facepalm, there were three more beautifully filmed, memorable, symbolic ones that tugged at my emotions in a hundred different ways. I accept that there's a meta layer to this story that's probably only readable to people immersed in the country's current affairs. I wish it messed with the plot coherence less, but still it was interesting to get a glimpse into real-life social activism. I also liked the note it ended on, and all in all I think Sean and White won their crazily messy storyline with amazing chemistry:) I'll definitely recommend this show to everyone, with a small warning about a couple instances of imo pointlessly excessive violence.

Yes, he was quite memorable in that one too:)) I so agree about Maurice! That 'secret mystery of sex' talk Simon Callow delivers while drawing on the sand is one of the funniest openings I've ever seen;) Btw have you seen the deleted scenes? Besides more Alec/Maurice ^^, there's also a long take from that last confrontation between Clive and M that gives better emotional closure - I wish it made it into the film.

My pleasure;D Unfortunately, that movie is still disturbingly fresh in my mind, cause I just watched it a few weeks back going through Jeremy Irons' filmography... But I've had a major crush on the 80's since forever! That's when most of my favourite films were made - and my first ever screen love was young Rupert Graves frolicking naked in the lake in 'a room with a view':))

I think the tying up was just another red herring put there to make us think S knows the truth about W. S's so vague asking him if he knows what he did lol. For one thing, I feel the director has consistently been building him up as this loose cannon, so that action fits with that overall pucture. Secondly, I think he just learned W/B is keeping secrets from him (sibling, contacts - but didn't find ID or anything including a name and photo) and that's how he chose to deal with that...
I never bought the theory about marks because the thought about twins changing places while being with S gave me 'dead ringers' flashbacks and creeped me tf out... And also a huge thing like that, I think S would have chosen to address directly - not play these types of games. I also don't think any of them knew about Tawi coming to the university - I'm guessing they would've prepared a warm welcome otherwise:)
Yes, I am frustrated with W - but I've been on and off since ep1 so I got used to the feeling;) I do think since he declared he trusts S, he should never have entered or left the tent without telling him ...but where'd be the fun in that, right?

Got it:D

Lol I think it's better he told her and now they can both move on - or he gives her space while she decides what she wants. Unrequited crushes over their validity date give me heartburn;)

boo👻 because they're not vicious enough?