celestialocean

I wouldn't recommend skipping, because yes, you would miss a lot. Even scenes that include Mo Shan Shan in it have significance for the plot and for Ning Que outside of their feelings for/interactions with each other. If you like Ning Que/Sang Sang, some of those scenes reinforce Ning Que's love for her. Moreover, Mo Shan Shan isn't that bad. She's lovely and kind... just unfortunately too one-dimensional. We don't get to know much about her other than (1) she really likes calligraphy, (2) she really likes Ning Que - especially his calligraphy. I initially thought she had some promise as a character, but I ended up finding her pretty bland. More than anything, she seems to simply be a plot device to force Ning Que and Sang Sang to confront their romantic feelings for one another.

I'm glad to hear you say that about Dylan Wang. I couldn't even get through two episodes of Meteor Garden and I haven't seen him in anything else. I'm a bit worried I won't be able to enjoy season 2 as much because, despite his less than perfect performance, I think Chen Feiyu is pretty good as Ning Que and I enjoy his chemistry with Song Yiren. I'm cautiously optimistic, though. I'll keep an open mind because I really want to keep enjoying the characters and their story. :)

Yi Lu is pressing Ning Que to support her and her brother instead of the Empress and her son. He tells her that when it comes to the third or sixth prince inheriting the throne, the Emperor has the final say. When it comes to taking sides, he will only take the Emperor's side.

Ning Que tells Sang Sang that she should return to Wei City if he is unable to defeat Xia Hou; his friends can protect her there. She says that she wants to help him, but he reminds her that it hasn't been easy for them to survive, so they can't throw their lives away easily. (Kind of hypocritical, since he's planning to take on someone who is said to be invincible now, but he wants to protect her and she's pretty agreeable when it comes to what he wants.)

My unpopular opinions:

I actually liked the ending; I thought it was a great cliffhanger. lol I mean, perhaps it's because I had already heard there will be a second season... though even if I hadn't, I would have to assume there is at least intended to be one because of how the story ended.

Also... I must be one of the few who never really did ship Chu Qiao and Yan Xun. He comes across as very pushy and entitled with her in the beginning. He does get better once hardship hits them both and they begin to depend on each other, but his later actions still reveal him to be controlling, manipulative, underhanded, and possessive towards her. As with Princess Yuan Chun towards Yan Xun - that is more infatuation/obsession than love. I felt from pretty much the beginning that Yuwen Yue was better suited for Chu Qiao.

My understanding is that there will be a second season and that he does survive (if the book it is based on is anything to go by).

This question very old, but since it was never correctly answered - it's the theme from the 1970 movie "Love Story."

I primarily picked this up because it seemed very well-liked and I've enjoyed several works of the two main actors in the past. I felt it definitely didn't live up to the hype. It is very loosely plotted; the lack of an interesting story to keep me guessing and wanting to know more left me bored a lot. While the characters are reasonably likable, there isn't -much- character development either. The comedy is lighthearted and cute, complete with cartoonish sound effects and occasional graphics (such as hearts). There are two secondary couples that are likable enough, for different reasons, but I ended up rooting for one nearly as much as the main couple. I can't say I'd highly recommend watching this, but it's not terrible either.

I didn't feel quite so strongly about it as you, but the plot was absolutely lacking. I was bored a lot. I completed it primarily because I like some of the actors, and I found the comedy pretty cute most of the time. But with the story provided, I think it would have worked better to cut the series in half.

[Edited to mark as "spoiler," because I'm not sure if what I wrote would be considered to include spoilers. If so, they are very minor.]

I wanted to like this drama because I think Yang Mi is great, but I couldn't get through it. Tong Wei, the female protagonist, vacillates between absurd overconfidence (which I suppose actually stems from insecurity) and (for the most part) being a passive doormat when it comes to the men fighting over her. She is supposed to seem like a strong, confident businesswoman, I think, but she doesn't.

I could even kind of understand when the male protagonist, Xiao Fei, was her very influential client that she couldn't afford to offend. But when the behavior continued after their working relationship ended (albeit, most likely temporarily), it no longer made sense. It just seemed that despite how she brags about herself to her friend, she doesn't value herself enough. Perhaps that's one of the things meant to change with character development, but I'm not interested in wasting 41 episodes worth of my time to wait and see if it finally happens.

Xiao Fei is even less likable. He's arrogant, entitled, rude, and has no regard for boundaries. He constantly harasses Tong Wei and she, for the most part, just tolerates it. Again, I'm sure he'll eventually become a more likable character... but I've already put about seven hours into it and he's very annoying. Her permissiveness is very annoying. Although he's regretted some of his bad behavior, it's only towards Yang Mi, and that's only because he's attracted to her. I clearly don't have the patience for this character's snail-paced character development.

If it weren't for these traits in the characters, and the way their dynamic is written, maybe I'd like it? But for me to invest a lot of time in a story, I have to like the main characters. I don't, and this many episodes into it, I think that I should. So I've dropped it and have moved onto a show I actually am enjoying.

I didn't think it would, but you are welcome. :)

Well... if anything, I would think it's the reverse. It was clearly considered morally wrong in that culture in those times, whereas I think more people would be sympathetic to their situation now (though of course I could be wrong about that).

The other romance was much weaker, in my opinion. I'm not sure whether it was an issue of writing or the chemistry between the actors, but it didn't really work for me (and apparently many people felt the same way).

But the female character is a consort of the previous emperor who is also a highly skilled (and initially emotionless) warrior. The male character is Ping's amoral, intelligent, and highly manipulative older brother (though obviously not by blood). He's attracted to her pretty much immediately and is flirtatious early on, but it takes her time to warm up to him - and somehow, the progression of their relationship just didn't seem believable to me. While they were in a relationship, he treated her a little too delicately for my taste. He also kind of goes off on the deep end as a result of her death, intentionally being cruel/hurtful to Ping because he chose to blame him for her death (but comes around in the end).

I wouldn't call that hypothetical situation analogous at all, but you are right that a thing like this is subjective. I am not saying that you should see it the same way I do.

The brother was already dead by the time the main character arrived, though even if he were unconscious and died soon after, I can't see how it would have made any difference. They had no actual relationship; they never knew each other. There is not cheating involved, nor is Ping related to Fu Shou.

His relentless compassion was grating at times, but I do think that killing Cao Cao's family would have backfired. It would have prevented him from winning over as many allies as he did and accomplishing some of the things he was able to accomplish as a result later on.

It wasn't even close to an issue for me because - as Hanim pointed out - the two brothers never even knew each other. But perhaps more importantly for me, there was at most a camaraderie between Fu Shou and Liu Xie. It's clear that Fu Shou respected him greatly, and even loved him in a sense, but they were not ever in love. (I also got the sense that he was much more important to her, on a personal level, than she was to him.) It wasn't a romantic relationship, and Fu Shou was not even allowing herself the emotional vulnerability to fall in love at the time. Even if they were legally married, they were more akin to business partners. Still, if you feel that strongly about it, I understand, and I do think it would be difficult for you to enjoy the series because their relationship is a very important element of the story.

It's funny reading some of the comments about the dynamic between Adam and Ah Zhai, because there are such mixed viewpoints. I think it's somewhat open to interpretation. The show itself doesn't really take a stance against homosexuality; in fact, the cast as a whole is refreshingly neutral towards same-sex relationships. Ah Zhai is the one with the hangup, which is why I tend to read his behavior and conflicting emotions towards Adam as internalized homophobia. I mean, no, it's -not- a BL series. (I'm not a fan of the genre as a whole anyway, so that's fine by me.) However, I don't think that Ah Zhai, Adam, and Eve are "just friends" to each other - at least in the way that "just friends" would usually entail. There's definitely a romantic element to it. So, romantic friends, perhaps?

Even the funniest parts are just mildly funny, and the main characters are so terrible to each other the majority of the time that it's hard to really like them. There are some cute moments and the ending is sweet, but it can't really make up for the rest. On the bright side, Dilraba Dilmurat is as cute as ever and the two male leads do great in their roles, too; I just didn't particularly care for the characters/story. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

This actually explains a lot so thank you. It wasn't among my favorites, necessarily, but I found it mostly enjoyable nevertheless.