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Completed
You Are My Destiny
12 people found this review helpful
Jun 25, 2020
36 of 36 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers
So I finally finished You are My Destiny. As most know by now, this was a remake of the 2008 TW drama "Fated to Love You" (also had a 2014 Kdrama remake and apparently a japanese one as well). I personally haven't seen the other remakes, so I can't speak for them. This review will honestly be a lot of comparisons to the original because FTLY honestly is one of my favorite TW classics, so it's really hard for me to not do constant comparing.

STORY:
I think personally, I prefer the original story. The story was honestly classic TW drama. Over the top and dramatic, a bit ridiculous at times, and fairly unrealistic even for 2008. BUT all of that said and done, this drama had a charm to it that made me remember it even 12 years later. This remake modernized the story a lot and made it much more realistic and down to earth than the original, but honestly it took away that magic charm that the original had and turned it into basically another standard modern drama.

****SPOILERS****

Main story changes:

THE PREGNANCY:

FTLY was an accidental pregnancy. The leads had no idea who the other was until after the slept together and their getting together was essentially a plot against the male lead.
YMD the two leads accidentally sleep together after a drunken night on a cruise ship. This is one of the biggest changes that I honestly didn't agree with. Obviously it was more realistic, but now you have an accidental situation turned into a guy cheating on his girlfriend and a girl who drunkenly sleeps with a guy she barely knows and becomes a third party in a relationship. Obviously the intention wasn't to harm anyone, but regardless, these two technically had an affair and even though they are both good people, this isn't anything that can be "redeemed" in any way.
-- this change to the story was the hardest for me to accept because in FTLY the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy were completely unwarranted and it was truly no one's fault. In this version, the FL just spends the entire drama feeling guilty - and rightfully so - and it really just made it hard for me to feel sorry for her at some points.

"STICKY NOTE GIRL":

FTLY this was the overall theme of the FL pre-miscarriage. She was basically used and forgotten by everyone in her life. She lived her days doing things and helping others and got NOTHING for it. This was not only in her work life, but also in her family where she was the least appreciated and cared for by her mother. This detail is really what made the ML so important in helping her become stronger and more confident. It also really pushes that change in personality where you see her become a completely different person post-miscarriage.

YMD: The FL is well loved by her mother, she has a great best friend/coworker who stands up for her at work, but yet she's still a "Sticky note" (only for the very beginning and only at work). There was honestly not as much reason for her to be this "sticky note" personality and it again, only really showed in the work place. This really broke down that character development for the FL as in this version, you already see her becoming stronger and more confident (after she joins the ML's company as the assistant to the Director). Then post-miscarriage, she's supposedly changed so much even though really she had already begun changing before she went to Hungary. Meh.

"THE REVEAL (of the truth)"
FTLY - They had this whole set up where the FL talks about what "happened" that day and it's accidentally recorded on camera, which is how the ML finds out about the real truth. It was such an important moment as you really saw everything just click for the ML and he finally understands why the FL ran away from him and was so afraid to be near hin that day. He confronts Anna and then is able to really love the FL without the feeling that he did anything to hurt her back then.
YMD - The "reveal" is just so downplayed. It felt super rushed to me, and then there's really no ending for it. Dylan "tells" Xin Yi the "truth", but XY knows what really happens from Anna's expressions. But he just runs to the airport, where he just so happened to have a copy of the real divorce papers waiting for Jia Xin? Meh. Anna honestly gets no form of retribution for what she did and then the story just ends.

Overall when it comes to the story, again, it is modernized and it's definitely more realistic - but honestly, there are so many modern dramas that are basically the same set up, and now this show becomes one of many.

ACTING:
Most people know that the leads of this show were the OTP in The Eternal Love and that was a huge selling point for this drama. I think honestly everyone loved this pairing so much because the Eternal Love was basically 75% cute romantic moments. This drama was NOT that. It was more focused on the real lives between the two and so it required a lot of actual acting and portraying of emotions. Personally, I think that even though these two have cute chemistry, they are still really young actors, and this drama showed that there's room for improvement.

Shoutout to the side family characters though. The FL's mom, the ML's grandma and aunt, I think were honestly all really good.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:
This drama was ok. It is not my favorite of 2020 and it honestly isn't very memorable to me. But again, I think I had low expectations knowing that it was a remake of one of my favorite TW dramas. If I had never seen the original and watched this one, I probably would have enjoyed it a bit more, but again, when you want to remake a famous and classic TV show, you need to be prepared for comparisons to the original.

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Completed
The Romance of Tiger and Rose
3 people found this review helpful
Jun 16, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers
You guys. This drama was SO CUTE. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first started watching. I read the summary and thought it seemed interesting, but really did not expect what ended up happening on this show. Literally it was the perfect web-drama. It knew that it was a low-budget, young actor filled drama - and it didn't let those things be its downfall, but actually used those downfalls to make the show even funnier and cuter.

This drama is the PERFECT CURE for such a terrible 2020. Absolutely recommend watching.

Story / Characters:
The basis of the story has a mix of traditional rom-com story lines, but it adds in its own twists that make it pretty interesting. I've heard that there's another C-drama that had a similar set up, but I hadn't watched it. The idea that the FL goes into her own story and becomes a side character who was meant to die, and ends up becoming the heroine of her story is a bit complex in theory, but it was fun to watch.

In all honestly, everyone can tell this is a low-budget production. The story honestly has a LOT of gaps and holes that don't make sense. (Particularly the ending that I'll get to later.) But I think the majority of the audience watching this drama was watching for the cute scenes and adorable moments between the leads, more than for a ridiculously complicated story line.


**********SPOILERS***********

**********SPOILERS***********

**********SPOILERS***********

I like the twist they added of the script's FL actually becoming the villain in the story, but I think by the end, it really got annoying for me personally. I always hate the types of stories where EVERYTHING bad that happens to the villain is "because of the lead." It's just overdone and ridiculous. I can't imagine how else they'd write this storyline though.

2FL Chen Qu Qu - But particularly with the 2nd princess, Chu Chu, I just don't understand her motives by the end. The whole time, she wanted to become the leader of the city and get the power. But she finds out about her actual birth and then gives up the city leader position to be in charge of the army? I guess for the purpose of power, it kind of makes sense, but eh. Also I feel like the 2nd princess' stories were really the most lacking for me. Why was she in love with Han Shuo? Just because. They never actually spent any time together and they had no special moments together for her to actually fall of him. By the end of the story, Chu Chu got angry anytime people mentioned Qian Qian, and yet she was the one that continued to bring Qian Qian into the mess. At this point, she had already left Hua Yuan and went to Xuan Hu. She could have just let her stay there and lived separate lives. BUT then the story wouldn't have an actual ending.

Main Leads (Chen Qian Qian and Han Shuo) - I think there's no secret that the biggest reason this show is so popular is because of the two leads. They have super cute chemistry and they played off of each others actings very well. There were a good amount of cute scenes, but honestly, I definitely got annoyed with the triangle plot with Pei Heng.

2ML Pei Heng - Ugh. Another character I really didn't care for. I honestly didn't like the 2nd leads for this relentless, yet illogical "love" they had for the lead characters. PH's character in the story originally hated CQQ and had no reason to fall in love with her. And yet, just because they wanted some drama in love land, they had PH become obsessed with being with CQQ. His actual character was just the standard "nice guy", but he did have his moments of essentially betraying CQQ and trying to kill HS. Meh.

OVERALL:

Even with all the negatives of this show, I'd definitely still recommend this. It's a short drama - only 24 episodes (super short for China) and I think that if you want to watch a cute, romantic comedy, that this is the perfect one to fill your time. I honestly skipped through a lot (mostly the Eldest Princess' scenes cause I just didn't care), but it was still a super cute drama that I think is worth a watch.


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Completed
Forget You Remember Love
6 people found this review helpful
Apr 27, 2020
38 of 38 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers
Here comes another long review. Sorry guys hahah. Also clearly lots of comparison to the original TW drama.

If anyone wasn't sure, this drama is a remake of the original Taiwanese drama "Prince Turns to Frog," which is definitely a classic drama that I highly recommend. There was also a remake in 2009 (I think?) with Tiffany Tang and Roy Chiu. I'm honestly kind of a fan of Xing Fei. I think she's super cute and adorable. Definitely more on the "Idol Actor" side, but I think she is actually pretty good in these types of roles.

Also as a side note, I love PTTF, but couldn't stomach the Tiffany Tang and Roy Chiu remake. I watched maybe 3 episodes and gave up (and I usually like Tiffany Tang as an actress, but something about that drama was meh.)

STORY:
The story has clearly been done before. (1 Taiwanese, 2 mainland China, and also a Korean version - idk if there was a Japanese version). They definitely made some changes to this story for the remake.

*******SPOILERS******
*******SPOILERS******

STORY CHANGES

Xu Ze Qian - Specifically splitting the story of the SML (Xu Ze Qian) and actually breaking him up into two characters - XZQ and Tai Chu. Originally, the relationship with Tai Chu and Ye Qian Yu was actually between YQY and XZQ (though not as developed because he was still in love with the SFL). I think that this had some good and bad change to it.
Good - You could tell that TC actually really liked YQY, which created a legitimate love triangle.
Bad - It made XZQ a bit -too- crazy about Fan Yun Yi. His whole story arc and character was built around her one person, whereas in the original, he had a few moments of being able to break away from that. Idk.

Shan Jun Hao's father - This was probably the biggest change that I think affected the story. In the original, SJH's father actually WAS the reason why XZQ's family was broken. So it was completely legitimate for XZQ to hold this huge grudge against the Shan family. In this version, they change it to where it was all manipulated by some former board of directors at Senwell. Personally, I think this change pushed the story into ridiculous Idol Drama world. This was a crucial story line for the original drama that really gave it some depth and some challenge, but here, they turned it into a "the ML's family was actually perfectly good in every way." It just felt like a cop-out to me.

Fan Yun Yi - In the original, she actually has a lot more dramatic things happen to her. Her skin is damaged from a broken glass window; she and SJH actually get married and then she goes a little crazy when she learns that she offered to get a divorce, etc. In this version, they definitely made it much more tame. She falls down some stairs, hits her head, and goes blind for a while, but obviously heals. It just makes the character arc less 3-D. But overall, FYY was a more reasonable character than the original version.

MINOR CHANGES (didn't affect the story as a whole, but things that I think could have been included)

The Piano- in the original drama, the two leads go to this small house that has a piano and a pool in the backyard. These two things I think really helped develop the relationship between the two leads. In PTTF, YQY actually really tried to learn how to play the piano (to honor her deceased mother) and there was more focus on this part of the story, with SJH helping her to learn how to play and them bonding over this. In this version, SJH does help her buy her mother's old piano, but other than that, this storyline just kind of ends.

The Pool - One of the times when YQY really tests SJH's love for her is when she purposely falls into the pool and waits for SJH to save her. This caused a really heart-wrenching moment because he doesn't go to save her. Just another small moment that I think really developed their relationship. In this version, SJH wasn't as cold-hearted in his actions, but more in words. So eh.

CHARACTERS:

Xing Fei's Ye Qian Yu - I think personally that I somewhat liked this version better. YQY actually wasn't as annoying as Chen Qiao En's version was in the beginning. Yes she cared about money, but she actually never did anything too over the top because of it. I think Xing Fei also just shines at these bubbly, cute type of characters. I haven't seen her do much outside of this range, but she's still a new actress.

Jin Ze's Shan Jun Hao - I think honestly SJH was the shining point for me. Not only is the actor very tall and attractive haha, but his acting was actually pretty decent. His acting as SJH and as Tong Hao really showed a versatile performance from him. He was able to really show off the cold-blooded CEO role as well as the naive, bubbly Tong Hao. Hopefully there's more coming from this actor as he's super new as well.

Others - Tai Chu I think was a big fan favorite. He was an all around good guy, rich, beautiful, and really cared for YQY even after he knew he didn't have a shot with her. But in the same thing, there was -nothing- wrong with him, which I think made the story too easy.

None of the other characters -super- stood out for me, personally.


FINAL THOUGHTS - I think it's hard to compete with a classic that has kept its place in so many people's hearts (looking at you Meteor Garden). This version wasn't bad, but it definitely doesn't have the same staying power as the original in my opinion. I think this was a decent remake, but it took the "idol drama" idea and went into overdrive. Everything was just too easy. The characters shined in one aspect, but didn't have enough dimension for me. I've rewatched the original TW version a handful of times just because of how nostalgic it felt and the chemistry between the leads. I can't imagine myself watching this version again because it was just another cutesy idol drama. However, I do think it was good enough for at least one run-through.

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Completed
Skate Into Love
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 13, 2020
40 of 40 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers
I went into this only really knowing the FL - Janice Wu. I know the stories she usually picks and the characters she usually plays, so I had a pretty good idea of what this drama would be - it was exactly what I imagined. Also sorry my reviews are always really long hahaha.

STORY:

This drama hit basically all the high points of your common rom-com mixed with drama stories. Couple dislikes each other at the beginning, someone goes out of their way to make the other person's life miserable. There's fighting, laughing, crying, etc. I think that in terms of the story, it was a pretty basic drama.

****SPOILERS****
****SPOILERS****
****SPOILERS****
****SPOILERS****

I think this drama excelled at adding the strong goals of each of the characters. Everyone had their own personal dream to accomplish and worked their hardest to achieve their individual goals while also helping their friends and loved ones achieve their own. This part, I think was rather enjoyable to watch. On the negative side, however, this makes the show even more unrealistic. All of the main characters in the show not only had a strong dream, but they were also perfectly adapted to achieve those goals with little in the way of stopping them.

While the story does show failures and injuries that slow them down, it still felt a little unrealistic to me. The FL is one of the best at her sport and even after taking almost 2 years off after an almost fatal injury, she returns and is one of the top athletes after just a few months (legit like 4 months because this first happens in their first semester of school). It's just unreasonable to me.

Regardless of that, I still think the story was enjoyable. It moved along fairly fast, even though 40 episodes is a decently long drama (especially contemporary).

Another low point to the story? WAY TOO MANY SIDE PLOTS. By the end of the drama there's like 4-5 fully fledged relationships that come out. Every character (minus Yu Yan) end up with a significant other (even the "bad guys"). Again, super unrealistic, but it's a romantic dramedy. I honestly skipped through a bit of this TV show, mostly through the side character plots. It was just a bit much.

Now getting to the bad guys in the story. I think the point of the show was to show that even "bad characters" can come around. They showed that part well enough. But honestly the "bad guys" - namely Bian Cheng and Zhou Ran - were hardly bad enough to even be a bad guy. I'd call them fairly annoying at most. They disrupted the MLs lives enough to be annoying, but weren't bad enough to actually be threatening. Bian Cheng especially. He was so ridiculously set on his goal to be with Tang Xue, but they never talk about WHY he actually "likes" her. Meh.

CHARACTERS:

Tang Xue - The leads I think were pretty solid. I really like Janice Wu in general, so she definitely hit the right points with me. She was able to be pretty badass in this drama. A much stronger character than others she's played. Her character was refreshing for me because it's rare that a FL is so powerful and outspoken.

Li Yu Bing - This was my first drama for this actor. At first I was not super into his acting. Mostly because the producers had the adult leads portray the "child" versions of them in some flashbacks. It was cute and funny, but it kind of ruined my image of LYB haha.

Others - none of the other characters ridiculously stood out for me honestly. There was also just too much focus on all of them.

OVERALL:
This was a decent drama. It's fairly popular in China for this year and there were no major issues, minus some story lines / character development. I think that I wouldn't watch it again, personally, because it really wasn't THAT different from any other drama. The chemistry between the leads was ok, but not mind blowing. Decent for a one time watch (with some skipping), but I wouldn't rewatch.

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Completed
Eternal Love of Dream
4 people found this review helpful
Mar 6, 2020
56 of 56 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers
After almost two or three years of waiting, the coveted sequel to Ten Miles of Peach Blossom finally premiered! My personal favorite OTP from TMOPB - Bai Feng Jiu and Dong Hua - were brought back together and we finally get to see the full story for the adorable 9-tailed red fox and the (essentially) creator of the heavens. Overall I'd say this was a super cute drama and it was filled with a lot of good bits for the fans, but I will say it doesn't quite measure up to the first season of TMOPB.

*** SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW**** (Also sorry this review is pretty long)

STORY:
Knowing the cutesy personality for BJF (and also her actress Dilraba) I expected this to be overall cutesy, with a bit of "drama" towards the end. That was exactly what we got. We see the development of the relationship between BFJ and DH from their first meeting to the end. I think overall there was a good progression of their relationship, and I liked that the ML didn't immediately fall in love with the FL (it would be totally against DH's character to do so). I think we could see how this relationship turned from that picture- perfect crush on the "knight in shining armor" to an actual love strengthened by situations and sacrifice. I think the writers did well with giving us enough cutesy scenes without overdoing it on the romance plot.

For the story with Miao Luo (big bad), I feel like it was a pretty predictable story line and honestly, even as big and bad as she was, I feel like her presence didn't really disrupt the lives of the leads (until the end really). So I think her story of being essentially caged up the whole time, didn't really let the audience feel what a "big bad" she really was supposed to be. (Though thinking back, I'd say the same thing for the big bad in the first TMOPB). The whole situation wrapped up in a nice bow in the final episode, so meh. This was supposed to be a romance-forward drama anyways.

I think there were some story points, for me specifically the "Aranya's Dream" story point (granted I was watching in Chinese with no subtitles, so it was a bit easier for me to get confused about some stuff), but I think that section of the story kind of dragged a bit for my preferences.

Story overall was pretty predictable and really no major confrontations throughout. Everyone had a clean, happy ending. But I think this drama did really well with character development to make up for the average storyline.

CHARACTERS:
Feng Jiu - Mentioning character development, I think we definitely saw a HUGE change for BFJ's character. She was able to grow, mature, and strengthen herself (while still being able to keep some of her original playful personality). I personally really like Dilraba and think that BFJ is one of her best characters. (From watching her on Running Man and Go Fighting, I'd say BFJ is very similar to Dilraba's actual personality)

Dong Hua - gonna admit, I kind of liked DH better in TMOPB for the very cold, cool personality he had. It makes sense that you'd get a change in personality when he has more room to develop, but I feel like both characters being somewhat "childish" is kind of meh for me. Though I think it was a good contrast for his original personality of being such an "ice-face". Vengo Gao did a decent job with this portrayal, particularly with the cutesy scenes, but I think his "cold exterior" was better portrayed in the first season.

Others - Gonna be real, the writers ruined Ji Heng for me. She started off so well and they made her into one of the typical crazy romance enemies and then just meh. By the end, I was skipping through her scenes cause I couldn't really root for her relationship with Xiao Yan after how ridiculous she was meddling in BFJ and DH's relationship. She was madly in love with her bodyguard, and then madly in love with DH, and now I'm supposed to believe she's in love with Xiao Yan for real? Idk. Fickle.

Xiao Yan - originally thought he was pretty annoying, but clearly he turned out to be a solid friend to everyone, so I liked him by the end. Glad he got a happy ending - though don't care for Ji Heng obviously.

OVERALL:
Cutesy drama with good chemistry from the lead actors. Overall isn't my favorite drama as it was just too easy (story wise) and there didn't feel like there was any real conflict throughout the show. But it's definitely a cute romance when you need it.

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Completed
My Girlfriend
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2019
28 of 28 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
Story:
This story was so weird to me? The FL believes she has a curse where her confessions will always fail (she's confessed like 30 times by the beginning of the story) because of something that happened when she was a teenager. (Which when you watch the actual "memory" happen, you realize she had ZERO to do with the situation, minus being in the vicinity.)

Fast forward to the actual story, you have the FL who wants to become a store window designer, the ML who is a TV producer, with major insomnia, the SML, who is overall a rich, attractive, good guy, and the SFL, who is kind of a badass, but is a bit ridiculous when it comes to guys.

*** Mini Spoiler ****
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The plot was pretty standard, modern romance. Nothing that really stood out to me. What mostly doesn't make sense to me is that the FL originally really likes the SML, but when he starts reciprocating, she just . . . doesn't . . . anymore? It just wasn't really addressed more than just her saying "I just don't like him that way" even though she was super into him when they first meet.

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*****

Regardless, the SML doesn't turn into some evil, bad guy (which I thought might happen when they revealed his true identity), but actually stays a good guy who helps the leads get together. Same with the SFL. She could've been a liar/backstabber, but they kept her a good person as well. The actual story wasn't super memorable to me really. It was really just a pretty standard C-drama, again a bit unrealistic, but not terrible.

Characters:

Overall decent job. Bridgette Qiao was basic cutesy FL, no major acting achievements. Timmy Xu was the best part for me, I think. He did a good job showing the different parts of his character and kept it fairly realistic. The SML and SFL were also pretty good also. No one that annoyed the hell out of me.

Rewatch value:

Not something I'd ever plan to rewatch. It just wasn't anything super special or unique. The chemistry wasn't that amazing either, so no specific reason to watch again.

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Completed
Lucky's First Love
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 27, 2019
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.5
STORY:
I usually don't care for modern dramas because the story lines are basically the same. Office drama/romances, love triangles, corporate espionage, etc. This drama honestly wasn't different in that aspect. The story lines were fairly the same as most modern/office dramas. The one good point was that this drama essentially skips all of the beginning relationship building, and at the beginning of this drama, the ML and FML already have a strong work relationship.The FML is actually the ML's "lucky person/mascot" and they've been together since day one of the company.

For me this plot advance gives you more time to really see the development of their relationship from boss/employee to lovers with good detail. It also makes the FML stronger, IMO, because you and other characters see the effort she already put in for the company, so there's little "back-door, climbing up the ladder" feeling that many other dramas end up having. No major twists and turns, but I think the development of their relationship was actually pretty solid.

As for the side characters, I honestly didn't care too much about them. The sister and her husband plot line pretty much worked out ¼ of the way in and they were just side characters by the end. The SML and SFML relationship was longer building, but honestly felt a bit more rushed to me. They were both "in love" with the ML and FML, but after one night, the SML was immediately in love with the SFML. Meh.

Characters:
ML - I like that more Chinese dramas are adapting the "cold boss" 霸道总裁 trope. The ML can still have some characteristics of that without being overly "cold" and ridiculous. I think Xing Zhao Lin honestly was super cute in this drama. His little smiles and facial expressions won me over while watching this.

FML - I honestly think Bai Lu was really good in this drama. She played the cutesy FML part well, but also showed a very responsible, dedicated, hardworking side as well. Overall the chemistry with XZL wasn't super deeply amazing, but it was cutesy and surface level good.

Others - The ex-girlfriend was honestly a bit overacted for me. Most of the characters were fairly realistic to me, but her character was just overly extra with no real substance.

Overall:

Again, decently cutesy drama. The kiss scenes were pretty good for a chinese drama. I would probably watch again whenever I have nothing else to watch, but it didn't blow my mind.

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Completed
I Will Never Let You Go
25 people found this review helpful
Mar 15, 2019
51 of 51 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers
STORY: This was definitely the biggest problem with this drama. The beginning I think was great. It was cute and interesting. The main couple had good chemistry together. And then halfway through, they decide to separate the main couple for 11 episodes. Not even separating as in they're fighting and are upset with each other, but LITERALLY DO NOT INTERACT FOR 11 EPISODES (minus one scene where he saves her, but neither of them even know it's the other person.) I honestly was going to drop during this point because the chemistry between the leads was what I thought made the drama.

Ending - I figured the whole thing was a ruse by Chen Yu and the emperor - even before they actually showed that it was all an act. So it was better than in Story of Ming Lan, where you don't find out it was all an act until the very very end. However, I think the biggest issue was all the deaths by the end of the drama. Yes I know C-dramas love to kill people off, which isn't the problem. But at least make it meaningful and worthwhile to die.

1) Male lead did NOT have to die. He wasn't severely injured and if Dong Fang Shi could pull both BuQi and Chen Yu out of the hole, there's no reason why Chen Yu couldn't have tried a little harder instead of just giving up. Again. He wasn't SEVERELY injured.
2) Mo Ruo Fei - Glad s/he died by the end of it, but I really don't like how they changed the story for this character by the end. Throughout the drama MRF was very loyal and cared about HBQ. Yes, s/he sided with his mother after she poisoned HBQ, but throughout it all, MRF did still care about HBQ and wanted to right his mother's wrongs. Now that the king killed his mom, he could care less about everyone around him? No way. MRF betrayed her multiple times and at the very end willingly tried to get HBQ killed to -potentially- get revenge on the king. Meh.
3) So many people died in the last episode, that it really took away any sentimental value for it. Really only Xiao Xia (HBQ's guard) got a meaningful death (kind of, I'm still annoyed that she didn't even actually die for HBQ but for a fake HBQ).

ACTING:

Personally always love Ariel Lin and think she does a great job with her roles. You can tell she actually cares and she's not afraid to ugly cry - which always feels more realistic.

Zhang Bin Bin - normally I'm a little hit or miss with him, but overall think he did a good job. I don't think he was dubbed in this drama, so I think it was a little weird that towards middle/end of the drama, he started sounding super breathy while he talked (compared to the beginning when he was the proper/powerful Prince and had a super strong voice).

Everyone else - No one else really stood out to me. The actor who plays DFS I can't unbiasedly judge cause I disliked the character lol.


OVERALL:
Overall, I did like the drama. But it definitely wasn't a favorite just because of the story choices the writers made. Literally 11 episodes where the ML and FL are separated (and they were definitely the heart of the story for me). I skipped through most of those episodes and really could care less about them. It was way too long and the story got really boring (almost dropped the drama at this point).

I also really didn't care for Dong Fang Shi. Yes, he loved her and was trying to "protect her" but even up till the end, seeing how sad and unhappy she was, he still forced her to stay by his side (literally tied her up so she wouldn't run). He -barely- redeemed himself the first time his grandfather tried to take HBQ and he was willing to sacrifice himself for her. But again, he played the typical "I'm doing this for you (even though it wasn't even really what was best for her).

Also kind of annoyed that Liu Qing Wu got a happy ending. She did nothing to deserve it, IMO. She originally was a bad guy who killed HBQ's uncle. Then she was a traitor and tried to take over Liu Ming Shan Zhuang. Then she continually kept trying to cause trouble for HBQ and CY. Then she betrayed CY and sold out HBQ to the king. But she gets to have a happy life and get the power of being a beloved concubine? Pass.

But I do think Ariel and Zhang Bin Bin had some great chemistry and would definitely like another collaboration between them!

Most likely wouldn't rewatch though just because of the negatives I had.

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Completed
Well-Intended Love
293 people found this review helpful
Feb 21, 2019
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 25
Overall 6.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers
I wanted to love this drama. My friend got me to watch and told me it was cute and adorable and a lot of fun. I believed her. The first 10 episodes were great and I was honestly enjoying it. Then the big plot twist happened in episode 11 and from that point on, the drama was honestly ruined for me.

***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER****

STORY:
This was really the only problem I had with this drama because I actually liked the acting and the chemistry between characters was great.
It started off fairly cliche - ???? - Cruel, harsh boss and the ??? cute, young, innocent girl are thrown together. Contract marriage, eventually fall in love for real. All great. I actually really appreciated that this time around, the male lead wasn't an ass to her the whole time before he realized his feelings, but he was very respectful of her, treated her well, was super cute to her. Great start!
The first episode I thought it was gonna be super melodramatic what with the boyfriend cheating, the sickness diagnosis, etc. It seemed like this was gonna be a downer drama. I was wrong. It was bubbly and romantic and cute. Everything continued on - relationship was cute, they kept getting closer, they finally fall in love.

AND THEN THE BIG PLOT TWIST. and this is where it went downhill for me.

***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER****
***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER****
***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER****
***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER****

You find out that NOT ONLY was the female lead NEVER sick with Leukemia, but that the male lead knew about it from the beginning. What could be worse than that? THE MALE LEAD WAS BEHIND THE WHOLE THING. From day one, he was the one who manipulated the female lead, the doctors, down to keeping her holed up in some private facility for two months while she "recovers" (which they conveniently skipped over in the drama and they go straight from getting married to her being fully recovered in under 2 mins). It was ALL a ploy by the male lead to get the female lead to fall in love with him.

The drama continues to try and make it seem like he did it all for a noble cause - cause he really fell in love with her over the past two years when he was at his worst and she was the bright star that made him happy to live and whatnot. That's all great and that's a great love story. BUT THE FACT THAT HE ESSENTIALLY STALKED HER FOR TWO YEARS, FAKED HER ILLNESS AND FRAUDED HER INTO MARRIAGE MAKES ALL OF THIS JUST CREEPY AND NOT OK.

I know that the drama was trying to make it seem innocent, and she of course forgives him for all of this, but honestly I couldn't get over that plot point. It was too creepy and too stalkerish. If this was real life, there was no shot in hell that she would forgive him and continue their relationship.

Legit if they had kept everything the same - him falling for her prior to really meeting her, but actually had her be sick and have him donate his bone marrow, and all the subsequent story points - MINUS THE PART WHERE HE FRAUDED HER - I would be perfectly fine and I would have been able to enjoy the second half of this drama. But honestly, I can't believe they romanticized a legit stalker and manipulator and tried to make him seem noble. I can't.

Ugh.

ACTING:
I think the actors were all really good. I loved the leads (at first) and thought their relationship was surprisingly refreshing for a Chinese drama (where most of the time it ends up being the same plot lines). I was super into the male lead and thought he had a good suave personality, as well as being caring and thoughtful.

REWATCH:
Absolutely not. Knowing that one plot twist really I just can't with this drama. They try to make it cute and relatable, but it's just not for me. It's creepy and stalkerish.

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Completed
Bloody Romance
2 people found this review helpful
Dec 21, 2018
36 of 36 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers
STORY:

Overall I think it was somewhat a predictable story. Innocent young girl, joins a new world to escape her past, fights her way up the ranks, becomes the head of this new world. You knew who the enemies were. You knew who would end up with who. You could assume that essentially everyone would end up dead by the end of it.

Even with the predictability of it all, I think it was still a very enjoyable drama. It was somewhat weird for me though. I normally breeze through dramas pretty easily (hello binge watching) and this is a fairly short drama (on average for Chinese dramas at least), but for some reason it took me almost two weeks to watch just 36 episodes. Partially I was busy at work, but I think there were certain times I lost a little bit of interest honestly.

Pertaining to the actual story, I think honestly my biggest gripe about it was Wan Mei's personality. I think in this kind of setting it would have been the more obvious choice to just have her become a skilled assassin all in her own, but the constant moral turmoil she faced was honestly kind of off-putting for me. I get that she was supposed to be a loyal and morally righteous person, but honestly if this were real life (using that term lightly) it really would make ZERO sense that she survived in Gui Hua Cheng, let alone become the new leader. I get that in the end people showed her loyalty because she was not a sinister person, but really, a city of assassins and the leader refuses to kill anyone.

It just made little sense most of the time that she kept fighting to be a part of Gui Hua cheng, but was constantly thrown off by having to kill anyone. Again, I get that she was escaping a past life and this was her escape, but idk, it was just giving me very mixed emotions.

Romance wise, I wish that there could have been more skinship between the leads (or really anything aside from hugging and longing looks) A) because who doesn't love a good kiss here and there but B) for two people who were in such life and death situations with each other and constantly fighting for there lives, you'd think there would be more passion involved. Other than that, I do really like the relationship between Wan Mei and Chang An. I think they relied on each other well and I think the angst between them while she hated him was very strong.

I also appreciate that for the most part, the characters who disliked each other felt like logically reasonable to dislike another character. I get really tired of dramas where a bad person (typically a female) hates the female lead because of a boy but then EVERYTHING that happens is always blamed on the female lead/etc. I know that trope is never going to die, but it's just super overblown most of the time (my most recent memory is Pei Yuan from Legend of Fu Yao who literally every scene was her just hating on Fu Yao and blaming everything that went wrong on her even if it was someone else's fault. Just Bleh.)

ACTING:

Tong Li Ya - I think she was very good in this drama. She portrayed emotions very well and she did a very good job with the character she was given.

Qu Chu Xiao - Especially for a very young, very fresh actor, I think he did an exceptional job as Chang An. He powered through this role both as Chang an and as the lost heir, Xie Huan. Even though he knew his past life (for the most part) all along, I think there was a distinct difference in his personality when he was just the lowly shadow and when he comes to terms with his true identity. I know that QCX has also received nationwide recognition for this role, so it's no surprise to me.

Everyone else - Overall I liked all of the acting. The people who needed to be exaggerated were the right amount, whereas the more solemn characters hit those notes as well.

OVERALL:

Looking back at my review it feels like I had more problems with this drama than I enjoyed, but honestly I don't have a bad impression when I think back on this drama. Even with the things I mentioned I disliked, I overall still enjoyed watching and I'm hoping that there will be a second season coming out because the ending could definitely be a cliffhanger.

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Completed
The Eternal Love Season 2
16 people found this review helpful
Dec 14, 2018
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 8.5
This review may contain spoilers
STORY:

Compared to the first season, I actually really enjoyed this story line a lot more (and from start to finish). Even with the time traveling and multiple versions of characters and whatnot, it still made sense to me in the long run and overall had more fluidity than the first season did. I think after the cult success of the first season, and the hesitance for people to watch second seasons, it was overall good and worth it.

At first, I was thinking it would spend more time in the modern world, which would have been nice, but honestly I prefer historical dramas anyways, so I didn't have an issue with it traveling back to Dong Yue. Minus a few scenes throughout the episodes (the fridge falling out of nowhere and crushing the car as an example). things flowed well and made logical (using the term loosely) sense.

I think the use of the additional actor as the "other" 8th prince made the drama a lot better because they didn't have to use as much CGI and it was less for Xing Zhao Lin to have to deal with. He also brought different elements to the story which I enjoyed.

The romance was full on from the first minute, which is what I was expecting. I appreciated that this go around, as crazy as he was, that the eldest prince wholeheartedly loved Tan'er and never gave up on her. I actually sympathized more with him this time around because he actually fought to be with her from the beginning.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the "mystical land" plot line towards the end of the first season, so even though it was mentioned throughout this season, it didn't interrupt the story line like it did in the first season.

ACTING:

I think by this season, all of the actors had more experience on hand. I also like that they were able to bring back all of the same actors from the first season, so there weren't any weird changes throughout and having to explain who this new actor was that was supposed to be the same character.

The leads were still super cute and I think have good chemistry with each other. Xing Zhao Lin, even though he had some help not having to act as both 8th princes the whole time, was really good with keeping the two princes distinct from one another. There were a few times that you weren't sure which prince it was, but that was more of small writing issues IMO.

Liang Jie was a bit less spunky this time around. Maybe it was a writing thing, or just because she didn't have to act like Tan'er and Xiao Tan, so she didn't exaggerate the differences as much, but overall I think she was still good.

REWATCH:

Luckily The Eternal Love 1+2 aren't super long dramas (27 and 30 eps, around 35 mins each), so it's a quick watch. It's also a very cutesy and comedic romance drama with a bit of standard imperial court drama, so overall it's easy to throw in when you need something light and cute to watch. Overall would probably watch it again.

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Completed
Our Glamorous Time
23 people found this review helpful
Dec 14, 2018
50 of 50 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
STORY:
There were a lot of potentially interesting elements to this story. The fashion design aspect, the military/action aspect, and the business aspect. All three things that don't necessarily go together, but it seemed like it could work. The beginning of the drama wove those three plot points together fairly well in my opinion. Things seemed to make sense as you watched, but as you continued on, it basically seemed like they were giving up on these major plot focuses one by one.

Not even halfway through, most of the action side of it basically disappeared as they closed the plot that they introduced at the beginning of the drama. It went from being action scenes in almost every episode, to being basically nothing until the last few episodes. Honestly, the action side was the only thing keeping this from being completely another basic modern business romance.

I honestly feel like even the fashion element was thrown out of the window after a while. It went from focusing on designing for multiple different business projects and showing the designing process and trial and error, to just basically talking about it and saying "We're starting our own brand," but by the end was only really showing the business aspect of everything and everything else was just something they mentioned every once in a while to keep it in your mind. By the time they created the Qing Cheng brand, there was really NO mention of the design process. Scenes would go by and all of a sudden there was an entire store filled with clothes, whereas at the beginning when she designed the waterproof uniform, there was constant mention of how to make it, what materials to use, what the problems were, etc.

Romance wise, there was obviously a lot of that. It moved fairly quickly (the first kiss was episode 10 or so) and seemed to make sense as to why they fell for each other. There was a LOT of romance happening though. Four different couple pairings by the end of the drama. A LOT of split screen time between these four. There was a lot of focus on the second lead couple, but at this point the main couple was firmly established, so it was ok I guess.

ACTING:

Zhao Li Ying - honestly, ZLY is one of my favorite actresses. I think she always does a really good job with what she's given and shows a good variety of emotion and skill. This particular drama (and a LOT of people agree with me), I honestly think she shouldn't have taken up. Personally, I don't like her modern dramas (or modern dramas in general as they always end up about the same), but after seeing her being such a strong, smart, brave, etc. character in other dramas, it was really annoying to watch her just be such a Mary Sue character in this drama. She was talented and loyal and loving, sure. But that's about it. There were a lot of aspects where she was just a sideline in the process, or they talked about how important she was, but she didn't really show it. I have no problem with her having a cutesy role and whatnot, but I just feel like this character wasn't someone she needed to take up and there wasn't much about Lin Qian that made it a MUST HAVE role.

Jin Han - personally don't think he was that great. I've only seen him in supporting roles, and always as a bad guy, which I honestly thing suits him a lot better. I fall for male characters really easily in dramas, but there wasn't a lot about this role that I was infatuated with. The character himself was fine, but there was a disconnect for me between Jin Han's acting and the character coming to life.

Everyone else - No one in the drama honestly really stood out to me as being amazing. Whether it was character wise or acting wise. Again, this might play into the fact that I don't really care for modern dramas, but overall no one gave me a particular sense of joy while watching.

Side note - the portrayal of Peter really blew my mind. Not so much that the acting was amazing, but just the characterization was just WOW. I know he was supposed to be a bad guy in the drama, but the pill popping, sexual harassment tendencies, and general psychotic-ness was just a LOT.

OVERALL:

The drama wasn't terrible. The story made sense overall, it just was fairly boring (really just predictable and meh) by the end of it and again, the main aspects of the story that were introduced weren't all upheld by the end of the drama, turning it into just another fairly standard modern drama. I also again always have high expectations for ZLY dramas and really do think she's a very good actress, but there wasn't much with this drama by the end that made it super worth it (especially knowing how popular and in demand she is and how full her schedule is, I just think this drama wasn't necessary). Don't really feel the need to rewatch as there wasn't a lot in the drama that was super memorable for me.

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Completed
An Oriental Odyssey
31 people found this review helpful
Dec 14, 2018
50 of 50 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 7.5
This review may contain spoilers
Overall, I have mixed impressions of the drama. Weirdly enough I enjoyed watching it (in terms of entertainment factors), but I will definitely say that this drama had a LOT of issues and weirdness about it, but a few good points to almost balance it out.

STORY:

The plot line for this drama was honestly all over the place. I know it was based off of an IP novel, so maybe it made more sense in writing? IDK. I also know that it's supposed to be an "Odyssey" which I guess it really was, it was just such a convoluted path to get there.

The story began easily enough. Rich, young, beautiful daughter of a court official buys an amnesiac boy from a market. Girl also meets a city detective and together they solve crimes around the city with some help. Ok, cool. There's a bit of fantasy involved (obviously), but for the most part, it's relatively logical (for a Chinese drama at least xD)

Fast track to the middle of the drama, the slave boy remembers his true identity, has stolen a precious treasure, and returned to his original homeland. The female lead (IMO) has been getting more and more immature as time passes and is just downright whiney most of the time (I still love Janice Wu though). The second male lead is weirdly one of my favorites at this point in time (he's mature and brave, but still has a bit of a playful personality behind him). The fantasy aspects pick up more, and things start taking a weird turn.

By the end of the drama, we have people turning into dragons, bats, and moths. There's "soul splitting" occurring (Hey, Harry Potter), time travel (multiple times), and magical spells running amok. Relationships are fully formed by this point, and just overall there's honestly a lot going on that you somewhat get lost in the mix.

The romance is super slow burning, which isn't a problem (there are still a lot of cute moments that happen throughout), BUT my biggest issues are how they played out the various romances.

*** SPOILER *****

*** SPOILER ****

The writers spend basically the first half of the drama with Yuan'an having a crush on Lan Zhi, (which honestly I kind of preferred because he was matured and balanced out her somewhat stubborn and child like tendencies). And at the same time, she showed that she cared for Mu Le, but wasn't really in love with him (even though other people just kept saying it to her as the writers way of making people care about Yuan' an and Mu Le's relationship). They keep this going for more than halfway through the story, up until the point that Lan Zhi is no longer an option. So basically this way, whether it's true or not, it feels like Yuan'an is only going to end up with Mu Le because she couldn't have Lan Zhi anymore. Not because she actually chose him.

And to make matters worse, it's not until after Mu Le remembers who he really is that Yuan'an and him get together (so now she not only chooses him because she doesn't have another option, but she only realizes her feelings when he's not her slave boy anymore. Cool.)

Obviously this isn't how the writers want their relationship to be portrayed - probably aiming more for a "she didn't realize until he wasn't her slave boy anymore that she was in love with him and loved him no matter what his real identity was." But honestly, I personally feel like it backfired for them because it undermined her credibility for falling for him.

Also I really disliked Ming Hui as a character for the fact that she spent the majority of the drama being an adversary to the characters and never REALLY redeemed herself (to anyone but Lan Zhi), but gets to have a happy ending by the end. Bleh.

Overall, the story made sense (I guess), but it just wasn't well paced and fluid like I would hope. You're taking your audience on this epic journey, so making things make sense and fit together is a big part of that.

ACTING:

Overall I think the actors were all pretty good.

Janice is very good at the cutesy and stubborn personality types, though there were a lot of times I couldn't take her seriously when she got angry and what not. (I do think it was refreshing that her character was so blunt and somewhat sarcastic. It's not super common in Chinese dramas).

Zheng Ye Cheng - very believable as the loyal and loving Mu Le. Had a very innocent charm to him. As Ah Ying, (and it might have been his age playing into it for me) but I certain times couldn't take him seriously as a powerful prince. But he was very good IMO.

Zhang Yu Jian - it might have been more of his character (kind of my type lol), but I honestly really liked him as an actor. As I mentioned, he was a very matured character with a strong sense of justice and loyalty, but he had his moments of being romantic and also being playful/flirty which balanced him out well. I personally think he was the most well rounded of characters because you saw his strengths and faults more clearly and ZYJ did a good job portraying those different parts.

OVERALL:

Again, I didn't severely dislike this drama. I honestly think it was relatively captivating and fun to watch, BUT there were just a lot of plot issues and character problems that I wasn't a fan of, hence my lower score. It seemed to be a fairly popular drama while it aired, which I can see why, but looking at it overall, there were too many core problems I had with it for me to give it a higher score.

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Completed
Story of Yanxi Palace
104 people found this review helpful
Aug 30, 2018
70 of 70 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 9.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0
70 episodes later and I'm still wishing that there was more of this story to watch. Story of Yanxi Palace is rightfully the most popular C-Drama of 2018. Millions and millions of views, people talking about it on end (in China). It was quick witted and funny. It was dramatic and emotional. It had loveable characters. It had cunning villains. It had romantic relationships. It had strong friendships. It had the bonds of family.

STORY:
The synopsis of this drama honestly seems fairly bland - a young slave girl enters the palace and soon moves her way up the ranks of the inner harem to become the most powerful woman. It's a story that's been done and told before. There is the little twist of the young girl seeking revenge for the death of her sister, but overall it just doesn't seem like anything that out of the box or extraordinary. Nonetheless, being an avid fan of Chinese imperial dramas, I took on this 70 episode beast, and I'm so glad I did.

The story itself is honestly nothing very new. Inner harem fighting for the emperor's affections, trying to get their child to be favored in order to become the new emperor, etc. But the pacing of this drama was very well done and it really is the characters that bring this story to life.

Beginning with the main female lead - Wei Ying Luo. I'll definitely admit/agree that if this was more true to reality, she would've died a long time ago. The amount of things she gets away with is ridiculous and it's all just because someone (the Queen, the queen's brother, the emperor - unknowingly) cares for her and just helps her out of situations. Putting that aside, Ying Luo's character is really what made the drama for me (in combination with her relationship with the other main characters). She is not just strong and loyal, but she is ridiculously cunning and quick witted. She is caring and loving, but doesn't let that get in the way of achieving her goals (which is revenge more than it is just to win someone's affections, like these types of dramas often feature). She also has that playful side to her (whether or not it is an act or if it's really just who she is). Other people had issues with her characterization, but honestly I think it was someone somewhat new and noteworthy.

Moving past Ying Luo's actual character, her relationships with the empress, the emperor, and with the other side characters again really made this drama different and special. There was a complete and true sense of loyalty and love between Ying Luo and the empress. They both completed something for the other person that they were lacking. Ying Luo lost her older sister and mother figure and the Empress become that for her. The Empress felt that she lost her freedom and innocence to the rules and regulations of being the empress and Ying Luo was that figure of freedom that she needed.

Ying Luo's romantic relationships were both enjoyable to watch as well. With Fu Heng (the empress' brother) it was a first love that was just full of understanding and wanting what was the best for the other person. With the emperor it developed from him somewhat hating her and wanting to have her killed many times to the playful and caring relationship (with many misunderstandings along the way of course). Particularly with the emperor, this relationship she had with him was refreshing and new. They weren't just playful with each other but really played pranks on one another and were not afraid to express their real intentions for the most part.

ACTING:
The main four actors - Wu Jin Yan (Wei Ying Luo), Qin Lan (Empress), Nie Yuan (Emperor), and Charmaine Sheh (Consort Xian/Step Empress) - were all impressive and breathtaking. They all excelled at portraying their characters and bringing them all to life. There were emotional moments, angry moments, funny moments, playful moments, etc. Honestly they were all really great with their interactions with one another and really made this drama come to life.

REWATCH VALUE:
Probably because I was watching this as it aired, so the drama never felt very long or draggy to me. It flowed very well and it was always very captivating. I will admit that while watching it there were times that I felt like the events of the drama felt a bit downplayed and could have had a bigger impact (on the characters and the audience), but then I realized that this drama wasn't meant to be this huge over dramatic production and that really worked for this drama. It was supposed to resonate with people internally more than it just made people go "omg" while watching (though there were those moments as well). It was definitely worthwhile and will definitely be on my list to rewatch (especially when there are english subs available because I missed out on a lot of the political talk and the idioms and whatnot).

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Completed
Legend of Fu Yao
90 people found this review helpful
Aug 12, 2018
66 of 66 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.0
2 months of my life I've invested in this show. From the day it aired till now, I've been following along, watching some episodes with subs, but being too pulled in to wait for the rest of the series to be subbed. There were parts of it that were a bit lacking (which I'll mention), some characters were a bit too much, others there wasn't enough. Overall, I can't be upset about the time I've put towards this drama. Even if there are some problems with it, overall it's still become one of my favorite new dramas, and possibly of all time.

STORY: 8/10

I will agree with most people that the story was much better in the first half of the drama than in the final arcs. Overall, I think the progression of the story seemed steady and flowed fairly well, albeit having a few less exciting parts at various times. Watching Fu Yao really grow as a person from the young, bubbly and bit stubborn slave girl to growing her martial arts and becoming more powerful for herself to finding out her true origins and setting everything back to the way it should have been - it felt like a very natural progression for her and you really get to see her change and grow as a person - not just being told from the get go that she's a badass for whatever reasons.

The Xuan Yuan Sect arc began a bit slow, but overall I think it was a great opener to meeting these main characters. I think this was the area where I most enjoyed Fu Yao and Wu Ji's relationship because it was the most playful part. They had a somewhat common bottom line when it came to morality and making decisions, but overall they had their own views on things and were able to help each other out along the way. LOFY did a very good job in my opinion on setting up and progressing the relationship between the main couple because you really understood why they came to love each other as much as they do, whereas many dramas it just feels like they're together because someone wrote it that way, and you don't really understand how they got to that level of relationship.

Tai Yuan arc was probably the most entertaining for me - and most people as I've read. My favorite genre for C-dramas is more imperial settings, so having that in combination with the background story of Fu Yao just made things more entertaining. At this point, the only thing that really bothered me was Yan Jing Chen and Pei Yuan story line. I could tell from the beginning that Pei Yuan was going to be one of the enemies, which is fine, but it got a bit stereotypical for me at times - blaming everything on the main girl just because the guy she likes has feelings for the other person/everything is the main lead's fault/etc. Sam with Yan Jing Chen, he made his decision over and over, but obviously regretted it every time, though still had no issues betraying Fu Yao and making the wrong choices. Everything else was great for me though. The story did well tying in the other side characters and giving them a place in the overall story.

Tian Quan arc was pretty short, so not too much bad here. The introduction of Fo Lian took me by surprise honestly, and then the crazy amazing episode with Fu Yao and Zhang Sun Ping Rong (you know which one I'm talking about). Even ? of the way into the story, there was still a good amount of rollercoastering for me - super exciting scenes and a few more subdued ones.

Tian Sha arc is probably my least favorite (and I figured it would be honestly). This was the arc where I knew that the main leads would be more support characters, but I still think that it wasn't as bad as people are making it seem. There were still important bits happening, and the relationship development for more side characters.

Xuan Ji arc brought the story full circle at this point. I think at this point it was fairly predictable what was going to happen, but at the same time, it was still fun seeing how the female run kingdom worked and bringing Fu Yao into the next high point in her life.

Final arc (Tian Quan/Qiong Sang) - I will admit that it kind of amazes me that with 66 episodes, there were still parts of the ending that felt a bit rushed. I wouldn't necessarily say it needed to be longer, but just that they needed to balance out the story a bit more. So much is going on by the final few episodes that it feels a bit like a whirlwind. But again, I'm not an expert on screenwriting so I honestly don't know which parts of the overall show they should've cut down to make things seem more balanced.

ACTING:9/10

Yang Mi - for those who've read my other reviews of Yang Mi's acting, I think she's a very hit or miss actress. TMOPB I think she excelled probably because the writing of her character was good, but still overall there were times when Bai Qian felt kind of one note to me. I think Yang Mi's portrayal of Fu Yao outshined her character in TMOPB and others - if only for the fact you get to see more personality out of her and you really see this overarching journey of Fu Yao's life. YM pulled of the mischievous, young slave at Xuan Yuan, to the more matured concubine at Tai Yuan, to really coming into her own character by the end of the first half of the drama. Overall good job.

Ethan Ruan - Normally I'd say that these types of dramas, unless the male character is the ACTUAL lead lead character, they normally get overshadowed by the female. LOFY was NOT that case. I hadn't seen anything from Ethan Ruan since Fated to Love You, but I remember loving his acting from there, so I had fairly good expectations. Ethan Ruan knocked this out of the park for me. From his first introduction, I was hooked. He was playful and flirty, but mischievous and mysterious. His character was strong and powerful, merciless when he wanted to, but kind and loving when he needed to. I'd honestly say that I'd wish he had some kind of fault to him because his character was overall too perfect in that sense (being supposedly ruthless could be a downfall, but I don't think they really showed that side of him as much as they just talked about it). But overall I think that Ethan Ruan definitely outshined Yang Mi. He had good comedic timing, he wasn't afraid to get ugly when he was angry or sad. Legit he was so into it that there are times when Fu Yao and Wu Ji are having emotional scenes, and you can see a tear drop from his face (even when the camera is just filming from behind him). I'm honestly hoping that LOFY opens up some more doorways for him in mainland China because I really wanna watch more stuff from him ASAP.

Everyone else - this review is already super long, so just quickly, overall everyone else was very good. Qi Zhen (Liu Yi Jun) was definitely a standout bad guy, just as he was in Nirvana in Fire. Superb acting and super believable villainous qualities.

OVERALL/REWATCH: 9/10

I honestly loved this drama. It's not perfect by any means, but it was memorable and exciting for the most part. It's definitely one of my new top favorite dramas. It had just enough relationship storylines along with political plots and general human growth stories. It's definitely going to be one I watch again and again. I really never got bored with it to the point of wanting to drop it. The storyline made much more sense and had much better flow than others of its type (looking at you Princess Agents) and I think that the directing and cinematography was great. Acting overall was a huge plus - especially with such a large cast, but I think everyone did a pretty solid job overall.

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