dramalover0220
Somewhere in the galaxy
This review may contain spoilers
Sweet Enough To Keep You Going
WARNING:
At the very bottom of this review, there will be spoilers. Please just scroll through past that part if you aren't interested.
First Impression:
I first started this drama because I saw a clip of it on YouTube where the main lead was sweetly asking the female lead to go back home with him after she almost suffered a miscarriage. Since it was getting around my final exams and I was finding ways to procrastinate, might as well watch something sweet to pass the time. I quickly finished the first few episodes within one day since it was pretty fast-paced and the storyline developed pretty quickly. However, around episode 9 or 10, I started to lose interest. The storyline gets repeated, the push and pull between the leads happen, and it just kept happening back and forth. I eventually finished it 5 five days later and here I am.
Story:
Here are the typical Chinese drama tropes in this drama: arranged marriage, the cold male lead, the bubbly and smart female lead, supportive side leads, jealous side characters, etc.
I honestly didn't mind most of these, but what really bothered me was how many times the word "divorce" was brought up in this drama. This was the first time I saw the word "divorce" was being casually thrown around like 50 times in a historical drama, especially since divorcing was so taboo back then. The main leads almost got divorced like 5 times in this drama.
What I did like about the drama was how sweet the main lead was when he warmed up to the female lead. As always, she was his soft spot. Even though he was always trying to do what was best for her or trying to protect her, it was always a struggle.
The main conflict of the drama wasn't even brought up until halfway through the drama and didn't even pick up speed until the end, so the middle part of the drama was just full of lovey-dovey moments. So if you enough dramas where there are a lot of lovey-dovey scenes, this one is it (there are even many side love stories).
I'm also going to rant about the ending of the drama at the very ending, so if you don't want that, please just don't scroll to it.
Acting/Cast:
Caesar as Chu Xiu Ming was a big shocker for me. After Meteor Garden in 2018, the majority of the F4's went incognito until 2020, including Caesar. Caesar in historical clothing was an interesting turn of events. I wouldn't say he matched the historical theme perfectly just based on just this drama, but he looks fragile for his character. Chu Xiu Ming is a handsome and young general, which breaks all stereotypes of a typical general. Caesar's portrayal of Chu Xiu Ming was okay for the most part. I would say the writing and character set up of Chu Xui Ming wasn't the best. There were many plot holes with his emotions and I wasn't able to keep up with his quick emotional changes in each scene. For example, he'll be super sweet in one scene, stern in another, aloof in the next one, then mysterious in the next. The transitions of the scenes weren't the best but you could get a grip of the overall feel of each scene.
Tang Min as Shen Jin was pretty decent. I tried to watch her in Chef Hua earlier this year but quickly dropped the whole series. Her character portrayal in Chef Hua is very similar to Shen Jin. They both are optimistic, bubbly, carefree, but ever so often needs to be rescued by the male lead (insert the falling and then is caught by main lead scenes in slow motion). Shen Jin is strong-minded, stubborn, enjoys freedom but can be very, very petty. Most of her actions were to get back at the male lead or was to just have fun, which usually leads to a lot of trouble. She also enjoys drinking ( like a lot) and there are plenty of scenes where she is just drunk and acts rashly. Her type of character is not usually my favorite, but her portrayal of this type of character is much better in this than the first 8 episodes I've seen of Chef Hua.
The side characters are pretty new to me. They all are pretty decent, but my favorite side character is Shen Jin's mother. Her mother's love for her daughter was so beautiful. Even though she was always pushed around as a maid turned concubine, she had her own morals and held strong to them.
The other side character's love story like Shen Jin's maid and Chu Xiu Yuan's love story was cute and added more fluff to the story.
Music:
I loved the opening theme song, "Only For You". I was sweet and played at the right moments throughout the series. The main lead also covers the song and it's pretty good too.
Rewatch Value:
If I'm feeling in need of some sweet moments in my life, I would definitely rewatch scenes of this drama on YouTube. I wouldn't rewatch all of it just because I'm bored, but the lovey-dovey scenes are pretty cute to not rewatch.
Overall:
Not bad, but not perfect. If you want to pass time watching a more light-hearted drama, this one is it. But if you are looking for more serious dramas like Eternal Love, Princess Weiyoung, or Joy of Life, you might not enjoy this drama as much.
WARNING: SPOILER OF THE ENDING
Okay...so what's the point of adding the modern scene in this drama? Like, they got a happy ending, what's the point of paralleling the historical part to the modern part, unless they are hinting towards a second season. I wouldn't mind a second season, but at this point, I'm more than happy with the story ending where it is and a second season isn't really necessary. Plus, they portrayed the modern-day Chu Xiuming as shy and soft which is out of character for him.
Additionally, prior to that, WHY DID THEY SKIP HOW CHU XIUMING AND SHEN JIN GOT SAVED FROM THE SAND PIT? Like, tadah! We didn't know how to properly come up with a solution to save them from this tragedy so just use your imagination. Now I'm super curious about how they got saved. If the others found a way to open the platform, the only way is to pull them out with a rope. Even so, with how deep they were in and with the continuous sand falling in, it would be hard to get them out. They got their happy ending, even the overly jealous sisters got a happy ending. For a historical Chinese drama, I would say this ending is way too happy to be true, but hey, I don't mind it either compared to all those heart-wrenching endings like Goodbye My Princess.
At the very bottom of this review, there will be spoilers. Please just scroll through past that part if you aren't interested.
First Impression:
I first started this drama because I saw a clip of it on YouTube where the main lead was sweetly asking the female lead to go back home with him after she almost suffered a miscarriage. Since it was getting around my final exams and I was finding ways to procrastinate, might as well watch something sweet to pass the time. I quickly finished the first few episodes within one day since it was pretty fast-paced and the storyline developed pretty quickly. However, around episode 9 or 10, I started to lose interest. The storyline gets repeated, the push and pull between the leads happen, and it just kept happening back and forth. I eventually finished it 5 five days later and here I am.
Story:
Here are the typical Chinese drama tropes in this drama: arranged marriage, the cold male lead, the bubbly and smart female lead, supportive side leads, jealous side characters, etc.
I honestly didn't mind most of these, but what really bothered me was how many times the word "divorce" was brought up in this drama. This was the first time I saw the word "divorce" was being casually thrown around like 50 times in a historical drama, especially since divorcing was so taboo back then. The main leads almost got divorced like 5 times in this drama.
What I did like about the drama was how sweet the main lead was when he warmed up to the female lead. As always, she was his soft spot. Even though he was always trying to do what was best for her or trying to protect her, it was always a struggle.
The main conflict of the drama wasn't even brought up until halfway through the drama and didn't even pick up speed until the end, so the middle part of the drama was just full of lovey-dovey moments. So if you enough dramas where there are a lot of lovey-dovey scenes, this one is it (there are even many side love stories).
I'm also going to rant about the ending of the drama at the very ending, so if you don't want that, please just don't scroll to it.
Acting/Cast:
Caesar as Chu Xiu Ming was a big shocker for me. After Meteor Garden in 2018, the majority of the F4's went incognito until 2020, including Caesar. Caesar in historical clothing was an interesting turn of events. I wouldn't say he matched the historical theme perfectly just based on just this drama, but he looks fragile for his character. Chu Xiu Ming is a handsome and young general, which breaks all stereotypes of a typical general. Caesar's portrayal of Chu Xiu Ming was okay for the most part. I would say the writing and character set up of Chu Xui Ming wasn't the best. There were many plot holes with his emotions and I wasn't able to keep up with his quick emotional changes in each scene. For example, he'll be super sweet in one scene, stern in another, aloof in the next one, then mysterious in the next. The transitions of the scenes weren't the best but you could get a grip of the overall feel of each scene.
Tang Min as Shen Jin was pretty decent. I tried to watch her in Chef Hua earlier this year but quickly dropped the whole series. Her character portrayal in Chef Hua is very similar to Shen Jin. They both are optimistic, bubbly, carefree, but ever so often needs to be rescued by the male lead (insert the falling and then is caught by main lead scenes in slow motion). Shen Jin is strong-minded, stubborn, enjoys freedom but can be very, very petty. Most of her actions were to get back at the male lead or was to just have fun, which usually leads to a lot of trouble. She also enjoys drinking ( like a lot) and there are plenty of scenes where she is just drunk and acts rashly. Her type of character is not usually my favorite, but her portrayal of this type of character is much better in this than the first 8 episodes I've seen of Chef Hua.
The side characters are pretty new to me. They all are pretty decent, but my favorite side character is Shen Jin's mother. Her mother's love for her daughter was so beautiful. Even though she was always pushed around as a maid turned concubine, she had her own morals and held strong to them.
The other side character's love story like Shen Jin's maid and Chu Xiu Yuan's love story was cute and added more fluff to the story.
Music:
I loved the opening theme song, "Only For You". I was sweet and played at the right moments throughout the series. The main lead also covers the song and it's pretty good too.
Rewatch Value:
If I'm feeling in need of some sweet moments in my life, I would definitely rewatch scenes of this drama on YouTube. I wouldn't rewatch all of it just because I'm bored, but the lovey-dovey scenes are pretty cute to not rewatch.
Overall:
Not bad, but not perfect. If you want to pass time watching a more light-hearted drama, this one is it. But if you are looking for more serious dramas like Eternal Love, Princess Weiyoung, or Joy of Life, you might not enjoy this drama as much.
WARNING: SPOILER OF THE ENDING
Okay...so what's the point of adding the modern scene in this drama? Like, they got a happy ending, what's the point of paralleling the historical part to the modern part, unless they are hinting towards a second season. I wouldn't mind a second season, but at this point, I'm more than happy with the story ending where it is and a second season isn't really necessary. Plus, they portrayed the modern-day Chu Xiuming as shy and soft which is out of character for him.
Additionally, prior to that, WHY DID THEY SKIP HOW CHU XIUMING AND SHEN JIN GOT SAVED FROM THE SAND PIT? Like, tadah! We didn't know how to properly come up with a solution to save them from this tragedy so just use your imagination. Now I'm super curious about how they got saved. If the others found a way to open the platform, the only way is to pull them out with a rope. Even so, with how deep they were in and with the continuous sand falling in, it would be hard to get them out. They got their happy ending, even the overly jealous sisters got a happy ending. For a historical Chinese drama, I would say this ending is way too happy to be true, but hey, I don't mind it either compared to all those heart-wrenching endings like Goodbye My Princess.
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