Don't be discouraged by episode count.

Story of Minglan can feel like it's on the slower side but every moment does matter. Minglan portrays a different kind of feminine strength than what we are used to seeing in historical dramas. She's not loud, physically tough nor picks fights with anyone. Her strength retains grace and class and most importantly, smarts. Her growth throughout the drama is very satisfying to watch. Gu Tingue is also a very lovable male lead. He never forces anything on Minglan and quietly encourages her to be herself and supports her when she stands up for what she believes in. I like how they start off as mere acquaintances but gradually start realizing how compatible they are.
Everyone's performance in this drama is superb. And every character, including antagonists, has many layers and is not one-dimensional.

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The Summary Does This Drama No Justice

Contrary to how the summary may come off as, the FL most definitely does not have low self-esteem in the sense where she's unconfident. She is extremely spunky and smart. Like truly strong and smart, not the Mary Sue kind. She's very very capable and does NOT let anyone walk on her. This story is cool because it isn't about some cheap or dramatic romance. It's not very fluffy or super romantic. There's a lot of growth among the people in there especially the main cast. The ML's fear of marriage isn't just a quirk. it's a huge psychological issue that they take a lot of time to address. It's stemmed from trauma and he literally falls into panic attacks when it comes to things related to marriage. This fear of marriage takes a huge toll on his relationships and mental health.
On the FL's side, she is traumatized by love ever since the male lead left her on their wedding day five years prior to the start of the drama. Even with a loving boyfriend, she has a hard time fully falling into love with him. In the summary it says she leaves him because he cheated. It's not as black and white as other dramas. He did cheat but they both realized she was incapable of truly loving him anyway and remain as friends afterwards. He's not a bad person, just someone who made a really bad decision. The FL realizes that if she ever wanted to truly love someone again, she had to forgive the ML. They clear their misunderstandings when she learns he has a serious psychological issue with marriage and they become confidants in each other and good friends. They do end up together in the end but it's not stupidly dramatic. I think the FL is hilarious and I admire her savagery. Sunny Wang did a great job playing this role.
I've never really seen Han Geng's act. My impression of him is stuck in OT13 Suju LOL. I must say, he did a pretty good job. Like it was way way better than I had thought. He feels like an actual actor and I'm pretty proud of him. I like how he didn't choose some trashy drama to star in. This one doesn't have mushy love so it might not be as popular but plot wise, I enjoyed it.
One of my main complaints is, some of the script gets a little preachy some times and the music can be cheesy but overall it's a solid drama that offers multi-dimensional characters.

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You can visit my blog to read more about my view on this drama. I watched this because of how widely praised it was. I must say no matter how much I like the cast, I was sorely disappointed. A lot of issues stem from the writing. So many issues and conflicts could have been solved by communication. The leads couldn't communicate properly which then led to so many misunderstandings and assumptions. This is lazy writing. The drama was also way too long and dragged too much. Just because it was popular doesn't mean they should have made it so long. The beginning was promising but it just started to go downhill at one point after the leads acknowledge their feelings.

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Trashy, Brainless, Shallow - Don't Watch

I've read so many amazing stories online that could be licensed for cheap but someone pulled this trashy story out of nowhere and thought it'd be a good idea to actually produce. I will try to keep it short.
Your female lead is the cliche, poor, annoying female lead that the production tries to make seem as smart but is actually very dumb. She's entitled, loud, and immature.
Your male lead is arrogant and dumb. Like every other CEO he has a phobia of people. His position as CEO is 100% a nepotistic choice and it's no wonder the board of investors are so concerned about him leading the company.
The problem with two terrible leads is that they have to sack the integrity of all the other roles so you're left with a drama of no substance.
The premise is a contract marriage that doesn't actually have to happen at all which means you don't actually have to have a story. Everything about it is weak. The male lead is too dumb to realize there are many other solutions. I go more in-depth in my blog if you're interested but seriously don't waste your time.

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It's a wonder that this drama could last so many episodes without a real storyline, no character development, no substantial, meaningful conflict. This is a pure commercial, fan service drama made to accentuate Yang Yang's face and Zheng Shuang's beauty. There's no real character development as both leads start off as perfect people. The male lead is rank 1 for a popular computer game, comp-sci genius, good looking, rich, a nice, well mannered guy. The girl is the prettiest girl in her major, also comp-sci. She's *gasp* so special because she's the only girl on the top ten ranking of the same game. While a lot of this drama takes place in their gaming world, there is absolutely no realism to their gaming lives. The writer didn't bother to even touch upon the effort it takes to reach a top rank in popular computer games. The whole drama is these two people leading perfect lives.

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I actually really liked this movie but am unable to give it a 10 for a few reasons. Let's start with the pros. Acting was on spot. The emotions were amazing and you can feel the tension at all points. The cast was perfect, two leads had amazing chemistry. The first half of the movie was really great, you can see the two leads having that unspoken spark. As for cons, I feel like they rushed the second half of the movie. The time spent together with their feelings revealed is a bit short. Also after Youngwoo's colleagues went to fetch him from his playdate with Jaeha, things seemed to go even quicker. There isn't enough of that push-pull dynamic between the two after they're caught.

You also don't learn enough about Youngwoo throughout the movie. He's just an idol. I feel like had they done the falling action properly, the ending would have really been satisfying and conclusive. While the idea may be that Jaeha was method acting the whole time and only liked Youngwoo because he was in character, I'd like to think that he truly started to fall for Youngwoo and so backed off, afraid.

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