Damn same I have been avoiding this show as I don’t really like EY but rest of the cast her voice makes her…
esther's voice sounds normal here — not high pitched or cutesy. her character is an assassin after all. plus, guo jingming tends to have a certain dialogue style.
rewatching, and i have to say.... the sound engineer or whoever edited the audio sucks. i had this same thought back when i first watched but dismissed it, thinking i was just tripping. now i know for sure 🤣
they must've used extra reverb on the dialogues because they sound like they've been very obviously dubbed in a room. c'mon, at least make it sound realistic.
many scenes have multiple short BGMs playing in a row with abrupt transitions in between. in some instances, the scene has absolutely zero BGM - just sound fx. then there are also times where either the sound fx and BGM are way louder than the dialogue or the dialogue is way louder than the sound fx and BGM.
all these make the watch feel awkward and distracting. (the show itself is pretty great though!)
ok so i made a whole comment (more like rant) about this drama now that i finished, but then the page refreshed! 😃 i forgot some of what i had typed so here's a rough version of my critcisms
1) Beginning was good, then the plot derailed as the show went on. Went from focusing on ink, to focusing on schemes by the Li family, to focusing on schemes by the Tian family :/ There were other, more interesting ways they could have gone with the story. Like why not show her trying to expand her ink business instead? since it is a female centric drama about ink after all.
2) The male lead was suddenly given a big presence in the last third of the drama. But since we barely saw his character and his romantic interactions with the female lead for like eighty percent of the show, it was difficult to care about him, their romance, and the ending. (It's my first time seeing Elvis, and it's unfortunate that my first impression of him leans negative since the character he portrays here had no significant impact on the story and me.)
3) Speaking of ending — what's with the rush in that last episode?? They had 42 episodes to flesh everything out. + I don't understand why Grandpa had to die and why the male lead had to go to war when the show was almost over. Just for dramatic effect? For anyone curious, this is not really a happy ending; it is the typical forced happy ending that leaves you feeling unsatisfied and doubtful.
Some dramas do not need romance, do not need the female and male lead to fall in love with each other. This is one of those dramas.
if they're not gonna announce the date then i'll just rewatch one of my fav dramas 😤
i hate watching more than one drama at the same time so they better not say it's gonna air in two weeks or something...... (thought it'd be absurdly funny if it's gonna happen now just cuz i said that)
Is it necessary to have an almost non-existent ML at best, incompetent and meek at the worst just to have a female-centric…
same thoughts! it's so backhanded, conveying the message that women can't be considered "strong" unless their partner is significantly incompetent. we can show feminism and women strength without weakening other people.
her recent dramas have been feeling lackluster and repetitive. both her characters and the shows' writing.
i feel like she's trying to branch out from idol romance to more serious works — and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that — but there are other genres i'm sure zi is capable of doing besides "strong businesswoman" (though they do say a lot about her values <3
since she does tend to portray "good" characters, i'd love to see her in a morally-gray or villain role, or more intense / thriller genre like the kdramas "the glory" and "flower of evil."
here's to hoping she gets better, more diverse scripts!
June 2, 2026 | PATRICK Zhang Yuehui : ‘Dancing with the Tide’ - DAY 50🔸arrived for hair and makeup http://xhslink.com/o/9a99RUpzUhThttp://xhslink.com/o/4qDsdW8Bnfnhttp://xhslink.com/o/50kqP2iAGXShttps://weibo.com/8009100812/5305452662885869🔸done…
4th aunt will soon be gone?? thank heavens! i was thinking about dropping if they're gonna drag her unreasonable drama, but if that's gonna wrap up then i'll continue
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they must've used extra reverb on the dialogues because they sound like they've been very obviously dubbed in a room. c'mon, at least make it sound realistic.
many scenes have multiple short BGMs playing in a row with abrupt transitions in between. in some instances, the scene has absolutely zero BGM - just sound fx. then there are also times where either the sound fx and BGM are way louder than the dialogue or the dialogue is way louder than the sound fx and BGM.
all these make the watch feel awkward and distracting. (the show itself is pretty great though!)
1) Beginning was good, then the plot derailed as the show went on. Went from focusing on ink, to focusing on schemes by the Li family, to focusing on schemes by the Tian family :/ There were other, more interesting ways they could have gone with the story. Like why not show her trying to expand her ink business instead? since it is a female centric drama about ink after all.
2) The male lead was suddenly given a big presence in the last third of the drama. But since we barely saw his character and his romantic interactions with the female lead for like eighty percent of the show, it was difficult to care about him, their romance, and the ending. (It's my first time seeing Elvis, and it's unfortunate that my first impression of him leans negative since the character he portrays here had no significant impact on the story and me.)
3) Speaking of ending — what's with the rush in that last episode?? They had 42 episodes to flesh everything out. + I don't understand why Grandpa had to die and why the male lead had to go to war when the show was almost over. Just for dramatic effect? For anyone curious, this is not really a happy ending; it is the typical forced happy ending that leaves you feeling unsatisfied and doubtful.
Some dramas do not need romance, do not need the female and male lead to fall in love with each other. This is one of those dramas.
but i know how u feel, i hate the excessive usage of AI right now. don't even get me started on the AI dramas....
i hate watching more than one drama at the same time so they better not say it's gonna air in two weeks or something...... (thought it'd be absurdly funny if it's gonna happen now just cuz i said that)
either way, they should change it for SEO purposes. i never see anyone call him ryan
i feel like she's trying to branch out from idol romance to more serious works — and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that — but there are other genres i'm sure zi is capable of doing besides "strong businesswoman" (though they do say a lot about her values <3
since she does tend to portray "good" characters, i'd love to see her in a morally-gray or villain role, or more intense / thriller genre like the kdramas "the glory" and "flower of evil."
here's to hoping she gets better, more diverse scripts!
funny if someone added the tag just because of that. otherwise, it shouldn't even belong here