ramblingromantic

A tad disappointed but was entertianed

This show was *not* bad. In fact, production and acting wise it was pretty solid. However, the plot? Not for me. The slivers of romance and my enjoyment of all the actors faces (esp. Jospeh’s) is really what kept me, and my own burning curiosity to see the ending. Being able to foster said curiosity out of me is credit to the show because I usually just don’t care enough.

Let me break down what I enjoyed:

- **The actors**. Literally everyone was impeccable and felt truly like the character(s) they were playing.
- **The sliver of romance.** It truly is not a lot of romance as I would say this is more a fantasy action than romantasy by any means. But the two main pairs that have a romance do not hold back. You get some fated mates, some “enemies to lovers” to close proximity to “fake dating”. A nice range of tropes with a questionable but classifiable “happy ending” for both. I actually get it a 9 for *both* the pairings because they were equally the main characters. It was a 9 and not a ten bc of the said questionable happy endings.
- The general pace of the plot. I think the reason I was able to finish the show was that it maintained a solid tempo. Anytime I was getting sick of a storyline, the storyline changed to something new.

Time to highlight what didn’t work:
- The synopsis does not set the viewer up for what is to come. It only covers Xiao Wei and the Dragon Deity's power but it should have focused on trying to defeat Jiu Ying. I don’t think saying it up frount would have been a spoiler as the show has so many twists its hard enough to keep up. I genuinely started the show thinking we would spend 29 episodes in Wei Manor and was getting a bit confused by the shows tempo as we got closer to finding Xiao Wei.
- I have to say the synopsis doesn’t lean into romance but the trailer and tone of the show seem, not light hearted but not so serious either so I did expect more romance and levity overall. As such, the show was doomed to be a hit for me. I am not a fan of being given a show I wasn’t expecting lol
- The show overdoes red herrings. In an effort to impress the viewer with plot creativity, the show actually just achieved frustrating me and also becoming a bit redundant in its “plot twists”.
- 9.9x out of 10 I am not a fan of time travel because the show usually just ignores its own plot holes and causes more of a headache than less. While the show did a decent job with the time travel for the whole Lu Wu Yi & Ji Ling’s stuffed fox, it also just felt overwhelming and unnecessary. It was romantic enough but we’re told she *cannot* change the future, but then to prevent him from committing suicide she conveniently could by cutting her tail which was conveniently “fixed” by Ji Ling STILL “committing suicide” by giving her his dragon scale which is conveniently resolved by the DEAD Chi Wen’s last power giving energy to a special rock which is conveniently fast tracked by the ALSO *supposedly* DEAD star stone and idk what else.
- See how conveniently everything unfolded? I am a happily ever after girl so I don’t mind convenient plot solutions but with all those conveniences, why the heck did the show end with 3 out of 4 of the main lead forgetting EVERYTHING that happened in the show? Two of whom randomly land in a different timeline.
- Also circling back to the time travel, the secondary time travel makes less sense because if Jiu Ying was killed back in time before Lu Wu Yi is part of the nine-tailed fox clan, then how does Wu Shi Guang still end up as the 10th dragon deity–everything we watched has been undone and we have 0 real knowledge of the “actual” timeline that happened in the show. We see You Chi
alive again and more serious, but that’s it. Does that mean You Chi’s father isn’t dead because that whole situation didn’t happen? Does that mean Wu Shi Guang never had the sliver of Jiu Ying’s essence in him? If so, why does he remember everything that technically didn’t happen?

See what I mean? The show tried so hard to *be* and instead it was just a snake eating it’s own tail (pun intended bc Jiu Ying is a snake). I enjoyed it at face value but with all the twists and turns that led to dead ends, it’s clear this show wanted to appear intellectual to some degree. If you like fantasy, and don’t mind the headache involved in keeping up with everything, I would recommend, otherwise, eh.

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Too Young to Communicate

This show was had a strong start for what it was as a light-hearted, youth, slice-of-life type show. It reminded me of Exclusive Fairytale and a little bit of When I Fly Towards You. However, the biggest issue with the show was the last four episodes. Up until then, it was actually very engaging in terms of complex characters. Instead of having a one-all, be-all antagonist, they had characters with depth. Each character had their flaws or moments of attitude/stubbornness that was more realistic than if there were just two characters that were point blank evil for the sake of plot.

That said, the ending was actually so disappointing. I only had 4 episodes left, but I genuinely contemplated not finishing it because of how badly they set up the ending.

SPOILERS BELOW
For the first 20 episodes, the main leads are excellent communicators. They have loved and trusted each other as friends since childhood, and it only strengthened as time went on. So it made no sense for us to just time jump and be told that they took a break because they needed to go their own way, and that led to a breakup basically…and then work backwards from there to show us flashbacks of her missing her recital, him being MIA, and then them not talking for over 12 months properly because both of them felt slighted by the other. Both felt the other had broken up with them, rather than the reality of the situation. It was just absolutely chaotic, and it made no sense for their characters at all for them to have fallen apart the way that they did. It definitely felt forced for the sake of the plot.

The show would have been better off with us actively watching them during the breakup time. Instead of it lasting for a year and a half, it should have only lasted a month or two. We should see them breaking up and figuring themselves out, figuring out how to communicate, rather than them just going silent with each other for over 12 months. That's just so unrealistic, and it made no sense because literally they're just a phone call away. I don't believe that they could not have communicated better.

Similarly, Ning was a solid character, and I understood she didn’t want to rely on her boyfriend but after everything, she ditched Chen Fan only to rely HEAVILY on a man that didn’t give two sh*** about her and almost helped her get assaulted??? Like, make that make sense?

I also want to note they succeeded in casting actors who passed as high schoolers, then college students, then adults. But I really don’t understand why they cast 30-year-olds for these kinds of shows…

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Enjoyed, but wasn't as pulled in

I liked the show, I really did, but I also hated, *like really hated*, the age gap set up, especially when the “secondary lead” was the male lead’s *nephew*. Lord Ding looks older than Zhuo Hua and kept being presented as “a sickly old man about to die” and I just was not a fan of it at all. It was the *main* thing that held this show back. Every time I “forgot” about it or accepted it, they would make some comment or other about his age and how he’s at death’s door or her age and how she has so much life to live. They are both *grown* so it wasn’t creepy, but the gap just served no more purpose than him being sickly.

I also loathed the empress dowager. I can respect the use of a straight-forward antagonist but every time her face was on screen I wanted to throw my phone. The complexity of the first princess really made up for the pain of listening to the empress dowager.

Lastly, I originally kind of liked the monotone baseline personality they gave to both Lord Ding and the first princess. However, since the show was on the longer side, it did start to get frustrating as they did the same ish over and over again. I guess they were solid foils with tragic childhoods that shaped their defensive/offensive personalities.

While Zhuo Hua and Lord Ding’s romance was very slow and *subtle*, I thoroughly enjoyed Zhi Mo & Ju Li’s romance. Just two sweet cuties that deserve nothing but good things. I also enjoyed how Zhi Jian interacted with them.

I wouldn’t rewatch this show just because it is on the longer end and most of the plot is more political than romantic. The show was just barely entertaining to me at first (the FML was an actress I liked and her character as Zhuo Hua was fun) *but* it ramped up once we get the “reveal” *but then* gets a tad repetitive near the end.

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Started for the mystery, stayed for Shen Du

Real rating is 11 for the music & 10 for romance so 8.9/10

I have a crush on Ding YuXi. He’s so *hawt* in this role and I wish the show was faster to get better *hits* of hotness seretonin. That said it takes about 10 episodes for us to get more of that the serious/stoic Shen Du.

I think the plot overall could have been a bit tighter. There’s a lot of moving variables and characters that make sense and connect well, but at the same time don’t really affect the plot. We spend so much time on the prince and princess but they don’t really actually add to the plot and their storylines dragged the overall experience. I know it was to cause intrigue and make us think maybe one of them is evil but that line of thought doesn’t even sustain itself with what we are given so I feel like the show would have been much stronger if it was closer to 35 episodes instead and removed some of the extra noise.

Also did they really have to kill Marshall Xu and Yun Que 😭 I know they were the “least important couple” but they were still so cute and their death was so sad. Always gotta kill a couple or something for the tears and stakes but I feel like coma and they wake up would have sufficed. Whatever. I saw it coming that a secondary couple would end with tragedy and once he had that cute moment about the wedding it was game over.

I would definitely rewatch it but skip the parts that were more espionage than general mystery or romance. The antagonist is just an actual crazy man that needed a better mother and therapy so he was pretty one dimensional and boring in that way. I’m still not sure I understand his mother’s motives for traumatizing her child but sure let’s go with that.

Last but not least THIS OST was amazing. I have been pretty generous to music of shows giving 10 if they fit the overall show, but even when I took a break from this show I was listing to the OST so I had to give it an 11 bc it was THAT good. I wish Ryan Ding had more songs!

### Original Thoughts & Ideas
- Good vs evil is pretty black and white in this show unlike something like The Prisoner of Beauty. We have some “gray” characters but even they are mostly good or mostly bad. The Empress Dowager seemed to have in fact not wanted the consort’s child be the emperor but it’s not clear how much of a role she *actually* played in the consort’s suicide. But the Black Fiend was truly just a man who saw his mom die and made a cult about reincarnation to kinda, not really deal with the trauma. I almost want to label him a victim and in a way he is because his whole life was built off this narrative his mother fed him. But he’s still a “black” character. He isn’t nice to his adoptive sisters, he attacks the woman he claims to love, and throws any blame of his actions on the Empress Dowager for believing what was pretty solid evidence against innocent but framed people. We could label Shen Du as “gray” because he’s a “dark horse” type guy but I would more call him “good” with a wall as protection due to his own childhood trauma.
- It is interesting that both men witnessed extreme wrong doing to their parent(s) but one chose the path of righteousness and the other of sinister obsession.

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a slice of fun and comfort

Real Review with Romance category is 8.9/10

First, let’s talk about what I didn’t like.

1. There’s no way being an aerospace engineer needs to be be THIS TAXING. Why are they so dramatic (I assume in real life too lol)
2. The plot had no plot after about the half way mark (a lil after they get together) and starts jumping all over the place.

That’s about it….these are few but I will say the watch experience is heavily held back by these few concerns. We’re set up to believe that the plot is going to be about her winning the guest gaming competition, but that happens before the halfway mark and we slowly switch out to a different setting and environment entirely which I don’t think is bad, but I do think this show felt like five different shows as opposed to one show.

With that in mind, I still ate up all of it because the chemistry between the main leads was impeccable. I actually quite liked the fact that a lot of of the tension in the second half of the storyline is less about them having issues and more about them living their life as a couple. It’s really nice when the plot deviates from the cliché oh actually we have to break up because of my ex-girlfriend or something like that. I also think they turned a lot of clichés on their head. Like his ex and her role in the plot was a lot simpler than what would normally be the case and that was refreshing. I also really liked how they got married because I think a lot of the times they do backpedal and decide to have an extravagant wedding, especially when the female lead is some kind of celebrity. I also thought her role as an actress was interesting because we were told at the beginning she’s super popular and famous but because again it’s focusing on her winning the competition she’s not leaving the house — No one‘s taking photos of her in that way so you don’t really believe that she’s famous. Then when they switch settings/plot line and she’s finally actually in the spotlight again you see that she is a really popular actress but she’s such a nice actress it’s almost like there’s no way she’s an actress. 😂

I understand that we needed his point of view as an aerospace engineer, but I personally skipped some parts of it just because it was too in the weeds and didn’t feel relevant to me. They did a great job of building suspense around the aerospace engineering department though, I will give them that.

We get to see them fall in love and I am so glad that he has to work and ache a bit for her after rejecting her like a fool.

The paparazzi scene was hilarious and while I hate paparazzi, I did feel bad that three of their days were wasted in terms of their photos being deleted. I do feel like after the paparazzi scene is kind of where we lose the plot because each episode feels so separate from the last one that the show starts to feel like a slice of life as opposed to a series with a continuous plot. We have three time jumps of 2 years, 1 month, and 5 years. This was jarring and aggressive, it takes you out the story especially because we don’t time jump at all until the last 5 episodes or so.

But because the couple has such good chemistry, they really do carry so much of the weight of the show and I was kicking and squealing every time they were together on screen. I would watch so many more episodes of just them gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes as they promise to be together forever because they were perfect. I’m actually really wishing that there was an aerospace + actress duo out there in the world right now that everyone could look up to as a super cute & healthy couple.

***Original Thoughts & Ideas***
- Honestly, the show really does a good job of showing how complex love can be while still being so simple and straightforward. Yu Tu overthinks, overcomplicates and over-stresses about the little things to the point that he almost missed out on a good relationship with a partner that truly understands him. Qiao Jing Jing loves him very wholeheartedly and through the innocence of adolescence. Once they are together, their struggle is distance because of their work but it’s balanced by the fact that they truly adore one another which ig I’m bias bc I was long distance with my husband and I’m also truly obsessed with him too.

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This show has me wishing there were more light sci-fi comedy romances to watch

What a show. The comedy was def a 9.5/10, I was laughing out loud all through out the show.

Here are the main things I loved about the show:
- Tang Qi and Su Cheng Cheng’s dynamic. I did think it interesting Tang Qi was convinced she was a bully in middle school while she viewed it all as an innocent crush. Its def not a common occurrence in these shows so while it felt “overblown”, that is what made it so funny and entertaining to watch. Especially as Tang Qi finds himself falling in love with different “versions” of her.
- Su Cheng Cheng’s self-perception was all too relatable. I also like that it *wasn’t* her being fat or *actually* ugly but rather “plain” and not feminine enough (especially compared to her sister) because I think comparison is the crux of the beauty industry. She also was a fun balance of wishing she was prettier, but also knowing she is a good person.
- Further than that, the plot addresses “extremes”. Once Su Cheng Cheng lets go of the bracelet, she doesn’t want to touch any type of beautification tool and Tang Qi does a great job of reminding her she is beautiful as is, but can also “dress up” as she pleases.
- Lin Yuan as a person and then doubly in her relationship with Gu Yu. I feel a bit mixed about their ending. I would always chose to keep my child personally, but we see her so adamant against being “tied down” I wish they gave us a bit more of her walls coming down prior to her finding out she is pregnant to have her keeping the baby feel more authentic than just the predetermined “happy ending of not aborting”.
- I hated Su Cheng Cheng’s sister at first, but I do think her personality was pivotal to the plot and Su Cheng Cheng’s self-perception. In that way I respect how her character wasn’t one dimensional, and a “realistic” sister relationship.

However, the few things I didn’t like:
- There is that line where comedy is funny but then also frustrating:
- I really felt *killing* the two of the three was overkill. Su Cheng Cheng could have told him she/he was moving to America, say bye and then turn off her secondary number.
- And ofc Tang Qi being unable to accept a no from a woman for the life of him. If he wasn’t the MML of a comedy romance, he would be your regular audacious nuisance of a man.
- While I get it’s just the “Trigger” for the plot, but I would have loved a bit more substance around the origins and logic of the bracelet. I know in those magic Christmas movies its reduced to “Christmas miracle” but since this show went in a more Sci-Fi direction, I was left wondering exactly the goal and mission of the old lady that gave Su Cheng Cheng the bracelet.

Overall, this was a very *fun* show. I enjoyed it (especially because I low-key wasn’t too invested in watching it based off the trailer). I think the acting all around was great and now I’m kinda wishing there were more light sci-fi romances to watch.

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perfect "opposite attracts" shot of serotonin

SECOND WATCH REVIEW (never wrote a review on first watch, it was one of the first c dramas i had watched back then)

This show is very much a cutie-patootie. Dylan Wang really plays Dongfang Qing Cang so well. And his acting is really showcased when he “switches bodies” with Orchid. His mannerisms and demeanor completely change, you really forget it’s an actor just acting.

That said, Esther also played Orchid pretty well. I just think I’ve watched too many shows with her in a row that I actually kinda hate the personality she always seems to play. Not quite dumb but also not that smart, always bubbly and cute with a splash of dramatized innocence. I did appreciate the complexity of Orchid’s character as the show goes on.

Most importantly, their romance WORKS. Dongfang Qing Cang is cynical and broken, Orchid is optimistic and determined. While it was “enemies to lovers”, it also wasn’t. Orchid doesn’t see him as an enemy beyond the logistical reality of his Moon Tribe background. It’s also warming how her gift of life revives his emotion tree from day one. He is domineering and bossy, but clearly trying to resist falling in love. It was too cute to watch. I think in this way that we are actively watching them fall in love with each other for their *core* personalities and quirks, you root for them despite the odds and cliches.

Shang Que was a cute loyal dragon sidekick ready to support Dongfang Qing Cang always and then Orchid and of course Jie Li. His and Jie Li’s romance was cute. I wish it was *explored* a tad more but overall it does work. I like that the fierce dragon is the “dummy in love” while Jie Li is the cunning orphan. It’s basically a gender-bent version of the main couple on a smaller scale.

Rong Hao was pretty annoying. I get that he was basically possessed but I wanted to throw my screen across the room every time he talked about saving Chi Di Nu Zi. I will say the scenes with him and her were pretty poignant and I like that it was more maternal/familiar love than romantic. Their ending was sad but very fitting and satisfying. The only thing (due to translations I feel) I’m not sure I understand is why Rong Hao was so surprised about her “mortal desire” being caring for him. I guess he didn’t realize she literally brought him back to life…pretty quid pro quo resurrecting that happens between them.

Chang Heng was great. It’s been a long time since the secondary love interest is *not* bad. I wish there was more of this. He never turns evil, in fact, he persists him being righteous even as his brother the Heavenly Emperor threatens to kill him over and over.

Fairy Dan Yin was also a solid side character. I always love when the “mean girl” becomes friends with the main lead. Like Chang Heng, I wish they could have their own happy romance (not necessarily together but just with a person for each of them).

IDK if it’s because I’ve watched so many more c-dramas so I “get the set up” for these shows now, but the ending wasn’t as bad as I remembered. That said, I do feel like the second half of the show “loses” control of the plot as compared to before the “battle”.

I know in fantasy death is not always permanent but I hate when the logic is inconsistent. I am ALWAYS happy with a HEA, but I still don’t fully understand *how* he came back to life? They claim he has to die for the evil Tu thing to also die. If he’s back, is the evil spirit also alive??? It’s very similar to Love You Seven Times in that you get a “happy ending” but you still feel a little wary because it just doesn’t 100% add up. If Orchid had died instead, would she also have just come back to life lol?

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Mo Qing Cheng is a quiet but thoughtful type. His voice is deep and resounding so it makes so much sense why all the girls love his voice. I didn’t find myself interested in his character off the bat, but he played his role well and by the end of it, I was looking up the actor’s shows list.

Gu Sheng is cute and passionate. I appreciated that she didn’t fit some cookie cuter person for a female lead. She can sing but loves to compose. She has a fan crush on Qiang Qing Ci but slowly falls in love with the man that is Mo Qing Cheng. She is bubbly but shy.

I loved how their relationship truly unfolds from “strangers” to acquaintances to lovers. We get to see them blossom as a pair without any dramatic third act breakup. I found the “climax” around his retirement to be refreshing and more realistic than any kind of misunderstanding or miscommunication between the two.

(PERSONALLY) I arguably loved Zhou Zheng’s voice (and looks) more than Mo Qing Cheng. His character of level headed CEO but bashful crushing was too entertaining so I was pretty disappointed with how his and Geng Xiao Xing’s romance played out. While it was there on the side lines it was very “jumpy” with their interactions only every random moment with lots of gaps of time in between. Thus leading to the ending just telling us they “got together at some indeterminable time” which I think was a waste of an opportunity to give us double the love serotonin. Romance aside, I also enjoyed Geng Xiao Xing’s personality. She made a great friend to Gu Sheng and was also more dynamic than one would expect given her overall role and screen time.

Feng Ya Song and Dou Bing were cute but similarly, I wish they had more of their romance unfold on screen rather than go from 0 to 100.

Love stories aside, I loved all the characters. Everyone interacted and bounced off each other so well. The *community* of the podcast/dubbing group really shifts into the show itself. You feel a connection and fandom that is hard to describe and like nothing I’ve experienced in other shows. It’s unfortunate (but maybe for the best) that I didn’t watch this show the year it came out to bond with other viewers the way listers were fans of Perfect Voice Studio.

Wang Ke was a cute character and I call it out because I actually really enjoyed when he would be on screen which is kinda rare and random for me when watching romance so again props to the writing making every character so interesting and props to the actor of Wang Ke as well.

The flaw of the show for me was the pacing. I kind of had to push myself to keep watching at the start, then i was fully invested, and then near the end the last few episodes felt dragged out.

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Cute & Bubbly, But Def Different

I don’t have too much to say about this show as it was a tad more slice of life than anything. The MML and FML get together by the second episode and the rest of the seven episodes are more about them navigating a relationship than anything else.

My favorite thing about this show was their healthy communication. It really carries the show because most romances are about the couple *getting* together while this show leans more into them *staying* together. Yaeshima Asako is shy about her sweat and being smelly. Natori Kotaro is bubbly and adores her but has his own worries and concerns. Seeing them navigate their individual concerns as a couple was truly a breath of fresh air.

While I can’t say I “loved it” I did also appreciate the creative approach they took for the *sex* scenes. They were funny and very much interpretive. I don’t know that I could watch them again, but this show is def it’s own brand of entertainment.

I loved the background music of the show overall – it was mostly like this bubbly lo-fi mix. But I wasn’t a fan of the songs with actual singing.

Some things I thought we interesting/could have been set up better was:

- They do a one year time jump and then have him freak about about a break up because he can’t smell her emotions. I don’t know how I feel about him freaking out a year into their relationship? I feel like 3 or 6 months in would make more sense than a year. Especially since they don’t seem to have too much “growth” in that one year span of dating. *(This is the reason for a docked .5 in Romance.)*
- I really wish the FML called out her childhood bully even though it makes *sense* for her personality that she didn’t.
- For the sake of comedy, we have her in the work bathroom spraying the hell out of her body spray – but all I could think is how has no one reported her and how can SHE breath when other people in the bathroom cannot.

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Fun & light but frustrating side character(s)

8.8

SPOILERS BELOW

Ling Yue and Gu An Xin were a rare insta-ish love that you can totally believe and root for. The softness in Yue’s eyes when he looks at An Xin within like the third episode is disarming and I ate it up.

I would say overall they are a solid couple that needed to navigate communication and self-confidence to get to their HEA as a couple. It was frustrating to see them build walls at every inconvenience at the start but it makes their relationship a lot more hard earned than other “insta-love” stories so I think that is why they work.

Moving away from them, I LOVED Ling Fang’s character arc. I think the “evil stepbrother” set up was super well done and to have him really realize he’s just fighting himself as opposed to Ling Yue was a nice reprieve from cliches. Which made Ling Sheng’s plot twist reveal all the more suprising and a solid contrast to the brother dynamics.

Gu An Sheng was alright. I see how his role was needed but I just wish he had a bit more depth and that we could learn more about why he loved Gu An Xin so much. Especially since he seems to have been her step-brother while the sisters are half siblings?

I wanted to know more about Gu Yuan Chao because he is given a decent amount of importance but then in the end he’s just sick and bed ridden so that was disappointing. I know Yang Hong is revealed to be the “real villain” but I still feel like the resolution here was tepid at most.

Last but not least, Gu Xin Er was the most headache inducing, exhausting to look at, pathetic character. The fact that her story ends with her promising to wait for Ling Sheng regardless of the fact that he almost killed half her family is the ending I guess she deserves but was embarrassing to witness. I think she needs therapy more than a man.

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a premise with promise, but an ending that fell short

This show was a “happy accident”. I had it on my list for a while but I got impatient with my list and started several first episodes. From the first episode I was 50/50 about the show just because I wasn’t sure the direction it was planning to take. However, the acting was compelling and even after starting other shows, I chose to come back to Si Jin.

The best parts about this show:
- Excellent romantic chemistry between the main leads. Jiang Si & Yu Qi / Yu Jin were a romance I ate up. I love when a man is smitten and Yu Qi walked so his Prince self as Yu Jin could run. When he gave her all his flowers, one by one I was a goner. His devotion to her was elite, but I will say I wish she had a bit more romantic gestures on her end. *Just a tad more near the end*. But still, I loved it and you can tell she loved him since she literally jumped off a cliff to save his life in their first lives.
- I love the relationship between Jiang Si, her brother, and her father. It was sooo cute and very sweet to see them support and love one another even with all their family drama
- The overall drama that happens *before* the imperial specific issues
- Jiang Si’s flashbacks. I am pretty against flashbacks, but these ones had me curious as heck
- Jiang Zhan was such a cutie patootie himbo at the start and even after he trains to become a fighter, he is too cute. I loved his pure heart for his family and ofc Lu Chu Chu. So happy he climbed up the ranks and became general of territories.
- While the sisters were pretty scheming and the grandmother was frustrating to say the least, I did like the character development and dynamics of the Jiang family. It was toxic but you see them all grow as Jiang Si fights for a better life for herself and every member of the family, even her insidious aunt.

The weakest parts about this show:
- Jiang Si as the Saintess. I get the use of it but I don’t feel it was used to it’s full potential in this show considering the “war” between the two countries.
- I am not sure I get the sacrifice origin story for the Saintess. Does that mean Yu Jin killed her in their first life on purpose? I was pretty sure he didn’t realize it was her when he shot her with an arrow her from behind. But then the ending of the show mentions: nán wū gǔ shù // ruò zhí niàn zhòng dié // kě yǐ zì jǐ de xìng mìng // huàn suǒ ài zhī rén wàn fēn zhī yī // zài shēng zhī jī // shì yù jǐn // shì tā dǔ shàng xìng mìng // huàn wǒ gǎi biàn // mìng yùn de jī huì // duì // tā fù chū de dài jià bù zhī shì xìng mìng huán yǒu chè dǐ wàng jì nǐ
- Even with translating the subtitles over it makes no sense how Yu Qi / Yu Jin triggered Jiang Si into becoming the Saintess. This is not a case of subtitles/translation, but I feel more poor execution of the overall Saintess plot and logic
- Jiang Si’s past. While the flashbacks made me curious to keep going, by the end I was still a bit confused because how was she with Yu Qi in her past life if she was married to Ji Chongyi who she spends the first part of the show trying not to marry? Also, curious if this means in her past life, when she fell into the water, Yu Qi saved her but went on his way because *she wasn’t the Saintess yet* which changed how her and his first life played out.
- I know villains are evil, but I like my antagonists with layers. Madam Xiao was supppper annoying but she had more layers than both Princess Rong Yang and Cui Ming Yue. I will say while Cui Ming Yue and her mother are pretty one dimensional, there are a decent number of antagonists with different personalities and roles to make the overall show interesting.
- The ending, while a HEA romantically, did not really feel complete nor make sense to me fully
- Princess Rong Yang’s death monologue pissed me off. She claims no one ever understood her and no one ever loved her, but she was able to get away with so much specifically because the Emperor saw her as a sister. Her husband didn’t love her, but that was her own fault for forcing an engaged man to be with her. Plus, she cries a river about her daughter, Cui Ming Yue, dying, but she gave 0 effs about the several families she broke and damaged. From killing Jiang Si’s mother, to forcing Consort Xian to abandon her son to the war torn boarders.
- Princess Rong Yang did not deserve to have a post-humorous title. I don’t care that they were probably trying to cover just how messy she was but her and her daughter (Cui Ming Yue) both did not deserve to be given any good title, they should have been marked as evil and disloyal to the Emperor.
- We don’t hear anything about the two princes that died when Rong Yang usurped the throne
- The Emperor just decides to let the 7th prince be Emperor and everyone is okay with it after he was labeled bad luck by the woman that they post-humorously defended with a stupid princess title.
- The Emperor was ready to kill Jiang Si but then decides she can be Empress?
- Jiang Si is able to fix centuries of war with basic trade teaching? I think that whole thing with the Nawu fell flat at the end.
- The Elder is learning from Jian Si like she’s never heard of the words barter and trade which is highly ridiculous
- It looked like they are a community only made up of like 100 people so how have they been “beating” Zhou? They could have used all the extras to fill in the space or had the people on screen be just the “leaders” or something. Small nit, but after all the buildup it matters.
- Why are they kinda portrayed a bit like “savages” as if trade was never an option? I feel like it must have been at some point but Zhou must have cut them off of resources or something.
- I feel bad for Arong and worse for Aman. Aman was sooo cute, I think the actress did so good. I wish they at least found her body after she jumped off the cliff.

Overall, this was a very fun show with “twists and turns” but also emotion and heart. I loved the main leads as characters and their romance was moving. That said, the ending was a tad unsatisfying with how some things are just rushed over. The biggest weak points were the lead antagonist and Jiang Si’s role as Saintess. Both just felt underutilized and oversimplified as basic plot devices.

### Original Thoughts & Ideas
- This show does a good job with the narrative of evil acts being born out of misgivings and jealousy. The examples below are all different fonts of the same story: evil is not exactly innate, but when left unchecked can fester and cause more harm than peace
- Yi’s husband was led astray by the allure of being the husband to a princess and maybe finally appeasing his always complaining mother. His mother actually liking Yi (and defending her as a wife) was a fun twist lol. Jiang Yi’s husband at least has his redemption because a) he was stopped early on b) he confronted *his own* accountability in his downfall
- Aunt Xiao couldn’t stand the judgement and inferiority of being from the second branch. She redeems herself by finally finding contentment and no longer comparing herself to the first branch or with what she doesn’t have. Her death was actually saddening because she had finally grown.
- Princess Rong Yang killed Jiang Si’s mother for thinking an affair was happening (even though it wasn’t). Princess Rong Yang’s hatred was not only left unchecked but generationally passed down to her daughter (Cui Ming Yue). The two of them wreak havoc on society mostly for sick entertainment.

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for the love of mystery & so many cuties

What a duo. Shen Wan & Yan Chi really outdid themselves as a pair of elite and self assured people. Landy Li and Ao Rui Peng bounced off each other flawlessly. Their story from strangers to peers to lovers was perfect and I would rewatch the show just for that aspect alone.

Both Shen Wan and Yan Chi are focused, brave, AND smart. It’s the whole package and it’s even better that they are so equally matched. They both respect each other’s choices and perspectives. It was these features that makes the no second act break up expected and luckily it was delivered. They stay together even as things get messy and they persist.

Yue Ning and Yan Li were maddd cute and I shipped them the second Yan Li appeared on screen and Yue Ning was like “what a playboy”. HAHA. It’s me – I’m the problem. But no I really loved how they each were solidly written and executed character while also getting to see how they matched well with each other. So freaking cute. I loved how we watch them go from frenemies, to friends, to lovers.

Yan Sui did such a good job! What a cute little prince. I am so happy that he was surrounded by the crew to help him but that his innate self was not tragically twisted like someone like Yan Ze who really done LOST his mind. Yan Ze knows his mother was murdered so I get that rage, but the other deaths and destruction he caused in the name of retribution was maddening. I hate when the bad guy’s origin story is being a victim so he makes every one else the victim. There is a sick irony between Yan Ze and Emperor Yan Huai. Both evil due to wrongdoing but rather than trying to heal, they hurt everyone else and cause more pain and suffering. Their deaths were definitely symbolic.

Qin Xiang was madddd stubborn and stupid that her death was truly no surprise, but it was pretty unfortunate. I will say, I feel they jumped Qin Shuang being single to married and pregnant that I was like “did i miss smth” but no I think the plot kinda just jumped on that storyline rather than ease into it.

Plot wise, I enjoyed the mini-mysteries that folded into the overarching mystery of Wan’s parents death as well as Prince Jin. That said, while the ending made sense the twin trope felt a bit like a fake out. Again, it made the most sense compared to anything else, but I feel like I was hoping for something juicier. I can’t say what since the story was built on this end point so the clues only make sense with this ending lol.

### Original Thoughts & Ideas
- Self righteousness vs revenge vs justice: Yan Ze and Emperor Yan Huai are both evil due to wrongdoing but rather than trying to heal, they hurt everyone else and cause more pain and suffering. While Huai was abandoned, he wasn’t left to die. But he felt cheated and betrayed by his family. Which is FAIR. But what isn’t fair is that rather than seeking justice, he seeks revenge. Ze’s mother is unlawfully murdered, but rather than just trying to get revenge on the killer her creates a whole cult and even tries to kill Yan Li as part of his revenge. But Yan Li is as innocent as Ze’s mother was when she was killed. Both Ze and Huai are blinded by their own indignant, self-righteousness. Both claimed they were just trying to right the wrongs done to them, but the deaths and pain they both cause is proof in why revenge is not equal to justice & why justice is important. I loved that they both died by each other’s hand, it really symbolized the endless cycle of revenge that only leads to self destruction.

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