Overall a fun time but not very memorable.
This drama straight cruising at a low altitude without a care in the world. The stakes are low in all its plot threads: political scheming, wuxia fights and romance in general. I never really felt any excitement. The plot was pretty predictable. It's simply a lighthearted and easy watching experience. It's not a bad thing but definitely not very memorable because of that.It's got good pacing though, the story doesn't move too fast or slow throughout it's run. I like that it didn't try to push for the usually 36 or 40 episodes.
I liked the couples but I didn't find the romances that compelling. The three main couples all looked good together but there wasn't any tension or yearning or anything deep about it.
Bao Shang'en unfortunately gave a weak performance. There were scenes I thought were overacted and others that I thought needed more emotion from her.
Song Weilong was the better actor of the two leads. I think his character just had more to work with. I liked when he became a loser and was obsessed with his wife lol.
The one stand out for me was the costumes/hanfu of this era. The empire waistline two pieces with pretty draped fabrics? They're so colourful and eye-catching!! Song Weilong is handsome for sure but Bao Shang'en was on another level. She looked so beautiful in all the hanfu she wore.
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The first five minutes of this drama had me gasping for breathe. The stabbing triangle scene had me laughing so hard I ended up on the floor. The rest of the drama was charming and fun but that first scene totally eclipsed the whole show. I basically never recovered—it's easily the funniest and most memorable scene from this drama.The plot was plotting but the relationships and character progression needed a lot more, especially with the female lead Song Yimeng. I understood why Yimeng didn't trust Nanheng, especially after he tried to kill her so many times, but that plot trope dragged on for way too long. It hindered Yimeng's character development and as the main character, it dragged the whole story down. There were times she was unbearable. I wish she had been smarter or stronger or just more easily likeable.
Liu Yining's Nanheng was great in contrast. His character growth in romantic ventures and with comedy were really working for me. The rest of the characters were all generally likeable and served the plot well.
I think this really would have been a 10/10 banger if the writers had focused more on Yimeng's development.
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This ain't your grandma's transmigration story!!
This is such a fun take on a transmigration story. I thought I knew what I was in for but it kept me on my toes. I've never seen such fun chemistry before.Wang Churan and Cheng Lei are absolutely amazing together. They're best friends but they don't fully trust each other. They're obsessed with each other while using each other. This parallel is also reflected in the story. We get hilarious scenes, followed by scary scenarios, and then tragic outcomes.
This drama got it all, but there are times I wish that the story had held on to one emotion for a little longer, like dragging out the angst would have been good. Or keeping Dan in his tyrant mood for an episode or half. I feel like that would have connected with me more as a viewer.
In some of the later episodes, the plot felt a little flat. There was a lot of talking and random scenarios that didn't really add anything to the existing story. I think this is a series that would have done better if it was a bit shorter? Also, I did read about the book ending and wish they had gone that direction instead of what we got. It would have elevated the series significantly imho.
Light Snow, Deep Ink by Jiang Dunhao is a banger song.
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Babygirl just wanna snack and relax but ends up becoming immortal demon empress.
Lemme preface this by saying, I'm super biased. I don't think that this drama as a whole is amazing (esp the later half), but it gives me good vibes and I adore the main couple.This drama!! This is sunshine x grumpy done right. This is mutual pining with dewy-glistening-yearning eyes. This is so so tender and very very juicy. This is three lifetimes of love—and I'm going to need a sequel of their fourth life in a modern drama.
For a great romance, we need great leads with great chemistry. Sima Jiao and Tingyan said hold my beer and gave us great characters to root for.
Chen Feiyu's Sima Jiao is menacing, broody and ferocious. But he's also gentle and thoughtful when he wants. Feiyu gives this character so much dimension in how he overthinks, how he shows vulnerability and the way he warms up to Tingyan.
Wang Yinglu's Liao Tingyan is our sunshine slacker who is coincidentally the demon in this relationship (not that she knows that at first). She is an unbothered queen with priorities to sleep, eat and relax. She easily the best character and the life of this drama and hella relatable. Wang Yinglu was amazing with this performance; she played Tingyan with so much heart and carefree whimsy. It's so easy to fall in love with this character. (Unrelated: I don't know how to say this without sounding creepy but I love Want Yinglu's teeth LMAO. She has front bunny teeth but also fangs on the side? I love it when she smiles with her mouth wide open. I find it so charming lol.)
The romance is easily 10/10. The rest? Ehh, not anything to write home about to be honest.
The plot, while mostly engaging, really plays second fiddle to the romance. It's got uneven pacing and sometimes irrelevant storylines, but it always comes back to the main romance.
While I found most of the plot uninspired, the one trope that stood out for me how they used different lifetimes to explore the romance and relationship between our leads.
Minor spoilers ahead!
In the first lifetime, they are strangers who fall in love slowly, the tension and humour hit perfectly. The second lifetime, when only Sima Jiao remembers, you can feel his desperation and yearning while holding himself back to give her room to process. The third lifetime, when only Tingyan remembers, she's flirty and fiercely protective. It's a beautiful reversal of their first and second life; it's her turn to being the powerful one. Tingyan teasing Sima Jiao is so so so endearing.
I don't think the amnesia trope in the second lifetime is done all that well but overall I really enjoyed what they did with it. Revisiting the same relationship while the characters are in different periods of their life and love is a really fun and interesting story.
TLDR;
plot: didn't really care tbh/10
romance: 33/10
acting: 9/10
fights: it's a xianxia/10
PS if you really liked the kisses, you have to check out the behind the scenes. They are EATING
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Great until that last bit.....
Overall I had a good time with this drama but I found it sort of hypocritical at the end which frustrated me.The first half did a great job showing us these really lively characters who had their own agendas. I'm usually more invested in the romances of these costume dramas but the plot was constantly moving in ways that captivated me. The romance was sweet and took it's time to nurture which I enjoyed. The growing maturity of the characters was really well thought out and explored.
I especially loved the exploration of friendship and love between Shaoshang and A'Yao. They might not have understood or been romantically in love but they are soulmates~
But... but...
Don't get me wrong, I believe in love but I also believe in being a human and the way the drama showed our characters being depressed for 5 years non-stop is sort of ridiculously unrealistic. I don't like how Shaoshang's character in the second half after she goes on about being stubborn and unchanging. Damn it writers, you didn't make her stubborn enough!!
When I was young and stupid I would have eaten this up but after having gone through a devestating break up myself, I just don't buy the 5 year cry fest lol. You would get tired and either kill yourself or slowly start to heal. Yeah I can imagine that Shaoshang and Buyi would be upset about it 5 years later but I don't think that they'd cry about it for 1800 days straight. Especially with how these two characters were portrayed in the first half.
I think what would have been more realistic and more true to the characters was to have Shaoshang happy and free but also missing Ling Buyi and sad but only sometimes. (And also have him do a bit more grovelling before she took him back.) Like Shaoshang went to scold the Third Prince about how she loved Buyi but she's still her own person and then the show was like nope nvm she's going to change into this shell of herself for the rest of the drama..... That pissed me off a lot aiyaaa
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Thank god for time travelling cats
Twelve Letters is a beautifully shot, beautifully acted and beautifully written drama.I felt strangely nostalgic my first time watching this. The cinematography is very reminiscent of 90s Hong Kong films that I grew up on. They're similarly melancholic and passionately tragic. In these stories, the happiness is always fleeting and that's why I cried so much during their little rain dancing session lmao.
The story was well paced and the twists were surprising. I was constantly engaged but I don't really have much to say on the actual plot.
Wang Yinglu and Zhou Yiran acted the shit out of their roles in Twelve Letters. The anger, the yearning, the desperation—it's like they danced all over my guts. I cried so much I got a migraine and threw up. They need to work together again, preferably in a romcom or something; I desperately want them to be together and happy. And kisses! Omg we deserve kisses so bad.
Despite my adoration of this drama, I couldn't give it a perfect score because of two reasons. One is because the non-linear storyline within the 1991 time period was not always necessary and just added to the confusion (episode 8 in particular). And two is because the ending felt abrupt as hell. Why couldn't they have added a scene of Haitang and Yixun boarding a bus out of Meiwan or them moving in to an apartment near her university? A small scene like that would have made a huge difference, ughhh we were robbed.
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I picked this up since I like Zhou Ye and Wang Xingyue but I think this drama just made me want them to collab again because it didn't really fill my expectations on the romantic side of the story. I really wish we could have explored the main lead's relationship more thoroughly because the tension between them was palpable.The characters are great at making me interested in their goals and struggles but I found the pacing to be a bit slow. The political and court drama aspects of the plot were pretty bland and it was sort of a pain to follow.
I understand that they had to conform to censorship rules but I think that they could have still made the plot better. The idea of Hua Qian dreaming, waking up and not having fixed anything is an intriguing concept, but it felt very frustrating and unsatisfying since the viewers have seen her change throughout the whole story. A better plot would have been to have her wake sooner and then start to change things in the real world.
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A bit undercooked but still pretty yummy
I really wanted to love this but it felt half baked. The idea of a whole family transmigrating is fun and fresh but evolution of their relationships could have used more exploration and growth. The revenge plot was interesting initially but never could really captivate me fully with it's lack of scheming and tension. The romance and chemistry were there and I was so invested but they needed more screen time to really sell the budding relationship.I'm rating this higher than I normally would because I am biased and love Wang Yinglu.
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Light on plot but heavy on kisses.
I think to fully enjoy this show, you have to realize it is not a full course meal, it's more like a little treat. The stakes are never monumental and the romance is quietly understated. The yearning gestures aren't soul wrenching but the heart still aches. There's not that much plot and it mostly focuses on character development. I can't say it's the best or funniest or most swoony drama, but it's a good time.I picked this drama up mainly for Seo Inguk but the show did him dirty. I desperately needed more screen time from him, especially in the earlier episodes. He's amazing, sexy, charismatic as always and there's some tough competition but I think this drama has his best kiss scenes ever? He was eating her up every time!!!!
I cringed through episodes 1 and 2 (the humour was sorta funny but super embarrassing lol) but by episode 3 you can easily tell that Jisoo shows remarkable improvement in her acting as Seo Mirae. Perhaps Jisoo just suits the romantic comedy genre well because I didn't like Snowdrop but found her relatable and charming in this drama. She had great chemistry with not only Seo Inguk but Seo Kangjoon and Kim Sungcheol.
The cameos were really fun and swoony and when we progressed passed that, I also enjoyed our budding romance between the leads but the plot could have used more meat.
The whole drama is actually pretty light on plot to be honest, it's mostly a slice of life, healing story for Jisoo's character. Which isn't a bad thing, but I think the story would have been more engaging if the characters had more to work with. But in the same breathe, it felt fresh because it excluded so many tired kdrama tropes like childhood friends, evil CEOs, life threatening scenarios resulting in rushed love declaration etc.
The rewatch value is high for me, just because of the kiss scenes lmao.
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Mr & Mrs Smith but with amnesia and they actually pull it off
Are You The One has some high highs and some lows that weren't too bad actually. It's overall a fun and engaging show that I think is worth a watch.This show tackles one of the most annoying tropes ever (amnesia) and comes out successful.
Liu Miantang is one of the best written female characters ever. She is smart, strong and reliable asf. Wang Churan really shines in this role.
In comparison, Zhang Wanyi's performance could have used more work. He just didn't feel as formidable or important as an influential lord. It's not that his acting was bad, I just personally felt that he didn't look the part and the styling didn't help at all.
Speaking of styling, I think it was a weak point of the show. Everything seemed sort of bland and washed out; from make up to hair to costume to the set design. The cinematography and colour grading perhaps furthered that issue for me. It's just not that visually appealing.
Thankfully, the fast and fun plot makes up for it. I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game between the main couple. Even after the secrets were revealed I was invested and engaged.
The romance is a slow burn and hurts you in a good way (lol) but I sometimes felt as if Wang Churan had better chemistry with Chang Huasen (his yearning eyes are real good). And speaking of Chang Huasen, his endgame couple is great. Actually all three couples in this series were great and had believable and genuine build ups.
The ending felt a bit rushed but I find this is an issue with most dramas so that's nothing new. The last episode had one of the best scenes: where the two leads fought side by side while bickering about who gets to kill which lacky assassin. And I'm honestly mad cuz there should've been more of that, it was so good!!
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