Reviews

The Captive Rose (2025), aka as Hidden Rose (2025) is a very good rebirth fantasy romance miniseries with ML：Liang Siwei as (Huo Zhan Xing) and
FL： Wang Jin (as Wen Qian Su) in the leading couple's roles. The cast did a good job bringing their characters to life and the leading couple had a great rapport with an intense connection and a passionate romantic chemistry. The drama can cause an array of feelings and a wide range of emotions concerning the male lead, but the story is about redemption after rebirth, a second chance to do things right and, during the process, being able to be loved and to cherish and protect your loved one. Overall, the drama i interesting and entertaining; enjoy it!

In the meantime, you can watch the drama on YouTube under the caption: " 4K【梁思偉💕王槿】未婚夫劈腿繼妹，她又被親爹趕出家門！暴雨夜暈倒在霍先生車前，醒來竟被他溫柔寵上天，原來他是重生來奪妻！《酥酥入懷》全集#短劇 #甜寵#cdrama [GOOGLE TRANSLATED:4K [Tony Leung 💕 Wang Jin] Her fiancé cheated with her stepsister, and she was kicked out by her own dad! Collapsing in the rain one night in front of Mr. Huo's car, she wakes up to find him showering her with gentle love—turns out he’s back from the past to win his wife! 'SuSu in My Arms' full series #shortdrama #sweetlove#cdrama] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8MvWaWv6zQ) or "His tenderness and favoritism are the most magnificent armor on my path of revenge." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g4UvcdXHm8)

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"friends" with different personalities

Overall: visuals are stunning, not sold on the dynamic though. 10 episodes about 22 minutes each. Airing on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/summertime-episode-1-wcrrbix90o?lang=en_us ; GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/8745/summertime-2026 (not available in Japan, Korea, Americas, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, Macau, Timor-Leste, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom and Oceania)⠀and Wavve (S. Korea)

Content Warnings: bullying, homophobia, manhandling, past death, grief, violence of screen

What I Liked
- best dream/start of series
- different personalities
- visuals
- fingers at the end of episode 4 and episode 4 overall

Room for Improvement
- one character treats the other character like an object to possess instead of a person with his own thoughts/desires
- he yelled at the friends and snitched to the dad when he did the same thing
- the dad beat him so badly he had bandages and everyone was chill about it???
- love rival

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Beautiful, Amusing, Intriguing, Heart-rendering

Love Beyond the Grave starts on a grim note, with the massacre of a town, but the mood quickly changes when General DuanXu arrives. Dilraba as He Si Mu absolutely had me roaring with laughter when she started flirting with him. She is so pretentious that it becomes hilarious. Her expressions — flirtatious, cunning, wicked and hypocritical — are spot-on. Good looks and excellent acting skills are always a killer combination for actors.

And this drama certainly has the looks. Dilraba and Miles Wei are absolutely eye-candy — both are stunningly good looking. Miles once again plays the jilted lover, as he did in Flourished Peony and its sequel. Call me shallow, but good-looking actors with excellent acting skills always score extra points with me.

There are also some lessons to be learnt. If you are infatuated with someone who does not return your love, learn to back off. Do not assume they are merely playing hard to get. Otherwise it becomes harassment.

I also could not help drawing parallels with the corporate world when the emperor fails to reward the person most worthy of praise, instead rewarding peripheral staff. It is the classic workplace problem: bosses reward the obedient rather than the capable, and then wonder why the capable ones leave. I could empathise with DuanXu's frustration but admire that he still had not abandoned his ideal of recovering the 17 prefectures despite having such an absolute asshole of an emperor.

As for forgetting the names of exes — well, I completely empathise with Si Mu on that one!

The story also has enough twists and mysteries to keep things interesting. We are left wondering whether DuanXu is really who he claims to be, or a murderer who has assumed the identity of a dead man. There are simply too many things about him that do not fit someone from a scholarly family.

Some of the supporting characters are memorable too. The Shaman was thoroughly infuriating, while Ding Jia Wen, as the Imperial Preceptor, really brightened the drama with his coy, playful, drama-queen antics. The two young actors playing young Chen Ying and Spirit Song Xing Yu were commendable for their age and showed real promise as future stars. Credit also goes to the casting team: the child and teenage versions of Chen Ying actually bear a convincing resemblance to each other.

There are some genuinely heart-rendering moments. An upright, capable and promising young minister commits suicide simply to save someone else. He could have denied the edict, so why did he have to die? And when a villain dies happily knowing that the woman he loves will be alright, it is heartbreaking. I agree that it was probably the right ending for him, but credit where it is due — his love was sincere.

On the other hand, I became increasingly impatient with DuanXu's constant self-punishment and reckless abuse of his own body. He repeatedly exchanges his senses with Si Mu even though he knows perfectly well that doing so will weaken him and eventually kill him. At some point, I just wanted to yell at him: stop doing this to yourself!

As for the soundtrack, it has many lovely melodious pieces - absolutely enchanting. I was debating between 9 and 9.5 - decided to change it to 9.5 because of the beautiful soundtrack.

Now for my nitpicking...

If DuanXu gives all his senses to Si Mu, does that mean she becomes completely incapacitated of her spiritual powers?

And why would the spirit still want revenge on the people who wronged her? After all, they should surely have been dead for decades, given that it takes a century for an obsessed spirit to cultivate a human body.

And those obsessive spirits floating around like jellyfish really did not work for me. Surely there was a better CGI alternative — perhaps a vague human silhouette would have been far more atmospheric.

Overall, I rate Love Beyond the Grave highly for its entertainment value. It has beautiful actors, good performances, humour, romance, mystery, twists and enough emotional drama to keep things moving. My nitpicks aside, it is an enjoyable watch.

Enjoy!

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I found my underrated drama of the year so far.

Incredible acting by almost all the cast. I've watched many of the ML's before so I already know what a good actor he is, but the FL really stole the show in basically every scene she was in. Also, both ML and FL had incredible chemistry together which is so important to me and what makes or breaks a drama - and I wouldn't say this was a romance drama at all, but this drama was so unexpectedly romantic. The yearning, love, and devotion exhibited by the both of them was 10/10, no notes.

Plot was engaging, and not boring even though I know next to nothing about salt trade. I thought everything made sense, the villains were convincing, and it tied up nicely at the end. All the side characters were interesting, and I was actually majorly invested in their character arcs to see where they would end up.

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This was cute, what else can I say?

It took me a little while to start watching... I'm afraid I'm not a huge fan of Domundi's series, but I watched it because of the hype.

Overall
This series is definitely for the fluffy-series lovers; the story is sweet, the characters are charming and the humor is fun. if you're looking for something more complex or mature maybe this is not for you.

Through the first episodes, the series is entertaining and fun to watch. The pacing is calm, there isn't any annoying or unnecessary drama.

I liked that most of the characters are total green flags, Duang, while chasing Quin, always respected his boundaries and never harassed him, like it often happens in some other bl series. Also Duang and Quin's friends were very supportive of them, they have an endering and healthy relationship.

The subplot of Qin's childhood trauma was very interesting to watch, it gave depth to the series, and it helped us to understand Qin's character better.

The intimate scenes were surprisingly well-performed, they were sensual, but not highly erotic or spicy, and the skinship through the series felt natural and cute.


Notes and things I didn't like:

At the beginning I thought they made Duang's character too unrealistic and stupid, but from middle to end of the story he seemed to return to sanity.

There some things that could be cringy for some people. Particularly for me all the Chucky costume strategy to get Qin's attention was painful to watch.

The pacing might be a little slow and not that exciting, but for me was okay; it was fresh and nice to watch.

I really liked the dynamic of Duang and Qin's friends, and I would have liked better if they had given us more scenes of them together and developed the story of Jamie and Marvis more. Still I understand the main focus was romance and not friendship :(

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10/10, Emotionally Devastating

I honestly don’t even know how to rate this drama after that ending. I finished the last episode and just sat there feeling genuinely heartbroken.

What I really loved about War and Beauty is that it doesn’t simply divide its characters into “good” and “evil.” The deeper the story goes, the more you realize that many of the women who seem cruel or manipulative were once innocent themselves, and the palace gradually turned them into what they became.

Consort Yu is probably the character who surprised me the most. At first, I thought she was simply another scheming villain, but learning about how innocent and hopeful she was when she first entered the palace, and how the loss of her son and years of palace intrigues changed her, made her character much more tragic. By the end, I couldn’t even look at her in the same way anymore.

And then there’s the ending… genuinely brutal.

On Tsin finally escaped with the person she loved, only for us to discover that she had already been wounded by an arrow and died on the way. The fact that he didn’t even know she was injured while carrying her made the scene so much more painful. And Art Sin never even found out that her real sister had died. That detail absolutely destroyed me.

Dr. Sun’s death also hurt. At some point, I was basically watching the finale thinking,
“Can ANYONE in this palace just survive and be happy?” Apparently not. 😭

What makes the ending even more frustrating is that the people responsible for so much suffering don’t necessarily receive the punishment we expect. The Queen, especially, made me furious. She committed terrible things and yet the story doesn’t give the audience the satisfying “villain finally gets what she deserves” ending. And honestly, I think that was intentional.

The palace's world is cruel because power doesn’t automatically come with justice. The people at the bottom suffer the consequences while the people protected by the system can survive.

I also couldn’t stop wondering about the Emperor during the rebellion. The fact that he left very early that morning, before sunrise, with relatively little protection made me suspicious that he may have known that something was going to happen. The drama leaves enough ambiguity for you to question how much the people at the top actually knew about what was happening inside the palace.

And that’s probably what stayed with me the most: not everyone dies knowing the truth, and not everyone who deserves punishment receives it.

War and Beauty is tragic, political, ruthless, and surprisingly emotional. It’s also one of those dramas where the “villains” become more understandable the longer you watch, because you start seeing how the palace itself destroys people.

I came for the palace intrigue and ended up emotionally attached to a group of doomed women. Terrible decision. Would absolutely do it again.

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Very enjoyable. I have started this ride and I am all in.

- Cast ... Perfect for their roles. I enjoyed each and every one of them.
- Characters ... These characters were written so well, deep, and charismatic.
- OST ... Very good.
- Cinematography ... Beautiful with a smooth flow.
- Choreography/fight scenes ... Delightful. This alone would make me re-watch.
- Storyline ... This is a maze with many roads, yet the stories hold their own. I enjoyed this series; it was compelling and had enough content and details to hook you and make you want to continue the journey.

Halfway through I started to doubt the characters, plot and even my sanity ... but I am glad I stuck with it as the story unraveled and my curiosity led me to the end.

After watching Time Raiders I decided to go back and watch this one. Now the next on my list ... The Lost Tomb 2 (2019)

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a good cry

i typically don’t tend to go for dramas where there’s a switch in between lives/souls or the minds or even parallel worlds. things like reincarnation i find unrealistic and while it is a genre/theme that is pretty popular and interesting to a lot of people i find it really unrealistic but regardless i found this to be a very good watch because of the cast.

the girl who played the character of the mother amazed me because in reality she’s really just a kid but she mimicked the qualities and the personality of a mother figure as if she was the mother, which in the case of the show she is. this show also has a very fulfilling and melancholic aspect to it: for a caring loving mother to be reborn to a family that is the opposite dynamic, and the fact that she was able to change the girls life and help her mother and daughter grow a stronger bond.

while i would not rewatch it, i definitely loved the acting and story itself. while it was not the ending i wanted i definitely think everyone was able to get the closure and grow to accept reality despite it being something out of this world, the unexpected. but nonetheless this is a good watch and i got a good cry out of it.

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I was hooked from the start

Korean BLs have long been full of dead fish lips and half hearted storylines lacking depth. But recently a handful of production companies have decided enough is enough and gone back to the drawing board. Does this series have NC? Yes. Is that the main thing that is going to be why you watch? Probably for some who only watch any BLs for the NC scenes, and we listen and don't judge. But is that what is going to keep most of us watching? Not by a long shot. This is a well rounded series with a great cast, an amazing OST, and a script full of emotions that keep you laughing and crying, applauding and cringing for our leads.

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All Roads Lead to Chaos

I watched Pull Strings on a whim. I knew practically nothing about it except that Ao Rui Peng was in it, which was enough reason for me to give it a try. I also heard that it was a comedy and that Ao Rui Peng seemed like he was barely acting because Chang Shou was basically himself. After watching it, I can confirm that the rumors were not entirely wrong. Pull Strings is a rather comical, unserious drama that happens to have a plot. It is not exactly a no-brainer because there is an actual story and some interesting ideas underneath all the silliness, but it is definitely a casual and easy watch.

The story follows Li Chang Shou, a 30-year-old terminally ill man who dies after falling from his hospital bed and getting hit by the comic books he was reading. He is then reborn as a cultivator inside Primordial Investiture of Deities and finds himself in the Primordial World. His goal in this new life is surprisingly simple: stay alive and stay out of trouble. With a prophecy warning of an impending calamity, Chang Shou decides to play the long game. He keeps a low profile, avoids unnecessary relationships, prepares himself constantly, and relies more on schemes and strategy than brute force. Of course, the universe has other plans. Before long, the man who only wanted to stay out of trouble ends up quietly pulling strings behind the scenes and becoming involved in a much bigger game of power, ambition, karma, and destiny.

The biggest charm of Pull Strings is undoubtedly its comedy. The drama leans heavily into slapstick, silliness, exaggeration, and outright absurdity. My personal taste leans more toward dark, deadpan, witty, and satirical humor, so I would not say I found myself laughing very often. Still, I found the drama entertaining for the most part. It was the kind of show that could be left on when I wanted something light and unserious.

That said, sometimes the comedy tries a little too hard. There were scenes where the joke was pushed so far that it stopped being funny and started pulling me out of the story. Some plot choices had the same problem. The whole vampire situation, for example, felt particularly random in a Primordial World setting. I could suspend my disbelief for a lot of things in this drama, but that one made me wonder where exactly the writers were trying to take me. Something like turning people into puppets or flies, especially considering the demon's abilities, would have felt more fitting to the world.

Ironically, what I found more amusing than the actual comedy was the clash between modern and ancient culture. Chang Shou being a modern person reborn in an ancient cultivation world gave the drama some of its most enjoyable moments. Watching him apply modern ideas in completely inappropriate historical circumstances was genuinely fun. He turns his shoe into something resembling Siri, makes a firefly-shaped phone out of hay straw, and finds all sorts of ways to bring modern concepts into the Primordial World. Those moments felt more naturally funny to me because the humor came from the situation rather than from the drama desperately trying to make a joke. Chang Shou really shines as a fish out of water.

Ao Rui Peng owned this role. Watching Chang Shou felt like watching Ao Rui Peng get dropped into a cultivation drama. His naturally goofy personality fits Chang Shou perfectly, and he manages both the comedic and emotional scenes well. He does not need to force the humor because his expressions and mannerisms already do much of the work.

What I particularly liked about Chang Shou in the beginning was the contradiction within his character. On the surface, he is this seemingly incompetent, overly cautious guy who is constantly trying to avoid trouble and karmic repercussions. Underneath that, however, he is constantly training, preparing, calculating, and making sure he has a backup plan for his backup plan. That combination of cowardice, caution, intelligence, and hidden competence made him surprisingly charming. He was not trying to become the strongest person in the room. He was trying not to die, and somehow ended up becoming one of the smartest and most capable people there. That duality was, to me, the most interesting part of his character.

Unfortunately, I started losing interest when romance and heavier responsibilities became more prominent. I understand that these things are part of Chang Shou's character development and are important to the overall plot, but they did not work particularly well for me. The romance felt distracting and somewhat out of place, especially because the drama had already established such an entertaining character dynamic without needing to lean so heavily into it. What started as a refreshing story about a man trying to survive through careful planning gradually began to feel like another "all in the name of love" story.

I also missed the goofy Chang Shou once the plot became more serious. As the stakes increased, he became increasingly serious and emotional, and that shift made him feel strangely distant. I think the drama could have preserved more of his original personality even during the heavier moments. He could still mourn, struggle, and take things seriously while handling the situation with the same goofy and ridiculous persona we saw earlier. In fact, I think that contrast would have made the emotional scenes even more effective.

The character I actually wanted to see more of was Zhao Gong Min, played by He Wen Jun. This man had one of the funniest comedy styles in the entire drama. His completely straight face while doing the most absurd things was hilarious. There was something about the sheer seriousness with which he approached ridiculous situations that landed much better for me than some of the more exaggerated comedy. Unfortunately, he did not appear nearly enough. Every time he showed up, I found myself wishing the drama would give him more to do.

As a Xianxia comedy, Pull Strings does at least have a proper story. There is a journey, there are conflicts, there are schemes, and there is a larger narrative moving forward. The plot was actually quite interesting in the beginning, and I liked how clear the direction felt. However, somewhere around the second half, the drama started losing me. There were simply too many things happening at once, and the increasing absurdity began competing with the actual story for my attention. It started feeling as though more effort was being put into making things funny than into keeping the narrative focused.

That eventually left me feeling bored, distracted, and detached. The story itself was still there, but there was so much noise surrounding it that I found it increasingly difficult to stay invested. The sudden increase in romantic elements did not help either. What initially felt like a clever and entertaining cultivation comedy gradually became a little too busy for its own good.

Visually, however, the drama is quite pleasant. The scenery is beautiful, and whatever combination of green screen, animation, and 3D rendering they used generally worked well. The environments looked convincing enough and the overall visual quality was good. The weaker point was some of the larger creatures and monsters. Those gigantic sea creatures on the beach, for example, looked noticeably more artificial. It was not exactly disappointing because this is a comedy drama and I was not expecting visual effects on the level of a big-budget fantasy film, but there is certainly room for improvement.

I also liked the costumes. The different characters have distinct colors and styles that reflect their personalities and affiliations, which makes them easier to remember. The OST and background music were similarly fitting. Nothing particularly blew me away, but the music complemented the overall mood of the drama well.

The ending, on the other hand, was a different story. There was simply a lot happening, and the delivery felt rather chaotic. Even having watched several Xianxia dramas, there were still parts of the ending that left me confused. For someone completely new to the genre, I imagine it could be even harder to follow. The ending also clearly leaves the door open for a second season, but rather than making me excited for what comes next, it mostly left me thinking, "Well, that happened."

Overall, Pull Strings was a casual watch for me. I went in with practically zero expectations and ended up with exactly the kind of unserious, goofy Xianxia comedy I was told it would be. I personally prefer darker and more subtle comedy, so the slapstick humor did not always land. To me, the drama was less laugh-out-loud funny and more absurd, silly, and chaotic in an entertaining way. If you want something light, goofy, absurd, and occasionally clever to take your mind off things, Pull Strings can do the job. It is not a drama I would call memorable, but it was certainly a decent way to lighten the mood.

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Simple yet captivating drama

If you want to watch something while eating, doing homework, or just playing it in the background, I would recommend this drama! Its such a simple drama that has some intense parts that are pretty violent, but overall has an atmosphere of a nice drama you could rewatch for fun. I do think its funny how the ML is in a gang, but acts so innocent and puppy-like. It did kind of threw me off of his character because he doesn’t seem the type to be in a gang, but some scenes with that serious face he has, WOAH. The FL is 100% perfect for this drama. Her acting id amazing and I think I couldn’t have thought of another actor for it. The drama cinematics is beautiful, but obviously the locations are very similar to a lot of other dramas and while watching it, I couldn’t help but think of Love Next Door. The plot was kind of new with the memory loss and kidnapping in order to protect was kinda creative..? (not rlly). Overall I would reccomend to watch it!

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Balanced and Splendid

Hands down maybe my 2026 drama of the year and before that I had The First Jasmine and Pursuit of Jade but this one takes the cake because I really liked the female lead here more than the other two.

Story is simple, but it flows, it was rushed at the end but not a bad rush to conclude things. There was some unbelievable moments but not major plot holes. Balanced all the way through with it falling off a tiny bit. The female lead was the strongest before the time skip and her development was amazing. The male lead and the brotherhood shown in the first half was enticing.

I liked both but female lead carried the first half so a lot of viewers like me were connected to the female leads development more than the male lead and the brotherhood.

Story falls off a bit in the latter half after the time skip but I understand why they went here. Female lead had less impact and less development so that annoyed me. The male lead shifting was annoying like it felt like they wanted to go into a direction that they knew would be risky but then pulled the trigger back but that back and forth was a problem. I think you either go all the way in one direction or the other direction but once it gets stuck in the middle and becomes a tug-o-war situation you really need to figure out how to balance it better.

The brotherhood is gone too in the latter like I wanted to see more of that than the political drama.

That's the only things I'll say but I enjoyed it because the female lead carried the second half too while I started disliking the male lead.

Music is not the best, 2026 goes to The First Jasmine because I love 3 of their OST but I also like 3 songs here but they're not like put it on your day to day song list. There's one song I liked that is on my list but 2 are more like they fit well with the series so the music choices are on point but not as good as The First Jasmine.

Now I will say this series has a huge focus on females so if you don't like watching a series which basically says "a man should listen to their woman" then avoid it.

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