Reviews

Soapy!!!

This show is like Young and Restless meets Bold and Beautiful - Chinese version. This is a soap Opera !!! Que the dramatic songs 😩 If you are looking for poj or similar, this ain’t it. This show is packed with lots of twist and turns and most of all DRAMA!!!! If you are not into messy situations and drama, then don’t watch this . Now for those of you who like a drama with lots of tea 🍵, sit back and enjoy!

First let me say, the acting is great. I definitely can not stand Ren Susu. For an actor/actress to invoke an emotion from you like a a strong like or hate, then they are the character they have become. So let’s get into the spoilers!!

REN Susu dated Qingyi back in the days and she ends up getting shot and is presumed “dead”. Qingyi hasn’t let go of his first love who is Susu. Fast forward 3 years later, his brother is getting married and so is he. But guess who his brother is marrying, REN FREAKING Susu, his dead lover. 😱 yes and from there it’s been nothing but drama and more drama. Now I have to give it to qingyi, because it could not have been me. At the engagement ceremony, everyone would have to know about my past with her especially my brother. He would have known that night. Cause what you mean , you marrying my brother?!!🤨 clearly he is still hung up on her and this carries on throughout the show. The moment we think they may get together , then boom she got other plans that don’t include qingyi . Like girl , why are you still around??! Yall it’s a lot of unnecessary necessary drama that keeps you frustrated and delusional and other emotions I can’t quite think of now. Please don’t have any expectations of having sensible reasons of why this or that happens because again this is soap opera drama. Nothing need to be understood except MORE DRAMA🫩 This is their recipe and I’m here for it. Now what I can say is that I felt like they should of at least draw us into the backstory of ren susu and qingyi before they hit us with the return of dead susu . That way we would of been fond of their relationship and hoping for them to get together. Right now, I wish she would disappear and I can’t stand how so devoted qingyi is to her and he neglect his own feelings and life for her. While she disregards his without batting an eye 🙄 Like if I could snatch her a** up in the tv, I would of done it since 1st episode. Now mind you mid-way, qingyi and susu , end up going to one of their special place that only the two of them know about, and this is after she is being chased and wanted. They end up spending the night together and get this, she gets pregnant. Mind you, she don’t know it yet but she still insists on marrying his brother😩 after smashing😩
I can’t spoil too much, because then there would be no point in watching the show. His older brother , is one of the only one out of the family that is redeemable and the other brother who was accidentally switched with qingyi. His mom and sister, can kick rocks.
So to sum it up, if you like soap opera and drama filled episodes, then join the clan. It’s a nice change of pace . Think of it as a palate cleanser after eating good sushi. This show is suppose to keep you on your toes with lots of angst and frustration. If that was their angle, then baby they delivered🤌. If I’m grading it on that level, the show is 9/10. It’s better production than days of our lives. But overall I’ll give it a 8. Yall lost that point because of Susu. I want to smack the 💩 out of her. Hope this help some of you Zhang Linghe fans understand the assignment in this show and see his performance differently here. You can tell that he has come a long way from his previous performances. He captures Qingyi character beautifully in this drama. And Wang Churan as Susu is such a great actress. I think she is starting to become my favorite. I can’t wait to see more of her work.

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Worth Watching

I’m currently on Episode 22, and I have no plans to drop this drama. It started off at a steady pace, but the story becomes much more engaging as it progresses. Each episode leaves me wanting to watch the next one.

The cast has done a great job bringing their characters to life. Zhang Linghe delivers a convincing performance, showing a good range of emotions and making his character feel authentic. The chemistry between the leads is natural, and the emotional scenes are especially well executed.

The production quality is solid, with beautiful cinematography, fitting music, and smooth pacing in the later episodes. While the first few episodes require a little patience, the payoff is definitely worth it.

Although I haven’t finished the drama yet, Episode 22 has completely pulled me in. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story unfolds, and I hope it maintains this quality until the end.

Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys character-driven stories with strong emotional development.

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Endearing

When Oranges Fall is a hearty high school set in the early 2000s with a group of teenage boys being teenage boys, and, without any type of harassment or homophobia; gay. This is an extremely endearing series. The friend group, the romance, the coming-age-vibes, it's a definite watch for anyone in the mood for a lighthearted, first love kind of BL.

Let's Dive In.

Almond and Progress are adorable. I never watched their series they were in beforehand, but they are about as cute as cute can get. Their chemistry isn't anything explosive just yet, but that's something that naturally develops with experience and time. Progress, in particular, was phenomenal. Almond was a bit stiff in some scenes early on, but he noticeably settled into the role as the series progressed, and by the end he felt much more comfortable on screen. KenPaul. KENPAUL. While I wasn't quite as captivated by their dynamic here as I was in Boys in Love, this series completely convinced me that they have what it takes to lead a series.

Justin and Keaton also delivered solid performances. It's genuinely a shame what happened behind the scenes because I thought Justin had so much potential to grow into a really well-liked actor. August ended up being one of my favorite characters, only for his scenes in the end to be cut short because of the actor's off-screen actions. I hope he takes this as an opportunity to learn and grow, and that, if acting is still what he wants to pursue, he's able to continue developing both personally and professionally.

Ratings:

Story: 7.5/10 - Cute! Definitely cozy in a coming-of-age kind of way. Some episode are a bit duller than others, and some better than the norm.

Acting: 8/10 - As young as they are, they all can improve on their performances, but seeing as they're young and on the come-up, they have plenty of time to grow. A stand out was Progress. The most work that needs to be done is Almond and Keaton not to far behind.

Music: 7/10 - OST was cute!

Recommendation Value: 7.5/10 - Maybe watch? If you're in the mood for some truly lighthearted cuteness, go for it.

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Bark bark

I don't even know where to start; this is truly one of the best series of the year. I had been suffering from major BL burnout. I’d watched so many, and I admit most were actually bad and I only kept watching out of curiosity but surprisingly, this BL, with its great comic relief and Tay's excellent acting, really won me over. You know that feeling when you watch something with a huge smile on your face? That’s how I felt throughout the episodes. Everyone’s acting was really good. While GMM could have improved the production value and perhaps extended the story a bit, I think I’ll rewatch it a few times because, overall, it was really good.

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The Drama you will want to have 40 eps!

Story Wise: It's too short for me that I wanted more, I wanted to have this an extension, and expansion of character's POVs and dialogues, more casts, more sense of depth in the case and to the face swapping of the 3 characters, like IT IS MINDBLOWING that I want it to have more than just 18 eps😭😔💜

Cast Wise: I can't believe CL here, the versatility he really has since he started is really consistent, the quality of his acting here is the quality of his acting in his latest projects with that consistency, you'll really feel he love his job and knows how to ACT. Same with Ying Ke, watched her several projects made me realize she really can do the charcter she portrays very well!!!! Both of them have an aura that can bear the role of Pro and Antagonistic Characters, they really delivered this pairing😭🎀💅

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Beautiful and Well Executed

Hioki joins a new class that has none of his friends, he gets invited by the Elite Four to join their school trip. One of them always seems to be there for Hioki.

What I Like
Its a well done feel good series. I love high school bls and this one was amazing. They’re so so cute and it was super realistic at points, especially the dialogue and Hioki’s social anxiety was relatable. The cinematography is also really good, it’s very colourful and the lighting is actually interesting. (not netflix gray)

What I Didn’t Like
It doesn’t bring anything new to the table and it has a lot of clichés, not unique but still very well done. The worst part for me is that Hioki’s friends barely appear in the show and are only used for plot devices. He has a female friend which I wanted more of every single episode but she’s only used for jealousy plotlines.

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head-shaking, flabbergasting nonsense.

where do i even start with this? i knew i was going to draft a review about this show the moment i finished the first episode. i waited for this title like i did with payback & prosecutor's proposal to complete. longed for it just like the other two. what a catastrophic disappointment. i need to ignore this community completely and just look for BL to watch based entirely on my own preferences. you people are less reliable than trying sneak around quickly in the dark.

i noticed with chinese BL there are a myriad of issues that make it impossible for me to get through the first episode. the former is why i dropped revenged love and double helix. i CANNOT do the overbearing actions / behaviors that are over-exaggerated. they make me cringe so badly. then i have to deal with the production problem i have noted with capturing the verbal dialogue. why does it sound like dubbing or voice overs in chinese BL ?! every single one of them i started has this problem. is it a microphone industry / quality thing? it ALWAYS sounds unnatural meaning full viewer immersion is not possible, for me. sometimes you can even see that dialogue was dubbed over [apart from horrible singing]. i was able to get through the first episode of this one by a miracle. long story short, deep in had this cringe BS in the first episode AND throughout the show - wtf. example, zhang zhun sliding across the car to save zhen xin from goddamn PVC at a less than one meter drop. be serious.

can someone point me to where i can find what the vision of this drama was? the story just starts immediately without fleshing out anything at all. fine. that could be fine if there were not other observable issues. however, the story of fang chi & gao zhun had three times more substance than the characters "playing" them. WTF? was this deliberate? is it because of the plot-twist at the end? i do not understand why these generic ass cheating scumbags were the main leads. why couldn't we just have the story of fang & gao?

oh yeah, speaking of the cheating, why? why was it necessary? the two had enough plot devices with the antiquated views, personal responsibility, and dealing with society. why did they have to cheat on innocent people? who got dragged by consumers, might i add [for once, i watched the comments while watching]. i am glad xin lost millions to that girl boss and more from the whole ordeal considering nothing of his relationship made sense nor was it healthy ! like, can anyone tell me how in the f these two scraps of tofu managed to FALL IN LOVE? what the actual f happened in their plotline for them to fall for each other except engage physically as actors??? man forget the love. let me bring up the proposal. HUH? it came out of nowhere. why was there any talk of proposing when those two did not even spend more than two weeks living in the same space let alone communicate efficiently?????? their communication was so trash, how could they possibly marry one another?

can we talk about the sensationalizing and downplaying of sexual assault in BL? i will. first off, since i read the comments, i had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing some people downplay cheating, excuse xin's assault of zhun when he was drunk, AND criticize the female victims who were cheated on [by calling them b'tches and other derogatory terms]. zhen raped zhang, FULL STOP. he did not deserve him even though they both were basura. one tell that it was rape was that zhen never told zhang about it and tried to minimize the occurrence by saying that they now loved each other, when zhang found out on his own. apart from the former, all of the SA in this damn work was just disturbing as hell. i could excuse it for the plot if the production and acting were perfect but lol with that.

the whole thing with the "real" characters fang chi & gao zhun was absolutely disgusting. it was obvious the lines would end up blurred between the doctor and the patient for the plot. however, the lines completely disappeared when simulating the rape. the doctor's methods were triggering and so deeply unethical. then, the existence of multiple sexual predators around gao zhun was just skin-crawling and vomit-inducing. there was just predation everywhere, on and off set !

lastly, the intimacy.. girl. the intimacy was a disaster. ollie has a lot of acting potential but his and shuyuan's kissing + erotica were travesties on us all. the kissing made me upset and look away every time EXCEPT the final kisses on stage. it was so dry and void of any feeling. ollie kept his eyes partially open for basically every kiss but also the pacing of the kisses were too fast. is this a production preference? no way, not when feng qing lang & xu chang yang [thailand based but chinese characters] exist. the freaking aggressive humping looked so disingenuous and obviously false that i could not watch those scenes either. what was left for me to consume? shuyuan's acting was okay, for it being his first drama.

the compliments i can give are to the fairly consistent cinematography and the risque of the intimacy that was taken for this drama. the way fang chi & gao zhun were filmed was quite beautiful, at times. the transitions to the film were not always obvious and that seemed cool, for me. there also seemed to be foreshadowing and unspoken comparisons that could be missed, if the viewer was not paying attention. when it comes to the sexual scenes, had ollie & shuyuan connected with more intention and less aggression - i would have rated this an eight despite all the other issues.

regardless, this show has me so heated i typed eight paragraphs. the most entertaining part of this show was reading the goddamn comments. some of the comments had me in stitches. man, even the makeup was sometimes straight suspect; too light, cakey, drier than popeyes biscuits. i mean, is this what we are doing? this BL is so damn popular and for what? remember how i put some things in quotes? yeah, the characters acting as characters in the fiction were the actual fiction and the characters were the real NPCs. boy bye.

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A heavily toxic dark romance

The best way to experience this drama is to read the book alongside watching the episodes. The source material is only 243 pages, and most of the important context is in the first half of the book, which helps fill in the narrative gaps left behind by the live-action adaptation.

Overall, the show is a solid 8/10 if you factor in the novel, but a 7/10 as a standalone.

The book details the slow-burn tension between Sun and Rafah much better, but the live-action still tries to convey a "right person, wrong time" dynamic through flashbacks. These flashbacks reveal their mutual attraction and an unspoken, quiet longing that lasted for over seven years leading up to the present. On screen, Rafah's actions can seem controlling and out of the blue. However, her possessiveness and gradual obsession have always been core parts of her character. The root cause is her inability to act on her true feelings for so long, which eventually aggravates them into the outbursts we see on screen. Her obsession lessens once they get together showing some positive character growth but possessiveness is ultimately part of her essence.

As for the controversial scene, it is crucial to read the source material. The book includes deep internal monologues detailing Sun's coping mechanisms and Rafah's psychological breakdown. Unfortunately, the screen adaptation skips this nuance and falls into old-school drama tropes, making the scene feel purely aggressive and reducing Rafah to a controlling antagonist.

On a positive note, the show does a great job showcasing the deep friendship between Sun and Fey, with Fey acting as Sun's biggest advocate for happiness and not being afraid to step up to her sister about her actions hurting sun. It was also refreshing to see Fey and Peach's relationship blossom as an enemies-to-lovers romance, providing a nice contrast to the dark tones of the main couple.

Ultimately, Rafah is the perfect toxic "red flag" character that you still try to convince everyone is green. She is exclusively possessive of Sun and no one else the literal personification of the "I will burn the world to save you, but also ensure you only have me" trope. With added television subplots that keep the pacing fresh, My Only Sunshine is a unique, high drama addition to any GL watch list.

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The Price of Absolutes

"In this world some are obsessed with justice and evil, some with life and death, some with right and wrong, some with love and hatred."
That single quote captures the entire philosophy of The Journey of Flower.

At its heart, this is not simply a romance, nor is it a story about forbidden love. It is a tragedy about what happens when people become prisoners of a single idea. The drama repeatedly shows that the opposites we create, good and evil, love and hatred, right and wrong, immortals and demons, are far less absolute than people believe.

The Philosophy

The story argues that justice, love, duty, and righteousness are not the problem. They are all noble values. The tragedy begins when any one of them becomes so absolute that it blinds people to compassion, wisdom, and understanding.
The immortal sects call themselves righteous, yet often commit acts of cruelty. Meanwhile, characters labelled as demons repeatedly display loyalty, kindness, and self-sacrifice. The drama constantly asks:
If someone commits cruelty in the name of justice, are they truly righteous?
If someone called a demon acts with compassion, are they truly evil?
Its answer is clear: labels are unreliable. Character is revealed through choices, not titles.

The Characters

Every major character becomes consumed by something different.
Bai Zihua by duty.
Hua Qiangu by love.
Mo Yan by justice and reputation.
Sha Qianmo by love and loyalty.
Dongfang Yuqing by revenge.
None of them is entirely right or entirely wrong. Their downfall is not what they value, but their inability to let go when those values become absolute.
Love without wisdom becomes attachment.
Duty without compassion becomes cruelty.
Justice without understanding becomes prejudice.
This is what makes the tragedy so devastating.

One of the drama's most interesting aspects is that Hua Qiangu almost functions as a mirror. She does not create the virtues or flaws in those around her, she reveals them. Around her, compassion grows stronger, fear turns into paranoia, and attachment becomes self-destruction. Hua Qiangu becomes the catalyst through which everyone else's absolute beliefs, fears, and attachments are exposed. In that sense, many characters blame her for tragedies that ultimately grow out of their own choices and unresolved conflicts.

Storytelling

The plot develops organically. Early events and prophecies gain meaning much later, major twists arise naturally from character decisions, and every arc builds upon the previous one. The story evolves constantly, from disciple and master, to sect conflicts, the Savage Wasteland, and finally the Demon Deity arc, without ever feeling repetitive.
Most importantly, every emotional turning point feels earned.

Final Thoughts

The Journey of Flower is not merely a fantasy romance. It is a philosophical tragedy about compassion, responsibility, and the danger of turning any noble value into an absolute.
Its greatest lesson is perhaps this:
The greatest tragedies do not arise from love, duty, justice, or hatred themselves, but from clinging to any one of them so absolutely that compassion, wisdom, and truth are lost.

I stumbled upon The Journey of Flower by chance and couldn't stop watching. More than a decade after its release, I found it to be one of the most philosophically rich xianxia dramas I've seen. It genuinely surprised me that, even in 2026, a drama made in 2015 offers stronger storytelling than many recent productions. It proves that memorable dramas are built not on visual spectacle alone, but on compelling characters and meaningful themes.

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COMPARISON TO THE MANHWA.

First things first it was a good watch if you come in blind without reading the manhwa,and comparing it to the manhwa definitely there would be some disappointments due to certain story deviations,but they did try their best.Atleast they maintained the integrity of the main leads storyline,as for the people around i could not understand some of the changes.Sunny's character wasn't as malicious as the manhwa,yes he stole and had Sun's brother stabbed,but other than being with the sponsor and pimping out his colleagues.They never showed his inferiority complex and how he really was scared of Sun.The change in the photographer's storyline was kinda odd because in the manhwa he really had the hots for Sun and never got to take the nudes,so his subtle interest in Sky had us viewers wondering if there might be something.They didn't do justice to the character of Jay's uncle,he was still quirky but never got to really show his serious side.The culmination towards Jay's revenge was somewhat anticlimactic....all in all,they did try.Its always tricky watching a live adaptation of a manga/manhwa or anime because your mind already has a preconceived notion of how a story unfolds.

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