This review may contain spoilers
Note: My suspicion on why this drama is underrated because there are sooo many time-travel dramas out there that maybe better so viewers are overwhelmed thus skip this sweet romcom. Moreover, people may leave bad ratings not because of the content but because they cannot find the subtitle. But I found this little gem by accident (it has never been in my PTW list) and it caught my interest to watch it right away, though I have another time travel Cdrama in my CWL. FYI, if you read this review in the month of October, the episode on the Ghost Market can be a great idea for your Halloween party! Pretty creepy and gory.
I binge watched and completed it in a day, the story is simple and straightforward yet it allured me to watch more until it ends. So easy to watch: 12 episodes short for a typical Cdrama, no cringy scenes, no need of a box of tissue, only one villain with one goal to overtake the power, no love triangle, no Second Lead Syndrome, no jealousy, no bitches or jerks, no deaths of good characters, no twists on the plot. Sounds boring? Read more...
Actress Yang An Qi played her first main role as the kind, calm, smart, and graceful resident physician Ji Xian Yun who was transported into the past China as the ancient Ji Xian Yun who committed suicide. Using her intelligence, our girl's sole purpose is to return to her real world that include: finding an item connected to the time travel and getting out of the arranged marriage with the handsome but sick and bedridden Qi Ling Xiao. He is the favorite son of the current Emperor, played quite well by actor student Sheng Ying Hao despite this is his first role. Adding to Xian Yun's goal is the arising issues in adjusting to the ancient personal and professional life, the danger of being the wife of a political figure, and the professional duty to care and cure of a patient none other than her husband. Her mind is so occupied with all these things that she does not realize that her husband already falls for her at the first slice (of knife aka scalpel). Clearly our heroine does not listen to gossips around the household that even outsiders but her know about her husband's feelings. So how do they finally get together then? None other than thru subtle attention and gesture, and care given to each other along the poison and recuperation, attempted murders, enemy's traps and political schemes. You will not see forced kiss, stalking, marriage consummation, or any rough dealings, just sweet and gentle chemistry between the leads. Although I should add that the outdoor kissing scene may be too hot for the ancient public to see (and not a stiff cardboard kiss either)
Adding to the praises are the well-done cinematography as seen by dramatic camera angles and panning, dramatic effect, adequate CGI, setting color and ambiance choice, costume selection (I swear I saw many times the main couple wear the same/similar color matching costume other than their wedding outfits). Not too bad for a low budget drama. The OST songs are also sweet and melodious.
Finally, I applaud Lan Lan who subbed this simple but lovely drama meticulously and informed us viewers who are not familiar with the Chinese language and culture, as she explained some words and phrases that are from the era. As a viewer I was educated thus was able to understand and appreciate the beauty of this story.
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It's a short web drama, so there isn't a lot of plot thickening which might be one of the reasons why I loved this one. I hate extreme and complex historical court politics. I just care about the OTP. The show gets to the point and focuses mostly on the main couple. There are cute and romantic moments, a great OST, pretty cast, nice wardrobe and scenery- what's not to like. Only thing is, acting is a little meh at time, but I'm understanding about it, the main cast are all new.
I think this drama deserves a higher rating, an 8 at the very least. I don't think it's subbed yet, but hopefully it does soon and all ya'll people who didn't master Chinese yet can enjoy it too.
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This review may contain spoilers
Only one true kiss but it was a good one!
I am surprised by the low number of watchers but now that Viki has picked up all 3 seasons and provided english subs for them, I hope that the viewership will increase. I have only seen season 1 (first 12 episodes), and I really enjoyed watching it.It is a web drama so it is low-budget, and the costumes and settings are not the best quality. However, it is short, simple and light-hearted. For those reasons, I recommend it for an easy bingeable watch. Even though the plot is nothing new with its time travel element, the story flowed well and the pace was good. There's no melodrama and even though there were palace politics, the plot was easy to understand and to follow. Being a short drama, there were moments when the writers quickly skimmed over certain scenes and not providing reasons to justify certain actions but I had expected that so I was not disappointed.
There were no superfluous characters; each one had a purpose and fitted into the story well. There were no stand out actors with the main characters being newbies but I would say that they did a good job on the whole with room for improvement.
If nothing else, the romance between the ML and FL was really sweet and they had great chemistry. I liked how their relationship progressed naturally and even though there was only one true kiss, the two leads really delivered. Definitely no stiff quick peck there! They really did make an adorable couple with both of them always wanting to take care of each other. For example, Xian Yun refusing to kill Prince Ming to save herself from dying from poison, or when Prince Ming risking his life to save her even though it meant that he would likely die. They were both so sincere and trusting of each other.
Yang An Qi did well portraying Ji Xian Yun and I quite like the FL. She was strong, practical, adaptable and flexible. In the first part of the show, she was so focused on getting back to her time, that she barely registered the ML's fine looks and how he was truly a good catch. On the other hand, Prince Ming showed interest in her almost immediately and it was cute to see him trying to keep her by his side and watching over her. Sheng Ying Hao certainly has the physique and handsome face to play the dashing Prince Ming. I first noticed him as Pei Heng in The Romance of Tiger and Rose and thought that his acting has improved in that show.
Overall, if you are looking for in-depth character development, quality production and a well-executed story from start to end, this is not the show for you. If you want a quick, very light and funny drama that you can easily finish in a day, then do watch this. Knowing that there is a second season already available made the abrupt ending more acceptable to me. Although I am not sure if I want to watch the next season since I saw that they changed the actress for the female lead character. I may prefer to stick to just watching the first season and keep this show as a sweet and fun memory.
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Plot : the whole 'pregnant male' idea confused me but it was resolved quite quickly due to our female lead being a doctor from the modern times, this lead into our male lead falling in love for her, no matter what she does he doesn't fall out of his feelings for her. Later on in the show a lot of political issues arise, making it harder for the female and male leads to get closer. Their romance is quite slow but its so worth watching because as soon as their romantic relationship arises she show becomes so damn cute.
Cast: all of the cast members are amateurs, our male lead is currently studying in university (this is this first project, I cant wait to see more of his work in the future)and our female lead has only played as a few minor characters from shows (this is her first main role), knowing this I didn't expect much from their acting but to be honest they weren't half bad! their chemistry was genuinely so cute so I have to congratulate them for this! even the other minor character in the show were played quite well.
Music: decent, there wasn't any song that stuck into my head after hearing it though but the music did help build up the important parts.
overall I think that this is a cute little show to watch, currently Lan Lan is the only one who has subbed it so if you're wanting to watch it with English subs request to join her 'invite only-PAL' group.
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The Story:
The storyline is nothing new or outstanding. It's the typical time travel theme which was okay. I expected that. The villains story is boring and not really worth mentioning. You wouldn't miss much by skipping half of it. You'll soon realise that almost everything in this drama is solved by the uncredited lead character: poison.
It's hard to put much background in a drama with 12 episodes so I think they did okay.
It keeps you interested enough which in my case was mostly because of the romance between the main leads.
Acting/Cast:
I liked the cast, specially the main leads and side characters Xi Feng, Mu Han and Qing Cheng. The acting was good and I think the main leads made a nice couple here.
Music:
I like the title song but that's it. The rest is fitting to the drama but didn't get stuck in my head like some really good OST did. Still I favour music that disappears in the background over unfitting and distracting music anytime.
Rewatch Value:
Close to none. I won't say what the end was like to avoid spoilers for those who want to watch this drama but I didn't like it. In fact I was rendered speechless at the end cause I wasn't sure if I could even consider this an end. It wasn't satisfying for my likings and felt too abrupt. If you want to know feel free to send me a direct message or ask in the comments and I'll answer with a spoiler.
Overall:
5.0 Yes, this looks harsh but I didn't enjoy this much. There was just nothing special about it. Even though I liked a few of the characters I mostly was fighting the urge to skip huge amounts of the episodes. The drama was mostly boring and repeating itself. The end is....well....I wished for something that felt more like an end instead of something like a preview to a second season. Some might find it satisfying, but I didn't like it.
I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a lighthearted, short time-filler in between other dramas. It's okay for a single watch. This drama reminded me of "I'm a Pet at Dali Temple" so if you have watched and liked it, you might also like this drama.
My thanks to Lan Lan for subbing this. Without her, I wouldn't have been able to watch it at all.
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The opening theme in the first episode of Season 1 was lovely and that set my expectations.
Which was not met.
The acting in this episode was unremarkable. After a quick research and I found that the actors were new to the field, it explained why the acting felt so fake. Because each episode was about 30 minutes long, I decided to give it another chance. After all, this spawned two more seasons. There must be redeeming about the show.
After I lowered my expectation, I found the show simple and pleasant enough to while away a long boring day with a lot of fast-forwarding. (I watched 12 episodes in 2.5 hours)
No regrets about finished the series, but it’s a NOT REWATCHABLE for me. I wonder if it’s worth my time fast-watching the other two seasons……
The Story:
The storyline is commonplace and typical of the time travel genre.
Moonchild (https://mydramalist.com/profile/Yin-Taiyo) summarized this well in their review : https://mydramalist.com/profile/Yin-Taiyo
Acting/Cast:
Mostly fresh young talents. Most had stiff acting; it felt like they were reading from memory rather than acting. The leads Yang An Qi and Sheng Ying Hao had some emotion in their performances, especially in couple scenes. The support actor Gao Han had a pleasant and clear voice.
Characters, both good and bad were 2-D. Simple to like and dislike.
Music:
Opening theme song was good, the rest was forgettable.
Rewatch Value:
None
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Insipido
La storia è trita e ritrita, senza alcun volo di fantasia. La totale assenza di pathos, suspense e di colpi di scena e un finale aperto e poco chiaro non aiutano, ma ci sono le stagioni successive.La produzione è a basso costo, per cui non ci sono grandi ambientazioni e/o costumi. La musica è dignitosa, ma poco di più. Il cast è ristretto e non particolarmente abile nel rappresentare emozioni. L'unica che si salva è la protagonista, che almeno mette un po' di brio nel suo personaggio. Gli altri o sono piatti come un'asse da stiro o vagamente caricaturali, con la lodevole eccezione del principe obeso al quale hanno affidato la parte pseudo comica dell'arrapato viscido e affamato perenne, solo per poi sbatterci in faccia che in realtà è un povero di spirito mal cresciuto dalla madre. Se la parte la davano a una persona più in linea era meglio. Questo body shaming è nauseante.
A parte ciò, il protagonista l'ho già visto come spalla nel Romanticismo di Tiger & Rose, e già allora non mi era piaciuto affatto. Ha un bel visino da bambolotto e delle misure da gigante, ma in quanto a recitazione non ci siamo proprio: melenso e fisso, quando non è fisso e melenso.
Insomma, ho finito la stagione per forza d'inerzia ma a questo punto prima di iniziare la prossima ci penso bene: sono sicura che in giro c'è di meglio.
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