Costume cdramas worth giving a try

drama, suspence

• The pacing between arcs was okay
• OSTs were also quite good
• Not much unnecessary fillers
•  the FL and ML remained calculating and strategic till the end
• FL and ML's relationship were so healthy, I wished that was my relationship
• xiaolin's smile 10/10

don't remember if it has any comedy??

• FL remained strong-willed till the end
• The redemption story didn't begin immediately, I think it was around ep 3 or halfway from ep 2
• The romance between FL and ML was quite bland, didn't feel the chemistry between them (but then again I don't think this drama was supposed to focus on that so okay)

this is a light watch, there are not many SIGNIFICANT ups and downs, you don't really have to focus on it all the time as I'd say like 30% of the plot are fillers. Quite okay if you want to watch it just for fun

drama, investigative type thing, a few comedy here and there

• THE OSTS ARE BANGERS (fr I'm not even kidding)
• THE VFXS ARE BANGERS (fr I'm also NOT even kidding cause the vfx are in sync with the characters ykwim??)
• you can really see that the production team put in a lot of effort in making this drama because almost everything feels magical
• the focus was about bromance, friendship (kind of??????), and getting out of misery
• every character played their part well, like 
• the flow of the drama is clear, the introduction and ending of every arc were well-defined
• start was all fun and games until ep 16 (between 16-18 I don't remember) then just breakdowns and betrayals
• not really a predictable storyline, so it wasn't  boring 

CONS

• it felt like the FL didn't have any significant powers (FOR ME) 
• don't expect much romance from the ML and FL (weren't the focus of the drama)

transmigration, COMEDY, investigative, strong-willed and righteous ML

• easy-to-mid watch (more on the easy part)
• loved the comedy, it wasn't depressing
• the ML portrays justice well, even when the emperor was trying to subdue ML's acts, he still found a way to deliver justice to the wronged people
• ML has a funny family
• ML doesn't immediately forget where he came from (he delivered poems from the real world lol yall have to watch to understand)
  • ok this part is especially important for me for transmigration dramas, cause in some dramas, the FL/ML only realised they travelled to another universe for like 1 or 2 eps then BAM no more mention of their real world which for me is quite ehh not realistic
• supportive community surrounding the ML
• plot was not really heavy, you can multitask while watching this drama

CONS

• there's a second season.... the drama is not finished yet.....

anyways Wang Hedi really portrayed Xu Qian well, it's like he's born for this character