Comical detective combi duo (trio?) who will brighten your day

"My Roommate is a Detective" is a light-hearted and quick-pacing detective drama with great main lead chemistry. For me, it was the perfect drama to watch in this slight depression period.

What this drama has done very well:

♡ Excellent character design and acting:
Unlike many other detective dramas, the detective (aka Sherlock) in this drama is not this far than perfect. Lu Yao is socially awkward, cares only about himself, and has only eyes for money or food. And did I forget to mention that he is also a coward? But to complement his characteristical flaws, LY has an eye for details and is extremely intelligent. At the start, he sorely started cooperating with Qian Chu Sheng, the police officer, for money and self-satisfaction. However, LY realizes later that his work reveals the truth and provides justice to victims. That is when he starts to care for the people around him genuinely. LY develops a more mature personality and realizes that the purpose of his existence is no longer to only care about himself but also to fight for those he loves. What this drama has done very well is to focus on the dorky and shallow side of his character at first and slowly reveals the depth. LY gives me a feeling of finding him cute and funny at the start but later on liking him more after "knowing him better".
Many netizens say that Hu Yi Tian has had a breakthrough with acting as LY. I agree. I have only seen HYT playing Hua Wu Que in Handsome Siblings (2020). At that time, his acting skills did not impress me and I, in particular, did not get attached to him. But this time, HYT was able to become one with LY and expressed all the flaws and strengths of this character and their attached emotions exceptionally well. What also impressed me was that HYT's own personality is nothing like that of LY. I am looking forward to seeing more of HYT's future work.

But the drama's real highlight for me is the performance of Zhang Yun Lun. Between his character Qian Chu Sheng and LY's characters, LY has the more interesting personality. QCS (aka Watson) is the cooler and sporty womanizer, who grew from an ex-gangster to a police officer. A popular type of male lead character but not new nor difficult to act. But ZYL has made this character alive. He was able to show "love", "heartbreak", "care," and "concern" so vividly with his facial expressions that he genuinely moves my heart. I am especially in awe of ZYL's beautiful smile, such as when he laughs about the stupidity of Lu Yao or when the team successfully solved a case. What makes my heart jump is that he shows his "miracle smile" rather seldom due to the more serious nature of his character. Reading the live comments of the netizens during those scenes, I clearly was not the only one.
I have never seen ZYL's work before. Later I found out that he is the more mature actor who has starred in many dramas and movies but never really made it to the top. That explains why his acting is so natural and offers magnetic attraction. When MRiaD aired its last episode, ZYL published a personal letter to QCS, beautifully describing the inner emotional world of his character. In his letter, he expresses his empathy, knowing that QCS puts on a tough and player cover, chooses to live without attachment is because QCS is afraid of making others heart-broken should they lose him. In the world in which QCS lives, tomorrow is never certain. But it is Bai You Ning and LY who came into his life that he realized that there is another way of living, that he does not need to face the world alone anymore. It is such a marvelous letter, and it truly shows how much ZYL has researched his character and understands how he feels.

What needs to be highlighted is the excellent character design of all supporting "culprits", "victims," and other "suspects". Though most characters appear in no more than 1-2 episodes, all of them have a story, and the acting was superb. I felt sorrow and sympathy after hearing their stories. MRiaD showed a world that there is no clear line between white and black, good and bad. LY and QCS never preached after solving the cases but quietly hand over the culprit to the police with expressions of compassion.

♡ Beautiful chemistry between two male leads:
Both actors have an in-depth understanding of the psychological structure of their characters, and they work marvelously as partners. Though it is not a BL drama, they have a few extremely sweet moments together. It is very clear that their relationship is not simple. QCS quickly discovered the detective talent to LY and convinced him to work for him. Despite how selfish and improper LY often acts (e.g., stealing objects from the crime site or eat at a restaurant without picking up the bill), QCS would clean after him. These scenes always trigger fans to comment frantically: Awww, QCS is spoiling his wifey again! I soon noticed that those annoying expressions of QCS slowly evolve to smiles of acceptance. And this process is so sweet to watch. Whoever watches this show would agree with me that the couple QCS x LY is one of the best couples of 2020.

♡ Quick pacing of the story: The fast forward button is my best friend when it comes to watching draggy Chinese dramas. However, when it comes to MRisD, I have not used that button once. There are over 20 cases in that total of 36 episode drama. The quick revealing of the mystery is very satisfactory. After each case, the shows quickly introduces the next victim so that netizen comment with love: welcome the next "dying person" on stage! There is a rumor that the scriptwriter might be very famous in the past but has not been writing because of some personal scandal. It is not very certain who this person is, but it could be his protest to the Chinese drama industry to stop producing lengthy and poor written dramas.
I also need to mention how happy I am that this is the first republican era drama that I know of in which Japanese is NOT the evil behind everything! I am really tired of this type of one-sided bashing towards the Japanese, and this is the main reason why I tried to avoid republican era dramas as it gives me the strong flavor of propaganda by the Chinese party.

Now a few words on what this drama could have done better:

❤︎ Lack of realism in the cases: I have to say that many cases in this drama have the flavor of Detective Conan. To create more dramatic and higher satisfaction of case solving, the writer intentionally creates highly peculiar crimes (e.g., disappearing trains, bloodsucking vampires or self-flammable man, etc.). As a result, the process of conducting the crime had to be remarkably complicated. It is difficult to imagine that it would work in reality. Also, because the stories are high-pacing, there is not enough time to leave hints to create enough audience involvement. Besides looking at supporting characters' facial expressions to guess who the culprit might be, it is nearly impossible to guess the mechanisms. At the end of the series, similar to many detective dramas, it becomes clear that all cases are linked to each other and backed by a "big boss". This process felt very forced and not at all convincing to me. Those who often watch detective dramas with more thought-through cases and proper audience involvement might be disappointed here.
Overall I was not this happy with the ending. It felt abrupt, with LY's family playing a major role in it. I am not going to spoil anyone, so I would not go to detail here, but their motivation for their actions is not logical, and it was only written this way to create the dramatic for the ending.

❤︎ Questionable female lead character design: MRiaD has three main leads: LY, QCS, and the female lead Bai You Ning, played by Xiao Yan. She is the daughter of elderly Bai, the gang leader and boss of QCS. Because of her righteous character, she does not support his dad's business and becomes an independent reporter from a small newspaper who has a strong character. She is the roommate of LY in this drama. After watching a few episodes, it becomes obvious that this character was added after the script was written. Moreover, her character seemed to have been carved out from LY. Unlike the two male leads and many supporting characters, her character lacks depth and even shows conflicting behavior. Her actions are predictable and often not necessary to the main story. Ther is a strong assumption that originally, QCS was supposed to be LY's roommate (noticed that the drama never showed where QCS lives?!), but because of some commercial or political reasons, the makers decided to add a third female main lead.
Xiao Yan didn't do a bad job playing this BYN, and though her personality was not likable at the start, it added humor to the drama. Later one she underwent a positive character development, which made her presence more pleasant. I just wished that when producers and makers who make these types of decisions that decrease the quality of drama due to some odd reasons, they shall rethink again knowing that audience are not stupid.

Because of the last two points, I rate this drama as an eight. But overall, I really enjoyed and would recommend it to anyone who loves detective, comedy, brotherhood/two male leads/BL, and republican era dramas.

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Despite obvious short-comings, it is one of my favorite C-Dramas!

Usually, I am not a fan of republican era dramas because of their propaganda message and the evil portrait of the Japanese. Still, I started this drama because of my love for Xu Kai and Bai Lu (I adored both of them in Legends.). And I am delighted that I watched it. Both actors have impressed me so much that both became my favorite Chinese actors. But besides the leads' excellent performance, this drama brought me countless positive surprises.

First what I adore about the drama:

♡ The main leads' romance (not a surprise): The love between Gu Yan Zheng and Xie Xiang/Xie Liang Chen is very precious. It started hilariously, sometimes eye-rollingly embarrassing but advanced to bitter-sweet and heart racing at the end.
In the middle, I became slightly impatient about XX's ignorance towards GYZ's pursuance but later on understood that she deliberately tried to suppress her feeling to him to stay in school. And the wait intensifies the longing they have towards each other later in the show (I was really touched by the arc of the two in Beijing around episode 40 - beautifully written!).

♡ The lead actors: Xu Kai absolutely blew my mind with his performance as Gu Yan Zheng: He is funny, arrogant, silly, goofy, childish, flirty, and an absolute show-off. It is his straightforward and pure personality that goes after what he wants that makes him extremely likable. These positive traits developed into determination, righteousness, and bravery when GYZ grew up to a soldier and man protecting the people and the country he loves. Despite portraying countless dramatic and ridiculous scenes, none of the actings felt over the top or unnatural. Through this character, Xu Kai indeed proved himself to be an actor of far-reaching talents. He really made GYZ his own.
Bai Lu: Bai Lu impressed me already in Legends as the overbearing demon queen, but in AMA, she outperforms herself even further by switching convincingly between the tomboyish girl Xie Xiang and the pretty boy soldier. Two thumbs up for the stylist who created her cute and handsome styles. Bai Lu also did a fantastic job in all her fighting and action scenes. Compared to Legends, where a lot was done using CG, these are real combat and acrobatic scenes, which certainly required a lot of practices and reshoots to make them as good-looking as they are.

♡ The second leads, supporting characters and their emotional storyline:
For AMA, if the chemistry of the main leads would not have been this good, I would have shipped the leads with the secondary ones instead. I am most impressed with Wu Jia Yi's performance as Xu Man Ting. Her personality is similar to that of GYZ and extremely fun to watch. Plus, I love her voice (is her own voice) that puts the right emphasis on the low tones. It positively adds to her excellent acting.
This drama is probably the second-best drama (after Joy of Life) I have watched, which has a fabulous team of supporting characters. Each of them has his/her unique personality, who is loveable. They remind me of the characters from Shonen Jump animes, which focus on friendship, effort, and victory. Liu Si Bo, who played Huang Song, was outstanding. His friendship with both XX and GYZ was precious and beautiful to watch. A shout out to the excellent cinematography and performance for his underground fight club arc. The character development of Li Wen Zhong, played by Liu Run Nan, also caught me by positive surprise. I did not expect that the makers will give a douchebag character like him such a great turn towards the end - that's what I would call good storytelling.

♡ The cinematography: Hui Kai Dong is the same director as Yanxing Palace, and he is known for his beautiful and high-quality shots. The team built the school campus entirely from scratch to shoot the drama. Also, the bar from Hu Xiao Yu is charmingly designed - who can copy this bar in the real world would for sure money. Most sets and action scenes are real, and even if they use CGs, they are not very obvious. Another lookout point is the action scenes. Most scenes are firmed directly with the cast themselves. You can see the makers have spent a lot of time crafting and correcting the movements for all the action scenes, whether that is a shooting, a fistfight, a sword fight or a car chase. And then there are the beautiful costumes. Oh my god, is GYZ good looking in his various types of trench coats... The dresses from Xu Man Ting also look gorgeous on her.
Last but not least, there is a great OST. I have been listening to the songs of AMA up and down. My favorite is the duet sung by the main leads themselves. Though slightly cheesy pitch, I find it just right for this drama. I wished they would have played it more often as BGM.

Now what I think the drama could have done better:

⭐︎ Unrealistic story and plot holes, esp. for the military plots: While the writer is talented with emotional storylining, she is not as skillful with military and battle storylines. I was trying to ignore those plot holes, but there are some that I could not ignore. The first real battle, there is not even one student who died or injured. If it comes to the enemy, there is no hesitance in shooting them. But when it comes to our own people, the enemy would always first catch them and then only attempt to kill them, leaving the heroes time to escape. The writing of the auction scene was also a mess; it was anti-climax, not knowing which party is involved and what they were up to. There are also a lot of random shootings on the streets, as there are no rules of laws, at which the villain would get punished and our protagonists saved at the end. And then there are typical unrealistic happenings such as all characters ended up in the same city at the same time.

⭐︎ Too many love lines: Despite my love for the emotional storylines, there are too many. Not only do we have many love triangles between the main leads, but we also have a few love lines between supporting characters and the main leads and vice versa. This got me confused sometimes. The makers also spent too much time describing the love triangle between the leads. Instead they could have used the time to grow team spirit of the student group, or spend time telling the stories of Ji Jin and Zhu Yan Lin. I would have loved to see more arcs, such as the mission to take out the drug dealers in episode 34.

⭐︎ Character development of Shen Jun Shan and Jin Xian Rong: Both actors playing SJS and JXR have performed well. Unfortunately, I wish the makers could have spent a bit more rationalizing the characters' emotional response based on proper human motivation. SJS is a strong 2nd male lead, perfect for opposing GYZ's funky personality. However, his prince-like behavior to XLC in the whole first half of the drama is totally questionable. There is no whatsoever explanation why he would behave this way at first and then later fall in love with XLC. The same goes for JXR, a villain with complicated past, feelings for SJS, and thus possessing a lot of potential for character depth. Why would she try to hide her famous identity naively believing that SJS, the son of such a renowned business family, would not find out? After the reveal, what did she do to save the relationship? Her past of being a Japanese but born and raised in China only came out from her somewhat commemoration towards her adopting family but was not used anywhere else. Just because she is Japanese by origin, does this make her a slave to the Japanese and a killer machine? Don't forget that she killed her own father, trying to protect SJS. A big lost opportunity here!

Despite the shortcomings I mentioned above, I truly love this drama. I think the more I was disappointed about specific areas, the more it shows that I really wanted this drama to do well. (I have never spent this long to write such a comprehensive review...). I am even surprised myself how much I am thinking about the characters, the scenes of the drama, days after I finished it. I would definitely go back and rewatch some episodes. All in all, I would recommend anyone watching it - the characters and the emotional plots are what make it really enjoyable.

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Good drama with a bad ending

I am normally not a fan of investigation drama, and only have watched a few medical dramas but started this drama because of Zhang Ruo Yun and the good review. However, I am left with a bit of bitter taste in my mouth. This drama has a really poor ending. But I would still recommend this drama for those liking investigation drama and the actors.

The good part: I really like the freshness of showing an investigation drama from a forensic examiner’s point of view - this helped me really to appreciate how much value this job provides to successfully solving a case. At the same, it also shows the bias and the disappreciation the general public has on this job. I very much like that each case is a small arc of 1-2 episodes, and the total episode number being only 20; much easier to watch. Each case is well crafted, containing a lot of learning on human anatomy and criminals investigations. Though there were some small illogicalities and exaggeration to create the dramatics, in general, the cases were interesting, mysterious, sometimes horrific and result not easy to predict.

The production was of high quality. I was surprised how realistic they reproduced all the operations and the dead buddies (parts), even more details to some of the medical dramas I have seen, to the degree that it is really gross in some episodes.

The plot clearly shows how the leads characters have grown together as a team. The cast chosen well - each of the leads having a distinguished character. The chemistry between the leads is amazing and the acting is outstanding. Zhang Ruo Yun and Li Xian’s acting is a no brainer but I was really impressed by Jia Jun Yan’s acting. She is probably one of the best young Chinese female actresses I have seen in drama so far in terms of acting skills. Also, the way she portraits the boyish character Li Da Bao was not at all unnatural (not like many other dramas in which a lot of the actress pretending to be “boyish” but then still ended up feminine). I would love to watch a drama in which she can play a feminine character.
I am also very satisfied with most of the supporting actors in each of the cases (maybe except for the police head), esp. the villains; some cases even displayed 3-dimensional characters which is difficult to do in only 1-2 episodes.

Now the not so great part: the execution and the plot of the ending/last case...
Normally the only problem I have with pure investigative drama is that the lead characters are normally not affected by the stories but often just a tool to showcase the cleverness of the cases. So I was happy to see that the last case affected Qin Ming personally. But it was just very badly executed... it contained way too many illogicalities and plot holes that one just cannot ignore them. Esp. it’s an investigation drama things need to be logical and the last 4 episodes just completely failed in doing that. I am not sure if the original novel has answers to all these gaps but it was the bad adaptation of because the producers want to squeeze everything in 4 episodes so leave all these out or what has happened here. For me, they needed another 2 episodes at least to fill those gaps. So unfortunately because of ending, I cannot give this drama a higher rating which is really a shame.

Here are some of the major plot holes for a laugh (not exhaustive):
1. Does the mole tooth have any meaning? If yes what is that?
2. Why would Chi Zi not want to revenge the police or the lawyer but a poor forensic examiner?
3. Who was Chi Zi’s husband and what was the story behind?
4. How come Dr. Qin never recognized Chi Zi in the Restaurant but instantly recognized her at the end?
5. How did Qing Ming’s dad die? From drug or from the fall or from both?
6. Why is the drug alone the evidence that the uncle is the murder? How did Chi Zi find this out? Was the uncle killed by Zhi Zi or Zhang Chao? Why would Zhang Chao kill for Zhi Zi and even willing to take all the blame for her?
7. How can Zhang Chao be confirmed as the killer only knowing that he has the same blood as Dr. Qin? Was it because of the glove and the scalpel? Why didn’t he destroy them?
8. Why was Dr. Qin not able to overthrow Chi Zi at the final scene? He is much stronger than her.
9. How did Lin Tao find them? He was not informed!
10. How can Ling Tao miss Chi Zi as he is professional police and she was standing back to him? Why didn’t Qin Ming break the water horse or the small lock instead with his pistole?
11. Which diamond ring is that stable that the diamond will not fall off after putting so
the force on it?
12. Why did Ling Tao let Qing Min do all the glass breaking job but was just standing there?

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Great Movie!

Two main watching points: Matsuda Shota’s acting and Yamamoto Maika’s fighting scenes

Matsuda Shota did an outstanding job in portraying the villain Tsukiyama Shu. While being able to act as a good looking gentleman he is this perverted ghoul lusting for Kaneki’s meat. The scenes in which he smelled and tastes Kaneki make the viewers crouch in disgust which clearly demonstrates his wide range of acting ability. The famous scene of Tsukiyama smelling Kaneki’s blood could have been more exaggerated I was really looking forward to it. But I do admit it is difficult...

The other watchpoint is the fighting scenes, esp. that of Maiko, who is acting Toka-chan. The moves and so clearly defined and beautifully choreographed. They are further emphasized by the beautiful CG (such as her Kagune), and the backgrounds and lightings. The final fighting scene with Kaneki and Tsukiyama is really epic so that the viewer's eye are stuck to the screen to not miss any kick or hit.
I watched the movie in the plane but wished I would have watched them in the theatre just because of the scenes.

Storywise they stick quite close to the original materials so that there is nothing new. They focused solely on the few moments with Tsukiyama and the fighting but not the others so that for those who are looking more story development might be disappointed. But this was ok for me as I liked Tokyo Ghoul for the fighting scenes and was looking forward to how the movie would realize those and the producer surely did not disappoint me.

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The romance drama of 2020

Brace yourself through this journey of ups and downs full of bliss, heartbreak, disappointment, bitterness, and forgiveness. A ride you will not forget. This is the drama of 2020, the drama of this summer.

Firstly, the romance is well executed. It is heart-wrenching and warming. The chemistry of the two leads is very strong; their love is sizzling and buzzing. Their beautiful romance is what makes this drama extremely addictive: I am thinking about Si Feng and Xuan Ji when I go to work, when I go shopping, when I eat, and not watching this drama. I just cannot wait to watch it!

Our male lead Si Feng, played by Cheng Yi, carries the main weight. Si Feng's character design is well thought-through. He is firm on the outside but warm and kind from the inside. He loves the female lead profoundly but does not see her as his possession. While being cursed by the mask, he keeps all the suffering by himself and gives her space and time to love him back. Si Feng's character goes through a beautiful transition from learning about what love is about is to having the will to become the leader of his sect to protect what's important. Si Feng is truly every fangirl's boyfriend of summer 2020.
Cheng Yi's acting is flawless. I haven't seen this much suffering, both physically and emotionally, shown in a C-drama. Cheng Yi is so good at it. I am so grateful to the writer and the director who created these scenes, and I am thankful that they have chosen Cheng Yi for this role - I cannot imagine anyone else who can depict suffering as heartbroken and as beautiful as him.

Coming to the female lead Yuan Bing Yan, playing our heartless goddess of war Xuan Ji. I really like her character development. The way how Xuan Ji slows finds maturity and eventually, her heart and her love towards Si Feng is natural and wonderful to watch. During the last third of the episodes, she received criticism of not trusting Si Feng, but I find this extremely reasonable. No one told her anything, and she did not know about love. Listening to her family and clan's one-sided stories, how could she have reacted? When Xuan Ji's past life was revealed, I agree that Bing Yuan lacked in portraying the depth and complex emotions one would have loved to see in terms of acting. Her emotional scenes towards Si Feng could also improve. But I blame the script, partially, as it must be very draining to play this many griefing scenes as Si Feng just suffered way too much. On the hand, her scenes as War God are so badass. Two thumbs up for depicting this as little aggrieved Xuan Jin in one scene and revengeful heartless War God in another scene. For this, Bing Yuan really deserves more credit.

What makes this couple magical is there is no clear cut between roles. Sometimes Si Feng appears to have received the female's playbook. Si Feng suffers for Xuan Ji, but Xuan Ji also protects Si Feng. And isn't this what true love is all about?

Secondly, I also appreciate the excellent scripting. Whether this has been part of the original novel or developed by the drama scriptwriter, I enjoyed it how new characters are introduced, and hints are dropped that eventually weaves to a glorious thread that leads us to the grand finale. All characters have their roles and their motives along this thread, and no one is redundant. I haven't seen this level of scripting in a long C-drama for a while, and I hope to see more of this in future shows.

Thirdly, the CGI is excellent. Although we could not see real Hollywood type of CGI, but carrying this quality throughout 59 40min episodes is not easy. The audience enjoys full-blown action from fierce battles fought between gods and devils, between every imaginable species of celestial beings and affiliations, with all manner of divine weapons, cultivated spells and their destructive powers. There is one arc in the middle of the drama at which an island is attacked by demons riding on dragons. For a moment, I thought I was watching Games of Thrones.
A Xianxia drama is not a Xianxia drama if there is no CGI. So far, China is not very good at it. But L&R has shown that they can do it if they put the effort.
L&R also put a lot of effort in the soundtrack. The songs are beautiful and lyrics deep and suitable to story.

Lastly, I am thankful for the ending. After all the suffering, grudge, and misunderstandings among each other, the ending was heartwarming and satisfactory. The good deserves their happy ending, the bad their verdict. It has saved the ending of this drama.

As no drama is perfect, I want to point out a few aspects which make me deduct 2 points.
The last twenty episodes are not well-written. After the satisfactory clearance of the male lead's misunderstanding, the story continued on the same old path to making the male lead the evil of all. Many circumstances leading to Si Feng's downfall feel forced. The inherent problem of the Si Feng not willing/not able to explain anything to Xuan Ji further creates reasons for her to hurt him, up to the point that it takes away the angst. The audience becomes numb. In the final moments, I could not shed real tears, despite my love for the ML.
Also, a few dramatic scenes between the second couple Chu Ling Long and Zhong Min Yuan, felt watered and repeated.

The path towards the finale was a question mark: a giant pot that can destroy all three words, Yuan Lang, our raven, revived again and again to inflict suffering to our heroes and the back and force between Luo Sha Ji Du and Xuan Ji was rather embarrassing than touching, to be fair. I wished the heavenly emperor did not have to take such a key role at the end (the same way he did 1000 years go). Someone who has never intervened ever before suddenly intervenes at the end and turns the table. If there was such a force, I wished the story introduced him earlier.
Finally, I also did not enjoy the fact that our glorious antagonist Hao Chen suddenly was "white-washed" after the heavenly emperor showed him a few "what-if" scenes and gave him a few moral lessons. The whole world has been telling him that since day one, why now? Where did our manipulative, egoistic, hypocritical, and personated jealousy in the person of a villain suddenly go? Despite knowing where the makers are coming from, I felt the last scenes downgraded the deep character that 58 episodes have built for him. Despite all this, Liu Xue Yi did a fantastic job playing this three-dimensional character.

I am rating this drama a 8/10 because of the last 20 episodes. If I only rate the first 40 episodes, this drama clearly deserves a 10/10. Deep inside me, it has a 10 because of the romance, the up and down of emotions it has hatched in me and the love I feel about our Si Feng.

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Very relatable drama if you are around your 30s

I picked up this drama because I wanted a drama to which I can identify myself to. This drama did not disappoint.

One great watchpoint is that it has three different main characters you can pick and choose from - at least one of the three, or at least some elements of the three will fit your own situation. All three women, Gu Jia, Wang Man Ni, and Zhang Xiao Tong, are modern, but growing up and living in different circumstances. For myself, I can probably identify half with Zhang Xiao Tong, half with Gu Jia. Our women have to deal with events concerning their careers, love life, kids, parents, and female friendships - something that can happen to anyone. They go through various difficult and beautiful events in life, how this can grow their characters, let me realize what they want and don't want in life, and how everyone can move on and find the light at the end of the tunnel despite all kinds of a difficult situation.

I appreciate that the drama is not this "dog blooded" as some other modern Chinese dramas, making things unrealistic. I also appreciate that this drama shows a modern side of Chinese women: not someone that has to fulfill filial obedience to their parents, stay married when it is not a happy one or even find a partner at all, or stay in an office when it is not fulfilling for you. Our main leads reflect on their own behavior and learn from our experience how everyone should do when it comes to things in life.

Of course, this drama has some improvement points that can be made, such as ending episodes. A lot of developments feel a bit rushed and out of nowhere. Many netizens say that this drama has a bad tail due to some of our main leads' choices. On the other hand, I find the ending ok as everyone has different values and opinions about responding to certain situations. We should not be judgemental towards others just because they choose to act differently. How do we know whether our decisions are the right ones? Is it because our parents and society have told us so? Nothing is final "right" or "wrong." Our women in Nothing but Thirty has chosen their path, and we shall wish them well. Let's also wish ourselves well that all women find happiness in life, in one way or another.

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The drama fell of big cliff starting from the middle...

I was really looking forward to this drama after falling in love with Ren Jia Lun in Under the Power, but unfortunately, this is not going to be a good review. For those who loved this drama, you might want to skip this review.

I will quickly run through my 7 criteria and leave comments to the end

1. "Sleepness Night": 2/5 ★★☆☆☆
2. Emotional Rollercoaster: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆
3. Natural and Intelligent Story Telling: 3/5 ★★★☆☆
4. "Loveable supporting Role": 5/5 ★★★★★
5. "Proper Pacing": 4/5 ★★★★☆
6. Technicalities: 5/5 ★★★★★
7. Solid Finale: N/A

After being disappointed with Audmn Cicada (I made it not past episode 3)
This drama started out well. I liked the world setting, the cheerful and dorky character of Nalan Yue, and all the 3-dimensional supporting characters who have refreshing personalities and background stories. I also enjoyed the careful-crafted fighting scenes and the good songs.

However, this drama takes a really rough turn towards the middle and the story went nowhere.

First, the main villain, Rong Jing Feng's behavior is really comprehensive. He turned from a rather normal head of a clan to a complete killer machine who massacred everyone at his own daughter's wedding. One cannot see through the motive of his behavior. The reason might be fear for revenge or losing his power, but his behavior's inconsistency is irritating.

Besides, the chemistry between both of the main couples is missing. The initial falling in love between Nalan Yue and Rong Hua was almost completely cut out by the makers' crazy editing. One should not forget that it is the strong trust of Rong Hua in Nalan Yue that supports most of the second part of the drama. If this foundation was not built properly in the first place, the whole plot becomes unconvincing.
Then, the romance between our second couple, Rong Su and Lu Yi Zhou, even arose more strangely. How did Lu Yi Zhou fell in love with Rong Su in the first place? The maker wanted to show a conflict between their personal desire vs. their duty, but I am not sure whether this is due to bad acting or bad character design, it did not come out well. Instead, it was a blurry back and forth between the two that was puzzling for the viewers.

Moreover, it is the below-average acting of Alen Ren that disappointed me the most. Despite understanding the reason behind Nalan Yue's "black-washing", I wished that the personality change and acting could have been more granular. Logically, whatever tragic happened to Nalan Yue, he is still himself. His cheerful character's 180-degree turn to a person with almost only one expression left just left me unsatisfied. A great example of depicting these internal conflicts can be observed in other dramas such as Goodbye, my Princess.
In Under the Power, Alen Ren successfully demonstrated a very natural transition from an overbearing boss to a loving boyfriend using micro-expressions, wonderful gazes, and gradual changes in demeanors. I was not able to observe his in Love in Lifetime.

Finally, the latter half of the story just went all over the place, with the two main leads not really sure which sides they are on, what they are really trying to do, what their relationship towards each other is, and who even the villain of the story is! So that's where I dropped off without turning back, despite having spent my time on 36 episodes.

All in all, I am still a firm believer in Alen Ren's skills and am still waiting for another great piece after Under the Power. Unfortunately, Love in Lifetime is not that.

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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster, etc.). The degree on how much I care about the fate of the main leads.
3. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
4. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have the proper motivation behind their actions.
5. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
6. "Technicalities": professional camera works and shots, fight scenes, color grading, lighting, editing, music, sets, costumes, use of CGI, etc. I try to grade this in relation to the drama budget, so a low-budget drama can equally get a high score when used at the right place
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that start to lose their grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.

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A good drama with great characters. Be aware of story bug.

I have mixed emotions for this drama that it is challenging for me to summarize all the feelings in one review.

I would want to focus my review on the actors and characters, esp. for the leading roles. For me, Bloody Romance has one of the most profound characters I have ever seen in Chinese dramas. The other one I can think of is Untamed.

♡ Character Design: Good character design is what makes half of a good plot. Creating personalities that the audience can identify themselves to, feel attracted to, or despise is an art. Their emotional reactions and actions need to be consistent with their personalities and logical to their experiences. Only then can the audience empathize and move along. I think this was very well done with all the characters in this drama, even with the supporting characters: Liu Gang, Xing Feng, Yue Ying, the antagonists Cha Luo and Wan Xiang, and countless "targets" and "their relatives". None of the characters felt as they were merely a tool to progress the story but alive and breathing. A few words to the character design of the main characters:

❤︎ Wan Mei: her character design might feel indeed naive and stupid at the start. Like many others, I was also rolling my eyes at her second mission, cursing the scriptwriter why they made such a weak character an assassin. It did not fit the badass female character image that you would expect this drama to have. When you progress with the show, you will notice that there was a clear purpose to the start. Despite many netizens believing that Wan Mei will become malicious and despiteful after the series of misfortune that has happened to her, she stayed true to her kindness at heart, while at the same time become wiser and stronger. There was no sudden awakening or turning to evil. Throughout the show, you saw her wanting to give up her life or become indecisive; for me, these are prooves of being human and natural.

❤︎ Chang An: "I am missing a Chang An in my life," say many netizens. I understand them. Chang An can fight, cook, and clean; on top, he is kind, loyal, and treasures his master as he cherishes his own life. Chang An loves Wang Mei selflessly and does not expect her love in return. He wants her to be happy even if it means he cannot be with her. And which woman does not wish there is such a man in her life? I have read criticisms of Chang An's big decision to leave his army to save Wang Mei at the end of the show, saying that it's irresponsible and foolish. I have a different view. Chang An was brought up thinking that he is only a stableman. Even after his adoptive family's death, he has only been living for himself and his idea of revenge. Wang Mei became the first person in his life who he loves more than his own life. He cannot repeat the same mistake and hurt her again. At the end of the day, he is Chang An, not Gong Zi. Looking from this perspective, do you still question his decision?

❤︎ Gong Zi: For me, Gong Zi was the most mysterious and tragic character in the whole drama. Until the last episode, I have never really understood him. Gong Zi loved Wang Mei sincerely, helped her multiple times along the way, and was also willing to sacrifice his life for her. Despite all that, Wang Mei kept refusing Gong Zi and accusing him of treating her only as a tool. This has brought a lot of criticism from Gong Zi's fans. My explanation is the following. Gong Zi experienced the trauma of being blinded by his own mother and the tragedy of her death. Because of this, he was shouldering the responsibility of being the owner of Gui Hua City and carrying out her death wishes before he is "allowed" to die. One of them was killing his own father. Death was always around the corner. Not one day has he lived for himself until he the day he met Wang Mei, who became his only light in his life. However, due to some reasons, may that be their master-assassin relationship, his unfamiliarity about love, and his duty... his actions seemed to be conflicting and not truly for the best of Wan Mei. I would say that Gong Zi loved Wang Mei in his own way, but it was not understood. Even Yue Ying, who knew him the best, was confused by his action. Whatever Gong Zi intended to do, I guess we will never really know the truth.

♡ Acting skills: Another reason why Bloody Romance which contributed to the high score. Don't get me wrong; I have fallen in love with countable talented actors and actresses in many previous dramas. What stood out for me that, in Bloody Romance, across the board, all main and supporting actors did a marvelous job depicting all the deep personalities. Perhaps because the drama has a very abusive nature, there are many extreme emotional scenes that characters have to act out. And they have done a marvelous job. My heart was aching so much while watching these scenes.
A few words to the main lead actors and actress:

❤︎ Li Yi Tong (starring Wan Mei): hats down to her! She literately "killed it". She convincingly portraited every trait of the weak and innocent junior assassin, who experienced periods of suffering and challenges later developed into determined and skillful Magnate of Gui Hua City. The scene at which she met Chang An again in episode 16 had almost no lines. But the acting told the whole story and evoked so much heartbreak. No wonder that after this drama, she got so much more popular with three successful shows airing in 2019, and seven in 2020.

❤︎ Shaw Qu (starring Chang An): We all love good looking male leads. In the case of Shaw Qu, I would say his face is less than ordinary. Many netizens have even called him ugly early during the show. Soon enough, however, most of us became captivated by Shaw Qu's outstanding performance as Chang An. We all fall in love with Chang An's forthright character, his unbroken love for Wan Mei, and his mesmerizing low sexy voice. In Chinese drama land, where looks define the fate as an actor, this is a marvelous achievement. This man was only 22 when he starred in Bloody Romance, and I foresee an unlimited future for him as an actor.

❤︎ Wang Duo (starring Gong Zi): Another young and unknown actor, who seduced many female netizens in this show. Very different in terms of status and personality as compared to Chang An, Gong Zi is a complex and strong character full of ambiguities. He loved and sacrificed for Wan Mei his own way but had his objectives and ambition that he could not forego. Despite being the second main lead, I felt Gong Zi had more airtime than Chang An. Using his opportunity, Wang Duo perfectly demonstrated all the complicated feelings. Though I was not a big fan of his character, I cannot imagine Gong Zi being played by anyone else than Wang Duo.

♡ Other admirable aspects of this drama are its interesting world design (beautiful cinematography despite the low budget, the beautifully choreographed fighting scenes, the gorgeous costumes, and one of the most beautiful but emotional title songs of all time.

So why is this drama not a 10 for me?
First of all, the overall plot has quite a few plot holes. Of course, you can say that which drama has not? But these are bugs that just cannot be ignored this easily. The reason why the writer has designed the story this way is probably to create more misery for the lead characters and to dramatize the plot so the audience can shed more tears. Some honorable mentions are below:

★ What purpose did the ending have? If we read the signs correctly, Chang An is still alive - but why, in the first place, did he have to fake his death to Wang Mei? If he wants her to believe he is dead, why did he leave the signs for her to find him? I would have also been thrilled with a happy ending to see both of them united. I would have also been ok with a sad ending that Chang An is dead. But what I don't like is an indecisive writer who thinks that a standard happy ending does not fit the mood of this drama, but a sad closure will leave the fans outraged. Instead, we get this in-between open ending... and from what I have heard, there is no rumor for a second season. I also don't foresee that there are any proper materials for a second season now that Wan Mei has become the Magnate of Chang An.

★ What I and many others have struggled is how Wan Mei fits into the story of a city full of female assassins with her kind personality. She might have had no choice at the start; however, later on, she had so many chances to leave Gui Hua City but chose not to. The reason that she gave is because of Chang An, then because Gui Hua was the only place she could return to, and finally because she cannot leave the other assassin sisters behind. All reasons are problematic to believe, given the hardships she has gone through, that she just isn't made for killing good people and that Chang An himself managed to leave later. And still, the makers made her "trying her best" to mislead her targets, eventually did not bear to kill them, but was luckily saved because the targets killed themselves or someone helped her to kill them. This weird plot just openly invites criticisms. Sadly a lot criticism went to the female lead herself.

★ Finally, this leads to the last big gap: Wang Mei broke so many rules but was always saved by someone not because she is competent but because she has the main character's aura. On top of that, despite hating Wan Mei so much, Hua Luo even promoted her, so Wan Mei got the chance to challenge her position. Don't give me the excuse that this is because Hua Luo respects the rules.... she is the freaking Magnate!

So overall, this drama definitely has big weak spots. But I would still recommend this drama to those who love good character designs (including a male lead who will live in my heart for a long-time), heart-wrenching romances, and marvelous acting.

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A palace harem master piece for newcomers and veterans!

I have always been curious about the famous Yanxi Palace but never brought myself to watch it due to my comparably low enthusiasm for harem drama and the mountain exercise of 70 episodes.
But after watching the Legends and falling in love with Xu Kai, I became curious about the drama that made him famous overnight.
Seventy episodes and 50 hours later, I can say that this drama was worth my time.

First of all, what I like about this drama:

* Unconventional female lead: I have watched a few palace harem dramas before: the female leads are beautiful, intelligent, kind, soft outside, but strong inside. They manage to charm the emperor early in the show and overcome the dirty tricks played by the evil queen or concubines through their effort and righteous behavior. However, this is not the case of Wei Ying Luo. She has a fierce temperament, fights, lies, and cheats her way to her goal if it's necessary and does not falter before her enemies. It's refreshing to see such a different female lead in a rather typical drama genre.
Some critics say that it's too unrealistic that a character of hers would be able to survive and even succeed in this historical setting. I, on the other hand, likes this drama just because her characters which bring one after another surprise. The show also depicts how she grows from a capricious maid to a respected royal concubine, beautiful character development worth following through.

* Quick payback: what I used to dislike in palace harem dramas is the long and draggy story, at which the villains get their way of doing evil for a long time, and the hero only succeeds after a long time. This is not in the case of Yanxi. Most intrigues and cases are resolved within 1-3 episodes, and it is very satisfactory to watch how the evil characters get punished quickly.

* The perfect fit between great characters and their casts: I am just in awe of all the main and supporting characters. The drama features young but talented actors such as Wu Jin Yan and Xu Kai but also many veterans Nie Yuan or Qin Lan. All roles have distinguished personalities and their own backstories. I rarely felt an action of a character to be unlogical or unsuitable. My personal favorites are the former queen (played by Qin Lan), the Imperial Nobel Consort (acted by Tan Zhou), and Ming Yu (played by Jiang Zi Xin). I hated, loved, cried, and felt sorry for those characters and cannot imagine these roles played by anyone else but the actresses.

* Beautiful romance: I really treasure the romance between Ying Luo and Fu Heng, it's one of the purest and saddest love stories I have seen in dramas. Unlike the romantic emotions Ying Luo showed to the emperor, the feelings she expressed to Fu Heng felt more real. (In terms YL's love towards the emperor, the transition between faking and real love was not clear and logical to me; therefore, it looked a bit fake until the end.) Despite crying buckets in the last episode and feeling heartbroken about my favorite couple, I applaud the bravery of the writer to go down this route as otherwise, the entire story would not have been convincing. Some say that Xu Kai's acting was a bit stiff in his role as Fu Heng. I, on the other hand, don't see this at all. I think he depicted Fu Heng's stoic, protective and loyal personality very well.
I also really enjoy the somewhat different romance between Ying Luo and Qian Long. A hate-love relationship of modern times transferred into a traditional setting is exciting to watch. Nie Yuan did a great job acting out his inner conflict when slowly falling in love with Ying Luo.

* There are many other aspects I also very like about this drama (e.g., the cinematography, the costumes, the OST, the sets, etc.). I would not go into detail as they have been mentioned by others already.

Now a few areas that could have been better in this drama:

* The female lead has unrealistic foresight capabilities: despite knowing that the makers want to create a brilliant female character who can see through many unfair games played on her, the level of foresightedness Ying Luo has is just a bit unrealistic. Logically, there is just no way how she would have known so many things in advance. At the start, the audience is still surprised by her detective cleverness, but after a while, it just becomes a bit silly. Ying Luo should become a psychologist or a fortune teller.

* The last few episodes (i.e., when the kids are grown up) are not necessary, and the ending was unrealistic: For me, the last arc was not required and completely anti-climax. Especially the case on the ship was dreadful. It felt fake, the actions cheap, the resolution unsatisfactory. I understand they want to create a reason to give the queen what she deserves finally, but was it necessary to wait for the kids to grow up? I feel that the makers want to desperately create a final climax that is worth standing at the end of a 70-long successful palace drama, but it went off in the opposite direction.

* Sometimes illogical plot development: I guess it's unavoidable to exaggerate and be creative here and there to build the dramatic. But some get too far. Some honorable mentionings are:
... The court doctor never gets punished despite lying and cheating for so many times.
... The concubines only bear sons. There were some daughters a few years later, but they were just bullet points in the subtitles.
... The annoying and mean-looking concubines are never really evil. The really malicious ones are those who appear to be kindhearted and gentle on the outside.

All in all, I can only recommend everyone to watch this drama. You might want to fast playing with 1.25x some of the dialogues as 70 episodes do feel like forever. But I urge you to watch the entire series without skipping anything as you would not regret it.

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Great first half, ok second half

I really enjoyed this drama but won't be able to give this drama a 10. Here are my reasons.

What I love about this drama:
The story in the first half of the drama. The story is original and captivating. North Korea, a place at which everything can happen, is the perfect incubator for the kind of romance between Ri Jung Hyuk and Yoon Se Ri. The story is infused with really funny and heartwarming that makes the audience fall in love with the leads and supporting characters soon. The pace was good and the sequel of events is logical (at least for us who know nothing about North Korea...). The romance is sweet and the 'goodbyes' are painful - my heart went up and down along with the story flow.

The chemistry between the two main leads is just great. I know Hyun Bin in one type of character: the rich bad boy who turns to be softie after falling in love with the unlikely heroine (not sure why he is always casted in this type of role). Therefore it was extremely refreshing to see HB playing this soft-hearted, almost nerdy army boy who at the same time can fight like Jet Li. To my surprise, he did a great job. Some say that his acting can be improved, but I find it to be exactly right to reflect RJH's introverted character. Needless to say that So Ye Jin's performance is outstanding. She perfectly depicts the arrogant and successful heiress who in reality has a heart made of glass and is deprived of love. I also applaud the second leads who are very sweet together. These two and all supporting actors displayed great acting performance and contributed to a lot of laughter and tears throughout the drama.

The realistic display of life in North Korea: I have watched many Korean dramas and this is my first drama that is set in North Korea. I appreciate that I was able to get to know North Korea as not only a dark and hopeless place but hosts warm people with comradeship. I can see that the writer wants us to realize that material wealth often does not contribute to happiness (e.g. the fight between the Se Ri and her siblings) but a simple life in harmony and solidarity can provide much more.

Finally, the cinematography is beautiful. The shots just leave the audience in awe: the crystal blue sea and the snow-covered mountain of Switzerland, the sprinkling white first snow and the sunlight gleaming through the woods... the director just knows how to shoot beautiful scenes. The OST is great and underlies the emotions well (through I have heard better ones).

Now a few points why I deduct two points for this drama:

I found the second half of the drama only ok. To me, I felt all the emotions in the first half already and left me feeling a little "less emotionally engaged". I don't blame the writer - it is very hard to make the incidents in South Korea more exciting than what has happened in North Korea - in order to do so writer imported all the bad and good guys into Seoul to create the excitement and that felt too forced. The villain and his followers become too instrumental and act illogically to create hurdles for the main leads. YSR becomes a little crying mess thus her tears are also not as effective anymore. As a viewer, you know that the director does it on purpose to create certain emotions with the audience. This is good, as long as the audience does not realize this. But when one does realize this (at least I did...) you know, the drama has fallen short.

Another short-coming of this drama is how they depict Yoon Se Ri's family. It still puzzles me of whether YSR's mom actually loves YSR or hate her when she was little - and why but does she suddenly realize she loves her again? And did YSR really made up with her? Also again, her second brother, and his wife were really functional and 2D which is a shame, given that many other supporting characters are well written.

Overall, I found the second half quiet draggy, almost repetitive in certain episodes though I enjoy seeing how the relationship of the second couple unfolds or how the group of soldiers survive in South Korea. I think the entire drama could have cut down to 10-12 episodes focusing mainly on happenings and the escape from NK with a reunion in SK (I know it would have been unrealistic but the current ending is unrealistic too!).

But I have to say, I still overall enjoy this drama and would still recommend everyone to watch it for the wonderful first half, the beautiful cinematography and the romance and acting of the leads.

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Predictable story but entertaining and super cute main lead

The legendary siblings (1999) was one of my first Chinese dramas as well as favorite dramas back when I was little. I was quite excited when I heard about this remake especially after bromance dramas getting better and more popular nowadays.

I was a bit disappointed watching the first episodes as I found Chen Zhe Yuan a bit too baby faced for playing Xiao Yu Er and Hu Yi Tian’s acting too stiff. Even story-wise the first mini-arc felt really unrealistic that I almost dropped it.

But then the story became better and I really enjoyed the drama until episodes 30ish.
There are two longer acts in the story: the hidden treasure mystery and the tender to transport a pile of silver. Both have their own twists and mysteries. The arcs connect themselves to an overarching plot, though I knew about the overarching plot I was not able to foresee (at least not as quick) the resolution of those acts which made them suspenseful. There are also some small emotional climaxes where Xiao Yu Er falls into a slump or the villain gets to pay for some of their evil doings.
As in many Wu Xia dramas, there are many idealistic occurrences and unrealistic coincidences; e.g. Love is always, at first sight, strong women never want to continue living when their lovers die, 100% survival after falling from cliffs, finding your friend quickly in the big vast nature without any idea where he might be, etc... Just watch them with one eye closed and you are fine.
To my opinion, the last arc, ~10 episodes before the finalee, could have been cut. The story becomes repetitive and does not add value to the overarching story: someone becomes a hostage and is saved later; someone else is deceived and gets caught again... Since I did not read the source material so I don’t know whether this is from the book itself but it felt like the screenwriter wanted to introduce more characters from to this drama but had not a good idea how to. Luckily, the ending was really well-executed (though expected) with a satisfactory happy ending.

As for the cast and the acting, I was very impressed with Chen Zhe Yuan’s acing as Xiao Yu Er. Some might find him overacting but this did not bother me. He is very cute and extremely fun to watch. I just could not get enough of his jokes and saw myself looking forward to seeing how he times and times tricks himself out of danger. I really fell in love with Chen Zhe Yuan (he is only 23!) - he will for sure become a great actor and I cannot wait to see more of his works.
I was not a fan of Hua Wu Que but slowly got a liking at him too as he slightly let his emotions peeks through here and there. XYE and HWQ are a great couple whose character traits and relationship development strongly remind me of Wei Wu Xian and Lan Zhan from Untamed. And there were 1-2 heart-racing scenes which actively target BL fans like me (e.g. XYE falls from a tree and was caught by HWQ the sweetest way while there was no need at all to put XYE on a freaking tree!!)
Also, most supporting characters are fairly interesting and three-dimensional. And the villains, esp. Jiang Yu Lang, have done a marvelous job. I heard that this adaption is one with the most complete cast set based on the main novel, that seems to be indeed the case.
The only part I was not very happy with is the female leads. Vicky Liang’s acting is pretty average; though she had great chemistry with XYE, she and HWQ were not a good fit at all. Liang Jie playing Su Ying did a good job in terms of acting but her character is not at all likable, in fact rather egoistic and deceiving. Even though this might be true to the source materials it would have been more realistic to have the womanizer but extremely kind XYE to stay single rather than for him to end up with Su Ying (Where is my cute little Xiao La Jiao (little chili pepper) from the 99 edition?!). Murong Jiu would have been even a better fit.

Luckily, the romance is not key in the drama. From the production point of view, the costumes are beautiful, sceneries are beautiful and the Wu Xia fights are visually satisfactory. It took them two years to produce this!! Small CG elements were spotted but overall the production value is great and sets well crafted.
The title and ending songs are really nice - I just wish they would use them more in the drama rather than the sad Er Hu BGMs that they kept playing towards the end...

Overall, I had a good time with the drama but you might want to fast forward the last arc to save some time. I would recommend it to those who love Untamed, bromance and any adaption of handsome siblings.

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Season 2 was better but still more room for improved storytelling

Last week I finished reviewing season 1, and here I am with season 2. Season 2 was slightly better I would increase my rating by 1, to an overall 7 - I still think it's a drama for which you will need to leave your intelligence at home to enjoy it.
Let me look at this drama from my seven criteria point of view (for more details in the footnotes).

1. Fantasization: 3/5 ★★★☆☆: I was pleased with how the drama has started, especially the setting in the modern world was funny and delicious to watch. I was pleased to know the entire cast of season 1, except for the king, is also starring in season 2.
I wished the couple could have spent a bit more time in the contemporary world. Overall, the story is still adorable to watch. The main couples, Qu Tan Er and the future 8th prince, have great chemistry; especially the 8th prince is a lot more easy-going and positive personality as compared to season 1. Also, hat down to the improved acting skill of Xing Zhao Lin, who manages to depict the two 8th prices. Sometimes I had problems distinguish which is which, but somehow it was a fun element of this drama. Noticed he just turned 20 years young when filming.
It was pleasant to see that the crew had a larger budget for this season. The sets, supporting characters, shots look more polished and proper. The OST is very good as well.

2. Emotional Rollercoaster: 4/5 ★★★★☆: I give the maker team credit to come up with the story of the two 8th princes. No, not only that, they even add Liu Shang's face disguise as a sort of lover 2.5? And we also have the eldest prince who is in love with the Qu Tan Er's body; this makes a total of 3.5 people in love with the FL. What a lucky girl she is!
In terms of acting, Liang Jie's role was less challenging than last season, and her character seems to be a bit more simple-minded. Her naive and careless modern self enlightens the drama with a great deal of humor. I gave this category a 4 out of 5 is also for the sincere love the 8th price expresses towards the FL. There is a great scene in the garden of Liu Qian Shui, at which QXT met the blind Mo Lian Cheng, which was heart-wrenching.
I also enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continuous to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.

3. Sleepless nights: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: Like season 1, I did not have a strong urge to binge-watch this drama. Despite the delightful love story between the leads, there was not enough suspense and drama (except for a few episodes in the middle) that pressured to click on the next episode.

4. Natural and intelligent storytelling: 2/5: The Eternal Love series is not a very logical drama. If you care about these elements, you will suffer. I did enjoy the start of the show, but if you think about everything in-depth, many question marks will pop up. The biggest one: what happened with the modern QXT? She must still be alive because otherwise, why would the future MLC still be alive? So is it ok for MLC to just go after the QXT from the past? Questionable! There was this whole section in the middle between the main leads and QTE's evil dad, which was so ridiculous that I even found funny. And the story improved slightly but got worse with the last ten episodes.

5. Loveable supporting role 4/5 ★★★★☆: Supporting roles have its ups and downs. Overall, the quality has improved as compared to season 1.
I enjoyed the acting of Wang Rui Chang, which advanced markedly. Also, his style has improved, and he sounds much kinder and the tone smoother with the use of a voice actor. I also really enjoyed the acting of the king, Zhang Lei's performance. His last scene was heart-breaking.
Lai Xi's role as Liu Qian Shui continued to be a joy for the show.
Chen You Wei, as Liu Shang, did a decent job. I was not all over him, but he managed to convince me as the 8th prince despite having a completely different appearance and atmosphere.
On the other hand, the acting of the 14th prince continued to be weak. This is especially noticeable as it was paired with the outstanding performance of Jing Xin.
I found the first antagonist, the father of QXT, really awful. Motivation and behavior are questionable, and the acting was exaggerated and weak.

6. Proper Pacing: 5/5 ★★★★★: I enjoy a short episode number of 30 episodes. Thanks to this, the pacing is proper and did not feel draggy.

7. Solid Finale: 2/5 ★★☆☆☆: The last episodes were messy. I don't understand why Mo Yi Huai had to become this evil. You could argue he did it because of QTE, but his 100% turning to malicious felt very unnatural and forced to me.
In the earlier show, there was a sense of rivalry between the future and past MLC. The memories and even personality were slightly different. This was "all solved" by merging both princes into one person, how convenient! This makes zero sense!
The turn of events of the elder prince taking over the throne (no one in the palace noticed that!) but then evidence of his betrayal, was effortlessly found in his room (why did he keep it?!). His imperial token was stolen easily by QTE, and the entire army turned against him all of a sudden. The good people have won, and all is well. Throughout the last episodes, I tried very hard not to roll my eyes or write rant comments, but this is poor storytelling.

Despite the splendid start, the storytelling went downhill towards the middle of the drama. I enjoyed the romance between the leads, but it is not for those looking for logical storytelling. This makes me wonder whether I should watch season 3 once this is out...

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Kotori's drama review seven criteria definition:

After having watched many dramas and also written several reviews. I have detected that I rate dramas based on specific patterns. I formulated those into seven criteria.
1. "Fantasization": the degree of how much I care about the fate of the main leads, how often I have to think about them in my everyday life, and how much I wish the characters are part of my real life.
2. "Emotional Rollercoaster": the degree of how much my heart was moving from the acting, scenes, and story development (e.g., in pain, pounding, fluster etc.).
3. "Sleepless Nights.": how much I have the urge to binge-watch this drama.
4. "Natural and intelligent Storytelling.": how logically the story was able to proceed and the roles are acting within their characters. I don't have a thousand question marks when watching the drama. The feeling that the makers take us viewers seriously and that we do not always think that this looks fake.
5. "Loveable supporting Roles.": how much I love and care about supporting characters. They are not merely tools to help the main characters but are 3-dimensional and have proper motivations behind their actions.
6. "Proper Pacing.": how well the drama is pacing and not watered down to fill the number of episodes.
7. "Solid Finale": how properly the drama builds dramatic and finishes with a satisfactory ending. I have just watched too many dramas that starts to lose its grip around half or 2/3rd of its way.
Obviously, many other criteria could be important as well, such as unique story setup, visual elements, camera work, music, costumes, etc. Some of the points are indirectly included in the criteria, and others are not this important for me.

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