Healing Anthology Stories with a Side of Star-Crossed Lovers

The highlight of this one is absolutely the gorgeous cinematography. You can debate if the cgi is good or not, personally I really enjoyed the look of it in this show. It didn't feel cheap or rushed at all in my opinion.

While a romance, this one is definitely on the more tragic end of the spectrum. It's theme of helping people through their dreams is present throughout the show, as is the underlying tale of the innkeeper FL who is cursed to the inn in exchange for the bargain she made in a past life.

This whole thing with the past is actually where is loses most of its points as it is very convoluted and never FULLY explained, rather, a lot it left up for you to get the "gist" of what happened.

There's parts of the original love story, parts when she was a child, parts when she was already the innkeeper all woven together as one sort of past time line for her.

Despite the slightly unsatisfactory past timeline the show as a WHOLE is very well done and is something that should be experienced, especially if you are looking for a short with star-crossed lovers type angst in addition to anthology-type stories of the FL helping people in the inn.

8/10

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By Day One Way, By Night Another...

This shows plot is rather tight all the way through from beginning to end. There were plenty of twists and turns to keep your attention as well as some romantic scenes BUT know that romance isn't really the "focus" of this but more a side plot. There are no spicy scenes, but it does include sweet romantic scenes.

Based on the initial plot premise of two women sharing one body it's obvious before you begin the show that the end will not satisfy everyone no matter how it was done, however, I truly think there were clues left that point to a definitive ending. Whether it's the ending you actually want, only you would know. I personally enjoyed it.

As an aside, episodes work well as both episode format and compilation, blending almost seamlessly to be like a super long movie.

9/10

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Ultimate Comfort Drama

This entire show was beginning to end so sugary sweet it's amazing that the viewing audience isn't given immediate diabetes. This story follows the main leads as well as their friend group from their first year of high school through university, entering the work force and ultimately marriage and having a child by the last episode. It made for an experience where each and every episode my lips were unconsciously smiling or even giggling.

As for the relationships, you could not go wrong with either RangRang OR Gu Ran as your life partner. Both showed complete devotion and I just wish we'd also been shown Gu Ran proposing but we just have to be content knowing it was literally only a simple matter of finding a "proper" time.

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How Do You PROVE You Love Someone?

First, I can absolutely understand why this show would not be a favorite, or even liked by some people. It does require it's own form of alternate universe rules that end up being a common issue with any show dealing with mental health in China. Because of this there are quite a few negatives that some people will not be able to look past and I can respectfully understand this.

For instance, the oversimplification of saying Meng Hui has PTSD and not really mentioning anything about DID (or even an outdated MPD) can give people the wrong idea about what her issues actually are. However, I can honestly overlook this pretty easily as the DID is a symptom of the PTSD where she dissociates to the extreme.

Next people would bring up that the characters in the show ALL bend over backwards to give in to her delusions even having her run the ML's company despite having no actual knowledge of how to do this. Yes, this makes for a bit of an eye-roll but at the same time the STORY explains in a way why THEY choose to do this. People point out that it is stupid and the ML does not care. There are indeed people like this in real life. Is it illogical by "most" standards, yes; but it's still within the realm of possibility for people to like a person so much and want them to get better so much that they will go along with these plots.

As for the story itself, there are small little mottos/morals that often relate to the show themes and make-up at the end of each episode. I loved these as they were often very good words of wisdom. For instance, one of my favorites was Ep 17's "If the foundation isn't laid down well, any attempt at repair will only be a facade to cover it up."

Shen Yi / Meng Hui - Our main characters, these two are the most "obviously" broken to the outside world. Our ML is rich, has a rich father, and yet the first time he and FL meet on a bus he quibbles over $0.20 because swiping a bus card is $1.80 but paying cash is $2.00 so he will only reimburse her the $1.80. He starts out miserly to an absurd degree but this is good in a way that it allows the viewers a chance to see his character growth over the course of the show with how Meng Hui changes him for the better. Meanwhile, our FL is honestly a Mary Sue with a "flaw". Even the show admits this though as there is a conversation the couple have at one point where she talks about there being no such thing as a 100% perfect girl, so she was given the scar as a way to remove that 1% and make her a 99% girl. Their obstacles are her scar and the past. Questions about guilt vs love, taking responsibility for ones actions, saying you forgive someone vs ACTUALLY forgiving someone, fears of future resentment, being a burden to the other party, communication break-down and secrets.

The other characters in the story are also flawed and each has a small story so even if the main couple isn't the most attractive for you, there might be interest still in finding out about Jiang Jiang/ Ah Tao, Sui An/ Wei Lei , or you "might" even count ML Dad/step-mom as a very minor side-story couple.

Shen Yi / Sui An (bromance) - If you want a show with good bromance on a deep friendship level, the bond between Shen Yi and Sui An will ABSOLUTELY do it for you. Without giving away spoilers, there is a crying scene with these two in it near the end that will tear your heart out if you have been enjoying their relationship throughout the show. If anything could be a negative, I wish the spent even five more minutes on their relationship to give it that final polish of depth regarding their past, but easily 9.5/10 as is.

Jiang Jiang / Ah Tao - ML's assistant and FL's friend/therapist this is a sM/DF storyline. He is a wet puppy who was bullied in school and has a "servant's personality", while she exudes confidence and was the "Prince" of her school. They have the least amount of psychological issues to overcome which makes their relationship by far the easiest to watch. Their major obstacles are being on "opposing" sides at times and his feeling of inferiority towards her.

Sui An / Wei Lei - ML's best friend "since college" and ML's ex/FL's Best Friend ("very" minor spoiler) start out as a doctor/patient relationship. He is a plastic surgeon and she uses this to her advantage when she determines she likes him as she likes getting treatments. These two have honestly one of the worst relationships but who need the most out of their being together. Without giving spoilers, their issues have to do with inferiority, one person using the other, being worthy of love, guilt and a feeling of responsibility vs love, and the biggest one is probably the inability to let the other person into their head (they are a show-er not a tell-er and don't explain themselves)

All in all, this show went over a LOT for "only" having 24 episodes. Things that I personally was left still unclear on at the end were mostly past issues with the ML/ML mom/ ML dad, and weird editing with the original childhood timeline which had me questioning 1. how he didn't know her name, and 2. how long they had been talking to each other before the "incident" (this is mostly due to the scenes with she sitting down to lunch, asking mom for backpack, getting the backpack). These are all VERY minor issues for me though as they take up almost no actual time within the show, but they do seem to be plot holes.

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