4
RhopalocerA
Somewhere on Earth
The story was not as romantic as the title.
I start with what I liked from this drama :-
1) While the story got draggy in the middle of the drama when they were investigating worm case but the story in the second half about the secret of Ancient Shu Town and Wei Du's backstory were pretty interesting.
2) The acting of the female lead, Li Qin . It was my first time watching her acting and she was good .I started this because of Allen Ren but I was mesmerized by her acting instead. Her acting was more heartfelt and genuine than the male lead. The acting of other supporting characters also good.
3) The humor in this drama was totally my type! People in Qingquan Stronghold provide good comic relief. I laughed alot while watching synergy between Dengdeng and her favourite side kicks, Dahai and her uncle. They were my favourite side characters.
4) ML & FL had exquisite change of costumes that further enhanced their looks. Allen Ren looks dashing in those dark color suits + those chains on his front. Same goes with Li Qin, she looks beautiful here.
5) Great and addictive OST. I loved the opening song , I by Allen Ren and the ending song You're My Only One by Lu Hu the most.
What I did'nt like about this drama :-
1) It really hurts me to say this . My biggest problem with this drama is Allen Ren's acting. I have so much to say about this. His perfomance in this drama was a total let down. I felt like he did not go all out with Lu Yan not like he did as Chang Yi , Zhousheng Chen. To me, he looked uncomfortable everytime he was required to be in scene together with FL ,that made me felt uncomfortable while watching them too. Its like there's this invisible barrier he placed between him and Li Qin whenever they were together. Like he do not like her as a person and can't wait for their scene to be over. Previously, I love Allen because of his excellent facial expressions in acting. He had good chemistry with his co-stars in his previous drama . He is one of the actor who has a beautiful smile to me, a reason why I was smitten with him in the first place. I love his sultry calm voice when he was delivering his lines. Even when he rarely kiss in his drama ,all the other qualities I mentioned compensated what he lacked in romance department. I saw those qualities in TBW, O&O and FAE but here not so much....
2) For a drama with romance as its driven factor, the romance in this surely was disappointing. TYFY had little to non-existent chemistry between main leads. Only in the second half I see an improvement but only slightly. Tbh, Li Qin had better chemistry with 2nd ML, her uncle, Dahai and with the whole Qingquan Stronghold's subordinate than with the ML but I know it was not her fault because I can see her trying but it won't work if only one party was trying hard while the other, not doing so much. I felt like the ML was not into FL like she was to ML. When FL tried flirting and teasing him enthusiastically, either he brushed it off like it did not happened or responded to her half-heartedly. Poor Dengdeng... I felt like the ML only took her in as a responsibility not as a lover. I really don't know what to blame here, the shallow script or the poor characterization or the weak direction.. maybe all three ?
3) It was annoying to see the ML always keeping his hands in the pockets . He always did that whether he was standing still or walking . You rarely seen his hands out except when he's doing magic things with his hands because he need them out to do that lol . Maybe the purpose was to make him look cool but it was just too much .
Overall, although the romance lacked so much but the other good aspects of this drama made me stayed. I'm not sure if I want to recommend this to someone maybe watch this if you like the leads.
1) While the story got draggy in the middle of the drama when they were investigating worm case but the story in the second half about the secret of Ancient Shu Town and Wei Du's backstory were pretty interesting.
2) The acting of the female lead, Li Qin . It was my first time watching her acting and she was good .I started this because of Allen Ren but I was mesmerized by her acting instead. Her acting was more heartfelt and genuine than the male lead. The acting of other supporting characters also good.
3) The humor in this drama was totally my type! People in Qingquan Stronghold provide good comic relief. I laughed alot while watching synergy between Dengdeng and her favourite side kicks, Dahai and her uncle. They were my favourite side characters.
4) ML & FL had exquisite change of costumes that further enhanced their looks. Allen Ren looks dashing in those dark color suits + those chains on his front. Same goes with Li Qin, she looks beautiful here.
5) Great and addictive OST. I loved the opening song , I by Allen Ren and the ending song You're My Only One by Lu Hu the most.
What I did'nt like about this drama :-
1) It really hurts me to say this . My biggest problem with this drama is Allen Ren's acting. I have so much to say about this. His perfomance in this drama was a total let down. I felt like he did not go all out with Lu Yan not like he did as Chang Yi , Zhousheng Chen. To me, he looked uncomfortable everytime he was required to be in scene together with FL ,that made me felt uncomfortable while watching them too. Its like there's this invisible barrier he placed between him and Li Qin whenever they were together. Like he do not like her as a person and can't wait for their scene to be over. Previously, I love Allen because of his excellent facial expressions in acting. He had good chemistry with his co-stars in his previous drama . He is one of the actor who has a beautiful smile to me, a reason why I was smitten with him in the first place. I love his sultry calm voice when he was delivering his lines. Even when he rarely kiss in his drama ,all the other qualities I mentioned compensated what he lacked in romance department. I saw those qualities in TBW, O&O and FAE but here not so much....
2) For a drama with romance as its driven factor, the romance in this surely was disappointing. TYFY had little to non-existent chemistry between main leads. Only in the second half I see an improvement but only slightly. Tbh, Li Qin had better chemistry with 2nd ML, her uncle, Dahai and with the whole Qingquan Stronghold's subordinate than with the ML but I know it was not her fault because I can see her trying but it won't work if only one party was trying hard while the other, not doing so much. I felt like the ML was not into FL like she was to ML. When FL tried flirting and teasing him enthusiastically, either he brushed it off like it did not happened or responded to her half-heartedly. Poor Dengdeng... I felt like the ML only took her in as a responsibility not as a lover. I really don't know what to blame here, the shallow script or the poor characterization or the weak direction.. maybe all three ?
3) It was annoying to see the ML always keeping his hands in the pockets . He always did that whether he was standing still or walking . You rarely seen his hands out except when he's doing magic things with his hands because he need them out to do that lol . Maybe the purpose was to make him look cool but it was just too much .
Overall, although the romance lacked so much but the other good aspects of this drama made me stayed. I'm not sure if I want to recommend this to someone maybe watch this if you like the leads.
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