I'd seen a retro tribute modern drama already with ZLY this year but this one had a totally different premise, so I wanted to see how she would handle a harder plot and though she and the rest of the cast did a wonderful job in their respective roles, the plot took a serious nosedive towards the second half and the end.

Pros: I can't say enough about the acting of this very professional cast. ZLY did a terrific job as XBX, a stubborn, enterprising, reflective, yet very flawed character and everyone else followed. At first, I wasn't a fan of GXY as she appeared like a spoiled rich girl going through a rebellion but it became clear after a handful of episodes that though she was spoiled and bratty, she had a big heart and really cared about TXQ. The "steel trio" of XBX, TXQ, and CYZ were a great bunch who sincerely loved one another even if that sometimes came across as tough love or protection in the form of lying which backfired more often then not. The intent behind it was real.

Other favorite characters were ZL, President Gao, Dr. Su, Su Computer Nerd, and manager Jia; all were wonderful supportive people to XBX and each other wherever they fit. When it came to the good guys, all of their parts were done accordingly. The scenery and OSTs were on point and appropriate.

Cons: While I understood this was a propaganda tribute drama and that it would have a lot of that included in it, what absolutely shocked me was the hamster wheel plot of the antagonists would completely overshadow even that. There were a total of 4 really bad guys, one coward, and one insignificant idiot that came and went. The plot essentially took a nosedive in the second half when the 3 main antagonists/business partners and XBX plus her ex routinely sent each other to jail. It was a literal revolving door of prison sentences. They'd set each other up, beg for someone else to take the fall, or manage to somehow twist themselves loose so many times that all of their illegal deeds combined would probably equal a 25 year minimum for each save XBX.

Everyone of them ended up with some sort of redemption arc in the last few episodes that they didn't deserve. Even though Mr. Wu did turn himself in, in the final 15 minutes of the last episode, the amount of illegalities he'd done throughout the years should have seen him in prison for more then just a year. I didn't like the antagonists at all in this series, though their acting was on point 100%, it was because every time one would get into trouble, he'd get himself out by setting someone else up, rinse, repeat x maybe 8! The storyline hindered them completely which was very sad because they could have really done something more believable in terms of how the law worked.

Speaking of the law, how is it that TXQ got 5 years in prison for kicking XBX's ex in the balls while the latter was choking her to death (murder attempt number 1) and the ex 10 years later only got 1 month after he ran her off the road and threw a metal pipe at her head causing a head injury (murder attempt number 2)? So saving another person from near death is illegal but actually trying to kill someone isn't. In that second case plus with the antagonists, was XBX Mother Theresa? She gave the ex a debit card that she'd deposit money in each month to help him and the kid he adopted. She felt like she owed him; for what? Trying to kill her? Same with Wu, Qiu, and even Dong, they'd set her up but there she goes trying to bail them out. That kind of backwards logic was confusing. Lastly on this topic, they essentially spent the last 4-6 episodes spouting various domestic and international laws that the average viewer wouldn't have a clue as to what was happening.

Another point of contention was with poor CYZ, once it was obvious he had terminal cancer and had little time to live, they kept dragging his death out. It was brutal to watch; they could have had the pier sunrise scene maybe 6 episodes earlier then they did. Made me wonder if they purposefully did it as filler but that's like the really wrong way of going about that. Because even to the last episode, they brought him in as happy and in flashbacks. That would have been way better then what was done with his character at that time.

The introduction of Russian speaking characters that couldn't speak the language fluently like Nina was ridiculous especially to someone whose native tongue it is. The entire Russian arc in the beginning, I fast forwarded because it was off historically among many other things. The last part that bugged me though it wasn't huge were the costumes especially XBX's wedding dress which was straight out of the 1980s instead of the year 2000. Some ppl said she didn't have enough money for a new one but that didn't jive either as by that time she and ZL lived in a huge house and her car was a Mercedes, she didn't drive herself but had a driver and assistant with her at nearly all times.

So though the acting was very well with a professional cast, the storyline/plot started out strong but then just unraveled. Hadn't it been for the great acting, I would have given it a much lower score.

Would I recommend it? Honestly, only if you like ZLY or anyone else in the cast. Otherwise, plot wise it's not strong at all with many factual and historical errors.