This review may contain spoilers
Defiantly got better.
My original review is below but this is an addition I have written upon completing the show.
Firstly I am glad I finished it as it got much better once you got out two main leads in the same place.......the plot seemed to find its rhythm and it took off nicely. However I have to say that maybe it took off a little two much as (with the exception of the last 2 episodes) the last 4 or 5 episodes felt long and dull. Almost like the plot had peaked too early so they had to go back to the MFL being dumb all over again and 'the hero saving the damsel' type idea which they had already done dozens of times and were writing the MFL out of.
The character growth among the leads also took off...…That's something which I love, and can make or break a drama for me. A great drama can be ruined by long periods of no character growth (like happened earlier this year with the Blue Whisper) or a only half decent drama can be made great by it. Yes this drama had a long period at the beginning of almost glacial character development, especially for our leads, but it was made up for at the end.
Unlike a lot of Chinese dramas the ending doesn't seemed rushed either. It seems well thought out, although not the type I would have expected it is still nice and fits the story.
The acting, costumes and cinematography were all fantastic, some of the shots you see take your breath away.
It is defiantly worth a watch.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Original review*
I am enjoying watching this show and will most probably finish it but there are few things about which I feel could have improved quite easily to make it better.
First of all the acting is great, but 18 episodes in a lot of the characters have had very little if any character growth at all. I know there is a second part to this but I would have thought they would have done something with them in the first 18 episodes.
The mother is still as biased and unloving (while kidding herself she actually cares) as she was at the beginning. Basically she hates herself so she's taking it out on her daughter. The father is still a pushover. The step sister/foster sister/whatever you want to call her, has no life in her whatsoever and needs to find something to interest her fast. The two 'love interests' for the female lead, one is only really interested in himself so far and the other is a person who needs a playmate not a wife.
The two leads have had hardly any time on screen together but when they do they light up and you can see they have amazing chemistry. Sadly though even these characters have not had much in the way of development. The ML is much the same as the start, except now he softens when the FL is around, and the FL is just as dumb when it comes to relationships as when she began.
I think part of the problem is something I've noticed in a lot of Chinese dramas and that is that they take so long to build the world in the first place that they seem to run out of time to fit everything in at the end. One example of this is the 'engagement' between the FL and one of the SML's which has gone on for about 6 episodes now. Everyone knows they won't get married so why drag it on for so long when they could be using some of those episodes to establish the main relationship!
All in all it needs speeding up, the story and the character development, so they are not having to rush everything in part two and ruin it. At least that is my thoughts.
Firstly I am glad I finished it as it got much better once you got out two main leads in the same place.......the plot seemed to find its rhythm and it took off nicely. However I have to say that maybe it took off a little two much as (with the exception of the last 2 episodes) the last 4 or 5 episodes felt long and dull. Almost like the plot had peaked too early so they had to go back to the MFL being dumb all over again and 'the hero saving the damsel' type idea which they had already done dozens of times and were writing the MFL out of.
The character growth among the leads also took off...…That's something which I love, and can make or break a drama for me. A great drama can be ruined by long periods of no character growth (like happened earlier this year with the Blue Whisper) or a only half decent drama can be made great by it. Yes this drama had a long period at the beginning of almost glacial character development, especially for our leads, but it was made up for at the end.
Unlike a lot of Chinese dramas the ending doesn't seemed rushed either. It seems well thought out, although not the type I would have expected it is still nice and fits the story.
The acting, costumes and cinematography were all fantastic, some of the shots you see take your breath away.
It is defiantly worth a watch.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*Original review*
I am enjoying watching this show and will most probably finish it but there are few things about which I feel could have improved quite easily to make it better.
First of all the acting is great, but 18 episodes in a lot of the characters have had very little if any character growth at all. I know there is a second part to this but I would have thought they would have done something with them in the first 18 episodes.
The mother is still as biased and unloving (while kidding herself she actually cares) as she was at the beginning. Basically she hates herself so she's taking it out on her daughter. The father is still a pushover. The step sister/foster sister/whatever you want to call her, has no life in her whatsoever and needs to find something to interest her fast. The two 'love interests' for the female lead, one is only really interested in himself so far and the other is a person who needs a playmate not a wife.
The two leads have had hardly any time on screen together but when they do they light up and you can see they have amazing chemistry. Sadly though even these characters have not had much in the way of development. The ML is much the same as the start, except now he softens when the FL is around, and the FL is just as dumb when it comes to relationships as when she began.
I think part of the problem is something I've noticed in a lot of Chinese dramas and that is that they take so long to build the world in the first place that they seem to run out of time to fit everything in at the end. One example of this is the 'engagement' between the FL and one of the SML's which has gone on for about 6 episodes now. Everyone knows they won't get married so why drag it on for so long when they could be using some of those episodes to establish the main relationship!
All in all it needs speeding up, the story and the character development, so they are not having to rush everything in part two and ruin it. At least that is my thoughts.
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