If you had told me that i would genuinely enjoy a reverse harem drama w four suitors, one of whom is basically a vampire, i would've never believed you.

on principle i don't particularly enjoy love triangles unless like, there is a clear endgame and one of the options just exists for the main character to learn from (for ex. fuheng in yanxi palace). this is because usually they exist in dramas for melodrama and fantasy scenarios of what if these two different hot boys were into you lol. maybe i just haven't seen that many but i've just always written them off as understandably popular for a reason but generally silly and cringey dog blood.

lost you forever/chang xiang si was very immersive because it offered a similar reverse harem formula or structure, but the basis and core of WHY there are multiple options is a cut above the typical boys over flowers reverse harem story. it is not simply that xiaoyao is a stand in for the audience, and her options are a good boy and a bad boy please choose which one u like more, y'know? xiaoyao is a multi faceted character who has been deeply traumatized and has a host of abandonment issues that affect her relationships as an adult. her two main options, tushan jing and xiang liu, represent two different pathways for her to progress- and the reasons why she likes them are also informed by her trauma and experiences. tsj offers her kindness, softness and gentleness, unquestioned support and care, he represents way for her to truly heal and learn to trust other people again, to grow in a positive manner. while xl’s coldness, darkness and danger are attractive to her because he is a kindred spirit, and also what she knows and understands. xiang liu's love on the other hand doesn't push her personal growth, but rather supports who she is in the present. he abandons her, pushes her away, never allows her to know how he loves her, and puts the bigger political picture above her. he teaches her archery so that she can continue to stand alone without relying on others to protect her. but tsj will come to prove that she CAN rely on others (or should at least in s2). it makes complete sense why narratively tsj is endgame, but her storyline with xl is equally, if not more compelling exactly because it makes complete sense why they love each other, but ultimately won't be together. not even gonna touch on cx because he’s a non-option whose relationship with her represents the worst possible route you can go post trauma. congrats y’all actually got me to enjoy a love triangle!!!! sort of pentagonal!!

the strengths of the story are the character and relationship writing. the doomed trauma bonded siblings, xiaoyao and cangxuan are the core relationship of the story and both characters are nicely done. i particularly like cx, what an ambitious little freak who got his wires crossed and is too weird about his sister! zhang wanyi is really excellent, i enjoyed watching his acting SO much... his tight little smile that never reaches his eyes…LOL yang zi is also great and particularly committed, especially as wen xiaoliu. xl and tsj are generally well written too, as is chenrong xinyue, and even the minor support character sang tian'er was well written and so memorable (honestly her role as a former sex worker was more progressive than the entirely of a dream of splendor). However you can really tell the writer only cared about Some characters while others only exist to cause conflict, namely fangfeng yiying is just Evil for like no good reason, and tushan hou is similarly just senselessly evil. i think the writer definitely struggles with villains and they are pretty one dimensional. generally however, the characters are pretty good, and good character writing can really drive home the themes and take a story so far! AND YET......

the plot........ my absolute biggest gripe with cxs is the PLOT. i find the plot so incredibly inept at supporting its characters, and unable to push the narrative forward. the story is extremely character lead, to the point where most of the show is just conversations, with very little Events Happening. why does cx achieve the throne at the end? HOW does he even achieve the throne at the end? because grandpa said so. thats why. as an avid lover of political court dramas and little plots and schemes, this show was so disappointingly short of that. and like, i'm not asking for nirvana in fire or rise of phoenixes, because that would just be a different show, but like.... just a little bit of plotting please.... just more sense as to HOW cx is power hungry and ambitious, cunning and calculating instead of just telling us over and over again. mainly all i saw was him getting hooked on drugs and building good relationships with the right people. i wanted him to take down his uncles and enemies one by one!!! doing more and more dastardly things to do so!! it just felt like the crown was given to him instead of him having worked to achieve it. i get that the author seems to mainly just want cx to represent this kind of classic cold, ruthless, power hungry character, and doesn't actually care for politics itself but like i can't help but feel kind of cheated out of what was promised in the first episode and the premise of his character. china's political drama genre is very popular and there are plenty of sources to pull from!! the princes’ struggle for power is a classic! as a result the story feels flat and like the characters are just existing in a blurry aesthetic background. these parts are just SO weak. like i don’t know who cx is as a ruler, i don’t know what his relationship is like with the common people, has he done anything for them? a ruler doesn’t exist without citizens, idg why we aren’t shown the ways cx built up power and support from the people. literally it’s just him interacting w the same ass two nobles who are already committed to him. similarly, tsj’s family is literally CARTOONISHLY evil, from torture to rape they’ve fuckin done it all!! they exist to purely just be evil and it doesn’t even make sense, why are they forcing him to be clan leader and marry ffyy when tsh and ffyy want to KILL him so she can openly be w tsh and he can be clan leader. idk maybe it will be explained next season but so far it’s just weak and lazy story telling. there are ways to tell a story about an abusive family that uses confucian values like filial piety and duty to manipulate its members and make it resonate in a real way- the same way that xy’s fear of abandonment resonates. if the writing was stronger they would be able to explore how they keep tsj trapped in this toxic family without resorting to the most outlandishly evil dog blood tropes. and xl too!!! his relationship w the chenrong army is SO WEAK and poorly written. like everything is for his adopted dad, but it just doesn’t feel enough, esp when the army others him for being a yao. if they had more scenes that developed his relationship with them, his devotion would be so much more believable. a scene of them singing around some burning bodies does not communicate the strength of their bond or conviction. nobody in the army is even NAMED. like if we actually got to know them and hear their stories, see how xl came to bond with them, it would just be so much more believable. in general this is the issue with the scriptwriting. cx, tsj and xl are all pretty well written by themselves, but they don’t have support from the plot to make it all make sense.

Not only is the plot writing weak, at times it is pure dog blood trash. for example, the entire plot abt xy getting tortured and killed by some complete RANDOM. clearly this random guy who we have basically NEVER met or heard of was being influenced by 5 wang and 7 wang who wanted to get rid of xy to get at cx, but there was so little build up, so little development. when it happens it feels like it's out of nowhere, and just happens in order to plant the seed that she's chi chen's daughter and to compare how our three leading men will react. i wanted it to be much more clearer why xy is a target politically, instead of like, just this random guy's revenge. just felt SOOO out of nowhere, shitty writing, poor development, and really took the quality of the story down sooo much. even worse tsj’s rape and forced marriage.... i have too many frustrations, the way they handled the rape was so abysmal i don’t even wanna talk about it lmao.

i found everything more successful and enjoyable in the first arc when they were still in qingshui town and xy was wxl. honestly i am also just a sucker for stories about the common people with common every day problems so that also contributed, but it truly felt so much stronger. i think that when the stakes are lower, more grounded, the writer is much more adept at creating a plot that can support its characters. the little political things that happened felt reasonable and believable, rather than later on when the stage is bigger and stakes are higher. i loved wxl’s found family, his everyday problems, and his relationship with xl and tsj was already well developed and fully communicated the themes and messages of the story. once wxl becomes xy and we are now in princesses and nobility and palace world it loses so much of the heart and charm it had originally. also all of the gender stuff! i appreciate that tsj often takes a narratively feminine role, but nothin’s gonna come close to how fun and queer and trans the first arc was.

on the whole this show boasts some strong characters in a weak plot. a reverse harem being used to examine the different paths one can take after trauma gives this show substance that most reverse harems don’t have, if only everything could be backed up by a carefully cared for plot. excited to see how things develop season 2!