As a Chinese person, I am not proud to say this is my first complete watch of a Cdrama. Needless to say, it pales in comparison to Kdramas. Like, a lot.

ACTING: The acting isn’t great. It FEELS like they’re acting, which is not a good sign. I think Shen Yue is the best one here. The interactions fall a bit short and seem choppy, and are a bit awkward at times. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the “skip a heartbeat” moment when the two mains finally got together, like I usually do in Kdramas. Also the hitting/kicking/slapping scenes are so staged and unrealistic, they were hard to watch

STORY: I literally rewatched the first episode of Boys over Flowers so I could compare it to MG, and even though that one was filmed 10 years before this one, everything about it was better. The execution, the acting, the story. Cdramas have some rly corny and unnatural elements, like the scene of her kicking him in the face, or him suggesting they hide in the girls bathroom to scare her. It’s just plain extra and weird. Also all 6-7 episodes of Meizuo/Caina were skipped.

CHARACTERS: I’ll admit, I had no idea how much the characters grew throughout the series. Their growth was gradual and natural, which I really liked. The mother was too much, she became annoying, not as a character but as a plot element. They used her too much and repeated the situation too many times.