ngl hated it
So cliche. So textbook. and so overdone.This plot from the beginning was horrible. I hate cliche plots. Give me something unique???
Not only that, the acting. THE. ACTING. I wanted to die. Don't get me wrong, ZLS is wonderful. However, I don't quite understand the hype. Her acting... is only okay. And I think it's because she quite literally sucks at these cutesy girl next door roles. It's way beyond cringe (which is weird because all she needs to do is be herself and it'd be great). Her more powerful and independent roles is where she really shines. This, was just not it.
On top of that..... just not a huge fan of CZY. hes.... just okay I guess....
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THE CHEMISTRY!!! -finished all episodes in under 24 hours! please watch!
Now, I rarely watch KDrama and CDrama romance films because there's just something about it that just makes me cringe. After watching this show, "Love Designer", I now realize what I like and don't like in shows.First off, the plot line. I know some people hate it or find it annoying, but I genuinely think its a unique concept (then again, I don't watch much drama/romance shows because majority are terribly written). SL is like the "rich male" who owns a business with a tragic but not so tragic back story, and ZF if like your (supposedly) relatable female who is trying to chase her dreams. I originally thought SL was going to be annoying af and made me want to punch him, but Johnny (HJY) literally made me fall in love with not only SL, but the actor himself. His way of pursuing ZF throughout the entire show, is the cutest things ever and them bickering brings me joy. Dilraba did such an amazing job portraying ZF in a relatable female character and not the typical role you see in every other drama.
HOWEVER! I did hate how much the characters played nice, when they CLEARLY could've fcked their enemies over (because they legit almost ruined them) but that might just be the asshole in me not being able to do it myself.
- I have realized how much the older generationed parents pisses me off. Being chinese myself, I am not surprised by their view points and outlook on what a "normal" life to them is, but seeing it played out made me want to punch them. NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET MARRIED. NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO HAVE KIDS. YOU DONT GET TO MAKE DECISIONS IN YOUR KIDS LIFE. SINGLE IS OKAY. NO KIDS IS ALSO OKAY.
When watching this show, there is literally one thing you CANNOT deny, and its the beautiful chemistry Dilraba and Johnny have together. All of their kiss scenes, made me feel so happy and not full on cringe vomit feelings, and that's a first coming from romance shows. They have such a unique connection and on screen (and off screen), you feel as though this is a real relationship. Not only their kiss scenes, them just bickering and arguing with each other made me laugh so hard and fall in love with them even more. (don't even get me started on the ending because this bitch full on CRIED tears of joy for the two. Will be rewatching even though I just finished the show)
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watch for the plot/actors, not the accuracy
If you're someone like me who isn't super into the actual republican era in china's past and has no issue with voice actors or dubbing, and is also a lover romance and hot af actors, this is the show for you. i screamed, cringed, fangirled, laughed, cried, and got angry all while watching this show and i loved it.THE GOOD:
TXL and MWQ are a match made in heaven, giving us that enemies to lovers vibe but never removing the constant bickering between the two (which not many shows have). These are 2 of the wittiest and intelligent people I've ever watched in a show and it is SUPER refreshing. i love that there aren't really any huge misunderstandings or breakups and that there isn't a love triangle. the 2 of them are perfect in every way and completely understand each other.
MWQ: she isn't you're typically damsel in distress who constantly needs a man to save her (not that there's anything wrong with it, just not my cup of tea) but rather a strong-minded businesswoman who knows how to think things through and create an intelligent plan to achieve justice and do the right thing. We constantly see her match TXL intelligence and jokes, but not be bullied into a weak position. She knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice important parts of her life to be with TXL. although we see how she's been mistreated by her 'family' from the very beginning, she doesn't let that stop her from finding justice and bringing her family some peace.
TXL: at first, he's an asshole. that's really it. but as the show goes on, we really see that he is the definition of character growth. he goes from being lowkey rude towards MWQ but starts to slowly realize she is incredibly smart and loving and got fucked over in her life just like he did. he has an extremely charming personality that not only gets you to laugh as an audience, but completely fall in love as he can do the stupidest things for love and entertainment. he's not afraid to show his love and appreciation towards MWQ but rather showers her in his disgusting romantic feelings and treats her like a queen. he's willing to go out of his way to give her justice and let her live a happy and peaceful life like she deserves. TXL no matter what, tries to put his loved ones, be it his right hand man TS, his gf MWQ, or even his sister, he tries his best to do what's right but also not harm them.
in the end, seeing them go from "i hate you and everything you stand for is against what i believe" to "we're not actually that different and we're definitely gonna get married" is absolutely amazing. the modernized look of the republican era is one of my favorite things because we get to see all the different looks the cast gets.
now for the bad things....
THE BAD:
there's not much to say about the bad so I'll keep it short. towards the end, it kind of gets.... how do i say it... boring. i found myself, who was actively following every update date and not skipping any sections, to skipping large chunks of the show and not really watching it on the days they uploaded. they dive deeper into the politics part of the show (while maintaining the romance so it was okay in the end) but i did feel myself getting pulled away a bit. with that being said, i still finished the show and am super glad i accidentally stumbled upon this but PLEASE WATCH THIS!!
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Probably one of the cutest and best watch of the year (ever??) so far
This was so cute. SO SO SO SO SOSOSOSOSOSSOSO CUTTEEEEEEEE. Genuinely so effing cute.For starters, I 100% agree with the people who say there should have been romance. ZhouYe and LinYi are actually so cute together in this I wish there were more scenes.
But besides the lack of romance, I genuinely have NO complaints about this. The slow burn was so good. The writing and plot was emaculate. I love me a good strong female lead who is witty and funny and not afraid to be bold. YQL might be one of my favorite female characters to date. At the same time, GX is SUCH A GREEN FLAG (minus the very public rejection but hey what's a plot without character development??? my man was heartbroken and pissed let him live). I loved that she made him work for their relationship.
It is very video game heavy but honestly, I loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it and looked forward to watching this. This gave me hope in cdrama romance again because after the atrocity of hidden love??? I could not believe the giant fanbase it had. This needs that hype. In love with ZhouYe and also in love with LinYi now.
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hoping for a season 2; not romance heavy!
so much better than I was expecting honestly....IF YOURE EXPECTING ROMANCE WITH A SIDE OF PLOT THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!!!
the story line initially was so incredibly good. two female assassins? being sent on a mission by being married into the Gong family? love it. i am so glad however, the more i watched, this it was wasn't super romance heavy. i was much more focused on the "brotherly" bonding going on in this more so than the romance. i have established that all the actors are so incredibly good (and good looking) that this is actually fucking insane casting. i cannot wait to see more from them (especially TJR who is so new to acting but did so good as GYZ he is actually my favorite character). YWS and GZYs relationship is also so cute GZY is so loving and caring and is such a nice addition to the cold/stoich stereotype many male characters get. HOWEVER, the relationship between GSJ and GYZ is my absolute favorite thing in this entire show it was so wholesome. i was so stressed out during the whole thing because i really wanted all the "brothers" to get along and WE FINALLY GOT IT ?????? anyways will rewatch for GSJ and GYZ scenes as well as the small romance bits
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definitely could've ended 15 episodes ago....
the cast? amazing.plot? meh, okay i guess.
the music? skipped every second of it because it was garbage.
this is the first show I've watched that i felt like it just kept dragging. the way this got more boring towards the end and slowly made me lose interest was a little alarming and annoying but i just went with it. the overall plot was okay but there were parts that were so extreme and unrealistic that made me die laughing because it felt like watching an irl fanfiction on the screen. the cast did a great job imo and they really killed their roles (especially the actor for XMH because holy shit did i want to punch him in the face and hate him). however, i still finished it but don't think ill rewatch it anytime soon.
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I only watched this because people were recommending it and after watching Lie to Love with CX I decided to give it a shot. Originally, I saw this RIGHT when it came out, like on the first release date. However, I saw the first episode and there was something about it that I just couldn't continue with it (I tried to find out what it was again but everything seems fine to me so idk what the fuck was wrong with me then).
I have never seen anything with Xu Kai in it so I didn't really know what to expect, and the only thing I saw with CX was the new show Lie to Love. A lot of people don't like CX for some reason which I'm struggling to understand but to each their own I guess, and I know that there was some sort of boycott over this show about plagiarism or something? But nonetheless, I still really enjoyed the show and what the actors did.
Now, usually, like in You Are my Glory, I can see why some people compare the two. It is both very heavy in gaming (maybe a little less in YAMG) but they both had similar concepts. HOWEVER, I skipped every gaming scene in YAMG and not to pat myself on the back or anything, I was pretty into this game on FIYS and watching how people interacted. I didn't skip in real close up animations of combat clips and was actually pretty engaged. I enjoyed how they depicted the sexist world of gaming and how the female leads dealt with constant misogyny from both men and women. I liked how they showed a lot of emotion and had funny clips but also sad clips and also showed us the struggles of professional gamers and what that's like for their careers and their families. Especially in a country like China, it's very common and traditional to study study study and then find a good stable office job or something and live your life quietly. Going into video games, something seen as just wasting time, it really shows you people (young people in this case) can take a really deep form of passion and turn something they're good at into a profession. This is one of the many things I enjoyed about this.
The second thing is the relationship between all the characters. YOU CANNOT TELL ME ALL VIEWERS DIDN'T FALL IN LOVE WITH AT LEAST ONE OF THE BOYS.
For me personally, lao mao and lao k are taking the gold medal for who won my heart. Lao K's cold demeanor that slowly changed into this warm friendship was such a realistic depiction (not to mention he looked hot af while doing so ;)) because it goes through the emotions of betrayal and abandonment. Seeing some one he doesn't even know and never had an input about replacing one of his closest friends really hurts. But in the end, Lao K and Tong Yao have such a cute sibling bond. Lao Mao on the other hand is definitely the mood maker. His constant bickering and how he and Lao K contrast each other makes me melt with happiness. He can be so clueless and stupid at times, but when things get serious it's like a different version of him. I still can't get over how amazing of a relationship Lao Mao and Lao K have and it lowkey shattered me during that one fight. In the end, they called a truce and continued to hang around each other and went back to the way they were before (side note, no way was there not a slight 'bromance' there because if it weren't for Chinas censorship, I 100% would've thought they had a lovers quarrel and were dating)
TLDR; WATCH THIS. ITS SO GOOD. (also, there's cute kitties involved)
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