Only when you love yourself first can you truly love another.

I wish I could write a coherent review for this series. Truly one of the most heart-warming shows I've watched in a long time, which I didn't expect at all, considering how the story's concept didn't seem all that serious in the beginning.

[Some vague or random spoilers ahead, but spoilers nonetheless.]

Ling Miaomiao, the female lead, get sucked in to this book world with a game-like system, into the body of the book's supporting character but also villain, Lin Yu, when she writes a hate post about the said book's plot and crappy ending. Right away, she's thrown beginner tasks after beginner tasks which proceeds to show one of the most hilarious first three episodes of a cdrama I've ever watched. I don't remember laughing out loud as much as I have during the first three episodes of this show. Miaomiao also has the funniest voiceovers, thinking out loud the viewers' thoughts - criticising plot loopholes, admiring handsome characters, wondering about the CGI budget, etc. and I would say these voiceovers were the life of the first third of the show.

Miaomiao survives her hellish trial period in the game and it is revealed what she actually has to do to leave the game - defeat the book world's main villain - the Resentful Woman, and make the novel's male supporting lead, Mu Sheng, fall in love with her a.k.a. have positive 100% favorability towards her. Which is practically the same as having a snowball's chance in hell since Mu Sheng hates her guts a.k.a. views her with -250% hostility.

But Miaomiao, armed with her knowledge about the book world's fate, begins to change not only the main characters' trajectory but also the even lesser supporting ones. The arc with her book father is one of most moving subplots in this show and it made me tear up (happy tears!).

How the drama then proceeds to show the transition from the horrendous -250% to the humble 55% was very "kilig"-inducing. Episodes 7-10 must be my favorite episodes aside from episode 20 and the last episode. Episodes 7-10 are really where the magic happens and I got to know more about Mu Sheng or Ziqi, as Miaomiao calls him. Ziqi's book character is cruel, manipulative and only cares about his adopted sister, Mu Yao - the book's main female lead. But then Miaomiao comes along and she slowly but surely tiptoes her way to his heart. And when inside, you can bet Ziqi's eyes are practically glued to her.

Other than the main leads, all the side characters gets their own mini storyline (without taking anything away from the major storyline) rather it elevates the storytelling even more with a rich world and characters. The writer really shows everyone is the hero of their own world and story. Even the minor demons that they encountered along the way all had touching backstories.

I really liked how everything, the demons' stories included, was linked to love. To love and be loved. The extent of one's love. How love changes you. How you gain strength because of love. How you become whole first in order to truly love someone else. This was the theme of the show.

Even Ziqi's parents had such a touching love story and I like how it was revealed [spoilers!!!] that they weren't separated by external forces as what I had initially been led to believe, but rather it was their choice, as it was the best choice for everyone they loved at that time. The most beautiful love doesn't always have to be kept. Sometimes it is let go, and only then will it take root and spread to others (in this case, it was in the form of Ziqi who survived because of his parents' sacrifice).

And now the ending, which I absolutely love!

[MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS AHEAD].

When the end came, the reveal about Ziqi's real self and modern background story was everything. It turns out Ziqi (yes in the real world his name is Ziqi) is actually the author Fu Zhou (his pen name) and he was born with a disease that made his life, his family's circumstances and his growing up very difficult. But Miaomiao, like how she became the sun to book Ziqi's world, was actually originally real-life Ziqi's sun in the real world. She inspired him and that's how he started writing stories. Every story he wrote was for her, every beautiful ending he crafted was for her. But he had always stayed afar. And when his disease caught up to him (the same time Miaomiao is experiencing the book world's ending), he makes a choice in the real world to bravely undergo surgery. And in the book world, book Ziqi, after experiencing the predetermined catastrophe of the book's ending, realized he was Fu Zhou all along. He lets Miaomiao know he has always liked her and he has always wished she would know. With the strength that Miaomiao gives him, Ziqi saves the book world and in the real world, Fu Zhou goes under the knife, his last thought being his three wishes, the last of which was running to Miaomiao and telling her how he feels. And that's exactly how it ends. Miaomiao wakes up with only a vague recollection of her time in the book world and she remembers she had loved someone. She attends Fu Zhou's book signing event and sees two people (who resembles two characters in the book - Cui Cui and his grandpa) which makes her pause as if remembering something. Then Ziqi calls her name~ at first she's surprised but at she looks at him (we're not shown Ziqi unfortunately), she slowly smiles!

The closing line is one of the best ending lines ever. Watch it yourself but the summary is the title of this review.

To me, it's a clear happy ending, not an open ending. The book Ziqi that Miaomiao has fallen in love with is the same Ziqi she meets in the real world as he, through his pen name Fu Zhou, wrote himself and his circumstances into the book. Miaomiao's feelings are real. And Ziqi has always liked Miaomiao since the beginning. The impact she had on his life actually made me tear up. She's the source of his inspiration, his sun. His wishes were to survive and let Miaomiao know how he feels. And that's practically what the ending has set up.

Real-life Ziqi is already in love with Miaomiao. And Miaomiao transmigrated into the book to learn and figure out just how much. And she does! "All my novels were written for you," book Ziqi had said when he realized he was Fu Zhou. Honestly, there couldn't have been a sweeter confession than this, especially to a fan from the author she has admired for years. So even though we aren't shown, I'm 100% sure they will catch up with each other, get to know each other more and Miaomiao will recall her time in the book world slowly or even vaguely and they will spend lots of time recounting to each other her experience in the book as opposed to what Ziqi/Fu Zhou wrote. It's a clear happy ending!

Bonus favorite parts of this show: Yu Shuxin as Miaomiao and Ding Yuxi as Ziqi. I couldn't imagine anyone else playing their roles. Esther was everything adorable in this world and Ryan had the most soul wrenching eye acting ever.

Thank you for a very wonderful two weeks, Love Game In Eastern Fantasy! You will be missed and will be rewatched from time to time!

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Unexpectedly mind-blowingly good!

I have never written a review on MDL and I don't really watch reality shows, but I just had to write this.

EVERYONE NEEDS TO SEE THIS SHOW!

Massive spoilers ahead but this is honestly all you need to know. This is absolutely the most entertaining and most brilliant show I've watched in a long time and you shouldn't miss it!

I honestly didn't know what the show is even about. It was just trending on Netflix so I clicked. But boy was that the best decision ever. It honestly felt like a full blown directed show with all the twists and surprises. Like plenty of jaw drop moments especially the second half, and mostly the amazingness of this show comes from the brilliance of its participants. Mainly Ha Seokjin!

-This is where spoilers start-

The only familiar face when I first started the show was him so I was low key rooting for him from the start just because he was the most familiar (didn't really know him that well as an actor). The moment he teamed up with Siwon and Dongjae though, I was pretty much on their side all the way because they were outnumbered (3 vs 11 lol) and they were honestly the underdogs because alliance was a big thing in the game and I wanted them to win. But even when Dongjae was eliminated, Seokjin and Siwon's party of two worked perfectly together.

Honestly, I have now become Seokjin's fan! I really liked how when people panicked and started conniving and backstabbing and begging, Seokjin remained calm and just stuck to his own thing. And he is legit a genius! I loved watching him piece together the Pieces to a cube, decoding its secret message and cracking the code of the safe. I loved how he freaking solved the prison ring puzzle pretty much the moment he touched it LMAO.

The finals really lived up to its name. It was the match of the century as one of the other participants said. I've never really liked Orbit and their group (except for Dong Joo mostly because of how she singlehandedly answered all the 10 questions to the memory game - the third highlight of the show by the way) but you have to give credit where its due. The guy is legit a comeback champion. He was practically dead in the poker game and using his last chip, he managed to unbury himself and even finished as a finalist. And during the Nine Morris game, I got nervous right away when he one upped Seokjin when Seokjin was supposed to have the advantage. And even on the hexagon game (I don't even know how they managed to keep memorizing numbers after numbers with all that stress and pressure), he managed to make a comeback from a deficit of five and tied with Seokjin just in time for the final round. Like how was that possible. Even though I've never rooted for him, he was a worthy opponent for Seokjin and a deserving finalist.

Fortunately, Ha Seokjin was the better "fighter". Their finals showdown was everything. Before he turned the table on the Nine Morris game, everyone was thinking of the same moves (including me) and I even questioned what he was doing. But this brilliant man had a much better plan. It was pretty much over for Orbit when Seokjin managed to work out the real strategy for the game. Honestly, Seokjin had so many surprises. The unexpected play during the semifinals was mind-blowing. To think he had managed to get him and Siwon end up on prison on the freaking last day just to crack the safe and play the secret game. It was the second highlight of the show. Only the people with lowest number of pieces get to go to prison and to think Seokjin (who was mostly at the top of the leaderboard for majority of the time) had managed to maneuver everything and get not only himself but also his only true ally in prison. I can't stop thinking about that moment.

But THE highlight of all highlights is when Seokjin solved the secret game itself. It was such a freaking difficult game and when I thought he already lost, he actually won. The fact that he did all that on 3-4 hours of sleep even. I think just based on that alone, Seokjin was already the winner of the whole game, because he was the only person to have experienced and played every aspect of the games in the Devil's Plan.

It is truly a blessing for the viewers to have someone as capable as Ha Seokjin to follow and root for in this amazingly awesome show! Anyway, if you've reached this part, please watch it still because the feeling is different when you see it in action even when you've already been spoiled lol

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