Perfect drama with lots of interesting plots
BaiLu and zheng linghe both are good looking and great potential to play strong characters. I personally liked BaiLu because she is the one who described her role gracefully. Jiang xiuening who played by BaiLu had so many relationship issues which caused her hell. All of her characters justified very gradually and most importantly her co male artist all of them are so sweet and doing their job greatly. Zhang linghe and BaiLu both have great chemistry which can show off camera.. and yes of course BaiLu always had relationship with her co star so not like they are lovers etc.. I just find them looking great together¿Te ha parecido útil esta reseña?
Best Chinese Historical of 2023 and in recent years !!!
Let me preface this by saying that I dont like to reveal spoilers in my reviews so this will be spoiler-free. I would like to first applaud the writers, director, technical team, costume department....all the many people involved behind the scenes who worked so hard to make this drama a success. I love to see people hard work bts rewarded. Now on to the actors. Everyone did an amazing job here. ZhangLihe is a revelation. This is my 1st drama of his and I am now a fan. I loved his acting here and the nuances he gave in his performance. Quite honestly these types of MLs are really not my cup of tea in dramas but I really attribute the fact that I loved his character so much to him, the actor. I havent watched any Bailu dramas since Arsenal Military Academy and she did an amazing job here; I love the myriad of emotions she portrayed as well. The other second male leads and other actors did a great job. The way the comic timing seamlessly blend in a " dark, serious" drama like this is a testament to the actors and also the writing. I love the political intrigue, fight scenes, reverse harem , harem court drama....all of this contributed to make this drama such a good drama. I hope ZLH and Bailu work in another drama in the future because their chemistry in this one was outstanding. I also loved that it wasnt heavily romance focused; dont get me wrong, I love a good romance in a historical drama but I also appreciate the political intrigue. Give it a try, you will love it and I dont even like to follow trends or whatever but the hype that this drama is getting is very well deserved.¿Te ha parecido útil esta reseña?
This review may contain spoilers
A MUST WATCH!
This drama is such a rollercoaster of emotions. You will cry, and you will smile, there is so much angst, and politics but also a smart villainess Female Lead, scholarly, overly intelligent ML, and a super 2-second male lead. Yes, we have 2 SMLs and the chemistry of the FL with two of them was amazing and you will cry for the other two. But our ML deserved her truly after what he had gone through, she is like a light in his dark life. A true definition of how love brightens one's life.Talking about the story, was very distinctive from what I had expected. The FL was indeed a villainess in her first life and made some major mistakes that caused her to die. The rebirth allowed her to follow a different path, at first she tried to avoid the situation altogether. But when she realized she could not avoid it, she decided to change it but when she realized that she couldn't change it either, she became active in preventing the worse situation. Though things were happening according to the past, they still changed because of the subtle changes, especially in the characters because of her change and intervention.
It WAS A HAPPY ENDING! Though it looked like a sad ending drama throughout the show, it was a happy ending. This drama is worth watching because of the ending, after so much angst, politics, and mind games we got a happy and satisfying ending. The chemistry in the drama is mindblowing, the main leads, supporting cast, everyone did a great job in portraying emotions and playing their part. I loved Yan Lin and the Princess, their roles had drastic changes and showed so much growth and development. I don't watch many Chinese historical dramas but after Love Like the Galaxy, this became my favorite one. Can I watch this again? Maybe No! Because it was so intense and I don't think I can handle it again but I will watch their happy moments later, so yeah! Their happy moments can be seen again and the osts are just so beautiful that it would make you cry.
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If only the secondary characters had been allowed more room to bloom.
I almost dropped it at episode 32.I really tried to like this drama but by episode 10+, I realised I was slowly starting to look forward to the secondary characters story and would have stayed if they have been given say...five minutes tops every episode from 10 upwards. And then when episode 32 happened, I just couldn't fake it anymore ?.
I couldn't pretend even for the dramatics of Dingfei and I really wanted to see more of the Jie-hui and Lu-Yin couple. Oh the story it could have been!
I was highly expectant of cast and story even after the basicality it decided to adhere to right after the sixth episode. That commonly plot vice of going back in time and wondering why the new timeline is not sticking to the script after hijacking it, then scrambling around trying to make it work and causing disastrous results. It ain't that drama for me, but you could enjoy it. Try it.
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This review may contain spoilers
The most toxic of romances . . . This drama's addictive qualities, and thrilling action scenes, do not matter, because the main romance is unbelievably toxic and romanticizes the most dangerous of red flags. It's as if the script writers went down the list of 'high risk factors' for murder suicide relationships :
1) Suicide threats and knives: Xie Wie takes a knife puts it into Ning'er-'s hand and invites her to stab him. This you, or I , or both of us attitude where the abuser takes a knife and points it at the other person, then at themselves, then starts screaming 'fine just do it, kill me, kill us' is usually the last step before the end. The show portrays this as showing intense love instead of an intense nihilism.
2) Strangulation and grabbing by the throat: Xie Wie repeatedly grabs Ning'er by the throat in order to force her to do something she doesn't want to do - including grabbing her by the throat and then kissing her. Strangulation and choking threats are huge red flags, mainly because it is a very vulnerable area to attack and often leads to brain injury. Strangulation/choking/non consensual breath play to initiate or coerce sex is often a sign of the same intense nihilism.
3) Drug use: Xie Wie has been using a highly damaging performance enhancing drug to make up for health issues stemming from his trauma. His friends have been trying to get him to stop, but they and Xie Wie insist that only Ning'er's love can and will get him to stop. Usually drug addiction/misuse cannot be 'solved' through a romance, and this belief causes many people to stay in toxic relationships enabled by the drug users family and friends who want someone else to bear the responsibility.
4) Untreated mental health: Xie Wie has episodes of extreme violence and paranoia due to past trauma. Ning'er and other innocent people are exposed to this dangerous behaviour repeatedly. Yet, there is no explanation on how this could be miraculously cured.
5) Romeo and Juliet sense of 'no one understands us': Xie Wie repeatedly claims to Ning'er that only they can understand each other - no one else can. That they are both meant to be forged through trauma and hardship, willing to go to lengths that other people cannot understand. Xie Wie repeatedly snears at Ning'er s love for Zhang Zhe - claiming that he's too simplistic and good for one such as her.
6) Obsessed with revenge, excellent at power games, petty to a fault: If Xie Wie only had this capacity of revenge for political wrongs, this wouldn't be such a red flag, but Xie Wie also shows a pettiness and jealousy towards the other family and friends in Ning'er's life and an inappropriate level of condescension towards Ning'er 's father.
7) Power imbalance in the relationship: Xie Wie is Ning'er's teacher and mentor at various points, and Ning'er s father and others treat him as one generation senior to Ning'er. Xie Wie often orders Ning'er around whether or not she is 'officially' his teacher at various points. Ning'er for various reasons begs him or kneels to him about various things throughout the show, but Xie Wie never puts himself in the humble position. Even when he's backed into a corner, he dramatically and violently seizes the power back.
There's probably a lot more. This is all to say in this modern age, there's no reason to teach people that these red flags are evidence of intense love - they are not. If you ever encounter anyone like this in real life - beware. That intensity is often simply a stalker like obsession and a strong desire for power and control over you.
It's one thing to portray a toxic individual who is NOT toxic towards the main love interest and is inspired by her to change (as unrealistic and problematic as that storyline is), but it's a whole 'nother thing to be directly harmful and toxic towards the main love interest.
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This review may contain spoilers
Story of how to create a toxic romance
5/10. I’m mad as hell that this type of abusive relationship is romanticized as true love. The plot is weak and got lost along the way.- FL traveled back in time (same period, not from our future) to correct her evil ambition on becoming queen and the lives she cost doing so. She decided to change her ways. She wanted to right her wrongs and also change the fates of those around her. Sounds like a great plot, right? It is.. if they didn’t lose focus half way through.
- The first half focused on the FL. Long story short, she decided to be a better person. She couldn’t help but get involve in the royal family’s bloody war so to survive, she had to be smarter and less ambitious.
- Wtf happened with the plot after leading our heroine up to this? They shifted the focus on XW the ML. The FL followed him around like a lost puppy while he helped her save all the people she wanted to save but couldn’t. They then decided to give ML this crazy back story with trauma, medical issues, evil schemes, backstabbing, revenge, all of it!
- The evil villain they fought against was dumb af. He got caught in all the traps they laid out. Even when we thought the villain finally did something, it turned out the ML somehow planned it all. Take this formula, repeat it 10x , and you got the main plot. It was boring and too predictable. The endless political battles were childish and overplayed. They tried to be smart about it but it was redundantly mediocre.
Now onto the toxic “romance.”
- She had 3 suitors. The first 2 she turned down were GREAT men. Both were kind, loving, and treated her with the utmost respect. She chose the one who abused her mentally and physically
- ML was the biggest red flag.
- He obsessively claimed her. This was fine for his own delusions but she repeatedly told him, she belonged only to herself. When he couldn’t have her, control her or felt like she didn’t listen to him, he became a psychotic manipulator.
- He got physical with her on multiple occasions and rarely was he respectful towards her. He repeatedly grabbed her by the throat (the throat!!), by the arm, wrist, and made verbal threats to her.
- He became madly possessive. She couldn’t look at another man before he choked her and threatened her.
-Their kisses were grossly forced upon her by him. When he asked her to be intimate, she gave in but left me wondering WTF and HTF did we get here?! This man manipulated her and it was romanticized as love?!
-She told 3 people she loved him before she even told him. Another WTF moment for me.
-The ending.. when he deliberately stepped on his son’s shirt to trip him and then kicked the poor boy after? Was that supposed to be funny and playful? Because it failed to be funny and playful to me. Even his daughter was shook. I watched 30 episodes and waited for the romance between the leads to start. I endured her giving up two potential great men for the ML only to be given 8 episodes of chaos.
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Been a while since I watched a smart female lead drama like this
This drama was why I renewed my iqiyi premium subscription. My kind of drama, a smart male lead, a smart female lead with a no-nonsense wit that knows how to scheme and give back to bullies. Been on a drama drought for awhile now but this drama gave me back the will to watch a drama. Good casts with good story and beautiful costumes. A very, very satisfied watch for me. If WY from story of yanxi place had a sister andi also considered ML from the story of Ming Lan as well, JN of SOKP would have been her sister although it's a different period and era but it's how I see it especially seeing how smart she is.¿Te ha parecido útil esta reseña?
This bustling world is a battlefield!! Suspence, angst, romance, scheme all in one….
This is one of the best Chinese historical drama I’ve ever seen!!! Just right amount of sumspense, perfect angst and like a cherry on top the slow burning deep romance, everything is perfect for me. Though I’m new at writing reviews but I am a veteran drama watcher. I’m watching k-drama and c-dramas for last 9 years. But basically got attracted to historical, political c-dramas just recently. And what a masterpiece it was!!!!! And if I start writing about the amazing casts I will be blabbering whole night! Bai Lu can initiate chemistry even with a block of ice and here she got my personal favorite Zhang Linghe…who is equally good looking and got a talent for acting!!! Surprisingly both the leads don’t come from entertainment background, but they proved that talent can be anywhere. Loved their morally grey character and yes, they may not be best as human beings but they are perfect for each other!! And the character XW, it was really tough to portray this kind of character…he is a double spy!!! And for some reason I really like smart leads in a drama rather than air-headed ones, specially the FLs. So this drama was so in tune with me and I enjoyed every moment. Not a single second I felt that should skip this part. So my advice will be even if anyone feels bored with first few episodes please try to continue. You won’t be disappointed….¿Te ha parecido útil esta reseña?
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The most satisfying ending EVER for a historical chinese drama!!!!!
I have watched a lot of historical chinese drama. Almost in all of them, they will closure the drama in like 1 min or so leaving us with so many questions. But ladies and gentleman, this drama has the perfect ending. We got all the characters ending and of course our Main Leads happy ending in DETAILS !!! *chef kiss* PERFECT ENDING. I give this drama a solid 9/10 i would have given it a 10/10 if only they gave us more details of the past life, like her affairs with the MLs, her emotions like why she was so pbssessed with having power and the empress position but most importantly i wanted to know badly the outcome of all the characters in the past life.¿Te ha parecido útil esta reseña?
A dream that felt too real
This drama is definitely not the typical historical Chinese drama you would expect. It is based on the story of a strong female lead who wakes up from a dream that felt too real. In that dream, she was a selfish woman who would do anything and use anyone to achieve her ambitions. However, when she wakes up again, we see her character development as she tries to be a better person and make up all the mistakes she made and all those she hurt in her dream.I really enjoyed this drama as it was really realistic and relatable, especially the relationship between the characters. I especially loved the chemistry between the main leads Jiang Xue Ning(Bailu) and Xie Wei(Zhang Linhe) and how they went from enemies to cooperating together to save the Yan family and many more. Jiang Xue Ning was the only light in Xie Wei’s dark view of the world and end up being the most important person and support to eachother.
Acting of the main leads were quite good but I felt like the supporting characters could have a bit more and better changes in their expressions to show their character development.
Music was good and I loved all the songs, Bailu actually sang one of them aswell!
The biggest flaw in this drama for me would be the pacing throughout the episodes. I just felt like the ending felt way too rushed, especially after seeing and getting used to the slow moving plot (up to around ep 33). The female lead only seemed to truly understand the male lead in the last 5 episodes and his intentions behind his decision and only then did she confirm her feelings for Xie Wei (with only 5 episodes to go). I felt like it could’ve been better paced to make the episodes flow more consistently and make it comfortable to watch.
Overall, it was a very unique drama and enjoyable to watch. Recommended.
Ps. This is my first review hahaha
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While the setup is nothing new, the drama manages what I feel is a rarity these days in Chinese drama land - sustaining my rapt attention for the full 38 episodes. The script wisely stays focused on the story and characters - balancing the political storylines with the slow burn romance that is allowed to develop organically, without anyone acting out of character just to create a sense of forced drama or romance. The supporting characters are given time to develop as well and actually add to the overall story. They support our male and female lead in their journey of finding their true selves and each other.
What prevents me from giving this a 10 is the often heavy-handedness of the direction - blinding lighting, distracting camerawork and odd framing of shots give an overall unpolished look. There is a tendency to make things a bit over the top, but these are small quibbles and a matter of taste ultimately. The cast overall do a solid job - I am most impressed with Wang Xing Yue. Despite his young age, he is able to hold his own in a very stoic role.
This is a great one to binge and re-watch. It's not meant to be an artsy, profound expose on life, death, fate vs self determination, etc. It's just great fun to watch.
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Bailu and her male entourage
Very much enjoyed this drama!!Story: the trope of going back in time but I still love it lol. Will give 9.5 since it's overused.
Acting: bravo everyone. I liked all three stories with the male leads. I just give 9.5 because everyone could have improvements. Love BL but felt ZLH a bit awkward sometimes. Maybe the camerawork?
Chemistry: Lulu has chemistry with everyone be it males or females. Just love how she gets along with everyone!!
Rewatch: this one I would rewatch for sure.
Music: zhou sheng and Lulu's songs were awesome!! I still listen to them.
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