Not My Cup of Tea

I usually don't write reviews, because I find it hard to remember all the details I would like to write down, but this series was so strange that I just have to release all this confusion.
First of all, when I finished watching "My Journey to You" I felt nothing (maybe some relief to have finished). Honestly, I don't regret finishing dramas even when I didn't enjoy it that much, but with this one I felt regret! To me this cdrama does not evoke almost any emotions. I think this is because the characters lack depth and there is zero backstory for Yun Weishan and Shangguan Qian. They try to make the series sinister, dark and emotional but you don't even know the origins of the female leads? Gong Zi Ju had backstory but he was still so bland.. Gong Shang Jue was all right, definitely more interesting than the others.
Second, in my opinion there is zero chemistry between the two couples. Many people think that Shangguan Qian and Gong Shang Jue were the best, but to me, their relationship was almost stranger than Yun Weishan's and Gong Zi Ju's relationship. Like why does Shangguan Qian always have to speak in such a suspicious way? Was there ever any trust in that relationship? And another thing, there was no "falling in love" stage for Yun Weishan and Gong Zi Ju, they just liked each other the moment the series started. And yes, that works sometimes, but in this case it was just mechanical and unromantic.
Third, the story was soo confusing. I can put up with bad character and whatever, but only if the plot itself is entertaining. The original idea was really good but the execution was just eeeh. In the last three or four episodes there were so many plot twists that I just questioned every second of the last 20 episodes. And to me, that's bad script writing. I mean plot twists are good, but too many just don't work. At the end I didn't even understand the intentions of the characters throughout the entire series, because everything was kind of suddenly changed. I don't know if I am explaining this properly but if you've watched "My Journey to You" you might relate.
Okay for the positive aspects of the series: The cinematography was good, and the costumes were gorgeous.

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Loved this so much

This is definitely one of my highest rated dramas, and this was probably a curse because I started watching it exactly during exam season, oh well... Nonetheless, I found every episode intriguing and enjoyable. The plot is interesting: the power struggle is understandable and not overly confusing and unnecessary like in many other dramas, instead in this one it was quite fun to watch. Ning'er is a strong character, and although she appears to be very confident after having died in her first life and entered her second one, you can still see that she also brings a lot of emotional baggage with her, and she is not indestructable as often seen in other stories that have a rebirth trope. I found the relationships in the story quite beautiful and it was nice to see that there was trust between characters, such as between Xie Wei and the emperor (I think often there is always some sort of backstabbing, which becomes tiring to watch). I loved how not everything went well even though Ning'er and Xie Wei are smart, like things should go wrong but not too wrong either (as I often see in xianxia dramas, which drives me a bit crazy sometimes ngl). Xie Wei is soooo oh my god, not a good person in many ways, but he still took my breath away. And Zhang Linghe's acting was for me by far the best in this drama, better than in My Journey to You or in Love Between Fairy and Devil. Lu Bai is also a very good actress, her dramas tend to be good as well.

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So cute!

Omg! I loved watching this drama, it's a hidden gem. Sakura is such a sweet and couragous person, and her perseverance is really admirable. I am happy they did not portray her as the damsel in distress, useless female lead who just wants to run after a guy, but instead apart from having fallen in love with Tendo, she also wants to become an excellent nurse. There were no dumb misunderstandings and no scheeming by jealous side characters.. The relationships were really nice and there was no character that I did not like in particularly. The acting was also good and not cringy. This is an ideal series for people who need a light and fun watch!

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Not a fan

When I began this kdrama I was a bit skeptical. The first episode started out ok but I did notice that there were many draggy and unnecessary parts included, I guess to make the episodes long. I don't like that so much since I get bored pretty easily. Anyways, I continued watching and I just skipped the parts that I found boring. As for the plot, I didn't find it very good: It's confusing and there are some questions that remain unresolved till the end. It also is the kind of story where there are inheritance issus and stuff like that, I think that can be quite stressful to watch. However the plot overall is not a bad idea, it's just the way it was executed into this knot of storylines- it's a bit shabby and cheap. Logic, for instance, is not in this kdrama. The ending was really strage, did not like it at all. The female lead was quite cruel to say the least. I would not recommend watching, in my opinion.

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Science fiction story about time travel

There was a lot going on in this drama, and I don't even know how to start writing a review about it! This series has many very good point, but there are a few things that bothered me. I don't think this drama deserves a 7.9, I think it should be higher. The plot is really unique and kind of disturbing (in a good way). There is a lot of pain and confusion, but Jian Xiao Yuan always tried to persevere. The suspence in this series was really overwhelming for me, thus I binged watched all the episodes, otherwise I could not concetrate on other things without wondering what would happen next. However, although there is romance I found the suspence and the main plot line to overshadow the romance, therefore, even though I began the series for the romance, in the end it turned more into finding out the truth behind the female lead's time travel mystery.

What I liked:
I thought this would be more of an innocent sci-fi + romance series, but it was not like that at all. It was pretty disturbing and shocking, and one could really sympathise for the female lead's painful confusion about her existence. The actress Liu Hao Cun was impressive, like it overshadowed Lin Yi's acting! He wasn't bad though, she was just very good at showing her feelings.
Jian Xiao Yuan is a strong character, she is confident, optimistic and resilient. But she also suffers a lot, mixed with the acting, I felt so sorry for her. Qi Lian was always supportive of her, and helped her.

What I disliked:
The series was extremely engaging until about ep 20. Afterwards it started to become draggy, and kind of annoying.. I enjoyed the makeup/hairstylist plot line in the beginning, it added a bit of lightness to the intensity of the story, but in the last 10 episodes it just became more of a way to make the series longer, instead of just finishing it. The ending felt very underwhelming, like the drama started off with soo many good and interesting plot twists, but the ending was just okay. Nothing special. To be honest I skipped some scenes in the last four episodes because of that.

Overall I recommend this drama. But I think I have to warn you before watching, that if you're not in the mood for something intense then maybe don't watch it.

!!Light Spoilers!!
The friendship between the male lead and female lead started off fine, but later on, still early in the story (like ep 6 or 7 I think), there will be a very emotional and traumatising situation between the leads. He will become a bit aggressive and it was hard to watch. It was hard to get over that later, as he never really apologised to her, in my opinion. I like that the series doesn't romanticise the situation of the two main characters but that episode really felt too much.

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