WON'T WATCH AGAIN/CHINESE LANGUAGE

All 8 stars are meant as 10 full stars for every part of this production except the writing.  The casting, acting and sets were brilliant...a hardy "well done" to everyone involved in these aspects.  

The writing left me groaning due to how incredibly unrealistic many parts of the plot were.  This is coined as a romance/drama.  I would coin it as an "in your dreams" compilation of fantasy and fairytale...and not in a good way.

That women are portrayed as pushovers aggravates me to no end.  If the guy annoys her enough she will cave and go back to him, regardless of his actions?  It also drives me mad that men are portrayed in a way that presents them as children who only consider their own feelings and not those of the person they claim to love.

Also, how is it that an educated man like the cardiologist (job/career is irrelevant except to denote him) would go from being in love with someone with such a keen mind as the female lead, to a 12 year old child trapped in an adult's body?  What would they talk about at dinner, his cases, her colouring book entries for the day? GROAN!  This entire series says that it's okay to stalk someone if you really love them.  Insert more groaning here.

Sorry for the rant, keep in mind that I'm old and have a very different perspective on life as well as relationships because of experience.

A younger demographic will not see what I do, nor be affected by the cliche boxes that all forms of media put us into, thus they will likely enjoy this.  

I don't want to deter anyone from watching this series, I just want to share my opinion as a geezer for subsequent geezers.

Childish, immature, over-the-top, cliche...ugh.

If it weren't for the writing, the crap dubbing and all of the acting except the ML, this would have been worth watching all the way through the first time and a possible re-watch.  I skipped at least half of the episodes because of cliche character behaviours (which suck the intelligence and logic out of any production) and the dubbing.

As far as the actors go, I can only lay a tiny bit of the load of the blame on them, they didn't write the script and who can know how well they acted when the dubbing is so painfully, well, painful.

I did like the music of the intro theme song enough that I actually noticed it...which I usually don't.   It had a logical progression throughout that did well to drag me into a sense of an arduous journey ahead.  I think the tune had the potential to leave a much greater impact on viewers had it been given the power that it hints of.  I am only commenting on the tune, I didn't read any of the lyrics, so I can't speak for them.

25 minutes into the first episode I had to stop.   I was dumbfounded by the ridiculousness of the writing.  Already, laden with cliche character types, childish and pointless.   I can't even bring myself to skip episodes to see if it has any capacity for redemption.

Bah!  I am so angry at the writers and everyone else in the chain of command who allowed them to destroy the credibility of this production, as this story had the potential to be intelligent and fluid.  

The initial FL's character drew me in and held me to this story...I spent the rest of the series waiting to see her true self emerge through the 2nd FL...she didn't.  Any similarities they shared were no different than those that two strangers would coincidentally share.

Were it me in charge of this mess, I'd have used the initial FL for both and employed a talented FX team for prosthetics and make-up to alter her initial appearance and let her true self be presented through the rest of the production.

The Queen-Empress...whatever...were there two people writing her character...was it one person with a split personality?  How does someone who is, on the one hand, written as intelligent then in the very next breath will behave like an irrational, emotionally driven tween?

ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!

This had the potential to be something brilliant, however, the dubbing is void of, well, everything.   Come ON China, let the talent in your countrymen shine instead of undermining their ability at every turn.  

I would have enjoyed this series if it weren't for how the FL's mother is written,  she's a narcissistic tyrant.  She sucks all the intelligence out of every scene she is in...thanks writers for once again being lazy and defaulting to the never welcome rage-inducing cliches.

I couldn't make it through the first episode.  10 minutes in we were already into the hell bound cliche train; tyrannical matriarch, conniving older relatives, spoiled cousins, nonsensical  scenarios with strangers,  and a severe lack of intelligence in the writing.   

Oh, I really wanted this to be good as I usually enjoy the productions the male lead participates in...I tried for 8 episodes before I just couldn't anymore.   It's just a string of nonsensical behaviours and dialogue that often don't have a common ground with each other from one behaviour/breath to the next.  The ML is written like two separate people within the same body....there is no other way to explain how someone that is originally presented as intelligent and kind, can turn into a violent emotionally driven twat in the span of a thought.  His flip from helicopter boyfriend to tyrant is illogical in the context of the story.

And even more sadly, the token mean girls...why? 

I can't knock the acting, they all did well considering the shite script they were given.  All stars of for them and them alone.

Another production that is just a compilation of random sentences and events.  Intelligent writing is not one of the ingredients.  

Intern wants to become a full time correspondant so live on air she emotionally and quite immaturely brings up the past between her and the guy she's interviewing and then blames her boss for using that and causing the guy grief???

I'm done.

Too many cliches for me.   Without the overbearing mother, the whiney women, and the other nasties, I would have enjoyed a well written script about a contract marriage even though it is such a worn out plot.

A lot of talking, without anything intelligent or relevant being said.  

Female characters that are incredibly immature and annoying.

Actions/ scenes that make less sense than a platypus.

Cringy dubbing.

All stars go toward the actors and the crew members that support them, they did the best they could with the crap they were given.  Every other participant in the chain of the production gets a big fat zero.

FINAL EDIT:

I've watched it all now,  it is REALLY good if you ffwd through the three whack jobs, or if you're not old and grumpy and have a freakishly high tolerance for stupid, over the top and the criminally insane.   As an aside, I had no trouble following the plot even with all the skipping I did.

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FIRST IMPRESSION:

Dammit, I wanted this to be good.   I thoroughly enjoy the leads and most of the story.  HOWEVER,  I skip through all scenes that have the ex-boyfriend, and the 'best friend' and the inspectors daughter. 

So, lets talk about the FL's bestie, shall we.  Hey, we are best friends forever, I'll do anything for you, I'll even tell your ex-boyfriend everything about you, even though he drove a knife through your heart x amount of years ago and totally ghosted you.  OH, and I'll also switch out prescribed sleeping pills with ones your ex-boyfriend gave me and take his word for it that they are safe and that he is only concerned about your well being.  Yep, I'm that kind of bestie. WTF?  Also writers of FL...I'm human and I've had best friends...I'm absolutely sure that if one of them changed out my prescription...they'd not be my friends anymore, ever.   I am the ONLY one that gets to play with my life, NO exceptions!  

It's also disappointing that the female lead doesn't tell the ex to feck off, he's stalking her,  you can see that she feels uncomfortable/awkward around him, yet doesn't stop him????  Come on writers...if you're going to do shit like that you have to make him NOT be such a blatant psychopath.

ANNNNDDDD then we have the ML's brat cousin/sister/whatever.  REALLY????

Because of these three wackos, this series will be very short for me, I just started watching it a few hours ago and I'm already on episode 16.   

Everything else is ace.

This had the potential to be enjoyable,  but I'm only on episode 3 and I've already had my fill of the cliche unjustifiably spiteful and conniving  coworker...ugh!

I didn't have high hopes for this drama because of the age of it, but I really didn't expect it to be this bad scientifically/medically.  

Considering how much cringing I did as a layman, I can only imagine how awful this was for anyone trained in any of the sciences involved with forensic investigation.  

On the upside, the actors and acting are fantastic.   All the writing that has nothing to do actual science is quite good.  Seven stars to be counted as 10 for acting and everything not in the scientific writing chain of command.

Unfortunately, 3 episodes of cringing did me in, I have to drop this.   If scientific facts/practices aren't important to you, you'll probably love this series, so I still recommend giving it a go.

The youngins will like this, I think.  For me it's a little too silly/slap sticky.  I only made it a 3rd of the way through before I had to stop.
 
I've got nothing negative to say about the actors, so a well done to the casting department.

The story is fine, for the most part the writing is also, however, we have yet another meddling bestie that 'was only trying to help', and hurts everyone involved, but that's okay...sigh.  Also included are the seemingly mandatory rotten parents that don't care at all about their child or how their lack of action destroys the life of someone else's child...more sighs.

I watched the first few episodes, then skipped to the middle, then skipped to 21-22.   I couldn't watch the in between parts.

I'm not disappointed that I watched (what I did) this once, but I won't watch it again.

I think this is a series for a much younger audience, so I highly recommend to the under 20 crowd.

I dropped this within the first 10 minutes.   The dubbing is dreadfully out of sync and absolutely no effort was made to disguise the fact that it was done with one mic in a sound booth.

The acting is better suited to a soap opera than period drama.  I'm not faulting the actors since they don't have the final say in what is and is going to make it to the final product.

I started skipping episodes at episode 3 and finally gave up at episode 21.  There were a lot of filler events and dialogue, and a lot of what I found to be unnecessary side plots and intrigue.

I'm on episode 16 and considering dropping this.  It has spurts of mature and intelligent writing but its worth is undermined by immature and overacting characters.   There are also a lot of nonsensical behaviours and events...quite a lot...sigh.

The CGI horses are cringy and most of the dubbing  reeks of one mic for all in a cozy sound booth that is frequented by children given adult parts to read.

I'll report back if I find the courage to go further.  
UPDATE.
So, I decided to grit my teeth and fight my way through this series.  Here and there I had to skip 2 or 3 episodes at a time,  but I made it.   I still stick to my initial judgement.  

Stars off for the nonsensical writing and the horrible dubbing.  A bit of a star off for the cringy CGI.

I wanted to like this because of all the potential it showed, however, at 12 episodes, I can't take it anymore.   The writing runs smoothly for a period of time, then the writers decided that some action or event must be inserted 'here' to set the foundation of something in  the future..., so a question will be asked or a statement made that is COMPLETELY out of context.

It's like two engineers discussing the pros and cons of steel I-beams vs composite beams for a project when one of them randomly asks the other if he likes blue socks...TAF?!  This series is polluted with this behaviour....sigh!

The dubbing is also pretty cringy in places.

I really think this could have been brilliant...it was a waste of an opportunity.

Nope.  Crap dubbing wrecks everything.

Ahhhh, this was quite childish.  If you're fond of adults that behave like spoiled children,  whose sole reason for living is to step on the people around them, who don't have and original thought...ever, who have jobs because they know someone and get to keep their job because they know someone but never have to actually work...because they know someone...and a crap load of other wonderful character traits/behaviours...then this is the show for you.

The female lead is written as intelligent but then behaves like a spurned teenager when she hears things from others about the ML rather than going clarifying with him.  She doesn't do that with anyone else...wtaf?  

I made it to episode 9...I can't take anymore.   It really is a shame as this, in the right hands, could have been written as both fun and intelligent.

Same repetitious crap...different title.   I didn't even make it through episode 1.  

The actors are fine and did well considering the tripe they were given as a script.   The 5 stars are for them and everyone NOT involved in the writing or the okaying of it.

First, I love the FL, she is one of the most endearingly expressive actors I've had the opportunity to watch.   Her innate talent for humour is priceless and a lovely change from, well, everyone else.  

That being said,  I only made it to episode 15 before I had to stop to save my sanity.   There is an awful lot of childish behaviour from every age bracket...sigh...also a lot of behaviour that was logically contrary to how any given character's persona was portrayed to be.   Crap was just thrown in to accommodate what was coming, with complete disregard for what had and was happening...why???? WHY????

I stopped at episode 15, but I didn't watch all 15, I skipped four or five episodes along the way...this is a very slow production with a lot of unnecessary filler.

I don't get all the high reviews either @deuxeve_689 (Viki reviewer).  You made it to episode 10, you are stronger than me, I only made it to the first few minutes of episode 2.

I found it very choppy, like a school play put on by 6 year olds.  There wasn't any flow to the story either.

Episode 2, I'm done.   The ML's first manager is dying so she sells his contract to someone else without telling him, also doesn't tell him that she's dying, also doesn't want anyone else to tell him where she is or that she's dying...He finds her and she's a complete bitch to him to drive him away so he's not hurt by her dying????  Because being cruelly driven away by someone you look at as a mother is a much more bearable knife wound to the heart than losing them to death??  But that's okay, because she can die happy knowing that he will be in the caring hands of the FL... WTAF writers...wtaf??  

This would have been good without all the slap sticky over-the-top crap.

I  made it through 4 episodes, can't do any more.

This is another example of a waste of an opportunity to make something everyone could enjoy rather than using cliches to bring in a narrow,  guaranteed demographic.  The only characters that weren't juvenile were the ML and the FL's father.   This could have been a really good comedic drama had the characters been written more intelligently.

I struggle to give it even seven stars because of how much I fast forwarded through scenes that involved the cliche characters or behaviours, however, the actors did their part with what they were given so all seven stars are to be regarded as a 10 for them.

I absolutely will not watch this again.

Ahh, I couldn't get into it.  The story is good, but the dubbing is horrible and the FL's character is quite juvenile.

These are things that I find annoying, you may not, as many more thoroughly enjoyed it.

Grumpy old hag review.  

This may be a really good series, and the acting may be great, I really don't know because the dubbing is...well, my brain hurts and my ears are bleeding...all the females sound like spoiled over-animated children...   I made it to episode 3 before I just couldn't anymore.  

I even tried watching it without sound but my brain rebelled.

I won't say don't watch it, this is just a heads up for those who also can't suffer blatantly obvious sound booth dubbing that is done horribly.

RANT WARNING, enter at your own risk!

The acting was superb, 8 stars to be counted at 10 for them and everyone else in this series that is not related to the writing or the okaying of it...the script was lame.  No one talks to the people they should, but have mountains to say to the people they shouldn't and no one listens to the people they should but are all ears for those they shouldn't be for.

Everyone is surprised at constantly being 'blindsided' by an openly conniving hag that blames the entire world for her shite life and can't understand why nothing ever stays going her way nor why in the end no one wants to be on the same planet as her, OR the fact that her entire goal in life is to destroy the 'evil' person from her past (who go the whole ship wreck or her life going)...the person that didn't let her get away with blatant plagiarism to pass an exam.  OMG how DARE there be consequences to your illegal actions...what is this world coming to...groan.  

All the boys did their own share of underhanded crap also.   They portrayed the FL as a saint...you'd have to be to put up with all the crap she endured...not me man, if you don't have decency and don't respect me enough to talk to me about things that affect me/us adversely...I'm outta here...not empty words...references available upon request.

I'm also quite glad that old viper isn't my dad.  He spends his son's entire adult life trying to destroy him to force him to come home so he can teach him to run the business properly...to force him to learn about life in the real world?  You don't throw someone down the stairs to teach them how to not get thrown down the stairs...in real life, that just makes the person not want to be around you OR stairs...How sickening is that...but it's okay, he was doing it for his child's own good...thanks dad....eeesh!

End of rant.

I dropped it at the fourth episode.  It felt like a rough draft rather than a finished product.  A lot was said just for the sake of filling space rather than aiding the story, like the way middle school kids write, and the characters seemed to be lacking a dimension or two.

The acting was fine, they did their job.

If you like the following 'prerequisites', this is definitely the series for you.

1.  The nauseatingly immature rich girl who stomps about invading in the lives and privacy of everyone around her, painfully imposing chaos with every step.

2.  The aggressive, underhanded, intrusive female employee who maliciously attacks a coworker out of jealously, self-serving and imagined belief that what was rightfully hers, had been stolen from her grasp.  Then when crap hits the fan she says  sorry and never meant for anyone to get hurt.  I guess I'm just too simple to figure out what other outcome malintent could bring.

3.  A seemingly intelligent and caring right-hand man of a kind, honest, loyal and supportive friend, abandons him in his hour of greatest need and also takes other key employees with him.  Then steals the hard worked for plans of the son of his friend...the son that saved his own young child from kidnapping...and gives the plans to his new and decidedly criminal company.  

4. The caring old lady who goes from loved client to domineering mother-in-law in 2 seconds flat.

5. The old lady's son going from kind, loving and understanding boyfriend to 'My dream is '.................' so you have to give up yours and make mine happen...because I love you?

6. An entire cast of immature males.

7. An entire cast of immature females...save the FL.

8. A FL that would give Mother Theresa a run for her money, staying calm and forgiving everyone all willy-nilly.

9.  Everyone that destroyed the love and trust of those around them crawling back to the people they betrayed and being forgiven, with no consequence...sigh.

10. A love triangle.

All stars go toward acting and all the behind the scenes folks that had to endure this production...I think they did a good job considering the slop they were given.

There were a lot of raving reviews about this series being different than so many others...I didn't see it.

It contained all the mindless cliches I have come to loathe:

1.  The malicious female third wheel of a love square...that pretty much gets off with just a stern talking to and endless sabotage.

2. The male third wheel of a love square that pined for his first love for ever, meets her, finds out she's married, then tries to lure her anyway and confesses while actively imposing his presence in her life.

3. The relentlessly controlling mother of the ML that crushed her child's soul when he was younger.

4. The intelligent ML that is cold and uses his money and power abusively toward the FL for the first pile of episodes.

5. The male lead's goofy playboy friend that runs a company but seems to have stopped maturing at around 12 years old.

6. The poor female lead that is sweet and intelligent in her field but still lacks the depth of an adult.

7.  The constant accidentally falling into the arms of the ML and accidentally kissing him.

sigh...there are so many more, I just don't have the energy.

This all comes down to lazy writing...pushing out quantity rather than quality.  Even for short episodes, it was still too long with an unbearable amount of filler.  Whomever okayed this is also responsible.

The casting and acting was well done.  All stars are for them and the support staff.

I won't watch this again.

Acting was great but it was too long with me hitting the FFWD button on every scene that didn't involve the ML and FL...even then it was hit or miss.  

So many cliche scenes and characters...nauseating.  Again, the writers took the easy way out instead of channelling their intelligence through their pens...also shame on everyone that okayed their literary offal.

I give this five stars just based on the amount of endurance required by everyone involved to stay during the entire making of this incredibly lacking production.

It was way too long for the content and touched on sensitive topics with all the grace and wisdom of a two year old having a tantrum over having to eat vegetables.

This a prime example of the products that come from a production mill...where quantity will always reign over quality.

I loathe slap stick, over-the-top characters, they are blatant evidence that the writers are lacking the ability to generate intelligent humour and or shamefully lazy.  This point is also directed at the companies that spew out this slop.

I found most of the characters to be rather juvenile considering their jobs, histories and status'.

It's incredibly difficult to comment on the acting because of the terrible production overall.  

I skipped more than I watched.

Everything but the last episode was quite well done.  No marks off for casting, acting or production.  

The last episode was kind of lame in comparison to the rest of the series.  But that's my own black and white outlook on this type of situation that finds the ending cringy.  I'd have walked away from him...without trust and communication, there is no relationship, only dictatorship.  He didn't trust her enough to include her in his plan...ugh.  This made it all the more disappointing after all they'd been through to get to were they were.  Also, the FL is relentlessly presented as someone who is driven and sticks to her guns regardless of what others say, yet she is coerced by the Empress and her own family, so easily? One star off for that.

I'm not sure if I'll watch this again but, if I do, it will be without the last episode.

Well, this was 'something'.  I think if this had been written with the intelligence it deserved, it could have been something great.

As is, it felt like there was a different writer for every scene, and most of them were me at age 12.  

The acting, for the most part, deserves a nine, but the male lead was much better at his softer persona than he was at the bristly, underhanded power monger.

As you all know, I'm not a fan of  over exaggerated characters and this one had a few.  Placing kind hearted, bumbling fools in places of power is a bit of a stretch, no?  Having them be kind hearted, with a great sense of humour AND business savvy instead, would have allowed the characters to exponentially raise the literary value of this production.

The nine stars go for everything except writing.  

So, my husband, whom I love more than life itself, who reciprocates this love has been absent for 6 years and he chooses to return at an awards ceremony???  With the world watching??? And I'm okay with that??? REALLY???

There are enough 'you did every thing you could to mangle my life and those of my loved ones because you loved me...oh, that's okay, all is forgiven' clichés to choke a horse.

Then we have the overbearing ML that truly loves the FL buys her with aid for her failing company and puts conditions on it...making her his slave...but again, all for love....sigh.

The acting was impeccable, full stars for the actors.

I am so grumpy about the writing that I really want to give this a two star rating, but that is ridiculously unfair to everyone else that worked on this production.

As soon as the FL character appeared, I started fast forwarding through her dialogue. UHG!  Why oh WHY does anyone think that an adult behaving and sounding like a naïve 7 year old is cute or even remotely congruent with a serious drama?   Humour when written properly, fits anywhere and appeals to all demographics...oh, and it's free for anyone to use....groan, groan, groan.

I only continue to watch this because I truly enjoy watching the actors that play the ML, his father and his mentor ply their trade.   

I'll report back either when my spirit has been completely shattered or when I finish it.

Acting: Full stars

CGI: 5 stars

Script: 2 stars
Too much of it was spent on incredibly immature characters, specially the sister... they had her set up and successfully conclude more schemes than a two year old at bedtime and fool an entire city's worth of people, just to pay her sister back for something that happened when they were children...99.9999% of the time she had 257,000 schemes going on at the same time...unnoticed?  That would lead a viewer to surmise that EVERY one else was brain dead, no?  She kills murders everyone that gets in her way or is more useful dead but,  still gets the guy and gets to live happily ever after...as a saint???  Come on people!!!  

Production:  9 stars

Story: 7 stars.  It had the potential to be something great but it was put in the wrong hands.

I skipped many episodes to get through this so I'm not happy that I spent time on it and definitely won't watch it again.