Joy of Life? More Like Joy of My Life

Just finished the last episode and the sense of loss hit me hard. What a truly mind blowing end to this season. I don't think there are up to 3 Cdramas that had successful sequels that have the same level of quality and story telling. I can categorically say JOL is one.

I understand why some are nitpicking and looking for faults that don't exist, this is literally the diamond of the season, the more we the fans gush about it, the more they wanna tear it apart, holding this masterpiece to such high standards but literally turning a blind eye to all the trash dramas being rolled out every week in cdramaland?

I also know we can't all have the same tastes, but the 2 seasons shouldn't be compared as they're intrinsically different, if Fan Xian had continued the same journey of season 1, the same critics complaining season 2 is boring will be the very ones saying how stale the story has become. Most people don't even understand the premise of this show tbh, this isn't one of those shows where everything is explicitly revealed, even an eye twitch alone here can mean the admission or rebuttal of a fact.

The depth and writing of the characters is unlike any show out there. No one is a plain bad or good character, we all know the emperor is a sadistic megalomaniac, but damn I have such a deep admiration of him, he has such presence and charisma I'm yet to see in ANY emperor, when I watch dramas with the dumbest emperors being led around by their consorts, i roll my eyes and ask why can't they be like HIM comeon! Even the scene he revealed himself as FXs dad had me teary.

I'm so proud of FXs growth this season, every character was meaningful, every episode was interesting with zero fillers and I'll miss everyone, even He Zong Wei, lol

Season 1 : 10/10
Season 2: 10/10
Season 3: 10/10 in advance hehe?

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The Romance of CluckCluck and Sick Fella

One of the fastest & easiest 10/10 I ever gve a Xianxia or even CDrama, EVERYTHING is PERFECT ?

The casting: absolutely adore ML & FL, XingZhi isn't just handsome, I think he ascended beyond that, he's like old wine that has depth of flavor, his charisma is fire ?, I fell in love with ZLY in PA, my girl got the strong female lead act down pat, she's got the mannerisms to make you believe she is THEE Big Boss around, I've followed her to Legend of Fei & MingLan and she's never disappointed me once, this role was made for her.

The humor is on another level, it's not slapstick or in your face, it's so subtly and artfully done you'll catch yourself laughing before you realize it

The OST, the CGI omg I love Cluck Cluck that was the most hillarious arc I've ever had in any cdrama, funny thing is the ? actually looks abit like ZLY herself ?, too cute.

All side characters were interesting but never taking too much screen time. There were no annoying or frustrating tropes, no overacting either.

I love everything, I mean EVERYTHING about this show, I never watched on 2x speed or dropped entirely, I was too interested in what was happening to miss a beat.

I wonder when next I'll get something like this again, for me some shows just click, and this was one of them.

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Great 1st half, Lacking 2nd half

Considering how much I LOVED the first half of this show, something seemed to shift post episode 19/20, I had to pause it to see if I'll love it when I get back again, alas, it got worse and even unbearable /unwatchable. Believe me I love Wu Lei, but something about their romance was just lacking as I found myself beginning to FF scenes (even with them together) ?.


Maybe it was the FLs continued aversion to his touch that made it awkward or maybe I got spoiled from finishing TLOSL before getting back into this, it felt like watching paint dry. He was putting in waaayy too much work emotionally and she just felt like a brick wall most times that even when some intimacy was hinted at Episode 23 it fell so flat I literally rolled my eyes ?. Even the tournament scenes I enjoyed in the beginning became annoying and I ended up skipping alot.

I'll say something switched from the 1st half that didn't get quite right in the 2nd.

Initially had this rated 10 but I'm bumping it down to 7, ONLY because of Wu Lei's sizzling hot charisma & smoldering gazes ??

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A Mind blowing Experience

This series is an addiction, it's a thrilling ride that never ends till the last second of the 46th Episode. It'll leave you empty & unfulfilled with any other drama. I'm desperately in search of another series with this kind of badass emperor, I often find myself missing the witty, all knowing emperor that could never be manipulated by mere tricks & had a firm grip on power and everyone beneath him.

Fan Xian's character is such a well rounded, multi-faceted hero /anti-hero, you'll find yourself rooting for him and wouldn't even mind him having a harem (inside joke for those who have watched this lol)

Every Character is so well written from Chen Ping Ping to Duo Duo and everyone else he meets in the course of the show

I've never watched something so brilliantly written & thoroughly captivating

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What Starts As a Thrilling Ride Dwindles Into Everybody Hates MingLan's Marriage

Episodes 1-45 = 10 ?
46- 73 = 1?

I completely enjoyed the first half, the second half after her marriage into Gu family was just annoyingly repititive, all kinds of clownish antagonists who didn't even make sense anymore. Seems like the writers just let loose a ton of psychos thinking like 1 year olds and stirring shit up just for kicks. Forcing a concubine the first time was understandable, the next 3-5 times were just so ridiculous even someone from 10 families away tried and nearly got away with it, really?

This left me with a sour taste in my mouth just like Yanxi Palace and I swore never to watch palace harem dramas ever again , as this was more of family slice of life I decided to give it a try but still ended up with a shitload of crap in the second half

I don't know what it is about Cdramas, very few maintain great stories and pacing to the end, unfortunately this was one of those. I used to be a stick it out to the end kinda gal but I've learned my bitter lesson so now, if it starts to go wonky I throw the entire drama away. I really tried even up to episode 60 to see a redeeming arc, something to light up the spark again but damn did this get out of hand, even villains who should have been set in their place 30 episodes ago were resurrected to display hair pulling, eye rolling levels of stupidity that even I couldn't stomach anymore and oh, it's never their fault, they're never wrong, it's always the MCs fault ??

Even Ming Lan the titular character seemed to lose the smarts that had me keeping late nights to catch up with in the beginning and just became a shadow of her former self, so consumed with "what people will say" or some other dumb shit

As for the romance aspect, I expected her to at least reciprocate the depth of love GTY showed her at least 10 episodes earlier. Damn girl I know you had a hard life but can't you SEE how much you mean to him? All of a sudden Ming Lan who can see and read people's intents 10 miles away suddenly didn't UNDERSTAND what love is, she was literally like a log of wood in all intimate scenes with her hubby and only loosened up after all hell had broken loose. This was super underwhelming for a freaking 73 EPISODE drama.

All in all I'll give this a 6, infact 5 as I'm already getting super annoyed typing up this rant, sorry, review ?

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The Tale of The Cloud & The Feather

This drama is a masterpiece, as a Wuxia addict that I am I was so blown away with the complex characters and unique fighting styles

I absolutely adored GZY & YWS in their roles, they were the light of this drama, their chemistry, the love & support, I for one thought GZY was such a smart, capable leader, I swear I wanna throw hands on those critics who had horrible things to say about him ??

YWS was such a smart, strong FL, somehow I feel like she was secretly a Mei, she always had the upper hand over SGQ, even when it looked like she was cornered, she always had SGQ doing exactly what she wanted her to do, she was such an interesting and refreshing FL to the very end

I was literally boiling with rage everytime GSJ & GYZ appeared on the screen, their disdain and utter disregard for GZY made me wanna wring their necks, but by the final episodes I got to appreciate their characters and even grew a a soft spot for them, I didn't care for SGQ or her breathy voice and absolutely did not find anything shippable btw her & GSJ, the best part of this drama for me remained the ML & FL

I also loved the loyalty of the Gong family, they might have many subsets, different parents but at the end of the day family is family for them and this is one of the major themes I love about Wuxia dramas.

Also can I mention how much I loved the ending? It was absolutely perfect , I think many viewers always want rainbows & sunshine at the end, but that wouldn't exactly be realistic as this is a relatively dark, complex drama and not romance

Solid 10/10

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DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME

I can honestly say I hate this drama with the burning fire of a thousand suns. Such a ridiculously stupid 32 year old FL, such a stupid story, such annoying side characters, didn't like or connect with anyone, I forwarded so much the only parts I could tolerate was FL&ML interactions (SWL was the reason I endured as long as Episode 15) .

The FL treated the relationship like it was COVID, i know you're low key but my God, freaking out over a picture of just hands, frantically searching for a card that fell out of the bunch of flowers and going to the movies like it's a James Bond movie is abit overkill no?

The 2ML was a manipulative jerk I couldn't stand past the 2nd episode and forwarded all his scenes, it was even worse that she had to meet him and discuss every little thing with him like her brain went on vacay and he just had to do all the thinking for her ??the side characters were such a bore I nearly cried, wish I could rate this 0, sadly 1 is the lowest. It's garbage don't waste your time.

If you wanna see JieDi (Older Woman younger man) romance done right, please see My Fated Boy, Why women love, the rational life, Falling into you

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