Pretty much a by-the-numbers romance with capable leads. The main conflict here is the age difference/stage of life for the romantic leads. Is that really worth 34 episodes of heartache? Meh. I enjoyed the capable leads, but the story had all kinds of artificial-feeling conflicts to fill the time.

It’s watchable and the comedy isn’t so broad that women are shrieking constantly (always a plus), Overall I wasn’t engaged enough with with story to get emotionally invested so it’s not one that I will probably watch again..

(Netflix has this at 34 episodes)

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Wow! So this is quite different from the book and drama series. I thought it might be a shortened version of Bai Quian and Ye Hua’s story, but it’s got a few major changes.

Rating it on its own, it’s very pretty and there are some moving moments. Clearly the visual effects department got a chunk of the budget so there are some lovely settings and a huge epic battle. There’s also a ton of characters and a rather complex plot so some of this is hard to follow.

Comparing it to the other versions of the story, Ye Hua’s character is unexpectedly lively and the ending is open-ended and quite a change. Pretty surprising so it definitely breaks with expectations.

Overall, I enjoyed some parts and watching where they made changes from other versions. I didn’t like most of the changes, but they were mainly interesting. It’s watchable, but don’t expect it to line up with other versions of this story which are much better at getting the emotions right.

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Everything works in this drama, but somehow I’m not in love with it.

The cast is great and there are strong, interesting characters. There’s tons of political conflict and lots of drama. The sets and costumes look great too.

I wish the bad guys had a bit more dimension because they were clearly bad from the start and somehow still get away with everything time and time again. Ugh! How dumb does that make the good guys look? Also some plot points seem really, really dumb, but what can you do when you’re trying to fill in the blanks from history?

So overall, I enjoyed this one, but a few things just threw me off.

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Lots of relationship angst that doesn’t always make sense

Where the to start? I know this is a romance, but they don't actually establish the relationship between the leads before they go straight into angst. He then goes into stalker mode and head games and, wow, not a healthy relationship.

This show is about guys using women and making all sorts of poor decisions. It gets wearing and I couldn't really care about them at the end.

It's a shame since there are some good actors and some characters with potential, but those characters get sacrificed in the name of plot points and then this falls apart. Ugh.

Points for featuring a mute character and naming the American school after Robin William's character in Dead Poet Society.

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A missed opportunity as there's a lot to like in this series, but some major problems too.

Let's start with the good: some great aesthetics, terrific fight scenes and a distinctive look for the characters due to the funky head gear and a wardrobe designer who hasn't met a print they don't want on camera. There's also a significant quest which helps to justify the 50+ episodes. So good so far.

But then...sigh

The writing on this show is uneven. The first section is rushed and viewers have to take for granted that there is a great big love affair here. This needed a bit more development considering it's the central plot point. After that, we get a lot of plots that don't go anywhere. They just serve as distractions and they don't even get the courtesy of being wrapped up before the story moves on. Ugh.

Also, so much of this is spent in discussion rather than showing what's happening. It's so conveluted things don't make sense like how they got to the ending.

Lastly, the lead male actor is attractive, but.....boring. He doesn't have the range to make the character really interesting and half way through I had no clue why we were supposed to cheer him on. Every other prince was more interesting and better developed. So aside from the main character, everyone is great.

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So much family drama! Yes, this is a REALLY long series, but there is a lot of plot as we go from Minglan at 8 years old until she grows up. This show does take it’s time. It’s as if every line in the script is used and nothing is edited so things move quite slowly.

Fortunately there is a good cast and interesting characters, otherwise this wouldn’t work at all. But the cast of characters is so large that sometimes it takes half a scene before I figure out who they are. The romance is very slow-burn, but fun. The court intrigue is long and complex. The harem drama is among prominent families not the Emperor, but it’s no less bloody and scheming. A few bad guys are so over the top, you do wonder why ANYONE helps them.

If you’re in the mood for a luxuriously paced saga about a few families (with somecourt intrigue and fighting thrown in towards the second half), this is a good option.

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There is an overwhelming nationalistic message that drowns out any character development and logical plot. It’s a shame that they could find a better balance since a cast like this deserves better. A lot of choices didn’t make a lot of sense.

I was also hoping for some gorgeous scenic views, but it didn’t quite get there. The action sequences ranged from good to ridiculous.

There is a nice surprise epilogue that was just about the best thing which is disappointing.

So it was a whole lot of effort, but didn’t seem worth the fuss. Sadness.

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Light, fluffy and forgettable. I mildly enjoyed it while I watched it, but the story and characters won’t be staying with me and I don’t need to watch it again.

The story and characters are simple and the first half is childhood and the later half gets to the romance.

The secondary characters are pretty good with a special shout out to the teacher romance which is unusually amusing.

The product placement is so obvious and written into the story, viewers may think that sunscreen is the best gift you can give a friend. Yikes.

Also the hair stylist likes helmet hair and it’s so stiff and shiny that it looks almost like everyone’s hair has locks of grey. So odd.

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I enjoyed the drama, but thought it ran way too long so I was very curious to see a movie version. As expected, it’s a bit skimpy on the character development due to time constraints.

My biggest problem is the cast. Angelababy is slightly better than her drama counterpart, but WeiWei is still a giant set of eyes in tiny skirts that looks shy and wide-eyed as everything happens to her. As Xiao Nai, I prefer Yang Yang considerably more. Overall, they are not a very interesting couple and since the relationship must move quicker in a movie, they don’t develop the same kind of feels so the movie falls short.

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Good cast, fun game idea, terrific game sequences, cool mystery.....human story that lags behind. This could have been a great drama if the human story was as strong as the gameplay.

This starts off strong with a mystery and dynamic game play and strong conflict between the leading characters. Then the motives and story for the humans gets muddled and isn’t as interesting as the game. And then it gets worse when the editing jumbles up time periods in an attempt to make more plot and give depth to the story.

It’s a missed opportunity if only someone could make the second half as strong as the first. And let’s not even start on that ending....

Sigh.

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You can tell that they spent money on this drama since it’s all there on the screen. Gorgeous sets, lovely costumes (which I’m guessing is the same designer from Love Lost in Time), beautiful cinematography and strong cast.

This is epic with lots of drama and interesting characters. Thankfully this isn’t about scheming mistresses so it’s a welcome break from those plots. The focus is the fight for the throne and it’s prince vs prince for the vast majority of the conflict.

The problem is the writing which introduces a lot of small plots that go to a climax and then disappear as if they never happened. Lots of unresolved issues which is unsatisfactory. There’s also the big ill-fated which is so freaking tortured, it’s hard to keep track of the current reason why they are pushing each other away. 70 episodes is a LOT to fill and there were just too many low points.

Overall, it’s lovely to watch and some great plot bits, but there are definitely some weak points.

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I haven’t seen a lot of buzz about this one so I was pleasantly surprised by how good this is. Strong characters, interesting plot, well-balanced triangle, a bit of humor, lots of good stuff.

Then about half way through, there were a few misses. Some big emotional moments got short-changed which is a shame when you build towards something for several episodes and then viewers don’t get the satisfaction of enjoying the moment. This happened a couple of times. Sigh.

Then we got to the annoy part where the bad guys get petty and the good guys are too noble to stop them. They keep falling for the tricks over and over again to the point where the good guys start to look really dumb. Sigh. Thankfully this is 46 episodes which keeps some of this to a minimum, but I started to really wish the heroes were more flawed and could just get angry enough to do something.

But mostly I really enjoyed this one with just a couple of very common grievances.

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It’s a fun, suspenseful romantic comedy that will have you craving all kinds of food. There’s a lot to admire about this variation on the movie, Ghost. Lots of big emotions, a mystery and slow-burn romance. The main three leads are all very strong and the ensemble cast is capable as well.

But there are a few things that majorly bugged me. Bong Soen is such a doormat that it’s painful to watch and I don’t want to cheer her on. She’s so spineless, it’s hard to care about the main character and it’s hard to want a happy ending for her since she doesn’t necessarily deserve it.

The comedy also gets a little too broad sometimes, but that’s my own personal preference. I found funny moments, but some of the loud, boisterous moments went on too long for me.

Also, in the #metoo era, there are cringeworthy moments as the leading lady tries to seduce the main guy. Harassment works both ways and this goes over the top for laughs, but it wouldn’t be funny in real life.

Anyway, some major drawbacks, but overall I really enjoyed this one.

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