The double is a fancy dramatic story of our heroine, Xue Fangfei, who loses her everything, her lover she wholeheartedly was devoted to, her family she adored, her honour as a married loyal woman and even her will to live, cornered by the world she crosses paths with another abandoned soul, Jiang Li... two people hurt by cruelty of world instantly form a friendship over the unfairness they suffered that allows Xue Fangfei to take Jiang Li's place and identity in future.

The first few episodes are enchantingly interesting with our male lead, showing up like a special guest for some minutes every ep (but yk the lesser the better). "Duke Su" young, powerful, cunning, standing tall in red-black robes, his aura screams HOT (and trust me this was half of the plot for me)... the way he treats his delicate fan like a sharp sword, his sharp Af eyeliner and how he gazes towards our female lead (as if he might devour her anytime), I kept wishing for more of his scenes in the starting. Wang Xingyue definitely established himself as a charming male lead thru the double.

While Wu Jinyan as the revengeful, smart woman was amusing to me, tbh I was scared, scared to start this cuz there's a curse between me and her and I've never ever finished any of her dramas before but this time she made me sit nd watch the whole thing cuz no matter the complaints I had, I wanted to see it anyways. Her Xue Fangfei would remain in my mind for a while as the warrior who goes all out for her revenge, ready to bear risks, has stunning presence of mind, she's a pawn but can make you her pawn and the karma has to be served in a grand way, she'll embarrass you well as she digs your grave slowly.

As Xue Fangfei moves forward with a new identity and vows to bring justice to both herself and her friend, Duke Su often stands behind her like that knight in shining armor but does she needs the man? Yess but also Noo. Girly is one of the strongest strategically smart woman I've seen in historics and this makes them even more compatible... Their chemistry is nothing soft, all bold and plain out sexy, those eyes do more than your normal oppa's fish pecks would do... U see them talking, he is giving her hints, but strategic hints or romantic hints, depends on the type of his smirk I guess.


Now coming to my complaints, like every other recent dramas, this kicks off awesome like fireworks but on reaching the apex height somewhere in the middle, got me yawning and hitting that 2x, sadly the Double couldn't escape the curse of not being able to stay 10/10 constantly, with some eps that felt like filler to me, and the ending where we were bombarded with unnecessary closure to the sidekicks, some plot holes and cringe, my rating could only go down.

Plot just turned fairly predictable once you understand the characters which may or may not be the case for everyone. While the flow of her revenge also felt too smooth to me as if everything just worked as it was planned with rare backstabbing or outwits, I was expecting more spice to the game, this is still a thing of preference and might not be a issue for other future viewers.

And for a drama that depends so much on the lead's chemistry (ik her revenge is the central plot) but doesn't the leads deserved better when one of them legit had aesthetically fire scenes with a supporting... So again I'm disappointed with the partiality of the censorship cuz those certain snow romance scenes can be approved but not one for the main couple huh!?


Along with the underlying flaws, the double won me with the dualistic villains. On one hand, a gorgeous villain who sways her robe dramatically acting like the main character who has her own heart wrenching story to tell (might make you sob a bit too), she's a bitch, I want to hate her, kill her but also sympathize with her somewhere deep down. That actress has my heart, one of the strongest performance I've seen lately... with her stays the dumbest, spineless, sore loser who I wish could torture in my basement for years (p.s. I'm a calm person, there's no such thing going on in my basement :))

Overall the double was a mid ride, much of a visually strong tale full of dramatic zoom in/zoom outs, loved to see the first half and all those ultimate revenge served moments and the flirty leads going on tea dates.

If not for anything else, watch this to see Wang Xingyue practice swordplay shirtless where Wu Jinyan lays down gorgeously in her bath tub. Aesthetics and visual treat 10000/10