An incredible work of art....

This is one of the shortest series i've ever seen, and yet I feel like I could write a huge essay about it (I won't... but I could).

Starting with the most obvious thing, that being the TERRIBLE dubbing/music: This drama is like a Michaelangelo painting covered in mud - that mud being the dubbing. It may at first look like shit. But if you wipe off the grime, what's underneath it is breathtaking. So my strenuous advice in order to fully appreciate this is

>>>Put on the sexiest, darkest, hottest music you know of.... AND MUTE THE SOUND ON THIS SHOW<<<<

I personally reccommend Type O Negative's 'Love You To Death' on repeat. But just whatever suits you, whatever you think would compliment this drama.

Once you've removed the offensive dubbing/music, what you will find is an absolutely gorgeous, sexy, raw romance story... perfectly cast, perfectly acted. The script is fucking genius. It reveals just enough emotion, and leaves just enough for your mind to fill in the blanks.

Theres zero bullshit filler here. Thats why its so short. Its focus is only the ML and FL. But its also powerful, it really grabs you and holds you. If you think its easy to create such powerful emotions with such a short script, you try it. Paring something down, stripping it to only its most basic elements, while retaining its evokative emotional power is an art form, thats why Steinbeck and Coetzee are considered literary geniuses.

The camerawork and the lighting is so perfectly suited to the story and the acting. Stylists did a great job. The actors brought ALL their energy and talent to this piece. I felt everything they were feeling, and when they cried I cried. When they were distraught, I was distraught. What they thought about is what I thought about. The final two episodes were so perfectly written, which is exceedingly difficult to do.

It was hot, realistic, emotional, and so so beautiful. And yes I said realistic.... ask me how I know ;P

This is exactly why I dig through old and lesser rated shows, to find hidden treasures just like this.

Amazing -- and the only reason I don't give it a 10 is because I dont know how many rewatches it can stand up to, and because the sound (all of it) is atrocious.

Trust me... muted, this drama magically transforms from a mess into a masterpiece.

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If Power Rangers made a romance story.

There are no bug masks or spandex leotards, sure. But there is the same brisk pacing, gloating overacting villains, bad cgi and even worse dubbing, a story totally unfettered by pesky things like 'logic', and actors doing a halfassed job of playing characters that make no sense and have no backstory.

Much like Power Rangers, i am not emotionally moved in the slightest by this story, and only mildly amused by the copious abundance of cheese.

I give it a 6 because despite its failings, it was fresh... and even though I felt it was a waste of time, I was at least somewhat entertained.

I do have to say, though..... that it attempted to be an action/romance story, and the result was that it ended up being neither action nor romance.

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Excellent palace intrigue story with endearing but spiceless romance.

Acting was excellent, especially the emperor and main leads. Story was intricate, deliberate, and well made. Costumes and makeup were fairly good. Soundtrack and ost were absolutely awesome. Characters had some depth, and the complex relationship between the ML and FL was fun to watch and well acted.

My biggest beef with this one is the fact that the romance lacked spice and passion, it was very sanitized and theres no sexual chemistry lighting up between the main leads, the kiss scenes are soulless.

There is also a forced kiss scene thats pretty stupid. I find some forced kisses hot and fiery but not this one. FL acts like a prude nearly all the time through the story, but at least shes a likeable prude. In the forced kiss scene she doesnt act like shes denying her desires... she acts like ML is actually assaulting her, as if she finds him repulsive or as if shes afraid of sexuality. Which for this drama and these characters, doesnt make sense.

I'd rewatch this for the entertaining well-made story, but not for the romance.

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This is absolute apex cliche.

How can I describe this drama..... it's like somebody saying "I will make you authentic italian spaghetti," and then serving you plain boiled spaghetti noodles with a can of extremely cheap marinara uncerimoniously dumped on top of it.

Things you will see:
>Distracting and fake-as-shit-looking milk moustaches. Yes, more than one.
>FL is aspiring artist, CEO ML gives her a job next to his office.
>Got dayum that 3ML lookin genetically recessive.
>Trying on outfits with the CEO ML sitting on a couch pooh-poohing all the outfits until..... he sees the STUNNER DRESS..... you know the one. The one that looks like a 20-dollar little mermaid knockoff princess dress. "Oh, I couldn't get my zipper zipped all the way up by myself...."
>The shoddy wire gazebo strung with christmas lights, which the FL was tricked into wandering into, when suddenly OUT OF NOWHERE the ML appears in a suit with a giant bouquet of flowers, gives her his confession and a piece of jewelry. Bet you didn't see that coming.
>Backlit errythang!
>The kind of kissing you'd see from two people if, say for instance, they were complete strangers thrown together by a shitty script and standing under a glaring light, surrounded by camera crews.

It goes on and on like this, you get the idea. It's dull, flat, insulting to your intelligence, unoriginal to such an extent that you could call it noteworthy. I would not watch this unless I was having a PTSD attack or someone had just died, and I just needed something "on".

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An extremely promising Part One, of what is hopefully a two-parter...

If someday they make the sequel and it's as good as this was, I'll revise my rating to an 8.5 or a 9

This was a time-travel plotline that satisfies, because the pacing is just right, and it doesn't get overly confusing at any point. The story was interesting, but not too interesting. After all, in a romance drama, the plot is supposed to serve as the vehicle and backdrop to a core story about two people falling in love. Some romance dramas become so plot-heavy and entangled that the writers forget there's supposed to be a ROMANCE story in there, and the romance drops by the wayside in sacrifice to a plot thats just too much. Not with this one. The romance is always at front and center of the story, in every episode.

Lovesickness has a very interesting and peculiar brand of "angst" running through it that I greatly enjoyed. The characters are smiling and the sky is sunny, the clothes are white and pink, and yet you can feel this terrible sadness and yearning beneath it, coming from the plot, and it's such an odd contrast, I loved it.

Actors were EXCELLENT!!! Oh my GOD, the FL and ML are total powerhouse actors with amazing range, and they have real chemistry between them. As many of us already know, Yan Zi Xian knows how to kiss. But this time he's really outdone himself, because THERE IS A FRENCH KISS IN EPISODE 11. Yu Yi Lei, the actress who plays the FL is AWESOME for letting him kiss her like that, and she just rolled with it. She's not a bad onscreen kisser herself, and her ACTING is so GOOD. I normally am really picky about FL actresses, but I am an instant fan of YYL because of her performance in this. I cannot stress enough that these roles required a LOT of range of emotion and personality, and YYL and YZX completely slayed.

Makeup was totally on point. There are times where ML or FL has to look sickly, wounded, pale, drunk, happy, whatever.... and every time, the makeup set off the scene to make it that much more believable.

Writing also on point. The dialogue was touching but not sappy, easy to follow, with great sense of timing and pacing. The flow of the story was natural.

Many aspects of this show were frivolous, cliche, predictable. In that sense, this show is meant to be a casual, light watch. That's usually how it is with short-lengths. But within the confines of their format... they really fuckin nailed it. My only gripe is the way it ended, and I very much hope a part 2 is slated to happen at some point.

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A masterpiece of the twisted and scandalous...

This drama is a very strange blend of deep psychological exploration and taboo romance. Because of this reason alone, it will only attract a certain kind of viewer. Not everyone finds psychological analysis interesting. And not everyone can hang with a story that includes incestuous feelings and actions.

Unlike many dramas, the main strength of this one is it's screenplay. It is original, the dialogue is thoughtful and intelligent and at times wickedly hot. The characters are full of dimension, and the writer makes them come alive. The dynamics between characters are complex. The psychological insights are simple, profound, and treated with great sensitivity.

This is a story about a bunch of batshit crazy people. They're rich, for starters. The drama is very good at imparting to the viewer the kind of claustrophobia that rich/famous people live inside of. They rarely leave their house. Most scenes are in someone's bedroom, in the living room, in the kitchen, in the backyard. When they go on vacation, they just go to another house (their villla). The only animal that makes an appearance in the drama are horses. Which is a good parallel of the characters. They spend most of their time either in a little stable, or running trying to be free. When they leave their cocoon to go out to eat or to experience a new situation, they inevitably have unpleasant experiences with "outsiders"... this teaches them further that they are better off staying at home. Even within their home, there is a feeling of people continually trying to invade their privacy for one reason or another.

The characters all handle this strain by retreating into themselves.... and then the FL comes along and draws them each out of themselves, making them into healthier people with stronger loving bonds.

Because they are all perpetually rich, isolated, and withdrawn, they don't perceive themselves as abnormal. They don't have people in their lives to compare themselves to. Normal people are just "outsiders", and their opinions are not only immaterial, but unknowable. So the crazy is treated as normal.

SPOILERS NOW.....

What kind of crazy, well a crazy absent-parent actress mother. One brother whose girlfriend died and he went completely off the deep end and is living in the wake of his own deep grief, and becomes attracted to his newly arrived sister.... but only when he's drunk. Another brother who is likewise attracted to his newly discovered sister, and also attracted to his brother and dresses like the dead girlfriend to get his attention. An older sister who thinks all of this is perfectly normal and amusing, and enables their behavior.

Each of these characters is thoughtful, sensitive, intelligent in their own way. They have a lot of depth. Yet the perversion is always there running through everything. Sprinkled sparingly through somewhat normal scenes, theres scenes like.... the brothers arguing over which of them is going to take their sister's virginity.

It's shocking to the viewer, and yet the show plays it off as normal. Which makes it somehow even more shocking. And yet if you are into the twisted romances.... it's just so damn hot. Like 3rd degree brain-burns level hot. You will NEVER see this in another asian drama. And the best part is they treat the subject with so much maturity and delicacy, not like a joke or an embarrassment or a tool to be used for shock value alone. This drama is NOT for a psychologically squeamish viewer, and NOT for someone uncomfortable with the topic of sex, because so much of this drama revolves around the subject of sex.

The acting is somewhat amateur, but the actors all have a natural talent that shows through. So you could call it good "bad acting". But yeah, the acting is bad. Especially the ML. The screenplay is such a powerhouse that even saddled by the ML's novice acting performance, it still delivers. Soundtrack and OST doesn't intrude much on the show. A little bit at times, but for the mostpart it was fine. It has more silence than most dramas, and that in itself is such a great relief for the viewer who might be tired of overproduced garbage.

Some people are going to find this boring, because it's mainly dialogue-driven. The interpersonal relationships are the focus, and there is lots and lots of dialogue, most of it involving one degree or another of psychoanalytic conversation. They are also going to find it boring, because the characters themselves are bored. They're all so wounded that nothing from the outside world reaches them anymore.

I give this drama a 9+ because you will NOT find anything else like it in the world of drama, and I'm not kidding here. It is so different from anything else I've ever seen. And some of the scenes achieve a level of hotness you can rarely find in romance dramas, yet without being cheesy or explicit. It has massive imperfections, yes. But it also has a vision and a depth and a sick hotness that leave a lasting impression to say the least.

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Good smut + Lynchian darkness + raw depth + strange cheesiness = cult classic

This was like watching Wild At Heart, My Lethal Man, and The K2 blended together in a Vitamix and then smothered in sexy.

I see a fair number of watchers taking this drama only at its face value, which is an in-your-face raciness combined with a wild plot more full of holes than swiss cheese. So it begs obvious comparison to My Lethal man, in that afterward youre like "I dont know what the hell I just watched but it was hot." And that is a fair comparison.

But I was also strongly reminded of David Lynch. (Thats the director that did Twin Peaks, the original Dune movie, Wild at Heart with Nicholas Cage, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive)

Like Lynch movies, there is a strange, dark, quiet, beautiful, unsettled, disoriented feeling to this drama, that makes you wonder how many mysteries the show holds. Are the plot holes accidental or deliberate? Its riding a fine line.

This odd balance between darkness/lightness... quiet/dramatic... depth/simplicity.... cheesy/sexy..... is what I think has the elements of an instant cult classic.... like Repo Man, Heathers, True Romance, Twilight, etc. Many cult classics have a strange and stylish, mysterious blend of hokey and twisted and profoundly deep that makes the story so rewatchable.

There are weirdly placed intrusions of cheesy frivolity sure. But there are also scenes of real emotional depth that some shows try so hard to bring to the screen and fail at. I teared up at many scenes despite myself, because the emotions were so raw and beautiful, and well placed.

And the wholllle thing is just covered with sexiness everywhere. Even the "villain" is strange-sexy and hot af. Reminds me of a young asian marilyn manson with no makeup and a haircut. His looks are captivating and his acting is excellent. The ML and FL are sexy af and hot like fire and good actors. There is real kissing in the kiss scenes. GOOD real kissing, that make me think the ML is in rl probably an excellent lover. And for any kiss scene affectionados out there ----> there is french kissing in this one.

The casting was so excellent, the costumes and styling will stand up to a test of time... in 10 or 20 years, it will look just as hot as it does now, it will age well.

A very unique style that I appreciated greatly. The dumbness of this drama is deceptive. Beneath the dumbness lies real artistic skill and vision, and the dichotomy between the crappy cheapness and the refined elegance was, imo, highly enjoyable and very genious.

Im a hard grader, I dont give out 9s lightly, but this drama was truly excellent and had a distinct style all its own.

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"Feelgood" romance with half-baked script, but decent chemistry and acting.

Theres not much substance to this mini-episode series. It seems promising at first: FL rents ML as a stand-in boyfriend, and ML warns FL not to fall in love with him. We are kept wondering about what mystery the ML holds that makes him want to keep her at arm's length 'for her own good'.

But then instead of getting more interesting or deep, the story veers off course and becomes trivial and loses its original focus, turning into something you might find as the plot to an episode of Saved By The Bell.

The characters are not well developed, but the actors play them well considering they dont have much to work with. The highlight of the show is the absolutely beautiful FL, who I hope has a promising future in c-dramas... and a 2FL that is very charismatic and pretty in her own right as well.

There is decent chemistry among the cast members, and the styling and wardrobe is good enough for me... its just the story and screenwriting that seems so slapdash.

It wasnt horrible... but once youre done watching, it does feel like a waste of time. I would recc this as something to watch, say, in a hospital waiting room or on a train/bus trip where maybe you just want something topical to fend off boredom, and not get too deep into a show.

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An overall strong production, with a few weaker points

The superior production and direction made this traditional story of palace intrigue very gripping and watchable. Pacing, styling, settings, direction, aesthetic were compelling and interesting.

The weak points:

1. The romance aspect was SORELY lacking. There is no passion at all, no romantic chemistry between leads, and a "made for all audiences" sensibility about it. This is not a romance story. Its a palace drama, with a light romantic element to it.

2. Missed the mark on the "strong finish", went overboard and turned it predictable and cheesy.

3. Villains are hard to understand psychologically, have too much screentime, are too cruel and sick, and do not get the endings they deserve in most cases.

Other than that, it was a fun watch.

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Good premise, bad final product.

An underwear designer and a breast doctor with a secret crush are about to become step-siblings. That concept could have been taken in so many different creative directions. But nothing about this drama was spicy, funny, angsty, nothing. Its just a Hallmark-tier snoozefest.

FLs acting was terrible, and ML wasnt much better. Supporting cast also riddled with half-assed performances. Aesthetic was uninspired with a stiff dose of chic-tragique (why did FL have to spend so much screentime in a half-tucked mustard yellow tee with dumpy black houseshorts and weekend lazy hair?)

The original missed-connection between ML and FL isnt properly explained. The kisses between them are good, but there is a distinct lack of chemistry between the leads, and FL is way too good at acting like a prude and a shrew, its a big moodwrecker.

The deepest flaw this drama has is a complete and total lack of creativity. A waste of time. I would only recc it for people suffering from grief or panic attacks who just need something "on" to help calm them down, as it is claustrophobically fluffy.

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Better than most run-of-the mill c-dramas, but not re-watch caliber.

ML and FL were both very good in this. Excellent acting, great styling and costumes, both of them are great actors turning in solid performances.

However, just that alone can't save a show. Nearly everything else about this drama was "good but not great". Supporting cast, music, dialogue, camerawork, fight scenes, costumes... all were good but not great.

What sucks is that the worst part about it was the story itself. So this script fundamentally could not be saved. The way the plot was designed, was that you get the initial romance between the ML and FL, their courtship, falling in love... planning their wedding... having their before-the-wedding night, and it's all super sweet. That lasts through roughly the first half of the drama. And then.... calamity strikes and they are suddenly separated. This separation is brutal, cruel, and total, and it lasts for the entire second half of the drama. The writer first establishes in you an emotional connection to the ML/FL couple, and then uses that emotional connection to keep you watching through episode after episode of the pain of separation, and gross injustices carried out against the ML and the FL. Well, that gets tired real fast. I am not an emotional masochist, so I did not appreciate the storyline at ALL.

There are also problems with the scriptwriting. Transitions between one scene to the next sometimes leave you disoriented like "did I miss something between these two scenes?" And certain aspects of the story were acted out and filmed when they should have just been implied.... and other aspects of the story were implied, when they should have been acted out and a scene written for what happened. In this sense, the flow was blocky and disjointed.

Finally the chemistry between the main couple left something to be desired. It was "not bad". There was SOME level of chemistry there. But it wasn't electric. The two main actors are both very beautiful and very good actors, but they don't make the best couple. They just make a "pretty good" couple.

So this was a 7.5 for me, because it is definitely definitely worth a watch.... but not really worth a rewatch. Y'know... unless you just want to stare at beautiful sexy Luo Zheng in a hot costume and gorgeous long hair.

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If you like Luo Zheng, worth a watch. If you don't know or care about Luo Zheng, not worth it.

It might have been worth a one-time through for a causal watcher, were it not for the fact that it's a season 1 to a season 2 that never happened. It's a half of a drama, basically. If you're not somehow into this ML, then this drama is a total skip. It'd be for if you literally have nothing better to watch. It's at least good for a few laughs, and FL's unique performance. But that's it.

If you like Luo Zheng, this is yet another chance to see him in historical costume with long hair, and he does not disappoint (although his historical drama 'Cry Me a River of Stars' is way better). The FL he plays opposite is a cute and interesting actress. Not the best at conveying kilig or passion, but passable. But she is kind of quirky-funny, and I found her entertaining if nothing else. She's not great in her kiss scenes, but she's by no means bad. The side characters were either giving likeable or passable performances.The plot was easy to follow, and progressed well until about the 2/3 mark and then the pacing started to get all messed up.

It's kind of hard to rate half a drama, but even if we DID get the second half, I'd never give it above a 7.5 because it just doesnt quite have the depth or passion/chemistry that I think makes a show re-watchable. I gave it a 6 because it IS a half a drama, and it can't escape that cheesy, rushed, cliched feel of most short-length c-dramas. It just isn't hi-quality entertainment. It's okay for what it is.... *IF* you're in it for Luo Zheng. The first half has some pretty funny moments , but then those kind of fall by the wayside as the plot-to-nowhere progresses.

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A short-length masterpiece.

This was, quite simply, fine cinema.

Art is poetic, in that it makes you think and feel far beyond the actual piece of art itself. The format of short-length drama, in this instance, is like a series of poems the director is giving us. Each one is beautiful, deliberate, painstakingly created.

This drama, at its core, is about love as it relates to sin, atonement, and forgiveness... ML has comitted a grave sin against the FL he loves dearly. And the FL who loves him dearly also, is faced with a choice of whether to forgive him or not.

The questions this drama asks are not for the feint of heart. Because when this show is through with you, youre gonna feel kinda like you just stepped out of the spin cycle on a heavy duty washing machine.

❤OST and BGM are so so well done, styling costumes and settings are more than just achingly gorgeous--->they hold deliberate meaning. Cinematography is shot with a careful eye for beauty in details. Lighting was always on point. And quite frankly Im floored to see such high quality in such a short length drama.

❤Acting was EXCELLENT. From everyone. All the actors and actresses gave 100% to their roles, and it really shows.

❤THE DIALOGUE was so so SO good, it is really whats at the heart of this drama, is an excellent script. Every now and then a chinese drama will come out that shows such an astonishingly masterful grasp of human nature and human psychology that it blows everybody else outta the water. This is one of those dramas. It tells its story with elegance and rawness and incredible depth.

I have to establish all that, because of what I'm about to tell you now: IT WAS FEKKIN HORRIBLE. Not the storytelling. Just the story.

Theres LOTS of works of art where the story is basically horrible. Voltaire's 'Candide'. Sophie's Choice. Schindler's List. There Will Be Blood. Romeo and Juliet. A Million Stars Falling From the Sky. And.... yeah this is one of those. Its fekkin messed up, offensive, and tragic. Its like having your feelings tenderized with a meat mallet, deep fried til burnt and then autopsied with a plastic spork.

If you have triggers, this will trigger them. Even eating disorder triggers. All the triggers are here. If you are sensitive... or previously traumatized.... if you are just looking for something fun or easy..... if you expect a drama to do all your moralizing and thinking for you.... you gonna have a BAD time. A REAL bad time.

Because not only is it horrible, it is unrelentingly horrible. Theres no comic relief ANYWHERE. Theres no cheesy acting, or bad makeup. Theres no goofy side characters. Theres no 2ML 2FL side story. No CGI to cringe at. No cute cats or adorable children. No dumb tropey stuff. Everything is beautiful, emotional, poigniant, aching, sentimental, cruel, torrid.

You better have a fluffy drama and a pint of ice cream lined up for when you finish this, cuz u gonna need it.

I basically hate tragedies, but this one was stellar. Grips your attention and doesnt let go till you are bleeding from your eyes and begging for mercy.

9.5/10... Absolutely incredible.

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Slick production and charismatic ML but terrible editing, pacing, and sound/ost.

This drama is very visually beautiful. The production values are somewhat higher end for a short length. I love this ML, ive seen him in other things and hes great.

Romance was tamer, and presented as just a side dish to an overly complicated plot about drugs, power, secrets, and scheming.

The real problem was completely bad editing and pacing. It slows down way too slow, then speeds up way too fast with flashback scenes presented in disjointed ways and lots of skipping around from one thing to another.

The writing and directing werent the best either, there was an awul lot of cringe moments flying around here and there.

The bgm/ost were so bad, nothing struck a note that matched the tone of the scene. It was all this accoustic femmy music that just killed any sexy and drove me to hit mute. Very loud, intrusive, distracting.

Supporting casts acting was neither great nor terrible. But since this romance was very short on actual romance, and my focus was challenged by the drama and not gripped by it, i give it a 6. Imo a wast of time, not totally worth the watch.

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