Monika Taylor

It maintained my interest most of the time. An enjoyable enough binge watch. The office politics and solutions to problems were managed well. The romance story was just okay. Qin LAN is indeed a very beautiful woman and while her character Shen Ruo Xin showed affection towards Qi Xiang (Dylan Wang) I did not feel like it was romantic love. Dylan Wang initially demonstrated what I think was more like puppy love. The age difference in how they interact becomes very apparent. Their relationship did mature more in the later part of the series, however I found their skinship awkward, mainly from Qin LANs perspective. I found the romance was more on an emotional level than a physical one. Their wasn’t much range of acting displayed by Qin Lan apart from the scene where she is trapped in the building and Qi Xiang found her. This is also when Dylan Wang performed well. He displays good acting when he is being serious. As far as Shen Ruo Xins mother, I found her behaviours annoying most of the time but then she would soften and I would change my mind. Although the scene where she storms into her daughters apartment and checks every cupboard and even the bed to find evidence that Shen Ruo Xin is sleeping with Qi Xiang was deplorable. For goodness sake her daughter is supposedly 35 yrs old. So if you want to binge watch a light, not too toxic, office romance drama with a satisfactory enough ending then give it a go.

What more can I say that everyone else hasn’t already said. Fabulous, simply fabulous.

I started to watch this because I adored Yang Yang in Who rules the world and You are my Glory. I appreciate that this was much earlier drama for Yang Yang, but what a disappointment this series has been. I stopped watching after episode 10. Superficial characters and storyline. The FL totally turned me off, poor acting, lacks expression, stiff and awkward with skinship which made the whole romance flat, it’s like she didn’t like being kissed! I say this with concern but FL looked unhealthily thin. The FL character is a strong, decisive woman within the gaming scenario but then becomes a weak passive female with ML outside the game. I don’t find this a good role model. The premise for their love is not explored with any depth or progression at all. The main leads lack layers and personality. The side stories and characters were more interesting. There was too much time spent in the gaming scenarios, which became boring for me. I am not a gamer so found it hard to follow at times. Esports seems to be a common theme in modern Cdramas. While others may have loved this series, it was not for me. I need a story that is more dynamic, interesting, and most of all has swoonworthy characters.

Thoroughly enjoyed this romance drama. No toxic relationships or over the top melodrama, it was all very respectful. Interesting contexts for the drama such as E-sports and then the aerospace storyline which added an element of suspense to the story. The romance began as a one sided one but eventually the ML opened up his heart and then wow. A passionate, mature and enduring relationship began. Chinese modern day romance dramas are certainly more progressive and open minded than KDramas when it comes to sex in relationships. While not explicit and still modest there was lots of kissing, hugging, and touching. It all looked very natural and sincere. The dialogue was good at using innuendo as well. This is much more reflective of real modern day relationships and was satisfying to watch. The lead couple showed great chemistry, all the actors performed well in their roles. In fact all the characters were likeable. The stand out for me was Yang Yang as Yu Tu, I am now besotted. While he is not necessarily a brilliant actor yet he has that X factor. I enjoyed his performance in WRTW which is what lead me to this romance drama. I only had two minor and rather petty criticisms. The FL lead’s fashion was awful a lot of the time, eg. the short suits, meh! Her orange/red lipstick shade was too harsh for her pale skin and her narrow lip shape. She looked much prettier when she wore a pink shade lipstick and it was more flattering. The production standards, the scene sets and cinematography were excellent, it was obvious that this drama was well funded. So if you want to watch an enjoyable, passionate romance with lots of swoonworthy moments, interesting context for the story and a very satisfying ending I would highly recommend this CDrama.

I am struggling with this drama. I am up to episode 18 and not sure whether to keep going. Started off strong, interesting storyline of older FL and Younger ML. Both have great visuals however I am not feeling the chemistry between them. Apart from some rare moments the FL is too stiff with the skinship. I just wish Chinese female actors would kiss back more realistically, they are way too passive and or initially resistant. It seems the male does all the work. This is a common trope in both KDramas and Cdramas. The FL and ML, surprisingly, have sex fairly early in the series. They wake up fully clothed and then only have sex very intermittently from there on, implied of course. I would think that a love initially founded on physical attraction the couple would be at it like rabbits early in their relationship. She lost her virginity to him and she dismisses it as just sex, it is not even discussed. This becomes frustrating after awhile. The side characters and storylines are enjoyable, particularly, her brother, her parents (quite adorable), her work colleagues etc. I initially like the Luming character however it turns out he is just another manipulating and selfish man messing with a very naive Yuan Song. The niece was annoying initially but I am beginning to like her as her character becomes more developed and layered. I like the modern day setting and at least the FL outfits are mostly nice, good quality and not overly frilly or tizzy. The relationship between ML and FL raises a lot of realistic and challenging issues for them both, this combined with their lack of true honesty and openness with each other is bound to lead to the inevitable breakup. I have decided to switch to The Love Between Fairy and Devil for the moment. I will ponder whether to return to this drama.

This melodramatic historical romantic soap opera was so much fun to watch. This is my 2nd attempt at a CDrama, the 1st one was a total failure. Get through the first 4 episodes without taking it too seriously and you will be totally captivated. From the over the top action scenes, the biggest bunch of mean girls who get their comeuppance, great visuals/cinematography and use of slow motion to enhance the swoon, lots of revengeful subplots that get satisfactory resolutions, loveable and hatable characters acted well by all, a leading couple oozing great chemistry and love (MLs gaze and little smirk will make your heart flutter) even some funny moments (the chicken wings battle armour) and sad moments (the empress), drawn out of course, that eventually comes to a reasonably satisfactory conclusion. A wedding and wedding night would have made the ending perfect. My only petty gripes were that the skinship was far too restrained, many missed opportunities for a passionate kiss. While I respected the premise that the FL wanted to remain a strong, independent woman not controlled or owned by anyone, let alone a man, her musings on love, relationships and self were contradictory and illogical at times. The whole abandonment concept frustrated me so much, I wanted to shake her. Nevertheless as long as you accept the pretence of it all it was fabulous and worth the watch.

What a little gem this movie is. A sweet, heartfelt, and endearing coming of age story beautifully told. Wu Lei and Zhang ZiFeng both gave impressive performances. The two leads displayed wonderful chemistry and very natural interactions. You couldn’t help but love their characters and root for them. The OST also value added to the atmosphere.

I quite enjoyed this drama. Refreshing storyline of an athlete and translator. Given I cannot speak any language other than English I have to rely on subtitles when watching Kdramas etc, I now have a new appreciation for the skills required to be a translator. Loved Siwan’s quirky and unconventional portrayal and delivery. One could be forgiven if you thought his character was on the spectrum in some ways. I have mixed feelings about Shin Se kyung’s performance. She is good at expressing emotional scenes however falls flat during comedic or sarcastic banter, especially during the exchanges with Sooyoung. Sooyoung outperformed her in many ways. Her coupling with Kangaroo Tae oh showed strong chemistry and connection. I was disappointed in the lack of skinship between these two, there were many moments where a passionate kiss would have made me swoon and feel more satisfied. I confess I did not understand the meaning nor necessity of the black and white fantasy scenes in the later episodes. I also enjoyed Cha Hwa yeon’s performance (the mother). She always seems to portray glamorous, rich but cold/heartless mother roles. In this drama she was more lighthearted and she showed great comedic skills and expressions. I would love to see her do this more often.

This was my 1st CDrama and what a disaster. I have been watching mostly KDramas. It was so bad but not in the ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of way, just BAD. Bad storyline (totally nonsensical with every imaginary implausible twist) bad dialogue, bad acting, bad and tacky sets; bad clothes and makeup; and BAD kissing. I started laughing at the absurdity from E2, only kept watching as there was some initial chemistry between the 2 leads so watched until they consummated their relationship in E10 then I stopped as I couldn’t take it anymore. Don’t waste your time.

I struggled to rate this show. It started well, interesting story introduction, however as it progressed the story lost momentum or focus. The whole fantasy/ realm of the gods aspect got a little confusing or unclear at times. Not sure what the moral of the story was. The coupling of Nam Joo Hyuk ((NJH) and Shin se kyung (SSK) did not work for me. NJH gave a fine performance, while his acting is not brilliant in this show he is very expressive with his eyes, you can feel the emotions. His stand out acting performance was shown later in 21/25. I am not convinced that the character of Haebek would fall in love with the character of Yoon Sa-ah. Yoon Sa-ah is quite miserable most of the time, not sure what was loveable or attractive in her character. While the kissing scenes were nice, especially NJH, I didn’t get any swoon worthy feelings. SSK was a little too stiff, less nuanced expressions. This may sound mean but she had the wrong visuals for me, far too conservative. I feel this was the wrong role for SSK. She was better in Rookie Historian. The Moo-ra and Bi-ryeom’s coupling had more chemistry. Their relationship couldn’t have been explored more. It is not clear to me why these two gods were even living in the human realm, what was their job? Did I miss something? Kim Hu-hwan also provided a strong performance as Sin Hoo-he. His storyline with Bi-ryeon could have been explored more. A lost opportunity. It did have a great OST with a number of good songs which value added to the mood of the scenes. Overall while disappointing in some ways it was enjoyable enough (because of NJH): something to consider if you want to binge watch a romance story on a quiet weekend.