#huxin

We're gonna skip over how Hou MingHao looks like if you put Wei WuXian Xiao Zhan and 2005 Rising Sun Jaejoong in a blender. He's stunning. Those fantastic facial expressions and that slightly villainous look <3 <3 Love it.

And Zhou Ye is just everything. She is a gem. If I see her in a drama I'll probably give it a chance. She can carry a drama with her acting alone. Yanhui was a funny and strong willed character and I loved her. what a great female lead.

Few reasons why this drama absolutely RULED despite its plot holes and absolute disappointment of a villain was essentially a 2006 Hot Topic ass emo kid.

the way they handle trauma. Fantastic. No notes. I'm about how they point blank had YanHui state she was afraid of TianYao after he stabbed her. Thats so good. Because that was all her, not the dark lord nonsense. He, by her knowledge at the time, killed her with no hesitation after she thought she was finally breaking through. and she's scared. and he has to face the consequences of it. it wasn't an oh, i found out you did for a good reason so I forgive you. She doesn't forgive him until he proves that he is there to protect her.

The way TianYao learned from his mistakes and fought for Yanhui's forgiveness and affection after the betrayal. Trust me, those 10 eps were PAINFUL, after the love bombing that was the first 16 eps, but it was so refreshing to see the male lead make his bed and then have to live in it. So often the "forgiveness" arch is so shallow. but in this drama, TianYao comes to realize why Yanhui was so afraid of him, how awful what he did was, and goes out of his way to change. He explains himself. He learned his lesson. And then when he was a baby dragon and remembering bits and pieces. We saw Ponytail TianYao and kind of how malicious he was. and Baby TianYao was APPALLED at himself. I love that they made him look in the mirror.

The fact that TianYao was not willing to sacrifice YanHui to do his "duty". The one time he "sacrificed her", it was to protect his people. But the whole "duty to the world" nonsense. Nope. I love that take. The drama took one look at the "villains make a better lover because a hero will sacrifice you for the world but the villain will sacrifice the world for you" and said, "what if the hero didn't." Deadass TianYao was like "oh I'm the only one that can defeat this Dark Chi? Okay I'm sure someone else will figure it out as I willingly give my life force to save my love."

the whole take that saving one person is just as important as wanting to save the world. the punchline of the third test is fantastic. (previous post made about it lol)

the jokes and the sounds effects landed so well. I was HOWLING through the drama. I dont know what was funnier: a) the TianYao fancam from the Fox Incense, b) Bai XiaoSheng underground forced couples therapy, c) her frenzy from the end of ep 11 to when Da ShiXiong gets kidnapped into the Misty Forest, or d) or the moth lady kidnapping TianYao