#lin an

Crossover: Lin An (Ctrl Alt Life) × Zhang Qi Ling (Tibetan Sea Flower)

Crossover: Yan Xun (Rebirth) × Zhang Qi Ling (Tibetan Sea Flower)

Bonus: Xiao Ge's adventure in obtaining the subject (chicken).

(Spoiler heavy, I guess, but entirely nonspecific and more about the over all arc of the storytelling.)

Okay here's the thing this show was just brimming over with epic potential. The sets were great! The costumes were gorgeous! The characters were truly wonderful, every last one! And the acting was phenomenal! Just holy cats what a truly talented bunch, so well directed, and just resonant characters I absolutely wanted to watch and spend time with. Just fantastic performances all around.

And the plot? Calling it a trash fire is an insult to trash fires. What an utter mess. Like what did I even watch? 20 episodes of really excellent character building, great relationship development, well-timed comedy, very complex and interesting story set up full of mysteries. And then uh some weird time jump, some weirder exposition, and a completely new story with some of the same characters, mysteries left unanswered, a lot of very confusing disjointed story set up, way to many new characters, basically chaos. And the final five eps of absolute shit, emotional torture, actual torture, and not one single question answered or plot thread resolved. And a final ep of utter infuriating nonsense.

So yeah I probably would not recommend it. But I did actually enjoy it? Heck yeah. I can't say enough good things about the acting and the characters. Just truly so well done. And the whole of it was just gorgeous. Just too bad about the plot. Though I'm left feeling like I really missed something. This was apparently very popular in China and a lot of MDL viewers loved it (though a lot also hated the FL who I adored). So maybe something truly got lost in translation. Maybe there were so references and cultural things I just really didn't get. But I feel pretty cheated out of a good story, especially since everything else around it was so nicely done.

So many kudos to the actors. I love them all. Bless them for giving me these characters, and the these visuals. But this felt like watching seasons 1, 3, and 5 of show where I didn't even get recaps of seasons 2 and 4. Anyway did I mention I loved the characters? Let's talk about them.

I can't get enough of this guy, though alas he does not have the fan for the whole show.

And these knuckleheads. Like this was a really well developed fun to watch friendship.

How often to find a kid in a show so cute it's a delight every time they are on screen?

Did I mention this show is filled with sword lesbians?

And great comedy but also a lot of moments of pure joy.

Really though I can't get enough of this guy

and these knuckleheads

The main sword lesbian has a nemesis in bit so well done you're desperate for them to become besties.

I genuinely liked the romance here. Like Wang Hedi and Tian Xiwei were so great together, both the characters and as actors playing off each other.

So I wouldn't recommend it in the sense I sure can't say "great story, you'll love it!" but I definitely had a good time watching it and I truly love every single character. The cast candids actually sum up how I felt watching a lot of this

TIAN XIWEI (田曦薇) as Princess Lin An

TIAN XIWEI (田曦薇) as Princess Lin An