#please classmate

The ratings will go from WORST TO BEST.

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10) 一不小心捡到爱 Please feel at ease, Mr. Ling! (2021) -- Rating: 1.0 of 5.0 stars. As this was Zhao Lusi’s first drama on air after I watched The Romance of Tiger and Rose - and became a fan of her - I decided to give this one a chance. Now, let me first explain that modern Chinese dramas aren’t actually very much made for me in general. I come from LatAM telenovelas, and they have many terrible ones but also some very good ones I love beyond. However, Chinese dramas work with a lot of telenovela tropes and storywriting that I do NOT enjoy. I often open some modern Chinese dramas and I immediately see some clichés and tropes that I don’t get behind or that straight-up bore me. This show didn’t sound that good from the start, but when I started it, I tried to feel neutral about it as I just wanted to enjoy Zhao Lusi. It started out... alright-ish. Sorta funny. For like 4 episodes or so. However, everything that followed was utterly boring and unnecessary, and OH MY GOD, I hated the ML so much. Aside from the fact that he was possessive and overly unhealthily jealous, the show never pointed out how terrible his behaviour was. He seemed to get only worse each episode and she literally forgave him everything so quickly. The power imbalance in their relationship also was dealt with in bad ways and never addressed in the way that he actually started to understand that many of the things he was doing were downright manipulative and unhealthy. The messages the show sent therefore were very questionable. Directing wasn’t outstanding nor was the cinematography. I have nothing good to say about this drama to be honest. PLEASE skip it. Even if you enjoy Chinese modern dramas or telenovela storytelling, trust me, there’s still more intriguing ones out there - like the next one. Just as terrible but OMG, so terrible that it’s intriguing!

Positive: Zhao Lusi. The only reason why this show gets any kind of points. Negative: Everything aside from Zhao Lusi.

Favourite character(s):

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9) 你和我的倾城时光 Our Glamorous Time (2018) -- Rating: 2.3 of 5.0 stars. Look, I’m telling you, I watched a lot of telenovelas in my life. Few are good; some are incredibly bad BUT STILL terrifyingly intriguing. Because there’s so many betrayals and secrets and stuff to unfold and really terrible characters and cheesy heterosexuals that sometimes will make you feel the worst kind of second-hand embarrassment. Now, this one - this one is all of those things. I started it because I fell in love with Zhao Liying on Legend of Fei. This show here also made me fall in love with Jin Han. However, it so UTTERLY TERRIBLE. Military propaganda, too. The worst kind of it tbh. The stories are totally unbelievable, everything is melodramatic, the voice of Zhao Liying’s character on here is so fricking high you kinda wanna strangle yourself. AND YET, you just wanna continue watching. I am incapable of rating this properly. I can just assure you - this show is terrible but it’s terrible enough to almost be good.

Positive: Zhao Liying. Jin Han. Terribly intriguing. Negative: it’s really terrible, mostly because it’s just terrible but also because it’s military propaganda.

Favourite character(s):

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8) 微微一笑很倾城 Love O2O (2016) -- Rating: 2.7 of 5.0 stars. Love O2O I stumbled across somewhere randomly - or maybe I stumbled upon it because I was and am still waiting for Who Rules The World - an upcoming cdrama starring Zhao Lusi and Yang Yang. This one is the only gaming show I’ve watched so far, in which I actively enjoyed the gaming sequences. They put a lot of work and effort into it and I love it beyond compare. You Are My Glory or Falling Into Your Smile can’t compete in that area - Love O2O is THE gaming show with beautiful, stunning visuals. The FL and her group of friends can be summed up as cute and inoffensive - but quite shy and passive, which is the show’s biggest flaw: its treatment of female characters and specifically their female lead. We know Wei Wei is really intelligent and smart - so how does she end up being a mere secretary to the ML? And not being mad about it? The show, from the start, develops a pretty unhealthy power imbalance in their relationship - despite Wei Wei being a bit snarky, sassy and overly intelligent. She COULD be a strong FL who takes no shit - but she isn’t. And as a woman, watching this show feels with each episode more frustrating because Wei Wei is reduced to a simple pretty girl who happens to be the support system for the ML. Not to even mention the rather unhealthy stalking storyline that is going on to set up their relationship. Yang Yang appears to always sort of go for similar roles, I don’t mind watching him but he’s surely not the strongest actor out there. Unfortunately, you can notice that precisely when you look at his friends group, which includes Zheng Ye Cheng and Niu Jun Feng - two actors who are much more talented than Yang Yang is as they are capable of showing a wider range of emotions. Eventually, Yang Yang falls flat compared to his co-stars. And the roles he goes for are never truly remarkable, so he kind of sticks to a comfort zone of acting that I don’t mind but also don’t perceive as memorable. The show has some side characters’ storylines going on that I couldn’t care about less. The exception being the censored gay storyline. I honestly don’t recall how this show ended or if there were any particularly outstanding scenes or storylines. However, I will forever remember this drama for its beautiful, stunning gaming visuals.

Positive: mostly a strong cast, very stunning visuals. Negative: very slow-paced, questionable writing and development of female characters, really nothing memorable aside from the visuals.

Favourite character(s):

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7) 陈情令 The Untamed (2019) -- Rating: 4.1 of 5.0 stars. The Untamed was my first cdrama and therefore carries a special place in my heart - the fact that it only ends up being 7th on this list is devastating tbh. But as much as I loved it, I also had some huge issues with it. As you may be able to tell from the reviews you read so far, I get very upset when I feel like female characters are treated wrongly. Well. In The Untamed, that’s not even debatable. Women are reduced to mother and sister figures; if they don’t fit into these categories, they’re written off or made to be fit (alas Mianmian who suffered both of these fates). All female characters are either written as pure evil or as damsels in distresses. And even when they’re not - Mianmian or Wen Qing - they’re written off or killed off. There is not a SINGLE woman on this show with whose end I ended up satisfied with. And don’t get me started that the final resolution is all about men. Men, men, men, more men, men, men, men. Like. This show REALLY hates women and that’s a fact. So if you can’t bear that, don’t watch it. It is really frustrating. However, there’s also good parts. I do adore, for most part, the show’s pacing and it’s fascinating fantasy setting. It actually feels like a whole new world, something so many fantasy shows and movies fail at achieving. But this feels like an actual world - like the magic world on Harry Potter feels real or the world of Tolkien. You are sucked into it, you are curious about the things you can encounter in such a world - it is very beautiful. There’s so many secrets and unknown things and if you know nothing, like I didn’t know anything, when you start watching, you’ll spend the first two episodes not understanding a SINGLE THING. Nothing makes sense even though there’s so many hidden things you will later understand - and if you ever get around to rewatch it, it is fascinating to put all the puzzle pieces together and understand the show. There is a character you’ll be intrigued by, there’s characters you will hate, you will move through this world as Wei Ying does mostly and you’ll be intrigued by the things and characters and dynamics you encounter. In that aspect, the show is wonderful. It makes you curious about the world and its inhabitants, and you just wanna discover all of it. Too bad, however, that the CGI is often terrible and the parts, in which you are supposed to encounter fascinating creatures or sceneries, maybe you’ll do a big yare yare when you see how fake some things look. As for worldbuilding, I think this show outlasts every other cdrama I watched. So this is an utter must-watch for every fantasy/xianxia fan! And, obviously, I am a fan of Wangxian! I have to mention them. They’re subtly yet nicely put into the show and you’ll always be on your edge to see new scenes of them. Personally, I enjoyed the later episodes, so present time, more than past time but I couldn’t stop missing my now dead girls. Yi City storyline is my fave, presumably, mostly because there’s Wangxian and the Juniors (my Sizhui and my baby brat) and that’s always a delight, even when they’re in a life-threatening situation. I loved some of the plot twists the show provided, but my really most beloved one is when you realize who pulled all the strings; who’s behind all of it; who played each and every character in this story. Amazing. What I would probably, lastly, criticize is how damn long the end is. Like separation, reunion, separation, reunion, separation, ... It feels too long and dragged out, as if the writers didn’t really know how to put an end to this story. It’s a nice ending, it just feels way too long. All in all, definitely worth a watch if you love worldbuilding and fantasy. Skip it if you can’t handle terrible treatment of female characters.

Positive: the pacing, the worldbuilding, its original characters and dynamics, the Juniors... and Nie Huaisang - those of you who watched will know why... Love Wang Yibo, too, okay. He’s a great actor and should be mentioned. Negative: the treatment of each and every woman, the CGI sometimes, the veeeeery long end, the fandom can be pretty terrible btw, idk, they also hate women and love Jiang Cheng and like... no.

Favourite character(s):

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6) 山河令 Word of Honor (2021) -- Rating: 4.2 of 5.0 stars. Following the BL hype in ancient dramas, it was obvious I couldn’t miss this one. I live-watched it, for the most part. That was my downfall. Spoilers about a certain death ahead, I’m sorry but I just have to address it. If you don’t wanna know any spoilers as you don’t know whose death I’m referring to, skip this. But I guess, it’s impossible to not know about this death if you have seen this show somewhere on Tumblr. Anyway... Gu Xiang. My love. My soul. My pretty little murder kitty. HOW COULD SHE DIE???????????????????? THE DEVASTATION WHEN WATCHING HER DEATH?????? I DO NOT.... PROCESS. And yes, I don’t care. I definitely robbed this show -0,7 points just for her death. All other critical things are -0,1. But her death alone makes this entire show so much worse. And like... not just because I loved her. But because her death is literally pointless. Yes, I know, her husband dies, too. I loved him, mourned him too, but SHE. What was the point in killing her off this late? The two important ladies who died on The Untamed... I hated it but, at least, there was a point to it. Wei Ying wouldn’t have jumped off that cliff if these girls hadn’t died. I hate when women’s deaths are used for story development and/or male pain but AT LEAST, their deaths had some sort of purpose for the development of the show. Gu Xiang’s deaths had NOT. She was the sister/daughter to Wen Kexing. Wen Kexing who just decided to go for a better, a happier path in his life than he did so far, and you rob him off the one person who kept him sort of sane for all these years. She was his anchor to humanity, IT MADE NO SENSE STORYWISE TO KILL HER OFF. IT WAS POINTLESS TO KILL HER OFF THIS LATE. Honestly, all I wanted then was for him to return to his old ways and kill everyone responsible for her death mercilessly. I hate whoever decided her death had any sort of point. Her death was just for shock value; and so was Cao Wei Ning’s death. These two still half-teenagers didn’t deserve death and were supposed to live a happy life - and that’s why they were killed off because it’s utterly cruel and pointless. I will never forget that scene, in which Cao Wei Ning told her he had a dream he died and waited for her by the bridge. And unlike his expectation, she came there too soon after him. HOW. FRICKING. CRUEL. Yes, leave me alone, I hate everyone who made me go through these emotions. Now... let me point out some other parts of the show that were more lovely. Wenzhou. Wenzhou is utterly wonderful. They’re much more obvious and domestic than Wangxian and it’s such a delight to watch these two pretty problematic people bickering and falling in love. Furthermore, that found family trope the show knows how to use. I utterly adore that bond between Wen Kexing and Gu Xiang; how wonderful when you find some sort of sister/daughter who becomes your anchor to humanity, your most annoying company that you would protect and die for. Personally, I’m also much more of a fan of shorter rather than longer shows. 40+ episodes per show are always too long, even on The Untamed or Fei, there’s so many episodes, in which it feels like nothing happens. Word of Honor only has 36 episodes and, therefore, there’s barely any filler storylines. It just works better. The worldbuilding is not as good as on The Untamed, but I’d say Word of Honor makes up for it by featuring more comedic parts and more likable characters as well as many more interesting female characters. They’re not all reduced to being lovers, mothers or sisters or daughters, they’re a lot more than that and they’re just as morally questionable as our leading males. And there’s Ye Baiyi. The Untamed doesn’t have a Ye Baiyi. And every show who doesn’t have a Ye Baiyi is automatically lacking something. He is INCREDIBLE. His banter with Wen Kexing is EVERYTHING. He’s some lost immortal behaving like a 13yo brat, wearing white, being judgmental af and missing his old friends whom have all already died. Honestly, he’s the best. Aside from that, Word of Honor is also just so nice because you can tell that the people who made this show put so much love and work and effort into it. It’s low-budget but there’s so many nice things - poetry and an unfolding found family dynamic and domesticity and romanticism, beautiful scenery and nice cinematography. It’s clearly made with so much love and that’s how it wins easily over high-budget productions - even though, the CGI really sucks.

Positive: the acting is top notch, likeable characters, gu xiang, ye baiyi, wen kexing, how beautifully everything is made and put together. Negative: a certain death, a certain other death and like... the CGI, but that’s due to being a low-budget drama.

Favourite character(s):

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5) 将军家的小娘子 General’s Lady (2020) -- Rating: 4.2 of 5.0 stars. Let me start by saying - yes, this is a drama in an ancient setting, but it’s utterly romance. There is not a real plot going on aside from romance and if you’re not into seeing a show that is 99% heterosexual romance, I can already tell you - skip it! It’s not a fantasy show, it doesn’t care about worldbuilding. It’s a show for hopeless romantics. And at that, it is beyond amazing. It simply starts with the fact that it has two very pretty people as leads. But like... not just pretty. But like, beyond pretty. Tang Min and Caesar Wu are just WOW, and together, they just look incredible, that’s a fact. Now, is that enough for me to like a show? No. When I want pretty things, I don’t just want pretty people, then I also want aesthetics. A show that is purely about romance MUST have beautiful, beautiful cinematography. You know, those kind of scenes you watch and you immediately think - wow, I want gifs of that and that and that. And that’s what the show is so fricking good at. Basically, every scene you watch, you want to gif. Every scene is so exceptionally pretty, but natural. Like you can clearly tell that this is no CGI, but that those settings are real settings. There’s nature, so much nature, so many pretty colors, and it’s all so natural and beautifully put together that you can’t do anything but fall in love with this show. The plot is simple and inoffensive; this show is rather an exploration of how people grow to love and care about each other and how they must work together to make a relationship last. It’s about something as simple as a couple growing to understand each other’s needs and wants in a very domestic setting. It explores the character of a lively, curious woman who loves her husband but who also wants more out of life - and starts her own business, with her husband supporting her. It also explores the character of a charming, yet pretty deadly man whose heart is melted by a woman and who proves over and over again that he’d do anything for her and support her in any of her dreams, even if they go against traditional rules. Yes, I will always love male characters who are cold and dead inside until they meet the love of their life and then melt. Don’t come at me, I’m a romantic. The side characters are lovely and funny, there is no division of “good” and “evil”, but rather, this show is an exploration of romanticism, of nature, of feelings, of relationships, of friendships. The transition to real, modern life in the end is beautifully done and leaves speculation open for the audience. If you are searching for a very pretty show that is beautiful and inoffensive with lively characters and an amazing chemistry between the leads, this is your drama!

Positive: chemistry between caesar wu & tang min, the cinematography, the beautiful development of a healthy couple working on their relationship, the directing is just really awesome. Negative: the show is as inoffensive as it can possibly get. make of that what you want.

Favourite character(s):

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4) 有翡 Legend of Fei (2020/21) -- Rating: 4.3 of 5.0 stars. For me, this kind of story is similar to Word of Honor and The Untamed. Mostly wuxia with some xianxia added, I assume. They all go into the same category; there’s similar elements - but also, I watched them all around the same time, which was around January to May 2021. The reason why Fei ends up higher than the other two is quite obvious if you have read my reviews - it’s the treatment of women. While The Untamed hates women, Word of Honor is more or less neutral about them. But You Fei... LOVES women. And that is just so fricking obvious. There’s many and they’re all allowed to be their own people. If it’s Fei’s mom, if it’s A’yan or Chuchu, if it’s Fei’s aunt or any of the female villains, or just Fei herself. They’re all much more than love interests or daughters or mothers or sisters. They can be violent, snarky, sassy, dumb, intelligent, self-absorbed, selfless, arrogant, kind. Like best example: A’yan is kidnapped by a himbo who wants to fight Fei. What does A’yan do? First, she cries. Then she realizes, she’s getting a lot of food and is treated like a queen, so she complains to everyone about how unfairly she is treated - and when Fei wants to rescue her? She refuses and says she’s staying. Then she manipulates the himbo into getting her good enough in the middle of the night. Following episodes, she’s talking to snakes and telling people to leave her alone... while also trying to hug Fei sometimes who REALLY hates hugs. She is such a WONDERFUL delight. Such a mess. And the show just rolls with that. All the dynamics and relationships between the found family (that is constantly separated) is fun and lovely to watch. For most part, this show just is a joy to watch. And I can’t even stress enough how much I love and adore Fei. Badass sword-fighting girl who is a bit arrogant and a bit annoyed, and like... very in love with this intelligent boy who drank some respect women juice because - OH MY GOD, he’s my absolute favorite male character. This show is 80% about women being awesome and 20% Xie Yun being a whipped husband. As for the parts I’d criticize about this show is, well, a) it’s too long as every 40+ episodes drama is too long, and b) some storylines are so really, really boring. And by some, I actually am to 95% referring to whatever is going on with Yin Pei. Some other things could have also been cut shorter (duh, that’s why less episodes would have been more sufficient), but the story surrounding Yin Pei is just... boring. I still don’t see the relevance of most of his scenes. Other than that, I’d claim the CGI to be better than on The Untamed and Word of Honor, but the worldbuilding isn’t as good as The Untamed. You get into it, but you’re not as curious as you are about the world of The Untamed. In general, however, I just was delighted by this drama due to its wonderful female characters, some utterly shattering scenes (that scene in the forest with Yunfei in episode 31...........), and the beautiful dynamics about the 6 young adults we mostly follow around. There’s also some nice scenery and some very emancipating dialogues. Not to mention, the cast is A+. All of them, even though, ofc, Zhao Liying and Wang Yibo are a super combination! All in all? A must-watch for everyone who loves fantasy and women.

Positive: treatment of female characters, A’FEI!!, A’YAN!!!, CHUCHU!!!, YUN!!!!, YUNFEI!!!!, A+ casting, Wang YIbo and Zhao Liying (as they are just two of my fave actors out there), the found family dynamics, really... this is such a feel-good wuxia show! Negative: it’s too long and drags out some uninteresting storylines no one wants to see.

Favourite character(s):

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3) 拜托了班长 Please Classmate (2021) -- Rating: 4.4 of 5.0 stars. Okay, so you may have noticed - me and modern cdramas are still not really friends. I have a lot of critical points about modern cdramas for many reasons. Please Classmate is the one exception (there’s another but that one is modern fantasy and you will read about that in my upcoming reviews - won’t spoil that now). However - this one is just really, really nice. I think, it’s the fact that it has some sort melancholy, it feels like a 90s show somehow and its teenage characters are indeed teenagers - dumb and dumber and the dumbest and very dumb and stupid and pure, very, very, very pure and delightful and a bit crazy. So, you see, it just WORKS. There’s friendships, beautiful, pure friendships, and a lot of loyalty, of craziness, of first love, of annoying parents, of dreams and inspirations, of fears and worries. This show is focusing on how important it is to have some people who support you, who are close to you and are capable of helping you when you need it. It has messages on teenagers being allowed to be teenagers, it has an intelligent, lovely FL who has her dreams and needs and is a bit competitive, but who’s also a good friend and loves her fam a lot. There’s no large sob story, there’s no overdramatic almost death scene, there’s no melodrama romance - this is just a beautiful insight into the lives of teenagers who are dumb and cute and pure and try to find their place in life. Combined with a melancholic vibe and nice directing. And all together makes it a very beautiful, wonderful show.

Positive: the melancholic vibe; the purity and stupidity you can find in youth. Negative: I’m trying to think why I can’t give this 5 of 5 stars and I think the reason is that I guess here and there some more memorable cinematography wouldn’t have hurt. It isn’t bad. It’s just not memorable; the ending plot of her worrying about her health is such an AH RE (excuse the argentine).

Favourite character(s):

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2) 招摇 Zhaoyao or The Legends (2019) -- Rating: 4.6 of 5.0 stars. This show has one problem. And it’s a tragedy that this had to become a problem because everything about this show was supposed to be perfect. Until it was decided that the show should have many more episodes than originally intended. And that is a huge problem. Let me start - this is xianxia at its finest, with a little bit wuxia added on top. But mostly, it’s xianxia. It’s about a woman, born with demon essence, who takes revenge on all those who pretend to be good and call themselves heroes. She saves and takes in lost souls who have been treated terribly by a system that throws out anyone who is too weak. She builds a clan and becomes one of the most feared people to exist on earth. An accident happens and she “dies” - apparently, by the hands of a guy she once saved. A demon. 5 years later, she is awakened and swears to take revenge on him. Now, you may see it coming - that guy is a demon, but not personality-wise. He’s a puppy - and blames himself for the accident that made the love of his life die. Funnily, as she awakes, she has changed her appearance, allowing her to enter her old clan and get close to the demon guy she wants to kill. Problem is, she has lost some of her fighting capabilities and needs to regain them to beat him. So she goes to take the demon guy as her master - to kill him, eventually. So far, so good. At some point, he catches up and realizes who she is. Does he try to stop her from killing him? No, he accepts. He doesn’t care about his own life and only wants her to be well and alive. And that is how the story continues. Now, obviously, everyone sees it coming, she falls for him. And obviously, she stops wanting to kill him at some point. The original intention was that this would happen at around 2/3 of the show. The rest 1/3 would be spent on beating the so-called “heroes” who are all terrible people, actually. Aside from this main story, there’s a nice f/f friendship involving the main girl and the girl she borrowed the face from. Wonderfully executed, very nicely written. Now here comes the problem - suddenly, the supposedly 36-episodes show was extended to a 50+ episodes show. And the whole story that was so exceptionally well executed had to be extended. The episodes starting like 30-50 have SO MANY SIDE CHARACTERS AND SIDE SHIPS that are really, really, really not important to the main story. They weren’t deemed important before the 30s episodes. They were there and were included in the story when it was required of them to interact with the main characters. However, later on, they take on MUCH more prominent roles to drag the show. It’s RIDICULOUS how obvious it is that their stories weren’t originally intended to be explored. Instead, we have to explore 1,2,3,4,5,... side characters’ stories that you really have no interest in watching, even though you did like the characters as extras, but you’re really not that into them to see their whole sob story. We also LITERALLY repeat the killing off the “heroes” because the really bad guy that you wanna see dead has magically awoken again. You see? It’s repetitive and it’s so utterly obvious that this was only due to the extension of episodes that the writers never wanted. Everything about this show was supposed to be 100% perfect. I literally see no flaw in the main story. Directing, cinematography, pacing, story development, character development, relationship development, character writing, CGI, THE CASTING (I mean, it’s Bai Lu and Xu Kai, that’s top class of acting) - everything is utterly perfect. And they only f*ck it over because they gave the show more episodes. It’s frustrating. The show is still worth watching - trust me! You can totally skip over the side storylines, they don’t matter. What matters are Zhaoyao, Chenlan, Zhiyan and Jiang Wu. Zhaoyao and Chenlan’s ending I won’t spoil for you. As for Zhiyan, her ending is perfect! The shy, passive, little girl turns into a lioness leader. Love her SO much. And Jiang Wu eventually realizes there’s no place for him in this world - and acts accordingly. This show has gotten me more than I could have EVER assumed and I’m so mad that this show only cannot receive 5 stars from me because someone decided to add 20 episodes that really weren’t necessary.

Positive: Everything. Characters. Dynamics. Story. Directing. Cinematography. Development. EVERYTHING. Negative: THE EPISODE EXTENSION TO 50+ EPISODES.

Favourite character(s):

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1) 传闻中的陈芊芊 The Romance of Tiger and Rose (2020) -- Rating: 5.0 of 5.0 stars. This show has the key to every high-rated cdrama: 24 episodes. That is one of the most important rules cdramas should generally understand: 24 episodes will always be automatically better. That’s how kdramas are always automatically better if they have 12 instead of 16 - or let alone 20 - episodes. Tiger and Rose is a fast-paced drama that just really knows how to execute its perfect story. The directing is always on point, there’s not a single dialogue that feels irrelevant or out of place, everything is perfectly executed. The chemistry between Ding Yuxi and Zhao Lusi is beyond - and you just love watching them manipulate and loving each other. The show works with the fact that the original story - written by the FL - is a mess of clichés found in cdramas - for those of you who have watched Goodbye My Princess, I’m certainy you know what I’m talking about. TROTAR takes those clichés and makes fun of them, exploring them ad absurdum. It is beyond perfection. There is nothing I could nor would change about this drama. There’s plot twists, there’s comedy, there’s feminism, there’s the deconstruction of feminism  - in a very intelligent, amazing way, pointing out what feminism is about: equality, there’s tragedy, there’s drama, the drama is making fun of itself, the acting is A+, the characters are all memorable. There is NOTHING to criticize about this show.

Positive: Everything. Negative: -

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