This was my first Chinese mini drama series, which I liked it in every way. It was a unique series was about comic book heroes. When there was a change in the story, there were certainly consequences. These changes caused dramatic situations. There was no shortage of emotions either. It was strange to see Liu Xie Ning in the main role (because she only plays a supporting role in Story of Kunning Palace), but I liked her performance. It was really funny how she stood up for herself, but also played a strong character. Guan Yue deserves roles in major Chinese dramas! I think he's very handsome and his acting is wonderful.
The one thing that is perfect in this drama is the casting. Not only the two leads are perfect and the chemistry between them is out of this world, but all of the actors did a awesome job. King The Land portrays very well the friendship of three adult women who've been friends for so long, their moments were some of my favorite, the trip abroad episodes were so fun! And Sa-Rang grandma is the best character, for sure. Kim Young-ok is a treasure, every drama with her becomes instantly better.
The romance was like the fairytale "enemies to lovers", I wish the enemies part lasted longer, but the lovers part was so dreamy full of awwww moments, even thought you could relate to very moments.
It was very fun with some heartbreaking moments, even thought they were not that well explored and I wish some side characters could have more screen time but it was a fun and lovely ride. The final episode was kinda predictable and the worst for sure.
It's very very very fun and lovely. Give it a watch. :)
I am amazed how well this drama has peformed :grin: ; with such on ordinary cinderella story they managed to weave just enough suspense , thrill but load of romance and comedy courtesy all credits to its cast and their chemistry .:heart_eyes:
I had no expectations for this show when release on same day as See you in My 19th Life ; in which i was heavily invested due to unique plot and Queen Shin He Sun but Yoona and Jun-ho such a wonderful actors they are they choose a non-serious scripts after their sucessful shows Big Mouth and Red Sleeve and it worked .
I didn't wait for an episode each week but i enjoyed each minute of it laughed and heart throbbed but wasn't into any other emotions ; maybe this is perhaps found a right time just like Business Proposal to hit the TVs after many serious melodramas this year ; even the ones not meant to be melodramatic have awful ending recently ...
With all that said I wouldn't possibly rewatching this show like i have for other slow rom-coms like Do You Like Bhrams , When Weather is Fine , A Piece of you heart etc which are just eye leasing with the character ; while KTL has its own charm it isn't memorable as the others ; hence 8/10
So if you’ve seen the comments on any other place about this show, they aren’t wrong. It’s your cliché rom-com that you can most likely predict will happen. REGARDLESS...I did enjoy the show and watched all 20 episodes, sidenote no one cares about but I do plan to watch the second season when it comes out. ==So if you cannot stand watching another basic rom-com, this show may not be for you. ==
Overall the plot is as I said, you’re basic rom-com where this rich man falls for this [not really] poor girl. They end up getting married after forging a contract that benefits not only Xia Lin but also Ling Yizhou. (He gets the wife and relationship without all the drama of dating, and she gets his bone marrow so she can have a life.) However with each passing episode, they do end up falling in love with each other. Yet no drama is complete unless we have the villians, the people who try to keep them apart, the secrets, plus the family and friends.
Pros...
- The cast
Honestly even from the beginning you can tell that all the actors get along and have great chemistry together. Sometimes, regardless of the great acting, you can tell it’s forced but that can’t be said for this show. It was all smooth sailing. I found Wen Li, Jia Fei, and Chu Yan to be very underrated. So definitely look out for them.
P.S. I hope they get more parts in the second season.
- The script.
Even though I have heard literally most of the lines in this show, the writers were still able to pull out some great jokes. There wasn’t a single episode were I wasn’t laughing at least in some part. Wen Li and Ling Yizhou’s dialogues are something all of you should look out for.
- The protagonists and their relationship.
Believe it or not, out of the little research I did, this seems to be the first time the two main leads are playing the leads in a show. I think they did a good job playing the protagonists also because the characters were well written. I do like that they portray (except for one part, and you’ll know what I’m talking if you watch) a healthy relationship. Despite it being a contract marriage, both Xia Lin and Ling Yizhou communicate and grow as a couple, together. Obviously they have their fights, but they portray a realistic and [for the most part] healthy relationship. I will say, I don’t condone or approve of some of the things that were done. But then again this is a drama, there has to be something so people come back for more. Besides the two, I especially like that the female protagonist does stand up for herself and speaks her mind. She isn’t like other female protagonists that stay quiet, endure, are made fun of, always run back to the guy, etc. I’m honestly not a fan of the latter since I feel it’s really demeaning/overplayed.
- Production.
In high school I actually had a TV class where we had to film for the morning announcements. There I ended up learning somewhat about how to shoot. So whenever I see good lighting, the camera angles, etc., it’s always a plus for me.
- The music.
It fit the overall mood of the scene, but it wasn’t overpowering. Pretty cheerful actually....but I don’t speak Chinese so I had no idea what it was saying ^^’
Cons...
- The acting.
Now don’t get me wrong, the acting wasn’t atrocious. I just found some parts to be...awkward?
• The first time where Xia Lin and Ling Yizhou kiss, Ling has to pull Xia by her neck to being her in for a kiss.
• When Xia Lin is drugged and she confuses Chu Yan for Ling Yizhou, she does this puckering face and tries to pull him closer.
• Nan Jintain slamming his hand on the table in front of Xia Lin (to scare her)
Those are just some instances off the top of my head, yet they don’t deter from this show having great quality, etc.
- The villians
Although they had [somewhat] good plans....the villians didn’t inspire fear and were taken down pretty swiftly. So they don’t get a good rating from me.
- Timing.
I actually didn’t have a problem with this at all until the last....3-4 episodes. The way it was portrayed made it seem as if a week had gone by when it was actually a day. That kind of threw me off and confused me. But again, this only happened towards the end for me.
- Some of the audio, especially when Xia Lin talks was so soft spoken and quiet that I had to turn my volume up high to make sure I could hear her.
Good show so far.
