This drama sadly did not do too well this summer. It definitely underwhelmed in terms of response, breaching only 7000 on iQiYi’s popularity index and marks a dud for Jing Tian and Zhang Ling He. Zhang Ling He fortunately had a much better received drama earlier this summer in Princess Royal so this isn’t that big of dent for him but does show that he is inconsistent as a male lead. As for Jing Tian, she has had steady output over the last few years and while I enjoyed her dramas last year, they didn’t make as much of a splash. She has yet to take on a role that is near the popularity of Si Teng in Rattan from 2021. 

Online comments did mention there was little marketing for this show and it’s even a miracle that this show aired, It’s understandable why this drama didn’t perform well since there were plenty of issues with it. I do think the cast did the best they could with the material but the overall story was not that captivating and ended up being rather mediocre.

Problems With The Show:

• Pacing issues: The show was highly inconsistent in its pacing. Some episodes moved exceptionally slowly while others had a lot happen in a short time period that it is easy to get lost. The slower moving episodes occurred when the plot focused primarily on the romance between Nan Yan and Ji Yang. While I understand the point is to get viewer’s heart fluttering, it seemed at odds with the fact that there are much more nefarious plots happening all around them. The end result is that there does not seem to be as much urgency around resolving certain issues. Case in point, the group being on the whale boat for several episodes felt like it dragged on for too long. 
• Tone issues: There was comedy interspersed throughout the drama, driven heavily by Chang Long’s Mu Zhan Ting. At this point, I feel like Chang Long is more or less typecast in this kind of role because he is able to be that prankster and jokester. While at certain times his antics were truly hilarious, later on in the show when more serious plots were at play, his antics and other jokes seem incredibly out of place. It detracted from the emotional impact that was supposed to happen. 
• Hair accessories/costumes: Man, I really did not like Jing Tian’s hairstyle and costumes in this show. She is so gorgeous but her hairstyle in this drama did not play to her strengths. Was there no money available for her? 
• Weird audio recording: The main cast of Zhang Ling He and Jing Tian used their real voices to dub the show but I don’t know how the audio was captured because often times, the voices seemed muffled. You could chalk that up to, for example Zhang Ling He, not enunciating properly but I do think there was an element of weird or poor audio recording that did detract from the show. 

What I liked:

• Romance: If all you want to see is Zhang Ling He dating on screen, this will scratch that itch. The chemistry between Zhang Ling He and Jing Tian was decent enough. It’s not the strongest I’ve seen for either actor (for example, I thought Jing Tian’s chemistry with Xu Kai in Wonderland of Love was even better), but held up well as a key thread throughout the show. I really only wanted to see the 2 of them on screen together. The behind the scenes clips that showed the interaction between Zhang Ling He and Jing Tian were even cuter in my opinion for those wanting to ship this couple. 
• Friendship: I did really enjoy the little friendship pod of Nan Yan, Mu Zhan Ting, Yin Ya and Ji Yang. It’s a motley crew of you could say outcasts that end up meshing well together. Nan Yan has her older brother in Mu Zhan Ting and younger brother in Yin Ya and of course her boyfriend in Ji Yang. But Mu Zhan Ting and Yin Ya are all very supportive of each other in the group and even though they are close with Nan Yan, they know their role in the group and did not cause any relationship drama. Their interactions as a group shine as a bright spot and bring a lot of warmth to the show. 
• Set/CGI: I did think many of the sets, particularly the floating whale cruise, were quite intricate. The CGI also was decent throughout. Perhaps all the funds were used here rather than the costumes and hairstyling for Jing Tian. 

What would have been more interesting

• Nan Yan’s mother, Nan Yao: As I’m watching this drama, the more interesting storyline is actually Nan Yao. While we do get flashbacks in the show detailing instances of her life, I wish that we got HER story as a full drama instead of focusing on Nan Yan. She had many admirers and her story seemed so interesting that I wish it was more fleshed out for us. 

Karen