Overall Thoughts

This was a battle of the 95 flowers where both Esther Yu Shu Xin and Zhao Lu Si had dramas air on the same day. Even though Yu Shu Xin has had 3 dramas air since 2022’s Love Between Fairy and Devil, she hasn’t been able to capitalize on the momentum with another hit drama. This drama was sizeable hit for Yu Shu Xin and Tencent, breaching 30,000 on Tencent’s popularity index. Although surprisingly, neither these two dramas beat out the Hunan TV 70s and 80s drama Romance in the Alley. This drama came in number two in terms of viewership and sometimes reaching the top spot. This drama and her positive appearance in Season 8 of Chinese Kitchen 中餐厅 has vastly turned public perception about her in past year. 

This drama began with the perfect amount of comedy and emotional appeal as Yu Shu Xin’s character learned the rules of the world, how to navigate the world, and face her own childhood trauma. These rules, and her decisions, pushed the plot briskly along so that we were also quickly understand the world the characters inhabit. What really pushed this drama into a higher level of enjoyment for me though is that this is finally an ensemble drama where everyone has an important role and are actually shown contributing to the plot. 

The drama is based off a very popular book, one of the first of the genre of having main female leads experience the events of the book, so there was high anticipation for this drama. This isn’t one that I read though but based on the online commentary, when the drama was more faithful in the adaptation, the drama really shined, but it also looks like the screenwriters cut a lot of plot to reduce the drama down to the 32 episode length. This is reflected in the second half of the drama as it ends in a rather underwhelming fashion.

This is Yu Shu Xin and Ding Yu Xi’s second time acting together since 2021’s Moonlight and the chemistry was natural and compelling, spawning many different new CP fandoms and ships.  

What I liked

• Perfect casting of Lin Miao Miao: Yu Shu Xin excels as the cute, bubbly, kind, yet seemingly average girl of Lin Miao Miao. She has found her perfect acting lane and it’s great that she isn’t trying to sell that she is the most beautiful woman in the land that the other 95 flowers are trying to do. The character Lin Yu that she inhabits in the story is the wicked second female lead who tries to compete with the beautiful female lead. Yu Shu Xin knows her place in the context of the story and drama and doesn’t push to have all of the limelight. Her portrayal of Lin Miao Miao is just of some girl who tries her best as she’s along for the ride. She’s scared, she’s lost, but she’s optimistic and it’s her optimism that shines a light on everyone around her. Yu Shu Xin’s own voice can get annoying in other settings, but it’s perfectly suited for this drama. The character of Lin Miao Miao isn’t my cup of tea, but that is a personal choice. I think Yu Shu Xin did a fantastic job in the role.   
• A competent Director who brought the best out of Ding Yu Xi: I’ve enjoyed Ding Yu Xi’s acting over the years, especially in The Romance of Tiger and Rose, but he hasn’t had the best luck with actually being viewed as a notable 95 actor. This is in part, I think, because directors haven’t been able to extract his acting and capture his best angles. Finally, here’s a director, Zhao Yi Long, that captures the sinisterly charming yet sincere aspects of Ding Yu Xi. As I was watching the drama, I was impressed with Ding Yu Xi’s acting, but also just how he looked in the drama (from the wig, to the costumes, to how he was shot). Ding Yu Xi had another period romance drama air this year (Melody of Golden Age) and he just didn’t look as good. These also added points to the chemistry between Ding Yu Xi and Yu Shu Xin, which was palpable. It’s interesting because their chemistry in their previous drama just wasn’t nearly as strong. It was also a smart choice to get a voice dub because it added a lot to the character of Mu Sheng and I don’t think Ding Yu Xi’s own voice fit the character. I’m perfectly fine with voice dubbing if it fits the character.
• Finally an ensemble drama: This was my favorite aspect of the drama. We finally have an ensemble drama where each has their fleshed out characterizations, motives, and stories that contribute to the overall plot. There’s the beautiful Mu Yao with main character energy who never drops the ball. There’s the handsome Liu Fu Yi who is the righteous gentleman that wants to save the world. There’s the bubbly Lin Miao Miao who’s along for the ride. There’s the reserved and suspicious Mu Sheng who puts family and loved ones above all else. There’s the fun little Bamboo demon who’s looking for his grandpa and so many more. I personally favored Mu Yao and Liu Fu Yi’s stories but that’s because I actually got a full plot! They had their own missions to accomplish and didn’t take actions that were wildly out of character. This reminded me of Chinese Paladin from the 2000s where all of the characters, including the side characters, weren’t wasted and had an engaging story to tell. There’s a saying in Chinese where this drama had 全员上桌 or everyone came to the table and that’s how I felt about it. Just because we were seeing the story from Lin Miao Miao’s eyes, didn’t mean that other characters existed only in service of the main characters. 
• Zhu Xu Dan and Yang Shi Ze’s ship: Funnily enough, Zhu Xu Dan and Yang Shi Ze are together again after their extremely bland coupling in Fox Spirit Matchmaker Red Moon Pact and they are SO much better in this drama. I didn’t even recognize Yang Shi Ze at first. This again goes to show how important a tight script and strong directing are for the final output. Everything the two did, were in service of the characters and it all made sense within the context of the story. I’ll admit, I prefer stories of the intelligent female lead who puts the weight of the world on her shoulders and thought the story was told quite nicely. I didn’t think there was any chemistry between the two in the earlier drama but in this one, I was like – please just make out already! Zhu Xu Dan’s acting can still be a little wooden at times, but she fit the role of Mu Yao very nicely. The same can be said for Yang Shi Ze. 
• Beautiful costumes + great CGI: I definitely spoke too early in my review of Fox Spirit Matchmaker Red Moon Pact when I said that was some of the most beautiful costumes and CGI I’ve seen. This drama certainly knocks it out of the park! Everyone wears costumes that fit each of their characters and boy, the details for the leads are fantastic! If anything, just go and enjoy the costumes and CGI in this drama. They are a feast.
• Tight Script that is nuanced with (most of) its antagonists: At only 32 episodes, this drama moved extremely briskly in the first half. It pushed along the main plot, had several sub plots, and introduced many characters at a rapid pace. Nothing overstayed its welcome and the mysteries all lead to a grander plot. It was helpful that Lin Miao Miao only remembered some important plot points from the story so that she wasn’t “all-knowing”. The script also made good points on good versus evil and what does it mean to be human versus demon. Most of the antagonists had interesting motives that lead to unforeseen consequences. 

What Suffered 

• Weak Second Half: Even though it was a rather brisk first half, the mysteries are more or less unraveled by middle of drama. The characters just trundle along to the inevitable conclusion. It turned more serious and was lacking the mix of comedy and emotional appeal that was present in the first half. As the drama got to the world saving aspects of the plot, it somehow just seemed rather dull. I thought the drama spent too much time on Mu Sheng’s story and wish they added a few more subplots to push the story along. 
• There’s a lot of standing and not much movement for demon catchers: I feel like too many of these fantasy dramas focus on the CGI rather than actual movement during battles. It’s mainly having the actors pose, point, look pretty, and then everything will be added in post production with CGI. The end result is just that, a lot of pointing, posing, and standing. Especially towards the end, if these are demon catchers or demons, shouldn’t there be some actual fighting? Maybe some martial arts? It never felt like the stakes were real even though the CGI was impressive. The characters should be hit with actual blows.
• Random Ending: Another drama dragged down by its mediocre ending. I was enjoying everything up until the last episode. I finished with huge question marks about the whole ending. At this point, I didn’t care to go online to read more about the ending, but boy was it just vastly underwhelming compared to the rest of the drama. If you want to learn more, read my ending spoilers