One of the best storyline execution in a drama. It's actually impressive how they achieved such a feat, because the initial episodes weren't telling of anything spectacular to come. The story telling and directing were really strong in this one, consistent and constantly evolving plot and development. I started this because I just couldn't get into any Kdrama aside from Once Again (which is still ongoing). That drama was also so good, I didn't expect to be so immersed which therefore made it difficult to find something else to watch.

This one had the same vibes as one of my favourite C-dramas, The Love by Hypnotic. Different set up but the female lead give off a similar vibe. So I watched it, at first not really caring much about what's happening. The premise, personally, I found a bit ridiculous and hard to take seriously. I thought the story would seem too impossible that even suspending logic wouldn't be enough to accept what this drama is trying to feed us. I decided to just see how it goes though especially as it is only 24 episodes, short compared to the usual 36 or more episode dramas. 2/3 in and I wasn't completely loving it. I even thought about dropping it but seeing all the positive reviews and because there are no other dramas I can think of watching, I just decided to carry on watching. Despite it seeming like it's not going anywhere, there's just something about it that kept me interested about what's going to happen. Even if I didn't particularly like how slow the progression was at times.

That all changed though when I got to the last third of the drama. Somehow and seemingly out of the blue, it picked up its pace and all I kept seeing was development and progress after progress. I was glued to the tv and genuinely immersed and eager to find out how the story will progress. Han Shuo became really endearing to me. He came off a bit more matured compared to his quite childish personality in the previous episodes. I loved watching all the trials they experienced because it made their characters really well rounded. It was also easy to see just how much they love each other, and how deep.

The message the drama send out (the drama is massively based upon the inequality between men and women) was touched upon, enough that the message was clear and the repercussions if things carried on as they were, was also shown so effectively that you can empathise with what the characters were going through or what they potentially could go through. And again, thanks to the great, careful and thoughtful directing and writing, so many of the things that happened and the decisions taken by the characters were understandable, if not agreeable, because the drama had their intentions built, actions by actions, in the previous episodes. The way they presented the gender issues was quite impressive and didn't feel like they were forcing the viewers to take a certain stand. It has done well on showing us the characters' plights enough for us to understand what is right for them.

And ofcourse, Chen Qian Qian and Han Shuo. The actors played their roles sooooooo well. I loved seing Qian Qian's expressions, even the tiniest quirk of her mouth or eyebrow really portrays so much personality. Ryan Ding was most impressive in heartbreaking scenes. Perhaps it's because I've seen his character always happy/in-love/jealous that it was a complete surprise to see him deliver that side to his character. Qian Qian and Han Shuo complement each other well. I love how their love story developed.

The weak part of the story would definitely have to be the two second leads, Chu Chu and Pei Heng. The premise regarding ChuChu's story sounded really interesting and so it was a bit of a shame that we didn't see much of her in the beginning. I would have loved to see her develop from being a kind, dedicated character to the person she's become after she lost everything. I think if that happened, we would be more empathetic of her suffering and possibly be torn about what we expect the story to become. The main leads' story developed nicely despite that, but if these second leads' stories showed us more depth, I think it would have created a greater impact overall and the drama stronger.

However, those were small things I noticed and for a drama that seemed all cutesy, this one definitely outdid itself. It had consistency and strong, solid plot direction that even quite a lot of the more popular dramas lack, despite all the budget, more experienced actors and cinematography.

I liked the ending and absolutely loved the turn of events in the historical side. I do like how it ended, but personally, I wished to see more scenes of them as Han Shuo and Qian Qian or even a bit more insight into their present lives. Like maybe showed more of QQ's grief over the thought that she's truly lost Han Shuo. Something along those lines. Like another commenter said, it would have been great acting to see. They can definitely deliver.

I can see myself rewatching this again, mostly the last third of the story. Those episodes have the best scenes in them.

Loved this drama.