This is quite a unique and very funny comedy which manages to combine a modern setting with historical sequences without resorting to any of the overused time-travel or transmigration tropes.

In this drama a method actor who gets a bit too immersed in his roles has amnesia due to an accident just after completing his latest historical drama. His only memories are those of his role as The Grand Tutor and the elaborate backstory that he has created for himself and the other characters of the filmed drama (all written down in his little notebook).

Watching the first few episodes I was wondering how much of the lead actor’s behaviour is actually a parody of himself. It felt very tongue-in-cheek.

Sequences in the historical setting continue throughout the drama, either as flashback memories of the ML or as dream sequences of either the FL or the ML.

The FL manages to perfectly bring across the cute and innocent side of a rookie actress without being the cliched silly and overly bubbly female that haunts so many c-dramas. She has to learn a lot about the movie business but at the same time she is very clear about what she wants and what she doesn’t want. Over the course of the drama we see her mature quite a lot.

The amnesia of the ML provides some good comedy as he discovers the “strange new world”. The scene with the rolling chair had me in stitches. Jeremy Tsui comic timing is absolutely perfect. Whenever he acts as The Grand Tutor in the modern world it feels like a parody of his film-persona. I’ve seen in some comments people saying that he is overacting, but I think it is done intentionally.

As they say, “comedy is repetition and repetition is comedy”. In the later episodes whenever the ML assumes that stiff facial expression of his historical character and says “your highness” I was already laughing!

There were a few very sad episodes, despite this being a comedy. The heartbreak of both leads was palpable even if they expressed it very differently.

Inevitably for a C-drama, there is some added adversity for the main couple in the form of love rivals (none of them too serious or annoying) and family pressure.

Also noteworthy is the critical view of the drama on Chinese fandom culture where everyone is permanently glued to their news-feeds, fans are like harpies (that hunt in packs) and the smallest event in their private life can destroy an actor’s career. In an era where everyone talks so much about respect this lack of respect for the private life of celebrities is quite a contradiction. It was nice to see this issue of toxic fan-culture addressed in a drama.

The ending was decent (and happy) but felt a little bit rushed. The idea to put all the snippets from the first historical drama that brought them together in sequence to gift us a mini-version of this drama in the last two episodes was a very nice bonus.