So much to say, and so BULLETS --

1. During the first nine episodes you may wonder if you’ll finish this series. On Ep. 10 you’ll stop wondering. If a show gets better as it goes – that much better than getting worse, right? It gets better and better and the pace is faster than most C-Dramas.

2. Crystal is far more graceful here than in A DREAM OF SPLENDOR. She's going to be a big deal. She’s nothing like my fave rave Zhou Xun, but she’s the heir to her legacy as a great leading actress.

3. The cast is terrific. I believed each and every person was real, with the lone exception of Tong Da Wei. Sometimes I could see him acting. He was perfect in DISAPPEARING CHILD but here he perhaps struggled playing such a sometimes comical character.

But his cohort Wan Qian steals the show. She rises from cold and forgettable and becomes downright riveting. Wan Qian may be the new Dong Ji and I’ll definitely try her coming work.

Lin Geng Xin's 'Fang' is an achievement in making a terribly annoying manipulative jerk appealing and worth of compassion. He was insane for Rose, but simply couldn't back off a bit and relax. Had he done so this series would have only been like 21 episodes, lol. What a great performance.

Rose's on again off again boss Zhu Zhu endears more and more with her each return. First as Rose's mentor, but then as Rose's fangirl. I enjoyed the small gag in the show where she wonders why Wallace is still single. This is funny because Zhu and Wallace will soon costar in a new show that asks the exact same question.

4. The music is good but also odd. Some songs are sung in English by Chinese artists, while others are all Chinese. Frankly I found there were too many songs , and they played too often. Too intrusive. I fear this show wanted to make this adult drama more appealing to younger viewers, and so they slapped on some decent but unnecessary pop songs. That said, the song at the end is GORGEOUS and worth listening to all 38 times.

5. This isn’t high art. It’s merely a lovely SUMMER ROMANCE BEACH NOVEL. A soap. But it’s so well made I suspect it’s rather literary anyway.

6. I hated how the show pushed hard liquor to ridiculous extremes. The world’s most beautiful boss drinking all the time with no wrinkles and a pleasant attitude? Rosie’s butt.

7. Editing and translation got sloppy during the Wallace Huo episodes. For example, wedding guests hear an ambulance coming – but then they call one afterwards. Little things like that but they took me out of the story. As did several translation reversals, like, ‘I would kiss you’ instead of ‘I wouldn’t kiss you’. Big difference, lol.

8. Wallace Huo appears briefly towards the end of this show. He simply oozes top tier actor and yet the show rose to his stature by the time he arrived. And yes I said ‘rose’. ;)

9. For reasons that are beginning to fascinate me – Chinese Dramas almost never end at the ending. It’s like they include an ending, and then ramble on a bit more anyway. Nearly every time. It’s so reliable a thing I’m starting to wonder if it’s embedded in Chinese culture somehow

I’ve always been confused by the Chinese expression, “I’ll leave first.” I asked a Chinese person in America about this and she only confirmed it is indeed a way of parting. I pick up from this the idea that, perhaps, ‘leaving’ is rude in China. That instead of saying ‘Goodnight’ quickly to a child you put in bed, perhaps you want to do it slower.

Maybe this slower goodbye comes from the Imperial Days, where you had to slowly back away from the Emperor instead of saying “Later” and spinning away and leaving.

This series builds up to a picture perfect ending – but then does a few more episodes anyway. As if to say, “Now that the plot is over, let’s talk about the message and theme a little longer.” It wasn't so bad this time, but it does irk.

10. I have a 17 year old niece and I told her to use this show as a 'Girl's Guidebook to Life'. Because it really warns a pretty young lady the many types of things that can go wrong... as well as go right.

11, Some reviewers forget this is a soap. So they become confused as to why Rose has the best hair and makeup any woman has ever had, no matter the situation. This is part of the romance novel genre. Otherwise, yes, it's ridiculous.

12, I'd recommend this as a MUST watch -- providing you enjoy soaps. I'd even get excited for THE TALE OF TAICHU, a sequel series. But don't be in a hurry to make the sequel. I want an actress the age of Rose playing the daughter.