What a rollercoaster! (lot of spoilers, avoid reading if you don't want major spoilers)

This was one of the dramas that I put off watching for a while. Mainly because it has too many female antagonists trying to ensure the female lead's life is full of sufferings.
1. Xuan Nü: She fell in the love with Li Jing, a guy the FL was dating at the time. So, she put in some efforts to split them apart. However, the guy was really no angel. He claimed to love the FL but was easily seduced by the Xuan Nu. He found ways to justify being with her and didn't really put in any effort to stay with FL, resulting in the breakup and him getting married to Xuan Nu.
2. Su Jin: She had such a good beginning with Ye Hua. They could have been friends who shared each other troubles. Instead, she tried to force her attentions on him. When that didn't work, she did everything possible to make sure he didn't have happy life with anyone else, even when he clearly stated many times that he didn't care for her. But her schemes were the reason that the ML had to treat the FL like utter crap, and he also had his share of blame to take for that part. Anyways talking about Su Jin , she just didn't know when to admit defeat and made everyone miserable.
3. Miao Qing: Another person who liked the crown prince Ye Hua. She was easily manipulated by Su Jin into trying to seduce Ye Hua, who saw through it often enough.
4. Le Xu: Ye Hua's mother. I had expected her to treat Su Su fairly when she was in nine heavens, but her neglect was the worse. She was biased towards Su Jin and made sure to show it every time, not really seeing that she didn't have her son's best interest in heart. Even when everything was out in the open, she still kept Bai Qian from visiting her Ye Hua's body, showing that she really was so heartless.

One of the worst and repulsive characters was Hao De [Heavenly Lord]. I remember one thing he said to Ye Hua, "You can have as many concubines as you want but don't get tangled with a woman who'll lead you astray" He said so many misogynistic things that his character was hardly tolerable. He also was one of the people who allowed Su Jin to torment poor Su Su.

Now about the male lead (Ye Hua), there are times when you think he is adorable and then you just want to outright murder him for hurting Su Su so much.
The period when I hated him:
In the beginning when he tried to be indifferent to to her to protect her, I was thinking, okay i can roll with this punch. But then things took a drastic turn. When Su Jin framed Su Su, he leapt to his feet, picking up Su Jin and leaving a confused and a bit hearbroken Su Su behind, who was questioning her sanity at this point. He did this knowing that Su Jin framed Su Su, but he had to pretend that he didn't care much about Su Su. And if that wasn't enough, he took Su Su's eyes and gave it to Su Jin, quite unforgiveable in my books. But since I knew this show had a happy ending, I wanted to see how Ye Hua would redeem himself, that is if he could at all.
The period when he redeemed himself:
When Su Su jumped off the Zhu Xian Terrace, he dived in after her when he could have clearly stopped himself in time. Later, when he met her as Bai Qian, he went out of his way to be good to her. Even when he thought that Bai Qian might love Mo Yuan, he was okay with it as long as she had a little affection for him as well. Not only that, he also went through many challenges to bring Mo Yuan back to life for Bai Qian, knowing that she might choose Mo Yuan. Also, the Male lead has never been unfaithful. He hated Su Jin and didn't every look at any other women.

Mo Yuan (The one we all thought was the male lead): From the get go, it was easy to notice that Mo Yuan treated Si Jin (Bai Qian disguised as man) differently, with affection. But with the way Si Jin treated Mo Yuan, it was hard to guess if the devotion was one of purely of disciple towards that of a master or anything romantic. Had Ye Hua not existed, may be there would have been something between the two. When Mo Yuan came back to life, it was easy to see how bothered he was that Bai Qian loved Ye Hua. It was plain to see in his eyes. However, by the end of the show we could see that he had accepted it.

Let's talk about the female lead (Si Jin/Su Su/Bai Qian )
Its hard not to love Si Jin and her shenanigans. It was nice to her grow into someone who could lead an army alongside her brothers from Kunlun Mountain. Her loyalty to her master remains unchallenged. After she left the mountain with Mo Yuan's body, she continued to grow into her identity of Bai Qian, the great lady.
As Su Su, she was kind but had the worst fates. The words "this world can be so cruel to the kind," remind me of her. All of the people in the nine heavens messed her up. The only person who grieved her passing was Ye hua, for others she was just a passing mortal. She was so messed up that she left her child behind, something that I'm conflicted about. I don't like her for abandoning her child, but at the same time she was too messed up to care for one. Even when she regained her memories as Bai Qian, she made the decision to forget not just her worries but also her baby.

Coming to the story, when it comes to Bai Qian's identity as the monarch of Qingqiu, there were times when she didn't pull her weight. I felt the same way about the Mo Yuan, the god of war, especially when he came back to life. All the Xianxia dramas I have watched have so much corruption in the heavenly realm, starting with the emperor himself. So, there are a lot of characters we end up wanting to punch.

I have been binge watching continuously without even taking time to leave reviews, but this one made me want to take the time and write everything down! That's how much I was invested in it. Although the ML eventually grew on me, once in a while I let out that silly giggle because he kept reminding me of Professor Snape.

Leia Mais

Terrific Actors. Riveting Story.

After watching this, I realized that Bai Lu is actually a good actress. I have watched her in two dramas before this and didn't really think much of her acting skills. Its not that she didn't stand out, she is terrific and charming, but the scripts just weren't right for her. Kunning palace was such a terrific scripts, with a lot of plot holes and missed potential, regardless it was riveting until the very end.

And after watching Zhang Ling He play the role of Xie Wei / Xie Ju'an, I have come to realize that he was made to portray historical characters. He is so unrecognizable from his modern day roles, where he reminds me of a teenager. In his roles historical roles, he bring us a different aura, just like he did with his role in Love Between Fairy and Devil. I'm going to check out few of his other dramas as well to see more of him. In some scenes in Kunning Palace, he kinda overdid it and we have to ask the directors what were they thinking. For example, the first scene where they introduced him, they gave us a close up of his neck. It just looked so damn funny. But apart from some of these weird instances, he did a phenomenal job with this character.

You'll Keep Guessing Who The FL ends up with until the last few episodes (Spoilers below)
Let's begin with the adorable Yan Lin, he brought light to Ning's life. While she never showed any romantic affection for him, she cherished him a lot.
With Zhang Zhe, the story was so complex that it wasn't fully explored. Even though it seemed slow paced, it felt like there were a lot of missed opportunities to make their story flow. After claiming to like him so much, Ning seem to have given up way too quickly on what could have been between them and so did he. Despite her being a stranger to him, he was attracted to her and we can see in his expression that it was not just because of her looks.
Xie Wei / Xie Ju'an, the reason I was glad that it didn't work out with Zhang Zhe. While Ning would have had a sort of peaceful life with Zhang Zhe, he would never truly have understood Ning as a person. He was a bit too rigid for her, sometimes that makes a good choice but the chemistry between Xie Wei & Ning was just too strong to notice anything else.

What really pissed me off was the story between Jiang Xuehui & Shen Jie. Shen Jie seemed like such a powerless character that it was hard not to feel sad for Jiang Xuehui and kind of curse Shen Jie for not having spine.

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Chemistry between the leads is good, worth the time spent watching it!

I usually tend to avoid mini-dramas like these because they lack flow and are not very coherent. This one flowed smoothly, was easy to follow and the chemistry between the leads was so damn good. It was also the light drama that I needed to watch to get rid of the C-Trauma I watched before this.

The acting was good. The story was nice. All is on a good drama.

The only thing amiss was the ending. It is an happy ending, but it would have felt nice, if the ML would have acknowledged that he remembered the past times. But the way it ended, we aren't sure if he remembers. Other than that, this has made me want to give mini-dramas another try.

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Could have been better

I have seen the original Korean Drama W (2016) and its natural to make comparisons. The chemistry between the two leads in W (2016) is undeniable.

I was glad to come across The Next Stop W (2023) but its not very well-written or executed. Everything is a miss.
The lead actors didn't have much of a chemistry.
While the ML is attractive, he lacks the charm that Lee Jong Suk brings to the table.
The FL was fine, the script poorly written, trying to smash everything together, just rushing to the ending.

I believe this could have turned out better if the durations of the episodes were longer, and the script better written.

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Love the outifts, the characters, and the concept.

While both Ding Yu X and Yang Chao Yue played all their characters to the T, Ding Yu X is a pro. They both also looked great in all the life times they shared together. Except for Chu Kong's standoffishness after the couple's first love tribulation together, he was pretty decent to the FL. They also had good chemistry.

We got to see so much of their lives as Lu Chang Kong & Song Xiang Yun that I had hoped, we could have gotten more details about the other life times as well. The ending was also too rushed and just not enough closure for us who sat through all these lifetimes.

Except for the first tribulation where Xiu Ming practically engineered their sad fates, his characters mellowed down and didn't do much damage. There was too much wasted potential there.

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Enemies To Lovers, Hilarious Body Swaps Occasions, & Great Outfits

Loved watching it. The lead couple were good together and there were only a few times that I had to curse at them for being idiots. But the drama was interesting. Having seen the ML in other modern shows, I didn't actually think much of his acting skills, but this show changed my mind. He along with the FL did a fantastic job. I did find Orchid's character annoying the beginning, but eventually got used to it.

The supporting characters were decent. Shang Que was adorable. You also can't help but like both Fairy Dan Yin & Jie Li. Other characters didn't' leave much of an impression.

The characters are great, but lets also talk about the beautiful outfits worn by Dongfang Qing Cang! He had some great headdress! The stylist did a wonderful job on all his outfits as well as look.

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You might want to skip the subplot and focus on the scenes with the main leads

First in Broker and now in this, Luo Yun Xi seems to be a pro at leaving the viewers heartbroken. I do not like these kinds of endings, I kept hoping that he would reappear or be reincarnated so they could actually meet again but nope. If going into the drama I had known this, I wouldn't have watched it but then I would have missed out on a decent drama with leads that share powerful chemistry.

Of course there are many scenes that were too dramatic but the show kept things interesting. However after all the suffering these two went through they deserved to be happy together.

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Somewhat Confusing Secret, But Adorable Babies & The Couples are also good

ML & FL had good chemistry, however someone said it right the ML failed to show the range of emotions that FL presented flawlessly. The two children were just adorable and it was easy to miss them when the plot focused too much on the adults.

The story itself was okay, I was hoping a bit more from it. I'm still unsure about the role FL's sister played in the entire story apart from being the mother of those children. That part was so boring I had to speed it up.

The worst part of the show was the little boy chasing the car, asking his mother to not go. Worst decision made by FL, she was too hasty and selfish. We all know how much it had to hurt knowing ML married her with ulterior motives in mind, but in that moment, she failed to protect that little boy who adores her.

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Was written by a teenager for teen audience?

If it wasn't for my curiosity, I would have dropped this drama in the 1st 10 episodes. The central plot of this drama goes like this, The Lead couple get together for 2 minutes, promise to be together forever, and then separate 2 minutes later. Every episodes is just a weird version of this. They are constantly stuck in this loop. As if that wasn't enough in season 1, they decided to do the same in season 2 as well.

There were only two things i liked about this drama, first were the characters, however none of them got a good story arc. Second, the ending. While it isn't usually an ending i prefer, the entire drama was so childish that I thought the ending was wonderful.

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The Male Lead character looked utterly disinterested in everything

If there was an award to be given for, Bland Face, Unresponsive, and Inactive Male Lead with zero expressions it should go to the ML in this show. Even when the scene called for it, the Male lead didn't show any expression a lover would show for their partner. The FL here got the short end of the stick, and the ML lucked out.

The people around him were more caring for the FL then he ever was. He always had to be coaxed into reaching out to her, even when he had done her wrong. I wanted to like this character but he doled out affection as if it cost him his life.

The story for the ML was also not written well, although it was a 42 episode long arc, they failed to show all the good things he did for the FL, instead they kept telling us that he did it. That didn't engender me to him.

There were far too many characters to remember by name. I liked Xie Yan Ran the most, for a supporting character she is one of the best I have seen. Pretty straightforward, not blaming FL for all her problems, and a great friend to her.

Now, let's not even get started with the ending. While the lead couple gets their happy ending, the story is not clearly explained. Just a lackluster ending.

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Second Couple Had More Chemistry Than The Leads

The only good thing about the lead couple casting was that the female lead could actually be mistaken for a pretty boy.

They not only lacked chemistry but their story was so boring. Despite such a interesting trope, they weren't able to hold my interest. I finished all the 40 episodes in 6 hours, skipping to scenes that featured the second couple. Now, these two were so well-written and cast perfectly for their roles. They had amazing chemistry.

In the beginning, I though the SML's resting face was too bland and it just made in look expressionless but when he starts interacting with the SFL magic happens. If it wasn't for my curiosity about what happens in the end and how it happens, I would have dropped the show.

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The lead characters made things interesting but ending was so poorly written (Happy ending)

When I started watching, I wasn't exactly a fan of the pairing but they both grew on me. I enjoyed some of their interactions, some were far too silly which again points to poor writing. In the hands of a good writer, this drama could have done a much better job.

The time travel element wasn't ever fully explained.
Why did it happen?
Who sent her the message?
What happened when she back?

What spoils the story is that they went so far to create a clear distinction between Lin Miao and Lin Wei Jun, so much so that it is very difficult to reconcile that they are one person. The ending is so rushed and ambiguous that the viewers are left to figure out what happened.

The simplest explanation should be: Lin Miao went back to her time 10 years in the future, during these 10 years Lin Wei Jun grew into herself becoming Lin Miao and that was who came back for Jiao Yang who waited for her.

But then so many new questions arise. Since Lin Wei Jun life was altered by her future self and Jiao Yang, wouldn't her future self have new memories? Would she be the same Lin Miao that visited the past? Or would she be more like her past self? And what does that mean for their relationship?

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Not a fan of the ending

Both Victoria Song and Luo Yun Xi are terrific actors and powerhouses, however the chemistry between them just wasn't properly utilized. The kissing scenes between the two were very dry, just quick pecks. There's one good intimate scene in this show and it isn't between ML and FL, but flashback between ML and his ex.

Don't even get me started with the ending. Another disappointing ending from a drama where where the ML has ulterior motives for approaching the FL. *Major Spoiler* The ML dies at the end. (I wish I had the reviews and someone had clearly stated that this happened.

What's more, apart from the fast-paced beginning, most of the show was boring, the second couple was the only reason I didn't skip most of it. In the beginning , both the SFL and SML were a bit cringey and too childish but thankfully they were not so bad by the end of it. I liked them together.

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Surprisingly Gentle ML

Nie Yu Sheng was an enigma here, while he may come off as a green flag for the most of the show, in the first few episodes he tried his best to hurt the FL knowing she was struggling to collect money for her child. Usually with stories' where the MLs find out that their past lover kept a child from them, they rave and rant about it. Yu Sheng, however, accepted it without holding any grudges.

The worst thing Tan Jing did was to keep it from him, the child would have lived a much better life had they sorted out their differences in the beginning.

Maybe the wouldn't have ended up together but the child would have had all medical attention he needed. As a mother, it was her responsibility at the time to find the best path for her child, but she was blinded by her father's accident and could only think how Mr Nie was culpable. She made the wrong choice, does she deserve to be hated for it? I don't think so. If she had so much pride she wouldn't have begged others for the money.

While I feel sad for is Sun Zhi Jun [Tan Jing's husband], he often wasn't there for his child, always falling for schemes and not being stable enough. He brought so much trouble for their family when he should have been a rock holding them together. He wasn't really a bad person just not stable enough.

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The story could have done without the jealous stepmother angle

I loved the cast and romance bit of the story. Seo Do Guk is another green flag of a character we got to see this year. He was always looking out for Yi Joo even when she didn't really notice his actions and was drowning in grief. His support through it all made her pull through all the horrible things she went through.

Yi Joo's adopted mother was in a class herself. In the beginning, she was psychopath who decided to toy with her adopted daughter's feelings and later took her life. That was enough, they didn't need to make Yi Joo biological daughter of Jeon Noh Min (adopted father), it was too cliche. That guy got an redemption arc, he purposefully neglected the abuse Yi Joo was put through all these years and then had the guts to deny that Yi Joo was his daughter even when she brought him the proof. The point is he stood by, the bystanders of the abuse make it harder for the victim to trust anyone, a point they failed to focus on.

Yoo Se Hyeok, the ex husband was garbage, like Yi Joo rightfully said. His wife was lying in the hospital bed about to die and he couldn't muster up an ounce of feeling. At the time, all he cared about was his crush on a women who had zero morals. His character was honestly very disgusting . Him begging Yi Joo to forgive him on knees was not even that deep because it lacked sincerity and someone who only apologizes because they are in deep shit.

Saying that, all of these actors did a great job in portraying the characters. I had expected a bit more from Do Guk's grandma ad sister since the cousin made them out to be such difficult characters but his mother made up for that personality. I'm just glad that Yi Joo got her happy ending, she deserved it.

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