The drama started out intriguing for me, especially first 14 episodes. It seemed mysterious, like a solid story is about to be told. However thereafter, it was very drawn-out and constant repetition of certain scenes: the love story between FL and ML, the side view of the ML's face, the FL being strong-headed and suddenly acting weak, the ML always knowing where and when to rescue the FL and the FL/ML who are the only know-it-all.' After 20 episodes or so, I've been skipping the scenes involving the ML due to his mediocre and boring acting and chemistry with the FL.

I would like to compare this drama to Ashes of Love and Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. All three have great costumes and amazing filming location. However, both AoL and TMPB went on to develop the roles of all the supporting roles instead of killing them off. The part whereby PS lacked is the development, it seems that PS is advancing based on the aesthetic value of the ML, as the ML's acting ability in this show is rather weak. If Fu Chou had more scenes, he will overpower the ML for sure. FL and ML's love story does not seem realistic, as they constantly hid secrets from each other at the start and remained inseparable. FL is supposedly skilled in martial arts, but does not exhibit her ability when ML is around. Their love story is very forced upon the audience, whereby we have to accept that those two come as a whole. Then, why do we even have two separate characters if they appear to have the same mind? I find that as a watcher, I could not empathize with their relationship and when they break up I just go 'oh lol, there they go again'. This is unlike in AoL and TMPB, whereby in AoL, when the ML left the FL, it made me so upset since their love was very real.

The FL in PS acts more like a man than woman, and the ML acts like a wimp, especially when he revealed to the public that he had sex with the FL when the FL was about to marry Fu Chou. He is not a gentleman at all. The things the FL and ML are incomprehensible, mostly because they always do things to the extreme ie the FL for her own selfishness caused her servants to die and FL/ML ganging up to kill Fu Chou who showed real love for the FL. These make the audience unable to understand their harsh actions. In fact, this is the drama whereby I wished for the ML to die and for someone to teach the FL some manners. In short, apart from the lovey-dovey and sex scenes, as well as the ML showing his side view of his face and always appearing out of nowhere, the FL/ML roles remained sorely under-developed.

Moving on, Fu Chou acted brilliantly in showing a conflicted person who was hurt by his past and yet tries to love someone. The character development for his role is rather good and FC has got amazing acting skills. When he caught FL and ML together in the bath while the FL was married to him, his expression caused me to really cry. He is a good-hearted and loyal man who constantly endures betrayal from people around him and tries to put up a brave front. In my opinion, he deserves more screen time and can even be the ML. The ratio of screen time the ML has is 8:10, meaning that whenever other supporting roles are kissing/hugging, he strolls right into the scene. (Like, wait what? What does it have to do with the ML even.) As such, many scenes involving the supporting roles are cut out. That was what made me give this drama a low rating. As I continue watching, the disappointment increases.

In fact, I watched this drama for Leo Luo aka Emperor Qi. Leo never disappoints with his acting even though he seldom appear. Makes me wonder why since the production team is always using his fame and face for advertisements on Weibo (even Leo himself is helping to promote). This is so unfair since he had very little screen time and almost no character development. It feels like this drama is just riding on his Ashes of Love fame instead of giving Leo the recognition he deserves. (He acted brilliantly in AoL and I watched AoL twice.)

Conclusion: I will not watch this drama again as I am watching it for Leo, but now I have a new bias which is Fu Chou. Previously I have watched Leo's drama the Fox in the Screen, and even though the production wasn't as good, they gave all the roles equal screen time. I find that if PS cut down on showing off the ML's long face (I don't appreciate his face since I am seeing it so regularly it annoys me), it is likely PS will just go down to 30 episodes, though I think with a story like this, 20 episodes is good enough to make a strong plot. There is nothing memorable about this drama as the twists are too many in certain episodes and it is plain confusing. The music is nothing special unlike those in AoL and TMPB. I find the acting of the ML is boring enough and a major turn-off while the FL is too bratty. Wonder why is this drama called White Hair though. It seems like a clickbait...