I saw this and inexplicably thought of author who created "All Villains show" an dthe whole "Three rebellious brothers" drama.
But I must warn anyone that they should not expect the same level of entertainment or drama or depth. It has some good parts, you can feel the author trying to do better, but there are many parts that are lacking. So in the end I have such conflicting feeling about it, I liked parts that I liked and I can criticque parts that I find flawed.
I will skip the summary and explain the premise as shortly as possible: Yu Qingzhi is the "fake" heiress of the story who is thrown out at 24, because she's not needed anymore. Very dramatic. Then to make money she is offered to play a foil in a dating show with the original heiress where she promised to get all the hate.
But things didn't turn out the way she planned.
#reverse harem, true/fake heiresses, melodrama, open ending
With such an overly melodramatic settings we start the story.
But the part that made me feel of that author is the feeling of some conflict and deeper drama that hides behind the initial impression we get.
The beginning is very tame, everyone gets to know each other and before you know it almost every male guest at this show in one way or another expressed an interest, even if they did not, they will later.
Yu Qingzhi may be beautiful and her face is imeccable, so she gets a lot of questions about that. But those male guests knows that she has more depth to her character than what she tries to show.
This is how she starts by trying to act like a douch, but eventually becomes a heartthrob.
Her reputation at first positive is slowly erroded by none other than bad marketing and the face behind it is none other but her adoptive mother. What kind of grudge do they have for her to almost seethe with the desire to destroy her adoptive daughter?
The true heiress starts from the bad start, good thing is that this story is not a cliche type where they continue to oppose each other, eventually they learn more, especially the true heiress who still doesn't know what kind of fire pit is the Yu family.
With the errosion of her reputation thanks to marketing campaigns she is now known more as vain, Yu Qingzhi herself openly claims that she loves money, but while netizens claim her as a gold digger the men who now know her more refuse to believe she is so shallow.
Because it's a true reverse harem, these men do vie for her attention. Author really balances between different pairings and I had the impression that I'm getting into it. Like why a girl should make a rash decision, everyone is so good, it's so hard to decide. because everyone goes through different accident which showcases different sides of these characters. They may not start from the point of liking her, but some go through the process of seeing her good side. The bad part is how it felt unreal.
Eventually, even with women she builds a good relationship, except the true heiress no one had ill feelings towards her, also women came with their own agenda instead of falling in love, though I say there was not enough of female friendship, it was changed for more content about interactions between Qingzhi and the male guests. This is how it's not only a reverse harem, but they developed a friendship after this show.
Good points: developing relationships takes a lot of space, but eventually you feel for the characters. there is no obvious male lead and this is done for the open ending, because she doesn't choose anyone. although it does feel like they're ready to give her anything, she may not reciprocate feelings, but she can do other things for them. her teasing and playful parts have reasoning behind them, same as her reluctance. I didn't have the nasty feelings as if she was playing with the human hearts when I was reading it. at times it was more her giving in, because male guests knew she has a kind heart.
Bad points: all come from technical level ofthe world I suppose. Like what is the time and level we're living in, because they included some VR technology and they presented it as if they were in full virtual reality. technical stuff like the bungy jump of three people or a dance of several people. and by everything I mean the description, I stumbled because of descriptions many times, like who is acting how, that type of technicality. Story-wise the build-up for the past or any sort of explanation behind Qingzhi's unhappy time with Yus took too long. there is a lot of small stuff I think author did not think through. Like the true heiress almost instantly mentions how Qingzhi "stole from her" but no one dug that family drama or dragged it to light, though it was a juicy gossip, the internet articles were too one-sided most of the time, which felt too convenient. The part before ending is truly insane. The melodrama was turned to the max.
SPOILERS:
Lin Yanhan. He is the CEO of his own company. Because of his status he must ve very rigorous when chosing a wife. But from his assertive nature he slowly develops feelings for Qingzhi. She talks back to him few times because he acts quite arbitrarily, while she doesn't like him imposing his own ideas on her. Only later he realized that she's not really vain. He is like a representative of logic and reason (before they fail).
Zhou Chengyu. The youngest of the bunch, but actually not just a student. He represents the vigor of youth and passionate feelings. He is attracted to Qingzhi instantly and plays the role of green tea puppy, in front of her he is like a pitiful cub, but when others try to take her attention away he starts digging holes for others.
Chu Youze. Known photographer, but also not a simple personality. he is more frivolous and a playboy, but something in Qingzhi attracted him. His initial interest might have been shallow and later when he found her more and more inetersting this is how he got hooked.
Ju Jingchuan. Might sound like a simple lawyer, but he's not. He has an interesting arc because he has a talent for seeing visions of future (sudden, I know) where he saw himself being madly in love with Qingzhi, but he didn't like the aspect of it, since he saw her interest in money and shallow attitude and he didn't want tobe manipulated. Those visions sent him into a panic mode, so he tried to stay away from her. Worst first impression along with Lin Yanhan. It's only later visions and reality mixed together.
He Yanqiu. He is a forensic. Actually a half-brother of Lin Yanhan and they share some past together involving Yanqiu's biological mother, who left him and his father for the wealthy Lin family (both hate her). Because of his mother he developed a severe trauma that grew with time, he tried to see psychologist but it didn't help, so he decided to do something drastic. He never planned to fall in love, but Qingzhi was there for him when she noticed his condition, she never asked questions or acted disgusted, instead she made a lot of small moves that made him feel better and eventually he realized she's the one.
Zhu Yuqian / true heiress. If only she knew she lived with the lie of her parents. Because of her conviction and belief in those words she was partially manipulated to hate Qingzhi, only with getting into contact she realized that the image she sees and the one she was told to have a strong dissonance.
Mother Yu is actually a pretty abusive and hateful woman, you can sympathize with her, but she is vile. From childhood she brainwashed Qingzhi, before later they basically paraded her like a prized pony waiting for the highest bid to win. When Yuqian appeared they saw a better opportunity.
But there is a catch about these two sisters, because they're actually indeed half-sisters. I know, very dramatic.
This is where the last part comes in, from dating show to almost a suspence.
That's why I am very 50-50 about it. Like I realize all its' flaws, but still kinda felt the potential?
RATE: 3/5. Despite my enjoynment I had a ot to criticize when it came to connecting glue of the story that happened in the background. A lot of it was simply unreal (like stuff that was dangerous). But the relationships, despite the lack of real depth were balanced to make a reverse harem work.
No comments:
Post a Comment