Life may not be what it looks like - Masterpiece

This is by far the best Cdrama ever. Starting from one accident and gradually everything gets out of control, the feeling of depression and hopelessness in this drama is real, not even because the plot is dark but also because there are so many things shown in this drama might've happened to many of us in childhood. And I'm thrilled how they make the children to act so on spot for these highly gloomy and creepy scenes. The eyes of both the main adult leader Zhang Dongsheng and the child lead Zhu Chaoyang speak a ton of their malice. I got constantly scared by Zhu Chaoyang's expression even if he's just 13 yo in the drama. But when you come to think about it, if you were him, would you ever stop yourself from making that expression? Rated it 10/10 not because I'm psychotic person liking creepy plots but the sympathy I felt when watching the drama.

Instead of putting this drama into "thrill" or "psychology"or "crime" genre, I'm more inclined to describe it as a "family" one. Simply because every event happened in this drama resulted from tragedy inside each one's own family. Zhang Dongsheng killed his wife's parents and wife later because of their betrayal; Zhu Chaoyang's tragedy was a direct result of a divorced family and his sister's death; Yan Liang and Pupu came to this city in order to seek help for their long parted family members.



This drama depicts how the social and familial pressure could affect a child who has already developed a fracture of darkness inside his heart due to family issue, and with lack of care from parents side, it eventually turning his character to one he himself doesn't even want to be. It's heartbreaking to watch some of the scenes, especially episode 6 and 10 when Chaoyang confronting his divorced parents. It's so resonant to those who are raised by a single parent. Those kind of parents are already stressed out enough by the parental responsibility, and, what's more, every single piece of misfortune in their daily adult life converts into domestic abuse towards their child at night. But for the kids, in order to be recognized as a "good kid", they are forced to endure all the negativity their parents threw at them and behave so forth. The occasional "I'm proud of you" "you are such a good kid"phrases can be everything to children with innocent minds, but in the meantime, it's also a curse for children to shackle themselves from letting out their true childish characters only in exchange for that "praises". They think as long as they act according to the what they are told, they will get loved more; however in reality, parents did the opposite to what they told their kids, when kids realize all their parents care is themselves, the feeling of betrayal starts brewing inside them. If parents are the ones that break your illusion, how are they possibly going to repair your mind after that? The drama shows one of the possible answers to this question in the hidden storyline.


It's very mind-boggling to find out that all of the adults in this drama are extremely unreliable and selfish. Chaoyang's father's preference for his new family made him suspect his own son, and he also made Chaoyang lie to the police in order to protect his new wife, even though he's been teaching his son never should he tell lies; Chaoyang's mother is a control freak, she made his son to charge his own father in front of the police out of her personal grudge, only to be protested by Chaoyang about the truth of their divorce which his mother had lied to him over the years thinking he was too young to remember the detail. All his parents do is to blame the fault on the other; they never cared about what Chaoyang wants them to do. Yan Liang came to the city to seek help from that old guy with a fan, but was immediately reported to the police, even if he's YL's father's most reliable friend; when he wondered how severe a charge of blackmailing could be, he turned to Old Chen for help but was questioned his innocence without even letting him explain the situation. This adds to the gloomy tone of the drama, making it more reasonable of the motivation of what these children had done.


Having that Descartes's fairytale hinting here and there throughout the drama, it leaves an open ending to the audience quite resonating to the fairytale, asking yourself to decide if it's a good end or a bad end. After I watched for the first time I was about to believe in the fairytale although some of the obvious hints suggest otherwise, but still not strong enough to convince me with an alternative ending. But then after another couple of times of rewatching, sorting out all the hidden clues, I'm finally reaching the cruel truth, however, a cruel truth that makes so much sense. I really enjoyed the whole rewatching experience, but I guess mostly people stop after the first finish and proceed to find clues in other people's reviews to see the true ending. Or simply forget about it and agree with the fairytale ending. It's all up to your choice because it IS an open ending without many conclusive clues and you decide how far you want to go for the interpretation.

Music is elegant and one of a kind. A perfect match to a heavy story like this. Cinematography is so beautiful I'm capturing screen all the time.

Watched 4 times now and each time I found new details that enrich my view of the characters. Last time I focused on the leading child character Zhu Chaoyang, I was surprised to find so many underlying details even starting at episode 1 that point to his later change. Truly a masterpiece. I dare to say it's even much better than most of the crime dramas (eastern or western)I've watched so far. Please give it a check! Totally worth the time!

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A must watch

Almost everything is perfection. It shows that even if you have a monstrous censorship bureau above you, you can still make things work by elaborating the script and acting. And it turns out to be a even more romantic drama than those cheesy ones kissing, playing sweet all the time. This drama has changed my taste to one that prefers love conveyed in a more poetic way, in a single eyesight, or within a touch. It's just so aesthetically pleasing to realize the love within a trivial interaction between the main characters without even asking them to confess to each other.
I'm now very anti-"if you don't say it, how would he know?" sorta logic, because this drama sets a contradiction to that argument.

I don't think I'll watch love dramas for a long time because so far nothing can compare the elegance of love in this one.


But still there are things that could be improved. For example, the pace of Guanyin Temple arc is too slow. I feel there are some unnecessary scenes in this arc like JGY spit out blood to dispel the ghosts summoned by Wei, and possessed Wenning attacking Jinling, and the scene where Weiying cleanse the sword spirit is dragged too long and they didn't even completely finish the CGI part. This arc can sure be reduced and sped up a little bit, and then make Yi city arc longer as i feel the storytelling of Yi city arc is incomplete, especially about how XXC found out who XY is, and what happened during these 3 peaceful years.

The acting is sometimes not on spot, but mostly in the first part of the story. JC's and XY's acting in early stage can be improved a lot, though in later episodes I would rate them 10/10, especially Yi city arc and golden core revelation. JGY in guanyin temple arc should speak faster because when he speaks slow I feel like I'm watching a Broadway show on a stage instead of a final boss scene that's supposed to be emotionally intense.

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A fun ride

The main character is such a mood and the supporting characters are all master rank actors. The storyline is quite linear and easy to follow. All the strategies are also carefully explained in detail by the characters in the story. There are many scenes that make me emotional, but mostly a light paced comedy that you can enjoy while having meals.

My only complaint about this is drama is that I found no chemistry between Fanxian and his fiancee, and I don't feel morally justified to ship FX with other female characters. And the storyline is simple enough to understand in one go. No chemistry + simple story = less rewatch value that's why I give it 8.5/10 in that aspect

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