K-netizens Also Trending on the C-netizen Critique of How Epic and Unintentionally Awful Fantasy C-drama Mirror: Twin Cities Is
Man, this drama is so bad it can’t even me hate-watched or cringe-watched or basically just watched. And it’s with my C-ent cutie pie Li Yi Feng but either he was lobotomized while filming it or he really is that bad of an actor, all I know is this has started C-drama in 2022 year of the Tiger off on a new low. I’m talking about fantasy drama Mirror: Twin Cities, which to its credit doesn’t have a good source novel either as I read it and was like WTF with it’s weird dark undertones and half gibberish writing that went nowhere and then an abrupt ending. But the C-drama takes just the basic novel premise and builds on it, so the intentional is all good, but the end result is perhaps even worse hahaha. Leads Li Yi Feng and Yukee Chen have zero chemistry, and it’s a shame because the promos (including the poster above) are just gorgeous.
Li Yi Feng also has this empty look and same expression through the entire drama while Yukee is acting in front of a green screen and opposite a statue. The worst part is that this was billed as a big budget high profile drama but the production values are budget rate at best, with bad wigs, weird sets that sometimes look Eastern and other times Western like it was cobbled together from whatever was in the storage at Hengdian studios, and laughable special effects. This drama is the opposite of Go Princess Go which had zero budget and made lemonade out of lemons. This drama’s new level of bad is even getting trending tracking in K-ent, because we all need something to laugh it in these dark political times that is universally okay to mock and no one will get their feelings hurt because everyone involved has moved on.
.jpg)
Wow, this looks like a Bollywood movie. The first gif made me snarf.
Li Yi Feng has always been THAT BAD lol. It’s hard fo the to get into C-dramas because the acting is generally poorer than their Korean counterparts, like even their idols are worse the K-idols.
i cringed. reminds me of an early 2000s chinese drama. also lyf has been acting for more than decade but is still bad. i would say him and his friend william chan need to stick to singing, but unfortunately, they’re not good singers either.
The above images also made me think of the early 2000s! Makes me wonder where all the money went.
Is William Chan that bad? I at least can watch his drama and he can have a decent chemistry with costar
Yukee Chen is given such bad projects that part of me wonders if her management company secretly hates her or something. I mean, between this drama, And The Winner is Love, and Love Lasts Two Minds. I can’t tell if she’s not a good actress…or if her acting is just drowned out by the bad dramas she’s been in.
I think if she’s a good actress she would make the character came alive and interesting.
Everything in the show was a hot mess but 2nd male lead was a cutie and his acting was good.
The gifs made me laugh. Looks more like those TV show/movie parodies on YouTube, like the ones Ryan Higa used to do years ago.
This comment just makes me miss Ryan Higa and his parodies and trailers. 🙁
Haven’t watched this drama. But the gifs are so bad lol. LYF isn’t a good actor. Maybe a decent one at the most. But he always had nonexistent chemistry with his FL. That’s why I still wonder why he still has so many dramas. But at least the ones he picked up never interest me
you had me at the gifs, lol! I wouldn’t be surprised this makes the top $%#! list.
I watched this and has to drop it quite early in. I’m no longer much of a fan of LYF’s and have started to see that he’s really not a good actor. I feel that he doesnt emote well, always seem to be phoning it in which is why I dont feel the connection with his acting. YK has always been a bad to mediocre actress at best for me, so I have no idea why she was picked as FL for this.
I remember when Li Yifeng used to be China’s IT boy. Glad they’ve moved on. I mean I wouldn’t say Xiao Zhan or Yang Yang are good actors, but at least they’re better than him and don’t look constipated all the time.
I would say Xiao Zhan’s acting tops all the c-idol-turned actors so far. I hope The Oath of Love and The Longest Promise air soon. Another c-actor who I like is Xu Kai, looking forward to his drama with Yang Mi, The Twenty-eight Law of Love.
Top c-idol turned actor? You forgot about Jackson Yee.
@Guest That’s your opinion, not mine. His drama characters so far weren’t spectacular to me, and if you are talking about movies, that’s a whole other realm and I don’t often watch chinese movies.
Disagreed! XZ acting isn’t anything special, it’s very mediocre. He’s so overrated and overhype for nothing. Xu Kai acts the same way in each and every drama.
I like Xiao Zhan and Xu Kai too, currently watching Royal Feast and Xu Kai is the only reason I’m still watching that drama with its broken storytelling. It’s a shame Xiao Zhan’s TOOL still hasn’t air yet.
i respect your opinion, but that’s a low standard for being the “best c-idol turned actor,” in my opinion. it’s definitely jackson yee. that guy was brilliant in better days and is on his way to becoming a top film actor.
@dramafan I’ve only seen Jackson Yee in The Longest Day in Chang’an and his acting was mediocre there. So yeah, out of all the c-idols I know so far, Xiao Zhan has the best acting skills. C-movies have always been bad so I hardly watch them.
@Lilith I’ve seen Xiao Zhan in both Duolouo Continent and The Untamed where I found him mediocre in both. Better Days is an Oscar-nominated film where Yee’s acting was praised by critics. It’s his representative work, and when I compare that to The Untamed which is Xiao Zhan’s representative work, I find him bad in comparison.
Agree to disagree I guess.
I watched Xiao Zhan’s latest military drama and after watching it I get why people said he’s a good actor. He excels in the acting department there. Last drama of him I watch is untamed, he was good there but a little bit inconsistent in his acting sometimes he overacts. Jackson yee mostly acts in movie and last drama I watch from him is longest day in Changan he is good, but I wouldn’t say he’s the better one because he has moments in his acting where he seems disconnected and unable to emote well. One thing for sure is they were both improving compared to before. And that’s good because they were both still have so much to learn.
LYF still has so many dramas even when he is no longer IT boy. There’s many better young actors than him.
I stay away from Yang Yang after watching Love 020. That’s why I was so surprised when I watched You Are My Glory. He improved A LOT
I think the novel’s story premise is kind of westernised, so the drama faced more difficulties porting the scenes to screen, which explains the weird sets.
I can’t trust Tencent & their costume dramas. Sword snow stride was not brilliant either. The mega hit this year for C-dramas so far has been A lifelong Journey – truly exceptional.
I swear these production teams are using dramas as money laundering businesses because how can you say with a straight face that this drama cost a lot of money
I watch one episode and couldn’t understand any of it like what had happened??
Plan to continue but the fact that I can’t even move past episode 1 tells a lot. Cause I did manage to watch Legend of Fei until the middle
He has always been bad. She has always been bad. When you add bad and bad with some ridiculous directing you get crap.
Should add Royal Feast to the list, boring storyline, long slow-motioned speeches . I dropped at second episode cause it made me yawn so much.
Anyway, cdrama should stop using CG. Their CG has always been cringe worthy, felt like they are using the same technology from HK TVB early 2000s’ drama (think Feng Sheng Bang).
I havent watch this drama, butthe gif is already making me cringe.