I don’t know if what makes Wonderland of Love work THIS HARD for me is a chicken (the leads and their acting) or the egg (the directing and the script) but goodness is this the most unexpected C-drama to emerge from the recent scrum of premieres to grab me by the gut and heart completely. There is When the Wind Rises, Story of Kunning Palace, Love is Panacea, Only for Love, Weaving a Tale of Love 2, and Blooming Days all coming out in the last week alone but it’s Xu Kai and Jing Tian creating a wonderland of perfect bickering and insane chemistry (cute at times, smoldering in others) that drama producers would kill to be able to create in a petri dish. Wonderland is adapted from a Fei Wo Si Cun novel which adds another layer of watch-ability and the directing is smooth and simple from the director of The Untamed and The Legends. I don’t care about any other plot or character but the OTP and the story wisely gives these two plenty of screen time together and already two bathtub scenes in 6 episodes it feels like Christmas came early haha. For the first time I can enjoy a Xu Kai drama without feeling like I’m accepting crap just for the pleasure of staring at him and Jing Tian has always been a good actress but never super buzzy but she brings it so on point here.
Yes, it’s a good military romance drama, which is what I was hoping for. Is it stellar? No, but it does a good job. The fight for the food supplies in the beginning and the subdued yet overt struggle of the 3 respective armies over Wangzhou are aspects of military plot I appreciate being added, rather than making it fluff and using it as a backdrop for romance.
I’m also loving that he recognized her as a woman right away, not the annoying THAT LOOKS LIKE A GUY lie they always throw at us for a couple of episodes.
As for Xu Kai, I’ve been a fan of his for yearsss, literally since Yanxi Palace. I have endured criticisms on his acting and lack of chemistry with co-stars because honestly, there was some truth to them, although sometimes those claims were exaggerated by antis. The difference is I feel like he’s actually trying to do better and constantly pushing himself in random roles, unlike other liulangs who become pompous and rode the backs of their fans and handsomeness. He’s got a long way to go, but from model to actor he’s not too bad! He’s no Kim Woo Bin lol.
When I learned this drama was filming 2 years ago I lept for joy. I love love love Jingtian and Xu Kai together.
Are you saying Kim Woo Bin is bad or that he’s good model-turned-actor? Because personally I find Woo Bin a much better actor, with Kang Dong Won being the pinnacle of model-turned-actors in my opinion. But I do appreciate Xu Kai’s willingness to take on a variety of roles and improve himself.
Not the commenter, but I personally find Kim Woo Bin really good, especially compared to other model turned actors like NJH lol. Not saying he’s Baeksang award-worthy, but I don’t have any complaints about his acting
Uh…no…any Kim Woo Bin fan knows he’s a model turned actor. Honestly, I don’t know how that was missed. I’m saying he’s no Kim Woo Bin because he hasn’t reached that level of acting power, as a model-turned-actor counterpart.
My question was regarding the sentence “He’s no Kim Woo Bin.” No Kim Woo Bin in what? Being good or bad? I obviously know Woobin’s a model-turned-actor, that’s why I added Kang Dong Won being the pinnacle of success among model-turned-actors…
Sigh. I answered your question already. I really don’t know how much simpler I can put it? I get this is a blog, but sometimes you lot read too fast. Let me just copy and paste at this point. “Im saying he’s no Kim Woo Bin because he hasn’t reached that level of acting power, as a model turned actor counterpart” obviously, comprehension implies Kim Woo Bin is a good actor. Above average even, and his movies like Master,and series like School 2013, The Heirs, and Black Knight are proof of that. He was out here competing with other K- actors straight off the jump, even outdoing them as a supporting actor. His illness really set him back a couple of years. (*￣▽￣)ノ~~ ♪
I’m sorry to say Xu Kai rarely (if not never) had chemistry with his costars. But I always have qualms about Chinese drama scriptwriting and directing. Therefore I’m not saying his acting is bad. I’m not his anti since I won’t even check the dramas of those who I really dislike.
??? He was pretty good with Bai Lu in 2 different dramas, granted they were dating at the time.
Exactly whom has Bai Lu been dating? LOL
I tried to watch his costume drama with Bai Lu but dropped cos it’s so boring. Sorry to say that.
Your comments are on point about Xu Kai. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Xu Kai is gifted in ways that is hard to describe. It is very true that his acting has a long ways to go but of course! Xu Kai knows it, he admits it, he has the attitude to learn and grow. Having said that, his acting is not bad at all, in fact, in a few of his past dramas, I think he is great actor. He did not grow up in childhood learning art of entertainment with acting, singing, dancing, speaking, etc. He seems to have just a normal childhood. Yet, he was able to become this successful over night. That means he is talented. But what I see in Xu Kai is not something other actors can learn. He has natural gifts not only in his angelic beauty, grace, and charm. It’s not just the face or the eyes or the nose or mouth or that scoundrel look that makes him great for heroic romantic roles, but his body the way he’s built you don’t see other top male actors have such a nice form. He’s so into being a guy with the action and fighting scenes unlike other actors they have to use use special effects to them them. Xu Kai is a joy to watch in action because you know how hard he worked on it and he is graceful at it too. But there is something about his charm that works on screen that makes up for his lack of formal training like some other actors have had growign up learning to sing and dance or attend drama school for a few years before going into acting. Xu Kai will get better and better given the right opportunities, I’m very sure he will win another best actor award again.
Thank you for writing this. Xu Kai has no ‘art’ background. For someone that was in ‘Finance’ (drop out from a Finace major) to becoming a model then delving into acting under a ‘notorious’ agency / agent (Yu Zheng) he is doing well. He rarely have a say in the typa scripts he can pick up. Yu Zheng accepts scripts for him from those that can let him have a say in the drama (crew, cast, writing additional unnecessary scenes to promote/project his other actors in Xu Kai’s dramas, amongst other things he does )…. I am hoping Xu Kai only signed a 10 year contract with him. This way he can pick up REAL jobs whilst he’s still in his prime (he’s currently 29). Let him keep doing the ‘idols’ script to have a fanbase. Hopefully they all become d!e-hard fans. Good thing , most of his fans are overseas, cause I’ve noticed that Chinese fans are fickle
My reply was to your comment assuming I didn’t know he was a model-turned-actor (I’m his fan lmao. Oviously I’m aware of that). I was explaining to you that my original question was not pertaining to his former profession. Why would I ask the the same question twice? No need to be a condescending prick.
Hm, that’s how I talk when I’m annoyed? You seemed to be slow on the uptake when I was speaking proper English. I couldn’t tell if you were trolling or just trying to have the last word. Welcome to the internet, you’re not my supervisor I don’t owe you excessive kindness or tact, especially when you literally ask the same question – re-worded – that I already answered.
This condescending prick… is signing off!
I really like Xu Kai in this role. Miles better than his character delivery in the trainwreck that was Snow Eagle Lord. And Jing Tian is a consistently reliable actress. She deserves much more hype than she currently receives.
Bur id this current drama was filmed two years ago (according to above comment) and Snow Eagle Lord is more recent, doesn’t it mean his acting has regressed? Just wondering. I’m looking forward to watching this drama when there are more episodes out. I tend to binge if I like one.
To my knowledge, Snow Eagle Lord began filming around October 2021, and Wonderland of Love began filming early 2022, maybe January February-ish. So they’re pretty close, but Wonderland of Love is the latter.
I didn’t watch Snow Eagle Lord because I could smell the lacklusterness from a mile away, especially after seeing the stills and some of the surrounding characters. I can’t comment on his acting there, though I did hear that rather than bad acting, it was the script and story pacing that really devalued the drama overall.
LOL, as for acting regression, the filming times are around each other, and behind the scenes XK may or may not have liked one drama more than the other (allegedly), and there are rumors he picked up the drama to fill a quota and appease other executives behind the scenes, so that may have transferred in his acting. Professional? Maybe not. But then again, playing the C-Ent industry game is exhausting for any actor.
interesting comment about his acting regression. I thought about that too.. it does seem it regressed a bit, even in Wonderland of Love. That spark in his expression seems a notch less than in past dramas that I loved.
I also feel he lost weight and his face is slimmer and that takes away from his expressions? or I could be wrong. But definitely, a bit disappointed that I’m not as impressed by hisi expressions as say in ANcient Poetry, Lingjian Mountain, Royal Feast, The Legends, etc. I hope this is a temporary set back. Maybe he’s acting in too many movies that portray similiar types of looks and character.. dashing hero. Xu Kai has a lot of potential. Hope he will have more success in future.
Aw really Koala? I disagreed with you about Lost You Forever though. LYF was a great disappointment for me. But Fei Wo Si Cun as the scriptwriter and the same director for the Untamed!!!??? OK, I’m in for this one. LOL. I always think Oscar-winning actors can’t even save a badly written or directed film.
I was painfully addicted to reading FOSC’s novel “The East Palace” (東宮). So painfully impressed that I had fear watching the drama adaption. LOL. I did not read this novel. So perhaps that’s good for me to watch the drama. haha
Xu Kai’s drama has been almost always a miss for me to the extent that I gave up checking his dramas. Perhaps this drama with Jing Tian will change my opinion about him?
This drama does change my opinion about XK. LOL. Woo-hoo! I just binged 5 eps without fast forwarding nor skipping an scenes. I agree with Koala this time. The drama so far is well written; the storylines are knitted tightly together with a smooth flow. The directing and camera shots made it even more fun to watch. XK isn’t lackluster as in his prior dramas. Perhaps his prior characters were not well written and that took away his appeal. XK has strong chemistry with JT. I really love their banter and bickering as well. LOL.
I agree on everything Koala said here about the drama. On top of that, the drama doesn’t have obvious flaws I usually complained about. Wonderland is a pleasant surprise to me, the rare 5% pleasant surprise. LOL. I’ll continue to follow this series besides other Kdramas I’m currently watching.
Already dropped this too. XK still can’t carry a drama. His acting is simply not it
Overall, every single drama that has come out in the last week or so has been a major disappointment though I am only truly saddened by Kunning Palace sucking as that one I really anticipated. Off to kdrama land.
Their chemistry is amazing on and off screen, but while their flirty banter and back and forth are great, people need to remember it’s 40 episodes and that they are in opposing clans. I already see a bit of criticism at the FL for doing something in the recent episode, and I want to throw myself at a wall. A FL that prioritizes her GOALS and actually is cunning instead of fluff cunning? Call the police I guess -_-. Fffffs I hate it here.
I am glad to read this; Jing Tian is lovely and Xu Kai is so handsome, it makes me happy that you find him good in this. I think of him as a pretty bland actor but an endearing one, so it will be great if he is actually getting better.
I wouldn’t describe Xu Kai as bland actor by any means. I find his acting is not your formal training and so it is more understated (meaning not over dramatic) or that it is subtle. I find that when I rewatch his scenes, I take the time to look at his expressions, he is really on point. I can understand the criticisms on Xu Kai acting which is why I compare him to other actors and I think he’s not as bad as critics make it sound. He did not win best actor award in 2019 for nothing. If he did, that means those awards were meaningless for other actors too. I believe in this actor and I think he will win another best actor award again. He is still relatively new to acting (5 yrs) and he never had formal training.
Had no idea he was filming WOL and Snow Eagle Lord that close together? I’m pretty new to C-dramas, but I’m wondering if these actors are overworked? I follow K-dramas closely, and some of my favroites have taken 8-10 months to film 12-16 episodes whereas it seems to take less time to film triple the amount of episodes C-dramas have. Maybe this is why the acting is lackluster among a lot of the popular young stars who have like 2-3 dramas per year…
Spot on, Xu Kai has too many drama every year, also happens to Bai Lu, bit boring now seeing them to often.
Seems like they’re over-exposed tbh. Bai Lu is doing fine, but Xu Kai may even be regressing? It’s funny seeing his fans here do mental gymnastics to justify his poor acting. The critiques are warranted, not over-exaggeration lol. He should take some time off to hone his craft if he truly is serious about it.
Meh. No one here is on Xu Kai’s cock doing mental gymnastics as you say. Maybe you’re confusing the banter with Xiao Zhan fans or something lol. If anything, he’s barely talked about on this blog or in general. Even fans know his acting is average at best, and have accepted chemistry critiques, or that he may lack screen presence and charisma he once had in Yanxi Palace. But “poor” acting?…Hm. Anyway, this discussion page is pretty tame from dislikers of Xu Kai and fans alike. You as the C-drama newbie seem to be the only one with such a severe strong opinion.
Taking time off “to hone his craft” is hilarious to say. This is C-Ent not the West, time off without a game plan leads to fading away and obscurity. If he was like other idols or liulang stars he would just be picking up as many promotions and brand deals, and do a random idol drama every 2 or 3 years. It’s only recently he’s taken on more projects. In the past he was hindered and pimped out by Yu Zheng consistently, so now he’s probably trying to break away.
What’s Xiao Zhan got to do with your talentless idol.
Besides don’t worry. He obviously has plenty of backing to get leading male projects even when he can’t act worth a damn. Who’s sucking cock ah?
Oh wait no, Xu Kai is just assaulting his girlfriends. Great guy, beater of women.
I ain’t reading all that. Chill. You are getting worked up over an opinion on his acting performance, which is fair game on a drama blog lmao. It’s not like I’m attacking his visual or personality. You rabid fangirls need to touch grass.
@omonajiaJ How jobless are you to bring in Xiao Zhan in an unrelated article? He’s much better than your expressionless flop Xu Kai who’s working non-stop but still mediocre in every aspect. You can make excuses all you want in the comments, but that man is only getting worse and cannot bring in any buzz or ratings. Say thank you to Yang Zi, Esther Yu, and Seven Tan because they will be hard-carrying his future projects.
@omonaijaJ Xu Kai’s fans’ insecurity over Xiao Zhan is hilarious. Xiao Zhan is serious about acting, taking breaks to improve himself through theater. Can’t say the same about unprofessional Xu Kai who coasts on his visuals and takes drama after drama without improvement. No wonder he’s flopping hard compared to his peers. Your little tantrums and excuses throughout the comment section will not change that.
Xiao Zhan is acutally serious about acting, taking breaks to improve himself through theater. Can’t say the same about the unprofessional Xu Kai who coasts on his looks and takes every drama thrown at him with no improvement. They need to give his scripts to actors with talent or even popularity because he brings nothing to the table. Say thank you to Yang Zi, Ester Yu, and Seven Tang in advance for hard-carrying both the acting and buzz for his future projects. 🙂
Exactly, cdrama productions are terrible, for 30+ ep drama, it only took 3-4 months, so you can imagine the quality. You can’t even believe the director who shoots at 1ep/3days. And that’s not counting that the actors also don’t film for a full month, they constantly peave for brand deals, live streams, etc. They don’t even have time to learn their character
Bai Lu is actually stagnant but I guess people are so into hype that they can’t see she has not shown any other progress that international audience blowing everywhere, whereas in Chinese platform people has been complaining about her acting but her team keep deleting those so it won’t get carried into international platform.
Xu Kai has the most expressive eyes, a great advantage that he’s been using in his acting. He’s doing great portraying Li Ni in the Wonderland of Love. His sword dance in episode 6 is a particularly good treat, so manly, fierce, with precise movements, yet executed with enough grace and dexterity, and the end is literally lethal. Don’t mess with this imperial grandson. I rewatched the scene many times. I simply can’t have enough of it. He carried out his role with ease, superior confidence and wittiness, and grand handsomeness, of course. I look forward to every episode, a must-see drama.
I am now on episode 12 and loving the exquisitely done scene where Cui Li ambushed Cui Lin and Lt. Ho as they were rushing back to Yingzhou. Xu Kai rides a horse so gallantly (reminds me of old Western movies the way he rides) to go save them. He rides it sideways too and then finally, he hops off and takes the bow bends it across his back so it will fly back and hit the bad guys chasing him. He did the stunt himself within matter of seconds. Xu Kai is really good at action scenes but the problem is that not everyone around him may want to put in the same dedication for doing action so he has to slow it down too and then they will use stunt man or computer graphics, so the audience really has no idea how much dedication and how good Xu Kai can do the actions himself.
Xu Kai got best actor award in 2019. If he is such a bad actor, then the award is meaningless. Then all the other actors with the same award have deceived themselves that they are best actors.
He showed some potential in 2019, that’s why he won. It was his only highly-rated project but was hard-carried by the female lead. Since then, he has gotten worse and shown mediocre to bad acting in recent years. Flop drama after flop drama, but his fans will throw tantrums and make up excuses to cover for him. Ren Jia Lun and Gong Jun are other examples of this.
If Xiao Zhan is a serious actor with talent, he would not attracted such foul attitude fans with no sense of what is good acting and what is not. Your behavior is more fitting for idol fans who is ruthless in shaming and slandering other artists who you THINK is not good quality as your bias. A real actor fans wouldn’t care about flop dramas or not, its about the characters, plots, editing, production because a drama cannot work solely on actor alone, but an idol rabid fans like you would not have the IQ to understand that.
@Nuha, how the heck is Xiao Zhan relevant to this thread to begin with? You’re the one bringing up his name first with provocative remarks.
FYI, like it or not. Xiao Zhan is indeed a serious actor with massive talent.
I would not classify Xu Kai as a great actor by any stretch of the imagination, but if I were to judge most of the idol top Chinese young actors out there, none of them are great, some better than others. Xu Kai’s appeal is his visuals. He really stands out when it comes to his expressions, and I don’t mean just a pretty face. He is just naturally expressive when he tries to convey emotions with a bit of charm built in. When something stands out and you don’t see it elsewhere, you naturally enjoy watching it.
However, I’m a bit disappointed in Snow Eagle Lord and even in WoL because I do feel his acting and expressions seem to have declined some but then I watched trailers and teasers past episode 20 of WoL and from episode 8 on, he gets better and, in some scenes, I see the old Xu Kai but it’s mix bag, some scenes he is more expressive than others. Not sure what happened since Snow Eagle Lord. Is it he lost weight and the slimmer more drawn in face is less expressive? Is it he is so focus too much on martial arts and body building? In an interview last year while shooting WoL, Jing Tian praised Xu Kai as a gifted actor who influences other actors around him on the set. Even if there is half-truth in what she says, it means he’s not that bad. I think Xu Kai portrayal of his many characters in his past dramas were convincing to me. After I watch, I think of the character and not the actor. I have a lot of respect for this talented, hard-working, humble, down-to-earth (Jing Tian also said that about him) actor (XK) and wish him well in his future roles.
I don’t think that the female lead Bai Lu would have won Best Actress in her role in AMA without Xu Kai portraying his role. It was the chemistry of the two that made it work. Casting is critical to make a movie work and in AMA, the entire cast had chemistry. It worked. So no, I doubt AMA would have gotten awards without Xu Kai portrayal or interpretation of the character which he masterfully acted out. In fact, the second female lead I think is a very good actress.. she’s not popular but technically speaking her acting was probably the best in AMA, but she did not win any awards due to supporting role. I think her acting skills are more professionally done than Bai Lu.
Wait, what, that came out of nowhere: Xu Kai beats up women?!
His ex-gf is an internet celebrity, she was jealous that he gained fame, so she make accusations (without mentioning his name) that her boyfriend beat her, when in fact she has another ex-boyfriend after Xu Kai but she let the rumors spread without clarifying who she was referring to and Xu Kai was hot back then so the netizens followed the hot search and said it’s him. The ex-gf already laughing in 2021 saying she never accused him.
https://x.com/xukaidrama/status/1474939826604363777?s=20
the same ex-gf who accused him of beating her. That was him on the ground, she rallied her male buddies to press him on the ground as a joke because she was drunk.
Xu Kai haters are so dedicated. You have to admire their obsession. I wonder if [a] certain user(s) are 12 years old cause I can literally see them foaming at the mouth. It’s kind of funny, lol.
Keep getting people mad and continue getting that bank Xu Kai dear 💅.
Xu Kai is so good at this kind of roles the playful and cunning ones exactly like in Arsenal Military Academy
do you think it will have a bad ending?
got a glimps on the 30 teaser and they had a big quarrel to the point he return the hair pin she gave me.
This drama left me swooning and I am offended it was not exploding in popularity as it should be.the chemistry was fire, the story never dragged, and it was the perfect combination of bickering, fighting, heart, story, and romance. And I’ve never seen a drama with one full episode of just fluff to end things so nicely. Definitely felt like Christmas came early. JingTian is one of my favorite actresses and her and Xu Kai is like the best combination of eye candy. It’s unfair how beautiful they are lol.
I agree on this 100%. This was one of my favorite dramas this years! I think both leads did an amazing job with their roles and their chemistry worked so well! I would love to see them act together again. They did win “most charming actor” -awards together at Tencent’s starlight awards, which tells me their chemistry was noticed.
The plot moved fast, and I didn’t find myself skipping scenes even though it was 40 episodes. There was a good balance of conflict and sweet moments between the ML and FL. And getting a full episode for the aftermath and the future years of their life was so satisfying. Definitely deserves more hype!
i luv kk & tt!!!! more dramas for both of them!!!!