The Story of Pearl Girl Drops to 5.8 on Douban a Week After Ending as Industry Views Puts this Flop on Zhao Lu Si as the Top Billed Female Lead

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• Maybe she should take a step back and re evaluate her script choices. People still love her that is true but you have to admit her recent choices in dramas have been pretty lame. I don’t know if it is just her or the agency behind her but they seem to be rushing her into roles that is not pulling audiences to stick around for. I get she can’t stick to the same old but maybe she should take turns doing what audience go for and what her and her team dream for if that makes sense. Not downing on her acting though.

  • Her choice in scripts is not her fault. Liu Yunning said in his live stream that as an actor they only get the script for the first few episodes (which were ironically the best episodes of the drama). They don't know the ending or the middle of the drama. So we can't blame her for accepting the role. It did seem promising.

• Is it a flop? Just because douban rating is low? I feel the series killed itself in ep 19. From thereon the reboot was badly done and zhao lusi getting weirder and weirder with her 5 seconds pause between lines and looking away deliberately etc etc. The other actors and actresses did much more natural, and I quite like the actress playing cui shijiu whose character has been down down down since ep 1and until even where I am, her character is still bad luck and all. Love the 2nd ML and this series the 2 ML are quite tall. I heard about the ending. After Journey of Love, I'm numbed. Hoping at least glorious death? Netflix translation is quite awful with wrong translation. Anyway it isn't that terrible a series. I mean Love Me Kill Me and that eastern dynasty something was dar worse.

  • If you mean love game in eastern fantasy then I absolutely agree with you on dat

    • i thought many love that drama? and also heard it got high ratings

• The story line wasn't so exciting and it was too slow. This seems to be the main reason for flop. Had it finished in about 25 to 30 eps and had the action happened faster perhaps would have been better. It was unnecessary lengthened.

• Lol his fans were screaming how he is equal to her and he is just as much a star there as she is but now it is solely her fault? Interesting.

  • There is something called billing in Chinese entertainment industry and she is the top billed. If a drama does well or not most of the credit would go to the top billed. But this drama flopping is not her fault obviously. The script writing was trash for me right from episode 16. I dropped it in episode 20. The other crew members should also be given as much fault especially the scriptwriters. She just acts what she was given. I don't believe she should be blamed but that is how the Chinese entertainment industry is.

    • I agree. Should not blame the actors. They just doing their job. So, blame the bad script writers. Anyway, I love happy ending. Love Zhao Lusi

    • I was definitely enjoying the first part of the show. I loved Zhao Lusi's character. She was a fighter and a survivalist, doing whatever it took to stay alive. It was so satisfying to watch her fight back against the people who wronged her. I loved her morally grey characteristics, her and the rest of the cast were fascinating to watch. Then it really fell apart after episode 16 because the tone changed dramatically. It was such a shame.
      Also, I do 100% agree that an actor should NOT be blamed for the show. The ones who had more control on the story is the director and script writers. They should be held accountable that the show wasn't up to par.

• It's the ending. I still love the drama until the last couple of episodes. It's the same with Kill Me Love Me. It was going good until the last ten episodes and then the ratings went steadily down. I bet if the writer(s) had stuck the landings of both these dramas, the outcome would have been different.

  • I agree. When endings are bad or happen for strange reasons, it affects the overall drama. Too many Chinese dramas are doing this. When people invest in the drama, weird or uncalled for endings just make people mad. ZL was very good in this. The script started going awry mid teens and it is like The writers just became disinterested. LYN was great. He does facial acting very well. DT was also very good, but he wasn't used enough in the script. Supporting actors were good even with those plot and script issues.

• Her next couple of modern dramas do not look promising. She's rushing to transform. It doesn't suit her yet.

  • She is 26yrs old, there is nothing wrong with her transformation and she not wanting to be play the cutesy roles anymore and stock to it just because she has certain look for it. Unfortunately for certain actors it going to be hard in this process but not doing it at all, limit them even more has actors. Staring now will probably help her in a long run than waiting into her 30 or late 30.
    The problem is her script choices has not been so far but hopefully she finds her groove along the way.

    • There must be something in between cutesy and overwrought romances. How about some mysteries, suspense, slice of life, etc? The latest filming leaks with Peng Guan Ying look discordant.

  • @Guest, after all the shows that have aired in 2024 in c ent , how many varieties of genres goes to these actor who have certain types of look has u put it in ur first statement. Who knows her shedding her cutesy image is for her to eventually get into those genres u have stated .it doesn't help that selection of script feels overall limited in c ent due to their heavy censorship. All their genres their gov is happy with are all looking the same. At this point majority of a good show will need to have decent to good scripts and proper execution of it. Will probably have one few exceptions along the way.

    • I don't understand. Cute actresses like Sun Qian, Tian Xie Wei, Deng En Xi are acting in other genres and have much, much, much lower star power than her. How can she not have other genre choices?

      Her idea of transformation seems to be "sexy" and "mature" and her script choices target that. It is not the right path.

    • @ Guest, I can only have certain opinions and have put them here, what really goes on behind the scenes and the script she get no one knows.
      I don't personally see anything wrong of a lady who want to look sexy and mature at the age of 25 onwards and picking project that feels mature. The only script so far she has pick is Love ambition with which her role is married to the rich man where her character can dress expensively and sexy , Her Almost lover reuters have all been normal winter clothes where most of her body is covered,it could also be that the ML are older, that makes u feel that way.Arent you being overly harsh to a lady who is in her prime and not in her teen years with her clothes of choice being decently sexy than outright vogar. I guess her innocent look doesn't translate well for that transformation for u. And what do u consider the right path for a 25 yrs old actress.

  • I feel the same. There's something too deliberate and calculated about her change. There's nothing natural about it and feels very forced.

• As a fan of hers, I can't disagree with this assessment. Both The Last Immortal and The Story of Pearl Girl tanked for many reasons. I think she's trying to recreate the success she had with Love Like A Galaxy by choosing similar themed scripts (TSOPG) but when she filmed LLTG, there wasn't an embargo on condensing the drama to only 40 episodes which does a disservice to dramas that need more episodes to be fully fleshed out.

  Secondly, I believe she has the wrong priorities. She's trying too hard to shed the image which led her to stardom - that of a lovely, lovable ingenue with liveliness and a warm smile. Now she's so serious and takes herself too seriously, and that persona also comes across in her pictorials and variety shows. She needs to relax a bit and go back to her roots. I don't know who is advising her, but they really need to rethink their strategy.

• Seriously Koala , like Seriously 😆 Am at the point that if her flop shows are going to affect her career and give her less spotlight going forward ,then I would be glad due to the unnecessary amount of hate she get. I might sound negative or petty but it the honest truth from me.
  Anyway she has a decent amount of acting talent, she will be fine if she no longer a luilangs or if this shows affect her career. Am not going to be that fan that tell her to stick to her cutesy role just because she got popular from them, where is the growth in that, especially in her late 20s. Wheather she transforms now or wait still her 30 or late 30,I see it being hard for her due to the type of face she carries and her petite frame, starting now will probably help her in a long run or not , who knows. But I hope her script choices get better since I feel that is the main issue these two shows not doing well and whatever vision she sees for her career she achieves it Wheather with popularity or not.

  • I don’t know how it is a flop when it is picked up by Netflix and it’s one of the top 10 shows downloaded internationally. Someone is making money and that’s what counts and that business, right?

    Many seem to enjoy talking negatively about her or find enjoyment it if she failed, but she continues to be fine and that makes them even more riled up against every move she makes.

    • @ Gennita u couldn't have said it better

    • When was it a basis for shows to be a success just because it was picked up by Netflix? You do know that Netflix does pick up crap shows. And behold they even MAKE them!

    • I think this article has mentioned it at the beginning. Compared to the amount of money that has been out in the film. The advertisement and such. The money gained back is not up to par. Because we are seeing all the popularity of the series doesn't mean it didn't rack up a loss. Most films are made and given a budget to make a profit. But it seems in this case a profit was not made or maybe they didn't reach the height they expected to reach.

    • @ace It is a basis when there are few C-dramas on Netflix and the two most downloaded ones are Zhao LuSi's. And of the few there, three or four are ZLS vehicles. I'm sure all this factored in when a director approaches ZLS to consider his script and when the moneybags put money behind it.

      Someone else mentioned the ads didn't make a profit. I have no idea how that works but I read they put out some kind of statement on Weibo that the spots for ads had been fulfilled (to me, that means paid up) and if I'm not correct, they opened a few slots more when they upped it to SS (or whatever). For me, and I only run a small business as caveat, so what do I know, the ads money had been paid up and in the profit margin when it started airing. So how that is considered as not profitable, I have no idea. It's not the movies business in which ticket sales are counted after the fact.

      It might not be a huge HIT rating-wise (and again, what do I know--being 2nd to another for a week and being 1st in most weeks sure don't mean it isn't a hit for me). As for the OP basing it all on Douban, aren't the ratings there mocked here regularly as not being reliable? But oh, just for this one drama, let's take it seriously.

      In most entertainment industries, because of the pie of attention being sliced into so many pieces, the main focus is on the LONG TAIL. Will the drama/TV show/movie make back the money spent as well as bring in the long tail of continued profit? They know ZLS's dramas are, right now, one of the few who are downloaded and watched repeatedly. Sure, some other hits come out all on fire, but they disappear quick as flash-in-the-pans; they make the quick buck and the stars immediately catch their breaks for good roles. ZLS went that route, catching breaks with many roles, but obviously, she wanted to try something different now because she had managed to get a few steps ahead. Many here think she is not going to make it and again, what do I know, since I'm of the minority that don't see any of her shows being flops. I guess if the chant is long and loud enough of her being a flop, then everyone in a cave starts believing it.

    • Doesn't negate the fact that it's still a flop, Netflix or no Netflix. If it made money, fine. But who gained from it? The investors, the production, maybe the actors. Who lost? The audience (despite what fans insist). If the general domestic audience didn't like it, it was not that popular on domestic platforms (no, twitter does not count), then it's really not a success. Making a drama just to make money seems like a scam to me (aka money-laundering). Also contradicts what fans are saying that this is a quality work, artistic, blah blah blah when the defense now is that it made money and netflix bought it. So ridiculous.

    • Then you and I have to agree to disagree on the point about how a business is run. If a drama (or movie, etc.) made money, it is not a flop, especially in the long tail, it continues to make money. Why can't it be good quality and well-done and still make money? Why would that be called money-laundering because backers want to make movies to make money? That all-encompassing accusation is equally ridiculous.

      I'm in the book business. If the book that dropped didn't make the lists and didn't sell out within three months, that did not mean it was a flop. At the end of year, if the print run and its online downloads far exceeded the print run, meaning it made money, then it is considered a moneymaker. Sure, the accolades are fewer--not making lists, not getting great reviews, lower buzz from online groups--but the bottom line is the profit and the author gets more book deals. Or, if self-published, the author gets a lot of mullah.

• Its not just the plot, she's getting flack for her performance in the drama too. I see people comparing her acting to Ju Jingyi - trying too hard to look pretty and making it look like she's in a photoshoot rather than acting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWeUzlcNLdk
  Ofc she's not as terrible as JJY, but she does seem to be too overly conscious of her looks compared to how natural she was in the past.
  I hope she takes a break and re-evaluate her script choices. She shouldn't be in a rush to shed her image. Even the 85s actress like Zhao Liying didn't do it till she had a few big hits under her belt. Even her "competitor" Yu Shuxin is still in her comfort zone at age 30.

  • @ Viewer Those are certain fans opinions, who likes to nitpick about everything concerning the girl and her looks. This are the opinions of chinese critics
    https://m.weibo.cn/status/P2HPICQEb?jumpfrom=weibocom
    On her acting and influence concerning her character, this show is major flawed by plot but it did some small things right.

  • It doesn't do any actor any favours for sticking to the comfort zone in a long run it tends to keep them in certain box and then when transition it either feels too late or doesn't look natural enough for the audience. Because of the way c ent is , we feel her transformation is too quick but it not. An actor shouldn't have to wait still they are in their 30s to do serious role, even kids do serious roles so why do we want to put certain actors in their comfort zone just because it what get them porpular or know. We will be the same people complaining that they always stick to their comfort zone. It helps that ZLY is a good actress and has picked good scripts choices. Some older actress are still struggling with their transition. Lusi is risking now and the result hasn't been good so far but I hope she will eventually get there.

  • I can see that the razzie awards of 2024 cdramaland are already out over there on BiliBili as well.

• I highly disagree with the majority of these comments. She is and was phenomenal in this series and others. Looking forward to the next one. I didn't like the ending of this series and thought it could've had a better storyline yes.