iQiyi Period Drama Fated Hearts with Li Qin and Chen Zhe Yuan Wrap Well Received Run and Opens with Douban Ratings of 6.5
This drama is what I consider a well worth it investment, Fated Hearts is an A-budget drama with two known leads in Li Qin and Chen Zhe Yuan but doesn’t come with the baggage of S-budget dramas or leads with fierce and intense fandoms. With a relatively under the radar filming and release it’s one of the better received period dramas this year, and confirmed with a conclusion that isn’t being excoriated by viewers. Lol, we have such low expectations nowadays haha. The drama hit a high of 9100 heat index within iQiyi which is solid, and has given both Li Qin and Chen Zhe Yuan positive reviews for both their characters, performances, and chemistry. Bonus points for supporting leads Chen He Yi, Xia Meng, and Qin Tian Yu with their own hilariously makjang and trashy love triangle of sorts between a princess and two prince brothers and a whole lotta family trauma background. Overall this was one of the better reviewed C-dramas of the year and definitely worth a watch.
It is crazy how his fans are trying to push this drama as some kind of hit. In what universe is this called a hit?! Smh
I am not a fan of either main leads so went in with zero expectations, but gotta say I was pleasantly surprised that it ended up being a very solid and strong watch without the usual crashing and burning after a promising start. Great acting, solid story and interesting characters that stayed true to themselves. For once we got an actual female general character who was fierce enough to sell that image (I was quite disappointed with both Legend of female general and Shadow love on this front). Regardless of if it’s regarded a hit or not, so far it’s one of my favorite cdramas of 2025 alongside Love’s ambition. Needless to say I highly recommend it 🙂
It’s barely not a flop. China didn’t like this one at all.
I liked the drama…well worth the time. Check it out.
I’m on the last stretch of this drama, and I fully agree with Koala’s review.
My surprise standout here is Xia Meng, her character growth made the second half interesting and carried the drama momentum very well.
One of very very very very few Cdramas that I’m still able to be as much invested as the get-go with only 8 eps left out of 38. The main appeal is CZY’s and LQ’s great performances to tell the stories of their intriguing characters. Besides the OTP, all the actors’ acting is quite engaging with the only one exception of failure from Chen He Yi whose feministic and slightly-better-than-WYB’s wooden visuals don’t help at all LOL. BGM, the open theme song in particular, has a bit of sloppy arrangement. I specifically can’t stand the female singer’s Beijing-opera vocals shrieking in your face through computer LCD while the ML and the FL are romancing each other LMAO. Such annoying distraction! On top of that prominent flaw from the production, FH has all the common weakness of Cdramas, dragging plot and lecturing too much in the dialogues. The casting director did a great job though casting all the supporting actors who are really good. Nonetheless, CZY and LQ did really fantastic jobs to impressive me so that I’m willing to give their drama a full run. This is one unique drama where I’m attracted to both ML and FL on screen. Most of the time, I was only impressed by one party of an OTP, WXY throughout the Double and Li Yunrui in many scenes of Blossom, for example. Great jobs, CZY and LQ! I’ll keep checking their future dramas if anything may interest me again.
At least this drama female lead,are truly badass unlike legend of female general.
Yup, I totally agree. Both LOFG and another one, Shadow Love, are truly miscast. Something about how they both carry themselves doesn’t fully match the character’s power and authority. It’s like their expressions and body language don’t quite give off that commanding presence you’d expect from a seasoned general.
Everyone did a great job, but the biggest credit definitely goes to the screenwriter. She made the story fast-paced, organized, and engaging. Not a single boring episode.
The screenwriter truly knew how to make each character stand out, and it made us not want to skip a single scene.
I thought it was done well for what it is worth. My only critique would be the romantic scenes were a bit excessive with the overly dramatic spotlighting that it made me laugh a bit. At times the effects looked like a car was passing by with their headlights like if they toned that down a bit those scenes would have been more meaningful when they were meant to be. The actress did so well for me and the male lead as well. I as well am not an all out fan of the main actors but they did well. I heard the story is not so accurate to the novel but even so it was ok. Though the latter half did feel forced with how the villains end happened. Like his obsession to kill the main lead instead of taking the thrown first felt forced but story wise it was intriguing especially the emperors story. I always feel lately the historical dramas are always trying to outdo how crazy and makjang the royal family will be. For me the craziest makjang royal family so far that I have seen was coroners diary that one felt like the Hunger Games with how the royal family imploded on each other. I appreciated how they did not have the siblings against each other. But there certainly a lot of but job characters in this drama and their outcome was well deserved like the Princess certainly got what was coming to her. Anyways I recommend this drama it was well done story wise.
It waa good thanks to the fantastic acting, brilliant chemistry and fast plot.
Dont mind those haters. Give it a try guys. Worth watching.
Also, try Love In The Cloud. I heard it got 10k index. Congratulations.
Just finished the whole series. Fated Hearts is officially in my collection of fav Cdramas. Agreed with many about the great acting. Besides impressive presence of both ML and FL, one supporting actor stood out. The one actor playing crazy beaching emperor beat the 2nd ML (whose acting was among the worst with ZERO presence LOL) by miles. Qin Tian Yu had almost stolen the show if CZY and LQ have not been great. This actor reminded me of Li Meng in the Double. So odd he’s always been given less significant supporting roles (not even 2nd ML) while talentless mannequins such as Wang Yibo and Gong Jun the like have been taking ML after ML. LOL. Nepotism is blatantly obvious. This actor has both acting chops, visuals, and charisma. I hope his career in the industry will take off after this fantastic performance in FH.
I just recently saw Qin Tian Yu play as the lead actor for a short Cdrama, which was pretty good, but at time repetitive so I was surprised to see him play in Fated Hearts as the crazy emperor so soon. I was like damn this casting director knew who they were casting LOL.
All the actors did great jobs in FH. There was one exception: the 2nd ML playing prince adversary to the ML. I wonder if he got the role through nepotism since he was so out of place among the great cast.
The first period cdrama that I finished and it worthy. Started the drama just for fun as I having my dinner and open my tv.I hooked for 4 first episode and finished it.
ML and FL both is strong character, they in love but still has clear vision about their motive to avenge their enemies.
CZY and LQ excel in their acting. I really like the face of the story.