I think it’s safe to call this a win for C-actress Tian Xi Wei, the second for her this year. Period revenge drama Where the Mask Ends is now 2/3rds of the way through its airing run and remains the most popular drama currently streaming doing better than The Lament of Autumn and newly premiered Tigers Sniff the Rose. It won’t be the most popular period C-drama of the second half of 2026 as that will likely remain Against the Current, while Tian Xi Wei’s own Pursuit of Jade owned the first half of the year. But the popularity of PoJ went mostly to Zhang Ling He so it’s rather apropos that Mask being a solid hit is giving all the props to Tian Xi Wei. I’m loving Mask, her dual role ended up working for me even though evil Jun Dai over acted but it was part of her psychopathic screechiness, while Wei Rao anchors the show with her pain and smart drive. The icing on the cake are all the veteran actresses playing the grandmas, moms, aunts, rivals, every one is a familiar face and cementing this show as all about the women running the asylum while the dudes nearly all just react or are there to help the ladies get shit done. Thankfully Yan An is genuinely serviceable and got lucky planning a nicely written male character, plus the two leads have chemistry. The opening Douban ratings of 7.0 are good enough not to pan the drama which remains just so entertaining above all else.