I actually think Zhao Lu Si acted decently in The Story of Pearl Girl, her performance was not even in my top 10 of complaints with the drama. But the drama is a flop for sure now, with the amount of money put in and advertising dollars vis-a-vis the reception, reviews, and viewership. A week after the drama finished its run, the ratings on Douban have dropped from an opening 6.3 down to now 5.8. It sits just below Zhao Lu Si’s last drama The Last Immortal which has 5.9 ratings. Because Pearl Girl was promoted as a big female lead drama with basically the male lead Liu Yu Ning as just a side piece, rather than a dual lead drama, industry is putting this on her shoulders and seeing it now as two dramas in a row where she didn’t deliver a hit. It hasn’t yet impacted her career or level but makes it more important that her next drama makes a big splash.
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.
Information to KOALA, as someone made a previous comment, her next two dramas don’t look promising so we can forget about the big splash 😆, which means it might affect her career. Am sure u will have a field day writing about it to get ur clicks on ur site.
its not her fault ok,its not like she get the finish script from the get go,according to liu yuning,when they receive the offer/ start filming they only get the script up to ep 5,she’s not season actress,she did not have professional training,her radar/instinct for good script is still in progress.
It’s her company’s production. She was even instructing the director on how to shoot certain scenes in the drama bts. I would think she has influence over how the drama was filmed.
Yes it her company production but she doesn’t instruct the directors on how it should be film, she just gives her opinions to the directors and if they are OK with it ,they stick to it , which most actors do when evaluating scenes, it funny how u making it sound negative .
Loved her in Tiger&Rose but her subsequent dramas felt meh to me. Kind think she peaked there.
Nah for me personally, I feel she has gotten better albeit some people not feeling her in serious roles.
@ Jen , u think poor posture and poor voice dictation with good acting is her peaked for u in tiger and rose, only tells me, u dont actually watch her as an actress or u personally dont enjoy her as an actress ( ur preferences)or she just hasn’t picked roles or project u enjoy because those were some of her weak point has an actress from her beginning of her career, which she has improved in them with better acting experience, personally for me, from someone who has watched her from T&R, WRTW,TLB,LLTG,HL and TSOTPG.
The story started off really strong and good but it got weaker as it went along and kind of dragged along and the ending was unsatisfactory. Both lead actors were very good in their parts. It’s not their fault that the writers kind of dropped ball on keeping the story moving.
I remembered she was so keen on this project despite fans outcry. But I would be like her too, since the premise and budget were there.
Fans said that she had been eager to transition to boring “serious LOL” dramas through more “grown-up” appearance/characters and it’s not easy. It’s interesting other less charismatic actresses such as Li Qin (with less acting talent IMO) were able to do so successfully. Why not her? I agree that her recent choices of scripts were lame. Pearl Girl was badly executed. I put more blames on the PD first and the writer the 2nd to my criticism. This is one good classroom example for filming schools to demonstrate how pivotal directing/writing can bring down star power. LMAO.
I hope ZLS gets wise to focus on what she’s good at and establish her own unique niche in the industry. She doesn’t have to be conformed to general expectation from C-ent that is usually the main drive for so many bad products to release in the market. LOL.
The problem is that she is trying to appear mature and sexy these days and that doesn’t work. You can’t force these matters. It’s very obvious she is trying hard, even in the trailer of this drama and it’s just cringe.
Hopefully someone will tell her she can have a more serious role that is in between the old and this new extreme.
@ Gina. Exactly! Good comment.
She doesn’t need to do the ingenue roles that started off her acting career, but she also doesn’t need to come across as cringe and trying too hard which is the aura she has nowadays. There is a happy middle of the road, which, if she took her time to evolve naturally would not look as forced as it does now. I really do hope she gets a competent person on her team and listens to good advice.
I may get shot for saying this, but Esther Yu is older by 4 years, still plays the ingenue, but mixes it up with darker roles from time to time, like My Journey To You, and she’s getting the acclaim for that, because she’s going naturally and gradually.
What I don’t get is why is that taking a break from her ingenue roles and doing mature roles feels cringe and trying too hard, it is because her mature roles involve older ML actors or her innocent look is to her disadvantage,she is 25 yrs . The fact that she is doing mature role now doesn’t mean she will never go back to her comfort zone. Am guessing that she doing it early in her career is where the issue is and her taking back to back mature projects with older ML is not helping either. She is deviating from the norm and some people see it at trying to hard, n there is nothing wrong with that. Am just hoping she select better script help her regardless if is ingenue role or mature role.
@Mercy – the fact is taking a break from ingenue roles and doing more serious and mature roles does not work well for Lusi at this stage. It works for other actresses, but not everyone is cut from the same cloth. Right now, the serious and mature vibe Lusi is chasing does not look well on her and feels unnatural. With time, the serious roles will come anyway, why try so hard when she has plenty of time for growth? Forcing it gives the impression of a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. The irony of my comment, is that she won’t know what she’s good at, until she tries other genres. I just hope that her transition to other genres is more natural and that she can win both the public and her fans over. I hope she gets better scripts and a better directing and editing team.
Esther acting in MJTY got totally overshadowed by Lu Yu Xiao’s performance. She was struggling because it is not her usual acting style.
@Sirey – both leads got overshadowed in MJTY because it was a Guo Jing Ming show. He tends to elevate his second leads (TJR) at the expense of his main leads. It just wasn’t obvious but fans of the leads were pissed off but just kept quiet so the drama wouldn’t have a drama outside of it. Not to mention that LYX used water armies to promote (herself)/her CP with Cheng Lei. She looked her best with MJTY but boy, tsk tsk tsk. Not gonna say anymore. But YSX has a strong core and kept up with her friendship with some of the MJTY gang, as they naturally promoted LGIEF, and she also promoted Fangs of Fortune.
I actually think ZLS’s acting is decent here to say she’s not trained, but i think she’s hit a bit of a plataeu (for now)… She just needs better scripts and she can work her way up. If i were her, I’d start taking more support roles under veteran actors to get in touch with better projects+ experiment with different types of roles so she can further hone her craft, and occasionally take leading roles in the type of dramas she usually has access to to keep her personal branding up (just pick stronger scripts).
TSOPG started out fine, but by the time it was half way through the original premise of watching a girl become an independent seller started to feel a little cheapened and i didnt like how the writter treated most of the characters
I did find the acting not as natural as her past drama and I thought she was excellent in love like galaxy. It might be the director’s idea but I agree it seems like she was trying to look glamorous. This will not affect her career but she should look at someone like Kim tae ri or Kim go eun for inspiration? I am currently watching coffee prince and am blown away by eun Hye Yoon who discarded her visuals and you can see her cry so genuinely not having a care in the world.
Ur comments tells me u didn’t actually watch the whole show because those who actually watched the show with all the flaws think otherwise on some of the point u make.
Actually, I did watch the whole show and I agree with Yuppy. Although ZLS was great in Love Like the Galaxy, there were parts in TSOPG (especially the latter half) where Lusi’s acting was wooden. She would just give a blank stare or a weird half smile, when I was expecting her to emote!
And as a viewer who knows her past capability, it frustrated me to no end. I know some fans will think she’s excellent in whatever she does, but I’m not like that, I can admire her but still offer constructive criticism. It may be the directing or the script, but Lusi was NOT at her best in this drama. Her acting in the first part had life, in the second half, it was like she was more of an observer than a participant in the drama.
@xoxo ,well personally I feel otherwise, with the beginning of sumazhe arc, she was going through heartbreak and certain scenes was supposed to make her appear strong and emotionless with YZJ being around indicating that she is not affected by him, but even with that some scenes clearly show she was affected by him by her expression. There is nothing wrong with half smile scenes if those scenes are not calling on full blow smiles or laughter .
I was hoping to watch the show bec I was excited about these 2 leads reunion but with that ending no thanks. Like why do these writers ruin the ending like that. Really ruins the whole show and leaves a bad taste. I actually May be one of the few but I find her chemistry with LYN better than with Wu lei in LLTG.
this boat sailed. It is impossible to get back her unique, natural look.
The agency that forced her to do this facial transformation should be shot.
She hasn’t done anything to her face, losing weight n her losing her facial fat, changing her make-up routine doesn’t have to mean she has done something to her face. She still has her prominently cleft nose which is a beautiful feature her face have. It so sad that women are the first to attack their follow woman appearance when we know even common make-up routine can twink our appearance. Beside we are waiting for her PS allegations lawsuit results that she filed personally.
Such an immature comment from a gullible navie person. If u r a woman I will be sad base on decent human logic.
My comment meant for @Peter
@peter
I agree. Her face looks puffy including her lips like she’s had Botox. There’s something unnatural about it….and she looks similar to millions of other women who’ve had plastic surgery. To say she hasn’t had plastic surgery is a bit delusional. How does she get a double eyelid and a different shaped nose and a more narrow face all of a sudden? To say it was all due to makeup, they must think the public is quite gullible and doesn’t have eyes to see for ourselves.
I’m not against plastic surgery. But there’s no need to deny it when the evidence is quite blatant
This! Why bother denying when it’s blatantly obvious? Tbh there’s so much chatter about her new face that it’s overshadowing her work…
I must be on the minority that I absolutely loved The Last Immortal. Unfortunately, not as much for The Story of Pearl Girl, not her fault, but I think the production. I didn’t like the color gradient and I’m sorry Yu Ning is just not doing it for me as well as second male lead. I couldn’t go past a few episodes. I’m going to give it another go though.
I sit with you on the Minority Bench. I love The Last Immortal too.
Her acting was bad in all of her 2023 dramas (yeah hidden love included) and the last immortal was a joke through and through especially the way she overacted her phony “baby” character with her grating voice.
I like the first 8-10 episodes or so when she was a tough slave, then she became the ML’s slave and the story became cliche and her acting and character did a 180. Also, her facial feauture looks so plastic in this drama, not like her usual natural beauty.
Lol, who are we kidding she personally looked great but certain scenes agree she could have been styled better. It funny how people say she looks plastic in this show even with her plumb cheeks, when she hasn’t have her massive weight loss then. It ridiculous how this narrative is getting pushed hard on her. Anyway u will all have a field about her looking plastic when LA airs . Since her extreme weight loss and change in make-up routine is so obvious ther.
Right? I have never read criticism raining down on one actor like I have here over her looks. She was called fat and ugly and then she changes her looks and now she is thin and plastic. She was so young when she started and at 25 now, surely she is allowed to move away from her earlier roles. I bet when AL comes out, she’ll be criticized for being too old to act as a student again and looking frumpy.
I think this was prior to her newest face! It’s gotten significantly less natural since she filmed Pearl Girl. Like a V2 and now we’re at V3. Lol
The story of pearl girl is a good drama. Her acting her pairing with Liu Yuning are excellent.The cast and crew are also great.It is a personal bias by this article & some views of others.Overall TSOPG is well loved and globally appraised.The first few opening episodes are superb.Guess people aren’t happy with open-sad ending.Well that’s the life story of a pearl girl, isn’t it? Kudos to cast and crew of the story of pearl girl.
ZLS fans should cease rebutting every non-positive comment here under multiple names. It’s giving overzealous vibes.
after you made this comment, I went and counted about 15-16 of the comments are from the same person that used different variations of emails and messed up which name they used with which LOL
Lol, being a fan is a very tough, full time job.
Mercy, Lili, Mers, Add, Lee, Ll (is there anymore?) This person didn’t even bother to change his/her email to make it look convincing that they are different people. They all have the same icon LOL. What a joke.
@Hah pretty sure “Abb” and “Amy” are also the same person. That purple and white square design is the same as the “Add” accusing Yuppy of not having actually watch the whole show
I am me. I only comment as Gennita here and have one email account, [email protected]. I am a ZLS fan and have been since watching her movie with Xu Kai (was watching for Xu Kai at that point). I became a fan watching her portray the villain in Untouchable Lovers and later saw her playing something totally different. I realized at some point that she was someone who wanted to try many different roles/genres as an actor and it had kept my interest. Next, she will try her hand at the tropey CEO genre, with her usual ZLS twist. Cannot wait, since I have been watching tropey CEO genre short dramas for years (fan of Wang Ge Ge, Meng Na, Liu Qing, Wang Kai Mu, Shen Hao Nan, in case you think I’m a fake) and a high budget one would be up my alley.
@Gennita, nobody listed you as someone masquerading as multiple people.
Mercy and Lili, lol. They are trying to force their opinions on others – gonna backfire more on ZLS.
Lol, we are all having an opinions here 😅, if u feel am talking trash past by , as for ZL concerning the hate and unnecessary criticism ,it can get worse than it is now.
The issue is you are exposed for using multiple names to post the same opinions, like what Lilith said.
I don’t care about your actual opinions.
It already does! Without all this constant fighting every negative comment about their idol, alot of criticisms would’ve blown over already in particular the plastic surgery ones!
IMO, it wasn’t the acting that killed this show. It was horrible writing and directing. Lusi was good until the plot fell apart around episode 19. From then on, the whole series had an identity crisis. The burned and died all within 2 episodes. And the writer’s didn’t continue to grow her character either (although, that is what I think they may have been going for.) It’s hard for an actor to show character progression of the writers have them making the same stupid mistakes and then scheming to fix them. By episode 30 I dropped it because I no longer cared how it ended as I had just suffered through 12 episodes of almost nothing plot-wise.
Script, editing, ending are huge problems…
That is sad. I imagine the score dropped more because of the ending (that I didn’t watch), it’s the same for many shows. It is not the actress’ fault if a drama does worse than expected (probably more the writer’s ans the director’s), but I guess if you are top billed you get top criticism too. Aggressive hype-building doesn’t help either, then you finally watch the show and feel like you have been tricked.
The problem with Lusi is that her next two projects do involve romance, and I don’t feel her pairing with her co-stars. I kind of worry that they will be flops.
@ my dear Nena, since am being called out for sharing my opinions and replying to other commenters here who chat with me beside helping koala getting her clicks on this site. I will make my last comment on this post and am going to be cynical.
As u said Nena and and to Koala last statement, those two dramas are likely to flop , so we can forget about it doing well not talking about big splash which might affect her career then, which most of us here are anticipating for. Am sure koala will have a field day posting about it to get her clicks. And all of u can have a field day by joining the hate train and unnecessary criticism concerning her looks when those show airs. I hope my last comment will be read by the lot here and the incoming commenters 😆.
Does douban rating a big deal? Why make a fuss over a douban rating? I won’t based douban, imdb rating change my assumption on how enjoyable the show is to me.
The drama is very slow plus compared to the female lead being strong n intelligent Zhou is looking very skinny n too soft for the fight scenes n strategic scheme
I loved 😍 it. The 🥰 actors were phenomenal.The leads had a chemistry that was innocent & beautiful. Such heart warming💓interaction.💖 It was worth the wait.♥️ I’ve said it before, Zhao Lusi can pull in chemistry with any actor placed before her. 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
I didn’t mind The Last Immortal or Hidden Love. I hated the premise of HL, but I still watched for the sake of ZLS. Her acting was never the problem for either of those. The issue was always the plot and direction. Same for TSOPG and it also copied some of the bad problems from JJY – how the leads always looked so clean and tidy. It pulls you away from the realism of the moment.
It doesn’t help she took 2 of these mature roles in a row, along with more mature styling and overtly trying to change her image. If she did it subtly, and gradually, she wouldn’t get as much criticism. Hoping her projects in 2025 will be better.
Yeah, story partially was one of the reasons but second reason I would say there was no chemistry between her and 1st male lead as it was in love like galaxy part 2.
Screen presence and story if she chooses best again I’m she will be the top actress again as she did in past few dramas. But this drama male lead suck both of them no chemistry at all and not little bit romance which would not make with these two male leads.
She will absolutely be fine. There’s been many other traffic actors that have like one break out role, then subsequently produced dud after dud and still get lead roles. ZLS at least has had a few notable dramas under her belt. If she wants to take the chance to experiment and figure out what she wants to do with her career, I think she’s built up enough of a foundation to do that even if not everyone likes the direction she’s going.
Saying a drama is a flop because of Douban rating is misleading. You do realize that Douban rating is opinion based from random people and sometimes even infested with haters. You’re telling me we should base a drama’s success based on 100,000 people’s biased opinion rather than the millions of people who actually watched it and finished it leading to a 1.4 Billion views in its legitimate airing period. Not mentioning the fact that this drama was evaluated as a good drama by Beijing Professors. I feel this article’s goal is to present a narrative that the drama is a flop by picking a biased source. I don’t understand people who create articles like this that can’t even understand proper research. Saying something is flop should be viewership based not subjective opinion based because flop means no one watched it. Also, you have to be completely knowledgeable on how they gather their data. Did you know that Maoyan is not a viewership data, but more of social platforms mentions. Something that water armies can infiltrate. Also, you might say that now it’s not in the top shows but that is because YOUKU already took it out of the V while Tencent chose not to with it’s drama by extending its broadcast period because it wants to gather more views, for whatever reason only Tencent and that drama knows. This is what I mean by do your proper research before making an article calling a drama a flop.
It’s not her fault that the writers don’t write a good script or her agency picks a bad script. She can only work with what she is given.
I have no clue what y’all are not gonna, but I loved this show, it has not ended yet on Netflix and I can tell you I am in love with just the little smile when she’s trying not to cry, she is such a great actress, I have been following her and the male lead for years now, so for y’all to be making it seem like it’s a flock, it’s not it’s great, and I hope other people see what
Why can’t everyone just enjoy watching C dramas instead of criticizing each and every actresses. Actors and actresses are humans too. There are ups and downs in their world and no one is perfect. A good and successful drama depends not only on actors/actresses but also other factors. If a drama is not successful they shouldn’t be blamed. Please be emphatic towards them. So what if ZLS’s image changed. We changed all the time. I watched all her dramas and I personally think she is a great actress. Not only does she has great acting skills, her beauty is unique and beyond description. Anyway beauty lies in the hand of the beholder. I am not a fan of any actresses or actors. I just merely enjoy watching Cdrama. Any comments I made are positive ones as I believe everyone needs them especially those in the entertainment industry. I dreaded the day where there are no more due to all these negative destructive criticisms.
Pearl Girl may have flopped as Douban reflected. But I think she’s still popular cos her name still creates buzz. Ppl, either her fans or haters, DO care. Look at number of comments in this thread! LOL.
I loved The Last Immortal!! Zhau Lusi is my number1 Chinese actress and in my top 10 of overall actresses!! She always delivers because she can be very dramatic but also extremely funny and all actresses can’t be funny.
We need to get out of the mentality that when a film or series doesn’t do well, then it is solely the artists’ fault. Acting is not the only thing that makes a film or series. There’s the story, the directing, the production; wardrobe, promotion & advertising, etc. Now that’s a fact. Let’s report fact and do not contribute to malicious reporting that contributes only negatively to society.
When you wrote your article, is it utilizing Chinese viewers only, and your personal opinion? Also, the first 2 lines of your article did not make sense at all and needs to be rephrase.