As I said before, June 2026 was a relatively uneventful month in C-drama land. There were plenty of premieres but nothing broke out or made a meaningful impact whether good or bad. Towards the end of the month came period revenge and romance C-drama The First Jasmine (莫离 Mo Li) with Bai Lu and Cheng Lei and the drama has since wrapped a relative speedy run with opening Douban ratings of 6.3. That to me is a bit of no man’s land, not bad enough to warrant mocking posts and nowhere near good to be recommended. The take is that the drama is decent, quieter and not flash over substance, with a take on mental illness and physical impairment that is meaningful. But it wasn’t sticky, the leads didn’t wow the audience, no supporting stars broke out, and the story line while set up well petered to the usual stumbling ending. Fans also were pissed that Cheng Lei had maybe 16 minutes of screentime in the last five episodes, which sucks for him but this was always promoted and primed as a big female lead story with her arc the central focus. I don’t think this drama will hurt either lead but it also won’t help, and in the end probably can be filed away as one of those watch when you have time on your hands options.