New Life Begins wasn’t what I expected it to be. It was a very easy drama to watch. Very light on angst and heavy on girl-power vibes.

The things I liked:

Light on angst – there wasn’t any misunderstandings between the main leads nor was there any secrets or hidden agendas. I really liked the friendship vibe they had. From the very moment the leads met, they had a very nice relationship (very innocent and very C drama style).

All the side stories – the cast is very big, I think there are 4-5 side couples? Each one is different and each one has has their advantages and disadvantages.

I prefer the more comical couples that were there to help me laugh out loud and add some comical relief for the moments the drama can be a little intense.

I didn’t care for the abusive couple, but they were there for balance and I appreciated the storyline even though I did start the fast forward their scenes towards the end, it just got a little repetitive.

Girl power storylines – There are several storylines about sisterhood and women lifting each other up. I can see why the drama got high ratings. How nice is to be friends with the person who married your husband. I mean, that storyline was the most refreshing. I liked how the women came together during their struggles instead of tearing each other apart.

The things I didn’t like:

I really didn’t like the costumes. - I found the outfits very dated and a little too colorful in my opinion. After watching Love like Galaxy, I really like the muted colors. To me, it just looks better on camera.

As much as I loved the casting, especially Bai Jing Ting from Reset and You are my Hero. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two leads. - They were both very pretty to look at and I liked the way they delivered their lines, but I never felt like they were over-the-moon in love each other. To me, their emotions felt all very surface level and at best they acted really well as best friends.

40 episodes is really long – As much as I appreciate the low angst, at times the drama became a little slow and boring. I just felt like there wasn’t enough story arcs and they really dragged out some of the arcs. I think the drama could have been cut down to 30 episodes.

Overall, it’s a very mellow, happy romantic historical piece drama. It’s worth watching just because of the female empowerment.