Costuming: 2
Chemistry between leads:4

I've been thoroughly impressed by the beauty of the wigs and costumes used even in low-budget dramas so needless to say was absolutely stunned when I saw the poor job done on the ML (Xu Kai Cheng) in this one. He looked gorgeous in Pet in Dali Temple and Novoland: Pearl Eclipse, as well as the trailer to Love is an Accident, so I know he can look good in ancient garb. But here, the clothes detracted from his looks and not only gave him that popular physique known as dad-bod but actually aged him a good few years. This was due to a poor choice of colors/cut for the costumes and color/style of the wig. There were scenes when his hair was up and the costumes more sleekly styled when he looked like himself but for most of them his sleeves seemed out of control, his hair looked unkempt and his overall form seemed sloppy. The costume mistress/master really is to blame for that.

Both leads are adorable and well worth celebrating as rom-com actors but perhaps due to the poor costuming of the ML or just the general vibe between Xu Kai Cheng and Zhao Lu Si there was a definite older brother/younger sister vibe between our hero and heroine rather than a romantic one. They have that same chemistry in their interviews so perhaps they just couldn't overcome it but whatever the cause, I didn't feel the love.

Spoilers ahead for the ending: All of that might have been overcome if not for the endless scenes depicting the villain and giving his monotonous story screen time. He was equal in the number of appearances in the tale to that of the hero and heroine and was so completely and utterly despicable I breathed a sigh of relief when he died. He had zero nuance and zero redemptive factors. The actor was good but there was just too much of this character in our story.