Asp
chilling under the foliage
Decent romcom ruined by clichés
I would've originally rated this a 6.5 and left it at that, but the scriptwriter made me quite angry with the last ten episodes of the drama so I will share why because I need to vent my grievances.
If you want to watch a drama about a young romantic couple that's lighthearted and heartwarming, then you should watch the first twenty episodes of this show. Anything beyond that has sadly fallen into the trap of lazy, cliché Cdrama writing that was insulting to watch and then even more so insulting to realize that it will drag on for another ten to twelve episodes for no reason other than stretching out the number of episodes for the views.
The very characters that seemed to have some salt in their heads would go on to make the dumbest suggestions that allowed the plot development to regress into what every Cdrama viewer hates - a misunderstanding blown out of proportions and characters acting completely differently from how they were originally presented in order to fit the dumbed-down narrative. If I wanted to watch women battling it out in a royal harem, I would go and watch shows that have done that in a much smarter manner. They could have added practically any other plot device to extend the show and it would have made the story more believable and less unbearable to watch. Also, excusing some criminal behavior that puts people at risk of their lives just for the sake of making everyone friends? Why? I have seen it time and time again in Cdramas but I certainly don't like the message they're pushing to the viewers and that kind of a character getting a good ending after seeing their screentime mostly consisting of pushing people off metaphorical cliffs. And it's not even one character but a few of them, utterly ridiculous.
Of course, this show also falls apart when it comes to the second male lead, who comes out as a genuinely pitiful, kindhearted person that deserved much, much better than what he was given. At one point in the plot, it seemed he would be given a good story of his own, only for the plot to kick back in and make him miserable again.
Everything good about any of these characters is ignored by the third part of the drama for no reason whatsoever; the plotlines and relationships that were developing thus far have been abandoned for the sake of dragging unnecessary conflict between the main couple, which to my horror, didn't finish until the very last episode. Otherwise, if the show did end at twenty episodes this would have been a very enjoyable watching experience.
All in all, it was a watchable drama until the last third, which I consider to have been a fever dream anyway.
If you want to watch a drama about a young romantic couple that's lighthearted and heartwarming, then you should watch the first twenty episodes of this show. Anything beyond that has sadly fallen into the trap of lazy, cliché Cdrama writing that was insulting to watch and then even more so insulting to realize that it will drag on for another ten to twelve episodes for no reason other than stretching out the number of episodes for the views.
The very characters that seemed to have some salt in their heads would go on to make the dumbest suggestions that allowed the plot development to regress into what every Cdrama viewer hates - a misunderstanding blown out of proportions and characters acting completely differently from how they were originally presented in order to fit the dumbed-down narrative. If I wanted to watch women battling it out in a royal harem, I would go and watch shows that have done that in a much smarter manner. They could have added practically any other plot device to extend the show and it would have made the story more believable and less unbearable to watch. Also, excusing some criminal behavior that puts people at risk of their lives just for the sake of making everyone friends? Why? I have seen it time and time again in Cdramas but I certainly don't like the message they're pushing to the viewers and that kind of a character getting a good ending after seeing their screentime mostly consisting of pushing people off metaphorical cliffs. And it's not even one character but a few of them, utterly ridiculous.
Of course, this show also falls apart when it comes to the second male lead, who comes out as a genuinely pitiful, kindhearted person that deserved much, much better than what he was given. At one point in the plot, it seemed he would be given a good story of his own, only for the plot to kick back in and make him miserable again.
Everything good about any of these characters is ignored by the third part of the drama for no reason whatsoever; the plotlines and relationships that were developing thus far have been abandoned for the sake of dragging unnecessary conflict between the main couple, which to my horror, didn't finish until the very last episode. Otherwise, if the show did end at twenty episodes this would have been a very enjoyable watching experience.
All in all, it was a watchable drama until the last third, which I consider to have been a fever dream anyway.
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