amusedbush
This review may contain spoilers
Surprisingly Enjoyable, Abrupt Ending
I. Introduction
I expected this to be a budget short-length costume drama, but I surprisingly enjoyed it overall. This drama enacts all the times we read a novel and felt the urge to write fan fiction to right the wrongs in the novel. In Episode 1, we find out that the FL had written a horrid ending to her web novel for shock value, as her earlier 'logical' works did not garner much readers' interest (or generate money). FL is sucked into her web novel to, well, write (get it?) the wrongs.
It was difficult to determine the mood the drama intended to invoke. The drama oscillated between comedy and explicit gore and torture, ending in sudden tragedy for the third couple but a happy ending for the main couple. Romance also wasn't really the main theme of this drama, but if it was aiming for palace intrigue, well, the real villain is practically tap dancing naked across the screen. This identity crisis, together with some poor production choices and editing, lands it a solid 8 instead of a higher score.
II. Story & Plot
The larger part of the drama fleshes out the motives and desires of the novel characters, giving flesh to what was the FL's skeletal web novel. While you can spy the real villain from a mile away, the overall pace was engaging and consistent.
The one thing this drama fumbled is the romance aspects. The romance between the FL and ML doesn't spark until episode 18-- in fact, the ML is actively trying to murder the FL in episode 1 and thus, the FL assumes the ML is masterminding a horrible death for her every time he tries to romance her. The FL discovers some hidden skills in her character (but these skills are never mentioned again when the drama needed the ML to show his heroic side) and successfully escapes. The FL scurries around like a busy hamster solving cases and causing the 2ML (who is the ML in her novel-- oh the inception!) to inadvertently fall for her brains instead of the 2FL (the FL in her novel). The ML is constantly testing the FL, with no real intention to kill her after episode 1, but suddenly develops a life-sacrificing affection for the FL when he realises she had saved him from assassins. What I did enjoy was the general lack of misunderstandings between the FL and ML-- any misunderstanding is quickly resolved, because both actively choose to trust each other. Meanwhile, the 2FL bravely confesses to the 2ML, and the latter in a moment of serendipity, agrees to marry her. Their relationship never develops beyond friendship, and they abruptly retire to the countryside to live an idyllic couple life at the end of the drama. The 3ML and 3FL fall in love with each other at first sight, and like Romeo and Juliet, failed to consider the ramifications of their actions and lack of communication, despite both supposedly possessing intelligent characters.
The story ends on a rather abrupt note. People are offing themselves and dropping like flies, although not unexpected. The storyline was designed so that you wouldn't be shocked by the decisions made, but at the same time, the last episode felt like they had too many loose ends to wrap and so they took a giant pair of scissors and snapped off all the threads in one go.
III. Characters
The casting team did a good job casting the right actors for the right roles, even for the supporting and guest roles. None of them are familiar to me, but each took to their role adequately. At times, the script appears to completely forget the quirks and idiosyncrasies that had been written in for the characters, just so that the writing/ editing team could fallback to common tropes, but none of this is the fault of the actors. IS as the FL is a wide-eyed, bushy-tailed hamster who is busy trying to piece a proper story together so that she can return home quickly, completely ignorant of the ML and 2ML's amorous intentions. DZR is a twisted ML, traumatised by his past and now has no qualms returning like for like. I won't delve into the supporting characters as there is a really long list, but suffice to say, I have no complaints about their characters or acting.
IV. Production Aspects
This is where I will question the taste and style of the production team. There were very odd hairstyle choices, e.g., the FL during the ancient era, the ML during his villain arc, the ML in the modern era, the 3FL's formal hairdo, and odd costume choices, e.g., the FL's cold shoulder dress, the ML's cold shoulder dress (yes, you read that right), and the ML's silver rooster comb. Any complaints that the casting team casted the wrong actors should really be a critique of the costume and hair team for the awful choices. Otherwise, there were some beautiful costumes, beautiful sets, beautiful takes, and beautiful melodies.
V. Conclusion
I was pleasantly surprised-- but this could be because I had very low expectations for it in the first place as I had erroneously assumed this would be 10-minute episodes. It is a remix of (yet another) transmigration-themed drama, but it had sufficient number of novel plot points that I wasn't bored with any part of it. Due to the abrupt ending, this may not be for everyone. Only watch if you will not get invested in the side pairings.
I expected this to be a budget short-length costume drama, but I surprisingly enjoyed it overall. This drama enacts all the times we read a novel and felt the urge to write fan fiction to right the wrongs in the novel. In Episode 1, we find out that the FL had written a horrid ending to her web novel for shock value, as her earlier 'logical' works did not garner much readers' interest (or generate money). FL is sucked into her web novel to, well, write (get it?) the wrongs.
It was difficult to determine the mood the drama intended to invoke. The drama oscillated between comedy and explicit gore and torture, ending in sudden tragedy for the third couple but a happy ending for the main couple. Romance also wasn't really the main theme of this drama, but if it was aiming for palace intrigue, well, the real villain is practically tap dancing naked across the screen. This identity crisis, together with some poor production choices and editing, lands it a solid 8 instead of a higher score.
II. Story & Plot
The larger part of the drama fleshes out the motives and desires of the novel characters, giving flesh to what was the FL's skeletal web novel. While you can spy the real villain from a mile away, the overall pace was engaging and consistent.
The one thing this drama fumbled is the romance aspects. The romance between the FL and ML doesn't spark until episode 18-- in fact, the ML is actively trying to murder the FL in episode 1 and thus, the FL assumes the ML is masterminding a horrible death for her every time he tries to romance her. The FL discovers some hidden skills in her character (but these skills are never mentioned again when the drama needed the ML to show his heroic side) and successfully escapes. The FL scurries around like a busy hamster solving cases and causing the 2ML (who is the ML in her novel-- oh the inception!) to inadvertently fall for her brains instead of the 2FL (the FL in her novel). The ML is constantly testing the FL, with no real intention to kill her after episode 1, but suddenly develops a life-sacrificing affection for the FL when he realises she had saved him from assassins. What I did enjoy was the general lack of misunderstandings between the FL and ML-- any misunderstanding is quickly resolved, because both actively choose to trust each other. Meanwhile, the 2FL bravely confesses to the 2ML, and the latter in a moment of serendipity, agrees to marry her. Their relationship never develops beyond friendship, and they abruptly retire to the countryside to live an idyllic couple life at the end of the drama. The 3ML and 3FL fall in love with each other at first sight, and like Romeo and Juliet, failed to consider the ramifications of their actions and lack of communication, despite both supposedly possessing intelligent characters.
The story ends on a rather abrupt note. People are offing themselves and dropping like flies, although not unexpected. The storyline was designed so that you wouldn't be shocked by the decisions made, but at the same time, the last episode felt like they had too many loose ends to wrap and so they took a giant pair of scissors and snapped off all the threads in one go.
III. Characters
The casting team did a good job casting the right actors for the right roles, even for the supporting and guest roles. None of them are familiar to me, but each took to their role adequately. At times, the script appears to completely forget the quirks and idiosyncrasies that had been written in for the characters, just so that the writing/ editing team could fallback to common tropes, but none of this is the fault of the actors. IS as the FL is a wide-eyed, bushy-tailed hamster who is busy trying to piece a proper story together so that she can return home quickly, completely ignorant of the ML and 2ML's amorous intentions. DZR is a twisted ML, traumatised by his past and now has no qualms returning like for like. I won't delve into the supporting characters as there is a really long list, but suffice to say, I have no complaints about their characters or acting.
IV. Production Aspects
This is where I will question the taste and style of the production team. There were very odd hairstyle choices, e.g., the FL during the ancient era, the ML during his villain arc, the ML in the modern era, the 3FL's formal hairdo, and odd costume choices, e.g., the FL's cold shoulder dress, the ML's cold shoulder dress (yes, you read that right), and the ML's silver rooster comb. Any complaints that the casting team casted the wrong actors should really be a critique of the costume and hair team for the awful choices. Otherwise, there were some beautiful costumes, beautiful sets, beautiful takes, and beautiful melodies.
V. Conclusion
I was pleasantly surprised-- but this could be because I had very low expectations for it in the first place as I had erroneously assumed this would be 10-minute episodes. It is a remix of (yet another) transmigration-themed drama, but it had sufficient number of novel plot points that I wasn't bored with any part of it. Due to the abrupt ending, this may not be for everyone. Only watch if you will not get invested in the side pairings.
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