Signed up just to write this review

This is gonna contain some mad spoilers so fair warning! I signed up for an account just to write this...I'm so angry? With myself, with the plot, with the male lead just ugh.

I'm a fan of the obsessive/possessive male lead trope, all is well in fiction. Additionally, I've watched my fair share of Chinese dramas taking place during the war. That being said, the initial setup for the story was promising and I was really into it. Female lead and male lead had a touching love story. And Wallace is amazing at the obsessed male lead as usual.

BUT THEN (SPOILER ALERT!) we dig into the second half of the drama and I wanna slice the male lead in half. I love the obsessive/possessive male lead trope, particularly because the devotion/madness is so thrilling. And so, I absolutely CANNOT STANDDD unfaithfulness and cheating, the second the male lead even thinks to fall into a stupid trap setup by a villain female character...I just can't. I had to squint and skip through him sending the FL to France TO MARRY ANOTHER WOMAN? Then when the FL left him (AND WENT THROUGH HELLLL like holy shit I felt so bad for her. She literally gave up EVERYTHING to be with ML...) he still had sex with other women, and even found a replacement/brothel chick that looks like FL.

I was repulsed. It's the complete opposite of what I love in the obssessive/possessive trope, and what makes it worse is while the ML was screwing other women (and this is after he fucked up FL life, tried to kill her AND made her miscarry their child) the FL had to fight tooth and nail to survive. She had already been disowned by her family to be with ML, had no resources, was almost killed by ML new wife (who really is just a new level of evil female side character...in most dramas they move on and somewhat redeem themselves but wow I really wanted to stick a fork through her eye) and had a miscarriage.

Again...all this shit happened bc male lead wanted to marry another woman for military power...while lying to female lead and sending her overseas so she wouldn't know...while she was pregnant with their child...and then STILL expecting her to wait 3? 5? Years for him bc "im doing everything for you"

Won't give major spoilers about the ending but I was numb by that point and just begging for the plot to turn and let FL be happy or move on with someone else. The possessiveness/obsession of the ML LITERALLY ALMOST KILLED HER? And he even broke off the marriage while she was pregnant for power??? Like I was so done by the ending I just wanted her to change her name travel to a different country and live peacefully.

OKAY I've said a lot and I'm done angry typing (for now lol) this drama really wasted my time. It's sad bc I enjoyed the beginning a lot. Now I just feel so much rage and all I want is to stab the male lead.

TLDR/ good setup but ML eventually screws other women and FL is like almost dead...a lot. Usually bc of ML (grief...miscarriage...blood loss? She almost died a lot for this man I really cannnnot) NOT WORTH YOUR TIME IF YOU CAN'T STAND ML/female villains in the plot.

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FL is best girl, ML annoying

The one thing that saved the drama and the plot was the FL growth and development in her career, her pursuit in the fashion industry (including all the shitty setbacks and hardships) and eventually coming out successful after many, many trials and tribulations. That's what kept me going, ML was a big piss off for most of the drama imo constantly stirring up misunderstanding in his head without seeking clarification. Ofc this is expected in any drama, and the FL also has her share of dumb misunderstanding too, but the ML petty and passive aggressive behaviour directed at FL when he decides to write a story in his head is baffling and gross.

SPOILERS BELOW

I mean the cufflinks? The fact that he just heard from the villain female side character and automatically decided "she bought them for 2nd ml wow ok idc abojt her anymore" I mean dude what? You guys literally have the same initials? And even if she's close to 2nd ML wouldn't it make more sense to clarify with her since, you know, you're in love with her? Of course not, bc common sense is nonexistent in dramaland LOL but still the way he treated her after that incident was inexcusable. Not to mention later on, when he misinterpreted a conversation between FL and the villain female character to be about him, when in reality FL was saying she rejected the sentiments of the 2nd ML. Whaaaat? He literally listened to what ten seconds of their talk, got up and stormed out, and from then on treated FL coldly and unsurprisingly the female villain took advantage of the situation to caused discord. AND AFTER ALL THAT, ML still didn't clarify with FL bc "she doesn't like me" even though he has NO IDEA she was talking about not liking the 2nd ML bc oh yeah HE MADE UP THE CONCLUSION IN HIS MIND?

Obviously female lead has a lot of issues too, but I honestly vibed with her way more than male lead. Partly because ML follows typical standard of being somehow good at everything/standard handsome man/perfect while her storyline included a lot more busting ass and dealing with shitty coworkers, jealous people etc. The more I got in into the drama the more I felt proud of her, like a mom, and the less I liked the male lead, whose feigned indifference rooted in his insecurity that the FL doesn't like him/misunderstandings construed in his head became an ugly pattern.

And let's not forget MAJOR SPOILER

...that the ML ultimately had a hand in ruining FL debut stage. There were some evil upper industry level shenanigans behind the scene, yes, but ML's incorrect identification of his "savior" (unsurpringly the villain female...gasp who knew) also contribued to his decision. Given his character, it's obvious that despite his professionalism he is also strict with her personal ethics and feelings, it should be clear he wouldn't have done as ordered by the entertainment higher ups unless he himself had some willingness to do so; that being repaying his "savior" LJY, when FL was the actual person from his memories (gasp shock oh golly who saw it coming?)

From that point onwards I felt sour in my heart, knowing what he did and his treatment of the FL afterwards (even when he knows she's the one who saved him!) pissssed me off on a grand scale. And although he misunderstood that FL knew about it and forgave him (for the life of me I cannot understand what logic is circulating in the characters brains, like why do they always assume they're talking about the same subject? CLEARLY DISCUSS AND RELAY YOUR FEELINGS TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON THE SAME PAGE? NOPE all we viewers got were painful ambiguous dialogues "you know what I'm talking about?" "yes of course" No NO SIR NO YOU DON'T?) that doesn't explain away his carefree attitude when it came to enjoying her jealousy from his interactions with the villain female character. Like dude, you know you screwed up and mistook her as your "savior", and you apparently love FL, so why bother dragging out misunderstandings? My interpretation was that after believing FL forgave him for being a part of the plot to screw up her idol career, he didn't seem all that worried about her leaving him for other things that he deemed minor? (Like he's lazy? Might just be me, but ngl at that point in the drama I'd already become defensive towards FL because of all the shit she went through)

WHOO okay that's enough of me shitting on the ML, it's a happy end and since the FL had no complaints then I'm satisfied. I'm happy he suffered a little when FL found out about his part in her failed debut, though still I'm a little bitter given that this seemed to be one major blow for ML while FL took...a lot.

I mean spoiler and reminder, the girl lost her home, career, best friend and confidence overnight, got kicked out of her other best friend's house by ML, then became homeless (in the rain!) and had no family in the city. Oh, and the only person she could rely on at the time wasn't around and instead that person's little brother continued to criticize and belittle her after essentially screwing up her idol prospects? And then even after finding out she was the one in his memory, continued to be cold and indifferent?

...ok so I guess I'm not done shitting on the ML, haha! Nuan Nuan be happy <3 on another note, soundtrack was great LOVVVVVE the opening theme! And acting was overall good, didn't feel awkward. The ML and FL fit their characterizations, and villain female character and 2nd ML annoyed me appropriately. Yes, I'll say villain female character and not villain male character; while 2nd ML was annoying he never came off as malicious and seemed to genuinely care for FL, especially because he knew of ML identity as the one who messed with FL debut. But the female villain character was straight up exactly that- a villain, who was somehow forgiven for trampling over four years of her groupmates hard work by plunging into the water? And deliberately tried to make moves on ML while posing as FL lead best friend (even after finding out they were together...at least 2nd ML didn't fake being buddy buddy, female villain was straight up malicious smiling in the face while holding a knife behind her back!) oof gives me shivers.

Would not rewatch, but hey if you like being frustrated (but if you're a regular drama watcher then I assume you do? LOL) then go for it. Anyway it's not particularly bad or good, but hope to see the cast in other projects since they all did fairly well :)

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