I just watched "Goodbye my princess" (director's cut -55 episode definitive version) and was blown away!!! This drama will haunt me for ages. Thank you, Raani, for mentioning it to me (both you and my sister finally convinced me to watch it).
I initially never even bothered to look at "Goodbye my princess" as not only is it a tragedy, it's based on a novel by Fei Wo Si Chun, an author I avoid like the plague because I don't like the type of angst she writes -depressing plots and angst just for the sake of torturing her characters. Luckily, my sister stumbled upon some clips and finally convinced me to watch at least the first and last 10 episodes since they have the kind of angst I like and an extremely compelling obsessive ML as well as a very lovable FL. The clips she showed me peaked my interest and the rest is history. I hunted for the director's cut and knew from the first episode that this drama was going to be my jam. It had everything I wanted in a drama: Irreplaceable leads with explosive chemistry, an obsessive/powerful ML, high quality production, and a decent script that mainly stayed on track even if the pacing did slow down massively from episodes 15-29. I loved episodes 1-15 and 30 to the end the most.
I highly highly rate this drama for the unforgettable leads with amazing chemistry, a villainous ML who's desperately in love with the FL, and a romance that'll tear your heart out. It's the only tragic ending drama I've watched since the year 1997 and it was worth every moment of my time because of the plot and characters.
The ML is called Li Chengyin and he's the type of character I always wish to see in Asian dramas: I live for powerful and ruthless male leads like him who can be cruel to everyone, but faithful to his girl. I understood every one of his actions and even if I don't agree with it, I can understand where he's coming from. The drama/actor was just that good at fleshing out this fascinating character. No matter how ruthless LCY can be (he really only lost control at the end because he's terrified of losing the FL -I saw this coming as the drama had been building up his jealousy/possessiveness from the very beginning), his desperate love for the FL always shined through and it touched me to the core. I never thought I could find another ML that appealed to me the way Ye Hua did in "Ten Miles" until I came across LCY. Both actors immortalized their respective characters and are irreplaceable. Although the characters are different (LCY is much more complex and villainous), they share the most important traits: Both are powerful, extremely smart, can see through subterfuge (never bought the OW's antics), and love their woman deeply (only tender towards them). Not to mention, I find both actors to be incredibly attractive/charismatic: They have the most expressive eyes and I love actors who can emote through their eyes. Now, I don't think I'll ever find characters as appealing as these two. Li Chengyin and Ye Hua will go down as my ultimate favorite male leads in a drama!
Here's an incredible and intense mv of them based on the ost song, "Love Catastrophe":
https://youtu.be/3QRiuqwuLt0 (watch if you don't mind spoilers)
Here's another mv showcasing our ML's devilish/dark side -the actor's incredible and really brought this compelling character to life (can't imagine anyone else playing Chengyin -love his eyes and all his facial expressions):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7IK3zrgD_8&ab_channel=Anna