lulu

it took me a while to write this review since it's my first review about a drama ever, but i feel i need to write this ... this drama truly deserve more hype.. here's an honest review of what to expect from this drama

FIRST,

*The drama story telling; to have an actual "FL POV" turly done well ...*

if your a person who likes reading novels and unravel the true events chapter by chapter this drama will certainly get you hooked.

i find this style of story telling of this specific drama is to be realty unique and brilliant and one of kind in the c drama. The complex narrative of this drama is what makes not everyone cup of tea ..
The narrative follows the FL all the way to the end of the drama so don't expect everything to be spilled to you from first few eps. The turn is the FL herself having a mental illness makes her unreliable narrator of the story. And our understanding of the story will only be from what the FL understand about her world and so the plot will always feel a little incomplete [like we actually don't know exactly what happened in the past except from FL perspective] until the FL discovers what's actually happened in the past herself [and us with her] and then also the other characters.


*As for the ROMANCE*

Characters having their first meet in their wedding night...
both being deeply broken with insecurities...
both focusing on their revenge as main goal...

The romance in this drama is also not typical yearning trop, but mature respectful one with ML bein total green flag (sometimes scolding FL..).
having established that the romance in this drama is slow burn, you need to focus on their micro-expression and their EYES looking to each other.. there's not much kissing scenes but you will find your self getting blushed, burying your face in a pillow..

you can expect:
- FL being so direct with ML initiating skinship, hug him, sleep on his leg so suddenly and early on before they're close.
- ML getting flustered onetime telling her to leave his house if she don't like it and the second minute get a side smile from her touch.
- The intimacy level between the leads will make you caught yourself smiling to the screen as if invading their privacy. Both being venerable about their insecurities with each other..
lots and lots of pillow talk and a good communication with rarely any misunderstanding (expect one to move the plot forward and resolved very fast).
- Other than physical touch, we also got all other forms of love expression:
act of serves, words of affirmation (ml making sure to ask FL if she still feel lonely if she's happy, if she's healthy),
husband returning home everyday with pastries to his wife (especially when he's in trouble).
-They will start acting like old married couple with lots and lots of soft moments that shows them being so in love with each other, being intimidate and real as husband and wife having a true bonding moment


*As for the plot, *

It's not related to the novel, BUT better than the original novel.
The plot is not for unmature people who looking for a simple romcom. it's slow paced romance between a mentally ill wife and a physically ill husband with intense political revenge (and dark humor).

the story revolves around main characters planning their revenge due to some incidents that happened in the past during a point of turning the power in the empirical balance results in main characters along with others being victims as they are caught in the middle of the fight. you should expect to see a empirical conflict just like any other historical drama. however, you need to be paint with the plot as the true events unravel slowly as the episodes goes. i would say don't expect to understand the revenge lore from the start we still didn't get the whole idea until all events unravel in later episodes.

Although the drama started with a wedding and FL fill first killing whoever missed with her husband and ML starting to fall down bad for his wife, this drama hits your emotions soo deeply with the story mainly focus on portraying other venerable emotions so be ready to cry with the characters as they try to heal each other.
you would see very strong character who are very educated or holding high ranks being broken and vulnerable only with each others as husband and wife yarning for love in their lonely live without releasing until they met.

The drama also conveyed some deep topics like death very good. while other criticize it for being always sad, i found it to be very comforting and as ML talked about it very gently soothing FL about the topic leaving you genuinely touched by his talk.

The plot also included messages about true good shouldn't be build on others sacrifice, and that people can't get a way without held accountable even if they made a good ruling afterwards, the cycle of bullying and forming aligns within the palace.

gotta say this is the first ever c drama that i feel is really mature in plot and delivery even as a person who like silly romcom, the vibe of this drama makes you can't move on once you finished it, it's the most c drama with touching events, characters being mature, real, and relevant in their grieve, love, anger, sadness, seeking justice.


*Finally, for the acting and filming*

for Bailu, i seriously can't imagine any other actress doing that role.. still i believe that role are my favorite for her so far o vulnerable and strong at the same time proving again how excellent she is.

For chenglei, he's a true master of micro expression.
i believe that MoLi is his second major hit role. His role in MoLi was different from a usual typical romcom drama but he showed that his acting abilities could be handle a complex phycological plot. His character showed different range of emotions and vulnerability that wasn't just about acting like a strong ML but also made his role [and overall all the drama vibes] to have a sense of being "real" or a relatable at some level with little talking.

For the director and writers they truly did a masterpiece.. making an adaption serious is always difficult given the expectation they had to deal with.. but here she was not only able to make a work that actually stand on it's own but even better than novel in some aspects...

*Also the director made sure to make this drama the most realistic drama in production now !! actors with no face filters and their real voices you could heat their breathing and crying just make it much more whole*