A Badly Written Mess with Superficial Dark 'Romance'
This is a very poorly made series. I shudder when people compare it to other Chinese dark romances because it doesn't come close at all. It's extremely shallow, illogical, and superficial, and most importantly, it's not even a romance.
These characters don't love each other, and I don't mean it in "they hurt each other too much" kind of way. No, they truly, genuinely do not love each other. Throughout the series, they hold no meaningful conversations. They don't get to know each other. Until the end, you have no idea what they are supposed to like about each other because it's never shown.
Lu Feng isn't interested in Yichen's thoughts or feelings. He just wants them to be in a relationship: that's where his obsession starts and ends. He's not interested in the person himself, in his worries, his hopes, his values; on the contrary, he shows time and time again that he doesn't know or understand him. In the second half of the show, he blames him for being a gold digger. Like, seriously blaming him and punishing him for it even though there is zero reason to think that. If he doesn't know even this much about his supposed great love years later, what can I say?..
Yichen also doesn't love Lu Feng. He invests precisely 0 effort in preserving or maintaining this relationship. He bends where the wind blows, and in most cases, he bends for everyone and away from Lu Feng. He always, always puts everyone and everything else above him even though there are a million other solutions that a loving, somewhat intelligent person would have instantly come up with. He's so spineless that a stranger could take him from his house, put him in the car, and tell him they are going to another country, and he'll just say "okay" meekly with an empty, drugged-out look. And if you think it's because he's been badly broken: no, not at all. He's like this from E1.
From E1, these characters act inconsistently and make illogical choices. Their problems with miscommunication cannot be treated seriously because they are overblown to an extreme extent. Yeah, I get it, miscommunication is a popular trope, but you still need to adapt it smartly. There is nothing smart about writing in Double Helix. The characters don't talk about the most basic and obvious things just because the plot needs it.
There is no logic or psychology here in general. You have the oddest situations occurring, like one character allegedly trying to commit suicide and both characters forgetting about it in the very next scene, or a brother deciding to abandon his hurt brother with a man they haven't known long for 5+ years for the weakest reason of hiding, and then 'hiding' by working in a publicly known wife's company. Or a kidnapper inviting the powerful wife of the kidnapped to his place to show her abused husband to her for some reason, and her just so happening to carry a gun even though she didn't know the kidnapping took place. And then the very loving brothers reuniting after years like some random schoolmates with no emotional ties between them. Characters will appear when it's convenient and disappear when their presence is not convenient - and it happens all the time. It's a big annoying mess, just flashes of scenes with no logical or psychological connection.
The kindapping/abuse part everyone dreaded and kept freaking out over was done very, very poorly. There is just... barely anything happening there. Maybe Yichen gets assaulted, but it's shown very weirdly and he seems to be at least partly into it. Other than this, nothing. For 99% of time, it looks like a middle schooler got put on house arrest. There is no nuance, no psychological breaking, no depiction of how challenging and torturous this was for Yichen to live through; he just keeps eating apathetically as Lu Feng brings people over, never thinks of asking for help, and makes the same face in every situation. This can't be compared to what other red/black flags did to their partners in other dramas, so I never understood why everyone kept calling Lu Feng the king of black flags. He's crazy, that's true, but the biggest problem in their dynamic is a clear lack of love. The abuse itself is superficial as hell, so if you've come looking for dark and gritty stuff that horrifies and fascinates you, and has long-term consequences and a challenging road to redemption, you won't find any of it here.
The music is pretty good; one song in particular has stolen my heart. The acting... honestly, I'm not a fan, although I blame direction and weak script for it first and foremost. There are good scenes, the actors clearly have talent, but a lot of these scenes are very exaggerated, and Yichen's actor is walking around with the same empty expression for a major part of the series, even in situations that don't warrant it. These people deserved a way better script.
It's just old and beaten tropes over old and beaten tropes. These tropes aren't connected or presented well, so it feels like you're watching an outdated parody on quality dark romances. The actors seem absolutely lovely, their BTS are a treasure, but unfortunately, in my opinion, the series is a massive waste of time.
These characters don't love each other, and I don't mean it in "they hurt each other too much" kind of way. No, they truly, genuinely do not love each other. Throughout the series, they hold no meaningful conversations. They don't get to know each other. Until the end, you have no idea what they are supposed to like about each other because it's never shown.
Lu Feng isn't interested in Yichen's thoughts or feelings. He just wants them to be in a relationship: that's where his obsession starts and ends. He's not interested in the person himself, in his worries, his hopes, his values; on the contrary, he shows time and time again that he doesn't know or understand him. In the second half of the show, he blames him for being a gold digger. Like, seriously blaming him and punishing him for it even though there is zero reason to think that. If he doesn't know even this much about his supposed great love years later, what can I say?..
Yichen also doesn't love Lu Feng. He invests precisely 0 effort in preserving or maintaining this relationship. He bends where the wind blows, and in most cases, he bends for everyone and away from Lu Feng. He always, always puts everyone and everything else above him even though there are a million other solutions that a loving, somewhat intelligent person would have instantly come up with. He's so spineless that a stranger could take him from his house, put him in the car, and tell him they are going to another country, and he'll just say "okay" meekly with an empty, drugged-out look. And if you think it's because he's been badly broken: no, not at all. He's like this from E1.
From E1, these characters act inconsistently and make illogical choices. Their problems with miscommunication cannot be treated seriously because they are overblown to an extreme extent. Yeah, I get it, miscommunication is a popular trope, but you still need to adapt it smartly. There is nothing smart about writing in Double Helix. The characters don't talk about the most basic and obvious things just because the plot needs it.
There is no logic or psychology here in general. You have the oddest situations occurring, like one character allegedly trying to commit suicide and both characters forgetting about it in the very next scene, or a brother deciding to abandon his hurt brother with a man they haven't known long for 5+ years for the weakest reason of hiding, and then 'hiding' by working in a publicly known wife's company. Or a kidnapper inviting the powerful wife of the kidnapped to his place to show her abused husband to her for some reason, and her just so happening to carry a gun even though she didn't know the kidnapping took place. And then the very loving brothers reuniting after years like some random schoolmates with no emotional ties between them. Characters will appear when it's convenient and disappear when their presence is not convenient - and it happens all the time. It's a big annoying mess, just flashes of scenes with no logical or psychological connection.
The kindapping/abuse part everyone dreaded and kept freaking out over was done very, very poorly. There is just... barely anything happening there. Maybe Yichen gets assaulted, but it's shown very weirdly and he seems to be at least partly into it. Other than this, nothing. For 99% of time, it looks like a middle schooler got put on house arrest. There is no nuance, no psychological breaking, no depiction of how challenging and torturous this was for Yichen to live through; he just keeps eating apathetically as Lu Feng brings people over, never thinks of asking for help, and makes the same face in every situation. This can't be compared to what other red/black flags did to their partners in other dramas, so I never understood why everyone kept calling Lu Feng the king of black flags. He's crazy, that's true, but the biggest problem in their dynamic is a clear lack of love. The abuse itself is superficial as hell, so if you've come looking for dark and gritty stuff that horrifies and fascinates you, and has long-term consequences and a challenging road to redemption, you won't find any of it here.
The music is pretty good; one song in particular has stolen my heart. The acting... honestly, I'm not a fan, although I blame direction and weak script for it first and foremost. There are good scenes, the actors clearly have talent, but a lot of these scenes are very exaggerated, and Yichen's actor is walking around with the same empty expression for a major part of the series, even in situations that don't warrant it. These people deserved a way better script.
It's just old and beaten tropes over old and beaten tropes. These tropes aren't connected or presented well, so it feels like you're watching an outdated parody on quality dark romances. The actors seem absolutely lovely, their BTS are a treasure, but unfortunately, in my opinion, the series is a massive waste of time.
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