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Scent of Time chinese drama review
Completed
Scent of Time
2 people found this review helpful
by Yidenia Jang
Nov 1, 2023
30 of 30 episodes seen
Completed 1
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
This review may contain spoilers

A relatively well-disguised story that is actually about self-romance (in a kind of loser way)

For the most part this was well-written story, with good themes and a strong logical basis. It was essentially a redemption arc where the protagonist learns from her mistakes and was able to repeat 2 years of her past with wiser decisions to lead to a happier result. However, arcing over the entire plot was a bizarre mechanic that for me ruins the credibility of the entire plot. Without going into too much detail, the story was similar to a time-travel story where the protagonist met a bad end but was able, through some mysterious means, to return to the past and make different decisions that led to different outcomes in terms of love interest and her family's fate. She was originally a villainess that everyone hated, but because of her new choices, became well-respected and even adored, to the point where the original "heroine" of the story turned into a villain in response. This was actually all done very well, but sprinkled throughout the episodes were these hints that something was not quite right with this reality. The FL kept smelling this scent that no one else around her smelled. Spoiler alert, it was all a dream. Everything up to the end of that first timeline was real, but the entire repeat of the past 2 years was completely in her head.

What I really don't like about this kind of mechanic is that everything that occurs within a dream instantly loses its credibility. While realistically as an audience we can believe that good deeds lead to good returns, for example, the fact is that within the dream, every single character is actually a figment of the dreamer's imagination, even if they were based on actual people that the dreamer knew. It doesn't matter how familiar the dreamer might be with the real life counterparts; everything within the dream is still made up. Their reactions and responses, their thoughts and feelings, all of these are actually constructed by the dreamer and part of the dreamer's own self. This drama even doubles up on this insult by adding a third love interest who's completely fictional; he didn't exist in real life and was basically conjured by FL's brain while she was asleep. It's actually kind of hilarious how completely devoted he was to FL once you realize that this was essentially her being in love with herself. Then, at the very last episode, she wakes up briefly from this universe she's created where the entire world was in love with her and realizes the real world isn't like this. I'm also sitting here kind of in disbelief that I watched 29 episodes of a woman essentially romancing herself. At the very end, the series tries to salvage things by indicating that in real life, there are people who actually love FL, so she's not really THAT pathetic, but this is essentially a story about a protagonist with narcissism so severe that their delusion literally wiped out their ability to remain conscious for 2 years. Well, their injuries contributed, but let's face it; physical wounds are physical wounds, but this kind of catatonia is generally mentally-induced. If I had known that THIS was the direction the script was going, honestly, I would not have watched it, but I give it an 8.5/10 because the drama was still constructed well despite this small but somewhat fatal detail. This thing really had me rooting for it until the end of episode 29, when I realized I was NOT watching the kind of story I thought I was. So maybe watch until episode 29 and stop when you see numerous cut scenes of incense. It's such a shame when writers compromise the integrity of their stories by embellishing on such crucial weak points. Maybe the author was trying to do something new, but…this isn't even new, and made the story worse.
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