Amarina

Trailers are FINALLY in English Sub

:41 sec trailer:
https://youtu.be/e6M8oEXXgWY?si=C7Pj5Ob6_KR1eAln

1:44 trailer:
https://youtu.be/0dh28obP0ag?si=ghwncRxf19aDDe1v

Ummmm it is and was a dangerously addictive drug that killed people. Today's equivalent of shooting up heroin or fentanyl which are similar but now stronger and more potent than the original opium.

I was literally just coming here to say this. The show as a whole may not be worth a 10/10 but that specific episode ABSOLUTELY is a 10/10 episode.

😅 That's the point. They deliberately spent all that time pointing out WHY it was the dumbest trope and people hate it and STILL did it because the point is to parody all the shows that do it seriously.

Oh absolutely not, but she THINKS she does. We only know she doesn't because the synopsis says so lol.

It starts out with I'd say a false equality and by the end its really just her taking everything. It's not the usual thing though where you're basically yelling at the screen "why are you taking this? just leave him" though so... yeah she really doesn't have much choice to what he does to her.

I've sat on it for a couple of days and thought about this show a bit. The "issue" with this show is they advertised and promoted a romance when realistically it's a spy show. Now that I have THAT out of the way... for what the show IS, 8.5/10 - if rating based on what I was "sold" 5/10.

I both 100% recommend that show as one of the BEST mini dramas that has come out... and 100% DON'T recommend it if you have basically ANY triggers...

Decide if you can handle watching a show where every single character is essentially mentally unwell to some degree. If you can handle a manipulative FL who starts out VERY strong and by the end is shattered to the point of being a husk through threats, imprisonment, being torturously disabled, poisoning, and finally being rpd. If you can handle a show where every character dies. Where one "attempt" by the FL is shown on screen and another is talked about in addition to the the discussion of his mother's cause of death and the 2FL. A show where there is a scene the FL cries as she is forced to eat. There is pregnancy and there is also pregnancy loss.

The show is gorgeous but NOT for most people.

🤣 Absolutely! Though I don't mind SE if they make sense for the plot and have been foreshadowed well. And I'd rather a clear cut SE than some of the murky "one or both OBVIOUSLY die then "3 years later" they are alive again and their eyes meet 🤣
But yeah, every so often let's have a good thorough HEA from a seemingly hopeless situation drama.

I thought they explained it rather well actually. She's had YEARS to gather Intel on this family and choose the "right time" and course of action. The biggest variable was the 1st son, her ex, and she made sure even he would be able to be controlled by implanting the "Gu".

If you can stomach it, his best work yet is the recent Love & Bid Farewell. But it's.... rough to say the least and I wouldn't go into it thinking you're going to be watching a romance but rather a psychological horror where every character is mentally unwell to some degree.

I think what's so hard about this one yeah was that the beginning was SO good that it was drastically noticeable and you're right, the acting WAS amazing, even in those weird last episodes which if anything made it more jarring. 😅😔

Yeah I don't blame the confusion, it's very easy to mistake him for the ferryman and it wouldn't even be THAT outside the realm of the story we were laid out. Basically the difference comes from that line that he comes to cross the river once a year. "Technically", that could have him as either the writer OR the Ferryman since they're both crossing the river presumably on that one day. When it was suggested he might be the Ferryman I even began revising my thought on who the writer was to be the Governor brother years later and that "telling the story" was the referenced "remember your promise" at the end before he took her away. Honestly... it was so obscure you could almost decide anything. Like hey, despite those lines saying he didn't remember her, maybe he secretly DID and that's how he could write everything.... Realistically though the only thing I know is no matter how you try and decipher the end it was depressing as heck 🤣

I honestly don't mind BEs when they make sense and fit the story... Even this one I feel would have been a bit better if it'd been edited better in that last act. Everything felt too rushed, things kept jumping around, it felt like there were missing scenes for explaining motivations... And then with this end there's also the fact the way they end it they specifically tell you he's left as an empty shell basically, wondering WHY and refusing to die... He doesn't even have that "we'll meet in our next life" goal or the ability to look back on the time they DID have together that comforts so many people.

Oh 100% absolutely one of the most depressing of the BEs we've gotten lately. Was watching it with someone and we both had to sit and digest what we just watched. It doesn't help that there were so many editing issues in that last bit once they woke up with their memories that it almost became a chore trying to figure out what was going on. I had had a feeling it was going to end bad, but part of me wanted an ending more similar to Hard to Find... This one was MORE depressing imo.

Yes, Express dropped and last 10 eps are available for $5.99

This one is hard to rate IMO. It's told in 3 parts and each part I'd rate differently because of the quality.
Arc 1: 9/10
Arc 2: 8/10
Arc 3: 6/10
Total: 7.5/10
Last arc had severe issues with editing and felt as though characters were not given proper development to change their stances. It felt like there HAD to be missing scenes Last part honestly felt like it probably needed 3-5 more episodes worth of fleshing out.

So basically... that last scene with the family is his dreams. He has his family, his wife and their theoretical kid whenever he's asleep BUT evey time he's awake he has no idea who she is, just that he misses someone that doesn't exist KNOWING there's a hole in his memory. He doesn't know WHY he has to go to Sushui on Grain Buds day, (to marry her and fulfill his promise) he just knows he HAS TO. Honestly, it's depressing and I'd HATE to live as he's "living", an empty shell. At least if he remembered her he'd have their love to keep him company OR the choice to follow her to the grave. Instead, as it says, he doesn't wish to die (for eternity) just for Xiaomon, most likely since he doesn't know who she is or if she's dead, just that he wants to be with her.

Xiao Zisu never got maried, just because there was a beautiful woman called Xiaoman in his dream.

Sushui is a river at the border of the Lin State, Rumor has it that Meng Po once cried here and forgot about the River God.

Because he knew that he had forgotten a very important person. He never wished for eternity. He only wished to be with Xiaoman.

Everyone laughed at him for being obsessive and crazy. He didn't care. On the Grain Buds Day every year, he would come to Sushui to cross the river by ferry.

Ill make two comments below. The overlappimg subtitles and then my take.