DesertEagle88

Respectfully: please consider therapy for your issues with women.

NGL, that slap QM gave WS in Ep 4. deserves multiple awards. So satisfying.

watch S2

I agree the Cdrama high school coming of age dramas all follow the same formula for the first 10 episodes. I really hope they break that trend bc it stalls the momentum. I would prefer more episodes of the adult versions of the characters than having more of them being in HS

This story suffered from too many characters.

YL & ZZ's characters should have been condensed into one.

Ning having 3-4 (5?) different love interest was confusing and wasted plot on relationships that weren't fully developed and ultimately made certain reveals feel very unsatisfying ----> such as YL learning his long lost cousin/mentor/friend was in love with the woman he has always wanted to marry <--- how did that get glossed over? It makes the feelings YL had for Ning seem shallow when the show gave us ample evidence that YL always loved Ning more than anyone, save his father. Ultimately, regardless of the help that XJ provided YL and YM, I just don't buy that YL would not feel *some type of way* about XJ's actions given what we know about both of them. Also YL in the prime timeline was so despondent about losing Ning, that he forced himself on her... It makes me question why Ning was so loyal to him given everything he'd done in the original timeline.

Also why did they randomly start acting like Princess and YL were friends all along?

Further, ZZ's story arc with Ning just felt very underwhelming. I was left with the feeling that ZZ's character should have just remained a justice or if his character had to have a love interest it should have been with XH or FY I prefer him to be paired with XH as a foil for LZ's character. For instance when LZ offered XH a concubine role instead of empress, it would have been interesting if she chose ZZ of LZ.

Lastly, in regard to FY I felt her death was the worst and least necessary plot device of the entire drama. The way she died was completely uneccessary, and I struggle to wrap my mind around the idea that XJ -with all his strategizing and backup plans- would have forgotten about FY and ZYZ being loose ends in the capital. It was absolutely ridiculous to watch XJ divulge how he concocted all these plans with the Emperor weeks/months in advance and XJ gave no thought to FY his right hand man's wife's safety and the best friend of the woman he loves. Why wasn't she relocated to another location when her husband traveled? why didn't she have any guards? why was no one keeping an eye on ZYZ? Yet I am to believe XJ is playing 4D chess with everyone else? If they were going to kill off a character for emotional damage it should have been ZZ. FY's death just made me roll my eyes. Especially since Ning completely forgot about that pain to race over to the palace to cry over XJ being stabbed for the 8th time in as many episodes.

TL;dr: Overall this show had some interesting elements but I would cut about 35% of the plot.

Can I just say how crazy it makes me feel to know Chen Huan Er went through 8+ years of life with the same hairstyle.... like WTF was the hair department thinking??? Can a FL get some extensions? Some dye? She didn't even curl her hair a different way.

Also her wardrobe was LACKING... she wore the same outfits for 8+ years?

eeek!

So excited!!!!

She is (fearfu ) avoidant though so while I agree it wouldn't make sense for her to cause drama, it wouldn't be completely out of character for her to pull back and be less vocal/present which I think would have made sense rather than her just apologizing/accepting.

I agree.

What hooked me When I first watched the 1st few episodes is the ML was so focused on the FL... every look he gave her seemed absolutely charged (with the unspeakable things he wanted to do to her) but once they got together his gaze seemed a bit less intense which I thought was very odd... the last 2 episodes the intensity kinda came back but I def do agree the show lost steam for me after episode 13.

I think the moms cancer storyline was totally unnecessary, BUT if they were gonna use it and take the route the did (by hiding it from the FL) the last half of the show needed to be WAAAY more angsty. As I said in a different comment, I can see the FL forgiving him for just doing his job and upholding his medical requirements not to disclose personal health data of his patient but I CANNOT see how she can just trust him again (my mom has cancer and my BF knows but doesn't tell me... its over). It shoulda been a break up, she shoulda gone abroad and I honestly don't know how they woulda reconnected.

To be fair the FL is gorgeous so not really surprising he was infatuated at first sight but I think the drama showed enough depth throughout the 13 episodes it took for him to confess as to the reasons why.

I do think the show lagged in the second half and I would have liked fewer episodes with the FL pretending that she didn't like him. I also hated how he agreed to keep the mom's secret. I think he should have said something like "I will remain professional and not disclose your health data as a Dr. but as your daughters boyfriend and someone who's had a mom who dealt with something similar I absolutely cannot condone you keeping this from her even if you think its for the best."

I absolutely hated how they dealt with this part of the story arc and how they made SX apologize for being upset, once she learned the truth I felt like I was being gaslit

Fake It Till You Make It

Right! Considering his backstory with his own mom it just seems so OOO for him to not say anything. Especially because you can see his character being triggered by being asked to keep it from her yet he still choses to let SX find out alone and gaslight her about it... it's WILD.

Aside from that ( and the episode 13-17 arc where the plot dragged a bit) I liked the drama

So no one else was bothered by the fact that HSY didn't tell SX about what was happening with her mother? I was very icked out that she ended up apologizing for her reaction to her entire family and BF keeping this info from her after telling her 5 episodes back that she needs to tell them about what's happening in her life when it came to her breakup with YH. No wonder she is so emotionally repressed. I can understand her forgiving HSY for doing what he needed to do as a doctor but to jump back into immediate trust.... to me it seems this drama should have taken a more angsty turn.

He looks just like Park Hyung Sik

Excellent review. I dropped the drama after episode 9 because I couldn't stand all the inconsistency and lack of character growth. I absolutely would have been livid about watching the remaining 3 episodes only for it to turn out that way.

One thing about the drama that still struggle with is the ML being characterized as a green flag. IMO he is not a greenflag (at least in his adult years). My reasoning for believing so is he was willing to keep using Yun Nan U to shield Ji Kang Hee, throwing someone else under a bus to protect the FL is not greenflag behavior. Also, his mother was regularly and routinely rude to the FL but most of the time he just sits there and lets his mom say whatever about her (even if we know he feels differently) his lack of action in addressing this behavior by his mother removes him from the greenflag label for me.

My favorite character in this drama was the SL up until the proposal scene (he was the reason I even kept bothering to watch episodes). The proposal scene felt so inauthentic for him to rush a grand/public proposal without even having a conversation with JKH, especially knowing their relationship was a fake one. Why would he do this? The writers really p*ssed me off with that scene.

I started this show thinking the FL was the problem but it only took a few episodes to realize *everyone* in this show is unlikeable. Instead of just talking to one another they deflect, steamroll, gaslight, stay in denial or just ignore whatever is going on.

I can't believe so much marketing went in to promoting this drama because it was irritating to watch grown adults be so devoid of self reflection/growth (how many times do we have to watch the FL tell the ML to leave her alone??)

lol okay Karen 🙄

Took you 2 weeks to come up with that, shoulda just touched grass.

It wasn't a 5 year time jump it was a 1 year time jump.

Josephine told Elvis she had a 5 year plan and that this was her 4th year when they went on their first real date...

At the end when he shows up he says "its year 5... what's next?"

I already like that version so much better.... one more question, was he already leader of Team 1 when he asked her to marry him or did that also come later in the book?