Kpoppyfortea
This review may contain spoilers
I am enraged at everyone in this thing. Enraged.
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I knew going in that this was a massive depress fest but I kept getting suggested it on viki, youtube, and tiktok. So I thought I'd give it a chance. Usually when I hate a drama it's from maybe halfway through and I rage watch to the end. But I was hate watching this about a quarter way through. I am compelled to finish things I start, so yes I did suffer through the whole thing.
The acting was actually fine, the cast did the best with this awful story. That's what the two stars are for.
The crown prince ML1 was a psychopath from beginning to end. Part of me wondered if he might change or grow or show any remorse whatsoever. But no. He had no empathy for anyone. Sure he cried and screamed a lot but he was dead behind the eyes (hopefully that was acting). He had the concubine before he even went to Xi, and she was convinced even then he cared for her. He didn't need a beard at that point so why the hell did he gaslight her so early on? He ruined her long before he ever needed a shield to protect the princess. Then he goes to Xi, targets the princess and manipulates and lies to her in order the murder almost everyone she cares about and destroy her entire world. And he's just like damn I wish you hadn't seen me behead your grandad, but I'll make you marry me anyway, lol.
I've seen people say no matter how awful he was he did love her. Have to disagree there. As far as I can see he didn't love anyone, he was just fixated on her. Maybe he had a bit of a crush before he murdered her family. But I find it hard to believe that someone would actually do that to a person they loved, without being completely destroyed by it. Start to finish he didn't care if she died even, he only cared that she not forget him. He didn't want her love, he said it himself he only wanted her to not be indifferent. Her losing her memory of him was what really hurt him. He was a narcissist, and I hate that he lived. Even with the memory loss he still knew he destroyed her entire home, and most of her family. And he still had the audacity to ask her what he really did wrong. SIR. He forgot the double agent status, but he knew he destroyed Xi. That's enough my dude. But to him that wasn't reason enough, because he had no concept of actually loving and caring about someone other than himself.
The other Gu ML2 was also a truly awful person, who manipulated the princess from even earlier on, and in some ways he was even worse at the beginning, because he had even himself convinced that he was a good guy. When she got her memory back, and then ML2 was killed, how the hell could she even look at him, never mind cradle his corpse. She knew what he'd done at that point, and still somehow felt bad for him. He targeted her not once but twice, and completely betrayed her twice. He knew her family for years before the red wedding. When he came back and knew she'd forgotten, he should've walked away, not lied AGAIN and made a conscious decision to betray her even more. He even pretended to be ML1 just to live out his sad little fantasy.
A'Du was such a disappointment as well. Her betrayal came later, but it was also terrible. She knowingly let FL go get forcefully married to the psychopath, when she had all the facts, and also let her leave with ML2. Wow.
One reason I decided to give this a chance was because people were saying FL was a strong female character, but I think we watched different shows because she was the worst. Rather than obliviate herself she should've killed him right then. Fine okay she thought the fall would also kill her, okay. But when he abused her every day, emotionally, psychologically traumatised her, kill him. Or if she's afraid that would harm Xi, she could've killed herself. Definitely when she finally remembered everything she should've stabbed him properly, and failing that killed herself. I get that she's dealing with some serious trauma, but she never displayed any of the strength I've seen other reviews mention. She leaned on her family (nice, good), leaned on a variety of psychopaths (bad times), trusted literally anyone she made eye contact with. Not matter how often she was f*cked over she was like "I'm sure they had a reason". I don't understand her at all. She fluctuated from an imbecile who's never seen a boat (there was literally a river in the first episode in Xi, how has she never seen a boat), and believing everything anyone says to her, to solving crimes with her fiance, deducing all the sneaky palace happenings etc., and then suddenly back to having no idea who her enemies are. She wasn't strong, she was just a f*cking moron. She just accepted everything that was happening to her. Except for a few moments of resistance and flailing around, she never really made much fuss. She was just noisy about doing basically nothing. Then at the end she offs herself in front of two armies, like that's the solution. HOW IS THAT THE SOLUTION?! THAT WOULD NEVER WORK
Side note: How long does it take for someone to fall off a building? I know slow motion is a thing but honestly that was too much. Dude regained his entire lost memory thing, and A'Du had time to saddle a whole horse while she was still slowly falling.
__________________________
__________________
______
I knew going in that this was a massive depress fest but I kept getting suggested it on viki, youtube, and tiktok. So I thought I'd give it a chance. Usually when I hate a drama it's from maybe halfway through and I rage watch to the end. But I was hate watching this about a quarter way through. I am compelled to finish things I start, so yes I did suffer through the whole thing.
The acting was actually fine, the cast did the best with this awful story. That's what the two stars are for.
The crown prince ML1 was a psychopath from beginning to end. Part of me wondered if he might change or grow or show any remorse whatsoever. But no. He had no empathy for anyone. Sure he cried and screamed a lot but he was dead behind the eyes (hopefully that was acting). He had the concubine before he even went to Xi, and she was convinced even then he cared for her. He didn't need a beard at that point so why the hell did he gaslight her so early on? He ruined her long before he ever needed a shield to protect the princess. Then he goes to Xi, targets the princess and manipulates and lies to her in order the murder almost everyone she cares about and destroy her entire world. And he's just like damn I wish you hadn't seen me behead your grandad, but I'll make you marry me anyway, lol.
I've seen people say no matter how awful he was he did love her. Have to disagree there. As far as I can see he didn't love anyone, he was just fixated on her. Maybe he had a bit of a crush before he murdered her family. But I find it hard to believe that someone would actually do that to a person they loved, without being completely destroyed by it. Start to finish he didn't care if she died even, he only cared that she not forget him. He didn't want her love, he said it himself he only wanted her to not be indifferent. Her losing her memory of him was what really hurt him. He was a narcissist, and I hate that he lived. Even with the memory loss he still knew he destroyed her entire home, and most of her family. And he still had the audacity to ask her what he really did wrong. SIR. He forgot the double agent status, but he knew he destroyed Xi. That's enough my dude. But to him that wasn't reason enough, because he had no concept of actually loving and caring about someone other than himself.
The other Gu ML2 was also a truly awful person, who manipulated the princess from even earlier on, and in some ways he was even worse at the beginning, because he had even himself convinced that he was a good guy. When she got her memory back, and then ML2 was killed, how the hell could she even look at him, never mind cradle his corpse. She knew what he'd done at that point, and still somehow felt bad for him. He targeted her not once but twice, and completely betrayed her twice. He knew her family for years before the red wedding. When he came back and knew she'd forgotten, he should've walked away, not lied AGAIN and made a conscious decision to betray her even more. He even pretended to be ML1 just to live out his sad little fantasy.
A'Du was such a disappointment as well. Her betrayal came later, but it was also terrible. She knowingly let FL go get forcefully married to the psychopath, when she had all the facts, and also let her leave with ML2. Wow.
One reason I decided to give this a chance was because people were saying FL was a strong female character, but I think we watched different shows because she was the worst. Rather than obliviate herself she should've killed him right then. Fine okay she thought the fall would also kill her, okay. But when he abused her every day, emotionally, psychologically traumatised her, kill him. Or if she's afraid that would harm Xi, she could've killed herself. Definitely when she finally remembered everything she should've stabbed him properly, and failing that killed herself. I get that she's dealing with some serious trauma, but she never displayed any of the strength I've seen other reviews mention. She leaned on her family (nice, good), leaned on a variety of psychopaths (bad times), trusted literally anyone she made eye contact with. Not matter how often she was f*cked over she was like "I'm sure they had a reason". I don't understand her at all. She fluctuated from an imbecile who's never seen a boat (there was literally a river in the first episode in Xi, how has she never seen a boat), and believing everything anyone says to her, to solving crimes with her fiance, deducing all the sneaky palace happenings etc., and then suddenly back to having no idea who her enemies are. She wasn't strong, she was just a f*cking moron. She just accepted everything that was happening to her. Except for a few moments of resistance and flailing around, she never really made much fuss. She was just noisy about doing basically nothing. Then at the end she offs herself in front of two armies, like that's the solution. HOW IS THAT THE SOLUTION?! THAT WOULD NEVER WORK
Side note: How long does it take for someone to fall off a building? I know slow motion is a thing but honestly that was too much. Dude regained his entire lost memory thing, and A'Du had time to saddle a whole horse while she was still slowly falling.
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