Couldn't get engaged with it. I could see the acting. Nobody was fully committed to who and when they were supposed…
It's not uncommon for kdramas to display too much wounded national pride and obsession with the past whenever they mention Japan, which I as a foreign viewer don't relate to (and as someone who despises nationalism in all its forms, even as a reaction to historical injustice, I don't like it much either).
However, in this particular case, the drama literally takes place during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when Japan ruled over the peninsula and exploited and oppressed Korean society with remarkable violence and cruelty. This is a historical fact.
What is more, Unit 731, which inspired the human experimentation subplot, is also a historical fact and the show actually shies away from representing the full extent of their evil. Both their methods and the number of people they killed were even more horrific than the drama reveals.
Considering all of this, the show humanises its Japanese characters to a degree I wouldn't necessarily expect from a kdrama. Some of them are shown to be regular people just trying to live their lives within an unjust system that happens to benefit them, and some are shown to be horrified and disgusted by what the Japanese military is doing. I've watched plenty of kdramas that didn't extend quite so much grace to their Japanese characters but portrayed them as categorically evil instead.
Depicting a fictionalised—and softened!—version of a real-life atrocity is not unfair to Japan. Like, they did do all that in the 40s, and the drama takes place in the 40s. What do you want?
If this was a drama about Soviet or Polish characters during WWII and it showed some Nazis committing crimes against humanity that were extensively documented in real life and can be looked up on Wikipedia, I should hope you wouldn't complain that the show was stoking anti-German prejudice.
The drama had some really touching moments, but it also got draggy in episodes 5-6 and frustrating in episode 8, in which all other subplots and characters were suddenly sidelined in favour of Igarashi's illness and death. The drama should have spent less time milking the tearjerker scenes in the finale and a bit more time on the exam results/aftermath and resolving the other characters' personal stories. In particular, Maki and Yuta's romance was concluded very poorly in my view.
Again folks got to just chill out about the marriage of CP. History is replete with both child brides and child…
Are we supposed to find this pairing cute or romantic just because it’s historically believable? People aren’t complaining that matches like this one never happened in the past but that they don’t like it in the drama.
OK, it felt good to see the entire Class 11 back up Li Ran and embarrass that rich bully, but you just know he's going to retaliate with something even worse. The way he's been threatening Li Ran's grandma/aunt (I forgot what their exact relationship is) to get Li Ran to lick his boots is so disgusting.
Yep, but I feel like the show is setting her up with Li Ran.
Yeah, JQL is a bit immature compared to them. Which is not a bad thing because he's still a kid! But CYS and LR both had to grow up faster than others because of their family situations and would understand each other's feelings if they had an honest conversation about their lives IMO.
Yes, this is also my impression of what is happening between them. I think its a pity the ML's confusion was conveyed…
If people can’t stand a character being angry and insist that male characters never show anger because it’s not model boyfriend behavior, that’s their problem TBH.
The summary sounds promising as far as modern romantic cdramas go and the leads are both charming; I hope the drama will strike a mature and subtle tone and showcase realistic sources of conflict and nuanced characterisation. China has been making some good office and slice-of-life romances in recent years like Fake It Till You Make It and Meet Yourself.
Bro really went from shaking her like a rag doll and screaming in her face that she's a bodysnatcher to piloting a whole makeup service at the corporate level in secret just to make her happy in three episodes. Men are weak!
OK, I'm watching today's episodes and the most pressing question I have at the beginning of episode 9 is WHY IS MS LING STILL WORKING AT THIS HAIR SALON??? She tried to harm the health of a client, which could have resulted in DEATH since she had no idea how severe that person's food allergy was, and on top of that she's clearly a disruptive element in the workplace because she thinks she's too good to be compared to Jiang Xiaoyuan, hates her and puts her down/expresses her displeasure openly all the time while using her seniority to bully the other interns.
Letting her stay on and continue to make trouble after she almost KILLED A CLIENT (on purpose!) just because she's worked there for a long time is NUTS. It was obvious from the moment that whole mess went down that Ms Ling has terrible judgement and wouldn't just stop scheming and antagonising JXY after being publicly humiliated because of her! She's a nightmare employee by any standard.
Being a woman myself, I like to watch shows whose plot is driven by complex psychological tension. I don't project…
Sure, but I suggest that you watch the drama first before you decide if your critique applies to this character or not. For the record, I do think he was quite nasty to the female lead and needs to apologise and make amends. But I don't mind characters being nasty or unfair as long as it makes for good storytelling; if viewers see everything a character does as good or desirable simply because he's good-looking, that's their problem.
On that note, I think some people were blinded by the ML's good looks in the first 6 episodes and didn't notice that he was shown to be a cold and ruthless person from the start. Now that his conflict with the FL has come to a head, everyone realises he's in the wrong.
I'm still thinking if I should watch this drama but reading the comments I see it's another toxic, abusive ML…
Being a woman myself, I like to watch shows whose plot is driven by complex psychological tension. I don't project onto the female lead and I don't treat the male lead as my imaginary boyfriend, so when they're at odds or pursuing different goals, I am entertained rather than upset.
If you had actually watched this show before commenting on it, you'd know the male lead has been mean to the female lead for two episodes and will stop being mean to her in the next two episodes, which is called conflict and is a core element of storytelling aimed at people above the age of 8.
Why is Qi Lian so aggressive? Oh God. I hate him right now.
Well, Jiang Xiaoyuan basically figured out why and confronted him with the truth: he feels guilty about standing up the original JXY all those years ago and thinks he's responsible for her life going downhill after that point and possibly for her disappearance as well.
He must also feel conflicted about how well he's treated the other JXY up to now, offering her support and affection that were meant for "his" JXY, and must be trying to distance himself from "our" JXY and to make up for being so affectionate with her, which feels like cheating on "his" JXY in retrospect, by being cold and mean. But what's already passed between two people can't be undone, which probably frustrates him further.
It's not right to be cruel to JXY because of these feelings, but we've already seen indications that Qi Lian is a pretty cold-blooded person normally—unless you're one of the very few people he values and considers to be "his" (like the original JXY and Xu Jingyang), in which case he's capable of going to any lengths necessary to keep you close. Right now, he must be thinking that he's been treating JXY as his person, but that's actually not what she is and she tricked him into showing her his closely guarded soft side, so he's unleashing the full force of his fierce personality on her in retaliation.
But of course, we all know he's gonna change his tune soon.
1 
However, in this particular case, the drama literally takes place during the Japanese occupation of Korea, when Japan ruled over the peninsula and exploited and oppressed Korean society with remarkable violence and cruelty. This is a historical fact.
What is more, Unit 731, which inspired the human experimentation subplot, is also a historical fact and the show actually shies away from representing the full extent of their evil. Both their methods and the number of people they killed were even more horrific than the drama reveals.
Considering all of this, the show humanises its Japanese characters to a degree I wouldn't necessarily expect from a kdrama. Some of them are shown to be regular people just trying to live their lives within an unjust system that happens to benefit them, and some are shown to be horrified and disgusted by what the Japanese military is doing. I've watched plenty of kdramas that didn't extend quite so much grace to their Japanese characters but portrayed them as categorically evil instead.
Depicting a fictionalised—and softened!—version of a real-life atrocity is not unfair to Japan. Like, they did do all that in the 40s, and the drama takes place in the 40s. What do you want?
If this was a drama about Soviet or Polish characters during WWII and it showed some Nazis committing crimes against humanity that were extensively documented in real life and can be looked up on Wikipedia, I should hope you wouldn't complain that the show was stoking anti-German prejudice.
Letting her stay on and continue to make trouble after she almost KILLED A CLIENT (on purpose!) just because she's worked there for a long time is NUTS. It was obvious from the moment that whole mess went down that Ms Ling has terrible judgement and wouldn't just stop scheming and antagonising JXY after being publicly humiliated because of her! She's a nightmare employee by any standard.
On that note, I think some people were blinded by the ML's good looks in the first 6 episodes and didn't notice that he was shown to be a cold and ruthless person from the start. Now that his conflict with the FL has come to a head, everyone realises he's in the wrong.
If you had actually watched this show before commenting on it, you'd know the male lead has been mean to the female lead for two episodes and will stop being mean to her in the next two episodes, which is called conflict and is a core element of storytelling aimed at people above the age of 8.
He must also feel conflicted about how well he's treated the other JXY up to now, offering her support and affection that were meant for "his" JXY, and must be trying to distance himself from "our" JXY and to make up for being so affectionate with her, which feels like cheating on "his" JXY in retrospect, by being cold and mean. But what's already passed between two people can't be undone, which probably frustrates him further.
It's not right to be cruel to JXY because of these feelings, but we've already seen indications that Qi Lian is a pretty cold-blooded person normally—unless you're one of the very few people he values and considers to be "his" (like the original JXY and Xu Jingyang), in which case he's capable of going to any lengths necessary to keep you close. Right now, he must be thinking that he's been treating JXY as his person, but that's actually not what she is and she tricked him into showing her his closely guarded soft side, so he's unleashing the full force of his fierce personality on her in retaliation.
But of course, we all know he's gonna change his tune soon.