MadelineMaureen

All remaining episodes release in a few hours.

okay finding out the"drawing" on his arm in the show is an actual tattoo in the novel. & that the compass necklace is a tattoo located below his waist.....😏🌶🌶🌶

She has been for a while. She's just really shy about PDA, and taking the next step in her first relationship. also Chinese censorship apparently played a larger part in it than i originally thought.

No, because Viki has a preexisting contract it's on a set release schedule.

Only her half sister is pushing it really

I hope episode 16 is all epilogue and all the villain arches get wrapped up in 15. I've continued to enjoy this drama throughout it's run so I want to see them living in peace for a little bit more before saying good-bye.

Yes. If you like the actors and are okay with some soapy elements then yes. If you can't find humor in OTT plot points then this isn't for you. As it seems a lot of people feel like it's lost the plot. But in my mind it just shows that Ji Hyuk was dealing with someone equally as bothersome as Ji Won was with Min Hwan.

I feel like Ji Hyuk put ppl in place so that they would survive. As he wouldn't let the man who is helping him get thrown into prison for murder.

OMG yes! This, I'm like come on people...if I don't hit least bingo on my "melo trope card" I don't know what I'll do with myself. I find the OTT melos funny sometimes because they remind me of the older ksoaps that would get parodied by everyone. I don't know why everyone is complaining when the acting is still elevated and the production value didn't faulter either. I can kind of understand why some of the people who are fans of the IP would be upset if they are diverging from the story as much as they say they are. But again this is a different media so changing things up can sometimes be a good thing.
I don't know about anyone else, but I've honestly been quite impressed with BoA's acting in this. She's held her weight and helped to even out what was becoming "rich people good; poor people bad" kind of dynamic.

It was his eye flex after she said "going to sleep would be a waste" that got me cackling. And then flashback ended and I was like...wait what? Elaborate please writers/editors. I always feel like I need to practice my subtext skills when watching Chinese shows because of how involved their censorship board is.

Mom is in episode 21. She is professional and understanding. It shows that she isn't as bad as we think she is. Mr. He butters her up a bit too. it's cute.

2nd couple(Yu You & Qin Shi Yue) had the better growth/storyline/writing in my opinion. Their chemistry was the best over the course of their arch. Miles did a good job of showing interest, but not over interest at the right moments. Aka the character wasn't being weird when he thought she was just his student, he set good boundaries and was responsible.
ML and FL's story had some great moments, but there were lots of uninteresting parts for me that just...gave me a bit of the mehhs. The "I can't put my finger on it" kind of disinterest. But that could simply be that I'm not a huge fan of business, and because they keep it relatively vague it didn't feel insightful for me. Again, most likely a me problem.
The 3rd couple on the other hand I could put my finger on why my eyes started to get heavy blinks during their scenes. It was the same 2 arguments repeated over the course of 35 episodes...it was miscommunication after miscommunication when they both wanted the same thing at the end of the day. Realistic, sure. Entertaining...not so much.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it was not only implied that something happened at the apartment, but that something more happened on his birthday...@twinty where you at? thoughts?

Also found out the dodging could be a censor/money thing. Someone mentioned it in a comment below. I have noticed that a lot of the bts footage shows much more kissing than is shown in the actual show. So she might just be the sacrificial lamb to the censorship/runtime gods. Which, lets all be honest, is dumb.

I honestly love the friendship of the three of them JY, LYY and MXD. It always makes me laugh with the juniors see them together for the first time, like they are about to witness a brawl or something.

wait wait wait...what...I'm just now hearing about this...they get paid per kiss? I don't know why i'm both 😲 🤯and oh no that makes sense. I can't stop laughing though, 😘=💴

She is most comfortable showing PDA around their friends his in Finland. She's not as shy now in public outside of China. When she is around other people with similar backgrounds or tied to her profession she gets more shy as she can sometimes feel like they would maybe judge her. It's not always logical, but that's normal.
I like being affectionate around close friends, but when around people I work with I'd rather just stick to handholding. It's a separation of work and private life. In areas she knows they will be recognized as professional billiards players she is more cautious.

I feel like the theme song of Ep22 should be 'Me, You and Steve' 😂😂🤣🤣🤭An'an....poor baby.

I think a lot of it can be boiled down to personal experiences/what other shows they've watched. Depending on how much media you consume this could be 1 of 100 similar stories that you've seen so you are better at spotting potential flaws. But if you've only seen a few shows that are similar it might seem fine in comparison.
Looking at the stats this is very much targeting a younger audience than I am used to. I'm 33 for reference. I'm not sure what the venn diagram is looking like for age and who is and isn't enjoy it, but it's honestly something I would be interested in.

(an aside, putting this under spoiler because I didn't realize I wrote an essay in response until I posted the comment😳 )
Well said.
When critiquing something sometimes people are bringing a whole bunch of stuff from their personal perspective and trying to say that they are being objective, when they are actually being subjective. Knowing the difference is important. In an almost anonymous comment section, unless the writer states their personal bias/reasons there is no way to know if what they are saying is a universal truth or just a personal one.

I must admit, as a 33 year old woman, who has watched an ungodly amount of media(from many countries), there are parts of this show I am personally struggling with. The actors are doing their jobs(and well), but there are certain aspects of the writing in the last few episodes(ep9 & 10) that are extremely triggering for me. Because of *my* past with SA, I was very thrown during one scene and haven't been able to shake it. When I'm prepared for it, it's normally not a big deal, like I watch Law&Order:SVU and am good to go most episodes. With the late king I was prepared for potentially triggering imagery/conversations.
Some of the writing is leaning too heavily on very common troupes, but if you are okay with that you might enjoy their take on those themes. Just because *I* have issues with it doesn't mean *you* will.

Also, I've been guilty of being emotional in a comment section or two after seeing something and needed to vent about it. But always take an angry/frustrated rant with a grain of salt. And don't be afraid to ask a user to elaborate on WHY they dislike something. The majority of us can articulate our feelings once we've given ourselves a second to look back on why we reacted like we did. (excluding trolls which for some reason this comment section in particular was having issues with a few weeks back)

ANYWAY....I'm glad you're still enjoying it. And I might reach out to ask you some questions about the show as I have personally taken a timeout after episode 10.