Mixed Feelings: Great Performances, But Not-So-Great Execution
I was up and down with this watch. I initially dropped it around episodes 12–15, but the performances and characters were so strong that they pulled me back in. At the same time, the same issue that made me drop it the first time remained all the way through: the story was often undermined by the way it was executed.
The performances were easily my favorite part. The cast was fantastic from the leads down to the minor characters, and I was particularly impressed by how much depth they brought to their roles. Their performances made the characters’ backstories feel poignant and meaningful. I became invested in these people and wanted to see where their journeys would take them. The characters themselves were engaging, and I especially enjoyed the relationships. I loved who the characters were independently, who they became within their relationships, and the chemistry between the different couples. I also liked the story itself.
However, the plot execution was too familiar.
The drama relied too heavily on a handful of storytelling devices: separation arcs, petty conflicts between women, banquet scenes where women repeatedly undermined one another, and rescue plots. These devices can work for me when used sparingly, but they happened often enough that they gradually lost their impact. The same thing happened with the villains. After a while, it felt as though they were finding different ways to create essentially the same conflict. Once that pattern became predictable, the conflicts stopped carrying the same weight. Instead of adding tension, they started to feel like variations of something I'd already watched.
By the midpoint, I was skipping or fast-forwarding through some of them because I couldn't sit through yet another scene with the same conflict device. It wasn't that I objected to the tropes. I just didn't think they added enough to the story to warrant how frequently they appeared. Eventually, these scenes felt less like meaningful character or plot development and more like filler between the stronger parts of the story.
And that's where I think the drama could have benefited from tighter editing. The core story was engaging, the characters were compelling, and the performances were excellent. I just didn't always need another separation, another banquet confrontation, or another last-minute rescue to get me from one major moment to the next. I think the material between the major story beats needed to be reduced, with more restraint with the side arcs.
For these reasons, this isn't a 10/10 for me. The cast gave me plenty to love. I just wish the storytelling between those major moments had trusted its strongest material enough to let it breathe.
The performances were easily my favorite part. The cast was fantastic from the leads down to the minor characters, and I was particularly impressed by how much depth they brought to their roles. Their performances made the characters’ backstories feel poignant and meaningful. I became invested in these people and wanted to see where their journeys would take them. The characters themselves were engaging, and I especially enjoyed the relationships. I loved who the characters were independently, who they became within their relationships, and the chemistry between the different couples. I also liked the story itself.
However, the plot execution was too familiar.
The drama relied too heavily on a handful of storytelling devices: separation arcs, petty conflicts between women, banquet scenes where women repeatedly undermined one another, and rescue plots. These devices can work for me when used sparingly, but they happened often enough that they gradually lost their impact. The same thing happened with the villains. After a while, it felt as though they were finding different ways to create essentially the same conflict. Once that pattern became predictable, the conflicts stopped carrying the same weight. Instead of adding tension, they started to feel like variations of something I'd already watched.
By the midpoint, I was skipping or fast-forwarding through some of them because I couldn't sit through yet another scene with the same conflict device. It wasn't that I objected to the tropes. I just didn't think they added enough to the story to warrant how frequently they appeared. Eventually, these scenes felt less like meaningful character or plot development and more like filler between the stronger parts of the story.
And that's where I think the drama could have benefited from tighter editing. The core story was engaging, the characters were compelling, and the performances were excellent. I just didn't always need another separation, another banquet confrontation, or another last-minute rescue to get me from one major moment to the next. I think the material between the major story beats needed to be reduced, with more restraint with the side arcs.
For these reasons, this isn't a 10/10 for me. The cast gave me plenty to love. I just wish the storytelling between those major moments had trusted its strongest material enough to let it breathe.
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