This drama was like a giant ice cream cone that you needed to eat really fast or else it might melt all over your clothes and just be sticky. But first things first, I loved it. Like a lot. I haven't been this obsessed with trashy makjang goodness like this since Maid's Revenge (and this one gave me even more of it.) It was so unrealistic in parts, so over the top, so....well, makjang, that it defied reality at times, but it didn't matter because the actors almost fully sold it.
Namely Fan Zhi Xin, the main male lead, he absolutely frickin' killed it here. 100% sold his character, 100% showed up in his character's skin, and I was here for every minute of it.
He's a star in the making, and I will watch just about anything he's in going forward.

There was so much to like (and dislike) about this drama.
Spoilers ahead!!!

What I (really) liked:
-Now THAT is how you kiss your onscreen partner. Everyone else needs to take a few lessons.
-The reminder that revenge doesn't always go as planned. Sometimes we don't get the revenge we wanted, and sometimes it still all goes to shit even with all of our preparation.
-Tang Lin's redemption - I didn't see it coming and it was a pleasant surprise (also I even felt kind of sorry for her at the engagement ceremony)
-I actually appreciate when a character finally owns up to all the loss, when a character acts like one might actually act in real life if they've violently lost almost every member of their family. I'm not saying that being catatonic after multiple losses is normal behavior, but it sometimes is, and even if it isn't outward behavior, often the inner life after such losses mimics this.
Sometimes you just have to have characters who are so shattered by their circumstances and their experiences that they're rendered speechless for a little while. I feel like characters are often SO resilient and tough that nothing seems to bother them and that multiple traumas don't ever catch up to them...and that's just often not very realistic. So when a super angsty drama comes along and allows characters to FEEL things, (even too much at times), it might actually help us to feel things too.
-I loved the plot twists all the way through.
-The OST was great!

What I didn't like:
-the SFL - she was super annoying most of the time, not to mention clueless and needlessly chirpy and loud. I didn't see the point of her character for most of the drama and I hated the stupid love triangle she was in.
-I HATE DUBBING. I hate dubbing, I hate when they dub their voices....I hate it, full stop. So that's not just this drama, but almost all dubbing.
-iQiyi's subs - they are often straight up terrible and they never take my subbing suggestions. (lol). I'm grateful for a place to watch C-dramas I can't get elsewhere but come on with the bad subs so often.
-The excesses of this drama were mentioned before and will be mentioned again but when you realize what kind of drama it is, you should be aware of what's coming. And so I didn't even mind the villains here as much as I minded the SFL.

I'm off to find more Fan Zhi Xin dramas.