ReignsSupreme_722

Red Flags Incoming

I already know this review will not be popular. I see many 10's and it's not too hard to see why. The main leads are easy on the eyes, but the story lacks originality and depth. Don't get me wrong. The lighting and music are very nice. However, the storyline of young, naive female falling for arrogant, handsome boss is old as time.

Shang Zhitao is a bit "green". She's young and naive. It takes her time to mature and become the woman she has always wanted to be. Falling for her boss wasn't apart of her plans, and yet she and Luan Nian are drawn to one another. Here's where I would like to point out that these two were carrying on a secret relationship for six years that absolutely went no where. The two of them were full of distrust of the other one right from the start, and a lot of it had to do with the power dynamics of the pair. Tao was too insecure to voice how this power dynamic made her feel inadequate. Luan Nian was domineering and possessive. And boy was he jealous to boot. Her sheer honesty and grit disarmed him, and yet he wouldn't let down his guard to be vulnerable with her.

These two were so infuriating. The constant push and pull and struggle of watching their miscommunication over and over again was maddening. I didn't find it endearing and I felt that the pacing of the series in the last two episodes was terrible. I would have liked it much better if Tao and Luan Nian would have never gotten back together or if they did, it was an extended time period where she could boast her own successes without his help. Instead, he bulldozes himself back into her life without even asking her if she wanted him there on the pretense of seeing the adorable dog named after him. This guise works of course and he doesn't even ask her to stay in her apartment, he just takes it upon himself to do so. And of course he steps in to save her fledgling business in the end like the savior that this series has made him to be.

This is NOT the behavior of a man who is trying to get his woman back. He is being domineering and controlling again. He goes behind her back and asks her co-worker if she's dating. I was appalled. We are supposed to see a reformed and mature Luan Nian and instead, he appears only slightly better. It's like he has the facade of feelings and emotions because he is like a child who lost his favorite toy, but he lacks true awareness of his actions. Oh, he cries and has a soliloquy over what he lost, but I needed true suffering and for him to let Tao go find herself and define her successes and failures without him. How else can a person grow? Also, just because two people are in love doesn't automatically mean that they should be together.

These two were involved for six years but weren't apart of one another lives at all. When Sun Yuan Zhu k**** himself, Shang Zhitao and Sun Yu are devastated, and yet when Tao tells Luan Nian that her bff is gone, he doesn't even console her. In fact there was no emotion at all. The dude is a walking red flag and we as the audience were supposed to cheer for a relationship like this to survive? I'm so sick of shows showing toxic behaviors and relationships in the guise of some grand once in a lifetime love. These two shared moments, true, but mutual understanding with a solid foundation of trust in your partner goes a long way.

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