arpar

Everyone is so hard to read in this and I love it, watching ep 6 and honestly can't tell if the empress dowager is good/genuine or not and why do I actually find the sister a little sweet when she was telling stories of her and fl's childhood to prince li. Honestly, feel like she's not a bad person just innocent and easy fooled, I thought she would be the typical toxic sister when she confronted fl early in ep 6, but then soon after when she was telling stories of her and fl's childhood she was so innocent and sweet I won't lie, I can't bring myself to hate her. Hope she doesn't take a completely toxic turn, I kind of like her sweet innocence right now

No problem, yeh you're right by referring to it as second half, good way to put it. Yeh 2fl isn't too bad mostly because besides trowing some shade at fl in conversations and obviously the betrayal, she never really gets in the way of ml and fl, she's not really a threat, but 2ml yeh probs best to skip his scenes in the second half, hope you're able to enjoy it, ml and fl are really good and when the focus is on the rom com its pretty good

For me won't lie I think it looks realistic which I like, sometimes I think cdramas can go overboard with the color this kind go feels real, but also I think possibly may be a choice, because right now as ml and fl live in like a bleak world, I think the color so far shows how they pretty much are walking corpses if that makes sense, like apparently people actually consider fl a ghost of lishan academy, idk I'm probably just way overthinking that haha but I think it looks more real which I do like

I can't lie there's just something so engaging and intriguing abut this drama for me, it's kind of hard to explain. Like on the surface everything seems so simple, especially fl seems like an innocent fl just doing whatever she wants enjoying life, but you can just feel the tension, like the calm before the storm. Ep 4 and 5, fl was so good in her plotting. So far the first 5 eps just make you feel like everyones living a fake life, so much underneath the surface, so much to uncover and that feeling for me just makes me feel like this drama is so engaging and intriguing so far. Really good story telling and building tension, you can just feel when things go to hell it's going to be awesome, especially as we go deeper into the story and see everyone's true self. Idk hard to explain but I'm just excited for all the reveals to come, so much mystery underneath the surface and that feeling of slowly peeling back the layers is what makes this an interesting watch for me so far.

Side note the ost is phenomenal.

No problem, I was going to do one for this anyway, glad they are able to help. First few eps he doesn't appear too much and it's all right wasn't too bad, seeing ml and fl get to know each other is pretty funny. However he starts to get annoying round mid way, he starts appearing more and interfering with ml and fl. From the start he's not bad but we get hints like a photo of him and fl hugging but we can't make out its him and him and fl argue which ml and 2fl overhear and we see fl's shirt torn after arguing with 2ml but he we don't know or see what happened. Anyway before like ep 6 he's not that bad, a couple annoying scenes but nothing too much, he doesn't spend much time with fl before this. However from like ep 6 until like ep 10ish is when he's annoying due to how much he interferes with ml and fl and chases after fl.

He and fl used to date and were in love and all that but 2ml entered into a transactional marriage with someone else and that broke fl's heart. 2ml is still married btw but very unhappily his wife openly cheats on him and he doesn't care, its a marriage of convenience because of her powerful family, but he's still married. He still loves fl and confesses to her multiple times and tries to chase her saying he will leave his wife, he loves her etc. When he found out about ml and fl, as he works at the same company as fl and ml and has a higher position, he tries to get in-between them and he even transfers ml over seas. What was annoying is he kind of guilt trips fl saying she is holding ml back so she even eventually agrees to the transfer as she believes its best for ml. Also fl is kind of traumatized from her relationship with 2ml, so even though she likes ml, they have kissed and been intimate before, she is hesitant to get together officially with him. However, they get together end of ep 8 officially when she realizes how much she likes ml and regrets not going towards him.

Still 2ml constantly puts himself between ml and fl from the mid section of the drama, he forces fl to join him on a work trip but thank god, fl does reject 2ml in ep 8, she tells him clearly that she will ever get back together, it was a solid rejection. FL makes it clear she will never get back together. This was needed as in ep 7 and 8, 2ml forces fl into working on something with him and forces her to spend time with him and fl agrees, it makes ml think that maybe she still has feeling for 2ml, I think they were a little too close in like ep 7 and 8, its more because they have their romantic history and at this point, fl never clarifies to ml and seemingly in ep 7 and 8 she willingly works with 2ml, with ml being jealous but fl never clarifying when he asks, so I'm glad she rejected him nicely.

However, this doesn't stop 2ml, he makes one last attempt showing up at her house saying he will divorce his wife, he wants to start over with her, but again she rejects him. At this point ml and fl are in a relationship and it's clear she likes ml a lot. Honestly, he was annoying from like ep 6-9/10. He just tried getting in between ml and fl a lot and forcing fl to spend time with him, also like revealing secrets that he though would make fl not like ml when she already knew, like ml living with 2fl which I'll mention below. Like I said he wasn't too bad at the start of the drama, and at the end he changes his ways and accepts fl won't go back to him, but like the mid section is where he is annoying due to his interference.

2fl used to be in a casual relationship with ml but they broke up after she left and ml didn't really care, there were no strong feelings between them, she has a major crush on 2ml. 2ml once kissed her in like ep 3 or 4 I think but then he said it was a mistake, and still likes fl which is just weird from him, plus he's also married even though his wife is horrible I won't lie. Anyway 2fl has no place to stay so is living with ml, fl finds out but she's not jealous, one thing I did like when she found out I think around ep 6 there was no major misunderstanding, fl trusted ml. For the most part 2fl is obsessed with 2ml who constantly rejects her and she dislikes fl because 2ml likes fl but she's not too bad, just a bit annoying, until ep 9. We found out she knows about 2ml and fl's past relationship and leaks it causing all kinds of trouble for ml, fl and 2ml. Eventually in ep 9/10, after 2ml rejects her strongly again, she betrays him and ml, who has only been nice and helped her this whole, siding with their enemy at the company and again causing all kinds of mess because she is jealous of fl.

So for me it's a combination of 2ml and 2fl. 2ml still loves fl and tries to get back together with her constantly in the mid and later section of the drama. 2fl likes 2ml and is therefore jealous of fl and just as 2ml stops chasing fl, she betrays them all because 2ml lies fl and constantly rejects her, becoming toxic.

I feel like what I said was really negative, don't get me wrong, I still actually liked the drama solely because of how good ml and fl were, their relationship was super nice, going from enemies at work to falling for each other, was a bit slow burn as it took time for fl to accept her feelings but even their dynamic was cute, it was funny seeing them test each other, the comedic relief between them was nice. Also once they are together no break up, they work together to survive the storm that 2fl's betrayal causes at the company, both caring for each other and once they are together they're pretty cute.

But again, for me I think its mostly the mid section form like ep 5/6-10 where its annoying, ml, fl, 2ml and 2fl kind of from a weird love square, and because of that it can be quiet annoying seeing 2ml chase fl and interfere with fl and ml, and then seeing 2fl constantly rejected by 2ml and thus be very jealous of fl.

No problem, this is fair enough, for sure 2ml and 2fl are pretty annoying in this for the majority of the drama unfortunately. Got high hopes for moli/first jasmine though as I read the novel, also currently airing dazzling and ashes to crown so far main relationship wise pretty good but I'll let everyone know once it ends. Hoping we get less love triangles.

Oh nice, I'm also re-watching shine on me, such a comfy cdrama, romance done right

Haha no problem, I feel you on this, feels like recent dramas have had a lot of 2ml's and 2fl's that have been obsessive or toxic lately

For anyone interested just some extra info, definitely I agree with this, no break up and their relationship is pretty nice, especially once they get together around ep 9ish I think it was, very cute and supportive relationship overall.

But beware pretty strong 2ml and 2fl that can be pretty annoying, 2ml eventually turns good but for a majority he is obsessive over fl, 2fl has a crush on 2ml who likes fl so that makes her toxic near the end, around the middle and later parts both of them can be annoying especially for people in here that I know dislike love triangles with 2ml's and also toxic 2fl's. But still the relationship between ml and fl was pretty nice, liked how supportive they were and how they worked together so well, also seeing fl go from cold to being so cute and romantic with ml was nice, a good recommendation overall.

Yeh its not bad, besides the short break up their relationship is pretty nice, the story kind of typical kdrama rom com nothing new, start of not liking each other and slowly falling for each other type thing so you know what to expect.

Oh yeh I remember that scene, I was like this is too over the top, like I can imagine maybe a tear or two for 2ml dying as he's her friend, but her crying so hard and not caring her husband just fainted was crazy, I agree for sure. It definitely could have been so much better if there was no love triangle and just a focus on ml and fl, thats also why I wished fl rejected 2ml more harshly then she did.

I also agree like ml and 2ml worked well together, they could have focused on them working together rather than making him part of a love triangle.

Oh nice thanks had no idea I'll check it out

Yeh I do agree, the chemistry was great just wish we had more focus on ml and fl, thats why like I mentioned I think, favorite was that mid section around ep 17-22ish where we focused on ml and fl getting together, but like before there was too much focus on 2ml I think, then after they get together 3ml returns. Would have been good if they had more eps of the middle part where ml and fl were the focus.

Yeh I agree, was short thank god but definitely felt unnecessary, felt like it was a break up just to extend the time a little bit or introduce angst for no reason. Like some break ups make sense story wise and help the story along, but some are introduced just for angst or feels like to extend the episode count or just fill time.

Hahaha no I know what you mean, I think it's cause when you have a good ml and fl relationship, even if you skip the annoying others parts you still think how good it could be if they just gave us more ml and fl instead, the wasted opportunity

Yeh thats what I mean, and later he cools down for a bit but then when he hears hey are getting married does some stuff like that again, she rejects him then but wish it was a bit harsher, but still ml and fl have nice moments and you can see they like each other only and after he gets rejected he does stop like interfering which is nice.

100 percent doesn't seem that complicated, everyone else can figure it out, for sure lost a lot of revenue I was planning on re-upping my Youku subscription for this drama only for it not to be there, I feel like many people would have done the same

I really hope not, these are dramas with Yang yang and now XZ, both pretty major stars, I have no idea how they let this happen, surely not again with someone like XZ as the lead

Haha so true ZZ has been through it, been at deaths door the whole time needs a nice vacation. BYT and ZZ bickering is so good, love their friendship

Ah ok I missed those comments thanks for the info but yeh very sad, first time for me that a Youku big ip drama isn't on Youku international, like it happens with mangotv sometimes but as one of the three big platforms this felt quiet weird