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burhaa aadmi
Hic Sunt Dracones
Seriously Cute
I was slow to warm to this Drama at first because of the formulaic tsundere/Candy setup, but the magic of the OTP won me over. ESPECIALLY Ms Li. Being cute on demand is not easy, yet she sells it throughout the Drama, never overdoing it, and so very many times conveying the impression of an adorably cute kitten with eerily uncanny accuracy. The strength of her performance was such that her "I wanna hear it again" scenes at the very end actually bumped my score from 7.5 to 8.I also liked the balance that was nicely encapsulated in the very last lines of the Drama. In the end, it was clear that they were a pair, a partnership, with none of the implicit chauvinism so common in this trope. Having checked Ms Li's SNS, it's very clear that she is not "Nuannann", which is why I am so impressed at how well she and the ML sold me on their characters. Another fluffy keeper from the PRC, yay!
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A Brony's dilemma - When "cute" is just CREEPY
I'm a proud Brony. I love sweet, fluffy, chocolate box romcoms. I am also a late middle-aged male with basically zero tolerance for misogyny, chauvinism and patronising patriarchal propaganda. Finding dramas that deliver the sweet fluff, without the Neanderthal nastiness is not easy. It's not impossible, as my "Evolved Male Lead" list ( https://mydramalist.com/list/LAlZ2Z21 ) shows, but it is not easy. Sadly, this drama is not one of the success stories.I am really not a fan of the kindergarten Kismet trope, and this drama shows that troublesome trope at its worst. To celebrate a man controlling a woman and considering that he has the right to do so simply because she was his childhood crush 20 years ago is creepy not cute.
The scene which ended my ability to tolerate the OTP actually links nicely with the reason I started this drama, and illustrates the difference between the right and the wrong way to do cute. I started this drama because I really enjoyed Xing Fei in "Put Your Head on My Shoulder". That phrase is an invitation, offering closeness, comfort, affection - IF the invitee so chooses. The drama of that title did manage to deliver cute romance without creepy controlling overtones. To simply PUT a sleeping person's head on your shoulder without their knowledge or consent when they only met you two days ago and don't know you at all, as happened in this drama, is not romantic or cute. It's creepy, controlling and stalkerish.
After realising that I was simply not comfortable with the regressive setup of the OTP, I penned my hopes on the initially more promising secondary pair. Sadly, that to very quickly degenerated because of a theme which is all too common in PRC romcoms - namely, that women quite simply and literally NEED men. They are depicted as incomplete without the protective support of a man. No matter how skilled they may be in whatever field they operate in, all of their efforts are at best incomplete, and at worst utterly futile without the approval and endorsement of, and often also needing the rescue by, a male. And of course, they need to openly and cravenly acknowledge this innate inferiority.
Having just watched the truly excellent Korean drama "Run On", which featured grown-ups falling in love while behaving like grown-ups, and which celebrated all parties involved retaining their individuality, intelligence and independence, I was reminded that life is too short for bad dramas. If Life is like a box of chocolates, then my quest for chocolate box romances without poison candy goes on.
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Perhaps it's because this was a remake of other material, while the others are not listed as such. The writer may have been constrained by the source material, I don't know. I do know that the source was a Thai MOVIE, while this is a 36 episode Drama. And that's a big problem right there. The material is far too thin to stretch out from a movie of under 2 hours to a Drama of something like 24 hours runtime. The contrast with PYHOMS was especially painful because that Drama was very short, just 24 40 minute episodes, and felt lively throughout. In this one, the story proper was barely starting by the time I got to episode 10, ugh!.
Also, with both ALSB and PYHOMS, the Dramas hooked me in episode one, especially the female characters. In THIS one, the female lead was uninteresting and unmotivated, the only characters that drew a reaction in the first 4 episodes were her AWFUL little sister and her only slightly less awful mother.
As a fan of romantic Dramas, I have no problem at all with clichés and tropes if they're presented through good acting and good writing. This Drama was 0 for 2 by the end of ten episodes, so I dropped it. I will be interested to see if Ms Zhao's next Drama, not listed as a remake, is a hit like her other two, or a miss like this one.
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Wristgrabs are as romantic as roadkill
The 2 leads in this had zero appeal for me, but I wanted to watch it for Lee Joo Bin, and several reviewers commented how sweet the OTP were together in the happy middle section, so I waded through 3 episodes. BUT, I simply LOATHE wristgrabs, and when the ML grabbed the FL by the wrist and dragged her in to see her BF and shatter her illusions, I knew I had to drop it. My problem with the ML right from the beginning of ep1 was his assumption of ownership, that he literally had the RIGHT to have the woman he wanted. That feeling lingered through episodes 1 and 2, and was cemented by that noxious regregessive wristgrab in ep 3. To have them end up together is to reward that Neanderthal message, and that's repugnant to meWas this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I dropped this Drama after two episodes because the male lead was a stalker, pure and simple. He violated the FL's privacy by obtaining her number without her knowledge or consent, and by refusing to delete it despite being repeatedly asked to do so. He kept harassing her until she "gave in" and agreed to go out with him. That is NOT romantic, it's stalking and harassment, and is a trope that needs to die. If anyone thinks it's "sweet" or "romantc", they should ask themselves "how would I feel if someone I work with did that to me?" Was this review helpful to you?
Paternalistic propaganda
First, an important disclaimer: I am a middle-aged male, and as a glance through my watchlist will show, I'm a hard-core Brony. I love me a good romcom. I don't mind the usual clichés and tropes if well-executed with clever writing and good acting, and can put up with a lot for the sake of credible chemistry and a sweet story. Which is why I tried hard to like this drama, because so many people raved about the beautiful chemistry. I didn't see any in the six episodes I survived.What I saw was the sort of chauvinist propaganda that is very common in current PRC romcoms. It was clear after six episodes that the ML was deceiving and manipulating the FL because he knew best, and was doing it for her good. Barf! This toxic trope is one that I cannot stomach. It is possible to have sweet, even clichéd OTPs where the two are in fact equal. There are dramas in which the two are not equal but in which the male lead still avoids treating the female lead with condescension or manipulation. Two of my favourite examples would be Queen In Hyun's Man and Le Coup de Foudre.. Dramas like those show that it is possible to set up formulaic "cute" OTPs without paternalistic posturing. The smug assumption of superiority by every male character in this drama was just too much.
No doubt some who are fans of the drama may feel that I didn't give it a fair shot, but at my age, life is too short to waste on bad dramas. It's also too short too waste on bad on dramas that not only don't grab me quickly, but actively repel me - no matter how amazeballs some insist the OTP becomes. I gave this one a decent shot, watching 1/6 of the entire drama, but can't be bothered wading through more of its "men know best" motto.
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They saved the best till last
The first two episodes of this 4-episode Drama were REALLY tough for me to watch. I loved the FL's character and the story behind her arc, but I literally couldn't stand the ML. He was as cute and endearing do-it-yourself dentistry, and less fun to watch. The less he was in it, the more I enjoyed the show. The final episode was easily my favourite. because instead of focusing on his irritating "cute" persona, the focus shifted back to the FL's personal growth, including her growing realisation of how she felt about the ML. The ending was pretty much perfect too. Overall an interesting watch that ended up getting 7.5/10 when I was seriously considering dropping it after one episode because of the intolerable MLWas this review helpful to you?
