Thanks for reading. I was OK with the FL at first. Then as the show progressed, her character became impossible…
Hahaha!! I think we just dislike weak female roles! Omg, I totally agree about JCW's dramas! He's only good when he's doing action genre and martial arts. What's up with him? I dunno if it's the roles or just his acting. I fast forwarded through Suspicious Partner and skipped a whole lot. There's another one that just came out that he's in, (a hospice one), and I watched the first two episodes but it's very slow paced. Your reviews are brutally honest and funny too! Keep them coming!
Finally, a review that mirrors exactly what I wanted to say but was too lazy to write and that's only because there are just so many complaints I had with how the FL lead was written. Honestly, I like this show but holy bejeezus did the FL just annoy me so much sometimes!
Half the FL's antics were so hypocritical and immature that I wished she at least was more beguiling and cunning. All the women are written badly as either bullies or weak. The only one that's somewhat decent is the Princess Consort. Some scenes made no sense either... like the time she kisses the ML on the cheek on the Empress' birthday and then suddenly gets up for a walk only to be 'framed' for having a secret tryst with the Fifth Prince. Seriously? She just decides to go out on a walk and the ML didn't even follow her out? So dumbass. It made zero sense.
Then there's like changes in characters that you thought were alright in the beginning but then later they're just like idiots. Like the Crown Prince and his wife. I thought this couple was alright in the beginning but it's like a different writer came in and changed their storyline suddenly. That whole murder conspiracy and how for years the wife tormented his former first love was pretty unnecessary. Another female character written to look bad and jealous. All the women are all just jealous of the FL apparently and I don't even know why. I was sick too of how her Mother constantly publicly humiliated her own daughter. She would just go on and on about how bad her daughter was and then turn around and be like, "Don't you see I did it for you?" Like WTF?
And I'm also sick and tired of the Emperor being an idiot too most of the time. Thanks for writing down my exact gripes with this show. I'm still watching it but now at the 44th episode, I'm finding it draggy.
Great and honest review! Thanks for writing everything I wanted to say as well! I read your review first and later I went back and realize you were the same one who wrote the "Eve" review I liked too. Great minds think alike! Lol!!
"Ra El waltzing and sashaying in different outfits to seduce the guy, had sex with him, and then I also had to watch the guy's wife (Han So Ra) having sex with a manservant (for what purpose am I shown this? What has her sex life got to do with the revenge plot?)"
I totally agree with your review. All the sex scenes were actually unnecessary. They did that early to pull us in but it was so dumb. Even the ones they spoke about where the instructors slept with the other wives... all just so the President's wife can be like, "Girl you cray. Let's not be friends anymore." Whatevs. I also laughed at your "sashaying in different outfits" line. She wore a few outfits, acted a bit crazy, and then reverted back to the normal long sleeve, long skirts and I was just like, "I guess the moody fashion show's over!" Not to mention how the daughters got the short end of the stick and what was the purpose of having that other daughter in all the family pics? I forced myself to finish watching this. I was so done already listening to constant orchestra/symphony OST and was plugging my ears with the tango music.
I've already commented on the other post but I wanted to say that I totally agree with your review. I'm so over these women being victimized and there's literally no justice for them. While of course, IRL, it's still hard for women to actually "prove" they were victimized, one would hope that writers who write these fictional characters and dramas will help change the narrative. When will enough be enough?
I also agree with the whole "because she's a victim, she should be falling apart" stereotype. Women deal with trauma in different ways.
Do you know what this drama needs? People like us editing the sh*t out of this storyline being like, "Ya' no, ... and no...., and oh, hell no!!" Lol!
I'm still going to watch this because I like the ML and I don't mind the age gap of younger men going for older women because gawd knows, we've seen enough of older men with younger women crap. I've dropped a couple of kdramas when there was too much of an age gap between older men and women whose characters were actually minors in the drama. Men and minors never sit well with me.
But I'm a fan of both these leads so I'll stick it out!
I agree with your review but I'm still going to stick to watching this as I'm a fan of Hwang In-Youp. To be honest, I'm so over kdramas portraying "strong" women as heartless bitches to other "lower" class women. I've basically given up on hoping kdramas will evolve for women characters. I do feel like this storyline is giving us a clear insight into how the FL is now and how she was before.
In a dog-eat-dog world and male-dominated society, you can tell that she's a completely different person from her "past" self as the ML first remembered her as. Like another commenter posted, we're already seeing a glimpse of how the ML is changing and reminding her of who she was before. On another side note, we have yet to see kdramas evolve storylines where strong women can encourage and uplift other women to be strong just like her, without a being cold-hearted bitch.
I often wonder, "What is going on behind the scenes IRL for these writer(s)?" Are writers(s) kind of forced to change their storylines to what the "bosses" like? Somewhere out there, there's a female writer with a great female heroine character for a Kdrama, and then there's a madman, furiously editing all her work! Lol! Anyways, as a viewer in the "western" world so to speak, maybe the writer(s) write about how it really is on their side of the world and in their eyes, what they think the audience would like.
I've also given up on hoping that Kdramas will start giving power back to women who've been victimized. Sigh.
I agree with everything you said except one thing! Whoever wrote this story must of been a cheater and used the…
I thought the same thing too! I was thinking that either the writer was writing from experience, (being a cheater), or that the writer has no clue at all what it's like to be cheated on! Honestly, I've never seen a show where it glamorized a cheating couple so much unless they really were in horrible previous relationships. I kept thinking that every relationship could've been saved with proper communication and talking it through or with at least some kind of professional couples therapy! Lol!
Half the FL's antics were so hypocritical and immature that I wished she at least was more beguiling and cunning. All the women are written badly as either bullies or weak. The only one that's somewhat decent is the Princess Consort. Some scenes made no sense either... like the time she kisses the ML on the cheek on the Empress' birthday and then suddenly gets up for a walk only to be 'framed' for having a secret tryst with the Fifth Prince. Seriously? She just decides to go out on a walk and the ML didn't even follow her out? So dumbass. It made zero sense.
Then there's like changes in characters that you thought were alright in the beginning but then later they're just like idiots. Like the Crown Prince and his wife. I thought this couple was alright in the beginning but it's like a different writer came in and changed their storyline suddenly. That whole murder conspiracy and how for years the wife tormented his former first love was pretty unnecessary. Another female character written to look bad and jealous. All the women are all just jealous of the FL apparently and I don't even know why. I was sick too of how her Mother constantly publicly humiliated her own daughter. She would just go on and on about how bad her daughter was and then turn around and be like, "Don't you see I did it for you?" Like WTF?
And I'm also sick and tired of the Emperor being an idiot too most of the time. Thanks for writing down my exact gripes with this show. I'm still watching it but now at the 44th episode, I'm finding it draggy.
Great and honest review! Thanks for writing everything I wanted to say as well! I read your review first and later I went back and realize you were the same one who wrote the "Eve" review I liked too. Great minds think alike! Lol!!
I totally agree with your review. All the sex scenes were actually unnecessary. They did that early to
pull us in but it was so dumb. Even the ones they spoke about where the instructors slept with the other wives... all just so the President's wife can be like, "Girl you cray. Let's not be friends anymore." Whatevs. I also laughed at your "sashaying in different outfits" line. She wore a few outfits, acted a bit crazy, and then reverted back to the normal long sleeve, long skirts and I was just like, "I guess the moody fashion show's over!" Not to mention how the daughters got the short end of the stick and what was the purpose of having that other daughter in all the family pics? I forced myself to finish watching this. I was so done already listening to constant orchestra/symphony OST and was plugging my ears with the tango music.
I also agree with the whole "because she's a victim, she should be falling apart" stereotype. Women deal with trauma in different ways.
Do you know what this drama needs? People like us editing the sh*t out of this storyline being like, "Ya' no, ... and no...., and oh, hell no!!" Lol!
I'm still going to watch this because I like the ML and I don't mind the age gap of younger men going for older women because gawd knows, we've seen enough of older men with younger women crap. I've dropped a couple of kdramas when there was too much of an age gap between older men and women whose characters were actually minors in the drama. Men and minors never sit well with me.
But I'm a fan of both these leads so I'll stick it out!
In a dog-eat-dog world and male-dominated society, you can tell that she's a completely different person from her "past" self as the ML first remembered her as. Like another commenter posted, we're already seeing a glimpse of how the ML is changing and reminding her of who she was before. On another side note, we have yet to see kdramas evolve storylines where strong women can encourage and uplift other women to be strong just like her, without a being cold-hearted bitch.
I often wonder, "What is going on behind the scenes IRL for these writer(s)?" Are writers(s) kind of forced to change their storylines to what the "bosses" like? Somewhere out there, there's a female writer with a great female heroine character for a Kdrama, and then there's a madman, furiously editing all her work! Lol! Anyways, as a viewer in the "western" world so to speak, maybe the writer(s) write about how it really is on their side of the world and in their eyes, what they think the audience would like.
I've also given up on hoping that Kdramas will start giving power back to women who've been victimized. Sigh.
Anywhoooo, great review!