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The creative choices...INSANE
Like many others, this was one of my most highly anticipated of the year. And like many others, I ended up being really disappointed.
Let’s start with the good: the fashion looks great, and the physical sets look pretty immersive as well. We’ll get into bad CGI later, but when they’re actually filming around props and sets, everything looks decent. I really like the second chance romance and the revenge premise; there’s a really interesting story here, it’s just buried under all the other problems.
Now, for the bad. The acting is…questionable. I’ve seen both of these actors in other things and I know they’re capable of emoting, but the facial expressions and line delivery in this show feel unnecessarily dramatic and the dubbing never matches; dialogue is always delivered with the same loud, emotionless, intonation. There are moments where I can feel the chemistry between the leads (see Ep. 2 where ML sees FL for the first time) but other than that I wasn’t really sold on the romance at all due to the lack of build-up and wishy-washiness.
The plot is really choppy and the pacing is really weird; we’re jumping from one scene to the next without any sort of logical progression and without any time for the plot to breathe. There are time jumps all over the place and I’m never sure how long they are until they randomly say it in conversation. There is one big time jump in the last quarter of the show that introduces several tropes that I just dislike on principle, and it sort of just rehashes the exact same relationship dynamics all over again. The ending is confusing and unsatisfying.
Which brings me to the ugly; the editing choices in this show are just utterly BIZARRE. The rapid pacing and jumping from one scene to the next is emphasized by the fact that the music never stops. EVER. Seriously. There are moments where up to THREE different OSTs are strung together, back-to-back, sometimes within the same conversation. It’s insane. Sometimes the characters are just having a normal conversation and there is crazy violin playing going on the entire time.
Visually, the rapid zooms on character faces does the opposite of what’s intended, making scenes feel funny instead of serious and dramatic. There are some scenes that just should’ve been filmed from different angles to avoid weird reflections or cuts, or fights/slaps where we can clearly see that the characters were standing super far from each other and didn’t make contact at all. There are moments where the CGI is really bad and you can tell the actors aren’t interacting with their surroundings correctly. Zhang Ling-he is belly-flopping into a pond. Wang Chu-ran is floating vertically out of an airplane.
I feel like I also have to mention the AI intro. I’m glad they received enough backlash and changed it; it boggles my mind that they said it was supposed to “help viewers quickly grasp the protagonists' emotional backstory.” You had the actors on set and actual footage?? Put something together?? The new intro showed that they could and it would be even more effective storytelling. I hope IQIYI keeps receiving criticism for leaning into AI; I’m seeing more and more of it pop up in their drama intros, and viewers deserve better. My favorite, never-skip intros are the ones with adorable scenes, great songs, or really beautiful art.
In conclusion, I’m sad that this turned out the way it was because there’s a really interesting story here with actual high-stakes and consequences, and I grieve the show we could’ve gotten. “Provoke” is a similar premise and it’s a short drama, but it’s one I actually enjoyed if anyone is looking for something similar.
Let’s start with the good: the fashion looks great, and the physical sets look pretty immersive as well. We’ll get into bad CGI later, but when they’re actually filming around props and sets, everything looks decent. I really like the second chance romance and the revenge premise; there’s a really interesting story here, it’s just buried under all the other problems.
Now, for the bad. The acting is…questionable. I’ve seen both of these actors in other things and I know they’re capable of emoting, but the facial expressions and line delivery in this show feel unnecessarily dramatic and the dubbing never matches; dialogue is always delivered with the same loud, emotionless, intonation. There are moments where I can feel the chemistry between the leads (see Ep. 2 where ML sees FL for the first time) but other than that I wasn’t really sold on the romance at all due to the lack of build-up and wishy-washiness.
The plot is really choppy and the pacing is really weird; we’re jumping from one scene to the next without any sort of logical progression and without any time for the plot to breathe. There are time jumps all over the place and I’m never sure how long they are until they randomly say it in conversation. There is one big time jump in the last quarter of the show that introduces several tropes that I just dislike on principle, and it sort of just rehashes the exact same relationship dynamics all over again. The ending is confusing and unsatisfying.
Which brings me to the ugly; the editing choices in this show are just utterly BIZARRE. The rapid pacing and jumping from one scene to the next is emphasized by the fact that the music never stops. EVER. Seriously. There are moments where up to THREE different OSTs are strung together, back-to-back, sometimes within the same conversation. It’s insane. Sometimes the characters are just having a normal conversation and there is crazy violin playing going on the entire time.
Visually, the rapid zooms on character faces does the opposite of what’s intended, making scenes feel funny instead of serious and dramatic. There are some scenes that just should’ve been filmed from different angles to avoid weird reflections or cuts, or fights/slaps where we can clearly see that the characters were standing super far from each other and didn’t make contact at all. There are moments where the CGI is really bad and you can tell the actors aren’t interacting with their surroundings correctly. Zhang Ling-he is belly-flopping into a pond. Wang Chu-ran is floating vertically out of an airplane.
I feel like I also have to mention the AI intro. I’m glad they received enough backlash and changed it; it boggles my mind that they said it was supposed to “help viewers quickly grasp the protagonists' emotional backstory.” You had the actors on set and actual footage?? Put something together?? The new intro showed that they could and it would be even more effective storytelling. I hope IQIYI keeps receiving criticism for leaning into AI; I’m seeing more and more of it pop up in their drama intros, and viewers deserve better. My favorite, never-skip intros are the ones with adorable scenes, great songs, or really beautiful art.
In conclusion, I’m sad that this turned out the way it was because there’s a really interesting story here with actual high-stakes and consequences, and I grieve the show we could’ve gotten. “Provoke” is a similar premise and it’s a short drama, but it’s one I actually enjoyed if anyone is looking for something similar.
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