AH

The ML has an anxiety disorder and his episodes are triggered by physical contact with women. When the ML stars in romantic dramas, he has to take medication before skinship scenes with female actresses, and he practices those scenes with his male friend / manager / CEO of his management company. That involves a lot of intimate touching and almost kissing, as well as one accidental kiss. The ML and his friend are both portrayed as straight (the possibility of either of them being bi is never contemplated). At one point the ML's friend says that this arrangement almost made him vomit (not sure if he was exaggerating because that's how he and the ML tease each other or if that was a bit of homophobia showing, but either way the ML responded that that choice of words was a bit much).

One of the antagonists uses the ML's circumstances and close relationship with his friend to create a rumour that the ML is gay in order to hurt his career. While the FL says (at her law firm to no one in particular) that there is nothing wrong with being gay, many people (at the ML's management company, at the FL's law firm, and amongst the ML's fans) react to the rumour as a terrible thing (and to the rumour being proven false as a big relief). When that happens, it's not always clear whether those people think the possibility of him being gay is a bad thing itself or if they're only worried about how the rumour will affect his career.

There are a couple other bromance moments (including a scene where the ML gets excited about a movie role and kisses his friend on the cheek and tells his friend that he loves him and separately a reference to the ML buying his friend underwear as a gift), but (from what I can recall) not really anything else I would personally call "queerbaiting" (e.g., where the writers tease the possibility of either the ML or his friend actually being gay or bi in order to trick people who want to see queer characters / romance into watching more). It's more like... on the ML's side he's gotten rid of any shame about these kinds of things that would come from toxic masculinity or homophobia. He can't touch women and he isn't gay, so he's gotten comfortable being very affectionate with his friend.

For anyone worried about comments referencing queerbaiting, I've included some details under the spoiler tag below.

He's also one of the romantic leads in an American movie (so not listed on MDL) called Past Lives. https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1148699929/?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_2

She has a conversation with him later on where he asked if she only dated awful guys on purpose with the intent of punishing them, and she says "cheating men are easier to seduce..." (she did mention she enjoys having sex) "... are fun to hang out with and it feels good to dump them." Other female characters also reveal that they told the FL about issues they were having with their boyfriends (e.g., cheating or abuse) and the FL "used her skills as a pickup artist" to start dating those guys in order to punish them (sometimes by beating them up).

Like others noted above, based on her experience she didn't believe that any men were trustworthy or that real love was possible, so she wasn't pursuing emotionally committed romantic relationships with guys that seemed decent at that point in her life.

Okay I'm confused... Are you unhappy with my opinion? Because I (drumroll...) also liked this drama. I gave it 9/10 and listed double the amount of things I liked vs. didn't like. But even if I hated it and posted a comment saying so... we're all entitled to our own opinions. Just in case it was lost in translation, "IMO" means "in my opinion". I'm not claiming to be the ultimate authority on what's good or bad in this drama. I made a comment covering what I liked and didn't like to help others who are trying to decide whether to watch it by providing some information that might help their decision. Much like a review would.

IMO, the bad: (1) the leads start out with certain flaws that are genuine turn-offs (gender prejudices influenced by their parents and exes) and a propensity for excessive violence on top of that on the FL's part; (2) the second leads start out promising but end up being quite boring; and (3) the pacing is off in a few places, including the finale.

IMO, the good: (1) the leads' flaws are acknowledged as flaws and they grow past them; (2) the leads have a number of moments where they are unexpectedly honest with each other, which are quite satisfying; (3) the FL is genuinely competent at almost everything she does (but not impossibly perfect - e.g., she failed to become a prosecutor) and that doesn't suddenly go away at any point; (4) the ML also shines and has plenty of quality moments himself; (5) both leads are likeable despite their imperfections and have great chemistry with each other; (6) and there are lots of great bromance moments, sismance moments, and enjoyable moments with secondary characters. There was very little filler or dead weight.

Super enjoyable and nice and short. Definitely recommend it.

I wrote that comment when I was on episode 7 and ended up dropping the drama, and the childhood thing is mentioned in the synopsis, but okay. Guess it doesn't hurt to mark it.

For as long as Zhu Zhan believes (but doesn't *know*) that she's Jiu Ling and for as long as Jiu Ling unconvincingly denies it, she's like Schrödinger's childhood love. He can only treat her as simultaneously his childhood love and not his childhood love until it's confirmed. Tricky!

I'm in the minority I guess. Felt like the frustration of the Mr. Queen finale was stretched over an entire season.

Visuals: Very pretty.
Intimacy: Plentiful and enjoyable.
Plot: Absolutely non-sensical.

Certainly short and sweet, but not a drama I think I'll ever re-watch.

I still can't believe Ji Chang Wook is only 3.5 years older than Hwang In Youp.

Love Between Fairy and Devil - to swap bodies.
The Blue Whisper: Part 1 - to convince someone they are in a relationship in order to get that person to ally with them instead of killing them.

Wait so the Princess having a flash back in episode 16 to the ML kissing her underwater is a continuity error right? They never showed an under water kiss in episode 6? I assume that was a deleted scene?

OMG WHAT

"But STILL no PDA." Yeah that's typical for Allen dramas unfortunately.

No worries and no offence taken. All good.

Sorry, maybe I misread your comment. I was responding to the "but it's to be noted that dylan is still adjusting with his accent so let's cut him some slack" part.

I have no issue with Dylan's accent. So in my view no issue with his accent = nothing to cut him slack for in the first place.

Like I said, no shade towards Dylan at all. I don't speak Mandarin so I have absolutely zero ability to perceive any difference between his Sichuanese accent and the dubber's accent.

I just thought the dubber's deep voice and the commanding weight he brought to each sentence was perfect for the role. Added a really great extra layer on top of Dylan's acting (and the fabulous wardrobe too) to collectively create the final Dongfang Qing Cang package that we got to enjoy.