usernamenotfound

To start with, I've read the novel and I liked it. It was angsty in a good way. Here, like a lot of c-drama adaptations, everything seems dull. Like that stage where something is about to boil over but never does. I understand that drama/movie adaptations make necessary changes but this one changed the plot completely, and not in a good way.

In the novel, the FL starts from being a timid, underqualified newbie to a confident young woman who excels professionally and has a substantial personal growth. The relationship between them starts by just being casual sex, with her being young and naive, and him exploiting the fact that she liked him, and later grew to love him. He wanted to keep it a secret. He never gave her security. So, her actions like signing up for the date night to help her friend seems ok, because she assumes, and he lets her, that he had other women. And so the fall-out and break-up also makes sense because he was always vocal about not wanting a real relationship (though he had changed his mind) and she felt neglected and inadequate.

But the drama changed this completely. Here, the ML wants to be open about their relationship while she keeps it a secret. She always treats him like a stranger but I can't empathise with her because here it's her that's toxic. Aside from the dominating nature of the ML, I found him perfectly reasonable, especially when it seems the FL never introduces him as her bf and goes on dates, while privately being lovey-dovey. On top of all this, despite it being over 4 years since they got together, she looks physically repulsed and ducks away every time he comes close. Maybe this is to make her seem innocent but it's just icky and makes him look like he's harassing her. I heard they had an intimacy co-ordinator, but ig that was for nothing.

Reason I dropped: The plot was already a mess. They simply took scenes from the novel but changed the whole narrative, yet still expected the FL to be the innocent victim of the uncaring ML, when it's exactly that they changed. The newbie was supposed to be a competition to her, to make the FL insecure. Then when they visit her at her project, the ML is supposed to deny the FL to present a creative work she worked hard on, and have the newbie grab that opportunity. This causes major angst and a fall-out, which is later amplified when the FL is passed over for a promotion in favor of the newbie due to nepotism. Then, due to the ML's previous actions, the FL wrongfully assumes he also favored the other girl and then she walks out. Now the drama shows a whole different story. In order to show the FL's competence, she's the one that does this whole thing successfully. So, the layout for later conflict is not there. Yet, she somehow makes a comment about him spending time with the newbie. Without any context. The drama feels like it's missing a whole chunk of whatever story it has.

Coming to the leads, Jing Boran is so effortlessly good. He embodies the ML in every way. Otoh, Sun Qian is bland, and painfully so when paired with capable actors. I like Sun Qian. And because she's an acting graduate, I expect a lot from her. But she's not expressive. Just slight widening of eyes, pouting and smiling. Everything seems skin deep. She has a beautiful tall, model-esque structure that's very ill-suited for whatever baby-ish acting she's trying to do here. It simply doesn't seem believable.

So that's it. I'm dropping this. I see that a lot of people like this, so I hope y'all have a pleasant watch.