This review may contain spoilers
Great revenge premise, zero emotional depth
LAZY WRITING, LAZY WRITING, LAZY WRITING! Ughhhh.
I feel so disappointed about it. The strong revenge premise got me hooked from the start, and I absolutely loved watching the female lead. Her character was a breath of fresh air...so direct, straightforward, and unapologetically ruthless. I loved it. But unfortunately, that is pretty much all there is to it.
1. The Shallow Foundation of Her Trauma/Past
So many key elements felt heavily underexplained and glossed over, particularly the brutal massacre of the female lead's family. Such a massive tragedy was rushed through in just a few cutscenes. They really should have delved into that much deeper, especially because it serves as the main motivation and trauma that shapes who she is.
Instead, it all gets shrugged off with a cheap implication: “Oh, her family held too much military power, so they got killed, and now she wants revenge, the end.” Lol.
What exactly was her position in all of this? I wanted to actually see it. Show me the trauma, the loss, and the grief! How am I supposed to build any real understanding of her past or feel genuine empathy for her? (Not to mention that her og body is faceless and we know nothing about her family at all)
It felt like a forced premise just shoved down our throats so the show could skip the hard work, telling the audience, “Let's not dwell on it and just move on with the plot! Back to our badass female lead who is here to serve some justice and face!" Jesus. The psychological and emotional weight behind her trauma doesn't get explained or shown at all. I wanted to FEEL the weight of what she has lost and lived through.
Instead, she is just instantly stoic and nonchalant about it. At first, I thought there might be deeper, lingering emotions beneath the surface, or that she had crafted this cold exterior as a protective mask to deal with her trauma. But no, there is nothing behind it at all. Zero emotional complexity. She doesn't seem like a person with no feelings to me, but it just doesn't get shown. It felt so shallow. Show me the actual emotional fallout, because this is not how real trauma works...real trauma doesn't just turn someone into an unbothered, perfectly calculated person overnight with zero grief, panic, or internal conflict.
It felt like the writers wanted the cool aesthetic of a cold, hardened, and ruthless female lead, and trust me, I am completely here for it, but they refused to write any of the messy human pain required to forge someone like that. The emotional foundation of her character is just far too hollow.
2. The Unexplained Body Swap and Omniscience
And let's not even get started on the body swap. Oh, they swapped bodies in a magical, mysterious way! How did that even happen? As a viewer, you are just magically expected to accept it without any explanation.
The body-swap and soul-transfer mechanics are completely unexplained. Yet, she somehow instantly possesses hyper-specific childhood memories and secret codes: e.g. in episode six, when she suddenly knows the secret letter code to the original princess's father, without any transition period or logical reasoning.
Oh, but our female lead is just an effortless genius! At first, I thought she might have simply regained the memories of the original princess's body, but no, she apparently already knows everything about her new family dynamics, their intricate backstories, and possesses a groundbreaking, masterclass understanding of court politics from minute one. And I kept asking myself: Where did she gain all this knowledge from?
It's just lazy writing from top to bottom, at least for me.
I honestly expected way more out of this, and I'm just so let down. Since I ended up dropping the show around episode six, I honestly don't even know if any of these things actually get explained later on in the story...so take this review with that grain of salt.
But from what I saw, a great revenge premise and such a fun, ruthless female lead deserved a much better script. Relying on lazy writing shortcuts right out of the gate just killed the vibe for me completely.
At the end of the day, it just wasn't for me, though of course it might be totally different for other people.
I feel so disappointed about it. The strong revenge premise got me hooked from the start, and I absolutely loved watching the female lead. Her character was a breath of fresh air...so direct, straightforward, and unapologetically ruthless. I loved it. But unfortunately, that is pretty much all there is to it.
1. The Shallow Foundation of Her Trauma/Past
So many key elements felt heavily underexplained and glossed over, particularly the brutal massacre of the female lead's family. Such a massive tragedy was rushed through in just a few cutscenes. They really should have delved into that much deeper, especially because it serves as the main motivation and trauma that shapes who she is.
Instead, it all gets shrugged off with a cheap implication: “Oh, her family held too much military power, so they got killed, and now she wants revenge, the end.” Lol.
What exactly was her position in all of this? I wanted to actually see it. Show me the trauma, the loss, and the grief! How am I supposed to build any real understanding of her past or feel genuine empathy for her? (Not to mention that her og body is faceless and we know nothing about her family at all)
It felt like a forced premise just shoved down our throats so the show could skip the hard work, telling the audience, “Let's not dwell on it and just move on with the plot! Back to our badass female lead who is here to serve some justice and face!" Jesus. The psychological and emotional weight behind her trauma doesn't get explained or shown at all. I wanted to FEEL the weight of what she has lost and lived through.
Instead, she is just instantly stoic and nonchalant about it. At first, I thought there might be deeper, lingering emotions beneath the surface, or that she had crafted this cold exterior as a protective mask to deal with her trauma. But no, there is nothing behind it at all. Zero emotional complexity. She doesn't seem like a person with no feelings to me, but it just doesn't get shown. It felt so shallow. Show me the actual emotional fallout, because this is not how real trauma works...real trauma doesn't just turn someone into an unbothered, perfectly calculated person overnight with zero grief, panic, or internal conflict.
It felt like the writers wanted the cool aesthetic of a cold, hardened, and ruthless female lead, and trust me, I am completely here for it, but they refused to write any of the messy human pain required to forge someone like that. The emotional foundation of her character is just far too hollow.
2. The Unexplained Body Swap and Omniscience
And let's not even get started on the body swap. Oh, they swapped bodies in a magical, mysterious way! How did that even happen? As a viewer, you are just magically expected to accept it without any explanation.
The body-swap and soul-transfer mechanics are completely unexplained. Yet, she somehow instantly possesses hyper-specific childhood memories and secret codes: e.g. in episode six, when she suddenly knows the secret letter code to the original princess's father, without any transition period or logical reasoning.
Oh, but our female lead is just an effortless genius! At first, I thought she might have simply regained the memories of the original princess's body, but no, she apparently already knows everything about her new family dynamics, their intricate backstories, and possesses a groundbreaking, masterclass understanding of court politics from minute one. And I kept asking myself: Where did she gain all this knowledge from?
It's just lazy writing from top to bottom, at least for me.
I honestly expected way more out of this, and I'm just so let down. Since I ended up dropping the show around episode six, I honestly don't even know if any of these things actually get explained later on in the story...so take this review with that grain of salt.
But from what I saw, a great revenge premise and such a fun, ruthless female lead deserved a much better script. Relying on lazy writing shortcuts right out of the gate just killed the vibe for me completely.
At the end of the day, it just wasn't for me, though of course it might be totally different for other people.
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