Reviews

Perfect Couple in Disguise

This series screams expensive, elegance and majestic settings of a FICTIONAL modern Korea as a constitutional monarchy; it has lots of spellbinding visuals; a perfectly ensemble casts; and volatile dynamic from start to finish. It’s a love story which pairs two souls shaped by the same suffering yet showcase different approach on how to survive.

Grand Prince I-An, a gentle soul, act as a pseudo façade of the crown’s honor; when in reality, hides the dark side of power struggling, greed and manipulations. Growing up, he was forced to restraint himself and being passive. Always positioned himself at the back, a shadow of his older brother. As he met Hui-ju at school, his rebel side starts to brew. He changed the school rules to give equal rights among the students ignoring nobility privileges. This little act in his earlier days in school was brilliantly overlooked by most of us, as it evolved steadily into a revolution, a deep desire to abolish the monarchy; which in his view is the root of all evil.

Hui-ju on the other hand is a feisty soul, like a wild horse; who always have to fight for her way up. She is fearless and not hesitant to play dirty in achieving her goals. Grown to be a cut-throat business-woman, who excels in making deals and negotiations. A master in public relations; trend-setting to bend and read the market and public sentiment. With her quick wit and confidence, she is able to adapt to her surrounding and often turns them into something which benefits her the most in the end. As she met I-An, she is tamed by his gentleness and moral values which she overlook as annoying and lesser important. It awakens her deep desire to be acknowledged for her worth; and be taken care of for her wellbeing without her even asking. I-An often surprises her and catches her off guard with his elusive approach, showcasing his sincere care and love.

The two compliment each other like a glove, a perfect union in marriage. In my native language they make ‘Raja Sehari’ meaningful as the perfect crown.

Plot
It has a good premise. An arranged fake marriage between a royal and a commoner; which then turns to be a real deal. How two souls compliment each other naturally. The dynamic is like a rollercoaster; juggling in between romance, comedy and few assassination attempts; at times somehow I was a little skeptical on how the characters manages to pull through in overcoming such bizarre and life-threatening experience without any consequences. "Yesterday, I was poisoned and today I show up for work." Logic and reasonable flow is thrown out the window.

So yes, the biggest flaw in this series is how short the show is. It forbids me to digest and fully immerse into their journey. The dynamic was incoherent at times as we expect to deal with its heavy aftermath, stems from its darker twists. Those turn of events often being treated as weightless and casualty-free. The span of the tragic events occured are a bit underwhelming and hard to swallow as we experience it in a fast pace environment; As if the characters are full-proof diamond; trauma free from any cuts and bruises.

Still, the biggest strength of this series is how fluffy and charming the romance is. The hidden desire, restraint in disguise; the unhinged boldness and confidence entertwine with comedic relief; the absurdity of its twists and logic which propel us into shipping the main couple to sail away. Both leads mirrors in few parallel scenes. The details in here is surprisingly fulfilling and won our hearts. I love how it was naturally written. Those parallel moments is anticipated and perfectly delivered.

Casts
BWS did it again. His innocence in Lovely Runner days has transcended into a higher level, sophisticated and elegance with much softer expressions to charm us. He was being portrayed as a calm persona, aloof and stoic, befitting as the restraint Grand Prince I-An. His charm evolves; as the beloved prince into the most desirable husband.

IU is brilliant in portraying Hui-ju. She manages to make an unlikeable character into a likeable heroin. We were presented with her unusual bizarre tantrum and quirky antics, matched as this cut-throat business-woman who has deep scar in her heart. As we learn more about them, we could relate and tolerate on why she behave in such a way. She managed to grip my attention and deepens my curiosity, hence had me rooting for her. I want her to succeed regardless whatever she does.

Queen Mother’s portrayal is superb. It shines as the crown’s nobility. Her portrayal screams elegance and honor yet her dark intention and past sins, cloud us into thinking that she is a villain with no redemption.

Prime Minister's (PM) portrayal is commendable. Had it have more episodes, I could be convinced that he could pull such an evil act. What left me with his oddity is him being someone who is utterly stupid and delusional.

Ms Do was amazing. Her portrayal felt natural and she shows her charm and persona and turn me into a fan. Same as Aide-Choi, both giving me a comedic relief to ease the tension that baffles me at times.

Hui-ju's family was masked as her biggest obstacle but progressively it shines into her biggest support all along. Kudos to her big brother and sister in-law, the bickering siblings act is entertaining to watch. Her father’s love which was often misunderstood, shows possible potential to be resolved overtime.

Palace's Staffs in overall, are commendable as to convince me to this FICTIONAL modern day monarchy. It may different from actual thing but it still carries the weight of its grand majestic and magminity; and how the nations pride and culture were being preserved throughout the history. I'm not against in its discrepancy from true events in reality. I just appreciate the nuances it gives, regardless.

Music
It has a good amount of songs and instrumental background to immerse and pulls us into the story. It helps a lot for us to experience the moment, whether we are being fluffy over the romance or thrill of its suspense and gripping turns of event.

Fav song is Everglow by Woodz.

Fav scene : I-An and Hui-ju first meeting (both times)
Fav Character : Ms Do. I love her cuteness.
Fav Quote : "OH.. SO SHINY!!" - Aide Choi

Least Fav scene : PM shouting at I-An, being angry when Hui-ju is being poisoned.
Least Fav Char : PM
Least Fav Quote : "It's your fault. You turn me into this," - PM

Re-watchable : Yes, indefinitely.

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was invested at first but then...lost interest?

Modern royal monarchy plots was something that has not been done for sooo many years. I think the last drama I saw was King 2 hearts and Princess Hours years ago, so I was really excited for this show! Overall the show is still good but only issue is that it doesnt leave any emotional connection.

So with the initial setup of SHJ's character I thought that wow once she moves in shes gonna bring havoc to the palace. I was looking forward to this portion cause its usually the comedic relief part. But they took so long going in circles and circles regarding their marriage thing that in the end they only got married towards the end of the drama...

The scene where she was playing with the king, making a change to the palace atmosphere is what I hoped to see more so we could connect with the characters....

Personally wasnt a fan of some of the styling items for BWS cause it didnt really give him the Prince aura. They went with the concept of yes he is in a very high position but actually he has no authority vibes. But then towards the end suddenly everyone is listening to him...

I enjoyed the start of the drama, IU's acting felt very confident and I liked how she was extremely proud of her achievements and you could tell she is really very good at what she does.

Visuals and OSTs were good as well~ yeah so in the end it was just lack of attachment (maybe due to shorter number of eps?)

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Underestimated, Underrated MASTERPIECE

Ep 1 - SOLID this episode 1 of LOVE BEYOND DREAMS! A love story wrapped in a crime thriller. Very promising!!

Thought LOVE BEYOND DREAMS would "just" be a good rehash of DENIED LOVExDANGEROUS QUEENxREVERSE FOR YOU.... It's turning out to be something beyond the enemies-to-lovers trope into a good crime thriller!

But I feel bad for LBD Ep 2 - It ran into major superstar-level competition like HOMETOWN ROMANCE, BROKEN OF LOVE, 4ELEMENTS: AIR.... I'm confident though that given how good LBD is (and how beautiful its two stars are), it'll find its footing soon enough🥰😍😘👏💯❤️🇹🇭

LOVE BEYOND DREAMS Ep 5 - We thought, "thank goodness, no more migraines, GIRL RULES ended happily!" And now, here's all the twists and turns of LBD, and we go, "oh no, more migraine attacks!" Haha haha haha But we're such a sucker for GL pain, that we keep on watching... And every time Khun Lene smiles, we smile too🥹😊

I keep on looking at MIE's face and I keep asking myself, "why are her features so familiar?" And it dawned upon me: MIE is the daughter of FAYE PERAYA and FREEN SAROCHA! 🥰😍😘🇹🇭❤️😁🥳

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a thesis statement on everything wrong with 12 episode dramas

I was so excited about this drama and very much looking forward to it. So maybe because my expectations were so high, I was particularly disappointed in the things that kept this drama from being anything more than like a B rating for me. i enjoyed the costuming (though whoever put IU in those awful press ons...) the cinematography, The acting the ost, but I just think the writing fell flat. And I think a large part of it is partially due to the shorter length that k dramas have started to go towards on netflix and other international streamers. this just felt so shallowly written that I had a hard time really caring about anything that was going on but I have a hard time articulating how the writing could do better for everyone without a longer show length and more time to dig into the substantive reasons and explain people's motivations better. it's really a shame to see all of the pieces be there but the writing really disappoint the whole project.

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Boring first act but story became interesting once common tropes given different twists

I recently discovered Zhang Si Fan and wanted to explore his work. He has acted in a drama with same plot as this drama so I decided to watch this version first. It was alright.

What I liked:
1. Acting - I liked Wang Xin Yue's performance. This is the first time I watched Zhuo Hang and his performance was alright.
2. FL characterisation - Her FL was cool, smart & poise. However it was silly that she had way too many skills e.g healer, violin playing, hacker.
3. Romance - I liked it when they started becoming familiar with each other. The teasing and eventually kisses. Good ones.
4. Styling - I loved FL's white dress that she wore to the final banquet.
5. Supporting characters - I liked ML's grandfather & parents. I also liked ML's assistant. I also liked that guy who wanted to become FL's friend at university. He seemed like a nice guy.
6. ML characterisation - I liked that he offered support to FL knowing her family dynamics but never forced her to live with him / his family. He was also inquisitive.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - Song family was manipulative & shameless. I couldn't believe that they abused FL and was even willing to con another family for money.
2. Acting - The chemistry was passable. I found Wang Xin Yue quite stiff during kissing & couple scenes.
3. First act - Offered nothing new especially during the Song family arguements.
4. University - I found scenes involving FL & antagonist going to university confusing because. I kept thinking if FL was a minor because of the school uniform that she wore.

Favourite scene
When ML & FL were hot for each other

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10/10 one of my new favorites

Entertained the ENTIRE time. This one is contending with the big dawgs for me. I haven’t giggled and blushed this much since Twinkling Watermelon. Like they’re putting crack in the script I swear. It managed to toe the line so well between the light and dark scenes. ML carried a lot of this show in my opinion. He made 90% of scenes funnier with his reactions but he ate down the spicier scenes. I was impressed the actor was able to convey such a wide range of emotions in a character within seconds. Cudos to the writers as well because they really did the damn thing with this script.

Dramas that don’t peak my interest completely leave a sort of hollow feeling. As if my Kdrama itch wasn’t scratched per se? This drama was like a 4 course meal, seriously, it was that good for me! I loved the dynamic of the leads. The way their personalities were written to play off of each other *chefs kiss* It was such a pure romance, the pacing was done wonderfully, nothing too fast but you’re not left wanting either.

In conclusion, the male lead is super fine and his shirtless scenes were 100 bonus points

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Great Beginning and Disaster Ending

This is the first Kdrama that I watch after so many years leaving this fandom. The constitutional monarchy fantasy lured me in. One my favorite Kdrama years ago was The King 2 Hearts. That also in the set up of Constitutional Monarchy. The early episodes were great. A prince and a businesswoman. In my mind, finally we are free from romance with social class gap trope. Because even though one is royalty and one is commoner, it is clear that Hui Ju is not your average commoner. She comes from the wealthiest business clan in the country, a CEO, and incredibly smart and beautiful. Certainly that amount to something. I am waiting for a double lead strong story.

At the beginning, that was exactly what we get: a double strong lead. They complete each other quite well. And watching Hui Ju slowly falls in love with I-An is a treat. Their little romance here and there made me want more and more. I kept re-watching the episodes during the early airing, while waiting for next week for my next treat. Everything went downhill after Hui Ju poisoning case. At that time, in my mind, I felt: "Ah, just another classic trope". And behold, Hui Ju soon became just another damsel in distress (even though not for long). Gone was the confident CEO, the one with endless desire to win.

I waited with excitement for I-An to take the throne with Hui Ju as Queen. Then, what??? Abolishment? Is abolishment is that easy to be done? It is a country system! The amount of work to change this will be so enormous. As far as I know, that is one of the reason why many European Countries stay with their constitutional monarchy instead of abolishing monarchy alltogether. I know this is fantasy, but my brain just cannot accept this kind of elementary writing.

Episode 12 is so atrocious. Here you have the previous King, and we have no one paid him attention while he is in public. As if he is just your average guy. This is unthinkable. Since we are given the information in the early story, that I-An is so beloved in the country. So, after he lost his title, everyone ignore him right away? Wow! And then the very fact that I-An has become jobless man after abolishment is so humiliating for this character. And then Hui Ju becomes this busy CEO that don't have time to accompany his pitiful husband at home. From a graceful Grand Prince to pitiful house-husband. Is the writer want to demean man or what?

The positive of this drama is the visual. The clothing and jewelry look beautiful and expensive. Music also quite good.

Acting wise, honestly, it is not spectacular. I agree with everyone that second FL (Queen Mother) has the best acting. ML is just so so actually. Stoic does not mean no expression at all. IU is okay, I think she improves quite a bit since The Scarlet Heart Ryo (last time I watched her drama).

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A fairytale romance

I loved everything about this drama!!! It’s the most realistic fairytale story of the 21st century we can ever get. It’s realistic but still an impossible dream to attain and we are vicariously living our fantasy through IU ‘s character Huiju!
I seriously don’t know where to start! Maybe let’s start with the cast and characters:

Ofc having IU and BWS in the same drama playing a chaebol heiress and a PRINCE would be mindboggling but I underestimated the effect it actually had on me in the end 😂😂😂
I loved Huiju from the beginning! Her aggressive breakdowns and the way she screamed at everyone or at herself when things were pissing her off made me laugh so hard!!! And the more shocking it is to see her progress in the drama, how she grows from an aggressively ambitious CEO to a soft wife, princess and then Queen who would risk her life for her husband made me feel so emotional! IU is one of the best actresses ever! She is so beautiful it hurts!

And then there was Byeon Woo-Seok! Our pale, tall, lanky, beautiful vampire-like Prince of the 21st Century!!! His first scene was of course a frigging SHOWER SCENE that made EVERY female watcher freak out!!! 😂😂😂 He had great progress too. From the grudging Prince to the confident yet soft and loving King BWS embodied I-An so well! I loved his scenes especially his beautiful suits! I hope the costume designer of this drama got a good paycheck!!!
Also when he cried, I cried even more 😭😭😭

The Aides: omg the AIDES!!! They were the cuuuuutesttttt couple evvvverrrrr 😭😭😭😭😭 I loved them so much! Their kiss at the end made me cry out of happiness like I have never cried because of a kiss scene before! 😂😂😂 i dont even understand!!! But I was so happy for them! And I loved that he got to open his own little flowershop in the end 🥹🥹🥹

I also loved the other side characters of the palace like the court lady who in the end bought him a bed. I wish we saw what happened to the other assistants who were caring for Huiju when she first moved in. Areum got punished obviously but how about the others? 🤔

Of course I loved that Huiju and I-An both got redemption for their families. Huiju’s brother and sister-in-law were actually VERY funny!!! 😂😂😂 I loved especially the sister-in-law. And even the father turned good in the end. I would say fathers all have a soft spot for their daughters, but sadly that was not the case with the Queen’s father. I liked that the Queen ended up taking I-An’s side and exposed herself, her father and the Prime Minister.

I was very disappointed by the Prime Minister. I didn’t expect him to turn into an obsessive murderer! He literally tried to kill his crush’s husband just bcs he was in love with the same woman … like did he think that she would have married him if I-An had died???? NO!!! What he did hurt not only him but also Huiju…

The plot of the story was well-paced. The beginning was funny and lighthearted. Episode 3 was the funniest. The romance was PERFECT!!! Their kiss scenes and hugs and how it went from fake dating to real risk-my-life kind of love was so much fun to watch!!! The screenwriter and director of this drama knew what they were doing! The politics and intrigues were not too much and everything always got resolved smoothly without any setbacks. The midway break-up barely felt like a break up and when their love really started off for real, it all felt just so genuine and convincing! The chemistry was off the roof!!! ISTG if IU and BWS don’t start dating after this I will be sad 😢😢😢

The Soundtrack was beautiful too! Loved the overall message to never trust politicians and that the perfect men are the soft ones who will cook for you, open a flower shop for you and wait for you patiently until you come back home 🥹🥹🥹 This should be the standard us women should be living for and never shall we settle for less! Just everything about the drama was perfectly done! They landed the plane very well! 12 episodes was definitely enough!

I’m off to watch all the Youtube on this now bye!!! 👋🏻

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Simple fun

I thought the highs in this one weren’t very high, but the lows also weren’t very low. It’s a fun rom-com but pretty thin on the plot and the character development.

The plot is just not quite there and for me, having seen multiple historical dramas and corporate dramas, I expected there to be much more to the power struggle in the palace and in the business world. Instead, it feels like things are resolved quite randomly and the antagonists never do anything that really feel like a threat. I’m ultimately not sure what the FL was trying to get out of the marriage and how it would help her business, and on the royalty side it feels like the villains just mush together a few assassination attempts and call it a day.

I was expecting there to be more scheming and back-and-forth, but the protagonists seem to solve everything without much pushback. They make one move and 5 minutes later the villain is in jail. This is especially notable in the final two episodes; I-an introduces the EXTREME concept of abolishing the monarchy and there’s not only no build-up to it, but it seems like the advisors just go “darn :(“ and the next thing we know we’re cutting to the reveal that the people have voted on it and have agreed to it. I know people are saying that it’s because 12 episodes aren’t enough, but I felt like that wasn’t the issue here. The plot stagnated and I actually do think we had enough time to delve into deeper topics if the writing wanted it. If abolishing the monarchy was the big conflict, we should’ve seen much more to explain why it was necessary and why it was difficult to accomplish.

It all just feels a little too easy and shallow, which is a shame because I feel like there’s so much you could do with a modern day monarchy plot around corruption, historical precedence, class, etc. It’s hinted to at the start with a contrast between our leads, but we never really confront it beyond the court of public opinion.

Character-wise, we start off with a really strong cast of characters but I don’t think the writing allowed any of them to have complete arcs.

The antagonists ultimately feel pretty underutilized — the Queen Dowager’s father goes to prison extremely easily, and the Prime Minister’s arc honestly doesn’t feel thought out considering how big of a turn he made. Did he do it all because of the FL? If he did, it’s much too shallow of a motivation. If there was more to it, it didn’t come across fully. I think our leads were fun and the romance was sweet, but they also both don’t develop very much. Same with the second couple, who are typical ”sidekick” characters, lovable but with no real arc of their own.

The best arc out of all of them is probably the Queen Dowager. She probably turned out to be my favorite character, even if I found her final switch a bit sudden.

Part of that is her acting, which I think was the best out of the entire cast; she especially killed it with intense moments and facial expressions. As for the rest of the cast, I think it was pretty good but they didn’t have much to work with. I know this has been discussed to death on the internet so I don’t want to harp on it, but I did find the ML to be a bit stiff; he was good in emotional moments but not as much in the subtle ones where we needed more micro-expressions. I don’t want to be too harsh but I’m not sure I completely bought into the main romance, or that the ML supposed to be older.

I know this is a lot of criticism but I actually still found the show to be quite fun to watch. The cinematography was really good and it’s clear that this was a high-budget production. The story isn’t quite as epic as I wish it was, but if you go into it with the understanding that it’s a rom-com and you don’t think too hard about it, I think it was enjoyable.

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The romance was there, but...

Broken of Love is not your typical GL, and I think that’s what led to such polarizing opinions about the series as a whole. In my opinion, the story is driven more by Arisa’s personal goals than by her relationship with Lalin. While their relationship is heavily featured, much of the series focuses on Arisa’s desire for revenge, which makes the GL aspect secondary to the main plot. Coincidentally, that’s what I enjoyed most about it.

I’m a strong advocate for GLs expanding their storytelling, and I think Fabel Entertainment did a fantastic job of giving viewers something different from the norm. The series reminded me a lot of what Monomax achieved with Heart Code earlier this year. It was beautifully shot and attempted to tell its story without relying on the conventional styles we repeatedly see in Thai GLs.

Beyond that, I’d also like to applaud the cast’s performances. I think everyone played their roles well, and I hope the newly established pairings get the chance to work together again in future projects. It would be great to see a full GL series led by an older couple. Overall, I’m excited to see what Fable has in store for the future.

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Philosophical reflections using a xianxia setting, with a slow burn, steady romance

Originally watched it when it was first released for Liu Xue Yi, and just finished my binge rewatch of it again this week - clearly there is rewatch value here.

Pros:
- The way the drama explores themes of morality, good vs evil, action vs thought, time vs reality, balance and excess.
> some memorable moments
- Likewise, the use of the craftmanship theme was first - visually compelling and beautiful (did not look campy!), refreshingly different and also beautifully explored themes relating to technology
- Main CP's romance - there is really nothing steamy here lol, everything is super PG13. But it was beautiful seeing their commitment to each other, and definitely entertaining at the start when the ML is annoyed by the FL but still constantly intrigued by her. And the FL just has this unwavering dedication to him beyond job responsibility which she took a while to finally realise oh yeah I do like him.
- Bai Shu's acting as Mei Shan is phenomenal as usual, maybe he keeps playing similar characterizations (I always see a sniff of Teng She in his roles lol) but I always enjoy his presence on-screen lol.
- Same for Baron Chen's acting!!

Cons:
- Subpar set lighting and makeup, this aspect does not detract much from the typical xianxia where the lighting is sterile and white with little nuance and play on light vs shadow, which makes the setting look artificial and washed out.
- Side characters/couple romances were not the most compelling (Except for Pei Jiu!! I cri everytime) (incomplete review because idk how to save this as a draft lol)
- Weak plot devices - so the FL has a restraint on her falling in love/revealing her identity...but we don't really see any major repercussions from it, other than her not being able to speak. But I also have no idea how else they could have depicted it.

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Five Kung Fu Daredevil Heroes had an overly complicated plot with five mostly inept heroes until the last minutes of the film. It was once again the Ming rebels against the Qings though with no secret lists or books to protect. This time, there were Russians and secret gun deals and dirty double crosses.

Three rebels-a Mongolian fighter who wears an enormous hoop earring (Chin Kang), a Muslim tracker who keeps his ear to the ground (Li Chung Chien), and a monk who carries a golden Buddha on his back (Phillip Ko Fei) attempt to kill the local official who is making a deal with the Russians for guns and cannons. Unbeknownst to them, two other rebels are undercover in the official’s mansion (Mang Fei/bodyguard and Yu Tien Lung/interpreter) with eyes on their mission and the official’s comely daughter. Two lower ranking officials are planning on making a deal with the Russians to secure higher positions for themselves. A combustible finale cannot be escaped.

Two of the three inept rebels were played by Chin Kang and Phillip Ko Fei who were often relegated to villain roles. Mang Fei and Yu Tien Lung played the gossipy rebels in the palace. Yu also choreographed the fights with mixed results. Yueh Hua was the captured rebel who had very little face time in the film. Bryan “Beardy” Leung was the menacing Captain Koo while poor Lo Lieh was stuck in a grandma wig as the treacherous Cher.

The plot was all over the place with the three inept rebels constantly trying to kill the official without any luck. When they weren’t fighting Qing guards, they were usually fighting each other. The fight choreography was often sped up which provided for several unintentionally humorous scenes. There were also a lot of wide misses with kicks and fists. The wire work was limited to jumping over security walls which the three did when their plans repeatedly went awry. I’d put the fights on the lower side of average, at least they weren’t kung fu posing or dancing.

Five Kung Fu Daredevil Heroes was neither horrible nor memorable. Although the explosive ending included a scene I don’t ever remember seeing before so there was that. Only for hard core old school martial arts fans who are completionists or fans of the actors. As always, rated on a curve.

16 May 2026
Trigger warnings: One scene had numerous severed body parts.

The film is cropped on the sides. It was also faded which was not helped by the typical low budget Taiwanese films of this time period that did a lot of filming at night or in the woods.

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A roller coaster that starts high goes down and finish again on top

For me the show started at pure perfection. It was my first k drama and I really liked it. The first two episodes hyped me so up that I couldn’t wait for next episode. Then same thing with 3 and 4 but after a while the story feels to get soften. It lost the thing that made it great. Hopefully it makes a comeback with 2-3 last episodes. Especially episode 11 and first half of 12
I like the ost song. It was good to hear that. But the best part of the show was the characters and actors/Actresses. Characters choices and acts were comprehensible I may not act like one of them but I definitely understand if someone act like them
The story tried to implant some good twist ls to finish the show with 12 episodes. I like and didn’t like those twists at the same time. The twists were the stuff that cause episode 11 and 12 be good. Not the twist by itself but by its results

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