Captivating drama
This drama is so good that I had to sign up on my drama list to let people know this master piece. When I’m writing this review, 2 episodes are still remaining before the end of the drama but I hope it’s gonna be a happy ending (probably). I only watch drama with happy endings and almost never watch on going drama but I couldn’t resist after the edits I’ve seen on TikTok. Anyways, I usually am never duped by the stories and end up not being surprised when plots twists appear. This time I WASN’T disappointed the plots twists were soooo good I had to pause the drama and scream how good this was. Highly recommended drama, coming from a picky watcher. ENJOY IT!Was this review helpful to you?
for Wattpad lovers ?
it's my first time writing a review so please coperate with my complicated writing. 🫠things I liked about the show :
ofc! the chemistry was super good so I liked everytime their was a steamy scene and they played the ost 😭😭😭 ohhhh I got so many butterflies in my stomach everytime it happened but the moment it ended I started questioning myself what am I doing lol bcs there was no great plot it was just straight up Wattpad story but i still loved it bcs of 3 reasons
1- ML
2- short and sweet (only 15 min eps)
3- so Wattpad coded lol
if you're looking for a great plot and deep cdramas so it's not for you but it also does have a very good storyline it's just missing something 🫢
Was this review helpful to you?
Left my brain at home to enjoy this
This felt like one of the stories dissatisfied housewives read in between the struggles of their daily life. It's got action, sensuality and mystery but yet needed not a single brain cell to be able to follow. Maybe it's because as a bookworm with never enough reading material I grew up reading books like that and hence gotten used to overlook plotholes and red flags as if I was half-blind that I was actually able to enjoy this as much as I did.This was a mess. The relationships between characters were wildly unhealthy, to say the least, and consent was in the grey area most of the times.
While many details were so well-made such as the choice and use of music, small hints, complex entanglement and a generally pretty stable concept for the action-part of the plot, it at the same time had plotholes the size of Sagittarius A*. The amount of coincidences and dumb decisions was crazy.
People pointed out the lacking acting of the FL but I honestly have no clue how the story could have worked with a character that actually seemed to care about what was happening around her. The ML did a good job at acting, though, he actually did display emotions quite well when suited. From how much I enjoyed this series, I would rate this a 7 or even higher, but my own morals won't allow to rate something with so many red flags higher than a 6.5.
I recommend watching if you want an easy action-packed watch that's nice on the eyes, has some spicy scenes and a little mystery. With the short episodes it's very easy to breeze through on a bad day. Even if you find nothing else to like, the stupidity of some scenes might make you laugh.
That being said, if you're easily triggered by questionable consent or want an action-packed plot with less holes than fishnet tights, I recommend you pass on this one.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
OFF THE CHART LEAD CHARACTER CHEMISTRY
What is this? What exactly was this? The chemistry between the leads was too real and I was not READY! I am telling you that those kisses were too HOT for a Cdrama and I was not prepared. How dare this come without a warning lol.I am so accustomed to the lil pecks they call kissing that I wasn’t ready. The story line was also fun, a little predictable as I already had an idea who the villain was (and I was correct) and already know who the guy in black was. That hat and mask wasn’t fooling anyone besides the female lead. That was hilarious. No way you cannot tell your man from a distance from the back let alone he was all up in her face and space with a hat and Covid mask and she can’t tell. DNKM. Was well put together YOUKU just might and I mean might get my .99c for the continuation.
Was this review helpful to you?
Chemistry is over the top!
Full of passionate scenes! I really loved watching this series, even though the actors were infamous but they tried to act really well. Action scenes were intense and so does the love scenes of lead couple! It should be the long series!! Wen xi’s character was little dummy type where she acted like she already knows her sister was murdered lol rest everything was fine! I would rate it 9/10 lucky are those who can now watch it in a one go as we waited for the episodes to come out patiently! ^_^Was this review helpful to you?
Perfect if you're in the mood for some Wattpad level story, crap if otherwise
Honestly, no other way of describing it, this series came straight out of someone's Wattpad fantasies - packaged with all the most generic and cliched tropes, a love-hate relationship, a useless FL, and an ML who comes to save her ass from every single situation.But one good thing about this series is that it's short, so not really much time is needed to invest in this short series. The relationship between FL and ML is certainly spicy, not something I'd ever expected to see from a China-released drama, which makes me wonder if tv producers are experimenting with something new here. The plot itself is kinda crap, everything is kinda crap honestly, but ML made it worth it, especially if you're in the mood to watch some total fantasy mystery dangerous bad boy carrying a weak helpless girl one-armed in 100 ways.
In conclusion, give it a go, for some it's so bad that it's good in a weird way (like me), for others it could be so cringe that you'd much rather not waste your time watching the rest of it.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Guilty pleasure but so brainless
Okay, so I have to admit, there are way too many plot holes here for there to be any coherent story tbh. Most of the things make no sense, are quite brainless and make you lost. Half of the story is just the leads making out (hence, guilty pleasure) but the acting by Jesse and Tian Yang is top notch.Also, it gets quite repetitive. In the sense, majority of the story entails FL doing stupid shit (one after another) and the ML saving her. There's nothing new. The suspense gets lifted early on, so you're just left wondering as to who will win this game. So many things do not make sense. So, do not watch this for the story.
However, do watch this for the chemistry. The leads are fantastic together and for people out there who seek skinship, this is it. Though, mind you, the romance is also very very toxic and abusive. If it was happening to anyone I know, in real life, I would 100% report it for harassment, lol. Have fun watching, shall you do that!
Was this review helpful to you?
Sexy romp ... if you like being thrown around like a rag doll and grabbed by the throat
If you park your brain at the door and ignore 2024 sensibilities on toxic behaviour, you could probably overlook everything wrong with this modern mini drama and be swept away by the over-the-top bodyguard romance melodrama that tries to be glamourous and sexy. It's an entertaining romp that doesn't require a lot of time commitment or brain cells, and I had to check myself and consider how I wanted to evaluate the show.Playing to a sultry soundtrack that sounds an awful lot like Billie Eilish, Embrace in the Dark Night pushes the boundaries on what you would traditionally see in C-dramas when it comes to sexual innuendo and tension. (Pretty certain I saw a blurred wall of pink bondage/BDSM paraphernalia!) (So much innuendo! Blink and you'll miss the tongue!)
That's all fine and good, except these mini dramas have also normalized aggressive alpha male characters who make it a regular habit of pushing and pulling female lead character around like a rag doll and grabbing them by the throat. These so-called "alpha males" might seem sexy at a glance, but who really wants to be constantly pinned against a wall, thrown onto a bed or sofa, held against their will, or grabbed by the throat over and over and over and over again, for a kiss? Ugh. I'm sorry, this is neither romantic or "normal".
Embrace in the Dark Night is chock full of this. Yet, compared to other mini-dramas, especially the Republican Era genre where super toxic love/hate relationships are ubiquitous, this doesn't even feel particularly toxic somehow? Maybe this is the desensitization at work. And to be fair, Xu Zheqing's character is otherwise quite protective. But the actress, Gao Rongfang, certainly puts up with a lot of choking in general (even if fake), and a strangulation scene with a villain that looked unsettlingly real.
You may have seen Jesse Ren (who reminds me a little of Wang Ziqi and a dash of Bai Jingting) and Gao Rongfang playing supporting roles in full-length dramas; their acting is fairly decent here and they certainly have enough chemistry to keep the heat level elevated.
The overall story isn't terrible for this genre of melodrama; I didn't mind the less exciting, but sweet, secondary couple; and the production values are pretty good (was it costly to film that chase scene abroad?). But the execution and script could have been a lot better. I laughed at the use of Teslas, since its hackability has been a point of contention among EV enthusiasts and security experts. I couldn't help but wonder if this was an actual product placement or an unauthorized use of the brand, lol.
Despite its issues, I get it -- viewers aren't looking for reality. Audiences want to escape into a fantasy world of amped up sexual tension and unrestrained kissing -- plot-holes and red flags be damned.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
if horny 15 year old wrote a drama
THIS IS FREAKY ASS WATTPAD SHIT!!! take a shot for every time he picks her up, forces a kiss, pins her against a wall, and saves her when shes in danger. you'd blackout lOL.this story was so wattpad LMFAOO. like all the wall pins, the dom bf, etc etc... it was good ish! dont get me wrong! still freaky! but very very very repetitive... the same like 3 things happened over and over again....
also, erm don't get why he forced her to do stuff so many times... kinda yucky but i guess if theyre going for that wattpad look, it makes sense. overall nO part of this is realistic at all. not at all. EVERYTHING IS FREAKY!! no character building... main girl so fucking weak... he picks her up and forces kisses on her every second... interesting. but if ur into that go ahead.
Was this review helpful to you?
Simultaneously good and bad
So for a short drama there are parts of this that are genuinely impressive — the cinematography is good, the sound mixing fits the vibes, and I admit...some steamy scenes were great and a breath of fresh air from the cutesiness that c-dramas usually stick to.With that being said, it felt somewhat overdone. I lost count of how many times the ML kabedonned our FL or pinned her wrists down, and because the drama WAS so short, I felt like we really needed to just cut some of the kiss scenes and just work on the plot more.
There are moments where the story jumps around; it's not crazy and you can still follow the overarching plot (which is actually quite solid and needed more screentime), but I was still left feeling confused as to when we got from Point A to Point B.
The acting is also inconsistent. There are some very impressive moments, like a particular crying scene for our ML. But every single character feels a little stiff at some point and the dubbing doesn't help at all.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
only starting is good
I truly liked the starting but when the female lead entered in the company with her sister's name from then I didn't really liked cause the story was not that good from then cause if you are using someone's name then you should know about the company and about that person and be prepared but she was not so it didn't feel like she is investigating and the male lead acting was good in the starting but in the company he lost that vibe 😔you can watch but it's a one time dramarewatch🙅( personal opinion )
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Spicy but Silly
If you want to watch something with a lot of steamy kisses then this is a great show. But it depicts a toxic relationship and there isn't any romancing. Just brute force which amounts to sexual harassment. There are so many things that I found aggravating and non-sensical about the plot in general as well. I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking, "this is dumb" quite often.So why have I given this a 7.5? Well there are 2 reasons:
- Despite the show having so many cliches, the mystery kept me intrigued and I did like the main couple but I kept hoping they acted more normal. Especially the male lead. He was a bit more gentlemanly in the beginning and later he had so many contrasting behaviours that I wasn't sure if I hate him or not. At one point the female lead does finally slap him and he deserved a lot more so I was pleased for her. All of this made me want to keep watching and see where it would lead.
- The more important reason is the second couple that you see later in the series. It's an older woman younger man trope and they have a much more normal relationship. They are nicer to each other. They look great together. And the female lead is mature. I get turned off when female and male characters that act childish. Fortunately neither act like that. I just wish they had more scenes together.
The thing that would have improved the series would be if the main leads actually communicated with each other. That among other aspects were bizarre. I also felt like the male lead treated his friend far better than he did the female lead who he is supposedly protective of.
There is one particular OST that plays at the end of the episodes as well that I quite liked.
Was this review helpful to you?
