I'm a huge fan of dark romance, so I was really excited for this series. However, personally, I just don't like the execution here - like, at all. It feels empty and shallow and done for the sake of doing it. Take the rape scene: if you remove it, nothing will change at all because it had zero impact. The almost-slap is enough to show the gradual progression of toxicity. I don't mind the scene itself; I mind that it seemed to change nothing, even though it should have. After all, it's the first major instance of abuse between these characters.

You called Lu Feng the king of black flags, but that's not how he feels to me. I don't feel consistency, the foundation for their love and obsession, the progression of his darker feelings, etc. He feels like an awkward, surface-level mix of traits common among MLs in dark romances.

I think the series is not for me, sadly, but I'll stick around for now because I want to see how we go from here to the scenes from the trailer. I do love the actors' attitude to their characters; the BTS s are adorable.