2026

in general this was alright but so glaringly offensive you cant even use the "made in 2009" excuse bc tvb dramas are just as un-woke and regressive now LOL. i rated this 7/10 in 2021 but haha.

1) ik the focus was on clearing the ml's name but this was too rape culture propaganda for me. the way they relegated the stepdad's rape crimes to his murder was gross. just bc he got killed he's framed entirely as a victim and no one treated rape as serious as it is in here. even when he was still alive, zero ppl reacted to the rape normally except for the ml. there was an insane amount of victim blaming in here. when ppl found out ml "killed" his sister's rapist, they were more grossed out that he killed someone than that the someone was a rapist.

2) and on that topic, the mum is one of the most morally corrupt, insanely nasty and reprehensible parent i have ever seen. she is only Not the worst parent in the show bc the rapist is first. not only does she not believe her children when they told her their stepdad was abusing them, she actively Protects and Enables him to keep abusing her kids Well into adulthood. she constantly victim blames her daughter and accuses her son of "ruining her happiness" simply bc she believes she needs a man to live. and then when her son returns from jail she is constantly accusing him of being a home wrecker, claims that she is deeply ashamed of him, and finds every chance to snitch on him. she resents her son for "killing her husband and making her all alone", blatantly expecting to be Parented instead of doing the parenting and they try to redeem her by making her take a knife for her son? she shouldve died. incredibly brainwashed and stupid.

3) [picture of girl taking a mirror selfie with the caption "trying to be chill at the function but can't help noticing how misogyny bleeds through the cracks of normal interaction"]

4) ml stupid as fuck towards latter half of the show i stopped rooting for him too

i say this w absolute Zero disrespect for once but this was genuinely a nothing burger show. 10 eps in i realise its almost ending but we've gotten noWHERE W THE INVESTIGATION and the mystery is Nowhere near solved everyone's just been going around in circles and then everything is solved by one singular audio file conveniently retrieved from the victim's icloud which he conveniently recorded bc he has a convenient habit of recording everything which we dIDNT even kNOW ABOUT UNTIL JUST THEN. and WHY did no one try to find this missing phone to begin w?? why did no one think to look into all the weird shit that cropped up on the crime scene (e.g., the earring?) and why tf were we only shown those things TOWARDS THE END OF THE SHOW. like when you think about it no one was doing any investigating and the audience isn't given any info on the specifics of the case the whole show. the prosecutor and cops were too busy smear-campaigning do raik, sena was too busy babysitting do raik and poorly hiding her merch, the whole doj useless as fuck lol.

the romance was also kinda a snoozefest to me it felt so underdeveloped which was rlly weird bc they had sooo much screen time together. even the part where raik clocks that sena was that girl he saved when they were young the whole reveal was so anticlimactic. i just didnt rlly feel their chemistry and i dont even think its the actors' fault?? the supporting cast were clearly just plot devices and had no real story/personality of their own. neither chungjae nor hyeju pass the bechdel test. i didnt like that the show tried to "redeem" some of the abusive charas like raik's boss and mum and even his sasaengs at the end like?? they should be in jail? i also never liked the bully manchild prosecutor, maybe dont go into careers that involve morals if u dont have any.

crazily enough, the whodunit reveal was actually much better in my lovely liar. that one gagged me.

at this point theyre taking the piss w these sequels bc this was so unbelievably boring i had to rack my brains to remember what it was about the first season that made it work for me in the first place (and it cant just be wdh). to sum, the story was just very weak and unappealing with rain's cartoonishly evil baekjeong going to Insane lengths just to get gw to fight in his underground ring for a few big bucks which im pre sure is Less the amount he spent Trying to get gw in the first place. compared to last season's myeongil, he is a paper thin chara that has no depth nor story and his evil hinges entirely on his muscles and sadism. same thing w the rest of the new cast, who were all more plot devices than actual charas, having no distinctive qualities or backstory and were immediately forgettable. like why would i care when ppl died idek who tf that was anyway. honestly u could tell this was gonna be poop and shit seeing the ratio of male to female charas alone. idk how yall can watch shit w little to no women its just boring and poorly written.

the violence getting extra explicit was blatantly male fanservice bc who else would enjoy such needless bald-faced sadism but given that 99% of victims were men ill just wave it away. this was 7h of a dick-measuring contest i fear. this is literally just a battle shounen (derogatory).

the only critique i dont agree w for this season is funnily enough the one about everyone being a fuckin sook lmfaooo while it is enjoyable to see a critique usually aimed at women be aimed at men for once i need yall to stfu and open ur eyes to the empathy deficit crisis we are living in atm, god forbid FICTIONAL CHARAS have kiNDNESS. the Real problem that yall should be moaning about is no one mentioning hyeonju AT ALL when we had multiple instances of every1 snivelling over s1's dead charas. they didnt even bother to pay kim saeron tribute but they can keep hiring Maga Zionist Scum and Make Me A Sandwich 101. shoot everyone involved.

i had a rlly good time w this even tho i did hit that weird lull in the middle LOL. it was surprisingly easy to watch and i thot the overall story was very well-written.

the shen family are the heart of this drama, each with their own personalities and conflicts. i like that they get space to develop and grow individually and everyone gets to play an active role in the story. they bicker a lot but u can tell they rlly love each other bc it shows in how they treat others: from LY to the kitten to a-yuan to yusan. their kindness and sense of community, using food as a motif, is what brings everyone together, Literally spreading their dishes (love) all thru the city. i like that there was emphasis on making their dishes affordable, to also show that love transcends class and blood which is pre relevant in the time they were in, and them constantly calling everyone they love family regardless of relation is pre pro-found family. i also liked that the isekai premise was actually significant to the story like the shen's using their modern moral upbringing to help the underprivileged etc

the supporting cast was also excellent. my fav was definitely princess fuhui who i thought was incredibly funny and charming and SO well-acted. prince of zhao was also a great villain, not in the sense of being Evil but more that he had depth and felt like a real chara. i liked that he was the cause of LY's grief and it was grief that brought them together and saved LY's life, and it will be bc of that rls they built that later cost the prince's. the showdown was anticlimactic but it worked for me bc i felt that ending was fitting for them.

my only gripe is i think the ancestor misunderstanding went on for a BIT too long lmfao, esp when it was all bc grandpapi was just lying for shits like the punchline was NOT worth all that pain and misery yall. it just felt like they wasted so much time for nothing and i wished we saw more of them being happy together :(