I feel the same, that the show was very good and intriguing at first, but it became too one-sided (only ML confessing…
I absolutely agree with all of this! Having equal time for their stories would have been better. And turning the fl into this kind of character just so the ml has to carry the entire relationship is the worse.
This is a good show. The reviews are a little frustrating. For decades, many people did not kick up this much…
It’s very frustrating for many people because this drama was sold as a balanced story between two characters, and it isn’t.
The show actually pushes gender inequality, just reversed. Even when it presents supposedly equal or idealistic ideas, they remain only theoretical, because in practice one gender always has the upper hand. And I’m not even talking only about the social dynamics within the story, but about the structure of the drama as a whole.
The male lead’s story is pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, without enough time to develop properly. Entire parts of the narrative are unnaturally shifted from one character to another, and it shows. This already reveals an inequality in how the characters are treated, which is then amplified by the in-story social dynamics, especially on the emotional side, where the male lead does all the work and the female lead does nothing.
Even the worst male leads in cdramas have not mistreated a female lead the way she mistreats him, to this extent and all the way until the end. So it’s clear that a serious imbalance exists, and people who expected balance and equality are right to complain about it.
I suppose it was to assure the title to her son. And not LJL or his future son. And rsb knew (they talk when she is leaving) but didn't even spare her a bad look for for what she tryed to do to LJL. She clearly doesn't care that much for LJL. Even when the body was found she didn't give much emotion. She was more worried at the begin of the drama when he was interrogated by the officials. But that was another rsb, a better one.
It is so ridiculous that the fl steals the corrupted official case from LJL. She has to use him to access resources he already possesses and only needs to apply to the case. He had already helped Bai on many occasions, so asking him to help would have made perfect sense. He had everything served on a silver plate, already prepared, yet the writers made her solve the case by using ml instead. Even her speech sounds like something LJL would said. What does she care about corrupted officials, when she had allowed him to commit his crimes long before LJL ever arrived? As long as no one interfered with her business, she was fine with it. But now, all of a sudden, she is portrayed as morally noble on officials duty. It feels fake, forced, and completely unnatural as a situation. Ljl deserved more as character and defnitly even in love.
But he gave up his while she never ever considered giving up hers for him. So terrible.
When he is about to marry, his assistant lists everything he is giving up to enter her family. I’m not referring only to the title of duke, but to everything he worked for to become the official he is now. He went through terrible situations to reach that position, driven by his principles and his desire to help as many people as possible by gaining higher authority, principles that are just as strong as the fl’s, as she herself admits. By entering her family, he will inevitably face far more limitations than he ever would have if she had chosen to give everything up for him and start anew. Instead, he must now deal not only with the existing dangers and burdens of his work, but also with the restrictions and problems imposed by a powerful matriarchal family.
The issue isn’t the choice he made for himself. It’s the fact that if she truly loved him, she should never have put him in a position where he had to choose between his new, terrible but still family, (and not the title), his lifelong career and ambition, or her. She know perfectly well that her family would impose limits on his work and even on him as a person, as a man. And they do. He chose to challenge the entire world for her, making his life harder just to be with her. But was it right for her to place him in that position? After finally escaping his own toxic environment, he’s forced into another one because she didn't to leave hers.And that is something she should decide on her own as he did, if she truly loved him and wanted him to stand on equal footing with her. But she didn’t, and that shows how little she values him, how little she loves him, and how undeserving she is of him. Her family imposes restrictions on men, let alone on his career. And even if she decides to make things more equal, that equality would exist only by her grace, not because it is his right (i quote a good comment here). And that make it deeply unfair and unbalanced.
Hey I'm definitely sure if LJL would set up a competition to select wives during capital arc she would have abandoned…
Even to me, after that vow it felt like she took her grandmother’s grudge as her own.
Look at how distressed she was when LJL was taken away by the officers for interrogation, she was even sweating, and he noticed and gently wiped it away. Those were tender moments, showing love from both of them. Compare that to how she acts later at the duke’s mansion, her worry is calm when a body is found. Or the fact that she lets the person who tried to kill him walk away without even a threat or a harsh look. She became a completely different person.
But he gave up his while she never ever considered giving up hers for him. So terrible.
He did, even before the dukedom he had a bright future that he now give up completly for her that is not ready to do the same. For me this is not a happy ending at all when only one sacrifice himself for the relatinship.
LJL is a self-made officer who fights violent criminals and corrupt high-level officials, a genius, a master of swordsmanship and martial arts, and much more. Even without memory, gravely injured, and completely alone, he can overcome anything with his extraordinary skill and will.
Does he need to be protected by a merchant in his own home? According to the drama… Yes.
That’s how much they ruined his character. And why? Because 30 episodes of the fl’s solo story apparently weren’t enough, so they had to favor her at the ml’s expense, completely destroying him till the end.
Hmh did a fantastic job, even while he was sick. He is truly remarkable. Truly. I’ll continue watching this drama only to watch his performance, which is fantastic even here. But this must be said: Yz is a clown.
Not everyone is a ML fangirl. A story has to be filled out with other character or we just get the ML/FL pining…
Did I ask for a LJL solo stage? I’d like that, and since this is LJL’s story, it would only be fair. Still, I asked for the bare minimum, balanced time for both arcs to properly develop, each obviously with its own secondary characters to explore (which is precisely why fair screen time matters!). This would help create a different flavor, instead of repeating the same thing over and over as it is now.
This is a basic good story watcher reflection, not a ml fangirl oriented take. Only those with bias can’t even understand this.
They relegated LJL’s arc to the end of the drama, maybe they’ll only cover it in a couple of eps. And to think I was here for LJL and only watched Rsb. I did like the intrigue, but the story really became repetitive and one sided. They should have wrapped up the rong family by mid-season or at least started alternating it with LJL’s story. As it is now, it’s completely fl monotone.
I mean; do we even acknowledge the infidelity-suspicion arc? Where she protected him despite him being accused…
She helped him but always had the upperhand. Now he had no choice to save a friend life. The fact that in the same situation (more him at his disvantage) he always undestand her that lie and deceive him this is the least she can do or it will be detrimental to his character-building if only he just ignores his own feelings for her. He had no time to sort his feeling out not even when he regain his memory (which must have been terrible), just some worty solo time reflecting was enough for him, it will be for her too.
The show actually pushes gender inequality, just reversed. Even when it presents supposedly equal or idealistic ideas, they remain only theoretical, because in practice one gender always has the upper hand. And I’m not even talking only about the social dynamics within the story, but about the structure of the drama as a whole.
The male lead’s story is pushed into the last 1/7 of the drama, without enough time to develop properly. Entire parts of the narrative are unnaturally shifted from one character to another, and it shows. This already reveals an inequality in how the characters are treated, which is then amplified by the in-story social dynamics, especially on the emotional side, where the male lead does all the work and the female lead does nothing.
Even the worst male leads in cdramas have not mistreated a female lead the way she mistreats him, to this extent and all the way until the end. So it’s clear that a serious imbalance exists, and people who expected balance and equality are right to complain about it.
And rsb knew (they talk when she is leaving) but didn't even spare her a bad look for for what she tryed to do to LJL. She clearly doesn't care that much for LJL. Even when the body was found she didn't give much emotion. She was more worried at the begin of the drama when he was interrogated by the officials. But that was another rsb, a better one.
She has to use him to access resources he already possesses and only needs to apply to the case. He had already helped Bai on many occasions, so asking him to help would have made perfect sense. He had everything served on a silver plate, already prepared, yet the writers made her solve the case by using ml instead.
Even her speech sounds like something LJL would said.
What does she care about corrupted officials, when she had allowed him to commit his crimes long before LJL ever arrived? As long as no one interfered with her business, she was fine with it. But now, all of a sudden, she is portrayed as morally noble on officials duty. It feels fake, forced, and completely unnatural as a situation.
Ljl deserved more as character and defnitly even in love.
By entering her family, he will inevitably face far more limitations than he ever would have if she had chosen to give everything up for him and start anew. Instead, he must now deal not only with the existing dangers and burdens of his work, but also with the restrictions and problems imposed by a powerful matriarchal family.
The issue isn’t the choice he made for himself. It’s the fact that if she truly loved him, she should never have put him in a position where he had to choose between his new, terrible but still family, (and not the title), his lifelong career and ambition, or her. She know perfectly well that her family would impose limits on his work and even on him as a person, as a man. And they do.
He chose to challenge the entire world for her, making his life harder just to be with her. But was it right for her to place him in that position? After finally escaping his own toxic environment, he’s forced into another one because she didn't to leave hers.And that is something she should decide on her own as he did, if she truly loved him and wanted him to stand on equal footing with her. But she didn’t, and that shows how little she values him, how little she loves him, and how undeserving she is of him.
Her family imposes restrictions on men, let alone on his career. And even if she decides to make things more equal, that equality would exist only by her grace, not because it is his right (i quote a good comment here). And that make it deeply unfair and unbalanced.
Look at how distressed she was when LJL was taken away by the officers for interrogation, she was even sweating, and he noticed and gently wiped it away. Those were tender moments, showing love from both of them.
Compare that to how she acts later at the duke’s mansion, her worry is calm when a body is found. Or the fact that she lets the person who tried to kill him walk away without even a threat or a harsh look.
She became a completely different person.
All I could think was "Stop! Don’t! She doesn’t deserve you!"
Does he need to be protected by a merchant in his own home?
According to the drama… Yes.
That’s how much they ruined his character. And why? Because 30 episodes of the fl’s solo story apparently weren’t enough, so they had to favor her at the ml’s expense, completely destroying him till the end.
Hmh did a fantastic job, even while he was sick. He is truly remarkable. Truly.
I’ll continue watching this drama only to watch his performance, which is fantastic even here.
But this must be said: Yz is a clown.
Still, I asked for the bare minimum, balanced time for both arcs to properly develop, each obviously with its own secondary characters to explore (which is precisely why fair screen time matters!). This would help create a different flavor, instead of repeating the same thing over and over as it is now.
This is a basic good story watcher reflection, not a ml fangirl oriented take. Only those with bias can’t even understand this.
I did like the intrigue, but the story really became repetitive and one sided. They should have wrapped up the rong family by mid-season or at least started alternating it with LJL’s story. As it is now, it’s completely fl monotone.
Now he had no choice to save a friend life. The fact that in the same situation (more him at his disvantage) he always undestand her that lie and deceive him this is the least she can do or it will be detrimental to his character-building if only he just ignores his own feelings for her.
He had no time to sort his feeling out not even when he regain his memory (which must have been terrible), just some worty solo time reflecting was enough for him, it will be for her too.