VrindaAV

Really!! you comparing an FL who had a happy supportive family and an FL who had traumatic childhood who lost her parents and was adopted and treated with so much emotional torture??. You expect to forget all that baggage and become sunshine to others. i dont know about you i would most probably be even in a bigger mess if i was in her place. Atleast she became a good doctor and trying to get out of her families influence little by little by trying to be financially independent.

i think age has nothing to do with obligations if its about them providing her for throughout her life till she could start earning and the way she was sort of "trained" right after her traumatic incident of losing her parents. She would be obligated to do what her so called parents want and not to forget they are so influential they can destroy her and her future families life if they want to. So implications of her freedom is not so straight forward. She is trying bit by bit where she became doctor even against her mothers wish. And also she just came back to China where SY came back again to her life and so that will be the impetus for her to get courage slowly and some major push might get her totally out of that cage .
I have seen people spend their whole life under someones influence so this is a very natural human tendency and we should wait for her growth

Agree on all of your points but there is one cruical point you are missing. Its not her family who kept her on tight leash its the family who adopted her when she had no one and if not for them she would be in streets . Its that sense of obligation which stops her

Its funny how people want just romance and only romance and do not want the journey of these characters. Does not want to understand their story, their hard life, circumstances, trauma but just want them to get together else they are selfish spineless etc etc. If it was that easy they wouldnt have broken up in the first place and we wouldnt have this drama do we? So many things happened in their life thats why the way they are. FL was orphaned and brought up by this family and if she feels obligated to them its natural even if she feels trapped. How difficult is it to understand!! Whatever she has is because of them right from having daily to eat to her education. Everyone are like just slap the mother. Thats very easy to say for us if we are not in her shoes. Also 20 episodes in some complain FL has no growth . We can see she is working towards that by trying to be fully financially dependent first. She told it twice and we can see scenes where she is studying to be a chief doctor to earn more. Thats hte baby step she is taking!
Same with ML. His mothers abandonment and his fathers tragic death and then love his life betraying will have an impact no. If you cant understand and be ready to go through this journey of theirs its obviously gonna be boring !!

I do have some complains on some inconsistency though or i am not sure if that should be considered as progress for FL. They showed how FL became upset(sort of panicking) with her hands but they dont show it in later episodes that felt a little inconsistent!

Well there is no way both can be compared but if we come to comparison. i have been watching HL and this drama together and i completed this drama faster bcs HL has nothing much but slice of life coming of age story. I am not saying HL is not good i love that drama too but this has way more things to offer (leads with complicated back story , career, bromance etc etc) so i feel its faster. I think problem here for some people is expecting just romance and getting other things like complicated characters, rescue scenes, hospital scenes bromance etc by which character growth happens which they cant enjoy. But well this show is not straightforward romance so if you dont like all the complex characters you might not enjoy like HL.

You really need to understand back stories of both ML and FL to understand why the way they are ! For once i am happy that leads are not glorified. They have their issues and try to be better than the way they are. You can see ML apologising and regretting what he did to his friend. FL also knows exactly where she is wrong but she does not courage to do so and she knows that too. So both have loads of issues they need to resolve and thats the journey. If you cant accept or understand these things i guess this series is not for you.

I just started the show yesterday and this is my perspective. People dont do everything thinking clearly about whats the point or whats the end goal. Its that simple. although i was irritated how FL asked him to make up without having the guts to or really intending to but i do get her bcs people who are bought up in that environment might always be divided between what they really want to and what their family expect of them. Only solace throughout these years for her had been him so its natural she would try to get to close to him without thinking of consequences sometimes. You can see her dilemma in her outburst that although she doesnt have guts to move forward she still wants him to come to her and give her that solace & love she is craving and thats how our wishes and expectations will be sometimes even if we are in a happy environment and here she is in a cage trapped.

i was actually sort of content that she chose to die than marry that horrible guy.So for me ending of them as a couple is fine but as you said ML didnt diserve that horrible death and worse is all his years of hardwork since childhood is for nothing at the end

I watched this last week and even after watching forever and ever i cannot come to terms with the ending of these two great characters. so i am writing a happy ending fanfiction. if anyone interested to read. https://archiveofourown.org/works/45228163.

I am with you on this! i came here to see if this drama has a release data and other information. You had a good point on fillters and other plots . I dont know why this lead to a discussion on so called "idols" and "fans". I mean its a drama a work which has so many facets. Story, actors, production. Its not about one single idol and if you are a so called true fan or anti fan. Replies to yours are all just laughable.

Just watched this show and as everyone says ( i didnt see any negative comment) its such a ride. All characters are good but mostly loved MLs character arc from being shy scared (slightly self centered) to brave caring guy. I wish and hope every police in every country are like this the way they have showed in the show . it seems unrealistic somehow. Not saying they are not good in real but in the show they cared an extra mile not sure that happens in real all the time!

Same here. i follow the story from twitter but i stopped actively watching. i loved that initially it was different and women not necessarily being pitted against each other but at some point it got OTT.
So story wise also i am not able to connect to FL or ML. FL is acting like she knows everything and can do everything and ML is literally there just to support her and bear her anger despite doing everything for her. at this point their romance seems to be pretty one sided or non existent. in all the effort to make women centred story they make males all too soft or dumb and females all seemingly strong but all they are doing is disrespecting even good understanding and sensible husbands. thats not how it works. in coming episodes they are showing some romance looks like but its too late for me too. you cant forget ML and FL love each other when there is some major plot where FL literally didnt care and MLs servants cared more than her and randomly when one major plot completes start showing their romance. they are showing ML jealous bcs FL is paying to attention to male. When did she ever paid attention to him anyway! the whole characterisation is going haywire for me.
Fact that most people liked YY and LW together shows how bad the romance between leads went down the line!
i am so disappointed bcs i loved it initial 10 epis and actors are really good

[I'll refrain from my critique about storytelling where, "if women were in charge, they would simply reverse the gender dynamic rather than generate something different" is at the core of the story. Its a pathetic concept of feminism, but, oh well. "Comedy."]
Agree with this 100% in later episodes i felt this more and more specially dynamics with lead couple!
But FL being clueless about love is because she so badly want to go back to her place where she is not suffocated so much. Everything is different from her home so being homesick its natural all she thinks about is going back home . So it understandable that she doesnt think much on MLs actions so i still felt dynamics was fine till episode 12 but after that i felt it went haywire

my final comments before i bid this amazing show good bye and move on ( i will rewatch a few times s for sure in future)
Thanks to all the commenters here for great discussions on different things. It was nice to read all perspectives(although i really felt bad while reading comments about LX being termed toxic by more and more people) while watching and waiting for the show.
Thanks to the actors and production.
Definitely one of the very few drams where i wasnt disappointed from start to end.
where
1. ML had subtle but remarkable growth without compromising on his core characteristics.(have seen too many cdramas where ML forgets about his responsibilites and dreams after falling in love)
2. FL is a cute and innocent but not childish or dumb and is not there to be saved by ML but protects ML
3. Even other character arcs are significant and meaningful

just because he teases her and is a little possesive doesnt mean he is toxic. toxic is when a person doesnt allow freedom at all and is the decision maker in the relationship. when do you see him doing that? he literally entertained all her whims and fancies when he really didnt have time or interest. (he had to suffer for that too) he also supported her going abroad . ml has flaws but which human doesnt !!
also ZY seems to be enabler because she is literally a princess i.e she has everything he has nothing so what if she indulges him . i would too if i love a person who has been in hell since childhood. just labeling people toxic without taking into picture the whole character backgrounds when they are not even toxic is a loss to you to enjoy a really good show where there is clear character growth of so many characters.

What i like about LX is he is that good because he had to earn since childhood and not just bcs he is a genius out of the box. He had lot of experience than others by the time he was in university. So ZY (although jokingly ) says to zheng teng that if you stay all night for 10 yrs you can be better than him it shows hardwork not just genius for him being so good overall.

you have put it very well what i have been trying to convey multiple times. people say he could have pushed ZY differently but no one comes up with exactly how ? i mean even with such hurtful words ZY still came to jail talking to lawyer to get him out of jail. how else can he manage to push her

Oh he definitely treats ZY differently not because she is nice but because she knows how to handle him . He was adamant he will not join competition you think anyone could convince him and when did ZY accepted defeat there she could convince him fine .She understands him. Same with Ren Di. Thats why LX also interacts differently with them . This is initial before dating after that LX softens with everyone. So LX ais not a character poster of a gentleman but he is neither toxic . Need to watch open mindedly how LX is and consider his background and his job etc to judge him

i would say it was culmination of lot of things that happened to him since he was released from jail. he was not in his right mind. who would be when he went through so much and now he lost his company his dignity (he couldnt find decent house ) and most importantly his love so his frustration reached that level when he saw them in the same house

lol you can say toxic (i dont agree though) but definitely not narcissistic also he didnt steal her shares for his benefit. he did that so she is not stuck here in china and ruin her illustrious career