Enjoyable action and great chemistry! but the promised female revenge falls short
Some parts were really enjoyable. The fighting scenes were insanely good, and the confession scene was marvellous. The ML is absolute eye candy, like I’ve never seen before. As for FL, I've never seen one in gender bender dramas look like a man, so I didn't have any expectation here either. But she still looks refreshingly handsome at times.
The problem...is that the scriptwriter (not the novel's) is seriously so untalented. How do you mess up the beginning of a story this badly? The first episodes are supposed to set the tone and get you emotionally invested, yet this one completely failed at that. It felt like I was watching a trailer (or the first chapter of a transmigration manhwa that just speed runs it all because people have read about the setting a hundred times lol) instead of being drawn into the FL’s story. I never got the chance to properly empathize with her.
I also really wish they had showcased more FEMALE RAGE and her thoughts on revenge. The few moments where she actually snapped were super exciting to me (like the whipping scene ?? 10/10). But instead we spend most of the time watching her act cutesy. That is fine, I am not asking her to be dark and broody all the time, but I just could not connect to her or her backstory as much as I wanted, when she was so sunny all the time.
Another point I have to mention is the feminism aspect. I love feminism, I am a feminist, and I genuinely believe everyone should be. But I also think there’s a way to write about it in fiction that doesn’t make it feel so idealistic or forced. This drama could have done a great job with it—and in some ways, it did, especially with the FL being a general, her journey and her view on some matters. But the speeches she gave sometimes? I honestly just wanted to fast-forward through them. They were so cliché it felt like I was watching a Disney show, and even Disney manages to be less on-the-nose about it now. The reactions of the men didn’t help either. I’m not asking for a misogynistic show, but come on… aside from maybe one general, and only temporarily, everyone just accepts everything so easily. It’s all so beautiful, so peaceful, so... unrealistic. Which is a shame, because the story had so much potential to explore those themes in a more grounded and satisfying way.
Some scenes also did not make much sense and felt cartoonish, especially some characters’ motivations, and even the ending.
That said, I still enjoyed myself overall!! The fight choreography was pure fire and they looked badass as hell. But it was definitely one of those shows where I had to turn off my brain to enjoy it, unfortunately.
The problem...is that the scriptwriter (not the novel's) is seriously so untalented. How do you mess up the beginning of a story this badly? The first episodes are supposed to set the tone and get you emotionally invested, yet this one completely failed at that. It felt like I was watching a trailer (or the first chapter of a transmigration manhwa that just speed runs it all because people have read about the setting a hundred times lol) instead of being drawn into the FL’s story. I never got the chance to properly empathize with her.
I also really wish they had showcased more FEMALE RAGE and her thoughts on revenge. The few moments where she actually snapped were super exciting to me (like the whipping scene ?? 10/10). But instead we spend most of the time watching her act cutesy. That is fine, I am not asking her to be dark and broody all the time, but I just could not connect to her or her backstory as much as I wanted, when she was so sunny all the time.
Another point I have to mention is the feminism aspect. I love feminism, I am a feminist, and I genuinely believe everyone should be. But I also think there’s a way to write about it in fiction that doesn’t make it feel so idealistic or forced. This drama could have done a great job with it—and in some ways, it did, especially with the FL being a general, her journey and her view on some matters. But the speeches she gave sometimes? I honestly just wanted to fast-forward through them. They were so cliché it felt like I was watching a Disney show, and even Disney manages to be less on-the-nose about it now. The reactions of the men didn’t help either. I’m not asking for a misogynistic show, but come on… aside from maybe one general, and only temporarily, everyone just accepts everything so easily. It’s all so beautiful, so peaceful, so... unrealistic. Which is a shame, because the story had so much potential to explore those themes in a more grounded and satisfying way.
Some scenes also did not make much sense and felt cartoonish, especially some characters’ motivations, and even the ending.
That said, I still enjoyed myself overall!! The fight choreography was pure fire and they looked badass as hell. But it was definitely one of those shows where I had to turn off my brain to enjoy it, unfortunately.
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