This review may contain spoilers
This drama is not for the weak hearted
Before I say anything, I wanna mention that I already wrote an entire review when I was on episode 26. I think I wrote down at least 7 things I didn’t like and they were entire paragraphs too… Now I just finished the series like 20 minutes ago and I am only left with 1 of those 7 points. The only negative thing I have left to say about this series is the following:In the story they made use of a lot of magical terminology of course. Some things they do not explain, they just throw it in there, suddenly certain characters possess a new power that is never explained, but this is common in historical cdrama’s so that’s not even my point. Sometimes it’s clearly stated that a certain character can not do a certain action. For example in the very first episodes the FL herself declared she couldn’t fly because she was now in a mortal body. Then some episodes later she suddenly can, like??? I just wish they would be a little bit more consistent with these kind of things. I know this is normal for cdrama’s but I had higher expectations since this drama is from 2023.
So what did I like…..
- The rest of the story: In my first review, I had mentioned several times that the story wasn’t well excecuted, I take all of that back, everything was planned perfectly and fell right into place, even though 70% of the story was just pure sadness, it was all necessary. Precisely because of that, the romance hit even harder. This might have been the most edging enemies to lovers I have ever watched. It was so painful and frustrating to watch to the point that it was so good, the angst… the angst guys….
- What really carried through for me was the ML, I felt so so so much pity for the ML, he is so loveable and seeing him getting mistreated, it really does do something to you as a viewer. If it was possible to make a list of your favorite characters on MDL, I would definitely put Tantai Jin in my top 3.
- The side couple was also very good. I always see people saying that they enjoyed the side couple more than the original ones in a lot of drama’s but I never agree because I find them pretty boring. I can’t say that I enjoyed the side couple of this cdrama more than the original couple BUT this is the first time I actually really enjoyed all of the screen time of the side couple and wished I could have even seen more of them.
- Screentime distribution: what I loooooved also is that there was no unnecessary screen time for the side characters and the side story. The amount of screen time the antagonist had was minimalized to the perfect amount. The reason why I usually can’t binge series is because of the screen time mostly, I want to see as much of the protagonists/leads as possible and you saw a lot of it in this cdrama.
- Make up and clothes were phenomenal, I saw a review that said it was too much but I think it was perfect.
Side notes
- Tissue rate: 5/5 this story was so sad guys, I can’t even explain how it broke me mentally, I was constantly tearing up and cried multiple times because of the constant miscommunication and the pain that was portrayed, the acting was really good. Tantai Jin's character was executed perfectly. I have never in my life seen a character that was THIS devoted to his lover, just because of that fact I cried 3 times in episodes 29. Its disgustingly good how much it hurts.
- Binge rate 5/5 unexpectedly I found myself wanting to binge everything, I was up several nights until 4am…. Usually I always dread watching the last episodes of any drama because it gets so predictable and boring, but with this drama I purposely postponed watching the last 2 episodes because I just didn’t wanna finish it and I wasn’t ready for the heart ache that was to come.
- Emotional damage rate 5/5 yeah….. I will just laugh this one off.
This cdrama has left me mentally devastated and abused. I need to be in intensive care for at least 5 days with 24/7 supervision to even have a chance to recover from this. Additionally to that, I think I need to be admitted to a psychiatric ward for 3 days, surrounded by specialists, just to be able to function even slightly normally again in society.
- I have rated several dramas with a 10, they were all great obviously (hence the 10) but I’d forget about it after a month because they did not have that wow factor that makes me reminisce about it. I just finished TTEOTM but I think I will keep thinking of this drama for a long time, it definitely had an impact on me and therefore a special place. It was truly bittersweet and probably the most tragic love story I have ever watched. I even cried myself to sleep once, I think it was after episode 29.....
- Favorite episodes: 35 and 40
Bawled my eyes out in episode 40 from 39:29 till 41:00. The music (Immortal bird) in this specific scene was my favorite soundtrack from the whole series. It was the perfect choice for this scene and enhanced everything all the more.
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Highly recommend this cdrama
I saw this title coming across on my tiktok for some time and saved it in my 'plan to watch'.When I finally started watching it, I didn't quite get the hype around it, that was until I watched episode 5.
The first 4 episodes are mainly backstory and didn't really captivate me, but after those episodes the 'revenge' arc started and I was immediately hooked.
It has 40 episodes in total and I might have almost watched 20 episodes in one sitting....
With most drama's, I get very bored towards the end because you can already fill in on what is going to happen because it is pretty cliche, I don't wanna say that The Double is not cliche, it kind of is, but the story is still very captivating, so much so that it left me very excited to watch the last episodes, which I can't say for most drama's.
Overall, I enjoyed this drama very much and I think it would be a perfect starter if you just got into cdrama's.
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