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This review may contain spoilers
Wasted potential.
Full disclosure: I made it until halfway through episode 10 before I called it quits. I started this drama having high hopes for a love story of a married couple whose relationship is on the verge of divorce, them rediscovering the reasons why they used to love each other, rediscovering their attraction to each other and then painfully working through the issues that tore them apart in the first place. By episode 10, the leads were divorced. Thus far they hadn’t any deep, vulnerable conversations about that went wrong in their marriage, they both spent the last 10 episodes doing the same dance of not communicating, having moments of attraction to each other, and then dismissing them and deflecting. Their scenes, although they started off good in the first couple episodes, quickly became repetitive - like a hamster wheel with no forward movement.
This story had so much potential. I would have loved to see the main leads figuring out together how to navigate her shitty family situation, with the ML from a small farming village, marrying a wealthy heiress, and then feeling trapped in this prestigious family who completely controlled his life, his job and their marriage. I would have loved to see more development on how the FL was drawn to this innocent, upright small town man who was far removed from the kind of life she lived, and to see more of that dynamic with the pressures she was under as the heiress to this major conglomerate. I would have loved to see them explore how she has to be ruthless and cold and distant in order to survive in her world, and with such a family that she had. I would have loved to see the leads process the loss of their child, how differently they each handled grief, and how their difficulties in grieving together and was what began creating that rift in their marriage. I would have loved more emphasis on her and her husband’s journey with her terminal cancer. I would have loved more dialogue, more of a character-driven story.
Instead, all of the elements that drew me to this show in the first place got swallowed up by a menagerie of less interesting, inconsistent side characters, side plots, and filler scenes with characters I didn’t give a shit about. Her powerful, controlling family turned into a joke. The FL’s cancer diagnosis as of episode 10 felt more like an afterthought, basically just accepted by the leads and not really emphasized much. Oh, but there was some psychopathic, possessive SML who cared more about the FL dying than her own spouse. Instead of open and honest communication with the leads, we had episode upon episode of refusing to communicate, misunderstandings, pushing each other away and basically nothing getting talked through or resolved.
Perhaps these issues would have been addressed in the last six episodes, but with the leads having maybe 10-15% of the total screen time in each other’s presence (and hardly satisfying scenes at that), the hope for more resolution and better development between them stopped being worth the other 85% of filler BS with all the other side shit going on.
The show should have stuck to the simplicity of a love story between these two complex people whose love for each other over the years has been impacted by grief, controlling in-laws, fame, social status, societal pressure and differences in socioeconomic backgrounds.
The two stars I did give were solely due to the great acting with the leads.
This story had so much potential. I would have loved to see the main leads figuring out together how to navigate her shitty family situation, with the ML from a small farming village, marrying a wealthy heiress, and then feeling trapped in this prestigious family who completely controlled his life, his job and their marriage. I would have loved to see more development on how the FL was drawn to this innocent, upright small town man who was far removed from the kind of life she lived, and to see more of that dynamic with the pressures she was under as the heiress to this major conglomerate. I would have loved to see them explore how she has to be ruthless and cold and distant in order to survive in her world, and with such a family that she had. I would have loved to see the leads process the loss of their child, how differently they each handled grief, and how their difficulties in grieving together and was what began creating that rift in their marriage. I would have loved more emphasis on her and her husband’s journey with her terminal cancer. I would have loved more dialogue, more of a character-driven story.
Instead, all of the elements that drew me to this show in the first place got swallowed up by a menagerie of less interesting, inconsistent side characters, side plots, and filler scenes with characters I didn’t give a shit about. Her powerful, controlling family turned into a joke. The FL’s cancer diagnosis as of episode 10 felt more like an afterthought, basically just accepted by the leads and not really emphasized much. Oh, but there was some psychopathic, possessive SML who cared more about the FL dying than her own spouse. Instead of open and honest communication with the leads, we had episode upon episode of refusing to communicate, misunderstandings, pushing each other away and basically nothing getting talked through or resolved.
Perhaps these issues would have been addressed in the last six episodes, but with the leads having maybe 10-15% of the total screen time in each other’s presence (and hardly satisfying scenes at that), the hope for more resolution and better development between them stopped being worth the other 85% of filler BS with all the other side shit going on.
The show should have stuck to the simplicity of a love story between these two complex people whose love for each other over the years has been impacted by grief, controlling in-laws, fame, social status, societal pressure and differences in socioeconomic backgrounds.
The two stars I did give were solely due to the great acting with the leads.
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