isabitcliche

This is probably the worst drama I've ever watched. I was going to give it four stars to be reasonable but yk what fuck that. we are giving it one star. I'm not even going to pretend otherwise.
I don't think I'm in the right headspace to sit here and dissect all the good parts of this drama. Because at the end of the day I'm watching a drama to feel something, to have a good experience. And this? This has been one long exercise in frustration. a drama is supposed to make me feel things. GOOD things. not whatever the hell this was.
what bothers me the most is that somewhere along the way i subconsciously started rooting for the original leads to end up together. I don't think it was because I thought they were perfect for each other (clearly not) but because of everything they had shared. Years of love, care and attachment don't just exist in a vacuum. you can't simply get rid of all of that with two years of ~healing~ (I mean you can, technically but we're collectively going to pretend otherwise for the sake of this review)where the hell do you take this much love and history and just leave it behind dude? There was something about their relationship that made me want them to find their way back to each other.
their final day together was essentially closure for their relationship. that's what it was supposed to be. I understand that letting go was probably the healthier, more mature decision. I understand why they needed to move on. That's how you do things right? Well clearly someone didn’t like it….who could it be?? Do I look like I want you guys to be healthy and mature? I don't want you to let go of each other tf. be miserable and together.
but to my unpleasant surprise the leads eventually end up with the second leads. which, fine. maybe that's the right decision for them. I can acknowledge that without having to enjoy watching it happen. It's not even that I dislike the second leads. I actually like most of these characters individually (with the obvious exception of the sml who is a capital D bag). But put them together as couples and it's like watching a clash of atoms that are being forcibly fused together. The result is an explosion. of my brain cells.
But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg because the bigger devil was the sheer lack of clarity. For almost the entire series, the original leads remain frustratingly ambiguous about their feelings and where they stand with each other. Secrets, half conversations (tf do people go quiet after dropping bombs in dramas ugh), unresolved feelings, and so much emotional back and forth. And for what? If we take the last episode out of the equation, was there even ONE moment when these people weren't being ambiguous about their relationship? WHY ARE WE HIDING EVERYTHING FOR GOD'S SAKE? Aren’t we the viewers supposed to atleast know what’s going on? Where exactly are you going being this ambiguous broski come back and clear up what you felt during that kiss man.
Every ep you're waiting for someone to just SAY SOMETHING. To actually address what's happening. Btw they do address so much of fl’s emotions but the ml is our precious pushover isn’t he. So why would he spill the beans. You're practically hanging on to every episode wondering, ok did we finally get some answers? And what do you get? Another episode of ragebait that's seemingly just there to justify the title of the drama. “a love other than yours”. Yeah fuck that.
I suppose keeping viewers hooked until the very end is a successful strategy. Congratulations to the writers ig. But there's a difference between creating anticipation and making your audience feel like they're being held hostage by a series of unresolved conversations. It's great for marketing but disastrous for likeability. And I genuinely don't know how many people enjoyed that experience, although I'm sure some did. The point is, people are pissed.
And then there's the fl. God I am so disappointed with what they did with her character.
I might lose most of you here but aside from the cheating, I actually think she's a good person. Woah woah woah easy with the pitchforks there. she makes some pretty terrible decisions, but I never thought she was fundamentally a bad person. I was willing to understand her, even when I disagreed with her actions. Which is why I'm so heartbroken that the writers actually made her cheat. It almost feels as though they wanted to make sure the audience had a reason to hate her. Well congratulations. You have successfully succeeded.
And I don't mean that female characters should be protected from making terrible decisions. Quite the opposite. I want women to be allowed to be selfish and messy and sometimes downright unlikeable. But I also want them to be given the same narrative attention and consideration as their male counterparts.
As a woman i get frustrated when I see female characters being sidelined in their own stories. Where is her career? Where is her ambition? Where is the rest of her life outside of these men? And where is her boyfriend who isn't a D bag for once? Why does her entire emotional existence seem to revolve around understanding, accommodating and consoling the ML? Sometimes I genuinely wonder if the writer has some kind of personal vendetta against her and is actually writing her love rival.
Because I'm someone who subconsciously roots for fls. I love my women bro. I want to see them win. I want to see them have lives, ambitions and storylines that don't constantly revolve around some man. And I just cannot stand these writers doing them wrong.
Because that's another thing that bothered me. She is constantly expected to understand him, to make sense of his feelings, to be patient with him and to console him. Meanwhile he seems content to sit there and listen and nod along (every single ep btw). Bro I get it. You're the victim. But why is it that in practically every single scene I'm watching the fl console the heck out of the ml? Why is she always the one doing the emotional heavy lifting? Why does she have to be understanding of practically everything he does while we barely get the same consideration in return? Because im going to be the girl who cried ml isn’t entirely innocent either. He did do some deeds that were out of line with sfl before the cheating happened. Idk for someone in a relationship you need to set your boundaries straight. Even tho im all for protecting and respecting every woman and having opposite gender friends. But im not up for whatever they had going on.
hoenstly the last episode actually felt like these characters had finally grown up. But other than that one ep, every single one ep was just testing my patience. There were so many interesting things this drama could have explored tbh, so many directions it could have taken these characters. But I ended up watching people repeatedly fail to communicate while their romantic relationships consumed practically every other aspect of their lives. Plus so much complexity and jumbled emotions for an infidelity plot. It’s such a shame.
Maybe I've gone a little haywire with this review. maybe I'll come back to it when I'm less pissed off and realise I've been unnecessarily dramatic. maybe I'll even delete this once I've calmed down. But the one star is NOT coming down.
I voluntarily put myself through this every week and somehow ended up watching a drama that managed to make me this invested and this miserable at the same time. I understand what it was trying to do. I understand why the characters made the decisions they did. I can even acknowledge that the leads ending up with the second leads might have been the right decision.
But do I like it? Absolutely fucking not.
I just fucking hated watching it. I don’t think I need further justification for why I don’t like it.