Psychological Drama not Romance
I will try my best to leave this review spoiler free but provide clear honest information about this drama. What I write today is different than my usual reviews. I am actually advising those who read this that To My Shore should come with trigger warnings but does not.
This was a very well-made drama. Writing was tight. Characterizations insanely good. Side characters were interesting, but none were sympathetic. Music better than average. If you like to watch someone mentally destroy himself and others, this is the drama for you.
As someone who has experienced forms of psychological abuse by a romantic partner, I would be remiss if I agreed with the tag that this was a romance. It was mental and emotional abuse.
The last 15 minutes of episode 15 was a romance…..the rest….not so much.
The remaining 99.5% of this show is all about how Fan Xiao seeks to draw You Shu Lang into his control. Yes, his original intentions were to break his heart and send him on his merry way.
What proceeds is Fan Xiao’s untreated psychological trauma creating a very unhealthy obsessive-compulsive situation. By episode 12, You Shu Lang realizes himself there is no escape from Fan Xiao’s destructive behavior unless one of them dies (no neither of them die).
I’ll be honest, the abusive relationship was so uncomfortable and triggering, I had to forward over some parts.
Fan Xiao was portrayed by Yun Qi and if he isn’t already clinically insane, he did a masterful job showing what mental illness looks like. According to this website, he is only 23 years old and has done little to no work before this. If you want to see how trauma and too much money can mess you up, watch To My Shore just for his characterization.
Hao Yi Ran played You Shu Lang, the much-tortured main character. He also did a fantastic job. I read another reviewer who had said You Shu Lang worked very hard to make himself small so no one would notice him. That description fits him nicely. You Shu Lang was not weak by any stretch of the imagination. He was a survivalist at heart. No money and no power means go small for survival.
I hated every other character that graced the screen in this show, not a single one had any redeeming qualities, nor were they fun in their “bad” behavior. Only the two leads were marginally sympathetic.
Was this a masterpiece? I don’t know. I hate psychological dramas because of my own past. Why did I keep watching? The two leads were that good in drawing me into their story.
Will I rewatch this?
Only the last 15 minutes.
Should you watch this?
Only if you are NOT triggered by mental and verbal abuse.
This was a very well-made drama. Writing was tight. Characterizations insanely good. Side characters were interesting, but none were sympathetic. Music better than average. If you like to watch someone mentally destroy himself and others, this is the drama for you.
As someone who has experienced forms of psychological abuse by a romantic partner, I would be remiss if I agreed with the tag that this was a romance. It was mental and emotional abuse.
The last 15 minutes of episode 15 was a romance…..the rest….not so much.
The remaining 99.5% of this show is all about how Fan Xiao seeks to draw You Shu Lang into his control. Yes, his original intentions were to break his heart and send him on his merry way.
What proceeds is Fan Xiao’s untreated psychological trauma creating a very unhealthy obsessive-compulsive situation. By episode 12, You Shu Lang realizes himself there is no escape from Fan Xiao’s destructive behavior unless one of them dies (no neither of them die).
I’ll be honest, the abusive relationship was so uncomfortable and triggering, I had to forward over some parts.
Fan Xiao was portrayed by Yun Qi and if he isn’t already clinically insane, he did a masterful job showing what mental illness looks like. According to this website, he is only 23 years old and has done little to no work before this. If you want to see how trauma and too much money can mess you up, watch To My Shore just for his characterization.
Hao Yi Ran played You Shu Lang, the much-tortured main character. He also did a fantastic job. I read another reviewer who had said You Shu Lang worked very hard to make himself small so no one would notice him. That description fits him nicely. You Shu Lang was not weak by any stretch of the imagination. He was a survivalist at heart. No money and no power means go small for survival.
I hated every other character that graced the screen in this show, not a single one had any redeeming qualities, nor were they fun in their “bad” behavior. Only the two leads were marginally sympathetic.
Was this a masterpiece? I don’t know. I hate psychological dramas because of my own past. Why did I keep watching? The two leads were that good in drawing me into their story.
Will I rewatch this?
Only the last 15 minutes.
Should you watch this?
Only if you are NOT triggered by mental and verbal abuse.
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