AnnV

Jing Tian, Zhong Chu Xi, or Guo Xiaoting as FL pretty please 🙏🙏

Love & Bid Farewell
if you like that drama then The Revenge of Begonia is another one with toxic ML.
I watched both but couldn't finish.

btw i have nothing against YZX. He's an versatile actor with outstanding skills, and he embraces and portrays his characters quite organically, with expressive gaze and sizzling chemistry. It's just that toxic and abusive characters trigger me, and worse they are romanticized and normalized in C-drama instead of being condemned. Just my personal opinion tho, I know people have vastly different tastes, and i choose to drop or not to watch those that have abusive leads.

gosh i dont get the disproportionate hate train towards FL. I dont remember there was that much hate when ML played the noble idiot. I couldn't complete any of YZX's dramas when he was in the role of an abusive psychopathic rapist. Hope he gets more similar scripts like this in the future, instead of all the nauseously enraging and artificially romanticized red flags.

thanks!

FL died too? Who died first btw? TIA :D

who died, may i ask?

haha true. I was mistaken, as commented above, so nw :v

well he fell in love and kissed and slept with someone else too why are you talking as if FL was the only one with an ex?

Started with a bang and then dropped with a resounding clang. The guy acts like a monumental insensitive jerk and the girl is a colossal pushover. The writer specialized in creating a myriad of frustrations and then left it unresolved.

ep4: ML stood watching in the dark as FL got slapped across her face by a scumbag and did absolutely nothing.
ep6: ML watched as FL got drowned and almost died during a gameshow and didn't show any sign of panic, only mild worry at that, as if she merely take a dip. After that he came over to her and mocked her decision to join the show as pathetic, then he watched as FL stomped away in frustration and anger.

ep8: I don't know how many times ML stood by doing nothing as he watched FL walked away in anger already. He stood her up on a date twice. First time due to a car crash and second time due to his memory blackout after they met again 3 years later. But ML always refused to explain his reason and yes you can guess that he watched as she stomped off feeling upset and disappointed (what a great way to prolong the show!). Meanwhile he didn't seem to be bothered that much, only a few sigh here and there without any remedy to his action; and she always let it slide thanks to a mere sentence he wrote on her script telling her to stop being angry. The next thing is that he confessed and kissed her because he suddenly regained his memory. And tada, they're together without further ado. No explanation needed. As if nothing ever happened. As if you're driven into near climax and then bestowed a blue ball upon.

I end up rooting for their official breakup because i can't stand how he treats her and how she always caves in for him, and then what i get is a convenient copout. The writer cranked up my vexation to the maximum so i expected that i'd get equal return in angsty level, but nope, there's nothing of the sort. They just left it at that, frustration and dissatisfaction, bonus an empty feeling after his scripted confession and kiss, which looks good but doesn't feel that good comparing to the beginning anymore. So i decided to cut my loss and drop this show.

That said, their chemistry and the kisses were on fire though. Acting-wise the casts did their best with what they're given, although ML failed to convey his struggle of losing memory of someone important, and more importantly the guilt, the remorse, the pain and regret of hurting her so much, and the sincerity of wanting to be together with her. In my impression he's a nonchalant self-entitled prick who's insensitive to FL's hardship and likes to unintentionally hurt her without feeling much of a guilt, after which he would throw money at her as an apology since that's what she can't refuse out of poverty. As for FL, she's charming enough that i don't hate her being a damsel and pushover.

I suggest watching this for the chemistry, not the plot, unless you wanna feel like murdering the scriptwriter for butchering the leads' character. Skip-watch it for the amazing steamy kisses on ep 1,6,8,9,10,12,13,15,16. Lastly, I really hope this pair can reunite in another drama with a better script that respects the viewers' intelligence.

i dropped Unchained Love partly because of that reason.
PS: oh yeah i missed that bit. I guess that's probably why.
Speaking of, WXY's kiss technique doesn't improve in his recent drama (The Double). Either that his kissing skill sucks so bad that they'd rather censor all of them, or those were simply virginised (not sure if that's a word) as the drama-makers see fit. So yeah there goes my pipe dream of his steamy kisses... His acting surely makes up for that though. I pray his upcoming drama doesn't suffer the same fate.

Well I wish someday the censorship board or whoever in charge of censoring the kiss scenes would explain their decision for doing so... But my guess is that they decided that age gap is a thing so they scrapped the scene to avoid public outcry, which ofcourse backfired and resulted in more public outcry because we romance junkies needs those kisses. That said i still don't understand why people make such a big fuss over age since the 2 leads were both adults over 24 y.o for god's sake.

let us pretend that the leads had the steamiest kisses, so steamy that it cannot pass censorship and now we are left with nothing but a wild dream....

Is that all? Are there any in 2023 and prior?

name the last kdrama you watched where the ML is not a virgin and FL is a virgin? --> The Atypical Family, Call It Love

I don't see that many dramas with experienced FL and inexperienced ML either, since I can't name any off the top of my mind. I don't think there's a significant imbalance/disproportion between virgin ML and virgin FL in kdramaland. But I understand that people have vastly different tastes, and following an ongoing drama might result in disappointment and frustration should that drama includes the trope that you are not fond of. That's why I never start watching until it's finished airing lol. But that's just me.

i really don't get the hate against virgin ML. What's wrong with being a virgin? :/

lousy writing but on-point chemistry. FL is a damsel with all bark and no bite, and she's constantly being in need of ML's saving. She talks big but has no ability to fulfill any of them, and fortunately she has ML backing her up and saving her every time she's in trouble, which she constantly is.

That said, I hope she and ML continue to be casted together in another project with better writing cuz damn they can showcase that tension quite well.

Hopeless romantics in modern drama? That would be hard. But I can think of:
1. Because of Love (2022): ML was traumatised and resented FL as he thought she abandoned him because of money. They got separated and met 7 years later, and turns out he still waits for her to return despite his harsh words and nonchalant facade. Brace your heart for some real angst. (#star-crossed_lovers, #lovers_separated, #steamy_kiss, #angst).

2. Incomparable Beauty (2023): FL resented ML who left her amidst his business crisis. He returns some years later to win her back, but this time she rejected him. (#lovers_separated, #steamy_kiss)

3. Falling Into You (2022): best puppy love in cdrama imo.

4. The Love Equations (2020): light-hearted romance with mild-angst on later arc.
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You can check out my favs here: https://kisskh.at/list/32AzRYOL
and here: https://kisskh.at/list/1VKydQmL

Romance buildup is not convincing. ML spent 20 years stubbornly refusing to admit his feelings in his past life, not even showing jealousy when FL is with 2ML, being nonchalant about FL's health and wellbeing, not even showing anguish upon hearing her death. Yet I'm supposed to believe he loved her all this while? And then he, an uncaring 40-y.o husband, somehow abruptly changed into a super jealous and childlike ML in this life... I don't buy it.

This drama completely avoids some dark subjects concerning war brutalities (namely rape, torture, massacre) and barely touches some prevalent causes of death (famine, epidemics), and if you have watched documentaries about those war crimes/atrocities prior to watching, this depiction would feel quite light-hearted. But i guess those themes would be too heavy for the general audience and thus not conducive to its rating and viewership, hence the censorship.

That said, it's worth a watch for being very engaging and palatable with well-crafted characters who has no plot armors, and a cliche-free plot that doesn't try to conceal some of the societal flaws. The best part of this show is hands down Junshan with his solid and multi-dimensional character portrayal. I got so emotionally invested and immersed that i forgot he's fictional. Some parts concerning Xiang Jiang's stupidity are quite vexing to watch, but once that's over the story gets rolling again. Cinematography is superior compared to other cdramas of its time. Highly recommended if you're in the mood for some real-life deaths and tragedy.

When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kON9fn01rUQ
The lyrics encapsulate this drama perfectly (╥╯⌒╰╥)