BTSFT123

omg. i literally was only up to ep 25 when i wrote this. cant believe since thene at ep 30 theres been a flood, a princess in love with the ml calling him gege and a flowering viewing party LOLLLLLLLL I can't

omgggg i forgot some other details. so just as everythings fine, a plague breaks out and everyone in teh city is dying so they block the city off but hte fl goes anyway and just puts a cloth around her mouth and starts treaing people with a wet rag on their face and then they lock the city so no one can get out, and then they realise theres a cure but either its some random plant up a mountain the ml needs to journey to, or its a herb that the rich merchant is keeping stock of so they need to break into his house wearing all black and then they finally get it to the city and everyone is saved but the fl gets the virus and is on deaths door and you think shes gonna die but the next morning she wakes up thanks to the ml's friend who lives in teh mountain and plays with scorpions and isnt a doctor but a "poison expert" and she has this magical cure that cancels out the virus (also at the risk at death) and she begrudgingly saves her because she hates people and only tolerates the ml cause shes in love with him, but her snake potion works and the ml chooses the fl anyway, so then they say bye and go back to the capital because the new king is like 5 years old and is being manipulated by his evil uncle but actually he was just pretending to be manipulated because its all the ml and the kings plan cause theyre brothers for lyfe and when teh uncle tries to stage a coup they go SYKE and surround him with soldiers holding spears. the end.

i mean, there are some unique points in destined (Which id hope when youve got 40 eps of storyline) but like, cue drought, cue locusts, cue refugees from other places that pour into the city and go crazy over ml/fl entering with some bread, they give one person some bread, the rest attack, they realise that one bread wont solve it, the rufugees finally get some soup kitchen thing, a scheming guy hires people to complain about the quality of the soup kitchen food and cause chaos, the fl/ml uses some smart deductive reasoning to prove theyre scammers, the public are just npcs that agree with whoeever shouts loudest in teh crowd, the ministers are corrupt and stealing the grain, ml goes and gets the grain somehow, main guy leads army without any experience of being a general???? yes hes an amazing martial artist, but thats different to commanding an army (other shows have done this better where the main guy grew up as a soldier or has experience somewhere, but i felt destined did this badly), cue evil minister with shitty no-good son who picks fights with ml for no reason and is either a horrible person or just niave, cue next political issue of pirates or when things are getting boring, time to go the capital city! where everyone is more mean and cares about status and the girl gets invited to a flower viewing party and a princess is there and hates her probs cause she was engaged to the ml at some point, and now the foreign tribal prince is coming, cue AYAYAYA music and hair braids and hes brought his annoying brat sister who has a whip and all the posh people are like "ah, uncivilised plains people" and they also kind of act like that to by putting their feet up when they sit on a chair and eating meat aggresively, and the princess also falls in love with the ml or if shes a girlboss type, she runs away and gets lost in teh main city and now we have to find her before the foreign prince realises shes missing and declares war, but they find her in time. and now htey have a banquet and the prince suggests an arranged marriage but hes actually scheming up something. oh, theres also probs some borderland general whos been keeping some other country at bay but the general has just died and now the borders are vulnerable so they have to go along with the arranged marriage for the COUNTRYYY. im lowkey just tired....

same... the thing is, destined is telling these types of events in really high quality but because ive seen them in past dramas (and even at a worse quality) im still kind of like, ive seen this all before. it sucks cause it would have been nice if Destined was my first political cdrama, but ive just seen too many. tropes below incase of spoilers:

why in the battle of wangdong is the ml dressed in the same colours as the enemy soldiers?? its so confusing. his side wears black, so they couldve just made his armour unique so he still stands out. im so confused by this costume decision.

the ml actor is really good in romantic scenes

ep 17: paner is really starting to annoy me. she does all this planning and scheming but whenever he dismisses their relationship to protect her in front of people she gets all huffy and puffy, like she doesnt know that his supervisor sent out that warrant for him in the beginning????? like clearly he's doing that so that she doesn't become a target?? she probs has more protection once shes actually his wife, but until then, she's basically powerless against these people. plus, he doesnt need to make his weakness so obvious. she's written so weirdly.

i wish they hadnt cut bits of their first couple interactions. the ml goes from completely indifferent to infatuated with her very quickly. I was really happy they didnt have an instalove type of deal and was looking forward to seeing how this one-track minded official starts to actually care about something else aka her. from what i can guess, it happens on the boat and when her friend was unconcious, but a lot of scenes seem to be cut out. that honestly makes me so mad because now the pace is slowing down, spending 30min on battling the 12 guild guy with dice and poems. im glad cdramas have cut down episodes so that storytelling is the main priority, but for the dramas already produced, its such a waste. really dissapointed.

was this drama cut down to 40 eps. seems we're missing pieces of their interactions, which sucks because the story is really unique so far (ep9) high quality, unique locations and i like both the characters. i can feel the pace slowing down now but....

yes, this scene in particular stood out to me. hes so good at acting so tortured.

doomed soul is a perfect way to describe him. like some kind of inevitable sadness or tragedy.

justice for shen jinhong!!! wow, my favourite character. he was such a tortured character from beginning to end. why did he have to fall for that evil woman, but that woman is also the one that saved him in the beginning. I WISH she would have used his death and turned back to good, like please, just let him have that, but no. she was too stubborn. his acting was so good and really, the first half of the drama i was loving the unrequited love story between the mourning princess and his loyal self, but then all the revelations happen, and i dont know whats more tragic. that in the end he couldnt support her but still wanted to protect her. i really feel so much for this character.

i am so confused about the princess??? prince chen would be a good ruler so why doesnt she want him to rule? is she evil? seems she was fighting for justice but now i dont understand her motives?

ep27:

yeah, he plays a ceo you cant hate. its cause hes not actually a jerk, he's just a workaholic/serious about his job

right?????? ive seen his past dramas, but this one, i was geniuinely moved by his character in this drama. it was a perfect casting. he plays the lonely older brother so well

LOLLLLLL i rewatched it multiple times. they shoudlve kept this vibe through the whole show

honestly, the fl in the first half is really funny XD and his reactions too haha

Can I say the ml actor did such a great job with some of the crying and emotional scenes, plus surprisingly, he does puppy dog eyes very well during the more loving moments. Honestly you wouldn't expect it with his cold-ceo look, but he's really good at the slapstick comdey parts too XD

the crazy brother storyline is something new? glad they revelaed it slowly. I kind of like how the ml struggled with being a father to him while also trying to be his own person. It's interesting that in the end, what saved his brother was not them working out their misunderstandings (which is what id thought would happen) but the older father-figure stepping in and taking him in. it's kind of nice change of pace. the ml is still young, doesn't know how to raise his brother (who is honestly, a piece of work for his age) and only a wise master like that guy could probs deal with him LOL. I liked the premise of the story with the 3 brothers too. i also liked the 3 "triplet" secretaries so funny XD. The relationship dynamics were quite fresh in this show.