Noctis

Oh man, the moral puzzle.. A lot of people are viewing the drama in very black and white terms.. All they seem to focus on is the intimacy, the toxic words exchanged and he is wrong, she is wrong, things like that.. While overlooking that the story itself is far more complex than that.. I understand that it is easier to just slot them into ' he is toxic, she is the victim ' or vice versa, but come on, the writing doesn't allow us to do that.. The writing, the script, honestly that is the backbone here.. Luan Nian and Shang Zhi Tao are not the perfect couple nor are they without their own issues.. One was arrogant and the other was insecure.. Both of them were not perfect.. And I think that is the entire point that keeps getting missed in the noise around this show..

The writing is so good that every argument between them feels so well written that I feel they have pulled off something even better than an actual villain.. Because there is no real villain here.. Just two people with their own flaws, insecurities and baggage, slowly bringing out the worst in each other..

Calling the ML a red flag would actually be being nice to him.. He was such an arrogant prick.. In any other drama, this exact character would be the second lead who gets rejected by episode 14.. If he had just kept his mouth shut whenever he got angry or upset, half of their problems would have never existed..

I found that quite a lot of people are blaming the ML and rightly so.. He deserves all the criticism.. I am just surprised that people have already decided that he is the bad guy and she is the pure white angel.. But that’s not really the case is it?? As the relationship goes deeper, she gets so lost in her insecurities.. She too contributes heavily to the outcome of their relationship..

Look at their relationship.. 6 years?? She won't stay over, won't move in, meets only on weekends.. Keeps him at arm's length from her flatmates who are clearly like her family in every way that matters.. While he is just the boyfriend, contained to a very specific box in her life.. She doesn't tell him what's going on in her life, hides almost everything, lies and lies.. Alright, you don't want him in the same room as your friends and flatmates, but why would you not introduce him as your BF to your Ex?? She doesn't tell her Ex that she has moved on or that she has a BF.. If she had told him she had a BF, would he have stayed the night in her room?? She could have avoided that whole embarrassing situation..

The ML introduced her to his friends and I guess he expected her to do the same.. You can see that in all those years of being in a relationship, she never really considered him family.. I am not saying she didn't love him but for her, her flatmates were family, but not him.. That was pretty clear..

Why didn't she tell him about that Dony guy incident?? She had already planned to make it public and take him down, so why didn't she tell her BF, who was also her boss?? He could have helped her.. At the very least, why keep something that serious completely hidden from him when he literally asked her??

More importantly, why didn't she tell him about her friend's death?? Honestly, I can't think of a single reason for her not to tell him.. Not one..

These are not script issues, because the character writing here is peak.. It's showing you someone who loves someone but has never once let him all the way in.. Simply put, she never made room for him.. All the frustration and anger we feel is the script doing its job..

She says ' If the other person doesn't trust you, nothing you say will matter.. ' Girl, the irony is that you are the same too.. You never gave him a reason to trust you blindly.. You just do things, hide things, lie and expect him to be okay with it.. Like, she goes out with her ex for lunch, reminisces about their old times, hugs him, but when she hears that the ML is having dinner with his Ex (which he just made up) she is pissed..

And then, all of a sudden she goes to him and starts talking about marriage.. Not because she actually wants to get married or anything but because her friend is getting married.. And the idea of marriage sounded good to her.. How does that work?? You both are literally having problems, a cold war is going on and there are so many things you need to talk about.. Instead of actually having a conversation about what is going on between you two or resolving the issues you already have, you jump straight to marriage?? Again, she just expects him to like it, accept it and go along with whatever she wants.. You didn't even agree to live with him or introduce him to your ex or anyone for that matter and you expect him to just rush into marriage with you??

"I thought our fourth year being together would mean something deeper than when we first dated."

How can it be deeper when after all this time, he is still just a BF who exists within those four walls.. If you had introduced him to your ex that day, this whole thing might have been different.. The ML stated his concerns and wanted her to think it through, because all he sees is someone who loves him but for whatever reason, doesn't want to involve him in any other part of her life..

The ML here is much softer compared to the original novel.. Like they toned him down on purpose to make him more acceptable.. If they wanted the same effect as the novel, they shouldn't have done it, because here we are forced to look at her flaws too now.. Luke was always trying to be there for her.. There are a lot of things he did that showed us the effort he put in for her.. But when you look back, you don't really see her doing much for him.. The effort she put in and the effort he put in were entirely one sided.. Don't tell me that's the bare minimum, because that's not.. And even if it is, we don't see the bare minimum from her side, at all.. She never made him her priority..

The drama simply deserved more episodes.. 28-30 would have been perfect.. The Harbin arc was so rushed.. If there were more episodes, we could have seen quite a lot more.. I would have loved it even more if they hadn't cut his smoking scenes, it fits the character so well.. I also wish they had kept the part from the novel where she travels from Harbin to Beijing for him.. Now that was her effort and several of the things she did for him in the relationship were just cut.. That's disappointing..

I am not going to talk about anything else.. I don't want to make this any longer than it already is.. Here's the thing people keep missing when they try to crown one of them the villain.. Luke and Flora were never a perfect couple.. They both came in with their own baggage, their own insecurities and their own trust issues and there are entire stretches of this drama where both of them handle things badly.. They hurt each other.. They say things they shouldn't.. They make bad situations worse instead of better.. But that's also what makes this story so exciting.. Watching them navigate this not so perfect relationship, with all their flaws, mistakes and everything that comes with it..

I rated this 8.5.. 8 for the story and Jing Bo Ran and Sun Qian.. 0.5 for Luke, the Dog...

P.S. Let's not pretend that Luke would actually stand a chance with her without all this drama and Flora with a green flag?? Yeah, no.. Not her cup of tea..