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Failed at maintaining its steam
This BL is centred around Il Jo and Jeong
Han, cousins, engaged in a forbidden and toxic relationship. At first, I must admit I was invested in the story with its high level of toxicity, power imbalance in the relationship, and very hot scenes. The cocktail of "full-on overpowering toxic Chaebol" main lead and "Damsel in distress" main lead is quite a classic one but adding up that extra level of cousins forbidden love made it an entertaining mess !
However, past the halfway mark, the drama became more and more mundane with the story falling into the pit of many tropes and character archetype I usually dislike. Noble idiocy, miscommunication, one protagonist being a repulsive childish obsessive character, one being annoyingly meek...a lot of it ircked me and halfway point it got impossible for me to vibe with the romance. I also was disappointed in the lack of exploitation regarding the cousins aspect of their relationship. Instead of being a motor for angst and turmoil of feelings, it felt like a side gimmick. The characters were not acknowledging it in a way that made proper sense.
Acting-wise, it was a bit of a mixed bag. I was quite convinced by the chemistry but felt that the emotional scenes were lacking. Having said that, the actors were not helped by how caricatural the roles were written, so I will mainly blame the script for the moments that felt very flat to me.
Production-wise, it is very clear that budget was limited but it was good enough to convey the story. I enjoyed a lot the main opening/ending song of the soundtrack. It was emotional and raw, the beginning of the series was embodying it perfectly and I wish the scenario would have kept the relationship in this torturous zone, full of darkness and unhealthiness, instead of developing the romance in a very frustrating, run-of-the-mill way.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people because at the end, it just feel pretty mundane and frustrating to me. The way the characters behaved irked me too much to enjoy the relationship. However, I must admit if you are looking for a short steamy BL featuring a domineering bossy Chaebol, it is a good pick (at least in its first half that I found quite gripping). I guess I just was disappointed by how things turned out.
Han, cousins, engaged in a forbidden and toxic relationship. At first, I must admit I was invested in the story with its high level of toxicity, power imbalance in the relationship, and very hot scenes. The cocktail of "full-on overpowering toxic Chaebol" main lead and "Damsel in distress" main lead is quite a classic one but adding up that extra level of cousins forbidden love made it an entertaining mess !
However, past the halfway mark, the drama became more and more mundane with the story falling into the pit of many tropes and character archetype I usually dislike. Noble idiocy, miscommunication, one protagonist being a repulsive childish obsessive character, one being annoyingly meek...a lot of it ircked me and halfway point it got impossible for me to vibe with the romance. I also was disappointed in the lack of exploitation regarding the cousins aspect of their relationship. Instead of being a motor for angst and turmoil of feelings, it felt like a side gimmick. The characters were not acknowledging it in a way that made proper sense.
Acting-wise, it was a bit of a mixed bag. I was quite convinced by the chemistry but felt that the emotional scenes were lacking. Having said that, the actors were not helped by how caricatural the roles were written, so I will mainly blame the script for the moments that felt very flat to me.
Production-wise, it is very clear that budget was limited but it was good enough to convey the story. I enjoyed a lot the main opening/ending song of the soundtrack. It was emotional and raw, the beginning of the series was embodying it perfectly and I wish the scenario would have kept the relationship in this torturous zone, full of darkness and unhealthiness, instead of developing the romance in a very frustrating, run-of-the-mill way.
I would not necessarily recommend this to people because at the end, it just feel pretty mundane and frustrating to me. The way the characters behaved irked me too much to enjoy the relationship. However, I must admit if you are looking for a short steamy BL featuring a domineering bossy Chaebol, it is a good pick (at least in its first half that I found quite gripping). I guess I just was disappointed by how things turned out.
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