The main leads had amazing chemistry and I did enjoy the drama when they were on screen, but the rest BORED me to tears. I'm guessing the high rating is from 14yr old idol fans. There is a 2nd couple in this series who had even more screen time than the main leads (which I wasnt fond of), if you enjoy boring period dramas with multiple love stories, you might like it.
Dropped half way, even fast forwarding constantly couldnt save this drama.
Loved, loved, loved, loved the first 20eps (10/10), then the story falls off a deep cliff and burns (2/10). The…
Warning, deep spoilers below.
- Happy ending / Open ending - 20 secs before the end. I dont remember if she said yes, she'll go back to him, or if I just assumed that they were happy now, since they hugged and kissed. They had broken up earlier because she felt that they were too different, and because she couldn,t forget and forgive him for the hurt he caused. She was suppose to go to Paris for a year to study, so I assume she's still going alone, even though she will take him back as a lover, but they didnt discuss her decision or their issues of being "too different," only that he wants to take care of her for life and will be supportive and wait for her, then she hugs/kisses him - the end. It was a frustrating ending with too many issues left unresolved. Hug and kiss doesnt explain anything, sigh. The side characters get married, and yet the main couple didnt. He didnt even propose, wedding between them werent mentioned.
- This is NOT a love triangle, the 2ML in the picture dies early. - Kisses - 3 times, and not very good. - When they fall for each other? This is a slowburn, they're enemies first (he hated her at first), then became good friends, then ML falls in love first. I felt like the FL didnt have any romantic feelings for the ML until ep 16. I read that in the book things are very different, but I havent read it. - They become a couple, and he confesses his feelings around ep 20. I absolutely LOVED this series up to here.
- After ep 21: You get more scenes with the side characters (who cares about the side characters love life sigh), more side characters are introduced, and there is a complete meltdown of the main characters love. Its no longer felt like a romance series, instead the writers turned the series into a boring office James Bond drama. Also the ML pushes the FL away until ep 39, and she ends up chasing him, it was so pathetic! During this part, the FL is now barely in the episodes, and when she is, she was a man-chasing loser. Since the main characters arent spending any time together, and he's dating other women, I was confused about their relationship, are they even a couple now?
- The ML treats the FL like absolute shit "to protect her." He is very busy being James Bond, and the FL is an afterthought. Meaning he will never call her, reply to her call or text, even when she is sick he doesn't call. He also pretends to cheat on her, humiliating her further with his pretend affairs with other women publicly (his pictures with other women were shown in papers). He does this without communicating what he's up to with the FL, or consider her feelings, he's simply hurting her for 20 eps, and yet, she stands by him and acts like the biggest doormat, even when she sees evidence of him spending the night with his ex girlfriend . If you're a strong woman, you'll find yourself disgusted with her behavior, because ML really showed that she and her feelings werent important to him.
I also had an issue with the annoying bestfriend of the FL. If you catch your friends boyfriend on a date with another woman (cheating), you dont tell your friend she should fight for him. WTF..The worst friend ever! What you should do is tell your bestfriend to find someone better, and dump his ass! Because your friend deserves a better man! But this bestie is always telling her she should chase, call to check up on him, and fight for him. Right, because keeping a cheater should be every girls priority. *sarcasm*
He assumed in his arrogance that he could explain everything at the end, and she would forgive him like all his other women would've. He basically said, oh I'll just explain why he acted this and that way, and we'll be good again...what ego this guy had! So until he was done being James Bond to get his position back, she stood quietly by him. Then she left him when he accomplished his goal. I honestly thought the FL would continue to be a doormat until the end, or forgive him easily, but she found her spine from the earlier episodes and made him suffer for 2 eps. The last 2 eps felt like the writers from the earlier part came back, but unfortunately, I wasnt satisfied with that lame ending.
In the first 20eps, the FL, who is a strong, feisty, and a totally adorable reporter falls in love with a sweet doctor/2ML (get ready for loads of butterflies in your tummy feels). I felt like they were true soulmates, but unfortunately he dies in ep 6), and I was left devastated. The ML is the 2ML's bestfriend, someone who had always protected him growing up, so he was like his older brother. ML never liked the FL due to a misunderstanding- he found her drunk (but in the book apparently they had a one night stand, not in the show though), but he accepted her for the 2ML. After the death of the 2ML, because he promised the 2ML that he would care for her, ends up getting to know her better, and they fall in love. They were incredibly sweet with each other and there are a lot of hilarious moments during this phase.
After ep20 ML is in jail for 5 ep! The boring side characters take over the series, and the ML pushes the FL away and the she does all the chasing. It was just a huge cringe fest for me! Honestly, i wished the show had removed some of the parts where he's trying to get his position back, and filled it with the main couple being in a real relationship. I hated how the dead doctor was never mentioned in later parts, not once. Why wasnt there a single drop of guilt between them? That seemed unrealistic, that convo shouldve come up at least once between the couple.
The first part was a solid 10/10 for me, the rest I skipped around.
Loved, loved, loved, loved the first 20eps (10/10), then the story falls off a deep cliff and burns (2/10). The last 20/21 eps were a trainwreck, so boring and different that it felt like they had different writers. So I'll continue to re-watch the first part up to ep 20/21, then skip to ep 39~41. Will spoil in the below comment.
Another too-stupid-to-live, idiot FL that will annoy the heck out of you, this one can barely act and is running around in a terrible wig. Honestly, I wasnt feeling any chemistry between the 2 MC, ML script said he was in love with the dumb as a rock FL, but the way he looked at her said other wise. I thought that she had more chemistry with the 2ML. Cruel Romance was so much better. Dropping at ep 31.
(just FYI, if you're planning to watch this, although the version on YT has better image quality, it seems to be a cropped version with missing scene. Example stuff that happens on ep 25 on YT, doesnt happen until ep 28 on the Kissasian version. )
There is a 2nd couple in this series who had even more screen time than the main leads (which I wasnt fond of), if you enjoy boring period dramas with multiple love stories, you might like it.
Dropped half way, even fast forwarding constantly couldnt save this drama.
- Happy ending / Open ending - 20 secs before the end.
I dont remember if she said yes, she'll go back to him, or if I just assumed that they were happy now, since they hugged and kissed.
They had broken up earlier because she felt that they were too different, and because she couldn,t forget and forgive him for the hurt he caused.
She was suppose to go to Paris for a year to study, so I assume she's still going alone, even though she will take him back as a lover, but they didnt discuss her decision or their issues of being "too different," only that he wants to take care of her for life and will be supportive and wait for her, then she hugs/kisses him - the end. It was a frustrating ending with too many issues left unresolved. Hug and kiss doesnt explain anything, sigh.
The side characters get married, and yet the main couple didnt. He didnt even propose, wedding between them werent mentioned.
- This is NOT a love triangle, the 2ML in the picture dies early.
- Kisses - 3 times, and not very good.
- When they fall for each other? This is a slowburn, they're enemies first (he hated her at first), then became good friends, then ML falls in love first. I felt like the FL didnt have any romantic feelings for the ML until ep 16. I read that in the book things are very different, but I havent read it.
- They become a couple, and he confesses his feelings around ep 20.
I absolutely LOVED this series up to here.
- After ep 21: You get more scenes with the side characters (who cares about the side characters love life sigh), more side characters are introduced, and there is a complete meltdown of the main characters love.
Its no longer felt like a romance series, instead the writers turned the series into a boring office James Bond drama.
Also the ML pushes the FL away until ep 39, and she ends up chasing him, it was so pathetic!
During this part, the FL is now barely in the episodes, and when she is, she was a man-chasing loser. Since the main characters arent spending any time together, and he's dating other women, I was confused about their relationship, are they even a couple now?
- The ML treats the FL like absolute shit "to protect her."
He is very busy being James Bond, and the FL is an afterthought. Meaning he will never call her, reply to her call or text, even when she is sick he doesn't call.
He also pretends to cheat on her, humiliating her further with his pretend affairs with other women publicly (his pictures with other women were shown in papers).
He does this without communicating what he's up to with the FL, or consider her feelings, he's simply hurting her for 20 eps, and yet, she stands by him and acts like the biggest doormat, even when she sees evidence of him spending the night with his ex girlfriend .
If you're a strong woman, you'll find yourself disgusted with her behavior, because ML really showed that she and her feelings werent important to him.
I also had an issue with the annoying bestfriend of the FL. If you catch your friends boyfriend on a date with another woman (cheating), you dont tell your friend she should fight for him. WTF..The worst friend ever!
What you should do is tell your bestfriend to find someone better, and dump his ass! Because your friend deserves a better man! But this bestie is always telling her she should chase, call to check up on him, and fight for him. Right, because keeping a cheater should be every girls priority. *sarcasm*
He assumed in his arrogance that he could explain everything at the end, and she would forgive him like all his other women would've. He basically said, oh I'll just explain why he acted this and that way, and we'll be good again...what ego this guy had!
So until he was done being James Bond to get his position back, she stood quietly by him. Then she left him when he accomplished his goal.
I honestly thought the FL would continue to be a doormat until the end, or forgive him easily, but she found her spine from the earlier episodes and made him suffer for 2 eps.
The last 2 eps felt like the writers from the earlier part came back, but unfortunately, I wasnt satisfied with that lame ending.
In the first 20eps, the FL, who is a strong, feisty, and a totally adorable reporter falls in love with a sweet doctor/2ML (get ready for loads of butterflies in your tummy feels). I felt like they were true soulmates, but unfortunately he dies in ep 6), and I was left devastated.
The ML is the 2ML's bestfriend, someone who had always protected him growing up, so he was like his older brother. ML never liked the FL due to a misunderstanding- he found her drunk (but in the book apparently they had a one night stand, not in the show though), but he accepted her for the 2ML.
After the death of the 2ML, because he promised the 2ML that he would care for her, ends up getting to know her better, and they fall in love. They were incredibly sweet with each other and there are a lot of hilarious moments during this phase.
After ep20
ML is in jail for 5 ep! The boring side characters take over the series, and the ML pushes the FL away and the she does all the chasing. It was just a huge cringe fest for me!
Honestly, i wished the show had removed some of the parts where he's trying to get his position back, and filled it with the main couple being in a real relationship. I hated how the dead doctor was never mentioned in later parts, not once.
Why wasnt there a single drop of guilt between them? That seemed unrealistic, that convo shouldve come up at least once between the couple.
The first part was a solid 10/10 for me, the rest I skipped around.
I found a raw copy on Kissasian but its without eng subs. https://kissasiantv.la/info/flower-pinellia-2013
Cruel Romance was so much better. Dropping at ep 31.
(just FYI, if you're planning to watch this, although the version on YT has better image quality, it seems to be a cropped version with missing scene. Example stuff that happens on ep 25 on YT, doesnt happen until ep 28 on the Kissasian version. )