Kowen22

I’m only halfway through Unchained Love, and honestly, I’m hoping it gets better because right now I’m pushing through simply because I have nothing else lined up to watch. I usually enjoy Dylan Wang’s dramas—he’s the best part of this one and he really carries every scene he’s in—but the writing for the other characters, especially the female characters, is rough.

The biggest issue for me is how unrealistically dumb they’re written. It’s that same old trope where the female lead constantly gets herself into trouble through her own arrogance, impulsiveness, or flat-out lack of awareness, and then the male lead has to swoop in and save her. I get that dramas aren’t supposed to be hyper-realistic, but her level of arrogance and recklessness is so over the top it pulls me out of the story. And her maid? Don’t even get me started—her character isn’t the funny, lovable kind of clueless; she’s the frustrating, eye-rolling kind.

I only gave this drama a chance because so many reviews hyped it up, but honestly, those reviews were misleading. Some of the plot choices are just bizarre. No imperial consort would be allowed to casually live with some random man, “eunuch” or not, and the way she behaves—as if she actually has choices or authority in front of the emperor—is just unrealistic to the point of irritating.

At this point, I’ll probably finish it just to see how it wraps up, but so far it’s nowhere near as good as people made it sound.