L13

I found the changes the show has made in adapting the source material so jarring I had to drop it after two episodes.

What I find most bothersome is that in the drama, Dou Zhao had a meaningful, indeed fateful, connection with Song Mo in her previous life, he DIED WITH HER—I can't believe they were pierced by the same arrow lmao, that's so cheesy!—and they were reincarnated together. That's total bullshit! What sold me on their romance in the novel was precisely the incidental origin of their relationship. We've all watched a hundred identical dramas about reincarnated lovers finding each other in every lifetime. What I want is a love story that blossoms between two worthy people who are each other's equal but live in completely different worlds until a chance meeting or coincidence brings them together, and the novel delivered exactly that. Dou Zhao had met Song Mo once in her previous life and had formed a complex impression of him but never paid him any mind because she had other problems to worry about.

And here we have a soothsayer monk telling them they're destined to be together, Song Mo dying to protect Dou Zhao, the arrow nonsense, Song Mo waking up from a dream he can't remember (which will no doubt start to come back to him in bits and pieces at some point and stimulate his interest in Dou Zhao, thus providing a convenient shortcut for their relationship development), etc. etc. etc. This is now a totally different story.

Separately from all that, the writing and direction are also just kinda bad. The editing, scene transitions and dialogue are all awkward like in a short-length webdrama.

I was really hoping this show would be good because while the novel sets up the story very well, it unravels in the second half in a way a TV adaptation could have corrected, but oh well.

The novel started out very good, but it dragged on too long and the leads became less likable after they got married because it felt like they started to go after people proactively instead of simply minding their own business and parrying they enemies’ attacks. I think the drama has a lot of potential as long as they are careful in adapting the latter half of the story.

That scene came AFTER he started paying more attention to her and falling for her for real.

Mhm, I was also thinking that because I've seen this exact plot twist in another webtoon of the same genre lol

I'm saying she wasn't particularly special for the last 20 years.

He was fond of her when they were children and chose to marry her instead of her sister when he learned she would be married off to a lecher otherwise, but nothing we've seen of their past suggests he ever went out of his way to "like" her, as in seriously consider her in a romantic light.

That's why the drama started with her abduction; that's what unsettled the status quo between the leads and triggered romantic development.

Well, he didn't dislike her, which doesn't mean he's been secretly in love with her this whole time.

I was distracted during the childhood flashback scene and missed Baek Sa-eon's backstory. When his mother told him to eat up because her son likes fish, what did she mean? I assume her biological son died and Sa-eon is not related to her, but then whose son is he? Was he born out of wedlock and then adopted by the official wife or is he totally unrelated to his parents (by blood, I mean)?

He tried to check it and it was wiped. The kidnapper must have done it before disappearing.

I thought the timeline changes were actually handled very well and were one of the strong points of the direction. The nonlinear narrative was an intentional choice and you weren't supposed to know exactly when everything was happening.

That said, it was obvious that the narrative *was* nonlinear. I guess people are mad because the show expects the viewer to process the content of the story and come up with their own inferences and interpretations instead of watching mindlessly?

The writing here is really excellent, so I have no idea what you're even talking about.

Seriously, this drama is so much better than people here are saying lol. I think the problem is that a bunch of horny women tuned in to watch what they thought was going to be The Actor from Goblin in A Business Proposal 2.0 (two of horny women's favorite dramas for some reason) and got a quiet romantic melodrama about middle-aged freaks instead.

The psychological nuance and the dialogue are so good, Inji is super cool, Jeongwon is a pathetic loser (sexy!), and Seoyeon is a grade-A psycho. Everything is working for me.

This drama is so much better than the comment section here suggests. I'm loving it so far. The romance just works, and everyone is an insane person, which is fun.

Obviously it was Seoyeon he had that conversation with, and when Inji called him he made a point of not saving her number and may have deleted his call history because he wanted nothing to do with her. These two plot points really aren't that confusing?

Uh, no, your child should be more important than your girlfriend, I’m afraid.

People are projecting a lot of emotions that have no basis in the story on this guy just because when he heard his arranged marriage partner wasn’t going to marry him, he asked for her sister instead…

After a certain point, the only thing that kept me watching was Tor's hotness TBH. The plot became a mess and the romance failed to develop fully. It felt like the leads' relationship remained unequal throughout, with Anong being a lot more affectionate and supportive than Wichai, even if he initially started out as the perfect love interest. I like that he remained true to his moral principles to the end and I understand why Anong was attracted to him (he's a good man + again, Tor looks amazing!), but the drama didn't show that he truly valued her, whereas she was always very generous with her affection.

That said, the final episode was good. I like that they took their time with the happy ending instead of wasting 45 minutes on more mother-in-law bullshit and only giving us a wrap-up scene or two in the final minutes, which is what I was afraid of. The way they handled it, by focusing on Anong and Wichai through the years instead of children, promotions, weddings, etc., went some way toward mitigating the issue I mentioned, by showing us that Wichai and Anong's relationship would only become deeper and warmer with time. I wish they could have put some of that development in the actual story, though...

It sounds like her mother married a rich man who adopted Hee-joo officially, but she continued to be treated as an outsider by his family, which is why they sacrificed her when her stepsister refused to go through with the political marriage.

The first episode was very trashy but fun lol. People need to open their third eye and see the vision.

"If you are investigated for misconduct, I'll take the blame for everything!"

Bitch, YOU ARE to blame for everything!!! It would make total sense for you to take responsibility for your own actions!!! You're not doing him a favor here!!!

Her martyr act after causing every single problem her children have faced in life drives me crazy lmao