K-Drama 
This review may contain spoilers
They blew it
I'm sure many people will praise this series (the rating is very high), so if you want to read what's great about it, read other reviews. I will talk about why I dropped it near the end, and won't bother watching ep 23&24 (the finale) after seeing the preview.
So first, let's be honest: those characters are cliche. We have the good, naive, weak guy and the ruthless killer/tough mercenary. Nothing new under the sun. But since they did a fabulous job with the whole apocalyptic plot, there are a lot of things happening that create tension between those characters and gerat conflicts.
So we have different story arcs. First story arc: Lin Zai saves a wounded A Leh. They build trust slowly, you can feel the affection growing. Second story arc: Relationship changes completely since A Leh is now a kidnapper, and Lin Zai the victim. There is a lot of tension, lost trust, Lin Zai wants to run away, A Leh is very rough towards him. Third story arc: they get closer again, they talk, we get passionate love making. Until then everything was fine, and the series was brilliant. But then the last story arc ruined it all.
SPOILER! If you don't want to ruin your fun STOP READING.
So ... what happened? Lin Zai didn't want A Leh to know about him participating in the experiment to save his brother. His solution? Pushing A Leh away, breaking up with him and hurting him badly. And A Leh was hurt very badly. He was desperately trying to change and make this relationship work, he was willing to do everything, he was crying in his car. It was heart breaking. Most likely, Lin Zai was the first person to love him and be with him – and Lin Zai pushed him away. He said a lot of hurtful things, and even though, as a viewer, I got angry at Lin Zai for being stupid, unfair and weak, I have to admit he had a point. There was truth in his words. They had a lot to unpack and communicate to make this relationship work. But what did the writers do? They almost killed Lin Zai, and when he woke up again, he was like: Nah, I didn't mean any of it.
So what's the problem with this?
1) Lying to A Leh, hurting him just to push him away was very immature and questionable behavior of Lin Zai. Makes you think what kind of person he really is, and how he solves problems. He was feeling bad about it, but at the same time he was whining about himself not being able to let go. It was all about him and his brother and not about A Leh. Seeing his brother in this state was traumatizing for sure. So even though I disliked Lin Zai's behavior, it was a very tough situation with no easy solution.
2) Why did he even do it? After the near death experience he was suddenly very open and told A Leh the truth. A Leh's reaction? "Baby, I will help you and be a good and supportive boyfriend." WTF? They should have at least argued about it, since it was obvious at this point, the research can kill Lin Zai. So in a logical world with logical characters A Leh should have been even more against it now, since there is real danger, and only after Lin Zai desperately making his wishes, fears and hopes clear, he should have agreed to support him. But that didn't happen.
3) Imagine being A Leh. Just for a moment. There is this guy you really love, and he puts you through hell and back emotionally –just because he thought that's necessary (which it wasn't). Do you trust such a guy? A guy that hurts you on purpose, lies to your face with those cold eyes? Do you feel safe with him or are you like A Leh: "Baby, now we are together again, I'm so happy!" This makes honestly no sense that they suddenly are lovey dovey, everything is forgiven, and the ruthless mercenary is now the cooking husband who has to care for his sick boyfriend like good mother. Honestly, their honeymoon phase seems so awkward to me after everything that happened between them. It just doesn't fit the mood of the story. It's like a quick solution. They whole conflict feels fake and fabricated now – which it apparently was, since he didn't need to lie to A Leh in the first place.
They could have saved this easily by showing us a big emotional fight between A Leh and Lin Zai, where they both tell each other about their struggles und build trust again. But nope. The actors would have been capable of such an emotional scene, but the writing team said: Nah, not needed. Be lovey dovey instead, look happy (or sick in Lin Zai's case).
They also emphasized constantly that A Leh is a ruthless killer, that he is dangerous, that his hands are too strong, so he can hurt others (Lin Zai's words). Even during the love scenes he is very tense and passionate that it almost looked like he is forcing himself on Lin Zai, which he wasn't, since he asked for consent, but still, Lin Zai had to fight him off to make him stop twice (or three times if you count the kiss later). Why doing this? To make the story cool or what? They didn't go anywhere with this plot. I expected them to address A Leh's passionate and forceful behavior. They didn't. I also expected them to have a very soft kiss after they got together again which shows us that A Leh calmed down. They had a kiss, and Lin Zai initiated it, but it didn't have the impact I expected.
They had so many conflicts, trust issues (Lin Zai lied to A Leh because he didn't trust him) and unresolved problems, and the writers decided to not address them. Unbelievable. It makes me think that all those great conflicts and the incredible tension between the characters was not the result of brilliant storytelling, instead it was just pure luck. The story just developed like this, and the writer didn't even understand what gem they created.
They blew it. After episode 20 I lost interest in this series.
For people who don't care about good storytelling and just enjoy two good looking guys kissing and being in love –they won't be bothered by this big mess as much as I am bothered by it.
Talking about kissing and making love: the 2nd couple is terrible. Bad actors, bad story, and I don't want to see two people making out, when one of them is a zombie. It's disgusting. How they tried to force that couple onto us, is very strange. But again, those writers aren't serious people, they are just making a cute little BL series with lovey dovey ending and a 2nd couple to check all the boxes.
So first, let's be honest: those characters are cliche. We have the good, naive, weak guy and the ruthless killer/tough mercenary. Nothing new under the sun. But since they did a fabulous job with the whole apocalyptic plot, there are a lot of things happening that create tension between those characters and gerat conflicts.
So we have different story arcs. First story arc: Lin Zai saves a wounded A Leh. They build trust slowly, you can feel the affection growing. Second story arc: Relationship changes completely since A Leh is now a kidnapper, and Lin Zai the victim. There is a lot of tension, lost trust, Lin Zai wants to run away, A Leh is very rough towards him. Third story arc: they get closer again, they talk, we get passionate love making. Until then everything was fine, and the series was brilliant. But then the last story arc ruined it all.
SPOILER! If you don't want to ruin your fun STOP READING.
So ... what happened? Lin Zai didn't want A Leh to know about him participating in the experiment to save his brother. His solution? Pushing A Leh away, breaking up with him and hurting him badly. And A Leh was hurt very badly. He was desperately trying to change and make this relationship work, he was willing to do everything, he was crying in his car. It was heart breaking. Most likely, Lin Zai was the first person to love him and be with him – and Lin Zai pushed him away. He said a lot of hurtful things, and even though, as a viewer, I got angry at Lin Zai for being stupid, unfair and weak, I have to admit he had a point. There was truth in his words. They had a lot to unpack and communicate to make this relationship work. But what did the writers do? They almost killed Lin Zai, and when he woke up again, he was like: Nah, I didn't mean any of it.
So what's the problem with this?
1) Lying to A Leh, hurting him just to push him away was very immature and questionable behavior of Lin Zai. Makes you think what kind of person he really is, and how he solves problems. He was feeling bad about it, but at the same time he was whining about himself not being able to let go. It was all about him and his brother and not about A Leh. Seeing his brother in this state was traumatizing for sure. So even though I disliked Lin Zai's behavior, it was a very tough situation with no easy solution.
2) Why did he even do it? After the near death experience he was suddenly very open and told A Leh the truth. A Leh's reaction? "Baby, I will help you and be a good and supportive boyfriend." WTF? They should have at least argued about it, since it was obvious at this point, the research can kill Lin Zai. So in a logical world with logical characters A Leh should have been even more against it now, since there is real danger, and only after Lin Zai desperately making his wishes, fears and hopes clear, he should have agreed to support him. But that didn't happen.
3) Imagine being A Leh. Just for a moment. There is this guy you really love, and he puts you through hell and back emotionally –just because he thought that's necessary (which it wasn't). Do you trust such a guy? A guy that hurts you on purpose, lies to your face with those cold eyes? Do you feel safe with him or are you like A Leh: "Baby, now we are together again, I'm so happy!" This makes honestly no sense that they suddenly are lovey dovey, everything is forgiven, and the ruthless mercenary is now the cooking husband who has to care for his sick boyfriend like good mother. Honestly, their honeymoon phase seems so awkward to me after everything that happened between them. It just doesn't fit the mood of the story. It's like a quick solution. They whole conflict feels fake and fabricated now – which it apparently was, since he didn't need to lie to A Leh in the first place.
They could have saved this easily by showing us a big emotional fight between A Leh and Lin Zai, where they both tell each other about their struggles und build trust again. But nope. The actors would have been capable of such an emotional scene, but the writing team said: Nah, not needed. Be lovey dovey instead, look happy (or sick in Lin Zai's case).
They also emphasized constantly that A Leh is a ruthless killer, that he is dangerous, that his hands are too strong, so he can hurt others (Lin Zai's words). Even during the love scenes he is very tense and passionate that it almost looked like he is forcing himself on Lin Zai, which he wasn't, since he asked for consent, but still, Lin Zai had to fight him off to make him stop twice (or three times if you count the kiss later). Why doing this? To make the story cool or what? They didn't go anywhere with this plot. I expected them to address A Leh's passionate and forceful behavior. They didn't. I also expected them to have a very soft kiss after they got together again which shows us that A Leh calmed down. They had a kiss, and Lin Zai initiated it, but it didn't have the impact I expected.
They had so many conflicts, trust issues (Lin Zai lied to A Leh because he didn't trust him) and unresolved problems, and the writers decided to not address them. Unbelievable. It makes me think that all those great conflicts and the incredible tension between the characters was not the result of brilliant storytelling, instead it was just pure luck. The story just developed like this, and the writer didn't even understand what gem they created.
They blew it. After episode 20 I lost interest in this series.
For people who don't care about good storytelling and just enjoy two good looking guys kissing and being in love –they won't be bothered by this big mess as much as I am bothered by it.
Talking about kissing and making love: the 2nd couple is terrible. Bad actors, bad story, and I don't want to see two people making out, when one of them is a zombie. It's disgusting. How they tried to force that couple onto us, is very strange. But again, those writers aren't serious people, they are just making a cute little BL series with lovey dovey ending and a 2nd couple to check all the boxes.
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