Minalapinou

So, this was sold as this dark enemies-to-lovers toxic romance with lots of triggers and red flags, which means I was there day one like a moth to a flame, and...it was very misleading. The beginning is certainly that, but the leads form an alliance way too fast, and then it's mostly about Mei Lin protecting baby princess Murong Jinghe and them trying be happy despite horrible circumstances. Is it spicy ? Not really once you've seen the famous bathtub scene. After that, say goodbye to your dark fantasies and go watch a trashy minidrama instead (there is hundreds of them with this type of plot), as the leads fall in (basic) love very fast, frolic under the moonlight, all that jazz. Is Lui Xue Yi's unhinged and magnetic performance worth it and strangely sexy ? Absolutely. Is Wu Jin Yan on fire as an assassin on the hunt ? Also yes. But they don't stay that way very long, and it doesn't erase the fact that the show is not what we were promised. Still, I was going with it after that first letdown, and enjoying it for the most part. Problem is, the subplots are waaay too weak, and some don't even feel like they belong in the show (don't get me started on the idiotic Xiyan siblings and kingdom). The secondary romances, if you can even call them that, were also bafflingly bad. I've heard since that the original novel is paper-thin, that they had several writers creating various plots to fill the void, and if it's true, it explains a lot. It's also too long for its own good, and I dropped it around the 20th episode, when I just couldn't care anymore about any of the politics happening. I've heard bad things about the ending so no regrets. What a waste though, the beginning was so good.