Minalapinou

I tend to like shorter verticals, as some can meander a lot and become yap fests. This 1 hour and a half one is on the opposite end : it ran at breakneck pace. While it could have slow down a bit after we reach the end of the "how did we get there" phase, I really appreciate the effort to respect the viewer's time and trust our ability to understand even if they don't show/tell us everything. One of my favorite Kdramas is Lee Jun Ki's Time Between Dog and Wolves, and this one reminded me a lot of it : both starts with a very intense flash-forward, star a vengeful hero who becomes his enemy's dog/right-hand man to serve his plans, and both have him fall in love with his enemy's precious girl (in the Kdrama she's his daughter, in Dark Light she's his fiance), messing with his plans. Both are pure crack. I like that this one choose to focus on the FL, as the FL in this type of scenario can become a bit of a sidelined trophy or be too out of her depth (like in Undercover Affair). Here she looked like the pampered princess she was supposed to be (I think those plots need that to enhance the forbidden/impossible aspect of the romance) but she was allowed to take the lead and have her own plans. It made the romance more intense (also her dilemma is a bit more complex than the hero's, who is planning to steal everything from his enemy including her anyway). It does feel like the final part of her arc is missing, as it happens offscreen, maybe the drama had production troubles and had to rush the ending (it does feel very abrupt). We didn't need to see the opening scenes again without cuts, and wasn't the scene where she runs in her wedding dress supposed to go somewhere ?

This was visually on the higher end of vertical productions, some scenes were striking and had excellent framing, like the staircase scene, and it's obvious that the director is a cinema buff (look out for the 3-Iron ref in the beginning). Acting wise the drama had an excellent villain played without the usual ham by a devilish Zeng Xi Tang, Wu Chun Yi's classy looks combined with her youthful and soft vibe were perfect for the role, and I have to talk about Wang Yi Lei : this was my first drama with him and he's going straight to my list of actors to keep an eye on, he's the whole deal : he has very distinctive, deadly attractive features (he looks like a cat) and is very talented, he's not here as Wang Yi Lei he's the character. Overall, very solid stuff, if you like undercovers romances (or the trope where FL falls in love with a shady, handsome and devoted driver like in Drive/Baby Driver) you might want to add this one to your list.