NickB

I call it out on both sides when I see it. I'm on EP. 15 now and it's moving in the directions where dedication is reciprocated. So, I'm enjoying it more.

I enjoyed the first season though it was really cute and I like the villain but this season feels a little off to me. Mainly with the female lead. She comes off as a user to me, like she's willing to take the won't give an inch.

The male lead has gone out of his way to save her, help her, and their level of intimacy and romance seems one-sided. His side, as if he likes her more than she likes him. Which is off considering they're supposed to already be in love. She's manipulative with him, kicking him, staring at him to get him to comply, expecting him to make all of the sacrifices for her vengeance.

I hope this changes as I'm only on EP. 8. But geez. I feel sorry for the guy. There was this one scene where she is expecting him to come up with all the money for a restaurant she wants as part of her plan. When he suggested selling one of his prized possessions, she just watches him struggle to release it then rolls her eyes saying "forget about it, it won't be worth much anyway ".

She said that and not "no, don't. It means too much to you. I'll figure something out." That would have shown she gave a little bit of a damn about him. But she's coming off as very selfish so far. And single focused, but also depending on this family she was willing to marry into in order to use them to get her justice.

I finished it, but I was like WTF?

The stories of the men getting what they deserved because they cheated had me excited. I enjoyed seeing the women have a chance to stand proud, and find new and better loves. I LOVE the children. Often times, you 'll see kids as angsty, whiny, bratty and blaming the mom for the dad leaving.

But these kids were supportive, mature and understanding. They just made me smile.

But by the time you get the season 3, the show goes flying off the damn rails. We've got paranormal elements in a series that doesn't need them. Ghosts, grim reapers, possession... might as well add in zombies, vampires, demons and werewolves. It would make just as much sense as adding in that other silly shit.

They ended it killing off one of the best characters just for the sake of justifying having grim reapers appear in the show. After seeing that nonsense, I have zero hope for S4 and don't need it at this point.

Some of these shows struggle to come up with entertaining plots to explain their length. This series COULD have had something dark, intense and action-packed, but instead decided to have us follow an MC that didn't have a spine. It was like they wanted you to think he was going to be badass, by having us view his perception of himself now that he thinks he's a killer.

But spoiler alert

That never happens. He doesn't hurt a fly so all of the fantasies that repeat themselves through the series are just filler, fluff, no substance. After one or two of them, it begins to get boring and repetitive because now you know he'll never do it. But the series tries to make you think... this time He might kill someone.

It got annoying quickly. I began to fast-forward to the actual Killer in the series because he was more interesting.

It's so frustrating that it's dragged on too long. Far to many silly close calls and the whole time I'm thinking, what is your plan, ma'am?

Took long enough, I know. They really dragged this nonsense out.

Exactly. She doesn't have a leg to stand on to justify her self-righteous indignation. Lady, the ball has been in your court this entire time and fumbled it. Like, what was her dumbass endgame? Fall in love with the man you're already married to, but about to get divorced from who doesn't know the real you? She created all of the chaos. His one mistake was not doing an ounce of research in 3 years. Something as simple as looking up her photo. This plot has to rely on everyone being astronomically dumb for it to survive.

Do NOT be fooled by the tag of "strong female lead" no. She is a stupid female lead. All of the problems in their relationship is her fault.
This is the kind of lazy writing and premise that can only survive if everyone is stupid as hell.

They had an arranged marriage for three years and in that time, never ONCE met in person.
He made the dumb choice not to ever do any real research on her. Like even to know what she looked like.
They never had any phone conversations to get to know each other.
His only experience with her is through her greedy family always needing a bailout. So, under those circumstances I can see he'd have a poor opinion of her and she never bothered to try to explain otherwise.

They meet unexpectedly and are drugged by the step mom and end up having a one night stand.

Now, this was her time to confess. She knows who he is and can tell him who she was. Lke an idiot he never bothered to look at any photos whatsoever to know that the woman he finally comsumated his marriage with is his wife. And there is a moment when he was about to look at her photo, but the plot redirected him in a dumb way to keep itself alive. There was no reason he couldn't have taken 1 more second to look at their marriage license photo.

Later, they meet again because she needs to get a deal for her company that needed a bailout due to her having a stupid business partner. And he was her only hope of saving her company. Long story short, they hit it off. But she lies about her name and spends so much time believing if he knew who she really was, he'd hate her and break the business contract.

Like, how old are you?! Be an adult and sit the hell down and talk to him. It makes no sense to be ducking and dodging ppl who do know them both, all the while trying to have a real relationship with a man you're ALREADY married to. Like what is your endgame? How is this supposed to go? We you going to divorce him and them let him propose to you without knowing your real name?! Were you going to get a fake identity for marriage purposes only? Just stupid.

But this is the part that pisses me off the most is the fact that when she FINALLY comes clean she has the NERVE to be mad at him like it's all his fault they're getting a divorce. The plot wants to do the break up trope by having the man beg for her to take him back, but HE'S not the one at fault. Even still, she's blaming him and not wanting to have an adult conversation.

No ma'am, you had the ball in your court this entire time. You could have come clean and had a conversation with him from the beginning. Instead, you allowed him to hate your official persona while falling in love under your fake one. You caused all of this drama and want to play the victim.

Ma'am, have a seat.

I watched the whole thing. I think you're missing my point. I know of her issues. Go back and read my complaint about this series. She was angry with him because, according to her, he didn't prioritize a slave's life because it was her friend. For one thing, she withheld information from him that could have helped. On the other, her slave position put her in the same boat as slaves were expendable. If her goal was to save her friends, she can't do that as a court maid. She could have become a concubine and kept her friends by her side. They could have been promoted that way. To me, she wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Be treated with the rank of a concubine without having to be one. Like, how is she going to get mad at him for not saving her friend when she knew about the secret hideout way before he did and didn't say anything. She should have blamed herself first.

I know he has a wife. But that doesn't negate the issues I had with her character. Yes, being a concubine was depressing to her. But her other options put her at a greater disadvantage, yet she expected to be treated as a concubine when it came to what she wanted from the King.

I actually started to care less about the "will they , won't they " around ep.10 and I was completely checked out at 13. I feel for the king. The FL is foolish. 1. She never told the prince about the head Maid secret organization. He had to find out on his own. She never told him where it was located. She refused to be his wife no matter how many times he asked her CHOOSING to remain a slave as if that was the better option. I'm thinking you could have produced an heir and been elevated enough to keep your friends with you as your personal maids if she wanted to. But no.... she wanted to be on the chopping block with them.

Others have eluded to her being in love with the king ,but I can't tell. He's been very open about his feelings for her. I don't blame him for telling her to leave the palace. She betrayed him called HIM deceitful because he didn't save her ONE friend. However, she didn't tell him where she thought her friend was. He could have saved her sooner but she never came to him for help, but blamed him for pulling politics over her.

Excuse me, aren't you the one who insist on remaining a maid? Well then, he has to put the nation before you anyway. And as maid and not his wife you have certain limits. But still, he saved the girls AND her without her help and she was still angry with him..

Ppl telling him to be happy. He wanted to be happy with her but she kept refusing. Choosing to have her life on the line by his new wife because of jealousy. I don't even care what happens to her at this point, because it's a mess of her own making. What happens in ep 15 could have been avoided a long time ago, if she'd just told the Prince that the man he saw give her the arm warmers was her brother. Also, if she had just said so when being interrogated instead of keeping quiet while they plot her death, she could have avoided drama. Instead, she remained silent , leaving the king to deal with more drama.

She is trouble and foolish and I stopped seeing the purpose of her stubborn and stupid character in Ep. 13.

Yeah, it's not too long and I like the plot enough. Ep. 25 has her getting a backbone and a bit more intelligence. We'll see if she gets better.

The only Cdrama I've seen where the FL was 10 steps ahead was "We All Lie". That was so good. She knew how to get revenge.


Now, Cruel Romance had a most annoying FL. Hated her. But the plot was good. What really did it for me was the ML. Sexy, badass. But he also would let the FL suffer the consequences of her actions... To a point. Still saved the day for her ungrateful ass. But in a way that was smooth.

if they wrote her to be calculating and smart, I could totally get behind her marrying and sleeping with her enemy. Imagine this scenario: She agrees to the wedding, marries the villain. Plays her cards right to gain his trust. Makes sure she gets what information she wants out of him. Then poisons him and as he struggles to live, the poison killing him slowly and painfully, she stands over him and tells him that "she'll live in the mansion with her lover and new husband. How they will make love to him in the same bed they shared. How every cent he had will now be hers as his 'grieving" widow. THAT'S how you get that slow, sweet cold as ice revenge. She'll dispatch him to hell in the cruelest fashion. That's if I had written this series.

it is. On where the ML is constantly obsessing over her. Always running to protect her while she rejects him for one dumb reason after another. She goes into the arms one the bad guy who's also obsessed over her, to protect the ML without any other plan. Like do you think the bad guy is going to put up with you. And you get all the men forcing a kiss on her while she delicately struggles. But in another scene, you see her kicking ass and killing people. And i'm thinking why are you a delicate flower now? Kick his ass if you don't want his kisses. How does she plan to go about getting her revenge, because you never see her plotting. Everything she does is on a whim. I'm only watching because I like the villain and ML. and want to see how it ends. But she's just the worst.

The problem is the female lead. So much of the story evolves around her and she is just the worst. The ML is written to obsess over loving her, protecting her, trying to be with her and you're left wishing he'd find a better woman. One who isn't stupid. Indecisive, and one who is trouble magnet. So much of this is rinse and repeat. FL gets herself in trouble in some silly attempt to "protect" the ML whom she has abandoned "For his own sake" and the ML runs to her rescue only for her to reject him "For his own sake" over and over. Like Dude, ugh, get another woman. Why does every man want this unremarkable woman. It's just a tired, old cliché that is so overdone.

I'm so sick and tired of female characters like her being written like this. It makes me not want them to be with the male lead. First off, this woman came is trying to infiltrate the operation with "concepts of a plan". She was dumb to bring a kid into it in the first place. Didn't have her story mapped out, on a whim she claimed ML was her husband. Had that been me she would be dead already or in prison. You're not about to get me killed cause you're stupid.

He was nice enough to help her no plan having ass out. The whole time, she can't even be a good partner and pretend like they're married. Her behavior has caused all kind of suspicions that could get them all killed. Then she falls for traps that were easily laid. The kid is a better actor/spy than she is. But if her plan was to free someone, why bring extra ppl you'll need to save if your mission is successful? You have to run as fast as you can. Having the kid was just silly plotting.

The writers thought there were making a strong, feisty woman. But all they did was create a FL who THINKS she's the smartest person in the room but is the dumbest woman in the vicinity. She would be dead day one if not for the two men who desire her and she doesn't even know how to work her feminine wiles good enough to steer their desires into her favor. The MML is just written to always come through for her and yet must tolerate her tomfoolery and resentment. UGH.