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This review may contain spoilers
Cringy but cute
I like indulging in stories where different personalities and backgrounds converge. I also really enjoy shows that involve intelligent and just magistrates who helps commoners solve problems. While the series had both of the above, there are also shortfalls that stained its potential.
Foremost, I almost dropped this series after a few episodes. While the female lead's personality was meant to be over-the-top for emphasis and humor, her violent streak was a big turn off. They could have portrayed her character with the same sass and ruggedness without resorting to such direct abusiveness towards men. Her character also proves how a "spoiled brat" isn't correlated with wealth but with how she was raised. The combination created an uncomfortable and distasteful cringe. However, the rest of the cast did build up enough intrigue for me to continue to give it a try. Thankfully, while she didn't end up becoming as evolved as she could have, there was character growth and she did have plenty of charismatic moments.
The characteristics of the ML and FL didn't feel consistent. The strength of the ML was supposed to be intellect and the strength of the FL was supposed to be brawn. Instead, there were times where the ML was intellectual capable but then completely ignorant and they tried to get the FL to help fill in for him. The characters would have done better if they really focused more on how to blend their individual strengths instead of them just taking turns on who was smarter. For the FL to suddenly be capable of strategizing, making medicine, doing business, and being knowledge of herbs when she grew up as a butcher... is farfetched without any backstory. If she was this capable, then why did they almost lose their store and why wasn't she able to grow her own family business for all those years?
The overall plot itself wasn't actually bad and I quite enjoyed the magnification of certain aspects that other shows don't usually touch on, such as having the little prince join a school of commoners and teaching him a life lesson. There are also plenty of chuckles along the way and some heartwarming comradery. But it also felt as if there were two very different people taking turns at directing the series, so the plot flow was a mixed bag and felt a bit forced. Similarly, the actors were also a mixed bag of those who really emoted and those who were monotone but they all still had decent chemistry with one another.
It is a good casual watch if you need a break from overly somber series. I was hoping for more episodic cases of the magistrate resolving issues but it was mostly around one or two major cases that all end up tying into each other. It also does conclude with a well-rounded ending and won't cause you to overly binge.
Foremost, I almost dropped this series after a few episodes. While the female lead's personality was meant to be over-the-top for emphasis and humor, her violent streak was a big turn off. They could have portrayed her character with the same sass and ruggedness without resorting to such direct abusiveness towards men. Her character also proves how a "spoiled brat" isn't correlated with wealth but with how she was raised. The combination created an uncomfortable and distasteful cringe. However, the rest of the cast did build up enough intrigue for me to continue to give it a try. Thankfully, while she didn't end up becoming as evolved as she could have, there was character growth and she did have plenty of charismatic moments.
The characteristics of the ML and FL didn't feel consistent. The strength of the ML was supposed to be intellect and the strength of the FL was supposed to be brawn. Instead, there were times where the ML was intellectual capable but then completely ignorant and they tried to get the FL to help fill in for him. The characters would have done better if they really focused more on how to blend their individual strengths instead of them just taking turns on who was smarter. For the FL to suddenly be capable of strategizing, making medicine, doing business, and being knowledge of herbs when she grew up as a butcher... is farfetched without any backstory. If she was this capable, then why did they almost lose their store and why wasn't she able to grow her own family business for all those years?
The overall plot itself wasn't actually bad and I quite enjoyed the magnification of certain aspects that other shows don't usually touch on, such as having the little prince join a school of commoners and teaching him a life lesson. There are also plenty of chuckles along the way and some heartwarming comradery. But it also felt as if there were two very different people taking turns at directing the series, so the plot flow was a mixed bag and felt a bit forced. Similarly, the actors were also a mixed bag of those who really emoted and those who were monotone but they all still had decent chemistry with one another.
It is a good casual watch if you need a break from overly somber series. I was hoping for more episodic cases of the magistrate resolving issues but it was mostly around one or two major cases that all end up tying into each other. It also does conclude with a well-rounded ending and won't cause you to overly binge.
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