I wonder why this is soo good it's directed by the same dir of embrace in the dark night omg 😭😭😭♥️
OMG this explains so much! I've been comparing it to that show the whole time! The slow crawl across the floor of the train kissing was giving "slow climb up the stairs kissing" from EitDN!
Im back after watching the first 10 episodes. At firet (if you scroll down you will see i was so excited about…
Commenting because you said "This is the first drama since zhang chi's BDSM one" - and girl, when I stumbled across that drama - my first with Zhang Chi and the reason I watch every drama he's in - I was like "WTH China?! How did this make it past censors?" (For anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about, it's a vertical drama with very clear overtones listed here on MDL as "Desire's Dance, Fate's Chance".)
This show is crazy - makes the barest effort at world building, ignores giant plot holes with a lazy shrug, shamelessly uses every vampire and/or werewolf romance trope out there without using either vampires or werewolves, and also using some weird, unnecessary science fiction hand waving, has the worst special effects since...IDK, old episodes of Dr. Who, maybe?....and SOMEHOW none of it matters because it hits just the right notes with insane chemistry, trope filled excuses for lots of kissing scenes, all while striking this perfect balance between taking itself seriously and poking fun at itself at the same time. The actors absolutely had to have fun making this. 🤣
I remember when I first started Embrace in the Dark Night and was like "wow, this makes zero sense and I don't even care. I am here for this insane chemistry". This is like that all over again. Notice the score. 8.0?!? Another sleeper hit for Fang Jin, I bet that will end up having a long tail of viewers just like EitDN.
I binged all ten episodes last night and even paid for the early access, because this show knows what it's doing. This isn't the kind of drama you watch because it's amazing or so well done. It's the kind you watch because it's like a guilty, candy-laden pleasure.
From your fingertips to the upcoming episodes! May Gong and Rou unite!I loved how he immediately sprung into action…
That was epic! Ha ha. I also loved how ZXR told the ML in today's ep to be more honest with HX. Yay for BF's who call out the BS the ML is doing! I understand why he's doing it. He's convinced himself - thanks to his Uncle - that it's too dangerous to allow anyone else in while he's enacting his plan for justice, and also that he doesn't deserve happiness until this is over. But he's making these decisions without telling HX what is going on or why, which is doing them both a disservice. But that's okay, she's not sitting idly by and is taking every opportunity to smack him proverbially with the dumb-a$$ery of his choices. 🤣 The trailers for the next two episodes are so good. I can't wait to see her make him approve of her marriage in-game to someone else. Like, no, sir, I will not be waiting around for you until you get your head on straight. So you better take care of that now.
I love that we got to see HX going and supporting her BFF in this episode. Like yes, more dramas should have a back and forth dynamic like this with the best friends, a BF character does not exist only to support the FL. LOVE IT. I also love how they are handling the very difficult subject of what ZXR is going through. They've handled this storyline, as with everything else in this drama, so subtly and well. So many of us were questioning all along whether her husband was cheating on her, if there was really something wrong in the marriage or not. And as ZXR said in this very episode, the signs were there, but at first they seemed small, then they got bigger, and then obviously in ep 16 they exploded and became clear. 👏🏻 Well done, drama team. And her reaction, so devastated but strong, is also on point for her character.
This drama truly is a 10/10.
And I love that we're already seeing signs of the future to come for her. We have GHC noticing when something is wrong, and unlike her husband, immediately taking action to help. First when he contacted HX, then when the pipe burst he jumped in and handled everything without hesitation. Let's roll back to the game with that jerk slapped her, and her husband did nothing. Put GHC in his place, and he would not have stood by, there would have been immediate and decisive action. He's also such a funny guy - I can totally see what they'll be like as a couple, and the fact that he's super rich doesn't hurt. She's going to end up with someone who will support her and love her and who also has the ability to literally give her anything she wants. Fantasy? Yes. But it's nice to see in a show a woman wronged get everything she deserves in the best way possible.
This just occurred to me, but ZXR and GHC's love story is sort of the mini-drama plot, isn't it? Wronged woman ditches her jerk husband and ends up married to the rich CEO of her dreams, lol. GHC is far from the usual cold demeanor we usually see in those characters, but that's part of his charm. He's a little bit goofy but with a truly good heart, and he's also smart to have built his company and business to where it is.
I have a question, is it taboo for the ML's of k-drama and c-drama to have a past relationship. Nowdays only the…
It's not taboo, but for reasons that escape me, many c-fans and k-fans want their male lead actors to be single, or appear single - presumably so they are free to imagine themselves meeting and dating them, which is ridiculous. For example, Dai Xu went crazy trending (SML actor in this drama) after the early episode elevator scene with the FL, c-netizens were totally captivated by the actor and he was experiencing an unprecedented surge in popularity online...and then they found out he is married with a child, and while he is still trending in popularity, about half of his new supporters suddenly started wavering, as if him being married and having a kid suddenly impacted his potential as a ML actor. It's nuts. So no, there are no formal rules against it or anything, it's all just parasocial fan dynamics that are really unhealthy.
Oh yes. They are actually the entire meet cute and early relationship, and so establishing to them as a couple…
I'll add to this, I can tell you there are important upcoming scenes in the game world that you really will not want to skip. So I definitely think it's worth it to go back and watch all of them.
Oh yes. They are actually the entire meet cute and early relationship, and so establishing to them as a couple…
Here, I found it and am copying/pasting it for you:
There are SOOOOOOOOOO many comments from people not understanding or liking the game scenes, aka Republican Era scenes. Are you skipping ff through them? Let me explain to anyone finding it confusing, but you 100% should not be skipping or FF-ing the scenes. They are integral to our leads' story. It's a VR game. So in reality: people are wearing glasses and "entering" a VR game world that the show is SHOWING us as basically "what they see" inside the game world. So they see these elaborate buildings and people's faces and wearing the era-correct costumes, and it "feels" and "looks" real. Think of as a lower tech version of the holodeck on Star Trek The Next Generation if you've ever seen that. Or just understand they are playing a game and pretending to be these characters, like a dinner murder mystery but with much better sets and more realism.
These scenes are important, because they set up not only the characters' personalities and early interactions and dynamic, but also share with us how clever and competitive both of them are. That early back and forth between them is LITERALLY why they like each other in the beginning, because they challenge one another (where other people don't as well) and it's fun and exciting - even if the ML is less demonstrative of this, you can still TELL he finds their back and forth interesting and admires her cleverness. Meanwhile, she becomes obsessed with beating him because he betrayed her in their first interaction, lol.
This is no different from any other "gaming" drama, where the leads meet in a game and then interact IRL, this just twists the "they don't know who each other really is" trope a little with the whole apartment lease thing. But it's still the same, ie, their dynamic in the game is their early dynamic and interest, and then that expands when they start interacting IRL and blossoms into more. Except arguably here the gaming world is much more important because it isn't just combat or brief scenes with them, it's the foundation of their early interactions and relationship.
The game literally IS their meet-cute and early dynamic. It is the relationship developing. If you're FF-ing it, you're doing yourself a disservice. And I suspect that even though we haven't seen it much, we'll be going back. There are scenes from the trailers in the game world that we haven't seen yet.
I’m hoping it gets better by 18 because we’re crossing into that threshold. 17 is all jealousy apparently…
I think it's far more nuanced than that. The episodes you skipped, like the rest of this drama, are a masterclass in subtle storytelling and acting. PZ does attempt to get under his brother's skin, and I actually did a whole post on this, and let me just quote part of it, I'll keep it as non-spoilery as possible but will also add to what I'm about to say that the FL totally calls PZ out on his BS. This is not like most dramas with SML's and jealous ML's: PZ's interference, instead of being some melodramatic triangle or insertion of conflict, instead provides a very nice layer of internal conflict for the ML, who is already struggling with his decision to step back from the FL and that struggle is only intensified by PZ's treatment of her. I don't think it's simply jealousy, either. Sure, one layer is jealous, not because he thinks HX will fall for PZ's obvious attempts to charm her, but because he has denied himself the ability to do anything similar, and in fact she threw his last gift to her back in his face when he pulled back and created this boundary neither of them really wants. He finds it frustrating, because his own choices have put him in a position where all he can do is sit back and watch this happen, and he doesn't even have the right to question her about what PZ is saying to her or feel her out about any of it because he drew a line in their personal life, and it's driving him nuts.
At the same time, when faced with the ability to prevent her from spending more time with PZ, he specifically does not interfere, because at the end of the day he knows and trusts HX to handle herself and the situation. He KNOWS she knows what PZ is really up to, and he TRUSTS her to handle it herself, and she does. She doesn't need him protecting her and getting involved, even thought everything in him wants to.
This drama is head and shoulders above so many others. It's also worth saying that I don't think this era lasts long at all, and the "conflict" is so well done and only makes it even more clear the trust and relationship that already exists between the leads, as well as hinting at the possibility of an actual reconciliation in the future between the brothers....IMO.
I low-key did something bad, someone tell me. So I want to watch this show, but I'm busy, so I skip the VR game…
Oh yes. They are actually the entire meet cute and early relationship, and so establishing to them as a couple IMO. So much so I did a whole post early on telling people who were skipping NOT to.
That was SOOOOOOO funny! Ha ha ha. I mean, at the time it was because she was obsessed with beating him after he tricked and betrayed her in the first game, but still so funny. 😆
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wNcT4ovfd4
I think she's resisting on principle. She told him she wanted to be in love, basically, and I'm guessing it would be her first, so....
But yeah, I agree with you.
Also, found this BTS of a kiss scene with him because you sent me to TT, and...my gosh his smile. He certainly seems to be enjoying it, lol. https://www.tiktok.com/@wkbhbbga/video/7554320370044505352
I remember when I first started Embrace in the Dark Night and was like "wow, this makes zero sense and I don't even care. I am here for this insane chemistry". This is like that all over again. Notice the score. 8.0?!? Another sleeper hit for Fang Jin, I bet that will end up having a long tail of viewers just like EitDN.
I binged all ten episodes last night and even paid for the early access, because this show knows what it's doing. This isn't the kind of drama you watch because it's amazing or so well done. It's the kind you watch because it's like a guilty, candy-laden pleasure.
This drama truly is a 10/10.
And I love that we're already seeing signs of the future to come for her. We have GHC noticing when something is wrong, and unlike her husband, immediately taking action to help. First when he contacted HX, then when the pipe burst he jumped in and handled everything without hesitation. Let's roll back to the game with that jerk slapped her, and her husband did nothing. Put GHC in his place, and he would not have stood by, there would have been immediate and decisive action. He's also such a funny guy - I can totally see what they'll be like as a couple, and the fact that he's super rich doesn't hurt. She's going to end up with someone who will support her and love her and who also has the ability to literally give her anything she wants. Fantasy? Yes. But it's nice to see in a show a woman wronged get everything she deserves in the best way possible.
This just occurred to me, but ZXR and GHC's love story is sort of the mini-drama plot, isn't it? Wronged woman ditches her jerk husband and ends up married to the rich CEO of her dreams, lol. GHC is far from the usual cold demeanor we usually see in those characters, but that's part of his charm. He's a little bit goofy but with a truly good heart, and he's also smart to have built his company and business to where it is.
There are SOOOOOOOOOO many comments from people not understanding or liking the game scenes, aka Republican Era scenes. Are you skipping ff through them? Let me explain to anyone finding it confusing, but you 100% should not be skipping or FF-ing the scenes. They are integral to our leads' story. It's a VR game. So in reality: people are wearing glasses and "entering" a VR game world that the show is SHOWING us as basically "what they see" inside the game world. So they see these elaborate buildings and people's faces and wearing the era-correct costumes, and it "feels" and "looks" real. Think of as a lower tech version of the holodeck on Star Trek The Next Generation if you've ever seen that. Or just understand they are playing a game and pretending to be these characters, like a dinner murder mystery but with much better sets and more realism.
These scenes are important, because they set up not only the characters' personalities and early interactions and dynamic, but also share with us how clever and competitive both of them are. That early back and forth between them is LITERALLY why they like each other in the beginning, because they challenge one another (where other people don't as well) and it's fun and exciting - even if the ML is less demonstrative of this, you can still TELL he finds their back and forth interesting and admires her cleverness. Meanwhile, she becomes obsessed with beating him because he betrayed her in their first interaction, lol.
This is no different from any other "gaming" drama, where the leads meet in a game and then interact IRL, this just twists the "they don't know who each other really is" trope a little with the whole apartment lease thing. But it's still the same, ie, their dynamic in the game is their early dynamic and interest, and then that expands when they start interacting IRL and blossoms into more. Except arguably here the gaming world is much more important because it isn't just combat or brief scenes with them, it's the foundation of their early interactions and relationship.
The game literally IS their meet-cute and early dynamic. It is the relationship developing. If you're FF-ing it, you're doing yourself a disservice. And I suspect that even though we haven't seen it much, we'll be going back. There are scenes from the trailers in the game world that we haven't seen yet.
At the same time, when faced with the ability to prevent her from spending more time with PZ, he specifically does not interfere, because at the end of the day he knows and trusts HX to handle herself and the situation. He KNOWS she knows what PZ is really up to, and he TRUSTS her to handle it herself, and she does. She doesn't need him protecting her and getting involved, even thought everything in him wants to.
This drama is head and shoulders above so many others. It's also worth saying that I don't think this era lasts long at all, and the "conflict" is so well done and only makes it even more clear the trust and relationship that already exists between the leads, as well as hinting at the possibility of an actual reconciliation in the future between the brothers....IMO.