UnaSpenser

Story of Ming Lan
Untamed
Joy of Life
Ancient Detective

(I find they do costume dramas better than contemporary ones.)

I don’t mind the slow burn. What’s making it hard for me to get through is the stilted dialogue and the constant posing. It all feels staged and not natural. This is one where I really wish I could have heard the actors’ voices as they were doing the scenes rather than the dubbing.

Trying to enjoy it because at least the FL is somewhat smart and doesn’t have a baby voice going on.

One more note: writing the FL that way is one thing. Okay, we’ll go with it. But, no self-respecting person would then want her as a partner. She’s selfish and unreliable. Her lack of discernment means a lot of potential for harmful people to mess with your life. For someone like the ML, with a high profile, highly responsible position, he can’t afford to have someone like that in his life. And the ML character is written as someone who brushes off people who are problematic. He’s imminently capable and serious about his life’s pursuits. So, from an internal story integrity standpoint, it doesn’t work that he’d keep pursuing this woman who could be a time bomb for his life, with her lack of discernment.

Such mixed assessment of this drama. I like that they start with the stomach-churning tropes and then nip them right in the bud,

The ML is warm and competent and, though he takes his time (which lets things fester), he’s firm and direct and no one can manipulate him.

It’s been rare to see a CDrama or KDrama with the very relaxed type of affection that they have the ML showing to his girlfriend. (Though, I’m not a fan of the thing where the men pet the women on the tops of their heads as if they’re pets or children.)

The nasty girl isn’t given much leeway here. Even her supporter has his limits with her ridiculous behavior. So, we see her toxicity, but she doesn’t get far with anything.

The controlling rich mother is being handled.

The work partner who feels entitled to romance gets shut down pretty readily. Her attempt to coerce is called out for its lack of integrity and she gets nowhere with it.

Yay for all this.

I can’t stand the way the FL character is written. She’s very self-centered. Feels way too young. (Can CDramas please stop having young women talk and behave like young children?) All of her relationships are about how people are helpful to her. She doesn’t reciprocate. Her relationship with her brother is summed up by the fact that she bullied him, as they grew up and she thinks that’s okay, but the fact that he cursed her under his breath over it as unacceptable.

The most stark example is her best friend from college. They are in the same publicly aired TV competition, with time limits for their assignments. She gets her friend to give her an inordinate amount of time helping her create some batik fabric. How does the friend have time for her own project? And why doesn’t she offer to help, in return? It never occurs to her.

Then, when dating, she is well aware of another man’s attentions. Several people have pointed out to her that he has romantic interest. Her BF asks her to keep her distance. The BF has known him since childhood and says he’s not trustworthy. He also admits that it bothers him that she’s giving so much attention to another man. Minutes after promising to keep her distance, she goes into the other man’s apartment and eats a meal with him.. Her BF learns of this and is upset. She’s mad at him for not trusting her. She has zero consideration for his feelings. Which is consistent with her character. It makes her unlikable. Also, she doesn’t get that she basically showed her own lack of integrity. Her words cannot be trusted, And she has no discernment or boundaries.

The writers seem to have her learn. To be seen. There are a lot of episodes left. What can be left in the story to fill up all those episodes? The mystery about Fang’s sister. But the only other piece of the story to fulfill is the central relationship. As a romance drama, they can’t have more than half of it not be about that. This suggests that we’re in for more tensions as she makes more selfish choices. Also, that she’ll be manipulated by the 2nd ML into a dark impression of the ML before we know the whole story of the sister.

Hopefully, I’m wrong. The strength in this drama is that the actors are pretty good and the story doesn’t let the common toxic tropes take over. But, what can fill the remaining 27 episodes? They seemed to have sacrificed the idea of a decent FL character for the sake of generating drama, because they couldn’t come up with anything better.

Maybe I’ll find out that there’s actually some interesting news aspect to the story. Fingers crossed.

Lastly, one trope they seem to want to stick with is this idea that someone is completely daft about another person’s romantic advances. In the beginning, the CEO of a large company is doing little things for all the time. He’s engaging in warm and playful conversation, He’s giving her nice gifts. Yet, she has zero idea that he is romantically interested? Even after her brother suggests it? And her best friend directly tells her that all these actions on his part can only indicate that? Not buying it,

And the brother is the same? He could see that his inter was kind to someone’s interest, but then he’s even more blind? Hen they are spending all their time together? And she’s cherishing the meals he makes for her? In a culture where people don’t invite opposite gender friends into their home, she has repeatedly done so. He hasn’t accepted and is avoiding encountering her family. But, to suggest that at this point he would still be oblivious is so unrealistic.

This is a trope that has some validity. Some of us can be oblivious, at first. But, CDramas take it way too far and it becomes laughabl and infuriating. It feels insulting to waste the viewer’s time and emotional investment in the story with this. I hope they learn to tone it down. Way down.

I think the age gap is bigger. I thought somewhere it is mentioned that he’s in his thirties. Or is 29, going in thirty. But the gap is more than years, too. He’s far more worldly. And there is a social power gap. So, they seem almost a generation apart, even though it’s probably just 7 or 8 years.

It’s not just the style (though CDramas do seem to infantalize their female leads with childish stying.) Her total inability to recognize cop a clue about the ways that anyone is with her. First, after the most obvious displays of interest, she somehow doesn’t know, even after her friend told her, that the ML liked her? I’m not buying it. Then, this guy stalks her and harasses her and is so obviously manipulative, but she maintains that he’s a friend. He’s a narcissistic user. And to not understand how it would be a problem to give her all her time to that guy when her bf, who lives in another country, is here on a short visit? To equate a coworker, that he has to see with a stalker “friend”? She’s so immature. If I were the ML, I wouldn’t trust her. She sets no boundaries.

This is definitely not romance-centered. The main plot is about solving her mother’s murder. There are subplots in the family and elsewhere. How those are resolved is where we see the slowly building marriage partnership. It’s really not all that romantic, as the FL takes about 28 or 29 episodes to even begin to consider changing her original plan of solving her mother’s murder and then leaving for an independent life. Also, eventually, the subplots are tied into the main plot.

The most tedious piece of the story is the worn out trope of the unrequited love, who feels entitled and when she doesn’t get what she wants is constantly scheming and murderous. It was a relief to get her out of the mix. Other than that, it’s an entertaining enough story.

My personal note on “70 episodes of harem”.

I can’t stand harem dynamics and avoid it. MingLan was different, somehow. The way it was done was a bit mesmerizing. It was like being a fly on the wall, it felt so intimidate. Also, the MingLan character was so smart and not vengeful. The story portrayed one of the healthiest romance/partnership developments I’ve seen. I never once felt mired in the drudgery of harem politics, though, in the beginning that is what her life is about.

I find it’s more the way the character is written than the actress herself. While she’s smart, even as the teen she is, she’s kind of boring. Even her interest in an independent life, which set her apart from most noble women, is getting erased in the name of romance (which she is completely lacking in any sensuality for. She’s a young woman with no hormones? It’s weird that they’ve written her to have no response to his overtures. Even if she wants to deny them, because she has her own agenda, she would still have physical reactions. But there’s nothing. As if she’s not a hormonal teen and is oblivious to physical relations. She also has no sense of humor or playfulness. She’s pretty one-dimensional. And that’s written that way.she has nothing to work with.

Oh yikes. I hadn’t gotten that far, yet.

I don’t know. I knew about the all the things the father and brother were up to. I knew the cousin was going to put the scorpion in her bed. I knew she’d find all the prisoners and get them released. I knew she’d get caught in the net and the dude would cut her out. I found myself wanting to just skip ahead because it felt as if I’d already seen it. Oh well. Maybe my brain was being weird and giving me instant de ja vu. ?

Hahahahaa!

I think it’s to highlight their contrasting styles, but that is a such a funny observation!

Is this drama remake?

It felt as if I’d seen all the bits in Hulan before. I absolutely knew all the details that were to happen. Not just the gist of it. It was disorienting.

This is now on DramaCool with subs.

Wanted to enjoy this and did, at first.

Then, it took turns that ruined what made it compelling in the first place.

FL starts off as confident, smart investigator who is better than all the men in the department. But, as soon as she meets up with ML, she’s suddenly almost incapable of analyzing anything and has to turn to him. Also, she was a fighter, able to fend for herself and suddenly she becomes reliant upon him to protect her.

But, the thing that made it unwatchable was the two stalkers. It is not cute or funny or entertaining to have characters refuse to accept “no” and force themselves into the other persons’s life. I’d really like to see this trope die a horrible death, as it diminishes the very serious nature of this kind of behavior. I came to hate every single moment Xie Xiao was in the screen. insisting that the FL be “his”. She very clearly said she was not interested. Not only does he mansplain her own feelings and patronizingly determine what she needs, he stalks her, refusing to leave her alone. He also mansplains his fiancé’s feelings, never once asking her to state her own feelings, The FL has a professional job to perform. Why does he get to tag along? Arrest him for interference in public duty and save the rest of us from having to sit through his horrible scenes, where he is behind juvenile.

The other stalker is a bit more respectful, in that he acknowledges that the woman doesn’t have any interest in him, Still, he insists on “being her shadow” to “protect” her.. His character was interesting before this story arc started. He was a comrade and supporter of the FL. A great feminist ally. He lost all his feminist credentials, the moment he ignored a woman’s “don’t appear in front of me again” command, and he seemed to just abandon his job and his friendship and he became nothing but a sad crush boy.

This crap ruins a story like nothing else. What could have been a fun crime/mystery romp, with a slowly developing relationship between the leads became an annoying focus on misogynist, narcissistic dudes. It was stomach churning and I had to stop watching, as it was drained of all enjoyment. I wish they had stayed with the fun antics of all the men and criminals dealing with this young, female prodigy., while also getting some training from another young professional. Better crime mystery arcs and more interesting problem solving, highlighting how the strengths of the two leads complement each other would have been fabulous. Sadly, this is not that.

Updating to say that this was funnier when it wasn’t about romantic relations. It was all just over the top goofiness until this stuff kicked in. Then it got toxic. Also tedious. I stopped watching.

This is great fun, even though some of it is not my kind of humor. That is, the ensemble does such a great job and the writing is so good that it transcends its genre.

I must say, Lee Yi Kyung really steals the show. I find myself almost just getting through the other scenes in anticipation of his. (Not really. They all do a great job. But, he got a gem of a part and his energy is so infectious.)

Those are all the same reasons that I don’t like CDramas. I was horrified when I started watching at how awful the characters and relationships were. And this trope of the men tormenting or torturing a woman, only to be somehow redeemed as the romantic partner just disgust me. (And, yes, there are some extremely popular dramas where I’m at a loss to appreciate fans who support these toxic notions about women and relations.)

Trust me, based on what you’re saying, I’m pretty sure you will like MingLan.

One of the most solid character actors out there. If he’s in the cast, I’m thinking the director and producer are serious about production. Wish they would give him lead roles.

I was thinking that HwaJin added those notes. She was referring to the scribbles in it and how she should have taken better care. In fact, I found myself wondering if her newfound remorse was fake and she confessed about the well, so that the book would be associated with the queen. She suspected he had already figured it out. And his brother knew, so it was only a matter of time. So, maybe she took control over the reveal and used that to frame the queen.