AshesandDust

Im midway through episode 7 and here are my thoughts:
Before I start, I'd like to say a few things about me as a viewer. I very rarely watch romantic dramas. I'm talking about dramas where romance is central. I used to watch romance dramas in my early 20s but for the last 7 or 8 years it has been mostly thrillers. Gore, fighting, horror, action (the bloodier the better) are my go to genres. However every now and then i listen to that small part of me that wants to watch the occasional romance drama. That streak consists of 2 or 3 back to back dramas before eventually i go back to thrillers, blood and guts. Hey we all have our "comfort" genres okay, for me nothing is more comforting than justified violence hehehe 😊
The point of this intro is that, i understand why certain plot points are necessary in romantic dramas but do not exist in thrillers. Im able to separate the two.
So coming to this drama, the romance loving part of my is enjoying the angst and forbidden love aspect. But at the same time i think in order to truly make the FL gray, the makers should have shown her to be entirely uncaring towards the ML. Zhou wan is too nice to be truly gray. She is cornered and is surviving but if i compare her to lee ji an from my mister, there's definitely a difference. Lee ji an was only concerned with making money. Zhou wan is also worried about hurting lu xi xiao. Which is why its a little illogical that she isnt telling him about her "situation". It is obvious that lu xi xiao hates that person as much as she does, so....why not take him into confidence? Why not keep their friendship a secret and join hands to trick that person? There's no logical reason as to why she cannot tell him. Look I love gray female leads. They are extremely rare so when i come across one, i always enjoy it. But zhou wan isnt gray. She's just making strange choices that have no reasoning behind. They would have been logical only if she truly did not care a whit for lu xi xiao but started falling for him much later when things had already gone out of her hands. Right now i find her choices hard to understand. But who knows how one would behave when they are 18 and trying to survive a cruel world? The romance loving part of me is telling the logical part to shutup and enjoy the angsty love story so that is what i am going to do.
I also especially loved the part in ep 7 where zhou wan asks lu xi xiao what he would do if she ever hurt him. His simple answer "nothing" gave me more butterflies than any other cute scene so far. 1000/10 for chemistry!
I also really liked the attention to detail regarding medical conditions. I was impressed when they showed the skin changes that uraemia causes. As a doctor it's rare to come across medical accuracy and so i make sure to praise it when it happens

I just started watching the show and what i don't understand is, why was agent kim's wife just left all alone in OT? As a doctor i can assure you that even if a patient's breaths are numbered, even if we know nothing can be done, as long as they are alive and conscious, we will be doing everything in our powers to save them. She should ideally have been shifted to an intensive care unit. There was no scene where doctors discussed whether agent kim wanted them to resuscitate his wife if she collapsed. Did he want her to receive vent support or not? This wasnt a cancer patient with a terminal illness saying their goodbyes. This was a young woman who was post op. It seems like negligence. It was a very strange scene. Is it elaborated on later?

Yeah i remember the controversy as well.

I recently watched the Song Wei long drama, love for you. And while i really like him as an actor it was pretty obvious he was acting out the action scenes while in this drama is looked like second nature to the ML. It was a lot more convincing. My only gripe is that esther yu would act a little overtly cutesy in some scenes where it wasn't required. But that's on the directing not on her. Because her acting was fine otherwise, like in the scene where she's nervous after their first kiss. It seemed natural and not overly done. And when she questioned jin ciao after that race where she was his navigator. After the leap, her maturity showed really well but we could see that she hasn't suddenly switched personalities either (which was my problem with love for you. We didn't get enough scenes of the FL for me to understand her sudden switch up)

Ive read the novel up to a certain point and yeah I'd say the novel goes deeper into many things but i kinda prefer the drama when it comes to certain aspects. Especially jiang mu as a character

The fighting scenes are usually kinda funny (in my limited cdrama experience) but here they looked kinda realistic and clearly the ML has some natural skills so it never looked like someone pretending to fight, you know what i mean? The car racing scenes were also very well directed.

I see a lot of people reduce this show to mere cheesy love story.
But i think differently. Plus i kinda liked the racing bit. As someone who knows nothing about race cars and cars in general, i actually enjoyed the parts where jin ciao and jiang mu's father discussed how to improve the car.
Is it a love story? Yes. But it also discusses how marriages don't necessarily end because one party was wronged or because one party is a bad person. Sometimes you are simply not meant for one another. Because when you truly accept someone as a partner, you accept the annoying parts too. And i think that's a beautiful message.

I don't really watch cdramas. I lose interest since they tend to lose the plot a couple of episodes in.
I watched speed and love recently, that was good if you cam get past the FL acting a little cringe sometimes. The ML is a little mysterious, dark and seems to come across as "dangerous" but isn't really. I wouldn't say he's like yoo Jung exactly though.
I heard the vertical drama affinity has a similar ML but i haven't watched it myself so can't say

Excitatio is coming out in 2027

I liked her and NJH in the drama. Overall for me it's the second best drama of 2026 so far (right after teach you a lesson)

I did try it (and dropped it)

Nah I've completed the drama, I don't think this was for me...
In terms of healing and dealing with trauma, I'd say shows like my mister and kill me heal me are much better. Darker themes like domestic ab*se, abandonment are also handled better in other shows like save me for example. I just went into this expecting something different and got something else and wasn't really in the mood for what i got, so i guess that influenced my rating. Like with speed and love, i knew exactly what it was so i didnt have a problem with it.

I think most of the people don't realise that 3 people made the wish thinking it was just a hoax and the others were just panicking trying to save the others.

Who's the screenwriter? Strange that they are not listed. Not even the director

So I've rewatched the guest. Binge watched the east palace and if wishes could kill. The next horror/supernatural drama isn't out till 2027 so i guess im now rewatching this too

The east palace is by the team that made the guest. This show's screenwriter is the one who has made Signal, kingdom, jirisan etc. Different people. But both write amazing stories.

Oh i agree, the scene itself made no sense. Hugging him would have been dangerous in that situation because what if he retaliated? I just meant i felt the chemistry return in that scene.

I guess im used to watching dramas with higher stakes and more nail biting suspense. Since im not familiar with the orginal story, i stupidly expected all of that and got frustrated post leap. But i guess that's on me. Should have done some research into the plot before i went and watched the drama.

I liked the first 10 or 11 episodes. They had the right amount of tension, intensity and angst. Beyond that point I find my attention dwindling. Its not because of the acting because SWL & ZJY did absolute justice to the characters.
My criticism stems from the handling of the plot post 6yr leap. Before the leap there was this sense of urgency; i was on the edge of my seat because i could see that our main characters were heading towards a cliff, Chen Yi in particular. Events leading up to the arson were nail-biting and filled with dread. Post leap there was no sense of urgency or tension. I found myself skipping most of the scenes and frankly speaking there was no dread, no stress. It was just rinse and repeat all the time. It got tedious and predictable. I havent read the original novel and don't plan to either so i dont know if that's how the story played out in it, but in comments many people are saying the drama changed certain aspects of the novel, they should have changed the redundant plotlines as well.
I would rate this 7/10 purely for the acting.
Chemistry was there before the leap, post leap i didn't feel any chemistry except in the scene where Chen Yi has breakdown because of his PTSD and Miao Jing calms him down by hugging him. Its not because of the actors because if they were able to give all the yearning and feels before the 6 yrs leap then it just shows that it was the script and directing that was at fault.
I would say here: acting was top notch, chemistry before leap excellent, after leap okayish, plot initially good then redundant and mediocre. Could have handled better by adding more grit and suspense.

I usually don't like korean remakes of the cdramas, but I was thinking of how a remake might work with this one.
For the FL I'm thinking:
1) Kim You Jung
She can nail the cheeky but innocent jiang mu before the leap and the mature, elegant post leap jiang mu
2) Go Youn Jung
She's got the skills and the visuals. I think she'd be terrific.
For male lead I'm thinking:
1) cha eun woo
I know I know. Trust me I've steered clear of his dramas but then i saw him Island and Wonderfools and that convinced me that with the right script and directing, he can play the edgy Jin Zhao
2) Lee Jun Young
We know he does intense roles, gray characters and edgy ones really well. I think if he was just a bit younger he would have been number 1.

I had a few more casting choices but they are too old to play the characters