momo

My first thought after I saw these pictures is that he looks way too sleep-deprived haha. But I really hope the drama will be good

No matter how hard I think, I can't find a logical reason to pity the ML. The FL is hella rich but is treated badly, so I guess I see her struggles, but the ML is beloved by the public, beloved by his king nephew, has tons of money and free time... Also after the way that he came late to king's birthday in an inappropriate attire at that, it is hard for me to pity him for the way that his father forced him not to stand out, cause he clearly is not doing that anymore. And I don't see him being bitter about not being the king, so other than some childhood trauma, which he already seems to have overcome in a way, I don't know where his story would go and what he could gain from the marriage.

I think this is a bad call for BWS to come back 2 years after lovely runner with the same exact type of role. No matter how good he is here, he will be compared to his last role and people will complain that he acts the same (even though it's clear that the director wanted just that from him)

Everyone keeps talking about how beautiful IU is, but I just keep staring at FL's secretary, gosh her styling is something else

I think the rule is more that they release only their own dramas (and they air on Wed). The ones produced by korean tv stations either get to disney+ with a big delay (crazy love) or not at all (revenant). At least here in Poland.

I know I hate it too usually, but here it's very very short so no worries 😊

It only happens in the first 1-2 eps.

She won because the screenwriters wanted her to win it all. Fine, they can do what they want, but due to that, there was no suspense in the drama. No stakes once you find out she is perfect.

S1 went downwards so quick. The chemistry wasn't there, the cases were boring with the FL always winning. Barely finished the original season.

Did you not watch the show to see that she was abducted every time when she's with him?

Yes! Looking at it, it was really on theme regarding being able to stand on your own as a girl. The 2FL could have easily let go and become an empress. But she was always in pursuit of her son's happiness and freedom and fought like crazy for it.

I can agree that the 2nd couple had more bed scenes, but to me it was because the 2FL was trapped and abused. And these scenes never felt genuine to me, the 2FL was always acting.
The 1st couple could develop their relationship on many other levels. But yeah, I'm also a fool for romantic scenes, so I always wish there were more haha

Yup, I feel the same. I mean maybe some people can look past the toxicness and see this couple in a romantic light, hell, I've done that in my life as well. But if you think about it just a bit, it becomes clear that this relationship was anything but romantic. Yes, the 2FL acted as if she was in love to fool the 2ML, but is seems that she fooled a lot of the viewers as well. Maybe she had a dose of fondness towards him and attraction, but she was mainly frightened and fighting for her life.

Yup, I think Swords into Plowshares was already 48 eps. But some dramas may still be 40eps tops, cause the budgets are just not high enough 😩

How does the 2nd couple have more romance. They are together for like 10 eps at most. Maybe they have more bed scenes, but it's cause the 2fl is being used and it's hardly romantic. But overall they have way less screen time.

Regarding the pacing of this drama - yeah it could have been better, but they had 40 eps (the ban has not yet been lifted at the time of filming) and probably limited budget. With all that, they still did an incredible job. There took shortcuts with many plotlines, but all pretty intentional and well done, especially when compared to some other cdramas (I'm looking at you, A Journey to Love ep 34-40). They were not an after thought. Also I see that people are split into two camps, as you either
a) feel like there are not enough romance scenes
b) feel like this show could have used more fight scenes.
This somehow makes me feel that they made a good enough compromise haha.
Yeah, I could have used more character development. But to be frank, I enjoyed visuals and chemistry enough to look past that.
Personally, the part I loved the most about this drama are the reunions and big reveals. There were so many, but I cried almost every time. It is an art to make the viewers love and care about the characters, and then to make those big scenes so touching and heartfelt. Zhu Yu really stands out from other dramas, and I feel that it is a step up from Blossom, which I also enjoyed. So I hope the director keeps up the good work.

I am a firm believer of criticizing a drama if you see fit. But this whole "the show promotes 2nd couple on the popularity of 1st couple" conflict is beyond my comprehension. The 2nd couple had very little time, and the 2FL was always, ALWAYS, putting her son's and her own freedom above any romance, especially this toxic. They might have romanticized the 2nd couple too much at times, yes, (it definitely would not be this 'romantic' had the 2ML been less attractive) but I wouldn't say they were treated better, or promoted more than the 1st couple.
Back in my days, we had fights among different drama fandoms. Or maybe fights among different ships concerning the same leads. But now we get fights among two seperate couples in the same drama? What happened?

Tigers Sniff the Rose

Avenuex, a cdrama reviewer on youtube, theoritized that the BL censorship is due to the fans going nuts over those dramas, creating endless controversies and fan wars. Re: Untamed, where the actors' can't be seen together anymore after the fanwars. Seems like chinese government wants to avoid this crazyness.

Military maybe?