bloomingtide

Not really. It is badly written with an odd pace and focus on the most irrelevant/mundane things, thus its narrative starts many plot threats but amounts to nothing in the end. And FL never develops as much as a baby bump or even is wearing wider clothes at the very least so the pregnancy is all talk, never shown. Baby is magically born/already there at the ending scene due to timejump. One of the worst kdrama's i have ever seen. Waste of time honestly, save yourself.

this is honestly the reason why i have continuously put off watching it till now, whoops. Already hated it with Cloy, where the longest episode was like over two hours or more, and it draaaaaaged on during it, hence why i am always hesitant with long episodes now lol.

Yup. It perfectly summarized why it fell flat on the face in its narrative (for me) Never not bitter about the drama's treatment of its female characters tbh.

"The worst crime this show committed was reducing the revenge seeking, confident, skilled female lead into nothing more than a love interest for half of the young male cast. Girl just gave up her goal at some point and was nothing more than Jang Uk’s maid. How sad it is, when she opened the whole show with a bang and badass fighting moves. Realistically speaking, she was a far more interesting character than Jang Uk, and yet she was pushed to the sidelines.

I feel like the drama overall failed its female characters. For example, Jin Bu Yeon was an extremely important character, and yet the majority of viewers shared the “I don’t care about the oldest daughter plotline” sentiment. What does it tell me? Hong sisters and Park Joon Hwa failed to convince us it’s worth following the story. They failed at setting it up in an interesting way and failed to show how connected it is to everything happening. Which is sad, because from the few scenes we have seen with Jin Bu Yeon, she seemed like an extremely strong, brave and worth watching character."

Honestly, not good. While Naksu/MD is smart and powerful at the start, as soon she is nerfed, she is basically demoted to love interest, maid and teacher of ML, all plans of her own forgotten. And while the dynamic between the leads is cute and fun at first, it feels like codependency later on, which is 😬

In general, this drama fails its female characters: there are no female mages in all the clans and every female character there is is either window dressing, servants or exists to fall in love with ML or induce jealousy for FL. The drama always talks about "powerful female characters/priestesses whatnot" but never shows it. It upholds a baffling patriarchal structure in a FANTASY world where such restrictions were neither needed nor should apply.

This spoiler-free review sums up and also goes way more into detail so well about what i mean with that, re: female characters in AoS:

https://kisskh.at/profile/Shini/review/228563

Lemme give you an except:

There is a bit of backstory of how they met and a bit of married life in the beginning and some flashbacks sprinkled in in several episodes. But mostly their dynamic is one of unwavering support and trust for each other, even or especially when apart. They are really a great, smart/resourceful power couple, both equally important in the narrative and in finding the truth. I love them and how they are written so much ngl <3

Yeah this is why i will wait till "my" NF has all the eps so i can skip all these baffling and bad writing decisions in the last few episodes to finally throw this drama on the "completed" pile. Since the "free" players you find on dramacool etc seriously struggle with buffering as soon as you skip ahead. So yeah.

And the more the writer wants me to like MW the more i will hate him, bc i detest narrative manipulation as cheap as such, tbh.

Aww, you really should watch it then, it has moments of sadness and the usual "all is lost" fakeout, when in truth it has one of the most satisfying, fluffiest/cutest ending in a kdrama ever. It brings a lot of wackiness back in its finale too, but also ties up everything nicely. The acting of both leads is stellar there, particularly in the emotional scenes. Kinda a rollercoaster, but a good ride in the end. Promised.

Alas AoS has lost me halfway thru and i grew bored of my mind with it. Which is frustrating as on the paper it has everything i love, but i just couldn't bring myself to care anymore for any of it halfway thru as the episodes dragged and waffled on without going anywhere. I still finished it in a speedrun way with looooot of skipping, since i invested so much time in it already, but i won't pick up part 2 bc it is more of the same, it seems. Which is great for you loving it but i don't, so i will pass lol.

That being said, i will never not stan for FNOS, as it deserves more love and attention than it got. I love it as much as Mr.Queen by now but this drama is so popular and well-loved it does not need my promotion, lol.

In a way, yeah. Most medical cases they take on are dealt with in one or two episodes, but there are enough overarching themes,development and plot points that carry over from episode to episode. For example the last/most recent case has ties to the overarching main plot/bg of characters.

Oh definitely, I hope so too. But seeing we already are into episode 9/10 here, and they have barely scratched on its surface, i expect it to become a bigger theme in S2.

I wonder why 😏😏😏

It is a thriller/mystery drama with a lot of suspense about "whodunit" or rather "whoisit" in this case, heh. Cat and mouse push pull game between leads and rich, powerful baddies with no clear winners a la Vincenzo.

Haha, ikr? I kinda think this is the case by now 🤣

Coming from 'From Now On Showtime' where the actor played a greedy corrupt police chief to this one where he plays a greedy corrupt warden I have a hard time feeling any sympathy for his character tbh 😅😂

I have seen him in different roles before that (CLOY, Vincenzo) but he really seems to have the time of his life with that role 😁

Haha oh I know hence the "" for whatever the fuck it was. Not an arc and even less a well-written one, that is for sure

No courtroom, ML being lawyer is just window dressing/bg for stuff to happen. Political only in the way that there is a power struggle of rich corrupt bastards seeking it going on as part of the main plot. ML gets framed in things larger than life and has to work in the inside of prison and survive long enough to find the truth, while FL tries to help him from outside like the badass she is.

Every character has their own agenda nor is (fully) to be trusted, not even ML. Don't believe everything you see as there is often more to what the scenes show. Lots of 4th wall breaking, twists and suspense. Cat and mouse (pun intended) game and push and pull with the rich, powerful baddies like in Vincenzo, all mixed with a dash of gallow humor and a lot of mystery/speculation of whodunnit, or rather whoisit (hah) in this drama. You will see. Also avoid this comment section until you have caught up. Spoiler minefield heh

I still have it on hold and wait for my countries' netflix to publish the last two episodes so i can speedrun through the superfluous and grating mandatory angst/sob and Min Woo's "redemption" arc of the drama (eps 14 upwards) without having to deal with buffering from hell. Having to watch sunshine Suyeon fall for this trashguy for showing some basic decency is already hell enough, after all.

Will i ever tire of throwing "From Now On Showtime" into the recommendation category of a drama? Well, the answer is naaaaah😎 (as long it suits the drama, ofc)

Yes, i loved that bit and how nothing is as it seems in this drama. Even if all these twists and turns give me whiplash at times ahaha