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This review may contain spoilers
Toxicity in Every Shade and Hue
After watching several episodes, I decided nearly all of the characters, with the exception of the ML, FL, and a select few of their friends and family, needed to be placed in an airtight room and have the oxygen slowly pumped out of it.
I kept having flashbacks to my dysfunctional childhood family. Unlike the ML and FL, who endured and accepted their abuse, I set boundaries once I became a mature adult. Real life isn't like a drama; toxic people don't often realize their toxicity and change their ways. It would be nice if reality functioned more like a drama.
The Good: The relationship between the ML and FL was a delight from beginning to end. ML's mother, the sweet and beleaguered wife to her malignant husband, realized at the end that she was also to blame for her daughter's distress and her son's condition, because she had enabled her spouse's vile speech and actions by not more firmly standing against him. The admission was too little and too late, but it meant more to me than the redemption of the "villains" in the story. I expect bad people to act badly; it's more horrifying when good people allow the bad to happen. Kudos to Tan Jian Ci. He was unrecognizable to me as the sweet ML from Filter. He made me absolutely loathe him in this.
The Bad: Toxic people don't often change in a short period of time. Yet, nearly every villain was either given a redemption story, forgiven outright, or had their outrages glossed over and forgotten. One person went to jail, and one person was divorced. Two out of about ten paid a price; the rest cried (and some didn't even do that) and were forgiven. To me, a real redemption consists of being sorry, asking the person who was hurt for forgiveness, and then atoning for the transgression. Atonement was lacking in nearly every case.
I fast-forwarded through the final episode. I lived through Covid-19 and didn't wish to re-live it. The scenario felt tacked onto the drama, which should have ended with the wedding.
I added an extra star because my Rewatch Value was so low. This was too stressful a view to want to sit through it again, regardless of how lovely the ML and FL were.
I kept having flashbacks to my dysfunctional childhood family. Unlike the ML and FL, who endured and accepted their abuse, I set boundaries once I became a mature adult. Real life isn't like a drama; toxic people don't often realize their toxicity and change their ways. It would be nice if reality functioned more like a drama.
The Good: The relationship between the ML and FL was a delight from beginning to end. ML's mother, the sweet and beleaguered wife to her malignant husband, realized at the end that she was also to blame for her daughter's distress and her son's condition, because she had enabled her spouse's vile speech and actions by not more firmly standing against him. The admission was too little and too late, but it meant more to me than the redemption of the "villains" in the story. I expect bad people to act badly; it's more horrifying when good people allow the bad to happen. Kudos to Tan Jian Ci. He was unrecognizable to me as the sweet ML from Filter. He made me absolutely loathe him in this.
The Bad: Toxic people don't often change in a short period of time. Yet, nearly every villain was either given a redemption story, forgiven outright, or had their outrages glossed over and forgotten. One person went to jail, and one person was divorced. Two out of about ten paid a price; the rest cried (and some didn't even do that) and were forgiven. To me, a real redemption consists of being sorry, asking the person who was hurt for forgiveness, and then atoning for the transgression. Atonement was lacking in nearly every case.
I fast-forwarded through the final episode. I lived through Covid-19 and didn't wish to re-live it. The scenario felt tacked onto the drama, which should have ended with the wedding.
I added an extra star because my Rewatch Value was so low. This was too stressful a view to want to sit through it again, regardless of how lovely the ML and FL were.
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