This review may contain spoilers
Pretty graphically violent, but good for web novel enthusiasts who like revenge plots.
When I say this one is violent, I mean VIOLENT. The introduction is extremely dark right off the bat, and there are unsettling scenes scattered throughout the drama afterwards.
Of course it's not uncommon for a drama to have many supporting and minor characters killed off in a high stakes plot, but this drama tends toward some pretty graphic and brutal ones. I don't generally mind violence, but there were a few times with this one where I had to stop and go do something else for a few days.
(minor spoiler; one character is fed to starving dogs while still alive and another is essentially SA-ed to death)
It's much more in line with the pace and tropes of a web novel than your standard drama adaptation. It tends toward an extended build-up of tension before you get any kind of catharsis. For revenge stories that means that the antagonists are low on iq and high on power while the female lead is somehow always both the underdog and untouchable (unless the male lead is there, in which case she is of course outmatched).
The logic can get a little crazy straw from time to time. There's one scene where one of the minor villain girls gets caught in bed someone else's fiancé and they very nearly manage to somehow pin the fault of it on the female lead.
Essentially if over plot armor (for villains or leads) doesn't bother you, you'll be good but if it does you'll end up very frustrated before you make it even half way.
Honestly though, the thing that frustrated me the most was the main character.
Putting aside the Clark Kent premise, where a woman who was apparently the widely renowned wife of a high profile official can apparently come back to town with just a name change, and no one seriously challenges her identity, I found I couldn't really enjoy Xue Fangfei's character because of Jiang Li.
Xue Fangfei's intentions toward her may be good, but in the end she uses her after her death just as much as her stepmother did in life. Even with the scenes of her smiling ghost, I still felt like her kindness ended up being repaid with an erased existence and an unmarked grave.
Of course it's not uncommon for a drama to have many supporting and minor characters killed off in a high stakes plot, but this drama tends toward some pretty graphic and brutal ones. I don't generally mind violence, but there were a few times with this one where I had to stop and go do something else for a few days.
(minor spoiler; one character is fed to starving dogs while still alive and another is essentially SA-ed to death)
It's much more in line with the pace and tropes of a web novel than your standard drama adaptation. It tends toward an extended build-up of tension before you get any kind of catharsis. For revenge stories that means that the antagonists are low on iq and high on power while the female lead is somehow always both the underdog and untouchable (unless the male lead is there, in which case she is of course outmatched).
The logic can get a little crazy straw from time to time. There's one scene where one of the minor villain girls gets caught in bed someone else's fiancé and they very nearly manage to somehow pin the fault of it on the female lead.
Essentially if over plot armor (for villains or leads) doesn't bother you, you'll be good but if it does you'll end up very frustrated before you make it even half way.
Honestly though, the thing that frustrated me the most was the main character.
Putting aside the Clark Kent premise, where a woman who was apparently the widely renowned wife of a high profile official can apparently come back to town with just a name change, and no one seriously challenges her identity, I found I couldn't really enjoy Xue Fangfei's character because of Jiang Li.
Xue Fangfei's intentions toward her may be good, but in the end she uses her after her death just as much as her stepmother did in life. Even with the scenes of her smiling ghost, I still felt like her kindness ended up being repaid with an erased existence and an unmarked grave.
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