sadia

If you're watching for LYN, or for the 'romance' between LYN and LT, simply don't bother - you WILL be disappointed. If you're a fan of queerbait, however, this is the drama for you! I see a lot of people complaining about how LYN doesn't have chemistry with the FL - and they're right. JJH doesn't have *romantic* chemistry with He Huan - if anything, their relationship seemed more like mother and son. It's evident throughout that He Huan isn't meant to be with him romantically, but she is meant to be with someone else - that is, Bai Yang. The way they look at each other, the way they care about each other, the acts of service, the hand-holding, Bai Yang quite literally confessing to He Huan on live TV when she thought she was on her deathbed - I'm sure if Bai Yang was a man, you would all be screaming about their chemistry. But since the chemistry between He Huan and Bai Yang is INSANE, the 'chemistry' between them and JJH/Ren Jie respectively seems forced. It's almost like the directors noticed and quickly added the MLs as a form of damage control (because god forbid we let two successful women *not* have a male love interest!).

Let me put it this way. With the relationships between He Huan/Bai Yang and their respective MLs, the directors have to make it explicit that the characters supposedly have feelings for each other, including actions that otherwise do not make sense for their character. Whereas when it comes to each other, there is no need to do this, as their actions towards each other make it quite clear that they see each other as more than friends. If anything, it feels like the directors realise that they have no chemistry with the MLs, so essentially have to be like 'look guys!! these characters have feelings for each other!!' and it doesn't feel natural at all. Bai Yang and Ren Jie's storyline is probably the biggest example of this - you're telling me Bai Yang, who hates men, always saw Ren Jie as a rival, and was only thinking of He Huan whilst on her deathbed the week before, all of a sudden 'realises' that she has feelings for Ren Jie (because his shoes were pointing towards her)??? Honestly, they could've had a great academic rivals-to-lovers storyline, but this was extremely poorly done and a disgrace to the trope. (also, their scenes remind me of those skits about the 'guy who doesn't know his girlfriend is gay', I'm sorry Ren Jie 💀)

All I can say to He Huan and Bai Yang is - good luck, babe!