hum

I really want to like this series but there're some unacceptable loopholes.

I really want to give this series a good score for their strong will and good intention to pass on some important messages that have a social impact, but if I'd be honest to myself, this series still doesn't reach my satisfaction standard.

Story [~]
In spite of having strong main plot and subplots, the elements in their main and subplots have loopholes occurring from time to time. And they aren't just some small loopholes that we can pretend to close one eye and let them pass.

The most unacceptable loophole in the plot is right at the end which is the climax. The teacher doesn't want to commit suicide by jumping from the rooftop. He only jumps to repeat a student's traumatic experience when she couldn't help her best friend doing the same thing so that she can modify the outcome by saving him this time. But the hell to that idea! He really jumps and it's just by chance that the student runs to grasp his hand at the last minute when his whole body already dropped from the building. The student is a girl and comes alone, though... There's no way she can help him up by herself if she couldn't do it for her friend. And not to say about running to him in the first place, she might not be able to run or be in time to even catch his hand. The teacher risks beyond the acceptable limit in the process that he claims to help the girl. If he really jumped to death before the girl's eyes as she couldn't reach him in time or especially if he dropped to death after she already got hold of him, the result could turn out to be totally opposite and worsen the state of mind of that student. (In the end, other friends appear in time to help pull the teacher back up, but the teacher never knew other students were to show up esp. it's the last minute.)

Acting [~]
Suda Masaki acts wholeheartedly. Moka and Mei are not so good at acting. Their BFF's happy laughters are so fake. Ryota's acting isn't convincing, either. I doubt that Ryota might not be able to act in challenging roles and be stuck in rom-com high school films/series forever.

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Not a story. Just a too-long presentation of one-point idea.

The film about e-sport that is more proper to target the audience who are parents in Gen-X or upper, esp. those who oppose kids playing games.

I watch this film because the promotional trailer looks interesting, but the real thing is just complete opposite. The subject is about e-sport—a trendy contemporary subject, so I expected for the least of exciting CG, fast-pacing story progress and enthusiastic youthful energy. What I found is ordinary CG like a presentation of a 1st-year film student, slow-pacing progress to the point of almost reaching nowhere, and laggard/sluggish energy due to an under par acting direction of supporting roles.

[Shortcut note in case you wouldn't read this 'til the end:
If anyone like this kind of gaming/e-sport theme with the youthful+comical tone, I want to recommend Cross Fire. It's a 36-ep. Chinese series presenting a lot of topics surrounding gaming and e-sport. One of them is also about prejudice from the older generation toward gaming/e-sport, but the production team can present it like a professional storyteller. Rip off all the decoration like CG or cinematography techniques and left only the organic element like the storytelling skills, it's already highly admirable.
P.S. I watched Cross Fire after Mother Gamer.]

Let's talk:

(1) Story
It's not a story. This 2-hour film has only one-point idea which is a mother who opposes her exemplary-student son to play in e-sport league, so she tries to make him lose the competition by building another team to beat his team but becomes a player in the process. Along 2 hours, it mainly presents the journey of a Gen-X mom becoming a game player. The selling point of the film is just to show the contrast of being an old Gen-X in the new world of e-sport (though the vibe is sorta outdated kind of e-sport). The film is shallow. Actually, this starting idea is interesting and has huge potential to create an elaborative story on another level, but the creator might be too lazy to be creative and just stop dead at the first sentence of the story while repeating the loop of that sentence for another 2 hours (—most of the time is mom trying to build the team). There's no story in it. That's why I call it just a too-long presentation of one-point idea.

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(2) Directing
The continuity between shots and scenes is obviously unskilled. At times, there wouldn't be connecting point between scenes. This messes the storytelling making the audience confused and doubts the necessity in the existence of the scene that comes later. The director is not a storyteller. He has no tactic in smoothening out the story esp. the romance part of it. He always puts a flirting scene next to another irrelevant scene out of the blue. The big fail is that all the lovey-dovey bits in the film are unimportant at all. If they cut off all these love bits, the film would look more roundly even than bumpy as it already happens to be.

Anyway, I can see why they try to add the love bits into the film. It's because they want to target the teenage group of audience, but their leading character is a Gen-X. Moreover, their main point is to change the pessimistic mindset of Gen-X about gaming, which is literally an unnecessary message to the teens. So instead, they think to pull the teenage audience in with love story, but the result is awkward. Yet to say there's no chemistry between the couple at all. The portion around love here is just too extra, out of context, or in another word—a leftover added on, which resulting in the film direction being a mess.

Let me mention a bit about the cinematography style of the film. I can see they try to use those minimal camera angles that look more contemporary like still shots, edge cut-off shots, symmetric shots, scenes with few props, but it's also seen that it isn't their real style. This style doesn't persist throughout. In the end, what they do is just kind of copying the trend.

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(3) Acting
The acting in love-bit scenes between the boy and the girl gamers is awful. It's unnatural and out of place. They're not shy but awkward. Their no-chemistry is a failure. Their flirting scenes are all fail and not convincing.

The acting direction of the fat boy is also wrong. I think this is the fault of the director. The direction of this character to be humorous by putting himself to be a bland joke doesn't come from the actor for sure. Having a character being a bland joke himself is a kind of comedy that Thai people like, but this direction doesn't work here. The film is already pretty much quiet despite being a (self-proclaimed) action film. This character being a bland joke just make the whole thing worse—now it's truly blandly quiet, but without being humorous. In the film, he even raps a song explaining the game they play, which oh... so awful. The rap is amateur and totally awful in the aspects of lyrics, rhythm and rapping skills. I'm secondhand embarrassed just by hearing it.

The acting of many main characters is just unbalanced in various layers.

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(4) Music
As I just mention that this film is pretty much quiet. Not that they don't use music. It's that they don't know how to use music. For example, at places like stimulating scenes that need music, they don't use the right music to boost the audience's emotions, and at places, the music just fades down until almost disappear altogether despite that it shouldn't. It's like they don't have a good sense of music and when they don't know what music to use or how to use music, they're not afraid of leaving it silent. Anyway, though the music isn't much helpful to the film, at least it doesn't obtrude their own work.

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With the unskillful work of the director, cinematographer, actors/actresses as well as editing team, the film doesn't come out at the top of the level they can reach (—not that the level could be very high, but instead of 2.5 score, they might get up to 3.5 from me).

Let me just finish myself here. I feel like I take more time writing this than watching the film itself.

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Stiff female lead. Script isn't good.

In the story, the female lead pursues the male lead. One of her chasing trick is sending her own composition of flirting poems to him as a secret admirer. Those poems were embarrassing both for the awkward meaning and unsmooth rhyme. The writer tries hard to forcefully put the right sound into the rhyme position of the poem but fails to select the right word for the meaning. As the result, those poems carry weird meanings with forceful sounds. If you know the rhyming rules of Thai poetry, you'd know the poems in this story are lame and a shame.

I don't like this drama after finish watching it, so I'm not really interested in talking/writing about it in detail, but I kind of feel obligated to give proper reasons on some negative points since I mentioned those points as a comparison on another drama's review (also Thai drama). So in conclusion about the poems, they are cringey and badly composed - broken on both the meanings and aesthetic. In the story, the female lead is supposed to be a genius, these poems exist just to downgrade that claim.

Apart from the poems, the dialogue is super cringey. No one would talk like the female lead in real life and get the male lead as the result. In reality, this kind of dialogue would make the speaker embarrassed and make those who hear it secondhand embarrassed as well.

I can see the actress playing the female lead really tries her best in acting. She says all those lame dialogues with all her heart. She acts with courage and hopes to make the best out of it. But nonetheless, her acting is still amateur and too stiff. If you understand Thai, you would know the way she talks is very unnatural. It's reciting. She put too much effort in every word so the words she says have come out intentional, robotic and stiffen her own overall acting.

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Awesome plot, but FL’s acting is a bit much.

The story is seriously awesome, with a plot that keeps you hooked and subplots that add depth. It’s the kind of stuff that really grabs your attention. But let’s talk about the FL – her acting is just too over the top. Actually, she’s always like that in most series she’s in, including this one. In my opinion, she shines the most when she plays the villain role.

Now, about the FL’s character... It felt a bit off in the first couple of episodes. Like, the writer couldn’t quite figure out what to do with her. She came off more like a crazed fan club of the ML with her obsession that drives her to do quite a few embarrassing things. I almost gave up on the show at the start because of this sasaeng-borderline behavior of the FL, but it got better after that.

And I gotta mention about the ridiculous details in the first half. For example, when the house gets on fire, the FL's brother help a girl out of the house by going up to the roof of the building without extinguishing the fire. Ok, not only that he doesn't stop the fire, but when escaping the fire, who would go upstairs to trap themselves when it's possible to go downstairs out of the building?? And there's this scene where the FL and ML see a rainbow that appears on the same side as the sun – that totally goes against science. It’s like the production team has no basic knowledge and common sense.

But despite all that, the plot is solid. The ML is very charming. I ended up enjoying the series a lot.

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Great Concept. Great Storyline. But Lame and Convenient Ending.

Great concept. Great storyline. Some reckless details but very few. However, the ending is very lame and feels like cheating.

Just before the ending, the ML can suddenly touch anything in the past just to clear the game—this is cheating #1. Then, his son can bring anything from the past at the age of 5, when he doesn't even understand the concept of the past. He doesn't know what a 'year' is, so we can't even talk about how he understands '18 years ago', but the FL can persuade him to bring the ML back from 18 years ago...? And they don't make it realized about his method for bringing things back from the past either, so it feels more like magic than a superpower. They make it too convenient without rationality. So that's cheating #2.

P.S. I usually give music scores an average of 5 because I don't consider myself an expert in that field. If the music isn’t exceptionally good or bad, I might not notice it, so I try to be fair. But this series has put the wrong music in the wrong places and at the wrong times quite often. For example, when the ML goes back to meet the FL in the past for the first time. It happens under a serious atmosphere, but a light, funny music suddenly starts at that point -_- The music sounds out of place and doesn’t match the mood of the scenes. It's noticeably off.

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Art style copied from Hunger Games + Squid Game. Weak storyline. Weak Performance.

Plot [-]

The concept of the story is alright, but the plot and storyline are weak. There's not much substance at all. There's absolutely no need for 6 episodes. They could just make it into a 2-hr movie and that would be enough.

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Acting [-]

The worst acting goes to the FL. Her performance is exaggerated and unnatural. While the genre may require some level of exaggeration, her portrayal goes beyond what is necessary. It seems like she hasn't found the right balance between delivering a performance while maintaining the level of believability.

Apart from FL, FL's friend also delivers an unnatural performance in some scenes. As for the FL's younger sister, she is cute and natural in appearance (I think her performance is the best in the series. She has a long way to go in this career), but the words she uses in her dialogue seem to come from almost 20 years ago. I strongly feel that the writer of this series might belong to Gen Y as their slangs are from the heyday of that era. (For example, who still says เพื่ออออ? (The FL uses this word a couple of times.) And you make the younger sister who is an early teen says ตายแล้วววว (-_-) Guys... no kid says that word. I don't even say it myself though I'm older than her.)

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Music [-]

This series is quite silent when it comes to music. They hardly use any soundtracks or backing tracks apart from the main opening song. I usually admire a series/movie that can captivate viewers without relying on music which often plays a significant role in evoking emotions. However, the way this series avoids using music seems somewhat out of theme. Firstly, with their shallow story and character design, they can hardly engage viewers emotionally, so incorporating backing music would be beneficial for them. Secondly, considering that the series has a futuristic and dystopian theme within the fantasy genre, using the right music would help immerse people who haven't experienced such environments before. While it would be impressive and ingenious if they could achieve this without music, since they cannot do so effectively, they should take advantage of what music can offer here.

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Art Direction [-]

I quite like the art direction for most parts of the series. The light, the colors, the props and camera angles are align with my taste, but they totally lack originality. They are heavily inspired by Hunger Games + Squid Game. The color palettes and the uniform used in this series appear to be direct copies from Squid Game. Though copy, they still did it quite alright, but there's one aspect that stands out negatively, which is the costume of the actors in the last scene, including the ML's costume and hairstyle. The world of the commune in that scene lacks imagination and creativity. It's simply a copy of the hippie style but ends up feeling fake. Just look at the ML's hairstyle, it feels overdone. They seem to have run out of ideas on how to differentiate that community.

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Above all [~/-]

It's super cringey. I got goosebumps and second-hand embarrassment watching the FL doing her foolish things. She's the character that could have been cool, really, but they portray her as dumb.

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Instant formular of cliche storyline and artificial sentiment.

Unoriginal plot. Their story is like the instant noodles that just aims to finish things quick without creating anything worth cherish. Their story accumulates so many cliche plots that we've seen so often in other movies and make them even more cliche by not adding any new element into their own work. It's the pop star falling in love with an ordinary girl. Also a one-night falling in love in a foreign land. And Confessing love at a friend's wedding (by stealing the scene from the bride and groom -- which is very impolite in real life, I would say. And very cringey when it appears in the film.)

Things in this movie pass by in a very superficial style. Nothing deep but they try to force the audience to perceive what happen as something deep. There's almost nothing happen between the ML and FL during their time together, which is not more than 12 hours, apart from running in a spooky cemetery and baking a cake together. But ML, who is a celebrity, is so naively certain this is true forever love and ready to give up everything for FL.

So many things happen nonsensically and baselessly. The production team absolutely doesn't care to lay out any solid foundation for the leads' feelings. Until to the point that they kiss, I still don't feel they have feelings for each other. It's more like a suit-for-the-moment kiss than any deep-meaning kiss. Throughout the movie, from beginning to end, I don't feel any chemistry between ML and FL at all. And ironically, there's this dialogue of FL around the beginning saying it's funny for her that people in entertainment business can fakely love each other on a show because love can be portrayed through the eyes and when she sees the eyes, it tells whether the love is real of not. People can't fake love -- Yes, she surely can't fake it. I don't feel any feeling in her eyes towards ML at all, and to be fair, it's vice versa.

A few positive points about this movie is that they have proper production. They know how to use the camera and set the setting well. FL seems to be able to speak Italian as well. If she can't, she came prepared. Her mounth shape while speaking goes along with Italian language sound making it looks natural when she have a conversation.

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I hate this series so much - hate it the same way each time Na Heedo saying she hate Park Yijin.

Well wrap-up. It's so hurtful. This pain almost suppressed the positive score I had for this series, but because of the way they wrap up with recollection scenes to remind the viewers what their messages are - and those messages are so strong I just can't deny it. In this way, they kind of console me to not let the anguish bury the valuable points we've gained from watching the series. The original plot is complex and well built, the characters are interesting and well created, the dialogues are well written. The FL's acting is superb. I don't feel much chemistry between the leads though, and still hate the ending so much. I think maybe because I've been through only ordinary kind of love, never this kind that so intensely intertwines with life to the core. So when I see this kind of love that two people went through so much before being together falls apart, their break-up just doesn't make sense to me.

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Impressive but Big Error at the Climax

(1) Cinematography
First of all, the cinematography of this film is superb. The depiction of all scenes, the gestures of all actors/actresses are beautiful. The CG is both well designed and properly brought about. The teams involved in the art direction and cinematography deserve the biggest applause.

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(2) Acting
All the actors/actresses did a very well-done job even the supporting or guest roles have left a deep impression on me. I'm especially impressed with the actor who played He Shou Ye after finding out at the end of the whole story what kind of performance this actor actually deliverer for the film. (I put the further detail in the spoiler box at the bottommost as it could be a spoiler kind of information.)

Also, I'm especially fond of the actor who played The Golden Spirit, such adorable in the cool/serious character he has portrayed. I have to rewind again and again to watch the scene of his desperate run.

All the important characters including Qing Ming, Bo Ya and the princess don't have the kind of flaw that leaves a sting in my heart to recall after the movie.

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(3) Story
But.. the film makes a big error in the plot at the climax which is the vital pillar that the story needs to resolve to the ending, therefore this mistake is unacceptable. (To explain what it actually is would be a spoiler as well, so I'll mention this further in the box at the bottom.)

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(4) Dialogue
There's one part of the dialogue that bothers me. It's the finishing line right at the final scene. I can see the director/writer try hard to give a beautiful/impressive finishing line to end the film, but the result is instead a superficial dialogue. It's just a shame because throughout the story they don't have that many words the characters have to speak. There're only sufficient and adequate, and that makes the whole way until that final point a graceful, pleasing path. At the end, though, the characters start to create a set of conversations with overly decorative words. Too much intended decoration and that makes things lose their true meaning. In the end, those words just become gibberish to me.

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(5) Music
As for the music, the style is quite cliche and often reminds me of RPG background music style. Most of the pieces are so-so, not initiative though can go along with the story flow quite fine. Anyway, a few pieces have been mixed with the local music style which I like and think goes well with the movie's ambiance. They try to compose the music for action scenes by fitting the musical rhythm/melody with the choreography. I also appreciate that. The editing, though, isn't the highest skilled. I can still often hear the sharp seam at the transitions when two pieces are put next to each other.

That's all. Below is the spoiler part.

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The error: Qing Ming is supposed to be able to teleport to only the places he has experienced in person like visiting or seeing with his own eyes, but at the climax he teleports into the snake's stomach without even having ever met the snake before. He's never been/seen the place in its stomach so that teleportation should have been impossible.

The actor: He played two roles in the movie that I didn't recognize as the same person at all while watching!
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Intense and Heartbreaking - A Short Chinese Drama That Truly Delivers

Overall Impression [+]

I cried so much while watching this series. It completely pulled me in with just 12 episodes. This short length is rare for a Chinese drama, but the storytelling was spot on. Super strong start. Nothing felt dragged out and it didn't feel cut short either. The pacing was just right. The story kept moving forward and I could hardly stop after I started. (I finished it in just two sittings.)

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Acting [+]

The leads did a great job, but I have to especially praise the FL. Just last week I finished watching her in When Destiny Brings Demon and honestly despised her acting. She was the weakest link in that series, so pretentious and unconvincing. But here... My gosh… is this the same actress? I have nothing to criticize at all. She might not be suited for naive, acting-cute roles like in WDBD, but when it comes to serious drama, she absolutely delivers. She intensified the scenes she was in. It was stressful and heartbreaking to watch her in Twelve Letters. The ML did well too, but it was really the FL who pushed everything over the top and carried most of the weight of the series. (The weakest link in this series is the FL's son.)

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Music [+]

Normally I just give an average score in this area since I don’t consider myself an expert, but the soundtrack here really stood out, especially the ending songs. Some episodes ended with songs that wrenched my heart even more, making me cry harder. The music elevated the emotions perfectly.

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Logic [~]

((spoiler))

As with any time-travel series, the logic is the trickiest part. This one isn’t perfect either. I still have questions about both the beginning and ending, like why and where Yu Zhiyong disappeared to from the post box? Why did Yu Nian still have memories about Shen Cheng? Why did Ye Haitang and Tang Yixun mention Yu Nian as family? How did they know that? These questions were never explained clearly. Still, there weren’t too many logical gaps, and while watching, I was so immersed in the emotional damage from bingeing the series that I was ready to overlook them.

*By the way, I saw some explanation about 4 timelines according to the numbers on the post boxes. That's amazing!

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Production [-]

What I have to criticize, and also the reason I lowered my score, is the unprofessionalism of the production team. In the early episodes, you’ll see the FL took some really dangerous falls. One time she landed on her back against the cement floor, another time her head/temple slammed into a stone step while she was holding a heavy jar, unable to use her arms to soften the impact. These falls looked terrifyingly real, so I searched on Baidu to find out that they were real accidents during filming. Knowing that made me even more uneasy. These kinds of mishaps can cause long-term harm, and the lack of proper safety measures shows how unprofessional the production team was. Any team that puts actors at such risk doesn’t deserve 100% of the actors' effort.

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Twelve Letters left me emotionally drained (= compliment.) It’s rare to find a drama that can deliver such intensity in such a short span and despite its flaws, it’s absolutely worth watching for the emotional impact and the incredible performance. I just don’t think it’s the kind of series that would score high on rewatch value, though, if the audience isn't masochistic enough.

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Nothing to the plot, but cool FL.

There's nothing to the plot; it's very shallow and one-dimensional. The movie focuses on showcasing action scenes with a cool FL. However, all actors and actresses are very capable; everyone fits their role and has done a good job in acting. I had watched a rom-com series featuring the same FL (Wedding Impossible) just before watching this movie. She did a terrible job in the romance/rom-com genre. Her deadpan expression is more suitable for solemn characters like her role in this movie. With only one facial expression, she can't convey complicated emotions, which doesn't suit a romantic series/movie at all.

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Deadpan FL expression. Logic goes downhill from halfway of the story.

Since episode 7, when many revelations surfaced, the logic behind the actions of the three main characters in coping with the situations becomes increasingly absurd. Additionally, I think the series would have been better with 8 or 9 episodes instead of the current 12. At the current pace, there is too much dragging. The dialogues, even those between the main characters, are also dull. However, the show really pulls off some hilarious scenes, especially during the first half. They had me laughing out loud a few time, which isn't something I usually do.

Anyway, a major disappointment lies in the performance of the FL. Honestly, I can't fathom why she was cast for this role. Initially, I appreciated her portrayal of a realistic woman who doesn't conform to femininity but exudes coolness, particularly in her interactions within her friend circle. However, when it comes to scenes with the ML, she falls very short. There's supposed to be a spark, some chemistry, something romantic, but it's totally absent. Zero. None. There's no romantic vibe from the FL at all, while the ML has already done his part. Furthermore, the plot does little to support their supposed deep love for each other in such a short time, to the extent of risking and betraying the feelings of another person they both care about deeply. Their love lacks conviction. Additionally, the FL's portrayal in these romantic contexts fails to evoke any genuine emotion in me. While the marriage between the FL and the ML's brother might be a sham, watching the FL and ML together, I can't help but feel their love is just as fake.

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FL single-handedly carried the show

I dove into a whirlwind of Chinese mini-series last weekend, starting with "My Villain Husband", which had such a disappointing plot. I was really let down. Then there was "A Tale of Love and Loyalty", where the logic was absurd even without considering the plot. It seemed like the writers had no sense of reason. The only thing that kept me watching till the end was the good-looking main leads and their steamy kissing scenes.

Next, I tried "The West Wind Is Strong" and "The Everlasting Love" but found them so disappointing that I couldn't even finish.

Then I stumbled upon "Confess Your Love." Surprisingly, the female lead's acting was quite impressive. Her subtle nuances were smooth and natural. Despite the illogical setup around the villain and the overall acting in this series, I'd say this actress single-handedly carried the show. I managed to stick around till the end because of her charm; she really drew me in.

The plot was okay, but the storytelling was rather illogical. There were so many details that wouldn't make sense to anyone, yet they deliberately steered the story in that direction for convenience's sake. Still, this mini-series was much better than most in its genre. I've watched 8 in total over these couple of days, and 6 of them were a lot worse than this. There's only this one and "The Deliberations of Love" that are passable in my opinion.

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PS.1 - The ML's acting was super stiff. The FL truly carried the whole show.

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PS.2 - The list of my 8 binge-watched shows is as follows:

Passable:
1. The Deliberations of Love
2. Confess Your Love (2023)

So bad:
1. My Villain Husband
2. A Tale of Love and Loyalty
3. My Cat-astrophic Lover
4. My Fake Wife

Dropped:
1. The West Wind Is Strong
2. The Everlasting Love

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Surprisingly disappointing. Good story though the logic is super off. Terrible character design.

Story Plot [+]

It's a very good story - good plot on the ML's life, quite a few of thought-provoking/impressive/inspiring moments, but the character design on the villain side is the worst. It's a story full of clever people who are intentionally unprofessional and prejudiced.

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Logic of the story [-]

I don't understand why so many people in the story try to say that a person who can't feel physical pain due to an illness isn't approved to be a doctor as well as put all the blames on the person. This logic comes out so forcefully. The series tries super hard to make this claim valid, but it still feels super off.

I don't understand either why people like the prosecutor take the idea of euthanasia of consent, terminally ill patients as something to be so vengeful toward the doctor who is willing to help the patients. It's to the point that he wants to destroy the doctor's life and career as well as put him into jail even though the action of the doctor complies with the patient's desire. This topic of euthanasia is surely a socially debatable topic. But the opposing side in this series takes this issue very personally to the point of personal grudge and vengeance. It's so extreme without a proper root or cause that would help the viewers to understand and empathize with, thus their actions feel very off. It's like this series has devalued this social issue by portraying the opinions from the opposing side as illogical to the point of absurd and psychopathic. This topic that is worth being discussed has become some nonsense, personal issue of the irrational villains.

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Character Design [-]

The first one is the prosecutor who is competent but blindsided and has the habit of rushing to a conclusion. I don't understand his competence at all. These traits of his must prevent him from being clearheaded enough to be able to have an objective analysis on his cases. Not to talk about his vengefulness in destroying an ex-verdict without a proper cause. I don't understand his long-term vengeance towards the ML who has no personal issue with him. He often blames the ML that the ML euthanized his patient to make his own mind feel at ease by not having to see the patient being tortured from the terminal illness, but he also says the ML doesn't have the right to treat patients because ML has an illness that makes him not able to feel pain thus he wouldn't understand patients' pain and just does the scientific experiment on human's bodies due to curiosity via medical treatment. Is this kind of contradictory logic supposed to come from a character who is a competent prosecutor?

The second is the hospital-management-team doctor who openly attacks the ML on all sorts of unreasonable issues no matter how nonsense the issue is to start with. It's like he is clouded by a kind of hatred that doesn't have a cause, either. The ML isn't even a threat to his position. I don't understand his stupidity at all. In reality, all the blames he openly puts on the ML would normally harm himself back as a high-level doctor. It would easily cause people to be skeptical about his qualification in his position that needs objectivity and analytical skills. I don't understand at all how he's in the hospital management team with this kind of intelligence.

The third person is the female villain of the story. She's designed to be an extreme emo. She is a stalker who is vengeful towards a murderer who killed her daughter, but later shifts all the hatred and vengefulness to the ML who put the murderer to death. I understand her upset, but this vengefulness is so offset. I don't understand how it is shifted to the ML and even after the ML was imprisoned for 3 years, she still stalks him and is willing to destroy his career and his life after he was released - all of this because he killed the murderer who had killed her daughter?! I don't understand even more when the prosecutor agrees with this person's perspective (though his son was also killed together with the daughter, his character is positioned to be highly rational.) The prosecutor always believes that he is righteous in what he does, but all his actions contradict what he thinks he is. This female villain and the prosecutor make this series super absurd and drag the overall score of the series down immensely.

With this kind of character design, this story becomes too unreasonable, excessively absurd and overly melodramatic.

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Acting [~]

I would say the acting of the ML carries the whole series. I watch this series till the end only because of him and the struggle in his life with his illness and his profession's experience. The FL's acting is off from time to time. I watched her in Red Sleeve before this one and let me say her acting doesn't improve as the years passed. The second ML's character design contradicts itself at the beginning of the story and that contradiction makes me feel off about him for the whole series. The second FL's acting and expression are not good enough to be a second FL. All other supporting roles' actings are just so-so.

By the way, I don't feel any connection in the FL's family at all. They all work at the same hospital, see one another very often, and always have interactions, but these people who are FL's mother, uncle, aunt and sister don't look like they're related at all -- not related to the FL and not to one another. There's zero family relationship among them even when they're in the same scene talking face-to-face to each other.

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