Paper Tiger

So I just started the drama and within the first 16 minutes of the 1st episode, the FL was loud and sounded spoiled and petulant which got on my nerves. From the first scene, she is screaming at her maid and constantly complaining. When the maid tries to convince her not to run away and says that she'll be beaten to death if Xiao Tan disappears, Xiao Tan replies with "then let him beat you to death." Even if it's just a comedy, even if she thought that the maid wasn't serious, even if she had to run away, even if she was afraid for her life (which I don't think that was the case), that's just a very callous thing to say. There's a difference between being sassy and being annoying. Then Tan Er took over and seemed boring and lacking in personality altogether. From the little that I saw of the ML, he didn't seem any better, so at least that makes them a match made in heaven. So my question is, does she get a personality transplant within the next couple of episodes or should I move on to another drama? Is the FL going to continuously rotate between mcpetulant and mcsnoozfest or does mcpetulant mellow down in terms of petulance?

It's so hard to find a Chinese drama with good acting, it's so frustrating. I think the dubbing also doesn't help matters, it's usually so obvious to the point of taking me out of the story -_- Btw I was torn between this picture and Gong Yoo but this one captured my exact general mood :D

You said everything I wanted to say. I would like to add though that the main leads' acting was really good compared to the average Chinese dramas and they had good chemistry but by episode 11 I just couldn't get into the drama. I tried coming back to it a few months later. The drama couldn't keep my attention even after skipping through the episodes to get to the main leads' scenes.

The chemistry btw the leads was off the charts but everything else was a package of cliched and plot-holed snoozfest.

There were moments where I felt the chemistry and other moments where I genuinely thought the ML was going to turn psycho/stalker/weirdo on her. I don't know whether that's a problem with the script, the acting or both but it was really weird.

I, personally, don't necessarily hate it. I've watched and loved fluffier dramas with less substance. It's more that I'm disappointed. I think the story had potential to be something more than a traditional fluffy romcom. I might get back to it once I got over my previous exceptions.

I don't necessarily mind an adaptation that differ a lot from the original. However, what's frustrating here is that they took a really good, complex, and ripe for mining element and overly simplified it and turned it into a farce rather than an examination of several issues. Having her have an "original" face takes out the idea of loving someone that has "no face" and what comes with that (being regarded as a player if you're a guy or "easy" if you're a woman, social expectations, how emotionally exhausting it can be, being with that person when they are a child or and old person, how that can put a strain on family relations for the "normal" person...).

Another person in a comment on DB described it perfectly when they said it was like a production company found a script about an actress, a chaebol, and contract relationship, and then slapped the face changing thing on top of it. It feels like a gimmick, something for either comedy or exaggerated moaning rather any deep reflection. Maybe the drama will prove me wrong in the end, but the tone itself is not really giving the vibe of contemplation. Let me clarify one last thing, being reflective and full of contemplation does not necessarily mean it can't have comedic elements.

I don't think that LMK is a bad actor. I've seen him do a lot of very diverse roles. And while I think that his role here and BTIMFL are close, I don't necessarily think that they are the same, they have different motivations and ticks. However, I found it hard to connect to his character here when I instantly connected to him in a role where he was very stoic and closed off in another show. I don't know whether it's because of the writing or because of his portrayal. But I do know that he's a pretty good actor, in the hands of a lesser actor, his character in BTIMFL would have been horrible.

I couldn't get into the story, the changes from the movie, the FL or ML. I also dislike that they took interesting characters and turned them into what feels like (to me personally) caricatures--the cold chaebol and the rich entitled actress. I liked the movie a lot better with the ML not really having a face to call his own, making the story have a lot of depth. From watching the first 3 episodes, it felt like they took a story that was introspective, quiet yet powerful and deep and turned it into a cheap gimmick. I'll wait till the drama ends and see other people's reviews before I decide whether to pick it up again but I feel like the tone of the first 3 episodes just told me all I need to know about how they'll handle the story.