This review may contain spoilers
Misleading Plot (and not much to compensate for it)
I have very mixed feelings about this drama, and most of them stem from the feeling of being mislead.
I started this cdrama, like many people before me I assume, expecting to see a "Virtual murder-mystery meets Real Life'' romcom, and I ended up settling for a typical workplace drama. I have nothing against them, although I do think the whole CEO ML and assistant FL is an overused (and patriarchal) trope, but I think it was definitely false advertising.
If the first three episodes or so actually alternated between the two settings, the whole Rongcheng storyline was very quickly scrapped and frankly, it seemed like they completely forgot about it. I get that it worked as a plot device, to highlight the desire of the main pair to escape from reality, but they didn't even try to include it in the latter part of the series.
The main couple is cute, but brings nothing new to the screen, and is not enough to convince me to watch until the end... though I do appreciate how recent dramas have started showing more physical romance.
And dont get me started on the side couple! Which had way more potential than the main one, yet was given no screentime whatsover (why hint at a romance in the first place then...).
From episode 20 on I felt like the storyline was unnecessarily dragged (and this was a very short drama compared to other cdramas) and I forced myself to finish it, just cause.
If you are looking for a simple, cliché-y workplace drama, this is for you.
If, like me, you are looking for a alternate reality / almost magic realism-like cdrama, look elsewhere.
I started this cdrama, like many people before me I assume, expecting to see a "Virtual murder-mystery meets Real Life'' romcom, and I ended up settling for a typical workplace drama. I have nothing against them, although I do think the whole CEO ML and assistant FL is an overused (and patriarchal) trope, but I think it was definitely false advertising.
If the first three episodes or so actually alternated between the two settings, the whole Rongcheng storyline was very quickly scrapped and frankly, it seemed like they completely forgot about it. I get that it worked as a plot device, to highlight the desire of the main pair to escape from reality, but they didn't even try to include it in the latter part of the series.
The main couple is cute, but brings nothing new to the screen, and is not enough to convince me to watch until the end... though I do appreciate how recent dramas have started showing more physical romance.
And dont get me started on the side couple! Which had way more potential than the main one, yet was given no screentime whatsover (why hint at a romance in the first place then...).
From episode 20 on I felt like the storyline was unnecessarily dragged (and this was a very short drama compared to other cdramas) and I forced myself to finish it, just cause.
If you are looking for a simple, cliché-y workplace drama, this is for you.
If, like me, you are looking for a alternate reality / almost magic realism-like cdrama, look elsewhere.
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