launev

holy toxic relationship story batman - like this is seriously bad, on both sides.
ML is violent (as is the FL - she stabs him 3 times) and has no emotions. FL is the most severe push/pull girl out there - it gave me serious whiplash - it was almost disturbing how utterly f*cked up this character was.
She is also seriously dumb most of the time - EVERY scheme she tries to pull off is an utter failure and when caught relies on trying to seduce whoever caught her (it goes back and forth between main ML and the brother)
It was an interesting concept - but a bit too heavy on the S&M erotica fantasy game. Whoever wrote this has some very serious relationship/ love issues
And, in the end -to try and romanticize this horribly toxic relationship as some grand love story, was just so wrong

not bad for a short - I expect plot holes and rushed story lines - and this one wasn't THAT bad.
Mostly worth the binge for the ML. FL was ok for me - I just dont particularly enjoy the pipsqueak girls. And she would have been better if she could actually fight, instead of just walking around with a sword and pretending like she is some big marital artists. Dont get me wrong, I mostly enjoyed her attitude - but it did get real old, real quick and showed up in places it shouldn't
The biggest letdown is that this was clearly meant to be 2 seasons - you cant leave a HUGE cliffhanger like that without the idea that there will be a second season - we will see if that happens - not holding my breath since this was made in 2022

overall, I really enjoyed this.
Love both the main leads - they just didnt quite work for me as a couple.
As characters- she isn't that much older than him (she is only supposed to be around 30 and he is mid-to-late 20's - so not a huge age gap here). The problem lies is that the actors in real life have a bigger age gap (she is 40 and he is 28). Even with this, I can sometimes be ok with it - but she just felt too much like his mother, than a love interest. If they had just kept this to them being partners in solving crimes and not introduced the romance part - it would have worked better for me - but every time they got 'romantic' - it just felt awkward to me cause she had such mom vibe to me.
But, that was just my feeling watching it. Beyond that - I do love seeing a kick-ass woman and she did rock this part!

found myself accidentally rewatching this again - mostly because I keep forgetting what its about (which says something about it overall) - but was waiting for another drama to finish and started watching it again. I did immediately remember, but was like, WTH, I need to kiill some time.
I will once again downgrade my rating on this and will say - worth a watch, but definitely dont need to see it again.
The weird decision to make the main couple so, overly chaste was kind of weird - like, neither of them have any intimacy desires At ALL. While they are a pretty healthy couple in that they actually communicate - the weird setups of them sitting on the bed and just holding hands while talking and both totally fine with just that, like COME ON already - this is not normal. Kind of made sense early on, but after the escape to Younzhou - it was just ridiculous. There was just something off about this couple - they just always seemed more like brothers-in-arms, than lovers.
Other weird directorial decisions - the decision to have the ML basically whisper through so much of their dialogue - I know they were going for a sense of intimacy, but it was just him whispering all the time - it was weird.
Her sniffling crying all the time (ALL THE TIME) - it was a bit much and the sniffling was annoying
SOOO mad about General Qin - this made no sense AT ALL
And, basically, Uncle He could have solved/prevented ALL OF THIS if he had just said something sooner - its all on him

Just a horribly crafted script. Chopping editing that made the story hard to follow in way too many places.
Actors all did their jobs fine - but it couldn't overcome a bad script.
While I usually enjoy this actress - this character has to be one of the more annoying FL's out there. They tried to thread the needle of a newly formed human (therefore, emotionally a child), but in a full-grown woman's body. She had the maturity level of an eight year old, but lets put her in adult situations. It just didnt work at all.
They tried to make her 'naive' (because she just became human) - but she just came across as super-dumb most of the time. You can be naive and 'innocent' without being stupid - yet, most writers just dont know how to do this properly and so they just come across as stupid.
I did appreciate that they didnt do the ridiculous love triangle thing with the 2FL - usually this is the spoiled girl from a noble family who crushes on the ML and causes problems - SOOO happy they didnt go down this road and instead made her besties with the FL - this was a great relationship.
The psycho prince regent got boring real quick and whoever thought the whole lets make him think we slept together thing was a good idea should never be allowed near a script again - this was just so wrong on so many levels and if the gender roles were reveres, we would be screaming bloody murder.
FL has SERIOUS bad judgement about men - repeatedly. She does finally get it together on the 3rd turn - but, oof, this was painful to watch (just because she was so stupid all the time)
Chemistry was ok with leads - but, honestly, this was another one of those pairings that I couldn't quite understand what everyone found so fascinating about her - especially the ML - beyond the cutesy, super-cheerful thing - she really wasn't that interesting and with all her shenanigans - she was just exhausting most of the time.

just finished this and it was just ok for me. Not bad, pretty typical romcom stuff.
Had not seen the ML in anything before and I did enjoy him in this
FL is kind of hit or miss for me - didnt mind her in this, but she wasn't my favorite. Almost all of her characters have this over-exuberant, because I am hiding from emotions thing that I dont really enjoy. On the plus side - they kind of address it in the drama and once she kind of calms down - I do enjoy her more.
Two things I dont enjoy - the over-comsumption of alcohol and hitting people for fun/playfulness - not extreme here, like in Love Next door - I had to stop watching it because of how much the FL hit the ML - but enough that it is bothersome. Its the weird striking out hitting because they dont want to deal with their emotions
Will have to say they did strike a good balance between the business stuff and the romance - usually it goes to0 heavy one way (usually to the business side) - and since I could have cared less about alcohol sales and making beer - because it was balanced well, I didnt mind as much having to suffer through all that silliness.
REALY could have done without all the silliness with the village crew - the aunties were just annoying - got better once they 'adopted' her and the village head guy was just stupid.
One of the few romcoms were I enjoyed the second couple - I usually hate that they always insist on having them in the first place - but this couple was good and I look forward to BSC in more stuff - he was just too adorable here.

overall, I enjoyed this - keep me interested through 7.5 episodes - then lost me at the end (which is pretty standard for asian dramas - they just dont know how to end things all)
I agree with many commenters here that part of the fail of this drama is that the description and how it was marketed are way off from what actually happens. This really is more of a commentary on broken people, love and contract marriages. The mystery part and the whole contract marriage company, which were interesting, just not that central to the story - almost felt like that needed its own seperate drama
So, this made the drama unfocused - like, what were they going for - romcom, melodrama, mystery??? And, because they tried to do it all in only 8 episodes - nothing quite came together.
The thing I HATED the most was that the ex-wife faces NO real accountability for her actions - like NONE and I just find this inexcusable given her actions
Loved the main leads - thought they were great together

I honesty dd not think I was going to like this - slow melodramas are not usually my thing - but, man, am I glad I watched this. I savored every moment of it - no fast-forwarding on this one!
Loved the whole cast, cinematography was wonderful, loved all the great art in her house, and office, the drawings at the beginning, the use of film (I am a photography, so this was wonderful).
Kudos to all who worked on this. D
Definitely worth a watch!

you know the you start to make a laundry list of everything that annoyed you about a drama - that its pretty bad.
One of THE worst FL characters written - if there was an equivalent to a dumb blonde in asian terms - this would be it. They try to write it off as the result of her being 'locked' away - which in-of-itself was stupid - its not like she was in a cave somewhere and didnt interact with other human beings for 20yrs. While a cage is a cage, no matter how pretty - she was able to sneak off, could read books and talked to people. So, the very idea that she didnt understand basic human/social interactions annoyed me right off the bat. And, then, she is just stupid and annoying through most of the drama - such an awful FL character for so many reasons. You also know its bad when you are rooting for the character to NOT end up with the ML and you just kind of want her to go away.
It didnt help that the actress who played this character is not so great. I almost didnt recognize her from Follow Your Heart (hated her in that as well and almost same criticism of her acting) and now in Fangs of Fortune (where she works, but only because that character is stoic and emotionless). She just has so little emotional range and kind of blank look on her face all the time.
ML wasn't that great either and absolutely no chemistry between the two.

For the most I did enjoy this - great acting, especially by the 2 ML's
But, this really should have been called - surviving horrible mothers.
San Ha's mom being the worst of the three, but Dal's mom is right up there and I am not giving a pass to Hae Jun's mom just because they redeemed in her in the end - she still put her own feelings ahead of her son's, even after everyone told her he was suffering.
They completely failed in respect to San Ha's mom and redeeming her at the end - I get she had her own trauma - but she literally tortured this poor boy for 20yrs and that is not forgivable.
Where they failed even more was not addressing AT ALL that this woman clearly had some serious mental health issues and needed some serious mental health care, They completely lost me when they had San Ha kneeling and begging his mom at the end. She never once apologizes to him or makes any amends. Instead - she just goes off to England with the daughter and everything is fine now - NO, NO, NO! Nothing about this story arc was ok or handled properly.
Quick romance at the end with Hae Jun's mom and Jeong Jae was just dumb and too rushed. I get why, but it was such an afterthought and just done poorly.
They spent way too much time on high school years and not enough on the 10yrs apart, then rushed the romance at the end

This is one of the - its so bad, its fun to watch. Seriously bad script and direction. SOOOOO many post holes (which I expect from this shorts) - but this one was particularly bad.
ALOT of bad acting or overacting - especially by FL and the main villain lady.
It doesn't help that the FL is supposed tonethis amazing martial artists and she is pretty bad. And what is the deal with her HUGE sword - it was almost bigger than her - it was RIDICULOUS!
You really are only watching this for Dai, his bare chest, a lot of sultry lounging about and a man who knows how to kiss - that really is about all this worth. Good thing it's quick and short - that way the headache from all the stupidity doesn't last long.

Never said it wasnt, just didnt find her story that interesting after ep 18

Started off good for me, got boring after ep 18 - sooo didnt care for much of the Youngzhou story arc - the vapid songstress ladies, starting her business, greedy businessmen - just blah for me - picked up again towards the end when they got back to the mystery of the pearl and smoking out the bad guys. I also just the investing so much time and energy into a story and the characters just to have them have bad endings - I feel cheated. But, hey, thats just me.
I think I would have enjoyed this much more if they had stuck to the chase for the pearls and why everyone wanted them - which involves why the Yan's were killed and framed. I get it though - this was supposed to be about her journey from slave girl to prominent businesswoman - but it just felt like they spent 18 episodes all about the blood pearl and his family and then completely shifted gears after 18episodes. First half is kind of exciting, second half - not so much.

The title on this is very misleading (as with much of the promos for this show) - not much romance/Love - it comes most into play at the very end with the lesson about learning to love one's self, otherwise - not much romance to speak of.
Gaming part really only comes into play at the beginning and then at the end. Rest of this is just plain old fantasy drama.
The idea is interesting - although I never quite got how transmigrating into a book became a game - but, whatever.
Gaming aspect was very fun at the beginning and then they just kind of let it go through most of the middle ( a few reminders sprinkled in here and there), then came back to it at the very end - so it was weird. Kinda felt like a great idea and they just didnt know how to sustain it through 32 episodes, so fell back to straight-up fantasy drama and then looped back at the end.
And, within that fantasy drama - just a lot of overused tropes dressed up differently.
Its worth a watch - but not a rewatch for me

I get why she is there from a mythological stand point - but as you even say - this character was not well written and there fore, comes across as just a plot device - for many reasons - whether she is or isn't from a mythological point of view - the writer/director made her feel like one - and that is all that really matters for this drama
I am also not saying she is useless because she is just physically weak - its a weak character as a whole and if you had taken her out of many of the scenes - it wouldn't have changed it. Again - this is totally a writing/directing issue.

Just finished this and would say - it's definitely worth a watch - but not a rewatch for me.
Filmed beautifully and all the actors were great - especially if you want to spend 34 episodes with some of the most sultry men in cdrama land.
Cant say I enjoyed the fl character all that much - mostly because I didnt really see the point of her besides being a plot device to get past the censors with all the bromancing going on. Beyond that, she spent an inordinate amount of time crying and not being all that useful. They also did that horrible plot device thing with her where she had to be in the middle of everything - event though it often made no sense, she couldn't help with anything and it was clear that they just wanted her in the scene. I can also tell its not a well scripted character when it becomes clear that it would not have changed the story AT ALL if she wasn't there for a majority of it.
On a side note - be prepared for lots of crying from pretty much everyone - but the two main female characters cried the most.
Director was obviously going for the very angsty, very dramatic vibe and he did nail it - but it was a bit much at times. I even found myself giggling at things that I know were not meant to be funny - but they were just so over-the-top dramatic, it just made me laugh.

Meh - it was ok
Another cdrama where writers and directors dont know how to write/direct a good female character. The actress did fine and played her role - the problem is the role.
In the first half she is overbearing, doesn't listen well, has no sense of person space or boundaries and just keeps pushing in the name of 'helping' - then, once the whole thing with the brother starts, she turns into this wimpy girl who pulls the martyr card - this is just annoying, because up until this point she is overly straight-forward and now cant say a word.
ML does fine - it's the typical male, tsundre CEO who has some childhood trauma that the FL will cure through 'love' - been there, done that a bazillion times.
Romance part doesn't work so well - actress clearly needs toward on her kissing and how to be romantic (this could totally be a direction problem). It also felt very typical of cdramas that the FL is overly naive and immature - she felt like a middle-schooler having a crush than a full-grown adult in a relationship. The ridiculously, childish nightgowns didnt help.
Also typically bad styling for the FL - the bad bangs and the tracksuits were just awful. She just never felt like a mature adult at any point in this drama.

Another good cdrama just ruined by a crappy ending

Nothing to write home about - pretty lite fair, good filler
Be prepared to be annoyed by pretty much ALL the female characters in this - cdrama writers REALLY, REALLY need to be better about writing female characters - cause they are really bad at
Horrible - stalker-turned romantic trope for one couple (seriously cdrama land - you HAVE to stop this) - and there was nothing particularly cute about this girl (besides being tiny)- she was mad crazy and violent - there was nothing about her behavior that warranted rewarding her bad behavior
The usual - people liking main leads who dont like them back - just an overdone trope - was pleased that when 2ML finally confesses, she says no - he doesn't go cray-cray

This is one of those dramas that had potential and then just failed in execution.
Luckily its only 10 episodes and only worth the watch for Moon Sang Min and the brothers.
Second couple is more interesting then the main couple
Main couple just dont quite hit the mark - mostly because the FL character just feels so disconnected from the actual relationship. Partly due to her childhood trauma, partly because she is a workaholic - she kind of gets there in the end, but you have lost all interest in her by then.
I mostly wanted this character to go get a good therapist - that was my overriding thought through most of it. She has some heavy, heavy emotional trauma she needed to deal with and to try and wrap it all up in nice bow at the end - that the love a good man saved her, just makes my eyes roll.
Two of THE MOST annoying coworkers that they gave waaayyy too much screen time to