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Overall plot was fine, but editing of this episode was weird and choppy and made it look like the plot was hand-waving over a lot of key details.
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Fantastic cinematography and right off the bat the casting up & down the ensemble looks exemplary. Zoey Meng is so great at projecting a regal, commanding presence so the early scenes of her commanding her household are so cool and then, even as her world crumbles, her ability to hold her composure feels authentic to the character. And then kudos to the young actress, Liu Jia Xi, playing the young Shou Gu. She has the mind and memories of her adult self and quickly starts to project the same calm decisiveness. The mood set by the cinematography, costumes, lighting and effects is intense and dramatic, but not overwhelming. Just enough to establish the doom that awaits if fate is not changed.
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He's really morphed into a bizarre caricature of the unrequited love / psychopath c-drama villain. His body and facial contortions in this episode are cartoonish. The biggest question is why Jiang Jun goes within 20 feet of this scumbag. And why she AND Yuan Shuai keep going easy on Du Lei and giving him more and more chances. Meanwhile, the Xu Li & Li Xiaochuan store continues to be completely skippable. Yes, it has a happy 'transformation' of Xiaochuan .. .but it isn't really a credible transformation.
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Not surprisingly, Du Lei completes his villain reveal as he shows himself to be just another stereotypical psychopathic unrequited 3rd-wheel c-drama villain. Basically tries to sexually assault Jiang Jun but is fortunately stopped by YS' timely arrival. The frustrating thing about this episode is just how much rope Du Lei keeps. being given by Jiang. She keeps ignoring all the warning signs until things get way, way too awkward. And then, even after he basically assaults her, they just leave him and walk away. No calling of police. No accountability whatsoever.. So naturally, he's going to cause more trouble ...
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The writers have just leaned heavily into the stupid, most-annoying drama trope of, "Noble Idiocy" -- Yuan Shuai proceeds to take on all the burdens, lets himself get framed, pushes everyone away and declines to explain or share what he's doing. "Gives up on their love" for the "greater good". And for no F'ing good reason. This is a cheap, stereotypical plot gimmick that is among the most hated by fans (for good reason). It requires huge truckloads of plot-induced stupidity. The 'break up' with Jiang Jun is unbelievably stupid. It is obvious to us viewers that he's performing a scheme and it makes no sense that he had to keep her in the dark for what he's doing. There are lots of ways for him to have carried out this ruse while not hurting her. Doing it this way is just stupid and unnecessary and shows a lack of trust - right after he had just promised her he would not lie to her. And he's also breaking his promise to both her father and mother to not be the reason she cries. This is not the Yuan Shuai of the last 26 episodes. This is a plot-twisted version derived out of nowhere by the writers just to create some drama. Sigh ... having come this far, I'll gut it out until they bring the plot past this stupidity and hope they finish the series with a better arc. Just very disappointed in the writers right now.
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Wow. Jiang Jun's mom is sweet... but the way she made Yuan Shuai drink all that wine was a total power dominance move. So smooth and cold-hearted. I guess she really needed to make it clear that she may forgive him - and accept that he did not really mean to cause harm - but the pain and trauma the family had endured was real and doesn't just go away regardless of forgiveness. So she needed to make an impression on him. JJ's mom (played by veteran actress Hu Xiao Ting) just takes over and dominates this episode. She's so good!
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Xiaochuan continues to be an emotional idiot with the socio-emotional awareness of a rock. Li needs to move on to find a mature human man who will treat her right. Xiaochuan is al already old enough to be mostly who he will ever be. He may change a little, but he's not realistically going to change as much as he needs to to become real boyfriend material. Meanwhile, while they are unfortunately kept separate for a large span due to a business trip, we nevertheless get more cute moments with our main couple. And we get a reunion meeting between Yuan Shuai and JJ's mom!
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This time, his sister, dropping into full villain mode, connives to bring the disgusting Du family back into Jiang Jun's story in a vicious, nasty manner by attacking Jun just to show her brother that she can. This has the affect of us having to endure Du Lei's pathetic existence in the story more. It's notable that even in the act of 'saving' Jun, he instinctively lies about her condition to Li and Xiaochuan. And further info is revealed about his misdeeds from the past. And he further shows he is still not a good person because he hides the truth about his sister having been the one who hurt Jun when confronted by Yuan Shuai. He claims he would, "never hurt her", but hiding this sort of truth DOES hurt her. But he's not really a good person and selfishly doesn't want to reveal the truth to YS. Most of his story is still quite skippable. On the bothersome Li+Xiaochuan story, the latter continues to be an emotional idiot. I suspect that he never actually entered his own data into the West World App and that's why he and Li are not getting a match. That will probably get revealed at some point. Otherwise, if he did, Li should trust the algorithm and go find a better man. Once all that stupid annoying stuff is over, we get treated to a delightful session of Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai tickling each other on the couch.
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This episode, following on the heals of the 'confession' episode, gets to be all about expressions of passion and affection between the two leads. And the way these two leads work together the shift to 100% 'couple' is so natural and spontaneous and fun. I like that once they are finally "iN" the relationship, they are both, "all in". Obviously, future episodes will bring trials for them to overcome. But at least we got to enjoy this high point before the next troubles start.
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It's crazy how often C-Dramas use the 'unlocked phone/computer' trope to allow some schemer to mess with the FL or ML. If this was any reflection of realtity it would mean no one in China locks their electronics! Aside from that silliness: What a nice, romantic reveal, finally of their feelings for each other! The sequence of her going from pissed off & jealous because of Qiao Na's dirty trick to finding his momento box and ultimately reading his letter of confession was wonderfully paced and acted out by Bai Lu. And then, finally a very romantic embrace and kiss, along with her own confession to him.
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Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai ending up as a perfect match is of course expected and ended up very cute.. The theme song seemed extra apropos during that scene. Glad Xu Li finally walked away from the emotionally clueless Li Xiaochuan. He needed an emotional scare. A kick in the pants was needed to start paying attention to the humans around him - especially her. But it seems dubious that just this one instance is enough to truly make him a grown-up yet.
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Bai Lu just kills me! That line made me spit up laughing out loud! She and Luo Yin Xi are so freaking funny on screen together! And then later the freaking Giant Red Lips bit!!!!! The show is a 10 when those two are on screen and .... sadly otherwise falls so flat whenever they are off it.
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God how pathetic Du Lei is! He's come to stand like a lost puppy outside her apartment building? My god, is he 14 years old? Thank goodness she ran off to take care of YS and avoided even seeing him or she might have thrown up her breakfast. Loved her body-language running through the hospital! Why do so many modern c-dramas repeat the trope of "ML is a master cook but the FL is lousy at cooking"?? Still both of them are so good with each other that the scenes with the leads are great even when implementing a trope. Sadly the episode then devolves into some cheap situational comedy around Su Chang's relationship. Not terrible stuff. But not terribly funny either. It does lead to some great bits between the leads as they squabble over sharing her apartment. The fun thing now is we get a 'living together' plot trope! And the very, very end of the episode is pretty sweet. There are otherwise some more skippable minutes spent on the not-compelling Li Xiaochuan + Xu Li storyline.
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You can see a steady progression forward in the relationship between Jiang Jun and Yuan Shuai, especially as she asserts her authority over his care when he needs to go to the hospital. Some really funny moments. The only thing spoiling this episode is, yes, still more gobs of screen time spend selling the sad sack sob story of Du Lei. Yes, he had some tough things happen. Yes he is probably permanently psychologically broken by the abuse of his adoptive father. But that doesn't make him a good person. And the fact is, his life is far better than billions of other people who hav had it worse and yet didn't turn out to be rotten creeps like him.
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Episode just barely starts and I'm already agitated and irritated. The idea that her 'friends' basically trick FL into going on a hiking / camping trip without warning is just insane, given her special health risks. And that's not even accounting for the fact that creepy stalker Du Lei is there and Yuan Shuai has no idea where they are. My god this event is already pushing so many buttons to make viewers triggered. Thank god Yuan Shuai found out about it and reeled everyone back before it became an overnight. And man, Liu Yan Xi was totally channeling his Till The End of the Moon role of Devil Lord Tantai Jin as he sat on the couch in his apartment in the half-dark when Li Xiaochuan walked in trembling! LOL! That scene saved the episode! Otherwise, this episode spends far too much time trying to sell Du Lei as somehow sympathetic and a worthy 'other love interest'. He's not. He's objectively a terrible person based on the things he has done. And we also find out that HE was involved in driving her father to his death! Far too much screen time spent dwelling on his sad-sack, I-feel-sorry-for-myself face. This episode requires constant use of the 'skip' button. Just skip to the final nice scene between the two leads at the end.
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