monstersnroses

I just finished reading ch 239 in the novel, and I also got "icky vibes", it's just slightly disturbing... if I can read through the machine translation correctly, he's looking at her with a measure of hatred, she's looking at him with a measure of pity. He hates seeing the way she's looking at him so he covers her eyes and then... uh.... you know the rest.

I'm sorry, that's just a really weird and messed up way to write a "love scene". I like dark ML, but that's too dark even for me.

So that's cool to see how SoKP actually modified the original character to be even hotter than the original was, because they took out all the part where he's acting kinda eew too weird.

Also, the hostage at pinglan scene, with the uh... forced moment and she's kind of crying and spitting it out.... not only is that soooo not a female-centric fantasy.... and pretty messed up.... but hello, the logistics of it. How do you go from kissing, straight to forcing your taffy in someone's mouth with no inbetween steps? You can't! What'd he do, just jump up over her on his knees? Stand by her pillow on the bed? Push her halfway down the bed?
They never tell you that. It's impossible to picture... It's just not very smoothly written.

It reminds me of Stephen King trying to write a sex scene, he's so terrible at it, he rushes through it, is overly graphic and describes it in an objective way instead of a subjective way, so that you kind of wish he just didn't even attempt to write it in the first place.

So I can totally see that, about how the drama has way more chemistry than the novel. In the novel, the spicy scenes are way way too short and abrupt and unromantic and kinda messed up.

Time-travel/reincarnation themes are strictly regulated and mainly forbidden in c-dramas because reasons.

The "author" writing the story as a novel and then re-writing it, is SoKP creator's way of getting the drama past the chinese censors. You can see those scenes as extraneous scenes written specifically for the chinese censors, those scenes aren't even meant for the audience. You can skip them or pretend they never happened.

I just got done reading the machine translation for that chapter where he tries to feed her eggplant parmesan and she doesn't want to eat it.... does that happen before the cave scene? Because if it does, then it would make a lot more sense why he says to her in the cave "I'm so bad... why are you so softhearted?"

But i can't think choronologically very well so I don't remember what scene came first between the pinglan hostage scene and the cave kiss scene.

>even his murderous hobo tendencies

great thanks a lot, I just lol'd coffee up my nose.

Whats the spice levels like in MJTY? Is it worth watching? I was going to give it a miss because it's a cliffhanger ending that hints at a possible season 2.... and I don't like watching shows that are still ongoing or didn't end properly.

It's horrible how they sanitized it. First they're sexy kissing in the rain, and they go from that to sleeping face to face fully clothed all night and her living with her auntie, and getting cutsey on the phone, I did not care for the lack of spice in this.

In Guk is hot in a very antihero, dark way. They should have just gone with it and dumped in the entire spice jar.

Lee Soo Hyuk is ALWAYS a terrible choice to cast as a 2ML, because he's always more intriguing and sexy than the ML he's playing against. Every time. And yet they never give him a 1ML role. It's unfathomable to me.

Just finished a rewatch... last time I saw it feels like a lonnnng time ago. I rewatched this to try to get over Story Of Kunning Palace, which is now the best thing I've ever seen.

So revisiting this drama:

I'd still give it a 9. There's problems with this drama that are obvious... like there's some drag and derailment in the coming-up-to-the-last episodes... it's totally oversanitized, there should be a lot more spice in this than there is {I mean they're sharing a bed, discussing marriage, some hot kiss in the rain.... and yet the subject of sex is widely steered clear of, and I do mean widely).... it uses some tired tropes and cliches.... the OST & sound effects sometimes just stomps on certain moments of the show and brings extremely unwelcome levity and/or annoyance to what would otherwise have been a dark or meaningful moment.... FL isn't of the same acting caliber as ML.

BUT these problems are minor when considered in the big picture. The aesthetics of this show are unique and gorgeous (dusk colors... gray, deep purple, dark blue, black), some of the OST is really good, the story is creative and substantive, the pacing is (for the mostpart) very well done.... and ML has the HOTTEST sanpuku death-stare I've ever seen and he's an above average onscreen kisser. They made him gorgeous in this, and he fit the character well.

So, one point off for just not being dark enough. They should have just gone for it, and made it sexier, fiercer, and let the show take itself more seriously. But Seo In Guk as Saram is still just as heartbreakingly hot as he was the first time, and FL was "not bad". Good enough. Story had a very satisfying level of angst... not to much, not too little. And there was a Lee Soo Hyuk kiss in there too! Nice to see him get the girl for once.

I watched it maybe a month ago. I know I watched it because I rated it a 7 and left a comment about it in the comments section. I probably watched it because I love Wang An Yu.

But I'll be danged if I don't remember it. I'm looking at the photos on the MDL page, and they seem really familiar but I don't remember ANYthing about the drama. Nothing.

So.... that just goes to show how good I thought it was.

XW: You're going to fall in love with me
Dusty: No I'm not
XW: Yes you ARE

35 episodes later....

I keep waiting for someone else to answer your question, and no one has yet, so I will just say ROUGHLY episode 30. I'm not good at specifics, so I might be off an episode or two in either direction.

Ep 25, you must be getting pretty antsy like come onnnnn hurry up when does the romance start gahhhhh

well.... SOON. Hang tight for a few more episodes, youre almost to the good part.

My Fated Boy

My little meat bun!!!

<3 <3 <3 happy to help! I wish I had more straight action/crime dramas to recc you but I am nearly exclusively a romance watcher. Aigoo. Hopefully one of those works for you in the future when you're looking for a changeup.

One more for you. You say on your page that you rate unconventionally, and are looking for deep psychology in your dramas. Well, you can try one of my all-time favorites "The Rose"

I don't know if you'd like it. It's messed up. Like, REALLY messed up and twisted. Like, we are talking incest themes and bisexuality.

This drama is low production value. Like bargain basement level. The ML is one of the worst actors I've ever seen. The relationships are all twisted.

AND YET

It has a deep and sensitive grasp of psychology all the way through. Everything is dialogue driven, and focused in interpersonal relationships. I am not ashamed to say, this is drama is a fucking masterpiece. But you'd have to be into psychology to understand WHY it's a masterpiece. So a lot of causal watchers walk away thinking it's just a weird piece of crap. But for those who can see it, this is a diamond in the rough.

There is NO other drama out there like this one, period. Not only does it deal with incest and sexual divergence, it also has an HE. Which practically NEVER happens in dramaland.

It's not chinese, its taiwanese... but I just mention it because I saw your userpage, and this MIGHT be just your kind of drama, idk. Anyways, I gave it like a 9 or a 9.5

OK so I used to almost exclusively watch k-dramas and was basically where you're at now with c-dramas where they seem cheap and kind of boring and the humor is sort of facepalm a lot of the time.

At this point I've seen a fair few c-dramas, and many of them are crap. But some are not, and past few years there's many c-dramas to choose from that are actually GOOD.

I looked at your watchlist to try to get an idea of what you like in your dramas, and it's hard for me to tell because there isn't a lot of overlap in our watchlists, and a lot of your top rated stuff is stuff I have't seen. So I'll just give you my top suggestions, and you'll have to see if any of them interest you, but hopefully one or two of them can kind of open the door for you on the world of c-drama:

The Rise Of The Phoenixes (my only non-romance recc.... it's a powerhouse of a drama with excellent production values and a meaty plot, completely stunning visuals)

My Fated Boy (age-gap romance between two childhood friends, the FL is 7 years older than the ML, the ML is a clingy-type. I recc this because it is packed with kilig moments, good kiss scenes, chemistry, and the GOOD kind of c-humor.)

Hidden Love (This is a fluff-romance about an FL who has a childhood crush on her older brother's best friend. The story is simple and conventional but it is WELL TOLD.... to the point that it's MDL score is sky high and it's winning all sorts of awards rn. The actors gave phenomenal performances. It's spicy and kilig, sweet and artistic.... but it is also super simple and super fluffy)

Till The End Of The Moon (A "Dark ML" story.... this one is one of those chinese "epic saga" romances. ML is literally the devil, and FL is sent to literally kill him to save the world. The visuals are fucking off the hook, and the story is way better than decent.)

Story Of Kunning Palace (The sexiest overbearing/controlling "Dark ML" romance I"ve ever seen. The only 10 I've ever given out. Ever. But it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, so this would be good just if the plot and the ML interests you)

The Long Ballad (Another "epic saga" that has two romances developing at once. Some people are in it for couple A.... and some people are in it for couple B. Everybody leaves happy. This is super plot-heavy with not a lot of electric or spicy scenes, but it's a very satisfying, gripping watch.)

Fake It Till You Make It (well produced romance, this one is sort of like a slice-of-life style romance. I've never been so satisfied watching a plot that felt like it was just everyday, nothing special. Production values are very good, aesthetics were nice.)

Falling Into You (A college romance story about a ML student who competes in high-jump, and his FL coach.... this is a straightforward romance, but its FUN and it's pretty spicy all things considered)

Or,, perhaps you'd like to venture into batshit crazy country. If you would like to see the most insane thing c-dramaland has to offer, you can try the oldschool cheap-looking badly-dubbed dramas "Well Intended Love" (can't spoiler this one, suffice it to say the ML was Captain Toxic)...... or "I Love My President Although He Is A Psycho" (1000% sheer lunacy, but also savant in it's knack for deep ideas and psychologically insightful dialogue. A one-way trip to crazy town)..... or "My Lethal Man" (A short-length series with a barely-hanging-together plot that takes you on a gripping, roller-coaster ride of crazy and has HOTT chemistry. It's silly but really fun at the same time.) None of these are new or have any technical merit whatsoever productionwise, but it's just to show you what is out there in c-dramaland that you can't get from k-dramaland.

If I ever find a REALLY good j-drama, I'll pass it along, but I don't hold out a lot of hope really, lol.

I made a discussion thread for drama suggestions people can check out for SoKP withdrawls after they're done watching this. I hope y'all can add your reccs to it too, tysm everybody. This is the best bunch of people I've ever met on MDL <3 <3 <3 We could start a XieWeiaholics Anonymous support group.

By about 2/3rds into TLB, I had lost interest in the main couple and was totally hooked on the 2ML/2FL storyline. Yu Ning and Lusi were so awesome.

I took your recc advice and watched Falling Into You and completely LOVED it! Tyssssm, that was so great. Do you have any other reccs for c-dramas with a decent spice level like FIY, HL, and MFB? I see you like a lot of sweet stuff.... I don't mind if it's sweet as long as it's also spicy.

It was shaping up to be great, but imo they totally tanked the ending. Last maybe 5 episodes or so seemed off the rails. It seems like it's telling a certain kind of story, and feeding into certain kinds of character developments, but then it devolves in the final episodes into an inedible lump of cheese and sugar.

Some of parts of the story are dropped.... like when ML says to FL "You're not ready to give yourself to me right now are you" and it makes you think at some point she will be ready, but they drop that idea-thread. Or the weird roommate with the glasses, who seems like she's building up to a great big resentment-filled cathartic monologue, but at some point in the last third of the drama, they just drop her and we never see or hear about her again.

I was all set to give in an 8, but it lost it's direction in the last 20% of the drama, and things fizzled so badly that the FL I'd liked a lot at the beginning, I really found myself having an aversion to by the end. I didn't like her anymore by the time the HE came around.

7.5 from me.

That's great. It doesn't affect me, because A) I have one account, and it's organic because I am a longstanding real user and B) I'm the one being bullied.

But it might affect you...? idk Now you're just bullying me by threatening to have my acct shut down because you don't like my opinions.

I have no problem with admins mediating this. They can see what you can't about my acct.