monstersnroses

Update, I'm on ep 23.... I've fallen asleep countless times trying to make it through.... there's NO romance in it yet at all.... and basically it's a bunch of insane bitches trying to all kill eachother, screaming and crying and pathologically lying all the time, and an obtuse idiot emperor who is totally oblivious to all of it. I'm so hating this experience so far ughhhh. I'm thinking of dropping it.

I'm watching this because it comes highly recc'd by people, and because it says it's a "romance" drama. However I am on ep 23 and I see NO romance. So far it's all just a bunch of bitches trying to kill eachother, whining and crying and yelling, and a misogynistic obtuse emperor who is oblivious to all this crime and chaos going on right under his nose.

So far I see nothing redeeming about this drama whatsoever. I've fallen asleep dozens of times trying to slog through this, waiting on a romance to happen that so far seems like it's not ever going to.

Does it get better or not. Because I feel like I'm being tortured here and I don't know how much more I can stand.

If that was the ONLY thing wrong with this drama, I'm sure they wouldnt've dropped, obvs.

ty for the recc <3 I'll check it out.

way way way worse, imo. I gave doom at your service a 9. I gave this a 7, and a 7 is being generous, really.

You are so new to asian drama, and you have so much good stuff on your "Plan to Watch" list that would be exciting to watch for the first time. That combined with the fact that you dropped Hidden Love and rated it really low, makes me think this might not be the drama for you at this time. Because this is the slowest of slow burns. The pacing of the romance is a lot like Hidden Love but worse... in SoKP, there's a few sparks here and there, but the fire doesn't start till maybe episode 28 or so (roughly).

Idk if you have the patience to hang for 28 episodes, when there's so much cool and interesting stuff you still have yet to discover from asian drama land.

Maybe put this on your On Holds? And then come back to it after you've seen lots of other stuff and are more in the mood. It's definitely true that what you watch and how you feel about it, can end up determining what kind of drama you pick next. Like after a long, torrid, traumatizing romance, you might want something fluffy and vapid afterwards. Or if you've watched 3 fluff romances in a row, you might want something 'heavier'....

....it's really best to be in the mood for the slowwwwwww romantic pacing of this drama. Because 28 episodes of 'not much' is a pretty big ask.

The reason that makes it worth it, is that MOST romances do not have as much fire as this one. I've seen endless wuxias and k-dramas where you just get a few nice kisses and the rest of the drama is just flat, crappy, sterilized, toned down. When you've seen 200 so-called romance dramas where there's not much actual romance and passion and fire in it, something like SoKP is like a flower in the desert.

You gave Falling Into You a 9.... so did I, I loved it. That kind of fire in a romance is kind of rare. Once you discover that for yourself by just watching more and more stuff.... someday you might find that SoKP is a welcome change of pace because the last 8-10 episodes DELIVER.... unlike most asian dramas.

This story is about how the FL screwed up her life so bad that she gets another chance to do it over. Well, in the first lifetime, the ML kills the FL.... or rather, he forces her to kill herself.

So in the second do-over life, the FL is afraid to get close to the ML because she is worried something like that could happen again.

So you could say that for quite some time in the drama, she misunderstands his intentions/feelings towards her.

You could just scroll down and see what people who didn't like it said. Most frequent complaints are:
1) Toxic ML
2) Opening episodes are tedious and confusing
3) 2ML syndrome

There is only ONE "misunderstanding" in the plot. I will spoiler it for you below--->

Now that you remind me of this show.... there is one scene in this that is so cringe-tastic it's really one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a c-drama. To this day, I still laugh when I think about it, it's just burned in my brain.

So if you wanted all the good stuff and none of the snooze, you could watch it till the part with the bunny rabbit ears. And that's all I'm gonna say. But you'll definitely know it when you see it.

Wow, I'm just sitting here trying to think of what else to say, and I can't think of anything to say because all I can think of is that scene.... with the rabbit ears.... omg I mean what was that. What did I watch. It was so awful, and so hilarious, and so hilariously awful....

I think this show, just because of that scene, and how weird the ML looks, qualifies this one as a "good-bad" drama

I am shocked you haven't seen this considering it's such a classic. Holy cow, I'm driving blind, I don't have Arbaz's review!!!

The story is slightly dark, the ML is slightly darker. He's morally gray and kind of falls in the overbearing/posessive/controlling category. But whether or not I'd call it "really dark" depends on what you consider "really".

It's darker than most. But lots of dark dramas are also somehow twisted. This drama is dark but not twisted. He doesn't drink her blood like Lost You Forever. He doesn't put her through hell like Scarlet Heart. He's not the devil and she's not trying to literally kill him like TTEOTM. No one's father is a serial killer like Flower of Evil or Come and Hug Me.

I look forward to your review... I'm on ep 9 of yanxi palace. Don't have anything to watch after this except your NOT-ROMANCE reccs, hehehe.... or venture out into no-mans land and just start panning for gold at random.

awwww you spoilered yourself! But I see that got your attention at any rate, lol.

tysm, I decided to start it. Seems ok so far, I'm to ep 5. FL is cute.

Of course, anytime. Yeah, that's an interesting watchlist, heehee.... It's just clear from looking it over that you're kind of like a kindred spirit... not a pearl-clutcher who's afraid of a dark/toxic ML.

And the dad had the funniest little mini-flip-out after ML said that, it was great.

My encouraging words would be: There is so much stuff ranked high on your watchlist that indicates you'd probably like this drama's brand of romance. You even gave well-intended love a 9. I have mad respect for that.

This drama is slow going for a while. If it were me, feeling impatient or not picking up what it's laying down.... I'd put it on my On Holds, and wait for a few cozy, quiet dreary days to binge it. It's a lot like the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It's a whole lotta not much, punctuated by moments of inconceivable HOTNESS. with a guaranteed HE.

The goal isn't to try to orient yourself right away to what's going on. It's just to let it wash over you and get immersed in it. Don't go in overthinking it like you're going to master the ins and outs of the plot. This isn't the kind where you need to take notes and have a family tree open in a separate tab while you watch it or anything.

I've just finished my third watch: I still skipped much of the flashback stuff.... still don't totally get what "happened" in the past that caused the ML to be who he is and caused all the stuff that goes into the plot... (I mean I kind of get it, but mehhhyyyy only kind of).... Still didn't pay more than cursory attention to the first 2 episodes.... and still the story was just as hot as the first watch.

It just gradually gets easier to follow along with the story as the episodes progress. So many people complain about it that I think it's the dramas biggest fault is having a really awkward, disjointed start that makes the story seem inaccessible at first. It's not your fault it's hard to slog through the opening episodes, it's the screenwriters fault, they could have done a better job introducing the story.

Edit: You gave ILMPAHIAP an EIGHT?!?! Srsly, get in here and watch this omggg.... even if you just leave it for later, do NOT give up on it. Even if this is the slowest drama you ever watch, imo you should one day finish it. Xie Wei is pure Dark-ML fire.

IKR!!!!!!

Can anyone here describe what the ML from Yanxi Palace is like? Does he compare at all to XW? I'm contemplating watching that one because so many people talk about it, but I want to know what I'm getting into as far as the ML and the type of romance it is.

After that birdbrained bitch whips Ning'er and she gathers up the dirt and puts it back in the box, and XW comes to get her. They're in the carriage. Ning'er has cried and passed out. There's a rivulet of blood at the corner of her mouth. ML kisses her forehead. And then BAM his driver pulls back the curtain on the carriage right in front of her DAD, right?

That look he shoots at her dad, omGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Ling He played this part PERFECTLY. I am crazy about vampire stories, and this ML is everything a vampire ML is supposed to be, just without the blood drinking and the fangs. Why why why %)(##UFfhi04*UR()#*%)(#$ can't they make more ML's like this. It's so cruel that this is the best thing I've ever seen.