A confused story with unconvincing emotional content.
The concept of an abused woman finding a man who loves her and wants to get her out of her situation seems very emotionally heavy, and yet within the first few episodes, it's clear that this drama doesn't know how to convey strong emotions. The FL is shown as defiant and unafraid in the face of her abuser's beatings. This is just unrealistic. In situations with abusers like this, if you don't act afraid, you are potentially putting your life in danger.
Then she starts interacting with the ML, and not far into the story, he discovers her abuse as he helps fasten up her backless dress and sees some quite dramatic scarring on her back. That scene should convey some strong or complex emotions, but it doesn't.
The beginning episodes seek to establish just how bad FL has it with her abuser. Needless to say, that doesn't set up a very romantic mood for the audience. Yet interspersed between these scenes of abuse and violence against women, there are scenes where the ML and FL are flirting and becoming attracted to eachother. And the way these two elements of the plot combine is very unsettling, in the sense that the show has no awareness of itself, and no understanding of how abuse impacts people. I have seen several dramas that center around an abused woman finding love again with another man, and most of those shows treat the topic with sensitivity and at least *some* realism, but not this one. There is so little emotion surrounding the abuse and the new romance that it feels like it was written by someone with antisocial personality disorder -----> (To highlight that point.... there is a scene in the first part of the story where the ML takes FL for a ride in a sportscar. She starts having a panic attack, and tells ML that she has previous trauma from a car accident, and she needs him to slow down the car. His response is to tell her she should face her fears head on, and then he continues to drive hella fast, presumably to desensitize her to her past trauma. And surprise surprise, his "therapy" works! And after only ONE car ride, she is now totally over her fear of high speed car travel!!! Maybe it's just me, but I feel like only a sociopath could write a scene like that and not see anything wrong with it.)
Add to this the fact that there is a very choppy and disorganized flow to the storyline, with some very abrupt scene changes, and you start to wonder "uhhh... am I missing something?" No. You're not missing anything, the story itself is just very confused.
This is supposed to be a business / romance story. But what you come to find is it's really a business-intrigue, and the romance is a complete afterthought that only exists to serve the business plot. Somehow, there is ZERO spice here, incredible since both the ML and FL are capable of bringing spice to their roles in other productions.
Styling is OK, but not exactly what I would consider "on point". Music is totally atrocious... it overpowers scenes and creates even more confusion than there already is just with the crappy script alone. All in all this was a confused and terrible mess, and not in a good way like My Lethal Man.... but in an extremely boring and insensitive way.
I cannot think of any situation where I would recc this to someone for any reason. The actors who participated in this all deserve so much better than to have to try to work miracles out of a stupendously bad script like this, and I wish them all the best on their next projects.
Then she starts interacting with the ML, and not far into the story, he discovers her abuse as he helps fasten up her backless dress and sees some quite dramatic scarring on her back. That scene should convey some strong or complex emotions, but it doesn't.
The beginning episodes seek to establish just how bad FL has it with her abuser. Needless to say, that doesn't set up a very romantic mood for the audience. Yet interspersed between these scenes of abuse and violence against women, there are scenes where the ML and FL are flirting and becoming attracted to eachother. And the way these two elements of the plot combine is very unsettling, in the sense that the show has no awareness of itself, and no understanding of how abuse impacts people. I have seen several dramas that center around an abused woman finding love again with another man, and most of those shows treat the topic with sensitivity and at least *some* realism, but not this one. There is so little emotion surrounding the abuse and the new romance that it feels like it was written by someone with antisocial personality disorder -----> (To highlight that point.... there is a scene in the first part of the story where the ML takes FL for a ride in a sportscar. She starts having a panic attack, and tells ML that she has previous trauma from a car accident, and she needs him to slow down the car. His response is to tell her she should face her fears head on, and then he continues to drive hella fast, presumably to desensitize her to her past trauma. And surprise surprise, his "therapy" works! And after only ONE car ride, she is now totally over her fear of high speed car travel!!! Maybe it's just me, but I feel like only a sociopath could write a scene like that and not see anything wrong with it.)
Add to this the fact that there is a very choppy and disorganized flow to the storyline, with some very abrupt scene changes, and you start to wonder "uhhh... am I missing something?" No. You're not missing anything, the story itself is just very confused.
This is supposed to be a business / romance story. But what you come to find is it's really a business-intrigue, and the romance is a complete afterthought that only exists to serve the business plot. Somehow, there is ZERO spice here, incredible since both the ML and FL are capable of bringing spice to their roles in other productions.
Styling is OK, but not exactly what I would consider "on point". Music is totally atrocious... it overpowers scenes and creates even more confusion than there already is just with the crappy script alone. All in all this was a confused and terrible mess, and not in a good way like My Lethal Man.... but in an extremely boring and insensitive way.
I cannot think of any situation where I would recc this to someone for any reason. The actors who participated in this all deserve so much better than to have to try to work miracles out of a stupendously bad script like this, and I wish them all the best on their next projects.
Was this review helpful to you?
