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the beginning is so vile compared to how sweet it gets, the dissonance is quite jarring. ur male lead forces the fl (who is his lifelong best friend mind you) to have sex with him so she can pay her brother's medical bills and that turns into a sweet romance? they should've just kept it at forced marriage and not the whole drugging her, having sex and THEN holding her brother's life over her head on top of everything OR they should've just made this a psychological thriller/romance. the show simply does not treat his actions with the severity they deserve.

and it's such a shame bc the leads and the glimpses we get of their past friendship are all really sweet. but whitewashing him completely as a nice guy and the drama itself into a fluffy "secret love" romance is wild like this man literally kept the woman he claimed to love as his sex slave??????

her witchy gothic femme fatale slayyyyyyy. he betrayed her SO MANY TIMES i would've preferred if she just made him suffer and not taken him back tbh i don't think they convinced me of their romance. i hate it when they make the male leads saviours to even out the wrong they do to the female leads. that's not how it works? but zhong xi has so much aura here i'd wanna be her boy toy too

idc abt anything else. bring rainie back

i'm glad they it didn't end with them together, it would've felt like a disconcerting neat little bow. i couldn't date a guy who was never vulnerable and genuine emotionally with me, i'd be on my toes around him the entire relationship. like, asking her if she had a boyfriend could otherwise sound innocuous and jokey but within the context of their relationship history it's a diabolical question to ask on their first proper date lmfao 💀he couldn't even sit down for a serious conversation about their relationship. she knew she would always be on the losing end of this relationship and she was also right, they ultimately only really connected in bed.

not to read too much into these mini dramas but making the orginal fl character who was literally imprisoned by the abusive ml the greedy evil 2nd fl and using the system trope to write the fl, a woman who literally only exists to please and cater to the ml, as the good person worthy of rooting for feels super icky. i don't mind healing the paranoid yandere with love and submission stories in fiction but it only works if the fl makes a conscious decision to do so. it doesn't work here bc they villainise his original victim and make the real fl someone whose entire reason for existence is to heal the male lead with love. it makes it seem like the original female lead was wrong for fighting and resisting against his control and should've just given in and loved him bc that is what the male lead is entitled to from the women he gets obsessed with

hmm i think with regards to the stability issue in their relationship the problem really is that ji hyun is still in her mid 20s and this is the best time for her to try different things to see what career fits her best. wongyu found what he wanted to do and is in his 30s is maybe looking to settle down faster and didn't have the patience to wait for her, which is totally fine! but then when they broke up bc of that issue, he should've gone and been with someone at a similar stage in life. woman or man, anyone who wants stability and marriage will go and date someone stable to marry if that's what they truly value above all.

ever since the reveal i was wondering why wongyu agreed to come on the show because if i were him i wouldn't have and the only reason i could come to was that after the breakup he realised that despite their issues he still liked her best and wanted to be with her again. and i think that if you come to that realisation, you have to put in effort to really show your partner that you are committed to making the relationship work again.

if he wants to make it work with ji yeon he can! but also texting ji hyun and asking her for a date and constantly explaining his interactions with ji yeon as misunderstandings would make it confusing for her too bc who does he actually have feelings for and who does he want to end up with??? if he doesn't care to work things out with ji hyun at all he doesn't have to bother explaining anything to her at all. going on dates and getting to know someone else with your ex in the house is the premise of the show but then leading on your ex at the same time is going to make her crazy too bc to a certain extent she does also still have feelings for him

no one is saying won gyu needs to be begging on his knees but he needs to show some sincerity and clarity on what he wants. he can't hem and haw around his feelings and expect everything to just work out. when ji hyun asked him if he had feelings for someone else in the house he couldn't even give her a straight yes or no answer. he just needs to clearly communicate what he wants and cut ji hyun off if he doesn't see anything with her

the reason why ji hyun and won gyu will never work out is more obvious when you see the difference btw won gyu and woo jin. when woo jin realised how much he regretted breaking up and the way he was with ji yeon, he put his pride down and was honest and sincere with ji yeon about his feelings. won gyu on the other hand, you can tell he wants to reunite with ji hyun but till this point hasn't genuinely reflected on their relationship and put himself in ji hyun's shoes on how hurt she must've been when they dated. so he's kind of just blowing hot and cold because he doesn't want to let go of his pride but also still wants ji hyun back. it's just the lack of effort, you can't have your cake and eat it too. its hard to date someone who can't put their pride down and say I'm sorry I shouldn't have treated you like that even when they really want you back

I need people to stop saying hyunji didn't know. There's no way the PD is bringing in 2 exes without the contestant's consent. Unlike hollywood, dating reality tv in korea is extremely controlled especially when it's regular people participating because the criticism and backlash could have terrible consequences for their regular lives. Yes, the PD is more responsible as someone in the business and should've had more foresight into the potential consequences of this choice but hyunji also did want her main character moment otherwise she wouldn't have agreed to this

bad adaptation of a really sad tragic novel. the actress was also not very good go girl give us nothing

this was scary.......... it's actually a pretty realistic portrayal of an abusive relationship . literally every single behaviour he exhibited was out of an abuser's playbook. also the actress has a way of crying in her interactions with the ml that sounds like she's in real pain, it made their relationship that much more disturbing

I actually think Sui Ge (and to an extent the emperor and the empress) made a huge mistake in keeping the princess as sheltered as she is. From his perspective it was is way of loving and protecting her physically and from losing her innocence the way he did as a child. But it's come back to bite them in the ass because she's so unaware of the outside world she's literally risking national safety for what she thinks is love. She has no idea the weight of what's at stake as a citizen and as a royal and it's hard to blame it all on her stupidity when everyone around her is complicit in keeping her so protected. Sui Ge , knowing how terrible Xia Jing Shi is as a person, is still not letting her know the full truth about him. According to he, he's a decent person who saved her despite being the enemy and is now stuck in the enemy country as a hostage son-in-law. It's so dangerous to have pampered her all her life as the youngest daughter instead of preparing her for the real world knowing she would have to have to face it one day especially as a royal

I really enjoyed watching the cast bond this week despite the rollercoaster lovelines lol. It's clear they all really connected and became close

Hot take but while I think JM handled this situation poorly, I don't think any of it came from a malicious or disingenuous place. I think he realised the differences between him and YD, and he was avoidant because he didn't want to hurt her too much, and ended up hurting her even more.

Moreover, this show isn't happening over a month, it's happening over a week. It's a lot to deal with very little time to process. Something about dating shows gets people really up in arms and I think everyone should calm down a bit and show more grace to people who, in the concept of this show, are inexperienced and are trying to explore romance for the first time. Rejection and breakups are part of that and it's normal for it to be flawed, even clumsy

they should've thrown in a hot bodyguard or something for the crown princess if they were going to subject me to watching the crown prince have no empathy whatsoever for the crown princess's position and sleep with a random woman

Aside from jealous sabotaging and delulu college crush, the reason why Tang Yu Hui is not a very likeable character is because she wants to use her privileges to get ahead but gets jealous when someone who puts in the work gets even a little bit of praise and support . Like Rao Jing said, it's not a bad thing to use all the resources at your disposal to succeed, but if that's your only skill then it's a problem. What kind of a career is calling up daddy and ask him to put in a word every time you need loan guarantees? How long can she do that for? Yu Hui is confident, ambitious and her connections are part of her skills too but she refuses to do anything of her own effort so its no wonder Rao Jing refuses to mentor her. Everyone in that office gets together to support Xiao Ning because they see her potential and how hard she works. No one steps up to support Yu Hui because they all know she's just going to call up her rich friends or her dad. What's the point in getting jealous when that's the kind of person you've established yourself as in your workplace.

Same here. She has number of iconic dramas in her filmography and while FOE did gain quite a bit of attention, it doesn't come close to the level of acclaim and success a lot of her earlier projects have gotten her.

*also forgot to mention that QY herself is not sure of how long she wants to be away. She could decide to come back at anytime. It's very much similar to people deciding to move away for work or studies. It doesn't mean you don't care about your family back home lol it's just something you have to do for yourself.

I just wonder if LY had decided to quit his job and let go of his revenge and join QY in traveling the world would he be receiving criticism too.

QY did appreciate the birthday celebration he arranged though? She acknowledged everything he did and how grateful she was. But just because he did nice things for her doesn't mean she owes him anything. I doubt even if LY had confessed his feeling she would have given up on her desire to leave the mansion. As LY even mentioned, she could've asked him to go with her but she didn't as she knew he had to stay for his career and goals. It wasn't that she didn't care about him or was trying to be purposefully cruel. Her true desire, more than wanting to be with him, was to be free and see the world. It's why LY felt like confessing his feelings had no point because at the end of the day they had separate paths and things they wanted/needed to do. It would not change much in terms of what they had to do (although I agree he should've done it anyway).

IMO I think the balance you mention in terms of dreams/career and family is tailored to the individual. QY spent her entire life under her family's protection and according to their wishes . She had to fight for her survival and when the Qiu family faced crisis after crisis she stepped up to do as much as she could in order to save her family. Now that the entire family is reunited, they are back on track to regaining their reputation. She is considered dead so it's not like she can go back to them. She has spent enough of her life living for her family and considering her current circumstance where she's living under a fake identity, she's aware that now she can finally live for herself without worrying about anyone's expectations. At this point in time her priority is herself and not her family. No one can always maintain the balance between family and career/dreams perfectly. Sometimes one can become more important than the other. It doesn't mean that you stop caring about the other completely. And it's not like she's abandoning everyone without a word. She's planning to leave in while after tying up loose ends. I think after everything she did for her family that's fair enough.

Exactly! I mean there were heaps of "unrealistic" things in this drama anyway and for people to raise their pitchforks at the female lead wanting to travel the world and write stories instead of staying at home with the male lead is......something LOL. Additionally QY as a character was always written through a modern lens. Her wishes aren't even ooc for her.

Isn't it a good thing that QY has dreams and wishes for her life that she wants pursue? Isn't it a good thing that she doesn't just want her life to revolve around a man? It has been established that QY always had bigger dreams for her life that she could not pursue due to her circumstances and position in society. After everything she's been through and now that she has the freedom to, why is it so bad for her to want to see more of the world? QY was never the type to be happy forever being stuck at home playing wife or lady of the household, even if it was with someone she loved. LY understands this fully which is why even though it breaks his heart, he is supportive of her leaving. He is even understanding of the fact that she would never ask him to go with her as he has his own goals to achieve. I am shocked at the negative response towards her wanting to leave. If this was a modern drama, no one would tell the female lead to settle for love and give up her dreams and just stay at home and accompany the male lead while writing her stories.