snowfallsslowly

I like this but I'm putting it on hold for now. The cases are interesting and so are the characters but the romance is too unbalanced so far it's 90-10 and I just do not vibe with relationships where one person is making all the effort whether it's a man or a woman.

Someone tell me if it changes in the 2nd half and we see QW show YC the same amount of love and support he's given her (i.e all the heartfelt confessions, the endless gifts, the support, the protection, the willingness to risk his life etc). A badass strong FL to me in a romance also means a good partner who is equal in her love and care for her significant other.

After binge-watching the first 12 episodes I can say this is a good one, the cases are generally well thought out and interesting, the characters are very likeable and yet feel real even the secondary ones, the directing/editing could be tighter but the writing and the characters make up for it. I also appreciate the spotlight on violence against women are still disproportionately killed by their partners or family members. One thing is I really hope this soon turns into a love of equals, where they both care as deeply for each other and stand by one another and it's not just version n°25 of a couple this year where the male lead is devotedly in love by himself and unequivocally puts her first and the female lead who always has him as number 7 on her priority list.

Absolutely it's not subversive at all, it's the same old trodden rode we've gotten for the last few years when it comes to female characters regarding romance. What makes it even more disappointing is how it hurts both the romance and the FL it claims to champion, while everyone is deluding themselves that this is the height of fictional feminism, what we get instead is a poorly written character who is used as a mouthpiece to represent a warped and entirely performative idea of female power.

And everyone is all too happy to be subscribing to this notion because most people only view romance from the ML's eyes, what his feelings are, it doesn't matter if the FL cares or not as long as he does which is again the opposite of what we should be aiming for in terms of female representation in fiction.

For a script that's pretending to be out of the ordinary and mocking the usual tropes it is following the exact same path. A miserable ML who is bending backwards for love and willing to give all he has coupled with a FL who can't be bothered to do the barest of minimums? These kinds of relationships are the bread and butter of cdrama romances.

"This is not a love story" exactly, I stopped viewing it as such because it's really not. Love requires two people willing to go to great lengths for each other. Everyone praising the FL for doing the bare minimum when she didn't have to risk a single thing yeah of course she doesn't have to but that's how love works? At least a well written fictional romance... The male lead has to break his back giving up everything and anything for her and begging her repeatedly that's seen as romantic but she doesn't have to move a finger, the double standards are so glaring sometimes it gets hard to see.

Oh then I'm going to start this, Princess Gambit is just so beyond stupid it's making me lose so many braincells coupled with the "we can't be together" BS from the FL and it's just ... No. ADWAD has lost the plot so badly it's just pissing me off at this point if even the average cnetizen online is complaining about FL's treatment of the ML then you know it's really bad since they seem to love nothing more than an obsessed guy x doesn't give an eff girl. And to think I was sooo excited for both of them, joke's on me. This kind of seems more palatable at least...

It has nothing to do with the plot dragging, it's about production costs and saving money. Plenty of dramas need 16, others even 20 or more to tell a coherent story and as we've seen the last few years, a lot of the times 12 is just not enough but everything has gotten too expensive and streaming platforms have disrupted the business so it's hard for networks to make a profit so they're just cutting everything.

Yeah I saw all the BTS but it still feels not enough to me but maybe there's more this is a romance of course they're going to get together and be happy but my question will still be will be a relationship of equal love and devotion? Will she be willing to go to the lengths he has for her? Will I come out of this knowing yeah it's a given that she has someone who loves her utterly and beyond reason but does he, who as opposed to her has his entire character journey centered around being unloved and reviled and yearning for just one person to give him real unconditional love.

This is supposed to be a love story, just like he's going against everything because he loves her, against all logic and reason or self preservation at some point both characters are expected to do the same or what kind of love is it? She's from the real world but she's not? She's a fictional character and this is written by someone who can do whatever they want and her dying is a moot point she doesn't actually die? She comes back to life doesn't she?

How has he made himself to be the villain he was made to be the villain by the narrative and what do you mean his actions? His actions of saving her as LSS or his actions where the script forces him to do things like the almost rape which he also got blamed for.

I never said the consequences of what he did are her fault I am saying from a narrative perspective from the pov of a character's emotional journey for the storytelling of a believable and equal love story. It's not about her owing him anything she doesn't and neither does he but isn't that what love is supposed to be? Are we talking about a transaction here or romance? Just like he did things for her out of his own volition because he loves her are we supposed to say screw him that's not how it works in human relationships.


I'm just curious how do you want this to play out later? Him spending the next 14 episodes being madly in love and her barely reciprocating even when she knows the truth?

it's the fault of the writing, the characters aren't real and as such we are allowed to criticize the writing. Has she ever given him the chance to explain or tell her the truth? And him not correcting the rumors was not only for politics but rather mostly because that's the way the narrative has made his life turn out, he is always in the wrong he can never do anything good, his trying to kill her was how many episodes ago? And hasn't she tried to kill multiple times as well and she literally stabbed him not a couple of episodes ago.


More to the point let's just say for argument's sake that what came before all made sense but what's coming next? we barely have a 3rd of the show left and it looks like same old same old. You say he deserves that kind of love but will he get it? Is she going to get flogged to spare him? Is she going to beg and plead and cry with him as he tells her he wants her to die? Is she going to put his family and their well being first at the cost of his reputation and safety? Is she going to save him again and again getting hurt stabbed bleeding with only cruel behavior in return? This is just a fraction of what he's done for her.

Let's say she doesn't need to do all of this but for him to get that kind of love, that kind of love implies her risking her life for him time and again, putting him first above her safety and life, defending him and believing against all odds etc Will realistically happen given the previews and all the other spoilers? I would love to be wrong but no it won't.

Another thing is he's loved her for her no matter how cruel she was to him, planning to kill him and strip him of his power and so many other horrible things yet he was still there loving her steadfastly, shouldn't he be treated the same?

I respect your pov but I have a completely different perspective, I think it's been at least 10 episodes since he really liked her/loved her and would've done anything for her, the rest of it wasn't needed. Besides he was never aloof, the person who saved SH, who bled for the people who reviled him etc who never experienced unconditional love, who is begging and pleading because she showed the smallest crumbs of affection did he really need all this cruelty and suffering? He's so starved for affection that she showed him an ounce of humanity and he was already at her beck and call.

Also can I genuinely ask what you think her trial is? Is she going to experience the same suffering as she gave him? I highly doubt it. And if this is the man for her who is the kind of woman for him? Surely someone with his childhood and damage needs someone who provides him with the kind of love he's been missing all his life, who would believe and put him first as he has so many other people including her? Surely the culmination of his emotional journey is to find that kind of love he's never had? Because judging by the previews and spoilers from the rest of the episodes it's just entirely one sided and unequal until probably the end.

Just from a thematic perspective, it defies narrative logic and Nan Heng's emotional journey as someone whose ENTIRE arc and life so far have been defined and shaped by such an utter lack of love and understanding from everyone around him to not allow him to experience that same love, of being cherished utterly by someone, of being prioritized and loved wholly especially from someone he has already offered that unwavering devotion to.

What kind of character arc would it be if the person who has been endlessly selfless only to be vilified in return by everyone around him, if he doesn't find someone to love him as he has always loved, to deny him the narrative culmination of being finally and fully loved in return, if so what was the point of that pain?

I never said you're not entitled to enjoy the FL of course you are I don't even dislike her she's a fictional character and criticizing her is not some form of attack on the people who like her. I don't think we should only comment and discuss with people who have the exact same opinion as us that seems counterproductive I was merely providing my pov I didn't hate on the FL for even once sentence I was just critiquing some of the writing and expressing my hopes for the rest of the drama but like you said let's agree to disagree because clearly this is going nowhere and I'm not someone who insults real people over fictional ones.

I was trying to have a discussion not air grievances as this is the comment section and the whole purpose is to express our opinions and discuss with other people as I've done many times before and as people are doing rn in this same section and I was merely answering you comments after my 1st one but maybe public discussion is not for you. As such there's no need to be glib and was I asking you to do anything about my issues with the drama just trying to have a respectful conversation and see other people's povs which you don't seem to be capable of so my bad.

"out of loyalty or habit" I think at this point we're all masochists going in for our daily lashings like NH. Idek what I'm watching for anymore? NH getting his happy ending? What kind of happy ending is this if it's him ending up with someone whom as you put it handles him with the gentleness one might reserve for a crate of cabbages.
The hope that we will get to see SYM love and choose him over everything? That she will get to a point where she shows as much devotion in her actions and words as he has been doing for the last 15 episodes so all the suffering he's been through might be worth it? I think I'm just clinging to hope and delusion at this point because seeing the previews it's just the same old same old but graduating from her treating him like shit she stepped on to a piece of gum she stepped on. He's madly in love willing to do anything and she's as lukewarm as a bathwater left out too long. If they're trying to sell us a love story they've failed miserably.

This *is* the stereotypical idol plot, a FL always putting herself first romances where the ML is all in giving everything and the FL treats him badly for one reason or another that's like most romance dramas lately just in different scenarios.

I do agree that your mileage may vary but I disagree on them making sense, neither of them do to me at this point, as the "real person" and someone in the industry she's too stuck on the tropes and script it feels like all the "paper" people have gotten more development than her and she should've wised up earlier and as someone with such a miserable life and lack of love he should have his walls up way more, I don't think she did anything for him as LSS that would require this kind of insane blind devotion at the expense of himself.

And if she doesn't seen them as people and feels for them and falls in love then what's the point of this story? Because as we have seen they ARE real in the sense they have a person-hood and feelings etc and they are written as such as they are real and again this is mainly a romance and crafting a good love story needs both people to be in love and both people to give their all at some point or how are we supposed to root for them?

I'm not getting my "knickers in a knot" and I don't see a need to speak like this we're just having a discussion. Nor am I demanding anything, I'm speaking from my experience of watching dramas and what kind of romantic relationships I enjoy, which are equal ones where both people are putting in as much effort regardless of gender especially since one of them has spend the bulk of the show sacrificing and giving so much of themselves for the other. And even if we look at them as characters, their archetypes he's the kind who has been mistreated and love starved his entire life, his romantic relationship should be one where that's offset by the person who loves him. And as for her "being in a story" that's an even bigger problem with the writing.

The fact that we're 2/3 ds through the show and she still doesn't see them as real people is an issue, "she doesn't owe him anything " this is fiction? I didn't go into a story and neither did you, I'm not trying to imagine what I would do or what I would want, is this a love story or is it not? If it is then it demands that certain things happen, by your logic he doesn't owe her anything either, he tried to kill her, she did the same and more and yet he's still clinging to her despite everything. So he should behave one way and she should behave another, he's also a "real person" to himself and in his world.

"he's a villain" all the characters around her seem to have realized he's not and have seen his feelings for her no one is saying and she should've done the same a while ago especially since she found out he was LS, she doesn't even actually die a person wouldn't be so cruel even to a dog they found on the street. and yes I do need her to love him and give him as much as he has given her, not in a way where we're calculating their actions but in a way that this is how a good romance is supposed to be 2 individuals who love each other just as much.

Which is just so sad she showed him the smallest amount of kindness and he's so messed up he's taking constant endless abuse and coming back for more that's not love that's just insanity, no relationship should be like this. If she isn't going to wise up and treat him with the same devotion and sincerity in the next episodes then they should just go their separate ways I know they won't though...

No one is asking her to swoon but to use her brain a little and let go of her prejudices which she seems to pick and choose when to do so (her sister can change but NH can't she's going to die but not really) . He's put himself through the ringer for her and sacrificed for her so many times while she was actively trying to kill him and ruin him now so my question is now that "love is blooming" as you put it will she do the same? Or do we want female characters to be badass and not idiots in so far as self preservation but when it comes to love they should always a lot less than for their love interests.

No I respect that we all have different opinions, I like having discussions with people who feel differently than me. At the end of the day it's all fiction for entertainment.
I just hope that we do see her be really devoted to him in the future not only to offset the hurt she's been putting him though while he has put her first always but because he's the kind of character who has never experienced unconditional love despite giving it so many times and for me to be able to root for a ship especially one where one half has led such a miserable love starved life and their love interest has been adding to it I need SYM to display the same amount of love and sacrifice he has if not more given the kind of characters they are and their backstories.

That's just speculation, her refusal to see other POVs and change her mind says nothing about how she's going to act later. I very much highly doubt with the way the writer has been crafting the story so far that she will reciprocate his devotion equally or even close to it but I guess we'll see.