sumusukona

Rewriting fate with whips and chains

When I saw the chains and whip, I knew I had to watch it.

But seriously, the tension between the leads is *chef's kiss*. The lines were so hot for my liking, and it got my toes curling most of the time like HMMM too spicy~ While the whole reason why they had a BDSM relationship is kinda... questionable... the storyline is actually nice! The whole 'FML is reborn and changes her fate' is already predictable, but it was the complexities of her relationship with the MML that made it exciting to watch. Both of them had their vulnerable moments, but I love how they are each other's damsel in distress. FML is brave and wise just to protect her loved ones, and I love her for that. I also found it interesting that even the MML had to 'rewrite' their fate despite not being reborn. And of course, the real villain and their motivations were a surprise; however, I found their quest to defeat the villain lacking. I just hoped their supposed fate of not being together was highlighted more, so the fruits of their labor would be sweeter hehe.

It's also a jiejie romance—which I super, duper enjoy—but it is not highlighted as much. Still, the dynamics of the leads were really good. I just love to see a submissive, coquettish MML who has his own dark tendencies as well, and a dominant, strong FML ready to risk it all just so her unfortunate fate won't happen again.

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The villainness rewrites her fate

It is always interesting for me to watch dramas where the villains are given another chance to rewrite their fate. The pride, determination, and drive that they built after realizing their tragic ending as side characters is always exciting to unfold. Qiao Wan Yan, our villainess-turned-female lead, remained strong and brutal throughout her second life. Rare are the times she had to be "saved" by the two princes, and you can expect her to do the dirty work just to get back at or prevent Qiao Yi Huan from getting what she wants. I love an FML like QWY who knows her strengths well and knows how to play the game like QYH. Both female leads had many tricks up their sleeves, but their intentions differ—and I love how QWY remained unwavering in her desire to gain wealth and power the second time around.

To some, it may seem like a negative trait to be materialistic, but living in a world that is cruel to women, QWY’s aspirations are nothing but honest and realistic. I love how the story never made QWY weak-willed or distracted by the male leads’ advances, and instead let her plot all the revenge she had. I almost pitied QYH at some points because she really couldn't keep up with QWY’s plans—but then again, no one could ever stop a woman’s rage—not even another woman. The moment QYH believed that QWY’s retaliation was all because of a man was the moment she lost to QWY.

A Shang as QWY was so effective; she knows how to act with her eyes, and her features perfectly present how innocent, yet cunning-looking, QWY would be.

I also loved the chemistry between QWY and He Yan Li. Their history as childhood-friends-turned-lovers-turned-enemies-turned-lovers-again was satisfying, especially when we learn that HYL is still hopelessly in love with QWY despite being dumped by her. Their banters as "enemies" were adorable too, and I wished we saw more of that. QWY, learning HYL’s true intentions on her deathbed, knew too well that the man was smitten with her, but never used that to take revenge against the crown prince and QYH. She allowed HYL to come into her heart but didn’t play him in her hand. She was honest with her intentions and her loyalty to HYL, which definitely assured the man of her feelings—HYL understood that QWY is a woman who only wants to go all the way up, and he didn’t feel inferior about it. They supported each other in the best ways they could, and this is when we see QWY being warm and loving. Not that she broke from her cold persona, but she showed how love and rage can coexist—we all rage because we all love. Their love wasn’t always heavily tested, but the trials they went through together and alone further prove how much they deserve each other.

In the end, QWY being firm that she would give up all her family's power and wealth to be married to HYL was the most realistic and satisfying resolution I’ve seen in a while. Indeed, QWY started her second life hoping to rise to the top, but there came the realization that she wouldn’t be able to do that without HYL by her side. Rather than saying that she has softened, I’d like to see it as QWY finally reclaiming her peace—and that peace is meant to be shared with the people who had always loved her. Such a perfect ending for a woman who we can now see as someone not driven by pure rage, but by all the love she took for granted in her first life, the love she gave herself in her second, and the love she continues to give and receive in this lifetime.

Favorite part: When QWY said that she loved HYL, but her greatest love will always be herself.

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This is what it means to match somebody's freak

The headline was just to keep me lighthearted as I wrote this review right after watching this drama. There is absolutely NOTHING lighthearted with HWY, freak is a bare understatement, and this review will contain trigger warnings as shown in the drama: mental illness, abuse, violence, and sexual assault

Let me start by saying that the psychological thriller genre is too complicated and complex to be defined by the typical or expected dramatization we usually consume. So, when approaching this drama, one has to be prepared to watch with an open mind, because everything that happens in the story can be beyond reasoning, like how existence is.

The synopsis shared on this page sums up the plot of HWY well, but nothing can prepare you for how it will unfold. It is well-established right from the start that Yu Tian Dong is batshit insane, and he is consumed by his love/obsession for Nan Xing. YTD will always surprise you at how low he can go for NX, he will shock you with how unreasonably obsessive he is, yet you will also be given the chance to learn where he is coming from. From a fictive perspective, his character was well-written and well-reasoned out, which is why I pitied him alongside NX; but in real life, I would be so scared shitless if I got to meet a man like him. He is a walking disaster, and YTD himself knows that. But what I really loved about the story framing was how it showed that YTD is not just driven by his yearning for NX but also by the severe trauma and abuse he had to face growing up. And we know damn well that traumas, especially when deep-seated, greatly influence someone's drive, morality, and reasoning in life. I don't fancy YTD for who he is, but his story was given justice by the drama's writing. But I also believe that such a character won't be convincing if the actor doesn't portray his story well, and I am already on my knees saluting Zhang Chi for a job freaking well done as YTD. ZC is truly no joke on this drama—you would never see any glimpse of ZC throughout the eps, only YTD. He didn't embody or act out as YTD; ZC brought him to life. Him acting like a madman was too realistic, too convincing, so I wish he had gotten a proper mental training and debriefing for this role. His range is probably the most tested here in HWY, and I can bravely attest that he has surpassed his Lu Zhi (Mutual Desires) performance with Yu Tian Dong. God, Zhang Chi is an experience—only by watching him can one deeply understand why many are hooked with him this year.

Surprisingly, I liked Nan Xing's development in this story. In stories like this, and in the typical plot trends in the short drama scene, it is so easy to manipulate the FL's character just to highlight the ML even more. Hell, her character is already problematic to begin with—she defied ethical boundaries of her field of work just because she was drawn into YTD's complex character. But I don't think it's enough to say she manipulated YTD, the tension between them is already beyond their client-patient relationship because YTD knew how to push her buttons (which is not an isolated case for all the doctors who wanted to treat him). Truly, it can be seen that NX was fixated with the belief that it is only she who can cure YTD, and as toxic and questionable as that sounds, that literally is the seedling of her growing feelings for YTD. We can criticize NX for being unethical, but I don't think we can really judge how she "loves". I liked NX's character because she was written and shown as someone who is still bound by her past traumas growing up, yet she is fully aware that she has to keep negotiating life if she wants to continue moving forward. Her goal of living a normal life, while almost hopeless, was her long realization after being with YTD the first time, and we can't really blame her for that. She knew as a psychologist that life is full of second chances, and it isn't a crime to be optimistic about something that you wish to happen for yourself. But she also knew that the very moment her relapses always involved YTD that her life would never be normal. But yet again, what can be seen as "normal" in this drama, right? Nothing about NX and YTD's lives was ever normal. And so I'm fascinated by how NX was made a psychologist with her own unresolved traumas because it depicts how multi-faceted humans can be, even beyond reasoning. I am so drawn into Lin Zi Lin's performance as NX; she perfectly delivered what a mad, insane person trying their best to be sane and normal would usually look like. We can clearly see exactly when NX tries to act perfectly normal, when she is crumbling down, and when she has gone mad. She could've been easily overshadowed by ZC's psychotic performance as YTD, but she knew the balance of calmness and madness that NX has, and she performed damn well. I would love to see her in more challenging dramas like this.

I'd love to talk more about the plot and how this deserves a full-length series on its own. But since this is a character-driven narrative, I have already laid down most of my thoughts just by reviewing the leads alone. I don't know how common plots like this are in short dramas, but it is clear that it defies the repetitive plot elements we are so used to. Every episode was necessary to the development of the story, and seeing how well-delivered it was only shows that the team behind this really took their time respecting the story. With how saturated the short dramas industry is, maybe dramas like HWY can help usher in more challenging and morally gray stories for us to enjoy.

Favorite part: The press conference where YTD acted like he was having an episode, and the cousin expecting NX to expose YTD's mental illness.

[Edit: If my memory serves me right, there was no physical violence between YTD and NX. All toxicity comes from their own heads, and I don't know which is better...]

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Transmigration done right

I'd like to start by saying I super duper loved Zhang Chi and Yue Yuting's chemistry in , that I was so delighted to see that they had actually worked together before that drama! Lo and behold, we get to see them in a costume drama and in very different characters.

As someone who never gets tired of the transmigration plots, it was refreshing to witness a drama that didn't care so much about the original plot in a good way. I'm saying this because many other dramas fail to deliver the transmigration trope by neglecting the importance of the original plot (what happens to it, do we still follow, etc), but this drama justified that it is worth not being given focus. Since Sheng Qing was originally written as a side character, it would be predictable that she thinks she doesn't hold much power in the story. She mentioned the female lead entering the palace years later, and that she should be clinging onto her for survival. But since two years is quite a long time, SQ must do something to live— and that is, to keep low. She was among the lowest concubines to the Emperor—she wasn't summoned for "night duties" as often as the other concubines—indicating that she posed no threat to the higher ones. Later on, this won't be as effective as she would be subjected to constant bullying by the other consorts. SQ, as prideful and wise as she is, doesn't accept such a fate, and in turn, makes her move to the Emperor Xuanyuan Ling. But right from the start, we could see the Emperor's mysterious gaze over SQ, and I would like to assume that SQ was no side character in this new plot version, and the transmigration part is literally just the aspect of SQ being transmigrated to the novel.

What I love about this version? The love between SQ and XL remains a mystery until the very end. While XL was an Emperor with a well-living Empress and multiple concubines, SQ was a low-level consort making ways to survive. They are bound to meet and make love given their roles, but given the complexity of their situations, there isn't really enough space for love to bloom. At the start, we see XL being restrained from showing affection towards SQ, reminding himself (like any other emperor) that his relationships with his concubines are solely for sustaining the royal lineage. He was also seen to not favor any woman, even the empress, and was focused on state affairs. But even the strongest tree can have a weak branch, and SQ tugged XL's heartstrings in her favor. It is not like XL wasn't used to being respected by the harem and his people, but SQ pampered him in the most balanced way—flirting with him enough to keep him hooked, then pulling away to keep distance. SQ played the hard-to-get game the best because we all know how desire is always fueled by mystery; in their first encounters, SQ made sure she would be memorable to the emperor, but in a way that he would be left wanting to know her more. This is where we see SQ's main intentions of getting closer to the emperor, and of course, it's for survival. Can't blame my girl for doing so; she will be targeted whether she lies low or not, so choosing the high-profile route would be just as sweet. While there are occasional references to the original novel as SQ remembers it, most of the story's trajectory is well-directed by SQ. Absolute cinema if you would ask me. SQ was a really strong and wise FML, and I love seeing a woman knowing her strengths well just to survive.

But going back to the topic of love, I really liked how their love didn't exactly unfold. SQ's confession was for an ulterior motive, and we were only sure of XL's blossoming affection through his internal dialogues. This highlights exactly how realistically complicated their positions in society are. But towards the end, I'd like to assume that there already exists a love-centered relationship between them, especially with how worried the Emperor was when SQ was giving birth. Mind you, we didn't see him being this worried over multiple childbirths (only during child deaths... IM SORRY) and we often see him being happy only with the heirs they have produced. But when the child was brought to him, his first instinct was to know if SQ was well, and he came rushing to her! Good lord, that's such a cute scene.

As always, Yue Yuting and Zhang Chi nailed their roles on this one. Visual chemistry is given, and their acting prowess is emphasized a lot in a costume drama.

Favorite part: When XL assumes that SQ has fallen hard for him. I would laugh at him during these scenes.

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Typical Cinderella story, but still hits the right spots

[In other platforms, this drama is titled 'His Silent Obsession']

Like any other Cinderella story, we have an empowered FML who knew her worth right off the bat. Most of her trials involved her biological family trying to ruin her over an adopted daughter. FML's family is cruel, but the brothers were mostly annoying and irrational. The adopted daughter is also annoying, but I love how there weren't "overdone" scenes of her bullying the FML. Sometimes it was kinda unreasonable that her family still doted over the adopted one even until the end, so there wasn't any satisfying moment of them begging for FML's forgiveness. I love how innocent-looking the FML is, but she never lets herself be trampled over and always stands her ground. And of course, the MML being supportive of her all those years was the cherry on top. He knew when to step aside and patiently waited for the FML. I love how he was portrayed as a cold man, but his love for the FML softened him so that he would do cheesy stuff for her. There were times of comedic relief, which is why it wasn't boring at all, especially the SML (who kinda looks like Ricky from ZB1... I hope I'm not the only one). He didn't do anything drastic to get FML his way, and just spent wallowing over a love he wasted. Of course, the chemistry between leads were given but I love how the MML throws his lines, like he was made for that character.

Overall a good watch, but don't expect anything new. I wanna know the name of the FML too ><

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