swagata

Hmm agreed on ur point that they shouldn't adapt lengthy novel if that's the case. Or make two seasons.

I even agree with u on pacing part. And that is my main criticism to this drama.

Now i have heard in review of "cases between us" and "under the skin" drama from Avenuex where she mentioned a very valid thing. For a crime thriller drama what's imp? U need to master both the cases and romance. Any one of the factor if not done or handled well, the story will not work.

Now make this statement applicable here. As i said romance blossomed between them while solving cases. Since they rushed it tooo much that it was not given justice here.Even i don't understand how and when the hatred get converted into love. That is my second criticism to this drama.

Then investigation. Yes. U know story well from novel so this drama doesn't cover the suspense part or part where viewer ques their own thinking of suspect or belief. Which is the key in any crime thriller drama.
So that got lacked in terms of depth and questioning am audience does and feel.

But still for me investigation here is enough to be invested.
As sadly I don't like kbl at all. And this drama still was able to keep me engaged. Because of
What impressed me in this drama:-
1. This is first time when murderer son and victim son are falling in love. Which seems impossible to me. U just can't. Unless murderer is actually not murderer. That plot is interesting. Specially in Korean society.

2. The impact it left. Although nothing new. But this is the first time I have seen a story covering the murderer and victim son's life after the incident in detail. How, there is dilemma. How they are traumatised and their life has stopped. How they are still searching truth but fear also about truth. How to face and love someone who has being harmed and who harmed u. It's new.

3. Hands down this is first drama I have ever watched in my life where prosecutor is asking his assistant to go against the principal of natural justice in law and human rights to investigate the old case using the power of their status. There has to be biasedness and whole investigation will be taking turn based on how u think. That was interesting.
But, we saw that the clues are eventually opening up on its own without any effort. But new.

Now, ur point if this drama is overhyped. Hmm idk. But it deserves attention for few things. This is actually a proper kbl where there is crime thriller. It's first in Korea. I mean we have "manner of death" from Thailand but in Korea it's first.
Thats it.

I don't see anywhere obsession fuelled romance. Or well developed crime as we have "scarecrow", "penthouse","mouse". So this is average wrt to korean writing. I mean even crime podcasts of Korea is more scary and suspenseful than this.

But it is also true that novel has covered things in a well mannered and so bl fans think that it's well developed crime drama in terms of bl industry.
I would say bar was already low when it comes to kbl and so when u make a good drama it's going to overhyped. That's it.

And by ur comment, u also agree that source material is better just the problem in adaptation. I am saying the same without reading novel. But because i haven't read novel it's also helping me in certain ways to like this drama.

Hmm. Ur opinion. But i want to add another angle here. So take it as a pinch of salt. In shine on me, ML got together in drama and they were clear about each other. Their story was about falling for each other and be together so there daughter scene made sense. Rest two shows i have never completed so i will not comment on that. But there also it's more about love.

Here, it's opposite. Here, before children comes acceptance of love and the courage to be together no matter the hurdles that was ig happened very late in this drama. This drama has touched lot of branching plot that it was required for them to close those chapters first like giving closure to tuli and miao jing mother's death. Both got together at very end of the drama. Plus even with time skip it was not about them being in love and happy family. It's more about they are healed and Happy together never to leave each other side. That's why the story gets ended with marriage. That's the destination story was trying to reach. Yes adding a child will be cherry on the top of cake but the story didn't wanted to show that. It was never its aim. Plus also they deserve some good happy life together before planning child as they need time to also fill in the gap of 6years and make good memory. Having child when u all ur life have seen only sadness and faced trauma , what kind of healthy childhood u can give to the child? First they need to heal their own inner child to get the child in their life. Right? And that level of time skip idk if story was ever intended to do so.

That's my pov. U can either agree or disagree or no comment. That's ur choice. Am just stating my angle. Of urs ques of why

U are definitely not alone. I started this drama when it started airing and today i am at ep14. Lol..

Drama is good. But considering u already don't like cdrama because of its length. Plus it's slow paced. It doesn't involve falling in love trope much. It's more about life and hardships with a pinch of romance. So take ur call based on that.

U have a fair point. If they can live without each other for that long then u can live rest of the life without them. But that doesn't mean they are happy in their life, that doesn't mean they can move on and love others( they tried but failed).

This drama is about finding a true home and healing love. It's not about romance. That's why most of the people are disappointed by auditing part. This drama is "love for u" one may expect love and romance but this drama is opposite. Its about two scarred people whose childhood is full of trauma and they somehow found comfort and home in each other but their love was not true healthy love their love was in the form on emotional codependency. Or maybe the fell in love because at their lowest they were beside each other. But one was too sacrificing and going into darkness. He was not thinking about himself ever and in order to give best life to his girl he was destroying his life. To the point he realised he is too deep in muddy waters and he can't come out clean ever. That's why he had to let go and have a gap of 6 years.

But destiny send a mature miao jing who is capable to bring him out of his darkness and heal him. He was having PTSD. He was not healed. His work traumatised him more. That's where the journey to heal himself and love her in a healthy manner begins. Their love was not about romance it's about healing. It's about the idea of self love and prioritisation also. It's also about that one doesn't need to always sacrifice themselves to give other happiness. Love is about going through hurdles together. Because at the end it's collecting scraps with someone who understand u is enough to bring life in your life and enough to make u smile from the heart and enough to feel home. Their love is the journey to establish a healthy equal relationship. Their love is the realisation that love can remove darkness only when both are working on it and not one.

Ep14, things has started to get serious. She is getting deep. Idk what's her job is but trust me auditing doesn't involve this level of investigation. Ig it has to be revenue dept of state or central dept to expose the illegal activities and scams. Yes, whistleblowers can be there but this is not exactly the job of an auditor. Not sure if this is in my country only or what. Other countries have diff rules? But this is very dangerous what she is doing. Atleast now she knows that chen yi is taking anti depressants.

This show has certain aspects that I don't understand. Actually I think he has PTSD and is currently not in depression. Because depression is diff. Yes u live normal life. But hope and energy is gone. The will to live is gone. U want to talk but u can't.

Idk why she is investigating something related to mr. Zhang. It has only two possibilities- one if old tax case got closed with arson incident by saying files were lost. And that time zhai used all his power to make his audit clean by bribing accountant and his all shady business were closed. So the case never reached any conclusion. If she is investigating old case then must have found some leads or new info enough to reopen a closed file. Second possibility is that something happened and now houyu company which is under zhang she is collecting proof to gather evidence to open an investigation case. But both doesn't come under the job of an auditor. Unless she handles accounts for govt. Which is highly not possible here. Based on her skills. I mean she is smart but not that smart. Plus is she actually is acting for a govt agency she would have more backing in investigation. Not like this.

The whole badminton thing was the perfect example that she can win the game of an imposter. She acts that she is normal but she in fact is making the other person spitting the truth without any idea or context which is great. But she is not perfect as there always be some variable like chen yi coming to collect keys. Which is why I think her injury helped to cease down chen yi quest of questioning. But he certainly did find things little bit off.

Zhang and chen yi interaction is the proof that chen yi has failed to escape the road he took once completely. And this time I hope history don't repeat like 6 years back.

But chen yi's character doesn't give me consistency in his actions of him being police spy. I mean yes spies do get hidden and they often lay low. But behind they always investigate. Here, chen yi was clearly not investigating anyone plus his actions in arson case also didn't made sense. I mean why can't he report to police that he is getting foreboding feeling about zhang asking him to go to investigation office.

Rest romance and tuli idc. It's not even present in this ep. But things are getting serious and interesting.

Hmm. Could be. Am still at ep 6. I can't recollect yoon gyu ho. But i don't understand why Taeseon changed his surname from kang to ju?

I feel the same.its like song is deliberately trying to get close to chaeha to keep an eye. He is very sus. Plus he def has done connection with mr. Tang. I think tang is the murderer or related to murder of kang. But then idk how tang and that casino women is linked. Because she definitely has some link with this.

Ok. I have read ur comment properly. It looks a fair criticism and mostly u are right. This is again going to be long so please read accordingly the explanation.

Let's start with ur correct criticism about adapting lengthy novels to short series and make story rushed. While i agree here.But this can be explained. First Korean BL were never a full length series. Their domestic population is generally don't consume these genre in large amount from what I have observed but I can be wrong as times are changing fast. So they generally make it for international audience. But the production who take these projects are generally small and having the problem of funding. Since they can't get much funding from local population collection they need to heavily rely on international platforms to fund their project often comes by selling their IPR and ownership. Here, they partnered with iqiyi for international streaming.

Now, there is also an interesting fact that if u look upto the korean drama history they have always believed in 16ep rule. Because they think it's perfect and any less compromise story and viewer connection and any long is stretching out. But recently, after Netflix started airing Kdrama landscape has changed. Netflix boomed kdrama and there was sudden rise in demand of that. That helped kdrama very much but That also led to production house to face high production costs and artists pay were rising due to excessive demand. That led production house to stop or halt lot of projects or shift to 12 ep theory. Evidence- u see now less no of kdrama are appearing( straight ones specially) and u see most anticipated kdrama of the year PC( straight drama) released ep12 format that get cancelled in domestic so again no collection and loss of both artists and production house going under loss.

Actors and stories that get finalized are good but again as I said domestic acceptance is less( in terms of audience) and big production house are already under loss with projects under halt and small production funding issue plus international release plus selling of ownership( generally) with that u can't make a big or full fledged drama to cover all the plot in detail. U need to rush. But source material as u said is lengthy so they compromised lot of plot that make u understand the depth and ans ur where? How? They have to choose. And they chose to keep MLs bg story and their main case of their father and romance. But their romance is underdeveloped here. Because their romance bloomed whole spending time with each other while solving cases that itself was compromised. So not only u even I was not able to connect dots so as to how when and why Taeseon developed feelings despite his dilemma. And since how and when chaeha from respect to trying to prove to start liking him thing developed. And so ur criticism is valid. But they didn't had any choice.

I am attaching yt link here which I watched to get this insight. So u can check it out later if u want.
https://youtu.be/p1_j6izmEX4?si=dtmGc77U3z6JYQjV

Now, i don't understand what u mean when u say plot is too simple and confusing both at the same time. If u want u can elaborate it.

Again, whatever i am saying it's just a reply to ur post not an imposition of my opinion to urs. We are sharing opinions here. U are entitled to ur own opinion. Good day :)

Again!!! We are at odds here as well. 😂😂. Nice to see u here. But am actually curious what u dislike about this drama majorly.

Lol true. But let's admit we can only be in delulu here. 🥲 I wonder if manifestation works 😉

Not sure at which aspect u are saying this. But I hope u are happy in ur current life.

What i meant in last para is that having a person who still has ability to give and love so selflessly after suffering this much is rare. Irl a person will harden themselves. But he didn't and that's where it hurts me also because it's not healthy. Their love and his love is not healthy. He often sacrifices himself and he lacks self love. His inner child is not yet healed. He is just sacrificing himself to give love to the person who has given the only care in his life. He remember that care and gentleness and that's why he is sacrificing. I just want to hug him and protect him for once and say to please love himself a bit. Because this is self harm in emotional level.

Because first those are valid points. And ZLH fanbase is huge after PoJ and their fans were in bubble world that this drama would be amazing. But they forgot the flaws were always there in PoJ but got unnoticed due to romance and beautiful cinematography. Here that also got lost. Second PoJ is a historical cdrama afterall so it will have plot although lacking in political aspect in certain way. And this is republican era drama. And let's be honest these dramas are not everyone's cup of tea. I have been watching cdrama for like years. But still i can't watch a replublican era properly.

Now, plot yes please talk about plot. So far no major flaw in plot but it's a overused plot. U can find thousands of vertical dramas with same plot. So one don't expect their fav to act on these stories which is already available and nothing to add. That's why the comparison is coming.

If one is actually starting republican era drama then oh boy what a pain!!! Because republican era ML can never be green flag and they will ques u and ur morality compass. Romance often comes here with toxicity. But it's not been marketed like that. Plus this series has actually failed to give the vibe of republican era in terms of its production and overall in general.

So plot is overused, production quality is low, fans not expected this, drama lovers like us has nothing new to see here...leading to tag as overhyped or disappointment.

Not that I am disappointed. I never really had any expectations. But yes for me it's not worth my time. I will probably just watch it as filler drama when I am getting too busy in my life to see anything or get too bored. But this is not s drama where I like to analyse anything or seek any emotional depth which I look for in a drama. This can't be my drama of the month or year. More like my filler or pass time drama.

Ep 13, sigh
the only time chen yi thought of himself by selling billiards bar which was his dream apart from being police officer was only to give miao jing employment of auditing. Why his love and care is soo selfless? Why he sacrifice this much? Why he is so soft for her? It pains me.

And no, i know what are reasons of him doing this. But i am just complaining. Chen yi is too good of a person. Why he is soo good?

These chinese dramas are the reason why in real life we suffer to get a man like this...because it's unrealistic to be this selfless and good.

Cupid shot in wrong area. 😂

Well what to say?? 😹
I am not even disagreeing about quality. I can't watch vertical dramas at all. I would skip my lunch if i have to ever watch vertical dramas. I hate it. I like when story and characters take time. But honestly which chinese dramas has truly ever managed to impress u with its toxicity? I have none in my list. Most dramas comes as cringe to me. Even vertical dramas are generally popular because of forced kiss and toxic relationship. But both are cringe. China can only make good toxic bl not straight drama.

Edit:- God!!! U seem am old viewer of dramas. Ur MDL is full of dramas. If u have any good toxic trope drama u can tell me.. I will definitely check it out.

I will tell u honestly and please it's not coming from a place to criticize u or telling u what to do. But please understand this. Republican era dramas are like this only. Moral values are often get clashed here. And toxic relationship gets HE or have been portrayed as romance or atleast coming from a concept of love. So if it at any point started to impact ur health please drop it. But if u are here to just rant ur frustration and how it morally doesn't seem sit well to u then it's ok. But trust me some themes are not for everyone. Otherwise ur choice, ur opinion and time. Good night :)

😂😂 gege took me. Well most of critiques are true. Just one thing is not. Expecting republican era drama to be a good drama with green flag vibes. No u can't get that here. It will be forced and dark and very patriarchal because society was like that during that time. That's why till this date these type of dramas are not liking preference. But watching only because i wanted to try. And yes it has its disappointments and flaws. But that is one thing. While production quality, ai, acting, makeup, lightning are valid criticism but somewhere I want people to discuss plot and find flaws in the plot that is expected from republican era drama. So far I didn't got a single comment dealing with plot that's what my problem is. Also only reducing everything to visuals or ai seems unfair to me. I mean i am a person who only watch drama for plot so i am craving criticism there. That's it.

Also i do agree with u and op that MDL should be a place for both positive and negative views. Having only positive views i think caters to only one section of audience and it's rating then doesn't hold true. A drama rating should be decided by all sections of audience so as when MDL rating and review are there people can understand what they are signing up for. Not every genre or theme is for everyone or plot is for everyone. But MDL sadly has long been the place which has lost its very essence in this aspect.

Sounds dramatic even for a drama. I remember there was a drama set in republican era where both ML and FL was in love. ML was from general family and FL was a school teacher.ML family was against their marriage and then he still married her, he used to try a lot to get her pregnant so that she gets accepted in his family then ML went to some battle or unrest area and FL got attacked and she escaped the place with some help and then she again lived low in some village or small city then when ML came back he looked for her and after finding her got to know that FL baby was murdered in her womb and then story was continuing and continuing seriously...that was the only republican drama I have beared to watch even till half but was soo cringe. And I was questioning my life choices why I had to watch that. Atleast this is better than that drama. Idk what was the name of that drama

In ep2, i am in mid way of ep2 and will pickup or continue tom. But this is what my halfway review of ep2.

1. Story gets better and interesting.

2. Qingyi who have always been abandoned and ultimately believed that everyone is responsible for their own and no one cares truly. He don't understand what care and love is because he is devoid of that. But he got to know the emotions through ren susu. He saw a person's constant perseverance to find her sister even if her letters never got replied back, he saw a patience in her wait, he saw how even with using vulgar and dirty letters one is still asking for her whereabouts in code language, he got to know what is meant to have a hope to find someone, what is concern and care, he saw a person crying over their loved ones by just even thinking of their death and not accepting it. When his whole family want him to die except his brother. He always saw death and sufferings when treating his patients. But susu changed him. She made him rethink his own ideology by little bit influencing him indirectly to notice that some couple can sacrifice their own life just to save one they hold dear to. He earlier only understood that susu cried upon hearing harsh words about her sister but he for the first time felt that tear, the sadness. She made him soft little bit. That's what the beauty of letters. U are talking to a stranger but again changing and connecting with them slowly through words whom u have never met.

3. Susu she is hopeful but she always carries a tint of sadness and loneliness within herself. A loneliness and tiredness that comes from her constant efforts to find her sister and give closure to her worry. Maybe she understood that her sister is either dead or not gonna reply but hearing it from qingyi still pains her. That's why she refuses and still wants to save money to go to beicheng and find her. But qingyi letters give her a comfort that atleast she is heard and her letters are getting replied just not from her sister. But yes someone who knows what she is looking for and her depth of care and hope to find her sister. She smiled genuinely as someone understood her but it pained her when he said that one should walk alone. She don't want to accept truth.

4. Looks like our susu holds empathy she hit the nail by saying no one has been ever sided with u in ur thick and thin...lets see how it goes. How their love story evolves.

But i get qingyi if he becomes a bad guy here as she was his only person who has provided him care and love. To get a betrayal from that person has to come hard.