Kate

And this is how you present a dark romance in a realistic manner. Perfect timing with the growing popularity of the “alpha male losers” type of behavior in society. Destigmatizing being manipulated and hurt like that no matter what someone’s gender/background or social status is was a good move on the writers and production.

I don’t think I have ever seen a better presentation of this type of psychological abuse. The way it was not exaggerated, and yet so horrifying without crossing into the telenovela idiocy territory. It was real, awful and frustrating to watch. Here I was watching every episode, knowing it would make me feel extremely angry and frustrated, feeling the cortisol's level rising with every passing minute... being abused and taken hostage by this drama... oh, look at me, compared to the female lead, I actually became a victim of my own making.

Here’s the thing though - Yan Ling was a victim, more than once. With the guilt placed on her for her father’s passing, being groomed by the family friend who was like an uncle and father figure for her, to then accidentally getting pregnant and becoming a single mother. To end with the king of the pathetic losers Luo Liang in her life. This woman could not catch a break. More than once I caught myself feeling more negative feelings towards her than Luo Liang, which only added to the already existing uneasiness I was feeling. I knew and understood that all that is happening is not her fault and he shouldn't be blamed, and yet emotionally I felt the growing frustration with how she kept blaming herself, overexplaning every action, becoming so submissive.

At the same time it was fascinating (for the lack of better word) to watch how slowly, but steadily Luo Liang dismantled her personality, confidence and life. Starting with just kindness and evoking some curiosity, to making himself a safe space, someone who would always be on her side, defend her no matter what, tell her exactly what she needs to hear. And when she was emotionally attached, slowly getting her distance herself from other people, making her doubt her every action, turning his own faults into her mistakes. And when there was no one around her, and she saw him as the only constant and familiar element in her life, that’s when he started to go back on his words, saying how she should be blamed for everything bad that happened in her life, making her feel like she is not worth of anything. Making her believe that even though it’s not easy to be with him, there is no one else, and there will never be anyone else who accept her with all her flaws. Truly tragic.

On the other side, hilarious how Luo Liang kept calling Yan Ling out on her “victim mentality” when he was the biggest pathetic constant victim of them all. I think that’s what made the show so realistic. He was not this smart, hot, competent and confident toxic gege - he was a loser. Notice how in these “teaching” scenes they always claim you will learn how to get and control any woman you want, and yet the first thing they actually teach you is how to pick the vulnerable target. Why? Because deep down they know they are just small boys with no confidence and maturity. They know they cannot get any woman, that’s why they spend so much time learning how to pick ones that are easier to manipulate. All the baby boy needed was a fucking therapy, but nah - rather be led by his trauma and bad experiences, have low self esteem for the rest of his life and target people who are vulnerable since he cannot "handle" anyone else.

And the worst thing is, you cannot win against people like that. The only way to “win” is to cut them off from your life completely. You CANNOT reason with them, you cannot make them understand your point of you. They know, they understand and they act against it to make you be in the defense position, always justifying yourself so you do not have time to question their actions. They will never respect you or view you as equal, there is no kind way to move away from a relationship like that. You cut them off without an explanation, you never look back, you do not care what they think about you.

On the bright side, big props for making sure this drama does not become too preachy “women good, men bad”. We had male victims and female perpetrators. We had psycho dudes ruining lives for fun and to feel better about themselves, and courageous and hard working men trying to stop them. Shout out to Lu Yi Feng and Paw Patrol.

Lu Yi Feng was for sure not flawless. I am still annoyed how the one night stand even happened and how it should not happen. Yan Ling was drunk, and thought he was someone else. He was not drunk. No way he would actually physically struggle with trying to control her and not sleep with her. This is this gray area that makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. I know he is a good man, he does his best to help her any way he can, he risks it all in the present timeline. He is a good father and boyfriend. But that past action will taint him forever in my eyes. And that's great. It's makes his character more interesting, it makes the show less black and white. It does not make it easy for you to decide how you feel about certain characters.

Then we had Li Zhi Heng. No, he is not this amazing badass detective, but he is what we never get in dramas - just a normal good cop who wants to do his job well and help victims get justice. Honestly amazing. Similarly, in any other drama Wang Hao Ying would be this semi-annoying girlboss who knows it all, but here she was not. She knew how to value people around her, how to work as a team. She didn’t need to be in a spotlight all the time.

As for the performances, they are ridiculously good. Not gonna lie, I did start the show for Wu Kang Ren. Was I expecting this type of role here? No. Was I disappointed? Hell nah. On one hand I totally see how he could charm all these women, on the other hand it was clear how pathetic he actually was. To deliver these contradictions was perfect. To make me feel disgusted despite his hotness? Deserves applause. We all love our hot toxic oppas/geges and we often go crazy for even serial killers in them dramas, so to give a performance so realistic and repulsive the good looks stop working? Give him an oscar.

Susan Sun was probably the one that made me feel the biggest range of emotions. Yes, mostly frustration, but at the end, when she finally saw and understood the truth and confronted Luo Liang I was full of excitement and happiness. And again - the gradual progression from hiding her pain, to having her pain being used and exploited, to accepting her pain and becoming stronger because of it - all well paced and delivered perfectly.

I think overall, the drama plays well on expectations versus reality. Luo Liang looks like a confident man, but is in fact a pathetic loser. Yan Ling looks like a confident and competent woman, but is in fact someone with many scars and vulnerabilities. Both Li Zhi Heng and Lu Yi Feng look like puppies and cinnamon rolls that need to be protected, when in fact they are really driven and brave. Wang Hao Ying looks a little bit like a snob that cannot be wrong, but is in fact a real team player and knows her limits. That’s something that can only be achieved with amazing acting and solid directing.

For the directing - masterclass. One of the examples of how they just knew how to convey the changing dynamics without literally spelling them out with dialogues: during one scene Luo Liang placed his hand on Yan Ling’s cheek, but she herself moved it to her neck... which is a far more vulnerable place and shows how submissive she became. Or how so many times she physically lowers herself in his presence - sitting somewhere lower than he is, kneeling in front of him.

What’s most important - none of that came out of ass. From the start it was clear she is not as confident and sure of herself as she presents, and he is not as kind and sane as he fakes to be. Certain reactions, behaviors, words spoken slowly build the full picture of how they are both pretending to be something they are not. So when their dynamic solidified, it did not feel weird, it was not a jarring difference from how they were at first. We just stripped the layers of lies.

Putting aside the structure of the story and its visual presentation, this drama is just pretty. Sure they overused some scenery transition scenes, but I rather they do that and use the money to make the scenes that actually matter look good, and not waste money on filming more shots of the city that bring nothing to the story.

Soundtrack wise, I don’t remember any song. That tells you nothing about their quality since usually I do not pay that much attention to OST as long as it’s not awful.

Overall, I hated the experience, and would highly recommend it to everyone. I was also surprised by how well they balance the ending. We've got the positive ending on the micro scale - the characters we grew to know got their justice, the villains got punished. But on macro scale we kept the realism - Luo Liang being punished does not mean much, because there will always be men like that, ready to take his place.