tiraaa

No, I don't think that was ever his plan. He wants revenge to drive her away, take his son back, as he was forced to leave his hometown for two years because of her. But obviously, deep inside, he actually still loves and misses her, but he obviously wouldn't admit that to himself. To him, he's focused on his hatred and anger at her. He is convinced he hates her, and is bothered by the sight of her. It's a love-hate relationship between them really. The amount of hatred you have for someone really results from the amount of love and expectations you have for them too. Hatred is a strong feeling. If you don't love them, you wouldn't have such strong feelings of hate and be so deeply affected by that person.

I can't help but get annoyed with Joon Young's character sometimes, although at the same time I can understand why he's like this. I do feel so bad for him, since his parents' lives are seriously crazy and things just keep getting worse for him.
It's just heartbreaking to know how weak people's mentality can be. It is really not easy to keep a strong mentality and think logically. I understand how he's hurt and traumatized, but some of the stuff he's doing is really just so hurtful to his mother. I know he is an angry child that is mad at the world, and trying to find some place to blame for his unhappiness. He may have been hurt by the divorce because his dad left him and he thinks he's not good enough, and not wanted.
But can't he see how his mom has been trying hard to give him love and care for him? And why the eff would you trust what your father's mistress says? (But I guess he's finally hearing what he's been thinking all along, so he chooses to believe it.)
While I understand his anger and acting out, I just wish a kid his age could at least be mature enough to know between right and wrong, what you can do and can't do. But I guess boys are pushed to extremes more easily (especially violence). And like I said, I think a human's mentality is quite weak in general. Very easy to break. And I think human nature is probably quite selfish. People only want to care about their own feelings, and when they're drowned in anger, that's all they can see. They refuse to see anyone else's emotions or their point of view. It's not easy for people to break out of that mentality and find logical reasoning. Sigh. I really feel heartbroken for Sun Woo, as I can tell it is really hard to steer a mentally broken child back onto the right path. You just can't help but feel helpless because it is so hard to control/change another person's mind. Their mind is only in their hands, especially when they've completely closed off themselves to you. It is so difficult and requires endless effort to get to them.
I also blame the South Korean culture, where adults' sh*t somehow travels into the damn classroom, and how children get looked down on for being in a divorced family. Like wtf does that have to do with you? These adults in Korea really need to get a grip and learn to keep their gossipy mouths shut in front of their children. In fact, there needs to be some changes in South Korean education. How will they ever change such old-fashioned thinking if parents keep influencing their children to think with such twisted perceptions?

Whose revenge? Sun Woo plots revenge from the beginning, and they officially divorce by the end of EP 6. Then Tae Oh comes back in Ep 7 and he plots some kind of revenge too.

Up to Episode 8 now, and now the person who is on my TOP ONE HATE list is Myung Sook. Maybe she was at the top of the list from the start anyways. Not like I expected anything from her. She was despicable from the beginning. FFFFF She probably never saw Sun Woo as a friend anyways. Just kisses ass to whoever has power and status and probably secretly envies her a whole lot.
Also, Joon Young as the inconsiderate af kid also makes me mad. Although I know he's just a teen, I still don't think that's considered too young to understand how betrayed his mother feels by his cheating father. Ugh. I guess I shouldn't expect SONS to understand and empathize with this very well.

As I was thinking about what to rate this, I thought I was going to rate it at 9 or 9.5. But then I thought.... but I literally barely had any complaints about this drama throughout its 55 episodes. Do I have any complaints? Not at all. That is pretty rare for a C-drama. And comparing this to other C-dramas, this is seriously quite well-paced overall (although I'd say the take down of the villain happens slightly abruptly, but really does not bother me.) And one of the few that doesn't boil my blood for like 10 episodes and makes me want to use the fast forward button. It's also VERY rare that I don't have the urge to skip through scenes in a drama of this length. Not to mention the drama uses the 55 episodes very wisely to develop the main couple's romance. Not once do you think they're dragging the story at all. I thought I'd be annoyed and frustrated when the couple splits for a couple of episodes, but it actually wasn't that bad (probably because it wasn't due to anything ridiculous and the events happening simultaneously are also quite plot crucial and doesn't bore you.) And surprisingly, I even feel satisfied enough with the couple's short reunion at the end. Also, there are barely any characters that annoy you to death as their screen time is either limited, or they do redeem themselves at some point. Most of the supporting characters are very likeable in this drama, and play crucial roles in the show.
So, the conclusion is this drama is worth a 10 score in my books, especially as a C-drama.

Finally started this (as I don't like watching dramas as they're airing).
I've watched 4 eps (NO SPOILERS PLS) and I have to say, I hate Sun Woo's friends more than I hate her cheating husband. My heart broke for her when she found the pics of her "friends" partying with her husband and his mistress and helping him lie to her. And Myung Sook. Oh my god, she is the worst of them all! Also, Hyun-seo's effing boyfriend comes second. I guess the cheating husband character is already to be expected (and just sooo typical and common with men), whereas I hope "friends" would be better people than this and at least stand on the right side.
Anyhow, ethically, I totally think it's wrong for Sun Woo to sleep with another man and "cheat" too. But, who can say for sure that they can keep a moral high ground when being driven crazy like this? At this point, revenge is everything to her, and she will do anything to get that revenge. Plus, I do think it's very realistic that people will have the urge to "get revenge" by cheating "back" too.

For me, its was really mainly cuz they had too much damn screen time but like 80% of it made NO PROGRESS. Fine if you're going to appear so much, but at least make some progress?? It probably IS because the main love line is too great, and they just keep taking the screen time from them, so we all find them annoying loool. Especially during the episodes in the 20's, everyone was complaining about Shangguang/Dayang having way too much screen time.

I totalllyyyy loved the Hangzhou General and his wife, especially the wife! She had such limited screen time, but had so much charisma being such a strong and courageous woman! No wonder Lu Yi's cousin also felt awed by her and Jinxia.

Yes, this show actually makes GOOD use of the 55 episodes to develop their relationship nicely. Even though it takes them like 35 episodes to get together, I was not once impatient to see them admit their feelings for each other. They make us enjoy seeing the buildup of their romance. That is pretty rare, because I think I get pretty impatient for most other dramas LOL... And I also think the show gives a good balance of the romance and the other drama. Even the angst in the last few eps are not that bad. The couple still has screen time together, and things only really get dramatic when Jinxia finds out about Lu Yi's father (which is like the last 3 eps). Also, the villains somehow don't get on my nerves either, maybe because their scenes are pretty spread out and it's a pretty gradual build up evil schemes happening behind the scenes, and nothing is dragged out.

The one thing I do have to rant about is why the heck people are mad at the SON when it was Lu Yi's father's fault? Da fckkkk? He was like 8 back then? The poor guy is innocent! Where are people's ethics? (I'm looking at you Auntie Lin) Why should the son have to pay for his father's crimes, to the extent of death too? But I guess that's just how things were in ancient times..... I can use that to convince myself, but when things like that happen in modern dramas... ugh.

I agree with you that it would've been great to see them get married, or even just a short scene that shows them married. Like you said, that's how he confessed, and plus Jinxia deserves it after he "broke up" with her just after "proposing marriage" to her family!!
Anyhow, I am just really impressed with this show because there's rarely a Chinese drama with stupid elements that don't make me wanna roll my eyes and use the fast forward button. Especially for such a long drama too!

Why is Crash Landing On You on this list? That's Korean...?

Definitely agree! The romance really kicks up after Ep 20! Xie Xiao was pretty annoying, but he doesn't actually have too much screen time. I actually wouldn't have minded Shangguan and Da Yang's screen time if they could've just gotten together faster. Wasted so much time dragging their story...
But seriously, this drama gives the sweetness of the main couple very gradually and naturally. The development of their relationship is very sweet and really tugs at your heartstrings! You basically get sweetness for 47 episodes straight! That is effing impressive for a Chinese drama, because a typical Chinese drama would aim to boil your blood with misunderstandings and breakups by like Episode 35 or something. Or they would break up the couple three eps shortly after they get together. With this drama, you get a decent 12-13 eps of the leads together before the angst happens!! Although the ending would've been better if there was more sweetness with the leads, you can't have it all, especially with Chinese dramas.

To be more accurate, the angst is really only the last 8 eps... That's actually pretty good for a drama that's 55 episodes. A lot of Chinese dramas of that length could drag on misunderstandings for like 15-20 eps.

Can't wait till next week when I can finally find out whether I should just skip this show or not lmaoooo
I can tell this show will be a fcking makjang mess, but if they change the ending from the novel, then I'll check it out.

Happy ending. They all get paired up except for the Second Prince.

It's called CEO's Substitute Ex-Wife, by An Zhixiao.
总裁的替身前妻 by 安知晓

Hmm, I've been wanting to rewatch this drama for a while cuz I love the leads' chemistry so much, even though I was pissed off during so many eps throughout. But I do think the angst in the first half of the drama was also quite emotional and good part of the ride. I just noticed Netflix has 48 eps plus every single ep is approx. 45 minutes. I'm very interested to see how the Netflix version is as I swear I remember I was rolling my eyes so hard when watching the TV version back then cuz some eps were ridiculously short like effing 25 mins!!! Maybe Netflix didn't cut as much and somewhat saves this show???

Haha yes, I got to that part already!! It's super cuuuteeee... and even cuter when he recovers and pretends to be the 8 year old Lu Yi and continues clinging to Jinxia!

Hahah thanks for the welcome! I'm at Ep 26 now and I still love it! Even a glance can have me squealing!!!! It seems a lot of fans still love it a lot even after the drama finished airing for so long. So many people in the Under the Power topic in Weibo are still so active hahahaha! I'm definitely glad I picked this drama up!

I'm not even halfway with this show yet, but this show is really amazing in the way that it is capable of being SUPER sweet with like no hugs and kisses??? You can see the sugar oozing off the screen with just the looks they give each other. I know this show will lack kiss scenes, but I feel like I'll actually be fine with that since their chemistry is SO strong here. I really have to say Allen Ren's acting is really good, especially the expression in his eyes! The cases are not bad so far either, though no breakthrough or amazing twists so far, but at least the pacing and layout of the cases are done very decently. For certain reasons, I was planning to just watch this show casually, like one episode very few days, but I officially cannot hold back anymore and looks like I'll have to marathon it now hahahahaha

This drama was really cute, but I didn't think too much about it, until I recently realized this drama doesn't actually have a cliche breakup and stupid misunderstanding in this! That is superrrr rare in a Cdrama and deserves some kudos. Also, the romance is quite sweet. The songs in this were also amazing!! I'm glad they chose artists that are not well-known to give them some exposure!

I really have to say they've casted really good-looking people in this drama, even side characters that only appear briefly hahahaha
Definitely agree the eye candy is really top notch. The story itself isn't really that captivating to me, but it's all right. The murder cases he comes across are pretty normal IMO, though there are nice small "twists", but nothing shocking. Still not what I'd call an amazing detective show. I haven't finished it yet though, so can't comment about the end yet. But it's overall decent so far.

EDIT: Finished. Very interesting twist at the end! However, I think things tied up a bit too simply at the end, and as I said, I still would've liked better murder cases for a detective drama. But it's quite a decent as a detective-wuxia mix though.

Well, it's an espionage drama set during WW2. Of course the characters will be patriotic and love their country if they are basically sacrificing their lives to save their country. That's to be expected. It's their main motivation. Do you really expect them not to talk about how they love their country and how great it is? Also this was filmed in 2017. Let's not forcefully link this to recent conflicts.