vchanbcchs

First, let me give credit where it's due: the acting was AMAZING, and the production was absolutely gorgeous. The cinematography was artistic, the shots were beautifully composed, and the actors did a phenomenal job bringing their characters and emotions to life. Even the intimate scenes deserve a mention. I heard they had intimacy coordination, and it shows. For a Chinese drama, things definitely got hot and heavy, but they were never gratuitous. There was something incredibly sweet, tender and artistic about the way those scenes were filmed. The actors did a wonderful job conveying intimacy without needing to show everything.

Now, onto the actual story. Because OH MY GOD, THE WRITING.

My biggest issue was the power imbalance in this office romance. She was young, fresh out of college and working under a man who was older, more experienced and held considerably more power. Having a crush on your boss is one thing. Blushing doesn't mean you want to sleep with him. And he was the one who initiated things, repeatedly pushed boundaries and pursued her even when she hesitated. Yet the writing seemed determined to frame everything as a mutually romantic love story. Attraction and consent are not interchangeable, and I wish the writers understood that.

What frustrated me most was how unevenly they stood to lose. She risked her career, reputation and everything she'd worked so hard to build. He, on the other hand, had considerably more protection. Every achievement of hers could be questioned, every promotion attributed to sleeping her way up, while his career would likely survive with little more than a few whispers.

And SIX YEARS? This man repeatedly made grand declarations of leaving the job for her but only ever truly walked away when his own professional pride was hurt. He could have protected her in so many ways, but instead, he wanted the relationship and the career without accepting the consequences. His cutting remarks, questionable behaviour and inability to communicate didn't exactly help his case either.

Quite frankly, I was starting to root for her NOT to go back to him. Jesus, what an asshole! He chases her for approximately one episode, and suddenly they're getting married? MF, YOU TWO HAVEN'T EVEN LEARNED HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET MARRIED? A year of chasing doesn't magically undo six years of questionable behaviour.

The writing also suffered from some rather noticeable gaps. Several timelines and plot points were skipped or left unexplained. For example, the incident where she was attacked by a man in the mountains and had to hide from him. After the ML and FL eventually saved each other, what happened to that man? He practically disappeared from the narrative. There were moments where I genuinely wondered whether I'd missed an episode because certain events were introduced with considerable weight only to be conveniently forgotten.

I do have some frustrations with her too. I understood her decisions at the beginning. She was young, naive and in love. But six years later, I expected firmer boundaries. She repeatedly insisted that no man was worth sacrificing her ambitions for, yet continued a relationship that put those very ambitions at risk.

What's interesting is that I genuinely didn't expect this storyline to bother me so much. I've always been pretty good at distinguishing drama-land from reality, but this one hit WAY too close to home personally. I couldn't simply switch off my brain and enjoy the forbidden romance.

That said, I don't think this is a bad drama. The performances, cinematography and production are genuinely impressive. If you can overlook the power imbalance and problematic aspects of the office romance, there's plenty to appreciate here.

For me, though, beautiful cinematography and amazing acting couldn't quite compensate for writing that left me wanting to throw my remote at the screen.

A gorgeous drama with a frustrating love story. I loved watching it, but I have A LOT of feelings about what I watched.