xantissa

stunning visuals, great acting, very poor story

The production value of this series is absolutely amazing, costumes, sets, scenes are truly amazing. There's a host of very likeable side characters and complicated back stories.
however the story itself, while has the potential of amazing spy drama, is extremely weak. The production decided that instead of shooting the story to at least indicate the plots that are happening, they jsut shot a story of a mildly intelligent guy stumbling along, then at the end within one episode showed us a host of scenes that directly contradict everything we watched for 23 episodes to tell us that the main lead is truly smartest of the smartest schemers! it's a cheap way to tell the story, it means that there's no value in analyzing any of the scenes as they are all going to be contradicted at the end.
that was a huge disappointment of the movie. the way characters choices and motivations are often just stupid or made obviously for dramatic effect instead of any gain for them.

Last 5 minutes of the show are rage inducingly stupid I have to say. there's absolutely no reason for that scene, no logical explanation at all.

All in all amazing visuals but no rewatch value other than in gifsets.

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Huge disappointment.

first half of the story is fine to watch, the FL actress did a stellar job of playing two distinct people. CGI is very nice for this kind of drama.
ML is very stiff and I have seen other people be happy with his acting but to me he was extremely bland and didn't emote much. to be honest he could be replaced by any other actor and it wouldn't make a difference. FL is something else, very well acted.
there's a charming cast of side characters that are very enjoyable to watch. it starts very interesting with the grey ML and wild and free FL. the resurrection is done so well.
but then in the middle we hit the amnesia arc and it's as if they fired all the writing staff and had chatgpt write the rest. it makes no sense and becomes so annoying. like during the amnesia for 5 straight episodes the ML keeps belittling the FL, her only value is that she cooks for him like a servant and he keeps causing her of being a slut to boot. guess it's the new romantic standard. but the worst is how they completely flattened his character. they gave him traits he never had before eg wanting to show off luxury and wealth. He used to be very smart and scheming, now he is an absolute idiot incapable of any good planning just because he forgot his love? and the plot literally makes no sense anymore.
To the point where one character is pregnant, which is a very important plot... and then they forget she was pregnant for the rest of the story.
besides they made all the evil characters so boring, simply greedy and whiny as a viewer you really don't care to listen to their stories, and none of them face any consequences of their actions, which makes the story very unsatisfying.
what however completely killed this story for me was the fact the main couple, after all the scheming, planning, multiple lives- could do anything to the real bad guy and it had to be the Heavens that killed him.
so what was this story even for???
I started this series expecting a solid 8/10 out of it, from the amnesia arc I rated it 1/10.
there's no fight choreography just those really funny series of still shots in different poses.

What I did appreciate was their use of magic. they used it for everything and it made for a great immersion in the magical world.

considering the good beginning and potential, ultimately I gave it 4,5, because the second half is really only watchable on fast forward.
I will absolutely never rewatch it, there is no rewatch value for this because of the lousy writing.

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ML is a remorseless sociopath

While the female leads are very fun the ML is a remorseless sociopath that delights in destroying working people, much poorer and weaker than him, because he feels like it. He uses his wealth and resources to constantly try and destroy/bankrupt the whole FL family.
How are show runners expecting viewers to see him as a potential romantic interest when he already harmed multiple members of her family just because he is high on power.
And even the first meeting was shocking- he hit the FL on the head on purpose. Not as an accident. He wanted to hurt someone in that family. He destroys her possessions and doesn't even replace it or send an apology gift. A rich man destroying poorer person's belongs and feeling proud about it? that's the ML. unsalvageable.

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