Bai Hehuai Lover

the only worthwhile adaptation of Beauty and the Beast

I decided to watch this because I really enjoyed Chen Zheyuan in Handsome Siblings and the idea of a werewolf romance was intriguing. I am so glad I did because it's so silly and cute and it's an interesting twist on Beauty and the Beast by throwing in the hidden identity trope (something I don't typically love, but it worked really well here). Now I'm not really a fan of the story of Beauty and the Beast now that I am an adult with critical thinking skills, given it's about a woman basically being imprisoned and teaching her captor how to be kind and gentle and then falling for him in the process, but there are a few things that make this adaptation work imo:
1) Kui Mulang kidnaps her because he needs something called the Holy Pearl to save the entirety of his clan, which Qi Pa (unknowingly) has. The point is repeatedly made that if the Holy Pearl only affected Kui Mulang and it wasn't needed for the health and safety of everyone else, he would not have kidnapped her. He understands and sympathizes with her desire to escape back home and is clearly racked with guilt about keeping her in the Beast Clan.
2) Kui Mulang acquiesces without hesitation to basically every request Qi Pa has other than him sending her home. He genuinely wants her to be comfortable and safe and enjoy her time in the Beast Clan and does so many things that are against the rules of the clan to try to make her happy.
3) Instead of Qi Pa having to teach Kui Mulang, he consults romance novels and books that give information on Daxia customs to try to win her affections.
4) Kui Mulang spends a solid half of the show endangering himself and nearly dying to protect Qi Pa.

I loved both Kui Mulang and Qi Pa pretty much immediately and by the end of the show they had both reached near the top of my list for favorite characters in CDramas. I love that the show allows Qi Pa to be angry and hurt and doesn't try to handwaive away her feelings because it wants us to prioritize Kui Mulang's feelings (something that a lot of shows do all over the world bc we live under patriarchy). I loved most of the side characters and the pairing of Liu Jun/Hongxiu was really cute too. Also I honestly liked the "beast" look, it's just unfortunately really underwhelming when you attach the word werewolf to it.

Anyway, I can't bring myself to give higher than an 8.5 bc at the start the romance is just sooooo messy and most of the background romances were super annoying and some of the plot developments are just ????????? But overall I loved this soooooo much and I can't stop thinking about Kui Mulang and Qi Pa, they really are everything once she uncovers the truth.

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BRILLIANT character work but underwhelming on the romance front

When it comes to the character work, there are very few shows that have done it better. It's truly masterful writing and very realistic, and both Komagine Kiita and Niihara Taisuke did incredible jobs with said writing. Shirasaki's insecurities pushed a lot of the plot in the first season, and it was the same this season — it becomes very clear right at the start of the first episode that he feels like Hayama is too good for him, so Shirasaki is constantly trying to prove that they are equals when it comes to acting. This propels the main plot thread of the season — a stage play that both of them want the lead role of: the director of the play is someone that Shirasaki desperately wants to work with, and Hayama loves the novel that is being adapted and playing the lead is his dream role. This understandably leads to some (minor) friction in their relationship, and as Hayama is a people pleaser, he ends up dropping out — primarily because of a movie role he is being offered that his agent is urging him to take, but also bc he can see how important this role is to Shirasaki. As the first season didn't really get to dig deep into Hayama's people pleasing tendencies, season 2 takes the opportunity to do that. I also thought it was brilliant how their roles reflected where they were mentally — Shirasaki playing a character who murdered someone and inhabited that person's life (the rehearsal scenes harping on the fact that he has "replaced someone" when he feels inadequate to play the part... *chefs kiss*) and Hayama playing a character with a fraught dynamic with his mother causing him to finally confront things he had been avoiding. The interiority of the two characters is just so rich this season and there were so many scenes that knocked the wind out of me.

BUT for a show that is categorized as a romance, the writers really really dropped the ball there. The season starts really strong on that front as the first episode is mostly dedicated to showing them in a functional, established (albeit secret) relationship and even when the idea of a breakup is brought up as they are a bit worried about how their relationship being discovered might affect their careers, they reassert that they want to be together and even take the step of moving in together. (Like last season, the metatextual analysis is exquisite — the unflinching discussion about what it's like to be openly out in the entertainment industry was so, so, so good!) But as soon as the stage play becomes part of the plot, the romance takes a backseat to the character work — which, in and of itself is fine! I don't mind romance being more peripheral to the story, but their relationship did not feel very reciprocal to me. Now a lot of people on here (and other social media) seem to have a lot of disdain towards Shirasaki bc of his fixation on trying to catch up to Hayama's career, and I do think a lot of people's responses are a huge overreaction, but it was honestly frustrating and a little confusing to see the direction their relationship took. Hayama is a top tier boyfriend — constantly being emotional support for Shirasaki, constantly reassuring Shirasaki when he starts having his insecurity spirals, being generally supportive. And while Shirasaki's headspace is understandable, he constantly seemed to be oblivious about what was going on with Hayama and was so myopically focused on his own distress. Like (spoilers lol) their argument in 2.09 gave me such huge whiplash bc Hayama is finally discussing how he is struggling with the movie role — something he didn't want to do bc he knows about Shirasaki's stress over the play and doesn't want to put more on his plate — and then Shirasaki immediately starts talking about how he's struggling with the play before returning to what should have always been the focus of this conversation: asking Hayama if he actually wants to do a recent job offer. Idk I don't hate Shirasaki like a lot of viewers seem to — I'm still invested in them being a couple even — but it was irritating to see how Hayama was always thinking about him and constantly prioritizing him and then Shirasaki was just so self-absorbed. Like the appeal of fictional romantic relationships for me is reciprocity!! And season 2 just didn't really give that.

Idk, I definitely think season 2 is worth a watch and I have to applaud the writers for taking me on a ride where I truly had no idea where things were going to go, but I'm nowhere near as likely to revisit this as I am to revisit the first season.

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the show's message: change yourself to be your rapist's ideal woman ^_^

Idk what to say about this one other than it's just 35 episodes of abuse apologia. There were a lot of ingredients that could have made something good (or at least fun) but the ideology of the show is just so regressive and misogynistic. So when Zhang Peng finds himself in Zhang Peng Peng's body, Qi Sheng responds coldly to him - we're clearly doing an enemies to lovers situation, it's fine that he doesn't like Zhang Peng Peng at the very start. (Also going to be referring to Zhang Peng Peng w she/her pronouns through the rest of this given that's how everyone else refers to her.) Qi Sheng is also currently having an affair with his brother's wife, Lady Jiang. I guess Qi Sheng is enchanted by Zhang Peng Peng's change in behavior because Lady Jiang starts to notice a difference in how he treats her and the show confirms this in dialogue as he agrees that he's started to develop feelings for Zhang Peng Peng, but honestly I didn't see anything to indicate that. But whatever, the narrative tells us over showing us and is a little heavy handed about it, fine. Lady Jiang is then worried that she's going to lose favor with Qi Sheng and there's a scene where they're playing soccer and Lady Jiang rips off her outer robes but she frames Zhang Peng Peng for the action and Qi Sheng believes Lady Jiang and PUBLICLY slaps Zhang Peng Peng in front of everyone. So.... bad turn of events but I thought the romance could maybe - MAYBE - still win me over. BUT THEN!!!!!! Qi Sheng sends assassins to kill Zhang Peng Peng. He seemingly has second thoughts when she escapes with his younger brother (who's in love with her) bc Qi Sheng chases after them and is like "she can't die," but... that doesn't change the fact that he sent assassins after her, what the f*ck? He also then berates her upon finding her with her dress all torn up bc she had been trying to save his younger brother since he was injured and sickly and then Qi Sheng kisses Zhang Peng Peng against her consent to like "mark his territory" and tell his brother to back off or whatever 🙄.

So I was already tired of Qi Sheng at this point but oh god it gets worse!!!! Qi Sheng and Zhang Peng Peng reach this cordial agreement where they clear the air about the assassination attempt, and there are like little moments to insinuate that she's falling for him and he has brief moments where he's like vaguely sweet. But then he finds out she's still friendly with his younger brother and Qi Sheng has an explosive meltdown where he THROWS A TABLE. Qi Sheng then starts being cold and aggressive to Zhang Peng Peng and invites Lady Jiang (who has been pushed out of the family at this point) to be a servant in his residence bc it's a stupid power play where Qi Sheng is hoping to make Zhang Peng Peng jealous. Zhang Peng Peng doesn't respond in the way he wants bc she's concerned he's going to kick her out of the position of Empress and she's trying to be a proper demure lady now. After a few episodes of this, Qi Sheng gets confirmation that Zhang Peng Peng and his younger brother are conspiring against him and Qi Sheng then gets super drunk and in that drunken rage he goes to Zhang Peng Peng's residence with his sword and screams about how he's about to kill her because "I've been nothing but nice to you" and "how dare you treat me like this" and when Zhang Peng Peng and Qi Sheng's servants both try to plead for Zhang Peng Peng's life, he raises his sword to kill them for daring to stop him!!!!!!! SO AGAIN. WHAT THE F*CK???????? Zhang Peng Peng tells the servants to leave bc she can't bear the idea of them facing harm to protect her and then she asks Qi Sheng to drop his sword, which he does, and he rapes her. The show tries to gaslight the audience into finding it steamy and we even see Zhang Peng Peng wake up the next morning with a huge smile on her face as she reminisces about it. But then the show admits it was rape bc Qi Sheng comes by and he's like "sorry I forced you last night" so...... the show is just straight up romanticizing rape.

After this, Qi Sheng acts detached when around Zhang Peng Peng and she basically becomes obsessed with trying to get him to show her affection and at one point she even tries to drug him with viagra to get him to have sex with her again... Like, I am appalled and astounded that this was written by two women. She completely alters her behavior - pretending to be stupid and helpless so Qi Sheng will be closer to her to either teach her how to do something or to do it for her. This nonsense continues for a few episodes before Qi Sheng has to leave to fight in a war. Qi Sheng's younger brother plans to strike at this point and kill him, with Zhang Peng Peng STILL plotting with him. As Qi Sheng is ahead of their schemes, he sends a letter back to the palace claiming that he has been poisoned and is near death as it's a test to see if Zhang Peng Peng will really choose him. Zhang Peng Peng is distraught by the news - EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS PART OF PLANNING THIS, LIKE MA'AM WHAT DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN??????????????????? - and insists on making the trip to deliver the antidote herself. And then she's only mad for like 2 minutes after learning that this was him manipulating her. And then the remaining few episodes are all about how deeply in love they are and how they're willing to die for each other and I don't care I don't care I want them both dead at this point.

Is this the worst show I've seen? No, because I at least enjoyed some of the show when it wasn't about this absolutely godawful romance. But it's pretty atrocious and after having some fun in the first half, it became an excruciating watch in the second half. This show got pretty heavily censored due to current censorship regulations in China and... a broken clock is right twice a day, what can I say.

ALSO THE NINTH PRINCE DID NOTHING WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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fun enough to watch once for Gong Jun's performance

(Updated Dec 2025)
So typically I'd want to keep my old review but bc I had written a very short review a few months after watching and I'm in the middle of a rewatch to grab scenes for editing purposes and I am finding the rewatch to be an excruciating experience, I'm just starting from scratch. So, firstly, from a BL perspective, I do have to admit that this is pretty epic in that regard. No, there is no kiss bc censorship, but it is unmistakably gay, there is no denying that WenZhou want each other carnally, they have their family unit w Chengling, there are a lot of good scenes demonstrating how deeply devoted they are to each other (i.e. Wen Kexing's willingness to die for Zhou Zishu, Zhou Zishu unwilling to let Wen Kexing die for him; and also the reverse). So if that is the only thing you care about when deciding whether to watch or skip, it's definitely one of the gayest CDramas.

As I said in the headline, Gong Jun's performance is literally the reason the show is as enjoyable as it is. Wen Kexing is a brilliantly written character and he is exceptional in the role. I'm becoming even more enamored with his performance with the rewatch because there are all these little nuances that you can easily miss if you don't know Wen Kexing's backstory. Wen Kexing is smart and strategic, he's been through The Horrors™️but still remains kind-hearted (mostly... if he views you as an enemy, he is Brutal and you are done for), he's fiercely protective of those he cares about and will do anything for that select group of people. Like truly one of the all-time characters, one of the all-time performances. Cannot applaud Gong Jun enough for his work here.

Now onto the negatives...

In my prior review I said that I thought the armory plot was "kind of boring" and this time around I find it unbelievably aggravating. Like wow I have to watch 5 dozen people I despise fight over this stupid key to the armory for a stockpile of weapons (allegedly). I hate basically everyone from the Five Lakes Alliance, I hate everyone from the Scorpion Sect, I hate the majority of the people from Ghost Valley (Luo Fumeng, Liu Qianqiao, Gu Xiang, and of course Wen Kexing you are all beloved and exempt), I hate that old wandering couple, etc etc. Watching terrible people at each other's throats is only fun when it's peripheral, if that is the main story, I just want to blow everyone up. Not involved w the armory nonsense, but I must say it for my own peace: I also hate Ye Baiyi who is seemingly around primarily for comedic relief by being "rude" but I just want to tear his throat out with my teeth every time he opens his mouth.

What I was completely unprepared for with this rewatch, though, was to realize that I hate Zhou Zishu. Like. Oh, he created the torture method that slowly kills members of Window from Heaven if they want to leave. He acts all self-righteous and morally superior when we literally see a flashback that heavily implies he killed a child who was begging him for help after he participated in massacring her family(/village???). The way he "trains" Chengling after finally accepting him as a disciple is straight up child abuse. His shitty mentality of "men don't cry" and constantly pushing this toxic masculinity bullshit (which, to be somewhat fair, is not exclusive to ZZS in this show, but, y'know, as he is the protagonist who we are supposed to view as the moral center... boy it's infuriating!) Like I remembered the first episode being a really unsympathetic set up for him, but I also remembered he had grown a lot on me by the end and I am truly at a loss for how I felt that way the first time. Like... was I just so euphoric about how gay this show was that I had my eyes closed to everything else??????

In my prior review I also said that I felt the final 2 episodes turned unnecessarily tragic and that the ending felt fumbled. Like I don't want to get into huge spoilers (I try not to spoil anything from the last third in my reviews), but basically there's a massacre that feels like the equivalent of the Burial Mounds massacre in The Untamed... except it happens in the penultimate episode so there's no justice, there's no resolution to the horrors that you were just subjected to. It's just like "oh you thought these characters were going to be happy? HAHAHAHA NOPE." FOR WHAT REASON???????? Other than killing off fan favorite characters for Wen Kexing's angst, like literally there is no f*cking purpose for this?????? And then the character who facilitated the massacre doesn't face any consequences??????? What the hell??????????? How are we supposed to feel satisfied at the end when it feels like no one cares about all those deaths for more than 5 minutes?????

Anyway, watch Blood River, it does basically everything that Word of Honor does except better!

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hands down the best time travel romance

I am sooooo obsessed with this show you don't understand. Ye Zhen Zhen is so adorable and relatable - she's stubborn, determined, curious, kind-hearted, clumsy. Chen Che is the epitome of a softie with a hardened facade, and Ye Zhen Zhen easily tears his walls down. It's so heartwarming to watch Chen Che experience what a loving family is like and watch him soften more and more as he spends more time in 1989. The show also goes to some dark places I wasn't expecting and I think most of it is handled really well. Easily my biggest gripe with this show is that the male characters, excluding Chen Che and Li Jin Qin, are all very possessive and controlling of the women they like, which in some cases is played for laughs (yikes!) and in other cases is treated neutrally instead of them being entitled and threatening. But as frustrating as that aspect is, I still completely adored this show and definitely recommend it.

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nonsensical plot and uncomfortable age gap romances

So before anyone's like 'omg you're just a puritan for having a problem with the age gaps,' as long as the younger person is at least mid 20s, I'll accept pretty much any age gap. I have so many ships where character A is mid/late 20s and character B is immortal and has been alive for like at least a century. I am not inherently against age gaps. But it's about the execution in this case - one, I have no idea how big the age difference is between Shan and Ob-aun and there's a flashback of a 16 year old Shan and a clearly pre-pubescent Ob-aun to draw attention to this age gap; two, it feels like the audience is supposed to be into their dynamic specifically because of the age gap with Ob-aun being presented as naive, innocent, and inexperienced while Shan is clearly not these things and being the pursuer. It's very weird and uncomfortable and the constant thought of 'okay, but how big is their age gap' overshadows any moment that could be cute. Oh and there's also a side pairing of a literal teen with an adult who is somewhat of an authority figure for him so... that's pretty yikes.

As for the story... there are so many conflicts constantly being introduced and not a single one of them is truly resolved. Like the set up of the entire story is that Ob-aun is accused of plagiarizing Shan, but Shan isn't the one who makes that claim so why is legal action being threatened? And the plagiarism accusation doesn't even matter because it's basically ignored after the first episode. Also for a group of writers, these guys do not know how to write a story because they spend so much time being like "I don't know how to write this scene, can you do it for me?" like ??????????

It's really not worth the time, but if you're determined to watch it, it's at least a short show.

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immediate fave, absolutely adorable

Okay, firstly, this was sooooo funny and cute. There was more than one scene that made me laugh so hard I nearly had a coughing fit. It's so chaotic but it still manages to feel moderately realistic of three people who are trying polyamory for the first time. It feels very much like this show was made with the intent to educate people about the potential of polyamory given the first 7 episodes are mostly dedicated to the three of them figuring out how this dynamic works and then the remaining 4 are about them dealing with external concerns. There are some developments that I think could've used some more build-up, but even so I think this has become my favorite piece of media about polyamory (granted, there's not that much competition). It's also the first time I've seen polyam media broach the subject of three person marriage or the procedure for a three person legal partnership, so that was certainly an interesting aspect that I hadn't really considered before (and something that definitely deserves to be talked about).

I also really loved how the trio would communicate. No, they weren't always as forthcoming as they should've been (and that's understandable bc good communication is hard!), but whenever they were confronted by one (or both) of the other two, they'd express what was bothering them, and this would quickly lead to a new understanding and sometimes for new rules to be made. Each duo is cute, but it just never feels complete if someone is missing. Truly such good polyam rep.

Also Shinpei has huge golden retriever vibes. I loved how he was always so enthusiastic about trying new things and it was so cute how he immediately wanted to befriend Takuzo (when Mia only introduced them to try to make Shinpei jealous), and I loved that he's never nervous or hesitant to share affection with Takuzo once they slide into this polyam dynamic. AHHHH this little show made me so happy, I will definitely rewatch soon.

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a lot of good ingredients but the predatory romance ruins everything

God what an aggravating experience. But let's start w the positives bc the positives are really really strong. There are a lot of really poignant moments relating to death — the entire sequence of 9 year old Euntak arriving at home and slowly realizing she's talking w her mom's ghost and then immediately running into Reaper... goosebumps! Reaper as a character is just so well-crafted and intricately written and Lee Dong Wook's performance is breathtaking. I love the lore/worldbuilding for Goblin and the Reapers. Goblin's backstory is fascinating and the way it is entangled with the present is so so so cool — I cannot count how many times the editing had me gasping w the way it showed the past paralleling the present. Reaper/Sunny was so beautiful and heartbreaking and I love their dynamic so much.

There are some really, *really* excellent impactful scenes... but it's so hard to enjoy this show for more than 5 minutes at a time before remembering the revolting predatory romance that is at the center of this whole thing. And I think I get what the writers were going for bc in order for Goblin to reevaluate his life and want to continue living, Euntak had to be Goblin's complete opposite — bright personality/optimist, in need of a protector, naive due to her lack of experience and youth. But, like… she can be these things and an adult. Yet the writers chose to have her be a 19 year old — a girl who is still in high school! — while he's 900+ years old. Why the hell is he falling for her? We can't use the excuse that she's mature and he(/the narrative) forgets that she's only 19 bc she truly acts like a teenager — the inciting incident of the whole show (Goblin and Euntak meeting) happens because she makes a birthday wish for a job, to get away from her abusive family, and to get her first boyfriend. When he helps grant those first two wishes, she becomes fixated on him granting the third. She becomes infatuated with Goblin within moments of meeting him — when she follows him through his magic door and finds herself in Canada she's telling him she loves him and asking him to marry her????? GRIL WHAT????????? YOU'VE KNOWN HIM FOR 10 MINUTES!!!! Later she reunites with a childhood friend — who I guess she had a crush on when they were growing up? — and then starts obsessing over him because she feels rejected by Goblin. She constantly makes stupid, impulsive decisions with no thought to her safety. Practically everything about her behavior screams teenager. So, again, why the f*ck is Goblin falling for her??????? At 900+ years old, he's falling in love with a girl who has no solid sense of who she is (because she has barely had the chance to live her life!) and the show is trying to gaslight me into finding this cute???????? And for the first half of the show he honestly treats Euntak like shit bc he's trying to keep emotional distance since he wants the Goblin bride to pull the sword out and if he lets himself get attached to her, then he will want to live and hesitate. Like he is so petty and immature, it's insane to me that this man has been around 900 years and still acts like this. As I already mentioned, Euntak reunites with a childhood friend and Goblin straight up threatens this teenager to stay away from her. When he's upset with Euntak, he will do passive aggressive bullshit — there's one sequence where he forces her to do all of the household chores (under the implied threat that she will become homeless if she doesn't) and it's just like..... Wow, you're really telling me that this man is treating her exactly like her abusive aunt but now I'm supposed to find it funny and cute bc he's jealous and wants her attention? These writers can go to hell.

And honestly the show is confused about their dynamic too! Goblin and Reaper regularly refer to Euntak as a child. Like Goblin will quite literally be referring to her as a child and then the next scene he's talking about his romantic feelings for her or he's smiling and blushing about her expressing her feelings for him or they're kissing. Also as someone who LOVESSSSSS a pairing w a size difference, I have gotta say that this is the first time size difference has made me want to vomit from discomfort. Bc he truly acts like a paternal figure half the time. There's a scene where it's her birthday (so she just turned 20) and she wants to celebrate so she pleads for Goblin to buy her alcohol and this somehow leads to their first mutual kiss 😵‍💫😵‍💫 There's another scene where she graduates from high school and everyone's parents come to celebrate their kids and I was sitting here like "please don't blur the line anymore, please don't have him show up." But then he does 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 He thankfully doesn't claim to be a parental figure but still... It's just so f*cking weird and awful and I can't believe how many people are either seemingly shipping this or are unbothered by it.

And the romance is just so enraging bc there are two really simple ways this could be fixed!
1. Just make Euntak an adult! Her characterization would have to be majorly tweaked but literally nothing else would have to change
2. Make Goblin/Reaper the romance! This would require a lot more alterations (removing the Reaper/Sunny romance for one) but I honestly think this would have been stronger narratively bc the angst of falling for the person who betrayed you and doomed you to this horrible existence in his past life and then choosing to forgive and still loving that person just..... whew! It would hit so hard!!!

And lastly... let's talk about the ending, bc IMO the ending should've been ep13 with the time jump showing that Euntak and Sunny are okay and happy. To get more into this let me talk spoilers. Typically I do not do talk spoilers for the last ~third of a show in my reviews, but the finale pissed me the f*ck off and made me rage cry for 30 minutes, so... yeah. Do not read beyond this if you don't want the entire show spoiled lol.
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Okay, so I get it. I get that a major theme of the show is that certain things are fated to happen and cannot be stopped. I GET IT!!!! Euntak was never supposed to be born, she was supposed to die when her mother was in the hit and run while pregnant, so it narratively makes sense that she would die at the end of this since she only exists bc Goblin meddled in human affairs. BUT! The entire premise of the first 13 episodes is that Euntak is the only person who can pull Goblin's sword out so he can finally die and be at peace and yet the writers found a way to work around that ending and bring him back after his "death." So why the f*ck does the 900+ year old predator get to live and mourn her, while Euntak — she's only 29 at this point btw — is forced to sacrifice herself??????? And then in an attempt to soothe the viewers with the final scene, we see a reincarnated Euntak — WHO IS A TEENAGER AGAIN!!!!!! Goblin is told that students are on a trip before he leaves his residence and then we see Euntak wearing a school uniform while Goblin is now nearing 1000 years old! Oh my god I'm going to hurl!!!! — stumble upon Goblin and they recognize each other. Just.... what the hell is wrong with these writers GOOD GOD.

Anyway where's my Goblin x Reaper remake I want it so bad 😭😭

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gaslight the audience into thinking stalker-y behavior is cute ✨

So the lead, Kris, randomly dreams about Karn and then sees that she's a newscaster and becomes scarily obsessed with her. Like, harassing her online kind of scary. Kris then hears that Karn is leaving her job and she writes her a fan letter to try to convince her out of this decision. Like.... Kris you do not know this woman and are trying to influence her decisions because you are weirdly dependent on her after seeing her face in a dream..... get a grip on reality!! Anyway, turns out that Karn is leaving her current job to work with Kris' brother and Kris has just started working for him too. Cue Kris and Karn being paired together on a project and Kris acting in such a way that it's impossible to read her behavior as anything other than her despising Karn even though her inner monologue tries really hard to give a plausible reason for why her crush on Karn is making her behave in such an odd manner. Their dynamic deteriorates further when Kris sees that Karn is holding onto the letter she sent to her (under the name Apple) and Kris mocks Karn for thinking she has a fan. Again, the inner monologue is trying to tell me that this is Kris panicking but I just don't buy that someone would be acting this batshit towards their crush. Kris then talks with her brother after basically running away from Karn and he mentions that Karn is going through a rough time bc she's all alone since her mom died and Kris suddenly jumps to asking about Karn's love life and gets all f*cking excited about this?!?!?! Like, girl what the f*ck is wrong with you why are you eager to swoop in and start dating a woman when she's emotionally vulnerable???? Manipulative stalker weirdo.

Anyway this was episode 1 and I will not be watching more. I'm good thanks, I don't care to see them become a couple 👋

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the premise of the show is rape

Even the reviews that skew more negative don't seem to realize that the whole entire premise hinges on rape and I'm irritated about it. The summary that Netflix gave back when I tried to watch it was basically just a one night stands that leads to an accidental pregnancy between two people of very different social statuses. Which I mean... that's not inaccurate, but it's leaving a lot out. As the MDL summary says, it's two couples on a cruise ship, the woman from couple A is feeling unwell and accidentally finds herself in couple B's room as she tries to sleep. The man from couple B gets really drunk and comes to his room. They both think the other person is their partner bc they're in the dark and he's whispering so she can't really hear his voice. He then starts pushing for sex, which she's not interested in -- which means he should stop! -- but after some pleading she eventually gives in. Gross.

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