一将功成万骨枯 (Yī jiāng gōng chéng wàn gǔ kū)
“For every champion lie thousands withered bones.” Most of the times, we see only the glory of a champion – an Olympic swimmer, a World Champion gymnast and skater - but we rarely see the struggles, sacrifices, obstacles, pressures, emotional turmoil that each has to endure. This drama brings us behind the scenes and helps us appreciate how such successes come with the price these champions have paid and the sacrifices made.This is a story about setting goals, perseverance, and overcoming failures. It is unexpectedly funny and enjoyable to watch. For the last decades, China has been consistently producing world champions in every sports in particular in table tennis. This drama gives us a peek at how these champions are created. Having played table tennis growing up, I have an affinity for the game and hence have enjoyed watching the matches and prolonged sessions at the table. At the end of each episode, table tennis is being explained in details: the terminologies, techniques, rules, competitions, etc. and I find myself enthralled.
The story depicts two very different characters: Xu Tan (acted by Bai Jing Ting) is scrawny, wimpy and lack of confidence, but kind, humble and friendly; Yu Ke Nan (acted by Xu Wei Zhou aka Timmy Xu), with a powerful athletic physique, is overly confident, arrogant, rebellious, impulsive and hot headed. The story begins when both are 17 years old in 2007, and follows their journey to become champions of the world. This unlikely “ying yang” pair becomes best friends and root for each other especially in their most trying period. Countless times, both get punished but unknown to them, their punishment is actually a form of training that helps them grow, such as raising pigs in a farm and becoming a janitor in a boxing gym. Daily details of the years are well taken care of with changing of technology and apparel over the years, from nameless flip phones to Apple smart phones, from Butterfly sportswear to Nike and Adidas.
The drama dwells deep into the various style of coaching by the national coaches and their relationship with their players. Xu Tan and his coach, Lei Cheng (Liu Zhi Bing), are like father and son. His coach inspires him, helps him discover himself and grow. Yu Ke Nan and his coach, Teng Biao (Wang Jian Xin), are like a pair of good old friends, continue kicking each other’s ass and calling each other names, at the same time, they love and trust each other. There is also a super strict coach who produces top ranking players but such players are also the most unhappy with high injury and burnout rates. Another coach has a soul mate relationship with his player, seeing their own shadows in each other. Every character has its flaws and faces personal obstacles. The development of the characters shows how they overcome their obstacles, grow and succeed.
Acting
Here in this drama, I discover Bai Jing Ting. He nails the role as the wimpy kid that grows to become the world champion. Bai Jing Ting has given us some amazing acting and he is so convincing as a world class table tennis player. Whether it’s his body double or not (I really can't tell), I feel Bai Jing Ting can play the game very well; he has the styles, his actions and shots are perfect. Xu Wei Zhou’s acting here is good too especially when he becomes the adult Yu Ke Nan. Like Bai Jing Ting, his playing of the game is immaculate and convincing, making Yu Ke Nan the most formidable table tennis player in the world. I really love watching them playing the game, and there’s a lot of such scenes to satisfy ping pong fans.
My Verdict
If you’re a sports fan and love table tennis in particular, you’d love this drama as it gives us many amazing real-life games with shots and fantastic camera work. Every smash, every torque, every curve is thrilled to watch and viewers can feel the excitement and satisfaction of the shots perfectly executed.
You’d see how China trains its youth, which is nothing like the western world. The greatest difference is, for the west, winning is for personal glory, whereas for the Chinese, it is for their national pride.
If you have watched “Hikaru No Go” and liked that drama, you may like “Ping Pong Life” too. To be honest, I like “Ping Pong Life” better because I find the character development better and more realistic, and it covers a wider range of three-dimensional characters. I love the part when the two leads begin to build their deeper understanding with each other, they really spend a lot of time, literally tied, together. They learn to feel and trust each other without words and the process in doing so is hilarious and adorable. This process is not captured enough in “Hikaru No Go”.
I really love this drama because it reminds me not to look at the glory of any success. We should not lament why we have not been as successful as others, whether in music, sports or anything else, but rather we should ask ourselves if we are willing to sacrifice everything to achieve success, and that’s the message in this drama.
A wonderful watch. Highly recommended!
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So I decided to cautiously watch I Need Romance 3 solely for Sung Joon, and wasn't at all disappointed.
GOOD - (Eye Candy) Yep, Sung Joon is absolutely charming in this one. I mean... I almost became diabetic just watching him throw one sweetness after the other. Plus he's so good looking and tall. The second lead was pretty handsome too, and even Yoochun's brother Yoohwan was cute (depending on his hair style)...
GOOD - (Acting) The acting was pretty good. No awkward moments, or not any I can think of. The girly relationships are all pretty good too, and very believable for the most part.
WEIRD - (Personality Traits) You know when a drama depicts a character who's one diminutional. And sometimes stupid. And you want to scream at him/her "wake the f up! HELLOOOOOOOO duhhhhhh"... yeah this was the case for the lead female. Sometimes you wonder... are there really people like that in the world? (I bet the answer is yes... the world is a weird place) Anyway, it can get a bit annoying.
MEHHH - (Story Climaxes) Not gonna lie... some things are predictable. Very. But most OK dramas are, right?
CURVEBALL - (The kissing) As with the previous parts, the making out in this one is intense. So, swoon away.
OVERALL - Its worth watching if you're a fan of any of the actors (esp. Sung Joon) or if you haven't yet seen this gorgeous boy in action. Also if you like modern physical affection and language. Don't watch if you don't like romance, boys, or chick flicks.
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please give us a season 2 of this fun romcom
Overall: what a fun comedy with a supernatural element. Need a season two with a bunch of fluff and to show us in detail their kinky side which was hinted at several times. 10 episodes total 20 minutes each. Watch the extra scene after the initial credits of episode 10. Aired on GagaOOLala & Viki.Content Warnings: stalking and mutual pranks, dub/non con kiss, non con picture taking/posting, vomiting
What I Liked
- funny moments (was the sustainable on their basketball jerseys on purpose or no lol, the fighting over the remote, potato chip eating, etc)
- sweet and caring moments
- their dynamic (mutual enemies to lovers) and eventual chemistry
- world building was understandable
- sibling dynamics (except she shouldn't have lied to her brother later)
- end of ep 1, I screamed
- how they have fights but communicate/make up relatively quickly
- cameo of Anti Reset couple
- ongoing physical affection, good kissing
- a favorite line in ep 9 "I am responsible for my own choices"
- that Jiang Chi doesn't want to do things with Bu Xia when he's drunk
- production value
Room For Improvement
- too long of an intro in ep 1
- the whole campus taking/posting their photos/shipping them was not for me
- the group chat of asking who is top and bottom in their relationship
- ep 9 was choppy at times, why not show us what happened in the shower?
- ep 9 gross kissing after what happened (brush teeth first please)
- the writers kind of threw everything but the kitchen sink in episode 10 including an overused cliche, however the chemistry survived
- Jiang Chi should have taken his own advice about the importance of communication (lying by omission is still lying)
- not clear if Jiang Chi actually did what the sister hinted at or not
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Also, what I like about this series is they make storyline in the original season to be put in only first 3 episodes in this series. It's super effective way to make a remake and not wasting your old viewer time. But then, for new viewer can also follow the story and not getting confused. I'm just so happy that I give this series a chance because now I can't wait for the next episodes<3
*edit
I have finished watching all episodes, can't wait for season 3 because the ending is such a CLIFFHANGER
Bruh i just hope they don't change the casts anymore, i really like the way they act as the roles :(
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1Story : 9.0 - like i said it was a bit rushed, many people said that it was a bad ending, but in all honesty it made sense to me, the romance was exciting and I longed for more romance scenes, and that's what I got, If you're into LGBTQ movies this is definately the movie for you.
Acting/cast 9.5 - what can I say the cast was spectacular, the romance they portrayed was beautiful, no doubt! Also the support characters did a wonderful job.
Music 10 - Oh Wow! The music was beautiful I always love violin in movies and this is perfect for the atmosphere, truly no fault in any of the pieces of music.
Rewatch Value - It's a quick movie to watch again, so I'm definately going to be watching this again in my spare time.
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The Uncanny Counter Season 2: Counter Punch
109 people found this review helpful
Disappointing! Feels drastically different from S1
I am really disappointed. I watched Season 1 shortly before Season 2 came out and was super excited. The Teasers looked promising and the cast looked fantastic in their new styles. Especially So Mun with the longer curly/wavy hair. Cho Byeong Kyu can shape-shift with his different hairstyles. But styling and looks is not enough to create a great follow-up season.Where this season went wrong:
- The comedy is over the top and not my taste. Especially because it wasn't like this in S1
- The dynamic between the characters feels different as well. Less serious.
- The tone of this season is generally different from season1 and not in a good way. S1 was more personal and serious
- The Plot was running in circles. So much that it was getting draggy and boring.
- They wasted Yoo In Soo. His character was really annoying. I thought it would get better after ep 3&4 but it did not
- I don't know why, but it just felt hollow
If you do a second season with a different tone etc. ... do it at least good. Not like this.
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Ep 1 to 20 was just so good. You watch effortlessly seeing the sparks fly between Jia Yang and Qiao Fei. The ingenuous ways he come up to make her life miserable and try to make her quit as trainee in the field of French interpreter. They clash and butt heads but Fei was resilent and refuse to give up her dream.
Then all that mess from the brother being the old flame and has a obessive nature when it comes to Fei. To the second female lead who was a tad pathethic in her love for Jia Ming but then retracted to wanting to be with Jia Yang.. mess and more mess
Then comes the mother who does extreme things like ruining her own son just to break up Jia Yang and Fei. Who does that? And to such extreme. It felt like this drama plot purposefully over inflate itself to generate angst, to fill in episodes? To drag it to pass 40episodes?
I felt like a masochist sticking with this drama to the end. Ep 28 to 36 was so hard to watch. Like 45mins of episode and only 10minutes or less worth watching.
I tell myself i need to see off Jia Yang and Fei's ending so i stuck with it til the ending . but oh boy instead of being awarded with my patience (which really is painful and teeth grinding). The last episode (heads up) isnt satisfying. It was rushed, cramped and jumbled. Didnt flow well and they try to make it dramatic but not believable. Its hard to believe the ending episode is rushed when the last 15or so episodes were so draggy. I still believ the first half that was good was written by another team of writers. If there are the same people then someone must have zap out commonsense from their heads. Like they run out of ideas what to do with the second half of the drama.
If you are wandering to watch or not. I recommend no for several reasons.
The last 1/3 compeltely deviates from the original story of being interpreters
The cliche part of being sick and the high noble road of sparing your loved ones from grief was not written well. Yes alot of dramas commit the same mistake but the way Fei did it just felt wrong. I felt it create needless grief for Jia Yang. Personally i think its selfish when you run away from your loved ones without sharing the truth and deliberately lets him misunderstand you. Her love didnt respect Jia Yang and made that decision for both of them without his knowledge.
Jia Yang's character actually went backwards in terms of growth. Yes it was nice to see him being less demonic and so loving to Fei. But then he became unprofessional when it comes to his work and career. And it was also annoying that he kept saying their love can survive it but i didnt see real actions to solve the problems. Your girlfriend keeps saying there's a big gap between them and that he didnt understand her difficulties.but he carries on as is and with regards to xiao hua and her dad. Although yes his words that their love can withstand it all, there was no action ... It was like him allowing the realtionship to fail eventually.
Jia ming, xiao hua and the guy he married. All characters i dont care for.
Qiao Fei bestfriend was ok but her love line was also not properly developed. Theres too much childish behaviour and they left it too late to the end to show changes.
If you do want to give this a try because the truth is Huang Xuan was really good and engaging as Jia Yang and sparks do fly when he sparrs with Yang Mi's Qiao Fei. Then i recommend you watch the front half of the drama up until he confess and they start dating. The second half will only make you scratch and then bang your head in frustation. So please dont suffer as i did..
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This review may contain spoilers
pretty faces, no value.
overall, boring. i mean, i did like that in some ways, but there shouldve been more to it.
considering this show takes place on an island you think they would take advantage of their surroundings and maybe go on hikes or zip lining, or challenges for contestants like surfing or something. instead there were like three “challenges” where they ran into the water or push each other around in mud. all of the contestants also just stay on the beach and complain how hot it is all day. which btw, how will they call this hell when everything is provided for them and there aren’t any actual hardships besides lack of phone lol. like why didnt they have them explore together or do something challenging?
it felt like i was mostly just watching them have excessively deep convos about their feelings for each other. it’s ridiculous how attached they get to other contestants because theyd have been there for a day and theyre obsessed. i wish the series had taken longer so the relationships made more sense. and none of the contestants were sincere, it was clear they were there to promote their social medias or business. the ones that were sincere had no screen time.
as for the commentators, they kept trying to make drama where there wasn’t any. like a zoomed in shot of someone’s face suddenly meant that they were torn apart on the inside. plus, they kept excusing a lot of the male contestants behavior, calling sehoon admirable for chasing after jiyeon even though she stated she didnt like him.
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Sweet and Fluffy Romance
Honestly, I don’t understand the other ratings cause everyone seems to have a problem with the plot although it was pretty clear what it was. Me personally, I’m a fan of these kind of clichés where the ML falls first and FL realises later. If you don’t like this kind of plot then watch something else rather than expecting something different. Then again, it’s just 1 ep so we don’t know how things might change. So far the main leads have really good chemistry and they’re some of my favourite actors so I’m not disappointed. Also, it was nice to see the guy from My Lovely Liar here as the second lead lmao😭iykykLooking forward to the rest of the episodes 👍
Okay, so I finished watching so I can give the full review. Honestly, for me it was good. If you’re looking for a sort of laid back drama with cute scenes then yeah watch it. To be honest, some scenes were a bit dragged and some stuff were going really slow but it’s fine considering it was 8 episodes. Cause normally most rom coms lose the plot after the first half so it’s good they kept it short.
Might not be for everyone but give it a try.
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Sci-fi or birthing campaign?
Food analogy: plastic plateI follow Lee min Ho's cinematography byheart ( bcoz city hunter was my first kdrama, i. e emotional attachment) but i don't think he read this script.
The story is made of loopholes with very little plot in it. The pacing so slow that I was praying for a 2.0x button from netflix. The first episode was still tolerable, but the characters made it impossible to root for them.
Somehow, what I hated the most was that the moment eve got pregnant, all her value for her life, the amazing career that she had created, everything got overshadowed. It was like she became a heavenly creature the moment she decided to give birth, even after knowing that it will potentially kill her. The way these kinds of sacrifices are glorified are severely unhealthy, as if women loose value if they choose not to give birth.
The music was ok but i couldn't enjoy it because i felt like i was wasting my time.
I never thought i would say this but somehow min ho's acting detoriated as the series went on. It was like he stopped trying. Somehow, everyone felt very unserious and loose with what could actually be.
There is like no redeeming quality in this series, better scroll social media.
Ps: How the baby survived the launch in her belly is beyond me.
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Addicted Remake Done Right
Acting is really good from these two young actors 10/10. plot is pretty much the same as addicted but feels a bit more stretched out and we see the backstories of the characters a lot more. The pacing tbh seems much better this time around. it's getting better with every episode... wow the nostalgia.. Addicted was my first BL ever and I feel like I'm finally getting an updated complete story with lots more clean camera work and dialogue. whether this is BL or bromance I love the story and I'll keep watching.Was this review helpful to you?
Enjoyed But !! Something turned out missing.
Don't expect more !!!I expected another best thriller from Director ' Lee Chang Hee ', Thriller/Mystery/ Action Webtoon adaptation + top casting currently trending combination, also casting like Choi Woo-shik and Son Suk for the plot. It started very well, from a person accidentally killed another person but escaped by his luck. Increased my curiosity, Let's see what happens next from here, but after the fifth episode, it totally went down. Although Good screenplay, but messy story telling and narration sometimes confused me. Once the schoolgirl suicide story starts, drama takes speed to run forward. Yes, I expected let's see what they would bring up in their next cases this time to define law and vigilantism equally or justify the perfect answer to law and vigilantism. But once this story ends, that's where drama starts with a lack of thrilling elements or next-case-setup aspects.
Plot Setup :-
For the crime thriller genre,'the crime cases are crucial to give a good outcome for the thriller experience, like why they killed, what's their motive, and most importantly, how the investigation develops from ep to ep by solving them and how they reached the killer, but in this drama they got weak cases, weak investigation setup, and I surprised how quickly they solved the cases. Yes, it's an 8-episode drama, but in that case, if they focus on big-case investigation by giving background on small cases, then it would be a good thriller.
A plot twist is a top darma/cine aspect that introduces some new element into a work of fiction that either radically changes the expected direction or outcome of the story, or sheds new and startling light on prior events in the plot or indicates the one's drama/movie ending, after watching slow pre climax eps I'm excited to watch which type of plot twist they planted, but once plot twist revealed, I didn't understand it's weak writing or weak plot.
Drama weak points :-
• Messy story telling/narration
• Less thriller elements
• rushed crime cases solving
• plot holes
• failed to create suspense
Drama Strong points :-
• Actors acting
• Son Suk, Choi Woo Shik characterization song
• Cinematography
• Screenplay
The writer failed to give a more thriller/tight script, and the director failed to bring the best output from the drama using thriller elements, but what I liked and what is the good point in this drama is Choi Woo Shik, Son Suk acting, and also in the last episode, Lee Hee Jun, a wonderful performance from these trio. Especially Son Suk, as a neglected child and a cop working for the law and justice, given his well-settled performance. Choi Woo Shik's characterization is a bit dissatisfying to me; in fact, he gave a decent performance as an ordinary student and a dark no-mask vigilante. But there is no strong characterization this time, or it's for me to expect more raw characterization from him in a thriller like The Witch. Once he justified his killings, there was no character development for him, and he became a side character in the last episodes. At this point the Writer and Director failed to utilise his potential fully. Yes, plot looks great but it only get hit when the writer polish the adaption more.
Direction and other Departments :-
I like the director's "Lee Chang Hee' works. I watched his previous works, "Stormer from Hell" and "The Vanished." Both are good crime thrillers. His taking clearly marks thrilling elements in those works, but when it comes to Killer Paradox, it looks like he failed this time, but in some episodes he showed his mark.
The background score is crucial for thriller mysteries; there are times when background music saved some scenes. It’s important to add the right sounds and music in the background of suspenseful scenes to avoid confusing the viewer but except in some eps there's no right moment of background score.
Cinematography is good, especially some slow motion shots are excellent !!
As a thriller lover I enjoyed but not completely ! ! !
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The story overall was beautiful and touching... I laughed and cried along with the characters. Be prepared though, if you are going to watch this movie, have a box of tissues by your side because you will cry your eyes out. Anyone who hasn't watched Koizora should; it expresses the feelings of absolute happiness and pain.
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this story is cursed to leave us unsatisfied
Whether you're watching this story for the first time or you've seen the Chinese versions, my initial impression is to temper your expectations, this show is far from the polished diamond it could be. Based on the same novel as Addicted (2016) and Stay With Me (2023), a lot of us had high hopes for this remake and just wanted to see our characters get their long awaited happy ending without the censorship gods trying to de-gay the story, and while this version did give us a "happy" ending, it wasn't the journey it so easily could have been.Story:
In this adaptation, Hero (Guhai/Wubi) angrily runs away from home after his rich father remarries, he escapes to the countryside to live with his aunt and starts going to school there where his new straight-laced classmate Poppy (Luoyin/Suyu) turns into the outlet for his frustrations.
At the beginning, they sloppily rush through the story, giving the stepbrother enemies-to-lovers romance a new Lakorn flavor comedy spin. Though I love Thai humor, the type of corny slapstick comedy they're using here doesn't really fit with this story or characters, and I wish they didn't interrupt the vibes with so much potty humor. It starts to improve in the next few episodes, and though there's still a lot of cringe, we start to see some good chemistry. Then episode 6 hits and the story is all over the place again. After that the episodes are a mismatch of good and bad, including the random side couple drama, which honestly feels like a fanservice throw in for Hit, Bite, Love fans. They tried to do way too much, and it made the overall feel very disjointed.
Acting:
This isnt really all on August and Mac, but I personally wouldn't have cast them together. Their acting and character development felt forced at first, but after a couple episodes they started to improve and the characters start becoming more complex and loveable. Then all of the sudden, the chemistry just stops, and the story becomes jumbled, their romance just "happens" and we don't expirience anything really unfold. I suspect it's due to all the flack that they've been getting about Mac being 16 and the huge age gap between him and his co-star, which seriously-- why cast him in the first place then?
There arent any crazy scenes but oddly enough they do have a couple of intimate scenes, and there are even a few suggestive shots of the minors that were totally unnecessary, but then they go and censor the kisses??? Isn't censorship the whole reason this story keeps getting remakes, why cast minors in the first place? Seriously it's like the Chinese version all over again. And you know what, if Stay With Me should be testament to anything, it's that you don't need sexy fanservice or even kisses to have sweet romantic tension, so where'd the chemistry go??? Do better Thailand.
Overall, whether I rate this as a standalone or compare it to the other adaptations, the result is still the same. Lots of potential, a mess of production, and a "happy" ending that leaves you just as unsatisfied as before.
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1A striking retell
Excerpt:“He lived a thousand years and he’s beginning to learn to love. But he is yet to understand that love doesn’t come from just one person”
“I have nothing but time” he said....
****
This short film is an adaptation, a compilation, or whatever you call it of the 2008 film of the same name - Painted Skin. The original movie which runs close to 2 hours, tells the story of Xiao Wei (Zhou Xun), a fox spirit who feasts on human hearts in order to maintain her beautiful and youthful appearance. General Wang Sheng (Chen Kun) rescues her from a band of Xiongnus and brings her home. Peace didn’t last long in that house as the demon falls in love with the general who happens to already be married to Pei Rong (Vicki Zhao). Thus, this heartbreaking plot proceeds to show the length the demon will go with her tricks and schemes to get the man she loves and the length Pei Rong will go to protect the man she loves.
In this short film which is about 30 minutes long, we have a condensed version of the plot but with a twist. This short movie swaps the sex and roles of the characters. Xiao Wei (played by Ding Cheng Xin) is now a man. While Wang Sheng (He Cheng Xi) and Pei Rong (Wang Chu Ran) are still a married couple, they have now switched roles. Pei Rong is the general protecting the town, while Wang Sheng stayed home recuperating from an injured leg. So in this film version, it's Pei Rong that rescues and brings Xiao Wei home to her husband. And the rivalry is between Wang Sheng and Xiao Wei.
The visual was aesthetically pleasing. The majority of the movie was shot in the general’s courtyard but the cinematography was beautifully executed it accomplished creating the tragic, poignant ambiance it intended to. The initial meeting, the unspoken suspicion, the subtle and not so subtle rivalry, all took place in this courtyard. The little sword fighting scene it had was very well done.
The acting was surprisingly very good. I was especially moved by He Cheng Xi’s Wang Sheng. He managed to emulate the despair, the fear, and raw emotions his character was feeling. This is not to say that his counter-part Ding Cheng Xin’s Xiao Wei was any less captivating. He succeeded in conveying his character’s seemingly sweet and fragile as well as cunning side beautifully.
This retelling removed the fillers and supporting characters and all the extra fanfare that went into making the 2 hours original movie and just focused on moving the plot around the three characters. Because it did just that, the emotional impact was even more powerful than what I felt with the original. I remember when watching the original, I only watched it for Chen Kun (a girl’s gotta do what a girl's gotta do). I enjoyed the film but I don’t recall it invoking the kind of emotion this mini-film did. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while and I forgot.... but I think I’ll remember this one.
Another thing this movie did differently is it put the focus on Xiao Wei and Wang Sheng. How they interacted, how they competed, how they observed each other. In the end, it may seem you are left to wonder - Who did they love exactly?
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