Reviews

Wasted Opportunity for the Cast

I remember watch this drama last year and as far i remember this is the first version of the novel and try to rewatch for this review. I like the chemistry between Zeng Hui and Chai Huixin. The ML is somewhat douchebag and FL is just plainly foolish. What i never like on this film is kind of stalled because they only tell Female Lead was abducted to Myanmar (There is no season two, prepared to be disappointed) and its kind of ironic because latter versions have completed story and refined plot but the chemistry are subpar compared to Zeng Hui and Chai Huixin. 50:50 to recommend this because it giving bitter reality of this stalled project.

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OK,this is my limit.

I never understand why Ni Wu-Pei Huanyu got so many adaptation (16 version, i give up following the story) since there is unnecessary tug-and-war and misunderstanding with Open Ending. (If you like kind of sour story i just suggest to watch Dong Yi-Fu Yushu version instead). Personally i hope in Zeng Hui-Han Yutong version has angst with Open Ending (I want to have their film have Sad Ending since all of their collabs have Happy Ending) but i don't feel they follow the novel and just like their previous drama (for reference watch Tuning Hearts [2025]) Male Lead chase Female Lead with past misunderstanding. Their acting are on their comfort zone there is no complain just they kind bored of same plot formula on this CP.
Only recommended this, if you are true CP fans.

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Affectionate main couple and fabulous outfits are reasons I enjoyed this drama immensely

I am preparing a reddit post about Zhao Mu Yan's dramas so I have been watching a lot of her dramas. I picked to watch this drama last Saturday because I also liked Zhang Chi. I enjoyed this drama immensely.

What I liked:
1. Romance - There was electric dynamic between them. Amazing kisses and intimate scenes. I also loved that they were tender and affectionate with each other. The cupboard scene was extremely sweet.
2. Styling - I loved, loved, loved FL's outfits. My favourite outfits from vertically-filmed historical dramas - I wish I could buy and wear them. I also liked ML's outfits - the navy and gold outfit with that top hat looked fabulous on Zhang Chi.
3. FL characterisation - I wasn't clear about her motive in getting close to ML at first but later got the info when she mentioned antidote. I liked the allure exuded by her character.
4. ML characterisation - I liked that he was wary of FL and yet never strongly resisted FL's charms. He was a smart guy to cover FL's tracks once he figured something was off about her.
5. Supporting characters - I liked FL's servant & ML's right hand man and the bodyguard / secret soldier.
6. Duration - I loved that this drama is under 125 minutes. It was an easy watch.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - He was selfish. I felt his arc was simple.
2. Ending - I didn't like the action taken by them then suddenly they were happy. Was that action a dream or real?

Favourite scene
When ML went to the cupboard

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Not your typical eye candy BL, but does it's job!!!

I understand the absence of yearning for new chemistry but it's composition as S2 is definitely praisable as it details into both positive and negative changes within the same story.

"It's not about winning against that person but it's about not losing to the other person."

This story overall explores strong love, passion for art, emotional discovery, role of each partner in a relationship and exceptional acting from all the cast.
Hayama figuring out what he actually wants in life, his dream, his emotions and more.

Definately the presence YAMASE and SAKUMA nailed the whole series by giving it a different dimension!!!!! Want them more!!

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Too Much Misery, Not Enough Brilliance

There are many illogical aspects in the story from the very beginning. The author describes the female lead as a villain ever since she was a small child, yet she does nothing that truly deserves such a label. We do not even know why her mother is considered evil, aside from the fact that she brutally beats her young daughter for no reason. In an environment like that, it is only natural for anyone to lose their sanity, and the female lead cannot be blamed for seeking help from others or using them, as the story tries to portray her in an even worse light than she deserves.

I am not saying that her attempts to use tricks and schemes against those who try to harm her are completely innocent actions, but they are nowhere near enough to call her truly villainous. Yes, she exploits people, but in many cases she is a victim first. Unfortunately, many of her plans are not intelligent at all for someone who is supposed to be a master schemer, cunning, and skilled at manipulating others. Her plans often involve her personally taking part and putting herself in danger, which disappointed me greatly.

When she was at school, the events were somewhat enjoyable, but after her father’s case, things became extremely frustrating in my opinion. Her plan was reckless and very foolish. On top of that, instead of escaping to another country where her past could not catch up with her, she becomes an actress under a company with a strong reputation, supposedly capable of protecting her. This makes no sense. No company would accept an artist with existing problems because it would fear for its reputation. It is far more realistic that the company would abandon her at the first harmful rumor.

Most of the people who became her victims actually deserved what happened to them; what they suffered was a result of their own bad actions. The female lead cannot be blamed 100% for everything, even though she sometimes played a role in the outcome. It felt as though the author was deliberately trying to turn everything against her. At a certain point, whether the viewer sympathizes with her or not, no one would enjoy her tragic state that lacks intelligence, cunning, or well-thought-out plans.

I especially hated the final arc, and her psycho husband even more than the female lead herself. Honestly, I would have preferred it if the female lead were truly the mastermind—clever, devious, and manipulating everyone from behind the scenes—even if her ending were not a happy one, like Moriarty. Instead, all I saw was a female lead who remained a victim throughout her entire life.

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THE STORY IS SPICY, AND THE DELIVERY IS DAMN HOT!

This drama is LIT. But don't be fooled by the hype, this isn't a one size fits all crowd-pleaser. It's a love-it-or-hate-it.

You will have a bad time with this drama if:
*You're uncomfortable with pseudo-incest dramas
*You can't stand FL's babydoll brand of coquettishness
*You go in with high expectations that this is going to be some kind of Lighter & Princess or Amidst A Snowstorm Of Love

You will have a good time with this if:
*You go into it knowing that you're watching basically a pimped out on steroids version of a short-length c-drama scorcher.
* Your standards are "I hope it's at least as good as Embrace In The Dark Night"
* You like it when your dramas play up the "dark ML/ light FL" dynamic

If this sounds like your scene, then this is what you will get:

DARK FIRE DONE RIGHT. This is the most clutch point you need to know about this drama.... it has a kinky side. If you can't handle taboo/dark/forbidden/morally gray stuff, you gonna dislike this show. ML and FL are not blood related. But he fed her her first bottle when she was a baby, they show a flashback scene of it. Mkay. And that's the basic foundational dynamic. He played an outsized role in raising her for the first half of her life. Now that the two of them are of-age, they are semi-cohabitating alone together, and their father is ambivalent about it. He probably wanted to see them get together from the time she was born. There's a scene where ML goes to her parent-day at school. It's like that.

Now add another layer: They take it to the next level with the innocent/badboy dynamics here. They dress her up in barettes and little girl dresses and corsets and frills with porcelain perfect skin and she does the babydoll thing. They put him in black hoodies, old ripped up metallica tees, leather, black raver pants, and he almost never cracks a smile or loses his cool.

Not only that, but seen through a green-flag lens, he's allowing his attraction to her to drag her down into a life full of risks and crime and danger, throw away her future education and career prospects, and tie her down without any real way of supporting her. And he's practically her brother.

If all of that bothers you, this is not your drama. For some of us, this dynamic is completely lit. And we don't get enough of our kind of romance stories. You green flaggers have so many dramas to choose from, we don't. Our romance stories always have to do so much extra to make it past censors and find a good script and get funding. Well this one's for us, not for you! We like it DARK!

Now that the green-flaggers have been scared off, let me just say to everyone still interested even after all that: Waaaahhhhhh they nailed it!!!

Yes, FL is doing babydoll. But the way she does it here is ***justified by the script***, and feels genuine compared to many other FL's who try to do babydoll and fail. Her EQ is high. She is often quiet, shy, or demure. But she is very clever, and often her silence is her shield. She uses it to stop and think things out carefully on her own before she acts. She also has a precocious, brave, independent side. She is unafraid in many situations: She unflinchingly navigates during car chases and she takes it upon herself to learn to drive racecars, she jumps in to melees and kicks bad guys' asses, she can stand alone in the center of a crowd of intimidating people in an unfamiliar situation and keep her cool no problem. Without asking anyone's permission, she enrolls herself in school, and she insists on getting her way when something is important to her. She is actually a strong personality. That's why she can *afford* to act so soft and sweet and innocent. She is NOT a doormat, and she is NOT infantile or helpless.

ML is stoic, protective, secretive, and is tortured by a constant low-grade guilt that comes from knowing that having a thing for the girl you fed bottles to as an infant is basically deviant. Yet that guilt is always wrestling in his mind with another part of him that is fierce and unapologetic in his desire for her. And he is a total shitkicker. He's always banged up, bruised up, covered in dirt, sweat or blood.

It goes so much harder and darker than Hidden Love, and with NO groomy aftertaste.

EXCELLENT FASHION. The hair. The clothes. The shoes. The makeup. The sets. The way they portray Thailand. The color palatte. The dialogue. The extras. The cars. The people involved in creating the aesthetics for this show really had their shit together. Coture + thrift store = HOT. There is always a contrast and a seamless melding between rich and poor, having everything and having nothing. It feels authentic. Everything has it's own beauty. Extras and side characters are treated right by stylists, and full justice is done for the script.

CARS! I love how the topic of the drama is not treated as just a pretext for romance and fight scenes. It's treated like it's an important part of the story. This makes cars sexy and interesting, and gets you so involved with the racing scenes in a way that reminds me of Days of Thunder, F&F, or Rush. And yet it is still a *romance*. It doesn't look like some male person's testosterone and car fanaticism muscled out the softer and more romantic side of the story. It's a completely seamless blend of both.

This drama kicks the sh*t out of Fast and Furious, Need for Speed, and Mia Culpa. It also kicks the sh*t out of almost every other badboy ML romance out there, and in this sense, just as far as 'ultimate badboy' characters go, ranks among some of the best with stories like SOPK, WDBTD, EITDN, LOTEOD, MLM, and TTEOTM.

Now there is just one true caveat: This is one of those dramas that peters out at the 2/3 mark and ends in a whimper and not a bang. Is there a time-skip, are there montage scenes, does it drag, does the chemistry fade, do ML and FL stop getting screentime together, are there misunderstandings, do the clothes start to look stupid, do they juuust miss eachother 15 times before they reunite... yes. All the things. So expect to spend the first 2/3 of the drama enthralled, and the last third yelling at the characters and just generally being bummed that it stopped being awesome. But honestly. WORTH IT for the first 2/3 alone, the tradeoff is that you just have to tolerate the last eps to finish it. And it's not thaaat bad, but it's not what we signed up for when we started is all.

Started off as a 10, one point off for not recognizing that the last section of the drama needed a total creative overhaul because they wanted to give me angst, but all I got was eyeroll and exasperated sigh.

9/10

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A very unnecessary season

I loved this season but definitely is the weakest out of the three. There were a lot of things I liked about the season but definitely things I didn't as well.

I liked how amped up the games were compared to the other seasons, that being said I thought the finale game was a little boring to watch, otherwise I liked the new ones. I think these games were more challenging to figure out which was really cool to see. Arisu is always just such a fun character to watch. He's so intelligent and caring! The sets, cinematography, acting, and special affects I think really carried this season.

I think the thing this season is lacking is the emotional connection to the characters. Other than Arisu and Usagi I found it really hard to get attached to this season's characters. I think they waited too long for us to find out information/backstory on them for the audience to get attached to them or care if they make it or not. It's not that they were necessarily unlikeable, we just didn't know enough about them. I really like Rei and Nabu and some of the others, but we just didn't get to see them enough. Some of the character deaths felt like they should've been more impactful, but I just didn't care that much if they died like in previous seasons.

I wish we got to see Arisu & Usagi as husband and wife more. We didn't really get to see them together until episode four which is another complaint of mine. I did like that we got to see what both of them were doing during the time they were separated, but I wish we saw them together more. I also just thought it was weird they were still calling each other Arisu and Usagi for being together for the past five years and literally being married. You think they would use first names or nicknames at this point. You would also think they would live together. Usagi's relationship with Arisu just felt so off this season, like she didn't fully trust him. Why was she telling stuff to others that she couldn't tell her literal husband?! The whole reason she went into the game was just so dumb. Idk her character felt off to me this season.

As for the finale...the death of Jack/Joker/whatever you want to call him was so unsatisfying. They were building him up all throughout the season just to have a random character take him out. Speaking of that character, I just think he was such a pointless character. He came to ask Arisu if he wanted life or death when Arisu was obviously going to choose to live and save Usagi. His whole speech and role in the show seemed like time filler more than importance. I would've much preferred that time go to showing more of Arisu and Usagi after they got out rather than just the quick scene we got. I loved the cameos of all the characters from the first two seasons being in the finale! It was nice seeing them again because I definitely missed them this season. I think if they were all in it more, it would've made it more enjoyable.

Overall, I did like the season, but I do think this one has the least rewatch ability. I could see myself watching it once or twice more but not as many times as I've watched season one or two. Total props to all the actors though. They all killed it!! Especially Kento & Tao!

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Very satisfying watch-taking power back from males

What I liked:
1. The plot per se is not innovative but we get to see how a modern person can make the moves that we all wanted to make when watching c-drama's excruciating scenes of females scheming against females, males being duped by females, males forcing their power on females and males getting their way just because of that small part of anatomy women do not have (and I do not mean brain, of course, because FL here shows her sharpness both mentally and her claws-literally!).
2. Both lead actors were having fun with their roles. It looked and felt like everybody (slapped parties included) liked what the drama was getting at (taking power back from guys)
3. The feel of satisfaction where this story was heading which really helped with suspending the logic of the whole "modern readers getting into a book about ancient times" concept.
What I did not like
not a thing. This was fast paced, engaging, fun, with just a hint of seductive.

Just be prepared for a lot of thoughts voiced over.

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The ending is...interesting (slight spoilers)

Absolutely incredible! The new characters who were introduced were just as interesting as the characters in season one. I do wish we got more Chishiya because he's such an interesting character. There's just never enough Chishiya if we're being honest.

Loved a lot of the games in the season and thought it made it more intense that even when they weren't playing a game they could get hunted down. Even if that guy had a bit of plot armor because no way her was that strong and unstoppable.

The ending was a lot. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love everything about it either. Do I think all those possibilities of what was happening was necessary? No. I do think it could've been done differently or that time could've been used for something else. Is it awful that they did that? Also no. I think they took a very interesting route with it. It was cool and I think led into season three nicely.

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