Reviews

Lovely story

I recently discovered Sea and Keen through this series, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the story, which was both sweet and had a very satisfying ending.

With so few episodes, GMMTV managed to create endearing and well-developed characters. I especially loved the character of Mawin, who, in my opinion, is one of the best love interests in a BL: caring, a little clumsy, but always doing his best to help others, especially Err.

I also found it interesting, even if handled lightly, how the series showed the pressure of schoolwork and the jealousy it can create among young people. It added a realistic touch while still being heartwarming.

Finally, I have to admit I was a bit surprised by the kissing scenes: I thought that style was a little outdated. I wasn’t expecting anything overly passionate, but I found the choice quite curious.

Overall, it was truly a sweet and enjoyable series to watch. I definitely recommend it!

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Boring and lacking depth

Extremely boring, trauma plot solely to give the story a sense of depth. Poorly written character dynamics and the main fl and ml are stiff 95% of the show until -love- miraculously changes them.
I feel as though the role of the fl's high school best friend was quite annoying, practically "I'm sorry I betrayed your trust, got you bullied by the entire school, worked hard to get in your way of finding love in adulthood, and never considered from your perspective why you'd be so upset with me so I dont understand why you can't just get over it and put your trust in me again :/"
As well, the relationship between the aunt and her own love interest was set in such an odd way. I understand to some degree that some people can just be that devoted as he was to her but it was to such a rediculous extent. I dont think I really followed why they'd started dating, why she kept carelessly breaking up with him at every turn, and suddenly show her expressing affection to hin during their final break up.

Also, the ML's uncle coming to get hin so they cango away and live together but the split up between them not being really shown. It felt like a cheap character addition to introduce his association with his family and promptly discard right after when the ML's and FL's relationship seemed rushed to an ending to jarringly scramble together the mom and sister's complex backstory with the later 1/3rd of the show.

Everything before then felt just very stiff, ambiguous, so much just staring at eachother, lying, amiguity, awkward dynamics, and odd tensions. Also most of the plotline about the ml's little sister was mostly irrelevant and felt like a meaningless side story to cut between overly drawn out awkward tension between the main couple.

Side Note: I didnt look at the genre before watching and really thought our male lead had a potential of being some weird serial killer the way he was writing about her in secret with a made up name 💀 I really thought he was testing the waters to get close to her just to cage her up or something. Talking about the "Goodnight" club and writing these messages to a journal/emailing them to the club members (?).
it was weird how he addressed everyone to talk about how he saw her out the window and started almost plotting like this finally being the time he'd make a move. Overly introverted and kept to himself was MUCH TOO CLOSE to coming off dangerously introverted.

4/10 because I'm just neutral and didnt hate it.
I'll probably forget I even watched it by the end of the week.

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crazy plot but so intriguing

I was not going to watch this until I saw junseo was in it! I actually wasn’t a huge fan from boys 2 planet, but this show majorly converted me to a fan.

the plot was silly (I know it’s hard to keep a three suitors plot going, but the contract thing was crazy why didn’t jaemin just get together with daon when he liked him? also I wish we got a bit more details in the past and the timeline of when daon liked suhyeon? because I thought he said he always liked jaemin?)

besides the silly plot (which I dont even mind silly plots too much) I think that the chemistry was lacking between the couples. the main couple was cute, but I didn’t think any of the pairings had too much chemistry (surprisingly I’d say the most was with suhyeon, ugh I wish they got together in college, their one cute ring scene hurt my heart and I wanted to see them happy during that time! if suhyeon didn’t yell so much I’d be a bigger fan).

it was kind of funny to see everyone like daon/junseo so much I was like dang give this guy a break. also can’t believe after the main guy took the knife for daon he still went and gave the presentation that’s crazy

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Boring and awkward, like bad copy-cat of other dramas' popular stuff.

I really like Bai Lu, Story of the Kunning Palace one of my best favorites ever I rewatch and rewatch while waiting for good dramas (is there any this year?). I liked her in many more dramas and liked less in a couple of lame dramas but this is the lamest ever. First I watched the first episode, then couldn't carry on, was not interested, later I tried again, I watched 4.5 episodes.
This is one of the most boring and lame dramas I've ever started to watch. The ML is disguised as if he would be Xiang Liu but only a similar wig and costume won't give him that edge. The crisis events felt awkward and absolutely lame.
After 4 episodes we till don't know the reason of his hatred, not even a clue, because of it he looks just petty, mean.
While in One and Only Bai Lu was perfect as a teen - young adult girl, here the she is not convincing as cute and naive young girl, to be honest badass / strong character roles suites her more. I didn't like Till The End of the Moon, also because it was lame enough here and there, incredible and exaggerated but this... I didn't like Moonlight Mistique depsite of that I usually like the work of that director very much, there the issue was miscast, the guy just didn't have that demonic edge to play a demon king successfully which ruined the tale for me, and the second leads saved the drama till the level I was able to watch it till the end.

I can't cope with Feud, I don't know how something can be as wrong as this on many levels, I don't care about the characters, I don't feel anything because they are suffering, I can't "live in the tale" because the story is boring. unrealistic even for a fantasy piece and no CGI can save that.

Sorry, just utterly disappointed, I wanted to watch it during holiday and endend up nothing to watch abroad.

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Strong Start - Weak Middle - Strong End

I wrote this review when we were in the middle of the Ming cook-off and I wasn't sure if they could redeem it. But quite honestly, the last few episodes were perfect! They wrapped up the story line well and I love a happy ending. Bit confused though how he is in the future. Like was he reincarnated with his memories? Or was he sent to the future with her? If so, how did he adjust on his own so quickly and so well that he was dressed in fancy clothes? I guess we'll leave it to the imagination.

Original rating 8/12 episodes watched: 6.5/10
New rating FINISHED: 8/10

The good:
- It's really funny and quite clever as well. Obviously the writers know a lot about cooking and the Joseon period to know what recipes she would be able to make and how she would need to change them
- The romance in the first few episodes were so cute
- The acting is great
- Love the side characters and in the first few episodes it really felt like they were adding a lot to the plot

The bad:
- Genuinely... what is with this 4 episode long cooking battle. When I finished the most recent episode (episode 8) I genuinely needed to remind myself how we got here. What is happening to the King's revenge plot? We haven't seen FL and her bestie talk at all recently and we keep getting like 2 second clips on what the evil queen is plotting but really it's not anything, she's just seething about what they're doing. This wouldn't matter if it was one or two episodes, BUT 4 out of 12?!?!
- Kind of feels like the writers wanted to show off how much they know about cooking??

The confusing:
- I get that they are trying to make cooking a central point in the plot but it's kind of unconvincing how they're going about it. Sorry but who has ever had a cook off to decide which nation would be providing more in a trade agreement.
- Why are the Ming chefs also martial artists? Who has the time to perfect cooking and also perfect their fighting?

I really think I could have just ignored the bad and confusing parts if this damn cooking battle didn't take over the entire show but alas, here we are.

They're going to need a miracle for me to bring my rating up.

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If you missed NANA, this will break you all over again

A love so strong, it lasts decades.
A love so strong, it takes over your life.

You and Everything Else is about two friends who’ve known each other since elementary school, and whose relationship defies definition. Both live with an inferiority complex toward the other. There’s jealousy, insecurity, and a constant feeling of not being enough. And yet, they love each other so deeply that it hurts.

It’s not just friendship.
It’s not romance either.
It’s not family, but it doesn’t fall short of it.

If you’ve watched NANA (the anime), you’ll understand that weird, aching feeling, the one that lingers every time the two main leads interact. That sense of something unspoken, raw, and deeply emotional. This drama gave me that same feeling for a full 15 episodes.

The acting was phenomenal. Both leads were real, raw, and honest — you could feel the emotions in every glance, every silence. The production and music were equally beautiful.

I loved getting lost in the confusion, intensity, and emotional chaos of their bond. It was a deeply moving experience — and one I won’t forget anytime soon.

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A Fantasy Romance that romances for a little too long.....but there's Ryan Cheng x 3

Another day, another female general paired up with Ryan Cheng. At the heels of “Legend of the Female General” (LOTFG), “Shadow Love” fights for the attention of viewers, and hopes to do better than the other drama. I also finished LOTFG not too long ago, and it’s hard not to compare the two.

LOTFG is a political war drama first, and then romance takes over. “Shadow Love” is without a doubt a fantasy romance, and then politics. Aside from having Ryan as the ML and having a female general, these two dramas are quite different. If you want more romance, then “Shadow Love” should be your option.


PLOT & PACING
As a fantasy drama, the plot is interesting. Love plays a central role in this drama, whether it’s about our leads, or the villains. If you don’t treat this as a serious historical drama, some of the unrealistic aspects of the plot or actions could be forgiven (if you are the forgiving type). But it’s hard for me to look at FL shooting arrows in battles instead of using a sword. How could you carry so many arrows in a war? In that sense, LOTFG did a much better job with strong fight choreography and close combat battles with different weapons. Well, unfortunately, in both dramas, the FL seem to need saving from ML quite a bit. I may not be the biggest fan of the amnesia trope but I like this amnesia + forbidden romance + enemies-to-lovers. Having said that, and being a lover of romance, the Jin An plot and amnesia lasted way too long. The drama could have cut down 3-5 episodes in the first half, and then focus more on Prince Annan, the angst between the leads and the politics in both kingdoms. I also would have liked to see a little more of Prince Annan before the amnesia. I want to get to know him better, so that I can compare his re-emergence in the latter half. If you are not a romance lover, you would have hated this drama. I am glad the drama wraps everything nicely in the end, and does give us a proper closure for all parties.

ROMANCE
Song Yi and Ryan Cheng have great chemistry. We don’t see a lot of the ‘enemies’ part, but the blossoming love is cute to witness. It brews slowly in the first 10+ episodes. Not sizzling with passion, but slow and steady, calm and reassuring until the sweetness overloads with a very smitten Jin An. As I mentioned earlier, some of these episodes could be reduced. But who doesn’t want a handsome ML who is your loverboy, your secret weapon and protector, and then your arch enemies who can’t forget about you? If you are a Ryan fan, this is perfect for you. Lots of skin and muscles. The kisses are not bad either. The leads are communicative, trusting and supportive. They are intelligent and observant of each other’s needs. It’s lovely to see. The love triangle is there, and not super annoying compared to others I’ve seen. The secondary romance doesn’t take up too much screen time and only happens towards the second half of the drama. They are cute but I think it could have developed more. Oh, I forgot how pretty Darren Chen is. His eyes sparkle like jewels!

ACTING
Song Yi and Ryan Cheng are both excellent in this drama. Both have emotional scenes that make me teared up. Yet their playful and serious moments are just as believable. I have to say, Ryan shows his range in this drama playing 3 different roles. This is probably his best acting yet, even though I also like him in LOTFG. But I do think that Ryan’s eyes are better suited at shooting arrows than hearts. Song Yi’s acting is generally good. But one might question if she’s casted well as the female general when she’s so skinny. It also doesn’t help when she has a naturally high-pitched voice, and her shouting commands are not entirely pleasant. I haven’t seen Bi Wen Jun in a while and I was excited to see him play a different character than his previous roles. I never thought he was a bad actor before, but when acting alongside Song Yi and Ryan Cheng, he was at a disadvantage. It’s also lovely to see Darren Chen again and his beautiful eyes can convey so much. There are also many guest stars in this drama. They never show up for long and eventually they all get killed off. LOL

PRODUCTION QUALITY
The first thing I noticed is the beautiful costumes, hair design and accessories. I was not anticipating that but I really love Song Yi’s long pony tail when she’s in her armour. The look is not too girly, and she does not need to fit in the male soldier look, like in LOTFG. Her other more feminine costumes are just as beautiful. Ryan looks dashing as Prince Annan, and the cool superhero look. But his Jin An look is not the best, and he’s has that look for the longest. What a shame! The Queen and Emperor’s robes are gorgeous and elaborate. Cinematography is OK, not the best nor the worst. A few fight scenes are well done, but they are not as good as those in LOTFG. There are also fewer big war battles in “Shadow Love” than in LOTFG. The OST is not bad and I don’t feel that the songs are overplayed. As mentioned earlier, Song Yi’s voice might have put off many. I can tolerate that because I’ve heard of her real voice and I appreciate her dubbing herself. I also like listening to Song Yi’s Chinese. I feel that she enunciates her words very well. I just wish Ryan was not dubbed, and Bi Wen Jun spoke his lines as well as Song Yi.


Overall, I had a pretty good time watching this. I did not have very high expectations, especially after finishing the other female general drama 3 weeks ago. I would only recommend this if you are a Ryan fan or a romance lover who can look past some unrealistic plot holes. Remember, this is a fantasy romance first and foremost.


Completed: 9/16/2025 Review #625


My review of “Legend of the Female General” if you are interested:
https://kisskh.at/profile/virgievirgie/review/488124

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Watch it for the human relationships and reactions.

I don't have much thoughts about the plot, but I stayed for the characters and their motivations, thoughts and feelings. Some of them more frustrating than the others, but as you do in real life, I stayed, I listened, and I understood even with their incoherent feelings and messy reactions, because that is the human experience for you.
My favorite character was the twins mother, it encapsulated the feeling of her being a daughter and struggling as one as well, but still failing to meet in the middle with her own daughters, as real people do. Not everyone turns into the best parent just because they were wronged as a kid.
Anyway, give it a chance, every character has some trait to look for.

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The acting and chemistry saved this for me...

I see a lot of reviews that agree but the chemistry between the whole cast and the acting where so phenominal! I was hooked! BUT I had to skip the last three episodes before the finale... the arcs are so repetitive and thats because the conlfict is always the same. It's like no one has any critical thinking skills and just believe whatever lies or conspiracies that the evil guys cook up... It got real irritating that Susu,,, after thousands of years with this man atp... could not conjure up even a little bit of faith in Jin Tantai to investigate the claims of the lord of monsters.... His clan members too! it makes no sense if you want me to think she's a cunning heroine and these are the heroes that the world relies on...

Edit: ALSO WHY CAN'T WE HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS??? I get that it was bittersweet, but after all those betrayals and false accusations, I wanted Jin Tantai to at least fulfull his dream of growing old w Susu and some kids.

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How I review this drama.

It is worth watching, and it is a great imagination.

Reason why I rate it 9.5 is because the story line is good, and it is also a great imagination, but instead of making it like those fairytales where you travel into a book, it would have been better if the world in the novel would be a real world where Ling Miaomiao wouldn't be a world travelled person, but it should have shown that the cold-hearted Lin Yu changed to a Warm person after realising and experiencing time with Mu Yao and Mu Sheng, showing that the main character changed herself and not that a person from another world suddenly took over.

Even the 'System' was a continuous interruption, more like the boss of the story. If the 'System' is removed, it would be a freely flowing real world where parallel worlds don't exist, but change of heart, change of person exists, then probably, like other drama's, this one would've been closed under one world.

But I liked the fact that the story of each character was set up in a complex way. I like imagining thing and how it could be. The way the story of each person was depicted, it left me space to think with my imagination and fill in the gap by myself, until I found out the reality by the ending. Although opinions vary, this is how I would Review this story.

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Ok FINE I like romance!!!!! The candy in this show is top notch!!

First 20 episodes were goated, almost a chef's kiss in terms of the romance, and the last 12 were a total disappointing mess.... Xian Yu captured 'falling in love' but couldn't actually write a relationship. In other words, the three lifecycles genre has outlived whatever novelty it had in 2017 and needs to be taken out back and put down ASAP.

As an adult, I've been waffling over whether or not I enjoy romance- with a lot of shows/movies/books, etc. I dread every scene the main couple have together, and only a select few have me obsessed, crying, etc. I settled on, 'I like a well written romance' where the main characters are both complex, have serious growth and you can see that they have changed each other for the better and why they belong together (better yet I love a story about why they make each other worse and should break up). This drama, Xian Yu, was only really able to satisfy this sort of....... but it still had me smiling at all of their couple moments, thinking to myself, 'wow they're so cute'... like a TEENAGER!!!!! I got got!! They got me bad!!!!!! I thought they were adorable!!!!!!!!!

Sima Jiao and Liao Tingyan were super likable and easy to root for. SMJ's entire almost comically cartoonish abuse-torture-cannibalism backstory + extremely goated Bking level 99999 ultimate power made him the exact sort of typical male lead in a fantasy idol drama that is easy to root for. A Dream Within a Dream said it best, "Beautiful, tragic, strong." He was an imprisoned underdog I was rooting for to kill literally everyone in the 8 Palaces and raze it to the ground with spirit fire!! One of the most impactful and unforgettable scenes of the entire series is the one where he breaks free, chains everyone up and kills his oppressors. His character is great for the most part, but ultimately falls short in some ways that are personally unsatisfying to me. Falling in love with LTY was well sold and makes perfect sense. Of course this person who has been imprisoned his whole life, who has only ever been used, abused, lied to for power, would need someone who has 0 ambitions whatsoever LOL. LTY fits into what SMJ needs like a puzzle piece. She doesn't want power, or high cultivation, has no ulterior motives, and lives life for the pleasure of it- for eating good food, sleeping a good sleep, resting and playing. LTY makes him feel safe, shows him he deserves kindness and care rather than flattery and inspires him to enjoy the pleasure of living.

Ultimately though, I'm disappointed with where his character went. There were moments where it felt like he could come out of his doomed suicidal mindset because he had grown so much. Like sending LTY to her tribulation with every single defense imaginable and distancing himself from her so she could have the best chance, but ultimately owning that they were in a relationship, and ride or die, they were in this together. But at the end of the day???? Bro was so tortured he was chill with just dying. And like, tbh I get it, they dont have therapists in Xianxia world, what happened to him is so far in the realm of fantasy horrific that it's kind of unthinkable by real life standards. But like, idk, isn't the point of fantasy also that it should just be an escapist way to process a human experience/emotion? It's not like, befittingly tragic, for our hero to hate himself and his own existence so much that he is in a depressing doomer mindset and thinks his only value is dying for his lover. It's just immature emo bs. I already hate self sacrifice, and it's doubly un-romantic when the person sacrificing is already fully suicidal and has only just started to barely enjoy life. It feels like the writers want to make a message like, SMJ ISN'T that other guy w the Fengshan blood who killed himself, and he ISN'T his parents and he has the power to determine his own life and he can defy heaven and fate!! But it ultimately wasn't as great of a goal as making him tragically sad and romantic by sacrificing himself for LTY. At least by the very, very, end, he seems to have understood that doing that and hiding his plans from her was wrong, but more for the lying part. He also says things like, "We have more time" and "We've only just started" which give me hope that he's changed. But ultimately, this development isn't given enough emphasis or time. And maybe if his sacrifice happened in like, episode 20 there would've been enough time!!! But it happened in like episode 30 or something and then he had to live a whole ass lifetime with a loving mother in 2 episodes to get him there. Character growth doesn't happen naturally in the narrative, but through death and rebirth and just becoming a completely different character. That's why it's annoying!!! Wouldn't it have made more impact for SMJ to have gone through what he did, and ultimately come to believe that life was worth living without being a different person?

Liao Tingyan is super adorable and easy to root for! She is genuinely refreshing as a FL who doesn't fall prey to miscommunications, manipulative machinations, etc. etc. and pretty much always stands by and trusts SMJ. Unfortunately, something that I've found quite often now with transmigration dramas, is that the FL's character writing pales in comparison to ML's and it's true here as well. By the end of 33 episodes, I still don't really understand super deeply who she is, where she's from, why SMJ should matter SO much to her, and how exactly did he impact her life. SMJ focuses almost every ounce of his energy on making her comfortable, happy, getting her what she wants to eat, and going on vacation, is protected from harm, etc. etc. but this is all very different from seeing how he has changed her character for the better. Being nice and taking care of someone isn't really enough to warrant love. Like I said, it's easy to see why SMJ fell in love with her, the reverse is harder. And I don't think it would've taken too much??? Like even just a couple more scenes of LTY's life in the modern world, where she is expected to constantly grind and work would've helped. Like I have no idea what her family life was like, if she has friends, if she grew up poor, what hs/college were like. If she had experienced a lot of pressure in her life to be productive and be a contributing member of society, to work for survival, then it would make so much sense to fall in love w this ultra powerful guy who is just like hey slack off all you want, in fact I love that about you and that makes you valuable/important/an inspiration rather than a burden upon society. Like, okay, cool, LTY would be that much more fleshed out of a character. But they didn't do that!!!! And it would've been so easy!!! They could've even just changed her voiceover thoughts and it would've been enough!! ORRR they could've gone a diff route and had SMJ be her inspiration to no longer be a slacker, which feels a little closer to what the series was kind of going for. Like when they're in class and she starts practicing because she wants to protect him. It would've been great if they just pushed this further, and had her really commit to becoming more ambitious for SMJ. Maybe seeing that ambition/work wasn't a bad thing, because it could give her more purpose. Like that could've been another angle that made her feelings for him make more sense, idk. Instead it just feels like the writers wanted to preserve something precious about her (which is fine by itself if well written) but simultaneously make her powerful by the end so it's just plot things happening to her rather than character growth. Like it's some stupid dog blood shit that she just became a good fighter who was groomed and forced to kill by SQL. Or that she awakened the frost fish or absorbed the demon lord core or w/e and now she HAS to be powerful. None of that is real character writing, just forced change from the narrative!

The beginning of their relationship is what got me! As I said, watching them fall in love and be cute and kind and playful is so enjoyable and sweet. There's moments that really work to guide them towards a relationship like LTY telling SMJ off for using the truth spell on her all the time with SO much understanding, making space for him and his trauma while simultaneously centering her own feelings and right to privacy. She's so emotionally mature which is rare for any c-drama lead. Also! UM they actually kiss??? Which is so rare in these types of dramas like I'm so used to the main leads just gently pressing their lips and freezing while the cameral swirls around them and the romantic theme song plays. Them having more sensuality and physicality made such a huge difference and made them feel so much more like a real relationship. The problem is that the show is ultimately too weak to carry their relationship after the initial falling in love phase, meaning they fucked up their first real fight. SMJ forcing LTY to kill Zhenxu is honestly great for their relationship development and makes perfect sense for both of their characters. SMJ is ACTUALLY a morally grey ML who is a walking sea of red flags and it's so understandable that out of concern for LTY, he wants her to know how to kill so she can protect herself. In doing so, he grossly violated the one boundary she set with him since the start. This is not resolved well at all tbh, and was when I started to feel distant from the drama. Her initially asking for space was great, and then not answering when he asked how long was great too, and then he just fucking shows up anyway like a day later?! Without it being on her terms??? With a brief apology and promise to never do it again?? It makes absolutely no sense for LTY to forgive him so quickly. Like we know she's understanding, and she even says it when they argue, that she has been SO understanding of him, his backstory, his world and environment. But understanding does not mean you can forgive someone especially when that person is your PARTNER who just traumatized you for life by violating a crucial boundary. It should've taken a couple episodes at least??? Honestly would've made for so much great emotional tension if she died/they got separated while they were still fighting. It's really just not enough. She needed more time for herself to process and he needed to make it up to her in a way that showed he respected her autonomy by GIVING HER SPACE like she asked!!! Like he gave her a special pillow and now shes just not traumatized??? After that it's just like 12 more episodes of the stupid ass 3 lifecycles shit so we can't even focus on THIS relationship and it's just getting together-dying-getting together-dying again.

This is why I think the 3L3W bs is the ultimate romance killer. Just when you start to actually develop a real relationship, with real points of tension and conflict that could be worked through with character growth, someone fucking dies and they have to start over. Then the tension comes from something stupid like someone forgetting their memories, and they have to fall in love AGAIN but written worse than the first time. By the third time they don't give a shit at alllll anymore and it's like blasted through in 3 episodes. And it doesn't mean that ALL character/relationship growth is thrown out the window, but it means that this growth is severely stunted by stupid fuckery and flashbacks to the first time they fell in love. It's seriously lame as hell to force emotional reactions and sentimentality using amnesia and multiple lifetimes. And it's a serious way to make the audience no longer care when there are just NO stakes. It doesn't matter if they die because they'll just come back! It doesn't matter if they don't remember because they will eventually! SMJ and LTY honestly don't even seem that sad when they lose each other for the billionth time because death just isn't permanent in this world!!! The pacing sucks so much they'll see each other again in 20 minutes! So as a result I, as an avid watcher, who once giggled and coo'd when they did face masks together now feel NOTHING. But hey I chose to watch an idol xianxia 3L3W drama so I'm the clown I guess!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than the romance, the rest of the characters are completely uncompelling and uninteresting in every way without much logic, not worthy of being talked about. The villains are simple but kind of fun because they are so cartoonishly simple, in particular the 8 Palaces are a fun group of villains to hate. Hypocritical and cannibalistic, going off about righteous values while abusing, torturing, SA'ing, etc. feels very true to real life political villains, so it was cathartic to see. The plot for the first 20 episodes is honestly solid. Like it's bad and melodramatic and silly but honestly??? There's something here about how dark and twisted people can be for power and greed. In some ways it felt kinda old school wuxia. I gotta say... the Blood baby breeding mountain was actually the stuff of nightmares and they honestly did a really good job with that episode. I really felt SMJ's horrific discovery, helplessness, rage and despair. The imagery of everyone in chains in a cave and the forced breeding/pregnancy/incest was a level of darkness that I've actually never seen in an idol xianxia c-drama. It was so chilling and felt like commentary on the chained woman in China (if you don't know about this, look up with caution). So I really do have to give the writers some props for taking it somewhere quite dark, and giving it the impact, trauma, and horror it deserved. After the first 20 episodes, the plot is just.... so much worse and makes so little sense. Nothing goes completely off the rails like many other dramas, but it's definitely stupid, fast paced, and nothing really has any weight or severity to it.

All in all, it's a fun time for the most part, the falling in love part is cute, it's funny, the two main leads are likable!! There's some real moments of care and compelling plot!! It's highly watchable!! Is it good??? Absolutely NOT!!!!!! Honestly if you just watch the first 20 episodes and stop there it might be for the best.

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Action-packed revenge tale with FL boss - ML employee romance

I came across this drama through subreddit CShortDramas. Both main actor and main actress were unfamiliar to me. I didn't know what to expect but glad I watched it. It was very good.

What I liked:
1. ML characterisation - He was a street fighter picked up by FL for a revenge plan. I loved watching his character grew over the span of 3 to 5 years. He was also a love-brain. On top of that, FL was a love brain.
2. Romance - Slow building considering boss-employee relationship with FL being the boss. Push & pull dynamics done well and when they kissed, sparks flew. I wish there were more kisses!
3. FL characterisation - I liked that she was physically strong in addition to being smart.
4. Supporting character - Lin Huai was such a fun character. Sweet & smart. ML's sister was such a sweetie.
5. Action - The action scenes were thrilling to watch.
6. Plot twist - Oh wow, I didn't expect that. I also liked that this drama has a refreshing storyline not seen in other vertical dramas.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonist - Horrible person but he had a compelling arc.

Favourite scene
When FL scouted ML in an underground fight

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Low key but satisfying. Touching not maudlin. Interesting & thought provoking

I wasn't sure what to expect from this, but even so, it took me pleasantly off guard , surprising and impressing me.
Do note that this is a slow, almost "no burn" romance for the leads, yet, the relationship is fulfilling as the leads to know each other. There are enough meaningful looks & indications of mutual respect, admiration as well as consideration for each other that ,by the end, you somehow don't feel cheated from not having more.

The strength of the drama lies in the character growth as well as how endearing the leads & second leads characters are.
The leads do a good bit of profound & stirring expounding (though it does feel a bit preachy at times)

The cases deal with sensitive social issues, bullying, abuse, illness, social norms & expectations. There were quite a few that I found very distasteful & more often than not, I found myself not siding with the victims, but still the cases were interesting.

Steller 2nd lead couple's relationship fills in the warm fuzzy romantic gap that you might be missing from the lead's relationship. FYI: Though there is adult intimacy, it is tastefully done off camera.

I was glad to see that Kim Yeo Jin (who has not only been cast as a lawyer before, but also as unpleasant characters) plays a refreshingly different character here than she has done recently (most notably in Vincenzo ).

What kept this from a higher rating :

1) male lead's romantic back story & his ex. was messy in a forced way.(wow, 5 years after the break up & his heart is still frozen in time) & really , the ex was tedious & toxic.
2) Age gaps: too many & too wide (which were a big part of the drama's romantic couple's stories).
3) Getting drunk as an excuse to sleep together. This trope is really unromantic to me.
4) An eye for an eye & doing to others what they have done to you; yet you want others to see you as the righteous victim (?)
5) women get more sympathy & a free pass on things because they are women
6) No one holds the dog daycare accountable for thier mistake AND guy uses them for his dog even after thier mistake !
7) Too lenient & emotionally motivated law that allows people to get sympathy & or free pass for violently acting out badly just because they had a sad story & were distraught at the time.
8) the "good guy" beating up bad guys ;yeah they deserve it, but it's no longer justice & it tarnishes the good guy
9) woman does not take responsibility for agreeing to abuse but puts full blame on significant other
10 )boring inter office politics
11)Times when the lawyers didn't hold to thier own high standards , or used the law as a weapon according to thier own personal world view.
12) A general consensus that allowed, (even endorsed), revenge
13) ethics & laws were broken by the characters that were more than capable of using thier legal genius to deal with the miscreants.

I never consider the OST to be mentionable unless it's annoying, but this drama deserves alot of praise for it's incredible OST. ALL the songs fit So perfectly! It was so gratifying to end each episode with a satisfyingly compatible song that totally meshed with the vibe of the drama. This is serious high praise from me & so I give it a rare 10/10 ! I especially loved KimMuseum's song "Quiet".

Though I only rated it an 8, I still thought/think it's a good worthwhile drama

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