Ran out of steam

This Drama started brightly and as a fan of Shen Yue I was hoping for good things. Sadly, it fell flat rather quickly.

In her EXCELLENT review
https://mydramalist.com/profile/8862033/reviews

Sandy Prater said in part:

"As for cons, the biggest is the script. At times it wants to take itself very seriously and tries to set up moments of intense realism/realistic issues but then uses the most ridiculous and fantastical scenarios to "solve" them. The conflicts are repetitive and (without revealing any spoilers) don't really show much growth in the characters - just a dull acceptance from the characters themselves or those around them, which I don't believe was the intended takeaway."

That 'dull acceptance' bit was a perfect summation. Two especially egregious examples spring to mind. The "geeky girl" of the 4 was treated VERY badly over several episodes (~14-17) by both the school authorities and her friends, but there was no proper resolution. In another instance, in about ep 15 the 'spoiled princess' deleted her BF's entire photo collection of sevreal years in a fit of infantile jealous pique and, at least by the time I dropped at 19, she had NEVER apologised, nor seen any need to.
Shen Yue's own role was a bit disappointing as her romantic fixation was one I found troubling. My wait for another Shen Yue Drama I can truly enjoy goes on

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I beg to differ

After reading the other reviews of this Drama I was hopeful that this might FINALLY be a C Drama free of the patronising patriarchal propaganda that poisons almost every C Drama I've tried to watch. Sadly, it was not. I stuck it out for 10 episodes, but by then I'd had enough - ESPECIALLY of the way the young rookie ML took over the FL's life

Other reviewers have praised this as a realistic office Drama, but I can' agree. The ML is a rookie, very young AND an intern on probation, but despite that, within a month not only is he quite insanely possessive of his boss, he's also compltely forgotten the concept of "personal space" If any PA physically intruded on their boss like that in any of the offices I know, that PA would not last long.

This is a 35 episode Drama, yet instead of taking its time to develop the romantic relationship, we already see the ML portrayed as the physical saviour of the FL in multiple occasions within the first 5 episodes. By episode 10, we're also "treated" to the sight of HIM telling her how to do her job. It's this which was the last straw for me, because it's SO depressingly common in C Dramas - no matter how skilled and competent a woman is at her job, she ALWAYS needs a man to teach her - in this case a man barely out of college and with zero prior work experience at all.

If you're after a Drama featuring a good looking OTP, then by all means try this one. If you want a Drama that gives token lip service to the idea of female empowerment while perpetuating Chinese chauvinism, this Dram would be PERFECT. But if you want Drama that ACTUALLY celebrates independent women who don't need to be protected and tutored by males, look elsewhere.

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Kawai - WHY?

I started this Drama for Ishihara Satomi, and she's the reason I finished it. Her character was SUPER annoying, but she managed to avoid making her unlikeable. It helped that there were flashes of personal growth for the character over the 10 episodes of the Drama. The same was emphatically NOT true of the AWFUL "Kawai" - a character who was utterly pointless from the beginning of episode 1 to the end of episode 10. a 1-D character with a zero-D growth arc. The character was a "kawaii" as rotten fish, and MUCH less appealing. I had to FF most of his scenes, many of which were supposed to be funny (as was his 'I want to PUNCH it!' smile). Without the nightmare of that character, I could have gone to a 7 for this Drama, maybe

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The core concept was appealing, and in the end, it was not a terrible watch.

First, the flaws.
(a)I'm guessing the Drama's source is a manga of some sort, because the lead male character was totally flat. It's as if he LOST a dimension when moving from paper to screen. Only in the very final scene, as the credits are starting, do we see ANY character growth at all.
(b) Every episode's story was effectively EXACTLY the same. Just as well there were only three, because it was very definitely, "seen one, seen 'em all"

Now, the saving grace

The female lead was not only super-kawaii, she super smart. SHE was the brains of the outfit and the show made sure this was VERY obvious. "Cute smart girl makes moron male cop look good" is not a formula that would even be imagined in Korea, where it seems that it is forbidden by law for the word "genius" to be used of a female lead (unless the male lead is a "super genius")

Also, I felt that for a very young actor, Ms Himabe did very well with the role. HER character was given some depth, we definitely saw both good and less-good sides of her personality, and of course, she was unapologetically the heroine and star.

For that refreshingly pro-female POV , and for the fun of watching a smart, cute female lead, this Drama scraped into the pass range.

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Coercion & Control != romance

I really tried to like this Drama, which is why I stuck it out for 8/24. But by then I had had more than enough of the ML physically dragging the FL around, locking her in the house, ignoring her views on EVERYTHING, taking control of everything and doing NOTHING for her.

This is a depressingly common setup in C Dramas, godlike ML who can literally do no wrong, and doesn't see anything amiss in treating the FL as his property, a vassal from whom unquestioning instant obedience is his right, and whom he can physically coerce if she doesn't give him the slavish submission that he deserves. It's Tsundere gone nuts, and if that mindset persists through 8 episodes of a 24 episode Drama, it's time to ditch.

If you LIKE the idea of a man dragging a woman around like a plaything, then you might enjoy this Drama. If, on the other hand, you kind of like the idea that a romantic partnership might have at least some SHRED of equity or balance, then this Drama is not for you.

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THE HERO POLICEMAN ... oh, and bit parts for his fire/paramedic lackeys

I started this show for 2 reasons: Gong Seung Yeon, and the advertised concept of a show about the emergency services working together. GSY was great (and so was Ji Woo), but the premise turned out to be a lie.
Instead of a show about the 3 services working together, we got a show about one 'rogue' detective using the fire and paramedic services as his personal investigative lackeys. Openly derisive of the value of their work from the start of episode 1, he did everything. Which is just as well, because EVERY episode of the 4 I watched turned into an investigation for the police. Not what was advertised and not what I signed up for.

The other BIG problem I had was with the "Big Bad". I am not a fan of multi-season shows, and when I saw the "Big Bad" in this first series, I rolled my eyes. Sure enough, I see he's in S2 as well, and that was the kiss of death for me as far as my watching this show went.

That's a bit of a shame, because KRW was doing well in his role, and it was great seeing SHJ and GSY together. Had the show actually BEEN about collaboration, perhaps with each emergency service taking the lead in different episodes, and had the writers not stuck on a superfluous "Big Bad", it could have been a fun watch.

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I stuck with this Drama for 10 episodes because of a promising secondary (or tertiary) couple, but the unusually consistent tone of the comments warned me that it did not get better. In the 10 episodes I endured, the male lead was nothing but a bullying brutish stalker who grabbed the FL by the wrist whenever he felt like dragging her somewhere. That sort of behaviour is not 10 years late, more like 10 centuries. It was simply "I want you, therefore you will be mine, your opinion is irrelevant, and I will phgysically manipulate you, bully lie and maneuver to make sure I get what I want" UGH!

The kicker was learning of the reason why the Drama has a "tragedy" tag. I'm SO glad I read that spoiler, because rather than spoiling the Drama, it confirmed it's a merde mountain and saved me bothering with the last 29 episodes. Do yourself a favour, and skip this one.

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You keep using that word - I do not think it means what you think it means

After dropping "my little happiness" having watched just 4/28 because of the toxic nature of what it portrayed as romantic, I decided to give the next C drama romcom on my watchlist 8/26. I dropped it for the same reasons that I dropped "my little happiness". I understand the tsundere trope - the cold emotionally distant male lead who bullies and hurts the female lead because inside he's a kindergarten kid yanking the ponytail of the girl he's got a crush on. I don't love the trope, but I understand it. I can put up with it too if the bullying behaviour is not rewarded. If the tsundere male lead first has to learn and appreciate that he is being a jerk and modify his behaviour before the female lead develops romantic feelings for him, I'm fine with that. It is, if you like, a redemption arc - people can change and positive character change should be rewarded.

What I loathe is when calculating, controlling and bullying behaviour is rewarded by having the female lead "fall in love" with the bully not AFTER he changes his behaviour but despite or possibly even BECAUSE OF his manipulative mistreatment of her. That is exactly what happened in the first quarter of this drama, and that's why I dropped it. He systematically abused his power and authority over her, singled her out for consistently malicious treatment, and denigrated her competence. The result of this mistreatment? She developed feelings for him. BARF!

Another really troubling element of this trope, one that was very clearly on display and this drama is that the one thing women are not allowed to be is - competent.


The female lead left a good job in Beijing because of standing up for herself and refusing to be abused. She comes to a smaller town, where her resume and skills should make her an automatic hire, but the first quarter of the drama shows the male lead to breaking her down and painting her as consistently incompetent until she admits that she is in fact incompetent and needs the male lead to clean up her mess. This is a really, REALLY toxic message, and its almost universal in 9/10 Chinese romcoms. There is nothing remotely romantic cute or appealing about this often repeated message in C drama romcoms. I hate dubbed dramas, so it's really saying something that as bad as the dubbing was in this drama (and it was AWFUL), it was the very least of my problems with it. I am pleased that that I stuck it out for more than 1/4 of its entire length in order to make a fair assessment of just how misogynistic, chauvinistic and regressive its message really was. The quest for non-toxic chocolate box romances goes on.

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Fake amnesia gets the girl?

Apparently, the moral of this story is that a woman who wants to succeed on her own terms and not be owned by her boyfriend will end finding the love of her life in the form of a man who fakes amnesia and drags her to court all in an attempt to woo and win her. And that was just the first quarter of the Drama, as much as I could stomach. The ML was such a slimy loach in the bizarre and outlandish way he set out to win the woman he allegedly fell for at first sight that I checked the final episode to confirm if ihs douchebaggery succeeded. It did, which made me VERY glad that I did not try to wade through all 46 episodes, but settled for 12, enough to see one of the worst first quarters of any Drama I've started and more than enough to realise I couldn't take anymore

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He's just a git

I really WANTED to like this Drama, but after 4/11 more than a third done, I had to drop it. I found the male lead character utterly unsympathetic. The synopsis described him as socially ill at ease, but he came across as just a plain garden variety git, so obsessed with the importance of his art that he actually viewed himself as being the centre of everyone else's universe, regardless of his lectures about equality. Throw in a "date and break up on my command" premise that was too ott for me even as a fan of offbeat J romocoms, and this one went in the bin, with no regrets.

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Only for masochists

Here are three ways to spend time that are INFINITELY more fun than watching this Drama:

Floss a lion's mouth.

Handwash an angry cat.

Listen to 60 hours of traditional Chinese opera sung off-key.

Actually, doing all 3 together would STILL be way more fun than watching this Drama. I started it, and FFd through it to the mind-numbing end, for Wang Ji Hye and Hahm Eun Jung. Ms Hahm's storyline even had promise as a single Mum falling for a single Dad. But there's zero credible character development in this Drama. Horrible characters (75%) are REALLY horrible, until suddenly they're not, around the 80 episode mark. Ditto the useless sad sack dishrag art teacher, who actually remains hopeless well past episode 100. The last 20 episodes give clear proof that it's not only the VIEWERS' brains that get turned to mush by prolonged exposure to this drivel, it happened to the WRITER too. Save yourself pain and stupefied frustration and skip this one

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Hurts so good

This Drama was WAY outside my usual preference and I watched it for two reasons: Reason Nr 1 - Mitsushima;and Reason Nr 2 - Hikari . Together they spell AWESOME. She just blew me away in this, a stunning display of her acting prowess. She was ably backed up by a phenomenal performance from Suzuki Rio playing her daughter.

There were no bad performances in this Drama but the Hikari-Rio pair OWNED it 100% The core storyline was a bit predictable, especially the 2 key plot points involving Shiori in both the tragedy and the reddemption, and the side story of the doctor and her husband divorcing felt a bit like filler. Despite that, I'm still giving it 10/10 for the sheer rw emotional power exerted by the great acting. The park bench conversation between the 2 sisters early in the final episode had me bawling like a baby, and impressed me with the understated intelligece of the dialogue. As is so often the case with Dramas whose dialogue wows me, I was left wnodering "if the subs were this powerful, what must it be like in Japanese?" As a hardcore died in the wool brony, I urge anyone who wants to see how truly GREAT acting can make the ordinary extraordinary, WATCH THIS.

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Quiet, low-key perfection

I loathe & shun supernatural/fantasy & have a visceral (ha!) aversion to graphic violence, so finding Dramas that hit my sweet spot is tough. MLN was outside my usual fare, but it was intelligent, thoughtful, grounded and stayed true to itself. Matter-of-factly downbeat, It didn't glorify misery or pain as artistic or 'worthy', but more important, it nailed the landing by not tacking on a jarring fairytale happy ending.
In fact, because the Drama stayed so true to itself, the ending could be seen as far from happy, but it was tonally perfect for the Drama. "5 minutes a day" summed it up, and while I wouldn't rewatch it, I'm glad I strayed from my usual fare and savoured this delight.

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