This review may contain spoilers
Did I watch a different show?
Did I watch the same show as everyone else singing their praises about this? Or did I watch a different version of the show that was badly written, badly acted and where the main couple both as a couple and as individuals separately were annoying AF?I wanted to start with positives, but I genuinely could not come up with one. I tried.
Now onto what I didn't like. I don't normally notice these things but the color scheme was very bleak, so visually I already did not like it even before getting into the story. But not to worry: the story was bad as well; I didn't like the superpower aspect right down to the first scene and how it was handled; I didn't like that it took so unnecessarily long for her to take action, how she let the guy slap her, the way she talks under her breath, I generally don't like the way FL was written/portrayed, but more on that later. I hated the screeching gay character, that was so hideous, unnecessary and insulting. It's especially tone deaf to make a gay character so hysterical given that not too long ago homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder. I didn't like the casual mixing of a serial killer subplot with a romantic comedy, like why? Because it tries to do multiple things at once, the show doesn't do any of them well, and the story as a result feels hollow. Oh and it has poop jokes.
I didn't like the three main characters, I don't know if it is down to the writing, directing or acting, but this show has stained the actors for me, so much so that I don't want to watch anything they are in. I was watching Our Blooming Youth because I thought the story would be interesting and the only way I could do that was by skipping PHS scenes, but it turns out that that show is also badly written and I dropped it anyway.
Starting with FL; I realized the reason I dislike her so much is because she is the product of the fetishization of young girls; everything about her says teenager: from the way she dresses, her voice, the way she mumbles, her posture, the way she interacts with the men around her and they even give her a child's desk at the office. The ML is the stereotypical eccentric rich guy doing eccentric rich guy things, who again acts like a teenager and that is all there is to him. Both of these characters are uninteresting and I don't understand why they would fall in love, but then again I'm also not interested in why they've fallen in love. SML only exists so FL can project her fantasies onto him, also he has one facial expression throughout the show and that is of someone who is perpetually trying to work out a difficult equation.
Genuinely I don't understand the praise this show gets. It might be the worst thing I have ever seen and I have seen The Room, at least that was (unintentionally) funny.
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How bad writing ruined a show
This drama had everything going for it; the premise, the acting, the music, the visuals, they were all really good, except for the most essential part of any drama; the writing.The drama starts really strong; the story is quickly set up for our main characters to meet; a tale of a cursed crown prince and a disgraced noblewoman; sounds promising, right? Well, it turns out it isn't. The show sets the entire thing up at the very beginning, throws even more plot points in an overcrowded story in the middle, and resolves everything only at the very end. Which makes for a story that is very quick in it's set up, very packed and unsatisfying in it's final and a middle where the story does not move forward. I compare the middle of the story to a clogged sink or toilet, I'm sorry if that is a crude comparison, but it's the only appropriate one; there is just too much stuff thrown in there and it won't move. You can skip from about episode 10 up to episode 19 and I'm pretty sure you would not miss anything of importance.
And that's quite frustrating because I think with the intriguing premise the drama had potential, everything was shot beautifully, the historical costumes, setup and the music made it very atmospheric. I wasn't familiar with FL, but I think she did very well, not really a big fan of ML (hot take, I know), because I have PTSD from Do Bong Soon, which I deeply dislike (another hot take), but he was okey.
I would have liked to know more about Byeokcheon and the Queen, that was very rushed, despite being very important plot points. In summary, the ideas were good, the execution was bad.
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