losing steam despite picking up pace

ep9 - honestly, not a lot to review here, but it felt like a relatively filler episode with a single big reveal (the identity of real baek sa-eon's accomplice) that has already been pretty obvious for 1-2 episodes. i'm not as taken with the sweet romance between heejo and saeon. i rather think the show could've benefited from allowing the phone calls/suspense to continue for a little longer - without them, the romance has lost its spicy edge and i find myself missing the high voltage and crackling chemistry.

ep10 - oh dear, where to begin. firstly, i'm glad the show has pivoted back to the thriller scenes, but the reveals are obvious and the subsequent scenes play into my expectations as well. we're not here for the car chases, the physical fights. we're here for the sheer unpredictability of what happens, for all kinds of crazy developments, and the sizzling romance, but i can't help but feel barely any of these are present in this episode.

- the threeway confrontation between park dojae/real baek sae-on/swapped baek sae-on sae-on is long and besides confirming park's motives, offers nothing new. there's not any real tension there, either, since the outcome is obvious: (1) kidnapper gets away, (2) heejo and saeon survive, and (3) park also survives (though it rather feels his role is done, and his being alive or not has ceased to impact the show meaningfully beyond serving up pure plot devices such as location tracking of the kidnapper.)

- the plot holes are getting harder and harder to ignore. look, none of us who enjoy the show give a flying fuck about technicalities, but the story has to make "in-story" sense. the suspension of disbelief is gone with all the glaring issues at hand: (1) how did the kidnapper and park dojae initiate contact and establish their working relationship in the first place? (2) you're telling me real baek sa-eon, at what, age 12? DROVE A TRUCK and crashed the kiddos? (3) just HOW MANY TIMES can heejo get kidnapped, like, we are REALLY pushing it here even in makjang-adjacent. can you believe that the preview + teaser actually showed heejo in TWO different kidnappings in the span of ONE episode??? the first is more forgivable, as she has no reason to be wary of dojae, but the second really pushes it. homegirl really gets pushed down a cliff in public AND goes on to get caught in a family gathering by the guy she knows is her kidnapper. it's safe to say girlie has no sense of self-preservation.

(also, did heejo get away from her 2 car kidnappings in the same way? lol that also feels a bit like lazy writing.)

some other disappointments:

- real baek sa-eon's mother doesn't seem to be further involved in the grand scheme of things. despite her academic background and seeming cunning, she simply plays fully into the blindly loving mother trope; it's a shame and waste of character development.
- the romance has become so.... vanilla. there's nothing wrong with a cheesy ass cute romance (especially with an actor like yoo yeon sook hardcarrying the cringe), BUT i signed the hell up for this show because of the spicy romance and the tension in their relationship. that spark has been replaced with warm fuzzy feelings and i miss the fire.
- the press conference reveal of heejo's identity fell flat for me. it's a well done scene, sure, and i suppose it's a fair move under those circumstances, but it doesn't really have that gut punch factor. maybe it's because my suspension of disbelief has already gone out the window in light of recent events in the story, lol.

HOWEVER there are still some (sparse) silver linings:

- swapped sa-eon is the one that sent the dna report!!! this is the single twist in this episode that i didn't see coming and it (1) makes so much sense and (2) adds to story/character development - THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT. i love that it shows his scheming side and the small slice of selfishness of wanting heejo to be his wife.
- in-a's character is pleasantly surprising. she's shrewd and she's here to stir shit up. she's also here to repent her past ways instead of being another evil stepsis. i want to see more development of that sisterly bond.


in short, i def hoped for more. at least they're tying up some ends and it bodes well for the wrapping up of the series with only 2 more episodes left. i just wish they'd maintained the intensity and cleverness of the earlier episodes, not to mention the iconic scenes abound in each and every one of them. it's safe to say i won't be replaying the recent episodes like i did for ep 1-4.

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So much better than the novel

I loved every episode of this drama, but this is perhaps my favourite episode. All the big reveals happened in this episode, though we have yet to confirm the MLs relationship with the Chairman. I really hope they stick to the novel in this aspect, all the hints in this episode and episode 9 suggest that the relation between the ML and the Chairman will remain the same as in the novel. (The only reason I read the novel to begin with is because of the hiatus that one week 😅, I couldn't wait 2 weeks for the next episode).I love how the drama followed all the main plot points of the novel and made them even better in the drama. The ending of this episode was my favourite part despite how sad it was I have no doubt that Hong Hee Ju is alive. The end of this episode deviates from the novel. In fact at this point the main plot of the novel has finished and this deviation made the story so much better. I was wondering where they would go for the last 2 episodes since everything has been revealed. I love how the ML revealed to the world that Hong Hee Ju is his wife (that is the main reason why this is my favourite episode so far).

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I'M OFFICALLY MENTALLY UNSTABLE

first of all don't read this if you haven't watch ep 10 yet cuz you'll get a lil scared the ep starts with the most cutest scene they are spending there life like a cute ordinary couple right and boom just a dream yay (traumatized) so this is where it starts all the blackmailing things starts now the whole episode was like literally about the blackmailer and the sweetest male lead scenes were just a dream? i'm giving a 9 stars cuz the kiss was worth it anyway what was that ending bruh??? and the worst of all not even a ep 11 preview they just left us abandoned to suffer that's so cruel let me tell you don't watch this until all eps are out and yk what i'm most scared of rn this masterpiece ending and it's really going to end in the next week i'm done idk what i'll do after this show enddssssssssssssss a literal masterpiece

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