Toxicity taken to the next level

First of all, I am definitely not dropping this one cuz everything about the ML infuriates me!!!!(and I wanna know how it ends...)
Also, Youku is on a roll this year...!!! I mean- most dramas that have been released this year are from Youku, and all of them are are somewhat successful!!!

But back to the drama(10 eps in)- the story is not anything new, though, it is a bit more racy than most chinese dramas.
Just to be clear, (right now) this is not a romantic drama- athough it certainly has mildly sexual content. It depicts a "relationship" between an abuser(ML) and his victim(FL) and illustrates the ways he uses to emotionally and physically abuse her. In my humble opinion, the ML has no redeeming qualities whatsoever- he acts as if his behavior is justified, since he has suffered a trauma in the past ,so that later on, when there is a 180 degrees change in his personality(i guess, I am only halfway through) and he is suddenly nice and sweet, we forgive him- I certainly won't.
Believe it or not, so far, the FL in here is not being overly annoying, stupid or dramatic- that is hard to find these days.
I do care about the characters- I despise the ML from the bottom of my heart, pity the FL- that is probably a sign that the acting is good.

In fact, it's more than great, especially for a short-length drama(sld). Moreover, the cinematography/good production value were another aspects of this drama that surprised me-in a good way. I am so happy that "I don't know who" decided to invest more money in sl dramas so that quality wise, they are on par with the better ones of normal-length dramas. If only it had more episodes coming up!!!

Unpopular opinion (don't hate me, pls): It's not like this drama is a masterpiece, but I was more immersed in this drama + the acting here was more convincing than in some other popular dramas airing right now *cough*...back from the brink..* cough*

Overall, it might be one of the best short-length dramas. I was pleasantly surprised by the cinematography and the acting, but I deducted 2.5 stars because honestly, I think it is irresponsible to release a drama with such a toxic message/plot.
I know that won't be the case, but I still hope that in the end, FL teaches ML a lesson and gets as far away from him as possible.

edit ep 11- the story got a bit more bearable, it is already in the phase where the FL is not a prisoner anymore but is clearly suffering from stockholm syndrome ...

edit after watching all episodes- the plot evolved the way I expected it to, which is kinda disappointing because that man is a monster no matter how heartwrenching lines he says and how sweet he could be at times- he doesn't deserve her. But at least he was depicted as unlikeable throughout (nearly)the whole drama,
I thought when they broke up the first time that that would be it but no they went on and off again .
If that last scene was cut out that would have been the perfect ending for me- well it seemed more logical to me to end it like that .

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a c-drama that ticks all the boxes

I recently rewatched this drama after a year or so and unexpectedly, I still feel the same way about it. I am not gonna bore you with a lengthy essay -here are the things I liked and disliked:

What I liked
→ they changed the setting quite a few times for such a short drama (I mean all the different storybook worlds)
→ it had the right amount of nearly everything : romance, fantasy, a bit of action, comedy, and mystery+ drama
→the fast pacing of the story i.e. the story was not dragging
→ likeable main leads- believe it or not the FL wasn't treated like a rag doll
→ I appreciated that the story revolved around the main couple alone and there were no side characters that stole the spotlight
→ the ending was satisfying (though still predictable)
→ they did not rely on CGI much and that way prevented the drama from looking too cheap

What I didn't like that much
→ maybe too few episodes
→ it was perhaps too simple of a storyline for my taste (no actual development in any sense )
→ it had one of the most annoying tropes (you' ll get what I mean when you watch it- let's just say I am not a fan of " fate brought us together...")
→ the insta love or should I say " from not so friedly strangers to lovers in a couple of days" trope

Overall, this drama definitelly deserves more hype. The production quality was surprisingly good- with so few views on yt, I originally thought this was gonna be one of those "strikingly low budget" dramas that look like the cameramen would get a better shot using an iphone camera. Yes, it is not super complex(because it has 12 ep),however, is one of the few dramas that do not have scenes that make you cringe, feature a relatively healthy relationship, have a bit of every genre, and have you eagerly waiting for what is going to happen in the next episode- it was a pleasant surprise . Give it a try!!!

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