I liked it, but not for the story.

The story could've been 24 eps or less. The plot was very dragged out, and the whole thing with Mr Lin bored me to tears on top of the ex husband plot. For a lawyer that lady had some serious issues regarding the law. Though she didn't start out doing anything wrong she dove head first into crazy, and made some awful choices.
What I disliked:
I was not a fan of how long the story dragged, how they wouldn't let the stupid app go and kept trying to shoehorn it into the story. I wasn't a fan of the grieving mother of the coma kid, or the glasses coworker who was into her seemingly because she replied on the app. Like her personality was grief and rage, and she had nothing going for her. How that dude kept his job is beyond me too. The antagonists whole reason for revenge is pathetic as well. A traumatic childhood doesn't grant you permission to behave this way. MLs younger days sucked, but you don't see him framing people for fraud and sending his wife to prison for literally no reason. Like he had absolutely zero reason to involve her, or send her to jail. He specifically chose to do that to the mother of his child and then got an attack on conscience later. What a terrible person. I would've let him jump.
What I liked:
I adored FL and her friend, they were always there for eachother and were so supportive and kind to eachother and to others.
I also loved the ML and his best friend. It's rare to see a ML (never mind two) so open, emotionally vulnerable, and the opposite of the usual toxic hardman CEO trope. I've seen a few reviews saying the ML wasn't believable in a hetero romance, like he was too soft, and they could only see him playing in a BL. But I think that says a lot about the toxicity of the industry, and misogynistic gender norms, and the fact that people can't see a secure, emotionally available, kind man as a love interest to a woman. He was wonderful. A bit childlike (not childish), totally supportive, kind, hard working, and successful as well. He was a walking green flag, and exactly what FL needed after everything she'd been through. Many would've walked away from someone dealing with serious past relationship trauma, but he just comforted her in any way he could, and waited until she was ready and felt safe.
I swear when the main four were having breakfast and his bestie was crying at the table, that broke me a little. Bestie knew everything they were going through and he was so happy for them and it's just such a lovely little scene.
Even the part at the bar when FL is telling ML about the coworkers son and she's having a cry and he's just crying quietly beside her. All those wonderful little vulnerable moments just kept me invested when the main story itself wasn't particularly engaging.
Oh, and FLs laugh can solve world hunger. It's gorgeous.

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I am enraged at everyone in this thing. Enraged.
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I knew going in that this was a massive depress fest but I kept getting suggested it on viki, youtube, and tiktok. So I thought I'd give it a chance. Usually when I hate a drama it's from maybe halfway through and I rage watch to the end. But I was hate watching this about a quarter way through. I am compelled to finish things I start, so yes I did suffer through the whole thing.
The acting was actually fine, the cast did the best with this awful story. That's what the two stars are for.
The crown prince ML1 was a psychopath from beginning to end. Part of me wondered if he might change or grow or show any remorse whatsoever. But no. He had no empathy for anyone. Sure he cried and screamed a lot but he was dead behind the eyes (hopefully that was acting). He had the concubine before he even went to Xi, and she was convinced even then he cared for her. He didn't need a beard at that point so why the hell did he gaslight her so early on? He ruined her long before he ever needed a shield to protect the princess. Then he goes to Xi, targets the princess and manipulates and lies to her in order the murder almost everyone she cares about and destroy her entire world. And he's just like damn I wish you hadn't seen me behead your grandad, but I'll make you marry me anyway, lol.
I've seen people say no matter how awful he was he did love her. Have to disagree there. As far as I can see he didn't love anyone, he was just fixated on her. Maybe he had a bit of a crush before he murdered her family. But I find it hard to believe that someone would actually do that to a person they loved, without being completely destroyed by it. Start to finish he didn't care if she died even, he only cared that she not forget him. He didn't want her love, he said it himself he only wanted her to not be indifferent. Her losing her memory of him was what really hurt him. He was a narcissist, and I hate that he lived. Even with the memory loss he still knew he destroyed her entire home, and most of her family. And he still had the audacity to ask her what he really did wrong. SIR. He forgot the double agent status, but he knew he destroyed Xi. That's enough my dude. But to him that wasn't reason enough, because he had no concept of actually loving and caring about someone other than himself.
The other Gu ML2 was also a truly awful person, who manipulated the princess from even earlier on, and in some ways he was even worse at the beginning, because he had even himself convinced that he was a good guy. When she got her memory back, and then ML2 was killed, how the hell could she even look at him, never mind cradle his corpse. She knew what he'd done at that point, and still somehow felt bad for him. He targeted her not once but twice, and completely betrayed her twice. He knew her family for years before the red wedding. When he came back and knew she'd forgotten, he should've walked away, not lied AGAIN and made a conscious decision to betray her even more. He even pretended to be ML1 just to live out his sad little fantasy.
A'Du was such a disappointment as well. Her betrayal came later, but it was also terrible. She knowingly let FL go get forcefully married to the psychopath, when she had all the facts, and also let her leave with ML2. Wow.
One reason I decided to give this a chance was because people were saying FL was a strong female character, but I think we watched different shows because she was the worst. Rather than obliviate herself she should've killed him right then. Fine okay she thought the fall would also kill her, okay. But when he abused her every day, emotionally, psychologically traumatised her, kill him. Or if she's afraid that would harm Xi, she could've killed herself. Definitely when she finally remembered everything she should've stabbed him properly, and failing that killed herself. I get that she's dealing with some serious trauma, but she never displayed any of the strength I've seen other reviews mention. She leaned on her family (nice, good), leaned on a variety of psychopaths (bad times), trusted literally anyone she made eye contact with. Not matter how often she was f*cked over she was like "I'm sure they had a reason". I don't understand her at all. She fluctuated from an imbecile who's never seen a boat (there was literally a river in the first episode in Xi, how has she never seen a boat), and believing everything anyone says to her, to solving crimes with her fiance, deducing all the sneaky palace happenings etc., and then suddenly back to having no idea who her enemies are. She wasn't strong, she was just a f*cking moron. She just accepted everything that was happening to her. Except for a few moments of resistance and flailing around, she never really made much fuss. She was just noisy about doing basically nothing. Then at the end she offs herself in front of two armies, like that's the solution. HOW IS THAT THE SOLUTION?! THAT WOULD NEVER WORK
Side note: How long does it take for someone to fall off a building? I know slow motion is a thing but honestly that was too much. Dude regained his entire lost memory thing, and A'Du had time to saddle a whole horse while she was still slowly falling.

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I adore CEW and I've wanted to see him play something other than the role he keeps getting of "cold yet super attractive male lead who only warms up for the female lead". He played a slightly different role in Top Management so I knew he was more capable than many give him credit for. He was amazing in this. Everyone knows how good KNG is, and I love LDH so I was a massive fan of our leads, and you can't deny CEW held his own with the others really well. And I mean I don't speak Italian, but it sounded legit to me. They didn't try to make him less good looking (couldn't if they tried), but they managed to make that the least interesting thing about him.
The story was middling, which is fine, I don't need a masterpiece. I'd heard people say they took the webtoon apart and stuck it back together in a mess, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was still mostly cohesive (but then I don't know how the original is). The plot was very predictable. I mean as soon a you mention a sibling reappearing we all know he's going to be a problem, but I think the did it pretty well even though they were really just going through the motions to get them to the point where CEW has to stab him. I'm wondering why at the end though KNG and LDH walk away to give him privacy when he's just gotten a demon arm to the torso, like should he not go to hospital? Or are they leaving him there till part two? And I imagine we were supposed to be mildly surprised to see the girl with the bob in the demon cave, but she'd been pinging KNGs demon sensors since day one and she was a sneaky little instigator with her poor friend too.
The cast were fab for me as I said, and the secondary characters were medium levels of fleshed out. I wouldn't mind seeing some more backstory on our former priest, now secretary. But we're unlikely to get it. I assume part two will give us the deets on KG, his "brother" and LDHs history, and the big secret which led to her death.
The sets were nice, the effects weren't great. It almost felt like the spent their money using effects but then forgot they'd need further work to make them actually look good, so any cgi just looks sort of half done.
Loved the music.
Can I just say again, thank you casting director for trusting CEW with this! Fingers crossed this opens him up to further work with a bit of variety.

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Just finished rewatching this. Honestly some of the best acting from a FL I've seen in kdramas. This show is depressing af, but sometimes you need that, and FL had me distraught and grieving for her throughout. I love that she vented her hurt and pain, but I also appreciate that she didn't go full revenge mode at the expense of her own morality and dignity. The whole point of her is that she's a genuinely kind and decent woman, and if she'd truly gone dark it would've been a let down, and wouldn't be true to her character.
ML was terrible and selfish in a realistic way and I have searched high and low and have yet to find a drama that can give me the pure satisfaction I feel in that scene where he gets the photos developed and just sobs in the street fully realising the harm he's caused himself. Exactly as his mother said, he had no idea what he'd cost himself, and no idea what he'd lost. Through his own vanity, fear, and selfishness he destroyed every shred of happiness he had, and noone felt bad for him.
Yoo Ri was wonderfully acted too. I like that she wasn't just a mistress or an illegitimate child, she was a fully fleshed character, who behaved selfishly and victimised herself to such a degree she thought she was being noble at times, and weaponised her trauma as an excuse for her behaviour. She was toxic and I'm glad that even though they gave her enough trauma to explain her broken moral compass, they did it in a way where it stayed completely unforgivable. Noone chose her, noone forgave her actions, and she stayed miserable. She did officially end things with him, but that was after knowing he didn't really choose her even when his marriage was over, and he was only with her out of pity, and she finally realised that was meaningless. I'm a petty asshole so it delights me that the people who did terrible things were miserable at the end.
All the coworkers were wonderful too, I cared just as much about their stories as the main one, and they were all realistic and acted beautifully. Honestly whoever casted this drama, well done. The writing too was wonderful. There were no empty spaces, and every conversation felt real purposeful.
If this were a fluffier drama they would've given FL a new love interest, or hinted at one as a real F U to the husband, but I'm so glad they didn't. She told him when she gave him the papers that for 10 years he had been the most important person in her life, and how they finished the drama shows she is focused on making herself the most important person in her life, which I love. She has a wonderful support system, and can live happily, and he can die alone.

Liked: This drama was full of strong female characters, who were totally realistic. They were strong, but not caricatures of empowerment. They struggled and suffered but found strength in themselves and in eachother.
The acting was phenomenal from everyone involved.
The pacing and the story itself was depressingly real.
Disliked: Honestly nothing.

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It was fine, but I couldn't watch it again

The main couple are sweet enough together, though she needs to put a lot more work into their relationship, are he carries it completely. He makes all the effort, physically and emotionally. Like he hops on a plane to be with her for the evening after she heads off without so much as a text to let him know. She forgot, but the forgetting itself is the issue, as it shows how little she values him. He is a constant in her life that she takes for granted and he deserves better. Like how many failed proposals does it take to realise she doesn't value his time?
The tennis player was just a stalker and if I didn't have a compulsion to finish everything I watch he would've made me drop the show. He was super creepy right up to the last scene, and I can't fathom why he was allowed to come to the wedding. Therapy and a restraining order for that guy. FL was only likeable sometimes, and her friends were pretty poor. MLs friends were wonderful. The boss was a pervert, and an awful boss.
I set the rewatch value super low because that tennis player was painful to watch. I skipped everything with him and the pervert boss from about episode 19 onwards because they both made me so so uncomfortable. Those two characters are not safe to be around and I couldn't force myself to watch them stalk FL again.

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Honestly the story was pretty dragged out, and there was basically no change from episode 1 to episode 11 for ourain couple. They just lied and kept secrets from eachother for basically no reason, while having great sex. That's it, that's the plot.
The a ting was surprisingly decent, and I have a feeling the cast did what they could with a mediocre story. The two leads were a little stupid, and bad communicators in general, but it was believable I guess, and their chemistry was nice.
But one very notable plus for me is during the leads first real sex scene, they quickly confirm they are sober, making sober decisions, and consenting. Then in the next clip on the bed we again reaffirm that at any point our protagonist can withdraw consent if his fiance does something our lead doesn't want. Just consent, and respect for your partner when you are both quite vulnerable. The bare minimum but basically a unicorn in most BLs, so I appreciate that they added that in. Even if they didn't trust eachother and had some really shitty behavior, they at least respected boundaries.
The music was really quite good, and the musician plot really allowed some really lovely sounding music. Of course is it even a Thai BL if hald the cast aren't engineering students? I really didn't care about the second lead couple, but the third couple were kind of cute.

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Who needs enemies tbh

Spoilers Below because I am enraged and IDGAF
Honestly this had potential, but once we started to see the most toxic friends in any drama I've watched really start ruining the entire relationship I just got disappointed and then enraged.
Like the leads would've been a couple a year earlier if that cousin hadn't stuck her nose in. Then after traumatising Jin, she proceeds to make a club dedicated to ruining their relationship before it even started. I'm not sure how their friends convinced themselves they were helping. They drugged Bbomb, lied every time they spoke to either lead, and manipulated them both constantly. Like every interaction they had was calculated for months. They even got Mark to pretend to be interested in Jin FOR WHY? All it did was erode the trust that was building between them. Jin is a known doormat and people pleaser, so they all know he's going to do whatever that dude asks, because he's his senior and pushy as hell. They engineer conflict and cause so much emotional trauma. IF THEY JUST LEFT THEM THE HELL ALONE everything would've been okay. If the so called friends hadn't filled them with so much mistrust and fear, Jin would've felt comfortable so much sooner.
I feel bad for the actor for Song at this point. The whole way through I was trying to shake my hatred of his face after TharnType, but he did himself no favours here, only cemented himself further as a secondary character who can't be trusted. Only reason I trusted him in Love Stage was because I didn't recognise him at first.
This was a solid 6/7 out of 10 for the first few episodes but my rage at the friends knocked it right down to a generous 4. I didn't even want to keep watching by ep8 because I hated them all so much, but I am compelled to finish all dramas.
WHY did everyone constantly talk about what a player Jin was? I saw absolutely no evidence of this. When he was single he flirted with folks, but when in a relationship he was totally loyal (just a slow communicator, not a bad one, he was honest and clear, even when he was confused). If everybody wasn't calling him trash every few seconds things would've gone smoothly.
Also WHO PUT THE CONDOM IN BBOMBS POCKET YOU ABSOLUTE ASSHOLES?!

Good: The two leads if you isolate them from everyone else. The music was fine.
Bad: Every other person on screen. Toxic and dangerous as hell. Unfortunately I can't set a score of zero for rewatch value, so it gets a 1. I didn't even want to finish it, never mind watch it again.

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Not your usual BL

Fair warning if you're looking for the steamy BL with all the tropes this isn't for you.
If you're looking for a gorgeously acted heartbreak, ding ding ding!
Thoughts after finishing:
This one will stick with me. It was beautiful, the long stretches of dialogue, the sets, the lighting, the music, the acting, the story itself. Immaculate vibes. And yes I am currently ovulating so my emotions are all over the place, but any other day of the month this show would still have had me bawling my eyes out.
I hate Mol. I get that the person she loved didn't love her, that's awful, and she has a lot of emotional trauma because of his death and the part she played. But the fact that she first hurt her child by sending him away, then replaced her dead ex-husband with her son was truly horrific and takes away any pity I would otherwise have for her. The damage she's done to her sons mental health, first by creating this horrible dependency where he has no freedom to choose his life, then her homophobia, her complete denial publicly that she even has a son, and her manipulation of Inn to further hurt everyone around her. It's just so cruel. She knows exactly how much they are hurting, and yet her only concern is herself.
Wang is by far the most mature person on the show and he proved that over and over. My heart breaks for him and I wish somewhere in storyland he went to therapy, healed, abandoned his mother, and found someone worthy of him.
My heart also hurts for Inn, but less so. He's clearly got a lot of self loathing around his sexuality, fear of going against the grain, self hatred for the loss of the person he loved, and heaps of guilt (both warranted and unwarranted). But it makes me so angry that he acquiesced to Mols cruel demands. Maybe if he thought Wang was too young, or his feelings were confused, and he was muddying up his love for Siam with that of Wang. But he knew how he felt, but was too much of a coward to act on it. Like okay maybe 20 years ago when he was still out in the world the fear of societal pressure got to him. But not here. The man is in self imposed exile, there's literally noone to judge him. He doesn't even have internet. Those few steps across the bridge are probably the bravest thing he's ever done, and I'm so happy they showed him making that conscious decision himself. I like to think he too went to therapy, and healed the guilt he'd been carrying for so long (throw away thought that he's only that ripped because of the weight of all the trauma he's carried for 20 years).
I hope Inn and Wang get therapy and find love in themselves (Inn) and in a partner who deserves them (Wang) and I hope Mol dies alone surrounded by her trophies and when they announce it on the news everyones like "whoa I never knew she had a son" and judges the hell out of her in her grave.

Plus: Acting, story, directing, lighting, music, cast, crew, everything.

Minus: That I can't climb through my screen and strangle that woman. I'm not sure if I'd call this rewatchable. It's beautiful and worthy of seeing again, hence my rating. But I don't think my mental health can handle another run though.

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Spare yourself the hours

I started watching this after seeing people complimenting it on tiktok. They said it was a lot of episodes but so worth it for how great it is. Oh how I wish I could track those people down one by one and demand my hours back. This was so so bad.
The acting itself was actually quite good. The music was quite nice. But the story was horrendous.
This has to have broken a record for the number of breakups of the same people over and over. ML and FL... I lost count of how many times they were like "promise you'll never leave me" "I wont leave you" *leaves immediately*.... "promise you wont run away" " I promise" *runs away*
Just stop it. Noone is worth this. Noone. They had okay chemistry until they actually got together the first time and then it was garbage. 2ML had no chemistry with anyone and continually forced himself onto FL over and over while claiming he'd never force her. Not one but two miscarriages in the same episode and I dunno how many divorces. There was a whole variety of illnesses; blindness, a fake mental breakdown, heart attacks both real ad fake. I wont lie I skipped a good 15 episodes in the middle there and missed absolutely nothing because they show you enough flashbacks that it doesn't even matter. Honestly sometimes they had a flashback of the scene immediately beforehand, like babes that was 30 seconds ago, I haven't forgotten it yet no mater how much I wish I could. I'd give it one star but I feel bad. I shouldn't though, it was terrible.
I'd be less angry if they properly framed it as a melodrama complete with that level of nonsense, but they didn't.

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I liked it, but I can never rewatch it.

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I wondered before starting what "Make our days count" meant in terms of the story. Well. Episode 10 hit me like the car that hit poor XiGu. That ending was totally unnecessary, and the character deserved better. That poor kid struggled his entire life and just as he's starting to find his happiness he gets killed? Why can LGBT story's never just be happy?! That ending was totally pointless and an insult to our leads. And the random look alike was dumb af. I'm guessing they used shots of him in the final trailer to trick people into thinking XiGu was okay, otherwise people might have chosen not to watch the final episode. And why can HaoTing only excel to this extent if he's driven by pure grief? Wouldn't it have been lovely for them to just go to university and grow and mature together and be happy?!
Anyway other than that (and the irritating "only gay for him" trope) I really liked it. The sexual scenes were realistic when you think about the ages our leads are portraying, which is refreshing. They didn't go too far with it. Nothing got too problematic, and the family issues were real enough. But f*ck that writer for ending it like that.

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The two leads were the absolute worst. Give me a story of the second couple.
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Okay so firstly, your dad is going to forcefully transfer his company shares to you unless you get married. Fine. Just transfer them back. 3 minutes and the story is complete. You're welcome.
Other than that, these two people are so toxic they're made for each other. So that's nice. FL is headstrong and independent, or trying to be. Great. But she makes some seriously stupid decisions out of a total lack of situational awareness, and then rather than explain properly she just rages at ML.
He is worse. For someone who has been her secret fan for years, he has absolutely no confidence in her. She's an *sshole in how she speaks to him, but she's not wrong. He never trusted her in her career decisions, her skills, her judgement, or in her day to day life. He forces his way into her work out of jealousy and lack of trust, and then brings nothing of value.
Ribbon dude was pathetic and deliberately engineered awful encounters, but at least he had value in his work. All she did was help him once in passing YEARS ago. The level of obsessed he was in her is exactly why I hesitate before helping a stranger. The only reason ML was so triggered by him specifically is because he recoginsed all his behaviours. All the toxic CEO bullsh*t, engineering meet cutes and causing problems just to white knight in to solves those same problems. ML had already done them all and managed to wife her.
Crazypants actress is a whole different mess. By the time she pulled the stunt with the red dress she needed to be fired and handed a restraining order. If anyone is undeserving of the opportunities they are handed it's her. Girl needs therapy, and every one of them was a clown for letting her anywhere near FLs movie. I'm sorry but why the hell would FL think it makes sense to cast her as herself basically? You already know she's dangerous and wants to BE you, why feed the delusion by casting her as you in your own fanfic?
I liked the second couple, they were a mess but in a much healthier way. Even though her family were mental, they were still better as a whole than the main couple.
Seriously, this views like they ran out of story after about 6 episodes and just photocopied previous pages of the script. "Quit this job, I can give you whatever you want, you're only doing it so you can screw around" "F U I want to earn my career, not be handed it, and I am faithful to you even though I'm a d*ck about it" "Okay sorry hun, my bad, I'll trust you more and believe in you". And then just do that 5 more times.

The acting was fine. It wasn't their problem the story sucked. The music was fine too, though that main song was way overused (the usual issue). The story was awful.

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I paused watching when I got up to ep80 because I'd gotten really annoyed with the plot, and I'm so happy I waited until all the episodes were out. I just binged 81-100 and it was so much less annoying plot-wise when I didn't have to wait.
Delighted big bad MIL lost her family, got jailed and also cancer. That's some whopper karma. I was a bit sad they killed off the ex husband, just because that little boy lost his dad and he's so fucking cute. But I like that they did it because it finally made MIL realise what a horrible person she was, and traumatised her for the rest of her life. Grateful crazypants got locked up after trying to kill half the cast. Happy sad-DIL got his freedom and his mental health back. I'm glad they made pretty ajumma grieve the damage she did to her son, and that they made Yu Ra have an attack of conscience and sanity as well. And I really like that the ex and the DIL made a conscious choice to be better than MIL. Some serious character development that didn't feel forced.
Before I paused my watching I'd gotten fed up of the FL and ML and didn't want them back together because he was a tool for marrying crazypants. But the last 20 episodes must have worn me down with how much shit he had to deal with because I was happy to see them back together. Happy but also super disappointed at the total lack of any romance or climax at the end. Them just smiling at eachother from a safe distance apart felt like biting into a chocolate chip cookie only to realise the chocolate chips were raisins. Like we did a time jump during which they both left the company, and he went to the USA. But I assume he's supposed to have come back and rekindled their relationship in that period, or maybe even rekindled it from when they met at the noodle place. I don't think it would fit their characters if he'd landed back in Korea, picked up a bunch of flowers and then proposed on the spot after two babies worth of time jumping. But their body language with the proposal was like a pair of awkward cousins who hadn't met in years, it was so weird. I don't recall them being that awkward before. I suppose this might just be what it looks like when two doormats get together. They were finally free to make independent choices at the end there and chose to stand 3 feet apart near a river. Good job doormats.

Good: Taking into consideration it's a melodrama (and the extra hype that puts on everything), the acting was pretty good. The storyline was nuts, but again, melodrama-nuts. It was just a pity it was so predictable too. The little boy was amazing. I also loved the couple of the ML uncle and FL cousin. Once they got past her being the worst at the start, I loved their chaotic relationship. They were great.
Medium: The music was fine, but well done to the violinist who appeared every time someone said something dramatic. I hope they were well paid.
Bad: Complete lack of chemistry at the end. Crazypants also enraged me from the first second but it just got so much worse, and though the actress did well, the character being in a scene just sucked all the enjoyment out of it. bleh.

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