A Technically Flawed But Ultimately Gratifying Love Story

Unchained Love follows powerful Imperial City special bureau leader Xiao Duo on his quest to avenge his brother's murder by climbing the political ladder and weeding out corrupt officials. On the way to discovering the truth, he meets Bu Yin Lou, a royal concubine who is being courted by the newly-crowned emperor. The two become unlikely allies in dangerous court intrigue, and their bond turns into something more. What follows is a forbidden love story that's simultaneously clichéd and romantically riveting. The show grapples with complex themes around freedom of choice, the corrupting influence of power, and society's view of women as decorative objects rather than as fully realized human beings with their own agency and desires. It's certainly a valiant effort, but not always a successful one.

Revenge/romance/historical dramas usually rely heavily on similar narrative elements, and this show is no exception: you've got the plucky heroine and her dark brooding new beau, the two servants who form a bond trying to protect their masters, the evil queen figure with a penchant for poison, and the paranoid king who slowly descends into madness....I could go on. Nothing here is really new or unique, but it doesn't matter, because those clichés exist for a reason: they work! Plus, the antagonism-to-adoration pipeline never gets old for me. However, I wasn't expecting our ML to fall for the FL quite so fast. The production discarded his menacing Bad Guy™️ persona almost immediately. Make no mistake about Xiao Duo: he is really a big softie in black fabric, and you are reminded of this at nearly every turn. This was not an enemies-to-lovers liaison as I expected it to be, but rather...allies-to-friends-to-lovers? I actually enjoyed this deviation from the norm, though there was plenty of room for improvement.

Dylan Wang was great as usual, and beyond stunning with his villainously slanted eyebrows. I like the guy, sure, but he was utterly gorgeous in this drama. One particular scene comes to mind where he awakens from slumber, and the camera is zoomed in on his face...wow. Listen, it was the best kind of fan-service for the female gaze. Dylan is a little typecast these days, but I'm not complaining. I very much enjoyed the eye candy, and besides, he has an undeniable affinity for playing the bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold.

I've seen criticisms of the lead actress, as well as the chemistry of the main couple, but I firmly disagree with these criticisms, and suspect a lot of the negative chatter was young-ish Dylan fans with an unhealthy attachment to his previous projects. Perhaps the chemistry was not Red Hot per se, but it doesn't always have to be. These two had a fantastic dynamic, quiet and soft like a slow heartbeat, that felt very harmonious and natural to me. I don't need sexy fireworks all the time, and what stood out here was the love-factor, not the lust. Xiao Duo's curiosity and confusing desire to protect, colliding with Bu Yin Lou's iron will to survive and her determination for freedom? I found it very moving at times, but to each their own. Will Chen Yu Qi win an Academy Award any time soon? Unlikely. But she did a fine job here, imo. Her Bu Yin Lou was frequently understated and very compelling. The character was clever and adaptable without being a savant; plucky and courageous without being irritating and Girl-Boss-y; brave when it counted and deeply understanding of ML's limitations. Chen Yu Qi embodying the character was so refreshing. I think people are so used to overacting in C-dramas that they perceive normal performances of human protagonists as bland. This is a bad take.

By far the biggest point of contention I had with this show was the pacing. It's difficult to articulate how important pacing is: you barely notice it when done right, but when done wrong, it impacts every facet of the narrative.

The transitions in Unchained Love—between scenes, character arcs, side stories, even camera shots—are anything but smooth, and for this, the whole show suffers. The issue is most pronounced in the shoddy editing, which is criminally atrocious. The most egregious example? The truly bizarre cuts during romantic scenes, which I found out later was due to censorship laws, i.e. the couple is about to kiss and suddenly there is a very abrupt cut to a wide shot of nature/scenery. The camerawork did not feel organic or planned, but rather a change made hastily in post-production. Even the romantic climax was not safe from this 'technique.' There were ways to get around censorship limitations without sacrificing the show's integrity. These cuts seemed so unintentional that I actually wondered at first if there was some sort of scandal with the actors. It was really that pronounced.

The editing was problematic in other ways, too. It was clear to me that the story would have benefitted from more linear storytelling. Instead, the production team tried to use a method wherein a surprising or out of character thing happens and then flashbacks are deployed to explain that the joke is on you, and the thing you've just witnessed is ALL A RUSE! It's a very jarring and ultimately unsatisfying tool used solely for shock value. Its' intention is to Subvert Expectations, and when done well can be exciting, but it was NOT done well here, not a single time. It was unnecessary, and it effectively cheapened the whole drama. It felt cheesy instead of climactic. Audiences like twists, not tricks.

I also feel the trailer profoundly misrepresentative. What seemed to be an angsty, vengeful, myopic romance ended up being a pretty cute and silly romcom where the revenge is mostly an afterthought. Albeit it did have some dark/dramatic elements, but as a rule, these elements weren't treated thematically with the reverence and heaviness they deserved. E.g., the human sacrifice ritual of tens of concubines in the first episode. It certainly got darker in the latter half, but by this point I felt pretty confident in a happy ending and thus these moments didn't have the expected impact. I was not really upset about this, but it did seem a bit like false advertising, and in general the tone of the drama as a whole needed to be better controlled by the director—I had frequent tonal whiplash from scene to scene, making the narrative feel less coherent and sometimes like a patchwork of film scraps. I really, really wish I could have seen this show before the editing room hacked it to pieces.

Minor gripes: Ending was super unsatisfying. OST was okay but very forgettable. Some sets were so absurdly cheap-looking it ruined my suspension of disbelief. Leaning harder into Xiao Duo's black sheep antihero status would have slowed down the burn, upped the intrigue, and made the romantic union more cathartic. The only thing that kept that squishy marshmallow from losing his intimidating presence was the excellently choreographed combat scenes; his anime-style crouched slash-y move was such a rush to watch! In fact, the adventure elements were some of the show's strongest perks (GIVE US!! MORE!! PIRATES!!!!) and I wish we had gotten to experience that genre more often.

AND YET, FOLKS....*sigh* I am here first and foremost for love stories. If you are too, be assured there's buckets of dopamine to be found here, with palace conspiracies taking a back seat to romance the majority of the time. If you want two people to be in one another's arms bad enough, you can forgive any number of technical flaws. I can even forgive it for the brief noble idiocy moment, because to be honest I was in need of some angst amidst all the unexpected fluff.

Is Unchained Love an unapologetically tropey mess? For sure. Could it have been better? Without a doubt.

...Did I honestly love watching it anyway? Absolutely, which is why me, a huge loser, gave it a 8.5/10 regardless of all of its many issues. Sometimes, TV just needs to be entertaining and fun, and I did have a lot of fun. This is one of those rare shows that becomes an enjoyable watch because of the clichés it utilizes, not in spite of them. I will definitely revisit it on a rainy day, especially having now seen some of the BTS content and deleted scenes.

Without censorship, this show would have been stellar. It is still worth a watch, though, if you fill in some blanks. To quote another articulate netizen: "Do I rate the show I saw? Or the one I'm pretty sure they made?"

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PRETTY AND FORGETTABLE...

Eclipse Of The Heart is an imperfect but noteworthy project—one of the freshly-minted newer lakorns with clearly expanding production value. They spent tons of cash on this project, and you can tell. It's exciting to see Thai dramas start to embrace the power of good lighting, picturesque on-site filming locations, and decent cinematography. Compared to others in the revenge/romance genre, this is an impressive entry going by visual aesthetics alone.

The chemistry between our leads Mark and Bow was a little inconsistent, but in its best moments was outstanding. If you're watching for romance and are familiar with lakorn plot formulas, feel free to skip around to your heart's content. There is not a lot that's new here plot-wise, and you'll probably be able to put the pieces together without all of the extensive context. I wasn't feeling that spark between the leads at first, but once it got going—slowly, and then all at once—I was actually amazed at the very poignant, and sometimes rather moving (!!!) bond and relationship that was built up between Korn and Rina. I squealed and replayed several clips during their 'travels' and you probably will too.

Performance-wise, Bow felt a little stiff at times, especially earlier on during her crying scenes (of which there are many) but she eventually found her groove. Opposite her costar, when she got comfortable, she genuinely shined. Mark however was phenomenal here. He's noticeably improving his craft with every project, it seems. There were times when Korn displayed moments of quiet, resigned despair which truly made my heart ache with grief. Very, very good work by Mark Prin.

The core issue with EOTH is how forgettable most of it is. It suffers from the classic lakorn malignancy wherein the pilot drops you into a world without providing enough narrative context, making you wonder for a moment if you missed an episode. All of this stuff started happening and I found I...just didn't really care? At all? And indifference is a stage IV drama-killer. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to this phenomenon, but I never really recovered from the jarring introduction. I continued to be frequently unengaged. I only just finished watching the finale and I barely remember anything that happened. The irritating side characters didn't help, often feeling like caricatures or glorified extras with no real purpose but to provide outer conflict. The creeper cheating husband, for example, and his insulated family drama, was so bizarre and ick-inducing.

The show felt too long and too short at the same time, impossibly—the result of poor pacing and a draggy final arc, by which time a lot of the momentum and mystery had been lost and I simply just wanted it to be over. Lakorns too often present contrived dramatic tension in the last few episodes, undoing hard-earned character development faster than warp-speed so we're infuriated enough to keep watching out of spite. Rarely does it make the ending feel earned; usually it just makes us feel exhausted. EOTH is no exception. The ending did not feel satisfying because the journey had shaky foundations. Beware!

All this aside, there were some scenes between the main couple that felt so intimate, heartfelt and genuine that they induced chills. For me, a romance addict, that's worth it. If romance is not your speed, you may be better off skipping this one. The romance for the most part is not formulaic; however, the rest of the lakorn undoubtedly is. EOTH is a missed opportunity. Given the right background setup, and more careful pacing, this love story could have been epic compared to its similar predecessors.

Unfortunately, the manufactured bloat of the rest of the drama really hurt its potential. But the potential was there, I promise! You will not be able to deny how vastly more refined this show is compared to others like it, even ones as recent as 1-2 years ago. There is hope! The future of lakorns is getting brighter, slowly but surely.

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revolting lakorn you should avoid at all costs!

legitimately the worst, most infuriating lakorn i've ever watched. maybe i should have known when the first 1.5 minutes made me wonder if i had pressed play on the wrong episode that the budget and pacing were not going to wow me, but still, i persisted. well, that was a mistake, because i remained disgusted from around ep 10 onwards, and by the end i hated EVERY SINGLE character in this whole show, except possibly ji, and maybe even her too.

you can ignore a lot of absurd plot holes for the sake of a fun story, but this one pushed the boundaries of stupidity at every turn. you won't BELIEVE how dumb these people are. you will guess the twist around episode 3. meanwhile, the MC's don't guess the twist even after they see a VIDEO OF IT!

never getting over the ML cruelly gaslighting FL about her own twin sister's GRUESOME abuse and likely murder, even after he himself sees his brother's domestic violence on tape. this moronic coward isn't even called to action by his own complicity in sa's death, that she had asked ML for help and he turned her away. this man should have been broken, groveling, on his knees, for the rest of his life. the police chief too—gaslighting and ignoring evidence. prejudice against a crime victim....because of something that happened with your mom 20yrs ago? this man should have handed in his badge.

but the ML's treatment of the FL, was particularly repulsive. yes—even for a lakorn. i am NOT easily offended, in fact i actually enjoy toxic tropes on the regular, but this was a travesty. i was yelling at my screen and not in a fun way. this show DOES NOT treat these heavy topics (domestic violence, the silent struggles of women in a misogynistic world) with the respect they deserve. i really thought this show was trying to bait us somehow—that ML was treating FL this way for her own good in a noble idiocy type of way, but nope! even after repetitive bland plot and repetitive bland performances by every actor, i was still giving this show far too much credit and it kept getting worse. ML didn't have a character, he did whatever the script needed him to do in order to move the plot along. FL had zero backbone and consistency, and was doling out forgiveness—to the dregs of humanity around her—like it was on sale at the dollar store.

never before wanted a lead couple to end up together less than here. i wanted her to pack her sh*t and fly to another continent to escape these lunatics.

hellish. i will never get these 17 hours of my life back.

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An Unparalleled Romantic Feast

This was a rare delight.

Noona romance meets sports drama, without any of the accompanying angst or noble sacrifice tropes usually abundant in this genre. What a breath of fresh air!

Both leads are stunning in their roles. Their natural chemistry was very pure and gorgeously realized. You get the sense that the filming crew must have been so excited to be on set, knowing they had dynamite in front of them. Really, this is a couple you can root for. Watching them grow into their romance was a very beautiful experience.

By and large, this is the best Chinese drama I have watched. No comparison exists, and trust me, I have looked! Naturally, the rewatch value on this one is high. It is like a visual antidepressant.

I lost count of how many times I found myself smiling like an idiot while watching this. Trust me, you will too.

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A Swing And A Miss

I wanted to love this drama so much. It has so much going for it. How can you really go wrong with a cute fantasy romcom full of tropey forced cohabitation goodness? And on top of that, throw in two talented and capable lead actors--Jang Ki Yong & Hyeri--who have proven their chops in multiple other projects. I was expecting something a little light-hearted, with lots of skinship, misunderstandings and pining, and to an extent, all of that was there.

So why did this drama feel so utterly empty and forgettable? What was missing?

I'll tell you: proper characterization. This show totally failed to create two lead characters who the viewer could both empathize with and fall in love with. We have to really care about who they are, what their desires are, the struggles they're facing. And if the lead couple lacks fiery chemistry, they at least need to have a well-written buildup for their feelings for one another. These two had neither chemistry nor well-written buildup. Not even a smidge. I found myself wanting to skip through their scenes, which is unacceptable for this genre. Gumiho Shin Woo Yeo is beautiful, refined and cold...and boring. We get nothing from him. He is essentially flawless--and perfect characters don't hold your attention for long. He yearns to be human, but why does this character want to be human so bad? He has no relationships with the people around him. He has no drive or ambition besides finally becoming human, and it's not addressed why he even desires that. He extracts no pleasure from living in the human world, experiencing human pleasures or being around other humans. So what is the audience even rooting for?

Lee Dam, the human college student he falls for, is immature, totally out of touch with herself, and childish to the extreme. She is nothing special--the Every Woman Character. She feels more like a cardboard cutout than a person because the script doesn't adjust to her character. Rather, the character adjusts to the script's needs. She always reacts too much or too little. You can never pin down what kind of person the writers want her to be. The writing fails this character in a myriad of ways, and it's exhausting. Thus, Lee Dam comes off extremely inconsistent: sometimes she finds herself in upsetting situations with her peers and she shows real wisdom for her age. Just as often, she comes off as a loud obnoxious teen with no self-awareness. It's impossible that this 999-year old mythical creature could fall for this annoying human child without any growth, right? RIGHT?

Wrong. Of course he falls for her, out of nowhere. By episode 6, we are already embroiled in their romantic feelings coming to light. This kind of relationship deserves a far slower burn, especially in the context of all these flaws. But those 6 episodes feel like eons. Truly, it was an effort to get through them. This episode is also when the villain seems to be introduced (some sort of serial killer gumiho I think, but didn't really care enough to find out). It is baffling to watch, as a viewer, because I don't really want to spend time with them, so why do they want to spend time with each other? They don't have great chemistry, which is forgivable with the right script. I asked myself, do I even want to see them in each other's arms? And I realized I don't really care either way. So the show, for me, is dead in the water.

The arcs occurring within the secondary characters feel more fleshed out than in the leads. Narratively, there is no recovery for a start like this, and I'll be abandoning it at 6 episodes. I'm sad because Jang Ki Yong and Hyeri's talents are wasted here, and they are really doing their best, but it's simply not enough to save a script that reads like a first draft.

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"It Is What It Is."

If I were to review this drama more critically, the rating would be far lower than 7/10. But I went into this knowing, for the most part, what kind of ride I was in for: I wanted something on the lighthearted side, full of wild neighborhood shenanigans and a pretty couple whose relationship is so cute it made my eyes water. My expectations for Jinxed At First did not exceed this list. I'm a realist. So, no regrets here.

Did everything go off the rails around episode 10? Absolutely. Did I almost wish I had stopped watching around episode 6? Sort of. I think this drama would have greatly benefitted from shorter episode times, perhaps as a bite-sized webtoon a la Go's Starry Night. As it stands, with 16 full-hour episodes, it got draggy, repetitive and convoluted. It couldn't decide what genre it wanted to be. It felt a little like watching a TV show having an identity crisis. I was like, baby, what is you doin? It tried to go in depth with too many characters and thus many of the arcs fell totally flat or didn't feel properly resolved or earned. I had the feeling by the finale that a lot of the ending was revised during reshoots.

But, that being said, the first 6 or so episodes were UTTERLY divine. Syrupy, heart-swooping, butterfly-inducing romance that made me clutch my pillow like a teenager. Seohyun has never wowed me before, and this character is the Born-Sexy-Yesterday trope personified, but she did well here and her performance felt genuine enough that it didn't veer into what could have been Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory. Na In Woo was such a delight, though. He's relatively new on the scene but I have a good feeling about his career. He has great comedic timing and delivery, and DAMN, this man's look of yearning and despair is unparalleled. Every time he gazed at Seul Bi with tearful eyes my heart shuddered in my chest. He is very charismatic on screen and I'm looking forward to see what he does next, but his chemistry with Seohyun was strong and their love story delightfully adorable (until it got bogged down by plot devices).

If you're willing to skip through some slog later on, this one is a worthwhile escapist fantasy. Just keep your finger near the fast-forward button.

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