Well Intended Love (2019)

Alright - buckle up, fellow curious cats, cuz your nine lives are about to be w i p e d off the face of the planet with this one.

One day, in quarantine (COVID-19 - wash your hands, thanks), I was browsing through Netflix. I was honestly trying to find dramas to fill in the time while I was waiting for current ones on my watchlist to release and get subbed.
Lo and behold - I found "Well Intended Love". Surprisingly there was no description, but I read a brief overview that it was a typical contract marriage drama.
Sure - why not? I could get into that. So I started it, and honestly I was all for it for the first 10 episodes. I know you probably read every other review about this and get the gist of why people started hating on this drama after the first half.

You've got the cute flirty moments between the two main leads as they are working their way through their marriage. I was all for it. You've got the sweet gestures made by both main leads to each other. I was all for it. You've got the main male lead hiding the fact that he manipulated her into signing the marriage contract. I'm all f-- NO WAIT.
WAIT. NOPE. HOLD THE PHONE.
My brain just went numb right at that moment. This is not okay. NOT OKAY.

Here's the TLDR; XL (main female lead) finds out that she is diagnosed with Leukemia, and conveniently the only bone marrow match was the CEO of a big company, YZ (main male lead). He only agrees to helping to save her life if she marries him (hmm, now I wonder if this was a red flag to be considered?). She agrees under the assumption that he just needed a smokescreen for his love triangle with his best friend (CY) and his assistant.
So this is why everyone is completely appalled with this drama: She was never sick with Leukemia. She was just anemic. The reason why they gave her the wrong diagnosis in the first place was because the hospital she attended was owned by YZ's company and he forged it in a way where she would look for him to save her.

BIG YIKES. And an even bigger burn was the fact that the drama was ROMANTICIZING THIS. GIGANTIC YIKES.

And YZ intended to hide this from her until he believes she was ready to forgive him once the truth came out. GODZILLA YIKES.
She literally only found out after snooping around his things (in a bedroom they SHARE, might I add) to look for her medical records when she was suffering effects from anemia again (she even freaked out a bit wondering if it was a relapse of Leukemia).

This happened at the end of episode 10. Now you'd think, "Soap, shouldn't you have stopped then? Why finished the next episode?" Well I was hoping there was some super specific reason (not excuse) that YZ would do such a thing. A viewer has these hopes, you know?
Nope - you further discover that he had essentially been stalking her for 2 years because she was NICE TO HIM at one of the lowest points in his life. If this were to happen to me, I'd call the cops ASAP and get a restraining order. And THEN - to add the sugar on top - she wants to leave the house but he stations GUARDS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THEIR HOME so she can't run away. The only way she could leave was when his grandma intervened.

Um, NO? At that point, I had zero pity for YZ. I don't care how long you've been sitting outside on your car getting rained on while you watch XL's apartment window (because, good for her, she moved out of your house). XL was right - YZ is no different to the second female lead (AR) who tried to manipulate him into forgetting XL earlier on into the series.

There's SO MANY RED FLAGS.

I'd rather XL end up with YZ's best friend - CY (who is the second male lead). This is not second lead syndrome, people. I legitimately want to scrap the original couple and just have XL end up in a HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP with CY. I mean, seriously - they had a rocky start to their friendship when CY kept thinking XL was a gold digger but the more they helped each other out, the more they respected each other. Their constant teasing a bickering was not overshadowing the respect they held for each other as human beings. CY respected her for trying to be independent and earn a living on her own without get-out-of-jail-free cards from people (COUGH-YZ-COUGH - wash your hands). XL found out about his secrets but still kept it on the down-low out of respect for him as her senior (they both worked in the same company) and, as much as she finds him annoying, doesn't brush aside the fact that he has problems he can't always run away from on his own. She shielded him when he was suffering from an asthma attack in a public theatre (they were both celebrities - he was more popular than she was). When CY's dad was about to hit CY with his cane, she blocked it (because, as per her character, violence is a no no and she helps anyone who needs it). It went from a bitter colleague relationship to a friendship built off of trust. There was no manipulation there. They both were pretty honest with each other from the get-go.
I commended CY when he confronted YZ about how wrong he was to manipulate XL - and my depreciation of respect for YZ grew when the dude legit went like "Wow so my best friend is gonna slide into my wife's DMs now that we are both having a marriage crisis--"
No; you seriously need a wake up call. You've got your emotionally manipulated wife AND your long-time best friend calling you out on your toxic approach to relationships. It's not a legit marriage. You tricked her into marrying you.

So no, I am choosing to not continue. I've seen the trailers and the posters - the two obviously end up together at the end. I'm not opposed to forgiveness, but I can't see her staying with him even after forgiving him. Even after confronting him about his manipulation and control, he actually admits that if they were to start over again, he'd do the same thing.
This isn't romantic. This is abusive.

But enough with the negativity, yeah? Here's, um, a few good points:
- music was decent
- If there was a separate side-story drama between XL's best friend and YZ's assistant, I'm all on board the ship
- Samoyeds. I love Samoyeds.

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