I wasn’t going to waste writing a review for this, but the more I thought about it, the more I needed to get this out there. I thought the female lead was done well, liked her growth and watching her find her own way after a massive setback in her career. But if you ask me what a toxic relationship looks like, this one would be it. The male lead was overprotective, highly possessive, had anger management issues, cold yet clingy and so dependent.

STORY
The story moved fast enough and 24 episodes was well enough. The climax around episode 18 was entirely underwhelming and uncalled for. It became super overly melodramatic toward the end and that made it cringey and laughable to watch.

I have to say though I really liked watching Nuan Nuan find her own new career, reigniting passion and pursuing and excelling at something she has natural talent. Her ideals of hardwork, effort and kindness were really nice to see. She was surrounded by calculating and manipulative evil characters, but she managed to hold her ground. Their relationship on the other hand is another story that the more I watched, the more I disliked. It started off well in terms of them living together, learning and supporting each other in tough times, the banter and light disagreements. But then the back and forth of them being together and then not got boring after a while. And made me lose interest in the two and their relationship.

ACTING/CAST
Characterisation was confusing at times. Both male and female lead acting was average and subpar, nothing memorable. I thoroughly disliked our male lead and thought his acting was so rigid and flat. He was so overly protective and possessive it was unhealthy. Our female lead would talk to another guy and he’d get so worked up and throw a temper tantrum. Han Che would get so clingy, like he wouldn't be able to live in this world without her. This was by far a drama with a whole of lot of hugging, kissing, handholding etc. But it also felt super forced and urgent and trying to instil a sense of ownership, rather than something sweet and loving.

Our side characters were also subpar. I didn’t like Han Xue and Gu Li’s relationship, I thought she was a spoiled princess and their relationship was built on a servant/king relationship that now I think about is also so unhealthy. He would drop everything and run to her at her call and wait on her hand and foot. I thought Fang Han Chen and Lin Jia Yi were additional and uninteresting characters that added no value but to fill episodes.

Music, nothing memorable and quite repetitive. Rewatch value, no thanks.

Overall, I just felt the sweetness of their love masked the underlying toxicity of co-dependency. The drama romanticised possessiveness and clinginess. I just felt like Nuan Nuan was stuck in an unhealthy relationship with Han Che, and was so in love with him that there was no way she would ever be able to leave, a bit like Stockholm Syndrome. Especially prominent when he kept on saying, I’ll never let you go and you can never leave me. And when she tried to, he came following her and demanding her back. Even though they share sweet moments with each other and I can see they do like each other, I just feel like this unhealthy reliance on each other should be checked rather than let loose. I’d definitely be interested in how you perceive their relationship. Keen to hear your thoughts!! xx