THIS HALF-RANT IS FULL OF SPOILERS and is written by one in need of vengeance against these script writers who don't communicate with each other about what the drama they're writing is about.
***
Kill Me Love Me is touted as a revenge drama. The novel had a Blackest Flag male lead and an abused female lead who loved him in spite of being treated like dirt by him, and anyone who read this story knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell C-Dramaland was going to have the real version show up in their adaptation. Nonetheless, the first five episodes of Kill Me Love Me delivered an exciting promise of a different kind of male lead--one who was a bit depressed (about his loss of self and reputation), plenty angry (about his condition, the betrayal of his brother) and quite, quite ruthless in his ten -year plan to exact revenge.

Liu Xue Ye delivered Murong JingHe as he should have been THROUGHOUT the book in these five episodes and got many, many viewers hooked. He handpicked and trained an assassin in a secret assassin school, spending years making sure she was one tough nut, to be a tool in his plan. This assassin was a victim of a city siege fire that MRJH had been framed for setting, killing 100000 citizens in its wake, so this woman, who willingly underwent this very brutal training would attempt to assassinate HIM, MRJH. This woman was Mei Lin, who lost her parents, who hated MRJH, the General of the WeiBei army, so much for the death of her parents and friends, that she swore to kill him. The fascinating angle to this whole buildup to the revenge was Mei Lin having no idea that her Master Trainer/Lord was MRJH himself, who always appeared as a shadowy figure.

The set up was Gothic, full of darkness and ravens, of people screaming at an indolent and uncaring MRJH in his wheelchair, of the watchful hate in Mei Lin's eyes as she got nearer to her target. It was akin to the Madhatter's Party in Alice in Wonderland, where every character was questionably insane, yet all the colors were pretty and there were pretty cakes and silly rhymes and we the viewers were getting highly entertained by the push and pull of the sexual tension between our leads as they confronted each other in the flesh.

Then POOF, Alice in Wonderland took a pill and became tiny. The Gothic story disappeared and our ride became bumpy with the first set of plotholes before we were suddenly plunged into a ROMCOM world of happy village people living the idyllic life of happy unaffected people and our two leads were suddenly in couple clothes and doing very romantic things. Which was all fine and dandy, except, without any transition from the danger of almost dying from hunger and cold, of almost being killed by the evil brother, we are left scratching our heads with these three or four episodes of Happy Couple, tralalala-ing in the fields.

Then POOF. Alice in Wonderland took a pill and we're back in the Palace of Intrigue. The stakes are high and our leads' revenge is nigh. We are so ready for it because this is what it is all about--the truth will come out and the Evil Brother will die a good bloody death, etc. etc. Oh wait, Plothole ahead. Bump Bump. And I'm at a loss at how to explain what happened.

The revenge? A whimper. The Evil Brother's death? Kinda peaceful, in the arms of the woman he freaking lied to and seduced, no less. And the ten year plan? Long gone, actually--it disappeared in the first five episodes because Mei Lin already found out MRJH wasn't the one who ordered the fire. We were led to this point where we expected the PAY OFF--these two would face Evil Brother TOGETHER and get their vengeance. That's what a revenge drama is all about!

And Poof! Poor Alice. Small again. Our ML went and did the "noble savior" act and denied the assassin HE trained any of the revenge action! My head about exploded here. Mei Lin was sent off as Princess in marriage. WTF? What the loving frack?! The plothole here cannot even be filled in. Yes, yes, the noble savior trope is the cement bridging the next segment of this sad story, but can we get back to the Mad Hatter Murong Jinghe? This man, our slightly crazy hero of those first episodes, who wore vengeance with a casual sexy ruthlessness had turned into the emo-child of some grunge festival, crying about angsty self-hatred. And Mei Lin, the amazing assassin we've grown to love is no better. She was suddenly some regal lady of the court, with the mannerisms of nobility, speaking of "different paths" and changing her focus to saving another man, her sudden betrothed.

What? WHAT? I get it. She was mad about the Big Sekrit of who trained her. I get the angst. But shouldn't she be a angrier about NOT BEING INCLUDED in their revenge? What is this about her agreeing to be saved? She was Mei Lin! She didn't need saving! She was the one saving everyone, remember? This essential character in her change gave me the second whiplash. Because Plothole. Where are the other assassins who trained with her? Why would she just meekly go off when she had never done so before? And if she was so clever in the beginning at figuring out that MRJH wasn't all bad, why was she not clever in figuring out that her betrothed, the Xiyan Green Tea Prince, wasn't all good?

(I know you're wondering what gave me the first whiplash. I wish I have time to include other character plotholes. But the first whiplash belonged to a secondary character, who was almost (ALMOST, if only the darn writers could decide together) the 2FL. One moment she was hankering after our ML for 13 years and then she took a whiff of sexy incense, she was in love with Evil Bro. Y'all just have to hatewatch the drama to see what I mean)

And you know what? Alice never got big again throughout the drama. Mei Lin remained weak. MRJH said (and rightly so) that he was to be blamed for killing her. But dude, you had the cure. Why let that Other Guy take the credit?

The rest of the plot after the revenge was added on for lovers' angst, which is fine. I admit, I enjoyed MRJH's anguish because Liu Xue Yi is hella sexy when he suddenly turned Heathcliff and ran off digging up the "dead" Mei Lin. Now, THAT was a memorable scene. Where did we ever see a ML carrying a "corpse" around, drinking wine and trying to feed her medicine? THAT was the MRJH from the first few episodes, but his appearance was just like a bookend. In the middle was some other persona.

The romance was sexy at first, then turned rom-com sweet, then went all angsty. The loss of sexual tension really hurt the push and pull of these characters. They just jump from one segment of episodes to another segment like they were in different dramas. I love the actors' chemistry, and boy, did they hard-carry this show, but many, many balls were dropped while we traversed this road full of plotholes.

Did I enjoy the drama? Yes, mostly. It had many entertaining scenes. But these stitched up scenes lacked coherence. So many things had to be explain away, until we all get a bit silly and start asking silly questions, like Where did the pet dog go? Or, how did the village people change our couple's clothes while they were unconscious when Mei Lin wouldn't let go of Jing He's hand for days? Or, shouldn't rigor mortis have set--why was her "corpse" so malleable?

So, yes, I was entertained, even at the ending of repeated deaths. They should have titled the drama Kill Me Kill Me Again And Again. Just ignore the Plotholes. And the writers' attempt at making ironic symbolism like the Undying flower for the couple.

It's more 7.2 than 7.5. I'm kinda torn. I want to avenge MRJH and Mei Lin for what the writers did to them.