I knew nothing about Kill Me Love Me when I started it. The beginning intrigued me with a black-hearted prince and a tough as nails female assassin. It didn’t take long to figure out that they were both working on the same side in the first episode. If you are a fan of red flag male leads, you’ll be disappointed. If you are a fan of badass assassin female leads you’ll be even more disappointed. Honestly, this is the type of drama that I normally wouldn’t write a review for, but I promised myself this year I’d review everything I watched, so here goes.

What I liked/disliked:

I’ve liked Liu Xue Yi since Ancient Love Poetry and Wu Jin Yan since The Story of Yanxi Palace. The two had a nice chemistry whether adversaries or lovers. I’m not a fan of red flag leads, but have seen that most of the time they are a bait and switch and rarely stay villainous so I expected him to lose his fangs. I’m also used to badass female leads being defanged but was still disappointed when Mei Lin became pretty window dressing.

Baron Chen is a fave and even with his chocolate cupcake frosting hair, he was still handsome. The Crown Prince came across more whiny than menacing though.

I’m a sucker for bodyguards and Qing Yan was the pretty, loyal bodyguard I’ve come to expect. He proved his loyalty in an explosive manner moving him closer to the front of the line of dutiful bodyguards. No notes on him.

Speaking of baddass females, I had high hopes for General Yin, but found her to lack the gravitas and stage presence such a role required. Her one facial expression regardless of the situation began to wear thin. Also, her 180 on her love interest defied logic as well as her devotion to him. Apparently, getting laid made her lose not only her sense of independence but also her reason-at least for a time.

I didn’t mind the romping through the countryside for Jing He and Mei Lin but when the badly dubbed side characters later started taking center stage, my fast forward button or mute button came into frequent use.

The Xiyan characters were mostly useless. Prince Yue Qin could not have been more bland. The kooky Xiyan royal family and retainers were mind numbingly boring to me. Zi Gu looked and acted very, very young which made her relationship with grandpa Yan Emperor creepier than sweetly romantic.

The story went off the rails with the detour through Xiyan when the characters became bogged down in border trade talks after the natural ending to the drama. The writers vastly overestimated my attention span for ancient economics.

In the end, I did find around two-thirds of this drama entertaining, mainly because I enjoyed the performances of LXY and WJY. Despite the red flag transforming into a white flag and the assassin turning into a baker. 7.25 rounded up to 7.50

14 November 2024
SPOILER NOTES:



The most disappointing part to me was Mei Lin. She suffered and trained for 10 years to have her revenge. When the time came, she was shuttled off screen. This happens too many times in dramas. If anyone deserved to deal the final blow, it was her. Also, “If this is the price I have to pay for meeting you, I have no regrets.” Really?? Jing He poisoned Mei Lin with a poison that had no antidote. Who does that? Everyone knows the Puppet Master for assassins holds the antidote for compliancy. Especially a guy trying to prove he’s not a monster. So, she’s dying, suffered brutality for 10 years, didn’t get to take part in bringing down the Big Bad, and she has no regrets. Girl, no matter how rich or good looking he is, I’d have a list of regrets. When they took away her martial arts ability, I just rolled my eyes. Why can’t badass female leads stay badass to the end? And apply their lipstick only to their lips and not in the dip above them? If she was reduced to baking cakes and offering moral support she should have had time to check her lipstick in a mirror. But I’m not bitter. lol