roro

me at the end of every my royal nemesis episode:

this scene was nothing less than perfection. it feels familiar on the surface, but it completely subverts the template. it's not a scene of distrust or conflict; it's a scene of mutual confession. a distillation of their crazy gift of the magi dynamic with both lives (sorta) laid bare, and the most honest they've been so far, even though not much was said out loud.

please tell me these bites scar and become symbols of their love or whatever. stern crazy × scheming crazy, sworn enemies to grudging allies with their own agendas? i'll take 38 eps!!

all done with lighter and princess. what an excellent showcase for chen feiyu! i've seen him in 3 other dramas — when destiny brings the demon, love beyond the grave, and love story in the 1970s. while he was objectively good in all of them, i think this is his strongest performance — i couldn't have imagined him playing a powder keg before i watched this. truly embodied the vibe of an unpredictable little psycho i'd be scared to cross paths with in prison.

as for the romance, i get it, even though it wasn't for me (which has nothing to do with being a "toxic" romance, as i've seen people call it — who's to say, and who cares?). the first half had some cute moments, and i thought the build-up was really organic. i believed they liked each other, and then i believed they'd been together for three years, and then in every scene in the last third their 6+ years of baggage was written in bold across every interaction. more praise for chen feiyu because boy did i feel, second-hand, the visceral and constant anxiety of dating someone like his character. however the writing in the last third was weak, and so much felt unresolved within the romance. zhang jingyi was okay in a cookie-cutter youth-drama sense, though her character wasn't for me (although from ep 10ish onwards the writing for her character started to come together).

the rest of the show — boooo. the external conflicts/antagonists were basic and boring and not well executed.

nothing much to say so far except that the director really knows how to make the most of arthur chen's bone structure — aka they're not using the typical cdrama flat lighting (think dilraba in most things vs dilraba in love on turquoise island). already a win in my book.

my body is READY for the angst next week. he thinks she betrayed him and sent him to his death and STILL can't bear to stop dating her? still goes possessive-chaebol-crazy when she has to film a "consummation" scene? truly blows my mind, i'm having my cake and eating it too, it's sick actually

now my first real tiny complaint about this show is that dan-shim should have told se-gye about his creepy brother threatening her at some point in the last 4 eps, but fine, whatever, k-drama logic, sure. if the misunderstanding persists beyond next week i'll be a little miffed but honestly whatever they serve me will be appetizing so i can't quibble much (famous last words?).