#just very unhappy with the lost potential of the show plotwise

[handkinkbis]

Show review: Destined with You.

So.... I might be in the minority, but as much as I enjoy Rowoon on screen I didn't start watching the show for him.

I was hoping for a witch/shaman Hongjo kdrama to finish near the eve of Halloween as the show seemed to be promising (very logically it seemed to be heading that way!). And she did cast some spells to my pleasure, but to my massive displeasure her witch arc was entirely forgotten about in favor of... not even sure what that kidnapping sequence was all about. Somehow most of Hongjo's agency as a character vanished into the ether as well during the past few episodes. Her character growth consisted of building the confidence to stand up to Nayeon, but her stubborn self reliance fueled by a lifetime of loneliness and trauma (her mother! Her father!!!!) stayed and was left unaddressed. And not to be dramatic, but I might die mad about it.

So past lifes were real, the curses and spells were real, Aengcho was really a shaman and the Gardener for whatever reason (also unexplored) wanted to marry Hongjo in the next life. But Hongjo in current day went from a strong, feisty character who was ready to spell cast her way in and out of trouble into... someone to intentionally get herself kidnapped??

It's like this show was written in the 2000s to early 2010s AND it hated women. I had high hopes for Ms. Ma, Shinyu's mother and Eunwol, but they were done DIRTY by this show. Hongjo's storyline was forgotten. Aengcho got relatively less attention compared to Mujin/Rowoon. It's like the main character changed somewhere and it became Shinyu/Mujin. Shinyu and Jaekyung had their cool lawyer moments (good stuff) and Hongjo got... Nayeon arrested? Nayeon, who was another villain without a proper depth or motivation other than being a 2010s kdrama era Mean Girl. Again, Hongjo and Aengcho were done so dirty. Even Shinyu's poor abused mother went back to her abusive husband AND she got pregnant. That was just tragic!

And kindly don't try to tell me that my reasons to dislike this show are wrong - I've every right to review and hate how badly this show butchered the stories of the female characters in this show even if Rowoon was hot in a bunch of scenes like that's going to compensate for it. I am not a Rowoon stan. 🤷‍♀️ I like him just fine, but it's been frustrating to watch as a non-stan since some stans seem to take any critique of the show as a slight towards Rowoon himself. But he has nothing to do with the writing, so put down your pitchforks, ok.

They should've stuck with the office romcom or made the show into a sageuk and dropped the false advertising of the show as a magic/fantasy drama. The sageuk era episodes SLAPPED. They were tense, beautifully shot and interesting, Aengcho had her moment! I LOVED her in her faceoff with the King, she was powerful and terrifying in that. And as soon as I fell in love with her, Mujin killed Aengcho (in a very meta symbolic way) and that was that. The show itself killed Aengcho and Hongjo.

This show was written to give Rowoon his cool and sexy moments. This was the Rowoon fan service show. Which is fine, but LEAD with that info then. I did enjoy Hongjo and Shinyu together and there were a couple of fun or emotionally compelling episodes, but I didn't finish with positive feelings about the show unfortunately because of the finale.

The writing of the show was exceptionally uneven and erratic. It seemed like from a different decade, but not this one. The relationship between Hongjo and Shinyu was mostly wholesome, but not always the healthiest for several reasons. Shinyu didn't always treat Hongjo well (and vice versa) and he made some decisions for Hongjo in true 2010s kdrama patriarch style.

Hongjo&Shinyu get 7/10 for being adorable and lovable. Loved their relationship development very much. I'm glad they didn't rush to have kids or to marry. The proposal at the beach while addressing Hongjo's dad was endearing.

Plot gets a 3/10 rating. There was potential... and it slipped through the writer's fingers. Loose threads were left untied. Side plots were abandoned or seemingly forgotten about.

Would I rewatch again? Maybe once I stop fuming about how Hongjo was treated by the show, but just for the Shinhong scenes. But it'll take some wound licking and fixit fic writing.

Please universe, give Boah better scripts. She's a wonderful actress and she deserves a role that's cool and that lets her showcase her talent. Many viewers seemed to lose their patience with her, even though the writing of the show was the true issue.

[random-french-girl]

you know what really frustrates me lately re: the 100 is the whole “lets replace the characters we killed off for shock value with brand new characters who will fulfill the same function in the narrative and pretend like nothing happened”

and by that i mean : anya => echo, lincoln => luna, lexa => roan

a gifted warrior/second-in-command who’s ruthless and not afraid of violence and extremely loyal to her people and her leader. This character forms an uneasy bond with an enemy (a sky person) which ends up somewhat shaking up their sense of loyalty, while allowing the sky person some perspective on grounders lives. they save each other’s lives and respect each other’s skills, but there’s also betrayal and resentment and a lot of complicated history.

=> they killed anya, and gave us echo instead. seriously, look at the parallels between anya x clarke VS echo x bellamy. and i’m not unhappy about echo, i think she’s a cool character and her relationship with bellamy makes for good content but. hello anya 2.0, the “antagonist who becomes a complicated ally’’ and offers a lot of tension and story potential when paired up with our protagonist.

a pacifist who wants nothing to do with war but who will fight if cornered. Someone who’s ready to go up against tradition, even if it means being shunned from their own people and becoming an outcast. the character who’s gonna make our protagonists feel guilty about all the terrible things they’ve done, while also providing forgiveness and maybe another, better way of life.

=> they killed lincoln, and gave us luna instead. this one is particularly infuriating because the narrative had linked luna and lincoln plotwise before his death and so her appearance feels even more like a shoddy replacement for what they lost when they killed him off. which imo doesn’t make luna very likeable. And i know people complain that they made out luna to be the straight  new and improved version of lexa, and it def makes sense on some level, but i mostly disagree. luna is meant to replace lincoln as the ~voice of peace, the non-violent fighter, not lexa, who never had that role. 

a grounder leader, with more experience than clarke, to act as her main counterpart among grounders. sometimes an ally and sometimes an opponent, as clarke and them try to balance loyalty to their respective people and fighting for the greater good (peace and the survival of the entire human race). Ruthless and practical, yet ultimately wants peace for everybody. Acts as a mentor for clarke, recognizes her as a leader and an equal, supports her leadership decisions and calls her out when she favors her own people above anyone else. 

=> they killed lexa and gave us roan instead. If you take out the “romance/personal connection with clarke” part of lexa’s role in the show, that’s exactly what they’re doing with roan now. which is especially clear since i think he’s the ONLY character who has mentioned lexa twice to clarke now, in two different conversations about clarke’s leadership. Plus that entire scene where she gives him the chip. 

anyway all that to say that i am ANNOYED. you cant just replace characters that you’ve spent some time establishing in your story, and expect the audience to care as much for the new versions of them?? And also like... if you KNEW those characters were important - so important in fact that you need to have them replaced when they exit the story - THEN MAYBE DONT FUCKING KILL THEM OFF YOU IDIOTS. That’s what you get when ~a shocking death is privileged over anything else.