Yes (Other)
(Moderate)
Triangle Details
The 1FL has a long time crush, a husband at one point, many other random people…
The princess actively pursues the ML and shares charged moments with him. The ML hesitates to reject her outright, which briefly shifts romantic focus away from the FL. And the princess/ML thing, at times feels more engaging than the main romance (in my opinion).
My Notes / Opinions
Content warning is important here: the drama includes implied sexual assault and abuse, explicitly acknowledged within the story. These themes are heavy, disturbing, and should be clearly flagged for sensitive viewers.
This drama starts strong in atmosphere, with grounded visuals, winter settings, and a serious war tone that initially pulled me in. The survival arc in the early middle section is easily the best part, especially when the FL steps up and proves herself capable, resilient, and strong.
Unfortunately, the main romance becomes extremely repetitive. Most of it consists of longing looks, crying, pushing each other away, misunderstandings, and emotional loops that repeat every few episodes. For a romance focused drama, there is surprisingly little actual time spent letting the couple just be together.
The FL, while mentally strong and admirable in many ways, became increasingly frustrating for me as someone watching primarily for romance. Her repeated indecision, emotional backtracking, and constant distancing from the ML made the relationship feel stagnant. The ML, on the other hand, comes across as a full on simp lol.
The drama also relies heavily on overused tropes, most notably multiple amnesia arcs. This made the writing feel lazy and undermined any emotional weight the story was trying to build.
By the end, while the drama technically resolves its romance, I finished it feeling more exhausted than satisfied. I genuinely do not understand the level of hype this show receives. For me, the strongest elements were the atmosphere and survival arc and the romance itself was the weakest part.
I’ve multiple times, while watching, said to myself: this is so asscheeks; so do what you will with that information.