406. Well Intended Love 奈何BOSS要娶我 (2019) Chinese

Wang Shuang, Xu Kaicheng, Ian Yi, Liu Jia Xi, Huang Qian Shuo, Yang Hao Ming, Sun Jia Qi

Drama Rating: 4/10     Neck Score: A+

Sometimes, my morbid curiosity gets the best of me. In this case, I was in a bad mood (partially because I realized I had to wait another week for the next Pillow Book episodes) and was bored and I just wanted to watch something terrible. I had seen enough spoilers on the T-list to know exactly what I was getting into, but that really only scratched the surface. This might have been the most ridiculous piece of makjang I have ever seen. It was a terrible show about terrible people (with maybe one or two good ones) and you just have to sit back and let the terrible happen. Or just not watch it, which is probably what I should have done, but I guess sometimes I'm a glutton for punishment [insert some cat meme here].

Warning, serious spoilers. I guess I watched this so you all could satisfy morbid curiosity too, if that's a thing:



So the real title should be "A Well Manipulated Love" because the whole premise of the show is that she get's diagnosed with leukemia and enters into a contract marriage with her bone marrow match. I love contract marriages because they are awkward but also usually have a lot of good chemistry. And this couple did have good chemistry, but knowing what I knew, I could also see all the red flags and fishy behavior. I knew that from the start the whole thing was a lie... He manipulated the whole thing to trick her into marrying him so that he could then court her at his leisure, revealing that he's also been basically stalking her for the last two years (was that supposed to make it better when he told her that? haha). He's basically a yandere who has been pretending to be a tsundere this whole time (yeah, I guess I will donate my bone marrow, if you marry me. I just don't have time to date, it's not like I like you or anything- inside: I've been obsessing over you for two years and must make you instantly mine).

What I don't get about this premise or reveal is why he felt like he needed to do that in the first place. Did he even try to just get to know her through normal means? He's a rich and handsome man who, if he had behaved like a normal, respectful person, could have probably just made her fall in love with him in a healthy way instead of his manipulating, selfish, lying crap. It's just ridiculous and creepy and yes, he's the male lead "hero" of the show.

So how do they make him be a more sympathetic person, essentially normalizing him? By making the villains of the piece be way worse. Yeah, so he lies and manipulates, but ultimately doesn't "hurt" her (debatable, but whatever, I have to stick to their logic to make it through this) since he did it out of love and her biggest beef was his lack of respect for her (wha????) in his selfishness.... ok. But the "villains" just take it to the next level, and the next, and the next. Like drugging people was their full time job. Seriously, how many times an episode was someone drugged? Wanna give someone amnesia? There's a drug for that. Want someone to feel bad enough to go to the doctor but not actually be sick? There is a drug for that too. Drugs are like that.

So, there was a moment when he was going to just fess up to her, because she told him she hated liars, and he was like: crap, I should just tell her and get this over with, but then he's all the sudden in a car accident and has amnesia. Find out later, nope, it was a drug induced/hypnotic amnesia so that the other girl can have her thing cuz she always gets what she wants. They also drug or get the girl drunk so many times to ruin her reputation that it is ridiculous. Why does she not have any stranger danger?!?!?! Wait... she wouldn't be married to this dude if she did....

Which brings me to some of the things I did like about the show:

• Well, the couple (when not fighting or being creepy) did have good chemistry and there was a ton of skinship.
• The male lead actually did try to change and become better. Seeing positive progress made me a tiny bit relieved, but I still wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.
• The only good dude in the show: the best bud Chu Yan. I loved how many times he punched the male lead for being a douche. I loved how unselfish he was. He was ultimately loyal to his bro, respectful of her best interests, and smart enough to actually figure out what was going on most of the time. He was also an actor who could out bitch all the ladies in being sassy and confident.
• There is actually a way better love story between him and the female lead as he hates her (because he thinks she's a gold digger) to him protecting her as his buddy's wife, to him becoming good friends with her so that they would roast each other in a good fun way. He deserved more development of his own love interest (thrown in at the end, with not enough time to enjoy, all though I'm all for it).
• I honestly loved the trust between the bros, like all three of them. It doesn't really make sense, since the main dude is a douche bag, but I like the loyalty and trust nonetheless.
• The male lead actually seems to figure out what he did wrong and tries to change (although that doesn't negate all the crap he pulled, but moving on).
• I liked that while the female lead was way too nice and trusting (stranger danger, girl, stranger danger!), she consistently stood up for herself (to a point obviously, she did take him back- shrugs) and was not passive about her life. She tried to seduce him back when he had amnesia, she called him on his crap and actually moved out when he was caught lying, and she tried to either escape or get help a lot when she was kidnapped.... yeah, she gets kidnapped. To help us forget how bad the male lead is by making the villain literally crazy.

But honestly, there was so much "what the heck" in the show that I was literally messaging @lizabreff and @ccatie constantly, spamming our thread with craziness they weren't interested in, because I had to spill the details. They were good sports about it. I probably should have just tweeted it, but I guess I didn't want to hear any "I told you so's" because I knew what I was doing and did it anyway. # Bad drama decisions.

I tried to get them in the right order, but this was apparently harder than was probably worth it... oh well.

I think I could honestly go on for much longer because so much didn't make sense in this drama, and everything was so over-the-top all the time, and everyone had access to all these random drugs and had no reservations about spiking the drinks and covering the mouths and drugging the soups that it's a wonder anyone is still alive.

Also, please stop drugging the pregnant lady. Please.