Someone on c_ent recommended a drama called Fateful Love & when I went to look it up on MDL I found 2 dramas called that, plus this one, all of which released in 2024. I suppose we should be lucky nobody released one called Fateful Love of Blossom, for the ultimate 2024 cliché title.

I checked this one out to investigate & was immediately intrigued because it had a time loop/do-over element, where the main pairing had a magic pendant that would rewind time if they died. I love me some time travel tropes so I was like O_O YES PLEASE! And it was a relatively short drama, but not too short, with 24 episodes of 40 mins each (& several of them were 35 mins).

Sadly I ended up bailing 10 episodes in because even with that fairly snappy runtime, the plot still dragged, & after the first 2 episodes they barely died & needed to rewind (episodes 3-10 they died twice). Everything just seemed to screech to a halt as soon as they arrived in the capitol. Things sort of happen with no real impact. FL runs away & replaces her sister in the marriage, assuming her identity so her sister can marry her true love, & her brother is with her, & then we find her sister has settled in some random town after her escape. This means the country of Dongyu has lost 2 princesses, 1 prince, & the sister's lover is a diplomat, & the marriage is meant to seal a peace deal between the 2 countries after years of war, but this is fine I guess? ML seems to die in a confrontation but is quickly revealed to be alive & there is so further mention, even though he got stabbed in the chest. FL knows the marriage is important & has no particular reason not to marry considering the consequences, but wants to find a way out because... reasons. The ML's cousin is in love with him & sees herself as entitled to him, gets the FL & ML killed (obviously they get better), so he's obviously pissed & kicks her out of his mansion (presumably having her punished more severely would cause political issues so fair enough), & then a few episodes later she's visiting him & while he's not exactly friendly, he's weirdly chill about it. There's a stolen ledger that's apparently important only not really. FL encounters someone from her country being abused & intervenes, gets arrested over it & finds out her people are treated as slaves & the woman she helped has to go back to her master even though she apparently bought her freedom, & is just kind of, 'oh, well that sucks'. Stuff like that. Everything is just, oh okay I guess. There's supposedly political scheming going on but there's no tension.

They also did that thing where they make the FL incompetent in ways she should be competent. We're shown in episode 1 that she loves cooking, but later an etiquette teacher shows up & she struggles to pour tea (I don't doubt she'd struggle with the fiddlier aspects of a tea ceremony, but a cook being unable to pour liquid without spilling it? Come on. She's from a country of grassy plains with a tribal/Mongolian vibe & there is no way someone like that isn't an experienced rider, & when she & the ML go out riding, after initially riding super well & shooting with a bow from horseback, she falls off the horse when it gets startled & is immediately helpless & has to be carried by the ML & her sprained ankle is treated as a grievous injury.

2ML is a contender from Most Annoying 2ML in a Cdrama.

On the plus side the ML had such a cute baby face yet still had Lan Wangji levels of resting bitch face, & I love the contrast. I also love the South Prince, who should by all rights have been a super annoying character, but managed to be hilarious & endearing. Sadly neither of these characters was enough to make up for the boredom.

Fateful Love

The actual drama I was recommended. Made it 2 episodes in. Seemed promising at first. FL transmigrates from the modern world & immediately beats a bunch of people up & gives zero fucks it was awesome & hilarious watching her humiliate her shitty family. But then she seems to just let them walk over her. And she goes to the consort selection to piss off her sister, but then doesn't really try & is surprised at being chosen. Like are you trying to spite her or not? And why commission nunchucks if you can't fight effectively with them? It also looks like they'd doing the 'every other female character is a jealous bitch who wants the ML & hates the FL' & omg fuck that shiiiiit.

Especially as the ML is ugly (not helped by an atrocious wig). Like girl you can have him.

Even beyond his looks I had no interest in his story.

Legend of the Female General

I didn't even manage 5 minutes. Noped out as soon as I saw the character was forced to wear a mask. I know the MDL description mentioned that but I thought they were being metaphorical! I get they needed the character to not be recognised when she assumed her new identity after being betrayed. But it makes zero sense that her father would force her to wear it from childhood to disguise her as a boy. Just have her wear boy clothes! There'll be no obvious indicators otherwise until puberty hits & it's not like her face is what's going to give things away at that point. It just draws attention to the fact that something shady is going on. And we see her still wearing a mask when fighting, & you can't tell me everyone was fine with that.

According to the description the ML is suspicious & convinced she's a spy... after she returns post-betrayal, without her mask! So he was not remotely suspicious of someone constantly wearing a mask, but this random person is clearly up to something.

They obviously need to have the ML not recognise her, but idk just have a different actress play her in flashbacks, or do something with makeup, or say the ML has really bad face blindness or something!

I guess that's a petty thing to be bothered by, but I can only handwave so much. I'm pretty sure I'm dodging a bullet here as well. It took so long to get to air & that's rarely a good sign. Plus there were comments on the MDL page about how the pacing felt rushed, which didn't necessarily seem like a big deal (& people were defending the pacing by saying the novel had a lot going on) until I saw that the 4 episodes available on that first day were all 35 minutes. So you have a busy plot, & not only are you only using 36 episodes out of the maximum of 40, but the run time is shorter than it could be. Yeah, red flaaaaaags.

First up is My Husband & I Sleep in a Coffin (the online translations are called I & My Husband Sleep in a Coffin, but someone at 7S understands how English grammar works & I'm going with the correct version). Only a couple of chapters in & really liking it so far. The LI is delightfully deranged. The first volume comes out in a few weeks, so I probably won't read all of it. Just enough to be sure I like it, then I'll wait for the book, read that, & then read the rest of the unofficial translation.