Dame Maggie and Dame Judi would like once again to issue a warning regarding the drama Well Intended Love.
You should not watch it. In fact, it should not even exist.

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    Like dramas with contract marriages? Think this is the drama for you?

    YOU ARE WRONG.
    STOP NOW.
    DO NOT PRESS PLAY.

    This is the strongest warning I can possibly give about a drama.

    At the beginning, this drama had a lot of things happening that were ridiculous – and by that I mean silly, overblown makjang. To be honest, for the first few episodes, I kept watching just to see how ridiculous the plot could get.
    Unfortunately, it’s not the overwhelming list of silly that is the problem here.

    List of silly:
    Amnesia
    Hypnosis
    Drugging
    Stalking
    Cancer scares
    Kidnapping.
    And more…

    The biggest problem with this drama is that it is a shocking apologia for domestic abuse of a particularly subtle and manipulative kind.

    Cut it whichever way you want: Xia Lin’s husband is almost sociopathic in his possessiveness. He controls her every move, manipulates her, gaslights her, tracks her, stalks her, lies to her, imprisons her. And worst of all, all of this is framed as evidence of his great epic love. It is not. This is not romantic, it is hugely disturbing and hugely wrong.

    This is the story of an abused woman who tried to escape her abuser but ends up falling back into the relationship anyway. It would actually work quite well as a warning against men who behave like this; using their wealth and power to control another person. Ling Yi Zhou is the most abusive male lead I’ve seen in a drama in a long time.

    The only acceptable resolution to this scenario would be Xia Lin being strong enough and brave enough to leave this toxic relationship behind and forge her own path in the world without Ling Yi Zhou. Anything else serves as a justification for horrible domestic abuse.

    Even after the huge TWIST I admit I kept watching because I wanted to see how the show would handle the revelation. But by the time he was microchipping her with diamonds to track her every move, I realised I was done.

    I am not just sorry I watched this – I’m upset that dramas like this exist.

    I wish I could give dramas a 0 because if I could, I would.

    https://mydramalist.com/profile/ChinguMode/review/47499

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      this sounds perfectly awful 😲 thanks for the warning!

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      I wish you would have written this a week ago as I spent a whole weekend watching the whole thing – and at the end thinking to myself “why did I just waste all those hours?”
      sigh.
      Everyone – listen to @leetennant – she is calling it as it is!

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        *sigh*
        Egads and I were entirely about this a few months ago. We honestly thought we had sufficiently warned everybody.

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          I wonder how I missed it? I read all your missives!
          The only thing I can think is that by the time it caught my eye on Netflix, I’d already forgotten everything.
          sigh, story of my life lately…

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    I read the review and WTF!!! And WTF is wrong with people who think it’s cute and romantic.

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    One part of me is saying “Spread the word! No one else should ever be subjected to this mess”. Another part is whispering “but I suffered. Can’t I just let other people suffer as I did then we can commiserate together?”

    Ok, let’s be nice. Do not watch this drama if you value your brain cells.

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    I watched this and even if it was nothing special I initially thought it was still entertaining. And then the ‘plot twist’ happened and it went into possessive, abusive, manipulation and stalker territory. Everything that was originally mildly entertaining or cute took a dark and creepy turn. I could not get behind the otp as everything about the relationship was built on abuse, lies and manipulation.

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    YES PLEASE SPREAD THE WORDS!!! That drama is completely twisted and morally wrong. I’m still disgusted every time I’m reminded of it.

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