have slightly different views on why I think the TRPs are failing. so I will just copy and paste what I wrote in another thread. my view is as someone who started watcing for aryan and arylie chemistry and have now become detached post wedding tracks. so my view is that falling TRPs is actually because of arylie themselves and the poor writing. 🤷
hmmm, as someone detached from the drama at this point, here are my observations for why the angst isn't working and not even stirring my interest.
-- while it might seem romantic for some that they are both in the same place romantically, it is the reverse for me. people change and become bitter but they are still functional -- that is what brings on the angst in other dramas for me; life has moved on in many ways and they have learned to live without each other and your heart aches that time has passed.
as one of my favourite quotes goes “There could have never been two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved. Now they were as strangers; nay, worse than strangers, for they could never become acquainted. It was a perpetual estrangement.”
that is what the writers need to show -- when aryan says "I am now your boss", you are supposed to feel a punch and a slap. he is essentially saying that they no longer have any personal ties and they are strangers. that is what we need to see - a perpetual separation where he is cold, cold, cold! instead, it seemed like replay of romantic scenes from the past 🤦🤦
-- the second reason the angst isn't working is that imlie is as pigheaded as ever. we are supposed to feel bad for her but I instead felt bad for the shopkeeper who has to deal with such a bad customer. why should he go into debt because she can't pay? why should he give her credit?
I won't go into a full rant but I absolutely abhor this kind of scene when the reality is that so many micro, small and medium enterprises have gone belly up because of the pandemic and it is a huge economic problem. so many business owners could not pay their employees and had to shut down. these micro businesses run on very small cash margins and when their customers don't pay on time, they cannot afford to keep running and that in turn affects the whole chain. so please, none of this "shopkeeper is bad" nonsense -- well does the world give credit just because she is the FL? 🙄🙄
in most separation dramas, what amps the angst is the changes in the female lead and how she has become painfully practical because of the changes in her economics. so instead of fighting back, she bites her tongue and gives in to humiliation. and if the FL is a single mom, then those humiliations and her silently bearing them are up a notch because she has to be practical. this is what drives TRPs in many separation arcs in other dramas.
do we see that here? nope, she is still as proud but is expecting everyone else to bend around her as always. well, she should have been cut down to size from a practical perspective. if she had bit her tongue and apologized to aryan just for cheeni's sake as she needs the money, that would have brought in angst as we see how her pride has been broken. instead, she comes across as kind of emotionally depressed in some scenes but that doesn't bring in the angst for a detached viewer like myself. 🤷
-- the third reason is the grounding of conflict and why they are on different sides. again, imlie's pigheadedness seems to be more about pride and not about principles. instead, people being on opposite sides because of different worldviews can amp the angst. in "shadow and bone", the final scene in the series, alina rejects him with a glance and darkling says almost wearily and frustratedly "fine make me your villian" -- so much of angst and pangs in that one scene!!!! that is the kind of conflict we need where we don't know if they can find a way to get back to each other because they are so far apart and cutting down each other instead.
in other dramas, the angst is amplified because the separation isn't just between the leads but also between the two families who now hate each other. so instead of just a conflict between the leads, it gets expanded into full scale war between two families where other family members are also trying to sabotage and stirring the pot -- ekta serials do that superbly. we don't have that here.
-- the fourth reason is how life changes can be an enemy. in one of my fav kdramas, the two characters meet after so many years and they are both embarassed and humiliated because they are nowhere where they thought they will be. he is still jobless and hasn't made it while his friends have become successful. her family went broke and she is now a waitress/dishwasher. the way they try to hide their circumstances as they meet in a very mundane way and try to pretend they are good tugs at your heart -- where your pride is hurt and life has beaten you and you feel stupid and silly to face your old love.
in imlie, we do not see the embarassment or the humiliation or the awkwardness of running back into your ex -- instead we had some very filmy scenes that didn't work for me at all. I felt nothing. 🤷 why not have them meet in a very mundane way? -- that would have been more angsty.
-- as for cheeni, I won't go there because this post is already a long essay 
but I find her scenes annoying. this should be a 4-5 year old child but she has been given dialogues and scenes way above her age. at UKG, the child should be barely understanding what adults speak. instead she gives lectures to people and that is supposed to be cute?? 🤦🤦
another reason for why the separation arc fails -- in other dramas, the child stirs your emotions with their way of seeing the world because it is very age appropriate dilaogues and situations. instead, I am eye rolling with cheeni scenes. 🙄🙄
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