cyn lynn : Kill Me Love Me | Recap and Review

A psycho prince orders an assassin to assassinate himself.

Notable Actors/Actresses

Liu Xue Yi: Murong Jing He

Wu Jin Yan: Mei Lin

Director

Huang Wei Jie, Cheng Lu

Screenwriter

Wen Yan

Chinese Title

春花焰

Spring Flower Flame

Genres: Period, Romance, Palace, Period Romance

Network: Youku

Year: 2024
Episodes: 17/32

Recap Grade: D
First Impression: 2/5

[Dropped]

Jump to Remarks | Recs | Comments

Recaps: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]

Cast


Liu Xue Yi: Murong Jing He	Wu Jin Yan: Mei Lin

Bi Wen Jun: Yue Qin	Xu Hao: Shu Mo

Baron Chan: Murong Xuan Lie	Zhao Xiao Tang: Luo Mei

Jiang Kai: Emperor of Yan	Huang Ri Ying: Zi Gu

Shao Wei Tong: Qing Yan

Mini Recaps

[Ep1] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Mei Lin (FL) is assigned to assassinate Murong Jing He (ML). ~~Mic drop!~~ Crow drop.... and it even rolls around a little, haha.

Their first official meeting and let's admire their brains:

Ah, here we go, Murong Jing He! He's mourning his fans who died from just him, fur and cat.

He's well off the ground because the servants are legit lifting the wheelchair (instead of pushing, lol).

I'm going to take off my clips like this from now on too – queen hand:

Mei Lin joins Murong Jing He in the bath. He's very welcoming:

There's something in the water that prevents her from killing him, but not kissing him:

But it's more like they're fighting each other with their lips. Rawr. (I can't with the strangling, tho)

Oh, and he can stand!

[Ep2] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

My assassin who trained for X years, can you try to hide your awesome pair of I-want-to-kill-you eyes.

This assassin excels at one thing at least: motionlessly stripping under a blanket 👏

Murong Jing He has a similar skill too, and maybe better. Man changed clothes (red to white) in between the time she stripped. And changed again to all black to meet her as her spy master.

And so it turns out Murong Jing He assigned Mei Lin to kill himself. Brilliant.

[Ep3] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Zi Gu is actually marrying the old Emperor?! 😱 Otoke! She is also a fashion-disaster.

Mei Lin gets a cocky proposal from Murong Xuan Lie (Crown Prince):

Objection! Murong Jing He stands to protest, and leans all over Mei Lin to give her the opportunity to kill him, but she knows he's not her enemy anymore. He was framed. And so Mei Lin "kills" him to save herself. Brilliant. She's incarcerated. Despite all the torture, Murong Jing He believes she won't die.

[Ep4] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Murong Jing He visits Mei Lin at night and gives her a killer S-wave. She bargains for her life with evidence that he was framed.

Somehow Mei Lin gets away with attempted murder of a prince. Her only punishment is to be whipped. Murong Jing He does it himself. Then he princess-carries her. Whipped is me. I'm getting whiplashes from the kill-me-love-me.

Her poor whipped-back in this princess-carry.

Then Show is saying the one suffering from the whipping was actually the whipper, Murong Jing He. Because he's frail.

What has been achieved by our "brilliant" leads: they're reopening the massacre that criminalized Murong Jing He.

[Ep5] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Mei Lin hallucinates and thinks our hot ML is a tree and naturally we bite trees, and so she digs in to his earlobes.

[Ep6] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Murong Jing He is already showing signs of early-onset jealousy because of Yue Qin who admires/loves Mei Lin too.

[Ep7] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

The mystery of how the two men went from ground-laying to vanishing to kneeling will never be known.

Murong Jin He sabotaged his mother's sewing to save Mei Lin, but he tells her that he would have lost the whole sewing instead. How so? Oh so serendipitously, Mei Lin discovers that the Empress (the mother) did trust Murong Jing He's character and left a type of Morse code. Mei Lin cannot allow his mother's sewing to stay ruined and insists on saving it. ML strips ~~unfully~~ ✅ ML sews ✅.

Murong Xuan Lie loves Luo Mei. Brothers indeed. They like emotionless women. I get that Mei Lin is traumatized and numb, but what's her deal?

[Ep8] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

There's a good reason I don't know of that they're a fake couple, fake sleeping here:

Just who is the meiren?

Mei Lin cures Murong Jing He's insomnia – for one night by hitting him. Murong Jing He wants to cure her of her ageusia too.

It's too bad his lethal look is all a facade:

[Ep9] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

For the festival tonight, every guy has a girl.

Will Yue Qin turn emo after the death of his buddy, Shu Mo?

[Ep10] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Y'all. Very important episode here: they're dancing, drumming, cruising, and drawing.

Zi Gu knows that if Yue Qin didn't become the hostage prince, she would have to be an hostage bride. And now both is happening...? Yue Qin...you're really useless. He wants to protect everyone, but ends up harming everyone.

[Ep11] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

"Bite" her and make this drama interesting will ya D:

[Ep12] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Mei Lin is not okay with Murong Jing He putting the innocent in danger. For that, she breaks off her alliance with him. Our psycho isn't even a real psycho and now he's going to be even softer.

A ghost in full armour materializes behind Murong Jing He. Oh, it's just Luo Mei haunting him.

[Ep13] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Pro-tip: If you're trying to propose, aim for a look of love, and not "my-wifi-is-down" face:

Grandpa-granddaughter marriage life 😱:

What in this thumb, Liu Xue Yi!

Omg Murong Jing He peed his pants!! Ok. I give this scene an A+.

[Ep14] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Bad guy has it easier. Murong Xuan Lie just has to kill Murong Jing He whereas didi needs his gege alive to serve his sentencing.

"Look how cool I am."

[Ep15] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Zi Gu is so sad for the Emperor (who thinks Murong Jing He died) and I'm so sad for her 😱.

Murong Jing He is fine by the way, hallucinating about bun (mantou). I feel so awkward that they had to act acting.

What is this weather though! It's been 3 days apparently.

Mei Lin saved Murong Jing He and never let go of his hand even in her sleep. She – by her own will – fought for a way to survive through a deadly path. She really is Si Bu Liao (Cannot-Die).

[Ep16] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Emperor of Yan suspects Murong Xuan Lie of killing his brother/son. Meanwhile miles away, Emperor of Xiyan kills his own son and promotes Yue Qin. The Emperor actor was also Emperor of "Xiyan" in Lost You Forever!

The not-dead-son is living out here as Mei Lin's fake older brother (da ge).

[Ep17] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Oh so Murong Xuan Lie marrying Luo Mei will give him military power too. Yue Qin (2ML) is also empowering himself while delusionally calling Mei Lin his little wife. And what is Murong Jing He doing? Catching flies.

[Ep18] [Jump to: Top | Comments]

Both Murong brothers want to marry the girl they love. Xuan Lie is grossly manipulative (makes her r*pe him and then becomes the gentleman in stopping her 🤮). Jing He is glowingly guanine and before he kisses Mei Lin, he asks her not to bite him this time.

Remarks

[First Impression (Ep1-3)] There's too many things I don't like about this oh-so-exaggerated drama, but it's fun to make fun of. Don't watch with me if you truly love this.

[Cast&Crew]

This shares a similar team with Back From the Brink, the same co-director (Cheng Lu) and screenwriter (Wen Yan). Other than these two though, most of the crew have no previous dramas, including its main director, Huang Wei Jie.
Wu Jin Yan is pregnant while promoting this drama! She announced her marriage with Hong Yao on September 13, 2024. This was after her successful comeback from The Double and before this drama's premiere.

[Ending] Sad

[Dropped (Ep18)] At Ep18, the romance is reciprocated and I've reached my maximum threshold for this assassin drama that turns into a sappy romcom (a genre I personally don't mind. I just mind that they teleported into a different genre).

I mock-capped this with the anticipation that this would get so bad that it's entertaining 'cause I clearly did not think the story + romance was good from the get-go. It doesn't get worse, unfortunately. That also doesn't mean this gets better. It consistently drifts in mediocrity.

And what is this grandpa-granddaughter romance D: