All Out of Love (2018)

I have probably written only two review this year, and both of them were for shows were I deemed that one fanbase simply ruin the drama experience. I truly feel that it is sad when fanbase undermine the hard work that goes into putting a drama or movie together. That being said let me try to objectively review All Out Of Love.

All out of love for me was not a romance drama, yes it was a drama about love but not necessarily romantic love. It was more to me a drama about the different type of love out there, familial ( blood relations), the family we make for ourselves ( non blood relations) and friendships. And the importance we give all those relationship throughout one life.

This drama truth strength got buried beyond unnecessary censorship, meaning lost in translation and unruly fanbase.
Before writing my thoughts on the drama I did a lot of googling to understand the drama backstory and familiarized myself with plot points that when I was watching made no sense to me. And of course to understand the all controversy in regard to the character played by MTY.

So from the get go I want to say that it has been clarify by the author of the book that the character of TY is the main the lead, although when she started writing her books LS was the main, hence why the book title had his name in, and that by the time her novels change gear well her fan base already knew the book by that title and there was no point changing it. So to me the all hate MTY fans were throwing at Wallace just seems quite displaced. Especially when you truly dig into both their respective characters. While Wallace character YT got a lot of character washing by pretty being turned into a one dimensional perfect good guy instead of the multifaceted guy that he supposedly his in a book. After all in the book he is a driven ceo, loyal to a fault to his family while still being a feared and respected underworld boss who cuts LS two fingers out of jealousy. But that is clearly not who we get in the drama, in the drama we get this perfectly saintly guy with a patience and resilience that puts all human to shame, with his only flaw being a out of this world trust for his brother when everyone else can tell his brother it clearly a closeted psychopath. Yet it would be a disservice to Wallace to say that he did not own his character, although one dimensional Wallace's acting gave the character depth, even the choppy editing was not enough to dampen the depth of YT character, it was truly as if we were watching another drama within the drama.
And sadly that is not the same case with LS character, his character got the less cleanup but MTY was not able to bring depth to his character, if you are not a fangirl it was actually hard to be pull into feeling sorry for LS. I'm saying this because I watched the drama with my husband and mother-in-law. And the three of us had pretty opposing views, my husband and I have seen MYT in other dramas , and his acting his usually on par with some and sometimes like this time very underwhelming. This was my mil first encounter with him in such a prominent role and she was not impress. When you watched the drama the most that comes to mind when going through the character of LS is the overwhelming sense of depression. Throughout the drama MTY has this I'm super depressed look on his face even when the emotions he was supposed to convey was one of anger. I do get that there is a lot of grief going around in this drama but there is so many ways to express grief without looking depress the most starling difference is probably seen in the scene where JS tells YT about her abortion, with just his eyes since he has no dialogue you can see YT go from Joy to despair to simply undiluted anger. VS that scene were LS learns that JS and him are not related MTY fell to bring in people to feel is pain right there, when he is going to the most painful realisation of hs life that he can now without restraint go after the woman he love. No what come out at that moment his pretty much a robotic renditions of his line and once that dead in your soul emotion that his been sorting all along. And that is carried through the end where instead of seeing a guys that sacrifice his own happiness for his sister, all we see his a controlling man that choose to isolate himself from his friends and family and live in the past when he realize that he could not control any of them.

And that truly is the feel that we get at the end of this drama that was truly big at sending the vibe that if you decide to let go then you can be happy in life. When you don't learn to let go then life get pathetic for you.

The biggest contrast of love for me was truly between the way LS and YT loved JS. LS wanted to control her and seems quite content to have JS be is emotional sounding board. And he seemed to be content that she was totally and utterly co-dependent on him. While YT approach to loving JS was to let her go. He allowed if not pushed a little hard sometimes for her to make her own decision over the place she should have in his life, She was in control even when it seemed he was making the decision for her.

There is so many examples throughout the drama of the danger of not letting go of your obsession Bei's wife and mistress loose's their minds waiting for him to return to them and both died being insane. Even BWX obsession with JX , even if they try to give it a positive spin at the end with them ended together and waiting for the arrival of their child, we still see that in their desire not to let go he loses arm. And we can pretty much say that his life is quite in shambles while he was holding to his obsession. Then we also see it with Tianen because of hate he not only appears as the psycho, only once he decide to let go does he character actually take a turn were viewers somewhat get interested in his backstory.


I have so many thing to say but I feel like I should turn into an article. So what I'm going to say is that this is a really good drama if you go in focusing on the story and not the fan base. Because yes there is a story being told here, and it's a story of love, growth and forgiveness. My biggest regret is that the story truly suffered from censorship, and the negative connotations it send people with disabilities. There seemed to be an underlying tone that somewhat suggested that people with disability were not capable of love or making others around happy. And that irked me a little. And wow in watching this be ready to see a lot of hospital scene. I'm pretty sure this drama had been sponsor by hospital and apples selling merchant.

I kinda of went on quite a rant here , what I'm saying go watch the drama it 's good don't get swept into the controversies ad make your own opinion.

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Contrary to other's reviews, because its a very long drama, some find it too unnecessary long and boring. I myself is not a very big fan of long dramas. But to my surprised, i found each episode enjoyable and have even finished every single episode without skipping. Maybe it also helped because Wallace Chung is one of my favorite Chinese actors, i dont find him boring at all. And Ray Ma is very good looking.
First, i understand the writer's point of view as to why the very long drama, when they can just finish it to 20 to 25 episodes. The writer covered a lot of areas in the story, and i think she/he wants to send a message of unselfish and unconditional love between liangsheng and tianyou, and liangsheng and jiangsheng. Liangsheng and tianyou have their own love story to tell and also, liangsheng and jiangsheng too, have their own love story to tell. And i love how the writer gave,not only the main characters, their stories, but also, the supporting roles have their own story to tell, separately. That is why it became that long of a drama. This is my longest drama by far, following the very beautiful long 58 episodes of "ten miles of peach blossom".

Although my heart aches for some reason because of this drama ( i got torn between two lovers), i also had the most satisfying endings for the characters. I love how the main characters had a very happy ending, though my heart aches for one, thinking about it.
Overall, its a must watch melodrama love story. But rewatch?... i dont think so. Well done to the actors, the writers and the director!

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Compelling but LONG!

Ok, I ended up fast forwarding, 10-30 seconds at a time, through all 70 episodes because it was just too darn long and just too darn sad and depressing. However, I’m still giving it a 9.5 because 1) it was well filmed, despite an overload of flashbacks. How many times do we have to watch JS & LS's childhood, wonderful though it was? 2) it was well acted, except Wallace Chung doesn’t know how to portray a blind man. His eyes moved too much. Evan Lin in The Crush did a better job. And 3) the music was beautiful and wonderfully poignant. Nevertheless, I took off 1/2 star because I couldn't be completely satisfied with the ending because of Liang Sheng's sad loneliness. I could not enjoy Tian You's and Jiang Sheng's happiness because of Liang Sheng. If the director wanted me to be happy with the ending, then he/she shouldn't have shown me such a beautiful relationship between these two 'siblings'.

FL (Jiang Sheng) – she started out as a spunky, strong character but deteriorated into someone who seemed constantly depressed and confused. She was like the weather vane on the Cheng residence, swinging back and forth between TY and LS. She's also constantly in the hospital with various injuries. I don't know about you, but in my lifetime, I've only been in the hospital maybe a handful of times. It's so unrealistic that she should get into so many accidents...and survive them all. As mentioned, she seemed unable to make up her mind who she wanted to spend forever with – Tian You or her ‘brother’. Really, around midpoint, Jiang Sheng and Liang Sheng should have just said to hell with the Cheng family (give me the parting teacup, Grandpa!) and runaway together, going back to the simplicity of their earlier life. That’s the tragedy of this drama – this family destroyed their absolutely beautiful relationship. If left alone, they would have happily lived together as brother and sister forever. But I digress - back to FL. I liked Jiang Sheng (and this actress), but I wish she’d shown some of her earlier spunk and stopped letting everyone push her around from Grandpa to Weiyang to Tian You and Liang Sheng who embarked on the pathway of noble idiocy in nearly every 10 or so episodes. She’s constantly at everyone's mercy as they decide what’s best for her, plunging her into new misery. It was frustrating for me as a viewer because I never knew what she was thinking because she never stated her feelings out loud; she just went around looking pained and morose. Tell the Cheng family and Wieyang to go screw themselves, honey! Stop being nice!

Tian You (ML) - as I see it, he created this entire 70 episode ordeal by prying into his aunt's past so does he really deserve happiness in the end after he and his family destroy this beautiful relationship? Yeah, he's a sweet, caring guy, but he still started this whole mess. TY discovering his lost cousin (LS) caused Grandpa to go all tyrannical and separate LS from his sister. On the bright side, he did received his fair share of suffering. I think the most heart-breaking was when JS made him think she'd willingly aborted their child and then broke up with him. Later on, I didn't quite understand why he forced her to go to LS's bachelor party and then told her they would have nothing more to do with each other. And no, FL, it wasn't your fault he went blind. You didn't push him off the cliff; he freely chose to dive in after you. That's not your fault, so stop feeling guilty about it.

Liang Sheng - his sad, lonely character made my heart ache. Because of their beautiful childhood moments, he and Jiang Sheng just seemed like one of those couples that should be together forever, and my heart ached when FL was no longer at his side or treating him as warmly as before. As with FL, I had a difficult time reading him since he rarely told us what he was feeling or thinking. His video recordings to FL revealed the most, and I wanted to cry along with him. His biggest fault was his lack of firmness with Weiyang. He was far too passive with this nutcase, which almost caused him to be manipulated into a marriage with her. It was clear he didn't love her or want to marry her, but he allowed her to push him into an engagement.

Weiyang – a first class psycho chick who resorts to emotional blackmail to try and force LS to accept her in his life. I have no sympathy for people who threaten suicide to emotionally blackmail someone. I normally call her type of character a cupcake, but I came up with a new nickname just for her – dog poop – because she was like dog poop stuck to LS's shoe. He just couldn't get her off no matter how he scraped. Do women like her actually exist in real life? I hope not! Her obsession with this guy was insane (and no, I didn’t feel sorry for her when the director made us watch her boo-hooing. However, the scene of her dressed in red in an empty white banquet hall was visually arresting. She also had the best 'theme' song of all the music in the drama.). Just because you stalk a guy for years doesn't mean he's yours! It made me mad when her sister and Jiang Sheng tried to make him feel guilty for cancelling the wedding. He was not responsible for this girl's feelings. Yes, he should have never agreed to the marriage, giving dog poop hope, but still, he had a valid argument. We're all individuals, and he doesn't owe her his entire lifetime as compensation. If what the sister and FL said was true, nobody would have a right to break up with anyone without their consent.

Bei Xiaowu/Ke Xiaorou – thank the scriptwriting gods for these two characters! They saved Liang Sheng from marrying WY! That alone gave purpose to their existence! FL was not being a good sister by keeping WY's involvement in her miscarriage a secret from LS. You don't stand by and let your brother marry a crazy woman. I wasn't interested at all in Bei Xiaowu's relationship with the motorcycle chick and fast forwarded through it.

Tianen – can someone just put a knife in this weasel’s heart? And no, his wheelchair does not give him the right to be messed up in the head. Get him and dog poop matching straight jackets. Ok, I'm sorry, the moment he bite my hand, I'd be telling him and Tian You to get the hell out of my life, if I were FL. Yet she continues to allow herself to be sucked into the Cheng family (although Grandpa seems to think she's the one holding onto his family - no, it's your grandsons, you old goat!). I guess the Cheng family was dog poop on her shoe! Yeah, the weasel gets redeemed in the end, but I still hated him.

Grandpa – this old geezer just needed to croak. This is the 21st century. Business alliances should be made in board rooms, not by marrying off your offspring to rich men’s bratty daughters. And apparently, in Grandpa's mind, disabled people can't run a company successfully. But, hey, if don't want an arranged marriage, just cut your leg off and you'll be disqualified. The discrimination against disabled people in this drama was outrageous. Even Lin Jing's mom implied her daughter couldn't be happy with the weasel because he couldn't walk. But he's rich, mom, so how exactly will your daughter suffer because of the legs?

Ok, maybe I'm crazy but I liked Liang Sheng's real dad. Yeah, he was sort of shady, but he had no problem with LS marrying Jiang Sheng and even worked to make it a reality. He was one of those free-thinking parents, which is unusual in Asian dramas.

Lin Jing – I loved this character. She was a down to earth, non-annoying bestie. I just wish they've gotten her a better love interest than the weasel, not because of his legs but because he was a first class jerk and psycho. Unlike FL, she spoke her mind, and she gave FL good, reasonable advice.

Here’s an epilogue for all of you that - like me - felt sorry for Liang Sheng: After ten years of 'blissful' marriage, TY gets run over by a car (because, as we all know by watching Asian dramas, cars are running people over every day). LS, who has remained single (he’s the type that only loves once in a lifetime) comforts JS and with TY no longer confusing her, FL gets over the ‘brother’ thing and accepts him as a man and her 2nd husband. Or, for those of you who can’t get over the brother thing, they live the rest of their lives as brother and sister, sharing the same home, totally devoted to one another as they were before the Cheng family wreaked havoc.

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The story is crazy but you will find yourself watching till the end anyways

This drama as with a lot of Chinese dramas will give you a slow burn and drain you just the way the characters are drained, but you will likely not drop it when you start because you want to see what happened to them eventually.

It’s basically started with a family bond story between siblings Liangsheng and Jiansheng From episodes 1-3 and love story between Jiangsheng and Tianyou from Episode 4 and the trio eventually finding themselves in a love triangle as the plot of the story begins to thicken.

Jiangsheng and Liangsheng grew up together as siblings and JS grew up to love her brother so much because he always sacrificed so much to make her happy hence creating an unforgettable childhood memory which made her forget how unfair her father treated her, so he wasn’t only a brother but he became Iike a father to her, he became her entire world when their parents died.

Liangsheng on the other hand joined their family as a traumatic Kid but his sister as little as she was did all she could to make him feel warmth and love so they both basically made their childhood beautiful together and shared a strong bond that had a blurred line between familial and romantic.

When they entered college Jiangsheng met an older guy called Tianyou a rich heir of the cheng family, he became interested in her after series of her ‘fateful’ encounters and gradually was drawn to her and became her friend, as time progressed he found out that she is the sister of the son of his aunt that he had been trying to find for several years for his grandpa in a very unfortunate incident that led to so much misunderstand that later separated them and caused so much emotional distress to all parties.

Tianyou again eventually reconciled with JS after so many years because he never forgot her and their romance started blooming , he loved her selflessly and did all he could to make her happy because of her brother Liangsheng situation , he did all he could but Jiangsheng still yearned and wanted her brother and couldn’t let go of the past, Tianyou ended up being heartbroken and almost lost his life just about when Jiangsheng Was finally able to differentiate the feeling she had for her brother was just familial love and not the the romantic type she felt for Tainyou and they ended up being separated for a long time because Tainyou became temporarily blind.

The drama keeps going on in the usual spiraling in its crazy influx of events and conspiracies to keep them apart till all parties were able to sort out their feelings.

My own evaluation based on their acting is that I am happy she is a ended with Tianyou than her brother Liangsheng who I feel loved her as a deep sense of responsibility and obligation and not passionately or as a priority in his heart because he was always distracted with weiyang and never set boundaries for her even after he knew he loved his sister, I don’t blame him for also not telling his sister her recovered his memories but the sister found it hard to forgive him for making her go through so much pain looking for him when all along he could remember .

Tianyou was clear about his actions and show of passion and love and didn’t waver that he wanted to be with her despite the huge gap and his family being against their union, he was willing to give up everything to be with her and he eventually dropped it all and left with her and even during their enforced separation when he became blind, the moment he met her in Paris as Ardou , it was still her and always her and no distraction in his heart towards other women especially Ningzin who has hoped for years he would finally see her .

Jiangsheng acted well to show she wasn’t into her brother romantically despite how much she yearned for him , he was and will always be her brother and in the end she knew the difference in the kind of love both men had for her and chose Tianyou.

Finally , Jiangsheng greatest character development was being able to finally walk away from the brotherly love shackle of LS and make her own decisions on whom to love whole fully in the future.

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Cannot believe that I am writing my first review for a show I disliked instead of one I loved. The only reason I completed this show was Wallace Chung. He brought life to his character which wasn't even written that well. The actor playing LS? No words. I don't know how he was one of the main when he had a dead look throughout the show. The show should have been called Miserable love in hospital cos that's where they were every second episode with never ending accidents. I could not feel any sadness or pity for any character cos the plot was just that bad. JS was dumb. The number of misunderstandings she allowed to happen while she just stood there with a pitiable expression, is unbelievable. TY's brother was a psycho but ended up happily with a nice woman after doing all of that? The other side characters were no less annoying. Just put them all in a therapy center cos that is what they needed.
Watch only if you have lots of patience.

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So whilst on lockdown in merry old England due to COVID-19, I've managed to watch quite a few asian dramas. I've watched around 100 in the last 18 months and about 15 in the last 3 weeks when I've barely left the house (although that includes re-watching some of my favourites). I came across this one and quite frankly, I wish I hadn't.

I have never encountered a chinese drama that is 70 episodes long before and unfortunately, if I come across another, I won't be bothering to watch it because there can't be a story or plot that requires that many episodes and it definitely was not warranted for this series. They could have easily dropped 30 episodes and quite frankly, it still would have been boring but it would have been a lot more succinct.

As with a lot of chinese dramas in particular (I tend to favour korean), they follow very similar tropes regardless of which one you end up watching. There's mis-understandings, mis-communication and at least one really unrealistic event which in this case, is a boy being taken into a family and brought up alongside a little girl (girl is around 4 and the boy is about 7 when this happens). The children grow up together and consider themselves brother and sister and they become uncommonly close. As they grow up, you could say that their romantic lives in particular become complicated because of this close relationship which, at least one sibling doesn't find out they're not actually blood relations until very late on. And then there are other newly discovered familial relations that just get themselves in on the act of making everything unnecessarily complicated... And that's pretty much the story.

Except, on this occasion you can also add in the fact that virtually every episode includes someone being in a hospital or receiving medical care and a sociopath - who is not in any way scary or believable so his inclusion can probably be overlooked.

The majority of the cast did an ok job with what they had to work with, e.g the very boring script and story. But, the Liangshen character or actor (I don't know which one to blame), was either played as or written as perpetually bored. He could not evoke an emotion to save his life. I persevered with watching him for about 40 episodes but then, I fast forwarded through any scene's he was in and it made no difference to what I watched at all. I didn't care what he said or did so the character and the actor that played it was absolutely pointless in the grand scheme of things... And that has brought the acting/cast score down quite a lot.

I wouldn't rewatch this mainly because it would take so long to do so and you get no benefit.

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so ermmm....i almost didn't watch this because of the negative reviews when it first came out. took me more than three years to give it a try because i felt like watching a melodrama.

note: before you continue reading my review, please keep in mind that i'm not writing based on the drama's accuracy to the novel, the censorships or its backstory with the drama between the two male leads and their fanbase. this review will just be based on my enjoyment of the series itself and the way the story has been told on the screen. most of what i want to say about this drama has been described by darkn3ss' review, but i will add on with some other things from my pov.

what i got away from the story: let go when you can let go. life will feel merrier if you don't make yourself stuck in the past.

let's start off by talking about liang sheng's character, who was supposedly the male lead (but this was then switched to wallace chung's character, cheng tian you). liang sheng loves his sister and cares for her deeply, and this love extended into something bigger after he finds out that they are not biological siblings. i agree with darkn3ss that ma tianyu didn't do this character justice, which is a pity because it could've been such a beautiful and bittersweet character to connect with. but ma tianyu just looked stoned and depressed throughout the entire drama (more depressed than jiang sheng), so as a viewer, i couldn't really resonate with his character and his actions —as much as i love him as an actor.

while his love for jiang sheng was admirable because of how loyal he is and how caring he is at heart, his weakness in the love he has for jiang sheng is his overprotectiveness. from the beginning of the drama to the ending, other than becoming a successful businessman, he didn't have much of a character growth that i was hoping to see from him. such as to understand that the world is big, he doesn't have to make himself stuck in one place and keep reminiscing about the past to make himself suffer. although in the end, he chooses to leave jiang sheng, we still got hints that he is unwilling to fully let go of the romantic love that he has for jiang sheng, even though he forces himself to only think of her as a sister. this aspect of his character makes me happy that the writer decided to root for jiang sheng and cheng tian you to be an item instead because if she were to end up with liang sheng, i cannot see her living a happy life even though he will be able to offer her a comfortable life (and also the fact that she only ever regarded him as a brother and nothing more).

on the other hand, while the writers turned cheng tian you's character into a more 'idol-like' man (compared to the one in the novel), i like that at least his character still feels more humane than liang sheng. perhaps it might be wallace's superb acting, as always, but cheng tian you's character has growth, making it easier for viewers like myself to understand why he acts the way he acts and thinks the way he thinks. we see this from the time he meets jiang sheng, to the day they begin dating, facing the miscarriage, reuniting again, and then accepting each other's flaws. there are layers of emotions that make his character relatable even though he might seem unreasonable sometimes...and maybe you will want to punch the screen at times because of his stupidity, but this is dramaland, what can we say? i like the way the writers created for him to be a man who can be impacted by/try to reflect outsiders' views, thinks for others, and not just be blind-sided by his own feelings and emotions. it feels more realistic this way compared to liang sheng, who seems to just care about his and jiang sheng's world, which to me is selfish and possessive. i also like that cheng tian you was able to accept and embrace jiang sheng's insecurities instead of finding ways to erase it, which was what liang sheng was trying to do.

i especially like the contrast between the separate times jiang sheng got to spend with liang sheng and then with cheng tian you. we get to see what the two men can respectively offer her in life and love. for example, most of her time with liang sheng, the two just reminisce about their childhood and talk about how they missed those times. as a viewer, i got the sense that they can't seem to move forward to create a happier future. it just seemed more like they were trying to live for the sake of living.

whereas with cheng tian you, jiang sheng seems more firm about what she wants, has a goal in life, and finds a vision of what she wants her future to look like. with cheng tian you, jiang sheng's life seems to have a purpose —like there's a meaning to life. i like the scene where they temporarily moved to an island after their marriage. they lived a simple life together and were very content and happy with that life. if we swap cheng tian you and liang sheng for that specific scenario, jiang sheng would definitely not be as happy or content. and like what darkn3ss has pointed out, jiang sheng was able to be more independent when she is with cheng tian you, while liang sheng was always holding her back with his plans for her even though he kept on saying he wanted her to do what she likes.

i've read a few comments saying how they like jiang sheng's strong personality in the beginning, but then she just started to become weak and that became unbearable for them to continue the drama. i disagree. you need to keep in mind that she was diagnosed with depression and depression can make one's mentality weak, so it makes sense that her character can be frustrating to please people. all jiang sheng had in her life were her three family members and (few) friends, and one by one they become busy with their own life or pass away, it's understandable that she feels she has lost a shoulder to lean on and thus becomes insecure. this is also what makes cheng tian you so much more likable than liang sheng because he was able to offer her hope for better love and the family life that she has yearned for all those years. i'm not a big fan of sun yi, but this is probably one of her most nuanced performances to date, alongside seige in fog.

if you want to watch this drama, i recommend walking into it with an open mind and don't let the negative reviews affect you. also don't let your mind go into a battle against who is more fitting to be a male lead because this will affect the way you judge the characters. think of it as watching a long family drama that has a bit of a depressing tone, where everyone is a main character.

some people might feel daunting because of the long episodes. but i personally liked the pace of the drama since i was able to take my time to absorb the emotions delivered by the characters and story.

my only complaint about the drama is the multiple accidents and hospital scenes. it felt like 45% of the drama was dedicated to the characters getting hospitalised after encountering accidents or falling ill... honestly, i think we should feel relief that this is a chinese drama because the dramatic-ness of the story has been toned down to make it bearable for viewers. if this was a thai drama, there would've been an explosion from the angst, lmao —and i would probably be pulling my hair most of the time from frustration and anger :')

shoutout to alan yu's character, cheng tian'en. his character was a jerk since the beginning, but i grew to like him and can understand why he behaved the way he did. i'm glad he was able to discover himself again and move on to understand how one can truly obtain happiness. perhaps liang sheng's character could've learnt from him a little because my heart ached for liang sheng's ending (which i felt like he was just trying to run away from his own problems and was unwilling to talk about them with anyone). in fact, most of the characters were able to have their own closure, except for liang sheng...sighhh...

overall, not a bad series. i've seen worst...

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I usually avoid melancholy melodramas because there's too much angst to be enjoyable - especially when it's 70(!!) episodes - but I caved and watched this because I like Sun Yi and Wallace Chung. I liked the relationship between their characters and there are a number of memorable scenes between them, but didn't care about Ma Tian Yu's character at all, and the back-and-forth and ridiculous situations were exhausting. Note: I didn't read the novel so I had no expectations.

First of all, I pretty much skipped all of the childhood scenes and flashbacks. I understood that their purpose is emphasizing the deep brother-sister bond between Jiang Sheng (Sun Yi) and Liang Sheng (Ma Tian Yu), but I just cared about the present-day events. In the beginning of the story, Jiang Sheng is a spirited and hard-working college student (with her brother) and I love the way her relationship with Tian You (Wallace Chung) begins and develops. It was surprisingly light and funny! Unfortunately, the three of them end up separated and there are multiple characters scheming against their reconciliation. A miserable back-and-forth fills the rest of the drama, but I couldn't stop watching because I had to know what happens.

It's difficult to say which character is the worst... is it Liang Sheng's girlfriend Wei Yang (played by Zoey Meng), who is possessive and jealous of how much he cares about his SISTER? Or is it Tian You's brother Tien En (played by Alan Yu), who bullies Jiang Sheng behind Tian You's back and then pretends to be innocent in front of him? Wei Yang's behavior is especially apparent when compared to Tian You, who supports the siblings being reunited and gives them space. Meanwhile, Tian En does his best to force Jiang Sheng to leave his brother and I hate that he never truly apologizes to Jiang Sheng. Liang Sheng annoyed me as well because he doesn't listen to what Jiang Sheng tells him and tries to make decisions for her. Why did he even keep Wei Yang by his side all those years??

This drama really pulls out a lot of ~dramatic events~ and I swear every other storyline involved someone being in the hospital. Some kind of accident was always occurring: car, fire, falling, serious medical conditions... Yikes. Towards the end I was confused by why Jiang Sheng was just going along with everyone else's plans and not speaking up about what she wanted. There were some bizarre situations and then all of a sudden another accident occurred and everything was resolved.

Jiang Sheng's friends had storylines as well and I liked how close they remained over the years, but ultimately I was here for the Jiang Sheng and Tian You scenes, which I would actually re-watch.

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This is a nice drama that illustrates how children carry the burden of their elder’s mistakes. The drama has a sullen aura throughout all 70 episodes and, although it has its beautiful, lovely, and tender moments, it is packed with characters that are scarred from the actions, selfishness, misunderstandings, and lack of proper communication of their parents and grandparents. The entire drama packs one punch after another on the leading couple and most of the supporting cast. Although it is not a binge worthy drama and the characters take too long to reach emotional maturity, the drama does have some redeeming qualities. The male lead is one of them; he’s steadfast on his love and care for the leading female. The most disturbing aspect of this drama is how most characters failed to see and understand that Jiang Sheng’s feelings and yearning for Liang Sheng stemmed from a sisterly deep, pure, and strong love toward the brother that she grew up with and their symbiotic relationship.

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What was that hot mess?

I honestly do not even know where to start with this review. If you are looking for an overly long, overly dramatic, overly miserable story this one is for you. 70 episodes of nothing. The first few had promise but by episode 20 you start to wonder how you can possibly make it thru all 70. I am a big fan of all the actors in this but the script did nothing for them. The characters were all so flawed and miserable. Flawed is not bad, but the way they were written was just horrible. Wallace Chungs character was to me a weak and spineless guy who thought he was nice. Sun yi's character was just a pathetic, miserable, whiny idiot who brought much of her troubles on herself. Ray Ma's character I really liked at first but just find it hard to believe his character arc. Honestly not one of these people had a backbone and most deserved their self inflicted misery. The unrequited love of Wallace's friend, her psycho sister who was a stalker to Ray Ma. None of the characters were likable. I do not mind flawed but these people were beyond that. By Episode 40 I was skipping 5 or 6 episodes at a time because they were going no where. Could we see one more confrontation, hospitalization? I should try to read the book because inevitably they are always better than the screen adaptations. I could not like any of the characters so therefore stopped rooting for any of them. I honestly wanted the FL to just disappear I just got so sick of that stupid mopey look she had.
Watch this one at your own risk. It is a huge time investment and in my opinion not worth it.

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I saw a clip on YouTube and thought that maybe it's worth the watch. To be honest it was hard for me to watch until the end. I felt that many of the characters changed and not in a good way; strong leads to being pushovers, independence to dependence, etc. There was so many misunderstandings, lack of communication, love lost because of their own undoing, the list goes on and on. I was a bit disappointed in the end because I felt that the female lead was talking about family and friends and how important that was for her but I felt that some of those people that she considered close to her were being left out. It felt a bit drawn out, some of the filler episodes could have been removed. I gave it a 4 because I thought the actors were good and there was a possible story line, if the writers just developed the characters well.

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