Love Is Fate (2019)

I honestly almost gave up on it... but the allure of Vin Zhang just kept pulling me back... then the father and son arc got into focus and I was hooked... the acting between him and Director Song, that's the first time Cdrama made me cry... makeup was atrocious in the last two episodes.....Vin's makeup was okay in JR scenes though you can see a disconnect between the makeup artist and the lights director, which is vital to create a realistic look on screen. Colors that are supposed to be saturated by camera lights in indoor shooting becomes painfully visible when same makeup was used in outdoor daylight filming and evening lightings.. the last 2 episodes though, maybe because it was shot overseas, so different makeup artist and hair stylist? The actress was great in her other series, but her hair and clothing here is just non-believable as the alpha-female heiress... and suddenly she's a kungfu master... kudos to the actors for making up for the production's shortcoming... But don't their studio chooses the script for the good of theor artists? I can't believe no one from the beginning picked up the lackluster script and storyline. The amnesia trope was absolutely garbage... Looks like the screenwriter had an amnesia at the last minute and lost logic at the same time...

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I think this is one of the dramas that does not need to be as long as it is. This is because it kind of drifts off into this confusion near the end that doesn't really match up with what was written before; it's as if they had suddenly changed scriptwriters. At first it did seem to have a lot of potential with the FL(Ma Ke Ai) suffering from mirror touch synesthesia, and being able to see the future through touch with the ML (Xia Yu Xing played by Vin Zhang) being the only one who she can touch without seeing the future.

The majority of the story was mainly about the female lead, Ma Ke Ai using her newfound skill to see the future and try and make the hotel her dad left her to manage profitable and popular again while fighting off a vengeful "friend" of her dad's who wants the hotel for himself. Together with her trusted aides, the male lead, Xia Yu Xing, her best friend Lu Zhen Zhen and Xia Yu Xing's friends, Yang Li and Sun Qian they manage to save the hotel. On the antagonist side, Director Song still resents the FL's dad and vows revenge on him for breaking up his family whilst searching for his long lost son. Perhaps he would have succeeded however his aide, Zhao Qing Feng keeps messing up giving the FL's side to overturn every critical situation that they were placed in.

I think what put me off a little was the FL's character and acting. Her acting did not really convince me as a cold hotel CEO, I just don't think her acting was convincing enough for this kind of mature, cold woman kind of role that the FL is. I think she's more suited for the fluffy cute kind of romance roles.

*spoiler
However surprisingly I did like her at the end when she lost her memory although that part could have been a drama in itself, that part just seems so strange it was as if I was suddenly watching a different drama ( doesn't Xia Yu Xing have a job, doesn't Han Yuan Bin have a job? How could they be in Thailand and do nothing all day for half a year?) although I get that they were trying to be consistent with the beginning.

*end of spoiler

I think the favorite part was how the antagonist manages to destroy all the good work the FL does and also how Xia Yu Xing interacts with him when he finds out about his true identity. The business part was also ok I think so if you're not here just for the romance and the chemistry I think you'll be good.

Overall I think it's an average drama for chinese dramas with a few unique points such as the fact the supernatural powers, the fact the FL can easily beat up a grown man by herself and was more independent than most Mary Sue characters but you may need to watch several episodes before you can be engaged.

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Uuuhhhmm, what was that?

I had high hopes for this, too bad it failed miserably. It was long and boring. I kept watching because I know the leads could do better. I've seen their separate works where I liked them. Sadly together, they just had no chemistry. Even the tropes could not saved this and yes there were a lot of tropes, amnesia, long lost son, fake deaths, obsessive ex and many more. Instead of developing a believable OTP, most of the story was vested on helping the guests of the near to bankruptcy hotel resolve their problems. And so, even when the leads finally became a couple, it felt forced. They also had many misunderstandings that could have resolved if they trusted and confided in each other.

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I watched until the end because ZBB was the main lead

I am a big fan of Zhang Bin Bin. And he always chooses roles that make him unhappy character. I can hardly find dramas he is in to be a happy ending, so I was so excited to find that he would end up happy with female rolls in this drama. It was indeed happy ending, so that was good. And ZBB and his dad in the drama Dir. Song actually made me cry when they reconciled their relationship. I am telling you, not only ZBB is a very handsome actor, but also he is truly a quality actor. Just like he played the king in the drama called "King's Woman". He played king so well, it made me cry at the very end. And again it was a very sad ending.

I think number of episode could be shorter, like 24 episode. 42 was too long. Plus, last two episode of female lead to lose memory was really unnecessary. I felt like screen write and/or director simply didn't want them to be happy sooner, they just kept drugging them over and over to be apart and unhappy. At least they got together in the end, so I was very revealed, I was imply worried that this is also the typical C-Drama that last minutes twist make it a sad ending. It took so long, but glad ZBB ended up happy. (As many of you who watch C-Drama know that more than half of Chinese dramas, especially costume historical drama, always ended up sad even it started off happy beginning. Always the last minutes twits and end up sad or tragic ending. I was first worried about this drama, but it was a happy ending, so I am glad. )

Anyway, if this wasn't play by ZBB, I may have not watched it. But it was because of ZBB and the story between he ans his biological father Dir. Song, it kept pulling me back to watch continuously. I am happy that ZBB finally had happy ending

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Zhang Binbin favoloso!!!

E' stato il primo drama che ho guardato dopo aver sottoscritto l'abbonamento a Mango tv, e devo dire che mi è piaciuto molto. La coppia protagonista è favolosa, Zhang Binbin lo trovo un attore completo ed in questo drama finalmente appare con tutta la sua simpatia; Zhenghe Huizi è una delle mie attrici preferite ed anche lei sa essere molto comica e tenera, la giusta controparte per Zhang Binbin. La storia è ben strutturata, e mi è piaciuta soprattutto la prima parte, dove alle storie dei protagonisti si intrecciavano quelle dei clienti dell'hotel, una sorta di "Love boat" per chi ha qualche anno in più come me. Ma Keai e Xia Yuxing si fanno amare da subito, così come Han Yuanbin (l'antagonista interpretato da Kong Shuhang) si fa odiare da subito. Anche la voce (non so se sua o del doppiatore) è odiosa. Mentre la pazza ed infantile Lu Zhenzhen (Gao Yang) è un altro personaggio ben riuscito. Nella seconda parte il drama indaga di più sui personaggi e sulle loro storie, principalmente su quel passato che fin dall'inizio aleggia ma di cui poco di capisce. Un'ultima parola vorrei spenderla per il cattivo d'eccellenza, lo zio Song Tianming (Wang Zhifei) un attore di spessore che secondo me svetta sugli altri per interpretazione. Andrò sicuramente a cercarlo in altri drama.

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