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Strong Leads, Flirty Romance - but I expected more
This drama has a really cool CP dynamic, with a lot of mutual flirting and two strong, mature leading characters played by actors with very good, natural chemistry.I totally had a girl crush on the FL, who is exactly how I imagine a cool woman in her thirties would be.
She is more than "just“ strong, she has a lot of common sense + in all things she is no-bs, when handling issues she often voiced the things I criticize in how other dramas handle relationships. She might be one of my favorite cool-headed FLs.
As for the male lead he was really nice + had a calm aura, honestly I wish cdramas had more of those nice and loyal guys that only have eyes for the FL.
The first 10 episodes of the drama raised my excitement for the rest of the drama sky high - however I soon was awakened from my dream of rating this a 10/10, when the writer appeared to have fallen asleep.
There is nothing wrong, nor would I say it took a nose dive, but the build up was so strong, that I had expected it would only go up from here but it kind went from sprint to marathon, where the good episodes came out first and then nothing happened for multiple episodes.
The business plot of the drama was slightly boring to me, as I was in it for the romance but the message about being a strong women, identifying PUA and relationships in general from a female perspective was good.
Critique: (spoilers ahead)
The three major critique points I want to highlight are for one, the therapist/patient relationship of a side character that was incredibly unprofessional and like many other things in this drama was anti-climatic. If you want to showcase a unprofessional therapist, then go all the way and let it "explode" and then deal with the fallout, but to just let it fade into the background and not address it? Hm, no thanks.
Secondly the secondary couple. Oh boy. I loveeee age gap couples but what happened to the poor woman's brain once she met the guy? A little spoiler here but when a woman in her early fourties suddenly talks and acts like a 16 year old, it's just plain embarrassing. When she fell because she saw a dog, I could only laugh.
But I have to admit since age gap couples are my kryptonite I somehow still enjoyed this pairing but it was a love/hate relationship for me, lol.
And my last critique point is that for the amount of flirting and spicy scenes we got early on, it was really was a lackluster later on. Yes, they had a very healthy and mature relationship for most part of the drama but it focused more on the business side and supporting characters after episode 10 and that was a let down.
I can only repeat myself but the first part of the drama was simply the best. The plot of her friend and the affair I thought was really interesting because the dynamic of a second family was different than your average husband-cheated storyline. I was bummed to see that this person just completely vanished and that part of the story was dealt with super fast. Same goes for the FLs family background, which I had expected to have more of an impact but it seemed like that was a story of the past.
!!ENDING SPOILER!!
....like so many chinese dramas it suffers from a very rushed (happy) ending, it didn't have last-episode-feeling and for all the investment in side characters earlier on, only a few showed up at the end. There is a lot of room for a second season but there are no major plot holes or open endings.
Like I mentioned above I felt like the writer fell asleep. however the flirty romance in the beginning was worth it in my opinion and if you know what you're in for I believe this can be a great watch if you want something flirty + it has a really great OST and for once I did not skip the intro because it's so darn cute!
All in all I would say I expected it to be different after having such a great start but I also enjoyed it a lot at times.
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Whatever
It started out really good, then it went off track and only hinted at coming back in the last two episodes. The story seemed forced to make statement after statement. Granted it covered some much needed to be talked about subjects, but they throw them in your face and never actually resolve anything. Only one villain is held accountable for anything.There is nothing smooth about this story. It rushes from on point to the next with no real connection.
The chemistry is rushed too. There is nothing earned, everything is given and nothing makes sense.
This drama fell flat on so many points: story, premise, chemistry, continuity, reason, relatability, sincerity.
It is not worth the time to watch.
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A mediocre romantic drama and on-screen chemistry of main CP is not good.
"Sweet and Cold" is a RomCom series about the relationship between Meng Hao Tian (played by Wang Zi Wen) and Leng Si Ming (played by Jin Han).Meng Hao Tian is a woman of strength, beauty, and an entrepreneur who met Leng Si Ming, a CTO, at a wedding and how their relationship started.
I have not been able to finish anything that Jin Han has done since he played the bad guy in "Princess Wei Young."
He and Ava Wang's onscreen chemistry is okay but sometimes seems awkward. The script is mediocre. Her bestie is a divorcee and a grown woman but acts like a child, and Meng Hao Tian always comes to the rescue whenever she is in trouble.
As she moves forward with her life, I hope she grows up and is independent, and does not rely on her friends that much.
The drama is mediocre and watchable, but definitely not the best of 2023 Cdramas.
I give it a 6.0 rating.
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Could be a good one
It started so well with ones of my fav actors, but as usual from ep 15 (this is where the Chinese dramas have a horrible turn point) it's the cliché of all clichés.I really love Olivia Wang and Jin Han. They begin a mature relationship quickly, too quickly for a drama, but i loved it. It goes well with their troubles and how they achieve results, work towards their goals.
But i really don't understand the writer, why you make this main leads so outstanding in the beginning, finished i don't know what prestigious school, degrees, masters, rich... and than the only thing that they can think is to have a business marriage. What is the point of studying, having experience, being great at the beginning? You just can get married straight away. I really am frustrated. Don't get me wrong, i really love dramas and i do understand everyone writes whatever they want and produce it how they want, but with such a great cast, to make such a cheap one, very disappointed.
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Disappointing, but had good potential
To be honest, I was really excited to watch it the moment I saw the poster, and even more so after seeing the trailer. Sadly, it turned out to be disappointing.The first 11 episodes are great, lively, manage to mix romance and office business very well, however, after the following episodes, everything became boring. In my opinion, unlike "Here We Meet Again" - using a fresh drama as an example - "Sweet And Cold" failed to convince me of the balance between romance and office. Which is a pity, cause I think the chemistry between the actors was sorely wasted. To be honest, the secondary characters' relationships were more interesting to follow than the main characters', especially the best friend's relationship.
I really found it positive to bring more conversations about feminism, domestic violence and female independence into a Chinese drama, and I'm really enjoying the trend of talking about it, such as "The Love You Give Me". That part was what I liked the most.
But I missed them as a couple, I missed the male lead having more initiative towards his father, you know? It was a very dumb and disrespectful idea to his girlfriend to fake a marriage while he was in a relationship, even though he discussed it and was sincere, it's still so silly! After all, the male lead must be around 27, 28 years old, right? How can he let his father tell him who he should marry? So what if his father's company goes bankrupt, will he sacrifice his happiness for it? This is something I just can't understand in some Asian dramas no matter how hard I try.
The whole part about the female figure and misogyny was well put, maybe if the drama wasn't sold as an office romance, but a drama focused on women and their relationships, I would have liked it more, as I wouldn't have expected to watch it an adult romance with flirting, relationship building and work balance.
Overall, despite having several interesting topics and a good female lead, "Sweet And Cold" wasn't that "sweet", to be honest, it was even a little bitter from so disappointing. It's really a pity, cause I enjoyed the FL so much, but I find this cdrama habit of thinking that because a woman is very strong and more introspective she needs to be "cold" and has no right to be delicate, it's as if women don't could have dualities, you know?
Despite everything, at least we finally get to see 3 healthy relationships at the same time. No arm pulling or childish exaggerations.
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Gave it a 2nd chance after dropping it, turns out it's great & I love the 2nd couple!
the first 12 episodes are couple goals: we have a pair that is modern and playful and sexy. they progress quickly without misunderstandsings and dramaI dropped it there because the fl did something to a secondary character that made me mad.
But I was waiting for the 2nd lead romance and decided to pick it up again and they don't dissapoint! The best friend who is recently divorced in the worst way and has a kid struggles to pick up her life without the priviledge her ex's money afforded her. She focuses on her flower business, where she meets a delivery boy who's a little grumpy but always there for her. plus he's very hot, his eyes are crazy expressive. so they have a romance that makes up for the slow romance of the first couple in the second half. i always find the found family trope heartwarming and this was no exception.
Themes explored in the show: violence towards women, victim blaming, celebrity culture, the perilous choice of being a housewife, cheating and our attitudes towards it. basically, a lot of societal issues modern women (mostly) face and there were treated with more respect i've seen in any cdrama.
TL;DR don't be discouraged by the midway slump, it picks up! a show for modern women
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It had everything to be good, but it wasn't
Sweet and cold was doing so well, until they made a mistake in the plot, putting in this Maggie who is basically there to disturb the main couple at all costs, and worst of all the story DIDN'T need that, they already had enough plots, with the fl being a girl boss closed for love and ml being more loving and warm for her, and her sister's story with a younger guy, but they had to ruin EVERYTHING. And the ending is even worse, they invented a fight in the middle of the story and ended the chances of making a light, fun, and cute drama! I don't know why they invent endings in the story, it seems they don't know how to make conflicts in the plot without making the characters end the relationship for months, terrible, it had everything to be and it wasn't.Was this review helpful to you?
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WHAT A TRAGIC LET DOWN of a TALENTED BUNCH of ACTORS and ROLES
SCRIPTWRITER - DIRECTOR BUTCHERED an ENTIRE BUNCH of BRILLIANT TALENTED ACTORS!!!Yes from me the Drama got 7.5 / 10
ALL for the actors .. and SOME of the PATCHY goodness in the ideas and creation of a MATURE non-infantile FL .. Some gorgeous CHEMISTRY shots, fabulous outfits .. great camerawork, elegant sets.
The Script - story's ROUGH NOTES were selected and then thrown in the bin ..
When I started the Drama EPs 1-10 or so I was SO STOKED!!
WOW finally adults who seem to be behaving like adults (especially around being physically attracted to each other).
!!SPOILER !!
I was so WOW when in such an early episode (SO UNUSUAL for DRAMA-WORLD) the ML zoomed in for the kiss and then she pulled him back in for a deeper kiss. PHEW!!
I LIKE when women have agency and ability to respond with their own intense reaction to intimacy.
And the way it was framed by the camera - the lighting!! The ninety degrees of lip and face alignment - the SEXIEST SIDE KISS EVER - SIZZLE HOTTTT!!
I was like WOKAY .. BRING IT ON!!
Then WHAT happened .. the ML's kid sister and various people kept walking in juts as they got sexy again .. tooo MANY times to be funny or fun any more .. Extremely annoying and contrived.
The biggest let down that happened was that the magical physical intimacy *chemistry* completely disappeared mid-show onwards.
As did their own relationship arc ..
The show got confused between 'women's issues / family dynamics issues / man-woman relationship issues' . It lost it's way so badly that started to sound like a Public Good Advertorial on :
~ how to be careful when marrying /
~ to recognise signs of domestic abuse /
~ to beware of online dating App and websites /
~ to beware of money-scammers /
~ to go to a therapist for resolving issues (although I'd be SO WARY of a weird therapist like the one the show in this drama).
It was splotchy with disjointed bits of nice stuff - what the screenplay needed was a GOOD editor and several DRAFTS of reworking .. it WAS so LAZY ,, did the writer just fall asleep?
The FL who was SO good in her role (BTW she is in Three Body) .. started to drone on and on and she was made to just TALK TALK TALK ..
For large portions of the drama the ML just vanished.
One of the things that BOTHERED me a LOT was the heckling of the "guy who ghosted" his date.
That came out ALL wrong!!
I was like what is with the vigilantism and bullying?!
To post-justify the act was ridiculous!!
Would have made SO MUCH more sense had they confronted him / his agency BECAUSE they FOUND out about him being married and the company using MEN to fake as 'eligible' bachelors.
THIS way it made our FL look UGH ;-( and demented as did her office people!! Such THUGS they were reduced to.
Same creepy feel about the Therapist.
WHY would he PAINT and redecorate a room JUST for ONE patient!!!
HELLO ?? What was with this constant expressing his attention and availability for her, and her only .. he seemed to have no life of his own .. where are the other patients .. where is his mentor .. IS he her close friend / cousin / relative that he is giving her such exclusive care??
What happened to the Second Woman and her daughter?
Such a half baked arc.
And what was the reason for the LingZhi Chairman's disappointment of his son and how did he meet this bright boy he chose as CTO?
And the WHOLE father - son thing got sorted by ONE overheard convo ??
And where was the SO CALLED elder brother who was the bane of ML's life??
We never see him.
And how ridiculous that he should take his gf to see his parents without any inkling of how they will treat her?
HOW COME he doesn't look for her after dad has been settled.
JUST TERRIBLE SCRIPT ..
Did the producers of the show fire the scriptwriter - took her/his rough notes and patched together a leaky tattered drama that received VERY LITTLE LOVE from the PRODUCTION HOUSE .Seemed like they just wanted to ride on their TWO stars and a very promising CAST ....
Can't beyotch enough about the LAST SCENE !!
It's like .. "Oh we almost forgot that FL and ML need to patch up and we need to make a happy ending - oops "film stock" ran out .. (or our booking for this venue is over so let's quick wrap).
Let's just take one shot of them in the rain walking together - that should be enough to hint at HE.
Forget EVERYTHING that should have been explained ..
I wanted to run after them with a baseball bat - them being the PD Team of the drama.
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From hot to cold real quick!!!
It started out well and after episode 12 things started going haywire somewhere. The first episodes were really enticing to watch and had the right pace but along the way the writer decided that I should just wing it and see how it will go.For the first time I have finished a drama that has Jin Han in it. I actually liked him in this one as he acted really well. Made me so happy when I needed to be and had really good advice on the show so that was a plus. Wang zi wen well I had just finished watching when a snail falls in love and seeing her here so assertive and decisive and having long hair I was actually surprised but she nailed her part really well but have to say she had lots of potential to bring her character to a whole new level but I can say the script failed her and this is how you know talent that has a burning sensation to reach a new height is diminished by this. The second couple was good and weirdly enough I love the pairing but she did not act her age sometimes which is fine maybe that was her character from the beginning but seeing her grow by the end of the drama made me so proud and her relationship with the lead FL was great. The other characters all did well and I love Yuan Wenbin's father his son not so much,he had too much of entitlement issues and that shows he did his best to bring that out but I believe he could have done better. All in all the actors potential were not fully realized in this show and they ended being flat by the end of the show.
The story line well I will say one word Lackluster. It had potential to be a very good one. The business side of it was like the main dish but even that part was not explored fully, I understand that due to the new law the maximum episodes can be 40 but there are shows that have fully explored business parts with other storyline with fewer episodes, the technology part was like a salad dressing did not have much impact as I had hoped and by the end I still did not fully understand the Fl job well like it could have been addressed better as it had so much more that could be exploited.
The production was just that. 50/50 not much can be said about it.
ENDING!!!!!!!!!!!
What was that??????????????? Like the only show that could get away with an ending like that and still feel like one want's more is the Business proposal but this one? I am at the 36th minute of the episode and the Main leads have yet to reconcile six months have passed gosh I was scared for the ending and I was right to be... I felt cheated !!!! The show really did end with a pop and not in a good way!!!
All in all it is a good watch when you do not have something to watch but it is not the best that I have watched but one thing I will say is that Jin Han really acted well in this and I finished so that is a plus.
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Just the bones of a review
I watched this one slowly. I never felt like this was binge worthy. I like both leads and they definitely had chemistry early on, but lacked it later. I’ll agree with everyone that the last half of the drama lacked luster. It’s like the writer forgot what he was doing and got sidetracked.The side couples all needed a wrap up and the leads needed to communicate in real words. What wAs even up with the ending dialogue. I was reading subs and had to go back because I thought it was reading lyrics because it made no sense. The fl needed to come around and show some humility. Don’t even get me started on the fl’s and ml’s antagonist. Did she not have a clue?
The second half’s best part was the best friend and her boyfriend. I looked forward to their interactions.
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The title says it all
This series started off fun and strong. It was a little flirty with just enough business conflict to keep you interested. Somewhere along the line the story veered more into business navigation than that of the leads. The ML and FL were cute to start and afterwards it felt like the writers just wanted us to assume their relationship was steady without issue. It wasn't landing well ...so the writers had to literary have the ML say several times that they have no issues and are good for believability. ML always seemed more vested than the FL and in a clutch towards the end. It seemed unfair of how she handled their 'relationship' as if she could take it or leave it. without a 'true' conversation. The secondary 'winter-spring' relationship I liked more. You could see how they could become a couple. The counselor was the worse. I would hope to never run into someone so unprofessional. They should have just written him as a brother or family friend. The way it ended was so subpar that I had to just take a point away. Why is this series ending at 31 episodes that should have been 24. It was sloppy trying to tie up loose ends and make connections without forethought just to get to the finish line. It is worth watching once. If you are like most Cdrama lovers, you will get tired of it feeling like 'groundhog day' of issues in the middle and want them to get to the end. This is how the writers must have felt because that is how that last episode landed. C-Was this review helpful to you?
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Typical Chinese romance drama
I had hope that this would not be a typical drama, but so far it is. Meng Hao Tian is supposed to be a smart, energeticstrong welledperson; yet she meets Leng Si Ming and becomes this mumbling idiot.You mean the man you don't know who he is or what he does, he grabs you by the risk because you're wet and he takes you up to his room! Give me a break! She doesn't protest she doesn't do anything she just goes with him? This only happens in Chinese dramas. No woman in her right mind would go with somebody she don't even know about I guess in Chinese dramas there's nothing called rape where is the common sense of Chinese females in these dramas? She straight up being a slut. She doesn't know anything about Leng Si Ming, yet he gets in her face, carries her to his room ansshe says nothing.They just met and he is talking marriage. Really!? She is teasing him and he is too arrogant. I guess this is what Chinese producers call romance. In Chinese dramas I don't care how strong FL are, they always become subservant to the rich male lead. She crawls into the bed of a guy she doesn't know very well. He moves next door to her that's creepy. Plus he told her he'd marry her (they don't know each other that well). She has no self respect. She don,t mind getting caught in the bed of a man which she has no relationship with. He dominates her with no push back. This all in episodes 1-7.
The drama series is getting more interestingafter epssode 11. The subplots are better than the main plot. They tackle the situation of what would you do if you found out that your best friends spouse is cheating. What would you tell them or when would yo tell them?Now that they introduce another person in the drama, it is getting really interesting. They seem to tackle someup-to-date issues, like domestric violence and how to address the issue. They addressed it from the stand point is when the perpetrator is celebrity with great connections. I could understand when Jiang Lei Lei was dealing with the age gap and how she thought others would view it.
Like I mentioned before the last half of the series was better the front half. I was thinking of dropping the series because of the first 7 episodes. I still believ that the subplots were better than the main plot. The musical score was good and the songs came in on cue and fit the threme at the time. Deal with certain situations when it comes to the heart was tricky.
If you could get past the first 7 episodes, the drama is worth watching. I would recommend watching from Episodes 10-31.
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