Hidden Love (2023)

THE BEAUTY OF A CRUSH

I've seen many series potraying crushes but not many have managed to capture a crush as sacred, heart warming and beautiful like HIDDEN LOVE did..
There many things I loved about this drama and I'll break then down into five in my heartfelt review of the drama

Firstly,The plot..one the first look it might seem like something you have seen before but infact it's more than anything you've seen,The story was heartwarming and beautiful and consistent, it centred around the leads and didn't add anything unnessesary,it was light hearted simple and yet realistic.

The Characters,Sang Zhi( Female lead) was everything to me, I admired how she potrayed different characters so effortlessly,I love how they gave her character the spotlight plus room to develop, I love how they enlighted us on her pov and made her character grow onto us in a way that you couldn't help root her every step of the way in the entire series, I love how she was calm, and delicate but brave too?
Duan jiaxu is with no doubt making it to the list of my favourite male leads this year, he was mature calm considerate and a green flag for that matter...
My other fav character in the series was Sang Yan..he was everything you would want in a brother he's Interactions with the female lead were precious.

The chemistry between the leads was amazing..their interactions felt so natural and they were really comfortable around each other..they made me giggle smile kick my feet, cry and I absolutely loved them.

The osts Lord iam a sucker for beautiful osts and this drama had all the amazing osts..which not only were beautiful but reflected the story so perfectly.

The cinematography was to die for..each shot was pretty.

I highly recommend this drama for anyone who wants something cute beautiful and thrilling at the same time...iam going to miss it quite alot.

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Secret Crush of a little girl

To me, this drama is very very very much good. Everyday I waited to see the uploaded new episodes and now finally it has finished so I am feeling that somewhere in my heart a bit of sadness giving me pain. Zhao Lusi is my most favourite actress. She is the reason that I became interested in cdramas. I have seen all her dramas. All the dramas may not be perfect like this drama but her acting is always good ??. Of course she made a great improvement in acting. In this drama she portrayed Sang Zhi character veey nicely. Her LLTG drama was also a famous and fabulous drama. Now if we talk about Chen Zhe Yaun, I think he is also a good actor, good-looking. I saw his first drama Our Secret, it was also a amazing and fantastic drama. He also made some improvement. As Duan Jiaxu, he acted perfectly. Zhao Lusi and Chen Zhe Yuan were looking perfect together in drama. In my eyes, Zhao Lusi is the only one who fits Sang Zhi character the most perfectly.
And finally this drama "HIDDEN LOVE" is really a masterpiece. I wish that this drama ratings can go upto 9.5 . Future readers please increase the ratings.

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Best Cdrama ever

This is the first time I am writing review for any drama. This drama holds a very special place in my heart, even though it doesn't have any of the usual tropes that I normally like. The actors did a great job and the whole drama is the biggest green flag. Loved every single second of it.
Zhao Lusi portrayed her role so cutely. I loved Sang Zhi's family especially her relationship with her brother is so funny, adorable and downright real. Her mom was so pretty and totally matched the mother-daughter duo. She had great friends/roomates in university. Chen Zhe Yuan as Duan Jia Xu stole my heart. Despite the hardships he faced, he grew up to be the most loveable, considerate and kind gentleman. Men like him don't exist in real life. He's the best thing about the show and the biggest green flag male lead ever. I fell in love with him right along with Sang Zhi through every little acts of his kindness.

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A cute love story that we all dream of

This was one of the most perfect c-dramas I have ever watched. Watching this felt like a smooth glide on the ice rink with a lot giggles, laughs and cries. It is just a really enjoyable drama and fully fulfilled my desire for a cute love story.

The story is wonderful. The conflicts were resolved well and everything felt pretty logical and not out of the blue. I was really curious on how the main couple's relationship would develop and it was done really well. I liked how even with the age lead of the main couple, they showed a great deal of balance in their relationship, which is something I was a bit worried about before starting the show.

All of the actors did a fantastic job, especially the main leads. I feel like Zhao Lusi really encapsulated Sang Zhi both when she was in high school and in college. I honestly don't think I could have thought of anyone who would have done a better job than her. Chen Zheyuan was also amazing. My favorite part of his acting was definitely his eyes. His eyes are really expressive and he did so well expressing all sorts of emotions.

The music used in the drama fit very well. They are have a sort of fresh and youthful vibe to them, which is exactly what this drama's overall vibe is.

I would definitely rewatch this drama anytime I'm craving a cute love story!

Overall, this drama is just really enjoyable and very fun!

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The best of the best drama there is.

Wow, this drama is the best of the best there is. Watching the character grow up from when she was a child to a college-graduate student is a journey worth watching -- plus the relationship she has with DJX. It's pure, simple and no overboard extra characters that will lead to major misunderstandings b/w the two leads. ZLS and CZY played their characters really well. This story will take you through a rollercoaster of emotions that are relatable to real life and there are a lot of "life quotes/lessons" to be learnt from this drama.

I'd definitely recommend this drama to anyone who haven't watch it yet -- who's looking for a light-hearted, fluffy, sweet, funfilled, romantic, and growing up journey type of drama. It may contain a lot of your type "trope" expected in a drama -- but it's something where you can relax, enjoy the ride and bring back memories of not just your childhood life but the journey from that to a young adulthood life too. The story between Sang Zhi & Duan Jia Xu will take you into a world where you can escape from your everyday "busy" lifestyle into a world "where dreams, love, etc" can be found. You will be so absorbed into the drama -- that you'll find yourself to be happy with them as well as also feel the sadness when they are feeling sad too...all the different emotions can be found throughout the drama -- and this is one great journey worth joining & watching again and again.

The drama ost - are prefectly played throughout the whole drama itself and worth listening to.

Well done Zhao Lu Si, Chen Zhe Yuan, Victor Ma and the other cast members, director, and screenwriter of this drama!! You guys did well!! A round of applause to all of you for your hardwork in bringing this story to life!! Well-worth it and deserves a 10/10 rating no doubt from me and many other viewers who love this kind of story!! Sweetness all around!!

P.S. (Bonus) I love how there's a special with the main leads giving each other positive feedback to each other and some of the other actors/actresses too in the story to each other too!!

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Great watch. A drama that'll make your heart flutter.

First things first, If you are someone who enjoys romcom, then this is THE drama for you.

A little Background here:
Starting off 2023 with dramas like The Glory, The good Bad Mother (and having watched Youth of May, recently), I was just browsing MDL for a good Romcom, and I stumbled upon this drama & fell head over heels in love with it. If you read the drama synopsis on MDL, it doesn't sound very appealing, as the theme feels somewhat cliché, something very commonly seen in Cdramas, but what really caught my attention was the rating ... ahem... it was 9.1 (while it was AIRING. Yes, you read it right).
....and that's how this drama entered the 'currently watching' tab in my watchlist.

Coming to my thoughts about the drama:

Acting: I've never seen any dramas of these actors, but after watching it, my final thoughts are that they've done a freaking good job. CZY, Luci, Victor, they were just fantastic . I was touched by seeing the acting of CZY and Luci in the segment where she flew down to Yihe , to tell Jia Xu about her crushing over him since high school ; it was an emotional scene beautifully executed by them. It made me go' aww....' . Another scene when Jia Xu's dad passed away & the cemetery scene, they did such a good job (my eyes welled up every time Jia Xu cried , amazing performance by CZY).

Plot: Like I mentioned earlier, the theme isn't something out of the blue, but the way the story was tied up, just brilliant. Its a novel adaptation (which I haven't read YET), so cant compare the two, but looking at he end result, feels like they did a pretty good job. I absolutely loved the character development of Sang Zi, Jia Xu and Sang Yan. It was amazing witnessing their character growth and the process of maturing to adults, capable of taking important life decisions & also, I really enjoyed Sang Yan and Sang Zi's shenanigans throughout the drama.
I think this line is very apt for describing the drama: (Sang Zi's lines from the last episode)
"It is the story of 22 year old Jia Xu to 22 year old Sang Zi"

So, the bottom line is: If you love Rom-coms, and are looking for some heart fluttering moments & a drama that gives you butterflies ? and a good chunk of laughter, this is IT.
& even if that doesn't convince you, how about CZY & his chiseled jawline ?
A solid 10 /10.

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Zhao Lusi Never Disappoints!!! Her best drama yet!!

Honestly, idk where to begin cause im so overwhelmed at how much I love this drama. This drama definitely made top of my list. I would my Top 3. When I saw a teaser for this drama a couple of months ago, I researched it a bit cause it had Zhao Lusi and I love her dramas. I started reading the novel and fell in love with it. It was just such an innocent and cute love story and I knew Zhao Lusi would be amazing in it. But amazing didn’t even begin to describe how it actually turned out. I thought nothing could top how I felt about Love like The Galaxy because it had everything, good supporting cast, good chemistry and a good plot. And Zhao Lusi and Leo Wu had like amazing chemistry. Like I shipped them in real life. But like her and Chen Zhe Yuan is also amazing too. I ship them so hard as Sang Zhi and Duan Jia Xu. Theyre just so cute together. Honestly makes me believe that Zhao Lusi fell in love with Duan Jia Xu as Sang Zhi for real. I have seen some stuff here and there from Chen Zhe Yuan and I thought he did pretty good in Our Secrets. He was acting a lot with his eyes in that drama and the chemistry was pretty good and cute. But man, he went all x1000 for this drama. His style, his gaze, his looks, just all the small little actions and detailed he added. Made Duan Jia Xu really come to life for me. His acting has definitely improved. I was a bit iffy when I saw that he was casted as Duan Jia Xu cause I felt no one can match Leo Wu’s chemistry with Zhao Lusi. But man was I proven wrong. I cant imagine anyone else as Duan Jia Xia now. He fits the role perfectly. And it makes it even mor amazing when I watch the BTS. Cause Chen Zhe Yuan is not really like Duan Jia Xu in real life. He is more of a reserved person. And the fact that he was able to make Duan Jia Xu come off so well, means his acting is top notch. Both of their acting was so too notch. It was honestly just a simple love story but because of the attention to small details, it made it so good. Like the little detailing of their expression, smiles, awkwardness, shyness, perfect. Nailed it.

I was gushing at all their flirty moments before dating and even after they got together, it was still really cute. Cause most of the time, in dramas, after they leads get together, its not as good anymore. But man, for them, it was not the case, it was a whole another level of cute. I love how healthy their relationship was. Duan Jia Xu is such a green flag. Got to be the greenest of all of them.

Another important thing to me in a drama is the supporting cast. And man I loved Sang Yan so much! And their whole family dynamic. Tbh, in the book, I didn’t think much of Sang Yan. Just the typically bully older brother, and sometimes I felt that he didn’t care that much about his sister cause he always asked Duan Jia Xu to do it. I loved the bickering in the drams and how Sang Yan actually always pampers Sang Zhi. I really felt like they were brothers and sisters that care for each other. Sang Zhi and Sang Yan scenes were always my favorites. Especially the ones where it had Sang Zhi, Sang Yan and Duan Jia Xu. It was so funny. They always bitter like kids. Like the scene with field day, physics tutoring and when he found out about Duan Jia Xu and Sang Zhi dating. Her whole family was so sweet and warm and healthy. They all loved each other. And I loved how her mom was her mom from Love Like the Galaxy. They are close in real life and on the show, you can see how close and cute they are.
I watched the press conference/fan meet they had for the drama and honestly, made me love it even more. I heard there were problems with the wardrobe so Zhao Lusi had to reach out to different sponsors and get clothes for the drama. And she styled all the fits too. And man, I loved them! Everyone looked so good. She definitely has really good taste. I know ppl will go and try to buy all the outfits she wears and man she deserves it! There was some casting problem too so she went to ask her bf to play the HS crush. And her mom from Love Like The Galaxy, Zhao Lusi asked her to play the role too. And the college roommate that gives her all the dating advice is from The Romance of Tiger and Rose. I loved that they are her friends and are so loyal! Zhao Lusi even asked Silence Wang to sing one of the OST with her and personally sang one herself too. And they are so good! Also a lot of the props in the drama are her personally items. I love how much she invested and did for the drama. She really is a great person! She deserves all the praise and likes.

For me, OST is really important because it adds so much more meaning to the scene and honestly sometimes makes or breaks them. I think an OST is good when I can listen to the song and remember a particular moment in the drama that they played it. That’s how I know its amazing and powerful. Im not going to lie to you, when I first heard the songs, I thought they were okay. But when they were slowly introduced into the drama one by one. I fell in love. It is on repeat right now for me on Spotify. All of them give me the feels cause theyre used to play at different emotions.
But if i had to pick, I have two favorite ones. It would be I Have Someone I Like by Zhao Lusi, and Forever Star by Zhang Yi Hou. I Have Someone I Like by Zhao Lusi is played at all the cute/ heart fluttering moments. Forever Star by Zhang Yi Hou is played a lot when there are sad scenes. It gives so much feels! It's especially memorable to me when Duan Jia Xu is at the airport opening the red envelope given to him by Sang Zhi. The OST just made the scene so good with Duan Jia Xu's smiling tears. And honorable mention: Be Your Light by Ma Boqian. Cause come on, its sung by our Sang Yan Ge Ge. And it was so cute when they played it in the Strawberry scene. Made it ingrained in my head. They’re all so good.

I'm really happy that this drama is going globally and that Netflix bought the rights to play it in like 190 countries because the exposure will make it so much more popular! Even tiktok is making it super popular too! I hope more ppl will find out about this drama and watch it cause its amazing. I will definitely rewatch this multiple times and it will be added to my list of comfort dramas I will always rewatch from time to time.

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THE BEST C-DRAMA THAT I HAD WATCH SO FAR

I'm not usually a fan of Chinese drama, but this one is an exception.
I'd seen a few Chinese dramas before this, but they left a bad taste in my mouth. I had watched Love020, A Love So Beautiful, Falling into Your Smile, Love Scenery, and some other dramas that I can't recall because I dropped them. It's either because of poor acting by the main characters, or the character is annoying, or they acting like a robot, or because the scene is too long and they focus too much on the second lead couple.

This drama proves that a simple romance genre can be excellent without a complicated and heavy plot. This is a simple drama, but it is a very well-done drama with interesting dialogue, a great plot, great casting, the characters did so well, and great directing by the director herself.

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THIS C-DRAMA IS ***PERFECTION***

This is the most perfect Chinese drama that I have ever watched. I loved every moment of it. It has only been a week since I completed it and I already want to re-watch it!

Why is it sooooo perfect?

1.) THE CAST was gorgeous. Zhao Lusi, Chen Zhe Yuan and Victor Ma, brought this drama to life in such an enjoyable and aesthetic way. The sibling chemistry, the couple chemistry, and the bromance chemistry was amazing all around.

2.) THE PACING. I cannot stress this enough. A lot of C-Drama often fail to catch my interest because they tend to drag and this mainly has to do with the pacing of major events in the drama. With 'Hidden Love,' on the other hand, everything unfolded beautifully, there was NEVER a moment where I was bored, there was something to look forward to with every episode. This is the first time I didn't want this to end, and I even wanted the drama to be longer than 25 episodes.

3.) SANG ZHI, which was Zhao Lusi's character, exceeded my expectations and gave me hope that other C-drama heroines could be just as fantastic. I liked that Sang Zhi was quick witted, intellectually sound, and that she never did anything cringe to express her affections towards Chen Zhe Yuan's character Duan Jiaxu. She kept her cards close to her chest and was smart about how she faced her one-sided crush as a teenager. I love that she understood how to keep things appropriate as a kid/teen and simply wrote her secrets down rather than making things awkward by confessing. I also like there are distinct changes in her way of talking, demeanor, clothing style and behavior as she ages so she doesn't remain feeling like a little girl as the drama progresses. There is a confidence/determination to her as an adult that is sooo charming in her character.

4.) AGE GAP! Given that the plot of the drama is a semi-forbidden romance between a younger girl and older man, the writers did a great job NOT making Duan Jiaxu creepy and inappropriate. I enjoyed the fact that he never saw her as anything other than a little sister until she was a grown woman. Even when they finally got into a relationship their communication on the matter of their experiences in dating and their age gap was a welcome conversation between them. Green flags, truly.

5.) VICTOR MA. I need him to be a male leading his own drama, immediately. He does amazing as the role of the older brother, but he has all the makings for a great male lead. He was funny and believable in all his scenes. I also just have to mention how FINEEEE he is, he was enjoyable to watch in every scene he was in.

6.) MAIN COUPLE ONLY. One of my biggest pet peeves with C-dramas is that they consistently use a second lead couple to fill out their episodes and I am never interested in their story lines. Thankfully, 'Hidden Love,' focuses primarily on Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu. There is a teensy bit of second lead romance going on towards the end, but not enough to detract from the plot or the ML & FL's relationship. More C-dramas need to adopt this format going forward because personally I find it significantly more engaging.

7.) BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND. I didn't know that this was a trope that I would thoroughly love, until watching this drama. I need more dramas about girls falling in love with their older brother's best friends, because I ate it up in this drama. The overprotectiveness from the brother was adorable, and the anticipation of him finding out once they got in a relationship was just EVERYTHING, I could not get enough.

8.) NO GIMMICKY COMEDY. If you've watched C-dramas as long as I have you probably know the difference between a drama that is playing up the comedy aspect and ones that feel more natural/realistic in their interpretation of funny moments. 'Hidden Love," is a blend of both with all the right characteristics, the comedy wasn't gimmicky or annoying but relatable and genuinely got a laugh out of me. It also had its moments of really bringing you into the tense melodramatic scenes without feeling overwhelmingly heavy with tension and anxiety. It was perfect in its execution of each character interaction, and this enhanced the viewing experience immensely.

9.) CINEMATOGRAPHY. Beautifully shot, especially Zhao Lusi she looks absolutely flawless in this drama. There is quality to every scene and it definitely makes the drama that much more addicting. You simply cannot detach your eyes from the screen.


Please watch it. It was absolute perfection in my humble opinion. I never rewatch dramas and I'm itching to rewatch this one. You won't regret it. Its officially my favorite C-drama .

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A Pure, True Romance in it's finest form.

Hidden Love is a Romance that actually seems to know it's a Romance. This is much rarer than you may think, and one only needs to look at it's contemporaries to understand why. Where Hidden Love excels is in it's simplicity: from the beginning of the story it's obvious that the couple will face a challenge with respect to their age gap and we also know that to some extent the ML has ghosts of the past that haunt his present. The Drama does not seek to extensively shock us in any capacity - there are twists but they are all largely foreshadowed and never feel entirely unexpected, however the predictability is also not cliche or grotesque, the hints slowly merge together to create a final, synergistic image that will surely leave even the most casual romance-enjoyers or c-drama watchers with butterflies.

This Drama has murder, mystery and social commentary, but it recognises that these are simply elements of the larger, romantic storyline. It never wades too far away from the love story, nor does it have to. It's fine that the plot is focused around the relationship of the two central characters because it never feels like their actions only affect themselves; other dramas consistently fail in this regard, either dedicating too much time to the main couple and leaving the side characters to the wayside or prioritising the plot and overall story while not focusing enough on the romance. Hidden Love merges the two together. Each decision Sang Zhi makes very obviously has consequences for people other than herself, and Jiaxu's relationship with her is the same. Because we care about the supporting cast we are able to understand what implications the relationship of the main couple will have on them, and so their own stories seamlessly merge with those of the male and female lead without ever distracting from the story being a Romance. The plot and the genre work in harmony rather than against each other, and it is beautifully done.

TLDR - Poesy aside this is a wonderful drama, and if you'd like 25 episodes of heart racing romance, then look no further.

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