One of my personal favourites but might not be yours
My humble apologies as this review is not in my normal style. I did start to write the typical review but after several paragraphs, I had to stop. I was doing my usual breakdown of the plot, discussing certain scenes and review the acting when I realised that I'm not making sense why I like this show so much. So let's try something different . . .On paper, this is a mid budget, college romance with no big name actors. AKA a B-grade c-drama that is turned out by the dozen every year to feed the programme scheduling beast. I would go as far as saying that it is better than a typical idol drama but still hardly a top tier show.
Now that we have laid the cards on the table, please indulge me with a bit of subjective rambling. ;)
As a college romance, my expectations are quite low. I’d be happy with a decent filler while I wait for the next blockbuster release. What I didn't expect is to binge watch all 24 episodes with barely a pause. I still can't quite quantify the reason why I liked it so much but it just clicks with me. May be a lot has to do with the script resonating with me. I was fully invested in their lovelines. Even the little acts of love and kindness feel just right to me and spark joy. I actually watch with anticipation which is rare these days. Meet Yourself was the last show that touched me in a similar way but that show is S class.
Similarly, the acting of the leads resonated with me. Yes, their characters are cliches. The usual feisty FL and ice king ML but there is depth to their characters. Both have damaged psyches due to their upbringing and the breakup of their family unit. They have a fear of abandonment and while the FL hides behind a facade of exaggerated cheerfulness, the ML learns to show no emotions as a way to survive living with his demanding and abusive mum.
While many shows have used the fate card to tie the leads together which usually involves some form of childhood entanglement or accidental encounters that are nothing more than contrivance, this show actually sticks the landing. The leads' childhood friendship is quite poignant and has a long lasting effect on both of them. How they resolve their historical misunderstanding is beautifully done. Once again, this is a very subjective point. Some might see it as dribble and a blatant act to tug at our heartstrings. That is a fair call and I can only say that it works for me.
I am also surprised that the 2CP is good as well. They are not the lazy pairing of the typical BFF's just to fill the quota and use up some screen time. Their romantic journey is heartfelt and I can ship them wholeheartedly.
Both CP’s have great chemistry and a decent amount of skinship. Once again, they just appeal to me. I like how they complemented each other. They're provide each other with what their SO is longing for.
Of course it can’t be all rainbows and unicorns. There are some narrative issues. For instance, while the show is angst lite, it is not all smooth sailing. Although none of the protagonists are really evil, their actions still have a significant impact on the leads and their friends. Yet they are readily forgiven and everyone just carries on as if nothing has happened. That doesn’t sit comfortably with me. Some of the side plots are meaningless and some of the support roles are straight out of central casting. I don't mind them in the bigger scheme of things but others might take umbrage.
I can see the good and the bad of this show. They are not dissimilar to other shows. Yet, it hits me in the feels like few others. So my score for this show is more subjective than usual. You might have a different opinion and I respect that.
I am happy to recommend this show but your mileage may differ.
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Aaahhhh cutenesssss
I just loved this drama. The actors are both stunning, found their acting really natural. Their chemistry is also on point.I just loved the vibe this drama has. It’s so relaxing, no unnecessary drama between the characters, villains etc. It is a realistic love story of two childhood sweethearts. ().
Usually I don’t like these types of dramas, but here the childhood sweethearts trope worked well with the whole story and it was a nice addition to the romance.
I am no scientist to give an opinion about the whole "love experiment" thing and its accuracy in real life lol *this is a drama after all* so I don't mind it. I think it was really creative.
I really appreciate that this drama has almost no dubbing at all. It' s a bonus for me: I usually hate dubbing, feels like it takes some of the authenticity of the acting. I prefer the actors' real voices. In the case of this drama, the male lead's voice is amazing, so glad they kept it authentic like that.
The female lead is so cuuuute. I loved her. Usually I find the female characters in such dramas quite annoying, but here she was just such a sweetheart.
The male lead is so handsome. And aaaahhh, again with this voice. I can’t wait to watch him in more dramas.
P.S. I forgot to mention there is, at a certain point, some heavy topics related to family and child-parents relationship. Still, really well done, made me feel even more empathetic towards the main characters.
Really recommend it!
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From Focusing on Love Through Science to Focusing On Healing
Most of this drama revolved around the title of this drama, that is until the last 8 episodes. The experiments, the surveys, the brain wave testing on what love couples do & see, this is where it was the most comedic for me. After that the drama sort of loses what it was previously focus on and turn into a healing drama from past childhood wounds. It got more serious in the last 8 episodes but there were still cute moments, especially once our leads got together officially. Though the drama lost its original intentions, I did appreciate the healing aspect of this drama, as both of our lead characters began to see how much pain each went through from their childhood to now.What I loved:
* The funny scenes when doing a science experiment about love
* The second lead couples were cute
* Loved the music osts, intro and outro music was great alongside the English osts in this drama
* Our lead couple was cute once they got together and rely on each other.
* The characters in the lab group. Yes... even the glasses girl, though annoying at first, ended up being okay.
* The nerdy dialogue Yu He says to Cheng Cheng
What's missing for me:
* Actual conclusion to the relationship of Cheng Cheng and her parents. It just seems like that was never resolved and her divorced parents never knew the hardships she went through from their divorce since she never got the chance to express her feelings.
* Yu He's & his mom: Yu He got to express his feelings of hardship he faced as a child to his mom but there just wasn't a conclusion to this as well. It seemed like his mom finally understood him towards the end but a scene where she apologizes to him would've been nice or just the mother and son acceptance again to conclude the healing process of Yu He.
* More of an exploration on why Xixi's character is like that plus exploring her hardships from her 1st love along with more scenes with the 2nd lead couple.
What I didn't like:
* Adding a smaller side story featuring Lin You & Lin Ying: Last 2 episodes were pretty disappointing for me because of this side story. It didn't play a significant part to the story plot overall and yet, it felt like the writers wasted screen time on this when it fully should've been more focus on Cheng Cheng and Yu He and their healing process. Like these two characters were pretty much non-existent, only appearing in like a few episodes for a few minutes.
* Adding small conflicts to the side characters (2 of Cheng Cheng's roommates) are going through which lead to evil intentions. The drama didn't even dive into these conflicts well for these side characters that I didn't see why these evil intentions occurred.
Overall, did I still enjoy this drama? Yes. It was funny & cute. Though it does have its weak points, for me personally, there were more greater things about this drama that overpowers the weak points. I wouldn't rewatch the whole thing but there are certain episodes that I wouldn't mind rewatching again.
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Very good show
**Mild spoilers**The Science of Falling in Love centers around two people, Chengcheng and Yuhe, who learn to deal with their childhood traumas while navigating the stresses of friendships, university life, and love interests.
I fast-forwarded through parts of the first 2 episodes because I wanted to give this series a chance, but I wasn't hooked at the start. At episode 3, it became more interesting to me, and I happily sat through every episode after that. Although this drama was based on the common "girl crushes on boy" trope, it caught my attention when boy decides to do experiments on girl to find out if she really likes him. This series doesn't rely on lack of communication as a story base, which I found refreshing. That doesn't mean that the characters don't have secrets, and that doesn't mean that there isn't some betrayal within the relationships. But one of the overall themes of the show is learning to cope with situations, past and present.
While watching this, I had several "wow" moments when I realized that the writers took the story in a different direction from what I expected. This helped to keep the show interesting and created dynamics between the characters that I wasn't expecting. For instance, (SPOILER ALERT, please stop reading if you aren't interested in a spoiler) Chengcheng not only had one roommate betray her, she actually had two out of her three roommates do or say things that directly and intentionally affected her situation in a negative way. This surprised me, as usually it's a one-and-done deal in a show such as this. But the series is quick to show (uniquely, in a non-accusatory way) that not everyone is a good person, everyone has their own agendas, and we may never truly know what is driving a person to act. Another thing that surprised me was that even though there was character growth, that didn't necessarily mean those characters were instantly forgiven for the trauma they caused (such as Yuhe's mother.)
Although the start was rocky, I ended up really liking this drama. I liked the characters, and I especially liked the actors. My favorite characters/actors ended up being Chengcheng's college friends Meizi and Go Chen, within the show because of their support of their friend, but as actors, because of their responses and ability to use their eyes and facial expressions to relay their feelings. But there were many others in this show that I appreciated as well, including the leads.
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Beautiful healing story, great acting, great chemistry
This drama started with misunderstanding and some childish "revenge" and impulsive actions from both main leads, well they were young after all. However, it turns out to be beautiful healing story of two children from broken family and toxic parents; how they coped with their fear, their loneliness, their hurt cased by abandonment, and how their companionship healed and comforted each other.Wu JiaYi and Liu YiChang portrayed the emotions beautifully, especially after episode 14, the way they expressed their hurt, their frustration, had made me cry with them. Their chemistry is sizzling, and the way they act is so natural.
As for the second couple, well, they had nice interaction, but I mostly skipped all of their scenes, since the main story intrigued me more.
I definetely will rewatch this
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enjoyable first half with one massive no-go but GREAT second half
A college romance that ticks all the boxes plus some. It's simple but so good in portraying mental health and healing.I'd rate the first half 8/10 and the second half 9/10, therefore overall it's an 8.5/10.
All actors gave a very solid performance, I've been enjoying the works of both leads for a while and given the right script both of them can truly shine. For the first half of the drama I'd say they were a bit underutilized and it's probably not the biggest challenge to take on a college romcom drama script but their natural acting gave the drama a sense of realness.
It starts out typical but enjoyable. We see common tropes such as childhood connection, nice extroverted FL, an introverted genius, somewhat distant ML and other all to familiar drama accessories.
But what sets this drama apart is it's portrayal of how the environment you grew up in affects your day-to-day life.
If you happen to be a child of divorce, then this one will probably hit you in the feels (as it did with me). Let me give you a quote as an example.
"When I was little, my mom and dad used to dote on me.
Then one day, they parted ways without telling me the reason
and suddenly I became a person without a home.
I really really hate holidays.
I hate summer and winter vacations even more.
Because I don’t know where to go.
Wherever I go it seems like it’s someone else’s home.
I feel like a piece of luggage that can easily be thrown out at any minute."
Other mental health issues and topics related to childhood trauma(no physical abuse) were:
- abandonment issues + loneliness
- C-PTSD(probably) and anxiety
Without spoiling too much I want to say the leading couple was very supportive and had great communication in the second half and in light of the mental health issues caused by the MLs childhood I have to say I really enjoyed the scriptwriting. Not all is forgiven and finally a character actually speaks out about how the environment they grew up in harmed them. Episode 17-24 were great, with 21 being my absolute favorite.
Another thing that ties this drama together is it's choice of music. Nostalgic piano and emotional english songs like "In Two" and "Feelings Find A Home" made it feel much deeper, than say your average up-beat cdrama BGM.
Lastly, the not so good:
- the whole "proving with science what falling in love is" was picked up and dropped every couple episodes. It clearly wasn't the highest priority, the main plot was the childhood connection, hurt and how they re-connect. Once it was established what their past was, they no longer needed that aspect of science. It was fine nonetheless but it didn't stick to it's original plot (or the japanese manga) but as I said above I enjoyed the second half more anyway.
The massive no-go:
The lab monkey. Honestly it's 2023 and there was ZERO reason to have an actual monkey in a cage, visibly distressed and not criticizing it at all. This infuriated me soooo much. All just for "funny" scenes to make the FL seem embarrassed in front of ML.
At one point (ep5-7) you could see that off-camera someone blew air at the monkey (probably a leaf blower or something) to make it go into a cage. This was not part of the actual scene but it was clearly visible on the fur of the animal and showed how the animal was treated by the handler.
Same goes for the lab rats that were yanked around by their tale.
These two incidents did not happen ever again after those episodes but it also makes me rate it lower.
VERDICT:
All in all it was simple but had depth later on with great quotes, emphasis on mental health/healing and I loved the ending, it was done so beautifully - it's been a while since I was so satisfied with a drama ending. It also had a nice second leading couple (the guy lowkey looked like straight out of a high school kdrama, lol)
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Watchable Romcom with mediocre acting skills from the cast.
The Science of Falling in Love is a college students' RomCom drama that tries to prove the existence of love with scientific methods.It is an unrealistic plot, but I gave them a good effort to try. The acting is mediocre; the ML, Liu Yi Chang, is better than the FL, Wu Jia Yi.
The supporting cast is not bad, and I like 2nd CP better. Their onscreen chemistry is better connected than the main CP.
The dynamic and strict relationship between the ML and his mother is toxic that screwed his outlook on connecting and building relationships with people.
Overall is not a bad drama, and I am giving it a 6.0 rating. What is up with the bright light in the production quality around the kissing scenes? It was so bad and annoying.
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The science of a good college youth romantic drama!
The is sadly under rated and no one seems to be talking about it. I surprisingly loved it, even more than the currently airing big budget dramas.What initially seems like a basic college youth romance drama, overall is much more enjoyable and better done than many others of the same genre. It managed to bring a little more depth, maturity, and realness to a somewhat typical storyline. It was funny, sweet, and nicely acted. It even addressed childhood psychological trauma decently, also using the stereotype of the fated childhood past encounter in a way that really worked.
I liked how it was directed, with no over the top, distracting glowing lighting or way too many freeze frames that so many other youth dramas suffer from. Actors used their real voices. And real kisses! The chemistry was on point between main and second lead couples.
I don’t know if the current low rating is because this drama didn’t get much attention at all or because there was some copyright controversy at one point which caused airing issues. Regardless, try giving it a shot and enjoy!
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Could have been better :(
It’s one of those storylines where the two leads meet, there’s an attraction; then some teasing and bickering; and just when you think their romance is progressing - the “love rival “ appears. Continued bickering and lack of communication.. then progressing again- we have a drunken kiss! Next episode- another “love rival” appears! More misunderstanding and lack of communication ;0 Gosh.. the writers just dragged it out wayyyy too long. The main couple only gets together in episode 18 ;)I honestly preferred the 2nd couple. They seemed to have more chemistry and visuals lol, but not much screen time was given to their budding romance. So sad :( The other side plots were about friendship, growth and some aspects of robotics and technology advances.
The production itself was quite good- no dubbed voices and some memorable characters. But no real memorable songs and unfortunately I started FF quite a bit in the second half. It’s a 6.5/10 for me
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Catchy College-life-romance with excellent young actors.
Classic plot with the ML, cold scientist (borderline autistic) and the warm, playful, easy-to-contact FL. The context is within a university research laboratory on the brain-emotions link and the development of a robot-emotional companion.The story is well built, the production quite dynamic, the OSTs are excellent (I'm still looking for the song in English that accompanies the OTP moments :). The secondary characters are well developed and endearing. I really like the CL2 which strays away from clichés a bit.
A few downsides:
- why do screenwriters love couples who had a childhood bond so much? Relationships are so compartmentalized in China, that without this link, you can't meet anyone?
- forgiveness, excessive indulgence for the people who betrayed you: this very moralizing message is not realistic... It's good to turn the other cheek, but there are limits to masochism!
- part of the drama revolves around a competition, but we end the series without knowing which place our favorite team got... FRUSTRATING!
=> fairly short drama and, if not memorable, allows for an enjoying time.
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Rom-Univ accrocheur avec d'excellents jeunes acteurs.
Plot classique avec le ML scientifique froid (limite autiste) et la FL chaleureuse, enjouée, au contact facile. Le contexte se situe au sein d'un laboratoire universitaire de recherche sur le lien cerveau-émotions et la mise au point d'un robot-accompagnateur émotionnel.
La story est bien construite, la réalisation assez dynamique les OST sont excellentes (je suis toujours à la recherche de la chanson en anglais qui accompagnent les OTP :). Les personnages secondaires sont bien développés, attachants. J'aime beaucoup le CL2 qui sort un peu des clichés.
Quelques bémols :
- pourquoi les screenwriters aiment autant les couples qui ont eu un lien dans leur enfance ? Les relations sont si cloisonnées en Chine, que sans ce lien, tu ne peux rencontrer personne ?
- le pardon, l'indulgence excessive pour les gens qui t'ont trahi : ce message très moralisateur n'est pas réaliste... C'est bien de tendre l'autre joue, mais il y a des limites au masochisme !
- une partie du drama tourne autour d'une compétition, mais on termine la série sans savoir quelle place a obtenu notre équipe favorite... FRUSTRANT !
=> drama assez court et, s'il n'est pas mémorable, permet de passer un bon moment.
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Underrated : a classic plotline including a refreshing level of emotional complexity
This is pretty much my first positive review of a romance-in-college c-drama, as I would usually rate those with a 7 or lower.There's absolutely nothing interesting about the plot or the side characters. (Just like in almost every other similar c-drama out there).
The surprise of this c-drama rests entirely on the impressive range of emotions displayed by both leads and specifically by the ML, who originally plays a cold and smart "typical" c-drama ML.
The ML is only cold for about 4 episodes. Very far from the stoic face and arrogant demeanor of most emotionally impaired ML, he actually shows an impressive range of facial expressions and various shifts in moods. To the core, he's only scared and resentlful , and his defense mechanisms get in the way of honest communication but he is very aware of the issue and actually tries to solve it. I truly enjoyed the way the ML's internal struggle with his own feelings was depicted.
For both leads, scars from childhood play a role in their current behavior, which is a common plot line in many dramas (and in real life), but I found it subtly handled for once. The ML wasn't beaten to near death but experienced insecure attachement to a parent. The tension between parent and children is well articulated, the mother wasn't a horrible person and neither was the son, but scars remained and I liked that the ML was able to articulate his hurting.
Like a real human, he was sad, anxious, uncertain, joyful, coy , flirty, sulky and everything in between. But he struggled with means of expression.
This was a fairly well executed exemple of struggles between an avoidant attachment type of person (ML) and their partner.
The FL tries her best to understand him but gets confused and angry at the contradictory signals and all the pushing away, and rightfully so. She was patient but not in an overly naive way and was smart enough to also articulate some of that. Ultimately, each had understandable reasons to resent one another at times, and I'm fairly impressed that, for once, the misunderstandings weren't completely illogical.
There are still some parts of the plot that felt very forced for purposes of narration, the ML did play the super hero saving the damsel in distress a few unnecessary times. The other characters did not interest me at all, the university setting was almost irrelevant.
Ultimately, this drama doesn't get a lot of things right but doesn't get it wrong either and nails it on the emotional complexity (compared to other c-dramas of the same genre). For this reason, I would truly recommend to give it a go without expecting any anything.
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Airing Calender
Eventhpugh this drama is good, the airing calender and available episodes don't match. On the calender it says that this week it will finish or be on the 23 eps or something but in realty there are only 12 (except 9 and 10) eps available. I also checked it innthe original language and couldn't find no more than 12 eps. It is very dissapointing.I found this serie on viki but only 3 eps were free so I watched it online. On the internet they only didn't put eps 9 and 10 other than that everything is fine. I don't really understand how it is possible but... If you wanna watch childhood friendship becoming love you should definitely watch it. It's kinda sweet.
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