RouteVenus
Fluffy and extremely superficial with no character or plot development.
THE BAD: NO DEPTH OR DEVELOPMENT, EVER
- The first episode sets up the scene quite nicely: the ML and FL have been engaged by their mothers since they were children, but never took the engagement seriously and both failed to show up at their betrothal dinner, citing work reasons. The FL is a celebrity actress, beautiful and kind, the ML is a successful doctor, cold and perfect, you know the types. By the twist of fate, the FL ends up wounded in the hospital in the ML’s care. They realize each other’s identities and due to their opposite personalities, they argue (a little). Nevertheless, it’s clear that they fell in love at first sight, even if they don’t realize it at first.
- Could be fun, right? But then they just sort of accept the engagement without talking about it and go into a full girlfriend/boyfriend mode by episode 4 with no preface or development that would lead to it. They have no “getting to know each other” phase, they don’t really talk about themselves, they are just a cold doctor and bubbly actress and that's it. What you see is what you get, there is no depth or development that would make them interesting or compelling or at the very least: fun.
- They don’t seem to have any hobbies or interests, they don’t have any close friends (the 2nd leads are technically their best friends but their storyline is strangely detached from the main couple), they don’t even seem to work that much, they have no doubts about their future, they don’t talk about their living arrangements or whether they want kids… In short: they don’t develop as characters or as a couple and definitely don’t help each other to become better people. What e.g. “You Are My Glory” did so well with the mains supporting each other and talking about life stuff, “Intense Love” skips completely so what’s left are two beautiful people in cute situations and as a viewer, I feel no satisfaction because I just wonder how the hell did they get there.
- The second couple (the FL’s agent/BFF and the ML’s colleague/friend) have a separate storyline involving very random tropes (misdiagnosed terminal illness wtf?) that writers must have pulled from their hats or something. They also have zero chemistry and as a viewer, I saw no reason why these two should be together.
- There is a third couple (sort of) that involves the ML’s younger sister and the FL’s younger colleague. It had some potential but they only meet halfway through the drama and again, their relationship is so superficial and detached from other characters (the FL and ML never even find out about this relationship!) that I had no reason to care.
- There is no big bad or evil mastermind. The FL’s colleague is jealous of her success and happiness, so she makes some trouble for her, but it never gets too serious and it always backfires on her. The ML’s little sister stirs some trouble for the FL as well, but they become friends several episodes later after which the little sister’s storyline branches out from the main one.
- The editing of this show is all over the place. Look, I get that it’s a low budget drama (empty hospital with one huge office occupied by only the ML speaks for itself) but the scenes often just don’t tie coherently. Many motifs are brought up and then promptly forgotten (like the ML's sickly elder brother pressuring the ML into quitting being a doctor and taking over a family business in episode 2, which is NEVER brought up again)
THE GOOD: THE MINDLESS FLUFF
+ Look, sometimes we just need to turn off our brains and watch something pretty. And Intense Love delivers! Beautiful settings, real kisses, lots of snuggling on the coach.
+ The leads arguably do their best with the little the script permits them to do. Not much chemistry to speak of but...they tried.
+ A shout out to the ML's little sister played by Lin Xin Yi – I thought that the actress did a very good job both as an annoying minor antagonist and as a cute fangirl who slowly matures – and she had the most visible character development (and hairstyle development) of all characters.
Hmmm, that's about it. Great drama if you just want to kill time and nothing more, but even in the genre of fluffy rom-coms, I believe there are much better choices (e.g. You Are My Glory, Falling Into Your Smile, My Little Happiness...).
- The first episode sets up the scene quite nicely: the ML and FL have been engaged by their mothers since they were children, but never took the engagement seriously and both failed to show up at their betrothal dinner, citing work reasons. The FL is a celebrity actress, beautiful and kind, the ML is a successful doctor, cold and perfect, you know the types. By the twist of fate, the FL ends up wounded in the hospital in the ML’s care. They realize each other’s identities and due to their opposite personalities, they argue (a little). Nevertheless, it’s clear that they fell in love at first sight, even if they don’t realize it at first.
- Could be fun, right? But then they just sort of accept the engagement without talking about it and go into a full girlfriend/boyfriend mode by episode 4 with no preface or development that would lead to it. They have no “getting to know each other” phase, they don’t really talk about themselves, they are just a cold doctor and bubbly actress and that's it. What you see is what you get, there is no depth or development that would make them interesting or compelling or at the very least: fun.
- They don’t seem to have any hobbies or interests, they don’t have any close friends (the 2nd leads are technically their best friends but their storyline is strangely detached from the main couple), they don’t even seem to work that much, they have no doubts about their future, they don’t talk about their living arrangements or whether they want kids… In short: they don’t develop as characters or as a couple and definitely don’t help each other to become better people. What e.g. “You Are My Glory” did so well with the mains supporting each other and talking about life stuff, “Intense Love” skips completely so what’s left are two beautiful people in cute situations and as a viewer, I feel no satisfaction because I just wonder how the hell did they get there.
- The second couple (the FL’s agent/BFF and the ML’s colleague/friend) have a separate storyline involving very random tropes (misdiagnosed terminal illness wtf?) that writers must have pulled from their hats or something. They also have zero chemistry and as a viewer, I saw no reason why these two should be together.
- There is a third couple (sort of) that involves the ML’s younger sister and the FL’s younger colleague. It had some potential but they only meet halfway through the drama and again, their relationship is so superficial and detached from other characters (the FL and ML never even find out about this relationship!) that I had no reason to care.
- There is no big bad or evil mastermind. The FL’s colleague is jealous of her success and happiness, so she makes some trouble for her, but it never gets too serious and it always backfires on her. The ML’s little sister stirs some trouble for the FL as well, but they become friends several episodes later after which the little sister’s storyline branches out from the main one.
- The editing of this show is all over the place. Look, I get that it’s a low budget drama (empty hospital with one huge office occupied by only the ML speaks for itself) but the scenes often just don’t tie coherently. Many motifs are brought up and then promptly forgotten (like the ML's sickly elder brother pressuring the ML into quitting being a doctor and taking over a family business in episode 2, which is NEVER brought up again)
THE GOOD: THE MINDLESS FLUFF
+ Look, sometimes we just need to turn off our brains and watch something pretty. And Intense Love delivers! Beautiful settings, real kisses, lots of snuggling on the coach.
+ The leads arguably do their best with the little the script permits them to do. Not much chemistry to speak of but...they tried.
+ A shout out to the ML's little sister played by Lin Xin Yi – I thought that the actress did a very good job both as an annoying minor antagonist and as a cute fangirl who slowly matures – and she had the most visible character development (and hairstyle development) of all characters.
Hmmm, that's about it. Great drama if you just want to kill time and nothing more, but even in the genre of fluffy rom-coms, I believe there are much better choices (e.g. You Are My Glory, Falling Into Your Smile, My Little Happiness...).
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