Xu Jianan doesn’t want to inherit her father’s lingerie empire but instead wishes to be a writer. To escape pressure from her father she agrees to a contract marriage with Lu Buoyan, a childhood friend who is now the CEO of a successful investment company. Can their contract romance become real?

Opinion:
This rom com doesn’t tread much new ground but is still (so far) a fun watch, largely because of the chemistry between the two main leads. Also, I am a fan of stories where the male lead is deeply in love with the female lead but has to work (in a non creepy way) to get her to fall in love back.

Likes:
* A nice twist that female lead comes from a rich background and agrees to the contract marriage to help further her career goal of becoming a writer. My favorite moments of the drama so far have come from her efforts to get real life experience to aid in her writing.

* In laws that want the main couple to succeed as a couple, sometimes to the point of comedic embarrassment on the part of the female lead. For example, in ep 1, the father’s efforts to gift his daughter sexy lingerie and the MIL bursting in to fetch a “forgotten” purse on the wedding night to see if the marriage is real are fun.

* Great chemistry between the two leads. As in many Cdramas, the female lead is a bit naive when it comes to love and relationships (eg., never been in a relationship despite being 25 and beautiful). However, the male lead does a great job of conveying his long time frustrated love for her and it’s great to see her attitude towards him change over time. Basically, Jianan thinks it’s a contract marriage and they’ll part ways after a year but it’s clear from the beginning that Lu Buoyan would like their relationship to become real but is not sure how to get there. The fake marriage ends up serving as an artifact that allows him to spend more time together with her and woo her. The moments they spend together that are harmonious and not misunderstanding one another or fighting are really beautiful.

Dislikes:
* Catty second female lead out to destroy the couple. I know there needs to be tension but I hate this trope and the artificial misunderstandings introduced. (Why is honest communication so hard in Cdramas?!) I hope this will not be too much of a recurring theme throughout the drama.

* So many tropes. If I played a drinking game where I had to take a shot every time the female lead trips and falls into male lead’s arms during the first few episodes I’d probably need to get my stomach pumped at the hospital for alcohol poisoning.

* there are a lot of childhood flashbacks. For the most part I believe these flashbacks are appropriate for explaining male lead’s current behaviors and showing that he loved her (and her writing!) a long time ago, even when others wouldn’t have considered her stereotypically attractive. There is also an interesting flashback in one episode that hints at trauma in the male lead’s past that I hope we will learn more about in later part of the drama.

Overall: Enjoying this drama so far but withholding a final verdict until I’ve seen more. “Love in Time” could end up being a lovely solid rom com if it amps up the positive couple interactions and focuses more on the female lead’s dream of becoming a writer or the male lead’s backstory. However, this drama could also become a drop for me if it delves too much into the second lead melodrama and artificial misunderstanding territory. Hard to know which way it will go at this point. I know many recent contract marriage rom coms end up with the contract being revealed and then the couple breaks up for a while before getting back together. Not sure if this drama will follow that pattern but here’s hoping “Love in Time” will yield some pleasant narrative surprises, or at least make the journey fun and not miserable to watch.