This review may contain spoilers
There are two SEPARATE reviews for the ML and SML in this drama
TLDR: If you wonder if you should watch it, YES! It's the best worst drama ever. A totally new journey, new experience.SPOILER ALERT!!!
First of all, the main lead, Dylan Wang. Contrary to popular opinion, I think he was dealt a bad hand in this drama. This storyline and Yuchi Longyan call for someone with SOLID life experience, depth and acting skills. The actor must be able to tell a sophisticated story with his eyes and acting about:
- Someone who was clueless in love but very confident of his power and helplessly felt in love with a girl
- Someone who was slightly arrogant but lost his confident after failing to protect his loved one
- Someone who sacrificed for love, getting so close to a happy ending and getting more hopeful by the day
- Someone who was so hopeful, turning devastated and into the dark side as if he is crushed with pain
- Someone who is over the moon, oozing love out for his one true partner.
Dylan Wang has good look, but he's also a super young actor who started out from 18 years old or so and had his first kiss on screen. I am not sure if he has even experienced love not to mention all the above layers that the role requires. The contrast between the casting and the storyline make his lack of life experience even more pronounced.
Now, onto the second male lead of this show, Deng Wei. This is going to be a long ass review.
At first, I was skipping all his scenes because I normally focus only on the main couple in almost any drama to save time. Upon coming across one of this drama videos on youtube, I got intrigued:
- At 2:17 I can actually see his eyes saying: "I love you, you are cute, but I can see through your bullshit" (Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR9i04YLpyQ).
How does he even do that? I don't know, so I have to watch to understand what he and QQ were doing that led to that expression. Holly smoke! That was exactly what the scene was about, as if he told me everything just with a tilt of his head and his loving and gentle glare.
I then had to cycle back and watch all of his and QQ scenes again. QQ annoyed me at first with her big round eyes, over the top expressions, but she and their pair started to grow on me in the most unexpected way. XQX (Deng Wei) then drew me in by his depth and evolution of the character. I find the experience deeply interesting for three reasons.
Firstly, he is smoking hot: his eyes, lip, nose, jaw line, the way he talks, moves, touches QQ with such elegance and charm. How I would instinctively pull my hand out to compare, then sigh in disbelief every time his hand, yes his hand, appeared on screen.
Secondly, he can act. His acting for both XQX and Lonely Star have clear evolution and direction, adding more layers and depth every time the character learnt something new about himself. The highlight was ep 34 as the Lonely Star, he looked sad when QQ was knocked out the first time, but he still looked clueless as he has never experienced losing someone or feeling lonely before. The second time QQ is out, his emotion exploded. I can see a whole range of emotions, from thankfulness to sadness to devastation to rage then a determination to change the course of QQ next life. It was an emotional rollercoaster and I was totally onboard thanks to his wonderful acting abilities.
Lastly, he and QQ has real chemistry, not only onscreen but offscreen as well. I could write another essay about this but I'd stop here for now and join in with the fans who are calling for them to be main leads in the next drama. I don't care what it's about, I'll be there :)
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This OTP tops the chemistry chart
I am normally quite picky when it comes to main leads chemistry. This drama is worth the watch for the chemistry alone. Other reasons why I like it are:- The couple communicate and grow on the same journey to add more layers to the story
- HOT, Ethan and Yang Mi are a hot couple, a powerful hot couple
- The visuals: Costumes, settings, etc are beautifully done
- The fight scenes: I love the direction of the fight scenes in this drama, especially scenes with enough skin showing to be hot but not overly sexual
- The way the OTP touch and tease each other
I could go on, but I hope that you give it a chance and try it out yourself.
It's not perfect, but it's a wonderful, memorable experience.
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