odetodramas
I really like both Jasper Liu and Eugenie Liu and the premise of this series sounded like fun - gangster's daughter meets and falls in love with the actor she's always fangirled over! The action scenes in the show are purely comedic, cheesy and just for fun. Sometimes it's over the top, but I can accept that. Eugenie does a great job portraying Angie, a fierce, bubbly young woman who tries to forge an independent path for herself. On the other hand, Jasper's character Yi Hang felt underdeveloped. He's a cute, charming, popular actor who loves elephants. That's all I got really. Their relationship developed UNBELIEVABLY quickly. Emphasis on unbelievable as in "I absolutely did not believe it." In comparison, I found myself liking Eddie Kim much more and thought the actor who plays him, Tsao Yu Ning, was excellent.
A lot of interesting side stories are introduced - Ding Ding, Ling Yun, Sophia, etc - but none of them are developed nearly enough. If Netflix releases more episodes (I mean, they'd BETTER!), then I will definitely continue watching. There's so much potential.
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The male main character Ning Wei Jin is a talented young surgeon, and although unexperienced with love, he is reliable, caring, and mature. I personally didn't swoon over him but he was excellent boyfriend material. I liked his relationship with his younger sister Ning Wei Xuan and his best friend Gao Ren.
The female main character Ding Ding pursues her dream of designing pet toys and I was rooting for her as she navigated the challenges of running her online shop and creating original designs. (If you love cats, you might like this drama because there's cat pillows, cat cartoons, a cat cafe, and a pet cat.) I loved her loyal, humorous best friend, Xiao Feng, who gave the BEST advice. You could always count on him to call her out on her behavior. Basically, anytime the ex-boyfriend came back into the storyline, it would cause an issue between the main leads, but they (mostly Ding Ding) never seemed to learn and grow from it. It seemed pretty hypocritical on Ding Ding's part given how she felt when she saw Ning Wei Jin with his close female friend.
Ning Wei Xuan is a really energetic, lighthearted character who relentlessly pursues her brother's best friend Gao Ren. Their scenes initially are so much fun - the highlight of the drama for me - and had me laughing out loud. However, there was a point when she really crossed the line and I no longer found her antics funny. I really wanted her to reflect over her actions and grow up a little. Also, while I loved Gao Ren, the introduction of the other doctor really showed how immature he was in comparison...
In conclusion, if you decide to give this drama a try and are tempted to drop it halfway through, I recommend dropping it.
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This review may contain spoilers
*Spoilers are only in the last paragraph, regarding the ending*I enjoyed I Hear You up until episode 17, as a lighthearted drama without any elements that made me angry or annoyed (which feels pretty rare with Chinese modern dramas). I personally enjoy the 'pretend couple becomes real' trope. From episode 17 onward, I felt like the plot lost momentum and then finally, several elements of the final two episodes really bothered me.
Ye Shu Wei (Riley Wang) is a successful and talented violin maker who doesn't like other people, and he grows a lot throughout the show as he begins to care about Bei Er Duo (Zhao Lusi). Bei Er Duo is kind and determined; she has a dream of becoming a voice actress and her goal is to study abroad in Japan. I loved that she was always studying, working hard to improve herself, and wanted to rely on her talent not connections. Ye Shu Wei and Bei Er Duo slowly grow to care for each other, and since they are both inexperienced in love, they feel like an even-leveled match despite him being rich and successful. But to be honest, their relationship is pretty boring. There were some cute moments and some cringey moments but nothing memorable. I actually felt like Shu Wei put much more effort and heart into their relationship, in trying to understand her, encourage her, and prepare surprises for her. (But Riley Wang's stony-faced acting bored me.)
Shu Wei and Er Duo agreeing to be on a couples competition show seemed like a far-fetched premise but the characters Yu Sheng and Tang Li help make it a little believable since they are the producers(?) for the show. Tang Li's character arc is fantastic and is the one great thing in this show. I loved that she faced her feelings head on, stuck to her principles, and worked hard to find her own happiness. Her storyline wasn't what I expected, but she articulated it well when she explained her decisions to Er Duo. The maturity of her character was such a sharp contrast to Er Duo's childish behavior.
*SPOILERS BELOW*
As for the last two episodes... I hated the two phone calls that Er Duo receives. Why did other people feel like they had the right to blame Er Duo for Shu Wei's choices? I liked that Er Duo sat down with him at the beach and talked about it honestly but why did Shu Wei not respond? Even though Er Duo returned the ring, it felt so inconclusive. (Also, if he really wanted to give up violin making/didn't care about that major violin order, I can respect his choice.) The last straw for me was how Er Duo chose to separate from Shu Wei. They had checked in their luggage and he was being paged for the flight so it just made no sense on so many levels. At the very least she could have sent him a text message after clearing security. The last scene was so strange and inconclusive. I wish that instead she had said at the beach, hey don't come to Japan with me, don't give up your work and let's date long distance for now and see how it goes...
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Regarding the music, I loved the song Crazy Love sung by the lead Zhu Yi Long.
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There have definitely been a lot of dramas lately that center around a group of female friends, but I've rarely found myself truly loving them. The charm of Delicious Romance is that it explores various relatable issues like divorce/ending a long-term relationship, re-entering the workforce, and changing careers, but also manages to feel light-hearted instead of stressful. The episodes are about 30 episodes and there are also 20! What a rarity! That means this drama never drags. I would actually love a second season.
This drama just surprised me in so many ways. Also, I loved that Xia Meng worked on developing dramas for a streaming site, and had some sharp commentary to offer. A total delight!
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But after episode 9, the plot becomes increasingly convoluted and nonsensical. There are so many different people involved, their motives were murky (I never did understand Xia Yu Xuan), and the science fiction aspect was pretty far-fetched. From episodes 13-21, the plot just kept going back and forth with no progress, and then in episodes 22-23, the characters finally just explain everything. The final episode was disappointing; I was hoping for some fun scenes to reward me for getting through 23 episodes of ridiculousness. If you are watching for the romance, you'll be especially frustrated.
Note: On iQiyi, this drama is separated into two seasons of 12 episodes each.
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The two leads play their characters with intensity and spot-on humor, and have excellent chemistry. The premise of this drama isn't anything new: the rebellious male lead is a contender for successor of his father's company, the female lead is hardworking, kindhearted, with an exuberant personality. (Give her a chance, in the first episode she does seem a little over-the-top.) For the supporting characters, the Li family and Si Yu's dad were great.
This drama includes shady characters, scheming, family turmoil, revenge, unrequited crushes, etc. I can enjoy these sort of ~dramatic~ storylines when they aren't too frustrating or ridiculous. Some aspects of the latter half had plot holes or lack of believability in certain settings, especially the hospital scenes, and there were an excessive number of flashback sequences. Unfortunately, character development in the latter half is pretty much cast aside, which was unfortunate since many characters had a lot of potential.
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Dilraba Dilmurat finally plays a character who is not naive, silly, and clumsy. Zhou Fang is a motivated, ambitious fashion designer who speaks her mind, and I liked that they didn't make her a spectacularly talented designer but someone who is learning and recognizes how far she has to grow. Meanwhile, Johnny Huang's Song Lin is a workaholic CEO but he's (for the most part) straightforward. There is, thankfully, not a lot of will-they-or-won't-they and only briefly is there a second lead who tries to get between them. The biggest conflict between Zhou Fang and Song Lin is that they are both ambitious and stubborn, and they encounter work-related problems including conflicts of interest and struggles with work-life balance. They have a lot of very sweet moments, which is a nice change from all those dramas where it takes 40 episodes for the leads to finally express their feelings for each other. Also, I loved the storyline with Zhou Fang's nephew and Song Lin's younger sister. They brought so much humor and lightheartedness to the drama.
The other storylines were extremely weak. I loved Qin Qing in the beginning because she's a fiercely loyal friend and a confident, successful jewelry designer. Unfortunately, everything went downhill due to Zuo Yu Lin. I could understand her uncertainty due to their age gap, but it was his mother's storyline that I found intolerable. While Zuo Yu Lin initially seemed like a genuine, caring boyfriend, it was when they encountered a real external conflict that he showed his true colors. He should've addressed the issues with his mother rather than repeatedly lying and then letting Qin Qing do the work to win her over. Also, they became increasingly cheesy and over-the-top when they were together and it made me cringe.
The biggest missed opportunity was Su Yu Shan, who was initially presented as the Bad Guy, a ruthless businessman who uses questionable methods and ignores his lonely wife. They should have developed his story more, and not just in the last episode. Things changed so quickly in the end! The two other supporting characters were Zhou Fang and Qin Qing's friends, Huo Chen Dong and Shen Pei Pei, who totally disappear towards the end and receive an unsatisfying resolution in the final episode. Zhou Fang's mother was also had a significant storyline, and she was just too much. Honestly, all three mothers in this drama were rather domineering.
Lastly, a note on product placement: I hope to never encounter that awful ringtone that multiple (or was it every??) character used, but I am curious to try Hai Di Lao takeout (lol).
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There are a lot of new faces in this drama, and I liked the cast and all the characters (except for one). I especially liked An Ge, and was glad that they made him so reasonable and kind. The manager, Jiang Ye, was awesome and she really stole every scene she was in. Despite a case of "everyone falls in love with the female lead," it was pretty obvious from the beginning how the characters were going to end up being paired off, except for Xin Yuanling, who happens to be the only character I didn't care for. The drama just never made me care about his character, so I never felt torn or felt bad for him.
There were a number of moments in the drama that seemed illogical or unrealistic (for example, minor spoiler: when everyone goes off to eat in the middle of shooting and they leave her tied up?) but I could overlook it until around episode 19. The plot escalates quickly in a very messy, convoluted way, and the drama didn't adequately convey how certain events affected various characters. The rest of the drama was pretty underwhelming.
Overall, watching Sm:)e was very entertaining and enjoyable - just don't expect too much from it. And it's *only* 24 episodes!
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I can't stand how the male lead, Wei Qing, continuously manipulates the female lead. His actions are indefensible and go too far, again and again, but I continued on because the female lead, Zhou Shi, has a backbone. She calls him out on it and those scenes were very satisfying. She is gullible and not the brightest, but she stands up for herself and sticks to her principles. But then he toys with her again. I find him to be very condescending, and as their relationship changes throughout the drama, including an employer-employee relationship, there is always a power imbalance with him having the upper hand. She even says this at one point - but waaay too late in the drama for it to be developed upon. Even near the end, he has his assistant lie to her! Also, she is an art student but for most of the drama I felt like I didn't know what her own goals were.
The conflict with the male lead's mother felt too contrived. Her words were so harsh and every time they show the flashbacks I cringed. It's not that I don't believe a mother can hate her own son, but I just never felt like I understood it. There are also scenes that are completely nonsensical - for example, when the Wei Qing's uncle invites all his ex-girlfriends to the fancy business event. And it seemed like they didn't know how to fill the episodes at the end and decided to totally change Zhang Shuai's character to add an obstacle?? There were also certain storylines that were underdeveloped or just abruptly ended.
On a positive note, I liked the friendship between Zhou Shi, Fei Fei, and Qiu Jing. They are very different individuals but genuinely supportive of each other. Fei Fei and Qiu Jing gave Zhou Shi good advice and were honest with their concerns. Ming Cheng was also rather condescending to Zhou Shi (or maybe just treated her like a little sister), but I do like Qiu Jing and Ming Cheng's pairing. I didn't really care for the Fei Fei and Ning Fei pairing because, either because of his casting or wardrobe, he came across as a helpless, sheltered child too much.
Regarding the OST, upon further consideration, I do like the songs, it's just that I didn't like the drama so I don't think of the songs particularly fondly.
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My favorite parts were Han Shang Yan's scenes with the K&K boys (97, Demo, and Grunt scenes have a lot of rewatch value, lol), Hu Yi Tian (omg that New Year's dinner scene), and his former Team Solo teammates (although there were way more flashbacks than I expected). I personally like Li Xian a lot and thought he played the character well. Han Shang Yan's not a cold person, he's just very serious and focused, and has grown used to being quite solitary.
As for Tong Nian... first of all, I'm not a huge Yang Zi fan so I was concerned before I started watching that I might not like this drama. However, she doesn't even get her own storyline aside from falling in love with Han Shang Yan. I'm actually kind of disappointed because there was a lot of potential with her online singing and her studies/projects, but it faded into the background. I don't like characters that are too naive and I hated the 'love at first sight' aspect, but I found her character tolerable just because there were so many other characters that I did like.
I loved Xiao Mi and Ya Ya (although her expressions were a tad over-exaggerated) and wished they had more scenes! Ai Qing aka Appledog was also a great character and I loved her short hair and fashionable outfits. All in all, a really fun watch.
EDIT: I've bumped up the music score because I really loved the opening song "A Nameless Person (无名之辈)" and Yang Zi's Milk Bread song is cute.
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This review may contain spoilers
The 2001 Taiwanese version of Meteor Garden is what got me hooked on Asian dramas, and I have watched the Japanese and Korean versions as well, so I have a lot of love (and nostalgia) for the story. This version has a promising fresh-faced cast with some changes to the story that I liked, but ultimately was way too repetitive and had some very questionable writing. THE POSITIVE: This version places the characters in college, which I found much more believable (not that we're *really* going for believable in this drama). What I loved the most is the friendship between F4. In this version, I felt their friendship the most deeply, especially between Dao Ming Si and Lei. They had a bunch of really cute scenes, like that sleepover scene (hehe). I liked that each member of F4 had their own talents and interests, and each received their own storyline. (Never mind that I didn't care for Mei Zuo's storyline - he deserved better - and I hated the ending of Xi Men's storyline. Sorry, I was not on Team Xiao You in this version even though that was my favorite storyline in the Korean version. I never really felt moved by them in this version.)
THE NEGATIVE: First of all, Dao Ming Si's behavior in the beginning is pretty appalling. The delivery scene when he throws the food on her, and when he aggressively corners her are both SO extreme, and he never actually apologizes. I just can't overlook his behavior. Second, why the heck did Shan Cai forgive every single person who wronged her? Reconciling with Li Zhen I can accept, but those other two girls who almost caused her to freeze to death in a snowstorm??? The manipulative Xiao Zi??? Third, the back-and-forth with Dao Ming Si's mother was too drawn out. In this version, it just went on for too long and felt nonsensical. I wish that the London storyline was merged with the locked up in Shanghai storyline. And the tasering + Xiao Zi's fake kidnapping storyline???? Literally had no point???? And made no sense???? Basically once we got to London, the drama went truly downhill. Also, this was the most boring Shan Cai ever. Barbie Hsu was just so good.
THE RIDICULOUS: F4 are bridge champions in this version??? Excuse me? That started off the drama on a truly bizarre note. And, WTF @ Thomas reappearing and then turning out to be friends with the thieves. AND he is invited to the wedding at the end? No frickin' way. Speaking of the wedding, THAT ENTIRE WEDDING SEQUENCE WAS SO WEIRD I WAS PRAYING IT WAS A DREAM BUT IT WAS REAL??? His sister's dance????????? I literally cannot.
In conclusion, a lot of the most powerful, dramatic moments in the Taiwanese moments felt underwhelming in this version.
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Ou Chen and Luo Xi's actions were really problematic - manipulative, controlling, petty. It's difficult to say who was worse, but I couldn't root for either of them. I also frequently felt like I did not understand Xia Mo's feelings. I liked the addition of Simon and David (they were not in the 2010 version) as they helped humanize Ou Chen and provided comic relief, but Simon's storyline became too ridiculous in the latter half. There was a villainous character whose storyline was unnecessarily prolonged and then magically resolved at the end. Apologetically, I was not invested in Yin Cheng (the younger brother) or Zhen En (the best friend). The best character is hands down Pan Nan, who is both rational and loyal.
My other issue is with the storyline/writing. The last 5 episodes take such a rapid turn, it just felt too sudden and rushed. There were 36 episodes, plenty of time for things to develop at a pace that made sense! In comparison to the ending, the last few episodes just move way too quickly. There were also storylines that would be introduced and then forgotten or resolved inadequately.
The OST songs are still stuck in my head, but I just cannot recommend this drama. There's better out there.
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Well, this month I couldn't find anything else I wanted to watch so I decided to give the series another try, and I decided to start at episode 14. I finished the series in 10 days and let me tell you why: Wang Yi Bo. I found his character Zhi Wei to be funny and endearing and despite how spoiled he initially is, he grows up a lot throughout the series and he treats An Qing Huan (Joe Chen) sincerely. I also really liked Gavin Xie as An Qing Huan's best friend. I always appreciate loyal friends in Chinese dramas because there's frequently so much scheming and backstabbing. The villainous character was played very well though.
Aside from Wang Yi Bo, what I liked is that the romance in this drama wasn't some love at first sight, destined to be together storyline. It felt realistic, developed over time, so even if I didn't like the characters I could appreciate their relationship. EXCEPT I hated Ding Ren Jian in the end. He was so inconsiderate and he didn't even realize it. It felt realistic and true to his character, but it was a pain to watch. Also, I did appreciate the drama's emphasis on working hard, not giving up, being brave enough to keep trying.
In conclusion: if you're bored or really like any of the cast members, give this a try. Be prepared to skip/skim. Would I recommend it to a friend? No. Was it the worst drama I've seen? No.
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