This review may contain spoilers
Easily becoming my favorite contemporary Chinese drama, "Falling Into You" does the Noona-romance trope right. Coming on the heels of "Why Women Love", Gina Jin again plays as the "older" woman being courted by a much younger man, it's no wonder that she has this role down pat. It's my first time watching Wang An Yu and he's pretty convincing as a love-sick puppy who's chasing around his master/mentor. Bonus points that he also acts the part of an all-around "jack-of-all-sports" who has to overcome the prejudices of being short-statured to compete in an event that usually favors taller profiles. This drama maybe about the romance between an unlikely couple, but it focuses on the hard work and determination of athletes to turn their dreams into reality despite obstacles. I also liked the fact that they included a secondary pairing that's based more in realism, where Jiang Tian and Yu Xia gave up their dreams of competing nationally to open a noodle shop.
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Sure it didn't have the annoyingly repetitive soundtrack of the Korean version, but it also didn't have the same nostalgia as the original. The Korean version at least tried to get a pluvious motif running, although sluggishly executed. I couldn't connect to the characters that are mostly one-dimensional, and there's not enough meat in the story for me to rate this higher. It seemed to me that the insertion of many plot arcs are just fillers, with no real contribution to the drama except for hitting the 30 episode quota they set for themselves.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is such a fresh take on villain protagonists. Song Joong Ki is perfect as the badass consigliere who takes justice in his own hands. Vincenzo has one rule: do not punish the innocent. Contrary to this rule are the corporate vile monsters who won't stop at nothing (even stoop to murder) to reach their goals. The acting is phenomenal, especially by Taec Yeon as the psychotic genius behind Babel. Not many Korean crime dramas infuse it with dark humor, although yes, sometimes it can be over-the-top and cringey. The funny scenes, I believe, try to give some humanity in a drama that showcases evil, nefarious deeds. The juxtaposition of comedy and cruelty works well in this case, the comedic relief mostly provided Vincenzo's oddball crew, namely the tenants of Geungnam Plaza, who have different quirks that may look ridiculous in most instances but their heart in protecting their building and their earnestness in helping other victims of corporate greed are endearing.
There's not much to be said about Vincenzo in the romance department though, as Song Joong Ki seemed to have more chemistry and more skinship moments with the other male actors than with Jeon Yeo Been. Even Inagzhi the pigeon has more chemistry with Joong Ki so if you are looking for romance, this isn't the right show for you, But if you want to see hotness in the form of a Mafia kickass-master flicking a lighter in every episode, then this is a must-see if you try to overlook some loopholes.
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This review may contain spoilers
After watching a quarter of the drama, I was not motivated to watch it for a few reasons: mainly, the ML's annoying fake laughter and secondly, the FL's sickly-looking character. The over-the-top antics of the villagers and the one-dimension caricatures in the drama did not aid in supporting my need to watch this drama. Then knowing there was all the ill-fated and illogical coincidences, ML losing memories, FL losing baby, SFL losing her man, SML losing his love, really did not entice me to continue. Was this review helpful to you?
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Then am I supposed to suddenly believe that, because he finds out that he has known her as a child, that the ML changes his mind suddenly and agrees to said marriage proposal, after lecturing the FL about said morals and principles about not exchanging love for money? I think there’s a word for that…hy…hypo…crite…
Or as his mother said, prostitution.
I also have had enough of those remarks in the first few episodes about how girls needing to get married and have a child to be really considered as a full-fledged woman. Not even Gong Jun's pretty handsome face will convince me to sit through a drama that spouts such outdated sexist ideologies. Plus, I heard later things that happened in the show that did not make a good case for me to continue this without me bursting a blood vessel.
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