*THIS SHOW IS NOT FOR FAINT HEART*
THIS SHOW WILL WRECK UR HEART INSIDE & OUT
*WATCH AT UR OWN RISK*
DON'T GO CRYING AT ME AND TELLING ME I DIDN'T WARN U.
ONE OF GREATEST CLASSICS DRAMA THAT I'VE WATCHED.
YOU GOTTA BE STRONG TO WATCH THIS HEART-WRECKING DRAMA.
IF YOU'RE GOING TO WATCH THIS PREPARE YOUR HEART UNLESS U DON'T WANT TO BAWL LIKE A BABY
IK THIS REVIEW IS SO EXAGGERATED BUT I'M JUST STATING FACT.
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This review may contain spoilers
Flawed, but one of the most impactful dramas of it's kind
Despite the dated clothes, hair, slang and technology of this 2001 drama, you can feel the star power of the main cast and can believe that this was a drama that took Asia by storm when it originally aired. It stars Barbie Hsu, Jerry Yan and Vic Chou as the main leads and has a fairly good supporting cast.It's a classic soapy story: a poor girl stands up to a group of rich and powerful boys at her school and they become enemies. Over time, it turns to love. There's a prominent love triangle, dramatic basketball, kidnapping, attempted rape, a rich and evil mother, the female lead works multiple jobs and at one point becomes homeless, and there's even several dramatic makeover scenes. All in all, it's basically a bunch of tropes in a trench coat calling itself a drama. BUT there is some magic to Meteor Garden, because beneath all of it there is some actual raw emotion. I think that's mostly thanks to the leads (particularly Jerry Yan, who has some truly excellent scenes), but the drama isn't hindered by any of the rest of the cast.
I think that the drama is elevated by the way the female lead is written. Her inner monologues and dilemmas are so relatable, and her inner thoughts are a lot of softer than her outer actions, which I think makes her more compelling as a character. In other versions we just see the outer actions of the female lead, but in Meteor Garden we can watch her start to fall in love with Daoming Si and struggle with those feelings. Jerry Yan also does great work as Daoming Si, managing to convey the sweetness and childlike quality of the character as well as the angry and foolish parts. At the end of the day there's just something so lovable about him that you can sympathize with him even when he's being an idiot, and you can actually understand why Shancai comes to care about him.
Jerry Yan and Barbie Hsu have great chemistry. Their kiss scenes are great, as well as their fighting and teasing conversations. Despite the high drama of the script, there's a natural warmth between them, which I think helps to ground (or at least centre) the drama emotionally.
Obviously, the drama has problems. The first issue is Doaming Si's violent action toward Shancai on two occasions: the forced kiss in the stairwell and the slap later on in the show. Both of these are inexcusable, and it's a great example of the way that violence toward women is depicted as just a 'rough patch' in a romantic relationship, rather than an unacceptable action. The double standard here is clear: if another man forcibly kissed or slapped Shancai, there would be outrage that he was a bastard, but because it's Daoming Si that does it, it's just an emotional low and dramatic high. It becomes more representative of the work they both need to put in to the relationship, rather than demonstrative of an intrinsic problem in Daoming Si's personality (which is what it should be). In no way do I condone or enjoy these scenes, and they do detract from the show for me.
There are other problems: the plot can feel repetitive, the dramatic tensions contrived, Lei is fairly flat and bland as the second male lead, but we're not really watching for any of that, are we? If you wanted a tightly paced and logical drama you have come to the wrong place. The plot is vehicle for romantic character moments and nothing more. If there are gaps or repetitions... well, you can look forward to another kiss scene or dramatic monologue in the rain, can't you?
I've rated this drama higher than it probably deserves, but I can't bear to make it any lower. As an example of a classic soapy drama, there's nothing better, and the sheer power and scope of the romance can be felt even twenty years later. It may be dated and flawed, but it has an earnestly emotional heart that makes many of the other adaptations feel bland and lifeless.
Greatest Weakness: The dated attitude toward violence in relationships
Greatest Strength: The ultra high drama romance between Doaming Si and Shancai
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Anyways, the TW version was the first one I watched and at that time I loved it. I got obsessed and couldn't stop watching it. I like the story overall and it gets interesting with a love triangle.
About the cast, I really like Vic Zhou, Jerry Yan, Barbie Hsu and Rainie Yang are great actors. I don't really like the other actors in the drama.
I liked the music, it was ok. Nothing special, but it wasn't very remarkable. When I watched this series once again I felt like it was ok. It didn't give me that WOW feeling like when I was younger.
Overall this drama is very good in my eyes.
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A Classic Adaptation, Filled With All The Beloved Tropes...
Along with its international cousins Boys over Flowers and Hana Yori Dango, and the recent eponymous 2018 version, Meteor Garden (2001) is often seen by international fans as one of the most “essential” and “ classic” versions out there . With the talents of Barbie Hsu as our female lead Shan Cai, Jerry Yan as our brooding male lead Dao Ming Si and Vic Chou as our second male lead Hua Ze Lei, it is no surprise that the Taiwanese version captivated a whole generation of youths by prominently kick-starting the drama adaptations with its own flare.The storyline is fairly familiar for those who have watched the previous versions ; poor girl Shan Cai and rich boy Dao Ming Si turn from enemies to lovers at a prestigious university. Rich boy Si is the leader of the clique F4 (Flower Four) and routinely bullies students who irritate him . Poor girl Shan Cai stands up for a friend and receives the dreaded red card (signal for the student body to bully a person) and surprises everyone when she does not back down from the repeated bullying incidents. Instead, Shan Cai declares war on the F4 earning their respect and rich boy Si’s affection alongside the interest of second male lead Ze Lei .
Yet like all of the adaptations, Meteor Garden still prominently has many things it did better than other versions and elements which weren’t as well tackled, either. Perhaps the most notable elements which still stand strong across all the versions are centralised upon the decision to “ age-up” the characters in comparison to most of their counterparts ( sans the recent Chinese version) , the more well-rounded complexity of Ming Si as a character and the interactions between Shan Cai and Ming Si feeling often a lot more “ natural” than other versions.
For those who may be unaware, most of the adaptations centralise the romance between the female lead and the male lead in high school. Although this has led many of the adaptations to explore more mature themes than typical “ sugary teen” dramas, it often felt questionable towards the exact nature of some of these themes in a high school setting. Perhaps to avoid as much controversy as well as being able to explore these themes for a more mature audience, Meteor Garden made the prominent decision of “ ageing-up” characters as university students allowing elements of the show to seem more natural within a young adult environment, rather than an immature teen high-school setting .
In addition to these themes of maturity and complexity, it still remains striking that out of most of the versions,
Jerry Yun arguably did possibly one of the best portrayals of making Daoming Si, a nuanced character. Yun is able to channel a level of complexity to his character than the “ stock comedy figure” taken in many versions . Frustratingly, he’s never given a chance to reconcile for some of his actions, but he’s still ultimately a well-rounded male lead; imperfect and often despicable at times , yet still a lot more than meets eye.
Parallel to Yun, Barbie Hsu is a refreshing change from the typical “ spineless” female lead in previous adaptations. Shan Cai is fierce, strong and able to determine her own wants and desires over the course of the series, leading her to maturely develop her relationship with Dao Ming Si from rivalry to close contact. Yet, as much as Barbie Hsu is undeniably a good actress,her acting skills did often come off as a little wooden in this adaptation, often resulting in some cheesy line deliverances and acting moments. In addition to this, a prominent complaint which may arise for modern day viewers is that ‘ Meteor Garden’ often normalised many scenes of physical abuse ( slapping and inappropriate touching ) against the female lead, which were neither raised nor touched upon as an “issue”.
The next prominent character to touch upon is Vic Chou’s role as the second male lead Zei Lei. It is often striking for a character who followed his manga version prominently ( not least touching upon the character having autism), Lei seemed a little lacklustre in comparison to his other counterparts. This is prominently because there’s little motivation or defining personality traits given to Lei which make him stick out or root him for prominently as a character. In Hana Yori Dango, Rui was mysterious and cool often leading to his true feelings being in the dark for viewers when it came to the female lead , in Boys Over Flowers, Ji Hoo was kind-hearted and even in the recent Chinese version, Lei is shown to be more evident within his motives for chasing Shan Cai. Yet in the Taiwanese version, his reasoning and personality often felt half-baked and consequently more of a “ stock” male lead, than an individual.
Additionally , it’s important to not gloss over the fact that Meteor Garden has all the shortcomings you’d expect from a drama of this bygone era — the music is inappropriate at times , it looks and feels outdated and its production values are bargain basement for a series ironically focusing upon the lavish and affluent upper-class members of Taiwanese society.
It’s probably fair to say that although every Hana Yori Dango adaptation is based on the same source material, it is outstanding how different the final products are and Meteor Garden is no exception . It is ultimately dated by fashion, age and certain tropes, but out of all the versions, still probably remains one of the most well-written in terms of the character bond between Shan Cai and Si of all the versions. Nevertheless, Meteor Garden’s ultimate flaws can additionally be found through pacing ( which ultimately snags at times before the interference of Si’s mother in the storyline), poorly written-tropes and questionable characterisation. Arguably still one of the best versions from the series, but not flawless.
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My favorite Taiwanese Drama
I feel nostalgic every time I re-watch this drama... I remember the days when I was still a university student. This was very popular in our country. I love the story and the main characters.I think I have to watch it again because I want to reminisce the old days. Barbie Hsu and the main actors or F4 were really suitable for their roles.
This drama was pretty great and brings back happy memories. I feel so old now. Oh, well, I really am old since this was aired way back.... more than a decade.
Anyway, it was difficult to submit this review since I had to compose 500 characters before it could be posted. Funny, isn't it?
What else should I add?
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Outdated but the casting is still great
I'm gradually making my way through all the Hana Yori Dango adaptations to compare them, and had saved this one for two slightly contradictory reasons: One, I knew it was older and it might've been more problematic, and two, I knew how much of a craze this drama started and actually had pretty high expectations.I'm not going to talk too much about the plot — we all know what the story is and it's true that most of this doesn't age well, and this being from 2001, it's a lot less sanitized than the newer versions like China's 2018 Meteor Garden and Thailand's F4: Thailand in 2021.
However, I do think the pacing was just...sort of off. I felt like it was really slow in between plots — 29 episodes is way too much for this type of story. At the same time, when one plot moved to the next it felt kind of abrupt. I also just felt like the level of drama didn't necessarily match up what was actually happening on screen, maybe because of screentime distribution, or because side characters often came in and out without enough exposition.
Ultimately, I think the strongest part of this drama was the casting. This is maybe the only version where you really feel F4's commanding presence. Dao Ming Si is actually a good balance of intimidating/imposing and brainless loser, and Lei manages to pull off aloof and gentle but also powerful. The other two are a little less memorable, though.
I also think the casting and acting for Shan Cai was great. Compared to the other versions, she's still spunky but feels much more down to earth. There's no overacting (which the Korean FL is the ultimate culprit of), and she all around seems much more grounded and logical, and less whiny than the others.
A final comment I have is — and this might be more of a fault of the source material than the drama itself (which I haven't read) — but I just think this version had too many boys fall for Shan Cai when they could've just kept it platonic.
I haven't watched season 2 of this one yet, but so far my favorite adaptation of HYD is still the Japanese one, which seemed to hit the perfect pace with many less episodes.
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I realize it's from 2001, but this one did NOT age well
Not only is the actual look of the drama grainy and bad, the sound leaves a lot to be desired. There are big gaps in the story - we go from ep 3 where everything is fine, to episode 4 where she is getting beat up by a guy. Then, there's the acting. It's bad. The clothing, the hairstyles contribute to the aged look of this drama. And F4 is supposed to be a group of extremely attractive young men, not in this drama. I have to say, that this story works better in a high school environment like the Korean version, because there is no way these guys could control a college.Then there's the actual story line. I'm watching all of them because they are so famous and everyone raves about them, but I've got to be honest, I just don't get it. It's a group of bullies, with the ML being the worst of them all. He bullies her mercilessly and yet she likes him? He's nice for a moment but then reverts back to his normal, terrible personality. When they are "together" they fight all the time and continuously call each other names.
This story line is the poster child for toxic relationships.
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Brilliant Acting, Strong Girl, Manly Men, and Amazing Storyline
I've always loved 2001 Meteor Garden since I was 5 years old till now that I'm 22. The F4 and Shancai were all newbies at that time, this is their drama debut, but I'm so amazed because they are all playing their each characters so very perfectly. They are not even playing their characters, but they ARE THE CHARACTERS, so you can feel that Shancai, Dao Ming Si, Hua Zhe Lei, Xi Men, and Mei Zuo are forever only Barbie Hsu, Jerry Yan, Vic Chou, Ken Chu, and Vanness Wu. NO ONE CAN EVER REPLACE THEM, just like no one can replace Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man.Also the storyline is really enjoyable. There are so many comedic lines and scenes that make me laugh so hard and make me wanna watch 2001 Meteor Garden over and over again and never get bored. The romantic scenes also makes my heart fluttered all the time. I just hope the five of them can do some small reunion or something ❤
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This review may contain spoilers
Drama that I won't be able to forget :) Purely my opinion and its kinda long :D
Let me start by saying that this is just my 3rd time watching this Taiwanese version of Meteor Garden. The first time was way way back long ago, 2002 or 2003 I think, but all I can remember is that I was still in 2nd grade at that time. It was even dubbed in my country's language and is a daily afternoon TV drama. So me and my friends would run home after class to watch and cheer for DaoMingSi. :DSecond time was when I was already pursuing my college degree. Internet was already available and I was able to rematch with their actual audio. 3rd time was few days ago when I have nothing to do. :D
So review wise, I can say that I have different views depending of when I actually saw this drama. Back when I was a child, the concept/story was so new for me. The plot line isn't much used at that time thus the drama really captured wide audience especially in international market. No internet yet to promote, mostly word of mouth only. Thus, the drama was indeed considered as a masterpiece at that time. Acting was done flawlessly in my opinion as I can relate due to being a student as well. The music was even more catchy as local language version was been released. The kind of widespread this drama caused at that time was really phenomenal. Asian dramas weren't that aggressive yet until Meteor Garden was introduced to international market thus starts the so called Asian Drama fever.
So for the 2nd time of watching, I can say that it kinda lessen my expectations as I was able to watch the Japanese and Korean versions (still on TV and dubbed in my native tongue. Forgive me as internet is still limited during my time.:D ) Story wise, the plot was already over used and having so many versions just feel useless for me. So I mainly focused on comparing the different versions then. I could say, each version has their own corresponding pros and cons. But each new version tried to surpass the previous ones. Thus I could say that maybe for later generations, they would be more biased towards more updated versions than the old ones. This is kinda true in my case as well since I am more inclined too with those drama versions created during my time rather than those before I was even born.
Overall, I would still recommend for younger generations to watch this version, or maybe not, their choice. :D Anyway, music wise, I still love the original ones especially those dubbed in my language. :D
End of my two cents. :D
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A Classic
I say it's a classic, because not only it has so many remakes (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Thai versions), there are also so many spin offs like Dragon Day You're Dead.I probably should just rate this by not comparing it with the other versions, but I'm gonna do that anyway. I waited to watch the other versions first (except Japanese) before I wrote this. Each one shares the same basic story but have different details added to some to prolong the story.
Violent arrogant rich boy met his match when a poor girl who wasn't afraid of his power put him in his place. ML has a super powerful evil mother that FL isn't afraid of either. There was a moment when I wanted to root for the FL and 2ML, but it only lasted like an episode.
This one is still my favorite. Yes you can't compare the cinematography and production of this one to the more recent ones like Thai and Chinese (which is my favorite as far as cinematography goes), but I think this one has the most depth as far as characters go.
FL is the fiercest character compared to the other versions, and I can feel the ML's feeling as Jerry Yan did awesome in portraying Dao Ming Si. Although the ML is the most violent here compared to the other versions.
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