Falling Into You (2020)

We finally have a Tdrama as well as a Puff Kuo drama in my top dramas of 2020 list! I might be biased because I love Puff Kuo and Jiro Wang and believe there should be more dramas with them, but I also loved how it contained all the elements I love in a classic Taiwanese drama as well as having this calmness to it where you might be watching an intense heartbreaking scene, but it was easy to watch. It kind of gave me elements of Love o2o how it was just an emotional but easy watch. Also, I am a HUGE fan of quirky turned emotionless woman that Puff knows how to play so well. You always want to root for her and once you see a smile or two, your heart just melts knowing the quirky girl is fighting through.

I loved all the characters! I was surprised by how the story came together at the end and the characters that we hated throughout, became likable at the end. Everyone was very mature, most of the time, and there was really no "revenge-seeking" even after the hellish childhoods the mains had. I loved the relationship that Zi Tong (Puff) & Fang Zhi Sheng (Jiro) had throughout the drama, even in the beginning when he was trying to break her at work. It came off as harmless fun and he was being a "butthead." But what I loved the most was how much of a boss Zi Tong was. And once they got together, the easiness of their relationship reminded me a lot of Xiao Nai and Wei Wei from Love o2o, which is extremely rare as we don't see a lot of drama couples like this because the director wants to add another level of drama. I think it is a bit tacky, but I still watch it! So when we see a couple like this where the writer doesn't feel the need to add that element, it is refreshing. I also liked how Zi Tong & Fang Zhi Sheng, weren't the only main characters of this drama and got about equal screen time (a little more into the drama) as Tian Lin & Fang Qing. I liked the growth in their story and how adult yet childish it was.

But the reason why I wasn't able to give this a 10-star review was because of the characters as well. As much as I loved this and will rewatch it many times in the future because Fang Zhi Sheng is a dreamboat who is equal parts silly/quirky and Mr boss man who stands up and does everything for "his people," I wish there was more fire or passion in their relationship. I needed a little more. Also, even though I loved Tian Lin & Fang Qing and how Tian Lin's daughter stole the whole show, I got a little tired of Fang Qing. She was one of the oldest characters here and she was acting like a school girl the entire drama.

Overall, it was a really good story about a girl who gave everything she had in order to have one last chance to compete and reach her goal and learned how to trust people again. It was about a man who fought through his trauma in order to heal from an abusive childhood. And it was a story about two unlikely people who reunited and got a second chance at love.

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Tedious

The best part of the drama was the relationship square (each male making incorrect assumptions about the other). I liked the relationship between the second couple, except for the episode in which they finally get together. The three of them (SML, SFL, his daughter) had great chemistry, but she was a little too tentative. Loved the little girl. There was nothing else in this drama that really caught my interest... but since there was nothing outright offensive, I didn't drop.

Dislikes:
* First couple no chemistry and just not that believable, from either side.
* The Taekwondo was long and not explained well. The coach was not professional. The competitive girl wasn't believable -- just spiteful.
* I don't recall the music at all, which tells me it didn't contribute to the show.

SPOILER:
* I view the scene where the second couple finally get together as a rape. She's blind drunk and says she loves him, he kisses her, and they wake up naked the next morning. This is not OK. Just to make it worse, it's only a few minutes between the point where she was sober & went into the house & started drinking, and he follows her in -- there's no way she could get that drunk that fast.

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