Lost Romance (2020)

When twilight breaks dawn....

Wow! What a ride this turned out to be! It was funny, interesting, nail biting, suspenseful, charming, well it was everything a drama should be! And still I had to put in an enormous effort to continue watching it after taking a break (for sleeping, eating and such!) which I do not understand! There is something escaping me here!

The story is not new: the FL is suddenly transposed from the real world into a romance book where she falls in love with the overbearing CEO of the ML. She takes the time to undermine and play with every romance cliché there is to the hilarious effect.

So here are my notes, a few thing I jotted down as I watched it!

Why is the beginning giving me such Dynasty vibes? It looks like your prime time US soap opera, with unbelievably beautiful and scornful rich people walking around as if they own the World? Such cartoonish, OTT characters!
Fortunately, things seem to be moving in the right direction in ep2. Like in Extraordinary You, the FL realizes she is not the main character of the novel she landed in and her reactions are hilarious!
After a terrible first episode when I almost dropped this, now and enjoying the ride immensely! I am loving the way they are making fun of all those "cold CEO & sweet and innocent damsel-in-distress" stories. Moreover, I hope I am wrong, but I am getting those SLS symptoms and that is not a good sigh. The CEO is hot but the girl lost in the novel has such sparkling chemistry with the CSO, CEO's friend!
The FL is funny and quirky and they are so mocking the usual drama tropes. In ep. 6 the book the white lotus damsel in distress broke a mirror and cut her finger: the injury is about the size of a needle top but the whole first aid kit is being used while she winces as she's being treated. So funny! I really hope this is going to stay like this! Even the book CEO is starting to show cracks in his armor from FL's constant mocking attacks! SLS I was afraid of seems to have petered out when FL and the book's SML become partners in crime!
Now I'm about to start ep 10 and I like book characters more than the cartoonish real life ones! Aren't book characters supposed to be clichés and unrealistic (well, they do have funny names....)? The FL has great chemistry with the CSO while the CEO is starting to realize that the damsel in distress is clumsy and boring. I just hope they do not intensify the SLS again unless they want them to end up together!
So at the end of ep 10: CEO fell for FL and sealed it with a dead fish kiss...promising? Maybe! But why make it smooth sailing? Now we add a jealous brother to the mix and the hidden side of damsel in distress white lotus: she is not goody too shoes after all and can show her claws when her plans are disturbed. And the FL completely ruined her plans. Unwittingly though! And why leave the SML behind! Ep.13 and that SLS is kicking in hard!
This drama is mocking the usual drama/novel tropes only to end up using them to further the plot for the FL! It is a shame they did not go all the way denouncing tropes and going against them!
In the real world, the sister is losing her marbles after being poisoned by her brother! Actually, I am starting to feel sorry for her: she needed to be ruthless to make it in the male dominated business world. Another life cliché: when men are tough and ruthless, they are praised! but when women are the same, they are deemed crazy, hysterical, evil and ugly! We need to change so many things in our societies.
On to ep 14 and they are in love, sharing stories. Situ Aoran's childhood memories are at the best confusing, the reasons he gives for him being punished and therefore developing fear of darkness are illogical: he was always a good and kind son, his brother was the one always getting in trouble so for all his efforts Aoran is locked in a dark cupboard while his brother and parents go to live in the USA in order to keep him away from trouble! Strange !
Tha ML's life story is also full of illogical events: his mother died when he was young kid but he had to hide from his mother that he failed an exam and had to work! Do they make 10yr olds work part time jobs in Taiwan?!? I wish the writers thought about how the construct the characters backstories and not say whatever is convenient and contradict themselves!
Now they are finally awake but ML's brother and uncle want him dead. But two bodyguards save the day! When I saw them fighting the bad guys, my first thought was: I can see them both in a nice BL! Frankly, they have crackling chemistry just standing next to each other!
The FL in the real world(ep.15 they finally woke up!) seems to have lost all her brain cells: she is suffering being apart from ML so she braves the guards to arrive in front of the ML's room and... wait?!? For what? The guards to come and kick her out?
Luckily, after the initial shock of him not recognizing her, had passed she became her old funny, direct and irreverent self and it has been great watching them trading quips and fall in love all over again! But I so miss the SML lost in the book world!
BTW, who goes to office wearing a tuxedo? What a strange wardrobe choice!
Is Snuggle a real brand? It is featured heavily in the drama including being part of the plot! They must have paid a fortune for it!

As you see, it has been an eventful ride. It reminded me a lot of Extraordinary You but the execution was so much better. The characters were nicer, the chemistry was perfect and even the second lead syndrome was manageable and it did not take over the plot!
The actors were perfect, the story was well written (with the exception of ML's two(book & real life) back stories which were illogical.
I loved all the female characters, they were all strong women. I wish I could see such characters more often! Luckily here not one single female character lost her brain and capacity to think when they fell in love! So refreshing!The male lead character had such a charming smile once he stopped being overbearing
The friendships portrayed were amazing: isn't it great to have such steadfast friends, people who are going to be with you through thick and thin?
There was too much music. Marcus Chang sings the main theme and it featured so many times in every episode! Tiring! The rest of the background score sounded familiar, so it must be some kind of generic score!

In conclusion, I love the female lead character: funny and smart and optimistic and I wish I could find more dramas with characters this one. I don't think I'll rewatch this because it is long and rewatching is a momentary pick me up session but, that said, it is rewatchable since I probably missed plenty of important clues so watching it again could be fun!

I enjoyed this so very much! When twilight breaks dawn, two worlds meet and magic happens!

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Swoon worthy!!! Give it a try, you will not regret!

Ok...my 2 cent after completing this..which is in itself is a big feat for me now a days as i keep leaving trails of half seen dramas... was not a fan of Ep 1 but my sis swear by all her holiness it will get amazing. Lol...so i did stick around for ep2, then 3..4..now after 20..here you go!!
Story: if not typical but very cliché...
Acting: to the point by everyone.
Vipers and Anaconda: it had its share of negative characters serving their purpose.
CHEMISTRY: wow, just wow...
Eye candy: well Marcus took care of that;)
Rewatch: not a fan of watching things seen, but i would rewatch maybe bits and pieces..
Fun Element: well lik extraordinary you, here also u get you see FL making fun of the unrealistic plot and scenes drama world has that are way too overboard..lol

OVERALL: Give it try, you might jus like it;)

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Perfect comeback!!!

Wow, Wow, Wow....
Ok so this is my first Taiwanese Drama since 2010. Yupzzz after kdrama coming to my life, I haven’t watch any taiwanese dramas ?. But this drama was gold! Perfect for my first taiwanese drama after decade. I almost forgot how good are Taiwanese Dramas.

Story : similar with W, and extraordinary you, actually i dropped those two kdrama after almost last episode ?. But this one i got hooke from first episode until the end. The story was hilarious and not boring, similar with the romance between rose and tiger, hillarious!

Acting : all the cast did great Job potraying their characters.
Marcus Chang! I’m in love with him, especially when he saying something little bit in English it was sound so sexy ? his facial expressions for Vivian in this drama just perfect.
Vivian Sung! Love her acting here, she was funny ?
And of course the chemistry between Marcus and Vivian was on the Top, you can tell from their steamy kisses start from episode 12. Beside the kisses i just love their interactions, didn’t have any boring scenes, always looking forward for scenes only two of them.

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'In the storm, you have to be like an adult. In beautiful weather, you have to be like a child.'

I was very excited to begin watching this drama because its plot paralleled that of the Romance of Tiger and Rose (which I absolutely loved!). Unfortunately, I didn't end up enjoying it as much as I thought I would. The first two episodes were boring, but it picks up momentum between episodes 5 and 12, and after that...mediocre at best.

The Good:

The cast is very likeable, particularly the three main leads and Chuntian. I'd only seen Vivian Sung in Our Times before and had no idea she was such a big deal in Taiwan because I don't watch many Taiwanese shows (I should have known better, she's an amazing actress who deserves every bit of recognition!). Despite her character's tragic backstory, her personality was so vibrant and endearing that she carried the show on her back. She was a hard worker who pursued love despite the fact that the odds were stacked against her. Our male lead, Hu Tianxing, portrayed Marcus Chang, was a fascinating character. Marcus's ability to portray two distinct (yet eerily similar) characters was flawless, and you could tell he's a seasoned pro actor. I must admit, however, that I was not particularly interested in his character because he was simply a conventionally written ML. Qingfeng, played by the stunning Simon Lian, was the show stealer for me; I adored his character and am grateful that this show introduced me to him. I rarely have SLS because the FL rarely gets adequate screen time with the second ML; thankfully, this was not the case in Lost Romance, but it made Qingfeng's character so difficult to watch because he was so palpably and deeply in love with our FL. It broke my heart when his backstory was revealed, and it broke my heart after when he and Xiao En could not be together. Chun Tian, Xiao En's best friend, was especially entertaining. It was heartwarming to see her stick by the FL through thick and thin.

The plot's concept was unique. I liked how we got snippets of the characters impersonating characters from popular South Korean dramas like Goblin and DOTS; it was hilarious how they got those bits in. At times, Xiao en's random use of Korean was very relatable, reminding me of my own life as a kdrama fan :p

I really appreciate the messages that the show was attempting to convey. Throughout the 20 episodes, there are numerous encouraging messages about life and oneself.

If you just look at it from the main characters' points of view, the ending is quite satisfying because they all got a happy ending. I expected the last few episodes to be rushed as our two leads reunited in reality, but the transition into their relationship actually made sense and was quite smooth.

(Very steamy scenes between the two leads, enjoyable if you're a fan of those stuff ahaha ;))

The OST is quite catchy, might have to relisten soon!

The Bad:

Oh well...I have a lot to say. First, I know the plot of the book was exaggerated and cliche on purpose but I was just bothered by a lot of tropes and dialogue. I think the writers had a solid concept at the beginning but lost their way in the middle lol. I did not enjoy the plot that was happening in the real world setting either because it was just so 'makjang' (for the lack of a better word) for me. It was a very generic plot and rather boring because it's something I have watched too often. I skipped a few episodes and even watched on 1.5x speed because I got annoyed by the plot.

What disappointed me even more was the characterization throughout the show. I didn't like how all of the women around Tian Xing were shown to be in love with him and to be 'mean girls' to each other in order to win his heart; this is a horrible trope that should be left in the past. I dislike seeing women portrayed in this way. In my humble opinion, they also did ChuChu's character a disservice because some of her actions towards our FL just seem out of character for me at times, even though I understand that's how cliche romance books are and the writers were probably merely mocking them. But, in reality too, they didn't do much with ChuChu's character other than make her a damsel in distress madly in love with the hot CEO. I had similar criticisms with other secondary characters like QingFeng and Chun Tian. To be honest, I enjoyed QingFeng's backstory more than the leads', and I believe an entire drama could be based solely on his backstory. So it was disappointing that we didn't get a deeper glimpse into his story and that he was sidelined (his ending was fine though, could have been longer but I understand why it was done the way it was). Chun Tian deserved a backstory as well; I'd like to know how she and our FL became so close. Perhaps a romance for her would have been nice as well. That being said, there was a lot of potential for a romance between the evil (turned less evil) sister and her secretary (?), and I kinda wish they went down that road. Don't we need more hot chairwoman x secretary/ bodyguard romance in shows? let's change things up a bit people! I've already mentioned it, but I didn't like how they made every woman around Tian Xing fall in love with him (I mean, he's a hot CEO, everyone should be in love with him, but eh), including Shanna. They could have simply implied that she regarded the CEO as a friend and kept it at that. Of course, I understand that giving each character a proper backstory would have been difficult, but a lot of time was wasted on unnecessary flashbacks, so...

To summarize, Lost Romance's plot is quite cliche in many ways, but it has a very pleasant cast and leads who make you want to stick around for the entire drama. The plot's overall concept is novel, but it suffers from poor execution. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a lighthearted romance with delightful main characters.

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Nice romance drama, like it, I love the leads

Nice drama, I like it, love the leads, tagal nga lng nila bumalik sa real world nila
- bagay c TianXIng at Xiao En, ganda ng mga kissing scene nila at sweetness??
- tagal nila bumalik sa real world naiinip ako
- I like XIao En parang strong minsan na di sya clumsy gaya ng ibang female lead din. Ganda ng ugali nya matulungin kahit sa love rival nya
- I like XIao EN she knows how to protect herself most of the time.
- Ang caring ni XIao En kay TIanXIng :)
-Iba pala c Tianxing in real world kesa sa time na nasa novel inside sila pero sya parin
- Ganun parin c ChuCHu mapa inside sa novel or real world nakakainis haha
-I like the drama really pero nakulangan lang ako sa scenes ng real world mas madami kase scene ng inside the novel ?

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Funny at first, then becomes more sincere and romantic

The beginning of this drama is so cheesy, I almost dropped it. The female lead falls into a romance novel and tries to break up the male lead and the girlfriend written for him in the story. This part was interesting on a "meta" level, playing with the tropes around the sweet, helpless romantic female lead and our aggressive protagonist's attempts to sabotage their relationship and take the ML for herself. But knowing it was a fictional world, her actions were over-the-top and often cringey and ridiculous. However the drama began to change for the better (in my opinion) as her relationship deepened with the ML and become more genuine. I'm not going to give details here because I want this review to remain spoiler-free, but there's a major plot twist between the fictional world and the real world, and it gives both the FL and ML the opportunity to act differently (and with more sincerity) as their relationship progresses. So even if you're a little wary at the beginning, I recommend sticking with this drama, it gets significantly better as it progresses and winds up as a genuinely entertaining and sweet romance.

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Oh my goodness, this drama I think beats the myriad of kdramas I have seen in all my years of watching! It's crazy good!! The presentation and writing was much more convincing and mature than I thought it was going to be after reading the description. The plot seemed interesting enough and I thought, "Oh okay, something similar to W: Two Worlds. I can get into another one of those storylines again." Although it had this slight similarity as W: Two Worlds, the vibe was WAY different once I began watching it. This drama stands on its own, and I dare not compare it to the kdrama. They each were good dramas for what they were. Both are in my top 5.

Without giving too much away, let's just say the following reasons why this drama is so high on my list of top favorite dramas are:

1. Loveable, charismatic characters
2. An extremely well-written story
3. Great pacing
4. Talented actors and actresses!! (just discovering the talents of Marcus Chang. The FL was great too!!)
5. The way things happened in the comic versus the real world
6. No fillers, any unnecessary drama (cannot stand it when shows do this just to add a "wow factor" but it adds no purpose to the story).
7. A very satisfying ending (did not leave anything unaddressed or unanswered).
8. The development between the main characters.
9. And my favorite one of all....the passion and chemistry between the main characters! No dead open eyes or robot kissing here, thank you very much!

I am so happy to have discovered this gem. This drama deserves all the recognition it can get! Bravo! Now that all the episodes are out, and I no longer have to wait a week, I will definitely be giving this drama another watch all the way through. That's saying something when I'm willing to give a show another watch. :)

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Worth it! just get past the first 6 episodes!

Really, if you're confused after the first eps, please continue, it does get much better. Trust me, I tried to watch it multiple times cause of great recommendations and just couldn't get through it. I went back to it one more time and I'm glad I stuck with it. An absolutely beautiful story, the confusion at the beginning fades once we get almost fully immersed into the novel. Teared up at the end. Marcus and Vivian's chemistry truly help make the story come to life. The complexity of Xiao En (Vivian's character) comes from her being just as confused as us when her reality is suddenly mixed with a novel and everything she knew is no longer what it seems. Without giving spoilers, when she's misunderstood as trying to sabotage the female lead of the novel, it gets frustrating for us as the audience but also for her as she tries to navigate through her new life. All of this contributes to her eventually moving closer to the male lead and second male lead. We start understanding her frustrations bit by bit. Situ Ao Ran's insecurities/flaws make his charm honestly, he's unabashedly a stereotypical lead on the surface but everything about his character is what helps deepen his relationship with Xiao En. If you're still reading and thinking of watching, do give it chance. 100000/10 recommend!

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An Unexpected Gem

One of my favorites! Measures up to those epic K-dramas. I've already re-watched it 3 times! One of the best I think in quirkiness and its clever plot. The length of the drama is perfect, not too long. The storyline is funny and there are moments where I couldn't stop laughing. The FL is not the a typical nice and gentle woman. She knows all the tricks and love story clichés because of her knowledge in novels and uses them to her advantage in the alternateuniverse. The only thing I didn't like was the jumping back and forth from reality to the alternate universe. I didn't think it was necessary. That ends though close to the end when she's back to reality. What's fun to watch at the end is how the roles have changed and the chasing continues. It feels like I was starting a new drama and kept me hook hoping and wondering what's going to happen next.

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A second chance at life - DONE RIGHT!!!

I am so very impressed with the way this drama was executed.
usually dramas and manhwas around characters waking up in another life is such a cringe plot, but the cast and production team really made it work. the emotions felt real and not a manufactured script that is being shoved down peoples throats to make them believe.
Marcus and Vivian made such an amazing couple and their chemistry was on point. kiss scenes were so good.
I loved how simon playing qiangfen was breaking the 4th wall within his own world every now and then. in the beginning i could sense that qiangfeng has a weird thing going, and he did. And it was awesome.

overall an amazing drama. I don't know if its something i would watch again because the excitement and intensity of the drama is interesting mostly on a first watch

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Best drama of 2020

If you haven't watched this drama, what are you waiting for? This series was definitely one of the most complete and entertaining series I've ever watched. There are no plot holes whatsoever. Normally the drama in which the main lead enters in the world of story, the ending becomes very confusing. There are many things not explained and it becomes hard to imagine. But the flow of this drama was awesome. The ending was not at all confusing, every character had a justified ending and there were no plot holes. Talking about the main leads. Marcus Chang's acting is awesome. He looks so handsome like its unreal. Vivian Sung did a fantastic job with her role. Honestly, the casting was perfect. Everyone was a great actor. The chemistry between the main leads is over the roof. It's awesome like there are no words to explain. OST of the series is also very good. Each and every song has a deep meaning and they are totally related with the series. Honestly this drama is one of the best. Go watch it!!!

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