When We Write Love Story (2020)

An Interesting Variety Show with a New Concept

This is a very interesting variety show where six pairs write their own love script. I'm describing their stories first then the cps.

Ranking them on the basis of my liking:

如果爱情有味道 (If Romance Had Taste): This story by Wang Yanlin and Li Yitong is the best among the three, the only one having no science-fiction elements. Their romance is the most believable, as they have known each other and are friends for years, and Yanlin and Yitong's characters always liked each other. And no over-the-top, cheesy characters and dialogues!! And that scene when Yanlin+Yitong dance to All Izz Well in Indian dresses in the drama lol (Yitong jiejie looks gorgeous)XD XD but as someone who understands what the song was trying to say (which means, in simple words, letting go of all the unnecessary pressures in life), I don't think this suited the theme, but it's alright as they don't understand the language. Overall, this story is the most realistic and down-to-earth, and it's a lot about life.

我一定记得你 (I Should Remember You): This story by Neo and Chaoyue revolves around campus romance and memory erasing. So far, it's good. I heard one person say that their story is pretty "meh", but I don't think so. This is an interesting story, because of the memory-erasing, campus, and cohabitation concept, although it's sci-fi. And ofc Neo and Chaoyue have great chemistry. They make me smile whenever I watch them :) And I liked that in this, no character was perfect, which shows that the characters were human, and not fairytale-like, and there was a twist in the second-last episode (not spoiling any further). This drama was also realistic if we exclude the memory-erasing concept.


你是我时光的秘密 (You Are the Secret of My Time): This story by Jasper and Qin Lan is ok. But that time travel concept is...
I wish they would have thought about something other than time travel, as there are many more concepts that are much better. And some of their dialogues also sound a bit cheesy to me (my personal opinion), although they have good chemistry, but not as great compared to the other two cps. And Ming Dao's (he's the host of the show, as well as the guest in two episodes) character looked over-the-top (I don't think arrogant men speak like that in real life!). And the romance was too quick, as in, the characters don't know each other THAT well and yet they still fall in love. They enjoyed the chase (there was a chase scene here), which is weird because usually, someone panics when they are chased by big men. It would have been better if the chase scene was like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (if you have watched the film, then you would understand what I'm trying to say) but shorter. And there was one episode showing Qin Lan as a damsel in distress (which is disappointing as she did characters like Mo Xiangwan from We Are All Alone and Shen Ruoxin from The Rational Life, who are strong, independent female leads). Episode 7 of their drama is the best for me, it had a lot of funny scenes, but otherwise meh, as most parts were confusing. I wish this was a May-December or office romance. Both of them have the maturity to do dramas of those themes.

Ranking Couples:
My favorite is Neo+Chaoyue!!!
Their chemistry stands out the most. Their interactions are the least staged, interesting and entertaining, as seeing their trademark bickering and love/hate relationship put me to splits XD. They're like Tom and Jerry; they bicker a lot and yet they have each other's backs. I started liking Chaoyue because of this. First got to know her because of Dylan Wang (she played a character in Ever Night 2. Those who watched it would recognize her as Haotian, the other-self of Sangsang, and seeing her offscreen persona in this show won't make you believe that she was the same actress who played the stone-faced goddess in EN2!), but didn't really follow her till I watched this show. As for Neo, I never actually knew him till I watched this show. But he's not that much experienced with reality shows, so initially, he appears more reserved yet straightforward, while Chaoyue is more chatty and spunky. As the series progress, we see how they compromise, as well as how Neo starts opening up even more. I liked them the most in episode 5, where they were composing their OST 平行轨迹/Paralell Tracks (Neo+Chaoyue wrote the lyrics, and Neo was the music composed of this song) for their drama, and that Neo helped Chaoyue improve her vocals, as she was struggling. (Neo graduated from a music school, and he's a very talented singer). That part was the best. This is why the majority of the viewers loved the Neo+Chaoyue tandem.

Second favorite: Yitong+Yanlin
They give BFF vibes, and their conversations on love and life are very interesting and meaningful. You'll get engaged in their conversations. Also, Yanlin is genuinely funny. So even they are fun to watch. Their interactions are as natural as the Neo+Chaoyue tandem except they don't bicker in general. I like that they have each other's backs, and they have good teamwork and knowledge about life and love, as they're older (and this is obvious for WYL as he is married now, and his current wife, Ai Jiani was his longtime girlfriend back then. So of course he knows a lot about love and romance. Can't ship Yitong+Yanlin because of this reason though), which is why they made the best story out of the three. In short, they are the wisest among the 3 couples. Looks like I should check out their works!

Least favorite: Jasper+Lan
And guys! Please don't hate me for that! They have good chemistry, friendship, and teamwork, but for me, their interactions seemed the most unbelievable and unrealistic, like all that constant hugging, acting romantic and all. But I don't blame them. It can be a possibility that the producers are making them act like that so that the show could sell or something? Their BTS interactions (as in when they were filming their drama) were more natural tbh. They only got interesting when Ying Cai'er visited them, or when Jasper video-called Yanlin. *Spoiler alert!* In episode 7, they acted all romantic, when Qin Lan surprised Jasper by coming to Xiamen to visit him, Jasper fed soup to Qin Lan after feeling "touched" that she made such delicious soup for him, and then watching the sunrise when Qin Lan clung to Jasper and put her head on his shoulder, which is pretty funny as they aren't an actual couple! Also, in their farewell part, as they parted ways, Jasper ran to hug her tight after Qin Lan asked him to hug her through her walkie-talkie Jasper gifted her in the last episode. It looked unbelievable and scripted. It would have been better if they acted like buddies/siblings, because all these kinds of interactions may give false hope to the viewers.

So that's it! That's my perception of this show, the stories, and the CPs. If you agree/disagree with me, then please feel free to express it in the comment section (just be nice). To someone who reads this, thanks for sitting through this LONG review XD.

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My heart is for Li Yi Tong and Wang Yan Lin in this!

To be honest, I’ve watched this show because of Li Yi Tong in it. And I was really glad that she was paired with Wang Yan Lin in which both actually are compliment to each other in a good way. Love watching them here!

I first watched Li Yi Tong’s 4 dramas in Amazon Prime Video UK (Royal Nirvana, Bloody Romance, Blossom in Heart or Begonia Rouge; and Just to See you or Fate). Since then, I have been following her works from England and trying to look for dramas starred by Li Yi Tong via any channels. No doubt, she is adorably beautiful and remarkably talented, especially when you see her shifting character from Huang Rong in Legend of the Condor Heroes, Appledog in Go Go Squid 2 and Hai Tang in Begonia Rouge to Wan Mei in Bloody Romance and all out acting as Lu Wenxi in Royal Nirvana. She’s just brilliant!

I never really understand how come many people in China have criticised Li Yi Tong look which may be forgettable on screen. But you can see here in this show that she is simply beautiful inside and outside, smart and naturally brilliant in acting for actress who never went to acting school. Her acting is definitely much better than many of Chinese actresses who are published to be more beautiful or popular than her. And plus, she has been the leading role in all her dramas and most of her dramas have steady good rating. You basically can throw any characters on her really and she would just execute them professionally beautiful. Her best qualities are indeed shown in “When We Write Love Story”. You would see how good she (partnered with Wang Yan Lin) actually was in doing impromptu acts and developing exciting real-life storyline about love (compared with the other actresses in the show).

This show truly highlights how lovely Li Yi Tong is as a person. She and Wang Yan Lin are definitely more fun to watch. They are adorable hilarious but sweet and cleverly romantic. Their love story here is more down to earth but yet make us laugh and cry with them. It’s a good balance of romance that was not cheesy and not over the top like the others. I do think more and more people outside the Chinese mainland including me have recognised Li Yi Tong as a great actress. It’s just ashamed that we sometimes find mixed-up profiles, photos and publications of her wherein often were mistakenly portrayed as complete different person which is Li Yi Tong, the ex singer of SNH48 who is apparently a mediocre actress. So, no wonder there has been biased recognition about her popularity. But so what popularity! It goes without saying that Li Yi Tong who is newly starred as the Fu Rou in Court Lady, is one of the best Chinese actress in China nowadays. Most of her dramas, movies and TV shows are worth to watch! So, must watch this one too :-)

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