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Bromance taiwanese drama review
Ongoing 18/18
Bromance
0 people found this review helpful
by All_In
Mar 5, 2017
18 of 18 episodes seen
Ongoing
Overall 8.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 6.0
This review may contain spoilers
I was actually surprised to find that this only has a 7.1 on MDL because of all the buzz about this drama when it was airing. To me it was the break-out T-Drama of the last few years. I will admit when all the buzz was going on, I tried to watch it and didn't get through the first episode. I saw it on Netflix recently and was more in the mood for a T-Drama and gave it a go and generally liked it. I actually am a fan of the gender bender genre though I know it is ridiculous. It works better in historical setting because there can actually be a legitimate reason for a woman to pretend to be a man re: safety or economic necessity. Bromance goes all in T-drama style on the silly and just says, shyster shaman/silly parents, deal with it. Basically you have to suspend reality or this drama will not work for you. Like I said, it took me two attempts. Having said that, I had trouble with how Coffee Prince handled this because at a certain point, there was no reason for someone not to tell so the writers contrived something silly. It really bugged me. I'd rather just know it is all silly from the get go. Cons: The secondary story line didn't do much for me and the actor (who I think is a singer) was just ok. Writers knew what buttered their bread and gave us a lot of the leads, but it would be nice to have some kind of coherent story other than constantly throwing them in compromising situations. They threw in some mafia stuff, but it was all pretty silly at the end of the day. I've watched idol dramas, and I just think the writers need to get better because they just rely on their stars to see them through. It was too long, as are most of the modern T-Dramas (MARS this is not.). I really liked the lead characters, but after a while with both the mafia stuff and the romance, it got repetitive. This could have been done better at 15 episodes. Pros: Megan Lai is fantastic and easily takes on Yoon Eun Hye as the most realistic woman playing a guy in a gender bender. Baron Chen is also great. They have great chemistry and are the basis for this drama being so popular imo. I liked that the 2nd male lead character (the vet) story line was different without all the usual posturing. I also liked the hotdog guy and the sister as well as the cousin. She was a true friend. So I notice some of the negativity is that this show didn't have the angst as, say, Coffee Prince. However, I liked that because this is lighthearted fare and it is a pet peeve of mine when I start watching a light romance (I mean, again, a shaman is involved), and it turns into a melo. This drama keeps to its roots and while it doesn't mine the anguish of a sexual identity crisis like Gong Yoo in CP, it does tell of acceptance of oneself, who one loves and what goes into that. I can't really get into it without spoilers. I do think the writers were trying to stay away from Coffee Prince territory because it's been done and time has gone on and this is Taiwan not Korea. I think they did well making sure neither lead character was knowingly causing the other angst. I really appreciated that. So I'll admit to some fast forwarding through mafia business and secondary stories, but Megan and BC shined in this. I also appreciated some sizzling scenes as well. I took off one point for being over long and one point for the lackluster secondary love story and mafia business stuff. Other Opinions: I did not downgrade for the contrivances, the cheese factor or the cliches in the story. Also, the godawful background music. I just take them as part and parcel of Taiwanese dramas these days, but I notice this bothered many people. There is a bit of a surprise at one point that irked some viewers. And as before, I think many viewers wanted the intensity of Coffee Prince....this isn't CP and it never acts like it want to be.
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