Pretty Man (2018)

Heartache and bad acting

I have not read the original novel or seen any anime of the story beforehand. Therefore, I cannot offer any opinion on how this series interprets the original workpiece.

I am torn by this drama. The story is ultimately sad, and the main characters will face all kinds of hardships during the story. Watching this made me sad and caused even actual heartache. However, that is what makes this series great. Any c-dramas have not made me feel such strong emotions before. Because of the current situation with mainland China's censorship, it probably won't happen in the future either. Quite many of the dramatic plot twists are currently banned in new series.

The dramatic story saves this drama. However, everything else in this series is below the mediocre. Significantly, the acting is poor. ML actor Dylan Xiong is stiff and seems not to get inside his role. Additionally, most of the support characters are agonizing to watch as they are trying to overact to lighten the atmosphere but end up just being loud and awkward in the wrong way. However, FL actor, Sierra Li, does an excellent job in her role. I hope that in the second seasons' FL excels the role as well as Li did. Additionally, I want to praise Hsin Tiens' performance as the drama's villain. She made the character extremely repulsive.

Although I am not that impressed with Pretty man, I still think everyone should give it a chance. I definitely will remember my anxious emotions in the future if I have to think of series that have touched me. I just wish the casting was done better.

Why should you watch this drama?
- This series will make you _FEEL_

Why should you not watch this drama?
- The feelings are mostly sadness
- No lovey-dovey stuff
- Bad acting

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Is the scriptwriter being serious or not?

Pretty Man... is a disaster. I don't even know what even motivated me to watch it through to the end.

I originally found this drama after finishing My Mr Mermaid, one of Dylan Xiong's earlier projects. It was my first C-drama I had ever finished watching, so I got pretty emotionally attached to it and was depressed when it ended. I was still sifting through my feelings when the YouTube algorithm worked up and recommended this... monstrosity.

It wasn't until 3 years later that I started watching it. It is a complete waste of time.

What completely slaughtered this drama was the terrible, terrible scriptwriting. Not only are the relationships between the characters in this drama low-key toxic, but the whole plot is driven by misunderstandings after misunderstandings. It's like the characters don't even know what the word 'communication' is. So many of the problems in this drama could be easily avoided if people just talked to each other- but then misunderstandings are the laziest ways to create problems! So I'm afraid the characters will have to forfeit their brains for now.
It was blatantly obvious that the scriptwriter didn't put much thought into the characters either. They are very 2D and flat, with baseless motivations and a black-and-white overview. The good characters are good. The evil characters are villainous just because. No explanation for their behaviour, they're just evil- that's it, and that made the drama even more painful to watch.

I'm not sure what the financial situation of the drama was, but at first glance, one can guess it's budget was probably very low- which would have impacted the script as well as the overall quality of the drama. The sets were not well-made at all; the wedding between Qiao Anhao and Lu Jinnian literally took place in a car park of sorts.

It's just such a pity that the script turned out the way it did as the actors in the drama did have some sort of potential. I feel like it was a bit of a miscast to cast Dylan Xiong as someone as cold as Lu Jinnian. He is a natural when it comes to soft, fluffy moments but he simply doesn't give off the 'high-up and cold' aura that Lu Jinnian was supposed to have.
Another actress I thought did well was the actress for Song Xiangsi, Zhao Yaoke. In all of her dramatic scenes with Xu Jiamu were executed very nicely, especially her crying scenes. In general, she can portray more intense emotions beautifully- hopefully, she'd get casted as a better-written character in the future.

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How to destroy a novel with the drama adaptation

I love Ye Fei Ye's novel Bringing Nation's Husband Home and really had some high expectations with this drama. But it was a pure disappointment. They did very unwanted changes in scenes and ruined the flow of the entire original storyline. LEADS DON'T HAVE CHEMISTRY AT ALL.

#Acting
I loved Dylan Wang's acting as Lu Jinnian. In fact, I feel that he was made for this role. His assistant was also played by a good actor. Sierra Li as Qiao Anhao and Song Xiangsi were completely melodramatic and nonsensical. They were literally showing that they are faking it all. The backbone of the drama Qiao Anhao was a disappointment.

#Ending
The open-ended ending is not a sad one. Watch Pretty Man 2 for the final ending.

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Story promising but acting frustrating

Where do I begin?

When first staring this drama series, the story seemed interesting and then it's a series of flashbacks for awhile, before it brings you back to present day. Now, I've not read the books nor seen any other versions of this story, but I have to say that the frustration in watching each episode had me take breaks from it. I could only stomach so much. The female lead was so pathetic. I don't know if it was intentional to make her seem so clueless and so helpless. Sure there was chemistry between the leads. I loved the supporting actors even more, especially Lu Jinnian's assistant. There were holes in the story as you kept watching. For all the conniving actions of Jiamu's mom and others in this drama, you kept wanting karma to come back around and bite them. Let them suffer, but no, that's not how the story goes. One thing just keeps happening after another and it just drags on. I am trying not to give away any spoilers here, but I would not go back to rewatch this series. I'd rather look up other dramas with the main male lead and a few of the other actors.

I heard that the main female lead is switched out for Pretty Man 2. I'll most likely watch it to see where the story goes, but if it's just as frustrating, then I'll let it go. Life won't be easy for Jinnian and QiaoQiao. The ending to Pretty Man seemed like an unfinished thought. I can't blame this all on the actors, more so the director of this drama. I hope to see different acting skills when I check out other work from them.

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