The Oath of Love (2022)

Heartwarming....

Based on the few episodes that I've watched and will watch for sure till the end 🙂...the story is heartwarming and family oriented as well as realistic...this might just a tv series.. but it represents real people and real life... Both lead actors and supporting cast fare well beyond my expectations...the drama was made more than three years...but it is still relevant at present... XZ and YZ are awesome in terms of acting... Love them both 💓...I hope people will give this drama a chance without prejudice....am new to Chinese dramas.. am more into anime and manga... the Untamed was my first Chinese TV series... And it was awesome watching the drama... Not perfect but I enjoyed the show... The musical instruments... Awesome cinematography...and superb casts... I still watch it from time to time....then I start learning about Chinese entertainment... What happened to XZ ...during 227 incident was sad...but hey... That's life and I guess our country is different from the Chinese entertainment... Still I am learning to be love 💕 it...sorry I made a mess with Bob this review... You may say that my bias is XZ ang yeah ... I am... Hence this review...I want to support all his works... Mind you.... He is an amazing one without formal acting lessons... He really gave life to all his characters... Humble too and hardworking...despite oppositions from left to right... Hehehe... Am into underdogs and people who are oppressed because of envy.... So bite me...😁😁😁.... I just hope and pray that people let him be... Am sure his fans love him to death...and am happy that he has them in his life's journey....let us all watch this drama and enjoy the moment ,... Life is too short for antagonizing each other... Keep safe and healthy everyone......

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The first 10 minutes of this drama already screams danger

Truth be told, I was really looking forward to this drama and checked it out when it went live. Sadly, it didn't go so well.
The events that happened in the first 10 minutes of the first episode already made me want to drop it and it doesn't get better at episode 3.

The drama starts introducing the characters, ML Gu Wei and FL Lin Zhi Xiao. This is where problem 1 begins with the FL playing the cello. She isn't moving her fingers and the sounds that come up are so obviously edited in post production. They could have at least made an effort for the FL to move her fingers but no.

On to the bar scene where problem 2 arises. FL and her friends went on drinking at this bar. She has a really strict and controlling dad that doesn't like her going out with friends like what she's doing. Knowing this, she very stupidly posted it on social media for her dad to witness.

When her dad went to the bar to confront her, what did she decided to do you ask? She went and sat next to the ML (they were strangers) proceeded to take his coat and put it around herself so her dad can't see her. This is literally so stupid, you know what I would have done? Go hide in the freaking bathroom, that is so much better than taking a random strangers's coat and wrap it around yourself. I would freaked out if I was the ML.

After witnessing all this, madness, the ML reacted negatively rightfully so. He asked the FL who she was and to give him his coat back. The FL was like "come on just borrow it to me for a while, without it you wouldn't die." She sure has a lot of balls. And then, the worst part.... she proceeded to lean against the ML, now with her on top of him with his jacket wrapped around her to create this "romantic moment"

Her dad not being an absolute idiot, totally saw the FL and went up to confront her. He then asked her if the ML was her boyfriend. You know what she decided to know instead of being apologetic to this random guy? She said YES and put her hands around him. How the ML stayed calm during this whole commotion blows my mind. Luckily though, he does get mad and isn't acting along side the FL to her dad. He said they were strangers and the FL went all baby mode and got mad at him.

The dad then asked the ML if he was trying to take advantage of his daughter and because the FL is such a horrible person, she decided to jump on that, accusing the ML for trying to take advantage of her. I feel so bad for the ML, I would have probably cried if I was him.

It gets even worse. Afterwards when they met at the hospital and found out that the FL's dad is a patient of the ML which is whom he stole from his coworker (Gao Xi). ML was just like yea, this dude might have cancer, let me just give them a call without consulting my coworker first. Look at how smart and caring i'am HAHAHA. I still don't get why the FL hates the ML when it should be HIM hating HER after everything she did at the bar. Anyways, because of that encounter, the FL basically bad mouthed the ML to her family, telling them not to trust him because he only became a doctor because of nepotism or whatever WHERE HE CAN HEAR THEM.

Afterwards, because she forgot to take an overnight pass for her dad because he was staying there at the hospital. Another doctor offered her to stay in the doctor's resting room without telling the rest of his coworkers sigh. Plus I don't think they're allowed to do that irl. The FL then laid on the bed, playing her phone when surprise surprise ML walks in. At that point, the rational thing to do is to get up and say hi to the ML but instead of that, the FL hid in the blanket where you can so obviously tell a person is hiding there and the ML takes off his clothes, god I hate the cliché.

It's not completely trash as I really did relate to the FL's relationship to her parents and I liked her mom. The visuals and outfits were decent but other than that it's a skip for me. The side characters weren't really that interesting either. They were your standard FL's best friend female 2nd and ML's best friend make 2nd. I really liked Zhai Zi Lu in Lucky's first love, but here it's so meh.

Basically the FL is an asshole, the ML's actions were dangerous and didn't make sense. Side characters were uninteresting and the story was full on tropes. Idk if it gets better letter on but I cannot bring myself to watch it anymore. The performance of the actor/actress were pretty nice but the story was a big NOPE.

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I'll just copy my review from letterboxd :))

Here are some reasons why I didn't really like this drama despite its popularity:

- the father of the fmc is a dean at a school and wants rules to be followed but then he doesn't want to listen to a doctor because he knows better?? (literally even runs away from the hospital lol) I know he must be scared but bffr.

- the doctor (mmc) not fully disclosing the patient's diagnosis to the patient. like, okay, the wife and fmc know that his real diagnosis is stomach cancer, but i'm pretty sure that not telling the patient himself what he has is illegal lmao but okay, at least he's comfortable i guess.

- the mmc has trauma because his mentor died after a surgery that he performed on him. now, he cannot do surgeries anymore (or even practice with his suture kit) because he starts shaking and having a panic attack. understandable. not understandable is the fact that the leads have one (1) in-depth/serious conversation without bickering and being silly and POOF he can perform the surgery for the fmc's father. this was the moment that made me DNF tbh... like trauma is not healed after one talk, especially not with a girl you just met a couple days ago and that stays in the hospital all day because her father's sick (meaning: they don't even know each other). like, yes, her words can feel encouraging to him but c'mon... he had literal panic attacks and trouble breathing when they showed his trauma symptoms... bffr.

- the second lead romance was booooring and annyoing, so i would have skipped that anyway tbh, but yeah. so far, the only second romance i liked was in "Moonlight" (still my fave cdrama...)

i understand the cast is suuuuperduper extra famous and popular and i thought they worked quite well together but the story... eh not so much - at least for me, sorry

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Gave up after 5 eps

Sigh. As a noob to Cdramas, i love Xiao Zhan after The Untamed so I decided to check this out. But everything annoyed me from the start. One of them being that Yang zi was trying to act as an 18 year old. Like can we stop please. And also as a medical professional its totally unrealistic to have those doctor patient relationships as portrayed in the show. The father's denial/hesitation at getting medical tests made no sense, like why would you be so selfish and put your family through hell when you already know you are unwell and need treatment? This is 2022 and not 1900s. Argh i just cant, dropped after 5 episodes. Also the trope of the Dr Gu's junior who's in love with him... like thats done to death and super annoying.

How disappointing.

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This drama makes us reflects about our Life & how we value everything around us

This drama I think it's not only entertaining because it's romcom but also really HIT THE HOME aka very RELATABLE to some people out there including me. Let me ask you all, raise your hand if you have gone through some of this;
- have conflicts with parents about to decide something that related to your future; whether is about your education, your choices of jobs or how much your parents understand you or support you
- have dealing with family who have sick or even have complicated illness that we also have to take care.
So with this side about family even in the earliest episode, adding I believe later some conflicts about romantic relationship, I can say this drama is really good. Especially with how all the actors acting on it is really great (see how Xiao zhan & Yang Zi acting crying in the trailer I believe is really makes our heart also feel pain & hurt). So I really recommend this drama as one of our must watch list not only we can get entertainment but also get something to reflect about our life without feeling being preach or lectured.

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Great acting and not too much stupidity or silliness

ML and FL were great but so were the supporting case. I really enjoyed the opening and music very much. The relationships took a bit of time to develop and great acting by everyone. I really enjoyed the supporting case and without the supporting cast, I would not have liked this series as much.

Not a lot of twists or turns but mostly focused on development of love and relationship between different characters and there are not evil characters or sinister plots. It's about search for love and how life changes with death and love. I was kind of surprised by the ML performance. Much better than I expected.

There's no stupidity in the plot where you scream at the screen and ask how anyone can be this stupid. It just flows and though at times, I got annoyed by the FL acting so girlish but I guess that's her character. I mean... 20s and still having dolls and stuffed animals in bed that kind of thing. And too shy to kiss each other that kind of thing.

Opening music is amazing and unforgettable. Just beautiful song.

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Refreshing Drama

I have watched this drama more than twice already, so its no surprise that I like this drama a lot. I would summarize this drama and say, its a romantic drama with an easy-going plot, the acting is excellent and the OST is on point.
The plot is not too dramatic, e.g angry protagonist or revenge, but just ordinary people living ordinary lives having ordinary problems, relatable stories and very close to daily life context makes this drama not boring at all.
The romance in this drama will sweep anyone off their feet. The chemistry between the male lead and female lead is so beautiful and believable. Also their excellent acting made their characters come to life. The cinematography is good too.

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Dont waste your time

Please dont have high expectations before watching since you will be in for a massive confusion and disappointment. I got to know about XZ and saw his other recent works such as Ace Troops and some snippets of his stage play as patient no5: his acting is quite on-point. Mind you, DC was bearable and I managed to pull it until the final. Going to this drama, i already struggle to finish 1st episode. He almost has no facial movements like blankly staring into the camera reading his lines. I got confused and had to research that this drama was delayed in airing and was produced way back when XZ was relatively new. No wonder but that wont change my opinion that his acting was so bad. YZ has a lot more naturalness in her acting, her cuteness and bubbliness dont seem forced but that is from just 1-2 ep for me. And as I read other reviews her bubbliness got worse to the point of being pointless and annoying, I decided to drop this drama as nothing will save the drama for me: clique plot, bad acting from male lead and bad direction for the female lead.

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Le bel exemple d'un ratage

C'est un drama que j'avais envie de voir depuis un petit moment, je ne suis pas une fan absolue de Xiao Zhan mais je l'ai beaucoup aimé dans "Douluo Continent" et j'aime beaucoup sa voix et sa façon de jouer.
Le drama avait plutôt bien commencé et s'annonçait prometteur bien que la réalisation ne soit pas, comme d'habitude, quelque chose dont on devrait applaudir.
Et puis.....non, le drama traîne en longueur (J'ai dû zapper toute la seconde moitié du drama), l'histoire patine et la romance tourne en rond.
Tout est cliché. Cela pourrait ne pas être un défaut, j'ai déjà vu des dramas remplis de cliché mais tellement bien fait, tellement bien joué que l'on dévore sans modération chaque épisode, comme le récent F4 Thailand (absolument magnifique!). Mais ici! le cliché devient un défaut. Et quel défaut....
La romance est ennuyante et la différence d'âge, thème que j'adore en temps normal, est ici mal traité! Est-il possible de créer une protagoniste plus jeune qui ne soit pas immature et pleurnicharde s'il vous plait??? Pourquoi est-il possible de créer un protagoniste plus jeune mais tellement sexy, tellement drôle et mature mais pas l'inverse?? Je pense à "My fated boy" où la différence d'âge de 7 ans était un délice entre nos deux protagonistes donnant ainsi lieu à des situations émouvantes et sensuelles, ou encore "Promise Cinderella" et sa relation faite de chamailleries émaillées de tendresse nous offrant une multitude de scènes drôles et de romantisme accrue. Ou encore "Hajimete Koi wo Shita Hi ni Yomu Hanashi" avec l'un des protagonistes les plus matures qui soit dans cette tranche d'âge !! Dans ces 3 dramas, la différence d'âge est bien présente mais les protagonistes sont sexy, sensuels et leur maturités rafraichissantes. Ne parlons pas de leur façon d'aimer qui nous donnent l'impression de voir des arc en ciel partout.... C'est donc ce qui fait défaut (entre autre) dans ce drama. Pas de feu d'artifice, pas de sensualité au détour d'un baiser.
Lin Zhi Xiao est typiquement le personnage féminin qu'on a envie de secouer. Ses pleurnicheries nous cassent les pieds (si je puis me permettre) mais ce qui est pire à mon sens, c'est sa manie d'en vouloir à tout bout de champs et sans aucune raison valable à notre pauvre docteur. Les conclusions hâtives qu'elle en déduit, notamment grâce à la stupidité sans nom de ses copines, sont d'une absurdité profonde! Ce qui conduit à des disputes qui ne devraient même pas exister et qui nous fait soupirer toutes les SECONDES, dispute qui a le don d'amener le protagoniste masculin à venir s'excuser à chaque fois (bien qu'il ne soit pas réellement voire pas du tout en tort, et je suis pourtant la première à arguer que dans une relation les torts sont presque toujours partagés...).
J'espère sincèrement ne pas avoir été aussi infantile lorsque j'avais 20 ans....
Ne parlons même pas de ses 2 autres copines, plus spécialement San San....Plus agressive, plus stupide et plus bourrée de préjugé, il ne doit pas en avoir beaucoup dans dramaland....ou sinon, je les ai toutes loupés. Chacune de ses apparitions me donnait une folle envie de fuir. Est-il possible de ne pas créer de personnage secondaire d'aussi mauvaise foi, de nature aussi violente sous couvert de "femme forte"?? Juger sans prendre en compte l'autre, ces 3 copines y excellent avec démesure...
Les romances secondaires sont donc ennuyantes et inutiles, et sans avoir de sens réel.
Pour ne pas changer.

Bien que Yang Zi soit une actrice que j'aime beaucoup, ici, elle a été mauvaise. Son personnage est mauvais. Elle n'a pas pu le sauver. Elle ne semble pas savoir jouer du violoncelle. Ce qui ne serait pas rédhibitoire. Mais la façon de filmer et sa façon d'y jouer sont tellement mauvais, que l'on ne peut s'empêcher d'en rire. Cela en devenait grotesque. Dans les dramas de sport, on arrive bien à rendre les scènes de compétition crédible, non? Je pense à "Ping Pong life" par exemple. Ou réellement magnifique, comme dans "To fly with you" et ses scènes de patinage...
Xiao Zhan n'a pas été mauvais mais c'est loin d'être un rôle majeur pour lui. C'est même un peu réducteur je trouve. Et il faut avouer qu'en tant que docteur, nous n'avons pas eu beaucoup de scènes transcendantes. Je pense qu'il aurait été possible de mêler habilement le thème de la médecine à une romance, un mix de "Doctor Romantic" et de "My fated boy" aurait été génial. Dommage.

C'est donc un drama qui m'a déçue et dont j'ai fini par ne plus rien en attendre dés la seconde moitié. Un drama qui regorge de cliché, de réalisation médiocre, de protagonistes frustrants (seule Sunny Hao a été un coup de coeur dans ce drama), de personnages secondaires horribles et de rivaux fades sans aucunes profondeurs.
Bref, un drama qui ne mérite pas selon moi (et c'est bien la première fois que je l'écris, bien que je l'ai déjà pensé pour d'autres dramas) le tapage médiatique.

(Le seul petit point positif : les bonus en fin d'épisode que j'ai trouvé adorables. C'est marrant, par ce qu'à travers ces petits bonus, le jeu de nos deux tourtereaux semblait tellement plus naturel et spontané...)

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Queria ver algo light no aguado, jajaja

Una historia muy linda, muchos dialogos lindos, muchas escenas romanticas y lindas, muchas miradas cariñosas. Peroooo... si miran en profundidad la cantidad de cliques que tenia la serie eran demasiados, sentí que era un insulto a mi inteligencia.
No puedo entender porque Yang Zi, sigue encasillada con estos papeles de niñita tonta, que madura al final de la serie, ya me cansó. Xiao Zhang, es muy prolijo en su actuación, nada malo que decir de él.
Si no estan cansados de los cliches de las series chinas, si amas a Xiao Zhang y si no te importa que el resto de los personajes no tengan profundidad, ni que las amigas de la protagonista sean super toxicas. Esta serie es para ti.

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