Begin Again (2020)

THANK god I found this to alleviate me from my slump

I THINK that the best dramas that could satisfy you are those which came in randomly.
This is definitely true. I only knew this drama because of the random ad by Iqiyi and just casually decided to watch. Men, I can't get off the drama after episode 1! Now that's how you get your viewers!
The casts are perfect, I really love the story (and the twists, of course!) So generally, the plot can be divided into two parts, episodes 24 below and episodes 25 above. For me, I really, really like the second part. The way they weaseled the 'return' of FangNing, I love that.
I'm not used in watching dramas of more than 20 episodes, but surprisingly, I finished this in 4 days. Lol. Once you start, you really can't get off.
Maybe I easily fell into the story because the cliche story of contract marriage broke my monotonous drama watchlist theme of crime-thriller. It's good to be back at watching romance, lol.
Lastly: I just want to mention that I found my new favorite person, it's Zhou YuTong
🙆🏼‍♀️

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Far fetched

i will start with the good stuff: Both actors portrayed their roles great. The ML's change in character after the FL came back was very well done by Gong Jun as he managed to seem both aloof and afraid of losing the FL again at the same time. Also the scene where he cries in the apartement thinking of how much he got hurt in the past was very emotional. Honorable mention: the kid actor!!!! he is clearly a natural.
However i would not recommend this drama because of the turn the story takes. The FL decides to leave the ML with no explanation whatsoever because she "loves him and that's the only way he will go abroad to study". I wouldnt complain about this if it happened at a point when she couldnt leave her job, but it happens exactly when her business falls apart and she has to sell everything. Plus she decides to go abroad ANYWAY, just not with him. This does not make sense. After she leaves she finds out she is pregnant and simply does not tell him! The story takes us 6 years after that: the ML has returned from abroad and is now a professor (and a father, he just doenst know) and the kid (5yo) decides to take a plane and head back to find his father. So if the 5 year old hadn t decided to come back, the FL wouldnt. Anyway, they "begin again" after that and iit has a happy ending but it just seems to far fetched for me.
The music is nothing special.

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MR OMNIPOTENT AESTHETIC KING SINGLE-HANDEDLY SAVED THIS DRAMA FROM DISASTER. THANKS FOR EXISTING.

Simon Gong single-handedly carried AND saved this drama from utter breakdown disaster from me. I mean, I'll still do that, but he saved it from a sub-6 star rating; let's just say that much. Gong's heartbreak scenes... fuck, my heart can't take it. His character was such a good person and deserved so much that it was the absolute worst having to see him sad. Also, him with his child broke my ovaries. And I fucking hate children, but when I saw him with his son... my uterus is fucking shaking. The only reason I'd rewatch this is to see him with his kid. Actually the most adorable thing I've seen all year.

Now... THAT BITCH. She needed to grovel. 200%. Gong's character forgave her so fucking fast. She literally concealed the birth and existence of his child for six fucking years. And then when she sees him again, she STILL doesn't tell him the truth—only wasting more precious time between a father and his son. And to make it worse for me, his character didn't even yell at her; I would be fucking furious. I WAS! And it didn't even involve me. I don't know how in any part of that bitch's brain thought not telling him would be okay. I know I'm being mean to her, but I can't get over how she did that to him. The ML was the sweetest guy ever without being a doormat, and she really just pulled that shit on him. I believe he deserves so much better.

Also, couldn't she have gone with him to Germany?? Did I miss the part where she couldn't?

SML is a douchebag. But... he was fucking hot. Not more than ML though. That's why they had to add the scene with ML in his PJs with SML in a dress-shirt—needed to bring down ML a little bit (because Simon Gong is way too attractive). He redeemed himself eventually; his poor waist though!

Some people are way too attractive to be kept alive. I am not one of those people obviously. Simon Gong is though. He's an aesthetic and a half.

I repeat again: Simon Gong single-handedly carried AND saved this drama.

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Utter Rubbish!

There is a limit to how much one can suspend their brain, but this is asking too much. Just one person acting on a whim and everyone else pandering to them.
I tried to get through this, not being one to drop a drama just because... but this was mind numbingly painful to watch. I got to ep 26 trying to watch it while doing other things but, I just couldn't stomach the reunion ofter 6 years! Nonsense!

Though the actors were easy on the eye, the story it unrealistic to the umpteenth degree.

I couldn't stomach it any longer and I can't recommend it. There are so many other worthy dramas you can spend your time on.

Not sure what everyone else was watching but this is certainly not worth 8.3, it's a 5.5 at best.

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Not your average contract marriage romance

This is not your average C-drama. When I first read the description for this drama I thought this would be your standard fall in love and happy ever after kind of drama, but this had so much more depth to it that I would have thought.

The drama main problem with this drama is that the first few episodes started on a high. From the very beginning, it had a very promising theme, storyline along with some great actors. The problem with starting off well, however, is that if you don't keep building on that high it's super easy to slip and in this case, the drama slipped and fell down the rabbit hole of disappointment.

There was a lot that was done right during this drama:
1. Female lead was a badass – I kinda hate how in C-dramas in particular (but a lot of drama are guilty of it) make the females weak and helpless. We did not see that here! She had moments of vulnerability but overall she was a pretty strong character.
2. The scenes between the main characters were super cute throughout and as their characters grew these scenes matured but still didn't lose the cute fun-loving charm.
3. It's predictable, but there are few fun plot twists
4. We see some form of character development from nearly everyone – plus the supporting cast was super cute!

I 100% recommend you watch this drama, but to make it fair there were parts that were not so great, which you should be aware of:
1. Second lead syndrome doesn't exist here - the side couples relationships were not the highlight of this watch and didn't add to the overall viewing enjoyment.
2. The business politics part of the drama was kinda boring and honestly, I still don't really get what was going on, but I don't think it's super essential to the story (There is only one/two reasons why its needed but that would be a SPOILER)

This drama is really good and I would recommend it if you want to watch something a bit lighthearted!

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Saved by 颜值 of male lead

I had high-ish expectations of this show after reading good reviews and watching some clips online. But... this show fell flat...

Not a great drama because:
- storyline isn’t meaty in that there isn’t much story to watch or anticipate
- cast is raw in that they really cannot act well
- the other female leads can’t act and were painful to watch
- the little boy actor who acts as Ling Rui’s son is pretty annoying and he doesn’t look cute
- story gets draggy - drama can be completed in way fewer episodes
- female lead is kind of weirdly f up
- the ‘gender bending’ of sorts didn’t keep up
- some parts of the show don’t match up or make sense

I kept on going simply because of the male lead who acted as Ling Rui. He kept the show going because of his good looks and because he played a really good guy in the show.

Verdict: don’t waste time on this show. Watch something else instead.

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definitely worth the watch!!!

The cast is great, FL (Zhou Yutong) has got to be one of the most alluring actresses I have ever seen. She is superb at her job and I think she single-handedly carried the show. 2nd FL is also very cute and charming, wish there were more scenes of her. ML's acting is slightly more rigid but I gotta say it's a big improvement from his previous drama 'love equations' or maybe this role suits him much more. The couple has very good chemistry which made their scenes extra cute but fair warning it does get overly cringey at times. Also, the child actor is so talented and soooo cute!!! I don't like children but his scenes with his parents made me coo so hard.

SPOILER !!!!!!!!!

The only reason why I didn't give a 10 is because of the plot. I get it, it's the cliche contractual marriage, fall in love with each other and the most cliche of all, silently sacrifice for one another cos of miscommunication. I am okay with all that but once we get to the post-divorce episodes, the plot became an unconnected ridiculous mess. They don't show us the character development at all. Suddenly the cold hotshot 2nd ML becomes a gooey mess and chases the 2nd FL. How does this just happen?? I was rooting for this couple until it gets so overly cringey. The poor dude had a crush for 10 years and suddenly his cold shell just broke overnight?? 2nd FL was not shocked at all to see him at the doorstep after not talking for 6 years?? This is just not realistic and I could tell the writer probably didn't bother to tie these loose ends and just wanna dive right into saving the main couple. I really liked the 2nd couple but I dropped them here when the dude got a personality transformation. However, I'm contented at the way the main couple patched things up with love gestures and communication. The ending was satisfying and there was closure for all issues but they really could try harder for the antagonist. He just suddenly has an epiphany and all is forgiven?? He stole a company for god sake but ok lol this is a romcom so I'll just ignore it.

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Where's the communication!?!?

So, Chinese dramas are notoriously long. They tend to spread out over many more episodes than they need to, with some episodes being no more than filler. That's a big complaint of mine. However, that said, if I have to fast forward through a lot of stuff to get to the meat of the story, I will do so. I might rate lower because of all my wasted time, but not always. There were a few things in this show that I found problematic and ultimately unforgivable.

Wasted time/scenes/episodes
No chemistry between leads
Leaving for no apparent reason for years. I find this trope so maddening, because in this day and age, with everyone walking around with a phone in their hand, that someone could leave for five years is just irritating. First, them not having contact with one another for years completely negates all the stuff we had to watch to get them together. If you can leave without a word, you aren't really in love.
But the biggest thing for me - you have a child with this man and don't tell him?!?! That is unforgivable! I'll admit that the prudish side of me started watching Asian dramas because they were more pure than American TV. I got tired of the going to bed with one another without a commitment. Sadly, so many Asian dramas are jumping on the premarital sex bandwagon. I can deal with that, but there is absolutely no excuse for keeping a child from his father and vice versa. That was the kiss of death for me, as far as this drama was concerned.

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Looking for strong and well writen, played female roles? Pick this one!!!

classic Bossy CEO X Ordinary counterpart plot story.

This piece is good in 3 things it do.
1. Bossy CEO here is female very cool and badass one probably main perk of this drama
2. story aint as dumb as usual cdramas have. Its quite believable
3. vibe of story is nice and side characters ... mainly female ones are well written. Their interesting character points are often their weakness.

plot - female CEO wants push through stockholder board with little dangerous project. But to get it through she needs get married. She finds nice looking surgeon with mild temperament and push him through contract marriage.

genre - romance

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A very fluffy, wholesome and refreshing drama!

If you're looking for a simple drama that isn't filled with intense plotlines and characters with tragic-ass backstories, I highly recommend this drama! It's filled with fluff and is super wholesome! Storyline is simple and easy to follow - nothing too complicated and for people like me who just enjoy a simple story with good characters, this is for you! Best thing was seeing the switch in gender roles with the dominating FL and the kind and gentle ML! I'm so goddamn sick of seeing the cold, icy prince ML trope so it was very refreshing seeing Simon Gong's character - plus he's so damn cute so that was a giant plus! Zhou Yu Tong was fantastic to watch, she does a great job of shamelessly flirting and seducing the ML which was very funny to watch!

The chemistry between Ling Rui and Fang Ning is sooo freaking cute! Their chemistry is just a whole bunch of fluff and it's just the kind that makes you warm and fuzzy inside! The last couple of eps were very sweet to watch especially with the baby who is ADORABLE AF! I would rewatch the drama again just for that baby! HE SO CUTE! The interactions between the baby, Ling Rui and Fang Ning are absolutely heart melting! I teared up at the end and I never tear up over love scenes but it was so goddamn beautiful!

Only downside of the drama was that it had a slow and draggy beginning and I actually skipped a lot of scenes (and I never ever skip scenes when I watch dramas). It focused unnecessarily on other characters too much and it was diverting away from the lead couple's storyline which made me lose interest. I almost dropped the drama but it wasn't until halfway that I got hooked. So if you're thinking of dropping this drama, I understand but SERIOUSLY stick it through! The ending is very rewarding to watch!

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kinda disappointed.. but not too much tho

I started watching this drama because of Simon Gong, and he was the one keeping me through it.
I have read brilliant reviews on this, so I had high expectations, but at the end, I was a bit disappointed..

-
* I kinda missed the develepoment of their feelings. FL kept chasing ML all along, who didn't bother at all, but suddenly he got jealous and falls in love with her too? Or did I miss out anything important?
* The cliche-like thing turned around too fast for me.. lol. Her family told her to marry, so she did (in a kinda unusual way but that's the story:)), and suddenly she's the one who demands s*x all along, and I was like okay? Really entertaining to watch tho, but cringy as well sometimes.
* I've been wondering all along what's with the father of the ML. He said he only wants kids if it's true love (...), but what's with his own father? I understand he wasn't part of the story, but there actually could have been an interesting background story based on that.. well, maybe that's just unnecessary thoughts but don't mind me lol
* Their previous story (how they've basically already known each other since they were kids) seemed sooo unnecessary to me. Yes, it's common in such cdramas, but it felt so forced and didn't contribute anything at all to the actual story :(

+
* But fast forward to the things I relly enjoyed! First at all: No cringy side couple(s)! Literally one of the first dramas I really enjoyed the story of the second lead couple, sometimes even more than the first lead couple, oops. Their acting was also on point, loved Garvey Jin's (Simon) amusing performances and how naturally Wu ManSi (Cai SiYu) portrayed her character.
* Though I know there's different opinions on that, I really enjoyed the last few Ep's, after the timeskip. I even found them way better then the Ep's before. Needless to talk about the child actor, everyone fell for him.. :)
* Not much business talk, more focus on character developement.
* The chemistry was so good! Both looked so well together, I'd love to see them in another cast together.

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