Only for Love

They have popular stars, that is about it?

When I knew this was another story about a controlling/dominant CEO, I hesitated.
I still give it a try since it has Bai Lu and Dylan.
I find the series has the popular stars , but the rest does not impress me. The story is not interesting and it keeps dragging. I don't know if it is the script or the director, I can't feel/see how their love developed.
What is with phone ringing every time when they are about to kiss? If the FL is not ready, can 't they make her telling ML she isn't ready? Why always overuse the phone ringing or 3rd party as interruption? Once may be OK, but this one, multiple times. It is tiring to watch.
The characters, how they handle love are frustrating me as well. ( I might like them better when they are handling work and rival).
Their 'love" may start to show some progress near episode 20 , but I am already worn out and losing my interest with this show.

Read More

Wasted potential

First of all, what is this show about?

It’s Zheng Shuyi, a journalist who comes to know Shi Yan, an entrepreneur, as the uncle of her ex-boyfriend’s mistress. She gets closer and closer to him and sparks form, yet she still hides the reason of their meeting. At the same time, there are the love stories of Shuyi’s best friend, Shi Yan’s assistant, Shuyi’s boss and Shi Yan’s niece.

What can be said that’s good about this drama?

- Amazing cast. This show reunited some of the most famous and most recognisable Chinese actors, with Dylan Wang (LBFAD) and Bailu (Arsenal Military Academy) at the helm, accompanied by Wei ZheMing (Unforgettable Love) Jiang Pei Yao (Go Go Squid! 1), Zeng Li (LLTG) and many more. These are indeed also great actors, with Dylan Wang having grown majorly from his questionable acting in Miss The Dragon, although nothing could beat his acting in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

- Additionally, there seems to be quite a lot of budget for this series, with nice camera work, lots of closeups and flattering light. There’s also some pretty decor, background and overall good composition.

Now this is where everything will turn as this is the end of the positive aspects of this series.

What is bad about this drama? Too many things honestly. But what are the most apparent things?

- Storyline and bad use of time:
In the first part of the drama, the romance is dragged way too much, and there is little time dedicated to the progression of the secondary couples. It’s only when we get to the middle that we see the secondary characters become important. Near the end, we are disappointed and annoyed at the amount of couples that they tried to fit in this story. Some seemed natural, while others were completely forced and added nothing to the already heavy storyline. There are at least 6 couples shown in this, with more than half having little to no real screen-time.

- Lack of continuity:
They give us situations, that have obviously been filmed out of order, but when information has already been given to us previously, they go back on it or don’t know this information exists, as if some later episodes were written and filmed before the earlier ones.

-Rushed ending:
Near the end, they struggled to tie up the loose ends created throughout the series, and most were still open. They introduced so many storylines but didn’t do anything more to meaningfully contribute to the story. We are left with so many questions.

-Useless Characters:
They added characters out of nowhere, only to be used for one or two situations and then never be seen again, like a disappearing act. They were also used to force the main leads to experience the famous clichés (Jealousy, cheating, miscommunication, Rich CEO boyfriend, fake rumours…etc). One character appears in the end of the story, we’ve never heard of her, we don’t know where she comes from or why she’s here, but she doesn’t serve any use other than making the FL jealous and looking innocent.

- Main Leads personalities.
The ML was pretty basic, cold CEO who doesn’t like to talk much, and Dylan’s acting makes it a tiny bit enjoyable. What’s bad is the FL’s personality. It makes no sense. She is shy, yet courageous at the same time. And immature all the time, despite being an accomplished journalist respected by many. She tries to fit the mould of the soft, submissive female lead but all of her attributes fail to build a harmonious personality.

-Useless problems/intrigue:
The whole problem with the relationship of the main leads is the total lack of communication. And that the problem is resolved immaturely from both sides, and then forgotten.

To conclude:
This story tries to be the perfect overbearing CEO with a cutesy FL series, partnered with every cliché known to the CDrama industry. With the amount of budget it had, it’s disappointing story wise and doesn’t give us a proper ending.

Read More

I'm in love

This is an incredible story. I fell in love with the show.

Warning!!! This review contains spoilers!!

Female lead is a finance reporter who's in a committed relationship with her boyfriend since her college days.
She's confident, hardworking, and very, very good at her job. She's beginning to build a name for herself in the finance circle as a great writer with sharp insights into the industry.
One day he life takes a turn as two things happen one after the other: She gets offered an interview by the Male lead, and she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her.

The Male lead is the heir to a large conglomerate. His family is filthy rich. He shook up the financial world when he left his family's firm to start his own investment company several years ago. He's been making strides ever since, distinguishing himself in his own right. But he's very media shy and doesn't often speak with the press. Put all of these things together and you get a very hungry public. The ML reads an interview that the FL wrote and is suitably impressed. He decides to offer her an interview, which she accepts.

Right after their first meeting , the FL sees her ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend. She comes to the mistaken belief that the 'home wrecker' is the niece of the ML. Being hurt and angry, she decides to take her revenge by seducing the ML into falling for her.

I must admit that this idea of hers gave me pause. It doesn't seem in character for the FL to either want to seduce anyone, or to take advantage of an innocent person. We see her at work and with her friends and family--she is smart, kind, patient, and highly ethical. She's also not the flirty type--she's very level-headed and somewhat reserved with men. So the idea that she'd approach a man of her own initiative and play with his feelings is extremely out of character for her. I guess its excused by her heartbreak? Remember, she's been with her ex-boyfriend for many years.

The FL initiates a game of cat and mouse with the ML. She comes up with the most ridiculous ways to get his attention-- from faking a sprained ankle to making a big to-do about an earring she'd lost in his car. They also happen to run into each other in work circles and she takes full advantage of each meeting.
The ML is perfectly aware that she has an angle of some sort. He's no one's fool. Yet, he's intrigued by her so he decides to go along, in a "give her enough rope to hang herself" kind of way.

The dialogue between these two is absolutely glorious. She's trying so hard to be a seductress (she isn't one). And he just loves teasing her and getting a rise out of her. Everything they say is sharp, witty, filled with double meanings. As a viewer you can't help but laugh at loud--I know I did. Kudos to the writers (not sure if it's the script writers or manga author who gets the credit, but regardless). I have never, ever come across such hilarity before and I LOVED EACH AND EVEYRY MINUTE.

The parts where the FL goes over-the-type in a high-school-girl way in order to get closer to the ML would be cringy--if it were real. The point is that none of it is. You can see the FL's innocence by the schemes she uses--they are contrivances that teenage girls use. So it's funny to see her gritting her teeth and pushing herself to go through with the inanity. What's even funnier is that the ML sees through her each and every time. He calls her out on it, but never directly. No, he's way to sly for that. And way too witty. So I just sat back and laughed as I watched them trying to best each other. Like I said...absolutely glorious. You can cut the ML's wit with a knife.

Eventually the ML catches real feelings for the FL. And the FL realizes that she's not chasing the ML for revenge anymore--she's actually fallen for him for real.
They both admire the heck out of each other. She admires his financial acumen and his courage in risking branching out on his own. He admires her sharp intellect, looks, and overall personality.

This would be good news, except...

He knows she's hiding something from him so he won't fully commit to a relationship.
She's terrified that if he finds out why she approached him initially then she'll lose him for good. So she also can't fully commit to him.

This shaky ground of "I like you, but won't commit" is the breeding ground for a lot of misunderstandings.
Add in a niece (not the homewrecker) who's hiding her true identity, parents pushing for blind dates, and the unsolicited romantic pursuit from other parties and you get the endless back-and-forth of a relationship that's constantly wobbling this way and that.

He's desperately waiting for her to come clean, knowing in his heart that he'll give her whatever she wants if she'll only confide in him.
She's desperately afraid that she'll lose him, leading her to lie to him in big and small ways because she's insecure in their relationship.

Things are just about to get better, he's just about ready to give in completely even without knowing what she's hiding, when the truth blows up in their faces.
He finds out that she approached him for revenge, and he's devastated.

She's also devastated. In her mind it's over between them, because there's no way he'll forgive her or want to be with her. She sees her betrayal as the definite end of them.
Meanwhile, all he wants is an apology and her reassurance that her feelings are real--that despite her initial reasons, she did actually fall for him in truth.

So he's waiting for her to approach him and make amends while she's convinced that he hates her and wants nothing to do with her. So when she does approach him, and she apologizes, she doesn't explain. She doesn't reassure him that she does actually have true feelings for him. She only apologizes for the wrong she's done, and focuses on work---arranging to shift upcoming interviews between him and her publication to a different reporter, thus terminating any further contact between them.
She approaches him twice. Both times she apologizes. Both times she ends up focusing on work--not because she doesn't want him or doesn't want to reconcile, but because in her mind it's hopeless and she also feels guilty as hell--believing she doesn't deserve his forgiveness. He, of course, has no clue what's going on in her mind. So he's convinced, going off her actions, that all she cares about is work and that she never did like him for real.

They are both so sad and unhappy. It was really heart-breaking to watch. This show portrays two adults having their hearts broken by the one they love , and the way it's shown is very realistic and touching.

Eventually, the niece (I love that girl!!) encourages her uncle, the ML, to approach the FL one more time--having him be the one to reach out, rather than him continuing to wait for her to initiate contact. Once he does, the FL gains the courage to confess to him, telling him that what had started out as an act became real very quickly. She truly does like him. He forgives her immediately and they get back together.
Even at this point, he continues teasing her. He won't tell her outright that he forgives her, won't tell her outright that they're officially a couple. It's endearing to see how she takes all her courage to be with him, determined to win him over 100% so that he does give her the words, the clear commitment. At one point she tells him that she can't believe how fast he's forgiven her, that she's expecting him to take revenge on her and even the score. His response, and the love he gave her, warmed my heart. The ML truly does love her and all he asks of her is that she love him back.

And they lived happily ever after!!

(There are two additional side couples in the show. The niece and the FL's bff, but I don't really have the patience to go into detail. I don't have any issues with how they were portrayed but none of them caught my heart or interest in the way that the main couple did.)

I adore, adore, adore this show!!
The ML is portrayed as the typical "cold" CEO but you can see his smirks, his wit, his devilishness in everything he says and does. This sets him apart from the stereotypical....miles apart. I absolutely love him.

The FL is so funny and smart. Such a breath of fresh air. I've never seen a heroine quite like her in any show before.

There were no skips for me in this show. Every moment was gold, every moment counted. None of it was boring.
I've already seen it twice, so that should answer any questions about the rewatch value :)

Anyway, if I haven't made it clear yet, GO WATCH THIS SHOW!! It's absolutely amazing.

If you've made it to the end of my long ramble, I thank you for reading and wish you happy watching <3

Read More

Waste of Time & Potential!

I did it. I finally watched every single episode without skipping. I was miserable, but I did it because I really love Bai Lu & Dylan Wang. I wanted to give them my full attention until the very end.

This drama had so much wasted potential. I even took down some notes on my phone while I watched. How could a drama with such an amazing cast be so terrible! Okay it's time to let it all out.

Negatives:
- Unnecessarily long staring/pondering scenes. LIKE SUPER unnecessarily long.
- Yi Yang was a useless character. He added nothing to this show. Pure annoyance. This guy couldn't and wouldn't take no for a damn answer.
- Lack of communication within all of the characters. Everyone pretty much knew each other but didn't know that they all knew each other mutually. Does that make sense? Like with Guan Ji and ShanShan... why didn't ShanShan tell her best friend ShuYi that she knew who he was? And even towards the end when GJ and SS got together, she didn't even tell ShuYi until she found out for herself. I actually liked this couple in the beginning, but boy oh boy were they so damn annoying later on!
- Speaking of ShanShan - she gave the WORST relationship advice to ShuYi. And it doesn't help that ShuYi is so dumb. They're basically dumb and dumber, except dumber is giving dumb advice. HAHA.
- Nobody is straightforward with their feelings except the niece, ShiYue.
- So much hesitation with talking & texting. I can't tell you how many times they typed out a decent message but decided to delete it and not send it.
- Many many missed opportunities to clear up misunderstandings. MANY!!!!
- ShuYi's Mom meeting ShiYan was SOOOOO disappointing. We didn't get to see her true reaction to him really being ShuYi's boyfriend. That scene was so boring and the Mom just left right after? What the heck was that all about?! They could have made it so much better. I wanted to see her surprised, but instead she just looked bored and annoyed the whole entire time she was at the house.
- The wedding scene with Tang Yi and her hubby was so awkward. They didn't even kiss... they just hugged it out?! LOL.
- Ending was disappointing and felt empty.

Okay that's enough negatives, now onto the positives:

- I really enjoyed ShiYue's character. She seemed to be the only one giving decent advice, had her head screwed on, spoke her mind most of the time, straightforward about her feelings, great friend and so fun!! Loved her character.
- Great kiss scenes between ShuYi and ShiYan.
- Aesthetically pleasing actors & actresses.

Overall, this was not worth the watch. 36 episodes was way too long. This definitely could have been 20 episodes or less. What a frustrating drama with wasted potential. Disappointing!

Read More

Fantastic cast. Horrible script. Lighthearted mindless watch.

I’m only giving it a higher rating because of the actors. I don’t recommend this drama. I usually start my reviews by writing about the general plot of the drama. But the plot is non-existent here. Not only that but the main romance is so ridiculous! Adults who are in the most superficial relationships and communicate like teenagers. It saddens me to say that the script is trash as I love the actors but their talents were seriously wasted here.

POSITIVE:
- Easy to watch before you go to sleep or if you’ve had a long day of work and just want to relax.
- Fantastic cast (literally the only reason I didn’t drop this drama).

NEGATIVE:
- Superficial relationships with childish communication.
- Conflicts that could have been solved with one sentence dragged on for many episodes.
- Stupid “romance” consisting of texting 24/7 of small talk and staring at each other for no reason.
- Zero character development. Zero deep conversations. Just extremely shallow relationships.
- Non-existent plot. Literally nothing happens in this drama. Nothing! All they do is stare at each other, have small talks at dinner, text useless things and go to boring work meetings.
- Kiss scenes were cut! One in particular snowy kiss of Bai Lu and Dylan was shot for 3 hours but on screen shown for 2 seconds.
- BTS of Bai Lu and Dylan are better and cuter than the whole drama which sounds crazy to me when I write it but it’s true.
- Business talks were ridiculous filler scenes.
- Too long and draggy (it would have been better if it was only 24 episodes). I’m sure the 36 episodes were done for more money.
- Underwhelming ending. After 36 episodes you don’t even get to see the wedding of the main leads unless you watch the special episode.
- Secondary couple with the biggest commitment issues was depressing to watch most of the time.
- Weird camera angles. Horrible white filter that makes the actors look like vampires (this might have been fixed by the network later).
- Aesthetic wasn’t appealing. The outfits and the settings were not nice to look at.

COUPLES:
Main couple: their romance was just texting stupid things 24/7 and having small talks during dinner. In 36 episodes they never had even ONE deep conversation about life. This made their relationship feel extremely superficial, shallow and meaningless. Their chemistry was kind of on and off. When he was assertive I liked it but when she was chasing him, it felt forced. At some point when the female lead continued to chase him after many rejections, she looked like she had no self-respect.

Second couple: they started off as the hottest and sexiest couple in the drama but ended up being the most depressing one. Their fun cat and mouse game turned into seeing them depressed 24/7 as they both had commitment issues. Just like the first couple, their relationship had zero communication and felt very shallow.

Third couple: the niece and professor were the best couple for me. Although too repetitive at first as the girl chased him (just like the female lead chased the male lead), their relationship developed more organically. They actually TALKED like normal adults. And resolved conflicts better than the other couples. Unfortunately they didn’t have enough screen time which is a shame as they were the most likeable characters.

OVERALL: If you want to watch a lighthearted mindless drama before you go to sleep, without any character development and adults who communicate like teenagers, this is for you.

Read More

Nearly Perfect Series about a Very Un-Perfect Couple

This will take a while. There’s a lot to unpack here.

I admit that this is a very polarizing series. And it’s really a shame, as this series has so much going for it: A fantastic cast, great OST & Background music, clever photography and a strong novel to base the screenplay on. But I guess it’s understandable, given how unusual this series is and that it requires the viewer to appreciate it from a different perspective. I find this kind of ironic, as the one constant here on MDL is how members are quick to criticize rom-com’s for being ‘tropey’ or meme-like or, the ultimate insult: a cliché. So along comes this series, closely adapted from the novel, which is anything but a cliché. Sometimes you can’t win though, and sure enough a lot of the negative comments here revolve around how ‘weird’ the leads are and all the familiar plot elements the viewers are expecting…. don’t happen. This series is the typical “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

I’ll take a step back here, now that I’ve mentioned the novel. If you get a chance, and you want to understand this series better, read it – it’s readily available on-line. The series borrows HEAVILY from the book and entire scenes are completely lifted from it. The book omits all the corporate stuff and much of the Three Musketeers angle. It focuses on our leads and especially her. FWIW, I feel that Bai Lu did an excellent job of putting a human face to ShuYi: in the book, she is not that likeable of a character. And the same can be said for Dylan, who actually makes him an even worse character because we can see how bad a person he sometimes is. So, essentially she made her better, and he made him worse: both because they both humanized the book’s characters.

Anyways, back to the series. Instead of the idealized and beat-to-death “Cinderella Rescued by the Rich Guy” story, with at least one nearly-perfect “green-flag” character, we get Zheng ShuYi and ShiYan, both of whom are very realistically flawed people.

On one hand, we have the young, intelligent, beautiful and award-winning journalist, a ‘career-girl’ who is totally focused on her professional life, to the point of only having one friend outside of work. At 25, she resists efforts by her parents to socialize with other men, as she feels she’s not ready for a committed relationship. Recently dumped by her boyfriend (I doubt there was that much going on there, given her dedication to her craft) she’s not ready for dealing with ANY man in the near future. And she has a deep character flaw: her inability to tell the truth in settings either mundane or important, no matter who she’s talking to: her parents, co-workers, boyfriend, etc. Despite being self-confident in her professional life, she is extremely insecure, so she keeps much of her personal life secret from everyone she knows. I’ve known women like ShuYi, they ARE real and no one bases rom-coms on them. And yes, they are VERY difficult to have a relationship with.

On the other hand, we have the equally intelligent young CEO, who broke away from his father’s company to make his own mark on the world. He is as insecure as she is; but with him, it comes in the manner of being self-centered and very introverted. This behavior, especially manifested in his lack of communicative skills, has hindered him in both his personal and professional growth. His reputation suffers because of it, as common wisdom says he deserted his father’s firm when it was going thru hard times, when in fact, he made sure his brother-in-law was competent enough to run that company before he left. He too is self-confident in his professional life; too much so, as this comes back to bite him as his lack of communication skills can’t back up his actions, which alienates the public, his investors, and the elders on his board who are gradually losing confidence in him. He too is coming off a relationship (with an actress) that fizzled out because he was unable to keep up with her needs on a personal level – his personality simply can’t handle such things. And he has a dark side: We will see how intensely jealous he is and he also has a cruel streak. He even acknowledges this near the end of the series to the main female antagonist when he warns her in Ep 32 that he is “not a very good person”. Shi Yan is anything but the typical ‘green-flag’ young, rich CEO boyfriend. He is a force to be reckoned with and must be treated with extreme caution.

So, we have a romantic comedy bringing together two very different, flawed, realistic people. Who have neither time nor interest for romance in their lives. Both of whom are consumed with furthering their careers and have little to no life outside of work. This has brought them success in that aspect of their lives and emptiness otherwise.

And because they are realistic people, they make mistakes in dealing with each other; LOTS of mistakes, the worst of which are committed by her. In fact, their relationship begins for the wrong reason: her desire for revenge on her ex-boyfriend by dating and marrying the man she thought was the uncle of his new girlfriend (all this based on a confused premise on her part). While the TV series soft-plays this aspect leading up to the breakup, it is more dominant in the novel. The fact that she is continually dishonest as to why she was attracted to him creates doubt in his mind and mounting guilt for her. This eventually dooms their relationship, much as she feared.

Another common criticism of this series is that it’s a ‘slow-burn’ but I argue that it needs to be – it’s about 2 people who accidentally fell in love despite their differences and inability to be open with each other as True Love requires. (In fact, “Accidental Love” was supposed to be the series title [as the book was named] and not the more generic “Only for Love”). Although he falls for her first, he correctly mistrusts her because of her inability to be honest, and she is so full of doubts about everything that she can’t open herself to him, even though she knows she should.

So we see two people who probably shouldn’t have anything to do with each other, becoming attracted to each other and trying to form a relationship with a lot of bumps along the way, thanks to their insecurity, mistrust, and inability to effectively communicate with each other. They make mistakes, stupid decisions, and listen to bad advice. Their love affair sometimes resembles ‘blind-man’s-bluff’ as they feel out each other and their mutual feelings. And this is why this series is so special and different. Because this is how life is and how people in the real world behave and try to find a mate to love and live with. It’s devoid of all the fantasy-people that populate most rom-coms who gloss thru life and go from meeting to marriage in 16 episodes. Our leads need time to tell their story.

Whether or not they should have been together is up to the viewer – there’s no right answer here. More to the point is the question of if they deserve a “happy ending” to their story. And I’ll be honest, I do love a ‘happy ever after’ ending in my rom-coms. But those stories and characters are not like this one. We’re constantly told that communication is the key to the leads in any love story, and that is certainly NOT the case here. Frankly, I don’t think they deserve a Happy Ending. They’ve done nothing to deserve it and both are too immature or just-plain screwed up to make a functional relationship that would last. Given how much richer the series is vs. the book, I would have written the series differently and made their breakup in Episode 27 long-term. They would have parted ways and lived their own lives, although he would still carry a torch for her and keep tabs on her career, despite knowing he shouldn’t. I would time skip and move 15 years into the future, on the eve of her 40th birthday. We see them now, somewhat older and presumably wiser too. While in the intervening years she would go on to marry and eventually divorce Jackson Yi, she would be left with nothing to show for their marriage. While her career would continue to flourish and she advances up the ladder at Financial Weekly, her personal life would wind up as empty as it was after she broke up with ShiYan 15 years prior. He would concentrate on growing Yuanchang, until his Brother-in-Law retires and he then merges Yuanchang back into his Dad’s company and becomes the CEO of Mingu Bank. His personal life would be non-existent, much to the distress of his family.

That evening, at a Shi Family dinner, his niece, who still works at FW and maintains contact with ShuYi (and suspects her Uncle’s continued feelings for her former mentor) mentions that ShuYi’s birthday is the following day. She tells him they are having a big party at the office and wouldn’t it be nice if he sent flowers and a card wishing her the best? “Hmmph” he replies and we see the wheels turning in his head as his niece looks on. And that’s where Part 2 of the series would take off. Would they be able to reconcile after all these years? Can she overcome her insecurity and be able to open her heart to him and love him fearlessly? Can he forgive and forget and try to reset everything while becoming a more patient and less-jealous boyfriend? That’s where the story should go, I think. Can they really learn from their mistakes, or are they doomed to repeat them again?

Well, given the reaction so far to this series, that would probably be down-voted too. As I said at the beginning of this review, “sometimes you just can’t win”.

And FWIW, I’m not saying this series is perfect. The editing leaves a lot to be desired and a lot of material was left on the cutting-room floor. Obvious scenes are missing, and they had to create a 15 minute special epilog to cover the wedding. Instead, they should have recovered the lost footage, and just gone for a 37-episode series with their wedding at the end. It’s the only negative thing I have to say about this show.

Thanks for reading.

Read More

slow start but grows on you

the start was slow and deffinetly bit more of an awkward start of the main CP romance...


like thw chemistry wasn't really there and the fact that our Male lead was mostly monosilabic didn't help. which also makes his later random cute moments very uncharacteristic. i blame this on poor characterization from thw writers.

this being said, the story does grow on you organically and you get to like the cast so much it becomes ur little new world.

i do wish the second couple(s) would've gotten more screen time but it is what it is.

a bit too much use of the "miscommunication" trop for my taste, but it got no major villain/drama and is very cozy.

Read More

bullet point notes app thought dump

- everyone’s face cards saved this from being dropped
- niece and professor (who looks like Chinese Vernon from seventeen) ate I understand age gap hype now
- third act conflict was too long
- every side pairing was she’s Barbie and he’s just Ken. outstanding work.
- what’s the age gap between shi yan and his sister for her to have a 22 year old daughter while he’s 27
- fourth act reunion freaky stuff needed more episodes
- #BRINGBACKBITING
- second FL my avoidant attachment sister in arms
TLDR: was very mid,, tuned in after seeing a clip on tiktok of wang hedi throwing her phone across the room

Read More