Sizzling Hot
After watching The Romance of a Twin Flower, I find myself watching seemingly yet another twin flower drama with Love of Replica. The latter drama is full of suspense, mysteries, hot romance, and action. Both the main male and female actors are good looking with good acting skills, and their chemistry sizzling hot. With only 16 episodes, all the episodes are packed with clues and action that eventually lead to the unfolding of all the mysteries.Lu Jinyan’s (Tsao Yuning’s) father was involved in an accident and is now lying in a coma. He suspects his father’s accident is malicious and related to Xu Yongyu (Li Yatian), a despicable ultra wealthy tycoon surrounded by bodyguards, who would do anything to get what he wants. To investigate, Lu Jinyan gets himself hired by Xu Yongyu as a bodyguard for his beloved daughter, Xu Xixi (Yilia Yu). Lu Jinyan doesn’t like Xu Xixi because she is mean and nasty, typical of a spoiled brat as a “da xiao jie” (大小姐). But Xu Xixi is sick with an incurable disease and her father goes all out to find a cure for her.
On that fateful day, Xu Xixi gets into a car accident. The car she travels in plunges into the sea. Lu Jinyan risks his life and saves her. When Xu Xixi wakes up, she appears to have lost her memory. She doesn’t recognize anyone in her household including her bodyguard and her father. Her total change of personalities puzzles everyone, but Lu Jinyan immediately realizes this is not the actual Xu Xixi.
Lu Jinyan used to be in the military, so his bare hand combat skill is second to none. He is intelligent and calm, thinks fast, and doesn’t talk a lot. He later learns that the rescued Xu Xixi is actually An Yue, a woman who looks exactly the same as Xu Xixi. Assuming she is Xu Xixi’s twin, Lu Jinyan finds out Xu Xixi’s father tries to capture An Yue and his intention is not friendly. No one understands why Xu Yongyu loves a sickly daughter and yet wants to hurt another daughter who is in perfect health. Fearing harm for An Yue, Lu Jinyan and friends protect her from the father.
An Yue’s personality is totally different from that of Xu Xixi’s. An Yue is nice, kind and very lovable. Quickly Lu Jinyan falls in love with her. His love is passionate, at the same time he’s tormented because he knows he has broken his code as a bodyguard. He protects her with his life and always stays close to her wherever she goes. An Yue can’t help but falls in love with him at first sight because he saves and cares for her; he is also very attractive and oozing with male hormones. At this point, the plot thickens: who is An Yue? Why is she here? How is Lu Jinyan’s father involved in this? Each character holds a secret.
I have never watched Tsao Yuning’s and Yilia Yu’s work. Tsao Yuning’s portrayal of the cool and hunky Lu Jinyan is very believable; many viewers salivate over him. Yilia Yu has a mature woman look. Beautiful and sexy with large, soul-hooking eyes, she plays Xu Xixi and An Yue very well with distinctive different personalities. Without knowing, like Lu Jinyan, viewers can discern which character Yilia Yu is playing at a particular moment because she successfully exudes the qualities of each character. The other cast members are just as good, portraying their respective characters convincingly. In particular, the side couple with a love triangle is lovely and interesting.
This drama has nothing to do with a previous drama, Mysterious Love (2021), acted by the same main couple. It (the previous drama) is not a pre-requisite to watch this drama.
Love of Replica also produces a number of very good and memorable love songs, each played at the appropriate moments to accentuate the romance and love of the all the couples in the story.
My Verdict
This is an unexpectedly enjoyable drama to watch. Full of suspense, mysteries, and action, with a romance that is heart-pounding and suggestive. There is a lot of skinship for the main couple that whets the viewers’ appetite for more. Yes, this is a drama with the formula of mystery, action, and sex. Great story.
Enjoyable watch! Don’t miss it!
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This review may contain spoilers
Crackle, Pop, Sizzling Chemistry; Good Acting, But too Many Plot Holes in the Script
Didn't know the cast at all, heard it had good chemistry from the leads and was convinced after seeing a short trailer that I should give this a go. It was essentially crackle, pop with good acting but an all over the place script with a ton of confusing plot holes.Pros: This was a short drama that basically ran on the absolute sizzling chemistry of the leads. From episode one when LJY first rescues his charge and understands she's not the original XXX but someone else, their connection is instantaneous. I can definitely say these entire 16 episodes ran on when the leads would have their moments together. Their make out sessions and eventual getting together did make you question whether you needed to let some cool air into the room; flames were lit. Also loved his fight scenes, they were very well choreographed.
What I didn't expect is that for a serious plot like twins or clones switching and the big bad wolf trying to kill everyone to save his supposed daughter, it had a fairly decent amount of comedy. And it was real humor, like LJY's jealous streak over AY (the umbrella thing, crushing the water bottle, punching dude in elevator), or the absolutely hysterical condom box reveal and then as I called it the "radioactive period," there were moments when you would double over with laughter. Even though LJY was technically her bodyguard, he went above and beyond his own job description for AY. Though we know she fell for him when she laid her eyes on him, he was not far behind though it took him a bit longer to admit it. Once he determined she was his woman and that was fairly early on even before he admitted it to himself, that was it. Stick a fork in him....dude is done! As the story progressed, them learning they had in fact met as children made them actual soulmates in this slightly futuristic world.
Great acting on the part of the FL as she had to play two completely different people and personalities. You knew when they were together in a scene or apart who was whom; so that was a job very well done there. We had a great support cast though not a great second couple and I'll speak about that below. Initially I thought of XXX as a second antagonist to her father because of her sheer nastiness, but in the last 3 episodes she really opened up and we really found out her true feelings. Her father trapping her at home and being a literal Guinea pig had in fact shortened her lifespan and caused her immeasurable pain. But he was too blinded by his own power and what he wanted to do that even when the truth about AY and XXX was staring him in the face, he was still determined to kill everyone in some BS revenge. He was loathsome and despicable but it made him a good villain.
TS, DBF, JC, even the other bodyguard Dayu who came to LJY's defense time and time again even in the end, were a great group of friends that worked together to get to the bottom of all of the mysteries and get justice for their friends. I loved how once they all met, they immediately and almost seamlessly became this singular unit of people. Even when the plot seemed to start to unhinge, as long as there was a steady flow of them, it was good.
Cons: The storyline was all over the place and yes, I understand only 16 episodes but then why create a love triangle for the second leads? Shoving DBF in between JC and TS was so weird and unnatural. Then to turn JC into a wimp just giving up on his love being all chivalrous and stepping back? It felt unnecessary and just threw that whole thing off balance. I didn't feel any chemistry between DBF and TS. They were great as friends for each other and everyone else. JC's ending up in a tent in the mountains with a pooch he found after all he'd been through instead of with the woman he really loved was a total copout. It felt like the writer gave up on him altogether.
The OSTs should have stayed in one language or another. And they were thrown into places that either required light instrumentation like the actual love scene in 12 or a rock ballad in 14 when LJY was single-handedly fighting off a slew of bodyguards. When the man is kicking ass and there's a slow love ballad playing, it throws the scene.
Too many very ridiculous things happening like LJY and AY going to the underground lab, the place has cameras everywhere and y'all didn't think you would be seen or caught? Or that it was a trap in the first place? For a smart and aware bodyguard and former soldier, that seemed out of character for him. Or his father waking up from like a multi-year coma and then arriving in a wheelchair like a saving avenger only to sacrifice himself for the cause at the end? Even with the most futuristic technology, there's no way he would look completely healthy in 15 minutes; it was laughable at how absurd it all was as they were very obviously racing for the finish line. Should have made it 20 episodes and flushed out a better ending. The amount of plot holes like that were too many to write. Oh and don't forget the head scratching scene after the last episode's credits.
Would I recommend it? Only for the "skinship" as the jargon goes or really awesome chemistry of the leads as well as the close friendships that either already existed or were made and the comedy. The rest was ok.
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If you like your fire with a heaping side order of swiss cheese...
C-drama watchers are used to shy, stiff, awkward kissing, kissing that's only alluded to, or great kissing that's left on the editing room/censorship floor, with hugs spacious enough to fit a third person in between. So I get it. People are thirsty for more heat on screen and Love of Replica generally delivers. (You're not getting HBO; it's more on par with North American daytime soaps.)Beyond that, however, Love of Replica has a middling plot that gets sillier with each half hour -- so even at just 16 short episodes, it doesn't take long before the storytelling starts to feel tedious, ridiculous, cliche-ridden, and cheesy, filled with plotholes and nonsense. (And I say this as someone with a very high tolerance for corny romance and known to enjoy and indulge in cheesy feasts.) How many times, for example, can an FL "fall" into an ML's arms and twirled around in super slo-mo while staring into each other's eyes? Here, it almost felt like the director contrived to make it happen at least once an episode (I didn't actually count). The acting wasn't bad, but I didn't love it either, to be honest, though maybe I should give the leads more credit fore being able to keep a straight face every time they needed to fall and twirl for the camera.😂
Mysterious Love had its share of problems too, but it felt sexier and had better pacing. If you just want to see the OTP together, I suggest just skipping straight to episode 12.
Stray obervations and notes:
* Was it just me, or was that S1's Leslie Ma making a cameo in the scene where a stranger picks up the phone the FL threw out the window?
* While this is a standalone story and completely unrelated to S1, there is a bonus easter egg/post-credit scene at the end of episode 16 that ties the two dramas together and hints at the possibility of a new story in the future.
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This drama told story of almost impossible logic or science. If you read discussion below, there's someone talk about this story probably happen in the future timeline. Yeah that's kinda make sense, if we see the phone they use here, transparent phone in that case. But if really happen in the future timeline, why not just make it completely obvious with all the futuristic technology, or at least give more obvious sign that this happen in the future timeline. If yes, that's more make sense for the story in this drama to happen. So kinda patchy story, if I must say.
But the good about this drama:
+ The chemistry of Tsao Yu Ning & Yilia Yu never disappoint me. That's the advantage with pairing old couple together
+ This drama tell us that family is not only about blood relative, but more of connection. Sometime Asian drama talk about how important blood are, but lack the importance of the connection that build overtime. I'm not gonna spill here, cause it's a major spoiler. You definitely have to watch till the end to know what I mean.
+ Funny relationship between Tian Sui & her 2 men, Ding Bei Fan & Jiang Tian Cheng. But I really happy with who she choose in the end. It show that sometimes companionship is a lot more important than love at the first sight.
Overall even though feel this like push the boundary for the story to match with the whole picture, but this drama still provide us good chemistry between our lead, good friendship, action & good story to tell. So yeah I still say you can check this one out.
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Watch if you are a fan of the Leads and their Chemistry
Subjective Gut Rating: 7.75Bringing back the team from “Mysterious Love”, hot male lead Tsao Yu Ning, female lead Yilla Yu and second male lead Wu Hao Ze joined forces in “Love of Replica”. This drama was listed as a sequel to “Mysterious Love” but you can treat this as its own entity. My review does do some comparison between the two dramas.
The similarities of the two dramas:
1. Tsao Yu Ning is as sexy and hot as ever. You can’t deny those muscles and abs.
2. Tsao Yu Ning plays the role of a bodyguard in both dramas.
3. Yilla Yu and Tsao Yu Ning continue to have great chemistry and good kisses.
4. I am still not a fan of the secondary romance, but this is at least better than the annoying one in “Mysterious Love”.
For a 16-episode drama, it is weird for me to say that I find the pace slow in the middle and I got a little bored. The mystery does not hold my attention and there aren't enough action scenes. I actually find the plot in “Mysterious Love” a lot more engaging. A few weird plot holes and I don’t really buy the reason for Xu Xi Xi’s deteriorated health. I find the ‘thriller’ part very questionable and laughable (?).
I also dislike all the slow-motion romantic scenes. They become annoying fast. There are also quite a few flashbacks that I don’t need to be reminded of so frequently. This might also be because I was binge-watching, so it might not affect everyone. The romance also seems a little cheesier and less mature than “Mysterious Love”.
On a positive note, the acting is not bad. You can tell apart when FL is Xu Xi Xi and An Yue, and that is a credit to Yilla Yu’s acting. Tsao Yu Ning also improved in his acting. He was a little more wooden in “Mysterious Love” but is able to express more subtle emotions here. His character also is a little friendlier and smiles more, compared to the former role. I like all the supporting cast, and find the two secondary male leads and secondary female lead likable as well. No one really irritates me in this drama.
The biggest selling point of “Love of Replica” is the chemistry between the leads. I wouldn’t call it smoking hot, but pretty good. I’m glad the kisses are back with a couple sexier scenes. However, I think the scenes and the vibe in “Mysterious Love” might be sexier.
I think both dramas share the same OST, or at least some of the songs. I like the rich and modern outfits that the female leads wear. No more oversized jackets and sweatshirts wherever they go.
Since this is a short drama, if you have time to kill and like the leads, this might be worth a watch. However, if you are looking for a well-written thriller romance, there are better options out there.
Completed: 5/16/2023 - Review #307
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BRAVO! CAST, CREW and PRODUCTION!
This was a great follow-up after Mysterious Love. Even though this WAS NOT a sequel, it allowed us to see the dynamic depth of both lead actors and great production. The leads received more screen time. The script was filled with twists and turns to keep you interested and not filled with cliches. The series did not drag and was perfect @ 16 episodes. The chemistry between the leads is very sexy and infectious! If they are not a real couple in real life.... Oh my, to the lucky person who they are really in love with. The OST, even though it isn't a lot of tracks, is perfect for the movement and flow of the series. The ML and FL are brilliant in pulling this tapestry of scenes together from beginning to end. Great production and screenwriting. The attention to detail is A1. Looking forward to everyone's next project. BRAVO! A MUST SEE!Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Cliche and cheesy romance drama, and the acting is worse than first season.
"Love Replica" is the second season of "Mysterious Love" with the same cast and director. I wish the script to continue the previous one where the story was more believable and interesting."Love Replica" has a completely different story, and this drama's acting is worse than the previous one. It is cliche and cheesy, so I'm not fond of it. I would not waste my time in this drama; the ending is so stupid; it revealed that XiXi is a robot and AnYue, a human supposed to save the robot with a brain transplant. WTF, how stupid is that, and the father, Xu Yong Yu, is willing to sacrifice his real daughter, An Yue, to save a robot, XiXi.
The director and cast members are 90% the same as in the Mysterious Love drama. That drama has a better plot and is more believable than this stupid one. I give it a 4.5 rating.
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AN ENTERTAINING WATCH
Love of replica is a sequel to Mysterious love but the story is different just the leads and some support characters are similar.
It tells a story about this girl who loses her memory only to realise later that she isn't whom every one has been telling her she is and that she has some one identical to her( something like a twin)
So what did I think of love in the replica?
1. The amazing chemistry between the leads
Being their second project together, I must say their chemistry doubled and was quite sweeter and hotter than it was in mysterious love
2.THE CHARACTERS
Female lead won me over with how she could switch her attitude between the two identities as per the series it was some amazing acting displayed in her hand...
Male lead was amazing too,he wasn't the typical cold male lead type but had that charisma added to his character being a bodyguard
The supports did an amazing job with their characters as well
3.THE PLOT
Well I had my likes and dislikes about the plot...having watched mysterious love..I kinda expected this to be as thrilling as mysterious love was but it didn't quite meet the standards I sent on my side..it was a wonderful theme though..with a few plot twists that had me gasping and the way the story unfolded but it did have it's plot holes on my side and didn't quite keep me on my toes..but I managed to finish it so that proves that it was quite a good watch...at least I'd say I was entertained.
And I love how the epilogue hinted on there being an actual part two of MYSTERIOUS LOVE.
4.THE OSTS
The osts were beautiful and quite addictive
I repeat this was a sequel of mysterious love being that it was directed by the same person and had the same leads but the story was different so yes you can watch this without watching mysterious love first though I'd recommend you watch both since they are good
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Hot, except when it wasn't
I thought Mysterious Love was much better than this one. The script/story were so ridiculous, I spent an inordinate amount of time writing down things I couldn't believe about it. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but the characters kept doing such stupid things it was irritating. I could feel brain cells dying...ACTING:
Tsao Yu Ning as Jin Yan - let's be honest, he doesn't have to do much more than stand, stare, and look hunky, which he has down to an art form. He's basically the same character from Mysterious Love.
Yilia Yu as XiXi/An Yue - I thought she did a good job differentiating between the two characters.
CHEMISTRY: Hot, but it seemed like they were together less than they were in Mysterious Love. These two are seriously good together, they chemistry is definitely chemistry-ing!
For me, I was there for the main couple and was disappointed in the relatively small amount of time they spent together. First, there was the convoluted storyline involving a lot of people. THEN we had the second couple which was just WRONG! They got entirely too much screen time and I didn't care about them at all. In fact, there was a triangle, and, in my opinion, she ended up with the wrong guy!
I won't try to steer anyone clear of this drama but be prepared for a festival of eye rolling.
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This review may contain spoilers
Whoever asking whether this is season 2 of 'Mysterious Love' or not!
Of course, this is season 2. The story of this drama (Love of Replica) is a novel written by the 2nd Female Lead of 'Mysterious Love' who is Qiao Yu Fei. So this drama showing as a novel adaptation.You can get it if you watched the Easter Egg scene after the credits in the last episode of 'Love of Replica'. (You can understand this scene if you watched 'Mysterious Love' tho😉)
Most likely there will be season 3 where Jiang Hao and Qiao Yu Fei come back as a couple and that season also will be a novel by Qiao Yu Fei.
Qiao Yu Fei (the writer) makes an appearance in Love of Replica where An Yue was kidnapped and dropped the phone for a stranger.
Also, it's not necessary to watch season 1 before this drama since there are two different stories if we look from the viewer's perspective.
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Not that great- even the chemistry was flat
Probably because the writers tried using all the same tropes and tricks from Mysterious Love- the accidental falls, the pull her closer, the toss the blanket in the air?? Haha…Firstly let’s address the elephant in the room. Is this drama a Season 2 of Mysterious Love? The answer is No. well, it does not seem that way to me. It’s a completely different storyline, although the 3 main leads are the same. That I felt was an issue. If the writers wrote different characters for the same actors it could have been more interesting. But this was the same actors, same sort of characters (bodyguard, damsel in distress) so it was a repeat of sorts with a different flavour. The last 5mins of the final episode seemed like a continuation of Mysterious Love, but I honestly don’t understand why that was included.
The romance and chemistry would have been good if you haven’t watched Mysterious Love. If you have, then it’s all just too familiar and similar. There was a very steamy bed scene, but that was nothing compared to the bathroom/ bed scene in ML lol. See this is the problem- too much comparison. Sorry…
The mystery/ thriller storyline was mediocre. Slightly confusing initially but all is revealed only in Ep15. By that time the audience can sort of guess the gist of it. Had a very dramatic monologue by the villain in that episode, which I ff hahaha. He seems like quite a nut job. ;) 2nd couple was alright, nothing much to shout about either.
Short drama- 16 episodes. Not too bad overall but don’t expect too much:)
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama starts very well and in the first episodes it'a a beautiful romance between the FL and her bodyguard, the ML. Reminds a bit of the bodyguard movie of Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner of the 1990s. Nice music, great songs and very nice scenes of the two interacting with each other. Pretty FL actress, and even prettier second lead actress.But then in the last two episodes the plot totally collapses into an absurd, totally unrealistic crap (perhaps copied/inspired from The island with Scarlett Johansson). I don't know what to say, but they should have made this movie end in a different way in my opinion.
By the way, the episodes on Youtube have audio issues every now and then.
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