Trick or Love (2023)

With actors of this quality and an intriguing plot, this could have made a great series

For me, a new drama with Marcus Chang (as handsome as ever), it’s not to be missed!

Plot: the ML, CEO, harassed to get married by his grandmother, concludes a "fake boyfriend" contract with the FL, a girl who wants to save her bakery. The ML also does this contract to avenge his grandfather, robbed by the FL's grandfather.

PROS:
+ The FL is sufficiently androgynous to pass for a boy, but even the character is nice, she is stupid (no repartee, no proper thinking, etc.). It's super annoying!
+ CL2 is very funny in learning BL (｡◕‿◕｡)
+ Interesting and current discourse on homosexuality, love between genders.
+ In the 2nd part, the most coherent, the most realistic character, with the best thought out lines, is the sister!

** confession in episode 16. Get together in episode 22, then break-up (as usual)....
** the sister's stylist is talented, she is very elegant, but we can ask questions about the hair style of the men, Marcus Chang and his brother particulary :( :( and in the marriage proposal scene from Marcus, we wonder where the stylist bought his suit blah blah!

CONS:
- Some characters are not very credible and there is a lot of inconsistent behavior: hyper intrusive sister, FL who hides in the bathtub and gets up, mother who sees love everywhere, etc.
- The story gives the impression that Tapei is a village (the protagonists find so often themselves in the same places, the same stores, etc.). The coincidences are too obvious!!
- the mother's character has mental retardation, she acts and reacts like a capricious 10 year old child...
- the FL's family (including the FL) is naive and borders on stupidity, while the evil love rival, who wants to win the competition more than to be loved, is too well informed, always in the right place, super smart and cunning, etc.
- Another cliché of amnesia...
- The basis of the grudge between the 2 families makes no sense. FL's grandfather did nothing wrong...
- The story is poorly written and poorly told (the production is quite quick, but many characters are overplayed, with exaggerated facial expressions at every twist). The last narrative arc of the CL makes no sense: while the FL has already said that she has forgiven him, trusting the ex love rival to make the ML pay for his lies. is just stupid!

=> With actors of this quality and an intriguing plot, this could have made a great series. But it's ruined by a really poorly written story...
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Pour moi, un nouveau drama avec Marcus Chang (toujours aussi handsome), ça ne se rate pas !

Plot : le ML, CEO harcelé pour se marier par sa grand-mère, conclut un contrat de "fake boyfriend" avec la FL, fille qui veut sauver sa boulangerie. Le ML le fait aussi pour venger son grand-père, spolié par le grand-père de la FL.

PROS:
+ FL suffisamment androgyne pour passer pour un garçon, mais le personnage est gentil mais stupide (pas de répartie, pas de réflexion propre, etc.). C'est super agaçant !
+ Le CL2 est très drôle dans son apprentissage de la BL ( ｡◕‿◕｡ )
+ Discours intéressant et actuel sur l'homosexualité, l'amour entre les genres.
+ Dans la 2nde partie, le personnage le plus cohérent, le plus réaliste, avec les lignes les mieux pensées, c'est la sœur !
Rq : confession dans épisode 16. Get together in episode 22.
Rq 2 : la styliste de la sœur a du talent, celle-ci est très élégante, mais on peut se poser des questions sur le style capillaire des hommes, Marcus Chang et son frère :( :( et dans la scène de demande en mariage de Marcus, on se demande où le styliste a acheté le costume bof bof !

CONS:
- Certains personnages sont peu crédibles et il y a beaucoup beaucoup de comportements incohérents : sœur hyper intrusive, FL qui se cache dans la baignoire et se relève debout, , mère qui voit l'amour partout, etc.
- story qui donne l'impression que Tapei est un village (les protagonistes se retrouvent dans les mêmes lieux, les mêmes magasins, ..). Les coïncidences sont trop évidentes !!
- le personnage de la mère a un retard mental, elle agit et réagit comme un enfant capricieux de 10 ans ...
- la famille de la FL (y compris la FL) est d'une naïveté qui frise la stupidité, tandis que la evil love rival, qui veut plus gagner la compétition qu’être aimée, est trop bien informée, toujours au bon endroit, super intelligente et rusée, etc.
- Encore le cliché de l'amnésie...
- La base de la rancune entre les 2 familles n'a pas de sens. Le grand-père de la FL n'a rien fait de mal ...
- La story est mal écrite et mal racontée (la réalisation est assez rapide, mais beaucoup de personnages sont surjoués, avec des mimiques exagérées à chaque tournant). Le dernier arc narratif du CL n'a pas de sens : alors que la FL a déjà dit qu'elle lui avait pardonné, faire confiance à l'ex love rivale pour faire payer ses mensonges au ML . juste idiot !

=> Avec des acteurs de cette qualité et un plot intrigant, cela aurait pu faire une série géniale. Mais c'est gâché par une story vraiment mal écrite...

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Main couple is fun in 1st half, but best romance is the second couple's in 2nd half.

Good for one watch. Fun premise and some interesting characters.

Very slow start but otherwise Ep 4-20 were great, Ep 21-29 were okay, and Ep 30-40 were mediocre. Despite the weaknesses, there was an addictive quality and always something that kept me binge-watching to the end, though I did fast-forward more and more in Ep 30-40.

Fun premise. A few unlikable characters that do have character and moral growth. Melodramatic in a mostly fun way. Had more of a soap opera feel in Ep 30-40.

The chemistry between the leads wasn't great. A lot of that had to do with the way Ling Cen was written and Eugenie Liu's portrayal. She was bland and flat. It was okay for the first half but in the second half, her character became irritating because there wasn't enough emotional depth to keep me invested in her character. It didn't help that I watched this immediately after Lost Romance in which Marcus Chang had fantastic chemistry with that female lead and that actress had great emotional and expression range.

The sister Jing Fan and Yu Quan were always awesome. Great characters, great acting, and good chemistry and romance. They were what I was most invested in for the 2nd half of the show. Loved them.

The girl's parents were well written. Their concern for their kids was well balanced with trying to respect and support their own decisions.

There were some positive messages about queer love too.

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a very tame soap opera

When I started this drama it was said to have 20 episodes, very much Taiwanese drama standard. Come to find out it has 40!
If I didn't know it was pre-produced, then I would be convinced the producers of this drama also only found out this crucial piece of information, when it already started airing because it has sooo much filler and is stretched out to the max.
To the point where I wouldn't even call it "filler" anymore but rather from episode 20-39 is just watered down blah-blah.

(PRODUCTION)
Instead of making it twice as long as other tw-dramas and have it be regular length, they could have had a higher budget because that is one of the biggest issues this drama has. With stars like Marcus Chang and Eugenie Liu on board I thought this surely must at least look good... oh well I thought wrong. Or maybe they spent all their budget on casting ? Who knows.
Whatever it was - someone needs to teach this production crew how to properly(!) use a muffler or deadcat. The background noise of outside scenes was coming and going as if they had used the "remove background noise" button on a cheap video editing software like Filmora or ShotCut.
Another big issue with sound was that the mics were not configured correctly for scenes when someone is screaming or crying. My poor ears. If you watched early 2000s k-dramas, you know what I mean.

(DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER)
But let's continue. Eric Hao, the director of the beloved classic "Lost Romance" collaborated with the scriptwriter of "Bromance" Shao Hui Ting, on paper this combination should evoke anticipation in you. Especially because the synopsis of "Trick or Love" is throwing things like "gender bender" and "pretend to be gay" in our direction... but once again the devil is in the details.
Eric Hao is also behind 2018's "Between" aka Sandwich Girl, an absolute catastrophe of a drama, so maybe his credentials are up for debate? Marcus Chang was leading that drama, so even the ever dashing never-aging beaut had his fair share of hit-or-misses.
(ACTING)
I'm aware that this is his official leading man comeback after his pretty serious health scare a few years back but for some reason he seems a bit rusty. One moment I'm totally falling for his flirty scheming, the next his facial expressions are so obviously acted / dramatized that I cannot help but laugh. I really am a big fan of his acting but more often than not he very clearly over acted in this drama.
This was also his second time leading a romance drama with Eugenie Liu and it's true, they do seem very comfortable with each other. Especially in the first part of the drama with the whole gender-bender. However romantic chemistry was not to be found. (We did get that from the second leads tho) Charming as Marcus is, I kept asking myself why Heng Wei would fall in love with Jing Tsen, other than following the script. Yeah she was nice-ish to him, but is that really enough to deeply fall in love with someone?
Eugenie Liu completely tanked for me, the acting was just very stiff and put on, maybe that's also why I couldn't feel any chemistry. I liked her a lot in "Triad Princess" tho. Probably have to give props to the costume department as she really did look very boyish / androgynous even when she was no longer pretending to be a guy.
Overall in the acting department both leads were a let down for me, especially because they did better in "Behind Your Smile" and their other respective work.
The supporting roles were all okay, some better, some more obviously acted but nothing horrible worth mentioning.

(STORY)
The first twenty episodes are pretty much as the synopsis says. I liked that, unlike in other cross dressing dramas, the FL was not too shy in front of the ML and was pretty neutral towards him and his flirts. Over the course of the entire drama we have some typical soap opera / melodrama moments, but all of them are pretty tame and easily forgotten. Things that seem important at first, got watered down as the story goes and by the end it's no longer that important. Characters that seem annoying or evil at first, change into nice ones by the end. As I said above the second part of this drama is not like the first half.
It's mainly about the second lead couple, that is actually more interesting and has better chemistry, but is also very cliche.

Funny enough, in the last 15 episodes the two leads slip into supporting roles, not that I mind, but they take up maybe 20 minutes of the 45 per episode. Another random thing I noticed is how much they infantilize his brother Heng Da. I was kinda shocked when I found out he is supposed be 23. Yeah you're still young at that age but they treat him like a minor and he also acts more like a child (notice: not childish but child-like). Dunno what that was about.
It's not a horrible drama nor do I hate it, it's just very, very watered down and most of the interesting stuff happens early on and then you have to hang on for another 20 episodes.

Last but not least: The OST is very good, probably the best thing to come out from this drama. Plus it made me discover Howard Lee, now a regular in my spotify playlist.

Okay, so why did I rate it a 6 if it's so boring and the acting is not very good either? I am biased. Firstly I added this drama page, updated it and I am a fan of Marcus. I also did some light translation work. So in some way this feels 10% like my baby and also the reason why I even finished watching it because... well... I would have dropped it at episode 1 otherwise.

My final conclusion: unless you really love soap operas with not much plot and love the leading actors, to the point where you don't mind anything else - skip this drama. 40 episodes is just way too long to waste your time.

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Second Couple Had More Chemistry Than The Leads

The only good thing about the lead couple casting was that the female lead could actually be mistaken for a pretty boy.

They not only lacked chemistry but their story was so boring. Despite such a interesting trope, they weren't able to hold my interest. I finished all the 40 episodes in 6 hours, skipping to scenes that featured the second couple. Now, these two were so well-written and cast perfectly for their roles. They had amazing chemistry.

In the beginning, I though the SML's resting face was too bland and it just made in look expressionless but when he starts interacting with the SFL magic happens. If it wasn't for my curiosity about what happens in the end and how it happens, I would have dropped the show.

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Não é o melhor mas também não é o pior

Eu gostei. Não é o melhor mas também não é o pior.

Vale a pena pra quem quiser matar a saudade do casalzinho de behind your smile e ver eles em algo mais leve. Eugene ter cortado o cabelo de verdade também conta como um ponto positivo pra mim. A história é bem previsível então se você estiver esperando grandes reviravoltas ou surpresas esse drama não é pra você. Tudo que vai acontecer já fica bem óbvio desde o começo e a gente só vai seguindo. As atuações não preciso nem comentar, todos ótimos atores a ponto de dar até um aperto eles estarem um roteiro tão básico. Mas fazer o quê? As músicas gostei de todas, principalmente a da abertura e a que tocava durante os intervalos. Química entre os protagonistas também sem comentários, fofinhos. Espero sim um dia ver eles juntos de novo mas em roteiro mais sério que faça jus as habilidades de atuação dos dois. No demais é isso. Sem grandes problemas mas sem grandes destaques também. Se você quer um gender bender interessante vá ver Coffe Prince, se quiser algo mais intenso com eles vá ver Behind Your Smile, se só quer ver eles juntos de novo mesmo, assista esse aqui :D

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