While Lu Tian Xing was pretending to be Xiao Lu and both parts of him were falling in love with Tao Le Si, the show was full of cute and entertaining romantic comedy moments. But soon it became full of weepy, pity-party moments and those were less enjoyable. The biggest problem, however, was the aftermath of the reveal. They just couldn't figure out how something like a fake identity would end so they did a 180 into melodrama land and the only real evidence of that half of the show was the opening. With the shortened length, the ending felt rushed and there were small plot lines that got dropped.
For what they were given, I enjoyed the cast. Aaron Yan was good at the dual role and even into the later episodes. I did prefer some of the minor cast- Butler Fu was the best part of the show in the beginning and I was sad that his role diminished so much. Out of the supporting cast, I liked Miao Miao and Ting Wei. I kind of hated Gai Xian mostly because he came off as a creepy stalker. Personally, I think the standout in this show was Beatrice Fang as Huan Huan. Huan Huan was awful but she was supposed to be. The slow personality shift was really good.
I liked the music in the show, specifically the opening theme.
I just don't think I would watch Fall in Love With Me again. While I enjoyed the beginning of the show, nothing stood out as a scene I'd want to go back and rewatch.
Unfortunately, this show lost it's way. The first half and the second half didn't mesh well, making it feel like two completely different shows shoved together. It's sad because I liked it at first and then didn't like it so much anymore.
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The story was pretty decent until about the mid-way point and then it just went completely off the rails into unbelievable land. As an avid drama watcher, I know that I go into a drama suspending belief because if you've been watching a long time, you know that's how it is. Most dramas have a lull about mid-way even the best dramas, but this... yikes. It just lost its way and never came back for me. The end was highly anti-climatic for me, it wasn't satisfying at all because I felt the characters' problems were really only due to their own stupidity rather than any real outside threat.
The acting didn't really help much. Aaron Yan is adorable, especially as Xiao Luo, but I feel that contrasted with Tia Li's stiff and rather emotionless face almost made it seem like he was overacting. As great as Aaron Yan is, it didn't save the drama or the couple for me. I actually was far more interested in the supporting couples than I ever was in the odd love triangle/square. In other circumstances where the character's actions make sense, the acting probably would've come off a lot better, but when characters begin to act like 2 year olds and common sense goes straight out the window, it's hard to feel anything other than annoyance. I try to not skip through episodes, but in all honesty I did it quite a lot and still was perfectly able to understand what was going on and save myself from the urge to cringe with not my palm to my face but the keyboard.
The music was pretty good, nothing stellar or what would have me running to iTunes, but it wasn't bad. Had some catchy upbeat music.
Having said all of that, I will not be re-watching this or even recommending it too anyone. I really hope that Aaron Yan's next drama doesn't involve the noble idiot trope and that Tia Li loosens up and shows some real emotion (crying profusely and looking blankly down or into the distance does not a good actor make) :P
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This review may contain spoilers
After reading some blurbs and watching a promotional video or two, Fall In Love With Me looked very promising. Boy, was I in for a surprise...CAST | ACTING
Who to Love (or Hate) in Fall In Love With Me
* Aaron Yan was superb! His portrayal of his roles were impressed me and made a lot of impact. The contrast between his two roles was very entertaining.
* I am really sorry to say this but Tia Li's acting skills along side Aaron Yan's was just... inferior. She was mediocre at best but mostly stiff or blank and emotionless. (I did just say blank, didn't I? How can you call it acting when the impression that you gave off was blank?) She also fades into the background in some scenes, which shouldn't have happened as she was the female lead. It made her co-stars look like they were going overboard.
* Beatrice Fang was very good. Her character was just awful. But like an onion with many layers, she went from cute and mostly annoying to pitiful to devious and plotting to crazyville. Beatrice Fang nailed her character and some more.
* Butler Fu or Uncle Bo is one of my favorite characters. He was like Alfred from Batman. It was such a shame that his role became less important and his scenes few and far in between during the last 5 to 7 episodes.
STORY | WRITING
I call this THE FALL of FALL IN LOVE WITH ME
I think the writers butchered the 2nd half of this show. It started out really well because the progress of the story and the romance was exciting and the mix of characters were quite entertaining. And then... Everything just fell apart. Some might like Fall In Love With Me as a whole, but because of its train wreck of a 2nd half, I struggled to continue watching until the end.
- The plot just exploded after the big reveal. It morphed into something that was so twisted and bent that it never got straightened out again.
- Badly written characters galore! Either they were just plain helpless, powerless or made very irritating decisions. They even made one of characters cry in the rain! A full grown man was crying in the rain because his mama doesn't love him enough! And then he ran away... (REALLY SORRY if that one counts as a spoiler. I just couldn't stop my fingers from typing that one in.)
So there. Sorry if that was a bit harsh and brutal. I am not a premier or expert critic but I really think that they just made a big, big mess out of it all after the big reveal. There was no saving it. It was ruined, anticlimactic, sad and disappointing.
-- THE DRAMA FIEND
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This review may contain spoilers
Many people said it here. This drama started out good. Like, really good. Interesting plot, and characters. And then, all hell of bad drama writing breaks loose. I couldn’t believe my eyes, how bad this drama turned out to be, and how long it dragged. As someone said here before, cut out all the useless drama in here and this could have ended in 14 to 16 episodes. Story: It wasn’t the most original plot ever. However, there were some unexpected… surprises. Like the marriage (will not say more, or this’ll be a spoiler).
Other than that, this drama, full of some of the most annoying clichés in the history of asian dramas. Like, no matter what sh*t the antagonists puts you through, the main couple is always kind etc. Le Si’s stupidity in this matter was beyond annoying.
And since it went from 23-25 (if I remember correctly) that this drama was originally supposed to have, to 20, the ending was of cource 100% expected, and, in my opinion, quickly and poorly made.
Although, I have to say this, the side characters, especially the couples were really funny and cute ^_^
Acting/ cast. Both good and bad. I am a fan of Aaron. That’s the only reason I kept watching this. And whether you’re his fan or not, I think that everyone would agree, he played his part really well. Other great actors, Tao Mama, Butler Fu (gotta love that guy!), and, for me, Lance was good as well. I hated Tao Le Si’s character and Li Tia’s unacceptable “acting” made things even worse. Huan Huan was really annoying as well, but consider her role, that was well kinda the point. The actress was far from great (I couldn’t stand her when she shouted), but still, better than Li Tia.
Music: Not much to say here. Love the ost! great songs from aaron and the other artists.
Rewatch value: No thank you, once is enough.
From all the comments here, in these 4 months we’ve been watching this drama, I think the majority found it disappointing/ boring/ a waste of time. Some others liked it. For me as well, it was disappointing, but there are dramas far more worse than this. It wasn’t boring though, not really. A couple of unexpected events, every now and then… Well, in the future, I hope to see Aaron and the other good actors in this, in more and better dramas!
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MUSIC- This show has great music. I cannot recommend the soundtrack highly enough. In fact, I just suggest you listen to the music and just pretend this train wreck of a drama never happened. Have you ever watched a show that was so good in the first half that a bad second half made it you hate it more than if it had just started out bad? That's what happened to me with Fall in Love with Me. The music, however, could always make me feel something. I didn't actually realize Aaron Yan was a good singer until I heard one of his songs for this show, but the minute I did, I was sold.
STORY- Aaron Yan does a fantastic job acting as two different characters for the first part of the show, which is the original main conflict- the leading lady is not very fond of one of his personas but likes the other. When this changes from being the main conflict, the show takes a serious nosedive into melodrama. It isn't unusual for romantic comedies to introduce melo elements, but this show completely changed from one genre to the other. I don't have an issue with melodramas if they're done right, but Fall in Love with Me not only became a melodrama, it became a bad one with a lot of repetition and insane and/or illogical characters. The shift in tone is so drastic and jarring that it really feels like two different shows. (It reminds me of the movie Hancock, which, if I catch it on TV, I watch up to a point and then turn off.)
ACTING- The cast is mostly very good. The second lead female turned- well, you'll see if you watch- was actually very good. And I really like Aaron Yan as an actor. I just started watching Taiwanese dramas less than a year ago, so the only other thing I saw him in is Just You. I didn't really like his look, but after a few episodes I really started to like him. I'm not saying he's perfect, but he's competent. Some actors, especially if acting is not their primary profession, deliver their lines and or expression, and then their face goes back to blank as they wait for their next line to come around. Aaron Yan's always acting, and his expressions always express a great depth of emotion. He does occasionally over act, but not too often. Unfortunately, Tia Li's acting is not to the point were she should be cast as a leading lady. Her facial expression is always the same, whether she's crying, laughing, eating, whatever. I feel like achieving that is actually difficult, so I don't know what's up with that, but it's not great to watch. She was better before the melo came, but she wasn't very good then either. But anyway, there are a lot of good character actors playing supporting roles, also.
Rewatch Value- I almost rated this a 1, because who would want to put themselves through this again? But I have to admit that the first 11 or so episodes were really good, with a lot of cute moments. There is also a cute side romance that managed to stay cute even through the craziness. I am a re-watcher, but if I ever watch Fall In Love with Me again, I probably will not watch the full run and will maybe just find one or two cute moments on youtube.
Other: I love whoever came up with Xiao Lu's look. It took years off of Aaron Yan and created a kind of hip urban nerd vibe that I really, really liked. I would love a show where the lead actually dressed like that the whole time.
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This is the best I have seen Aaron. Having to act two characters that are completely different, Aaron was able to pull off two personas very well. His crying scenes were spot on and just so real! It's unfortunate Leo (Jack Lee) was a such an one dimensional character. Seriously. Though Huan Huan's (Beatrice Fang) incessant whining was beyond irritating, I have to give props to Beatrice: she played her role very well. The other characters were averaging from alright to okay. No one really stands out other than Aaron, but even Aaron couldn't carry this drama.
I did like the music though. It was basically almost all Aaron's songs but I didn't get sick of his songs at all. They're super catchy!
Although I didn't finish this drama, I did skim quickly through the rest of the episodes. The Li family debacle was crazy, and that was only through the few minutes I skimmed so I'm glad I didn't have to go through all that. I also skipped ahead to watch the last episode. Honestly? Tia and Aaron look so stiff in the wedding attire and the chemistry is just gone. Tia actually had really good chemistry with Xiao Lu, Lu Tian Xing's alter ego in the first half of the drama. In the end, I really don't recommend this drama but if you must watch it, watch the first half then watch the last episode, then done! (8/6)
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***Addn'l comments:
I wrote the above review while only half way thru the drama, something which i probably do again. I still liked this drama very much and look forward to more dramas by both main actors/actress and contrary to most of the bad reviews I understood why the 2nd half of the drama was written this way. It was not boring nor did it drag for me. Having said that I did understood everyone's frustration with how the main characters reacts while being manipulated and abused by family members. They became like doormats especially the female character. It became really hard to believe someone can accept some of the stuff being dished out to her and she not only does nothing, but also says "it's ok". Being a hot headed person myself, it was very frustrating to watch to the point where I wanted to either throw something at the screen or just scream at her. Ending however was to my satisfaction, I'm a big believer in Karma and the belief of "be careful of what you wish for", lol. Final ending sceen was VERY CUTE! all in all, I still liked the drama and would watch again.
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However! The casting was brilliant and the music I completely loved. Aaron Yan and Tia were brilliant as leads and they acted their characters well. I just wish this drama was better thought out and the plot started to confuse me slightly.
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I have to admit that it took me a while to be able to finish this one, but even then I enjoyed it more than I thought i was going to considering i picked it up after 4 maybe even 6 months.
Like I said before, I am rather conflicted about the second (and most dramatic) part of the series cause i feel it was a lot longer than it could have been but I still think this is a pretty good series, the actors do a good job and never seem too tired of the circles going round and round and also do a good job of keeping it real so they really do their parts well.
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After a while it got very irritating, huan huan was very annoying
I hated how her mom treated lu tin xing, at first i was okey with
It cause every drama had its twist but the situacion could have
Ended sooner, they made it too long and we barely had any
Lu ting xing and tao zi moments wich kind of ruin the whole purpose
Of watching the drama. I guess that when lu tin xing discoverd
That huan huan was able to walk the first time, the whole wedding
scheme should have ended right there. Too long got too boring
And boring got me to dislike what I I really liked. We had to wait
For atleat half the drama to see the kiss and almost the complete drama
Just to see them be together.
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Let's start by saying that the lead girl had the same expression for everything. Absolutely everything.The very few people who COULD act (lead girl's mom, the butler, and Aaron) are the reason I kept watching and gave the acting score a 5.
Story-wise, it had a great start, great idea, that was absolutely butchered to no end by the writers, unbelievable "injury" scenes and wannabe "crazy" scenes, topped off with a very mediocre ending.
The music was alright, it was probably another reason I kept watching.
I would honestly never rewatch it. If I wanted to see some specific scenes I liked (2 of them), I'd skip through to those episodes and rewatch the scenes. The whole drama? Never again.
Overall, if not for the reasons mentioned, I would have never sat through it. And I would never recommend it to anyone I know.
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