Summer's Desire (2010)

I'd like to quote Wuthering Heights before anything else:
“I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.” I think this quote fits the whole story perfectly.

The reason that I love fiction is due to stories like Summer's Desire. I haven't read the manga, but as a story/plot for a drama this one is one of the best- especially among Taiwanese productions.

Ironically I had dropped this drama quite some time back. I had been in a slump then and I realized it had been a wrong time to start watching it. I finished it now and I did love it as much as I originally thought I would. It has to be one of the best written love triangles in dramas till date.

The story makes you think of all the been-there-done-that elements from Asian dramas. In fact, the whole plot was filled with cliches which otherwise make me gag but I surprisingly didn't mind them in this drama! The whole plot is AMAZING. It was close to perfection minus some melodrama which bored me towards the end which makes me dock off a point.

The characterizations are solid. The main three leads are all crazy and screwed up. Had it been real, all the three characters would have been in therapy. Well, since this is an Asian drama the only therapy one gets here is love or friendship. Luckily love came to the rescue here.

I loved both guys but Ou Chen really hit me hard. He was a borderline psycho with stalkerish tendencies who would probably get a restraining order in real life. In spite of his shortcomings, I LOVED the guy. His character was three dimensional with real depth. He seemed like he felt truck loads of emotions. His possessiveness and the ability to self-destruct reminded me of tragic literary heroes.

Xia Mao is the most complicated heroine I've encountered in any drama yet. She's an almost anti-heroine with very little likable things about her. I loved the fact that she was not moping around just because her life sucked. She was a person who never revealed her emotions and that is so rare in dramas! It gave me a good break from annoying drama females who sit and cry in every episode. She is selfish, manipulative and thinks about herself and what she wants first. I think a great deal of analysis can be done on her character. Her character also grew in good ways but I wish Barbie Hsu's acting had been better.

Luo Xi was also good. He kind of paled in comparison to the other two but I thought he was good enough. His many sides were good and I thought his character was quite unpredictable. I love it when characters make me think.

Now- as for the ending. They incorporated some cheesy cliches but it was all good. I love the fact that many situations and the heroine's decisions were written in such a way that we could second guess her true intentions. A lots of things which happened were debatable. Or I think it was due to Barbie Hsu's lack of acting skills. I suppose we were supposed to see a difference in Xia Mao when she was with both guys but I saw next to none. The other acts were all fine.

I think the OST was pretty great. I loved all the songs they played in the beginning, end or in between.

I recommend this drama to melodrama lovers or those who love mature dramas and like analyzing stuff.

Read More

I remember adding this drama to my list awhile ago and then I forgot about it. After stumbling across Peter Ho in Three Kingdoms [which I am watching at the moment, too], I rediscovered this drama again and decided to watch it. This drama starts off confusing, not more than 5 minutes into the drama you have a 5 year time jump. After the first few episodes things start to get a little less confusing - I found myself falling into the story and the characters and more things began to get revealed in the later episodes. The story is a little dark, and it's also unclear for most of the drama who the main male lead is - as they both have a lot of screen time and it's hard to figure out who exactly is the lead in the drama until later on. Both of them are some nice eye candy as well :p [for those that are interested]



The acting was done well for the most part. Barbie Hsu is an alright actress, I've seen her in Meteor Garden [she really doesn't look much different in the 1O years since that drama aired], and her acting is honestly just about the same as it was then. Not horrible but not the best. I mentioned above that I noticed Peter Ho in Three Kingdoms - so to see his contrast in characters makes me think that he is a good actor, as he played his part well and convincing. This is the first drama I've seen Huang Xiao Ming in and I think he's another great actor! I really felt for his character. Both of the guys - you could feel that they both loved Xia Mo [Barbie].



The music was really nice, I loved almost all of it! From Peter Ho's "Wo Ji De Wo Ai Guo" to Barbie Hsu's "Bubble Mermaid" were all nice songs. And the instrumentals were also nice and added emotion to the drama.



I'm not sure if I'll rewatch this drama anytime soon, or if I'll rewatch it again in the future. While I enjoyed it, it's not something I can see rewatching again.



Overall I think this drama is a little underrated, and it's a drama filled with romance and angst.



One thing I wanna add is Barbie's character, Xia Mo, is a character that I had a hard time liking. She's a character that's hard to related to, and she isn't open about her feelings.



And I'd also like to mention as a side note: I found out that this drama was based off a novel trilogy, which someone also translated online [all three books - dedicated!]. I plan on reading their translation and will post the link to those interested below in the comments box (:

It was also made into a manhua before being made into this drama series.

Read More