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LilMeggs

San Jose, CA

LilMeggs

San Jose, CA
Well-Intended Love Season 2 chinese drama review
Completed
Well-Intended Love Season 2
3 people found this review helpful
by LilMeggs
Apr 10, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 8.0
This review may contain spoilers
Before I write this review, I had to go back and reread what I had said about the first season because it is hard to not compare the two. This season takes place in an alternate reality with similar background stories, but in the universe, Xia Lin had gotten her big break the night her and Mr Ling (she kept calling him that so that is what I am going to call him) met for the first time, when she bought his birthday cake on an off year he decided to celebrate his birthday. Two years later, Xia Lin becomes a B list celebrity when she runs into Mr Ling at a networking event, and their story starts there as she agrees to sign an engagement contract that would "save" her reputation after a fake scandal threatened her career. We do we see a lot of similar parallels from season one, but tiny ones. On the top of my head, I remember a scene about her "drowning" in a pool to get his attention and we get Pidan back this season and Mr Ling's "fear" of dogs. Of course we have some of the bigger plot twist and turns from season one, but some of these twists were reversed.

The drama by itself - it was extremely funny and I like their relationship in season one, they mains had amazing chemistry. I enjoyed how Mr Ling and Xia Lin's characters also were reversed in a way. I loved seeing Xia Lin as a serious actress who knew what she wanted and stuck to it, while we saw Mr Ling take on more of cute and fun role, but still a badass businessman. This season, I believe, took more of a simple yet cute approach to the dramatic soapy drama in season one. Yes, we still see multiple villains, but the way Mr Ling took care of everything, was with trust and with a goofy smile on his face unlike in season one, where he was super stoic and serious and never really knew what was on his mind except for his love for Xia Lin. Which is probably why I really liked his season. In season one, you did start to learn more about Mr Ling and start to fall in love with this mysterious businessman who was good at what he did and got everything he wanted, but then you find out about how he falsified medical records in order to get Xia Lin to sign an engagement contract and we are expected to forgive him after an episode or two. In this season, though, the only bad thing Mr Ling did was not tell her that he knew he beforehand and took advantage of a situation. It was a relief knowing that Mr Ling was a genuine guy...or more genuine than season one. As for Xia Lin...it was a little more complicated for me. I liked seeing her as a badass actress who always stood up for herself and knew what she wanted, but as I said previously, her and Mr Ling's roles almost switched this season, where we saw a very suborn Xia Lin who only looked at the surface when it came to things, and always went with her first reaction when making a decision. And I am not saying this was a bad thing or it made her a bad person. I just felt that she was very unforgiving or unwilling to try things out because he assumed it was going to be bad or a disaster. It got a little annoying towards the end, but it could have been a lot worse...like Mr Ling in season one.

Speaking of characters, I also really enjoyed how this season addressed one of my biggest concerns - the side characters. In season one, I didn't feel any loyalty to care about any of the sides except for Chu Yan and Fei Fei. A little bit for Wen Li....but no so much. In season two, they made these characters into mains. I was happy that they basically made Fei Fei and Wen Li's romance as important as Mr Ling and Xia Lin's. I also loved the update Wen Li got by actually having a personality in this drama. It was refreshing seeing him take charge and have a personality as I felt like him and Fei Fei were actually compatible from the get go. Fei Fei was more-or-less the same. I also loved the alternate reality Chu Yan who didn't have daddy issues and was very levelheaded and familial as well as compassionate about the work he did. I think the only issue he had was being "too shy" or just not speaking his mind about his feeling for Xia Lin. He had two years to do or say something and she would have 100% dated him. Instead, we get the story of his relationship with Ruan Meng that we all wished wasn't rushed in the last few episodes in season one. But I will say the same thing, I wasn't feeling them too much as I felt that Chu Yan showed any romantic feelings for her. Their story was cute, but I felt that she kept pushing and pushing and basically made me feel like if he rejected her, he would have been branded a terrible human being.

Overall, I felt like this drama was a perfect stress reliever in a crazy time. It took all my concerns from season one, and made the characters more likeable and goofy. It went from a dramatic soapy drama to a very cute and simple drama. The worst thing the villain did in this season was NOTHING compared to season one. I also loved how they kept ripping on one another for being too cheesy this season...even though that is what this season was. If you want to know what this season is about, please look at the photos attached to this drama's page and see their engagement photo shoot. Honestly, if the person I marry doesn't look at me the way Mr Ling looks at Xia Lin in their engagement photoshoot...I'm out. This season felt more like Mr Ling loved Xia Lin for the person she was and his love grew for her the more they were together, whereas in season one, I felt like he was fixated on her and became obsessed, but there was love there and eventually, Mr Ling learned the difference and changed.

Also, a random side note; I really liked how different this drama is from what I usually like which is why I gave it a high score. I liked how I was laughing in every episode and how quick everything was, but a comfortable quickness. I've been getting a little annoyed lately watching dramas where it takes 3-4 eps for something to happen to to be fixed, whereas this one was like...nope...people don't like to wait so we will make the viewer wait a max of a single ep. But it was also a downfall towards the end. I felt like the last episode was both unnecessary, but also wayyyy to rushed, such as the issue was was expressed at the end of ep 14, was quickly solved at the beginning of ep 16, and then we got a bunch of wedding filler and then a time jump with more filler. I felt like they could have come up with a more natural solution throughout the ep and then maybe a cute wedding scene that was literally superrrrrr rushed. Like holy cow their vows. Other than that, I had more questions about the people from season one who never even showed up in season two such as Mr Ling's obsessive friend who literally hypnotized him in season one to fall in love with her or his step brother who kidnapped Xia Lin. Like what happened in this alternate reality where they decided they didn't want to be crazy people and show up? Besides those points...I loved how cute and cooky and this drama was and I still can't get over Mr Ling. Like got to find you a guy like Mr Ling in season two.
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