Draagon
台灣(Taiwan)
This review may contain spoilers
This was a very interesting drama. I enjoyed it immensely up until a point, after which my interest seriously waned and the drama’s rating dropped a few points in my eyes. But the ending made up for that short period of abysmal-ness, leaving this drama with a solid 8 rating.
The best part of this drama was the characters, especially when combined with the acting. Definitely the star of this whole ride was Wang Kingone. His performance as Fang Zhan Cheng outshone all of his co-stars, though I may be a little biased because the character as written is one of my favorite types — someone who’s able to keep calm and in control of their emotions even when everything’s falling apart around them. The character by itself would’ve already scored major points in my book, and Wang Kingone played him excellently throughout the entire drama. Kudos to him.
Ren Lorene on the other hand was kind of a mixed bag of good and not-so-good acting points. But her character wasn’t the most stable, either, so I think she worked the best she could with what she had. Her emotional scenes were for the most part well done and touching, but her... yelling/excited scenes, I guess you could call them, felt a little awkward and overdone. Also, her character didn’t have enough versatility. I get really annoyed with the characters who’re portrayed as saints and can’t do anything wrong just because they are supposedly acting in other people’s interests. You can think you’re doing something for someone else’s sake and still be selfish and in the wrong. I felt her character made some deliberately unwise choices that weren’t fully put in the negative light they should’ve been. And in the end, they were just brushed over because her character is too “good” to deserve any sort of consequences for her actions. I would have also liked to see her having to chase after Fang Zhan Cheng after what she did instead of always having him do all the work to get their relationship back on the right track.
The side characters and romances were pretty interesting and worked into the story in a coherent way as well. I had a fascination with Lee Sean’s character Li Bo Yan for the first half of the drama because he was so bad, yet at the same time so deliciously multi-layered. Points to Lee Sean for not allowing him to be the one-dimensional character he easily could’ve evolved into (though the writing at the end unfortunately ended that wonderment with a firm and unnecessary period on my feelings toward him -.-). Fei-Fei and Yu-An’s story was cute if a bit on the dull side, and Vanessa was a good mature-type character who was very clear-headed and a breath of rational fresh air. Xu Ya Ti I had some issues with because she seemed like a character used mostly for the sake of driving the plot forward when it got caught in its several ruts, but she was okay as a second-lead. A bit too one-dimensional to really strike a cord for any emotional responses, really. At least there were no long, drawn-out love triangles. These characters were very good at sticking to their guns and liking whom they knew they liked and not leading anyone on.
As for the story... well, that’s where my opinion of the drama goes up, down, and weaves around like its perched on a very precarious high cliff that crumbles and cracks with each episode, just waiting to plummet to the ground. When this drama was good, it really was good. It has beautiful scenery, beautiful directing, quotable and thought-provoking speeches, and a refreshing look on how to move on from losing someone dear to you. I liked its pace and its story for the first 16 episodes, I really did. I was about soundly ready to give it a solid 9 before episode 17 rolled around and my opinion fell faster than a baby bird jumping off that cliff and learning to fly. I just... I hated where this drama went. I hated how it felt like they needed to fill these episodes with everything and anything, so they just threw in a hodge-podge of nonsense at the wall and let things stick for as long as they could, then let them fall off the wall never to be mentioned again. The very last dramatic arc in particular left a very bad taste in my mouth and had me looking for anything to divert my attention during those scenes just because I couldn’t stand it. I can’t say what happened without giving major spoilers, but let’s just say it’s something I don’t agree with and think should never happen in drama-land, god forbid it ever happens in real life.
But, nevertheless, the ending more or less makes up for that mess. Like I said, the writers were good about just dropping things that happened like they never took place, so by the last minutes of the final episode, things got back on track and we were back to the storyline that made the drama so memorable and wonderful in the first place — how Fang Zhan Cheng and Chen Yu Xi learnt to find solace in each other’s company to such an extent they could never do without the other. Their chemistry is wonderful, and the scenes where they barely say anything and let their actions — in particular, their eyes — speak for them are just so well done (a large part of those scenes being so good being because of the directing, as well).
Overall, Someone Like You is a good drama. I’d recommend someone who's looking for a 2015 TW-drama to watch to give it a try, because it’s at least better than the other dramas that’ve been showing this season (in my opinion, of course). Especially if you like stories dealing with healing and moving on from tragedy, this is the drama for you. It has a pretty good pace (if a bit slow at times), a good soundtrack (if a bit repetitive at times), and good acting. Oh, and watch the opening credits, too. They really are lovely, and they will give you a feel for how beautiful the drama is shot and how the story lays itself out.
The best part of this drama was the characters, especially when combined with the acting. Definitely the star of this whole ride was Wang Kingone. His performance as Fang Zhan Cheng outshone all of his co-stars, though I may be a little biased because the character as written is one of my favorite types — someone who’s able to keep calm and in control of their emotions even when everything’s falling apart around them. The character by itself would’ve already scored major points in my book, and Wang Kingone played him excellently throughout the entire drama. Kudos to him.
Ren Lorene on the other hand was kind of a mixed bag of good and not-so-good acting points. But her character wasn’t the most stable, either, so I think she worked the best she could with what she had. Her emotional scenes were for the most part well done and touching, but her... yelling/excited scenes, I guess you could call them, felt a little awkward and overdone. Also, her character didn’t have enough versatility. I get really annoyed with the characters who’re portrayed as saints and can’t do anything wrong just because they are supposedly acting in other people’s interests. You can think you’re doing something for someone else’s sake and still be selfish and in the wrong. I felt her character made some deliberately unwise choices that weren’t fully put in the negative light they should’ve been. And in the end, they were just brushed over because her character is too “good” to deserve any sort of consequences for her actions. I would have also liked to see her having to chase after Fang Zhan Cheng after what she did instead of always having him do all the work to get their relationship back on the right track.
The side characters and romances were pretty interesting and worked into the story in a coherent way as well. I had a fascination with Lee Sean’s character Li Bo Yan for the first half of the drama because he was so bad, yet at the same time so deliciously multi-layered. Points to Lee Sean for not allowing him to be the one-dimensional character he easily could’ve evolved into (though the writing at the end unfortunately ended that wonderment with a firm and unnecessary period on my feelings toward him -.-). Fei-Fei and Yu-An’s story was cute if a bit on the dull side, and Vanessa was a good mature-type character who was very clear-headed and a breath of rational fresh air. Xu Ya Ti I had some issues with because she seemed like a character used mostly for the sake of driving the plot forward when it got caught in its several ruts, but she was okay as a second-lead. A bit too one-dimensional to really strike a cord for any emotional responses, really. At least there were no long, drawn-out love triangles. These characters were very good at sticking to their guns and liking whom they knew they liked and not leading anyone on.
As for the story... well, that’s where my opinion of the drama goes up, down, and weaves around like its perched on a very precarious high cliff that crumbles and cracks with each episode, just waiting to plummet to the ground. When this drama was good, it really was good. It has beautiful scenery, beautiful directing, quotable and thought-provoking speeches, and a refreshing look on how to move on from losing someone dear to you. I liked its pace and its story for the first 16 episodes, I really did. I was about soundly ready to give it a solid 9 before episode 17 rolled around and my opinion fell faster than a baby bird jumping off that cliff and learning to fly. I just... I hated where this drama went. I hated how it felt like they needed to fill these episodes with everything and anything, so they just threw in a hodge-podge of nonsense at the wall and let things stick for as long as they could, then let them fall off the wall never to be mentioned again. The very last dramatic arc in particular left a very bad taste in my mouth and had me looking for anything to divert my attention during those scenes just because I couldn’t stand it. I can’t say what happened without giving major spoilers, but let’s just say it’s something I don’t agree with and think should never happen in drama-land, god forbid it ever happens in real life.
But, nevertheless, the ending more or less makes up for that mess. Like I said, the writers were good about just dropping things that happened like they never took place, so by the last minutes of the final episode, things got back on track and we were back to the storyline that made the drama so memorable and wonderful in the first place — how Fang Zhan Cheng and Chen Yu Xi learnt to find solace in each other’s company to such an extent they could never do without the other. Their chemistry is wonderful, and the scenes where they barely say anything and let their actions — in particular, their eyes — speak for them are just so well done (a large part of those scenes being so good being because of the directing, as well).
Overall, Someone Like You is a good drama. I’d recommend someone who's looking for a 2015 TW-drama to watch to give it a try, because it’s at least better than the other dramas that’ve been showing this season (in my opinion, of course). Especially if you like stories dealing with healing and moving on from tragedy, this is the drama for you. It has a pretty good pace (if a bit slow at times), a good soundtrack (if a bit repetitive at times), and good acting. Oh, and watch the opening credits, too. They really are lovely, and they will give you a feel for how beautiful the drama is shot and how the story lays itself out.
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