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Tasnima_329

England

Tasnima_329

England
Summer's Desire taiwanese drama review
Completed
Summer's Desire
0 people found this review helpful
by Tasnima_329
May 16, 2021
14 of 14 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 10.0

Loved this drama but I loved Ou Chen more than anything else in this drama.

I love Taiwanese dramas, every single one I've watched is so unique. I watched the Chinese remake (drama) of this before watching the original version and I couldn't help but compare the two at the begining but after a few episodes I stopped. Overall, this was definitely better. Another rant:

Execution:
At first I didn't really like the execution of the drama, how it starts of in the present (5 years in the future) and flashes back to the past. It doesn't give you the story in chronological order so you're kept guessing what the tragedy was in the past and how it came to be. That is unless you already watched the remake which gives you everything in chronological order. But then I also grew to like this because it makes the story More from Ou Chen's POV, we see the flashbacks more often when he is regaining his memories and trying to figure out what happened between Lin Xia Mo and himself. It also allowed the drama to focus more on Ou Chen and Xia Mo's relationship even when Xia Mo was romantically involved with Luo Xi. Something that I hated about the remake was that I felt that it focused more on Luo Xi rather than Ou Chen making it difficult to figure out who the main character was. I love that we also got to see a lot of Ou Chen's past as a child and his childhood with Xia Mo, it really made you see the depth of his character, especially when you find out about his parents.

Music:
The sound quality of the drama wasn't good, couldn't find any better but the music was very dramatic and sometimes over the top. It went really well with the drama and I liked Xia Mo's singing, have no idea if it was the actress.

Acting/Script:
I loved the actors in this drama, I think all of them did a really good job of portraying their characters emotions:

Barbie Hsu:
Though her character seems cold, she really wasn't. She showed her emotions at all the right times. You could really see the hate in her eyes the night Xia Mo's parents died, the sadness of her loss as well as the constant pain of seeing her brother in bad health. She did a really good job of playing a cold character that rarely expressly showed her love for either Luo Xi or Ou Chen, but it was her actions that showed her love. I really liked this about the script, her character was the definition of "actions speak louder then words".

Peter Ho:
Peter Ho's character was the most emotionally driven as well as cold character in the entire drama. He was a mixture of Luo Xi, an emotionally driven but unreasonable (childlike) charecter, and Xia Mo, a reasonable almost 'cold' person in every aspect of her life. He also had the most depth. Peter Ho did an amazing job portraying all the layers of his character and his emotions, I cried at how lonely Ou Chen was, it was hard not to sympathise with his character and I was rooting for him from begining to end. He was the one charecter that needed a happy ending more than anyone.

Hang Xiao Ming:
Luo Xia Ming was a very arrogant and childish character. My first impression, when I saw Luo Xi was that Huang Xiao Ming could play a good villain, it was his smile. I didn't really like his character, but he played it well, but I never sympathised with his character.

Ou Chen v Luo Xi:
I also read a lot of reviews and comments about how Ou Chen was really toxic and how Xia Mo should have ended up with Luo Xi and I couldn't disagree more.
I felt like Luo Xi was a lot more toxic than Ou Chen ever was. It's the subtle action and reactions that show it:
- Ou Chen was always possessive, but not toxicly so. He was all bark and no bite and Xia Mo was always able to cool him off and he always listened to her no matter what, even when he doesn't say or show so. He got jealous easily, yes, in the past it was sometimes unreasonably so, but he never stopped her from doing anything or meeting anyone because of this, something Luo Xi clearly didn't do. When they get back together he trusted her no matter what and trusted their relationship no matter what anyone said because he knew Xia Mo would never cheat on the person she is with and that she keeps her word. When Luo Xi and Xia Mo were together, Luo Xi will physically hold her back from talking to Ou Chen and be unreasonable about any contact Xia Mo and Ou Chen have despite the fact that Ou Chen is Xia Mo's boss and they have to meet and talk, Luo Xi never trusted Xia Mo.
- Ou Chen was also very respectful of Xia Mo. Even though Ou Chen and Xia Mo were romantically involved for a long time and known each other for years, he was always gentle with her and kissed her on the forehead. In comparison, Luo Xi first kissed Xia Mo without her consent and when she was drunk, knowing that she was with Ou Chen. Their second kiss was also forced by Lou Xi.
- Ou Chen always supported her even when they weren't romantically together and even when he was meant to hate her, but he never took credit for it. Ou Chen may have lost his memories, but he was always there for Xia Mo, and ONLY because of his memory loss he couldn't be with her before. But Luo Xi left Xia Mo and willingly and never looked back in those 5 years. He didn't bother to hear any news about her whilst the last thing Ou Chen did when he had his memories was try and be there for Xia Mo after she lost her parents in an accident.

Xia Mo, Ou Chen and Luo X:
Xia Mo, Ou Chen and Luo Xi are technically orphans, they share this one similarity. They were all abandoned by their mothers. Xia Mo and Luo Xi are very alike, they are both in show biz and both good at acting due to their past as a orphans, having to pretend to be someone they're not in order to be loved. All three hide their emotions really well but Ou Chen was definitely the most emotional but also the coldest same with Xia Mo, but they would both do anything, sacrifice everything, for the ones they love, which is why they were so perfect for together.
I found Luo Xi for the majority of this drama to be annoyingly arrogant and arrogant for all the wrong things. Later, he seemed immature and arrogant, a terrible combination. Though Xia Mo is cold, she is the kind of person that will take care of you when you're sick, be there for you when you're at your lowest and stand up for you. And she has done this. But Luo Xi is the complete opposite, he became arrogant and immature, thinking the world revolved around him when Xia Mo was suffering. Only in tough times can you tell who is best for you and Ou Chen was that person for Xia Mo and vice-versa.

Xia Mo:
I liked Xia Mo a lot more in this version (original version) than I did in the remake. She was a lot more rational and reasonable but also more emotional. I didn't like how she broke up with Ou Chen but I could justify her behaviour. She didn't mean anything she said to Ou Chen on that day, it was all said in anger and sadness from the loss of her family. She directed all her emotions to Ou Chen as hate but didn't mean them, words that Ou Chen took to heart in a scene that made me cry. It showed how much Ou Chen truly loved her, but if he was thinking rationally he would have realised that she didn't mean those words, she had just lost her family that day and had no one else to take it out on. It also made me understand Xia Mo more, she cares about people she considers family a lot, she doesn't care if anyone harms her, but she won't allow it on her family because they are all she has and she would die along with them if it meant living without them. She deals with loss through directing her emotions at someone else and if it has to do with her family, she'll do it through anger.
I smacked my head because of this girl so many times for the shit she unintentionally put Ou Chen through. I can't hate her because she's never bad to Ou Chen other then that one time, and I don't want to hate her. But I kinda do hate her because I just wanted her to be by his side, say yes to him and be honest to both herself and Ou Chen for the feelings she clearly had for him in the past and started to have in the present. I HATED how she lied to herself and Ou Chen about having never loved him when she clearly did.

SPOILERS:
I LOVED the twist towrds the end. It in some way justified Ou Chen's sacrifice for Xia Mo's brother and it also made it make sense why Ou Chen was the only person who could sacrifice this for Xia Mo's brother. Ou Chen and Yin Cheng being brothers was the best plot twist that could have happened and I felt that it was a fact that would make Xia Mo love Ou Chen even more because her brother meant everthing to her and Ou Chen is another connection to him. I think Ou Chen also figured out that he and Yin Cheng share a father, I don't know when, but I was just happy that by the end of the drama he got a family. A family and reciprocated love, which was all he wanted and he got it, a family was also everything that meant anything to Xia Mo so Xia Mo and Ou Chen being married and having a family was the best ending for the both of them. Luo Xi didn't need anyone, ever, so he too got his best ending.
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