Rhea
Malaysia
This review may contain spoilers
It’s Cheating!
You Are My Destiny is the kind of drama whereby you need to ignore the morals behind the actions of the protagonists or create excuses for their behavior in order to enjoy the story. Basically, the main character cheated on his girlfriend by having a one night stand with another woman he met on a cruise. The woman who slept with him also knows that he has a girlfriend. Granted that the girlfriend stood him up and they were both drunk when they did it. If you can accept this excuse, then well and good. You might go on to enjoy the story. But if not, the story that unfolds could make you hate the guy even more.
In short, Xi Yi is not your typical romantic hero. His behavior in the first half of the drama would not endear him to many. In fact, some may even find him to be a jerk. He got Jia Xin pregnant, forced to marry her, and then kept quiet about the marriage and the fact that he is going to be a father from Anna for a few months. Again, the excuse is he is going to divorce Jia Xin anyway and that such news is better told face-to-face. But then, he also starts to fall for Jia Xin. At some point of the drama, it is as if Xi Yi doesn’t want to give up either woman!
Plot Development (Spoilers Alert!)
Personally, I’m not so judgmental about the morality of the main characters or the lack of it in the story. But as the plot develops and inches towards the last quarter of the drama, it begins to feel lacking in some ways. Xi Yi and Anna seem to be a couple again. But there is no explanation on what makes Xi Yi re-consider his relationship with Anna apart from her refusal to give up. Then, when he meets Jia Xin again, there is a sense of deja vu. He drops Anna in favor of Jia Xin whom he still loves. Xi Yi’s relationship with Anna is never fully explored as she is made to be the evil one for the main characters to appear good overall.
Jia Xin’s brief fling with Dylan is also weird in terms of plot development. It feels to me as if they have to stretch the drama a bit longer by throwing in a fling that doesn’t seem to have any romantic notions to it. You wouldn’t even know that they are dating if you don’t follow their conversations closely. Add in Xi Yi’s online persona, Mr. W, and Jia Xin’s emotions seem like a mess to me since she is falling for a stranger she is messaging with while still feeling attached to Xi Yi. Then, she starts dating Dylan who pretends to be Mr. W when all along she has never had any romantic love for him. All these are happening within the last few episodes.
Hence, I think they should have stuck to a simpler plot as the story moves towards its conclusion rather than making it more convoluted than it should. Adding in more things that fall flat doesn’t contribute anything to the storyline to me especially when it is approaching a happy ending.
My Verdict
If you are looking for a rom-com like Intense Love, You Are My Destiny doesn’t belong to that category. But neither is it so melodramatic like Here To Heart. There are some crying scenes but nothing that will weigh you down heavily. If you want fluff and sweetness as well as enjoy a more natural relationship progression, then you are better off watching Love Designer instead.
For this You Are My Destiny review, I’m prepared to give it only a 6.5/10 rating. You can watch it for the Xing Zhao Lin and Liang Jie pairing as this couple have grown very comfortable with each other after working together in the Eternal Love series. Hence, their on-screen interactions are definitely easy on the eyes and they emit a natural couple vibe, more so than Xing Zhao Lin’s pairing with Bai Lu in Lucky’s First Love to me. You can check out some of their scenes in the above clip for a sampling of their chemistry.
However, to enjoy You Are My Destiny, you really have to be able to get into the plot as I don’t think it will resonate easily with everybody. If you absolutely hate two-timing characters, my recommendation would be to drop it and watch something else! And if you are a Liang Jie fan, you can always check out Mr. Honesty which is a slightly better drama in terms of relationship development to me. To be honest , I really regretted watching this drama
In short, Xi Yi is not your typical romantic hero. His behavior in the first half of the drama would not endear him to many. In fact, some may even find him to be a jerk. He got Jia Xin pregnant, forced to marry her, and then kept quiet about the marriage and the fact that he is going to be a father from Anna for a few months. Again, the excuse is he is going to divorce Jia Xin anyway and that such news is better told face-to-face. But then, he also starts to fall for Jia Xin. At some point of the drama, it is as if Xi Yi doesn’t want to give up either woman!
Plot Development (Spoilers Alert!)
Personally, I’m not so judgmental about the morality of the main characters or the lack of it in the story. But as the plot develops and inches towards the last quarter of the drama, it begins to feel lacking in some ways. Xi Yi and Anna seem to be a couple again. But there is no explanation on what makes Xi Yi re-consider his relationship with Anna apart from her refusal to give up. Then, when he meets Jia Xin again, there is a sense of deja vu. He drops Anna in favor of Jia Xin whom he still loves. Xi Yi’s relationship with Anna is never fully explored as she is made to be the evil one for the main characters to appear good overall.
Jia Xin’s brief fling with Dylan is also weird in terms of plot development. It feels to me as if they have to stretch the drama a bit longer by throwing in a fling that doesn’t seem to have any romantic notions to it. You wouldn’t even know that they are dating if you don’t follow their conversations closely. Add in Xi Yi’s online persona, Mr. W, and Jia Xin’s emotions seem like a mess to me since she is falling for a stranger she is messaging with while still feeling attached to Xi Yi. Then, she starts dating Dylan who pretends to be Mr. W when all along she has never had any romantic love for him. All these are happening within the last few episodes.
Hence, I think they should have stuck to a simpler plot as the story moves towards its conclusion rather than making it more convoluted than it should. Adding in more things that fall flat doesn’t contribute anything to the storyline to me especially when it is approaching a happy ending.
My Verdict
If you are looking for a rom-com like Intense Love, You Are My Destiny doesn’t belong to that category. But neither is it so melodramatic like Here To Heart. There are some crying scenes but nothing that will weigh you down heavily. If you want fluff and sweetness as well as enjoy a more natural relationship progression, then you are better off watching Love Designer instead.
For this You Are My Destiny review, I’m prepared to give it only a 6.5/10 rating. You can watch it for the Xing Zhao Lin and Liang Jie pairing as this couple have grown very comfortable with each other after working together in the Eternal Love series. Hence, their on-screen interactions are definitely easy on the eyes and they emit a natural couple vibe, more so than Xing Zhao Lin’s pairing with Bai Lu in Lucky’s First Love to me. You can check out some of their scenes in the above clip for a sampling of their chemistry.
However, to enjoy You Are My Destiny, you really have to be able to get into the plot as I don’t think it will resonate easily with everybody. If you absolutely hate two-timing characters, my recommendation would be to drop it and watch something else! And if you are a Liang Jie fan, you can always check out Mr. Honesty which is a slightly better drama in terms of relationship development to me. To be honest , I really regretted watching this drama
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