cnguyen1031
This review may contain spoilers
Here comes another long review. Sorry guys hahah. Also clearly lots of comparison to the original TW drama.If anyone wasn't sure, this drama is a remake of the original Taiwanese drama "Prince Turns to Frog," which is definitely a classic drama that I highly recommend. There was also a remake in 2009 (I think?) with Tiffany Tang and Roy Chiu. I'm honestly kind of a fan of Xing Fei. I think she's super cute and adorable. Definitely more on the "Idol Actor" side, but I think she is actually pretty good in these types of roles.
Also as a side note, I love PTTF, but couldn't stomach the Tiffany Tang and Roy Chiu remake. I watched maybe 3 episodes and gave up (and I usually like Tiffany Tang as an actress, but something about that drama was meh.)
STORY:
The story has clearly been done before. (1 Taiwanese, 2 mainland China, and also a Korean version - idk if there was a Japanese version). They definitely made some changes to this story for the remake.
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STORY CHANGES
Xu Ze Qian - Specifically splitting the story of the SML (Xu Ze Qian) and actually breaking him up into two characters - XZQ and Tai Chu. Originally, the relationship with Tai Chu and Ye Qian Yu was actually between YQY and XZQ (though not as developed because he was still in love with the SFL). I think that this had some good and bad change to it.
Good - You could tell that TC actually really liked YQY, which created a legitimate love triangle.
Bad - It made XZQ a bit -too- crazy about Fan Yun Yi. His whole story arc and character was built around her one person, whereas in the original, he had a few moments of being able to break away from that. Idk.
Shan Jun Hao's father - This was probably the biggest change that I think affected the story. In the original, SJH's father actually WAS the reason why XZQ's family was broken. So it was completely legitimate for XZQ to hold this huge grudge against the Shan family. In this version, they change it to where it was all manipulated by some former board of directors at Senwell. Personally, I think this change pushed the story into ridiculous Idol Drama world. This was a crucial story line for the original drama that really gave it some depth and some challenge, but here, they turned it into a "the ML's family was actually perfectly good in every way." It just felt like a cop-out to me.
Fan Yun Yi - In the original, she actually has a lot more dramatic things happen to her. Her skin is damaged from a broken glass window; she and SJH actually get married and then she goes a little crazy when she learns that she offered to get a divorce, etc. In this version, they definitely made it much more tame. She falls down some stairs, hits her head, and goes blind for a while, but obviously heals. It just makes the character arc less 3-D. But overall, FYY was a more reasonable character than the original version.
MINOR CHANGES (didn't affect the story as a whole, but things that I think could have been included)
The Piano- in the original drama, the two leads go to this small house that has a piano and a pool in the backyard. These two things I think really helped develop the relationship between the two leads. In PTTF, YQY actually really tried to learn how to play the piano (to honor her deceased mother) and there was more focus on this part of the story, with SJH helping her to learn how to play and them bonding over this. In this version, SJH does help her buy her mother's old piano, but other than that, this storyline just kind of ends.
The Pool - One of the times when YQY really tests SJH's love for her is when she purposely falls into the pool and waits for SJH to save her. This caused a really heart-wrenching moment because he doesn't go to save her. Just another small moment that I think really developed their relationship. In this version, SJH wasn't as cold-hearted in his actions, but more in words. So eh.
CHARACTERS:
Xing Fei's Ye Qian Yu - I think personally that I somewhat liked this version better. YQY actually wasn't as annoying as Chen Qiao En's version was in the beginning. Yes she cared about money, but she actually never did anything too over the top because of it. I think Xing Fei also just shines at these bubbly, cute type of characters. I haven't seen her do much outside of this range, but she's still a new actress.
Jin Ze's Shan Jun Hao - I think honestly SJH was the shining point for me. Not only is the actor very tall and attractive haha, but his acting was actually pretty decent. His acting as SJH and as Tong Hao really showed a versatile performance from him. He was able to really show off the cold-blooded CEO role as well as the naive, bubbly Tong Hao. Hopefully there's more coming from this actor as he's super new as well.
Others - Tai Chu I think was a big fan favorite. He was an all around good guy, rich, beautiful, and really cared for YQY even after he knew he didn't have a shot with her. But in the same thing, there was -nothing- wrong with him, which I think made the story too easy.
None of the other characters -super- stood out for me, personally.
FINAL THOUGHTS - I think it's hard to compete with a classic that has kept its place in so many people's hearts (looking at you Meteor Garden). This version wasn't bad, but it definitely doesn't have the same staying power as the original in my opinion. I think this was a decent remake, but it took the "idol drama" idea and went into overdrive. Everything was just too easy. The characters shined in one aspect, but didn't have enough dimension for me. I've rewatched the original TW version a handful of times just because of how nostalgic it felt and the chemistry between the leads. I can't imagine myself watching this version again because it was just another cutesy idol drama. However, I do think it was good enough for at least one run-through.
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STORY: After rewatching, I definitely still think that the overall screenplay was lacking in a lot of places. The web novel itself definitely has a lot going on (haven't read it), but I feel like the producers didn't translate everything well on TV. There was so much going on and I was only able to understand everything better because I had already watched it through once. Overall, watching it as a whole show didn't give me as much of a dragging feeling that it gave me when I watched it while it aired - so that's definitely a bonus.
ACTING: Again, I always love Zhao Li Ying (but maybe it was from reading a few stories about her not being happy with how things progressed in the show), I felt like I really preferred her when she was still a slave. I feel like her character had much more personality and expression. Yes, the story gets much more serious in the second half, and Chu Qiao is going through a lot, but a lot of her scenes I feel seemed much more emotionless and just plain. And I LOVE ZLY and know she's a great actress, but that was one show that I feel like she didn't give it her all towards the end (again maybe it was a character progression).
Lin Geng Xin - Watching it this time through, I feel like even though YWY was cold on the exterior, I feel like LGX could have done a bit more to show emotions when the times called for it. Towards the end of the show, YWY got more sassy which I'm totally fine with, but his "romantic" scenes with CQ still felt like something was missing for me.
OVERALL: My impression of it was better than it was by the end of the first watch. Overall I still think that there were a lot of places that could be better (mostly storyline and a bit more emotion in acting) Its definitely a show I wouldn't mind watching again at a future date, but I will admit that even though there were some major aspects I didn't like, I'm PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING that they make the second season (With Zhao Li Ying of course) because I've read a few novel synopses and I need to know what happens in the rest of the story T_T.
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**I watched PA as it was airing over the course of a month or so, so I definitely don't remember EVERYTHING that happened, but just what I remember feeling at the end of it**
STORY:
I began watching about two weeks into the show airing, so the first 10 or so episodes I got to binge and watch all at once (my preference is to binge watch cause I don't forget what happened earlier in the show cause I would have just watched recently).
-The beginning of the story - great, fabulous, and captivating. I loved watching her learn how to be a skilled assassin (from YWY at least) and the slow relationship building between them and everyone else in her life. The bad guys were (sometimes) obnoxiously bad, but apparently that's really how things were in those times.
-By the middle of the drama (before everything with Yan Xun's family), things were still looking good. Chu Qiao/Xing Er was better trained and now actually using the skills she had learned.
-After everything that happens with Yan Xun's family (using that as the turning point), everything seemed to go downhill story wise. Suddenly everything was starting to combust and it was ridiculously hard to keep track of what was going on. (I'm honestly still not 100% sure what happened with Chu Qiao and the events before the story began (the past she forgot)). I kept watching daily to keep up with the show, but (and I'll attribute part of it to me not being able to binge it all at once) it really felt completely disorganized and it seemed to lose focus by the end of the show.
-By the middle-end half of the show, I had completely forgotten that Chu Qiao was originally Yu Wen Yue's slave and whatnot because there was just so much going on that I had forgotten the foundation of the story.
ACTING:
**I honestly don't think any of the actors were bad, but the characters lost points for me due to bad script**
-Zhao Li Ying is my favorite actress (at the moment, but at least for the next few years). Her acting is honestly always great to me. She is great at the cutesy innocent girl with a naive heart (Boss & Me). She was amazing as a hardworking and smart - though super stubborn - female (Legend of Lu Zhen). And she was great as a witty, cunning, and calculative double agent (Rookie Agent Rouge). She still excelled here for me as a trained assassin and super loyal companion in Chu Qiao Zhuan.
-Lin Geng Xin - I've only seen him in BBJX, but my friend (who I was watching the drama with) had high hopes for him, so I obviously did too. He did a decent job as Yu Wen Yue. Fairly standard "intelligent but cold" male lead. However, (and yes this is mostly due to script issues), he essentially became a background character by the second half. When he actually had screen time, it wasn't super captivating and memorable, so his character really felt lifeless to me by the second half.
-Shawn Dou - absolutely loved him in the first half as the loyal but carefree Prince, by the end he was just another character who kept abusing Chu Qiao's loyalty to him (which obviously makes me dislike him xD). Acting wise, again he did the best with what the script gave him.
**Special Shout Outs**
-Deng Lun !! - my friend was raving about him before he even made an appearance and I wasn't really sure why (hadn't seen him in anything else yet). His character was honestly great. Super awesome comedic timing and really memorable as Xiao Ce. (Loved him so much from this that I watched Because of Meeting You specifically for him).
-Niu Jun Feng (Prince Song) - Adorable in Love O2O and adorable in this too. He was great as the side character who had feelings for the main lead (but never really had a shot lol). In the later half of the series, he did a great job with the serious story lines he had to deal with.
REWATCH VALUE:
Now that the whole series is aired (and subbed) I'll honestly probably go back to rewatch it once just to a) be able to see the whole drama in entirety and maybe be able to keep up with the plot better and b) go back and see if maybe understanding the plot better will give me a better outlook on the drama and c) to listen to the soundtrack over and over (it's already downloaded onto my phone) and sing along.
I might update this once I've rewatched to see if anything changes.
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STORY:
The story honestly is fairly simple. There's no crazy twists and turns. Not a ton of plotting and backstabbing, etc. It really just is a very simple and beautiful telling of two people falling in love and growing together.
The super fun twists that I think most people enjoyed were the great transitions between real life and the gaming world. Definitely something refreshingly new that gave you the best of a modern drama with sprinklings of wu xia.
I really appreciated that even though there were other people who had feelings for the main leads, you never really got the feeling that something could come in the way of the two leads. They just had a pure relationship that was based on similar interests and general good chemistry - not because they were forced together by circumstances or one of them was love lost and then they found each other.
They both honestly enjoyed each other's company and felt very natural with one another. It's really not something you get all the time.
Very well paced out and never felt rushed or lagging at any part.
ACTING:
Yang Yang - Xiao Nai - Wow. What a great performance. Yes, his name was already ringing in circles after Dream of Red Mansions, Lost Tomb, etc. But I would definitely say this drama catapulted him into stardom. Xiao Kai had the tropes of a standard male lead - well off, smart, super popular, beautiful, somewhat introverted - but Yang Yang definitely did a fabulous job making Xiao Nai break past the standard topes and bring about those cute swooning moments that girls (who were really the target audience) love to see in dramas. Every interaction was playful but serious. The kiss scenes and other romance scenes were really mostly due to him.
Zheng Shuang - Bei Wei Wei - While she did a decent job in her role - very smart and hardworking, but still shy and cutesy at times - she was definitely overshadowed by Yang Yang in this drama. Most dramas I watch, I almost always feel like the female lead overshadows the male leads (especially when the story is more revolved around the girl), but Yang Yang was definitely the one driving this performance. The romance scenes, Zheng Shuang was like a wooden board at times (which many other people have critiqued). Being new to a relationship is understandable, but even further into their relationship, it was Yang Yang doing 75% of the work. She's been a very popular actress lately, but I honestly don't really think she's all that great. She does cutesy very well, but I don't feel like she's broken past that yet.
Xiao Nai's Friends - Great chemistry between them all. I think they all did a great job with their respective characters. Hou Zi was the flattest character of the three, for me, but wasn't bad by any standard. Yu Ban Shan and Hao Mei did great jobs showing off their characters' personalities and the loyalty they had to Xiao Nai and each other.
Wei Wei's Friends - Only Mao Xiao Tong (Zhao Er Xi) really had enough screen time to be a developed character, so she gets props for portraying Er Xi's happy go lucky character so well. The other two were good in terms of being the friends, but definitely didn't get a chance to show off much of their acting skills.
REWATCH VALUE:
I've already rewatched it a bunch of times, so obviously worth a rewatch. Even though you know the whole story, it's still cute and romantic enough to be a good rebound after a super lengthy period drama or a very serious and dramatic show. It doesn't really get boring for me because even though it's not something you have to pay a ton of attention to to understand, it's not really a brainless show that you just play in the background either.
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This review may contain spoilers
After almost two or three years of waiting, the coveted sequel to Ten Miles of Peach Blossom finally premiered! My personal favorite OTP from TMOPB - Bai Feng Jiu and Dong Hua - were brought back together and we finally get to see the full story for the adorable 9-tailed red fox and the (essentially) creator of the heavens. Overall I'd say this was a super cute drama and it was filled with a lot of good bits for the fans, but I will say it doesn't quite measure up to the first season of TMOPB.*** SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW**** (Also sorry this review is pretty long)
STORY:
Knowing the cutesy personality for BJF (and also her actress Dilraba) I expected this to be overall cutesy, with a bit of "drama" towards the end. That was exactly what we got. We see the development of the relationship between BFJ and DH from their first meeting to the end. I think overall there was a good progression of their relationship, and I liked that the ML didn't immediately fall in love with the FL (it would be totally against DH's character to do so). I think we could see how this relationship turned from that picture- perfect crush on the "knight in shining armor" to an actual love strengthened by situations and sacrifice. I think the writers did well with giving us enough cutesy scenes without overdoing it on the romance plot.
For the story with Miao Luo (big bad), I feel like it was a pretty predictable story line and honestly, even as big and bad as she was, I feel like her presence didn't really disrupt the lives of the leads (until the end really). So I think her story of being essentially caged up the whole time, didn't really let the audience feel what a "big bad" she really was supposed to be. (Though thinking back, I'd say the same thing for the big bad in the first TMOPB). The whole situation wrapped up in a nice bow in the final episode, so meh. This was supposed to be a romance-forward drama anyways.
I think there were some story points, for me specifically the "Aranya's Dream" story point (granted I was watching in Chinese with no subtitles, so it was a bit easier for me to get confused about some stuff), but I think that section of the story kind of dragged a bit for my preferences.
Story overall was pretty predictable and really no major confrontations throughout. Everyone had a clean, happy ending. But I think this drama did really well with character development to make up for the average storyline.
CHARACTERS:
Feng Jiu - Mentioning character development, I think we definitely saw a HUGE change for BFJ's character. She was able to grow, mature, and strengthen herself (while still being able to keep some of her original playful personality). I personally really like Dilraba and think that BFJ is one of her best characters. (From watching her on Running Man and Go Fighting, I'd say BFJ is very similar to Dilraba's actual personality)
Dong Hua - gonna admit, I kind of liked DH better in TMOPB for the very cold, cool personality he had. It makes sense that you'd get a change in personality when he has more room to develop, but I feel like both characters being somewhat "childish" is kind of meh for me. Though I think it was a good contrast for his original personality of being such an "ice-face". Vengo Gao did a decent job with this portrayal, particularly with the cutesy scenes, but I think his "cold exterior" was better portrayed in the first season.
Others - Gonna be real, the writers ruined Ji Heng for me. She started off so well and they made her into one of the typical crazy romance enemies and then just meh. By the end, I was skipping through her scenes cause I couldn't really root for her relationship with Xiao Yan after how ridiculous she was meddling in BFJ and DH's relationship. She was madly in love with her bodyguard, and then madly in love with DH, and now I'm supposed to believe she's in love with Xiao Yan for real? Idk. Fickle.
Xiao Yan - originally thought he was pretty annoying, but clearly he turned out to be a solid friend to everyone, so I liked him by the end. Glad he got a happy ending - though don't care for Ji Heng obviously.
OVERALL:
Cutesy drama with good chemistry from the lead actors. Overall isn't my favorite drama as it was just too easy (story wise) and there didn't feel like there was any real conflict throughout the show. But it's definitely a cute romance when you need it.
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This review may contain spoilers
STORY:Compared to the first season, I actually really enjoyed this story line a lot more (and from start to finish). Even with the time traveling and multiple versions of characters and whatnot, it still made sense to me in the long run and overall had more fluidity than the first season did. I think after the cult success of the first season, and the hesitance for people to watch second seasons, it was overall good and worth it.
At first, I was thinking it would spend more time in the modern world, which would have been nice, but honestly I prefer historical dramas anyways, so I didn't have an issue with it traveling back to Dong Yue. Minus a few scenes throughout the episodes (the fridge falling out of nowhere and crushing the car as an example). things flowed well and made logical (using the term loosely) sense.
I think the use of the additional actor as the "other" 8th prince made the drama a lot better because they didn't have to use as much CGI and it was less for Xing Zhao Lin to have to deal with. He also brought different elements to the story which I enjoyed.
The romance was full on from the first minute, which is what I was expecting. I appreciated that this go around, as crazy as he was, that the eldest prince wholeheartedly loved Tan'er and never gave up on her. I actually sympathized more with him this time around because he actually fought to be with her from the beginning.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the "mystical land" plot line towards the end of the first season, so even though it was mentioned throughout this season, it didn't interrupt the story line like it did in the first season.
ACTING:
I think by this season, all of the actors had more experience on hand. I also like that they were able to bring back all of the same actors from the first season, so there weren't any weird changes throughout and having to explain who this new actor was that was supposed to be the same character.
The leads were still super cute and I think have good chemistry with each other. Xing Zhao Lin, even though he had some help not having to act as both 8th princes the whole time, was really good with keeping the two princes distinct from one another. There were a few times that you weren't sure which prince it was, but that was more of small writing issues IMO.
Liang Jie was a bit less spunky this time around. Maybe it was a writing thing, or just because she didn't have to act like Tan'er and Xiao Tan, so she didn't exaggerate the differences as much, but overall I think she was still good.
REWATCH:
Luckily The Eternal Love 1+2 aren't super long dramas (27 and 30 eps, around 35 mins each), so it's a quick watch. It's also a very cutesy and comedic romance drama with a bit of standard imperial court drama, so overall it's easy to throw in when you need something light and cute to watch. Overall would probably watch it again.
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This review may contain spoilers
You guys. This drama was SO CUTE. I honestly had no idea what to expect when I first started watching. I read the summary and thought it seemed interesting, but really did not expect what ended up happening on this show. Literally it was the perfect web-drama. It knew that it was a low-budget, young actor filled drama - and it didn't let those things be its downfall, but actually used those downfalls to make the show even funnier and cuter.This drama is the PERFECT CURE for such a terrible 2020. Absolutely recommend watching.
Story / Characters:
The basis of the story has a mix of traditional rom-com story lines, but it adds in its own twists that make it pretty interesting. I've heard that there's another C-drama that had a similar set up, but I hadn't watched it. The idea that the FL goes into her own story and becomes a side character who was meant to die, and ends up becoming the heroine of her story is a bit complex in theory, but it was fun to watch.
In all honestly, everyone can tell this is a low-budget production. The story honestly has a LOT of gaps and holes that don't make sense. (Particularly the ending that I'll get to later.) But I think the majority of the audience watching this drama was watching for the cute scenes and adorable moments between the leads, more than for a ridiculously complicated story line.
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I like the twist they added of the script's FL actually becoming the villain in the story, but I think by the end, it really got annoying for me personally. I always hate the types of stories where EVERYTHING bad that happens to the villain is "because of the lead." It's just overdone and ridiculous. I can't imagine how else they'd write this storyline though.
2FL Chen Qu Qu - But particularly with the 2nd princess, Chu Chu, I just don't understand her motives by the end. The whole time, she wanted to become the leader of the city and get the power. But she finds out about her actual birth and then gives up the city leader position to be in charge of the army? I guess for the purpose of power, it kind of makes sense, but eh. Also I feel like the 2nd princess' stories were really the most lacking for me. Why was she in love with Han Shuo? Just because. They never actually spent any time together and they had no special moments together for her to actually fall of him. By the end of the story, Chu Chu got angry anytime people mentioned Qian Qian, and yet she was the one that continued to bring Qian Qian into the mess. At this point, she had already left Hua Yuan and went to Xuan Hu. She could have just let her stay there and lived separate lives. BUT then the story wouldn't have an actual ending.
Main Leads (Chen Qian Qian and Han Shuo) - I think there's no secret that the biggest reason this show is so popular is because of the two leads. They have super cute chemistry and they played off of each others actings very well. There were a good amount of cute scenes, but honestly, I definitely got annoyed with the triangle plot with Pei Heng.
2ML Pei Heng - Ugh. Another character I really didn't care for. I honestly didn't like the 2nd leads for this relentless, yet illogical "love" they had for the lead characters. PH's character in the story originally hated CQQ and had no reason to fall in love with her. And yet, just because they wanted some drama in love land, they had PH become obsessed with being with CQQ. His actual character was just the standard "nice guy", but he did have his moments of essentially betraying CQQ and trying to kill HS. Meh.
OVERALL:
Even with all the negatives of this show, I'd definitely still recommend this. It's a short drama - only 24 episodes (super short for China) and I think that if you want to watch a cute, romantic comedy, that this is the perfect one to fill your time. I honestly skipped through a lot (mostly the Eldest Princess' scenes cause I just didn't care), but it was still a super cute drama that I think is worth a watch.
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Fifteen Years to Wait for Migratory Birds
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Going into this show, I really didn't particularly care for the premise of the show; really assuming that I was gonna get annoyed that it took 15 years for them to figure their lives out. Even by a reality standpoint that seems like way too long of a time to not be able to understand what you want in life. For the most part, I agree that the "15 years" seems like too long - especially when it's somewhat not even true. The drama shows their lives from when they are 14 years old as freshmen in high school up through the next 15 years of their lives as they graduate, go to college, find jobs, form relationships, etc. Overall it's a very nice coming of age type story, but there are still issues I had with certain storylines.
I'm not sure why they decided to choose the premise that Li Li (Sun Yi) had low self esteem because she didn't think she was pretty. Honestly I think Sun Yi is adorable, but even if it was a character's background, it seems like the ONLY PERSON who thought she wasn't pretty was Li Li herself. It was never a plot point for any other characters, so it just doesn't make sense to me that she had such low self esteem and that none of her friends ever noticed it or tried to help her with her confidence. Everyone has issues with certain parts of their lives, but for it to impact her in such a major way and yet no one else ever gave any signs that they felt the same way - it just didn't seem super plausible.
I definitely think the way their relationship progressed was a newer and somewhat realistic way of falling in love. They showed it very well how they started off disliking each other and why they became such great friends. Many times with dramas, the main pair falls in love with each other after just a few months of knowing each other and sometimes you can't really understand why (though you root for them anyways). 15 years I think showcased that very well.
My biggest issue really was towards the end of the drama - when Li Li leaves Pei Shang Xuan and just disappears for 7 years. It's understandable why the character would do so - it's a trope thats been done before, so whatever - but overall I think it just felt super rushed and all of a sudden she and Liu Qian Ren are getting married. I know that he always had feelings for her, but it didn't make sense to me that Li Li wouldn't give him any indication otherwise that she clearly did not have the same love for him. At no point either did it seem to clarify that they had begun dating in any type of way during this 7 year period - only that he was taking care of her this whole time, but all of a sudden he's telling his dad that he is going to care for her and marry her. Meh. (Side note: I really love Deng Lun and still like his character, just the progression of their relationship seemed weird to me). And then the final episode just seemed like a waste to me. I don't mind open endings, but this particular one left too many other questions for me that I wanted answered. They spent the majority of it on a quick recap of their 15 years and then it was basically just over.
Overall I did enjoy the story and while it was all relatively obvious what was going to happen, it was still a cute, well done story of kids growing up and going through all the things that can happen in life.
ACTING:
Sun Yi and Deng Lun honestly are becoming some of my favorite younger actors. I've seen them together in Because of You which I really loved (aside from some plot issues, which still didn't impact their chemistry). I've seen them in their various other dramas, and I think they always give off pretty solid results. Overall fan of the both.
The other actors in the drama overall were fairly average for me. I didn't particularly like or dislike anyone. (Though I really wasn't a huge fan of Li Jun, but meh). I did like Zhang Xue Ying - she did a decent job in Summer's Desire - but her character was never going to be one that I think people really cared for, but overall I think she did well.
REWATCH:
Most likely wouldn't rewatch this drama again. It's not a bad one to watch the first time around. The story was fairly basic, it had most of your standard modern drama tropes involved. But that's normally my feeling about most modern dramas. There's much less you can do with the story before it becomes obnoxious or over the top. I actually had a fairly good ending feeling about it compared to other modern dramas I've seen, but it's not one you really need to see over and over again (mostly because again it's not much different than other dramas of its type).
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It's really so hard to review this drama for me because while I really liked it for many parts, there were some major story lines that I just couldn't get over. Essentially both of the mothers were terrible people for the most part, but they try to throw in redeeming points here and there, that yes, you eventually are ok with them, but for 90% of the drama you're just like "WTF?"
I get that the whole idea was that Zhang Guo Guo/Jin Yi Bei's mom was supposed to be this power hungry person who just wanted to be the best, but throughout the drama, the way that the mom treated her and whatnot, since she didn't know who Guo Guo really was, was just ridiculous. Yes, the mom eventually redeems herself in the end, but you really spend the whole drama being confused because she's being such a terrible person that you dislike, but at the same time, it's her biological mother who you obviously want to reunite with her daughter.
Secondly, the way that Guo Guo's adopted mother treats her and Zhang Yu Xin is just ridiculous. Yes, biology matters, but I can't believe that ALL OF THE TERRIBLE THINGS (not just bad or mean, TERRIBLE) that Yu Xin does, her mom is always making up excuses and trying to cover up for her and whatnot. I'd do anything for my future children as well, but this was just unbelievable at times. Yes, Yu Xin probably had a hard time growing up in the first few years of her life, but that's seriously not an excuse for how lenient her mom was with her and how ridiculous she was to Guo Guo who was very filial to this adopted mom.
It's really hard to get past those two things because they weave into everything that happens the entire show and it really makes you question how ridiculous things are gonna get, but at the same time, the relationship between Guo Guo and Yun Kai is just so freaking cute that you keep watching.
ACTING:
Sun Yi - First time seeing her in a drama and thought she did a really good job. Her character was cute and adorable when needed and was hardworking and strong at other points. Thought that her acting seemed realistic and not overly ridiculous (at least in relation to how ridiculous the story was at times).
Deng Lun - Really the reason I even watched the drama. I think it goes to show what a great job he does as an actor that just watching him in a handful of episodes of Princess Agents made me want to watch this drama for him. He did a great job showing off the sides of Yun Kai and delving into the storylines that he had.
This is another one of the dramas where I can't give an honest review of how the other actors did because I just though the story lines and whatnot were just ridiculous at times, so I can't decide if the acting was bad or I just disliked the writing so much at times that I hated the characters.
REWATCH VALUE:
Throw it up there with the other dramas that are great as a cute buffer in-between lengthy or serious dramas. I haven't rewatched it yet (I just watched it through the first time a few months ago), so it's not up on my list of dramas to rewatch soon, but I could definitely see myself jumping in again, if anything to watch the interactions between the main leads.
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Generally the plot for me kind of failed? The biggest storylines include the romance between Tong Wei and Xiao Fei, Tong Wei trying to clear her father's name (and her career at CAEA), and Xiao Fei's family business. While everything was addressed and covered, it just didn't seem to flow smoothly throughout the series and the show didn't really captivate me enough to want to care.
-Romance wise - things seemed moderately realistic. Tong Wei is this super successful, young woman who has tons of people falling for her, but she doesn't show interest in anyone until this rebel, bad boy, etc etc. Xiao Fei shows up in her life and shows that he's more than he's let on. During their relationship, I really just felt like things were not that compatible between the two. I can understand why story wise they'd fall for each other, but just their general personalities definitely collided (which is obvious by the fights and whatnot that happen), but there was never a moment that I was like "oh yeah, these two are made for each other." Also as "strong" of a woman Tong Wei was supposed to be, I feel like once she and Xiao Fei got together, she definitely lost a lot of that "strong" ness and got pushed around by Xiao Fei A LOT.
- CAEA - the whole point of Tong Wei working so hard to become who she was was two sided - 1) to meet a higher up at CAEA's New York office and find out what happened with her father 2) To work with Jonathan - the person who inspired her to become a Negotiator. While both of these main points were eventually addressed, it just seemed like things were crammed into the last few episodes and things didn't progress smoothly.
- X Group - Xiao Fei's family business story line was fairly predictable. The heir to the business who wants nothing to do with it, the overworking father who dedicates everything in his life to the business, the scheming family member who wants to take over, etc. Nothing mind-blowing here
ACTING:
Yang Mi - this being her first drama post Eternal Love, I'm sure a lot of people had high hopes for her because Eternal Love was such a huge success. Honestly, while she didn't do a bad job, there was nothing noteworthy about this role. Her character starts off being a strong business oriented Negotiator, but as the story progresses, her personality becomes much more muted and she loses a lot of the fire in her that makes people like her at the beginning.
Zi Tao - I never really listened to EXO so this was my first exposure to him. I think his acting was good, but I didn't really care for his character's personality - so I'm not sure if that falls under him or the screenwriters. His character was that typical "I get what I want" kind of person and yes he has a soft side that's very loyal and caring, but he was way too pushy for me throughout the show (literally he would push and pull Tong Wei around when he'd put his arm around her). I think for both of the characters having very strong personality traits, Zi Tao could have dialed it back a bit because eventually his character definitely overtook Tong Wei's character and in a lot of instances she fell into the background.
Other Characters: honestly I think the only characters I didn't mind were Shang Bi Chen and Tian Tian (after Tong Wei and Xiao Fei get together, because before that she was super annoying). Most of the other characters were all just pushy and and obnoxious (Tian Yu and Chen Xi especially). Normally there's at least one or two side characters that I really like and here they were all just meh for me.
REWATCH:
I honestly probably wouldn't rewatch this drama. Overall it wasn't a bad drama, but it was just kind of mindless almost? It's not hard to follow and there's no crazy twists and turns that make you freak out. It's just a fairly generic romance/business drama. Not a must watch, but it's a good way to pass a few days/week
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Casting wise, I absolutely loved everyone. You know that you have great writing and actors when you sincerely hate someone, because that is so much harder to do than to love a character. No one was annoying, as in many other dramas I've seen, and they all seemed to work very hard to fit the personalities of their character.
Music is beautiful. I absolutely love the different songs in the OST.
I've actually already rewatched it in the past year and a half, so that has to count for something.
Definitely a must see. Ariel Lin and William Feng are really amazing together and its great to see where the characters end up.
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This review may contain spoilers
I went into this only really knowing the FL - Janice Wu. I know the stories she usually picks and the characters she usually plays, so I had a pretty good idea of what this drama would be - it was exactly what I imagined. Also sorry my reviews are always really long hahaha.STORY:
This drama hit basically all the high points of your common rom-com mixed with drama stories. Couple dislikes each other at the beginning, someone goes out of their way to make the other person's life miserable. There's fighting, laughing, crying, etc. I think that in terms of the story, it was a pretty basic drama.
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I think this drama excelled at adding the strong goals of each of the characters. Everyone had their own personal dream to accomplish and worked their hardest to achieve their individual goals while also helping their friends and loved ones achieve their own. This part, I think was rather enjoyable to watch. On the negative side, however, this makes the show even more unrealistic. All of the main characters in the show not only had a strong dream, but they were also perfectly adapted to achieve those goals with little in the way of stopping them.
While the story does show failures and injuries that slow them down, it still felt a little unrealistic to me. The FL is one of the best at her sport and even after taking almost 2 years off after an almost fatal injury, she returns and is one of the top athletes after just a few months (legit like 4 months because this first happens in their first semester of school). It's just unreasonable to me.
Regardless of that, I still think the story was enjoyable. It moved along fairly fast, even though 40 episodes is a decently long drama (especially contemporary).
Another low point to the story? WAY TOO MANY SIDE PLOTS. By the end of the drama there's like 4-5 fully fledged relationships that come out. Every character (minus Yu Yan) end up with a significant other (even the "bad guys"). Again, super unrealistic, but it's a romantic dramedy. I honestly skipped through a bit of this TV show, mostly through the side character plots. It was just a bit much.
Now getting to the bad guys in the story. I think the point of the show was to show that even "bad characters" can come around. They showed that part well enough. But honestly the "bad guys" - namely Bian Cheng and Zhou Ran - were hardly bad enough to even be a bad guy. I'd call them fairly annoying at most. They disrupted the MLs lives enough to be annoying, but weren't bad enough to actually be threatening. Bian Cheng especially. He was so ridiculously set on his goal to be with Tang Xue, but they never talk about WHY he actually "likes" her. Meh.
CHARACTERS:
Tang Xue - The leads I think were pretty solid. I really like Janice Wu in general, so she definitely hit the right points with me. She was able to be pretty badass in this drama. A much stronger character than others she's played. Her character was refreshing for me because it's rare that a FL is so powerful and outspoken.
Li Yu Bing - This was my first drama for this actor. At first I was not super into his acting. Mostly because the producers had the adult leads portray the "child" versions of them in some flashbacks. It was cute and funny, but it kind of ruined my image of LYB haha.
Others - none of the other characters ridiculously stood out for me honestly. There was also just too much focus on all of them.
OVERALL:
This was a decent drama. It's fairly popular in China for this year and there were no major issues, minus some story lines / character development. I think that I wouldn't watch it again, personally, because it really wasn't THAT different from any other drama. The chemistry between the leads was ok, but not mind blowing. Decent for a one time watch (with some skipping), but I wouldn't rewatch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Story:This story was so weird to me? The FL believes she has a curse where her confessions will always fail (she's confessed like 30 times by the beginning of the story) because of something that happened when she was a teenager. (Which when you watch the actual "memory" happen, you realize she had ZERO to do with the situation, minus being in the vicinity.)
Fast forward to the actual story, you have the FL who wants to become a store window designer, the ML who is a TV producer, with major insomnia, the SML, who is overall a rich, attractive, good guy, and the SFL, who is kind of a badass, but is a bit ridiculous when it comes to guys.
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The plot was pretty standard, modern romance. Nothing that really stood out to me. What mostly doesn't make sense to me is that the FL originally really likes the SML, but when he starts reciprocating, she just . . . doesn't . . . anymore? It just wasn't really addressed more than just her saying "I just don't like him that way" even though she was super into him when they first meet.
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Regardless, the SML doesn't turn into some evil, bad guy (which I thought might happen when they revealed his true identity), but actually stays a good guy who helps the leads get together. Same with the SFL. She could've been a liar/backstabber, but they kept her a good person as well. The actual story wasn't super memorable to me really. It was really just a pretty standard C-drama, again a bit unrealistic, but not terrible.
Characters:
Overall decent job. Bridgette Qiao was basic cutesy FL, no major acting achievements. Timmy Xu was the best part for me, I think. He did a good job showing the different parts of his character and kept it fairly realistic. The SML and SFL were also pretty good also. No one that annoyed the hell out of me.
Rewatch value:
Not something I'd ever plan to rewatch. It just wasn't anything super special or unique. The chemistry wasn't that amazing either, so no specific reason to watch again.
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I remember physically watching the TW Summer's Desire in 2010, but honestly didn't remember having any particularly good or bad memories of it. As I watched the remake, certain main plot points (more towards the beginning) made me remember the original version, but overall I was essentially watching this as a brand new drama. The story itself is a fairly basic domineering alpha male who gets jealous because of a new guy that joins the female lead's family - as a starter at least. Eventually the change into present day with Xia Mo trying to enter the entertainment business, etc. obviously adds some new elements to a somewhat familiar story. While I didn't dislike the story in general, I do think that certain areas felt unnatural or just weird to me. Basically the development of all the relationships.
Normally when I watch dramas I can see the buildup of the relationship or at least the turning point when you realize that they truly care for each other. I honestly don't get that from this story. I don't remember when Xia Mo actually started to care for Luo Xi romantically (which makes it hard for me root for the relationship). And I don't remember the turning point for when she gets together with Ou Chen (the actual one yes, but not the emotional one). And even with that, by the end of the drama I didn't feel like she ACTUALLY cared for the person she ended up with, but more that the drama writers just decided "this is the OTP, so just go with it." I think part of that leans on the writing/directing of the drama, but the rest is probably more on the acting.
ACTING:
Zhang Xue Ying - I think I enjoyed ZXY's acting overall, but had issues with her character (which is a common issue I seem to have with dramas lol.) Her character was never a very openly showy/emotional type of person, so her somewhat coldness, I think ZXY did a good job at portraying (whether or not she was supposed to, idk). For the most part, because Xia Mo was a more reserved person, it seems a bit hard to judge ZXY fairly because if you don't understand the character, she just seems a bit lifeless and emotionless at times. She gave me a good impression overall though and I most likely will watch her other dramas in the future.
Qin Jun Jie - I have somewhat of a bias because I didn't really care for Peter Ho in the original TW drama, so I think that leaned over into this drama of me not caring for Ou Chen as a character. Overall I just can't get behind Ou Chen's personality. The alpha, domineering rich guy is not a new role, but something about Ou Chen specifically I just really dislike. I think this bias against the character really biased me against QJJ's acting honestly because I skipped through most of his scenes, so sorry Qin Jun Jie. Maybe I can give you a more fair review from another drama in the future.
Huang Sheng Chi - In the original drama and in this one as well, I definitely preferred Luo Xi over Ou Chen. From the beginning, he had that mysteriousness and suaveness to him, but obviously still had his faults. Comparing HSC to Huang Xiao Ming, I think HSC was much more lacking. Whether it's because of his youth or the writing, This Luo Xi just felt very childish at times and didn't have that weird pull that HXM had in the original drama. Did he do a bad job? No, I honestly rooted for Luo Xi and Xia Mo more than Xia Mo and Ou Chen, so I think he was fine, but again, maybe it's a youth thing that I just didn't really LOVE his acting, but didn't hate it by any means.
REWATCH/OVERALL:
I honestly probably wouldn't rewatch this drama. It wasn't bad by any means, but the story itself isn't one I particularly care for. I definitely have a bias towards historical/wu Xia dramas (because they always have so much more going on), but this wasn't a bad modern drama by any means. I do think overall this younger cast of characters didn't have the emotional pull that the more experienced 2010 TW cast had, so if you liked the story, I'd probably recommend the TW version over this new remake.
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I'm normally not a huge fan of modern dramas (preferring historical since they tend to have much more going on plot wise - romance, drama, politics, scheming, etc.) because they pretty much all end up being about the same. Here to Heart falls under that same fairly basic formula for modern dramas.
STORY:
Overall while everything that was going on in the plot seemingly had logic to it - why they broke up, why they had miscommunications, why they couldn't get back together, etc. - it really just played out as overdramatic and nonsensical to me. I get that Wen Nuan (Janine Chang) is supposed to be this super loving character who really cares for the people around her (pretty stereotypical honestly) but it just doesn't make sense to me that all of this occurred when it probably could've been solved with some hefty conversations. Idk.
Even the storyline of what happened to her father - and her subsequent mental issues - I just don't see how they thought it would make more sense to keep that huge event hidden from her - as if she would never find out about it and continue to have mental problems relating to it. It just seemed like the whole drama was a series of the characters putting bandaids on bullet wounds the entire time. Every problem that occurred - major or minor - they just had the worst ways of going about dealing with said issues - which then made things even worse.
For the most part, the story was super meh to me. Nothing was outstanding or super memorable. It was just all very standard modern business drama/romance.
Acting:
Janine Chang - Wen Nuan - I think I disliked more how the character was written, moreso than Janine's acting. She was supposed to be this really smart and capable employee, but then her downfalls were being a TERRIBLE COMMUNICATOR and causing all of these emotional problems for basically everyone involved. There wasn't much about her character that was special to me. She was kind, hardworking, loving, etc. I also just think she was a fairly weak person, not really being able to stand up for herself and just kind of getting pushed along a lot of times.
Zhang Han - Nan Xian - As mentioned, he's just another basic rich guy CEO. He's loving, he's smart, he's loyal, etc. There was just nothing special about the characters that I remember. Zhang Han has done this type of character before, so nothing to phone home about.
OVERALL:
I honestly spent a lot of this drama just skipping through the scenes (which I rarely do). When I was watching it, there was nothing about it that was screaming - OMG THIS IS AMAZING - to me. It was just a lot of average everything. Story was not super memorable. Acting was fine. Production was fine as well.
I don't really see myself ever rewatching this. As for if you should watch it at all? It wasn't a terrible drama, but it's not a must see by any means.
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I'll preface this by mentioning I had watched the C-drama remake of this before watching the original. The original version, in my opinion, definitely outranked the remake. While I definitely enjoyed both versions, the Korean version was much better at keeping things flowing and interesting with no parts of it feeling draggy or annoying. The story itself is intriguing for sure - time traveling scholar who falls in love with a modern day girl, but really, I think my favorite part of the whole drama was the main actress.
ACTING:
Yoo In Na - really shined for me as the bright star of this drama. Her bubbly and adorable disposition was so fitting for this drama, but she nailed her sad and emotional scenes as well. Especially compared to Zheng Shuang (C-drama lead), you moved past the cute, pretty girl, and really got a great personality out of the K-drama version. She was funny, sarcastic, strong headed at times, etc. She felt like a real person and not just a cookie cutter main lead.
Ji Hyun Woo - honestly a little hit or miss for me at times. Overall I liked him as an actor and he did a good job, but there were many times watching him that he just had this odd facial expression and you couldn't tell if he was happy, sad, etc. A few moments, I think his timing was a little off - he'd take too long to reply or react to something, and it made me feel a little awkward at times. Overall though, especially towards the end when he was more accustomed to the modern world, he definitely became a good partner for Yoo In Na.
Kim Jin Woo - small shoutout to Han Dong Min because he really did a great job as well. He was great being the playful playboy, but you could feel his sincerity at wanting to get back together with Choi Hee Jin. And his scenes where he gets angry felt real and not like he was acting, which is a bonus.
REWATCH:
I'd definitely rewatch this one again sometime soon. It's only 16 episodes so nothing too hard to get finished in a few days, and honestly it's a well balanced drama that has its funny and entertaining moments as well as sad and emotional moments.
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