Greenlemon
I need to give this 2019 Summer's Desire remake an overall rating of 9 out of 10 and I'm comfortable with it considering that it's only worth that much due to the efforts that the entire cast and production team put in the drama. If I was to judge the drama on anything else, for me it would only merit a 7.5 out of 10 points.
I have watched the 2010 original version and I wasn't overly happy with it, plot, character or acting wise for that matter but somehow I was happier this time around as I thought that in general it was better than the original, a feat that is more often than not, not the case.
Xia Mo, a woman who becomes an orphan with her brother following their parents accidental deaths, re-encounters the two men that had had a huge impact in her life - Luo Xi, who loved her and was jealous of her with her then boyfriend & Ou Chen, the boyfriend who was jealous of the relationship between Xia Mo with Luo Xi - re-creating the love obsession issues that she thought she had left behind.
The tone of this remake was lighter and brighter which contrasted nicely with the saturated, annoying plot and the shenanigans of Luo Xi whom, I could not and still cannot stand. He literally drove me up the wall the entire time! At one point I wanted to scream at my screen to his assistant "can you please get him a psychologist appointment so that he can get over his Xia Mo obsession?" It's too much! He needs to get a life! Truly annoying, the character that Huang Sheng Chi brought nicely to life amidst the ever-present compulsive, dominating, controlling, addicting, tormenting, pathological puppy love of Luo Xi.
Ou Chen, on the other hand stole the show for me as I felt that from all Summer's Desire characters, he was the only one that evolved throughout the series. Yes, he was highly paranoid and devoted to Xia Mo in the beginning but throuought the drama the character grew and grew and grew on screen to become a decent, kind, trusting and warmer human being. That says volumes and the credit is all Qin Jun Jie's.
Yin Xia Mo had no depth whatsoever, regretfully. I was kind of hoping that the script this time around would portray her as a warmer character rather than a bland, insipid persona with barely any noticeable changing facial expressions except those seen in key moments. It's as if Sophie Zhang was asked to model the character 90% of the time and act the other 10%. It didn't really work.
The supporting cast was solid and the love stories were well developed and contextualized. The drama didn't have any accessory characters just there to fill the blanks, which is something that I liked and that I'm grateful for. All had a purpose and advanced the action rather than distracting the viewers from it. The same went for the music that supported all that action well from beginning to end.
Re-watch value, well it's a 6. There are better dramas to re-watch if one wants to watch the main cast in action, albeit separately.
I have watched the 2010 original version and I wasn't overly happy with it, plot, character or acting wise for that matter but somehow I was happier this time around as I thought that in general it was better than the original, a feat that is more often than not, not the case.
Xia Mo, a woman who becomes an orphan with her brother following their parents accidental deaths, re-encounters the two men that had had a huge impact in her life - Luo Xi, who loved her and was jealous of her with her then boyfriend & Ou Chen, the boyfriend who was jealous of the relationship between Xia Mo with Luo Xi - re-creating the love obsession issues that she thought she had left behind.
The tone of this remake was lighter and brighter which contrasted nicely with the saturated, annoying plot and the shenanigans of Luo Xi whom, I could not and still cannot stand. He literally drove me up the wall the entire time! At one point I wanted to scream at my screen to his assistant "can you please get him a psychologist appointment so that he can get over his Xia Mo obsession?" It's too much! He needs to get a life! Truly annoying, the character that Huang Sheng Chi brought nicely to life amidst the ever-present compulsive, dominating, controlling, addicting, tormenting, pathological puppy love of Luo Xi.
Ou Chen, on the other hand stole the show for me as I felt that from all Summer's Desire characters, he was the only one that evolved throughout the series. Yes, he was highly paranoid and devoted to Xia Mo in the beginning but throuought the drama the character grew and grew and grew on screen to become a decent, kind, trusting and warmer human being. That says volumes and the credit is all Qin Jun Jie's.
Yin Xia Mo had no depth whatsoever, regretfully. I was kind of hoping that the script this time around would portray her as a warmer character rather than a bland, insipid persona with barely any noticeable changing facial expressions except those seen in key moments. It's as if Sophie Zhang was asked to model the character 90% of the time and act the other 10%. It didn't really work.
The supporting cast was solid and the love stories were well developed and contextualized. The drama didn't have any accessory characters just there to fill the blanks, which is something that I liked and that I'm grateful for. All had a purpose and advanced the action rather than distracting the viewers from it. The same went for the music that supported all that action well from beginning to end.
Re-watch value, well it's a 6. There are better dramas to re-watch if one wants to watch the main cast in action, albeit separately.
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