Murder, Evil Masterplans, and Warmhearted Camaraderie

Excuse me as I lie in a puddle of my love for these three dorks.

The best part of this drama is undoubtedly the three MLs and their friendship/relationships with each other. They are the essence of the drama and why it’s so enjoyable. Li Lianhua, the clever, seemingly apathetic pathological liar (liarhua. Okay sorry) who would rather plant vegetables than return to his previous glory. Fang Duobing, the hotheaded, endearingly loyal young detective who never knows what’s going on. Di Feisheng, the arrogant, snarky enemy-turned-frenemy who is seemingly both selfish and selfless.

It’s their chaotic fights and witty banters and Fang Duobing being constantly tricked that define this drama and make it so comforting. But Li Lianhua also forms such precious relationships with the other two MLs: friendship with Fang Duobing and vague friendship/frenemyship with Di Feisheng. Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng are both so in love with Li Lianhua, and I mean, same. But all jokes aside, this drama served me exactly what I had been looking for—beautiful platonic relationships that go just as deep as romantic ones do.

Only (personal) complaint in regards to the character dynamics is that I wish Di Feisheng got more time with the other MLs. The drama was more focused on Li Lianhua and Fang Duobing’s friendship, so DFS spent a lot of time away from them, and I would’ve enjoyed some more trio moments.

Cheng Yi is also a joy to watch in this. This is my first drama of his, but I’ve still heard lots about and seen lots of his acting ability. From the casual nose-scratching to Li Xiangyi’s pompous demeanor to pain-filled eyes to witty remarks, Cheng Yi nailed Li Lianhua and Li Xiangyi alike.

As for the plot, the cases were interesting! Each case usually gets about 2-3 episodes, with occasional episodes in between dedicated toward moving the overall plot forward. It’s fun to watch Li Lianhua crack open each case (however unrealistic they may be) and string the clues together. The overarching plot, however, was rather weak. This drama fails to draw the watcher into the main plot with 1 dimensional, classic maniacally cackling villains and an unsophisticated world domination conflict. It felt crude and unoriginal. I think it would’ve done much better as a drama about solving cases and growing personally along the way.

One thing I did appreciate about the plot was Li Lianhua/Li Xiangyi’s arc. He did feel overly righteous and self-sacrificing at times, but I enjoyed seeing how he dealt with his past and how he moved on. I do wish there was a bit more self-forgiveness involved (which is why I would’ve preferred a plot more focused on the characters’ personal journeys rather than whatever dumb outside conflict they created).

Highly recommend if you’re looking for lovable characters, lots of chuckles and smiles, and some interesting murder cases! Plus some mean sword dances. Cheng Yi really danced like he had bills to pay.

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How Did I Even Finish This?

The fatal flaw of this drama was that it did not know whether it wanted to be a brainless historical rom com or a serious sageuk. It started off strong with a wild premise (a girl pretending to channel the dead Crown Princess’s spirit?), a chaotic FL, and a rather dumb conflict in the grand scheme of historical dramas (the prohibition of marriage/love in general). It promoted itself as a crazy, senseless, comedic drama that didn’t take itself seriously, and I was satisfied with just turning off my brain and laughing.

Then by second quarter of the drama, they seemed to have some kind of teenage identity crisis where they realized all other great historicals have political intrigue and tragedy and therefore, this drama needed it too. Unfortunately, the writers are absolutely horrid at writing political schemes, and they gave us the most laughable political plot and villains. Even more unfortunately, the acting of the villains were horrible. And suddenly the FL, who is much much better at making comedic faces and sly jokes, has to pull sad expressions and say deep things about sacrificing for love while I, the watcher, roll my eyes. And then most unfortunately, the writers couldn’t even commit to this new melodramatic mood, and had to transition back to their rom com feel at the end and tie up their “serious” plot with the dumbest solutions.

As for the leads themselves, they were pretty average. I liked the FL a lot more in the beginning before she became all sighs, distant gazes, and sad phrases. The ML was statically boring the entire time. The acting itself wasn’t good or bad, but I think both actors are not the best at acting serious or emotional. There were bare hints of chemistry in the very beginning of the drama, and none by the end—the enjoyable chaos of the leads’ relationship spun into a cringey, unnatural, senseless mess.

Would not recommend to anyone :)

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Chen Fei Yu’s face now triggers my fight or flight response (pros: chemistry, cons: writing)

I love how this drama gave us the fattest load of potential I’ve seen from cdramas in awhile only for it to sadly explode in our faces. I was (rightly) excited for Lighter & Princess because of Chen Fei Yu, but the writing definitely does not match up to the talents of the cast.

STORY
This drama can best be described as a mix between your classic college rom com and a business revenge drama. I didn’t have much of a problem with the plot, but if you’re looking for a masterpiece, you should stop thinking about this drama, period. It has all the markings of your classic annoying cdrama—uselessly over-the-top events, dumb misunderstandings, toxicity, and a neat ending that doesn’t make sense at all.

What I really took issue with was how the characters were written. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to make the leads (and the side characters) some of the most insufferable, selfish, unaware people I’ve ever seen. I personally think I’m someone who easily forgives the plot, but a horribly cliche story paired with the most annoying characters known to man is not a good combo.

Li Xun is your usual cold, unemotional genius, but he’s also incredibly rude, overly arrogant, possesses an insane superiority complex, and never changes. Zhu Yun is basically his puppy-eyed sidekick who cannot seem to think for herself. I think this drama would’ve been 300% more enjoyable if these two actually realized they weren’t the center of this world.

ACTING
And what pains me even more is that the acting was actually pretty good. Chen Fei Yu actually brings emotionally subtlety to his cold ML character, a trope that is usually rife with stiff and personality-less acting. I liked the aloof, seemingly-apathetic nature Chen Fei Yu gave Li Xun. It was so natural that it felt like he was the character, so much so that his face now triggers my fight or flight response (hence the review title) since my brain equates Chen Fei Yu to Li Xun and I have come to despise Li Xun xD.

Zhang Jing Yi as Zhu Yun wasn’t half bad either. She captured pretty well Zhu Yun’s childlike innocence and stubborn determination. But I felt like she could have been far more emotive, and also it seems as though she has no idea what to do with her body while acting. She stands still with her arms hanging by her sides 97% of the time.

The chemistry between Chen Fei Yu and Zhang Jing Yi was the sparks-flying type, though. Great bantering, cute scenes, and some nice cuddling scenes. I enjoyed it thoroughly before the drama went down the drain.

MUSIC
I loved the soundtrack to this show. From Zhou Shen’s dramatic and heartfelt ballad to punk rock and band covers—the music in this drama were honestly all bops, especially the songs Ren Di’s band covered. Plus the Pu Shu songs they included? Chef’s kiss. Really managed to capture the hopeful, young sadness that this drama was going for that the writing didn’t succeed in conveying.

REWATCH VALUE
BYE, there’s no way I’m putting myself through this pain again. Maybe the first half, though. Maybe.

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about literally nothing…

Going to be honest, this drama was clearly trying to get by on pretty privilege.

Because About Youth was practically plotless, it makes sense that the synopsis is unhelpful and does not capture the drama at all (the student president election literally takes up like five minutes of the entire drama). This drama is essentially a school/youth drama plus an attempt at a profound themes of suffering under parental expectations and other sad life issues. Not only are these issues overdone in dramas, but they’re also horribly executed in About Youth with 1) no complexity or nuance and 2) no conclusion or ending message at the very least.

But you know, that’s okay. I can live with that. The problem lies in the fact that without a plot, the characters have to carry more weight in the drama. And carry they did not. I’m not sure what the writer was doing if there’s no plot and no personality in any of the characters. The characters were so flat I thought we were in a 1D world. They were nice, and that was about the extent of their personality.

Of course, with no-personality characters, you couldn’t possibly hope for any good chemistry. So this drama was basically screwed from the start. There is absolutely zero chemistry between any of the characters in this drama to the point where they are all practically inert. The writer seems to try to use forced physical proximity to build up some kind of chemistry and it ends up being SO AWKWARD. Like why are their faces so close if they just met and one of them is just trying to dry the other’s hair? Personal space is clearly dead now. Am I the only one who would be like get out my personal bubble you pervert?? In the end, the “physical chemistry” the writer tries to build especially between the main leads ends up being worse than no chemistry at all – it’s so unnatural.

Warning! You may see some cute gifs or scenes in the trailer with some romantic tension. You may think, oh, they must be a super cute and natural couple. Don't be fooled! It's all fake! It's all a lie! There is no natural chemistry in this drama at all.

And then nothing ends up being cute! It’s just cringy.

I will say the physical chemistry between the second couple is a bit better. Still no romantic chemistry, and whatever dumb conflict/plot they had was absolutely useless, but at least they had like three cute skinship/romance moments. Honestly the only thing keeping me going was how pretty these two actors were. And when that’s your only motivation to keep watching, you know it’s pretty bad.

And it gets worse. Not only is there zero romantic chemistry, there’s also zero platonic friendship chemistry! Between the leads (since I consider this an attempt at friends to lovers), and between like any of the supposed friendships. No. Chemistry. At. All.

On the positive side! The music was lowkey kind of good. That band had some bops.

Other notes:
Acting - not terrible, pretty mediocre. Maybe even less than mediocre. The actor who played Ye Guang wasn’t half-bad during his emotional scenes. Second leads are decidedly worse.
Pacing - honestly, I couldn’t really tell since there was literally no plot and therefore no need to move along a plot. I assume it’s pretty slow since there are so many useless “cute” (read: cringy) scenes
Kiss scenes - kind of awkward. But A+ for effort.

So yeah. I’d skip this one, but apparently that's just me.

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perfect for when you need something light and refreshing

The biggest strengths of Love Tractor are its comforting country setting and lack of plot. It's a short, easily digestable drama filled with simple fluff and cute character dynamics. I didn't think I would like this drama at first, but the simplicity was much needed and the lovable characters really carried. However, the romance, despite being the major genre, was actually one of the main things I wasn't completely sold on in this drama.

The main reason I got through this drama was probably thanks to the characterization. Seon Yul, Suh Yechan, and even Village Head Ma and Yechan's mother, really defined the experience of this drama. Each character was distinct and unique, and the actors really brought out the charm in each of their characters. Like many other watchers, I absolutely fell in love with Seon Yul despite not thinking too highly of him in the first few episodes and am now prepared to sacrifice anything for him. The actor who portrays him, Do Won, managed to extract so much charm and naturalness out of Seon Yul's small reactions. His cold exterior but soft heart has been done so many times, and I rarely like these kinds of characters, but Seon Yul just works. Yechan has his own charm as the young, adorable, golden-retriever-like countryside local. His energy, dedication, and lovesickness were both very funny and heartwarming to watch–although at times, I do think he was just a bit too over-the-top.

(Extra shout out to Village Head Ma for somehow being so random and yet so perfectly in place)

Unfortunately, I was not really feeling the romance for one reason or another. I got very strong siblings energy from them, which may be in part because of how young Yechan was/acted, and also because while I could see that Yechan liked Yul, I didn't think the drama portrayed Yul's attraction to Yechan very clearly. It felt like Yul viewed Yechan very affectionately as a little brother for majority of the drama, and I definitely think the transition to romance could have been done more naturally and clearly.

I also felt that the actors' energies were a bit mismatched, since Yul seemed under-emoted (showed muted emotion most of the time) while Yechan seemed over-emoted (showed exaggerated emotion), so at times, it felt as though they didn't complement each other's styles well. Still a very cute calm/hyper dynamic, though!

It's no masterpiece by any means, but it's a fun, low effort watch. Would recommend to chill and unwind.

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*cries*

SURE, the storyline is pretty predictable and doesn't add much to the terminal illness trope overall, but there's something about the aura or the messages of this movie that made me love it. I guess I'm rating this more emotionally rather than objectively just because this movie made me feel so many FEELS.

STORY (9/10)
As stated above, the plot is pretty predictable. I bet you could guess what happens in the movie right now, actually. It's also unfortunate that they couldn't delve deeper into the characters with the two hour constraint of a movie. Maybe it's just me, though, but I usually don't mind overused tropes as long as they aren't annoying. What caught my attention more were the characters and the relationship between the characters.

First of all, WYH (the main character) is adorable and his friendship with MXY (the female lead) was adorable. The way he developed from a moody, isolated teenager to a motivated, happy young adult was so heartwarming to watch. My favorite part, though, was how his relationship with his parents developed. His parents are possibly the most hilarious, sweet, supportive parents ever, and when WYH slowly learns to appreciate and accept his parents' help, it really hit me in the heart TT. (I will say that the transition from friendship to romance between the leads was... not entirely clear, to say the least. Like of course you have the confession, which was very cute, but after that they pretty much were the same, and then suddenly they talk about a future of marriage and kids and you're like "dude what are you saying" before you realize right, they're dating)

The messages this movie carries are just what you would expect, but it's healing all the same when watching it. It captures perfectly the reason why we have to live everyday to the fullest and find things that make us happy in uncontrollable situations. The entire point of the movie, actually, is that life sucks and everyone's suffering, but you're doing a good job and you just have to make the best of it. They address the guilt the main character feels, the way cancer patients' loved ones cope, and the fact that the most optimistic people often have their dark times as well.

Make sure you have tissues, because this movie will make you BAWL. It will make you feel so many emotions and want to the hug the characters through the screen. It will make you laugh and smile and then cry a lot at the same time. It just makes you feel a lot of feelings.

ACTING (10/10)
What can I say? Jackson Yi has proved himself to be a pretty incredible actor, but I guess Better Days wouldn't have been Oscar-nominated if they had a mediocre lead actor (on that note, this movie has me running rather late to watch Better Days--once I recover from this movie, ofc). Every single line that comes out of his mouth feels natural and right and full of all the right emotions, if that makes sense. The point is, he is extremely talented, which I already knew, but you'll still be surprised by just how talented he is. The other characters as well, especially the parents (both WYH's parents and MXY's parents), are portrayed very well. You can really feel the bittersweet pain in all the characters.

MUSIC (10/10)
So there wasn't a lot of music in this movie, but it's okay because the end credit song is 100% flawlessly PERFECT. The melody and backing is perfect for the bittersweet vibe, and the lyrics are heartwrenchingly optimistic and encouraging. Do yourself a favor and listen to it (it's called 送你一朵小红花, or A Little Red Flower, by Zhao Yingjun) because it will make you cry after watching the movie, especially if you read the lyric translations. In China, you get a red flower when you're younger at school for doing a good job, so the movie (and the song) is basically about how everyone is doing a great job despite all the things life is throwing at them.

REWATCH VALUE (7.5/10)
I don't think I'd ever rewatch this movie just because I don't feel like putting myself through all that pain again, but maybe one day in the far future I will, just to watch the dynamic between him and his parents.

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punch of a twist, but not much else

"A Familiar Stranger" definitely had potential – an interesting, pretty unique premise and a creepy, almost sinister atmosphere set up in the trailer and the first episode. Maybe it's the length, maybe it's the focus on the romance, but this potential is not fully taken advantage of.

As an avid romance fan, I have to say that there was too much emphasis on the romance in this one. Especially since it was so short, it felt like all of the time was being occupied by the romance instead of the plot, which barely got fleshed out. Which kind of sucks, because the plot was the strongest thing going in this. I wanted to know more about the face swapping and the sorcery behind it, and expected the drama to go more into that weird creepy magician creature. Instead, I got extra useless domestic scenes that added nothing to the characters, the development of their relationship, or the plot. And when I, the ultra lover and promoter of plotless dramas and useless domestic scenes, say that, you know that it's serious.

The result of this is that instead of the creepy, sultry drama we were promised, we get a drama that can't decide whether it wants to be a light, slightly mindless romance or a gripping, eerie suspense.

One reason why I'm probably complaining about the focus on romance when I usually wouldn't is that the romance just wasn't good enough. If the chemistry was out of this world, then maybe I would rate this a 9/10 and ignore the plot completely. But the chemistry between the leads was only so-so, and also pretty boring. I could believe the characters liked each other, but it was still very flat and uninteresting, most likely because both characters were very uninteresting. It was kind of like watching two pieces of cardboard fall in love with each other. Like you get that they're in love, but at the same time you don't care because they're pieces of cardboard.

Biggest strength was the end. The plot twist blew me away, but maybe I'm just easily impressed. It definitely fooled me into thinking I liked the drama more than I really did, which is impressive.

Acting wasn't half bad. Wang Ze Xuan carried this drama all the way through with his maniac energy; he was simultaneously terrifying and thrilling. Both actresses were far more impressive playing Shen Qin, only because Shen Qin had a much more interesting and complex character. It was honestly very impressive seeing how the actresses could play the two different characters, and yet you could still spot similarities between each of their Shi Qi's and Shen Qin's.

I wouldn't recommend this drama, but I wouldn't recommend against it either. I don't feel like I wasted my time on it, but I'm not particularly happy I spent time watching this either. Basically, I'm very indifferent to this drama. I wish it capitalized more on its strengths, i.e. creepy magic.

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slow-paced, thoughtful, and sweet

Honestly, I have a hard time watching Korean BLs all the way. Almost all of them (especially recently) are poorly produced, clumsily edited, overly cheesy, and rushed with questionable storylines and extremely stilted acting. So I was pleasantly impressed when I began watching Blueming. It's not surprising to me that the same director helmed Where Your Eyes Linger, To My Star, and Blueming (they are, at least in my opinion, the best of the wave of Korean BLs these past two or three years), but I would still say Blueming is her best work by far. I would even say it's on par with some of my favorite full-length kdramas, something I can't say for practically all of the Korean BLs out there.

The thing I appreciate most about this short series is that it doesn't seem like a BL churned out to take advantage of the growing number of BL fans. It doesn't try to pack in a million tropes or BL character stereotypes. It doesn't engage in an absurd amount of fan service. It actually tries to put in as much depth as it can in such a short time frame. Although the premise (and the major conflict at the end, which was a little merghuughgh) might bring out the skeptic in some of you (especially the mother being so obsessed with how her children look), I don't think it can be written off as completely unrealistic. And out of this premise comes a real message about insecurity in society and the power others' opinions hold in shaping who we are. Cha Si Won and Hyeong Da Un aren't cardboard cutout characters either; they have complex personalities and backgrounds, from Si Won's irrational fear that Da Un threatened his own hard-fought popularity to Da Un's reluctance to talk about himself. And shockingly enough, there's actually character development. I loved Si Won's transformation from an insecure, shallow-seeming person to a more bold character that gives pretty great advice. It's really nice to see BLs maturing, not only in terms of romantic scenes, but really in terms of its themes.

Blueming also takes advantage of its short length to achieve a slice-of-life genre without dragging. It can almost be compared to the likes of Run On and Our Beloved Summer – slow-paced and down-to-earth, but not overly calming or meditative. And I know a lot of people complain that slice-of-life shows like these drag on for too long or aren't interesting, but the eleven short ~15 minute episodes really make it impossible to get bored. Blueming ends up with the best of both worlds – it solves the rushing issue many mini series have by slowing the pace down, a characteristic that works surprisingly well when you don't have much time. With this slice-of-life atmosphere comes really beautiful cinematography and compositions. I am by no means in expert (at all) in this stuff, but I appreciate the thought that went into camera angles and film techniques that give the show a very elegant, composed air.

And I can't believe I waited this long to talk about this, but Cha Si Won and Hyeong Da Un are so adorable together – like the cutest, most wholesome couple ever. Beyond the great cinematography and the complexity and the pacing, I really really have to say that I stuck around because they are so sweet and I almost died uwuing. The actors are by no means Oscar-winning or shockingly great, but they are natural and convey their emotions well and have pretty amazing chemistry with each other. I have to shout out Jo Hyuk Joon (playing Hyeong Da Un) for bringing out a very charismatic personality and subtle nuances in emotion, even when he's technically not the main main character (off topic but his smile deserves an award). He made me forget too many times to count that this was acting and not reality. Si Won and Da Un together are human, genuine, healing, and also flawed. I feel like I could watch hours of them just smiling at each other and not get bored.

But inevitably, I have to complain about the length. I know I said that the slice-of-life genre works for Blueming because it's short, but I honestly still feel like it's a little too short. I mentioned earlier that I loved Si Won's transformation, but I was disappointed that we weren't able to see the more gradual process of his development – there just wasn't enough time. Da Un's arc, given that the focus is mainly on Si Won, is also not explored in depth or completed really, and there's a lot to unpack there. Overall, I think one to three hours more of screen time could've deepened the themes more, fleshed out the relationships better, and brought the watchers closer to the characters. I'm not sure if there will be a second part or not (although I think 'not' is more likely), since a few side characters were introduced, but their stories were never really explored or wrapped up.

Whether you are a fan of BLs or not, I think this mini series offers something for any kind of watcher (in the contemporary fan realm – unfortunately there is no fantasy/horror/psychological thriller/historical stuff in this one, sorry). I hope Blueming gets more attention (although I know it's getting a good amount) as the new standard for BLs and mini dramas in general.

(Edit: okay so now that I think about it, given that we were gifted with To My Star 2, a sequel to this drama is not out of the question seeing as To My Star wrapped up a lot more fully than Blueming did. But Blueming also has a lot more (unfinished) side character storylines, and it did end with a "we lived happily ever after" line for Si Won and Da Un, so maybe the sequel will focus on the side characters more rather than Si Won and Da Un?)

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short and sweet (actually, it's bitter)

Disclaimer: I did not watch the original movie with chen kun and all that jazz, so this story is all new to me :D

The biggest advantage of this short film is that it's, well, short. I definitely don't think the actors could've carried the story in a full length movie or 30-40 ep drama. This isn't to say they aren't talented, the emotional scenes (*cough* the end *cough*) were extremely well executed and portrayed flawlessly by the actors! But the day to day scenes were a bit lacking and the chemistry just wasn't there. If I watched them for two hours, I feel like I would get bored.

But I didn't watch them for two hours, I watched them for thirty minutes. The best part about the film is that there aren't any excess fluff or unnecessary scenes. It gets straight to the point and only leaves the interesting stuff in, and since I had never heard of this story before, it was really, really interesting. Most of this rating probably comes from the end; it was striking and resonating and I definitely cried.

Ding chengxin as xiao wei really, really gave me the creeps-- which I guess meant he was doing it right. The atmosphere really helped; everything just felt creepy and demonic. I went from "sir you're really freaking me out" to "wow your life kind of sucks i'm sorry" in 31 minutes, which was a pretty big change. I think Ding Chengxin really portrayed Xiao Wei's change to being more human well. (I'm still not clear on who he's supposed to be in love with though lol)

Since the film is super short, I recommend giving it try. It's not much commitment and while it probably won't be the most amazing or your favorite thing ever, it's certainly captivating and will leave a lasting impression!

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catch some zzz's instead of wasting your time

Wow. Wow. So that was super boring.

Prefacing this by saying I have not watched a single one of those limitless unrequited love remakes, so this story is fresh to me. I have to say, not a great way to be introduced to the world of “unrequited love”s.

First of all, what unrequited love? I sense no angst. I feel no desperation, no longing. This movie is practically void of any emotion. I felt none of the raw feelings, the nervous excitement and the crushing experiencing of liking someone afar watching this. To me, emotion is practically necessary to the formula of a nostalgic Chinese youth movie, and My Blue Summer is missing this essential ingredient, which makes it hard to care.

The characters are so bland, they taste like sawdust. I have no idea what kind of people luo zhi and sheng huai nan are from watching this movie. Especially luo zhi, she was so inconsistent; I couldn’t tell if she was supposed to be shy or fiery, cowardly or brave. Both leads were almost as one dimensional as lee jong suk in W. The acting was mediocre, which probably contributed to the horribly boring characterization.

Maybe their chemistry will save us! Nope. I don’t know what I expected, seeing as the characters were boring and the acting was meh, but there is no chemistry. Other than a few cute domestic moments, I was left wondering exactly what led these two together and why they were even together. What do they even like about each other? Who knows. I bet they don’t even know. Acting: kind of bad, writing: even worse.

The ending was so crappy I have to laugh. They stirred up so much drama only for about 0.01% of it to get resolved. I will say part of the reason is probably because they tried to fit a drama length story into a movie (if they’re going to keep adapting dramas into movies, please. Please cut. things. out. of. the story. I haven’t watched a single movie adaptation of a drama that went well). This also lent itself to a few other issues, namely an underdeveloped plot that basically went nowhere.

If you really have an hour and forty minute to spare, I suggest you take a nap.

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this gave me a toothache but in a good way

If anyone is looking for an adorkable romance, definitely check this out! One of my favorite parts about this drama was actually the romance, which is kind of a first, actually. I love a good romance, but I rarely find dramas with a romance I'm invested in. But these two are SO adorable and SO sweet, I literally could not stop smiling. Both the leads are so awkward and dorky that it makes their relationship like 80% cuter. I definitely do not like cheesy romances, but I really, really loved this one (although the romance isn't really that cheesy, just super sweet). Their relationship is also very, very healthy, which we always love to see :). They get frustrated sometimes because their professions make it so they aren't able to see each other a lot, but they're mostly super supportive of each other's careers and ambitions.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed watching Mi Ka's growth as resident surgeon as much as I did watching the romance. It was really interesting to see her work in the hospital, especially since her personality makes her a brave, hardworking, selfless doctor. I loved her friendship with Chief Shao (although it created a lot of unnecessary drama) and seeing how much she cared for her patients. Honestly, the reason I probably liked Mi Ka's hospital scenes so much is because I just loved her as a character. She was super strong and she proved over and over again she could stay calm under a crisis even if she was scared. The emergency plot events were really interesting, and I found myself extremely invested in how it all worked out!

Xing Kelei's unit was also hilarious. I really wish we got to see more of them because their mischievous antics and teasing were so fun to watch, and I could really feel the bonds between them. I was a little upset to see Zhuo Wenjing's role as the only female officer in the unit disappear quite a lot after she played her part instigating a very, very short drama (not on purpose tho!) between the two leads. Still, I loved seeing how well she fit in with the other men. There was definitely a whole slew of strong female characters in this drama (stan Xing Keyao), which I loved.

I did not, however, particularly enjoy the second leads' romance. I found the second female lead (Mi Ka's best friend Ruan Qingxia) irritating a lot of the time. Some of the things she did to chase the second male lead were pretty out of line, and while she tried to come off as decisive and independent, she only seemed clingy and stubborn. The love triangle that developed with her and two other male characters was boring and annoying. I skipped most of her scenes, especially if they had to do with her romance with the second male lead (although this is also another adorkable romances for you adorkable fans out there).

Overall, this drama surprised me in the best way possible. I honestly loved how awkward their romance was XD, and the plot overall was pretty interesting. Watching their individual careers develop was just as enjoyable as the romance. I recommend checking this drama out if you're looking for something fluffy, tooth-rottingly sweet, but also with strong, ambitious, and independent characters.

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even jing boran couldn't completely pull us through this train wreck

I went into this with pretty low expectations (although I was a bit excited for the star studded cast: Jing Boran, Angelababy, Janice Wu, Seven Tan, Li Xian, and Li Qin all in one movie :0). Having watched the drama, I know how this story is: the plot offers nothing to interest viewers, the characters and relationships are horribly shallow, and the only thing going for it is its mindless, feel-good quality.

I'll try to stay as objective as possible in terms of reviewing this movie having watched the drama and compare the drama and movie at the end of this review. That being said, it's very very clear this movie tried to fit too much into it's 1 h 42 min time frame. Whereas the drama had more time to flesh things out (whether they effectively fleshed them out is a different question), the movie lacked in plot, character, and relationship development. For instance, the Meng Yiran mean-girl-trope could've been completely sliced out of the plot. She literally showed up twice and added absolutely nothing to the story. Especially for those who haven't watched the drama, the movie offers a cramped, rushed, and incomplete interpretation of the story that jumps all over the place. As a result, that feel-good atmosphere you expect from a college romance is never created.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Angelababy's Bei Weiwei. Her acting is definitely forced and very unnatural at times, and I would by no means call her a good actress, but she gave Bei Weiwei a bit of nerdy charm that I rather liked. Shockingly enough, her beauty was only mentioned once, and it was easy to think of her as a normal, passionately dorky college kid. As for Jing Boran as Xiao Nai, I can only say that Xiao Nai is fundamentally a terribly written character, a completely perfect, one-dimensional character with zero personality. Still, I appreciated the emotions Jing Boran managed to siphon out of Xiao Nai's lifeless character. Have you seen Jing Boran act like he's in love? Literal hearts coming out of this man's face.

As for Angelababy and Jing Boran together... it's safe to say they have very little chemistry. Part of it is definitely due to the time limit of the movie and the choice to show little of the development of their relationship. Perhaps if the running time were a little longer, they could've been a generic, mediocre cdramaland couple, but their chemistry is nowhere near strong enough to make it in a movie as short as this one. Bei Weiwei and Xiao Nai's relationship also made zero sense to me. By the end, I was still wondering what they like about each other, how they fell in love with each other, and why they were even together.

My biggest complaint has to be the editing. It was almost as if someone filmed a bunch of scenes and put them together using imovie or something. The transitions are a horrible fade out, and most of the time the scenes don't even connect in a way that makes sense. The movie jumps from scene to scene and expects the viewer to keep up, and most of the scenes are left hanging and unfinished. Definitely does not seem like a professional movie. The music as well was unnecessarily loud and drowned out the lines sometimes.

MOVIE VS DRAMA
Of course it's impossible not to compare the movie to the drama and vice versa. The first thing I noticed is that this movie fails to achieve the show Love O2O's laidback atmosphere, mostly because they tried to cram so much in such a little time frame. We also miss the only thing I really liked about the show: the relationship between Xiao Nai and his three hilarious friends. The side characters understandably have less screen time in the movie than in the drama, which put more pressure on the leads to carry the movie.

However, I will say I prefer Jing Boran's Xiao Nai over Yang Yang's Xiao Nai. In my opinion, Jing Boran displayed a wider range of expressions, emotions, and subtleties in acting. I also felt that movie Xiao Nai was more down-to-earth than drama Xiao Nai despite his "perfect" concept. The same actually goes for Angelababy as Bei Weiwei; I thought the movie's portrayal of the characters, although still shallow, was more relatable and more fun than the drama's. The biggest difference between movie Bei Weiwei and drama Bei Weiwei is that drama Bei Weiwei is built up to be a perfect girl: smart, beautiful, soft-spoken and gentle, while movie Bei Weiwei is more rough around the edges, a bit more loud and crazy. I also liked how the movie places Bei Weiwei at an equal level to Xiao Nai by having her a play a large role in the game development team, while in the drama, she is more of an intern in Xiao Nai's company.

Overall, I understand why the drama was better received than the movie, and would probably recommend watching the drama first. However, as far as characterization goes, I would say the movie did a better job than the show.

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