Really liked this one! "Drowning in Love" or "Love Song" "溺色沉沦" or "恋曲"
Themes: older woman/younger man, women's friendship, fidelity, romantic love, communication through music.
Release: 26 September, 2025
ML: Han Zifan (Lu Zhaoye) FL: Yang Liao (Shen Zhiwei)
Synopsis The ML, young pianist Lu Zhaoye, meets seemingly by chance much older and famous pianist Shen Zhiwei at a bar and they spend the night together at her place. The next day Shen Zhiwei realises that Lu Zhaoye is her best friend's son who has come to stay with her.
The rest would be spoilers, but I shall say that apart from the opening scene do not expect anymore very intimate scenes, though the boy for a hefty part of the drama is rather lustful, to no avail. The story is really about romantic love, longing, and also persistence and fidelity, both in romantic relationships and friendships.
The Script Storywise it does try to add depth to the characters and there are no deus ex machinas, which is a big plus in my understanding of scriptwriting. Silly characters and scenes are there, all included, with the average vertical drama exagerration, not more. Female villain is not avoided, but although a younger beautiful 2FL was indeed needed in order to show one of the problems that a jiejie-didi romance faces, there was no dramatic reason to turn her onto a villain. Actually, it would have made much more sense for her to be a likeable character, so that the ML's loyalty towards the much older FL could be truly tested. Female friendship has a good share, and the deepest, of the emotional weight of the script. And there is a scene which is truly touching, especially if a friend has stood firmly beside through hard times. The end could be longer but I guess we can't expect the screenwriter to override the time limit and the budget. It seems to me that there was a decision to keep the friendship parts longer and cut the love story ending short.
The Acting Jeez, I cannot say anything, I liked ML and FL together so much I would have enjoyed their acting even if they were reading the lines while sitting on a couch! But the ML's mother (can't find the actress's name) played very well, with real filmic professionalism. She also did have two notable sequences with more layered and complex feelings, and delivered both sequences really well and at some points beautifully.
The rest of the Filmic Features It is nicely shot, the lighting is fine, the scenography is alright, the costumes also, most of the time, and the directing and editing make sense (not always the case in verticals, is it?). But nothing which made me stop and think "Hey, what was that?". Did not rewind at all . Will not comment on the sound, for the obvious technical reasons short c-drama fans face as a common enemy (the sound locust plague of the free vertical realm)!
My take I am a piano lover, enjoy communicating through music, I favour jiejie-didi romances, really liked FL and ML together, and, most importantly, I'd rather get a divorce than loose my best friend. So, too many favourites together to be objective. I guess that, objectively, one would find it an average watch.
The title The information I found has "溺色沉沦" (Drowning In Love") as a title. But after the drama ends there are some "making of" scenes, where the title seems to be "恋曲" ("Love Song", I think that's also the title the crew shouts). "恋曲" is actually closer to the "lovers through music" main romantic theme.
PS: Sorry if there are typos, writing very late at night. Link in spoiler below.
I felt quite emotional after finishing this drama and I've got to say it's really too short for such a well made…
I also appreciated your review and your analysis very very much, about how the drama really depicts the hospital industry. Most of my friends are doctors (in Europe and the US), literally all of them have burned out more than once and they all carry some trauma related to how the hospital system works against the patients. And the burden of my female doctor friends is so clearly demonstrated, the imbalance forcing you to choose between care for your family/children or your patients.
Hi! Could you be so kind as to edit your replies as a spoiler , because although we read the comments for information not everyone wants to know exact details and type of ending. Thank you!🙂🌻 (There are three dots below each comment, one of them is the edit choice. If you click edit, there appears a box with your comment. Under it there is a small tick box beside the word "spoiler". If you click it the comment is still there but people can decide whether to read it or not🌸🌸🌸).
Thank you!!! A midnight watch with warm loyalty, love and social depth❤️My take: Main themes: redemption,…
Awaiting eagerly for your opinion!
Maybe not a midnight watch, as I did, because it has some dark/heavy elements, (quite realistic ptsd scenes). lt also has a didactic tone in a scene, but I felt it was ok as they are trying to convey a message about rape as clearly as possible.
满分恋人 “The One” aka “The Perfect Lover” 25 Aug 2026 ❗️This is not a vertical drama; standard…
Thank you!!! A midnight watch with warm loyalty, love and social depth❤️
My take:
Main themes: redemption, healing, unconditional loyalty and love, social issues.
Both FL and ML are delivering their roles nicely, and they both have some scenes where they evidently make more use of their talent. These scenes are especially rewarding. 2ML also has many interesting acting moments and his bodywork has many interesting features. The children actors are very good, the young ML being really expressive and convincing.
The script includes elements of romcom, romance and melodrama, as well as a dose of psychological drama (the latter being a bit too much for my stomach, but very interesting and important nevertheless). Furthermore, it does center a lot on social issues, mainly FL's rape and on how victims are stigmatized by society, and it also does dwell a bit on ML's poor social standing (juvie and low economical status). As for the strictly romantic scenes they are written quite authentically, and delivered at heart racing pace. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter does make use of the deus ex machina element along the way, which could be very well avoided, since the characters are well written and founded. But this could have been an intentional choice (not due to laziness) in order to keep a balance between the light and heavy parts of the story, as well as keeping it in the entertaining realm of short length c-dramas.
The scenography is alright with two spaces having more visual interest (outside her appartment building -pool scene- and the underground boxing place). The costumes are well matched for the main characters, and in some scenes their costumes also add dramatic value. The visual directing choices have their good moments, and are alright the rest of the time. The cinematography the same, a few really interesting scenes and a standard good quality everywhere else. Soundwise the production was mostly fine, but since this really depends on the video quality it is probably better than I perceived. The editing was ratherabove than the average, quite smooth, and very interesting in some scenes, where I did stop, rewind and pause/freeze frames to see where exactly the editor had cut and why.
I would like to note that the whole team did their uttermost artistically and productionwise in the scenes where the issue of rape was being addressed. This was a very meaningful and respectful artistic choice of theirs, on which they poured all their professional effort in order to serve the common good. Their choice and effort should be regarded highly and be met with praise, respect and applause.
A good, thoughtfull and more serious production than the usual.
1 
"Drowning in Love" or "Love Song"
"溺色沉沦" or "恋曲"
Themes: older woman/younger man, women's friendship, fidelity, romantic love, communication through music.
Release: 26 September, 2025
ML: Han Zifan (Lu Zhaoye)
FL: Yang Liao (Shen Zhiwei)
Synopsis
The ML, young pianist Lu Zhaoye, meets seemingly by chance much older and famous pianist Shen Zhiwei at a bar and they spend the night together at her place. The next day Shen Zhiwei realises that Lu Zhaoye is her best friend's son who has come to stay with her.
The rest would be spoilers, but I shall say that apart from the opening scene do not expect anymore very intimate scenes, though the boy for a hefty part of the drama is rather lustful, to no avail. The story is really about romantic love, longing, and also persistence and fidelity, both in romantic relationships and friendships.
The Script
Storywise it does try to add depth to the characters and there are no deus ex machinas, which is a big plus in my understanding of scriptwriting. Silly characters and scenes are there, all included, with the average vertical drama exagerration, not more.
Female villain is not avoided, but although a younger beautiful 2FL was indeed needed in order to show one of the problems that a jiejie-didi romance faces, there was no dramatic reason to turn her onto a villain. Actually, it would have made much more sense for her to be a likeable character, so that the ML's loyalty towards the much older FL could be truly tested.
Female friendship has a good share, and the deepest, of the emotional weight of the script. And there is a scene which is truly touching, especially if a friend has stood firmly beside through hard times.
The end could be longer but I guess we can't expect the screenwriter to override the time limit and the budget. It seems to me that there was a decision to keep the friendship parts longer and cut the love story ending short.
The Acting
Jeez, I cannot say anything, I liked ML and FL together so much I would have enjoyed their acting even if they were reading the lines while sitting on a couch!
But the ML's mother (can't find the actress's name) played very well, with real filmic professionalism. She also did have two notable sequences with more layered and complex feelings, and delivered both sequences really well and at some points beautifully.
The rest of the Filmic Features
It is nicely shot, the lighting is fine, the scenography is alright, the costumes also, most of the time, and the directing and editing make sense (not always the case in verticals, is it?). But nothing which made me stop and think "Hey, what was that?". Did not rewind at all .
Will not comment on the sound, for the obvious technical reasons short c-drama fans face as a common enemy (the sound locust plague of the free vertical realm)!
My take
I am a piano lover, enjoy communicating through music, I favour jiejie-didi romances, really liked FL and ML together, and, most importantly, I'd rather get a divorce than loose my best friend. So, too many favourites together to be objective.
I guess that, objectively, one would find it an average watch.
The title
The information I found has "溺色沉沦" (Drowning In Love") as a title. But after the drama ends there are some "making of" scenes, where the title seems to be "恋曲" ("Love Song", I think that's also the title the crew shouts).
"恋曲" is actually closer to the "lovers through music" main romantic theme.
PS: Sorry if there are typos, writing very late at night.
Link in spoiler below.
Information
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%BA%BA%E8%89%B2%E6%B2%89%E6%B2%A6/67183785
Most of my friends are doctors (in Europe and the US), literally all of them have burned out more than once and they all carry some trauma related to how the hospital system works against the patients.
And the burden of my female doctor friends is so clearly demonstrated, the imbalance forcing you to choose between care for your family/children or your patients.
(There are three dots below each comment, one of them is the edit choice. If you click edit, there appears a box with your comment. Under it there is a small tick box beside the word "spoiler". If you click it
the comment is still there but people can decide whether to read it or not🌸🌸🌸).
Why does Qi Ling appear in the car in the last scene?
And what was Zhang Zi Xuan's father really doing?
🌼🌷💖
Maybe not a midnight watch, as I did, because
it has some dark/heavy elements, (quite realistic ptsd scenes). lt also has a didactic tone in a scene, but I felt it was ok as they are trying to convey a message about rape as clearly as possible.
Hope you enjoy it!!!❤️
My take:
Main themes: redemption, healing, unconditional loyalty and love, social issues.
Both FL and ML are delivering their roles nicely, and they both have some scenes where they evidently make more use of their talent. These scenes are especially rewarding.
2ML also has many interesting acting moments and his bodywork has many interesting features.
The children actors are very good, the young ML being really expressive and convincing.
The script includes elements of romcom, romance and melodrama, as well as a dose of psychological drama (the latter being a bit too much for my stomach, but very interesting and important nevertheless).
Furthermore, it does center a lot on social issues, mainly FL's rape and on how victims are stigmatized by society, and it also does dwell a bit on ML's poor social standing (juvie and low economical status).
As for the strictly romantic scenes they are written quite authentically, and delivered at heart racing pace.
Unfortunately, the scriptwriter does make use of the deus ex machina element along the way, which could be very well avoided, since the characters are well written and founded.
But this could have been an intentional choice (not due to laziness) in order to keep a balance between the light and heavy parts of the story, as well as keeping it in the entertaining realm of short length c-dramas.
The scenography is alright with two spaces having more visual interest (outside her appartment building -pool scene- and the underground boxing place).
The costumes are well matched for the main characters, and in some scenes their costumes also add dramatic value.
The visual directing choices have their good moments, and are alright the rest of the time.
The cinematography the same, a few really interesting scenes and a standard good quality everywhere else.
Soundwise the production was mostly fine, but since this really depends on the video quality it is probably better than I perceived.
The editing was ratherabove than the average, quite smooth, and very interesting in some scenes, where I did stop, rewind and pause/freeze frames to see where exactly the editor had cut and why.
I would like to note that the whole team did their uttermost artistically and productionwise in the scenes where the issue of rape was being addressed.
This was a very meaningful and respectful artistic choice of theirs, on which they poured all their professional effort in order to serve the common good.
Their choice and effort should be regarded highly and be met with praise, respect and applause.
A good, thoughtfull and more serious production than the usual.
This one ends when ML n FL leave his parental home.
https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/4799615159114752
This one has many parts edited in the wrong sequence, but has an ending scene with him hurt or dead and FL crying holding him.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Uj7xhe553A&pp=0gcJCYsCo7VqN5tD