This review may contain spoilers
Who hasn’t told a white lie or three?
Yu Cheng En is in **Love in the Clouds**. He plays a pitiful prince caught in an unrequited love. I actually really loved his acting in it which led me here to this show. It’s contemporary and his role is entirely different, but it felt like a nice bandaid to see the actor find love in this show lol.
The premise of the show is not bad, but the starting execution is pretty cringy. I think the timeline/flashback actress also adds to the chaos of it all. Bai Xiao Duo is a compulsive liar due to her childhood but now that she is in college she is *trying* to lie less. Of course she has already told like 3 bald-face lies within her first 3 days on campus. The part that makes it confusing and weak plot wise? Her motivation and savior is Black (Su Yan Cheng) the author of this comic that gives her hope and want to not lie. But this guy is only three years older than her…The flashbacks feel like 10 years ago rather than 3 which is a small detail but where I think the show gets held back. I find it hard to believe Black was publishing at 15 years old, and if he was, they should have addressed it in the show. That said, it sounds like he started publishing in college so the flashbacks should have been more recent…I know this feels like a nit but this small choice made the show feel a lot more juvenile than it should have been.
I actually think the themes and messaging were great. Who hasn’t told a white lie or three? But the *intention* of the lie does matter.
Bai Xiao Duo lied to a bully to get out of being hurt, I don’t think it makes sense that she was suddenly labeled a liar by her whole school. I wish they showed her lying a bit more than just twice. Maybe even her lying to her dad about her being “okay.” On the other hand, I wish they also explored Su Yan Cheng’s lying of his own. The elephant in the room is never really addressed – he lied by omission every day about who Black is. I am glad He Rui kind of mentions it to him, but it was specific to his parents’ wanting him to study abroad. Basically, I think the theme about lying and lies was nice and actually pretty great, the execution could have been better. Also, not a huge deal because I didn’t care too much, but the psychology research aspect made no sense to me LOL I don’t get how Su Yan Cheng conducted anything with the three pieces of information he got from Bai Xiao Duo. Another nit, but I think they could have chose a better English title for this show.
Romance wise, it was fun. I loved how they go from acquaintance to friends to lovers. While I love childhood friends to lovers and enemies to lovers, there’s something so real and relatable to a more organic romance between “strangers”. He was the cliche cold/silent brood and she was the cliche bubbly gal (but with a past).
He Rui was a great secondary lead in that I am SO GLAD they didn’t make her hate Bai Xiao Duo for liking her crush. That story choice alone was a 10/10.
I also just have to say I LOVED the romance between the secondary leads – Xiao Yang and Lin Xiao Miao, they were sooo cute. Yu Shu Bo and Yu Shu Fen were eh for me as a secondary couple just because I don’t think the romance was very well set up on his side, but I did like both of their characters as people. Lastly, I wish we got to better explore the dynamic between Su Yan Cheng and his parents. It’s nice that his parents listen to him finally, but it felt a bit too sudden and convenient. The dad is literally yelling at him about studying abroad but then two days later he’s in a cooking apron while his wife says they are okay with Su Yan Cheng staying in China. I am glad he gets that “happy ending” with his parents but it just felt too rushed that it wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been.
The premise of the show is not bad, but the starting execution is pretty cringy. I think the timeline/flashback actress also adds to the chaos of it all. Bai Xiao Duo is a compulsive liar due to her childhood but now that she is in college she is *trying* to lie less. Of course she has already told like 3 bald-face lies within her first 3 days on campus. The part that makes it confusing and weak plot wise? Her motivation and savior is Black (Su Yan Cheng) the author of this comic that gives her hope and want to not lie. But this guy is only three years older than her…The flashbacks feel like 10 years ago rather than 3 which is a small detail but where I think the show gets held back. I find it hard to believe Black was publishing at 15 years old, and if he was, they should have addressed it in the show. That said, it sounds like he started publishing in college so the flashbacks should have been more recent…I know this feels like a nit but this small choice made the show feel a lot more juvenile than it should have been.
I actually think the themes and messaging were great. Who hasn’t told a white lie or three? But the *intention* of the lie does matter.
Bai Xiao Duo lied to a bully to get out of being hurt, I don’t think it makes sense that she was suddenly labeled a liar by her whole school. I wish they showed her lying a bit more than just twice. Maybe even her lying to her dad about her being “okay.” On the other hand, I wish they also explored Su Yan Cheng’s lying of his own. The elephant in the room is never really addressed – he lied by omission every day about who Black is. I am glad He Rui kind of mentions it to him, but it was specific to his parents’ wanting him to study abroad. Basically, I think the theme about lying and lies was nice and actually pretty great, the execution could have been better. Also, not a huge deal because I didn’t care too much, but the psychology research aspect made no sense to me LOL I don’t get how Su Yan Cheng conducted anything with the three pieces of information he got from Bai Xiao Duo. Another nit, but I think they could have chose a better English title for this show.
Romance wise, it was fun. I loved how they go from acquaintance to friends to lovers. While I love childhood friends to lovers and enemies to lovers, there’s something so real and relatable to a more organic romance between “strangers”. He was the cliche cold/silent brood and she was the cliche bubbly gal (but with a past).
He Rui was a great secondary lead in that I am SO GLAD they didn’t make her hate Bai Xiao Duo for liking her crush. That story choice alone was a 10/10.
I also just have to say I LOVED the romance between the secondary leads – Xiao Yang and Lin Xiao Miao, they were sooo cute. Yu Shu Bo and Yu Shu Fen were eh for me as a secondary couple just because I don’t think the romance was very well set up on his side, but I did like both of their characters as people. Lastly, I wish we got to better explore the dynamic between Su Yan Cheng and his parents. It’s nice that his parents listen to him finally, but it felt a bit too sudden and convenient. The dad is literally yelling at him about studying abroad but then two days later he’s in a cooking apron while his wife says they are okay with Su Yan Cheng staying in China. I am glad he gets that “happy ending” with his parents but it just felt too rushed that it wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been.
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