What a disappointment!

I love Bin Bin but omgggggggg!!! What a disaster this was (through no fault of his own, other than accepting this project.)
I watched the show on fast speed and skipped some chunks in the middle because I just could not handle it.


Plot:
Ridiculous.

So, we have four main female leads.
A martyr, a shrew, a doormat, and a doctor. Trust me, those are the nicest terms I've found to describe them. At least the doctor had a modicum of common sense to her.

The male leads are their own mess.
One goes from smarmy to devoted in an eye-blink.
Another is kind and sweet up until the minute he decides to become a full-blown psycho in order to "save face".
Then you have a fully grown man-child who happens to be a surgeon, if you'll believe it.
Add in the obligatory artistic "free spirit".
And to round off our circus, a younger brother who's abusive and oblivious to the point where I'd have cheerfully strangled him given half a chance.

The story itself deals with the struggles of relationships, families, money, and health. It's almost a slice-of-life of a group of people in their thirties.

Except the characters and the sceneries they face are improbable and ridiculous.

My gripes:
1) Grown people behaving like children. (Remember, these people are close to or over 30!)
2) Successful professionals risking reputation, businesses and money in the name of "love"
3) Successful professionals being unhinged emotionally, just full on looney-tunes
4) Inconsistencies of the characters. One goes from smarmy to nice. The other goes from nice to psycho. Just...why?

Acting:
Good.
Considering that I wanted to slap and/or scream at the characters 99% of the time, I have to give the actors credit for a job well done. 7/10.

Music/Cinematography:
Forgettable


Re-watch Value:
0

Leia Mais

I'm in love

This is an incredible story. I fell in love with the show.

Warning!!! This review contains spoilers!!

Female lead is a finance reporter who's in a committed relationship with her boyfriend since her college days.
She's confident, hardworking, and very, very good at her job. She's beginning to build a name for herself in the finance circle as a great writer with sharp insights into the industry.
One day he life takes a turn as two things happen one after the other: She gets offered an interview by the Male lead, and she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her.

The Male lead is the heir to a large conglomerate. His family is filthy rich. He shook up the financial world when he left his family's firm to start his own investment company several years ago. He's been making strides ever since, distinguishing himself in his own right. But he's very media shy and doesn't often speak with the press. Put all of these things together and you get a very hungry public. The ML reads an interview that the FL wrote and is suitably impressed. He decides to offer her an interview, which she accepts.

Right after their first meeting , the FL sees her ex-boyfriend with his new girlfriend. She comes to the mistaken belief that the 'home wrecker' is the niece of the ML. Being hurt and angry, she decides to take her revenge by seducing the ML into falling for her.

I must admit that this idea of hers gave me pause. It doesn't seem in character for the FL to either want to seduce anyone, or to take advantage of an innocent person. We see her at work and with her friends and family--she is smart, kind, patient, and highly ethical. She's also not the flirty type--she's very level-headed and somewhat reserved with men. So the idea that she'd approach a man of her own initiative and play with his feelings is extremely out of character for her. I guess its excused by her heartbreak? Remember, she's been with her ex-boyfriend for many years.

The FL initiates a game of cat and mouse with the ML. She comes up with the most ridiculous ways to get his attention-- from faking a sprained ankle to making a big to-do about an earring she'd lost in his car. They also happen to run into each other in work circles and she takes full advantage of each meeting.
The ML is perfectly aware that she has an angle of some sort. He's no one's fool. Yet, he's intrigued by her so he decides to go along, in a "give her enough rope to hang herself" kind of way.

The dialogue between these two is absolutely glorious. She's trying so hard to be a seductress (she isn't one). And he just loves teasing her and getting a rise out of her. Everything they say is sharp, witty, filled with double meanings. As a viewer you can't help but laugh at loud--I know I did. Kudos to the writers (not sure if it's the script writers or manga author who gets the credit, but regardless). I have never, ever come across such hilarity before and I LOVED EACH AND EVEYRY MINUTE.

The parts where the FL goes over-the-type in a high-school-girl way in order to get closer to the ML would be cringy--if it were real. The point is that none of it is. You can see the FL's innocence by the schemes she uses--they are contrivances that teenage girls use. So it's funny to see her gritting her teeth and pushing herself to go through with the inanity. What's even funnier is that the ML sees through her each and every time. He calls her out on it, but never directly. No, he's way to sly for that. And way too witty. So I just sat back and laughed as I watched them trying to best each other. Like I said...absolutely glorious. You can cut the ML's wit with a knife.

Eventually the ML catches real feelings for the FL. And the FL realizes that she's not chasing the ML for revenge anymore--she's actually fallen for him for real.
They both admire the heck out of each other. She admires his financial acumen and his courage in risking branching out on his own. He admires her sharp intellect, looks, and overall personality.

This would be good news, except...

He knows she's hiding something from him so he won't fully commit to a relationship.
She's terrified that if he finds out why she approached him initially then she'll lose him for good. So she also can't fully commit to him.

This shaky ground of "I like you, but won't commit" is the breeding ground for a lot of misunderstandings.
Add in a niece (not the homewrecker) who's hiding her true identity, parents pushing for blind dates, and the unsolicited romantic pursuit from other parties and you get the endless back-and-forth of a relationship that's constantly wobbling this way and that.

He's desperately waiting for her to come clean, knowing in his heart that he'll give her whatever she wants if she'll only confide in him.
She's desperately afraid that she'll lose him, leading her to lie to him in big and small ways because she's insecure in their relationship.

Things are just about to get better, he's just about ready to give in completely even without knowing what she's hiding, when the truth blows up in their faces.
He finds out that she approached him for revenge, and he's devastated.

She's also devastated. In her mind it's over between them, because there's no way he'll forgive her or want to be with her. She sees her betrayal as the definite end of them.
Meanwhile, all he wants is an apology and her reassurance that her feelings are real--that despite her initial reasons, she did actually fall for him in truth.

So he's waiting for her to approach him and make amends while she's convinced that he hates her and wants nothing to do with her. So when she does approach him, and she apologizes, she doesn't explain. She doesn't reassure him that she does actually have true feelings for him. She only apologizes for the wrong she's done, and focuses on work---arranging to shift upcoming interviews between him and her publication to a different reporter, thus terminating any further contact between them.
She approaches him twice. Both times she apologizes. Both times she ends up focusing on work--not because she doesn't want him or doesn't want to reconcile, but because in her mind it's hopeless and she also feels guilty as hell--believing she doesn't deserve his forgiveness. He, of course, has no clue what's going on in her mind. So he's convinced, going off her actions, that all she cares about is work and that she never did like him for real.

They are both so sad and unhappy. It was really heart-breaking to watch. This show portrays two adults having their hearts broken by the one they love , and the way it's shown is very realistic and touching.

Eventually, the niece (I love that girl!!) encourages her uncle, the ML, to approach the FL one more time--having him be the one to reach out, rather than him continuing to wait for her to initiate contact. Once he does, the FL gains the courage to confess to him, telling him that what had started out as an act became real very quickly. She truly does like him. He forgives her immediately and they get back together.
Even at this point, he continues teasing her. He won't tell her outright that he forgives her, won't tell her outright that they're officially a couple. It's endearing to see how she takes all her courage to be with him, determined to win him over 100% so that he does give her the words, the clear commitment. At one point she tells him that she can't believe how fast he's forgiven her, that she's expecting him to take revenge on her and even the score. His response, and the love he gave her, warmed my heart. The ML truly does love her and all he asks of her is that she love him back.

And they lived happily ever after!!

(There are two additional side couples in the show. The niece and the FL's bff, but I don't really have the patience to go into detail. I don't have any issues with how they were portrayed but none of them caught my heart or interest in the way that the main couple did.)

I adore, adore, adore this show!!
The ML is portrayed as the typical "cold" CEO but you can see his smirks, his wit, his devilishness in everything he says and does. This sets him apart from the stereotypical....miles apart. I absolutely love him.

The FL is so funny and smart. Such a breath of fresh air. I've never seen a heroine quite like her in any show before.

There were no skips for me in this show. Every moment was gold, every moment counted. None of it was boring.
I've already seen it twice, so that should answer any questions about the rewatch value :)

Anyway, if I haven't made it clear yet, GO WATCH THIS SHOW!! It's absolutely amazing.

If you've made it to the end of my long ramble, I thank you for reading and wish you happy watching <3

Leia Mais

Beautiful

I loved this show.
The story was beautiful, as was the acting, music and setting.


(The below summary contains spoilers--nothing too specific, just a general overview of what will happen throughout the show and what you can expect.)

Plot:
A smart high-school boy meets and falls in love with an older (age gap) rich boy who falls to the gang life due to family neglect.
They are torn apart due a rival gang's attack which sees the student take the fall for the rich boy and accept a 4-year prison sentence.
After four years in prison, the high school boy returns to life with a new plan for his future but one that definitely includes his first and only love.
Meanwhile, the rich boy is torn apart by guilt and is determined to remain apart from the high school boy in order to keep him safe.
The first half of the show focuses on how the two meet and fall in love, on how their childhoods shaped them, and how they are separated.
The second half of the show focuses on how they reunite, overcome their obstacles, and build their happily ever after.

The second couple:
Two boys, close in age, both orphans who grew up together as "brothers" and friends. As young teens they were recruited into gang life. When we meet them they're both mid-level rising gang members. One of them is love with the other; the other is in love with the head boss of their gang. Thus, both are in unrequited love.
The first half of the show deals with the difficulties and dangers they face as gang members, their loyalty to each other, and the pain they each face in love. Due in part to the attack which separated couple #1, this couple is also separated for four years. During their separation, the "other" boy realizes he's loved his friend all along, while the "friend" determines to separate for good from the "brother" who'll never love him in the way he wishes for.
The second part of the show shows us how they reunite, how one works to make the other believe and accept that he truly is in love with him, and how they also reach their happily ever after.

I liked the story itself. There was a nice focus on the gang, on family, on the affects of childhood trauma and how to overcome it.
The chemistry of both couples was insane!! Off the charts hot. It's honestly hard to say which couple I liked more because the truth is, I loved them both. I will say this though: for couple 1, I liked them better during the first half of the show, and for couple 2, I liked them better during the second half. For some reason, the connection between the first couple is shown better prior to their separation while the connection between the second couple is better showcased after their reunion. In that sense, when we're shown both couples' happily ever after, I prefer the second couple's to the first- I can't pinpoint why, but couple 2 feels fully settled and case closed but couple 1 leaves me with a bit of lingering "want more for the closing act".

All of the actors acted terrifically.

The soundtrack was phenomenal.

Overall, this is pretty much a perfect show.
I highly recommend it. <3

Leia Mais

OMG AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

No words can adequately describe how phenomenal this show is.
The plot is simple as simple can be: long-time childhood friends to lovers.
Zero angst, just love, clear communication, and tooooons of warm fuzzies :)

What's incredible is how complete the story feels, despite the show being less than twenty minutes long.
Two episodes, both under ten minutes.
And both episodes make fantastic use of their time so that when the credits rolled at the very end, it truly felt like a complete "happily ever after". (It did leave me wanting more, but only because this couple is so darned adorable that I wanted to see more of them, not because I wasn't 100% satisfied with the ending.)

Basically, this is a short, feel-good, friends-to-lovers mini-series that warms the heart (and has you grinning at your screen like an idiot lol).

The only thing less than ten for me was the music, which was an eight.

Kudos to the actors for doing such an incredible job!!! You can feel the emotions, the connection, the love, the desire they have for each other.
Couldn't have asked for anything better.

Thanks so much to the actors, writers, directors, and everyone else who made this fantastic project come to life.
I highly recommend it <3

Leia Mais

Better than the original

I dropped the Thai version and it's still on my "hold" list.
This version pulled me in from the start and kept me hooked. I binged it all in one sitting.
The acting is solid, the story is understandable, the characters are all likable and full-dimensional.

This is a sweet , first-love drama in a college setting.
Not too angsty or deep.
Not too long or draggy.
Just sweet overall.
I smiled a lot watching this.

Tropes/Story:
* No toxic or evil characters
* No second lead syndrome or "other" love interest
*The chemistry was good.
*Some suspended belief is needed but only a teeeny bit. Overall the story is pretty believable and true to life for a college and first love setting.
*The normalization of a m/m couple. Sexuality, coming out, etc., wasn't even a conversation. It was just taken for granted, "Oh you like this person? Cool!"
*I lived for the max/nat cameo lol.

What could have been better:
*Character-wise, they all could use some lessons in communication. But let's be honest, would it be a drama without a bunch of dense, love-sick fools running around without a clue? lol
*The music. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great either.

Enjoy <3

Leia Mais

A light-to-medium romanctic comedy

The only reason I rated this show so highly was because of Bin Bin.
He's a terrific actor in each and every show I've seen him in, and this is no exception.
He carried this for me.

Characters:

ML is a very smart and capable IT programmer/designer. His ambition is to help build satellites/satellite navigation systems.
FL is the rich grandchild of a conglomerate owner with no great ambition in life.

Plot:

ML and FL are old high school classmates. She chased him but he seemingly turned her down.
They part on bad terms.
The show opens when they meet again at a subsidiary of Grandpa's conglomerate.
He's the leader of a tech team whose talents have been overlooked in favor of those with better connections.
She joins the company as a deputy team leader after betting with her grandpa that she can build up the failing subsidiary within a year before HQ decides to close it permanently. In exchange for doing so, Grandpa will stop pestering her to get married.

If I had to encapsulate the story in several words: The struggles of succeeding in business and achieving our dreams against a backdrop of workplace politics, financial struggles, and family struggles. And finding the right person, and sticking with them, despite all odds.

The relationship between the ml and fl is not antagonistic exactly, but they do push and pull each other in the directions they each want to other to go. Each somewhat manipulates the other in order to get their desired results.

The ML cares deeply for the FL and works extremely hard to protect her. Aside from one incident when things spun beyond his control, he never does anything throughout the entire show to harm her or hurt her feelings. He's too selfless sometimes. I only wish he'd used his words. Because while actions 'should' or might speak louder than words, in this case, our FL was just too dense to recognize what was happening, and this ended up hurting the ML unnecessarily.

The FL is innately kind. She'll go to bat for those she cares about. And she will not silently swallow or watch injustice. She's a fighter and l love that about her. She's also very witty and sarcastic, the queen of one-liners. She made me LOL multiple times.
My one gripe with her, and this is a big gripe which continues through a large part of the developing story, is how she treats the ML.
While she's kind to everyone, as I said earlier, with him she isn't. Or, at least, not to his face. She blows hot and cold so often and suddenly, that it's impossible for our poor ML to know if he's coming or going. Through no fault of his own, he's forced to put up with her drastically changing moods and her inexplicable temper, all the while being left in suspense about how she truly feels about him. Another thing she's the queen of is mixed messages. That's cruel and childish of her. A grown woman of 26 should behave better.

My favorite part of the show began at approximately episode 20. That's when things really started getting good.
However, the last three episodes introduced a new conflict which the characters handled in a way I didn't like. As always, it was the FL who annoyed me the most with her response. Although for once, the ML wasn't 100% blameless here. Since the two were already a couple at that point, he could've handled things better. I still appreciated his responses though, and admire him for what he did.

Ultimately all conflicts are resolved and we are shown everyone's happily ever after.
The ending was very sweet.

Music and Cinimetogrophy:
Mediocre

Acting:
ML= terrific
FL= fine
Side characters= solid

Rewatch value:
6.5 to 7

Leia Mais

....meh.....

For a romance, this was very... lackluster.
I'd have loved to give everything a solid five; nothing too good, nothing too bad, nothing to stand out in any way.
But the actors did do a good job, so I decided to be fair and give them their due rating.

The main plot is nothing new:
Girl and boy meet, fall in love, have a misunderstanding, break up.
Meet again, still mad, revenge, blah-blah-blah, reconcile, live happily ever after.
This one added a cute son into the mix, but, again, that's not entirely new either.

I think they didn't do enough with the story.
For me, I love romances, and I'll rewatch the same tired plot again and again, as long as the story is well-written and the characters are engaging. This show flopped on both counts. Story was weak, as were the characters.

You have adults acting like kids, the so-called 'Warren Buffet of China" (the show's words, not mine) behaving like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum, and a strong, smart woman who can't find the words to communicate properly when it matters the most.
A whole entire mess.

I loved the son; he was adorable.
My second favorite character of the show was Cindy, the sister. A total scene stealer IMO.

The chemistry of the main couple was, like everything else, meh. I'd give it a five. No spark, no sizzle. Close friends or a twenty-year married couple. Those were the vibes I was getting.

One good thing was that the "great reveal" happened pretty early in the show, getting us into the meaty part of the story.
But!! In exchange, the first few episodes seemed to repeat the same scenarios over and over again using different dialogue. Just repetitive as hell, taking us nowhere. And the last few episodes? Threw in unnecessary drama just for the heck of it. Maybe to draw out the show a bit longer? Anyway. I had to push myself to finish this. I watched the last eight episodes on fast speed.

Music was okay.

I guess if you have nothing better to do and want something light to take up your time then try it? But I wouldn't recommend this if you have something better on hand, and I won't be rewatching this.

Ending: HEA, for those who want to know. <3

Leia Mais