Falling into your Smile (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
In the male-dominated world of competitive gaming, our heroine stunned the gaming world when she became the very first female professional gamer recruited by the famous ZGDX team. With an ex-boyfriend who is also a professional gamer, our heroine has vowed that she will not date another professional gamer. Unfortunately for our heroine’s vow, our hero is none other than the team captain of her new team.
Compared to the other romance dramas set in a similar online gaming field, Falling Into Your Smile gives quite a bit more screen time to the gaming part of the story. I don’t personally play online games so I will admit that it takes me a bit to follow the gaming parts of the story but it’s not enough to put me off from watching the show. The show is quite a bit lighter than I expected…which is a good thing in my book. I see myself turning to this show whenever I am in need of something that’s low-stress and sweet.
Ancient Love Poetry (Chinese Drama, iQIYI)
I just realized Xu Kai is the male lead in both Falling Into Your Smile and Ancient Love Poetry! Ancient Love Poetry is definitely not a light C-romance though. Set in a similar world as Eternal Love, this one at first glance looks to have the same plotline as Journey of Flower but there were enough differences that I didn’t have any problem separating the two. Xu Kai plays one of the four ancient gods who ended up becoming our heroine’s teacher. Unlike Journey of Flower where our heroine is a low status pupil in the beginning and is always in awe of her master, our heroine here is actually born to become the ruling goddess (yep, even over our hero) so she has the confidence that came with her birthright. Our heroine will end up sacrificing her life to save the world and since we are talking about gods here, that of course just sets the stage for the next two lives where our two leads will continue their romance.
There are some viewers who are quite dissatisfied with the casting of actress Zhou Dong Yu as the heroine. From my understanding, most of the dissatisfaction comes from the fact that Zhou Dong Yu doesn’t fit the heroine’s character in the novel. Zhou Dong Yu’s heroine in the drama is more of a cutesy type but apparently, the heroine is more goddess like in the novel. Having not read the novel previously, I had no problem with the casting choice and actually found Zhou Dong Yu’s character to be quite charming.
I liked the first couple of episodes but I am hesitant to dive into this one because I KNOW there will be plenty of tears ahead since the synopsis already made it plain that both of our leads will have to sacrifice themselves at some points. Judging by the positive online comments though, I am wondering if the tears might be worth it.
Be Together (Chinese Drama, Viki)
After being treated unfairly by her old boss, our heroine lands a new position with a well-respected IT firm. Our heroine loves her new job except for one thing…her new boss. A bit disturbed by her very handsome boss who seesaws between being a perfect professional to flirtatious pervert, our heroine starts to wonder if she should quit after her boss tells her that she should break up with her long-time boyfriend. Unbeknownst to our heroine, her new boss is far from the flirtatious pervert she suspects of him but is actually just unsure how to tell her that her seemingly perfect boyfriend has been cheating on her. Other than our two leads’ romance, the story will also follow the friendship and relationship of our heroine’s three other friends.
I am liking this one so far and the secondary romance lines seem decent. My only pet peeve is that for a show that is touting the great female friendship between the four women, our heroine’s friends have the tendency to throw her under the bus. There were a few instances where our heroine was at her most vulnerable moments and instead of comforting her (as one would expect any friend to do), some of her friends turned on her by suggesting that she brought it on herself. I won’t spoil the plot but I will say that the subject matter was a sensitive enough sort that I really had a hard time watching our heroine just frankly forgive her friends when in my opinion one would never want to stay friends with someone who would blame the victim instead of the perpetrator.
I am liking the two leads’ budding romance enough though that I am willing to give the show time to redeem itself.
July (and likely most of August as well) has turned into a crazy month for me so I am going to simplify my drama roundup by leaving out the show’s synopsis and just share my impressions of the show.
The Flaming Heart (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
Wow, C-drama is really on a roll with these “rescue + doctor” pairing lately aren’t they? Our hero this time is a firefighter though so at least we have a different kind of essential service career.
I liked the first couple episodes of The Flaming Heart even if the story felt pretty predictable but I kinda went in expecting that. Simon Gong (Word of Honor) of course looks awesome in uniform and I am loving his character’s persona of being super straight-laced with a hidden side of mischievousness to him.
My Fated Boy (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
I was really in the mood for a sexy noona romance…but after the first two episodes, I knew this one is not for me since I was much more interested in the heroine’s relationship with the male second lead than the hero. THAT in my experience is always a bad sign since no matter how good the show is, I will always end up being disappointed when the male second lead has to graciously watch the heroine ride off into the sunset with the hero.
In a noona romance it is vital that the young hero has enough charisma to makes the viewer nod silently while thinking “Yep, I would totally give up any mature/successful/marriage-appropriate man for him!” This show, however, totally gimped our hero’s character once they introduced his mysterious yet good looking cousin- the one our heroine has been harboring a crush on. Young puppy like hero vs Good looking and mysterious cousin…sigh, I don’t think I made the same choice as the scriptwriter.
Tears In Heaven (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
This one caught a lot of flak from some viewers for how makjang (over the top storyline that you would often see in daily soap operas) it is but since I went in with a realistic expectation AND I do like a good makjang drama, I am actually enjoying this one.
This one is one of those shows that it is vital that you go into it with a fairly solid idea of what the storyline is because you will totally get on the wrong ship…a burning ship at that if you don’t. For the first two episodes we will watch our heroine go through a supersonic romance with the male second lead. Seriously, it was the whole deal. From the cute first meet, to sweet romance, to disapproving mother, to forced reluctant breakup…that ends tragically with our male second lead dead. So who is the hero? That would be the male second lead’s best friend who is convinced that our heroine not only toyed with his innocent friend’s poor heart but also indirectly killed him.
Shawn Dou looks awesome in this one…to the point that despite the poor reviews from certain viewers I figure who cares about the plot when the male lead looks that good. It doesn’t hurt either that the chemistry between Shawn Dou and actress Li Qi is sizzling especially because their attraction is laced with a tinge of forbidden love due to the dead boyfriend/best friend factor.
Lover or Stranger (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
Suspense thrillers are usually not my thing so I was pleasantly surprised that I found this one quite intriguing and ended up marathoning it over the weekend. Actress Victoria Song is doing an awesome job portraying a woman suffering from amnesia who engages in a battle of wits with her “fiancé” as she attempts to figure out the mystery behind her own identity.
The show is not finished yet, so I really wish I waited until it did so I don’t have to suffer the pain of waiting. I am terrified though that I might be getting on the wrong ship since the male lead (the fiancé) is flat out crazy and the male second lead is so awesome.
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I too am enjoying Tears in Heaven very much. Love ShawnDou/LiQin pairing…they look so good together & the chemistry is indeed sizzling. Hope they have a happy ending!
By the way, you have a great blog! I enjoy reading your thoughts on new dramas. I only started watching chinese mainland dramas last year. There are so many out every month so I visit your blog to get recommendations on which dramas to watch. Thanks Ninja:)
Glad I am not the only one enjoying Tears in Heaven! I too hope the show will have a good ending for our two leads. I actually really didn’t care for the novel this one is based on but the show made enough foundational changes (ie. the hero was actually supposed to be biological brothers with the dead ex-boyfriend) to the story that I dare to hope for a happy ending.
I have a question. It seems like in c-drama, “I like you” is a prelude to “I love you” and as serious as life and death? Is it cultural difference? To us, I like you is not that much different than I like tomatoes?
This is such an interesting question! The short answer is yes, your guess is right. “I like you” IS a prelude if not already a “I love you.” I am going to explain this in more detail the next time I update my drama roundup post.
Thank you Ninja
I decided to check out Ancient Love Poetry after seeing the Internet rife with criticism about Zhou Dong Yu’s casting choice. Although I’ve only seen her in a couple of movies, I know she’s an actress with range and experience. I checked out the first few episodes and ended up watching the entire thing. I LOVED it! I agreed with the small minority who argued that goddesses need not be beautiful, slender and graceful. Not to say that Zhou Dong Yu isn’t but the people who had a problem with her look cancelled the drama without even really giving it a chance. I loved the drama and liked it more than the only other xianxia I ever managed to finish which was Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms.
I’ve come back to this drama round up after watching My Fated Boy to ep 26. When I read your summary initially, I was inclined to agree with you as I found myself backing the older cousin. But as the drama evolved and I saw just how long the ML had loved the FL and the lengths he went to to be ‘seen by her’ I fell in love with his devotion. He never wavers, he is never swayed, he is never ambiguous. There is only one love above all – her. Oh to be loved so whole heartedly like this.
The scriptwriter was on the money and the actor playing the ML is perfect.
Thanks for coming back to share your thoughts! I don’t always get the time to give a show a second chance so it’s always nice to hear from those who did.