I Know I Love You is a Chinese drama remake of K-drama One Spring Night that aired back in 2019. The story follows a fateful encounter by our two leads where an instant attraction is felt by both. Unfortunately, our heroine already has a boyfriend she is close to marrying, and neither does our hero’s personal circumstances make him the favorable sort on the marriage market. Knowing full well that following their hearts’ desires would only lead to heartbreaks all around, our two leads try to keep their distance from each other but that of course has the opposite effect.
While the C-remake does follow mostly the original plotline in One Spring Night there were still quite a few big changes.
In the original K-Drama One Spring Night, our hero is: •A pharmacist •Has a young son from an ex-girlfriend who suddenly reappeared in his life pregnant and then left soon after the baby was born. •Has two loving parents who own a dry cleaning store and take care of our hero’s son full-time. •Met our heroine when she came into the pharmacy to buy hangover medicine. •Met the second male lead (the heroine’s boyfriend) while playing basketball.
In the Chinese adaptation, I Know I Love You our hero is: •A veterinarian •Divorced, no son but has the sole responsibility of taking care of a sick sister. •Has a deadbeat dad who often lands himself in trouble. •Met our heroine when she brought her best friend’s sick dog in. •Met the second male lead in a martial arts club.
Other notable differences:
In the K-drama, the boyfriend’s dad mysteriously started to encourage his son to marry our heroine after finally meeting her.
In the Chinese version, the boyfriend’s dad’s attitude never changed. In the Chinese version, the boyfriend had a female business partner who was actively pursuing him despite knowing he already had a girlfriend. Greedy for the help his business partner’s rich dad could provide to him, the boyfriend kept promising his business partner a romantic future yet still discussing marriage with our heroine.
The stigma of our hero being a single parent was the big obstacle in the Korean version but in the Chinese version, since our heroine’s own parents are divorced, our hero’s divorced status didn’t seem to be as big of a stigma which honestly took away a lot of the tension that was in the original story. In the Korean version, our hero’s ex-girlfriend was completely out of the picture and stayed that way. In the Chinese version, our hero’s ex-wife does show up later in the show.
The big question: Which version did I like better?
I obviously watched both versions, but if I had to choose one to recommend, I would probably suggest the Korean version, One Spring Night.
There are some plot issues in both versions but overall, I feel the pacing of One Spring Night is much faster and tighter than I Know I Love You. I also liked the chemistry between the two leads in One Spring Night better since I feel they were superior at showing our leads’ simmering attraction and doomed attempts to get their hearts to listen to logic.
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Loved your analysis of the two dramas! I just finished “I Know You Love Me” and I’m ashamed to say I didn’t figure out that this was a remake until episode 20. It wasn’t until the second half of the show that it started to feel familar and I saw some of the scences being played out word for word from “One Spring Night” and then I was thinking “they copied ‘One Spring Night.'” Honestly I really like how I didn’t realize until later on in the show that this was a remake! I think the Cdrama was able to this remake in a tatsteful way where it wasn’t just a carbon copy of the Kdrama. A few more quick thoughts;
1.) I thought Xu Nuo’s mom was SO ANNOYING and her dad was a piece of crap also!
2.) I loved Zhao Jin’s little sister and I like how the directors decided to give him a sister instead of a son.
3.) The ex-boyfriend was SO annoying and obsessive. I can admit at times I felt bad for him because I think they both cheated on each other emotionally.
4.)The best friend was awesome! I loved her and watching her romance unfold.
5.) I wish there were more “spicy” scences like in “One Spring Night.” Don’t get me wrong the chemistry was there! especially in the begining, but an extra kiss or two wouldn’t hurt to throw in 🙂 lol!
6.) I loved the friendship between the ex-boyfriend and Xu Nuo’s mom, BUT where did she go??!!! She met with her son once and was never to be seen after sigining the settlement papers