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dianoh
Reviews
Zhi Wo Men Dan Chun De Xiao Mei Hao (2017)
A heartwarming gem!
Honestly surprised that this show isn't blowing up as much as Meteor Garden 2018 (which was an atrocity).
There is great plot, script, and videography here and best of all, good pacing. There are no unnecessary plot lines and the show was entertaining without being inane. You will find Chen Xiao Xi endearingly naive and silly and Jiang Chen frustratingly intelligent but also emotionally obtuse. The side characters are also lovable and memorable. I actually wished there were more episodes but understand that the story is better off finished than dragged out.
If you enjoy cute romantic dramas with classic tropes, you will like this one.
Meteor Garden (2018)
Do not watch...
I was so excited for this remake. I loved the 2001 version and was excited to see how they would modernize it.
This drama has been panned in China. I can see why - there is nothing redeemable here, save for the few moments of comedy sprinkled throughout a long 48-episode mess. The acting is atrocious (if you call minutes and minutes of the cast staring and blinking at each other, SC walking at the pace of a dying snail, and reactions so silly and blocking so unnatural that I wonder where they spent that 30 million dollar budget, because it was certainly not spent on casting or directing!)
The most infuriating elements were the plot and characterization. Because the original was shorter, they added unnecessary subplots that no one cared about (like Meizuo's failed romance, Ximen and Xiaoyou's entire storyline which was moving in the original but bland here). The original had a protagonist people looked up to - SC was brave and spirited, standing up against the unreasonable and violent F4. This SC is a bumbling and fumbling silly schoolgirl and country bumpkin. With the kind of intelligence she possesses, how did she ever get in to this prestigious university? The new F4 are supposedly geniuses, but they've never cracked open a book, or studied! The way they drag out each episode is by inserting flashbacks; every time anything happens with DMS and SC (which is most of the time, since the show is about them), they replay the montage. The season finale was so ridiculous I skipped most of it; essentially DMS drugs SC, brings her to the wedding venue, puts her in a dress she had no choice in picking (every woman's dream!), and then deliberately angers her, walks away, has his older sister do a weird sexy dance number (???), has the rest of F4 try to proposition SC to test her (???), and then they get married. I have zero respect for SC and DMS; SC had no objections to being uninvolved in her wedding? And DMS testing and tricking and drugging her? DMS never thought this would be humiliating and manipulative to do? The director and writers didn't think this storyline was ludicrous???
This has been the most stultifying series I've ever watched. I've read fan fiction written by 10 year olds better than this. That's why this gets an unprecedented rating of 1/10. Congrats, Ms Tsai. I don't know how you ever made the original if you decided to green light this project.
Update: the show A Love So Beautiful is so much better than this one. It's also on Netflix and YouTube. The acting and writing is much more tolerable and it's the same type of C Drama, starring Shen Yue. I'd recommend that one instead.