Zeng Li

Review: Hidden Love [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show’s got quite a few things going for it: it’s full of pretty polish, boasts a pair of good-looking leads who share a sparky chemistry, has a cast of likable characters (with the rare exception, for purposes of narrative tension), and has a very enjoyable soundtrack to score it all.

Show’s biggest strength, though, in my opinion, is its ability to serve up feels that feel at once real and relatable.

Our entire premise is the crush that our female lead Sang Zhi (Zhao Lu Si) has on Jiaxu (Chen Zhe Yuan), and Show’s ability to bring the feels to life, of all the nuances of how it feels to have a crush on someone, is so spot on.

A very easy, enjoyable, sometimes cracky watch, provided you get around some of the points of discomfort that some viewers experienced – which I’ll talk about later, in this review.

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Dropped: Unchained Love [China]

| kfangurl

You know how I always talk about managing expectations and adjusting your viewing lens, in order to best enjoy your watch of any show?

Well, I tried with this one, you guys. I really did.

But, as you can tell from the title of this post, that didn’t work out at all the way I’d hoped. 😅

And so it is, that I’m tapping out of Unchained Love after just 10 episodes.

I’ll still tell you ALLL about it, though, so that you can decide whether you’d still like to give this one a try, even though it didn’t work for me.

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Review: Love Like The Galaxy [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A gorgeously shot, epic love story that works out to be wonderfully addictive and immersive.

The entire cast is pretty great, but it’s really our leads Wu Lei and Zhao Lu Si who ground this one for me, with their nuanced portrayals of their characters, and their fantastic shared chemistry.

Show isn’t perfect, and there are some rough edges in the presented narrative, but it’s nothing some lens adjustments can’t fix (I talk more about that in a bit).

Importantly, Show knows how to serve up the romance, and make me swoon into a flailing puddle on a regular basis, and I consider that to be Show’s biggest strength. 😁

Absolutely recommend, especially if you enjoy a dose of swoony romance. ❤️

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Review: Find Yourself [China]

| kfangurl

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A show that’s light, breezy and really rather slurpable, with a nice handful of thoughtful nuggets thrown in for good measure, Find Yourself might not be the kind of Amazing Drama that shifts the world under your feet, but it just might be the comfort food marathon that you need.

With a rather charming noona romance at its center, and endearing friends and family to round it out, this drama world feels a little bit like a family drama with romcom leanings.

Our noona romance starts off pretty heady and cracky, but eventually gives way to an emphasis on soul-searching and finding your own truth. In the end, this gives us a story that feels nicely balanced, I think.

Even though the fangirl in me would’ve loved to have stayed in heady, cracky territory, the comparatively more muted later stretch, allowing our characters space to figure themselves out, is what makes this story and our characters feel more real than fairytale.

And, who doesn’t need a down-to-earth fairytale right now, right?

PS: Did I mention there are cute pups in this show? And that they make repeated appearances? ❤️

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