Well-Intended Love

It started off pretty good and I enjoyed it a lot until the plot twist.

It's unbelievable for the ML to get away with his manipulative tactics. He's a stalker. Lying to someone about a huge illness and forcing marriage on her, then trapping her in his house and repeatedly lying to her/manipulating everything around her behind her back - all of this screams an emotionally abusive male. Like how is that romantic?? At least don't make it seem romantic and show that he repents or something??

He's trapping her in his house against her will, he even tries to come onto her and sleep with her/kiss her and its so creepy and gross. The FL rejects him a lot after the plot twist and stands against his decisions but eventually she gives in and forgives him. I don't understand how anyone can accept this plot. I don't remember how many episodes I exactly watched but it was near the twist.

The one thing I really liked was the second lead, he was so genuine and the bickering was cute haha his relationship with the FL is what made me wanna keep going... but I just couldn't anymore.

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Good First Half but Totally Ruined by the Twist

I’m not enough of a masochist to keep watching this show after episode 10. It’s obvious where it’s going and it’s really cliche so it won’t even be interesting. The first half is fun and playful. The character who is the initial love rival (allegedly) is wonderful. The acting is good and some of the dialogue is really nice, especially between the main couple. Still, it’s mostly typical drama plotting and definitely not enough to sustain it through the halfway point twist. Very typical for Chinese dramas to have a playful first 10 eps followed by crazy drama/tragedy, but this one is too much. I’m actually most upset because my partner who tolerates me watching dramas all the time actually started to get into this one and felt really betrayed by the turn it took. Always do your research before watching, I guess!

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WHAT THE HELLIE??????

I don't know which is worst the fact that for the first 10 episodes i actually enjoyed this show or the fact it has a 7.4 RATING????? Have we lost the point so bad . This absolutely disturbing watch follows the fl who has been diagnosed with leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant and the ml who is a rich ceo happens to be the perfect match they both find themselves in a contract marriage until the PLOT TWIST SHE NEVER HAD F o KING CANCER WHAT?????? He liked her and didn't know how to approach her so he hired doctors and a research facility to pretend that she had it the helllllllll and they still somehow end up together? How about flowers,how about perfume,how about a letter why cancer who wrote this drama who ordered ANOTHER season who is responsible for this atrocious writing they should all be investigated this isn't love this is demonic and sociopathic activity what is going on if i could give it 0 stars i would why would anyone in their right minds think that THIS is the standard for love pls ladies if u give this hire than 1 stars u need serious mental evaluation

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0 out of 10 if i could - DO NOT WATCB

Will contain spoilers

wow, what started out as a super cute and trope heavy drama turned into a disaster.
At the beginning I was head over heels for this drama and the leads romance. I’m a sucker for a trope and hey, even a dab of toxicity, but this storyline ruined it all.
Like everyone else, the first 10 or so episodes were exciting for me. Then the bombshell drops that not only did the male lead know about her before they ‘met’ in the show, he FAKED her cancer diagnosis, their bone marrow match and her recovery all to manipulate her into marrying him.

There was ZERO chance of this drama coming back to life for me after then. Then the male lead kept her hostage in their house for two days with guards???

ugh, the whole thing was destroyed at this point. The second male lead is so lovely so I thought maybe with such a catastrophic twist in the storyline that he would actually be the person she picks but after another episode i realised it wasn’t going to happen and looked up spoilers. She goes back to the horrible male lead.

Waste of any time and energy. Just UGH.

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Red flag alert

Even though I didn't like some development of the story and characters, it kept me interested until the end.

In the first episodes I thought I was watching the typical cute love story, but suddenly, it became kind of creepy.

The male protagonist, who seemed to be the perfect husband, unexpectedly, in a plot twist, transforms into an obsessive controller. And although it is assumed that he overcame his problems and is willing to sacrifice himself for her, I was left with the feeling that at any moment he would show his true colors again. Then, the ML stopped being so attractive. Undeniably, he is a red flag.

I'm not sure if I want to watch the second season.

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I am so fooled into watching this drama from the rave reviews and comments that I've read. Obviously they are not on MDL. If I'd read the comments and reviews on MDL, I probably would not have given this drama a shot. Well, to be fair, the first 10 episodes are kinda okay and watchable when you leave your brain off and just feast on the eyes looking at Xu Kai Cheng. But after that things started to go downhill. The FL gets more annoying and irritating, and you just want to slap her to "wake her" up sometimes. The evil guy (I forgot his name) is an absolute bore and his acting is so bad......... The mom storyline is also weird and to me doesn't make sense, how you would betray your own son just because she loves her second husband? That to me is super outrageous! Unfortunately, I'm not one to drop dramas, so I have to just soldier on and finish it all - Netflix combines both seasons, so it just kept on playing. But I do other things while it plays on the background. Somehow I'm interested to see what crappy ending this drama has :)

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BONKERS

well intended love was the first chinese drama I ever watched.

it contains almost every trope ever in the history of everything...

kidnapping? contract marriage? hypnosis? drugging? fake cancer? mean mother? abusive father? poor girl rich man? ceo of company? all that and more!

you were never bored - and honestly some scenes were quite suspenseful and exciting - female love rival did some wild things but it didn't matter, the villain was unhinged but entertaining


MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD
when i found this out in episode eleven... everything changed...

the cancer was fake!?! u should’ve seen my jaw drop when this was figured out
renders their whole relationship into this creepy mess where the power dynamics are completely out of whack - when we found out he had like secretly loved her for ages i was like hUh

in general their relationship is extremelyyyyy toxic and abusive

disliked that aspect a lot... at least they gave xia lin enough independence and sense for him to leave him for at least a bit (very bare minimum i know but at least they didn’t say... moving on! her pain and suffering was acknowledged)

the memory loss really annoyed me - felt like an attempt to pad out the plot

tldr: hectic

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✒❌️Wrong Car ✅️Right Destiny °7.5° °VG°

They say nothing is free. WIL is about a free ride that isn't free, in the end.

“How could I have leukemia?” Xia Lin (aka "Lin Lin" aka "MuMu”) knows this makes no sense. Her personal and family history are clear of health issues. She's flummoxed as she bulls her way out of the hospital and flings open the door of her Uber. A strange man is in her ride!?! Whatever, just “drop me off first, I'm in a hurry,” she honks. “Well? Scoot Over!” The stranger scoots. (We all Uber in Maseratis all the time, right?) The stranger takes a call from his friend: “I'm alone on the street! Where are you, you were supposed to pick me up!” Sounds like that come from the other end of his phone convo. Stranger, Ling, (Xu Kai Cheng from Novoland: Pearl Eclipse) laconically shuts him down cold: ”Take a cab.” Next, Ms MuMu gets a call from her actual Uber driver… Whoops! Wrong car…

Or wuzzz it?

WIL is a 2019 release that is rated 7.6 on MDL, which is actually a middling rating for that site. Viki has it at 9.3. Why the disparity? WIL contains some triggers that many viewers will find unpleasant, specifically the making of a monster. It's also about the unmaking of a monster. Some viewers will not get beyond the triggers, while others will enjoy the dopamine rush that a classic style romance delivers - he's really, really into her. Our ML grew up with a domineering father. His mother is gone - she finally had to escape her horrible husband and she abandoned her son. Ling picked up some bad tendencies from Fughee (dad) and brings them to his love life. There's nothing unrealistic about that pattern. WIL is about how MuMu‘s presence reforms Ling’s tattered emotional state. The point is that he has issues and needs some work. It isn't justifying his behavior, even if his wrong acts work out in the end. If abusive and domineering men are a hot-button trigger for a viewer then (based on the ratings and reviews) WIL is not the one to watch.

This is a non-spoiler review, so no specifics, but our ML pulls an outrageous stunt because that is all he knows. Fughee brought him up to be emotionless, manipulative, authoritative, and domineering. He desperately craves love but is not equipped to give or receive it. Some watch this and can't get beyond the urge to cancel our ML entirely. On a core programming level, I'm incapable of hating a show in which the ML loves the FL as much as Ling loves MuMu. Keep in mind that equality of the sexes in Asia is decades behind the West. This show is actually performing a service in representing this behavior as wrong and in need of reform. Our FL absolutely refuses to put up with it.

Perhaps that will help you decide if you will enjoy WIL or not - it's only value is in its wind-down escapism, so if it will get one worked up, one should avoid it. People take every trend too far, and our cancel-culture has gone too far. Wrongs should be addressed, corrected and even punished, but we are too quick to throw out human beings. ‘Bringing out the lions’ has never fixed any society or any wrongs, and it never will. None of us are without blemishes. Our first goal should be to promote growth in others. Blocking, mocking, and cross-offing might make a person feel better (superior) in the short run, but it does harm and not good, ultimately. Now I've gone way overboard for a piece-of-fluff show. Moving on…

Mixing up cars is not enough to bring them together. They didn't even exchange names, after all. MuMu glimpses her medical file & learns that the closest match for a bone marrow donor is a stranger, Ling Yi Zhou. She studies up on him - he's a CEO & he will be hard to reach. FeiFei (Liu Jia Xi from The Last Immortal) is her cute & spritely friend. She will teach MuMu how to hook a guy. There's 3 main principles: 1. Commitment. 2. Be Shameless. 3. Be committed to being Shameless. With help from Fei Fei she starts scheming.

Many women have already schemed to meet Mr. Ling, so MuMu & FeiFei are to be congratulated, as it isn't long before MuMu gets her 1-on-1 and sees he is her kind Uber-stranger who gave her a free ride. He won't help, though! He's a businessman, and there's nothing in it for him. No deal. MuMu becomes very emotional and decides she's going to die in a beautiful way. She jumps into the water. For those of you who haven't watched many Asian features, particularly Chinese ones, walking or jumping into the water is treated as a tragic threat of imminent death. It's something I found amusing the first few times I saw it, but now I'm so used to it I just take it in stride. It's a representation of a suicide attempt and it should just be taken as such, no matter how inauthentic and downright silly it appears. Even the Netflix show, Marco Polo-8, has such a scene. It's obviously a cultural thread that connects a patch of ideas and images to which we, in the West, are not privvy.

Anyway, near drowning (her acting was perfect, too. He complimented her) wasn't enough to bring them together, or save her life. She had to go on a campaign. She learned his schedule and he got used to seeing her face until he finally breaks down and agrees to help her. He has 1 condition: Marry him. Marrying her will chase away all the annoying women coming after him. He doesn't have time to work on human relationships. He really doesn't have the desire to, either. She is well suited for the position because she needs something from him. MuMu has a dream of being an actress. Perhaps being married to this well connected guy will save her career as much as it saves her life. Tit-for-tat he understands. Ling can make sense of that. FeiFei theorizes that Ling's real motive is to hide the true nature of his relationship with his actor friend, Chu Yan (Ian Yi from Killer and Healer). Ling needs MuMu to keep him “straight,” ahem. Come to think of it, their first date was /shopping/... 🤔

Actually, what Ling cares about most is making his grandmother happy. It's Grandma who wants him to get married. So, they get to work. Contract signing (with only moderate haggling), civil ceremony (more like a registration), the surgery, recovery, and choosing what family property to occupy (such problems)… They keep the marriage 100% packed away until the move-in stage. She wanted it kept under wraps completely (“😤You're supposed to keep it a secret!” ”😶I took that clause out.” 😤😤!)

Soon she becomes curious about whether Ling finds women attractive or not. More exactly, whether he finds /her/ attractive. She tries an experiment👙 or 2… They fall for eachother early, so most of the show is adjustment issues. He was honed by his father to be ruthless. He's done some ruthless things and he's accustomed to having complete control. How will she respond when the truth comes out? More importantly, is that gonna fill 30 episodes? They have a couple surprises. This duo has some 👛👜🎒stuff💼👝🛍🛄 to work out.

Ms Mu is played by Simona Wang (The Legend of Du Xin Wu). She is bright and endearing. Her manner allows her to appear cute though her looks are more classically beautiful. She was born in ‘91 and was 28 years old when WIL was released. She's supposedly just 21 in ep1, but she does appear older than that. The show covers a few years so it catches up with her. Director, Wu Qiang also brought us General's Lady, Miss Crow with Mr. Lizard & The Eternal Love S2) and screenwriters, He Dun and Yang Huai penned Cute Programmer & The Romance of Hua Rong.

They've almost completely course-corrected in recent years, but for a long time it was common for a Chinese modern-day feature to have inane dialogue to the point of… - well, pinch yourself to check that you aren't dreaming, and confirm they actually committed something that feeble to film. That bad habit probably led to the plot twist that got women's rights groups in a twist (they ain't wrong!). It's more a matter of 1. How seriously do you take a show like this and, 2. If a character makes a mistake, even a particularly bad one, but they have sincere remorse coupled with a complete turnaround later, can we forgive h/h?). WIL has above average writing and dialogue.

The acting is above average. Ling's mother had to hold back tears at one point and the actress was breathtakingly effective. I held /my/ breath. The wardrobe is above average (except for Chu Yan's suit of blue squares which brings on morning sickness). Speaking of wardrobe, Ling looks fabulous in a suit, and I'm not crazy about suits. The script and the plot are well above average. It could be argued that Chinese modern-day dramas are best watched while in rem sleep. They're melodious and often soothing though overflowing with poor plots, wooden acting, and awkward dialogue. The value and/or rating of a feature is in both its technical excellence and its emotional connection. Chinese historical and fantasy features are among the best in the world, but their modern-day stuff has been technically appalling while being emotionally palliative. Guess what? Emotions win 90/90 -> They win 90% of the time for 90% of the people. And Chinese modern-day features are Prozac.

WIL has the 🇨🇳usuals: Flashbacks. Amnesia. Poison. There's a plot twist with one character that's just laughable (Ling's mom). Some of the sequences and side stories are nonsense. Romance fans should still like it quite a bit, though. The building where he works looks like poured liquid with wavy sides. It's an architectural jewel. The filming location is Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, which is on Taihu Lake, 100-150 miles from Shanghai. Another building is a horizontally lit sphere. Swanky. She's always wearing star jewelry and I love it. Each episode ends with a cute vignette looking back on a scene from a different take.


QUOTES📢

S1
In this world there are three things you can never hide: a cough, poverty, and love.

I guess poverty has limited my imagination.

〰🖍 IMHO

S1
📣7 📝6.8 🎭7.3 💓7 🦋7.5 🎨6 🎵/🔊6.7 🔚7.5 ♦ 🌞5 ⚡5 😅3 😭3 😱3.4 😯2 😖1 🤔2 💤2.5


Age 12+ kidnapping, Adult situations, sexual content with lots of kissing, pregnancy, violence

Rated TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Re-📺? Not impossible


Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1 (there's a minor fantasy element),
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in the style of ancient Chinese opera),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending. I cannot recommend episodes 1 - 49 enough. It's near perfect).


K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
The Kings's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9


Fantasy - Heavenly realm:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword 9 (Kung-fu!);
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal love 8.3 + its sequel Eternal Love Of dream/Three Lives, Three Worlds, 10 Miles Of Peach Blossoms 7.7 (I watched these in the wrong order, which was a shame. EL is not without flaws, the FL being the biggest issue, but overall it's outstanding. The sequel was not originally planned. EL actually tells the same story as ELOD as a secondary romance, and the show was so popular that they did the sequel and changed quite a bit).
Love and Redemption 10
Historical/Period:
Overlord 8.4,
The Sleepless Princess 9.1 (there's a minor fantasy element),
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8,
Under the Power 8.6,
The Rebel Princess 9.1,
The Sword and the Brocade 8.6 (in the style of ancient Chinese opera),
Ruyi's Royal love in the palace (episodes 1 - 49 are a 9.3. While looking up it's historical accuracy, I learned how heartbreaking the rest of the show is. It's over 80 episodes, so that's a hella-lotta hurt. I am not up for it now, so I stopped at episode 49, which is a perfect ending. I cannot recommend episodes 1 - 49 enough. It's near perfect).


K:
My Only Love Song 8.7 excellent comedy;
Mr. Queen 8.5;
My Sassy Girl / Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo 8.5;
The Kings's Affection 8.3;
Mr. Sunshine 9


Fantasy - Heavenly realm:
Love Between Fairy & Devil 8.9;
Once upon a time in Linglian Mountain 7.5;
Douluo Continent 9.4;
Handsome siblings 8.7;
Heavenly Sword 9 (Kung-fu!);
Ancient Love Poetry 8.6;
Eternal love 8.3 + its sequel Eternal Love Of dream/Three Lives, Three Worlds, 10 Miles Of Peach Blossoms 7.7 (I watched these in the wrong order, which was a shame. EL is not without flaws, the FL being the biggest issue, but overall it's outstanding. The sequel was not originally planned. EL actually tells the same story as ELOD as a secondary romance, and the show was so popular that they did the sequel and changed quite a bit).
Love and Redemption 10

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This is the first cdrama I have watched which involved in contract marriage. Most of the cdramas that I have watched involved time-travelling, rich guys falls for poor lady, relationship involves with alien girlfriend and hate turns to love relationship. Hence I gave myself a chance to watch this drama since session 2 of this drama was just being released.

I am not going to spoil the story as the title of this drama has mentioned it clearly "Well Intended Love".

What I can said is this drama is really very funny from episode 1 till 10 then from episode 11 onward it starts to get serious and that is the time the female lead, Xia Lin knew the male lead, Old Ling aka her contractual husband has arranged to trick and trap her into this contract marriage.

I am rather surprised to see there are many skin-ship involved in this drama which are very cheesy and I really saluted both ML & FL for being able to bring up these cheesy moments.

The side casting example Xia Lin good friend and Wen Li relationship and Yan Chou were rather cute and adorable. It's like the decoration on top of a birthday.

Overall this story is quite predictable and if you like rom-com this drama is for you.
As for me it's just an average drama 'coz it's not logic but entertaining.
Even the OST for this drama is just average.
One thing for sure is it has happy ending! Lol..........

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*heavy spoilers below!

There is no question that the ML’s actions (big reveal in episode 10) were inexcusable. The problem I had with it though, is that it seemed extremely out of character for him to do what he did. Why on earth would someone like him go to such lengths when he could have just introduced himself and maybe asked her out? He was not written as a shy person. He was confident, authoritative go-getter businessman type of person. He was written as a pretty tough player in the business world. The plot didn’t adequately explain why this character, who had pretty much everything (even women throwing themselves at his feet) would suddenly act like the villain of the drama. The only conclusion I can make is that it was a stupid plot point to add unwanted angst.

I have seen this sort of thing before. In one movie whose name I forget and in another drama (Love Now)... only in the latter the stupid trick is done by the FL’s ‘loving family’ and the plot treats it as a joke. A pretty horrible joke.

To be fair, the plot in this one does NOT excuse the MLs actions. Pretty much every character (including his biased best friend) calls him out and even beats him up for it. The FL also does not take it sitting down and outright leaves him. I don’t think it was right or realistic for her to take him back but I also felt that it was unrealistic for him to act the way he did in the first place. He was pretty much in love with her throughout the entire thing. If you remove episodes 10-13, his behavior is pretty consistent throughout. I did like how it took awhile for the FL to forgive him, and that when she decided to, it was her own choice and she was not forced into it.

Other than that, this is pretty much your standard, run of the mill romcom. I think the first half is stronger than the second but they somehow had to extend to 20 episodes to tie up lose ends and characters. This drama also has the ‘brother vs evil brother’ trope that I have seen in another drama.

What did I like here? I actually like the way the ML looks at the FL. Also, some of the skinship moments were good (if only they removed eps 10-13) and they actually had chemistry. They also included the dreaded amnesia trope which I also hate...but surprisingly, I found the FL’s actions (including the SML’s) hilarious during this time.

I also like the FL’s ‘bromance’ with the SML. I am not sure I can use this word because she’s a woman but I find it refreshing when men and women can be depicted as really good friends without anything else added. Bromance doesn’t have to be just for guys lol.

I don’t recommend this for impressionable younger viewers. Older viewers who like a devoted ML will be able to assess this better, I think. They may either like or hate it. For me, it was nothing special but I did like some parts of it. At the end of the day we have to make our own decisions about what to watch and what we think of them.

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I love how weird this story is!

You think it’s going to be a normal cliche frolic through an Asian drama—PLOT TWIST!! I love it. I’ve watched it four times and am currently rewatching it. DONT BOTHER WITH NETFLIX’S REBOOT! It’s way too normal and not as fun. I think a lot of people don’t like the original because it’s so bizarre, but I freaking love it. Lol. I only created an account here to defend this wonderful drama. The theme is how respect is more important in a relationship than love and because they respect each other they are able to get through a lot of trials

Hmm it wants it to be longer. Ok. Uhh it’s super funny but also really dramatic. Idk how she is the damsel so many times but it works. But seriously the plot twist is initially hard to get over, but because the characters are mature and respect each other, it works.

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