Only for Love (2023)

Don't believe hate reviews. This is a delightful rom-com

I see haters are already at work trying to smear this drama. Not just here, I'm seeing hate videos on Youtube too. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more rampant in the world of Chinese dramas where producers are blackmailed into paying up, otherwise their dramas would be defamed on social media. Apparently, the producer of this drama did not give in to blackmail, thus flaws were invented or flaws that are common in cdramas and are largely ignored were exaggerated with this drama. The attacks got propagated to other sites by so-called water armies and picked up and further spread by anti-fans of the stars or their pairing, Innocent viewers got swept up in the frenzy and got swayed by the smear campaign.

But please don't let haters keep you from enjoying this delightful rom-com.

Only For Love stars Bai Lu as Zheng Shuyi, a beautiful, cute, smart, bubbly but rather quirky reporter of a finance magazine. Dylan Wang co-stars as Shi Yan, a hotshot mysterious young CEO who requests to be interviewed by Shuyi to publicize the vision of his venture capital company to help startups get off the ground. Shuyi has just caught her boyfriend cheating on her with a girl she mistook for Shi Yan's niece. Her boyfriend breaks up with her for the girl who promised to help him with his career. With her pride shaken, Shuyi decides to flirt with Shi Yan, seemingly to get back at her ex-boyfriend and to allow her to conduct a series of interviews with the much sought after bachelor CEO. Their constant meetings lead to romance. But what would Shi Yan feel when he knows the truth about Shuyi's reasons for pursuing him?

Shuyi is not the usual type of female lead in Chinese dramas. She is brilliant when it comes to work. But outside of it, she is somewhat clueless. Self-centered and shameless too. Her clumsy pursuit of Shi Yan is hilarious, showing how out of character she is at playing a seductress. But is it all play-acting? Might this seductress have fallen in love with her prey?

Shi Yan is being hailed on social media as the Chinese Mr. Darcy with his reserved and stoic demeanor as well as the dashing figure he cuts especially in a riding outfit. But he's also got a charm all his own. When he smirks at Shu Yi's clumsy attempts at seduction or when he looks at her with all the affection and sexual tension he oftentimes has a hard time keeping under wraps, your heart wouldn't be able to help dancing with excitement.

There might be some cultural challenges that could impact a non-Chinese viewer's understanding of the drama. For example, the joke about the cake in Shi Yan's uncle's dinner feast started with Shuyi mischievously texting "making love' to her ex-boyfriend's query about what she was doing. But when she noticed Shi Yan watching her composing the text, she changed her text to "making cake". The misunderstanding arose due to some texts not being subtitled. In addition, it seems "eat cake" has some sexual connotation in Chinese culture. So if you don't understand something in the story, try to join social media discussions and ask away.

All in all, this drama is pleasing to the eye and is quite entertaining. It starts off lighthearted but the characters turn out to be more than typical rom-com characters. These are multi-dimensional characters who are not all good but also not all bad. In short, they are human. Dissecting the characters and what makes them tick is fundamental to enjoying this delightful drama.

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Character-driven drama with campy humor and titillating romance

Plot Summary:
Zheng Shu Yi (Bai Lu) is a pretty, brilliant and hard-working 25-year-old reporter who hopes to write the front-page article of the Financial Vision magazine for at least the 9th time. And her ticket to scoring the latest cover article is to land an interview with the CEO of a venture capital company, 27-year-old Shi Yan (Dylan Wang), who, as it happens, has taken an interest in her, insisting the magazine send her to interview him.

Before that happens, her boyfriend dumps her for a girl surnamed Qin whose uncle owns impressive cars with impressive plate numbers. Having found out that Shi Yan has a niece with a surname of Qin and that he owns a roll royce with an an imposing plate number, Shu Yi concludes that her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend is the niece of Shi Yan.

Armed with a desire to use her rejection as fuel to succeed in her career as well as with her dream of upgrading the online version of Financial Vision magazine, Shu Yi pursues Shi Yan to get him to agree to a series of interviews for the online magazine. That is, as she makes herself believe. But might she be harboring some other reason for pursuing the handsome aloof bachelor?

For some mysterious reason of his own that will be revealed later, the cold CEO, who would have likely spurned such advances from any other girl, humored Shu Yi. Frequently thrown in each other's company due to the interviews as well as their jobs, they develop a deeper bond that propels them into a rocky journey of growth necessary to bring about a lasting and happy relationship where honesty and effective communication prevail.

Review:
This drama is character-driven thus requires a good understanding of the characters to be thoroughly appreciated. Skipping scenes would jar one's ability to be drawn into the characters and understanding them. In addition, skipping scenes could make one miss the campy spoofing feel throughout the drama, such as Shu Yi's pursuit of Shi Yan, the blind-leading-the-blind attempts of Shu Yi's cocksure but clueless best friend to give her advice, Shi Yan's seeming ability to hear Shu Yi's thoughts which could be a device to show they are on the same wavelengths, the phone conversations that everyone in the room can hear, the phone interruptions, the over-the-top riding clothes and many more. Those who recognize the campy humor in these situations would laugh. Those who don't would grumble.

Therefore, if you skip scenes or don't pay attention to the story, don't blame the writer or director if you can't find, much less understand, the plot.

This drama does not describe characters by having somebody directly point out that, say, Shu Yi is brilliant or that Shi Yan is a visionary. The drama SHOWS the audience, another reason skipping scenes is a no-no.

Shu Yi is not the conventional sensible-can-do-no-wrong cdrama female lead. She is smart, kind, friendly, playful, a good sweet daughter, hard-working, cannot be bribed and stays cool when a conniving work rival plays dirty tricks against her. But having been pampered by her parents, she is spoiled, self-centered and not above using people to attain her goals. Most of all, the drama shows her tendency to lie, causing her to do things contrary to what she feels and to make excuses to avoid facing up to the consequences of inappropriate actions.

It is intentional that Shu Yi sometimes throws ethics to the wind. Those who think smart people never do stupid things have unrealistic expectations of people. A lot of intelligent people make unwise decisions. Shu Yi's ethical lapses are part and parcel of the story which is unique to one particular reporter who does some things she should not do. So, complaints about degrading her profession are terribly misplaced. It is highly improbable that the drama would make viewers think reporters do this sort of thing all the time. In fact, that's why this story is told - it deals with a unique character.

I understand why Bai Lu bravely took on this role. Shu Yi would have been a challenge to portray because not doing her right could have made her obnoxious. I was amused at her flaws, scrapes and outrageousness, indicating Bai Lu portrayed her well.

Shi Yan is another complex character. The viewers' first impression of him is his stoic demeanor which is likely the amalgamation of his reserved and taciturn nature plus his upbringing and grooming to take over a company that would have made him resolute about appearing proper and older than his age at all times. The business scenes show how intelligent, competent and forward-thinking he is by letting us see how he handles meetings with business associates and how he chooses business partners. For example. he concurs with a startup's philosophy to put quality of technology ahead of production. These scenes also show the challenges he faces from senior executives who undermine his capability to lead the company due to his youth and inexperience. To delineate his sincerity in helping startups, the drama shows us that through thick and thin, he stands by a struggling chip producer he has been helping to establish. He gets personally involved in the chip industry and time and again defends his company's stand to finance the startup.

The business scenes also show how compatible the leads are in terms of interests and values. They are both hard-working. Shi Yan's passion to give back to society by helping startups is matched by Shu Yi's passion to make a contribution to society by creating an online version of her company's magazine that would allow more people access to information about finance. They both agree in doing the right things such as when Shi Yan, with Shu Yi's support, refuses to work with a corrupt battery manufacturer.

As he gets to know Shu Yi better, Shi Yan unlocks other parts of his personality - his thoughtfulness and dependability, his gentle and caring nature, his jealousy and his vulnerability that he only shows in her presence. Reserved by nature, Shi Yan's love is shown through his actions - making sure Shu Yi has eaten or has a ride home, even cooking for her. He is a natural nurturer, the best person who can help a spoilt girl in her journey to maturity.

This drama also shows how lack of communication can exacerbate couple issues. This is another hurdle the leads must face and overcome. Those who are intently watching would actually welcome a rift between the leads to knock some sense into Shu Yi. She has a lot of growing up to do and Shi Yan is prepared to take that journey with her as long as she wants to. All he wants is to love her, if she wants that love. What hurts him, more than the thought that she used him, is the thought that she loves another man. He is heartbroken as he muses, "what you wanted was never me". Though it devastates him, he loves her too much to force her to be with him while she is unsure of her feelings. So he lets her go and gives her space and time to sort her feelings out.

One of the things I admire about this drama is how subtle it showed Shu Yi's growth. She was self-centered before she met Shi Yan. She treated her ex-boyfriend like a driver, choosing to do an interview rather than celebrate his birthday with him. When he broke up with her, it was her pride more than her heart that was hurt. Shi Yan's unselfishness must have rubbed off on her. When she received her bonus, the first thing she thought of was to buy her parents gifts. When Shi Yan blocked her, she did not try to make excuses for what she did as what a spoiled child would have done. She felt guilty and remorseful thus felt resigned to losing him. She remembers Shi Yan's loving care and was ready to talk to him in person. When she saw him with another girl, she most probably took that as punishment for what she did and accepted the heartbreak. When news of Shi Yan's shareholders broke out, she first thought of Shi Yan's feelings instead of the effect the news would have on her online magazine. When she finally broke down, she did not care that her fierce work rival was there to witness her anguish. She did not whine or complain about her heartache but got sick due most probably to intense mental and psychological pain.

But the starkest manifestation of Shu Yi's growth was that, when her relationship with Shi Yan stabilized, she stopped lying.

Finally, to complete this multi-dimensional characterization of Shu Yi and Shi Yan, one needs a good idea of the world they're living in. Their friends, families, work, hobbies and other activities provide that additional dimension to their world.

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