Somente por Amor (2023)

Chatinho... Mas o final compensa

Esse C-drama é leve e assisti mais por causa do Dylan Wang – ele foi quem salvou a série para mim. Apesar disso, o personagem dele, Shi Yan, é bem difícil de engolir até a metade da trama. Ele era chato, insuportável em algumas situações, ficava emburrado e não falava nada.

A história, de maneira geral, é bem arrastada, principalmente nos primeiros 20 episódios. E olha que eu costumo gostar de romances com construção lenta, aquela expectativa gostosa de ver o casal ficar junto. Mas aqui, isso não aconteceu. O desenvolvimento do romance deles é tão enrolado que, mesmo torcendo para que fiquem juntos, o ritmo cansa.

Quanto à Bai Lu, que também adoro, preciso dizer que sua personagem foi difícil de aturar. Ela era muito enjoada e frequentemente infantilizada (algo que muitos C-dramas fazem com as atrizes, infelizmente). Em várias cenas, eu senti tanta vergonha alheia que cheguei a pular partes.

Por outro lado, gostei muito da sobrinha dela e do desenvolvimento do romance com o professor. Foi fofo e bem construído, mas poderiam ter explorado mais esse casal, que acabou ficando como um detalhe na trama principal.

O final, felizmente, compensa. Os protagonistas terminam juntos de uma forma bem fofa, com muita química. Mesmo após todo o enrolação dos 20 primeiros episódios, esse desfecho trouxe uma sensação boa e salvou a série.

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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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