This review may contain spoilers
Watch the first 15 episodes only
I am writing my first review out of frustration with this show. It is a shame because it had a promising start, which is partly why I at least wanted to write this. After all, I felt I invested a good amount of time watching this show, only to be short-changed at the end. You wanted to see how they will separate and find each other again, but after their major break-up in the middle, the show would spend 13 of the rest of its episodes with the FL just hating the ML and pushing him away, only to suddenly realize at the last episode that she is lonely enough and realize that is she okay now to get back with him. The show spent such a long time with their reconciliation, dragging it along with such a bad story arc of revenge, a third richer guy competing with the ML, and business stuff. By the time you get to the end and the leads reconnect, you are left with a lingering annoyance, asking yourself what just happened. By this time, you are so frustrated with them dragging the story along that you just could not feel happy when they finally got back together AT THE LAST EPISODE because it just felt so rushed and out of nowhere. Especially the decision process of the FL, she and her friend were just really annoying with their bitterness and desire to be successful. I mean there is no pay-off in terms of maturing or learning from their mistakes, the two women are just miserable, until the 2nd girl gets cancer, and the FL suddenly just misses the guy that she tried to push away really aggressively, even sabotaging his business, and just decides okay let's get back together. Again, by this time, you are just so mad at her that you don't want them to end up together anymore. As I painstakingly watched the show progress, I learned that the writer is known for such endings, so next time I will steer clear of said writer's work. they say the source was a bit darker, but the writer of the show managed to make it worse by dragging it along. Like I said, watch until the middle, then move on... because after this the series becomes with a story that could not get out of its angst.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A Normal One!!!!
I saw the Reviews before I start the drama and saw the people saying the drama is not that great and story line is not good . Yes I agree with that cause it is one of the most common old stories where the poor and Family and Leads pushing each other . But In a diff way it's been so long that I saw this troupe again so I saw it and It was good and I really like first and second leads but I did not get the second leads story.I suggest you to watch because it is not that great to some but it will be good for some on the whole it would be a one time watch as per stroy wise but if you want to see it for Actors then yes even I might watch it.
Was this review helpful to you?
Watch Lighter and Princess first!
Listen to me. Have you seen Lighter and Princess? No? Watch that first. You’ve seen L&P already? Then be prepared for a downgrade when watching this. These two shows are quite comparable. The setups are the same (a college romance in the beginning) and the basic structures are similar. Both include a breakup at the midpoint with a timeskip (not a spoiler), with a significant business focus sprinkled in between while ML desperately attempts to salvage whatever love they have for each other. It’s difficult not to compare them.The first 14 episodes or so are fairly standard. Nothing to write home about. A college romance. He’s a sneaker designer starting his own business, while she’s a struggling college student entering the world of business finance to support her mother. Slowly but surely, a romance develops, only for the show to break them up in the latter half of the story. Sound familiar? I told you it’s similar to Lighter and Princess. This is where the writing truly begins to test your patience.
I wouldn’t call it toxic per se but the “will they, won’t they” shtick was really annoying. The pushing each other away in order to protect the other person had my eyes rolling numerous times. ML is particularly guilty of this, and his decisions led to significant consequences.
There is a second couple, but many would find a professor-student relationship pairing weird, but I didn't think much of it. Their storyline was not particularly interesting by the end anyway.
For me the best thing about this show was the opening duet performed by Arthur Chen and Sabrina Zhuang. Really good.
Was this review helpful to you?
Rough around the edges
I couldn’t stop giggling from the chemistry in the first 16 episodes. Those two, Gan Yang and Ding Zi Tong, are well matched. The story itself was lacking in parts but the actors and actresses did an astounding job with the script.I've seen people complain about the misunderstandings but I think that the big misunderstanding that lead to the breakup was understandable compared to some other dramas I've seen.
Both characters had their own flaws but at the end of the day, they just wanted to protect the other. I'd say they acted like each others sheild but ended up as each others enemy.
I didn’t really care about the attempt at making up which was almost completely one-sided sadly. Their sad scenes weren't as good as their cute, lovey dovey scenes and then each of their big reveals to each other about everything that happened during and after that breakup was rushed and neither seemed to care rather than to be silent and "feel bad". I wanted some yearning and begging from both sides because they are both stupid😂
That being said this drama is more character driven than plot driven and the drama does a good job with that. Don't take the drama too serious and you won't be disappointed. Also people need to stop the comparison with lighter and princess to this drama. They are not the same even if they are the same genre. Good bye now👋
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A great romance drama
When they just met, he respected her and even respected how she wanted things to go when it came to money.While in college and when she just started working, I think she is just over doing it and can’t accept his kindness. I think it’s very selfish because he really loves and cares for her.
This secret she is keeping about paying back her relatives, I could see it messing up their relationship.
Finally she told him and now his family went through a hard time and I blamed him for not being honest.
Why I cant stand her? Her actions towards him after they met again. She behaved so heartless and just ugh!!! I was really sad to see the guy keep chasing her. Her reasons for not wanting to be together was just foolish in my opinion. Anyways, for me, I don’t think she deserves him and that’s just me. She needed to stay by herself. For the ending, if they didn’t get back together, I would have been happy either way. But we got to see their wedding and it was a beautiful setting.
Overall, it is a great romance drama.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Communication is Key
I will preface this with saying that I have seen a lot of reviews saying not to watch all of this drama, that it is a waste of time, frustration with the fl, etc. While I agree that she was often infuriating for her stubborn and know-it-all attitude, most of her behavior is understandable. Exaggeration of responses by characters in dramas is nothing new as they keep us coming back…to see how it will work out. Right?Now my thoughts on the story:
I think that the point of a lot of these stories is largely overlooked because viewers want heart flutters and characters that are nearly oerfect in their affection once the couple unites. This drama is too close to realty and that is what frustrates viewers and doesn’t give the dopamine hit required to give them heart shaped clouds and fast beating hearts.
This drama is more focused on the extreme importance of open, honest communication between couples. It’s not only important or reserved for your best friend. It’s something rarely communicated between parents and their children, especially when parents are more focused in marrying off their children than they are in teaching them how to live life together with their future spouse.
This drama exemplified a gap between two strong, romantic and sensitive people who focused on happiness together and dreams of the future rather than the process of understanding how the other processes thoughts and responds to difficulties.
Granted, the ml was better at listening to the fl than she was to him, they both viewed everything through the happily ever after lenses of their love goggles - and when life’s difficulties and bitter realities hit them, those lenses cracked, and woke them up.
They both wanted to tell the other about their difficulties but their internal dialogues made assumptions based on their thoughts and not the reality of what the other person felt or needed. This is a dangerous and often disastrous thing for relationships. Trying to keep the other person from feeling any unhappiness (which is temporary in difficulties), neither had the courage to bear their struggles to the other. The result? A rift in the trust they had built, romanticized dreams crumbled and anger lead to resentment. This resentment resulted in defensive barriers to shield the fl from pain and her anger into bitterness. The ml was riddled with guilt and remorse.
None of their attempts to move on or accept the reality of their situations had any affect on their feelings, so they both dived into their professions and channeled that energy into success.
When they reunited both wanted to go back to the other. While the ml did everything he could to rekindle, the fl fought him off. And nothing would have worked until they both faced their part in the failure of their past relationship.
This step was imperative to their relationship. True reconciliation cannot happen if only one person recognizes their contribution to the failure - and the ml had done that.
The fl on the other hand was incredibly stubborn, and it took her a long time to finally recognize what was truly important. She’d lost herself in her anger and hurt, and it took the scare of losing her best friend to cancer to wake her up.
Frustrating for the viewer yes. But also the reality of life and a good lesson to keep in mind. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Loving someone well does not mean you or they will be around and you’ll both leave the planet at the same time. This is a reality I have seen many times over in my life. People leave us in various ways, but those who leave when the grim reaper calls are the hardest to lose. This then should be an impetus to spur us on to looking at everyone in our lives in the realistic view of they could be gone in a moments time.
This is another lesson from this drama.
While romance and warm fuzzies are great diversions fueling our desire for someone to love and to love us in return, the true meaning to having a spouse or friend for that matter is that openness and honesty - transparency - that exposes your good, bad and ugly sides is what is needed along with open and frank communication, is what makes and keeps a bond strong and lasting.
And then at the end of one’s journey, sadness can linger, but the relationship of two people who loved well through all circumstances will never die.
Other things:
Music was good
Production was done very well. Scenes, prop placement, timely music cues and locations chosen to reflect the mood of each scene were excellent.
Casting was also very good. You were drawn to each character with excellent introductions and development. Enotinal responses to the good-guys, the bad-guys and the cutesy 2nd couple were well dispersed and added to the tension and relief very well.
Ovet all I gave this a 9, as the ending was too rushed and focused more on the recovery of the ml’s business than the resolution and redevelopment of the lead couples relationship.
Maybe another label type is needed for classifying dramas - business, business romance. A lot of dramas are labeled as romance when that seems to be the secondary part of the story, and would give the viewer a much better impression of the drama. Tge romance label is used too liberally when classifying dramas, and many seeking warm fuzzies are disappointed which results in bad reviews for the shows and negatively impacts the actors and production crew.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Frustrating
This one already got off to a rough start for me, and as it went on it only got worse.I actually quite enjoyed the past timeline. The way the main romance started was a little too easy and full of coincidences for me, but I actually appreciated the conflict in their relationship being about money, and I thought both of them had valid perspectives. The FL did not want to become dependent on someone else, and the ML wanted to take care of someone he cared about. I thought both of them had very good points and it's actually a really realistic conflict for a new relationship when two people are from different financial backgrounds.
But it feels like we just never move on. The characters double down on, and we rehash the same issues over and over again. The leads just take turns doing noble idiocy. The love rivals are all irritating. The leads make up, but it's clear the issue is not actually addressed, especially once we get to after the time jump. The FL is still so tight-lipped and non-communicative, we just get episodes of her getting close to the ML but then rejecting his advances. And the ML is still so stubborn and pushy about rekindling their relationship despite her constant rejections. What the show advertises as his perseverance just looks to me like disrespecting boundaries.
I think the show just tries too hard to convince us the leads should be together, instead of writing actual character development to show so. Each episode is full of lines about how they are fated because they had the same survey response, or because they had the same childhood toy, or because they met again. But the way the characters actually act just tells me the opposite — that they should not be together.
I did not care for the second couple either. The teacher-student trope is already something that I find deeply uncomfortable, and it's weirder because the drama doesn't address their power dynamic at all. Her thing is playing hard-to-get and he gives us nothing.
The third couple, surprisingly, was my favorite. They had very little screentime but they were cute and that was all I needed.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
And Finally done...
OK.....I finally broke down and subscribed to Youku streaming service (already subscribe to Viki and iQIYI) specifically because I am a HUGE Chen Fei Yu fan and was super excited to watch Eat, Run, Love, his first modern drama in a while...After struggling through 24 episodes ( soooo disappointed in this drama...😩)...Today, logging in to view the newest episode, I see the final episodes have a label marked "EXPRESS" and found out I need to buy the last 4 episodes???!!!!! I am already regretting signing up for Youku because of this lackluster drama...and have worked my way through the 24 episodes to date (ONLY because I am not a quitter) and they have the nerve to tell me I have to pay more to see this series out?...
No Frickin' Way Youku....I'll wait for the episodes to drop for free for VIP members...lolz...
I can't remember when I have watched such a tedious drama! And let me first say having watched Chen Fei Yu in L&P and two wonderful movies: Yesterday Once More and My Best Summer he is truly a favorite actor of mine and has a real talent, that said, I don't know that a.n.y.o.n.e. could have done a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. with this one dimensional character!
I felt the leads had little chemistry, the dialogues were stilted and incredibly repetitious, the plot itself a "same old-same old" drama with a storyline that was on repeat at almost every episode (during the first few episodes I kept hoping the story would get a bit more complex but gave up on that by the time I got midway through). I was honestly WAAAY more vested in the secondary couples ( Song Ming Mei & Qin Chang and Xu Chen Xi & Wang Yi) than the lead couple. The lead couple: Gan Yang was pretty much depthless and Ding Zhi Tong mostly sour at least up to Episode 24, and honestly, if I have to hear her say one more time how she loves him but can't love him or hear him yell her name one more time I'll scream...
Hopefully Youku will release the last four episodes for members soon, without the added cost, so I can put this dud drama to bed...
P.S. Still a big Fei Yu fan and will continue to keep my fingers crossed he'll either find a new agent who can pick better dramas that suit him more or has another better modern drama already in the works....
UPDATE: Deciding NOT to pay extra for any of the final episodes, I was finally able to put this show to rest today (4/29) with Episode 28...It literally roared through the various storylines of this drama so no loose ends were left, lolz...But/And, to give it credit, as I always want to be fair...the wedding itself in the last 8 minutes of this drama was handled beautifully...not enough to save ERL for me but at least it ended on a better note than it had through the 27 other episodes...
Was this review helpful to you?
I genuinely hated this drama!
I like the actors. But the story is so bad that makes the characters intolerable, and the drama unwatchable. I will not watch anything from this same writer anymore. I feel like I've wasted so many hours of my life putting up with this nonsense drama that I had to skipped through so many episodes. I am done at episode 22. I really don't care about the ending.Was this review helpful to you?
Highly recommended!! Go with the flow..
I was very sceptical and was about to drop this drama because of the negative reviews i saw here. But im glad I didnt. It all depends on your perspective and what you look for in a drama. The common problem i read was it was very laggy by the end. I kind of agree with that but given the circumstances for the female lead it was kind of understandable. The chemistry is out of this world and acting too. This drama made me feel a lot of emotions and im happy i didnt drop it. Dont listen to others and try watching it . Drop it only if you feel like its too unbearable. I’d say definitely give it a shotWas this review helpful to you?
Was this review helpful to you?
Eat Run & Stay Single
I don't know what this drama was trying to do, but I was just too bored to pay much attention to the story.The beginning storyline didn't make me excited to see what happened to them, but I stayed to give it a chance anyway... Which to me was not the best decision. Lasting 21 episodes of this was crazy enough.
Thought the ml and fl didn't have much chemistry.
Just two actors saying words from the script lol.
The fl was annoying. The ml was annoying.
The second leads storyline was also annoying.
How can I finish a drama if every character is not likeable?
Not even worth fast forwarding the scenes like I've been doing. So it's best to drop it now.
Was this review helpful to you?
