Also, the adorable child tends to steal a lot of his scenes. Thank goodness he’s not bratty and it’s his endearing warmth and energy that makes this critical character work.
This is solid viewing and one that holds up over time. If you want to give your heart a workout, this is a good choice.
(Also loved the tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss it Ethan Ruan cameo.)
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This review may contain spoilers
I caught a partial preview of this drama on Netflix and got sucked through 5 or 6 episodes in one night. But there was only a two sentence description, it reminded me of Meteor Garden, and I had a bad feeling. After looking through the comments, I saw that I was right. I decided that since it would probably hit me similar to MG I would hold off for awhile. I wasn't completely giving it up- just hoping that not being blindsided by certain events would help lesson the angst.After extensive google-ing, I started watching it again. This may be the only time I've read the complete synonpsis on something I've planned to watch. I hate spoilers. But I remembered really liking the first episodes, and could not deal with a heart ripper again. So I spoiled.
I rewatched the beginning episodes, then completely skipped from *SPOILER* sending him into the operation to the 6 year fast forward. I knew her leaving him would destroy me. Even knowing the whole storyline, I had to fast forward other parts prior to the operation.
After the 6 year jump, I was not a happy camper. I never liked the 2fl (obviously because she's the 2fl- the definition of that role is a villian) and it was maddening that she "loves" him but lives a web of lies every day. And after browsing pages of reviews, it appears I am in the stark minority with that opinion. I can't count how many times people have commented that they think she should be the one with the ML. No comprendo. *END SPOILER*
The following is an excerpt from the comments I wrote as I watched. I think they do a pretty good job of my feelings during the second half. *MORE SPOILERS*
"...what the duece is going on with the ML? If he is so in love with his fiance, what the flipping hamburgers is he doing with the FL? Why does he tell her she looks beautiful? Why does he care if she's his friend? Why is he even thinking about her? Hello, fiance?? Why does he tell her that she's got two men fighting over her (one being himself) and then not long after, tell her how much he loves his fiance?
And what the duece is up with his smiles? He seems to know that his previous client is guilty, but straight up says he doesn't care, even after the victim describes her damage in detail. Not long after, he is proudly stating that he only cares about the money. Not people. So again, why does he care if she is his friend? The way the story SHOULD go, is that he HAS been missing a part of himself. That he is NOT in love with the homewrecker. That he can't sleep, can't feel at peace. Then when he encounters her, he would be drawn to her without realizing why. Then the watching and the smiling and the friendship deal would make complete sense.
However, I cannot find anyone who has the same issues with this situation. The rare scores under 9 are just complaining about the fl. The only thing I have to complain about there is her posture. How in the modern world...? And the home wrecker!!! Why does everyone favor her?? She's a HOME WRECKER. She is the destroyer of true love. She is a selfish brat who only cares about herself. Ahhhh!!!!
Also, we all know that my life motto is "love conquers all", so the fact that he hasn't had a piece of himself missing for the last six years makes me want to throw things.
"What the duece is happening now? He keeps getting these flashbacks. The flashbacks they're showing us clearly feature fl's face. She's standing right in front of him as the flashbacks happen. He just gets a weird look on his face, then you can almost see the mental shrug and he gives a goofy smile and moves on with his life. HE SAW THEM KISSING AND HE HAS NO REACTION!!!
I think he needs another brain surgery.
And for crying in the bucket, what in Einstein's name is he doing helping her put the blades on and off, and doing the date skating thing when HE HAS A FIANCE???!?"
To sum up, I liked it enough to see it through. The good parts were good enough that I'm not ruling out a rewatch. (edited, of course) But I don't think I would recommend it to anyone.
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Worst FL Ever
This drama was so Meh!! I watched b/c of Vaness Wu and he was alright here but this may have been too much for him to carry the show. Plus he couldn't deliver the gravitas needed for the characters's anger moments it all seemed so tame when the character has every right to be angry.A lot of stuff happening in this series defies logic and usually I can suspend belief b/c I want the romantic fantasy and live for it but this did not deliver the goods AT ALL!!
I hate the FL and have never hated a FL more. I will never understand her motiovations after the fact just dumb. I also hated her doe eyed dumbfouned face everytime she asked to tell the truth but kept lying. Will never watch this again. Liked Xio Le but really not a fan of super precocious kids but he was likeable.
Terrible ending; Guang Xi shoud have gone to the US and taken Xio Le with him. YEP I'm a hater!!
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The story starts with how a young girl called
Mu Cheng becoming an orphan and had to live with her former fathers wife boyfriend as they were rendered bankrupt, her step mothers boyfriend staring developing sexual interest in her as she grew older and made her start feeling uncomfortable in the Sheng university quarters they lived , she tries in every way to avoid him as she they all work in the canteen that serves students food along with her aunt at the Sheng university.
Ren guan xi is a troublesome law student whose family owned and managed the Sheng university for, he remembered his father dying of suicide while young and concludes his mother made his dad die and resents his mum and always caused trouble for he to fix, he met mu cheng while he was causing trouble as always and finds out after making a bet with his friends that she is the only girl that has proved herself unavailable to the boys at Sheng university as she never gives them attention or a number, he decides to follow through the bet to make her kiss him in less than 24 hours , he forces her on a date threatening her that he would report her friend Tuo ye of lending out a book to a non university student, she caught on and made a fool of him saying she had also made a bet with other students to make him kiss her too. Mu Cheng leaves home angrily on that day and finds herself in Sheng hall building where quang xi goes to reminiscence of his time with his father there, she saw a piano there and begins to relive her younger days as a pianist and plays a tune quang xi recognizes, he ends up telling her to strip for him to embarrass her and her tears whilst trying to strip moved him and they gradually began a friendship, he becomes more protective of her when he sees that her step father had suspicious abusive behaviors towards her; so he got closer to her and later fell intensely love with her to the point of getting serious as a law student when an accusation of her selling her body was spread in the school, he defended her reputation on a panel and won.
But tragedy strikes as he fainted and later was diagnosed of brain tumor with only a 15% chance of survival, he harshly breaks off with mu Cheng until he hears she was in danger working at a fish market and he rushes off to see and eventually rescues her, they got stuck together in her house and ended up staying the night together having sex, the next day quang xi decided to go for the surgery so long as Mu Cheng stays with him, but with only the hope of 15% survival and a higher chance of 30% survival If his family accepts a deal with another rich family with the hope or marrying their daughter Yi Quin. Mu cheng had no choice than to play along and eventually cruelly leaving his side during his operation even though he ran out after her and saw her leave with her friend Tuo ye while being stabbed by her step father.
The operation was successful however quang xi wakes up with lost memory of his past and all his cognitive abilities and only Yi quin by his side whilst Mu cheng moves to Hua village, a community known for growing flowers, she found out she had become pregnant for Guang xi and gave birth to a most adorable boy named Xiao Le.
After 6 years, quang xi had to relearn everything with the help of Yi quin and passed his bar exams with no memory of the past, he became a notoriously good lawyer and was planning on marrying Yi Quin who had stayed by his side. During one of his sexual assault cases a memory of him defending Mu cheng flashed of his past which made him beat up his client and he was sentenced to 240 mins of community service of legal service at Hua village .
Guang xi arrives the village and immediately meets the adorable boy called Xiao Le who calls him his alien dad, and also saves mu cheng from a man forcefully trying to drug her to force marriage on her. He unknowingly formed a familiar bond with mother and especially his son not knowing who she really was, he returns to Taipei as a changed man after winning a case against his future father in law and the people of Hua Village, his new moral behavior became suspicious to his family as he had always been know to be a lawyer who acted without hai conscience, until his family found out he had met Mu cheng again when Xiao Le runs away from home to look for Guang xi.
Guangxi recovers his memory on the eve of his wedding with the help of a memory card inserted into the leather bracelet he gave Xiao Le, he breaks off his wedding and immediately wanted to torture everyone who kept him in the dark about his past life , he also immediately wanted Sole custody of his son Xiao Le, out of jealousy he also forced Mu Cheng to marry him because of her close friendship with Tuo ye, guang xi kept misunderstanding Mu cheng’s loyalty to Tuo ye and made him crazily jealous to the point of almost divorcing his newly married wife Mu cheng, until Xiao Le their son pulled them back to each other forcing them to acknowledge their feeling for each other.
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Who likes love story with little bit melodrama ,so this a right choice
Every part of the drama was perfect .expressions were amazing . Every actor was amazing . especially kiddo ,that child acting win my heart . He was so cute and his dialogue delivery was too good. So naturally his expressions were coming out ,too good. So smoothy story is went . Though it has 32 episodes but story was so good that it had not realised that it has 32 episodes .Good part of the drama that it didn't portrait bad image of male lead's mother . Second male lead is also good . Love triangle always made little bit sad when both side have genuine feeling .so felt little bit bad for second male lead character . I had watched 2009 year drama in 2022 year ,time is so changed but still I like the story . So I highly recommend it
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Full of miscommunication, but I still enjoyed it
Let me start by saying that I usually HATE time skips, and I was so terrified of this one that I watched up till the time skip and paused the drama for four months because I couldn't bring myself to continue.But I liked this a lot more than I expected. For someone who usually hates noble idiocy and lack-of-communication as plot points, the storyline was serious enough for me to really empathize with Mu Cheng and understand why she did what she did, especially considering how fleshed out her backstory was.
There were a lot of scenes that were really heartbreaking, even frustrating to watch, because it felt like nothing ever went right and the story was just so tragic and angsty. At the same time, however, there were really adorable and pure scenes between the main leads, and like everyone else, I grew to love Xiao Le as well, who quickly became one of my favorite characters ever.
Yes, part of me wished the characters were just more open and honest with each other, as it felt like ALL the characters did that "lie for someone else's own good," but Autumn's Concerto managed to pull it off. I also commend the drama for tackling sexual assault/abuse AND how perpetrators often get away with it—it felt too REAL.
I won't lie, some of the things Ren Guang Xi did were REALLY problematic, but considering how much character depth he actually had and the other ways sexual assault was addressed, I'm willing to let it slide.
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1. Thoughtful dialogue: You actually wanted to sit through long monologues and watch the tension unfold between two characters. You actually did not want to throw a chair at the screen. You might even shed a tear. It was well done.
2. Addicting story line: This is a highly addicting, binge worthy show. My husband was able to sit and binge watch this show with me over a weekend.
4. Good use of flashbacks: Flashbacks usually suck in most dramas. In this case, the realistic style of the flashbacks (short bursts of selected scenes) aided in the tension. It made the scenes better.
I do have to criticize the overuse of the same soundtrack throughout. I can still hear it in my sleep.
Overall, this is a highly addictive, well written, romantic drama that takes you on a journey and leaves you feeling changed afterwards. There aren't many shows out there that can do this so don't hesitate and watch now.
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This review may contain spoilers
A likable but frustrating timeless Classic.
Well it was better in my memory I guess...I can't deny it's a gripping series in spite of the overly LOUD music, barely audible dialogues, grainy images, endless ad cuts + repeats of the 10 last seconds before said ads ( It’s on STREAMING PLATFORMS NOW, REMOVE them for the online version for God’s SAKE!) and really ROUGH editing…
Yeah I know it’s a long list of technical issues but my GOD all of the above is pretty terrible especially since HD series already existed back then. This series looks like it’s been filmed in the 80s and for the life of me, if it wasn’t for the subs, even if I spoke mandarin, I wouldn’t have been able to understand over half of the dialogues because of the repetitive OVERLY LOUD MUSIC.
And it’s spite of AAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL of that… It’s still a series worth investing some time.
BUT Mu Cheng's character is one of the worst case of noble idiocy I've ever seen even by 2009's standard.
The first time I came across this series years back, I remember I found Guang Xi pretty obnoxious before and after his memory loss (couldn't find over half of the episodes since it was fansubbed so had to drop it back then).
Now more than 15 years later, I was just as frustrated as him with Mu Cheng. It must be hell falling desperately in love with somebody who always keeps things to herself, apologizes repeatedly for nothing, never stands up for herself and keeps on lying repeatedly even when begged to be honest. If I was Guang Xi, I wouldn't bother anymore but dramaland must force this poor man to bear this stoopidity so here it is.
Honestly, only nostalgia made me bear her character. She had her reasons but my understanding only goes so far. She had plenty of chances to explain herself yet, she never bothered even seeing how much it drove the man she loved crazy. Thus she repeatedly ends up in an awkward situation to explain herself while her wishy-washy attitude is the main reason why she always drives herself into a corner. It literally takes her the WHOLE series to learn to fight for what she wants and open her mouth.
I HATE people who always assume they know better, instead of letting the people concerned make their own decisions.
The little kid playing Xiao Le, is just perfectly adorable. He really knows how to portray his role to perfection... BUT WHY OH WHY doesn't he call his mom "Mom" or "Mommy" but always calls her by her first name ?
The kids obviously knows how to deliver his lines so why the HELL doesn't he call her properly? This is NEVER explained in the drama and it's rude as fudge, completely out of character and REALLY ANNOYING. That’s basic respect to adults. Something that the kid shows in spade to every single adult… EXCEPT when talking to his mom.
The whole final arch with the drug lord was overly long. Too much screentime given to secondary characters when only what happens at the end of episode 30 is truly relevant to our main story.
Mu Cheng is very in typical of Asian drama FLs of the 2000s… Naive, Innocent, Hardworking and Selfless. In short, a complete doormat albeit an infuriating likable one.
But I like my female characters, even when naive and pretty innocent to have some spunk. Guang Xi on the other side, has a fiery temper, but don't be mistaken. This is not a walking red flag. Guang Xi is a kind misunderstood green flag, who just ended up fed up with people making decisions for him and hence lashes out at everyone. He's the one I could relate to the most.
Ultimately I’m left pretty frustrated at the end of the journey. I found myself binging the episodes past the University phase, but also found myself equally frustrated by most characters. Guang Xi’s fiancee for instance, was depicted as this naive, hardworking, loving girl… Yet as bright as she was, she never guessed that the sole reason why Mu Cheng left is because Guang Xi’s mother and her father wanted Guang Xi and her to be together, and thus pressured her to leave in order for Guang Xi to get that treatment… In what way exactly could she allow herself to be that judgmental of Mu Cheng when she clearly knew, at least inwardly, that Mu Cheng left so that SHE could get with him? I just can't understand how she could believe for one second that Mu Cheng was this evil, selfish girl, who left a man who loved her more than his life, helpless to die.
Guang Xi was my favorite. At least he didn't take any sh** from anyone.
In spite of all my frustrations… I’d probably have rated that one a 8,5 if it weren’t for all the technical issues I mentioned above. The story is timeless but the series has aged like milk visually. Vanness Wu was perfect though apparently his Chinese is broken in this one… Dunno, I’m not used to the Taiwanese accent so personally I thought it sounded fine next to the other actors… But again it’s not like we could hear most of the dialogues anyway so who cares?
CONCLUSION
Suggested Rating: 7
Personal Rating: 8
Story-wise I think it deserves a 9, but I’m just too frustrated with how Mu Cheng’s been written, the terrible sound management, the repetitive music and the kid calling his mom by her first name to give more.
But I can’t give it less, because that would enter the “not worth your time” in my rating system, and I still feel its one of these all time classics, with very classic tropes of that period, that deserves to be watched if only for all the actors performances. I used to watch quite a lot of Taiwanese dramas back then (most of which, I ended up dropping), most of them idol ones, and the acting was terrible, so I remember vividly this one standing out for how good all actors were.
Also, you won’t help but finish this drama with a big smile on your face, and isn’t that the most important thing?
Lately, I’ve been feeling pretty nostalgic about Asian Melos from that period especially K dramas… So I’m glad I finally was able to rewatch this series from start to finish this time. It reminded me of how addictive they were but also about how frustrating they could be with their typical misunderstandings due to obvious lack of communication ( and here let me tell you Guang Xi DOES want to talk, but Mu Cheng, since she always knows better, does not) and interfering parents.
Got rid of my nostalgia right away. I still miss these types of melos with their overused Amnesia trope though… I wish we still could get those but modernized, with more spunky FLs and way less miscommunication.
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✒Don't Go It Alone ⛸️ Take My Hand °7.2° °starts great but declines°
Liang Mu Cheng was born into privilege until it all disappeared in a moment when she was a tween. Instead of working to become a concert pianist she then had to work to survive. She also ends up w/ a peeper-creeper for a step-dude. She's doing her daily hustle when a convertible driving rich @$$hole crashes into her life.Rich dude is Ren Guang Xi, a lackluster law student and lustful, but cynical, womanizer. They end up trading insults at the police station. Mu Cheng believes she'll never have to see that arrogant jerk again. Fate has them colliding often, though, as Mu Cheng's family operates one of the campus eateries. RGX, always looking for the next conquest, finds out from his friends that the 'lunch girl' is hot but she turns down every guy that asks for a date. RGX bets that he can conquer her w/in 24 hrs w/o even knowing who she is or what she looks like. When he sees who she is (& that she hates him already) he is undeterred. This is a non-spoiler review, so the following is the scantest of summaries - After the opening eps in which these 2 fall in love, they are separated in a heartbreaking manner. It is all skillfully portrayed. They meet back up again when the quick-tempered RGX must do community service.
If you are used to Chinese features and this one feels differently from the start, that's because it's Taiwanese. They are almost nothing alike except for the Mandarin. While Chinese historical & fantasy pieces are superb, Chinese modern-day features are dreamlike, often clumsy and substandard in the categories of acting, dialogue, wardrobe, character development - and virtually every other aspect - but they have a prozac-like quality that keeps me tuned-in. AC, rated 8.5 on MDL, feels real by comparison. It's more like one long movie and cut to either 21 90-minute eps or 34 45-minute ones, depending.
As for the players, Ady An is adorable & soulful as our FL. Her looks garner all the wrong attention. Vanness Wu plays n'er-do-well RGX. His voice is extra nice. Respecting nothing, he uses people as playthings & tosses them aside. He's never taken a bus anywhere - His mama is rich & connected, his lawyer is top-notch, & his medical records provide an excuse for his abhorrent behavior. He's spoiled, he's angry, & he's taking it out on the world. He's also "an expert in pretending to be strong. He puts up a wall when he runs into difficulties." Lin Mei Xiu practically steals the show as Hua Tian Xi Shi, Tuo Ye's mother. The viewer just wants to hug her. Chris Wu is also good as Hua Tuo Ye. He's had a crush on our FL for yrs. So he pines away. And he waits. And he pines. And waits & pines, waits & pines, waits & pines. I'm convinced that if one likes the right person, meaning someone who will be a good match, it's ALWAYS mutual. People who get caught up in obsessive 1-sided crushes are just focusing on themselves, what they want, & a projection of what they perceive the object of their affection to be, not the real person. If you believe you love someone but s/he isn't interested, then don't wait around for a moment. Just keep working on yourself. Maybe they are the one for you, but YOU aren't ready yet. (Whatever else is going on in our lives, we should never stop improving. The better we each are, the better all our lives will be). Never settle: 1 reason why relationships are in such chaos these days is b/c people hook-up out of convenience, not for true love.
The acting is good-VG. Even though RGX is alittle much at times, I love him at every moment. The director has the characters devolve into giving monotone speeches w/ unnatural pauses in the 2nd half of the show, which is irritating, but we can't blame the actors for that. They showed what they can do in the 1st half. Benny Wen plays the child Liang Xiao Le and he is luminous at all times.
The romance is excellent & this pair delivers. Unfortunately, the romance starts to lag in the later episodes. They manage some sizzle & steam, but they missed even more opportunities to get cookin. It could have been much better. There's plenty of good cheer & laughter. RGX arrives in town for his community service and, per village customs, they immediately get him drunk. He's passed out & Tuo Ye is charged w/ putting his rival to bed. There's a new blanket for RGX, still in its store packaging. Tuo Ye rips it open & drops it on Guang Xi's body without bothering to spread it out or tuck it in. The whole scene is so dude-like it's amusing. It's little touches like that that make a production special.
The show has several worthy themes. How the entitled trample those w/ less power, particularly male on female abuse is the main theme. We see at least 3 abused women who must be rescued from various socioeconomic situations. 'Don't go it alone' is a theme: "There are many ways to love. Perhaps I didn't choose the best way." Going it alone and lack of communication cause many problems. Everyone thinks they know how to fix things but they often think too highly of themselves and the impact they can have in making improvements, while at the same time they underestimate their ability to screw things up. Another theme is nearly ubiquitous, as there's not many Asian features that don't deal w/ toxic pride, often in the form of rigid and controlling parents. Parenting should be about forming the child into the best version of h/h-self to ultimately secure the child's happiness - which ultimately benefits society. Unfortunately, parenting often becomes about the parent and the parent's pride, which is why we see rageful parents suing schools instead of correcting their errant offspring. "Fairy godmother, this place is so cool! Did you ever bring {your son} here?" "{He} was a busy child. He had language mental arithmetic and essay writing lessons…" REX'S mother is out with her grandson and forced to reflect on her choices. In our pursuit of excellence we've neglected the most important thing: We don't live. If you don't have downtime w/ your family you are neglecting the most important thing. That is when you bond w/ them.
"Some only feel happy and safe when they deceive themselves." Refusing to live the lie is a theme. Instead of worrying about the repercussions of doing what's right and letting the truth come out, our FL worries about the impact on her and her family. We witness her stepmother prefer to believe a lie, rather than face the truth. "This is no time for you to think about your stepmother, who has deceived even herself. If you really love her you should let her know {the truth}," RGX tells Mu Cheng. One of the benefits of hitting bottom is becoming familiar w/ the truth. People who become familiar w/ the truth start to see the lies everywhere. People love comfortable lies. We all like to think of ourselves as better than we are, and if we stay busy, we never have to pause and reflect. We are the hare, lies are the turtle, and the lies will always overtake us in the end b/c they never stop until they do. Persevering through hardship is a theme as demonstrated by the following quotes: "What is special about the Lotus? It grows in the mud, yet it remains pristine." "Do you know? One time, when Bach was performing in a palace, his cello was sabotaged. All the strings were broken except the second string. Just as he was about to make a fool of himself, he composed an entire tune using only his 2nd string. That tune is now known as Concerto in G major. It teaches us that no matter how difficult life gets, you can always produce a masterpiece." "Get up on your own after falling and don't blame everyone else while you're on the ground." This is all evidence of quality writing.
Since I loved AC from the start, it hurts to say that as the eps play by it declines. Things get slightly soap-opera w/ big melodrama around ep21 and the show never fully recovers from that trend. There's also plenty of head-scratchers & things that don't make sense along w/ things that could have been better; but there's no major eye-rollers - AC never becomes insultingly stupid. As for the sour notes: The drawn out pace that starts around ep21 continues to the end, mostly. Along w/ that are long speeches, unnaturally long pauses mid-sentence, & logical pitfalls. The criminal case & the trial are oversimplified & all-out nonsensical. Mu Cheng becomes shut down & monotone - that may not be unrealistic given that she is an abuse survivor. Going from trauma to being the victim of longstanding predatory abuse, her behavior, while exasperating at times, is probably spot-on. Our ML vacillates erratically, & it's basically fantasy that RGX would become such an imposing & successful attorney in 3 short years. That whole go-it-alone after the bad guys thing is ridiculous. Hollywood does it too much - it's apparently a problem on an international scale, scarring otherwise good entertainment. Then our FL goes-it-alone in ep31 and my head started throbbing: It made no sense and it was painful to watch. The wardrobe vacillates between excellent & drab. Most notably, RGX 's low-cut tops are silly, not sexy.
The first 2/3 of the show is a delight, though. It starts so strong that I watched it straight through & never turned to anything else. If the last 1/3 was as good as the first 2/3rds, the rating would be close to 9. Unfortunately, it sinks into a morass of poor quality melodrama, never to crack the surface again. I would still choose to watch it again for the 1st time as the positives eclipse the negatives. If you are interested in other shows from Taiwan, watch Age of Rebellion. It is excellent.
QUOTES📢
You're only turning yourself into a piece of trash.
If you don't work hard, no one can help you.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣6.3 📝7 🎭7 💓7 🦋7 🌞6 🎨6 ⚡4 🎵/🔊7.3 😅3 😭4 😱4 😯4 😖3 🤔4.5 💤4.3 🔚8
Age 13+ Language: $h!+ b@$+@rd; Sexual situations including prostitution - relatively mild @ 4 or 5/10.
Re-📺? The 1st 2/3 only, so probably not.
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This review may contain spoilers
What could have been.
I know i’m not familiar with Taiwanese dramas as I am with Korean, but bear with me as I felt they followed the same formula to a certain extent. Keep in mind that Autumns Concerto was released one year after Boys over Flowers. So it’s hard to gauge the impact it had on this series, if it had any at all. This is all before the “me too” era. To cut to the chase, this drama had so much freaking potential, but by the middle half, it goes completely bonkers.There is so much to digest here, and there might be a few spoilers, but there was just so much wrong with this show. The main character forces himself on the female lead at least 4-5 times. So much is glossed over, as if it’s normal. There’s attempted kidnapping, murder, attempted rape, prostitution, and so much more. All of this seems normal, despite little consequence until we get to the 30th episode where things get more absurd.
The FL almost never expresses a full thought that bears emotion and weight with what she’s faced in life. She’s frail and timid, never allowing herself to say what’s on her mind. This starts to change, a little bit, but I kid you not, by the 29th episode. The formula every single character uses then, especially the FL, is to lie. And boy does everyone lie. Lies upon lies, upon withholds. We never get complete answers from the FL, no matter who asks, especially when it mattered. The solution is to keep lying while thereby creating more needless drama. During 2008, I think producers and writers felt that this kind of path gave the viewers an inclination to keep watching. This doesn’t work in the digital age and I don’t think it did much then either. If you watch only the first 10 episodes of this series, you could say it’s almost among the best. The brain tumor storyline was done insanely well, but it’s the only saving grace.
So many of the extra side characters are useless. The “best friend” male is an utter train wreck of a character. He has no money. No title. No completed education. Instead, he tries to solve real world problems with his fist and manly facial expressions. It’s almost a joke by the 29th episode. At one point a character says this exact line, “I don’t know how to explain how absurd all of this is.” A line used by the ML’s would be wife, who decided to keep a recovering amnesia patient in the dark so she could have her happy fake fiancé. By the time you reach that line, you realize how fitting it is to tie the whole series down.
If it weren’t video speed pro, I wouldn’t even had bothered.
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