Sweet but Slow and Overhyped
"Shine On Me" is a typical sweet C-drama romance, that doesn’t bring anything new to the table. I personally feel it’s been quite overhyped. Probably because of Song Wei Long’s visuals in a suit.
If you're a fan of slow, sugary romance dramas with seemingly unnecessary characters, this one might be right up your alley.
The show starts off extremely slow—almost like a slice-of-life narrative. It lingers on conflicts that feel underdeveloped as the show progresses. The focus is primarily on our female lead, whose frustrating communication style detracts from the story. Her unrequited love for Zhuang Xu feels like it drags on for too long and for no particular reason, except for him being her unrequited crush. Honestly, if you haven’t had an intimate relationship with someone, why take years to move on? Maybe I’m just too Westernized, but this aspect felt unbelievable to me. And I’m absolutely fine with suspending my belief where it’s needed. I get what fiction is. I don’t watch romance for reality.
Zhao Jin Mai, usually praised for her acting skills, appeared somewhat unfocused in her role. At least at the beginning. She’s cast as an assertive and hardworking young woman with a family from a wealthy background, yet her behavior at times didn’t align with this characterization. The dialogue, especially between her and some other characters revolving around her in the first half of the drama, suffers from awkward pauses that made it seem as though the actors were struggling to remember their lines, which was frustrating. I get it. This was way of directors to show the characters and who they were at the beginning of their journey, but it made them look like they were teenagers instead of college graduates.
On the other hand, Song Wei Long certainly looks great in a suit. However, some of his early scenes seemed strangely mechanical, almost as if he was still rehearsing. By the later episodes, the acting improves significantly, which makes me wonder if it was a directing issue.
There are far too many characters introduced in earlier episodes, many of whom end up as mere afterthoughts rather than having substantial storylines. For example, Xi Guang’s college friends and even Zhuang Xu had screen time that was wasted, particularly when he spent far too long just staring out a window. If the writers chose to give characters like them significant screen time, they should have crafted deeper narrative for them. I think they did try, but Zhuang Xu had so much screen time and there are minutes and minutes of him just drinking and remembering the past. Writers should have given him a better, more rounded story. He should have gotten a love of interest for himself at the end.
As for romance, prepare for an extreme slow burn: it takes 25 episodes just for the couple to hold hands after they decided that they want to be together, and even longer for a proper kiss. The sweetness of the romance is undeniable, but the pacing makes it tedious at times. And to be honest, the issues I had are mostly with the first 20 episodes of the show. After that, the pacing and the storyline picked up and the acting was a lot better. Also don’t worry, even though the romance is very slow, they catch up in the last few episode. There’s plenty of really great kissing.
The family conflict could have been introduced earlier. Because once it came into the picture, the show felt more interesting. The stakes becamea lot more interesting as opposed to the episodes in the drama when we had Xi Guang try to get over some guy whose hand she’d never held when such a sweetheart of a man was right in front of her, ready to give her the world. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her: girl, are you stupid?
"Shine On Me" isn’t a horrible drama. I liked it. But again it wasn’t anything special to think about for days after you finish watching. It lacks the cinematic flair to make it a standout. The cinematography is just okay, with some bland color choices. The main couple is charming, but the unnecessary screen time wasted on unimportant plot points diminishes the overall experience. The happy ending is sweet and swoony, and honestly, I found myself needing a couple of attempts to finish the final episode. If you enjoy clean, sweet romance without the angst, this may be for you. I think the writing could have been better and if they were different choices made when it came to the script, I would have loved it a lot more.
I know a lot of people love this drama, but in my opinion, it’s is overrated and doesn’t deserve its high rating. For me, "Speed and Love," "The First Frost," or "Hidden Love" are by far better-written romances with the better central conflict.
PS I skipped a lot of scenes, in particular the ones with Xi Guang and her coworkers. And I did not miss a single thing.
If you're a fan of slow, sugary romance dramas with seemingly unnecessary characters, this one might be right up your alley.
The show starts off extremely slow—almost like a slice-of-life narrative. It lingers on conflicts that feel underdeveloped as the show progresses. The focus is primarily on our female lead, whose frustrating communication style detracts from the story. Her unrequited love for Zhuang Xu feels like it drags on for too long and for no particular reason, except for him being her unrequited crush. Honestly, if you haven’t had an intimate relationship with someone, why take years to move on? Maybe I’m just too Westernized, but this aspect felt unbelievable to me. And I’m absolutely fine with suspending my belief where it’s needed. I get what fiction is. I don’t watch romance for reality.
Zhao Jin Mai, usually praised for her acting skills, appeared somewhat unfocused in her role. At least at the beginning. She’s cast as an assertive and hardworking young woman with a family from a wealthy background, yet her behavior at times didn’t align with this characterization. The dialogue, especially between her and some other characters revolving around her in the first half of the drama, suffers from awkward pauses that made it seem as though the actors were struggling to remember their lines, which was frustrating. I get it. This was way of directors to show the characters and who they were at the beginning of their journey, but it made them look like they were teenagers instead of college graduates.
On the other hand, Song Wei Long certainly looks great in a suit. However, some of his early scenes seemed strangely mechanical, almost as if he was still rehearsing. By the later episodes, the acting improves significantly, which makes me wonder if it was a directing issue.
There are far too many characters introduced in earlier episodes, many of whom end up as mere afterthoughts rather than having substantial storylines. For example, Xi Guang’s college friends and even Zhuang Xu had screen time that was wasted, particularly when he spent far too long just staring out a window. If the writers chose to give characters like them significant screen time, they should have crafted deeper narrative for them. I think they did try, but Zhuang Xu had so much screen time and there are minutes and minutes of him just drinking and remembering the past. Writers should have given him a better, more rounded story. He should have gotten a love of interest for himself at the end.
As for romance, prepare for an extreme slow burn: it takes 25 episodes just for the couple to hold hands after they decided that they want to be together, and even longer for a proper kiss. The sweetness of the romance is undeniable, but the pacing makes it tedious at times. And to be honest, the issues I had are mostly with the first 20 episodes of the show. After that, the pacing and the storyline picked up and the acting was a lot better. Also don’t worry, even though the romance is very slow, they catch up in the last few episode. There’s plenty of really great kissing.
The family conflict could have been introduced earlier. Because once it came into the picture, the show felt more interesting. The stakes becamea lot more interesting as opposed to the episodes in the drama when we had Xi Guang try to get over some guy whose hand she’d never held when such a sweetheart of a man was right in front of her, ready to give her the world. Sometimes I wanted to scream at her: girl, are you stupid?
"Shine On Me" isn’t a horrible drama. I liked it. But again it wasn’t anything special to think about for days after you finish watching. It lacks the cinematic flair to make it a standout. The cinematography is just okay, with some bland color choices. The main couple is charming, but the unnecessary screen time wasted on unimportant plot points diminishes the overall experience. The happy ending is sweet and swoony, and honestly, I found myself needing a couple of attempts to finish the final episode. If you enjoy clean, sweet romance without the angst, this may be for you. I think the writing could have been better and if they were different choices made when it came to the script, I would have loved it a lot more.
I know a lot of people love this drama, but in my opinion, it’s is overrated and doesn’t deserve its high rating. For me, "Speed and Love," "The First Frost," or "Hidden Love" are by far better-written romances with the better central conflict.
PS I skipped a lot of scenes, in particular the ones with Xi Guang and her coworkers. And I did not miss a single thing.
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