Toxic mess that tries too hard to be artsy-noir-meets-50-Shades-lite
Deep Love Love Again tries way too hard to be aesthetically dark, moody, and atmospheric, with a hint of 50 Shades -- at the expense of storytelling and flow. It tries to be provocative and titillating, but ends up coming across uncomfortable and even abusive, despite the mention of safe words. Everyone speaks -- or rather, is dubbed -- in breathy whispers (this also makes the dialogue difficult to understand at times). The drama’s efforts would feel cheesy and amusing if not for the unsettling red flag moments between the main leads, which thankfully peters out in the later episodes (the flag is handed off to the villain instead).Even the sets feel overdone, yet simultaneously cheap (which normally is not a big deal, especially for a mini drama) -- but I could not look away from the amateur Halloween decor “cobwebs” in the theatre/church. As for the acting, Garvey Jin/Zhang Jiawei could do with better cast mates. Tiffany Gao (why was her mouth perpetually hanging open?) and the others, were…not great.
I thought I might not have minded this for what it was -- a trashy, soapy, short-length "dark romance" -- but in the end, I could not get past the extremely uncomfortable and very unsexy misogyny. I've seen enough toxic Republican Era love/hate/revenge mini dramas to acknowledge that even problematic stories and characters can still have great chemistry and romantic tension between the leads. I was not feeling any of that here.
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Cringy script barely saved by a likeable cast
I really enjoyed Love is Sweet and LBFAD, Perfect and Casual, etc. but I really wasn't sure about this one, given some friends were enjoying it, other friends couldn't get past the first couple of episodes, and reviews overall were quite mixed.But curiosity got the better of me -- plus I'm a reporter that covered fintech and has written about batteries -- so I decided to check it out. And eeek. Whatever people think of Douban in general, I get the score for this one. It feels a bit like a modern mini-drama script. If it wasn't for the cast and the fact that I set aside all my expectations, this would be a slog.
When it comes to the romance, the dialogue is cringy. Massive journalistic conflict of interest and ethical issues aside, the FL is an intrepid and good reporter, but she spouts the corniest flattery and pick-up lines and her expressions of interest feel off; I can't tell if she's being serious or just trying to be cute, flirty, or teasing. Meanwhile, 90 pct of the ML's dialogue when it's not about business is "Mm." "No." "Yes." Make the characters make sense! And let's not get into the endless push and pull from the side couples either.
It all screams "frustrating watch", especially the romance, and yet! I'm surprisingly not as frustrated as I should be. I really don't know if it's because the cast helps -- or worse, because I do not feel invested in these characters at all. As much as I've enjoyed their other dramas and likability factor on variety shows, the acting and pairing don't really work for me here -- I'm not feeling the chemistry.
This is the first time I've written a review before finishing, but I wanted to sort out my thoughts a little. Everyone seems happy with the last half dozen episodes though, so hopefully this perseverance will be rewarded.
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