Details

  • Last Online: 2 hours ago
  • Location:
  • Contribution Points: 303 LV3
  • Roles:
  • Join Date: March 29, 2022
  • Awards Received: Finger Heart Award2 Emotional Bandage1
Secret Lover taiwanese drama review
Completed
Secret Lover
1 people found this review helpful
by ColourMePurple
2 days ago
10 of 10 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 5.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 3.0
This review may contain spoilers

Cute But Toxic

The show starts off with questionable (noncon) behaviour by Han Tao towards his childhood friend Junxi.

The first half of the show was somewhat interesting but with lack of honesty and communication between the two. They also had a sweet friend Lin Xiao Yang who was supportive of them. Fortunately they did not create an evil woman trope which many BLs do. There are also some cute moments. This ends the positive aspect of the drama.

The couple are not really that well suited since Han Tao is extremely insecure and that impacts Junxi too. He lies to Junxi and uses very wrong methods to approach him instead of being direct about his feelings which is extremely problematic. They spend several episodes running from each other instead of communicating openly and honestly. When Junxi needs space romantically to figure out where his feelings are, Han Tao starts to completely ignore him which I found quite manipulative. It was also revealed that in the past, he actively blocked any women that tried to approach Junxi instead of confessing his own feelings. In real life, this couple will probably not last since they are insecure and jealous. To be honest Han Tao is not only a bad partner but also a terrible friend.

The writers also added so many misleading cliffhangers in the episodes which made it seem like they were purpusely trying to create drama without there being any need for it. That led to even more annoyance while watching. This continued till the very end of the show where they introduce a big problem in the second last episode and it turns out to be a nothing burger in the end. Honestly it felt like cheap tricks to make viewers go through an emotional rolloercoaster if you are watching the drama on-going week to week.

It would have been better if they had put some focus on the two girls - Lin Xiao Yang and He You Mei or trying to get the main leads to work towards a healthier relationship. Instead they just added new issues each episode.

The drama is all right. Not really something to talk about other than the nonconsensual and toxic behaviour that wasn't really addressed. For me, it made me lose my intial interest and some episodes also felt boring. I also grew to dislike Han Tao.

The main OST called Sunshine, however, is pretty awesome. I love listening to it.

Since the episodes are around 20 - 25 mins long, it's okay to watch once. But if you skip, you're not missing much.
Was this review helpful to you?