This review may contain spoilers
Enjoyable, low-stress rom-com
The one-liner: Falling into Your Smile is an enjoyable rom-com that is mostly low-stress and emotionally pleasant.
Pros: Both leads are enjoyable to watch. Xu Kai is a little predictable, playing the ML, Lu Si Cheng, as the same sort of 'cold, stoic, super-competent CEO' role that he has played in multiple dramas. Even though he's technically NOT a 'CEO' of a company in this drama, the type of character he plays is basically the same. Nothing new there and while that might seem a criticism, Xu Kai does play it well. Chang Xiao, as the FL, is a different sort. Her character is very reserved towards other characters, guarding her emotions carefully, though inwardly very sensitive. She only shows her emotions strongly to her best friend and, as their relationship grows, to Lu Si Cheng. Otherwise, she holds a straight face towards almost everyone else. This sets up the irony of her in-game call-name because while in real life, Tong Yao rarely smiles, in the game she is always Smiling. Among support characters, the FL's parents and the ML's mother are all wonderfully played in short appearances by veteran actors - especially both moms who each eat up the scenery when on screen. Alas, neither is on screen enough. The plot of the show is fairly straightforward, similar to any sports-competition type drama: The characters work together over a long season of ups & downs towards a goal of winning a championship, overcoming many different types of obstacles along the way. The competition portrayals are fun and exciting. The shift into 3d-animated portrayals of the game events is fun and exciting to watch.
Cons: The behavior of a lot of the supporting cast is cartoonish. The various e-sports gamers, despite mostly being young men in their mid-to-late 20s, are portrayed as having the maturity level of 5th graders. This is supposedly humorous but mostly looks insulting to real-world e-sports competitors who are mostly rational adults. The plot is, as I said, mostly fine, but does lean into the 'noble idiocy' drama trope in a few of the episodes and that's annoying. Also, the show writers commit two glaring ethical sins that really bothered me. Early in the drama, for drama effect, they have a character commit what is objectively a very serious criminal felony - striking someone from behind with a whisky bottle on the back of the head. The sin is that later, this is completely whitewashed and forgiven as if he had done nothing more than give someone a mild shove. Instead of the character being in prison, he is welcomed back to the team with open arms. This is absolutely ridiculous and could have easily been avoided by the writers. If they had simply had the character do nothing different _except_ simply push the guy hard, then everything else written in the show would still have worked without feeling like a whitewash. Then, later in the show, there is a scene where one of the competitors from one of the other teams, isolates Tong Yao in a hallway alone, physically restricts her and threatens her. She has no way to escape the situation other than to bite the guy on the wrist to break free. Later, instead of acknowledging her situation AND HER RIGHT TO DEFEND HERSELF, the writers have Lu Si Cheng scold her for freeing herself and insisting that the only right thing she should have done is to call for Cheng. He even locks her outside of the base for hours and hours as punishment. But this is ludicrous. Cheng simply was nowhere to be called to for help. Lu Si Cheng was completely in the wrong for demanding this behavior of her and for punishing her for 'doing something wrong'. Because she did not do anything wrong. This is victim-blaming and does not reflect well of the ethics and morality of the writers.
Pros: Both leads are enjoyable to watch. Xu Kai is a little predictable, playing the ML, Lu Si Cheng, as the same sort of 'cold, stoic, super-competent CEO' role that he has played in multiple dramas. Even though he's technically NOT a 'CEO' of a company in this drama, the type of character he plays is basically the same. Nothing new there and while that might seem a criticism, Xu Kai does play it well. Chang Xiao, as the FL, is a different sort. Her character is very reserved towards other characters, guarding her emotions carefully, though inwardly very sensitive. She only shows her emotions strongly to her best friend and, as their relationship grows, to Lu Si Cheng. Otherwise, she holds a straight face towards almost everyone else. This sets up the irony of her in-game call-name because while in real life, Tong Yao rarely smiles, in the game she is always Smiling. Among support characters, the FL's parents and the ML's mother are all wonderfully played in short appearances by veteran actors - especially both moms who each eat up the scenery when on screen. Alas, neither is on screen enough. The plot of the show is fairly straightforward, similar to any sports-competition type drama: The characters work together over a long season of ups & downs towards a goal of winning a championship, overcoming many different types of obstacles along the way. The competition portrayals are fun and exciting. The shift into 3d-animated portrayals of the game events is fun and exciting to watch.
Cons: The behavior of a lot of the supporting cast is cartoonish. The various e-sports gamers, despite mostly being young men in their mid-to-late 20s, are portrayed as having the maturity level of 5th graders. This is supposedly humorous but mostly looks insulting to real-world e-sports competitors who are mostly rational adults. The plot is, as I said, mostly fine, but does lean into the 'noble idiocy' drama trope in a few of the episodes and that's annoying. Also, the show writers commit two glaring ethical sins that really bothered me. Early in the drama, for drama effect, they have a character commit what is objectively a very serious criminal felony - striking someone from behind with a whisky bottle on the back of the head. The sin is that later, this is completely whitewashed and forgiven as if he had done nothing more than give someone a mild shove. Instead of the character being in prison, he is welcomed back to the team with open arms. This is absolutely ridiculous and could have easily been avoided by the writers. If they had simply had the character do nothing different _except_ simply push the guy hard, then everything else written in the show would still have worked without feeling like a whitewash. Then, later in the show, there is a scene where one of the competitors from one of the other teams, isolates Tong Yao in a hallway alone, physically restricts her and threatens her. She has no way to escape the situation other than to bite the guy on the wrist to break free. Later, instead of acknowledging her situation AND HER RIGHT TO DEFEND HERSELF, the writers have Lu Si Cheng scold her for freeing herself and insisting that the only right thing she should have done is to call for Cheng. He even locks her outside of the base for hours and hours as punishment. But this is ludicrous. Cheng simply was nowhere to be called to for help. Lu Si Cheng was completely in the wrong for demanding this behavior of her and for punishing her for 'doing something wrong'. Because she did not do anything wrong. This is victim-blaming and does not reflect well of the ethics and morality of the writers.
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