This review may contain spoilers
The summer of Love, Revenge that gave memories
I really never have written any reviews because they take time and I am lazy but I had to write a review for Revenged Love. I have said it multiple times that RL is not a series for me; it is an emotion that swept me off my feet and threw me into a space where I could only see happiness. Yes RL was my dopamine pill, it was like a drug that I still cant get enough. Let me give an overview first.
STORY : 8.5/10
Very cliche story actually. It was not special. This kind of plot enemies to lovers is very common in BL. Back in 2019 when BL first started people liked this kind of lowkey cliche plot where the roles were assigned very typically. WSW came from a poor household, CC lives in rich household. These type of story you will notice in many og dramas PLUS the most common 2nd lead with bottom having trauma issues. CC is very reckless kid, hurt from love nothing special. People dont really understand how bad the story is since i had a glimpse of the og novel. Not to mention Chai Jidan wrote it back in 201X so its been a decade since RL was first written so I expected it to have many drawbacks.
So how did the drama excel to make people immersed in it?
The only answer that came to my mind is Cinematography. The art of portraying Love through the lens varies director-wise. and with no doubt the director did a fantastic job capturing the simplicity of Revenged Love which a lot of the fans missed for last few years. I like the angle shots and in the ep where they shot WSW's mom's funeral it was outstanding. i really liked some of the parts of the story like
1. Where GCY was comforting XS in the bar and he took him home and even though he could take advantage of XS he restrained himself and comforted XS and fought with Meng Tao and took revenge for XS
2. The part where CC and WSW reunited after 6 long days. The kiss was very longing and passionate. I like that cinematography, the muted colors of the background so much.
3. The part where Dabao found the candies in the fridge and smiled so brightly. Cc was looking at him so lovingly.
4. The part where Dabao's mom passed away and the bright colors that was depicting the fantasy of WSW turned muted taking him back to reality.
5. The ending where CC searched everywhere for the tree and planted it in the garden. It was romantic
6. The car crying for both WSW and CC broke my heart into million pieces but it was brilliantly shot
7. The ending ep where GCY and XS kissed!! OMG GCY is such a green flag. I loved that story where GCY said something like "Xiaoshuai you can focus loving the world, while I focus on loving you" I DIED
Now every story has plot loops. Where could have been improved?
1. The beginning felt very stretched. The ending felt very short and messy. I understand the plot development, the chemistry development was needed but then the story could have had more than 24 eps. We wouldnt mind getting another few eps actually.
2. Wang Shuo is one of the complex characters I have seen yet his story was messy. I wish I could see more to his character because Liu Jun is remarkable as an actor but at the same time the show somewhat tried to forecast another kind of relation between the brothers. As i read the novel ik that there is nothing btw them but for newcomers it might get confusing. I agree with some that I would rather prefer to watch CC and WSW cut moments than the Wang brothers.
3. There were so many shots actually that could make the watch interesting but they didnt include it. Thats quite heartbreaking.
4. I feel the whole Meng Tao incident was very rushed... I wanted to know more in depth, wanted to see Meng Tao suffer more but it was kind of lacking
5. The end eps felt like a big wave. It just came and went. I felt no attachment with the plot except the ChiWei and GuoShuai moments.
ACTING : 10/10
I have absolutely NO WORDS. every single crew did absolutely best job in acting. I dont believe who gave the acting less than 10 because hell no the acting was less deserving. The chemistry between the characters was palpable. I have never EVER seen such good chemistry between two men before. May be its them who got me addicted. Dont get me wrong I dont ship Tian and Ziyu irl like toxic fans but I admire that they devoted themselves to the characters fully.
Ziyu is amazing actor. He delivered such emotional and impactful scene. He got so immersed in his role that he and WSW became one soul but i understand his position because both the characters and him are very similar with struggles. Tian on the other hand showed another version of himself. CC came to life bcs of him. His impactful performance left me in awe. I was like is this the same man i saw in other dramas?? His micro expressions were everything. it was as if he was speaking with his eyes. His eyes softened when looking at Dabao and another scene gave strong dom vibe when his Dabao was hurt. CC what a man you are and Tian what an actor you are. ESPECIALLY the jail scene where CC was sobbing I literally cried so hard
I would kiss the hand of the person who casted the side couple. Zhan Xuan is just so good playing Guo Cheng Yu!!! I cant imagine anyone but him as GCY now. I love how he softened the character. Added his own touch and how caring he was to Ziyu and Xuancheng. I admire his skills. Man was too excited for kiss but then got shy when he was about to kiss. The real show was the BTS of his scenes. He is a cutie who delivered strong act through the role. I admire him and his devotion to the character. LXC I have no words. I had seen his acting in Moon and Dust (reels) and i didnt have doubt and he is so young!! he was 19 when RL was shot thats literally very young age and to deliver such emotional depth performance !! the last scene where he is crying, the anxiety scene from the Meng Tao confrontations were my fav of his acting. He looked so soft and he really described the role pretty well. His acting was memorable the most for me.
Side cast - Liu Jun did so great acting that I cant hate Wang Shuo!! He looked like a psychopath but I loved him so much. WZ actor was okay but he did not really caught my eyes. Yueyue actor was so pretty!!!! She could have been with me but she made the character very annoying which shows that yes she did her job the best.
All the actors did such good job. I cant even describe much about them. It hurts to say goodbye that I cant see the CPs anymore. It was really a remarkable experience from the actors. They made me cry and laugh and blush. I will miss my summer that was full of them
MUSIC : 10/10
People really???? The ones giving low rating... are you deaf?? The opening sung by Ziyu is my happy pill!! Every Monday and Tuesday starts with that exact song. It makes me so happy!! I downloaded it in my spotify and yt music and i listen to it everyday. The ending song by Zhan Xuan is an underrated GEM. the mellow and soft vocals are really something else. The bittersweet music... when i looked in the sunset sky and the music starts playing... another experience. Somewhere in your eyes by Paper Swans have become my favorite music!! It is so soft and beautiful. Other music like Just the beginning or Broken Promise or Solo Driving... all of them were beautiful and they will stay in my heart forever. The music will bring back the memories I spent my summer in. My happiest summer.
REWATCH VALUE : 9.5/10
I personally cant move on. I think revenged love is that kind of drama that you watch but never feel enough satisfied. You can rewatch it again and I feel you will feel still the same as before may be better. But again its my assumption. It might be different for you. For me RL will be forever number 1.
I liked the chemistry a lot. I do think the dubbing was a bit weird... But i really like CC's va he did a great job. His voice really made me forgot Tian's actual voice LOL. I just fell so hard for every character. I love all of them. It is so hard for me to say goodbye when I got so attached. I love it so bad. I wish it could be longer, I wish they could post the BTS more, I wish they could appear tgt in public... but its all wishes and never true... I really hope the actors stay happy and healthy. I wish to support their future works. I admire all of them a lot. Thank you everyone to bear with me. I loved RL.
STORY : 8.5/10
Very cliche story actually. It was not special. This kind of plot enemies to lovers is very common in BL. Back in 2019 when BL first started people liked this kind of lowkey cliche plot where the roles were assigned very typically. WSW came from a poor household, CC lives in rich household. These type of story you will notice in many og dramas PLUS the most common 2nd lead with bottom having trauma issues. CC is very reckless kid, hurt from love nothing special. People dont really understand how bad the story is since i had a glimpse of the og novel. Not to mention Chai Jidan wrote it back in 201X so its been a decade since RL was first written so I expected it to have many drawbacks.
So how did the drama excel to make people immersed in it?
The only answer that came to my mind is Cinematography. The art of portraying Love through the lens varies director-wise. and with no doubt the director did a fantastic job capturing the simplicity of Revenged Love which a lot of the fans missed for last few years. I like the angle shots and in the ep where they shot WSW's mom's funeral it was outstanding. i really liked some of the parts of the story like
1. Where GCY was comforting XS in the bar and he took him home and even though he could take advantage of XS he restrained himself and comforted XS and fought with Meng Tao and took revenge for XS
2. The part where CC and WSW reunited after 6 long days. The kiss was very longing and passionate. I like that cinematography, the muted colors of the background so much.
3. The part where Dabao found the candies in the fridge and smiled so brightly. Cc was looking at him so lovingly.
4. The part where Dabao's mom passed away and the bright colors that was depicting the fantasy of WSW turned muted taking him back to reality.
5. The ending where CC searched everywhere for the tree and planted it in the garden. It was romantic
6. The car crying for both WSW and CC broke my heart into million pieces but it was brilliantly shot
7. The ending ep where GCY and XS kissed!! OMG GCY is such a green flag. I loved that story where GCY said something like "Xiaoshuai you can focus loving the world, while I focus on loving you" I DIED
Now every story has plot loops. Where could have been improved?
1. The beginning felt very stretched. The ending felt very short and messy. I understand the plot development, the chemistry development was needed but then the story could have had more than 24 eps. We wouldnt mind getting another few eps actually.
2. Wang Shuo is one of the complex characters I have seen yet his story was messy. I wish I could see more to his character because Liu Jun is remarkable as an actor but at the same time the show somewhat tried to forecast another kind of relation between the brothers. As i read the novel ik that there is nothing btw them but for newcomers it might get confusing. I agree with some that I would rather prefer to watch CC and WSW cut moments than the Wang brothers.
3. There were so many shots actually that could make the watch interesting but they didnt include it. Thats quite heartbreaking.
4. I feel the whole Meng Tao incident was very rushed... I wanted to know more in depth, wanted to see Meng Tao suffer more but it was kind of lacking
5. The end eps felt like a big wave. It just came and went. I felt no attachment with the plot except the ChiWei and GuoShuai moments.
ACTING : 10/10
I have absolutely NO WORDS. every single crew did absolutely best job in acting. I dont believe who gave the acting less than 10 because hell no the acting was less deserving. The chemistry between the characters was palpable. I have never EVER seen such good chemistry between two men before. May be its them who got me addicted. Dont get me wrong I dont ship Tian and Ziyu irl like toxic fans but I admire that they devoted themselves to the characters fully.
Ziyu is amazing actor. He delivered such emotional and impactful scene. He got so immersed in his role that he and WSW became one soul but i understand his position because both the characters and him are very similar with struggles. Tian on the other hand showed another version of himself. CC came to life bcs of him. His impactful performance left me in awe. I was like is this the same man i saw in other dramas?? His micro expressions were everything. it was as if he was speaking with his eyes. His eyes softened when looking at Dabao and another scene gave strong dom vibe when his Dabao was hurt. CC what a man you are and Tian what an actor you are. ESPECIALLY the jail scene where CC was sobbing I literally cried so hard
I would kiss the hand of the person who casted the side couple. Zhan Xuan is just so good playing Guo Cheng Yu!!! I cant imagine anyone but him as GCY now. I love how he softened the character. Added his own touch and how caring he was to Ziyu and Xuancheng. I admire his skills. Man was too excited for kiss but then got shy when he was about to kiss. The real show was the BTS of his scenes. He is a cutie who delivered strong act through the role. I admire him and his devotion to the character. LXC I have no words. I had seen his acting in Moon and Dust (reels) and i didnt have doubt and he is so young!! he was 19 when RL was shot thats literally very young age and to deliver such emotional depth performance !! the last scene where he is crying, the anxiety scene from the Meng Tao confrontations were my fav of his acting. He looked so soft and he really described the role pretty well. His acting was memorable the most for me.
Side cast - Liu Jun did so great acting that I cant hate Wang Shuo!! He looked like a psychopath but I loved him so much. WZ actor was okay but he did not really caught my eyes. Yueyue actor was so pretty!!!! She could have been with me but she made the character very annoying which shows that yes she did her job the best.
All the actors did such good job. I cant even describe much about them. It hurts to say goodbye that I cant see the CPs anymore. It was really a remarkable experience from the actors. They made me cry and laugh and blush. I will miss my summer that was full of them
MUSIC : 10/10
People really???? The ones giving low rating... are you deaf?? The opening sung by Ziyu is my happy pill!! Every Monday and Tuesday starts with that exact song. It makes me so happy!! I downloaded it in my spotify and yt music and i listen to it everyday. The ending song by Zhan Xuan is an underrated GEM. the mellow and soft vocals are really something else. The bittersweet music... when i looked in the sunset sky and the music starts playing... another experience. Somewhere in your eyes by Paper Swans have become my favorite music!! It is so soft and beautiful. Other music like Just the beginning or Broken Promise or Solo Driving... all of them were beautiful and they will stay in my heart forever. The music will bring back the memories I spent my summer in. My happiest summer.
REWATCH VALUE : 9.5/10
I personally cant move on. I think revenged love is that kind of drama that you watch but never feel enough satisfied. You can rewatch it again and I feel you will feel still the same as before may be better. But again its my assumption. It might be different for you. For me RL will be forever number 1.
I liked the chemistry a lot. I do think the dubbing was a bit weird... But i really like CC's va he did a great job. His voice really made me forgot Tian's actual voice LOL. I just fell so hard for every character. I love all of them. It is so hard for me to say goodbye when I got so attached. I love it so bad. I wish it could be longer, I wish they could post the BTS more, I wish they could appear tgt in public... but its all wishes and never true... I really hope the actors stay happy and healthy. I wish to support their future works. I admire all of them a lot. Thank you everyone to bear with me. I loved RL.
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