The Love Lasts Two Minds (2020)

I will remember you, will you remember me?

This is a heart warming, unabashedly tropey love story about how true love conquers all. The OTP face a daunting obstacle: Feng Mianwan's (Chen Yuqi) mother is blamed for Jing Ci's (Yu Menglong) mother's demise. Nonetheless Jing Ci shields her from his revenge driven aunt and raises her as his companion/maid. They are childhood sweethearts but when he can no longer protect her, he finds a doppelganger, arranges for them to swap identities and doses her with an amnesia drug to forget him and their past. In her new identity Mianwan/Ah Yuan evades her (doppleganger's) engagement to the noble Mu Beiyan, dresses as a man and goes to work as a fledgling constable. In her new life, she grows into her own person and finds meaning in her existence. Her guardian angel Jing Ci joins her in a new identity as a county official and together they investigate criminal cases. They eventually stumble upon a larger conspiracy with ties to both their identities and extends to the highest levels of the empire. 

While this is mostly a lighthearted and fun love story, there is a sad undertone as Jing Ci's health is failing and he struggles to conceal his feelings for Ah Yuan. She does not remember him but falls in love with him all over again. His intention is to selflessly see her happily settled with someone who can expect to live a normal lifespan and who can protect her but who is he kidding? Love is never ultimately that self-less! Both characters are strong and intelligent and have an enjoyable rapport with the other couples; confidantes and allies who help them unmask their enemies and reveal the secrets of their past. I particularly liked the princess who is a fantastic and loyal friend with her own rather charming love story. 

There is broad consensus that Yu Menglong's Jing Ci deserves an award for best characterization ever of a plank. Although the character is supposed to be unwell, in pain and stoic, he impressively took being plank-like to a whole new level. He has this amazingly eerie ability to seem deathly still and expressionless while speaking or in motion. Given the excoriating feedback, I feel a bit bad for the actor who clearly over-intrepretred the character and was also probably camera shy the way his eyes avoided the lens the whole time. To be fair, there were the rare one or two scenes when Jing Ci's feelings for Ah Yuan overcame him that were well acted though far from squeal-worthy. The one saving grace is he and Chen Yuqi make for a very stunning and romantic looking couple. Am a big fan of Yuqi who has really honed her acting skills and was convincing as a smart and independent minded character who knows what she wants and is not fooled or daunted by Jing Ci's seeming indifference. I really appreciate this smart and strong female lead character who is not obnoxious or dislike-able, which is more than I can say for several similarly themed 2020 releases.  She is a total delight from her remarkable ability to absolutely adore her plank to her subtly comical eye rolls at Mu Beiyan's ridiculous overtures. And no, I never shipped her with Mu Beiyan - her Ah Yuan is way too capable for a dilettante and (nice) dufus like that. While Mu Beiyan is a well written, likable and much better acted character, I still find it impossible to ship a love rival who is better made up and coiffed than the female lead!

The story overall is not terribly original but the cases are interesting enough. You will not win armchair detective of the year if you spot the bad guys early on or unravel the conspiracy on your own. Some of the plot twists are a bit lazy but the characters are quite colorful and stop short of being too archetypal. The ending was well done, wraps up most loose ends and delivers a final and very satisfying coup de grace. It won't rock your world but you won't have to retreat into the fetal position to get over a gigantic slump after it ends either. I would have rated this higher (7.5/8.0 ) if Yu Menglong's performance managed to improve towards the end.

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