What is Love (2012)

The Quickie: The feels! So many feels! Excellent drama without the stereotypes, over used plot devices, evil exes or monster in laws. My computer practically combusted from the chemistry. I shipped so hard. Any time Chris Wu's mug filled my screen I had a mini heart attack. I spent the final episode biting my nails at two in the morning and bawling my head off. I laughed, I cried, and I fell in love with this show. Show, you complete me.

Full Review:

Generally, I don't get into Taiwanese dramas as much as I do Korean dramas. The length of most well known Taiwanese dramas is too long for me. The use of multiple romances going on as at once is interesting, but also distracting. I have my favorite Taiwanese dramas but not many.

What is Love changed that. I fell so hard for this show. I watched it day and night, squeezing it in between work and sleep. I wanted the drama to never end. It is now one of my all time favorites. Funny that for the first two episodes I felt like barfing.

In the beginning I thought all the people in the show were either on happy mushrooms or so desperately lonely that they would fall for ANYTHING. The main lead was a 32 year old Wholesome Woman (Li Yi Hau) surrounded by loving family and friends, whose one goal in life is to get married (ugh). She then falls for the Big Bad Wolf (Bai Zong You), a dashing playboy, whose one goal in life is to play the game of love and win- with multiple women. Love was battlefield. For Li Yi Hau the game of love is won when she stands at the altar. For Bai Zong You, the game of love is won when he gets laid. Li Yi Hau finds out the truth of her relationship with Bai Zong You fairly quickly (Thank God) And things get much more interesting. She gets revenge for her broken heart and the hundred's of girl's before her. That should have been the end of their ill fated relationship. Of course, Bai Zong You has to have revenge for what Li Yi Hau did to him. He makes a bet that she will fall in love with him first and when she does she has to admit that she is a loser in love.

The premise of this drama sounds horribly cliche. It's been done a hundred times before. For me, this drama is the best bad boy gets the good girl story I have ever seen. The strength of this show is in it's execution. The acting was phenomenal. The balance between breezy romance, heartbreak, growth, family, and love appeared effortlessly. The writers answered sincerely, without plot devices and evil second leads, what love is. In this case, love not only changed the "bad boy" but also the "good girl". You can see a progressive growth in all the characters of this drama. Chris Wu (who plays Bai Zong You) is a FANTASTIC actor. I have to watch all the dramas he is in because of the raw emotion that sizzles on the screen.

The moment I knew I would love this drama for life was during the finale. Most dramas tapper off towards the end, wrapping things up in a pretty bow with a cute happily ever after. This show did not. It was grounded in realism. There is a happy ending, but it was so much sweeter because of the final conflict.

Show, I love you.

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