Hidden Love (2023)

Let's Just Say I Had a Change of Heart

As you can tell by the title, this was a drama that I initially dropped early on in my CDrama experience. This was one of the first few dramas I attempted to watch after falling in love with Falling Into You (2022). Obviously, there are some similarities with the age gap/age difference but that's about where the similarities start and stop. Anyway, I dropped this drama a LONG time ago and completely forgot about it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago where I watched the ML in another drama that I absolutely fell in love with, so I decided to come back to this drama and realized that it was the same actor. Everyone say, "Thank You, The Princess & The Werewolf!" If it weren't for that drama, I never would have circled back to watch this one. Chen Zhe Yuan is outstanding! I enjoyed him in that show and that's why I decided to go back and give this drama another chance.

I'm typically not the type of person to watch highly rated and widely popular dramas because the expectations NEVER live up to the hype. I never fall in love with the same dramas that most of the people on this site falls in love with, so the hype surrounding this drama was NOT enough to make me give it another try. The dramas always fall on this side of overrated and over-hyped, unfortunately. At least, that's been MY experience. Now, let's hop into this review, shall we?

I'm quite outspoken regarding my dislike and hesitance regarding age gaps. Age gaps always tend to be a miss for me. It never ticks off all of the necessary checkboxes for me to thoroughly enjoy them. In this case, I'm not going to pretend like the age gap doesn't bother me because it absolutely does. It doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the show but it's certainly not something I can relate to or understand honestly. There's a 5-6 year age difference between the lead characters, right? I can't imagine being 25 and dating anyone under 21. I cannot fathom dating anyone that young because most people in that age range typically acts their age. Plus, Duan Jia Xu watched Sang Zhi grow up. This isn't a matter of grooming by any means, but the age gap could turn some people off and I'm not going to paint it in a positive light just because I enjoyed this show. If you had an issue with the age gap, then you have every right to feel that way because it does come off as kind of icky in the grand scheme of things. But I digress.

Also, the episodes where we watched Sang Zhi grow up dragged out for FAR too long! I think that's what initially made me drop this show the first time. It's one thing for there to be a trope I'm already uncertain about. It's another thing to force me to watch a show overly emphasize said trope by giving us 5 or 6 episodes of the FL being an underage minor and the ML being an adult. That part of the drama dragged out so long and it would easily take someone out of the story if they were already unsure about watching this show to begin with. We didn't need to see that much of her being a kid in relation to Duan Jia Xu. We didn't need to be constantly reminded of the age gap/age difference in that way, honestly. It went on too long!

So, moving on. I think there were some things about this show I would have changed to elevate this drama that much more. I feel like the stakes should have been higher in terms of the obstacles they faced as a couple. The stakes never felt high and there didn't appear to be any true threats to their relationship, which can make the drama feel a LOT longer than it actually is. It makes the drama feel more draggy instead of eventful. Duan Jia Xu's issues weren't threatening enough to make me believe it was enough to be an issue for them. My one pet peeve is that I feel like Sang Zhi should have had more of a presence and backbone. Sometimes, it felt like she was TOO passive for someone who'd happily accepted her love for an older guy. Someone who had wholeheartedly convinced herself of her love in that way should have been a LOT more defensive and protective of said love. While she did stand up when necessary, I feel like she didn't fight enough, if that makes sense. Knowing that you were going to have to deal with a ton of naysayers rightfully being hesitant, uncertain, and wary of your relationship should have made her more assertive when it came to fighting for her relationship with Duan Jia Xu. I think in these moments her age was fairly obvious. Her personality and her choices regarding certain things would remind me that she's still fairly young because an older woman wouldn't have been as passive as she was. Due to that, I extended some level of grace to her.

Also, I feel like Duan Jia Xu should have had a little more of an edge to him. Don't get me wrong, I'm a STRONG proponent of nice male leads. I love them dearly! However, I feel like he should have had more of an edge to him. I feel like he was TOO perfect. I kid you not - this man was flawless in every way. He had no real flaws and it can easily take you out of the story in some aspects. Also, I did see some people say they wished he was more uncertain about jumping into a relationship with Sang Zhi. While I understand the sentiment and reasoning, I feel as if that would have only worked if Sang Zhi were more determined about snagging him in the first place. I know some people hate that trope but I actually love the "female chases male lead first" trope because it's subversive and it's different. You don't see that much in CDramas, so I would have gladly been all over that. But again, that's the only way it would have worked. Otherwise, this drama would fall apart with a ML who's uncertain about acting on his feelings for the FL and a FL who is easily swayed by the opinions of her family and others; it would not have made for an interesting drama.

Anyway, I think I yapped enough for one night. Was this a great show? It was okay. Would I recommend it? Initially, I would have said yes. But after some time has passed, no. Also, I realized that I didn't actually like this show. Would I rewatch it? Probably not. Don't get me wrong. I did enjoy it somewhat but I don't think I can rewatch it. I skipped through the first few episodes of this show for a reason and I doubt I would want to go through that again.

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