I have to admit I was drawn into this series for two reasons:
1) Dylan Wang is super handsome, and I couldn't escape the millions of gifs of this show while scrolling my Tumblr feed. 2) It's on Netflix.

I didn't watch the original Meteor Garden - it seems like most people have. I had no real intro to the series at all, other than the fact that I knew it was a remake. I went in completely blank slate.

First episode, off the hop, the show came off as well produced, however, was /reaaaaally/ dramatic. The music, the shots, the scenes came off as cheesy and a bit overdone. The whole F4 concept is a bit cool, but I was disappointed with the dynamic that the other three members had with DMS. The three other members are calm and collected and mature, but seem to just "follow" Dao Ming Si, despite him being immature, hot headed, and problematic.

I love drama and I love cheesy sometimes, so I kept watching. The rship between Shancai and DMS seemed to drag on foreeeeeeever to get to the point they were at by half way through the 50 episodes, and I have to say, it was getting really old. Lol. Shancai became soooo annoying by that point, because of how much she "didn't like" DMS, despite obviously liking him. It was frustrating to watch her so far into her relationship with him and still acting as though he was insufferable and the bane of her existence, right up to the point they get married. Like god damn, woman, just admit it and get on with your life, it ain't cute anymore (it only really was for like 4 episodes tbh).

I think this show dragged on way too much, and some of the story lines had me wanting to skip through them (I didn't, but I was close.) For example, Xiao You and Ximen - their whole tale became really hard to keep watching, just because of how slow it dragged on, and how shallow the story between them was. The ex-girlfriend with the short hair (can't remember her name) had way more chemistry with Ximen than Xiao You did, and their story was a lot more believable.

All in all, I think the scenes were beautiful, the cast was beautiful, the clothes, the cars, the sets, the shots, everything was done top quality and it showed. I just think it really dragged on for quite a long time and I was left feeling like everything was rushed at the end, even though it had built up soooo long. Their wedding didn't really even seem planned at all, it just sort of happened? She like had a dream and then woke up there? Lol? Also, DMS's mom just had an entire change of heart and became a COMPLETELY different person after 1 day? Nah, not believable. She was good at her role, being the wicked, vain, cut throat, intelligent, and powerful CEO mother from hell, but despite being set in her ways her whole life, she suddenly is able to change overnight?

I'd recommend watching this, but then again, I probably wouldn't re-watch it. It was a good show though for the most part.