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So much more than a rom-com
May contain some spoilers.
To be honest, I am not too sure why this drama is often simply categorized as a rom-com and nothing more. This drama dwells into relatable real-world issues in a realistic way without overdoing it and going off tangent from the main story line. These include:
- The struggle of separating work and love life and compromising with each others interests (mainly on the secondary couple, which I felt was very well done),
- The instability of public opinion, how it can easily be manipulated, twisted, and flipped with just one post,
- The struggle of being a public figure, apologizing for something one's fans committed and not oneself,
- Prejudice against women,
- E-sports being downgraded to 'not being a real sport' with people not seeing the struggles and hard work pro gamers put into their career,
- The importance of good leadership and communication within a team,
- and so on.
Many rom-com dramas also deal with real-life issues to some extent, but only mainly deals with issues regarding the main couple and obstacles of them being together. Falling Into Your Smile goes beyond this. Yes, there are some issues that act as barriers for the main couple getting together. But it does not ignore issues that side characters have had to face and the bigger issues that surround it. The story gives them appropriate development and portrays these issues well.
In fact, every event that happened in this drama is important to moving the story forward and I really appreciate the lack of filler scenes (except for the purpose of comedy, which I personally think is important for the development of the main couple). The story had a relatively even flow throughout. While some e-sports portrayals were not completely accurate, hence the backlash from the Chinese gaming community, I would say that the portrayals of surrounding issues were done so well that it really makes up for it. In addition, I have played similar games to the game being featured in this show so about 80% of the time, I understood what was happening in the game. If you want to know more of the in and outs of 5v5 MOBA gaming and the gaming industry, maybe this show won't help you much. It will give you a taste. I would say King's Avatar did a better job in talking about the pro gaming industry and such. However, the gaming scenes were short enough so that the general audience can avoid getting bored if they don't understand what is happening, so I appreciate the editing of the gaming scenes and only focused on more of the important events. About the romance, it was great. While I do feel that there is too many kissing scenes in some episodes, I feel that it was justified for the following episodes all had a really serious tone so it kept the balance.
The acting needs to be good in order for a drama with a well-written storyline to reach its full potential. While not all of the acting performances are great, the majority of them were outstanding. I was shocked at how well many of the side actors acted. Special mention to the ex-boyfriend of the Female Lead whose emotional performance touched my heart deeply. I also really appreciated Fatty's facial expressions. He had me dead on the floor in every scene where he had the unfortunate fate of witnessing the main couple in an awkward situation. But almost every supporting actor and actress did their role justice. I actually formed a connection with most of the supporting cast in the process and I really feel sad to part ways with them in the final episode. This is a testament to their acting skills. In terms of the main roles, Xu Kai does not disappoint. I have only heard of good things from him and I can definitely see where his fans are coming from. He perfectly plays his character with impressive subtlety. Xu Kai IS Brother Cheng. He lives and breaths his role. I will definitely follow his other dramas because of how impressed I am with his performance here. Meanwhile, Cheng Xiao was not terrible but in comparison to almost every actor and actress in this drama, she is not on the same level. Her eyes are often lifeless and her stiffness is apparent in many of their earlier scenes. However, I can definitely see her potential because she had some great moments and her visuals are very suitable for the main role. Admittedly, she improved as the drama went on. Additionally, since she was an idol before she was an actress, I can understand why she does not keep up with the rest of the cast. But to be fair, the acting rating went down to 9.5 mainly because of her mediocre performance, despite her improvement. Overall, the acting of this drama is top-notch and the set of casts they got was amazing. Xu Kai especially. The chemistry between Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao was obvious and it helped save her middling performance.
The music was really nice overall. Not too memorable but it was pleasant to listen in the moment.
Because of how purposeful each event felt in this drama, I can easily watch this from beginning to end, hence the perfect score of re-watch value.
Overall, I would highly recommend this drama. Don't miss it, it is definitely worth a watch.
To be honest, I am not too sure why this drama is often simply categorized as a rom-com and nothing more. This drama dwells into relatable real-world issues in a realistic way without overdoing it and going off tangent from the main story line. These include:
- The struggle of separating work and love life and compromising with each others interests (mainly on the secondary couple, which I felt was very well done),
- The instability of public opinion, how it can easily be manipulated, twisted, and flipped with just one post,
- The struggle of being a public figure, apologizing for something one's fans committed and not oneself,
- Prejudice against women,
- E-sports being downgraded to 'not being a real sport' with people not seeing the struggles and hard work pro gamers put into their career,
- The importance of good leadership and communication within a team,
- and so on.
Many rom-com dramas also deal with real-life issues to some extent, but only mainly deals with issues regarding the main couple and obstacles of them being together. Falling Into Your Smile goes beyond this. Yes, there are some issues that act as barriers for the main couple getting together. But it does not ignore issues that side characters have had to face and the bigger issues that surround it. The story gives them appropriate development and portrays these issues well.
In fact, every event that happened in this drama is important to moving the story forward and I really appreciate the lack of filler scenes (except for the purpose of comedy, which I personally think is important for the development of the main couple). The story had a relatively even flow throughout. While some e-sports portrayals were not completely accurate, hence the backlash from the Chinese gaming community, I would say that the portrayals of surrounding issues were done so well that it really makes up for it. In addition, I have played similar games to the game being featured in this show so about 80% of the time, I understood what was happening in the game. If you want to know more of the in and outs of 5v5 MOBA gaming and the gaming industry, maybe this show won't help you much. It will give you a taste. I would say King's Avatar did a better job in talking about the pro gaming industry and such. However, the gaming scenes were short enough so that the general audience can avoid getting bored if they don't understand what is happening, so I appreciate the editing of the gaming scenes and only focused on more of the important events. About the romance, it was great. While I do feel that there is too many kissing scenes in some episodes, I feel that it was justified for the following episodes all had a really serious tone so it kept the balance.
The acting needs to be good in order for a drama with a well-written storyline to reach its full potential. While not all of the acting performances are great, the majority of them were outstanding. I was shocked at how well many of the side actors acted. Special mention to the ex-boyfriend of the Female Lead whose emotional performance touched my heart deeply. I also really appreciated Fatty's facial expressions. He had me dead on the floor in every scene where he had the unfortunate fate of witnessing the main couple in an awkward situation. But almost every supporting actor and actress did their role justice. I actually formed a connection with most of the supporting cast in the process and I really feel sad to part ways with them in the final episode. This is a testament to their acting skills. In terms of the main roles, Xu Kai does not disappoint. I have only heard of good things from him and I can definitely see where his fans are coming from. He perfectly plays his character with impressive subtlety. Xu Kai IS Brother Cheng. He lives and breaths his role. I will definitely follow his other dramas because of how impressed I am with his performance here. Meanwhile, Cheng Xiao was not terrible but in comparison to almost every actor and actress in this drama, she is not on the same level. Her eyes are often lifeless and her stiffness is apparent in many of their earlier scenes. However, I can definitely see her potential because she had some great moments and her visuals are very suitable for the main role. Admittedly, she improved as the drama went on. Additionally, since she was an idol before she was an actress, I can understand why she does not keep up with the rest of the cast. But to be fair, the acting rating went down to 9.5 mainly because of her mediocre performance, despite her improvement. Overall, the acting of this drama is top-notch and the set of casts they got was amazing. Xu Kai especially. The chemistry between Xu Kai and Cheng Xiao was obvious and it helped save her middling performance.
The music was really nice overall. Not too memorable but it was pleasant to listen in the moment.
Because of how purposeful each event felt in this drama, I can easily watch this from beginning to end, hence the perfect score of re-watch value.
Overall, I would highly recommend this drama. Don't miss it, it is definitely worth a watch.
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