Lie To Love starts off strongly with a heavy dose of suspense. You are not told why the male protagonist is frail and crippled. You also do not know what exactly he is up to except for the general idea that he is against his uncle. The female lead also has a mysterious air about her which the male lead finds intriguing as he tries to unravel her background and motive.

Therefore, the story is pretty riveting and the tussle between the male lead and his uncle is like a chess game with moves and counter-moves to bring down each other. That is until the story takes a different turn in the last 10 episodes or so which kind of mar the strong start to me.

A Great Plot That Is Almost Well-Executed (Spoilers Alert!)
In essence, Lie To Love is about seeking justice. Both the leads are investigating the deaths of their own father and want to bring the culprits to book. The evildoer is identified early in the drama and a lot of screen time is used to show viewers how both camps try to outwit each other. If you like plots with strategies like Fall In Love and Stand By Me, this would be something that might interest you.

However, once the first evildoer is caught in Episode 19, that gripping feeling dissipates and is replaced with some level of annoyance and impatience. In short, there are 2 villains in the drama. The ultimate villain is not revealed until the first one is taken out. It is not a whodunnit kind of drama but more on how these villains are eventually caught for their crimes.

So, the first arc of taking down the first villain is well-executed. It is all about greed for him and hence, all his moves are very rational. As such, it is exciting to watch all the plotting with some tense moments. But the second arc has a darker undertone as the villain is delusional and obsessed over the female lead. He is shown to be so manipulative that he could mislead 3 women to trust what he says. That is where the annoyance comes in because these women including the female lead are then reduced to being too naive and trusting.

A Creepy Villain
The ultimate villain has plenty of screen time in the drama and he is shown to be controlling, manipulative as well as creepy. What this means is you would be feeling impatient to have him arrested and disappear for good. It is the kind of drama whereby the villain is loathsome to watch. I guess the actor really nailed his role as a psychopath to make us hate him as required. Therefore, just be aware that Lie To Love isn’t exactly a breezy watch as the strong villain that will increasingly get on your nerves as the drama progresses.

Average Chemistry
The acting is on par to me for this drama. Leo Luo’s skinny appearance alone makes his character more realistic and convincing as someone who has just recovered from a serious injury. He displays intelligence and resilience through his eyes and pensive expressions. I think Leo Luo has always been great at melancholic roles including the one in Princess Silver.

Cheng Xiao definitely has less acting experience than her co-star but she still did reasonably well to me in Lie To Love. At least, I think she did better here than in Falling Into Your Smile whereby her acting seemed rather bland. She has more varied expressions here but the stiffness is still there at times. Hence, there will be emotional scenes whereby the acting looks rather forced.

This pairing doesn’t have full-blown chemistry to me. Perhaps Leo Luo’s partnership with Bai Lu in Love Is Sweet is too mesmerizing that it is hard for another actress to match up to that standard with him. His chemistry with Cheng Xiao is passable and I think the nature of the story makes this factor less of an issue. If Lie To Love had been a pure romance drama, then perhaps the lack of a sizzling chemistry will be more obvious.

My Verdict – Worth The Time
Overall, Lie To Love is a drama that deserves a watch. The suspenseful nature of the story will keep you going. You would want to know why certain things happened and how they happened. The thrill is there when the protagonists and antagonists are trying to outwit each other. Although the last third of the story degenerates into a psychopath’s obsession, it is not something that would render it unwatchable. It still has a logical flow to the story and a sensible reason why it happened. There are still exciting and tense moments to engage viewers. It is only that the villain is a hateful character to watch.

Also, just be aware that Lie To Love isn’t a fluffy romance drama like Love At Night or Once We Get Married. The romance shares the limelight with the fights between the leads and the villains. There are sweets moments and kisses in the drama but nothing too steamy like in You Are My Glory. You will also find the typical romance drama tropes of fake amnesia, fake relationship, and hiding-the-truth-to-protect-her excuse. But on the positive side, they don’t dominate the story and the romance as these issues are settled pretty quickly.

Before I end, I would give this Lie To Love review, a score of 7.5/10. I would say watch it because it is intriguing with enough excitement. I also don’t think you will be tempted to drop this halfway through because it does evoke a certain level of suspense and curiosity. But once you are done, the rewatch value would not be high either because the suspense is gone and this is not a typical Chinese romance drama that relies on sweetness and fluff to drive it.