Dragged down by cliches and weak plots towards the ed

Romance of Tiger and Rose started out strong but towards the last few episodes, the weak plot and the cliches thrown in really pulled down what could have been a really fantastic story. In the end, it felt as if the series was 4 to 6 episodes too long (in the middle between episodes 15 to 20) and the screenwriters had to pad those episodes with a sheer abundance of crap and utter nonsense.

1. Characters and acting
The main leads started out strong and really had a lot of chemistry with one another. I loved the idea of Rosy Zhao as Xiao Qian / Qian Qian, the screenwriter who travels into her own story and had to navigate the plotline that she created and the chaos that she inevitably creates by interfering. Her romance with Han Shuo (played by Ryan Ding) was great and there were scenes at the beginning that moved me to tears. But, in towards the end, the extremely prevalent and recurring trope of the spunky, clueless but adorable female lead really began to grate. I questioned the incredibly silly plans that she made which I felt was incredibly brainless and so typical of all that really tiresome Chinese female lead stereotype that seems to lurk in every single Chinese rom-com. Her indignation when Han Shuo gets upset with her a certain times really irks me no end. Could we please stop with the typical silly, brainless Chinese female lead?

Ryan Ding, however, was fantastic. He played the black-bellied, ruthless male lead, tinged with that gentle, adorable side when he interacted with QQ was just great. A great juxtaposition of two extremes. My favorite character in every single way. Cool when he needed to be cool, cute at the right times and just, overall, so good-looking and so great!

Most of the supporting roles were so unlikeable, i felt. Pei Heng (played by Sheng Ying Hao) was such a hypocrite that I really hated the scenes where he was on. Zhou Zi Xin (as Chu Chu) was so one-dimensional and predictable that I was rolling my eyes at every instance. The really side characters such as the three storytellers, Bai Ji (Han Shuo's manservant) and Zi Rui (QQ's manservant) were hilarious though. So kudos to that.

2. Storyline
The pivot about the gender inequality was interesting at the beginning but again, that got tiresome towards the end. It became silly and the fact that Qian Qian really relied so much on Han Shuo for everything sort of threw that whole "women are the equal of men" out the window -- how can you talk about equality when QQ uses all these "weak female" ruses to get Han Shuo to listen to her? When she throws tantrums and cries to get her way? When she justifies everything by saying that she is following the plot? Ugh. Like I said, the few episodes towards the latter half (ep 15 to 20) was such a chore for me to get through ... It gets better in the end but oh, wat a pain to get there.

Suffice to say, the parts you will love the most are the sweet moments between HS and QQ. You will absolutely hate the conflicts and plot twists due to how artificial they are and how most twists just don't make sense at all. Just grit your teeth and get through those sections until you hit the sweet parts again.

3. Production
I loved the sets and the costumes that they used throughout the show. A friend was remarking that this was a "low budget" show and I really couldn't feel it. The special effects (like fireworks) didn't look bad and everything seemed polished and nice. Perhaps my only complaint was that he hair pieces did seem a bit fake, looking very much like wigs. And I can't get past the fact that Han Shuo's eyebrows are this weird brown colour but his hair is completely black.

4. Music
Generally, the music was light and very rom-com. Suited the scenes at certain parts but I did get bored of the opening theme which is surprising since I generally like most opening and closing themes.

5. Conclusion
Watch this if you want to watch something light and nonsensical but don't expect superb quality in the storyline. If you are discerning in any way, the one-dimensional villainess, the plot holes (like how does QQ as a scriptwriter manage to fool so many people when she is supposed to be this clueless, silly girl) and the tiresome tropes will get you down. So give it one watch and hope that Season 2 will be much better and that they will finally get everything (plot, QQ's character and the like) right.

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