I just finished watching Love Me If You Dare, a Chinese drama series. It is about a criminal psychologist who has escaped a serial killer once but somehow the serial killer (or someone else) is still hunting him. There is also an element of romance (of course, what d'ya expect?) with the female lead.
I found that the overall story is really good, and the interaction between the characters and comedic scenes were all very enjoyable to watch (except the utter silliness when they did the love confession, which I found to be too out-of-character).
Now on to some spoilers...
The main characters are Bo Jin Yan, eccentric genius criminal psychologist and Jian Yao, the lady who's going to be his assistant and later win his heart. Jian Yao has a childhood friend Li Xun Ran who's in love with her (one-sided love, poor guy) but supports her the whole way, even in her relationship with Prof. Bo. Then there is Fu Zi Yu, the only friend (and more importantly very good friend) of the asocial Bo Jin Yan. This guy is probably my favourite character here (apart from his creation Andy; I'll get to that later) because he is actually a genius too (in computers, programming and hacking), but he is socially normal (unlike the weird Bo Jin Yan), and most importantly, he is really funny. Then there is the car he programmed for Bo Jin Yan: Andy! Andy is the car's name, and basically it is the fantastical smart car that listens to you and speaks to you too. What's great about the car is that it can have conversations with you, giving some of the comedic scenes in the story. There was even this scene where the two genius friends are in the car and Andy agrees with Bo Jin Yan, and Fu Zi Yu complains, "Hey, I created you!" Haha... I want that car!
The small things that I like:
- Li Xun Ran is the perfect gentleman to the end: no jealous tantrums (unlike in Kill Me, Heal Me, where there was a jealous tantrum even though the guy accepted that he wouldn't get the girl)
- Fu Zi Yu is the perfect friend (I was so afraid he was going to be made into a surprise criminal/traitor)
- When Bo Jin Yan discovered that he was in love with Jian Yao...his actions and how he told his friend... those scenes were really good, I feel that his actions totally fit with his character, and there was just the right kind of comedy. Until the part where he actually confessed. As I said above, that felt out of place, and I expected better.
The small things I didn't like:
- Jian Yao had to go "undercover" a bit and when the man she was with jumped on her and tried to force her to kiss him, she said the safe word and the two geniuses (you know who I mean) rushed in to save her. They knocked the bad guy out and then realized that he wasn't trying to kill her; he was trying to celebrate her birthday. So they tasered him and left Jian Yao there to explain that to him when he woke up. She apologized to him for tasering him and even accepted to cut the birthday cake, then told him she would treat him lunch the next day. What?! When someone makes you feel threatened enough that you decide to use a taser, do you stick around to explain? She could just have let herself out. And even if you realize that their intention was only harassment, and not killing, do you need to apologize if you tasered someone who was trying to harass you? I feel something is wrong there...
- When Li Xun Ran was rescued from his abductor, he was in Hong Kong, then they went to the US for treatment. Why didn't his father come and see him at all? This is a recurring gripe I have with a lot of dramas, actually... they focus on the main characters too much and forget the family members. Xun Ran's father was actually already shown in some of the earlier episodes. It wouldn't be too much to let the father come to Hong Kong for a while, even if it's just to entrust his son to his childhood friend to be brought to the US.
- After Bo Jin Yan started his relationship with Jian Yao, he seemed to improve his social skills too quickly...especially when interacting with other people. I would have expected that change to be slower. But hey, he's a genius, so maybe he learns this quickly too (or maybe they didn't have enough time for that social development, otherwise the series would be too long). I can live with that...
- At the beginning, we see that Bo Jin Yan prepares fish (his favourite food) very well (like a chef!), and when he tasted Jian Yao's fish dish, he criticized it badly and made one to show her how it's made. (not teaching her the steps, mind you, just preparing a show-off dish) But later she is the one preparing all the meals, even before they got together. It doesn't seem right at all... when they showed us his cooking skills at the beginning, and then his criticism of bad food, I was expecting him to be this picky eater who only eats good food, like what he prepares himself.
Some plot points were not so much a surprise to me because I have seen too many crime shows before. There was even an element of split personality here (like in Kill Me, Heal Me), and I definitely saw it coming. However for people who haven't seen split personality stories before, it should be a nice development. (and note that I said "some" plot points... there were still plenty of interesting twists and turns that I didn't manage to guess)
Small note: Even though the three main characters (the two geniuses and the girl) are all supposed to be scholars who have very good command of English, they hardly speak any English in the drama (only a few short sentences sometimes). They will still use Mandarin when they are speaking to Americans. I expect it's because their accent would probably spoil the show :P (that's not a complaint... it's pretty understandable because their main market is China)
Now to the verdict: How does this compare to Nine? They are both really good, however Nine has a fantastical element to it which is the time travel. So I would actually have to say Love Me If You Dare is better (surprise! You didn't expect that, did you... but then neither did I) because everything that happens is possible in this world (even though highly improbable). Still, keeping a disclaimer: both are very interesting and enjoyable to watch, so it is practically a tie.
I found that the overall story is really good, and the interaction between the characters and comedic scenes were all very enjoyable to watch (except the utter silliness when they did the love confession, which I found to be too out-of-character).
Now on to some spoilers...
The main characters are Bo Jin Yan, eccentric genius criminal psychologist and Jian Yao, the lady who's going to be his assistant and later win his heart. Jian Yao has a childhood friend Li Xun Ran who's in love with her (one-sided love, poor guy) but supports her the whole way, even in her relationship with Prof. Bo. Then there is Fu Zi Yu, the only friend (and more importantly very good friend) of the asocial Bo Jin Yan. This guy is probably my favourite character here (apart from his creation Andy; I'll get to that later) because he is actually a genius too (in computers, programming and hacking), but he is socially normal (unlike the weird Bo Jin Yan), and most importantly, he is really funny. Then there is the car he programmed for Bo Jin Yan: Andy! Andy is the car's name, and basically it is the fantastical smart car that listens to you and speaks to you too. What's great about the car is that it can have conversations with you, giving some of the comedic scenes in the story. There was even this scene where the two genius friends are in the car and Andy agrees with Bo Jin Yan, and Fu Zi Yu complains, "Hey, I created you!" Haha... I want that car!
The small things that I like:
- Li Xun Ran is the perfect gentleman to the end: no jealous tantrums (unlike in Kill Me, Heal Me, where there was a jealous tantrum even though the guy accepted that he wouldn't get the girl)
- Fu Zi Yu is the perfect friend (I was so afraid he was going to be made into a surprise criminal/traitor)
- When Bo Jin Yan discovered that he was in love with Jian Yao...his actions and how he told his friend... those scenes were really good, I feel that his actions totally fit with his character, and there was just the right kind of comedy. Until the part where he actually confessed. As I said above, that felt out of place, and I expected better.
The small things I didn't like:
- Jian Yao had to go "undercover" a bit and when the man she was with jumped on her and tried to force her to kiss him, she said the safe word and the two geniuses (you know who I mean) rushed in to save her. They knocked the bad guy out and then realized that he wasn't trying to kill her; he was trying to celebrate her birthday. So they tasered him and left Jian Yao there to explain that to him when he woke up. She apologized to him for tasering him and even accepted to cut the birthday cake, then told him she would treat him lunch the next day. What?! When someone makes you feel threatened enough that you decide to use a taser, do you stick around to explain? She could just have let herself out. And even if you realize that their intention was only harassment, and not killing, do you need to apologize if you tasered someone who was trying to harass you? I feel something is wrong there...
- When Li Xun Ran was rescued from his abductor, he was in Hong Kong, then they went to the US for treatment. Why didn't his father come and see him at all? This is a recurring gripe I have with a lot of dramas, actually... they focus on the main characters too much and forget the family members. Xun Ran's father was actually already shown in some of the earlier episodes. It wouldn't be too much to let the father come to Hong Kong for a while, even if it's just to entrust his son to his childhood friend to be brought to the US.
- After Bo Jin Yan started his relationship with Jian Yao, he seemed to improve his social skills too quickly...especially when interacting with other people. I would have expected that change to be slower. But hey, he's a genius, so maybe he learns this quickly too (or maybe they didn't have enough time for that social development, otherwise the series would be too long). I can live with that...
- At the beginning, we see that Bo Jin Yan prepares fish (his favourite food) very well (like a chef!), and when he tasted Jian Yao's fish dish, he criticized it badly and made one to show her how it's made. (not teaching her the steps, mind you, just preparing a show-off dish) But later she is the one preparing all the meals, even before they got together. It doesn't seem right at all... when they showed us his cooking skills at the beginning, and then his criticism of bad food, I was expecting him to be this picky eater who only eats good food, like what he prepares himself.
Some plot points were not so much a surprise to me because I have seen too many crime shows before. There was even an element of split personality here (like in Kill Me, Heal Me), and I definitely saw it coming. However for people who haven't seen split personality stories before, it should be a nice development. (and note that I said "some" plot points... there were still plenty of interesting twists and turns that I didn't manage to guess)
Small note: Even though the three main characters (the two geniuses and the girl) are all supposed to be scholars who have very good command of English, they hardly speak any English in the drama (only a few short sentences sometimes). They will still use Mandarin when they are speaking to Americans. I expect it's because their accent would probably spoil the show :P (that's not a complaint... it's pretty understandable because their main market is China)
Now to the verdict: How does this compare to Nine? They are both really good, however Nine has a fantastical element to it which is the time travel. So I would actually have to say Love Me If You Dare is better (surprise! You didn't expect that, did you... but then neither did I) because everything that happens is possible in this world (even though highly improbable). Still, keeping a disclaimer: both are very interesting and enjoyable to watch, so it is practically a tie.
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