Summer's Desire (2018)

"XiaMo, I am yours. and you are freedom's."

Just finished this and honestly, i don't regret watching this. I'm a fan of the original novel, i've read the manhua and watched both the drama and movie version of this. I wouldn't say this remake was amazing, but imo it did pretty well.

watch this if you like- alpha males, possessives male leads, love triangles, melodrama, boys over flowers+ soap opera feel
don't watch if you don't like- fake angle kisses& dead fish kisses (this irked me the most , melancholic female expressions, miscommunications, lack of trust

Story-
This started off really well, with a few scenes here and there changed, it stuck to the original story line; although they also added a business element to it.
Summer's Desire is a drama centred around its title- whata summer (XiaMo) wants. There are 3 main leads - XiaMo, Ouchen and Luoxi; you can't be certain of who she ends up with until the very end. For me, i rooted for her and Ouchen through all versions of this novel so this wasn't any different- despite the fact that watching this, realistically- i'd rather she not end up with anyone.
Anyway, back to the story. XiaMo and Ouchen are highschool sweethearts,dating, and Luoxi is someone who later ends up staying with her family. Ouchen is manipulative and alpha male possessive, while Luoxi is supposed to be secretive& bad boy dangerous. Luoxi then ends up falling for XiaMo so you can imagine the amount of melodramatic scenes in this.
With 36 episodes, a lot of details were included, and i particularly love the addition of the 2 brother-like friends they had added next to Ouchen. What i did not like about this story-line was the fact that they did not include much scenes of her and ouchen in their earlier years, nor the fact of how they met, that was pretty disappointing. I wanted so much more of her and Ouchen, as the later scene were so Luoxi infested. This also could have done away with some of the things that happened later in the epsiodes. The one scene that made me cry the most was the last episode when her brother was talking to her. I cried buckets.

Acting
Ouchen did not look like what i had expected but his acting made up for it. Qin Jun Jie really made the character Ouchen his own- out of all the versions ive watched, this is my favourite one. When he was happy, angry, mad, jealous, pained, etc. they were wonderfully executed out and that is one of the main reasons i rooted for him no matter what. As for XiaMo's character, there were times her acting was well done, then there were times when it was really plain, stoic and so melancholic. then we have luoxi, the fake and playful vibe were acted out really good, so were the pained expressions. i just didn't know how to feel when he really smiled lol.
Anyways, the acting for the rest of the casts are well done.

The music for this gets stuck the more you listen to it. I loved the opening songs, and they matched the songs well with happy/sad scenes.
Rewatch? Only for ouchen and xiamo parts;_;

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I liked the 2010 version of Summer's Desire and was looking forward to this remake, but I was sadly very disappointed. Although I liked Sophie Zhang (Xia Mo) and Qin Jun Jie (Ou Chen), Huang Sheng Chi (Luo Xi) seemed too young to play the present day character - and of course, just can't compare to Huang Xiao Ming so the odds were against him from the start.

Ou Chen and Luo Xi's actions were really problematic - manipulative, controlling, petty. It's difficult to say who was worse, but I couldn't root for either of them. I also frequently felt like I did not understand Xia Mo's feelings. I liked the addition of Simon and David (they were not in the 2010 version) as they helped humanize Ou Chen and provided comic relief, but Simon's storyline became too ridiculous in the latter half. There was a villainous character whose storyline was unnecessarily prolonged and then magically resolved at the end. Apologetically, I was not invested in Yin Cheng (the younger brother) or Zhen En (the best friend). The best character is hands down Pan Nan, who is both rational and loyal.

My other issue is with the storyline/writing. The last 5 episodes take such a rapid turn, it just felt too sudden and rushed. There were 36 episodes, plenty of time for things to develop at a pace that made sense! In comparison to the ending, the last few episodes just move way too quickly. There were also storylines that would be introduced and then forgotten or resolved inadequately.

The OST songs are still stuck in my head, but I just cannot recommend this drama. There's better out there.

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