I Will Never Let You Go (2019)

Per chi ama Zhang Binbin

Finalmente un drama dove Zhang Binbin esprime tutta la sua solarità.
Credo di averlo già detto che per me questo ragazzo rappresenta il sorriso più bello di Cina.
L'ho conosciuto con Love O2O, apprezzato con Eternal Love, messo a riposo con The flame's daughter.
E finalmente un drama tutto suo, dove sorride, ama, si diverte. L'ho guardato con leggerezza e spensieratezza. Ho adorato Ariel Lin e per nulla notato la differenza di età.
Il cast non può che considerarsi eccezionale.
La storia è carina, classica per un drama. Con un antagonista simpatico, il classico personaggio dei drama cattivo ma col cuore tenero innamorato della protagonista.
E la musica non può che prendere un bel 10 con la canzone di Joker Xue che ci accompagna ad ogni puntata.

Leggi di Più

Decided to write a review for this drama solely for the purpose to provide a contrasting perspective compared to the more positive reviews. From my score, you can tell that I don’t regard this highly.

This drama started off cute and light-hearted with Ariel and Vin bickering. We also saw a lot more of the masked hero doing his thing. However, the plot wasn’t very deep at this point in the story. So, it started to lose its spark around episode 10-15. Around episode 20, we got a new setting and therefore the story picked up a bit but…it slowed down for another 10 episodes until they decided to quicken the pace again. It felt like I was on a rollercoaster for children; small build-up and boring falls that repeats five to six times. The overall tone of the story changed near the middle of the drama; it went from lighthearted to a more dramatic feel. The scriptwriter did try to insert random comedic parts, but they felt forceful and unnatural. Everything did unravel throughout time and many different issues do come up to provide depth and conflict to the plot, but I lost interest as the plot became more complicated. Not because I dislike conflict and details, but mainly because I found the story to be losing its focus. Too much was going on and I didn’t find the conflicts to be a great addition to the overall plot. Especially with Ariel's identity as the Divine Maiden. I think they could've delved more into it and given her more of a role to stop everyone from trying to hunt her. Could she have learned martial arts/self-defense? Yes, but did she? No. She left it all to Vin (and Austin) and was ultimately a damsel in distress at the end. Besides having an" extraordinary sense for business" she did very little to change her fate.

If you’re looking for a drama where the main couple is together often then look elsewhere. After the first 16-18 episodes, we rarely see them together. They meet and get separated frequently. This doesn’t bother me much if they carried the plot well (but they didn’t) and I got frustrated near the end when the reasons for their misunderstandings could’ve been omitted (i.e. unnecessary love triangles). This also could’ve given the director/writer some more time to dedicate giving their audience a more satisfying ending. I’m quite bitter to have spent so much time watching this and get such an awful ending. I actually laughed when I watched the ending because of its mediocrity. In short, it was a cop-out. Either the director/writer did not plan accordingly to provide a substantial and fulfilling ending, they overspent and decided to make the last episode a cop-out, or both. I don't mind tragic/sad/happy endings as long as they're done well, but this ending was none of the above. It was a badly written and executed ending. They took no responsibility for anyone’s story and provided a distasteful ending. For those curious, I’ll provide a comment below to spoil the ending if you wish to read it.

I was excited to watch Vin Zhang as a lead. I believe there’s a lot of talent that hasn’t been shown as he’s (in my opinion) slowly being type-casted. In the beginning, he would bicker and tease Ariel, so it was refreshing compared to his recent angsty roles. However, this changed quickly, and he lost his shine as the plot thickened. Which was a massive shame. Watching Ariel is the same as watching her in her previous dramas. She’s great at acting out a “dumb” and cute role. Due to her experience, she is also one of the best actors in the series. She portrayed her role well and did well with her more serious parts. But I do want to note that I have a really hard time taking her seriously when she’s trying to be tough. This is mainly because I think she has a face suitable for dumb/cute roles. Sorry, Ariel. Vin’s shine seems to be passed to Austin in the latter part of the drama. Austin has turned into someone who would bicker and tease Ariel, but I didn’t find him to be too memorable in this role. Then again, none of the roles are memorable for me but are these a fault to the actors themselves? No. They did well to portray their roles. I just found the roles to be poorly written...or just poorly implemented into a poorly written plot. I do want to note that I found Austin's character to more interesting than the leads near the end...so I guess that's saying something.

All-in-all, I wouldn’t recommend this if you’re looking for a great plot and a satisfying ending. I think there are better historical romances to dedicate your time to but of course, everyone’s taste is different. So, I would recommend this if you’re looking for a semi-lighthearted historical drama. Just be prepared for an extremely poorly written ending because that's one thing we can all agree on whether we enjoyed watching this or not.

Leggi di Più