The Oath of Love (2022)

A touching, beautiful tale about love, family and perseverance

I don't know how to describe this drama. It made me laugh, cry then laugh again like a rollercoaster of emotions. The 2 agonising years of waiting were totally worth it!

What stood out the most for me was the rocky yet heart-warming relationship Lin Zhi Xiao has with her father, who's a strict school dean. Due to her austere upbringing, Lin Zhi Xiao has grown up to detest her father for treating her like one of his "students" and would only call him "Mr. Lin". It's not until they're confronted with a grave illness did the family learns to come together and brace through the hardships. This makes me reflect on the relationship I have with my own parents and try to look at things from their perspectives. It may not have the most perfect script but the message really resonates with me. I was fully anticipating for a full on rom-com but this unexpected discovery is what makes this drama really special.

Talking about romance, I can't get enough of the main couple! How come EVERY SCENE is so iconic? Whenever Lin Zhi Xiao and Dr. Gu are together, I know I'm going to have a good time laughing at their adorkable banters or squeal at how romantic they are. That's not to say it was completely smooth sailing. They have their differences, major ones at that. Lin Zhi Xiao is a young, bubbly university student that's yet to step out of her parents' protective bubble. Gu Wei is a lot older, more mature, socially reserved and a neat freak due to his occupational hazard as a surgeon. But as we delve deeper, they both have their shortcomings and flaws. And it's actually their differences that help them gain a new perspective and overcome each of their own adversities. I truly love how well Lin Zhi Xiao and Gu Wei fit together not only in the good times, but also when they help each other grow and conquer the bad times. Also, I've never thought that product placements like Pepsi can be this romantic. I mean, it's literally their love symbol and I'm not complaining. And that anti-hair loss shampoo is just pure comedic gold.

Admittedly, the side couples feel a bit weak for me. I feel like they deserve to have a more cohesive arch of their own. But since the main couple is so strong, it kind of shifts the focus of the plot away from the 2nd and 3rd couple. I guess you can't have everything perfect sometimes.

In terms of the cast, we have stellar performances here. The chemistry between Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi is undeniably strong. Xiao Zhan is so versatile, he's the serious Dr. Gu in one moment and the sweet, and sometimes mischievous, Gu Wei in the next. Yang Zi is cute and funny at first, but she can also be very emotional and poignant, especially when she's connecting with Lin Zhi Xiao's parents. I love how the main couple is so down to earth. It may be a star-struck couple, but it also feels like a cozy and "simple" romance most of the time. And the Sweet Little Theatre snippets at the end are so adorable. It's like the 2 of them are just having a sweet and intimate moment, while I'm being the envious third wheel. I'm particularly fond of the actors playing Lin Zhi Xiao's parents. Their acting feels so real and moving. I cried watching them worry and care for Lin Zhi Xiao as well as each other. All in all, it was a truly perfect cast.

We got not only 1, but 3 OSTs sung by the main couple! I think they complement the story and characters beautifully.

The Oath of Love (余生, 请多指教) - Xiao Zhan & Yang Zi
The Greatest Fortune (最幸运的幸运) - Xiao Zhan
Somebody Liking Someone (一个人喜欢一个人) - Yang Zi

Also just to clarify, both the TV and original versions have the same content. The TV version has shorter but more episodes (32) to accommodate TV broadcasting schedule. While the Original version has 29 longer episodes (generally 45+ mins).

FAVOURITE QUOTES:

"There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

"Dr. Gu is not a perfect person. He is weak sometimes. He runs away. And sometimes, he's very proud. He keeps everything to himself and doesn't say it. He hurts himself as well as others. But as a doctor, he's the best in my heart. Not because of his superb medical skills, but his wholehearted dedication to his patients, even at the cost of his interests." Lin Zhi Xiao

"If all encounters are reunions after a long separation, I believe in the first 30 years of my life, we've already met each other at some point, but we just didn't know each other name. Otherwise, why would I fall in love with you so naturally and quickly?" Gu Wei

"I hope when we get old, you can tell me that marrying me was the best decision you ever made. If we're too old to remember anything, I hope that loving you is the last thing I'll forget." Gu Wei

"I used to think that the world is big and I'm walking slowly, so I never meet the right person for me. I feel so luck to have met you." Lin Zhi Xiao

"Our Zhi Xiao is young, and not mature enough. But in some ways, she's even more mature than me [her father]. Things happened to us during this year, her mother and I were panicked, but she was not defeated by these things. She has become the backbone, the pillar of our family. She has many shortcomings, but one merit. She is strong and resilient." Lin Zhi Xiao's father

"Zhi Xiao. Listen, now there are people paying too much attention to appearance. What appearance is about? Looks don't matter. Sweet words are even less important. Do you know what's important? The heart. Turns out I made the right choice. Your father has never done anything bad to me in decades. What can I not be satisfied with? I think my life is worth living. It was my luck to meet Mr. Lin." Lin Zhi Xiao's mother

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Oath of what?

I just didn't like it.

I am not sure what exactly it was, but the chemistry was off to me.

I guess I was expecting more.

That seems to be my fault lately, I expect decent shows and am left underwhelmed.

The female lead is not one of my favorites ether, so that could have a lot to do with it.

I will keep searching for a great C-drama.

All the popular ones are falling flat and short with me.

And for some reason I can not post my review unless I make it 500 words.

My biggest qualm is tired story lines, lackluster chemistry, and boring clichés.

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Cute and fluffy but overcrowded with annoying elements

I would like to thank We-Tv for giving me the possibility to watch this in double speed as anything else would not have made completing this drama possible.

I will start with the mostly good

Dr Gu/ Xiao Zhan starts off as sweet icicle, and is the sweetest male lead ever about 80% of the time, the rest are some pretty big red flags and lack of something but the rest is just dreamy... kind, helpful, adorable, caring... With a smile that will melt any other icicle in to a puddle of sugary gu...

His acting skills spao on, his charm is just overwhelming... Almost making me forget that he is actually kind of controlling, childish and jealous in a not so great way... And way, way to conservative slightly misogynist kind of dude... but d*** those dimples and the way he acts the rest of the time can easy confuse anyone to think he is mr. Perfect, but it also reminded me of all the good non misogynist male leads that have been in c-drama lately that may have spoiled me.

His Chemistry with Yang Zi/Lin Zhi Xiao was over the top great, their kissing scenes fluff scenes, and about 70% of their interactions are just amazing, fluffy and everything nice... the other 30 is her not listening ,not letting him talk and misunderstanding him + being very, very, very annoying.

She Is otherwise mostly smart, fun and a pretty ok character, especially when she is interacting with her mom, and not misunderstanding Dr. Gu... She is not to timid and does seam to actually have a brain... If only she was less annoying that would have been great.

All their friends are highly annoying, Though the girls mom has some sweet scenes the rest are just so annoying. Especially the dad... from start to finish the way he acted, talked did stuff jus made my blood boil...

So on a scale of 1-10
Bingabilaty- 3
Annoying elements- 9999
Fluff- 11
Values- -9
Chemistry- 9

So to sum it up.. A lot of fluff but mostly highly annoying

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I just love this masterpiece ... ?

At first, I thought story is different from novel. But later on, I love this drama version. It's a combination of humourous and emotional feelings. The cast is perfect for their roles.
Xiao Zhan is such a gentleman and Yang Zi is like a cute and funny girl as well as kind hearted. Their interaction makes me fall in love with them. Just some rational talking is making them very romantic.
Everyone contributed their 100% in this drama. In just a few episodes, I'm laughing ? and crying ? with them. Personally I don't like melo and overboard romantic drama stories which is beyond the real life stories.
This story made me feel close to real life.
I felt their saying some romantic words and doing some extra things is not necessary for falling in love. Just staying loyal and sincere to someone for the rest of their is enough.
Highly recommend.

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Watching this becoz of Yang Zi

Have recently become a fan of Yang Zi after watching Yang Zi's dramas marathon i.e Ashes of Love & Go Go Squid, so I'm watching this drama becoz of her. Loving this drama so far. It is interesting, never a dull moment. Love Yang Zi character who has a bright and sunny personality, positive and highly motivated. It is entertaining to watch her character slowly worming her way into Dr Gu's heart who at times shocked at her unrestrained antics, getting physically close to him & touching him with child like innocence. Cant' wait for episode 7 .... Finished watching, love their wedding vows! Hoping to see Yang Zi & Xiao Zhan act together again in another drama ....

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I actually feel a bit strange. This type of stories isn't my cup of tea but I watched this drama because of Xiao Zhan. I was waiting since the untamed... The story was a bit common, we seen it before with all the tropes and the common, predictable twists. Also, I believe it had a lot of supporting characters that neither gave anything to the main plot nor had complete and indipendant stories. They were always in the middle, to the point I skipped a lot of their scence. That I think is the main problem of the drama, it tried to put in a lot of things but left them in the middle. Even if I enjoyed the drama, I always felt that something is missing. Another of my problems is the bit archaic and a tinyy bit patriarchical views about mariange and family. I watched a lot of asian content and I know some countries are a bit more conservative but it is my first I feel it so strongly. Maybe it has to do with the million reviews from the authorities or the chinese society become more conservative, I don't know... Maybe it isn't a problem that the writing team could control. But this is my feeling.

What actually saves this drama is the lead actors and Lin Zhixiao's family. Xiao Zhan is, like always, amazing and actually is the only reason I finished this. Also. Yang Zi was really really good. Her role wasn't so well written but she did an amazing job with what she was given. Also the Lin family was really great, Xia Zhiqing and Sunny Hao was great in their roles. These four was the only memorable and interesting characters with complete stories that you wanted to watch.

Maybe I am a ting bit dissapointed ( I waited for almost 3 years) but all in all it was a good experience.

(P.S.: Amazing OST, both their voices are amazing)

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Queria ver algo light no aguado, jajaja

Una historia muy linda, muchos dialogos lindos, muchas escenas romanticas y lindas, muchas miradas cariñosas. Peroooo... si miran en profundidad la cantidad de cliques que tenia la serie eran demasiados, sentí que era un insulto a mi inteligencia.
No puedo entender porque Yang Zi, sigue encasillada con estos papeles de niñita tonta, que madura al final de la serie, ya me cansó. Xiao Zhang, es muy prolijo en su actuación, nada malo que decir de él.
Si no estan cansados de los cliches de las series chinas, si amas a Xiao Zhang y si no te importa que el resto de los personajes no tengan profundidad, ni que las amigas de la protagonista sean super toxicas. Esta serie es para ti.

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A wildly different adaptation

A much anticipated release. Did it live up to the hype? I'm not so sure.

For me, as someone who's read the translated novel, I found it wildly different from the source material. Some of the choices were good but some of the others fell into the same trap as other run of the mill c-dramas: drama for the sake of drama.

First things first, terrifying fans of the actors and fights in the comments section aside, the acting was top notch which lifted the drama significantly. I'm not hugely familiar with the lead actors but I thought they did very well. The emotional beats resonated with me. I've only watched Yang Zi in Go Squid. I don't think it's her fault but I found both the story and her character pretty tropey and uninspired. However, as Lin Zhi Xiao she was by turns winsome, charming, resilient, and a fighter. No candy character here for the ML to walk over. Similarly, Xiao Zhan as Gu Wei was good too. He portrayed the emotionally closed-off yet vulnerable and steadfast ML well. Their chemistry sparkled. Their interactions and physical comfort were such a pleasant change from the incredibly stilted and choreographed intimacy we see across our screen every day. While some of the direction choices were problematic, more on that later, it was nice to see a couple that who actually talk about (most) things. They discuss things that are both mundane and serious (occasionally ass-kicking is required!) and don't brush off their problems or concerns. A well adjusted adult relationship - after You Are My Glory -- this was a solid follow-up.

The ensemble cast was also stellar especially Mrs. and Mr. Lin. The FL's character arc is very well done. He goes from. being infuriating (making me want to punch him in the nuts. Repeatedly.) to sympathetic over the course of the drama. Once we finally get an insight into his emotional landscape that is. The chemistry between the Lin family was lovely. From heartbreaking showdowns between a disappointed parent and child (and vice versa) to moments of sweetness and vulnerability and humour the Lin family showed it all. And while I didn't enjoy the change in characters from their portrayal in the novel at the start of the drama I came around to it. A lot of that is down to the actors and their performances. Meanwhile Dr. Gu's family were placeholders entirely devoid of substance. I found this a shame since the whole trope of disapproving and controlling parents is so old-school and was manifestly chosen to create unnecessary drama. I feel like that bit of the drama could easily have been left out. More moments of sweetness between our leads please!

The opening and closing credits (with sweet little theatre moments) and the OSTs were charming. And in keeping with the theme of the drama and our main leads.

I could have done without the second leads -- boring and unnuanced, again drama for the sake of drama --- and the awful flat characterisations of the FL's besties. Nothing good there beyond repetitive scenes of passive aggressiveness, terrible dating advice, and unwanted interference in the lives of our leads. Again, that comes down to poor decisions when adapting the novel to the drama.

All in all, a drama that was held up by the main leads and some members of the ensemble cast. Would I watch it again? Probably not. But it was definitely head and shoulders above its peers in the same genre.

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Dropped, watched again but cringed throughout and so disappointed.

Way too much crying and immature acting of the fl.. What's with yz and crying? She's always just crying and shouting, behaving like a spoiled kid. It's so irritating how she's crying in like every ep. I get it, sick dying father is sad, a person cries when they're sad, angry, happy and all but it's not necessary to just ALWAYS cry! Whenever I saw her crying at the slightest and throwing a fit like children, I was like, dear god not again... Also her childish acting, exaggerated expressions made me cringe so bad.

LZX is an extremely irritating, immature and spoiled char or that's how yang zi potrayed her. Personally till the end, I saw no character development. A college student, whatever age she is above 20, isn't THAT much of an immature person. Not only she looked too old, she acted too childish for the character's age.
She claimed gu wei was a bad bf at one point when GW have been so nice to her. She was always inconsiderate and annoying. Irl no one would tolerate someone like lzx. I was so mad at the ep where she lashed at gu wei, when he was having a hard time mentally, bc of the medical case and cyber bullying, all he wanted was some space, some time to clear his mind but she was all shouting, kicking him, calling him bad bf not trying to understand anything. I hate this type of inconsiderate people even in drama.
Then she also kept ignoring him when he apologised like??? Bc he told her to go to Germany alone, she didn't even try to understand why he said that or let him tell her the reason. Just being impatient and crying, throwing tantrum.
Let's not start with her wanting to move her father on advice of someone she knows instead the doctor because she saw him drinking...and her wearing wrong size heels for god knows what reason, so many plot holes and cringy scenes.

Xiao zhans acting was fine, though not a fan of cold ml who are only warm to fl, and dumb fl storylines.
The little theatre idea was interesting and creative. I feel like it could be so much of a better drama.
Side characters are very nosy. lzx father was also annoying and so wrong many times.

I didn't watch with a bias towards it like the fans. Bc of the high praise I watched again after dropping. But I've noticed that, high rating, all 10 reviews doesn't mean it's always a good drama and acting. Some staunch fans who keeps attacking others here need to understand that people will have different opinion. There will be all sorts of reviews containing opinions of each which I think is needed, not just all biased comments in every drama.

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ADULT, REAL, WARM LOVE STORY IN A REAL WORLD

For me, this is the best drama of 2022 and 2023 hands down. It's not only a love story, there's a whole world around it.
Adult realistic world, with flaws, good and bad, happiness and sorrow.
A story about everyday life, about family, friends, neighbors. The story is very fluent, the relationships have ups and downs but their development is very natural. The main leads, Yang Zi as Lin Zhi Xiao and Xiao Zhan as Gu Wei have amazing on-screen and off-screen chemistry.
One of the important topics of the drama is the age gap between the leads ( 10 years in the drama, 6 in the novel) but in my opinion the perfect word to describe The Oath of Love is communication.
Working in the medical field is not easy and we can see it in the characters of Gu Wei and Gao Xi, similar but with different point of views. An important element is growth and dealing with parents, and in cases with mortal deseases. Age gap, personality difference, insecurities are well highlighted.Being able to compromise and understand each other, is how a couple can develop true love.
It's slow burn romance but not that slow, and the topic of healing is well developed. The relationship between the leads is cute but not cliché. They complete each other, he is mature and has calm personality, but with a gentle and warm heart inside. Lin Zhixiao has a bright and positive energy. They totally match.
Another special thing of the drama are the OSTs.
- "The Oath of Love (余生，请多指教)), opening theme song by Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi shows the perfect combination of their voices
- "Somebody Liking Someone "（一个人喜欢一个人） by Yang Zi is the first ending
- "The Luckiest Fortune" (最幸福的幸运） by Xiao Zhan is the second ending

I really recommend this drama to everyone wants an adult, real and warm love story.
LAO LIIIIIIIIN ç_ç

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DEFINITELY worth the wait and a must watch!

This series definitely started my 2022 right. I didn't expect to binge-watch all available episodes in one go, but here we are, at five in the morning, writing a review because this series has left me feeling all giddy and fuzzy all over.

While the series feels light-hearted, there are a lot of serious topics that it takes on; what makes it perfect, for me, is how the execution was done- how it is relatable and understandable. It also helps that the chemistry between the main leads is totally electrifying.

To add, I also appreciate how the show was able to decently portray how relationships undergo different kinds of hurdles through all stages, especially at the beginning, such as; age gap, personality differences, insecurities, etc. Being able to compromise and understand each other, is how a couple would be able to thrive; and I'm glad that in this series, they showed both Gu Wei and LZX growing and withstanding the trials that they faced. They're not perfect characters and that was clearly shown in the series, but how they handled and grew because of unforeseen and unfortunate events, made me appreciate and love this series so much.

In this series, expect to appreciate life more. You'll definitely laugh, cry, and feel giddy all over.

The Oath of Love is without a single doubt, worth the wait. Xiao Zhan and Yang Zi gave so much life to their characters that you won't be able to stop rooting for them.

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On the bench

I’m a huge fan of XZ and I love the ML and FL interaction (IRL). I was looking forward to OOL for 2 years+ but I’m mildly disappointed with the series. The only saving grace of the show is the good looking cast, particularly XZ. Im so conflicted because I love XZ but I hateeee Gu Wei’s character. He’s so bloody controlling and annoying to the point i had to fast forward more than half the time. LXZ’s character has so much potential to be something epic but again, character development was very poor - the character doesn’t give YZ justice honestly. Why does she has to be a docile, weak, timid yes girl? I raged at the scene where she was ridiculed by the other female doctor during a formal dinner event and she just apologized and walk off? REALLY?!! I wish they do more justice to both leads. I was expecting at least an arc/ some sort of climax towards the end but yeah, nothing. End of my rant. Tq

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