Fall In Love (2021)

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Un titolo validissimo, con tanti punti di forza e pochissimi deboli.

Partiamo, per una volta, dai punti deboli. E’ vero, i costumi maschili sono piuttosto belli, e gli uomini in divisa sono un vero schianto. Ma sul serio. Però gli abiti femminili sono spesso piuttosto anonimi e cambiati abbastanza raramente, e questo è un peccato, perché si nota tantissimo. D'altronde, probabilmente dipende anche dal periodo storico.

Ci sono, specialmente verso la fine, alcune situazioni piuttosto discutibili, in quanto a logica. E, soprattutto, c’è una pesante propaganda politica, della quale però non dovremmo lamentarci più di tanto, visto che nei film americani ce n’è altrettanta, se non di più (in effetti, mi dà molto fastidio anche quella).

Detto questo, si tratta di una serie che, per una volta, si svolge nella giusta lunghezza, spiegando quello che deve essere spiegato, ma senza dilungarsi in sotto-sotto trame e filler noiosissimi e inutili. E che storia! L’intrigo, i giochi di intelligenza e astuzia e, soprattutto, la tensione, mi hanno tenuta inesorabilmente incollata alla sedia. Ci sono stati un paio di episodi da infarto, ma tutta la serie si mantiene con costanza su un livello molto alto di interesse. Soprattutto, gli attori sono stati magnifici.

La protagonista Zhang Jing Yi è stata veramente brava, considerato poi che è giovanissima e non ha tantissima esperienza sulle spalle. Anche il bellissimo Evan Lin ha dato vita ad un personaggio molto credibile, specie tenendo conto che, anche lui, è molto giovane e non ha ancora partecipato a molte produzioni. I vari personaggi di contorno sono stati efficacemente presentati, compresi i cattivi della situazione. Un piccolo appunto: certe risate falsissime hanno disturbato un po’.

Ma la vera anima della serie non può che essere Chen Xing Xu. Bello, sì, ma questo è decisamente il meno. La parola più adatta a descriverlo è “mattatore”. Complice un personaggio a tutto tondo, tutto sommato facile da amare pur con una partenza piuttosto dubbia, ha saputo interpretare con eccezionali sfumature tutte le sfaccettature del suo carattere complesso, spaziando dal deciso comandante al giovanotto scanzonato, passando per il disperatamente innamorato e l’amico fedele. Soprattutto, il suo personaggio rimane umano pur possedendo un'intelligenza e un'astuzia quasi leggendari. Perché perfino lui, qualche volta, può essere colto di sorpresa e commettere sbagli.

Una serie che probabilmente in futuro riguarderò.

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Characters here are never out of tricks

And finally a great female lead that stands out unique to other female characters strongly…

The female protagonist here Mu Wan Qing (acted by Jingyi Zhang) suggests them ideas, shows bravery when needed & do not hesitates to help or take risks to get something. She's cool, gives answers to insults, not your typical crybaby. Male lead & second male lead are there to help her but she isn't a burden on anyone. She knows many languages, is hardworking & knowledgeable not only for problems in life but also in business. The way she deals with her evil step sister is so pleasing to see like originally female leads must be sobbing in some corner but this female lead makes that evil one cry instead. The way she supports Xuan Lin unconditionally is also amazing.

Male lead — Tan Xuan Lin (played by Chen Xing Xu) is also a good character. He is always cool, fun & cracking jokes. Even when situation is complicated, he has the time to joke around & bicker with other leads. But the deeper part is that he has an emotional side too. He has his own reasons & rules. He is quite intelligent too as he tackels his problems in the best way possible. His relationship with his sister is adorable.

Another Male lead — Xu Guang Yao (played by Evan Lin) my poor boy Evan, it's just his second work as an actor & he has been really acting so well but why you gave him a second lead role. Poor him T_T… then this character Xu Guang Yao is a righteous man who doesn't know much to play tricks but he's still intelligent. He is like the definition of Nice male lead. He's caring, kind & protective towards our female lead, Wan Qing… he has 2 best friends who try their best to support him. I liked their bond too.

The positive part of this drama is that though there's a lot of politics but it's not so boring, I was actually enjoying people tricking each other like that. Every character is important, has their own background story & are clever. No one accepts defeat easily & comes back with new ideas. Overall, the drama gets more interesting as we go ahead… well, everyone wants to save their position but who will save the people? That's a nice point presented here…


MUSIC / OSTs
♪Eyes like star♪ — by Si Nan (the lyrics is beautiful, so is the voice and music. Soothing & slow… it's the opening theme song)
♪Clearly know♪ — Cai Yisheng (I liked this song too)
♪Horse ride♪ — Zhang He Xuan (this is the ending theme song)
♪Your promise♪ — Dai Yutong
♪Swaying♪ — Liu


Rewatch value… No, I am not rewatching this again. Well, I am not a frequent rewatcher and It's kinda lengthy so… though I enjoyed it, its a one time watch drama only.

TO CONCLUDE… it's a 9.5 out of 10 overall. There's politics for getting power, good supporting roles who keep us entertained throughout. Interesting characters with their own story & stuffs to deal with & how the leads make their bond more stronger while sorting out the complications is what the story is about.
Reasonable characters knitting a wonderful story…!!

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A surprising gem that delivers a cohesive story and clever characters

I came out of this pleasantly surprised, intrigued and overall satisfied. Fall in Love manages to humbly balance the light-hearted romance with heavier and darker themes of politics, war and strategy. First and foremost, I’m a sucker for Chinese Republican era drama (see Arsenal Military Academy and Rookie Agent Rouge) and so this naturally fell on my radar. The first few episodes are a bit cringe and feel super staged (and a bit confusing as we work out our bearings), but keep at it and as the story progresses, you’ll soon find how much of a hidden gem this one is.

STORY
The story follows our male lead, Tan Xuan Lin and female lead, Mu Wan Qing who happen to meet under unfortunate circumstances and this leads to a series of misunderstandings. Cleared up quite quick, they appreciate each other’s strengths and wits and from there on out work together as partners (and later on something more) as they navigate through the tumultuous times in Shanghai.

Within 36 episodes, the story is well written, well-rounded and cohesive. I found the episodes breezy to watch, not much filler, but more story progression and kept me wanting to watch the next. The story flows well, divided into three distinct sections: 1) Wan Qing’s internal family drama, 2) Xuan Lin’s political strategy 3) At war. The last section fell away a bit, which is why I can’t give it a perfect rating I’m sorry. The ending episodes felt a bit confuddled (like introducing new villains?), it felt like they were rushing to the finish line but wanted to tie up all these loose ends.

I will flag the story comes front and centre, and the romance sometimes fades to the background, particularly the latter half of the drama. Which is a shame, because I love seeing our two leads get all romantic because the chemistry is so there.

Things I liked within the story:
+ Reference and referral back to key themes, conversations and symbols. See amulet, number switch, this idea of trust/belief in each other
+ The overall craft of constant misdirection and deception. Loved how our characters were three steps ahead of us and everyone gets played. This feeling of being blindsided is such a rush
+ This idea of new vs older generation (the father and son dynamics) leading the future
+ The exploration of each of the character’s history/backstory, uncovering the truth, and setting everything in its rightful place

CHARACTERS and ACTING
Brilliant and again unexpectedly good. Where has Chen Xing Xu been all my life, and how am I just finding out about him? What superb acting, he outshone everyone to be honest. He managed to capture so many complex emotions and feelings within the one expression. His character was flirty and playful, never taking anything serious. But that feels like a façade for what he is: a highly intelligent, cunning and slightly devious, fiercely loyal and courageous, natural born leader. He manages to shift into so many facets of his character effortlessly, from dark, looming and aggressive when he’s threatening someone to super light and jokey when he’s bantering with Wan Qing.

Props to our female lead, she did so well and I loved her characterisation. It’s rare (typically we see naïve and pure female leads as the go to in Chinese dramas), but here Wan Qing is equally intelligent, so switched on, possesses vision and foresight, merciful but not a door mat. I loved how she could hold her own (see ep29 as evidence), was rational and reasonable and unfazed by anyone standing in her way.

Both were complex characters with tragic backstories, and we see how this has shaped who they are. The pair were matched really well, in mind and body, and together were an incomparable force to be reckoned with. Yes they were open with each other and had this unwavering belief in each other. But I did get frustrated when Xuan Lin hid things from her or lied to her in the name of protecting her. She could obviously handle whatever came her way, so I would have liked him to be more truthful with her.

Our array of side characters and their journeys were given enough time to develop alongside the story and worked well. Evan Lin as Xu Guang Yao was your typical supportive second male lead, for me his acting needs a little work, but his character development was on point. We really see him come out from his sheltered father to his own person with will, fighting spirit and new belief. We were also given optimistic and persistent youth’s pursuit of love (Tan Sang Yu) and also a more mature, realistic and accepting blossoming relationship (Gu Yue Shuang).

MUSIC and REWATCH
The music grows on you and fits well with the emotional scenes. Though I usually don’t rewatch dramas, I would actually rewatch this one again. It was filled with surprises and kept me on edge throughout. Like I mentioned, it is well crafted and the story flows on from one episode to the next smoothly.

WATCH FOR:
+ Lead interaction, banter, chemistry and teamwork. They are by far one of most perfectly matched couples that you can’t help but root for. I loved seeing them team up seriously to face challenges, where they lean on and confide in each other, and somehow pick up on these hidden cues they share between them
+ Clever characters. I love how they outsmart everyone, the cons they pull, their ability to predict the future. They know what’s up and more often than not they keep the audience in the dark until their reveal. A lot of ah-ha moments that were like little surprise easter eggs that gave me this feeling of pure delight
+ Tight script writing, witty banter and conversation, cohesive story that delves into the backstories, histories and present lives of our characters. 36 episodes doesn’t feel long, and to be honest thought they should have added some more episodes to the concluding section so it didn’t feel too rushed

WATCH OUT FOR:
- Staged production. I wouldn’t say cheap, but the production does feel unrealistic at times, so I wasn’t entirely immersed into the Republican era world. They definitely fused a lot of contemporary aspects in costume, design, speech and what not.
- The trailer was a bit deceptive in categorising it as a light romantic comedy. In fact, when you actually start to watch, it gets hella serious and dark at times. There’s a lot of war strategising and talk, battle and fighting scenes, a lot of time is given to how the Warlords manage their affairs, soldiers and territories. So the romance and their relationship is neatly interwoven within the story
- The ending 4 or so episodes. It does lose its way, starts to get a bit muddled and messy. They jam packed so many new characters and new plot lines, that it felt a bit unnecessary and unfounded. But I understand they wanted to have this big climax and promote the whole national pride thing, but it meant the romance takes a backburner.


Overall, I’m so glad to have picked this one up and stuck with it. Left me pleasantly surprised and exceeded my expectations. There’s a lot to like with this one, so give it a go and let me know what you think!

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Enjoyed it!

I'm not into Republican Era drama but Chen Xing Xu caught attention. He looked so good in military uniform as did all the supporting male characters did as well. The story is well-paced. Male and female lead is both smart and strategic. They were made for each other. I enjoyed watching male lead scheme to get his way, in a good way of course. He comes off as a jerk but that's just a cover. Female lead is a smart business woman and she knows what she wants, whether in business or love. She doesn't allow male lead to string her along and she stands up for herself. All the supporting cast did well in their roles. There are ones you love and ones you hated so much. I think the only character I found truly annoying is male lead's sister. The music is okay but for this drama, I wouldn't want the music to be the redeeming point. Overall, I'm glad I stumbled on this and gave it a shot!

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BEST CHINESE DRAMA

MUST watch! one of the best china dramas i have ever watched. It is very unique and fl and ml had good chemistry, cute and SMART, very smart. OSTs were very good, usually skip the starting OST but this was hard to skip. MUST watch this drama it is very unique and not like your typical cute fluffy chinese drama. Even myself who likes fluffy dramas, i love this even more. The development of the story is very good, every part is interesting and always makes me look forward to the next week episodes. If you are considering to watch, dont consider it and just WATCH NOW. you won't regret it.

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FL and ML are the best

This is not a masterpiece but it is one of my favorite dramas this year. It's easy to watch, has good pacing, and has a likable main couple. I recommend you watch at least 5 episodes before deciding on whether you'll keep watching or not. The ML doesn't make a good first impression but he is one of the best characters in the drama. Tan Xuan Lin and Mu Wan Qing are underdogs who have their own ambitions and when their paths cross, they soon form a partnership to help each other achieve their goals. Both are intelligent, strategic, and know how to handle their opponents. Their romance is sweet and there's a good amount of romance but the drama doesn't get overtaken by it. Both actors did well in their roles. As for other characters, they all served some purpose in the drama. There aren't any side couple or character that was wasted and the side couples don't take up too much screentime. Some of the villains were slightly annoying but not as annoying as other characters from other dramas.

Honestly, I would not have finished this drama if it wasn't for the consistency of the main characters. The main leads didn't do anything stupid that was out of character or frustrating. It may seem like it in some parts but you're always wondering if it's part of their plan. There is character development for the ML and FL but they already started out pretty great. Yes, ML might not be likable at first but as you see him with his people, you learn to like him because of how loyal his people are to him. And the FL is one of the best Cdrama FL.

I think this drama is a good starter drama for anyone who wants to watch a revolution era drama that involves war and politics. Yes, expect deaths but it's lighter than other dramas from the same genre. I enjoyed it all the way to the end which is rare because I don't often finish cdramas and if I do, it's a chore.

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One of the best CDrama for 2021!

I would say this is one of the best CDrama for this year! Chen Xing Xu carried out his ML role very very well!! And Evan did a very good job too since it's only his second drama. I like the supporting MLs in the show too. The FL and ML chemistry was superb. I like that FL and ML are portrayed as equal and how well they can plan and execute their plans together. Smart and intelligent FL. Since this drama revolves around power struggle among the warlords, there is bound to have strategic scheming and need for reforms.. So if you're watching the drama, you should be expecting twist and turns of events. Overall, I highly recommend this drama for the storyline, the plot & the acting.

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Slow Motion Love Revolution Propaganda

This drama could easily be cut down to 24 episode, or even 12 episodes if they just got rid of the flashbacks, slow motion scenes an extra scenery shots, beautiful as those shots may be they did not really add much more then test my patients.

The female lead is probably the best part of this drama she is smart, not just a little bit smart she is truly smarter than most of the cast, she is also gorgeous, cool, trustworthy... Yep just one of the greatest female leads out there. Not to mention her wardrobe, hairstyle and all round forwardness.

The Male lead and second male lead are both pretty decent too, smart, fun and oddly reasonable even if their emotions do get the best of them from time to time...

Other than that most of the side characters are highly annoying, so much that I had to forward their parts (that also are slow mow) to get true this.

There are some characters that are complex and colourful but most of them are either really, really, really evil or so good so good, so good.. or just used by the evil but actually good deep down inside.

There is also an unreasonable amount of suicides or attempted suiside in this drama as well as interesting (mostly predictable) twist, an enormous amount of explosions, blood, rain and shots that make blood in the rain look like fine art in slow motion of course...

The romance in this drama is great, slightly overshadowed by the politics and evil plots here and there, those guys that ruled China before the revolution were really, really, really selfish, evil, oppressive and also bowed down to foreigners making the Chinese people second class citizens in their own country... Making this a pretty interesting lesson about how history most probably is taught in China and helping me reflect over how I was taught history myself, just kidding I have known that history is very bialy taught depending on who wins/is telling the story. However the way it is made so very obvious in this drama making it vVery interesting indeed.

In numbers:
Main Couple: 9
Annoying characters: Way too many
Bingeabilaty: 2-3 episodes at a time no more
Cinematography: 9
Fashion: 9
Explosions: 9
Propaganda: 10

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Strong Chemistry with main leads with a good not so common story line

Personally I don't know much about that time in history so it was interesting to learn a bit of that history. I've never seen any shows containing the main leads apart from Chen in goodbye my princess but he wasn't that memorable to me. So this was a hidden gem for me.
The storyline was easy to follow, well paced, the characters were good in their roles and it was fun to watch. If you were good, good till the end if bad, bad till the end.
The story is about a commander who does everything to ensure his soldiers live a good life after wandering around for ten years with no permanent place to call home, he does so by over throwing the bad people in power there he meets a woman who is both beautiful and intelligent and they end up helping each other in their quests while falling in love in the end.

Characters.
Chen xing xu ( tan xuan Lin) have you ever seen someone who fits his role so well? I enjoyed watching him from beginning to end. He was smart, playful, loyal and he stood firmly in what he believed in. In addition his chemistry with his adjutant tan si was nice to see, his childish interaction with his sister and the icing on the cake was with the FL. The last time I saw a well balanced chemistry like that was Bai lu and Luo yunxi. In love is sweet.
Jing yi( mu wan qing ) at first I thought she would be an annoying FL but she proved me wrong she was intelligent, a smart business woman and couldn't stand being bullied. How she also supported tan and helped him solve crisis and they looked like they weren't in cahoots with each other was endearing to watch
Evan Lin (guang yao ) this is the second show I'm watching of his and he doesn't disappoint in this he is a righteous man who doesn't like the fight for power but is also kind of naive thinking that the world isn't is so bad so is his father but he later realizes that's not the case and decides to fight for justice.
Xu Bo Jun - guang Yao's father love to hate the man, a man who doesn't change his ways until his last breath,believing that everything he has done is for his son to inherit his empire. Didn't like his character but the fact he truly loved his son was something good.
Other characters were good in their roles too.

'negative side'
Tan Sangyu , tan xuan Lin's sister was kind of annoying like I understand you love a man but honestly see the situation before almost ruining your brother's plans.
They didn't tell us if mu wan ting the ' step sister' of mu wan qing died in the pipe line area or escaped.
They killed of tan si!!!! Was so mad about this.
They didn't give a nice conclusion to warlord pei like did he now support the revolution army , or he just knew he had lost so he just gave in ...
Felt bad for su Hong Chen the first woman he truly loved ended up dying under his best friend's father's torture.

Ost
The ost were really good.
Conclusion.
This is a very good drama doesn't have the common storylines , fun to watch and you'll be immersed in the story. I sure was!!!

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Gem of 2021 and evolutionary era drama !!!

Omg where should I start this was a total master piece!
I was hooked with this show from episode one to the last episode
This drama shows the importance of loyalty,friendship,family,husband and wife
Hated that when Tan Si died and MOST of Tans Army.
Hated that Xu died easily but Pei NEVER paid for his deeds!

Glad Tan and WQ got a happy ending, but lets be real, we all knew they would!
Glad that GY FINALLY changed and became a better man & good friend.
Happy to see the 4 young men ALL together and fighting on the same side now.

All in all it was a good drama, one I completely loved watching till the end!

I TOTALLY LOVED IT

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Another Best 2021 Chinese Drama (Highly recommended)

This is the first republican era drama that I watched.
Honestly, at first I was hesitant to start this drama because I've watched two dramas (GBMP and TLOCH) from ML and so far it doesn't bind me but after reading the almost perfect reviews given to this drama I finally decided to start this drama and I didn't even realize he was so very handsome and his acting was amazing in this drama.

good storyline and never boring slowly pulled me into this drama, the good acting of all the actors in this drama really opened my eyes, because I never watched their drama before other than ML. ChenXingXu is very very handsome in this drama, and I really like his character as commander Tan in this drama, his chemistry with Zhanjinyi as MuWanQing is very very good and strong. I love this drama which gives us the main character couple who are very smart, somewhat cunning (ML) and mature, the passion and mutual trust between them is beautiful.

the actors and actresses of this drama have given a very good performance for this drama, although many i don't know in this drama, but their acting is really wouw...cool...didn't let me down.I also like the soundtrack song in this drama, especially the ending theme which is often inserted in the drama entitled Horse Ride by Zhang He Xuan. This is my favorite soundtrack in this drama..overall this drama gave a deep impression to me 10/10 for this drama

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