Different Mr. Xiao (2023)

a good idea, but poorly executed

ok, tbh, I wasn't expecting too much, so I went to watch it without any kind of pretension, but it was worse than I thought it would be

The acting was bad, unfortunately. The only minimally decent performance that I, in my opinion, managed to find good, was that of ML's best friend.

It's complicated, cause I don't like to say that someone IS bad at acting (for me, It depends). For example: I believe that the ML's actor played a good role in the drama "Butlerflied Lover", so I think that a good performance depends on good direction, a good script and good resources/budget.

That being said, in my honest opinion, "A Different Mr.Xiao" was a good attemp, but not well executed.

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A good attempt.

I liked the summary of A Different Mr. Xiao. The ML, Xiao Jing is from the future, 200 years in the future. He needs to save his sister’s life and the medicine is from a plant that is no longer in existence. He has the time travel to our present time (2023) where the plant was last sighted.

Zhao Yi Qin plays the ML and this is my first drama with him in it. I didn’t know he’s a seasoned actor. I haven’t really formed an opinion on his acting yet. I thought he played his role well and his expressions were pretty good, but the script he had to work with was a little difficult to really show his acting range.

Like typical C drama fashion, they like to cast super young actors, the FL, at 21 is very young. She doesn’t look young though. I haven’t seen anything with Duan Xing Yu in it. The FL character was a bit hard for me to get into. I wasn’t fond of her styling (very typical frumpy, FL, girl next door look) and she was a bit all over the place.

There are some aspects of the drama I like and there were a lot parts that needed improvement, but a drama with a lower production budget, I get it.

The chemistry between the leads was very lacking and I don’t want to say it’s because of the acting, but mainly with the script. It was hard to see the attraction when the ML’s character was so stiff. The drama starts out like enemies to lovers, but the antics the leads played on each other was a little silly and childish. I get it, the script writer was trying to make it comical and light, I appreciate that, but I was generally concerned with the FL every time the ML kicked her out of his car (especially at night).

The pacing was a bit off. It started out pretty quick, the ML hurry and tries to get the plant. The FL does everything she can (without knowing) messing up his plans. Again, tried to be funny, but it came out a little silly.

Then, the story gets a little flat and it almost feels like a slice of life kind of drama. You really don’t get much story with the plant, other than the ML is working on it. The plot is focused on the relationship between the leads and secondary ML. The Love Triangle.

The love triangle between the leads and second male lead is probably my favorite part of the drama. The second male lead is a baby too, no age is listed. He has great cameral appeal too and it was nice to see both leads fighting over the girl.

The worst part of the drama was the secondary couple. They were plain awful to watch. Just boring, lack luster and no camera appeal. I did fast forward their parts, sorry.

Another thing to note, I don’t think the subtitles were fully out yet. Once I got to episode 20ish, it felt like I was watching AI generated subtitles and I have to say that hindered my experience. So maybe once all of the subs have fully been uploaded / edited by a human, there will be better reviews.

Overall, I got great exposure to actors I don’t have any experience with. The leads were very good looking and had great cameral appeal. I will watch out for them. Even though the budget was lacking and the fashion was awful, I think the problem for me was just pacing. There wasn’t enough substance during the main episodes to really hold my attention for the duration of the drama. The script writer focused too much on antics and childish plot devices, instead of really focusing on character development and creating organic chemistry between the leads.

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