Love at Second Sight (2023)

Not bad if you are looking for a low-commitment drama fix

For a short-length modern drama, this is one of the better ones - I've seen so many modern short-length ones that are excrutiating and unbearable. The production values are much better than most mini-dramas I've seen, and the music too, is surprisingly nice for a low budget production like this. The acting by the leads are generally pretty decent as well. Wang Zuyi, in particular, has a lot of potential, especially if you've seen him in the short-length costume drama, The Only Girl You Haven't Seen. He does "radiantly happy" and "earnest and vulnerable" so well, it can be a bit hard to buy the "Domineering CEO" stereotype here.

The story itself is okay, but it does lean into some classic tropes, some of which I am not a fan of, including 1) the problematic "Domineering CEO" mentioned earlier (he grabs her wrists bruisingly hard a couple of times and is kind of stalker-ish, demanding to know who she was with, even though they broke up five years earlier) and 2) the "crazy ex-girlfriend/vengeful jealous friend whose feelings are unrequited" (they have one of each here!). The ending is rushed (surprise, surprise!) and a bit .... different (for a lack of an unspoilery adjective).

I waffled between a 7.5 and an 8, and finally settled on 7.5 because of the ending and some of the CEO's behaviour -- still a high grade in my books for a short-length series. Overall, if you are looking for something modern, a quick fix with low-committment, and modest expectations, you could do a lot worse.

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