This season was drastically different from the book upon which it is based. I don’t mind having a totally different storyline from the books but this one was rather disappointing.
A major change was the Edwina/Anthony/Kate love triangle. It took too long to be resolved, the “almost” marriage shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and I feel it didn’t leave time for the Kate/Anthony romance to be convincing. I understand they didn’t want to have yet another marriage of convenience for 2 seasons in a row and love triangles do make for good drama but when siblings are involved, it results in too much hurt and deceit which wasn’t really enjoyable to watch.
I complained about a lack of chemistry between the Duke and Daphne in the previous season, specifically in the early episodes. However, for me, it was worse this season. I just couldn’t feel any chemistry between the two main leads. Jonathan Bailey played Anthony well however the gorgeous Simone Ashley just didn’t do justice to Kate’s character. In the earlier episodes, she came off as rather rude and then in later ones, her acting was very rigid, even in the love confession scene!
I am not sure if the show will follow the chronological order of the books. I feel it is going to be either Benedict or Colin’s story next. It seems like they laid an opening for Benedict’s story, he no longer wants to pursue his art, so maybe he will go away and there he will meet “her” and start drawing again? I am also looking forward to seeing more of Eloise & Theo, I am hoping this story is not yet over. And of course, there will be the aftermath of the Whistledown confrontation between Eloise and Penelope.
So if you’ve seen the comments on any other place about this show, they aren’t wrong. It’s your cliché rom-com that you can most likely predict will happen. REGARDLESS...I did enjoy the show and watched all 20 episodes, sidenote no one cares about but I do plan to watch the second season when it comes out. ==So if you cannot stand watching another basic rom-com, this show may not be for you. ==
Overall the plot is as I said, you’re basic rom-com where this rich man falls for this [not really] poor girl. They end up getting married after forging a contract that benefits not only Xia Lin but also Ling Yizhou. (He gets the wife and relationship without all the drama of dating, and she gets his bone marrow so she can have a life.) However with each passing episode, they do end up falling in love with each other. Yet no drama is complete unless we have the villians, the people who try to keep them apart, the secrets, plus the family and friends.
Pros...
- The cast
Honestly even from the beginning you can tell that all the actors get along and have great chemistry together. Sometimes, regardless of the great acting, you can tell it’s forced but that can’t be said for this show. It was all smooth sailing. I found Wen Li, Jia Fei, and Chu Yan to be very underrated. So definitely look out for them.
P.S. I hope they get more parts in the second season.
- The script.
Even though I have heard literally most of the lines in this show, the writers were still able to pull out some great jokes. There wasn’t a single episode were I wasn’t laughing at least in some part. Wen Li and Ling Yizhou’s dialogues are something all of you should look out for.
- The protagonists and their relationship.
Believe it or not, out of the little research I did, this seems to be the first time the two main leads are playing the leads in a show. I think they did a good job playing the protagonists also because the characters were well written. I do like that they portray (except for one part, and you’ll know what I’m talking if you watch) a healthy relationship. Despite it being a contract marriage, both Xia Lin and Ling Yizhou communicate and grow as a couple, together. Obviously they have their fights, but they portray a realistic and [for the most part] healthy relationship. I will say, I don’t condone or approve of some of the things that were done. But then again this is a drama, there has to be something so people come back for more. Besides the two, I especially like that the female protagonist does stand up for herself and speaks her mind. She isn’t like other female protagonists that stay quiet, endure, are made fun of, always run back to the guy, etc. I’m honestly not a fan of the latter since I feel it’s really demeaning/overplayed.
- Production.
In high school I actually had a TV class where we had to film for the morning announcements. There I ended up learning somewhat about how to shoot. So whenever I see good lighting, the camera angles, etc., it’s always a plus for me.
- The music.
It fit the overall mood of the scene, but it wasn’t overpowering. Pretty cheerful actually....but I don’t speak Chinese so I had no idea what it was saying ^^’
Cons...
- The acting.
Now don’t get me wrong, the acting wasn’t atrocious. I just found some parts to be...awkward?
• The first time where Xia Lin and Ling Yizhou kiss, Ling has to pull Xia by her neck to being her in for a kiss.
• When Xia Lin is drugged and she confuses Chu Yan for Ling Yizhou, she does this puckering face and tries to pull him closer.
• Nan Jintain slamming his hand on the table in front of Xia Lin (to scare her)
Those are just some instances off the top of my head, yet they don’t deter from this show having great quality, etc.
- The villians
Although they had [somewhat] good plans....the villians didn’t inspire fear and were taken down pretty swiftly. So they don’t get a good rating from me.
- Timing.
I actually didn’t have a problem with this at all until the last....3-4 episodes. The way it was portrayed made it seem as if a week had gone by when it was actually a day. That kind of threw me off and confused me. But again, this only happened towards the end for me.
- Some of the audio, especially when Xia Lin talks was so soft spoken and quiet that I had to turn my volume up high to make sure I could hear her.
I am amazed how well this drama has peformed :grin: ; with such on ordinary cinderella story they managed to weave just enough suspense , thrill but load of romance and comedy courtesy all credits to its cast and their chemistry .:heart_eyes:
I had no expectations for this show when release on same day as See you in My 19th Life ; in which i was heavily invested due to unique plot and Queen Shin He Sun but Yoona and Jun-ho such a wonderful actors they are they choose a non-serious scripts after their sucessful shows Big Mouth and Red Sleeve and it worked .
I didn't wait for an episode each week but i enjoyed each minute of it laughed and heart throbbed but wasn't into any other emotions ; maybe this is perhaps found a right time just like Business Proposal to hit the TVs after many serious melodramas this year ; even the ones not meant to be melodramatic have awful ending recently ...
With all that said I wouldn't possibly rewatching this show like i have for other slow rom-coms like Do You Like Bhrams , When Weather is Fine , A Piece of you heart etc which are just eye leasing with the character ; while KTL has its own charm it isn't memorable as the others ; hence 8/10
