Love Scenery (2021)

Disappointment

I am completely disappointed after watching 27 episodes. I have never given up any drama after watching these many episodes. I wanted to watch this for Lin Yi (the human teddy bear) since i was waiting for his series from Put Your Head On My Shoulder. But what to say.... It is simple story as PYHOMS but not developed well like PYHOMS. Except Lin Yi and his three friends, I didnt find anything acceptable. Everyone is good individually but together nothing looks good. There is no chemistry between Lin yi and the FL. When it is flagged as "Rom - Com" then I think Chemistry is the most important thing between ML and FL. I am not sure I will have the same curiosity what I had to watch Lin Yi after PYHOMS will be there going forward. It disappointed me to the core. Only good thing is music. It is good. The story and the execution is so flat that I didnt find one exciting moment after watching 27 episodes. Dont tell me that I will get those moments in episode 31.
Lin Yi, please choose better script and director next time.

I wont recommend it to anyone.

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a huge let down

Honestly, I had some expectations for this drama, but was such a draaaag.
There was so much cringe Idek, seriously. This drama was pure torture and the only way I managed to get to the end of it was lots of skipping and fast-forward, and even like that, it was a struggle to not give up entirely.
The characters didn't have much chemistry, the second male lead was annoying af, every time he showed up, my blood pressure raised, because what an entitled guy, ugh! The secondary couple was also terrible, they really had no chemistry at all or whatsoever.
The story had no clear plot or major developments, it was an annoyance that it took 15 freaking chapter for the FL to admit to the ML she was the girl he had been talking to online and till now, I still can't figure out why the hell she wanted to keep that secret so bad when he obviously knew it already.
Anyway, if you really have nothing, but like NOTHING, better to do, be my guest to waist your time like I did mine while watching it. At least it has some cute scenes along the way, although if it's a sweet romance woth lots of cute scenes, You are My Glory it's a waaaay better choice.


P.S.: OMG! I need to comment on that, but what the hell was that masked dancing scene?????? Cringe af and quite lame as well, I srly couldn't take it.
P.S.2: rewatch value it's pretty much 0, but we have to give it a rating of at least 1, so yeah.

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An older woman younger man romance with potential

The show started with so much potential but definitely had its hiccups.

I rarely like older woman younger man romance but I actually liked this one to some extent.

The positives:
- The male lead was attractive psychically and mentally
The male lead was younger but he was definitely more attractive than the female lead. It is not only because of his appearance but also because he is smart and his general attitude. He had enough charm to attract a successful older woman like the female lead.
-The chemistry and tension was sizzling
The romance was slow burn but I was thoroughly enjoying the whole process. They were flirting a lot and i was there for every second of it. The tension was there and I could feel their chemistry.
- The plot was enjoyable
The plot had a lot of romance tropes but I didn't care. I kept wanting to watch the next episode and I was not bored at all. Some moments were cheesy but it was bearable.

The negatives:
- The second male lead casting was disappointing
I don't care if he's a good guy but the casting for this role was messed up. He looked like a creepy uncle rather than a second male lead. I was uncomfortably watching him with the female lead. His personality was harmless but anyone can see he's more older and his flashy wadrobe didn't help either.
- what happened with the female lead's personality?
In the beginning, the female lead was more mature, badass and smart. She's also almost 30 years old but kept acting like an innocent teenager in the second half. She's shown to have previous mature relationships so her behavior doesn't make sense. I would've loved if she had been more bold and lead her boyfriend more but she became passive and dumb.
- Again why is the female lead so dumb?
Isn't she supposed to be older and smart? The guy literally let her know that he knows the truth but she was literally blind and couldn't realize it. It was just so frustrating to watch since she was so oblivious.
- The chemistry fell off in the second half
They had so much tension and chemistry at the beginning but after they got together the romantic chemistry disappeared. I don't know why but something was missing and that was disappointing.

Overall, a good romance with lots of tension and chemistry but definitely missed an opportunity to be great. 8/10

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Stay for the acting, don't expect much realism

Love Scenery is a great rom-com drama. What it lacks in cohesive flow of the plot and realism is saved by the top notch acting of the Lead actors Lin Yi and Lulu Xu. Lin Yi's performance in particular impressed me. I was already gaping at his acting skills in Put Your Head On My Shoulder, especially considering it was his first drama ever. 2 years later, he returns with vengeance, further honing his acting skills. Every facial expression was believable. He has started to gain some more subtleties that he previously did not have in his earlier drama, paying more attention to small details. His line delivery was spot on too. Additionally, Lin Yi's acting in playing the violin is one of the more convincing ones I've scene in a drama so I must commend him for that. He also managed to play a James Bond-ish kind of role in the actions scenes convincingly, which suggests potential versatility that he can explore in his later roles. It is the first drama I have watched with Lulu Xu as a main role, and I was quite impressed with her overall. While I do think Lin Yi outshined her in this drama, she definitely held her own, especially in the more emotional and comedic scenes. I do think that her eyes sometimes lacked the passion and desired expression for the scene and her lipsyncing, especially in the earlier singing bits was too fake and unconvincing. But she delivered quite well overall. The two leads had good chemistry although I do think that Lin Yi was more passionate in the romantic scenes while Lulu Xi sometimes gave the dead fish eye look. Most of the side actors were good but their characters can be annoying to watch.

On the other hand, the story was quite a mess. It tried to be too many things at once. I feel like the writers tried to make Lu Jing too much of an all rounder. We only got to see him play the violin twice yet they put him with a violin in the cover. In reality, for most of the drama he was either coding or playing computer games, which totally gave the wrong idea. How deceitful. In addition, the scene in the beginning where Liang Chen and Lu Jing first met was never revisited and it felt wrong to include the scene without referencing back to it at least in the end when they were already together. I also feel like there was too little scenes which allowed for character development for pretty much all the characters except Liang Chen. Lu Jing only had a couple of scenes where he made mistakes and developed from it. The producers took too much time in the earlier episodes to finally get them together and it felt quite draggish. Some scenes felt unnecessary, too the point I would be screaming in frustration, "When will they get together already?". However, the second half was paced much better and better executed. Besides the random plane incident which was totally unnecessary, it was great. The drama tried to be realistic but at the same time does not remain faithful to its supposed realism at times. There were too many moments where the 2 of them could have been caught yet they didn't which frustrated me to no end. Incidents which are a 1 in a million chance happened to often in this drama. It felt too unreal. The plot simply was not cohesive until the last 10 ish episodes.

The Music was excellent. One of my favorites from any drama I have ever watched (and usually I do not like Chinese drama OSTs so this is high praised).

Because of the number of skippable scenes in this drama especially in the first half, the rewatch value lowered quite a bit from what I would want to put. The second half has a lot more rewatchable scenes and romantic moments, though the first half was more on the funnier side.

Overall, it was a good drama, especially towards the end. Worth watching, but not really for the story. More on the romance. It is a shame though. If handled better, the story could have been amazing. Add a touch more realism(of everything basically), cohesiveness of plot, conciseness (remove unnecessary scenes), develop more underdeveloped traits (violin?) then you would have a rom-com with the perfect balance of romance and a great story line. It was getting there but it never reached the peak.

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Decent drama, not the best for me. Overrated

This drama was good in general and I like the gaming concept, but truly overrated. I started after many positive reviews and people saying this drama is so good and one of the best

But for me, this was slow. It took them 11 eps to actually have their first real meet face to face and after that they both acted like they didn’t know each other real identities for a few more eps. Then, the confession was in ep 20. I’m not a fan of slow burn, so for me it was to slow for my liking. I was tired of this and wanted them to finally talked, but I got a bit bored after they become a couple. I actually fast forward a lot for the last few eps, I just wanted to finish.

The second lead was bearable too, he looked a bit like a stalker always looking at them from afar, but he was mature and understanding. He looked to old for my liking, FL is in her 20s I think and he looked in is 40-50s. After his confession to FL, when she told him that she was in love with someone else, he was understanding, backed off and was happy for her, he wanted her to be happy. He wasn’t the annoying SL type who didn’t give up and still tried to pursue her when she made it clear. That the good kind of SL and one I can tolerate to watch.

I love that they both have supportive families and parents, they weren’t against their relationship at all and were good people. The first meets were funny too.

There is some annoying character sometimes, like the roommates or the assistant or Taro, Ma,…

Also, the second and third couple didn’t catch my attention, I didn’t really care about them and fast forward sometimes. I also wasn’t really touch or neither cared about Mrs. Ma story. But it was good that she got better and that her friends and Taro helped her overcome her problems. They become a couple at the end too, so again, slow burn…

To finish, the pairing for the leads wasn’t the best for me. Yes I saw their chemistry and they were a cute couple, but I didn’t like them this much together. But, I can say that their kissing scenes were really good and passionate. To be honest, in my opinion ML wasn’t really attractive or handsome. It was the first drama I saw of this actor, but not for FL. I actually like FL better with her costars in « Sunshine of my life » or « Hello I’m at your service » for exemples. I think the chemistry was better and they looked more good together. Maybe I’m biased, but I absolutely love her with the ML in « Sunshine of my life », that was her best pairing for me from the dramas I saw of her.

So, since I didn’t really enjoyed the secondary couples, a bit slow and long, boring at time and the main couple wasn’t my favorite to watch, I can’t give this drama a 10/10. But, still an enjoyable drama and easy watch with a sweet couple, friendship and funny moments. So, I would recommend, this would probably be to many people taste

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As I Expected

it was really an amazing drama. first time when i see the Clip of this drama. i was Excited to watch it. after that i was busy. but when i realized that i can't Watch it on weekend. then i started Watch it in my work time. just in 5 days i complete the drama. if anyone interested to know About a love story Between A Singer & Her Die herd fan then watch it. i can recommend it to my younger brother but i can't Becose of in 28 or 29 ( can't remember exact Number of episode.) there is some intimate scene. without this Watch it. if you are a couple then you can watch it with your Partner. but i watched it Now when i am Single 🙃

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Can't stop missing this drama

I just completed this drama, and i literally have tears in my eyes😭 how can a drama be such a perfection. The word "INCREDIBLE" wouldn't be enough to describe about this drama. Everything was on point, the acting, the chemistry 💜 and moreover there were no evil people and sad breakups like in my little happiness. I thought the second main lead( Jia Yun) would be evil at first bcuz i saw him in love designer he was a bad guy but it turns out i was wrong. There is one thing i am not quite satisfied with, that is second lead couple, i wished TARO have said his feeling earlier to MA SHAN SHAN, Than atleast we would have got one kiss scene🥺. The game scenes were perfect 😌. And i liked how both of there family were supportive. As a PYHOMS fan at First i thought lu jing and liang chen chemistry won't be that great as Gu wei yi and Si Tu Mo but honestly there were some moments where i thought JingChen chemistry was on top 🤭. Overally this drama was simple yet amazing, those ost were mesmerizing 💕 soo words are not enough to describe how much i love this drama and i already miss this drama and JingChen 😍

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I love this show!!!!

I love this show. Xu Lu is beautiful, and her performance was great. I love the whole Superstar falls in love with a normal guy plotline. You really do feel like she's a big star.

This show has a lot of rewatchability to it, and has a lot of great music.

The second male leads love story is really well done, though it started off pretty cringe, it slowly develops into something pretty special.

I've watched the show twice so far, and will being watching it again and again in the future.

I guess that main plot device is, how does a Superstar date a nobody, and how does public opinion effect their lives., and it made things rather interesting.

It's a mostly light hearted show, making it fun to watch, and has a few good love stories in it.

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as usual in rom-com - main lead's chemistry saves the show

The "Love Scenery" story concept feels familiar with existing dramas, whereas a celebrity female lead and genius male lead who great at playing video game. Ring a bell? Yes, it was "You Are My Glory". While "You Are My Glory" is a rom-com drama standard for me, this drama feels a tad lacking, thus I gave it a 8/10. I'm going to share my final thoughts of the drama overall.

Negatives:
- The online pen-pal thing was initially a smart move from the writers. It can bring a yo-yo effect to the viewers - push&pull in terms of encounters. There are many scenarios where FL and ML could've met, but because of certain circumstances, they failed at encountering. However, the virtual meeting between the leads started to become draggy - where it took 10 episodes to be MUTUALLY aware of each other's appearance in real life - approx. 8 hours combined! and it took them extra 4 episodes for them to actually know each other personally (like having conversations on a deeper level). It was honestly frustrating to watch and took me a while to finish this drama - as I often lost interest while watching.

- The gaming scenes take too much space in the drama. Love Scenery has 31 episodes with 40 minutes each. It could’ve been easily squished into 20 episodes focusing on the main leads "real life" interactions. In result, the drama feels more like a plain recorded game live-streaming rather than a romantic drama. It feels too IT/tech/action drama to me.

- I also don’t get why FL kept concealing her identity. Clearly, she is comfortable conversing with ML and according to her, he has a good first impression as he has a nice voice. Moreover, it’s not like she has a complex from her looks, after all, she’s a well-known celebrity and very good-looking. Thus, that part is the most confusing to me..

- Moreover, I don’t entirely dislike FL character but I’m not too fond of her either. The FL is somewhat a pushover, who basically can’t say no to everyone. Clearly, she knows SML likes her, why not make a clear line in the relationship, at least to make SML back the F off.

- The Second Male Lead character is too hard to digest. While age-gap dramas become immensely popular in Asian dramas these days, it can be quite sensitive to work with - especially when the age-gap is above 15-20 years. In this case, the FL and SML have a 24 years gap. Don't get me wrong, some age-gap dramas can be enjoyable to watch, but it becomes distasteful if one party is creating unwanted force in the relationship - it went terribly wrong and icky (to be blunt). The SML could’ve been just a sweet good-looking older character who sincerely takes care of FL (become a safe-space older brother), but his opportunist, possessive and manipulative character makes him look creepy and shameless - and gave me the “creepy stalker-ish preverted-uncle vibes”. (ok, i mean I kept thinking about how this guy could've been her father). If they're going to do a wide age-gap, why not do something sweet and not toxic? In addition, one of the most ickiest things was when ML quickly shuts down any male interactions with FL. Not only this “shut-down potential competition” thing kind-of turns me off no matter how good looking the ML is, when the male is 24 years older? Too much. Furthermore, he kept trying despite knowing FL attracted other man.
Not to be harsh, but if they decided to write SML like this, at least find an actor that is the same age - if not, slightly older (like 3-5 years) than FL - to make SML character less creepy.

- This is a plus, but I laughed my ass off how how ridiculous this scene is : when FL had a vocal polyps and needed surgery, she came to ML for comfort. SML found out her condition as went straight to her in case she needs comforting. SML asked her if she was okay, which, she said she's okay (because she has all the comfort she needed from ML). and you know what SML replied, he said, "how can you be okay when you can potentially lose your voice". I mean, thanks for the reminder? It's so PATHETIC, like she does not need any comfort, and yet, this creep is intentionally creating stress for her to come to him..

- The genre of gaming romance is overused in Chinese dramas.

- To be overly fuzzy, the drama poster is kind of misleading, yes the ML can play violin really well, but it is not the main characterization in the ML’s character. Before watching the drama, I thought the ML was a violinist with a side-hobby as a computer geek - and both FL and ML work in a classical music industry.

Positives:
- Though the leads has an age-gap (5 years), which is not much to begin with - but still they managed to act with overflowing chemistry. In reference to "Put Your Head On My Shoulder", the chemistry in this drama is on the same level - which I appreciate very much.

- I love how Lin Yi played a completely different character than other characters he had previously worked.

- ML isn't portrayed as your typical ice-god character - instead, ML is playful and sneaky.

- The story concept is warm and easy to digest. Though the plot-writing isn't perfect, the overall story itself is great. I gotta admit, the story concept feels a tad basic rom-com to me, but it is enjoyable to watch nevertheless.

- Bonus: ML is extremely good looking - especially in the scene where he overheard FL’s conversation in the changing room.

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My all time favorite C-drama ever!

This drama is by far the best C-drama I watched since I got hooked on them. The main couple had awesome chemistry and they make falling in love so sweet! They're so cute together and the OST is simply the best in my opinion. Until now, I couldn't move on from this drama. The OST keeps playing in my mind and even the cute scenes between the main couple. I love how the drama was written even though there was really nothing new with the plot. But the actors playing the main couple made the drama seem real. And I like how they didn't have a lot of misunderstandings and there was no noble idiocy in the last episodes. They were clear with their intentions and they worked hard together to build a relationship. No rich and cold and unfeeling CEO and no annoyingly dumb and frumpy female lead. Hoping there'll be a season 2!

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Short emotional review :)

All my reviews are emotional :D

First of all, I finished it in 3 days or less, which is a clear indication that it was good enough to pull me in and not let go.
It was the first drama I saw from Lin Yi, so I wasn't really ready for his stable acting. I think he portrayed a 22-year-old college student pretty well. As Lu Jing, he had the innocence needed and the naivety of a youngster. Also, it was good to see the depth of his character, his development and his inner feelings, especially in emotional scenes. Although I wouldn't go as far as to say his acting was the best, I think he did a really good job and I will definitely look forward to his progress as an actor in the future. I would rate his acting as 7.5.

I saw Lulu Xu first in 2014'th drama with Nichkhun, she was too raw for me then and I wasn't concentrating on her, but I truly fell in love with her in 'Sunshine of my life', where she was amazing and didn't shine only because of Zhang Han. So I was waiting quite a lot thanks to that experience. I this she absolutely delivered. I was totally impressed by her, immersed in the character she played and can say that her portrayal felt relatable and honest most of the time. And the other parts, which didn't impress me, or maybe disturbed me, seemed more to do with the script, not due to her acting skill. So all in all, when she laughed I smiled and when she was unhappy I felt it. She was awesome. 9.5 for her acting and really can't wait to see her play in another good role.

Side characters. I must say that in this I can feel pretty ok with how everything was played out. I'm not saying that it was perfect, but most of the characters were good and didn't ruin the storylines or overall feeling of the drama. They didn't feel like fill-in's and did have enough complex and good to watch storylines of their own.

Script. Well, here I think I had the most complaints in my head. Even though the drama isn't as long as lot's of romantic Chinese dramas, it's not short either. 31 episodes mean a pretty long time to sit in front of the tv.. So I would have loved a bit more close-knit screenplay. Like I said already, the characters played were pretty good or really well done by the actors, but some connections to the emotional scenes, introductory scenes, etc were too remote from emotion... It didn't happen enough and bad enough to let me abandon the show or anything, but sometimes I did have to skip a moment or some because I thought they were unnecessary or far fetched or pointless... Am I too cruel.. well it's my review and my opinion...

There is another possibility. The editing was a bit off, but I am no professional and I still think after watching quite a few dramas in my life that there were too many fill-in scenes and they sometimes did try to show emotions and interactions between characters that were not necessary. On the other hand... I do have to give credit where credit is due, the plot made me mostly satisfied and it didn't have some big-bad-longwinded-complicated confrontations and jealousy and work-related problems I'm used to seeing in Chinese dramas.. It was refreshing in that sense. Maybe a little stretched, but still really good to watch in the middle of these obsessive and full of conflicts dramas. So my opinion script-wise is complicated, but overall it's likely to get a rating of 7 from me.

I was lovely surprised by the music. Not exactly my taste, but I was really happy with how much singing there was in it, even if it's studio performances and I saw some mistakes in lip-syncing, it was really well integrated and thought out in the script. So a big Yei! for that.

So all in all, I would suggest this for the romance, emotional scenes, for the music and especially for the freshness if you are a regular Chinese drama viewer. It will give you a few days breather from the emotional turmoil of other dramas :)

Happy watching!

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