My Favourite Dramas From 2019

"My Gu Xiao Wu is dead. He's dead forever. It was you who killed him with your own hands." -Xiao Feng to Li Chengyin

I can't think of a better quote to describe the transformation of Li Chengyin in the eyes of Xiao Feng. What was once believed, by the Princess of the Western State (Xiao Feng), to be a simple love between herself and Gu Xiao Wu, a son of an owner of a Tea business whom the 5th Prince of the Li empire (Li Chengyin) was masquerading to be, was actually an unhealthy love built on lies, deceit, and bathed in the blood of her family and the people she loved most. The reality was too hard to accept that she chose to erase him from her memories. But she would eventually learn that some things can never be forgotten.

From the moment Xiao Feng is introduced, you can't help but fall in love with the character. She is such an innocent, happy go-lucky girl who acts like anything but your typical Princess. She is fulfilled by the simpliest things which is why your heart aches for the cruel destiny she is dealt. When it comes to Li Chengyin, unlike many other viewers, I actually have sympathy for him because he never started off being the cold-blooded, heartless monster he eventually became. I believe the true Li Chengyin, at his very core, is the Gu Xiao Wu he was pretending to be back in the Western State. But, the truth of his lineage and then being tasked with revenge, along with dealing with the constant power struggles within the palace transformed him from the kind, yet slightly mischief 5th Prince, who had a sense of justice, who Xiao Feng fell in love with, into a man who only brings pain and destruction.

This is an emotional roller coaster of a tragic drama so you need to buckle up for this one.

The cinematography was beautiful!! All the costumes, sets and filming sites were stunning! The acting was also excellent so bravo to the entire cast! This was a wonderful production.

This is my all-time favourite Chinese modern melodrama. It's the perfect combination of a romantic love story with angst, family drama, revenge and the Jewelry business/industry, all wrapped up into one drama where the plot flows smoothly between the subplots, each of which has adequate writing so nothing feels too much or too little. 

For a 53 episode drama, I honestly wish this had 100 episodes --no joke, that's how addictive this story is and how emotionally invested I became. Credit to the incredible chemistry between Janice and Mingen, and the amazing acting performance from the entire cast: they really brought their characters and this story to life! 

This truly is a quality production across the board: Screenplay & writing; directing; casting & acting; couple + cast chemistry; cinematography + editing; visual aesthetics, sets & props, styling and makeup; OST and musical scores... A truly Perfect production in every sense of the word!!

This is probably the most heartwarming/moving and charming drama I've ever seen. It was a pure joy being able to follow the love story of Qiao Yi and Yan Mo. I'm thankful the author shared her real life love story with us all.  It was beautiful!

Using a flashback method, the couple narrate how they fell in love in highschool, get separated, but find their way back to each other after 6 years apart. The story focuses in on key moments in the couple's lives and the specific people who shaped them into the people they are, and how that impacted their love and relationship. This drama is so much more than just a beautiful love story, it touches upon many relatable topics of family relationships/dynamics, friendships, and just life, in general. It also elicits so many emotions out of you...

The entire cast did a wonderful job playing their characters. Each character was unique in their own way, and no two were alike, yet they managed to compliment each other so well and make the relationships and stories between them even more endearing. I loved every single character and that's not something I can typically say about a drama! I particularly want to applaud Wu Qian and Zhang Yu Jian for their brilliant performance in bringing the author and her husband's love story to life. Their incredibly natural chemistry together made every one of their moments together seem so realistic and genuine. I really felt the love, heartache, and bliss between them as the story unfolded. I was deeply touched by this drama. 

This is a masterpiece of a drama in every aspect that you can think of: story, characters, acting, directing, music and OST was phenomenal!

Simply put, Just an Encore is a drama that follows the youth of four High School students as they learn life lessons on friendship and love as they experience the journey of adolescence.

 What I enjoyed most about this drama is that it does a good job of portraying realistic themes such as jealousy and envy among family/friends, youth conflicts between friends, first romances and complicated love triangles between best friends.  These are the types of "Youth Dramas" I find interesting because they are relatable on so many levels. 

The acting is fantastic in this drama, particularly from the two main leads: Ryan Ding and Jiang ZhuoJun. Their performances were very natural and realistic. What amazing chemistry between these two! You can tell they are good friends in real life which made their scenes together all the more believable and enjoyable to watch.

If you enjoy youth dramas, this one is a must watch, because not only is it relatable, there are also teachable moments learned through the characters. Plus, the soundtrack is awesome!

This is easily the best Thai lankorn I've ever seen and has instantly become my all-time-favourite Thai drama. It's incredible! I loved the story and felt the Hua Jai Sila team did an excellent job in the execution and telling of the story, so bravo to the entire team! 

The lead actors blew me away by their acting performances! Particularly Tor.... I don't think I have enough praise for this man. I felt he really captured the essence of his character and brought Sila/Tor to life! His facial expressions, body language, emotional scenes.... he NAILED everything. And I mean everything! I kept finding myself saying "wow" at every one of his scenes. What an incredible actor.

As for the coupling of Tor and Fern.... Oh my goodness.... they have insanely natural, unbelievable, explosive chemistry. Every time they were together, you could literally feel the love between them. Their heartfelt, emotional scenes were so realistic. From their tearful exchanges to their emotional embraces... the way they gazed at each other, I couldn't tell if it was fiction or not. I could have sworn I was watching a real life couple!

The soundtrack was perfect with so many wonderful songs that fit seamlessly into the scenes.

This is a must, must watch. No word of a lie, you will fall in love with it and want to re-watch it a hundred times, as I literally have. XD

Yi En and Qi Lei are lovers who started a fashion company together with their good friend, Qin Ye but Qi Lei gets into a car "accident" in Paris and goes missing. He is presumed to have died in the crash as his body was never found. Five years later, Ellassey, the company they founded together, successfully holds its first fashion show in Paris and Yi En, the CEO of the company, meets Lu Zhun, the charismatic and charming CEO of Lazy, a successful fashion company in Paris that is trying to break into the Chinese market.  His sudden appearance in her life leads to business crises, one after another, and at around the same time, an appearance by a business rival claiming to be a friend of Qi Lei's leads her to believe the man she loves is still alive, which turns her world upside down as she has never let go of her love for him. Her determination to investigate the accident and find out his whereabouts leads her down a path she never expected. Who is Lu Zhun and what is he really after? Is he truly connected to Qi Lei, and if he is, how?

This is a drama filled with suspense, with twists and turns at every corner. It has an interesting storyline, excellent acting (Particularly from Yang Shuo), and fantastic chemistry between Yang Shuo and Guli Nazha. Yang Shuo's Lu Zhun is charming and charismatic and there's so many questions surrounding him that you can't stop watching. I love a good melodrama but this type of drama is the first of its kind that I've watched and I really enjoyed the mystery in this story. With that being said, it is a lonnnng drama and they drag out the story line quite a bit. I felt like the first half was more to establish the individual characters, relationships between them, and create intrigue on the character of Lu Zhun. I also felt some key characters were introduced too late in the drama. Really, this drama could have easily been wrapped up in 40ish chapters. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it.

Let me start off by saying this drama might not be everyone's first choice because it isn't heavy on romance and it's not dramatic in the storybook sense, nor is it really plot driven (hence it may feel slow paced); even the characters are considered atypical main characters. Yet, these are the types of dramas that win awards because they evoke feelings and they move you. There's a sense of realism in this drama and it focuses more on the ups and downs that life throws at you, and the struggles and tough decisions one can face while striving to achieve a dream. There's also a very heavy emphasis on family. Even the romance is told from that standpoint which is why it feels different from your typical drama romances. There are no grand romantic courtships or overt displays of affection but the romance is subtle, and it's a gradual build-up. We get to see Hao Ze Yu and Fu Zi's love develop through their reliance on each other, the companionship, and the warmth, support and encouragement they give each other... For this story and their characters, they didn't need to show intimacy for us to know they love and care about each other. Their simple actions spoke volumes as to the importance each held in the other's heart.

The acting performances in this drama were simply outstanding and unbelievably natural and realistic. I can't sing enough praise for the 4 main leads. They really prove they are true actors with this drama. The special chemistry between them all... it really felt like I was watching a real family. Whether it be the back and forth sparring between Deng Lun and Han Tong Sheng, the natural banter and adorable interactions between Sandra and Deng Lun, or the warm father-daughter scenes between Han Tong Sheng and Sandra, I enjoyed every second of it all.  

What an incredible drama! I have never read the novel so when I finally decided to give this drama a go I was blown away by it! I ended up binge watching the entire drama in a week. It has such an amazing story that had me hooked from the very first episode; superb acting performances from the perfect cast, beautiful cinematography from start to finish, stunning sets, incredible fight sequences and special effects, and a beautiful soundtrack and perfect music scores to accompany it. 

From what I have gathered from fans who have read the novel, the scriptwriter and director were able to maintain the integrity of the story and convey the magical feel and relationship between the main characters of Wei WuXian/Wei Ying and Lan WangJi/Lan Zhan in-spite of the censorship laws in China. The original novel is a BL novel and had I not known this before watching the drama, I would have come to that conclusion on my own simply from watching their scenes together. Even without intimate scenes or an explicit label to their relationship, the longing glances, all the unspoken words, the emotion in their eyes and body language in their interactions spoke volumes. Hats off to Xiao Zhan and Wang YiBo for their undeniable chemistry, allowing viewers to see the love between their characters, even without words. These two are magic, both on-screen and off! <3

I applaud the entire production crew and cast for the amount of work put into this incredible production. They truly captured the hearts of viewers around the world. This drama (and novel) is deserving of every bit of praise and popularity it has garnered.

Sometimes I forget just how wonderful first love can really be. This drama has allowed me to remember those warm feelings again.

I must admit, I ended up liking this drama so much more than I ever expected to. I know this drama was a remake of the Thai movie: A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, but I have not watched the original movie so I don't know how closely it follows it. However, I believe the main premise is the same.

I really enjoyed the telling of Miao Miao and You Nian's love story. We watched Miao Miao's transformation from a young girl who was timid and lacked confidence in herself, into a girl filled with courage to pursue her goals through her crush on her senior -You Nian. He made her want to become the best version of herself. I felt her transformation was well paced and not at all rushed. There was good character development overall, which I believe is very important in youth dramas.

This is a young cast so I'm not too surprised the acting wasn't particularly great. Not bad, but not really special, either. Some did better than others. I felt, overall, the majority of the cast did a fairly good job. In particular, Angela's portrayal of Miao Miao was very believable. She never over-acted and her reactions came off natural and comfortable. Lai GuanLin on the other hand, was quite stiff. I understand this is his first acting project and he's not an actor. I will say this, he did nail one particularly emotional crying scene. It brought me to tears!  With all that said, Angela and GuanLin are absolutely adorable together so that allowed me to get past any poor acting. 

If you are a fan of youth dramas and enjoy pure, youthful romance, than this one is definitely for you!

My rating for this drama is a 9.2/10!

This story follows an Embroidered Uniform Guard as he works alongside a county Constable to uncover corruption for the Emperor. Along the way, they meet allies and comrades who assist them in their investigations. 

Lu Yi and Yuan JinXia start off on the wrong footing upon first meeting after an unfortunate altercation. Determined to prove her capabilities to him, she strikes a bet with him but only to end up joining hands in finding critical evidence to a case, much to their dismay. By the Emperor's order, Lu Yi is assigned a covert mission to unravel a corruption case. Being known for his expert tracking skills, Lu Yi enlists the help of Yang Cheng Wan and his subordinates: his son, Yang Yue, and his disciple, Jin Xia. This arrangement forces Lu Yi and JinXia back working together again and from there we watch as their relationship evolves from dislike, to tolerance, to trust, to reliance, and finally, into love. But just as they pledge themselves to each other, the truth about JinXia's parentage and the Lu family's involvement threaten their future together. 

This was a wonderful drama! Not only were the cases very interesting and had you engaged the entire time,  Lu Yi and Yuan Jin Xia shared a believable and touching love story where we could see growth and change at each stage in their relationship. I found the pacing to be good in that respect. I also liked the way the director/writers were able to utilize the investigations to introduce each new supporting character. I thought that was cleverly done! I really enjoyed all the characters and their interactions; this is a credit to the strong cast performance and the brilliant job they did in bringing their characters to life.

If you like a good investigation drama, this one is a MUST watch!

Music can be classified into different genres: Pop, Rock, Classical, Alternative, etc. Just like people, they too can be categorized in a similar way. The differences are apparent but it's their commonalities that bring them together. This is a youth story that follows the lives of five friends as they experience first love and discover their passions in life together.

This was a a very enjoyable Youth drama with a realistic young love story. I thought the cast and their chemistry was great; the OST was also awesome.

I rate this drama an 8.1/10!

Finally... a modern Rom-Com with a decent story, mature characters and believable interactions! Some of the things that turn me away from this genre are the typical silly, cliched plot points and forced romantic interactions that are scripted to attract a specific audience; I do not fall into that category which is why I'm not a huge Rom-Com fan. Lucky's First Love had very little of said things which is part of what made this drama so enjoyable for me. 

I liked the cast and their characters. I often find it's a harder test for actors to act in comedies than serious dramas because there's a quite a bit of exaggeration and overacting required which can lead to poor acting performances, but I felt the cast did a good job and the humor, for the most part, didn't feel forced or cringy. They also displayed good chemistry, too, which is a must!

This is easily one of the better Rom-Coms I've seen!

This story follows 6 youths of the 7th Chamber, a special investigation department of the Song Empire responsible for ensuring the safety and national interests of its state.

I rate this drama a 9.7/10!!

This Special Edition version of The Untamed focuses more on the love story of Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian. The story of The Untamed has so many characters, background stories and relationships among the characters that WangXian's story can get a little lost in it. In this Special Edition, they re-ordered and blended scenes which allowed them to tell the overall story more simply, and the addition of extended scenes for certain moments allowed them to really highlight and emphasize WangXian's love story (which they did a GREAT job of telling in this version). 

You should definitely still watch the original version but this was a nice gift by Tencent to WangXian fans! <3