Lotus
United States
a fluffy, somewhat plotless filler drama
Intense Love was a drama that didn't give off a lasting, meaningful impression, but it was a great watch regardless. Though the story did not resonate that deeply with me and will likely be forgotten in a matter of days, it helped me pass the time and get my mind off of things, and I do not regret clicking it when it appeared on my Youtube recommendations.
Note: I wish MDL gave more settings for whether or not there were spoilers in the review. In my opinion, there are no big spoilers ahead. It confirms things that people who are watching should already be anticipating, but it shouldn't be a problem and doesn't reveal anything that should come as a huge surprise.
Story 7/10
In terms of plot, the drama was not all that special. It's a typical celebrity/non celebrity love story where the female lead (Su Jinbei) starts out hating the aloof, seemingly cold hearted male lead (Zhou Shiyun) but slowly starts to fall for him. I watched the entire thing at 2x speed and felt that if I skipped 15 minutes of the drama, I would most likely miss nothing important. There were a lot of little things about the plot that annoyed me, and I especially hated how they used the second doctor, Xiao Yuansong, as a plot device. It was also super confusing to distinguish when Su Jinbei hated Zhou Shiyun to when she changed her mind. I could not tell when she was disgusted with him from when she loved him. That made it super confusing and unconvincing for me, but that could be because I abused the skip button a little too much. Even though the plot wasn't that deep, it is possible to extract meaning from it. I loved their emphasis on the media and fame and how they were able to portray it as both positive and negative. Su Jinbei used her fame as a way to connect with others and promote important projects while Gao Zitong used it as a way to slander others for her own benefit. Zhou Shiyun's sister was influenced by her idol so much that she wanted to hurt Su Jinbei's relationship with her brother, but she later became a better person through knowing her idol on a personal level.
Characters and Acting 9/10
The characters are what made this drama so enjoyable for me. That being said, let's start with something negative. I decided to watch Intense Love after being low-key unable to get over Ding Yuxi's other drama, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, and while I know that comparing the two dramas themselves against each other is unfair, I felt that Ding Yuxi's acting in this drama was much less captivating than it was in The Romance of Tiger and Rose. To be fair, that was probably because the character was written to have a lot less depth than The Romance of Tiger and Rose's Han Shuo. I just couldn't really feel his character as much here. Zhou Shiyun was a character that rarely talked or expressed his emotions, and Ding Yuxi's acting seemed to be quite stiff in his role. I wasn't convinced that his character actually cared for Su Jinbei that much. However, the female lead made up for all of the coldness that I felt from his character. Zhang Yuxi played her role of Su Jinbei admirably. The comment section was filled with people saying that they found her character cringeworthy, but I found her to be adorable. She balanced out her character, making it seem like even though Su Jinbei could be overdramatic, people could still relate to her feelings and find her to be funny. Still, I must say that I never really felt much for Su Jinbei and Zhou Shiyun's relationship and preferred the two side couples to them. The side characters were extremely well written and often took the spotlight off of the main characters for me. I absolutely loved the character arc of the ML's sister. It was amazing how she transformed from an annoying, spoiled brat into a mature, considerate adult. The two friends of the leads were also so entertaining. I loved the dynamic of their relationship so much and found myself waiting for their scenes more than that of the leads.
Production (OST, Sound, Sets) 8.5/10
The production was pretty good. The sets were very pretty, and it was cool how all of the houses fit the characters' personalities. I did find some weird errors. There was a really weird hand that showed up in the corner of the screen when the leads were in a house, and I was super confused. The dubbing was quite good. Sometimes it did not keep up with the video, but most of the time it went completely unnoticed, which I am extremely glad for. I do not think that the OST was anything that special. I remember finding it pleasant when it played but did not find it memorable.
Overall 8.5/10
Overall, I thought this drama was very fun to watch while multitasking. I laughed a lot and fell in love with (almost) all of the characters. Even though it was slightly problematic, that can all be forgiven because it's not really meant to be taken seriously. It's not going to impact me heavily or change the way I live my life, but it was quite nice.
Note: I wish MDL gave more settings for whether or not there were spoilers in the review. In my opinion, there are no big spoilers ahead. It confirms things that people who are watching should already be anticipating, but it shouldn't be a problem and doesn't reveal anything that should come as a huge surprise.
Story 7/10
In terms of plot, the drama was not all that special. It's a typical celebrity/non celebrity love story where the female lead (Su Jinbei) starts out hating the aloof, seemingly cold hearted male lead (Zhou Shiyun) but slowly starts to fall for him. I watched the entire thing at 2x speed and felt that if I skipped 15 minutes of the drama, I would most likely miss nothing important. There were a lot of little things about the plot that annoyed me, and I especially hated how they used the second doctor, Xiao Yuansong, as a plot device. It was also super confusing to distinguish when Su Jinbei hated Zhou Shiyun to when she changed her mind. I could not tell when she was disgusted with him from when she loved him. That made it super confusing and unconvincing for me, but that could be because I abused the skip button a little too much. Even though the plot wasn't that deep, it is possible to extract meaning from it. I loved their emphasis on the media and fame and how they were able to portray it as both positive and negative. Su Jinbei used her fame as a way to connect with others and promote important projects while Gao Zitong used it as a way to slander others for her own benefit. Zhou Shiyun's sister was influenced by her idol so much that she wanted to hurt Su Jinbei's relationship with her brother, but she later became a better person through knowing her idol on a personal level.
Characters and Acting 9/10
The characters are what made this drama so enjoyable for me. That being said, let's start with something negative. I decided to watch Intense Love after being low-key unable to get over Ding Yuxi's other drama, The Romance of Tiger and Rose, and while I know that comparing the two dramas themselves against each other is unfair, I felt that Ding Yuxi's acting in this drama was much less captivating than it was in The Romance of Tiger and Rose. To be fair, that was probably because the character was written to have a lot less depth than The Romance of Tiger and Rose's Han Shuo. I just couldn't really feel his character as much here. Zhou Shiyun was a character that rarely talked or expressed his emotions, and Ding Yuxi's acting seemed to be quite stiff in his role. I wasn't convinced that his character actually cared for Su Jinbei that much. However, the female lead made up for all of the coldness that I felt from his character. Zhang Yuxi played her role of Su Jinbei admirably. The comment section was filled with people saying that they found her character cringeworthy, but I found her to be adorable. She balanced out her character, making it seem like even though Su Jinbei could be overdramatic, people could still relate to her feelings and find her to be funny. Still, I must say that I never really felt much for Su Jinbei and Zhou Shiyun's relationship and preferred the two side couples to them. The side characters were extremely well written and often took the spotlight off of the main characters for me. I absolutely loved the character arc of the ML's sister. It was amazing how she transformed from an annoying, spoiled brat into a mature, considerate adult. The two friends of the leads were also so entertaining. I loved the dynamic of their relationship so much and found myself waiting for their scenes more than that of the leads.
Production (OST, Sound, Sets) 8.5/10
The production was pretty good. The sets were very pretty, and it was cool how all of the houses fit the characters' personalities. I did find some weird errors. There was a really weird hand that showed up in the corner of the screen when the leads were in a house, and I was super confused. The dubbing was quite good. Sometimes it did not keep up with the video, but most of the time it went completely unnoticed, which I am extremely glad for. I do not think that the OST was anything that special. I remember finding it pleasant when it played but did not find it memorable.
Overall 8.5/10
Overall, I thought this drama was very fun to watch while multitasking. I laughed a lot and fell in love with (almost) all of the characters. Even though it was slightly problematic, that can all be forgiven because it's not really meant to be taken seriously. It's not going to impact me heavily or change the way I live my life, but it was quite nice.
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