Irreplaceable Love (2020)

Encore une déception

Il y a si peu de choses à aimer et si tant à détester dans ce drama. Le synopsis me semblait une bonne idée. Une famille qui perd son enfant et qui le remplace par son meilleur ami afin de protéger le mental très instable de la mère (un peu tordu, il est vrai). Pourquoi pas. Cela aurait pu donner une histoire familiale intéressante et touchante. Cela n'a pas été le cas. Loin (très) de là.

Si je devais résumer l'échec de ce drama, si je devais dire ce qui fut le summum de la frustration serait le lead masculin. Détestable? Bien au contraire, et ce fut là le problème majeur de ce drama.
Il est adorable, intelligent, altruiste et raisonnable (surement un peu trop). Qui aurait été capable de porter son fardeau avec autant de sourire et de nonchalance? Qui aurait pu se mettre en arrière et jouer l'entremetteur de la femme tant aimé avec tant d'abnégation? Pas moi. Luo Shu accepte sans broncher de ne plus être lui, de ne plus avoir de réelle identité juste pour une famille qui n'est pas la sienne. Il se fond dans cette famille et la quitte pensant encore et encore à ne pas les blesser. Et lui? dans toute cette histoire, il perd presque tout. Sa compagnie, sa propre famille, son lui majeur.

J'avoue, je n'ai juste pas pu voir ce personnage continuer à essuyer revers sur revers. Je ne suis pas très fan de ce genre de drama, où tout va mal, où rien ne brille si ce n'est à la toute fin (et encore). Oui, j'aime lorsque le lead accumule les victoires, je sais, pas très amusant, mais moins frustrant. Et dans ce cas il accumule tout sauf les bonnes choses!

Tous les autres personnages qui gravitent autour de lui sont inintéressants voire agaçants comme Han Zi Mo. Le couple qu'il forme avec Chu Yao était vraiment ennuyeux. Zéro alchimie (-20 même). Aussi bien pour le couple secondaire. Et le couple tertiaire (est-ce un mot, hum???).

En un mot, décevant et vraiment mauvais.

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Unsatisfying Slow Burn Drama

I started 2x speed at one point and then eventually fast-forwarded on 2x speed. I mean, the drama is passable as a slow burn kind of drama IF you want it to be, but there's barely any development anywhere. With these types of drama, you have to deliver it in either the workplace, family drama, or love line. I think it did terrible in all three aspects as it felt anti-climactic and unsatisfying. I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn't.

STORY-ACTING-REWATCH VALUE
I think it had an interesting start and premise. The acting wasn't bad either. I've seen a few of Sun Yi's work, she hasn't blown my mind, but she's doable. It was my first time watching Bai Jing Ting, and I would like to see more from him. I wouldn't recommend anyone to re-watch unless they enjoyed it. I barely finished, but I've made it a goal to try not to drop dramas this year and I was already knee-deep in this drama.

OVERALL RANT (major spoilers, proceed with caution)
More things happening to the protagonists and extra drama in the storyline doesn't make it more climatic and enjoyable to watch. It felt draining episode after episode to want certain things to develop, but they don't. Four example rants with SPOILERS:

1. Them overcoming their "sister-brother" relationship could have been a lot better. We waited for a good maybe 16 episodes for Luo Shu to realize his feelings for Chu Yao. Then in episode 19, Luo Shu confesses, but Chu Yao doesn't confess until episode 32. They're "together," but not really, and they finally get approval from their dad in episode 44. And honestly, I felt no chemistry between these two at all. Maybe because we already see them treating each other as mutual siblings, I didn't feel the chemistry. Like he always calls her 'big sister' and she calls him 'little brother.' They help each other out and always put each other first, but that's it. It's not a make my heart pound or go 'aww' kind of moments. They had a lot of head-on shoulder moments, but that was like the main skinship. Even in the last scene where Chu Yao had her head on Luo Shu's shoulder, their body was so distant, it looked so awkward to me.

2. So, why play it out like Luo Shu was doing so well in the business industry, in the beginning, to make him fail at every turn? He's this smart guy who dropped out of college and had a business idea/product that was at one point worth 10-12 million dollars. We see them building this business idea/product for so many episodes with the big corporations, investors, and competitors against them. The writers build it up so well that we expect them to prevail, as they're a small group who are smart and resilient. Then BAM! chaos hits, and he gave it all up for Chu Yao. What?! Of course, he starts over, but it's just not the same anymore, especially when he already invested so many episodes in his pivots and all. They never gave him a satisfying comeback.

3. Why did they never try to get help for the mom? Instead, they let her live a life of ignorance like that. The mom is probably the most fragile character ever as she needs to be protected in a bubble and cannot do anything or see anything. If they truly love the mom and Luo Shu, they would want him to have his identity and for their mom to recover. Luo Shu went through an identity crisis so often that it wasn't fair to him as an outsider. He had no responsibility to treat this family with so much thought and care. They never gave him an option to leave, and when he would leave, they would pull him back to appease the mom. Also, if they were to help the mom and reveal Chu Chen's death, Chu Chen would finally rest in peace. The family can now hold his death anniversary and visit his grave. However, this doesn't happen, so poor Chu Chen is just forgotten.

4. What's with this never-ending phase of antagonists and the world against them? Even Zhi Mo became the bad guy?! Did we need another reason to have another antagonist at that point of the drama? No, the writers could've just closed up loopholes and tied everything up to make it all good.

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