Lost Romance (2020)

Steamy Romantic Comedy

I’m not going to lie - I adore skinship. I love the hand holding, the sweet and/or steamy kisses, and the all encompassing hugs. When I looked up the best Asian dramas to find the most skinship, Lost Romance was the first on everyone’s list. It does indeed have it all, including a sensual and explicit love scene between the leads. He Tianxing/Situ Aoran and Zheng Xiao'en, as played by Marcus Chung and Vivian Sung, were on fire from the moment they met. Their witty banter, comedic timing, and instant chemistry made it easy to root for them in both the fictional and real world. Their fictionalized selves were over the top and exaggerated, which made for a nice contrast to their more reserved and introspective real world selves. The gradual connection they developed over the course of the show felt natural and genuine.

While I adored the main leads so much, it was hard to not to fall in love with second lead Duanmu Qingfeng. He very much encompasses the archetypal “nice guy to his egotistical best friend” role, but he truly made for a memorable and swoony second lead. The other supporting fictional characters in the novel, whether friend or foe to the main leads, made for a fun and memorable ride. The only characters and story that fell flat for me was the real world dramedy occurring with He Tianxing’s family. The tone and plot of this story felt too tonally different and disconnected from the breezy, if somewhat silly, fictional world.

The story is very much a spoof on the romantic comedy genre. It excels at making fun of popular romantic tropes in the beginning and ending of the series, but it does fall into its own trap during the middle section. I didn’t mind this digression too much. Considering I love the romance genre, I enjoyed the two leads become a part of the tapestry of the novel rather than remaining outside of it. However, I could see some viewers enjoying these parts less than the rest of the series. I also appreciated that the story attempted to tie together the real and fictionalized worlds. Several of these “story within story” shows* do a poor job of giving a proper ending to both storylines, but this show did both in an interesting and unique way.

The OST and directing were outstanding. I could watch this show and listen to the soundtrack over and over again. However, my biggest issue is Zheng Xiao'en wardrobe. I didn’t mind the muted tones or cozy look, but the shape and style of the clothes looked terrible on her. It was even more noticeable compared to the rest of the female cast, especially He Tianxing’s sister. Was this design choice to illustrate her as more chaste? To show her roots in romance? Who knows. I was also extremely sad the cute promos they played between scenes were not in the actual show. I wanted to see the two acting cutesy with cupcakes!

** I’m looking at you, The Romance Between Tiger and Rose

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A love story or a melodrama...

Pick one.

This was a cute enough story but the back and forth between the real world and the novel makes the whole thing draggy. Like many have mentioned, the real world story is just not compelling enough to stay focused and it was a relief whenever the story was redirected to the novel parts.

I do not believe they tied the two stories together to make them blend in smoothly.

Okay.

The acting was just alright in my honest opinion, but that could be because the melodrama parts seemed overdramatic, it played out like a soap opera.

There was an unbelievable scene, something miraculous happened to our main lead and I don't think they've executed the scenario enough to make the audience understand how something like that could happen without permanent consequences.

The main lead's brother and sister ending seemed rushed and not planned out; although who cared about their parts anyway?

Overall, this deserves a 7 from me, which is high enough to recommend watching it, for the novel parts alone...but there is no re-watch value here at all.

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Lost Romance is a great fantasy romantic comedy. The two worlds (the real one and the romance novel where she is transported into) are intertwined by the leading couple’s romantic stories. Both stories are interesting and the leading couple does great bringing their characters to life on both worlds. It is beautiful to see their reunion as lovers in the real world and how it enfolded. Even though there are many good actors in the drama, the leading couple has such a strong presence that it really shows that the drama is about them, their struggles through life, and healing and loving each other in the most beautiful tenderly and passionate way. Both actors, Marcus Chang (as He Tiang Xing/Situ Ao Ran) and Vivian Sung (as Zheng Xiao En/Xiao En) gave a stellar performance and their chemistry is off the charts. Enjoy it!

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Cute and kept you guessing . . .

The humour and bonding between the main leads is highly entertaining to watch. Zheng Xiao En (FL) was especially witty, endearing and self-aware. As others have said, the plot is a romance novel within a romance novel - neither really takes place in the 'real world.' Plus, the evil siblings/corporate infighting storylines were a good lesson in destructive personality disorders but otherwise a huge waste of time.

All the main characters created distinctive personalities for themselves and interacted 'naturalistically' with growing physical and emotional ease over the episodes. I much much prefer this to dramas where the characters still act stilted and uncomfortable with each other.

The music was modern and well-suited to the themes of the show, much of the tension is around how the romance will survive one world to the next, so no real reason to re-watch.

I grade based on other criteria:

Complex themes: 5.0
There is a strong secondary theme about how narcissistic traits will destroy you and everyone around you. The main couple, however, just go from plot point to plot point.

Character growth/development: 6.5
Zheng Xiao En grows a sense of responsibility and starts seeing how her actions effect others. He Tian Huang learns how to integrate the different parts of his persona/identiy and his inner self.

Strong/complex relationships between women: 6.5
There are strong female friendships featured. They are , however, all of the same generation, roughly same power, and they spend most of their time fixated on the male leads. Zheng Xiao En while smart and self-aware seems to have no particular hobbies, interests and concerns beyond romance and the male leads.

Production/Cinematography: 7.0
Everything is competently shot, and enough thought and money was put into the designs, costuming etc. that it never distracts from the plot. I also liked how the costuming and shooting made the whole show feel a bit like it was in a romance novel. There was a bit of hazy filter, and distinct clothing and makeup types for the different characters.

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Beautiful and Hilarious Twist on Tropes

I didn't have too high hopes for this drama but I absolutely loved it. If you like drama's that throw tropes on their head and acknowledge clichés you love this one. The story was simple but I loved it a lot. Both the drama and comedic parts of the plot I enjoyed. I thought I knew where the plot was going and was proven wrong quite a few times which I like. The writing was self aware but also allowed the romance to have the trope-y things viewers love. The cast is amazing! I hadn't heard of the main actors before but they did very well and I will keep my eye out for them from now on. The couple had great chemistry and made it easy to ship them. The minor characters were also good and put a lot of care into their performances. This is a good show for veteran drama watchers looking for something funny and heartwarming to watch.

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Wonderful kiss scene !

It has been so long since I watched Taiwan drama, recently I’ve been watching a lot of Korean and Chinese drama, I’ve seen a lot the main character but I’ve never really watcher their drama but I know that they are so popular in Taiwan so I expect that the drama will be worth to watch.
This drama remind me to a korean drama calle ‘Extraordinary You’, the differences is the background story, so I don’t find this drama so special for me but you can try to watch it if you would like to watch the similar genre.
The thing that I like fron this drama is they have a wonderful kiss scene for me, they make it look so romantic for me, I hope that korean drama will have this kind of scene too ???

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Be prepared to throw common sense out the window

Being a huge fan of Marcus and Puff, I was so excited to see the two headline this drama, but I came away largely disappointed.

Story: The first episode makes sense if you lost your brain somewhere in the streets of New York City. Maybe it's because it's been a while since I last watched TW dramas (last one I watched was Back to 1989, actually), but it's just so out of touch with reality and not believable at all. I honestly wanted to toss my iPad out the window just to see if it would still be alive just like how Tianxing was barely alive after falling from the rooftop of a skyscraper. BUT, if you're okay with: gangsters showing up to a corporation's board meeting, gangsters openly beating up a board member at a board meeting, siblings trying to kill each other just to get a glance(!) at the will of their (still alive) father, a murder witness not calling the police about an attempted murder, murder witness believing that there's no need to report said attempted murder because the victim is a vegetable, etc., then please, by all means, continue watching. I get that it's a fantasy romance, but there should still be some logic (especially when we're still in the real world!). It would be much more believable if there was some more underlying motivation to He Mingli's quest to murder half-brother than just wanting to be the CEO.

If you can get to the 2nd episode and beyond, you should be (mostly) in the clear as that's when we actually start to get into the main story, and we see the romance we (and Si Tu Ao Ran) know and love. In addition, the second lead syndrome is very real in this drama. so if you're one of those people who fall for our second leads, be prepared. In this case, I think the writing for the second lead is too strong, because usually even though we all silently cheer for the second lead, there's always a reason why the ML is actually more endearing and fits the FL better. Unfortunately, I, cannot really see that because Qing Feng really seems more ML material than our actual ML in how he treats our FL. Therefore, 5/10.

Acting/Cast: As I said, I love Marcus and I love Puff, they're two of my favorite TW actors, so no questions there. They've always had great chemistry with their co-stars in the dramas they've starred in before so no surprise that they have great chemistry together in this one as well. I do wish Vivian's wardrobe was better, but it's not as distracting as other dramas (cough cough Go Go Squid cough cough). Simon's acting is too good because Qing Feng has landed me solidly in the second lead's camp. 9/10

Music: I love how the music is used at appropriate times and it's not too obtrusive either. 10/10

Rewatch: He Mingli flash froze my soul and broke it into pieces while Qing Feng picked up all the pieces and glued it back together only for Si Tu Ao Ran to kick him away and sweep me into his arms. Do I want to go through this painful process again? No :( Would I watch it just for Simon as Qing Feng? Heck yes. 5/10

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Not the mainstream Chinese Drama.

Story : This one is a not-so-mainstream reality-to-novel drama. A bit boring at first 2/3 eps, I literally took a 6 hour nap after first 3 episodes, but after that it gets better and after 10 eps, I am hooked. The FL got into the novel and changed the novel's script. usually in reality-novel stories like this the lead got into the novel and does what the writer writes in the novel. This one is unique cuz the leads write the novel themselves through what they do in the novel. The struggle for power within the 3 siblings and their uncle is very mainstream but somehow good in execution. The references taken from popular dramas are really fun (CLOY, DOTS, Goblin, Meteor Garden, King Eternal Monarch). Many fun and cheesy parts, and the couple progressed REAL FAST. Fastest progress from all dramas I've seen.

Notes(spoiler): I am just bit disappointed bcoz they can make Susanna and her assistant Jason a secondary couple but it failed, coz they are done after Jason's confession, without showing their progress or anything, which is a pity(it made me -0,5).

Acting is perfect. They portray the characters well, the transition between the overbearing to caring, warmhearted CEO is perfectly acted by Marcus. Vivian is also good portraying Xiao En, a very open, cheerful and active FL. Simon Lian also acts good as Duanmu Qingfeng, the 2nd ML. He portrayed the caring CSO very well.
Cheesy? Yes. Funny? Yes. Chemistry? Got it. The kiss? crazy. The progress? rapid.

OST is perfect. The songs are darn good drops. First time having Trap music for drama ost, and I LIKE IT LIKE CRAZYYY. Especially 對愛入座(Loveseat) by Ariel Tsai, what a drop. Very perfectly executed Air on G string remix. The usage are also good, all in the right moment(cuz I've seen some dramas that put happy music in the evil scenes).

Gonna rewatch if I have time, eps 5 onwards.

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Honestly I don't really like a fantasy drama, but because I've heard so many recommendations and positive reviews about this drama, I started watching and yes it is so good!!! Since the first episode, you know this gonna be a really interesting. Even we know that this kind of story is not real but it's really brighten up your mood. Zheng Xiao En (female lead) is an editor of romance novels, so she really know a lot of CEO stories - and so many drama that tells same or similar story which we've watched before. The overbearing CEO, weak and poor female lead kind of story.
And she is always dreaming to get a CEO, until she find herself trapped in her novel story.

The most fav part of this drama for me is the strong FL and super handsome and good looking ML. Unlike the common FL who is weak, she is very strong, know what she wants, brave, bold, and funny. She really tries hard to get attention from the Si Tu Ao Ran (ML in her dream). This is my first time watching Marcus Chang drama, and I really like him! He is definitely super good actor, from the overbearing until a calm CEO, he is really a definition of perfect CEO. And the chemistry for the main lead is superb!!!

Not to mention that even after they reunited again in the real life, the ML is really good when pursuing the FL. And you will laughing so much because of the FL behavior and the part when the ML stalked the FL using a drone HAHAHA it is so laughable because the FL used to doing the same thing before. However, the story about the ML' s family and business also another interesting story, the second male lead also was so a good and caring friend, and last but not least is the FL's best friend. She was such a really good and nice friend that everyone wants to have her too.

OVERALL, I really think that this drama was very very good. The story, casts, acting, and even the soundtrack of this drama was pretty enjoyable. And another plus point that I forget to mentioned before is the character's development for ML's brother and sister. You guys should WATCH this because it's really a sweet, nice, funny romantic comedy drama.

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ICONIC or should i say a must watch?

You won't want to miss this one out!

I was not having high expectations when I started this drama back when it aired and the more i got into it, the more i couldn't wait for the next episode to air. I just waited until this show was finished to binge watch it.

Marcus and Vivian's chemistry was out of this world! I love Marcus as an actor and Vivian really impressed me with her acting in Lost Romance. The Storyline itself sounded familiar to me but it was such a gooood way on portraying this plot. The writers did such an amazing job with his.

The Characters itself weren't boring at all, some you may dislike from the beginning but some you just immediately fall in love with. I barely skipped a scene in this one. It's a perfect drama with a lot of romance but here and there there's a little bit of angst.
The Ending was perfectly written. I enjoyed every single minute of this drama and yes i can say that you HAVE to watch this show, or at least give it a try.

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