Late Love (2022)

Identity Crisis - A Mix of Comedy, Romantic Comedy and Melodrama

I started “No Regrets in Life” without much expectation and really am not sure what I’m getting myself into. I thought it would be a mature, romantic melodrama about second-chance romance. Well, let’s just say I am not sure ‘mature’ is the adjective I would use to describe the characters here.

Taiwanese humor is something I am still trying to get used to. So when the first few episodes bombarded me with people acting crazy, shouting over each other, and forcing two former college friends who lost touch and wanting them to be together, I questioned if I made a mistake in starting this drama. Luckily, I persisted and by episode 4, the story continues to unfold and it’s more than forcing people to do what they don’t want to do.

However, personally, only the male lead is a character that I find somewhat likable and can root for. This is my first drama of Liu Guan Ting, so I am not sure if he’s always somewhat awkward, or if he's doing an excellent job playing the role of Wang Yan. I enjoy how he plays this introverted and socially awkward character, who could easily be a pushover. After his ‘mistake’ 8 years ago, he has learned to be more decisive. His work life is fine, but his love and family lives are pitiful.

Every other character has their annoying elements, even female lead Nin You Zhu. I actually don’t think she deserves the male lead. I am having a hard time seeing things through her eyes, especially with the argument with the male lead 8 years ago. Would I be upset like her, probably. But holding a grudge like that for 8 years is a little much.

The supporting cast is made of the rest of the 7 college friends and together, they call themselves the 9 Suns. They are a loud bunch and are super nosy. They can’t help butting into everyone’s business, especially the love life between the leads. Plotwise, yes, we do need the 9 Suns to nudge the leads a little to get back together but they do more than nudging. Just because you regretted a stupid decision you made in college, doesn’t give you the right to force people to do things they don’t want to, especially causing such a big ruckus. This is one of the rare dramas with a strong focus on friendship where I don’t want these friends in my life. These friends like to emotionally blackmail others.

Wang Yan’s wife is an interesting character. Gosh, I hated her and found her super annoying at first. And then I just pity her. Aggie Hsieh’s acting is hard to watch in a good way? On the other hand, Ning You Zhu’s boyfriend is a boring character. Maybe I just don’t like JC Lin’s acting. They have no chemistry at all and I guess that’s the point.

Somewhat spoilery here - this drama is full of emotional cheating. The three couples (hexagon relationship) portrayed here are a mess. At least one person in a relationship is not faithful to their partner. They might not outright kiss, hug, or sleep with someone, but it’s obvious that they are in love with someone else.

I am not sure I can recommend this drama. If you are a fan of the Taiwanese style, you might like it more than I do. I feel like “No Regrets in Life” has an identity crisis. I wish it is either a melodrama, a comedy or a romantic comedy, but not a mix of all three. However, at least I love the songs here and I applaud some characters' ability to speak their lines really fast and able to hold back their laughs.


Completed: 8/30/2023 - Review #347

Lire davantage

One of the best dramas I have watched all year!

Off the bat, I am a HUUUGGEEE sucker for the best friends troupe, so needless to say, this title piqued my interest and was happy when I was able to finally watch it.
And the show exceeded my expectations.
Usual dramas take place as they grow from students to adults, it was refreshing to see it take place in present day, having the main cast more around my age, with flashbacks helping to explain the backstory.
The acting in this was superb, all around! From the subtle quiet moments to the slightly-extra dramatic moments paired with the equally dramatic music in the background worked so well and took me through a roller coaster of emotions.
The Nine Suns as a whole reminds me of my core friends from college, so I had FEELINGS watching it, y'all.
The OST is SO GOOD! I will definitely be checking out more of the songs that were featured in this and having it on repeat.
I have experienced so many emotions watching this show, from the melancholy, to pure anger and rage, to crying into my pillow to hugging my pillow, stifling a squeal of joy, and it is worth every single minute watching it.
I HIGHLY RECCOMEND watching this drama. Simply incredible.
Now, please excuse me while I go in a corner in a puddle of FEELS, <3

Lire davantage

A surprisingly trope free drama of painful growth.

Highly recommended viewing. Expect to be moved, but not in ways you normally expect!

Slight spoilers (but no plot giveaways) ahead...

A group of university friends meet for an 8 year reunion (since graduation). They are all 30. For many, this is a stage of transition - career progression, marriage, children. And strangely enough this seems to be an age where events happen amongst friendship groups, to challenge us - divorce, deaths, career crises. Situations that challenge our relationships and loyalties. This drama avoids using any of the traditional tropes we expect of dramaland. It fails to completely tick any specific box and thus keeps you anticipating and guessing throughout.

This is not really a romance drama, in any traditional sense, but it is about romantic love. It's not a family drama, but it is a drama about found family. And IMO it is an exceptional 'slice of life' drama, capturing that stage in your 20s, 30s or even 40s: A moment in your 'adult' life, where something happens amongst 'your people', to test your "adulthood". A rite of passage, if you will.

The nitty gritty:
Acting is exceptional. Across the whole group 10/10
The story is unusual and frustrating and challenging. It moves you! To anger, frustration, grief, relief. 10/10
The music is perfect. I have been introduced to Papun Band amongst others. 10/10
Overall 10/10 To quote from ep 9 I think
"...If you can fall in love wholeheartedly, to your heart's content...it's very worth it". No regrets!

Adulthood doesn't just happen when you reach a certain age. Making good decisions, behaving appropriately in every situation? NO-ONE is capable of that ALL of the time! The accumulation of experiences and the mistakes you make along the way, along with the personality traits you were born with, all combine to inform who you become each day.

This drama is a very satisfying example of this character growth. They each experience enormous, life-changing, but truly average and typical events, that form their growth.
"Loyalty between friends is complicated to define, especially in terms of support. Is it necessarily a good thing. For example, if I break the law, would it be more loyal to cover for me, or persuade me to turn myself in? [The answer to this would depend on whether you believed the other person was capable of making their own decisions.]...what is the meaning of life then?...Maybe life isn't that meaningful.... but for the sake of one person, that is why we strive to live." (Ep7)

The ML character, based on comments during airing, IMO is one of the most misunderstood characters in dramaland. In Ep10 he gives us a very direct insight "Maybe life forced me to change. Like...I always had to change myself, so that I could keep up with others...I wanted to become more assertive and stop being indecisive." Unlike most viewers, (based on comments here on MDL) I felt a connection to the ML, whilst the FL annoyed the heck out of me. But in the way of great writing and amazing acting, I STILL empathised with and wanted good for her. And the character arcs I found very satisfying. And the found family group 'The Nine Suns', are ALL you could want; human, humane, real, hilarious and moving.

I LOVE this drama. It is for me, THE best of 2022 so far ('Reset' being my 21/22 favourite

Lire davantage

Bunch of indecisive characters playing circus

I'll be damn honest, the plot had potential.
Something piques your mind when you read the synopsis, that this drama could be about a potential reunion of a college couple.
But things aren't that simple.
This drama is a mess.
It's like the writer took a Bunch of indecisive characters playing circus.

The actors were really good but what's the point when you're not clear with communication?
The fundamental lacking in this drama is proper communication skills.
It's horrendous if you look at it.
It's a joke.
Everybody is stalling, each and every one of them.
Nobody talks straightforwardly.
Buts and ifs and no answers and pretension from your own pov.

Everybody's sad and gloomy.
The plot development reverts back and forth which annoys you even more coz the present is not gonna change itself unless the characters themselves change.

It baffles it that most audience in this review section rated this drama higher.
Women love to watch illogical and wasteful emotional distress for sure.
They thrive on it.
Such high ratings prove it.

But to me, this drama was a joke.
Definitely not recommended unless you're a person who thrives on such cheap pleasures of wasteful emotional distress.

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amor

vai pra minha lista de favoritos com toda certeza, tudo foi lindo, tirando a parte do namorado dela, era chato, apesar de ele ter sido um coitado. Fiquei super feliz com o final. O drama ensina muitas coisas preciosas, como valorizar as amizades, buscar a reconciliação, valorizar o agora, amar agora, nunca deixar pra depois. Além disso, esse drama me trouxe memórias da adolescência, tive uma amizade assim, eu amava ele, mas nunca ouvi ele falar o mesmo pra mim. Mas no nosso caso, isso deve ficar no passado mesmo, melhor assim, as nossas versões atuais não combinam mais, só desejo que ele seja feliz. Ainda sinto vontade de encontrar uma amizade assim, que vire amor

Lire davantage

Best friend group, with well-built relationship structures

Story starts at 8-years post university graduation, and focusses on friendship, love, and death. The 9 friends were presented very well, each with real back stories and real personalities. It definitely draws out viewer emotion more than most dramas. I generally do not like dramas with a lot of angst because it tends to be very fake and created for the plot... in this show, the angst was natural, and a part of the characters.

Storyline was interesting, with surprises. The natural ebb and flow of friendships was presented extremely well. The viral-video meme was done OK, but used as more of a plot-hack than a story-driver. I found it annoying that almost every negative character behaviour was pointed out much too late, e.g. "this drove me utterly crazy, but I never told you," and this caused no end of problems.

I felt like all of the (many) romantic lines were somewhat strange. For FL, one line was bland, the other demonstrated consistent immaturity. For ML, one line was stereotypical and over-done, the other demonstrated a strange level of stupidity. Among the friends group, the "social center" had a romantic story that didn't seem to fit his decisive personality.

Acting was superb, notably the very believable crying scenes (which are usually a pet peeve of mine).

To enhance the emotional scenes, things tended to get dragged out. For example, we'd see someone walking around their apartment "thinking" for 5 or more minutes. I found the music annoying... the same 8-measures played over & over.

Lire davantage

Worth it!

I was sceptical about this one. Decided to pick it up after watching the incredible performance of Liu Guan Ting in “Trinity of shadows”. And I am so happy I did. EVERYONE’ performance in the drama was exceptional. I was actually tearing up watching this and usually don’t do that with dramas.
I really liked that it was a trope free romantic story. Everything was realistic, the characters actually felt like real people with real problems, shortcomings and feelings.
The best way to say it is that this drama has a bit more mature look on friendship, romantic relationships and family and it’s a breath of fresh air in the drama industry.
Just loved it!

Lire davantage

Comedy with more friendship than romance

Romance & Friendship series with Annie Chen

PLOT: a couple of ex lovers (who were part of a group of 9 student friends) meet again 8 years later in a group meeting. He is (poorly) married, she has 1 boyfriend (a struggling actor). This CL argues violently in front of the subway station and the video goes viral, causing a lot of issues.

+++ Very good actors
+++ Production without downtime.

### Very Taiwanese style (lots of shouting, overplaying, etc.)
### Exaggerated Friendship appearance (almost caricature)

=> Seen once for Annie Chen (with Speed ​​1.5 and skipping) but it's far from being her best series :(
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Série Rom-Friendship avec Annie Chen

PLOT: un couple d'ex lovers (qui faisait partie d'1 gpe de 9 copains étudiants) se retrouvent 8 ans + tard dans une réunion du gpe. Il est (mal) marié, elle a 1 petit ami (acteur en galère). Ce CL se dispute violemment devant le métro et la vidéo devient virale, causant de +s pbs.
+++ De très bons acteurs
Réalis° sans temps mort.

### Très taïwanais (bcp de cris, surjoué, etc.)
### Aspect Friendship exagéré (presque caricatural)

=> Vu 1 fois pour Annie Chen (avec Speed 1.5 et skipping) mais je ne le regarderai pas à nouveau.

Lire davantage

Chaotic Friend Circle (not in a good way)

This drama seemed pretty promising when I saw the trailer on Netflix. I usually read the comments on MDL, then see if I want to watch it. But I decided to just jump in with this drama…I kinda wish I would’ve read the comments because this drama felt like a waste of my time. From the summary and trailer clip, you’d think the focus would be on the ML and FL but boy was I wrong. The fight in beginning and going viral was hilarious and I was ready to see how they would overcome their past and how they’d explain in to their partners. But after the first few episodes, the drama started focusing on the Nine Sun group and their sick friend. I get that they play a major role on bringing these two back together, but no to this extent. I wanted to see their progress more than seeing the sick friend making amends with his first love and everyone else’s drama.

The wife is unbearable. I don’t know how the ML has survived in their marriage, but he’s pretty weak too. I just wish he’d stand up for himself more. I know the wife is on some kind of medicine, but she needs proper help and healing. She’s initiated the divorce EVERY TIME yet loses her shit when he signs the paper and wants a divorce. The FL’s bf is a loser too. I don’t know who has it worst tbh and their friends… they love setting them up.

I feel like a lot of them are way too grown to be acting like this. Maybe I haven’t seen enough Taiwanese dramas, but the acting and plot/humor really wasn’t my style. If this is their norm, then maybe you’d enjoy this drama. But if you’re stuck between wanting to watch it or not. I probably wouldn’t recommend it. Not unless you wanna skip throughout majority of the drama or have A LOT of free time to pass. If I were to cut up all the extra parts that weren’t focused on the ML&FL then I’d rate this drama a little higher!

Lire davantage

It has its miments, but also a bit boring

I liked it in the beginning…. The whole interaction between ML and FL from school and how they fell apart…
It was engaging, fun,,, the friends that were trying to help but ending up making things worst…

It was nice…
And then…. It was the same thing… kver and over…. It got pretty boring…
FL stubborn, did not want to give the time of day to the ML, who wanted to apologise and be friends again…

Thats a woman with a grudge….

The whole side story of the friend, dying, consumed a lot of air time…. I ended up skipping it… which was already a bad signal for me,,,

Pretty low for me for that….

Lire davantage