Fall in Love With Me (2014)

Not as bad as the reviews

Honestly this drama was not as bad as the review. Now there were a few parts where I was like omg please stop this but if you stick through, it is not disappointing. Well AARON YAN WAS AMAZING!! This drama is NOT a rom-com it is more melodrama so acting was crucial and our ML really did an amazing job.

I felt a bit sketchy about the actress but her character was not dumb or stupid or anything like that.

It did get really soapy in the middle: The marriage to SFL was honestly so unnecessary. I feel like they should just let him be engaged to her cause till that point it was really touching to see the main couple understand each other. When he got married though... the chemistry never really came back unfortunately.

But I swear Lu Tian Xing was so hot and so smart and just high EQ man. I loved him sm.

Also Aaron Yan sang all the OSTs and all of them were really amazing <3

Conclusion, do not care about reviews and just give it a try. Aaron never disappoints in my opinion.

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A wild ride!

This show is interesting and entertaining. It is really two shows. I wanted a light romantic comedy, and this fulfilled that, for the first half of the show. The second half of the show is a melodrama that I wasn't expecting, but that I enjoyed. Both parts are entertaining and enjoyable, but in very different ways. It is an odd shift in the show.

The best part of the show for me was Aaron Yan. I have never watched him before, but he is amazing! I believed him when he was arrogant, tender, happy, and gut-wrenchingly vulnerable. I really felt his angst. Although I loved him most as Xiau Lu, his angst was so amazing to watch when he was Lu Tian Xing. Such a great actor to pull of both parts so brilliantly.

As for the worst part of the show, I think that it dragged on a bit too long. I found myself fast-forwarding through some parts (I mean how many slow walks to dramatic music do you really need?) and the last few episodes that didn't concentrate on the romance were a bit long. But, overall, I enjoyed the ride!

One more comment is that I read in other reviews that the reveal wasn't handled well, and I'm not sure why. I thought the reveal was entertaining. If you are looking for a cute male chases female that turn into an angsty melodrama, this one is for you!

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Plot: I can say this went super annoying cliche love triangle towards the middle but the end was absolutely satisfying. I think the end really did a good job of show why "What you want isn't what you need" or " Be careful what you wish for cause you you might get it."

Actors: Aaron Yan was really good in this. I didn't hate him or find his character annoying. Li Tai was so stiff. I can't say I was impressed at anytime by her acting. I didn't feel any emotion from her. The supporting actors were awesome.

Music: By episode 15 the songs were stuck in my head and by 18 I had already downloaded them from iTunes. So the music was actually appropriate when you read the lyrics.

Rewatch: I can say if I caught the last half or the beginning Yes I would rewatch. The middle not so much. I'm not much on delusional love triangles.

Overall: This was a good effort. The characters were mostly likeable and when not blinded or delusional quite believable. I would recommend this as a "sunday afternoon and nothing is on" watch.

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I really loved this drama this was my first Taiwanese drama and this is the best I've watched. How Lu Tian Xing and Tao Le Si had to go through all the obstacles to get together. Everytime seeing Tao Le Si struggling because they were a small company had me crying. This also shows that how big companies try to buy everything even opportunities. Even though all this happened Tao Le Si did not give up. Even Lu Tian Xing saw her and ditched his own company and helped her as Xiao Lu. I ship them so much I have rewatched 3 times but some times it was a hassle since the episodes were extremely long. I can't look at it the same way as before because Aaron Yan came out as gay , my ship is ruined. Not saying I don't support him. Their acting was amazing , Huan Huan's acting was so realistic that I wanted to punch her because of what she did.

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(Note: I've only completely watched the first 20 episodes and skimmed through the rest.)

Between the intriguing secret identity and opposites-attract tropes, I really wanted to like this show. Aaron Yan was charming in Just You, so I was hoping for a similar experience here, and FILWM did have a promising start with the mix of Lu Tian Xing's cocky charisma and Xiao Lu's (his alter ego) gentle sweetness. However, Tian Xing's "arrogant creep" factor eventually made me too uncomfortable to really enjoy the romance.

While I love it when the main characters start out hating or annoying each other before slowly falling for each other, alarm bells went off when Tian Xing made physical attempts to control Tao Le Si whenever she refused him, e.g., dragging her around by the arm despite her pleas to let go, forcefully kissing her though she struggled to get out of it, and one time even ordering someone to shut her in the car and block the door so she wouldn't get away. That combined with his other attempts to dictate her decisions and his manipulative behavior with the whole alter ego mess, those were some pretty clear red flags of an abusive relationship. (I'm relatively new to Asian dramas, but I've gotten enough of an idea that this kind of creepy, possessive behavior isn't all that unusual for the lead male role, which is a huge bummer. )

I stuck with it for a while longer in the hope that at least some of the behavior issues would be confronted once the truth of his identity got out, but alas, that never happened. While Tian Xing was remorseful for hurting Tao Si, I never got the sense that he regretted his actions otherwise, despite how wrong they were. It seemed like he was more sorry that he didn't get what he wanted, and his lies and manipulation were whisked away under the guise that he did it for "love" (so obviously that makes everything okay /sarcasm). I found it funny that at some point, he did admit his actions were selfish and didn't want to make Tao Si selfish along with him, but the narrative still never truly seemed to hold him accountable. I'm all for forgiveness, but it makes me wonder what would happen after their happily ever after - sure, they're cute when they get along, but would Tian Xing return to his physically aggressive, controlling ways if/when Tao Si disagrees with him again? Granted, it's fiction, but what kind of message is it sending?

There was just enough sweetness in the show to keep stringing me along till the last 10 or so episodes, and even then I had to skim the highlights to know what would happen with the two troubled lovers. There were a couple heartfelt, tear-filled scenes in the last leg of the story that managed to momentarily make me forget Tian Xing's ugly side, but those moments aren't enough to make me glad I watched the show (and I'm happy I didn't waste my time watching all of the ridiculously soapy family drama in the final third of the show). If I was still a fanfic writer, I'd be sorely tempted to do a major rewrite.

tl;dr Cute idea, poor execution.

As a side note, I didn't mind Tia Li's reserved acting. I can be a pretty outwardly expressionless person myself even when there's an emotional storm inside of me, so it was actually kind of nice/affirming to see that sort of personality... although I'm not certain it was intentional on her part.

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Fall in Love with Me (Taiwan) (2014) - this is my second Aaron Yan drama, but I like him more in Just You than in this. I guess I didn’t like the main lead girl in this drama. This too has got me feeling ‘pag sure oi’ because it’s supposed to be a disguise drama. Having a lot of coincidences related scenes seems really doesn’t get me. What made me finished this drama is because of the adversaries they faced about their dreams – basically the advertising world. I can’t remember most of parts of this drama that I think I counted it as insignificant. I have heard others liking this drama more than Just You and I guess it’s gonna be a personal verdict for everyone.

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The first half of this series is amazing. Some of the best episodes of a drama I have ever seen. Then the second half of this drama is hot melodramatic mess and not melodramatic in a good way. Aaron Yan is the best part of this series. The premise of this series is great. I think this series would have great potential if it was remade, and just edited the melodramatic parts out. Would I recommend this series, well yes and no. I would highly recommend watching the first half of this series. It hilarious and very cute, then skip the middle portion and watch the last episode.

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Starts off well....then disappoints

Like a lot of other viewers, I really enjoyed the first half of this show with the Lu Tian Xing/Xiao Lu drama. The cast chemistry between all the employees at the smaller ad agency is really cute. But as soon as the whole Huan Huan forced marriage plotline comes up, that's when this show starts to drag. They keep pushing this marriage plot over and over again for the last dozen episodes so characters keep having the same exact fights again and again. It was really frustrating to watch so eventually I skipped the last couple of episodes to watch the finale. Such a shame when the first half of the show and the acting was so promising!

But I will say, the soundtrack is on point! Downloaded all the songs on Spotify after I finished watching the series. Some of the music cues are pretty cheesy but that kind of adds to the camp :)

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