I’ll start by being upfront : all in all, Ring Ring Bell is a pretty terrible drama. Its writing is shallow and weak, its production noticeably drops greatly in quality as the show progresses, and about 99.999999999% of the problems these characters managed to wrangle up could have been solved in 2 seconds if anyone ever took the time to talk to the other person involved instead of always assuming they have to “protect my love by hurting them and leaving.” If you enjoy the trope of noble idiocy, boy is this the drama for you. If you can’t stand that cliché, don’t approach this drama with a 10-foot pole, else risk shooting yourself in the foot. And yet... and yet... I’m reluctant to admit it, but there is something addictive in the drama. Something that pulls you back in and makes you watch it despite wanting to tear all your hair out because of the sheer idiocy of the character’s actions (and a lot of stiff acting). I think that draw may rest solely on Peter Ho’s shoulders, to be perfectly honest. He has a charisma on screen that can’t be denied, and he is very good at switching from being terribly heartbroken in one instant, angry in the next, and portraying such poignant self-hatred at himself in the last, all without having to say a word. It was awesome. He had so much control over his acting in this drama, I was duly impressed. I’ll definitely be looking more into his other works in the future. All other performances, though, were questionable at best, something to be snickered at at their worst. I’ve seen the lead actress, Janine Chang, in one other drama — Sunny Happiness — and I don’t remember her being this embarrassingly bad at overacting. Or maybe it was just a pure /lack/ of acting. Her performance felt fake and cardboard-y most of the time, only coming through as natural when she was paired with Peter Ho in scenes where they weren’t fighting. I agree with the rest of comments on MDL that say they have good chemistry in this drama, because they do. They really do. Their scenes together as a couple are some of the best moments to look forward to, really. It’s not only the acting that’s like cardboard, though. The story is also predictable, full of clichés, and terribly managed. I liked where they were going with it in the first 2 episodes maybe, but then we got to the meat of the story. The core of the story is essentially making our cardboard heroine go through all these “trials and tribulations” that make the male lead notice her and gradually want to “put her on the right path” where she could actually, y’know, succeed in life and raise her child properly. Except, of course, she doesn’t want to be “on the right path,” she wants to be on the “noble idiot, self-righteous path” that only makes her and everyone around her miserable in the end. And then the ex’s come back. And then someone’s sacrificing their “happiness” for the person they love — hurting the other person terribly in the process — because that’s what “good people” do, right? Riiight? -.- Gah. I can’t tell you how many times I almost dropped this drama because of the ridiculous scenes it kept showing me one. After. Another. Over. And. Over. Again. Like I said before, 99.999999% of this drama’s problems all had one simple solution : Communication. Simple, effective communication. The problems they were dealing with weren’t even that severe; the writers just kept making so many mountains out of molehills to keep the story dragging on. (I can’t even count how many insignificant, meandering side stories the drama has...) Let me take this moment to mention the OST as well. 4 words: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” How much do you like this song? No matter your answer, I’m sure after watching this drama, that like will drop about 10 notches. From now on, every time you hear those sweet beginning verses, it’ll dredge up shuddering recollections of a story so full of holes and directing so shoddy, the music will change tracks like 5 times in one scene to fit a general, repetitive sequence of events —> Chase scene! Dramatic accident! Romantic follow-up! But No! I can’t love you! I’ll only hurt you! I must run away! I won’t even try to explain my reasoning! And how dare you ever ask me why!~ Cue : “Twinkle, twinkle little star...” -.- This drama, I swear... But! when it was good, it really was good. Mainly when Peter Ho was on the screen, but sometimes he could also improve Janine’s acting if they were together and all she had to be was happy. You’ll find yourself routing for them even as female lead does everything in her power to destroy her own happiness (for the millionth time.) The little girl, Duo Duo, was also cute to watch. A little too mature to be in kindergarten, but whatevs. That was the least of the drama’s problems. It’s a good drama if melodrama and characters going through abysmal situations is your thing. (I admit, I have a weakness to this... heh, probably how I pulled through completing this diamond in the rough). And if you like fairy tale-type stories where everything is tied into a neat little bow at the end, this is also the drama for you. All of our main characters get an epilogue at the end showing how they’ll pull through in the future (and potentially stop making themselves miserable!) That was nice, I guess...