This drama easily weaved its way into my all-time favorites list.

I didn’t have much expectations coming into this drama. I didn’t know any of the casts except for Gong Jun who I met in Begin Again just a few months back. I am familiar with Gao Zhi Ting and Miles Wei since I saw some feeds featuring them but I haven’t seen any single drama which they starred in. I am literally very new to Cdrama, just started my journey in June this year, although I saw some few dramas in the last three years mostly those that are only available in Netflix. I don’t have any background about Rising With The Wind when I picked it up, only the basic info you could get in MDL’s Details section.

(*By the way, I watched Elaine Zhong in The Furthest Distance back then though I didn’t realize she was the same female lead in Rising With The Wind not until after a few episodes I got curious and checked out her MDL bio.)

THE STORY:
I couldn’t rave more about the story. It is simply one of the best narratives I watched in Cdramaland. It perfectly weaves business intricacies, fall from grace and redemption arc, women empowerment, and romance enough to capture my interest from the get-go. It started with Jiang Hu’s fall from her high horse compounded by betrayals left and right from people she thought she could trust which will leave you asking how she was able to survive all this mess. Her journey towards reviving a century old national brand depicts real life scenarios of a bumpy ride these entrepreneurs encountered when faced with numerous problems from production, material, logistics, marketing and of course the biggest headache of all – the people (workers). There are also opportunists along the way who are very eager to pounce on you at the slightest weakness you show. I also love that the characters here are all flawed in their own ways which makes them very relatable and somehow you can see yourself in their own shoes. You will be able to feel how they felt and understand where they’re coming from.

The way the story was told is so unique, it was the best! Hidden arcs that will give you the wrong impression at first and then when the grand plan was revealed, you can only clap your hands at how brilliant the director/screenwriter executed the plot. The director was also able to bring out the best from all the actors. The main leads’ chemistry is top notch, explosive to say the least, that even their stares are enough to melt me inside. Their witty banters are so entertaining that it feels like you are also a part of it and not just an audience. The best part is this drama has very minimal cliches if there’s any. It doesn’t follow the normal tropes where when FL falls, ML is there ready to catch her with all the slow-mo and multiple angle shots to capture the moment. The portrayal of romance, though slowburn, is something new for me because I couldn’t guess what would be the next move given a typical situation like when ML forced FL to get in the car or when ML secretly followed FL. You can see these plots in almost every romance drama there is but in Rising With The Wind, there is distinctiveness in the way these scenes were executed, you couldn’t guess they would do it that way.

THE ACTING/CASTS:
Simon Gong (Gong Jun) and Elaine Zhong (Zhong Chuxi) are the perfect Xu Si and Jiang Hu, there could be none other except them. Simon’s portrayal of Xu Si as the ambitious and cunning investor who fell deeply in love with his business partner is so on point like this is how I imagined the character to be. His microfacial expressions and eyes that can display a wide range of emotions are perfect for our Xu Si. Elaine is just so wonderful playing opposite characters, first as a Disney princess and second as the struggling entrepreneur of the nearly bankrupt company. She aced her acting here giving me the impression that if it’s an Elaine drama, this must be good. Our second leads Gao Zhi Ting and Wu Xuanyi as Yang Jian and Xiang Zhaoyang is another beautiful pair. From having a brother-sister relationship (YJ is XZY’s stepbrother after her mother remarried to YJ’s father) to becoming lovers, their romance is more of a mellow type where SML is silently helping and cheering on our SFL on the sidelines, just supporting her even if he was not the one in her heart (or so we thought). The way the actors portray their roles are spot on that I couldn’t help watching out for their scenes as well.

MUSIC:
This is one of the rare dramas out there that has wonderful OSTs. In the other dramas, I find myself liking one or two songs but in RWTW, I love all songs in the soundtrack with Song of Faith by Wu Xuanyi (yes, our beloved Zhaoyang sang this song) as my favorite. The melody, the message, the voice, all these complemented so perfectly. I wish these could be available in Spotify because I would love to listen to these on loop. Anyone knows how can we petition for this?

REWATCH VALUE:
I already started with the rewatch party right after the final episode ends. I couldn’t get enough of this drama. Sepanx is REAL for me that I couldn’t move past RWTW at the moment. There might be scenes I missed in the past in my eagerness to know how the story unfolds. I couldn't be thankful enough to the director and screenwriter of this drama for giving me the best birthday gift I have for this year (I’m a November baby). I love their tandem! Hands down to all the actors and production crew for this masterpiece that has been my daily dose of happiness for the past few weeks.

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You can only enjoy this drama if you throw logic away. Great actors, very bad script and editing.

This drama had a promising start but wasn't able to keep up till the end due to a really terrible script that throws logic away. If you want to watch a drama just for the sweet and heart fluttering moments and just shutting off common sense, this can be an enjoyable drama as we have at least five (5) pairs:
1. ML and FL
2. 2ML and 2FL
3. 3ML and 3FL
4. 3ML Father and FL's editor-in-chief
5. ML's assistant and FL's office friend

For me who cannot fathom glaring flaws in storytelling, it's a bad watching experience. The screenwriter seems to lack ideas so a lot of plots are recycled over and over again.
Case#1: Moments between two leads keep getting interrupted by either a phone call or somebody else, then FL will run away and hide.
Case#2: When FL is saying something else in her mind but ended up saying something else in reality
Case#3: Car ride scenes

The FL's character was also written poorly where she was supposed to be a top notch magazine writer that could land big shot interviews for their magazine, thus, who should have 1) good communication skills and 2) excellent EQ but a lot of misunderstandings happen due to her lack of these two. It started with her misunderstanding about who the mistress' "uncle" was and just proceeded with her thought that it was the ML. As a writer, she should have good investigative skills and thoroughly checked the identity of said uncle. This defies the logic of her character. She also is written as someone who supposedly values honesty but her actions towards ML roots from a lie. When her lie was exposed, she didn't give the ML a proper apology. She only apologize for the sake of their collaboration with her digital magazine. Even if deep inside she wanted to say sorry, in reality she just keeps talking about work. And this was dragged for so long. There are multiple scenarios when she could have said "I'm sorry" sincerely but no, the writer dragged this out. And when the ML got really mad at her and decided to keep away from her, she made herself the victim. I can go on and on about the flaws in logic I saw in this drama as there are too many to mention. If it's only a few, I could have ignored those flaws and enjoy this. Thus, story is 3/10.

The OSTs are good but didn't leave a mark on me so 5/10.

The only salvaging point of this drama are the excellent acting of all the actors. Thus, I rated Acting/Cast category as 9/10. I could feel the sizzling chemistry between the leads. And you can see how they work so hard portraying the roles given to them. That I appreciate much knowing how hard they worked on this drama for several months.

So, watch at your own risk. I would never recommend this drama to others nor will I rewatch this in the future. 1/10

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Fluffy, comfy and stress-free drama

This is my first time to comment and give a review here in MDL and I'm happy it's about Hidden Love. Here's my two cents.

I haven’t really been INTO Chinese dramas until Hidden Love. I watched a few of them that are really eye catching but it’s very seldom. Hidden Love opened the doors for me to notice other notable C-dramas out there.

SPOILER ALERT!!!
What I love about it?
1. The storyline. Hidden Love mastered the art of portraying the spirits of youthful love, like those heart fluttering feelings when you have a secret crush on someone are SPOT ON. It transported me back to the early days of our relationship with my then boyfriend, now husband of which I can relate to the feelings Sang Zhi felt towards Duan Jiaxu because that’s EXACTLY how I felt towards my BF. Apart from that, I love that there are no evil 2nd leads in the story that would challenge the main leads’ relationship as well as there are no overbearing, overprotective parents/family members. I love how they wrapped up the drama with the best marriage proposal ever. Who wouldn’t melt with this line, “Six words. Only one person in a lifetime.” My tears just keep rolling here together with SZ and DJX.
2. The casts. From the main leads to the supporting casts, all of them did their parts exceptionally well. Kudos to the casting team on finding these actors who brought our beloved characters to life! Zhao Lusi and Chen Zheyuan are the perfect Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu, there could be no one other than them. They will forever be immortalized in my system.
3. The OSTs. I think one of the things that made this drama successful are the OSTs played in the series. Seldom do I find a drama where I enjoyed almost all songs included in the official soundtrack. With Hidden Love, all songs felt comfortable to listen to even if I don’t understand the lyrics, the melody are relaxing and sets you in a mood. Zhao Lusi contributed two songs in the OST which I soooo love dearly – “I Just Want To Hide You Secretly” with Silence Wang and “I Have Someone I Like”. Victor Ma who played as Sang Zhi’s brother (Sang Yan) also contributed to the OST with his song “Be Your Light”. I couldn't tell which is my favorite because all of them are just sooo good.
4. The BTS. Their behind-the-scenes interaction can easily become a drama of its own. You can see how happy the atmosphere on set was. If the chemistry of the main leads is already top-notch in the drama, then their BTS is way beyond that which made me pine for them to be a REAL-LIFE couple. They are just sooooo amazing and comfortable with each other.

Hidden Love will forever be my “go to” comfort drama, when I just want to have a relaxing, happy viewing to cap a long, stressful week. As of writing, I am re-watching this series for the third time. And it never disappoints every single time.

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Not my best choice ever but…

Just finished watching this today. My thoughts below.

I honestly struggled watching this drama and complete all 37 episodes. Maybe I am not the intended audience as this is more of a family-centric drama specifically a mother-daughter dynamics. I started watching it because of Xu Kai while waiting for his other drama As Beautiful As You to air and was expecting it to be romance driven as implied by the trailers. Maybe that’s my biggest disappointment because it felt like I was duped and it fell short of my expectations. Don’t get me wrong, this drama is excellent on its own to its intended audience with lots of lessons about life and family. It’s just that this is not for me.

Xu Kai is ONLY a supporting role here with minimal screen time. The brother even has more screen time than him and his love plot was more focused than the so-called main leads. I love the acting especially the mom who successfully brought out my inner rage everytime she opens her mouth at least until episode 27 or 28 when she realized her wrong ways. I was prepared for an overbearing mom character but my preparation fell short for this level of mom that I have to skip her scenes for my sanity’s sake. Great job to the actress playing MCH’s mom!!!

My overall rating is 7/10 but just because this drama’s not for me. Plotwise, I didn’t enjoy it. The OSTs are also not catching my attention. However, the actors are doing a great job with their outstanding performance portraying their characters! The cinematography is also good with picturesque scenery especially with mom’s hometown. Boticelli and Xing’lan hotels’ façade are also eye catchers. These salvaged an otherwise poorer rating from me.

Thank you BCE for a roller coaster ride! Though watching this drama will not be one of my Best Choice Ever.

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The best e-sports themed drama I've ever watched!

I came across TKA as one of Netflix's recommendation. At that time, I am not into Cdrama and I didn't know any of the actors in this series. I just thought the plot is intriguing and the male lead is so handsome, so why not give it a try?

Oh boy, this drama did not disappoint! This is coming from someone who is not a gamer, not an avid Cdrama fan and have zero expectations coming into the series. I haven't read the novel nor watched the anime version as well.

The things I liked about it:
- The plot. It is a story about a pro-gamer who fell from grace and how he bounced back in the game. This kind of plotline has really caught my interest the first time which made me decide to give it a go.
- The CGI. This is the first drama I've seen where real life characters portray the in-game characters as well. I was so amazed by how this was done, not to mention the excellent graphics of the game itself.
- The gaming environment. I have never been into a gaming arena before and this show offered me a glimpse of what it was like during e-sports tournaments.
- Yang Yang. I loved Yang Yang because of this series. Not only is he dead gorgeous but he somehow justified his role as Ye Xui like this character was created with him in mind. There could be no other actor for Ye Xui except him.
- The OST. I suffered severe LSS with Glory Battlefield even though I couldn't understand any of the lyrics. It was recently added to Spotify but during the time I watched the series, I have to stream it in YT and have it on repeat because I just can't get over with it.

I have rewatched this 2x already and mind you, I never skipped nor fast forward any of the 40-episodes with ~40min runtime per episode in each of those viewing. That's how much I loved this series! I think I will be rewatching this in the future just for the thrill of it. Yang Yang and the gang are my type of eye candies that can ease away the stresses of life.

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