tdrama

Following my asian drama unveiling, I spent my whole weekend and a good part of this week's nights on a Taiwanese drama marathon. First off was Devil Beside You. Then subsequently followed by Why, Why Love (Exchange Love). The Mike He – Rainie Yang team-up is truly delightful. In both series, their chemistry sparkles. Though Mike’s acting is wanting, Rainie’s more than makes up for it. She is so natural and successful in breathing life to her character. In my opinion, she doesn’t go overboard in portraying the emotions of her character. And her facial reactions are exactly what the scene requires. Kingone, another DBY old hand was also good in depicting the pining CEO in WWL. His performance is considerably superior to that of Mike.

Mike He however proved to be a real eye candy. He’s a hottie (well, not as lusciously hot as Gong Yoo still). But behind the enthralling guise, I can sense an air of haughtiness. I don’t think I’ve ever liked a person and then lose interest as fast as I did with this guy! He remains to be a gorgeous eye candy, though not enough to convert me into a groupie.

The OST of both series are not as brilliantly utilized but nonetheless better than the OST’s of other asian dramas. The songs that Rainie performed are so refreshing and her voice haunts you that you’d be drawn to listening to her songs over and over. Some times, even at the office, at the height of my daily grind, I would suddenly find myself humming the lyrics prompting me to set my iPod to her songs.

While Devil Beside You is a light story, bordering on the superficial, Why Why Love surprisingly had more depth than expected. I do not think that anyone would anticipate a profound plot behind the teenybopper layout of the official collaterals plus the silly title. Well, anyone who didn’t browse through teasers and rundowns of the series, that is. The first few episodes were really trivial that it was such a drag to watch if not for Rainie. But by the later episodes, tears were rolling down despite myself. I felt the complexity and extensiveness of how the story evolved. The earnest ideals rendered did hit a nerve in me. Though the story line was heavier than what I would have wanted, it tugged at my heart all the same.

If there’s one thing that I certainly hated about this is series is its ending. The final scenes were really confusing and make you think twice on what really happened. And once you figure it out, it leaves you open-mouthed as to why it stopped right there. Unless this has a part 2, the finale really sucked big time.
On the whole, this series is one with a slow start but picks up quite agreeably after a few episodes; pacing is good which makes the development of the story watertight. It banks on the wonderful chemistry of the 3 leads while promising a heartfelt tale.