Hi guys! I am finally writing my first post in regards to a Taiwanese drama!! *Confetti explodes everywhere* It has been a long time coming, but I’m hoping to watch a lot more variety in terms of dramas and movies because obviously, my blog is very Korean-oriented…oops!
Anyway, today I will be discussing my first impressions of the new Taiwanese drama “Fall in Love with Me”, and also let you guys know whether or not I will still continue checking this drama out. Soooo, let’s get started!!
And yeah, if you couldn’t tell that they were both the same guy…*shrug* I don’t know people…
“Fall in Love with Me” is a Taiwanese drama about a young, successful man of an advertising agency who one day drops everything and just goes on vacation for three months. During this time, he goes by an alias, and is determined to help a smaller ad agency grow and stumble across some financial hurdles. However, not everything goes to plan, and the main leads are tangled in more issues than just simply trying to find ways to earn more money for the agency.
First Impressions:
The drama stars Aaron Yan (Just You, A Time of Love, Death Girl) as Lu Tian Xing (real name)/Xiao Lu (alias) and Tia Li (Hayate the Combat Butler, Summer’s Desire, Fabulous Boys) as Tao Le Si. It has been quite a while since I have gotten myself into a Taiwanese drama, and I can kind-of remember why. One thing that I usually find with most Taiwanese dramas (and I do apologise to anyone out there who will find this terribly offensive) is that there is rarely a great variety and uniqueness in scripts and storylines. Also, there is truthfully a lack of great and slap-in-your-face acting talents. I can not say this confidently about the male talents out there, but I think that most may be able to agree with me when I say that there has been a slight…decline of female talents over recent years. The last proper Taiwanese drama that I had finished from start to finish was (I think anyway) “Skip Beat!”, and I had just barely finished it due to the fact that both Siwon and Donghae oppa were in it (and also the fact that Skip Beat is possibly my most favorite manga of ALL TIME). If it weren’t for either points, I would have not even gotten through a quarter of it. Honestly, I just could not stand Ivy in that drama. Her acting was so-so, but it was just the whole charade and lack of originality from her that just made the entire drama such a let-down – she was the main character after all!
And with this drama (“Fall In Love With You” I mean), I can see that it may possibly be following the same fate. Aaron is doing a brilliant job in portraying both Tian Xing and Xiao Lu with such diversity; his singing is amazing too. But…come on Tia, really? I’m not finding her annoying or anything (I think I have been scarred from Ivy’s performance in “Skip Beat” :S) but…why do I feel as if she isn’t exactly displaying a large range of expressions in terms of her emotions?
This is her “I’ve just seen a naked man” look
This is her look when she sees Lu Tian Xing aka HER WORST ENEMY!
This is the look she gives when she is literally 3 cm away from Aaron’s lips! Can you be at least a little worried here?!
And so, with the evidence I have provided above, I would like to thus prove that she has possibly the least variety in facial expressions I have ever seen on a female lead in a while (Shin Se-Kyung’s character from “Fashion King” would have been my last case) Hopefully, she will take to the character a bit better later on but from what I’ve been seeing…*sigh*
Final Verdict:
Yes, not everything is perfect, but there is nothing that signals to me that I shouldn’t keep going with it. Aaron currently is doing a slightly better job than Tia, but more work needs to be put in to make me wanna chase after this drama for the next couple of months! Hopefully, Tia will develop into her character a lot more as time passes, and that something a lot more dramatic than a broken watch appears more significant in the story plot along the way.
Ooooo a broken watch…which then leads to future debt for our female lead…why am I not surprised??
Here is a teaser for the drama if anyone is interested in checking it out for themselves!
Thanks for sticking around with this short first impressions! Empress Ki is finishing up next week (OMG WHAT AM I GOING TO DO AFTER IT’S OVER??!) so, stay tuned for a possible review~
Thanks guys, and I will catch up with y’all very very soon~
❤ Yami Hyunnie ^^~
Asia Reviewer Maniac 
May 1, 2014 at 8:30 am
My first Taiwanese drama and I am loving it already if only for Aaron and every facial expression of his. I agree with what you said about Tia’s acting she definitely needs to step it up a notch -still I am so digging the chemistry between the leads!
But whyyy only one episode per week, is this the standard for Taiwanese dramas?
May 1, 2014 at 10:09 am
Wahhhhh I’m so happy for you~~ Taiwanese dramas are similar yet different; it’s an entirely different culture in itself!
And yes, that is the downside of it all – they only release one episode per week, unlike Korean dramas with two episodes per week, and mainland dramas with an episode per day! *sigh* That’s probably the reason why I always watched them when they finished lol!
Anyways, I am so proud of you! Taiwanese dramas are sometimes slightly generic, but there are ones that just stand out once in a while. Hopefully, this will be one of them (Aaron’s face should already be a sign ROFL)
May 1, 2014 at 7:15 pm
Haha thank you! I have just picked up Autumn’s Concerto (Fall in Love With Me had me wanting more so I looked for more Taiwanese stuff ) and I am at episode 15 or so I think… still we’ve gone through every drama cliché ever at this point already : awesome second male lead that does not get the girl, rich boy/poor girl, cancer, amnesia, bitchy mom… and I LOOOVE it:D Is there any other T-drama (do people even use that term?) that you would recommend?
May 1, 2014 at 8:01 pm
Hey~ Autumn Concerto was a true classic back then; Guang Xi and Mu Cheng’s kid is one of the most adorable kids I’ve ever watched in any drama before!
As for other recommendations, may I suggest perhaps “Devil Beside You”, “Hi My Sweetheart”, or even “Hana Kimi”? They are perhaps some of my favourite ones, but they are all rom-coms…oops! BTW, any dramas that seem to have Wu Chun in it seems promising >< Have a look around though; I'm pretty sure that there are plenty of blogs that talk about Taiwanese dramas.
And, as for the term, I tend to use TW-Drama, but I honestly think that it doesn't really matter. Hope you discover some new dramas to watch! Good luck!
May 4, 2014 at 12:17 am
I totally agree about tia and Aaron is talented. If this drama doesn’t satisfy you or you don’t have anything to watch during your spare time you should watch just you with Aaron yan and puff guo. You can def. See the chemistry because its honestly beautiful. And if you do watch it. Can you please do a compare and contrast between the two dramas because there are so much similarities but puff is the one better off with Aaron. Please and thankyou:)) just you will not dissapoint you I promise!
May 4, 2014 at 9:48 am
Hey, thanks for your awesome comment! Sure, I’ll try out With You; never watched it before, but I’ve heard of other people raving about it! And now that you really want me to talk about it, of course I’ll do it 😉 Thanks again for your suggestion, and I hope to hear from ya in the future ❤
May 4, 2014 at 12:08 pm
HEHE omg thankyou sooo much ❤ I am happy that I can have someone to discuss this drama with because seeing his new drama with tia makes me alittle upset because I just recently finished his 2013 drama just you and I am def not ready to see him with another girl and the fact that she is puffs band member and that fall in love with me was supposed to originally be puff
But you considering to watch his drama makes me happy anyway so regardless thankyouuuuuuuu ❤ ;P
June 10, 2014 at 6:29 am
I agree with you on what you said about Taiwanese dramas which is the reason why I have watched very few of them. I think Aaron is gradually improving his acting while Tia’s acting is like blah as of now. I didn’t like her acting in Office Girls either lol hopefully she’ll get better. Have you ever tried watching Rock n Road?
June 10, 2014 at 9:47 am
Hi, and thank you for your comment. No, I’ve never heard that that drama before? Is it good?
As of now (looking at ep 9 I mean) their chemistry is slowly getting there. Still looks like a lot of work needs to be done, but they look promising. I’ll still continue to follow it just because I seem to anticipate how their relationship will end up.
Hopefully,more Taiwanese dramas will venture away from this cliqued story layout, and try and head towards a different way of showing and writing their dramas.
Thanks again for your comment! At least I’m not the only person who thinks that way 🙂
June 27, 2014 at 1:40 am
Hi, I agree with you that most Taiwanese dramas lack of variety and uniqueness. I started watching this drama recently and found Aaron is so adorable. I finished watching almost all his previous dramas this week and I love Alice in Wonder City most. Aaron’s acting is so amazing in that drama and the storyline is more attractive than Fall in love with me. Strongly recommended.
June 29, 2014 at 1:57 pm
Hi Sarah, and thank you for the comment! Sorry for the slightly late reply; endless hours of work has been thrown on me lately ><
This is my first Aaron Yan drama with him as a lead, and he already is impressing me a lot with this acting. I really want to watch his other works, and I've heard that Alice in Wonder City is promising. I'll probably start watching that in the next week or so. Thank you so much for the recommendation; you seem much more informative about Taiwanese dramas than I am lol! Do you perhaps have any other TW-drama that you would recommend, with or without Aaron?
Thank you again Sarah for the comment! I see that I am not the only one who thinks the same way about this drama and honestly, with all of the hype that went into it before the drama started broadcasting, it was slightly disappointing to see that this drama ended up becoming something that was too generic *sigh*
November 3, 2014 at 3:10 pm
Hey, I came across your blog and saw this review.
I’ve only watched the first episode of this drama, and I can say that it doesn’t look that promising. Plus, I really agree with what you’ve said- Taiwanese Dramas rarely have any unique storyline, and actors can’t give that kick in their character and acting.
I’ve been watching Taiwanese dramas since I was… 8?
There are two kinds of tw dramas: (in my opinion haha)
1) Idol dramas: this takes up most of the useless fluff in tw dramaland. The actors are all mostly singers/models and some of them don’t have much experience in acting. Chemistry might be great, and actors are cute, but I don’t think storyline and characters are very solid and meaningful. One good idol drama I’ve watched is ‘Pleasantly Surprised’ with Puff Kuo and Jasper Liu as leads. Its good, but not the best on my list.
2) The second type of tw dramas are those which might not have cute and young idols, but most of them will definitely have a solid storyline, with actors that are more experienced and will portray the character more 3 dimensional. Some I would recommend are: ‘Dandelion Love (2011/2012)’ [Very sentimental drama] and ‘In Time With You (2011)’ [Lovely chemistry and storyline. Mature rom-coms.] I heard that ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’ was not bad too.
Also, I think a good drama has a good OST. The dramas I just recommended have absolutely lovely OSTs.
These are just my opinions. You might have a different taste in dramas than me, but no harm watching them, right? 🙂
November 3, 2014 at 4:07 pm
Hi Constellations! Thank you so much for your comment, and the wonderful recommendations you’ve made. Yes, sadly even after reaching the halfway mark. I was still trying to convince myself that this drama had potential. Let’s just say that your choice in not watching this drama is certainly not a bad one haha!
Yes, definitely Taiwanese-dramas fit mainly into two different categories, and sadly they really only end up being one or the other. I will definitely take all of your suggestions into heart and probably watch them over the next couple of weeks or so. Now that uni has finally finished (hooray!) I definitely will have more time to watch and catch with all of the dramas everyone has been recommending to me.
And don’t worry about tastes. Who knows, I may even end up liking them all. If I don’t try, how will I ever know lol~ Thank you once again for them!!! 🙂 😀 ❤
March 28, 2015 at 1:11 am
This is the first Taiwanese drama that I love. As for me, the acting of the cast is so natural but of course, Tia needs to enhance more. Overall, I would like to give the whole cast, director, stylist and production team a well round of applause…job well done! I also love the theme songs of this drama.
March 28, 2015 at 8:56 am
Hi Joy, I’m glad to hear that you liked this drama! I liked the songs in the drama too! Aaron Yan sounds wonderful~ *swoon*