“Fall in Love with Me (愛上兩個我)” Review: HUH?! IT ENDED?! And, where the hell have I been?!

August 31, 2014 by Hyunnie 9 Comments

Overall Review:

A drama that did not have much potential to begin with, and sadly the drama just went through with that momentum. A real disappointment that did not even live to the already lowered-expectations.

Hello~~ It is so nice to be back! If you all were wondering why I just randomly disappeared, well there are a couple of reasons behind that. Some of them include a load of uni work, some full days spent at work, a day at my professional placement in an actual high school (which was truly an eye-opening and inspiring experience!) ya know, ‘life stuff’. The main reason, however, is that I was (and still am) fighting off a bad case of the flu, which gradually transformed into a fever, and has now left me with the remaining symptoms of a cold. I rarely ever get sick, but when I do, I swear I take a millennia to fight it off *sigh* I’ve just not been well to sit down in front of a computer and type endlessly for hours. So, sorry guys about that ><

Anyway, as the title may have already hinted, it is time for another review, and surprisingly enough, this is my first ever Taiwanese Drama review! How weird/cool is that?! The even-more surprising thing about this is, is that I never knew that the drama ended until a couple of days ago! Yes, I totally thought that this drama had at least another 10 episodes to go (though, plot-wise, it makes perfect sense) But, hey hey, it has ended and now comes the review! Thus, let us all start to slowly part ways with “Fall In Love With Me” (愛上兩個我)!

There’s a really limited range to choose from, so here is the return of the cute poster LOL!

Name: Fall In Love With Me (愛上兩個我)

Broadcast Time: 6th April 2014 – 17th August 2014

Number of Episodes: 20

Note: Was there from the beginning, and was there right till the end (a few days later anyway LOL)

Initial Impressions:

I did write a post about what I had thought about the drama initially. Perhaps it potentially has driven many to not even consider watching the drama. Whatever, all I wanted to say is that I have written a first impressions for the drama, which is linked here. I don’t want to be too repetitive, so just go ahead and read that for my initial thoughts.

Opinions about the drama:

So, our journey with Tian Xing and Le Si has finally ended. It certainly came as a shock to me when I had heard that the drama had ended, since I’ve seen from various sources here and there that it was planning to broadcast at least another 10 episodes. But, in terms of why they had ended the drama early is totally understandable. Probably ever since Xiao Lu’s real identity was revealed to everyone, it pretty much went down-hill from there, which was quite disappointing because the positioning of that reveal within the drama overall was quite nicely done. If they had dragged that point of the drama as well, I’m sure that many more people would have given up on the drama entirely much early on.

Goodbye Xiao Lu, and goodbye better half of “Fall In Love With Me”

I would just have to say that I didn’t really have terribly high expectations for this drama and sadly enough, the drama didn’t even reach them. It is certainly disappointing, since so much hype surrounded the drama during promotions and ads leading up to its debut. Yes, people may complain that it was due to the casting of the “expressionless Tia” who could not compare with the talented and handsome Aaron, but I would personally like to say that the drama sort of failed more or less by the lack of a well-written plot and pacing. Anyway, I’ll get into that a little bit later on.

Alright, let’s first look at the positives ( or at least what could be found in the drama).

The Positives:

This is going to be a very short portion sadly…

Alright, what can be said about the drama that may seem more positive? Perhaps one positive aspect of the drama that can be (and probably is the most obvious) is Aaron Yan’s performance in the drama.

It became growingly obvious that Aaron was certainly the better lead of the main couple, probably due to his amount of experience in acting that he has, and perhaps due to the actual writing of his character that was considerably detailed. The whole “who am I?” and “which one is the real me?” aspect of the drama initially seemed really interesting, and it did lead the whole audience to think also “which is the actual person, Tian Xing or Xiao Lu?” On that note, regardless of who he was, he was just some really good eye-candy to see on the screen 75-80% of the time. Honestly, without him this drama certainly wouldn’t have had someone like me waiting around, watching it till the very end.

His performance was great…*drool*

*Clears throat* I mean YES, his performance was great…good job Ge~

Also, we have to give kudos to this man, who portrayed his role very well and worked quite nicely with the other characters who either couldn’t really act, or were just poorly written characters in general. So, really Aaron, well done in that aspect.

And I guess the other positive in this drama is certainly the OST. Perhaps it was due to the actual dominance of Aaron’s voice heard throughout the drama. I mean, just look at the OST list below:

• 1/2 (二分之一) by Aaron Yan (炎亞綸) feat. G.NA
• This Isn’t Me (這不是我) by Aaron Yan (炎亞綸)
• The Excessive Me (多餘的我) by Aaron Yan (炎亞綸)
• The Only Rose (唯一的玫瑰) by Aaron Yan (炎亞綸)
• Taipei Dreamin (台北沉睡了) by Aaron Yan (炎亞綸)

Apart from the songs above, only another 3 songs from two different artists sang in the drama for the OST. My absolute favourites from the OST (which I have mentioned before) is “Taipei Dreamin” and “This Isn’t Me”. “Taipei Dreamin” in particular has become one of my recent addictions to listen to before I go to bed. His soothing voice is truly beautiful to listen to when all of the lights are out, and you are just lying in bed. The song is so calming, that I just *snaps fingers* get knocked out by the first 1-2 listens. So peeps, if ya looking for a new lullaby, try this song out hehehe~

The Downright Negatives:

And now onto the section that I dread the most, the negatives, or a better name certainly is ‘the downright negatives’. Jeez, where do I start? For starters, I may just have to point out the main reason why this drama certainly went downhill even before it reached that half-way mark – the plot and writing itself.

It was just so poorly executed. The moment Xiao Lu’s real identity was revealed, everything from there onwards just plummeted and drilled a hole into the ground. Somehow, after that point, the drama shifted from being a cutesy rom-com, to a very depressing melodrama that made me feel more uncomfortable than sympathetic with most of the characters. It felt as if the writers was having trouble trying to define what this drama actually was as well. And if the melodrama wasn’t bad enough, the drama even bordered the lines of becoming a silly makjang-style drama…*shiver* urghhh the dread…

The moment you see these type of screencaps pop up, you know that you are in for a ride of your life (and a silly one at that!)

The centre of the drama should have focused on the relationship between Tian Xing and Le Si. Simple. But, the drama never seemed to allow us to focus on them for more than a 5-7 minute scene, and those scenes usually required either personnel to be absolutely torn about something, or have a heavy burden shadowing their time together. We never get a solid confession from either person as to why they loved each other, and why it was so crucial for them to be with each other. Sure, Le Si admitted to loving Xiao Lu. But, after the whole sha-bang about Xiao Lu actually being Tian Xing, we never hear from her again that she loves Tian Xing for who he is, but instead who he was; that she is willing to give him another chance since she loves Xiao Lu. However, isn’t that the whole reason why she was in a come-near-me-again-and-I-will-kill-you fight with him after the ‘shocking’ reveal? That she doubted him, and didn’t trust him enough to form another relationship with him except for a work-related one? Does anyone see how that could be confusing for us as the audience to comprehend? What are you getting at gurl??

Honestly, by this point of the drama, it was so tempting to just drop it altogether…

Eventually, it just became growingly obvious that Tian Xing and Le Si were together because they have to be. You never see the progression of them actually ‘fall in love’ with each other, which lead to the whole entire drama not having a strong enough foundation for story to work through. There were just too many holes left untouched, and the writers sadly did not even bother trying to go back and fill them – they just left them as they were. For example, look at the reason why Tian Xing approached Le Si , which led to him falling in love with her. Due to the whole “your brother saved my life” scenario, Tian Xing approached her in hopes of repaying that deed, a duty that he felt he had to do. Gradually, somehow Tian Xing falls for her, but how?! Was it through her looks, her smile, her personality??? It is left unanswered, and we as the audience are just told “They’re the main leads, do not question it!” And then, Tian Xing (instead of Xiao Lu) approaches Le Si, claiming that he loves her and wants to be with her. Um, if I was in her shoes, I would certainly be slightly freaked out (since I’ve only met this guy like what, 3 times prior to this confession? And within those meetings, it was either work related, or you were trying to steal my favourite watch away from me) and confused – it is, in many ways, understandable. But still, no reason as to why this is so. They are after all the main leads and so, their relationship is an inevitable thing.

What they are basically stating by this point in the drama is, “I know what you are all thinking, they should just split by now but come on, they are the main leads therefore, DO NOT QUESTION IT!” Grrr, so tempted to stop!

It wasn’t only on Tian Xing’s side, as Le Si made even less sense with her feelings. How she developed feelings for Xiao Lu were too vague; he never purposely did something really romantic for her (at least at the beginning; it was just a simple work relationship), and her feelings were based on the fact that he paid more attention to her than anyone else has ever had, by always being by her side. But that’s it. No more than that, and before we knew it, Le Si fell into a draggy, dumbfounding period of depression that I think left many (including myself) scratching our heads thinking “Okay, I’ve totally missed something important here, but what was it?!”

Silly, just plain silly.

Another thing about the writing of the drama is, the Li family are just crazy. All three of them are just not functioning upstairs, and it was something that erupted so suddenly that I even asked myself “Wait, I’m still watching the same drama, right?” Maybe they should consider visiting the world of “It’s Okay, That’s Love” and book a couple of appointments with Hye Soo hehe :3 But, in all honesty, it was unbelievable how the remaining half of the drama turned out to be. A girl who would sacrifice her own life to get married to someone who doesn’t love her, a man who became obsessed and paranoid about a company which doesn’t belong to him entirely, and a clueless narrow-minded mother who placed the blame on everyone else but herself, equated to the Li family – a family who definitely was in need of some more quality family-bonding time. The characterisation of all three shifted too quickly for any one of us to catch up on, and it’s sad because some exterior conflict was needed, but certainly not on this scale of absurdity *sigh* No more, no more.

You are all just screwed up… (Huan Huan, you need to see a psychiatrist ASAP!)

Just screwed up! (Except for you Aaron but, I did question why you even bothered…)

I won’t comment further on the ending (since I will try and not spoil it anymore than I already have lol) but it didn’t make too much sense, especially the very last scene. It made me question exactly who did Le Si actually love…was Tian Xing really the person she loved and wanted to be with, or was he not? I didn’t see the need for that ending, and it just inserted even more questions than it already had.

Final Rating:

Oh my gosh, that was lengthy~ Despite the slight amount of potential this drama had initially, it never impressed me at all. By never meeting these already lowered expectations, it just made the whole experience even more disappointing. Too many questions were left unanswered, development of characters was lacking and finally the unorganised, ridiculous plot left me feeling and thinking “Why did I even bother for these 20 weeks, why?” It is sad that it has come to this, but this drama certainly was not the best Taiwanese drama I’ve ever seen in a long time~

Borrowing the rating system from the lovely goddesses of Kdrama reviews (yes, even though this is a Taiwanese drama, the rating system is made for dramas specifically, regardless of nationality lol) themselves Javabeans and Girlfriday, I would rate “Fall In Love With Me” as:

How much I liked it: 5/10

How good was it objectively: 4/10

Okay, I think it’s about time I put this rant review away for good. It has been fun while it lasted Aaron Ge-Ge but, hopefully I won’t have to suffer with you through something like this again. I’ll be waiting!!

Thank you all for staying and reading this review even though it was not a review that perceives this drama in a positive light, but this was my honest opinion about the drama. Anyone who wants to disagree, or share their opinion about the drama, please leave a comment below so that we can all discuss it together!

I will be back very soon with a K-pop review, so please stayed tuned for that. Thank you all for reading, and I will be catching up with you all soon~

❤ Yami Hyunnie ^^~

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