Watching a C-drama requires taking some antacids and mentally prepping for endless cups of frustration. Even that doesn’t seem to be enough for those who watched recently aired romance Here to Heart, adapted from a novel so the story line should be all set but the drama nopes it ways into “dog blood” (i.e. makjang) territory anyways. Starring Hans Zhang and Janine Chang, keep up with the viewer feedback on this drama has been a drama in itself and particularly entertaining. Apparently the leads were reduced to guest starring roles based on their screen time and any novel sweet moments were cut from the drama and there were additional roadblocks thrown in to keep them apart. Feel free to vent about Here to Heart and if anyone is curious check it out for some unintentional entertainment of the so bad it’s good variety.
I was watching this on viki till I got frustrated by the leads miscommunication. And they were both fake dating someone else just to keep appearance with each other. I mean, just sit down and talk. So many episodes later and still nothing has been cleared between the two of them. Janine Chang is so pretty here
One of the worst dragging drama of the year. I don’t know the novel, but the drama is awful. It’s so full of misunderstanding, they are completely unable to honestly talk. It’s unbelievable how they produce a 45 episodes drama without a plot. Most of the episodes follows the same scheme. The male lead lies or omit something, female lead discovers it, is hurt, tries to stay away, male lead tells her she is bad because she can’t separate business and private life, she cries. In the middle there are several business talks and that’s all.
Luckily I skipped a lot, so saved a lot of time, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Yeah I went to read the comments on viki and gingerly stepped away. Even though I was interested because I had recently finished Boss and Me.
Am back in Kdrama land where I am so behind on. Real life has been so crazy.
But yeah the spoiler comments I read made me wary. I won’t even bother checking out the ending when it ends. Why bother when the main leads are perpetually with someone else. It doesn’t make sense.
I agreed too many secrets open your mouth Nuan and blast nanxian n yi .
Less drama with mother and yi Co scene.
Yes Nuan should have told him about his engagement to yi zi. And everything she was doing to her. I skipped a lot.
I dropped this for Moonshine and Valentine. Imo a modern drama should not go beyond 30 episodes. There’s so many useless subplots once the episode count is high. The same for another drama – The Way We Were.
OMG! Moonshine and Valentines is seriously good. I’m so in love with this cdrama right now. Atleast, the two leads here does not keep secret from each other.
Same here. At least Helan means it when he says “I have never lied to you in this lifetime” (though i have a feeling that this will come back to hunt him one day). Love how the characters don’t lie to each other. Can’t get enough of it!
Here to Heart would be an amazing drama once you cut out n down the subplots. This is like 10 drama in one.Nuan n Nanxian story could be so much stronger if the misunderstanding was taken care of by ep 3…this is a stretch. Nuan was too understanding n forgiving of everyone who did her wrong. Nanxian played too many head games it became 2 much. Funny thing I always rewatch….about my 7th time….even with all the nonesense it’s not a boring show.
Moonshine and Valentine is my current crack!! He Lan Da Ren is the best!
Am I the only one in love with left priest though? The last three episodes (13-16) made me such a fan. I really want him to be happy.
Another great cdrama is Love’s lies
I was watching it but then dropped it because it was too frustrating to watch (i didnt read the book). Xian is annoying in how he allows everyone to misunderstand his relationship with Yi Xin, while waxing lyrical about his unchanging love for the Wen Nuan.
So it wasn’t just me. The filler in this drama was horrible.
There was maybe just enough for 20 episodes or so and even that was a stretch. I skipped my way through the last half and only stuck with it because the leads did have amazing chemistry. What a waste.
Thank goodness I left cdramas after my first one Princess Agents. Whew. In Thai drama land forever. Lol
Cdramas always drag and it isn’t that surprising actually seeing how there are all 40-50 episodes and with so many unnecessary side-characters. That’s why I prefer Jdramas where it is only 10 episodes and the pace is good.
yes. 10 episodes of J-drama is great, but only one episode per week is so painful to wait… The two episodes per week of K-drama is better, but sometimes the story drags to fill up the 16 episodes…
Cdrama is all about investment and money. Station and streaming sites buys the drama by episodes count, so more episodes means more money.
Then the fees for leads is high enough sometimes that some investment come from supporting role agency company. That’s why nowadays supports have more screentime then the leads.
The costumes in here where 99% beautiful. They put almost every plot device they could in one drama. Spoilers- Memory loss, disappearance, square romance not triangle romance, fake romance, horrible mother in law, back stabbers, older woman/younger man, popular boy where all your friends/family crush on, lack of communication then getting mad that you’re misunderstood, dead parents, suicide, one sided love confessions, businesss/love rivals. I only stuck around cause Janice was very pretty and the chemistry when she was onscreen with Hans was incredible. They could prob do a director’s cut of like 4 epi like Wallace’s My Sunshine. This and william’s only side by side could have been done in 20epi max. This one didn’t have too many flashbacks like William but both made me lose interest and was too draggy!!!
What an great description fmod the supposed leads being relegated to starring Guest roles. That was how I felt about the drama..could not watch it past 5 episodes. Janine is very prett, but she had this one bewildered “why won’t he love me” look the whole time with veey little change in facial expressions. Han Zheng at least can portray a more mature him which is different than his other dramas…but evwn then, I cannot tell if he loves Janine ir not or if he was just playing games with her. I guess, I will just go to the last episode and hit the fast forward button to see what happens at the end.
A heavy let down drama. I was here for Zhang Han and Janine but it’s so frustrating watching the whole thing that I stop altogether. The actress (2nd lead) has more story to tell that she was the main focus like 2/3 of the whole drama. I won’t recommend this.
This was watchable solely on the leads chemistry. But they got increasingly less screen time which is SO frustrating. Just watch cuts, people. Save yourself the hours. I stopped watching in the last two weeks and plan on watching cuts.
In all fairness tho, I heard the novel was EVEN MORE dog-blood than the drama. So there’s that.
Ditto to all the above comments. I watched the first few episodes then started checking every 4-5 then 10 episodes?. It was entertaining to see the women’s fashion and accessories. And, I was incredulous that it didn’t matter which episodes I watched or which order- the plot lines were always the same. And if China’s top games companies operated with the kind of management and business operations like this drama they’d all be bankrupt.
It got so bad that it was amusing to watch because you were wondering what over used plot device would happen next.. I kept in on in the background when working from home.
I think the only overused plot line they missed was the truck of doom! I enjoyed the parts of the drama I didn’t fast-forward through. I used the remote so much that I had a hard time not skipping through better dramas because I developed a habit. Vicious editing would have done wonders!
I watch HK, TW, and K-dramas mostly. I try to steer away from C-dramas because of the long episode count and for fear of being disappointed with the ending. The last C-drama I watched was Princess Agents. I think this drama was 70 episodes in total. This drama is based on the Princess Agent novels and production says that they were only able to shoot half of the content of the book. How the f*** do you tell me that in 70 episodes you can’t even finish shooting the entire novel? (*Facepalm)
So much potential, I gave up by the 12th episode.
The should remake episode 4 and bring a guy to dance with nuan.
I watched it 20 times but skipped a lot of episodes . I like naxnisn n nuan .
Lmao.. Such a mess. I did fast forwarded some scenes, well, most of the scenes of some last episodes. Ught… Meh. I got bored of their ‘fake’ dating and i hated the dog blood in Cdramas. Draggy. Very much.
Ps : zhang han looked unattractive in this drama… That’s why i shipped her with her ‘best friend’. Both were crazy and afraid to move on. Sigh.
Agree with you regarding Zhang Han’s looks; His hair style made him looked so much older and dated. I couldn’t get past ep 3 because every time he crowded her in the elevator, I wanted to scream “don’t you realize that’s sexual harassment?” If I were her, I’d have stumped his foot or kicked his shin. That just really turned me off. Glad to know I didn’t miss anything special.
I actually loved how he looked, and the outfits they had him in! However this was the first time I saw him so I understand if you are used to him being a certain way, then it would not be attractive to you.
When I looked him up online I was so surprised at how young he was and how different he looks. The costume ppl did a good job in changing him.
I agree Didi, he is one handsome actor, I loved the different outfits he wore, he is soooo slim everything looked great on him, especially the different colour leather jackets. I just discovered him in this drama, gonna watch him more now, just adore him. I admit the story dig drag out, no need or 48 episodes, but, still a great story.
Janine & Han had incredible chemistry and that was the only reason I stuck it out to the end….Sheer torture I will tell you. There were at least 6 episodes in the middle where they had absolutely No contact with each other! With each next episode I got more and more irritated…fast forwarded through most of the episodes…Did the writer go crazy??? I didn’t start watching this drama to have the leads drop off the radar in favor of the 2nd lead actress’ storyline, which by the way was super boring. I have never seen a drama that was crazy enough to do something like this. Seems the writer didn’t know how to handle it or he/she favored the actress character. Whatever…The plot towards the end got even worse with a fake marriage plot and missing boyfriend. The leads are great when together but forget everything else about this trainwreck.
Well said!
Life is too short for bad drama. Watch Moonshine and Valentine
Even Moonshine and Valentine is currently frustrating me. The female character is wishy-washy… Not the actor, the story-line…
Agree with you. Moonlight and Valentine started off pretty good. The current few episodes are going down and looked like dragging to me. Helan suddenly becomes not so cool anymore.
I was frustrated and so I dropped it. They need to give their actors a good story-line and us viewers a bit more realism. Who would keep in a relationship like this?
Thank you, Koala, for giving us a place to talk about this C-drama!
I think C-dramas get a bad wrap for terrible productions because there are just soooo many each year. But there are gems (most of them being web dramas) among the mass pool of cranked out dramas.
Off the top of my head I can name 3 amazing novel adaptation dramas.
“Love O2O” is a great rom-com with only 20 episodes! No fillers and true to the novel. There were tons of sweet moments and no stupid misunderstandings.
“Let’s Shake It!” is a hilarious sci-fi comedy during the Tang Dynasty with 25 episodes. The comedy is zany and fun with a great alien story. A sequel is in the works! Yay.
“My Huckleberry Friends” is a coming of age story that takes place in the early 2000’s (2005 I think). The story, young actors and production quality created a beautiful drama.
All the above negative comments are made by people who are impatient and don’t follow the story properly. e.g. I have read comments regarding that he is playing games with her etc. From the lst episode he already acknowledged to himself silently ‘Siow nuan (the girl’s name) during these 7 years apart from you there has been nobody in my heart” For myself I love this drama, appreciate the push and pull of two torn apart lovers trying to get back together because the attraction for each other is still strong, the off the chart chemistry of the main leads. the strong acting of the team, the fashion, music and even the business rivalry. I would recommend to people who are more particular in their viewing and who appreciate this type of story. I have viewed this drama three times, the more I see the more I appreciate the story.
I agree with you, Jo. This is a good series and I loved the love story between the main leads.I watched Zhang Han and Janine’s scenes together over and over again. They looked so cute together and I loved their chemistry. I hope to see more series with them paired opposite each other again. I loved their older series “The Four”. They were so romantic there too.
I’m English watching this series in Australia and I adored it! It was frustrating and annoying and tender and heart wrenching as well as quirky and funny. Hans and Janine were perfect together and the supporting cast were wonderful. A little disappointed in the abrupt ending considering the roller coaster it took to get there, so I would have loved the full wedding scene and beyond. Loved the music even though I didn’t understand the lyrics, it truely evoked all the desired emotions. I hope this story can be continued, well done.
I’m from the United States and enjoy all the series from China,I thought Here to Heart was wonderful and the main character Hans and Janie had a great chemistry on TV. He is very handsome and is clothing was made for him Very beautiful. It was frustrating and annoying but I couldn’t stop watching it. All the characters fit their role and I thought they were all great. More series like this!
I probably spent 1 evening watching 10-15 min clips posted on YouTube with scenes from the show. I think I’ve pretty much pieced together the show and will probably not watch the show in its entirety. From watching the clips I’m already pretty irritated with the main leads. They deserved their suffering and hurts. If they would just be honest and talk to each other all of their misunderstandings would have been resolved. Saved from 40 hours!
From Australia.
It was a good series. The only thing is there is not much time for the leads. It’s a all for other characters that makes it longer. If I calculate the time for them it only took 9 hours for the leads for the whole duration of the series. So that means it shouldn’t reach 48 episodes. 18 series should be it.
Terrible unrealistic drama full of psychological oppression. Gao Fang is the only sane character in the story. However, as the first TV drama I’ve ever watched, it introduced me to the Chinese movie culture.
I enjoyed the series however it seemed the leads had the least amount of time on screen. The chemistry is fantastic. It drags in the middle. It uses every plot device but kidnapping which was actually in the book.
I wished I had found this site to comment long ago. I have watched this drama twice and am more frustrated and irritated now than the first viewing but still could not stop watching.
I felt the plots and sub-plots were annoying and too many to keep up with, characters came and went never to be seen again (jealous secretary and wronged R&D boyfriend) but my biggest problem was Nanxian’s mom put Nuan and Nanxian through all of that heart break and emotional turmoil.
when it was all said and done it wasn’t Nuan’s fault that the dad’s were flying back early. Nanxian’s dad was flying back early as a surprise for his mom’s birthday! That grown woman used her late husband’s death as the strongest objection to their relationship. Had she just blamed Nuan for breaking her son’s heart that would have been understandable. But the guilt she placed at a child’s feet was crazy and irresponsible! The mom’s omission was never addressed and THEN she knew where Nanxian was all this time as well? Woof! I’m glad this isn’t real life. I never would have spoken to her again. There would not have been any embracing once the truth came out.
This drama has a unique place in my heart because I can’t get the chemistry between the 2 leads out of my head however the drama overall was so disappointing.
It is terrible writing when a simple conversation could have cleared up everything.
I needed more of the leads on my screen!
I’m actually thinking about writing fanfiction because of this show lol!
I am from the United States and this drama has a unique place in my heart also. Because the chemistry between Han and Janine is so fantastic it goes beyond realistic. With the exception of the plot involving the mother. I really enjoyed this drama. As a season #1. I read that there are talks of possible a season #2. That I will look forward to, with more emphasis on Han and Janine.
I am from California. Agree on the chemistry between the two leads. Wish they had more screen time. Abrupt ending was disappointing: it fizzled out the anticipation.
All said and done, this being my first C-drama during quarantine, I have become a fan of ZH and JC. Hope to see more collaboration of the two.
I really enjoyed the drama too, but my only disappointment is there are a lot
of opportunities to kiss for Han and Janine but i felt like Janine is
hesitating or too shy. Unlike The Perfect Match, the male character was
really aggressive to get his kiss.
I’m English watching from UK. My first time watching C.Drama I agree with everything Anne Richards has said, i will watch it again but will skip a few irrelevant episodes. I did feel a huge let down with the ending on the Ferris Wheel, the ending of a drama, book, film is so important but that seemed an after thought.
Music was superb. Hans and Janine perfect. His mother over played her roll regarding losing her husband, regardless of the circumstance she was too controlling and possessive, I am a widow of 15 months
I would want my boys to be happy, forgive move on.
unanimous: I’ve watched this drama for a number of times because somewhere in the plot of this story became as a “real life” situation of myself. I have experienced somewhere in my married life and every time I watched this show, revenge creeps up and I want to lunge at that person. Any way, I liked this drama but wished we could have watched the ending with the wedding of the main actors….would have topped this story off instead of meeting in the ferris wheel for their finale…chemistry of these 2 main actors tells me they may just be together in real life….hoping so…
You want the summary Episodes, just watch Episode- 1,2,28, 29,47,48
Thank you for the page summaries! I wish I could just critique “Here to Heart” on overall acting skills, the handsomeness of Xanxian and the exquisite beauty of Nuan (played by Zhanghan and Janine Chang, respectiveLy). Like noted by most reviewers, one cannot ignore the chemistry between the two. To me, it is unparalleled in C-dramas; Unfortunately, I found the total number of episodes unnecessary because of lengthy and boring subplots; the mother’s response to Nuan and her son Xanxian egoistic and overplayed; the development of the two leads sketchy; and the lack of exposure related to the mother and Yixin unconscionable. Only a season 2 can remedy the problems inherent in season 1.
I really enjoyed the drama too, but my only disappointment is there are a lot
of opportunities to kiss for Han and Janine but i felt like Janine is
hesitating or too shy. Unlike The Perfect Match, the male character was
really aggressive to get his kiss.
I wish I could just critique “Here to Heart” on overall acting skills, the handsomeness of Xanxian and the exquisite beauty of Nuan (played by Zhanghan and Janine Chang, respectiveLy). Like noted by most reviewers, one cannot ignore the chemistry between the two. To me, it is unparalleled in C-dramas; Unfortunately, I found the total number of episodes unnecessary because of lengthy and boring subplots; the mother’s response to Nuan and her son Xanxian egoistic and overplayed; the development of the two leads sketchy; and the lack of exposure related to the mother and Yixin unconscionable. Only a season 2 can remedy the problems inherent in season 1.
I enjoyed this drama very much. In fact, I have watched it 3x’s. The acting was excellent and the chemistry between the two leads was exquisite. I would love to see them act in a drama again where they engage in meaningful conversations. Their story line should have been the focal point. I loved the song: “Without You.”