I’m basically Charlie Brown and modern romance and business/work/professional C-dramas are Lucy and the football. Chances are it’s going to be lackluster as all have been prior but I still can’t help but check it out when it stars leads I like. In recent years it’s been She and Her Perfect Husband, Best Choice Ever, Only for Love, The Oath of Love, and so forth. So once again into the fold I go starting July 2nd when Tencent premieres As Beautiful as You with Tan Song Yun and Xu Kai. I don’t even need to summarize the plot which is basically rich good looking successful businessman and plucky resourceful and beautiful businesswoman fall for each other and overcome the odds to make it in love and money. I think the X-factor is always how likeable the lead characters are written and their onscreen chemistry to overcome what is usually cookie cutter friend/business/family issues. I find Xu Kai and Tan Song Yun adorable together onscreen in the preview so fingers-crossed. It needn’t be great, just decent enough I want to watch all the way to the end, ala Lighter and Princess.
Preview for As Beautiful as You:
It would be refreshing to see a modern C-drama with acting and writing on par with My Liberation Notes, Misaeng, or Our Blues. It seems like the modern shows are all bogged down by nonsensical conflicts, absurd villains, and one-dimensional characterizations. I know there’s an adaptation of My Mister in the works, but I couldn’t help but laugh at how healthy and put together the FL looks in the stills, which is the opposite of IU’s portrayal of the cynical, desperate, and lonely character.
Agree. Most of the modern C dramas, either about rich man x poor woman or about marriage x affairs, sigh.
I’d love to see a Hospital Playlist C version.
The top modern drama from Tan Songyun that I like is Flight To You. I’m getting rom-com vibes from this As Beautiful As You trailer, very much looking forward to it!
Yes!!! I loved that drama. And she was paired with the GORGEOUS Wang Kai no less! I’ve been watching Tan Songyun on and off for years ever since her high-school drama years ago with Liu Haoran. She never disappoints me acting wise, no matter her script.
She’s like the opposite of Bai Lu for me. Always getting more and more popular, but for some reason losing the acting ambition and charm she used to have. Sometimes, at least lately, I think Bai Lu’s beauty carries her.
Gu Nanting is simply *chef’s kiss*
Agreed. I didn’t watch all of Tan Songyun’s dramas too, but in the ones I did, she always delivers 🥰
I hope Xu Kai will have more to do than his last drama where I saw way too much the FL’s mother…
That’s because the drama was actually centered around the adults and their trials and tri ulations while dealing with and raising their children. The two popular young leads were window dressing to draw you in….hence the lackluster and less than energetic performances.
So why is Xu Kai still playing 2nd fiddle to actresses?
You’d think by now he’d be at the level of playing the MC instead of being the MC’s partner
Probably because she has more popular dramas? He has chosen to act with big names, so.. yeah. At least, he isnt like someone who tried to have the same status with A list actresses. I respect Xu Kai for this. He knows his limit.
yah his acting has improved but I’m not sure if he can carry a drama on his own to such a great level yet. I’m sure he could get there.
She is ten times bigger than him, with several real hits under her belt.
In what dream are you living that he can do anything else? He should be lucky that she agreed to act with him as his career is nowhere.
Ok as a Xu Kai fan since Yanxi Palace days, some of ya’ll are really starting to annoy me. Yes he’s working hard and he’s trying, but realistically he’s barely a meter above mediocre compared to other popular actors below and above his generation. Sometimes I wonder if there are people in his Fandom who truly hate women and just want to be with him, or to derail his career.
His modern dramas lately have been subpar (and the one with Yangzi was abysmal) 拜托我求你了, let let the beautiful Tan Songyun and this drama work some healing magic like Wonderland of Love did for our boy and stop being delusional.
He does not yet have the talent to carry a production alone. And Tang Song Yun acts better than he does. The difference is notable.
I don’t normally watch modern C-dramas involving business because in the ones I’ve seen the male lead was unrealistically written. LOL.
July seems to have a flurry of dramas. Spoilt for choice