Modern Romance C-drama Love for You with Song Wei Long and Zhang Jing Yi Wraps Run with Middle of the Road Buzz and Opening Douban Ratings of 6.9
So the fast and not too furiously faced run of modern romance C-drama Love for You (Chinese title Ye Go Gu Tou 野狗骨头 or Wild Dog Bone) has concluded and the drama may actually be worth me giving a second chance. I checked out the first few episodes and was just meh about it, FF-ing more than I should and not feeling too much impetus to continue. Leads Song Wei Long and Zhang Jing Yi were just okay, separately and together, neither were awful but also not impressive or terribly interesting. I like the set up enough, their parents were together so they lived as “siblings” but are not blood related, and have the wild gulf of her being destined to succeed in a white collar world while he’s slated to live a hardscrabble blue collar/criminal-adjacent life so he pushes her away but she comes back. But the story details (the hows and whys and narrative beats) bored me and I found myself just scanning for their scenes hoping for some magic chemistry to make all the in-betweens worth sitting through. The earlier episodes didn’t have it so I dipped but now that the drama is done I’ve heard it gets better and the opening Douban ratings of 6.9 are actually on the high side. Folks who have watched this please share some thoughts as well.
Song Weilong’s acting is bearable only because he’s such an eye candy. Beyond that, there’s really nothing memorable about it.
This is my first Zhang Jingyi drama, and it might also be my last because I just can’t connect with her acting. Her facial expressions confuse me so much—it feels like the left side of her face is trying to convey something completely different from the right. Has she always acted like this? Even the lower half of her face distracts me. I’ve even seen marketing accounts claim that she learned how to cry from Zhou Xun. Really? Is she actually Zhou Xun’s protégé? Because if that’s true, I have a lot of questions.
I find him bearable only in very specific roles – the angsty historical ones, other than that, he’s pretty meh. And i don’t find him incredibly attractive.
Zhang Jingyi has been in sooo many movies and dramas as lead but is just a terribly awful actress. I don’t think there will be any improvements at this point. She has been paired with almost half of all the popular traffic/idol type stars and stays giving nothing. Yes, unfortunately she’s Chen Kun and Zhou Xun’s protege and is signed to their agency and hence, has their backing. She always has that same blank face or the few variations of that, with absolutely no emotions being emoted. I have alot of difficulty connecting to her acting as im not sure what she’s trying to convey, and have dropped 3 dramas of hers. Not gonna be picking up anything i see her in.
And they’re putting all their eggs on her? I don’t see the “big actress” thing on her so good luck to them!
The only reason she gets all of that hype and those is because of her connection to Zhou Xun.
It’s on my watch list but I just wasn’t in the mood to start watching it. NithiI have seen or heard motivated me to start. Same with other current C-Dramas like Overdo. The only one I watched and enjoyed was Road to Success.
Not my type of story, but happy for the drama and everyone who worked on it! I saw some clips of it, and I think Song Wei-long may have finally figured out how to get in character or maybe he vibed with the character he’s playing.
The beginning is slow and then jumps fast to them as young adults in such a swift manner. Their story is not for the faint of heart. Such dire circumstances. Then the second half turns thriller in such an odd way. It was okay but such a weird story progression. It has a happy ending for them though so that made up for most of it.
Have to say this was my first chinese novel that i read which had adaptation so i was gonna give it try no matter the leads acting seeing they are always criticized for not being good. But after seen all bts tidsbits and the whole drama, Many scenes were edited out, idk why is it because of censorship or what? But overall I’m verymuch impressed with the leads performance, and the cinematography, no harsh bright filters was there which made overal watching experience good cause i can see their micro expressions and even their pores were visible.
Everytime here many commented saying zhangjingyi acting is bland and stiff so i thought she would be like mzy acting mehh that’s why i didn’t have much hope but after watching this drama I’m quite impressed by her acting like she is not at all bland or stiff it’s perfet with the character potrayal, her visual is also unique to watch not typical one but the more you watch the more beautiful it gets. I think she is starting to grow on me.
As for weilong, the last time i watched him was in go ahead which was the only good one.
i enjoyed it, particularly the second part although it felt abit more rushed
I have a soft spot in my heart for ZJY cuz I liked her in Lighter & Princess and Blossoms in Adversity. She has a unique acting quality that perfectly showcases a character’s tenacity. She also delivered an incredibly impressive performance in one of the most badass on-screen assassination scenes in The Legend of Zang Hai. She isn’t completely forgettable or cringe-worthy to watch like many of her peers. lol.
Compared to many of her peers, ZJY is a decent actress, even if her visuals aren’t favored by some fans.
On the other hand, I have always been indifferent to SWL, and the same goes for this drama. I only checked it out for ZJY’s sake. However, like so many other modern Cdramas, the storylines in LfY are just too difficult to root for. The directing is also subpar compared to Kdramas. I ended up dropping it after a few episodes. It’s a waste of time for me to check out another modern C-drama again. lol
I watched til episode 9 or 11, it was okay. They were really selling (up til that point) the “you and me against the world” thing. Wasn’t sure how they will resolve the chasm between the lives they’ve led into adulthood though. Then I got swept by Key to the Phoenix Heart (excellently-written, layered characters, no fillers) so I’m not sure if I’ll jump back into finishing it (Love for You).
I’ve always found the pseudo siblings trope icky because even if you’re not blood-related, you still grew up in the same household and are treated as siblings by your parents. So it feels kind of incestuous. So for that reason, I doubt I’ll watch this drama, no matter how much I like SWL’s visuals.
That is the messed up part of the drama that sort of makes it ok. Their parents lived together but were never lawfully married later in their tween years and the mother was unfaithful. And the main male lead never acknowledged her as a sister and legally they were not related either. The female lead out of desperation for a family one sidedly wanted him as a brother but their circumstances always thwarted that and through their struggle they bonded as an ambiguous family just them alone with no parents. One parent deceased and the other on the run jumping from one man to the next. But I respect your choice not to see it. It was totally different from speed into love where that one was just so cringe.
Appreciate giving more context to the story and glad to know it wasn’t cringe for most of the viewers!
Agree with Rero’s comment below. I’m icky about that trope too but in this one it wasn’t treated as such and I didn’t get the ick. They’re like neighborhood kids who grew up together, looking after each other, but never as siblings. You can see what I mean in the first few episodes.
Yeah no. They lost the chemistry from the novel and the show remains bland if that’s what anyone’s asking. So much fast forwarding needed and SWL and ZjY don’t have the chemistry I was desperately hoping for.
Don’t need to pick it back up again. Trust.
Their facial features even look similar so they actually look like blood siblings (playing pseudo-siblings). So hard pass for me.