REVIEW: My Amazing Boyfriend [C-drama]
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 3 out of 5 stars
Synopsis
*partially taken from Dramafever*
Xue Ling Qiao (Kim Tae Hwan), an otherworldly being who has been asleep for centuries, is accidentally awakened by Tian Jing Zhi (Wu Qian), who is forced to share her home with this awkward hottie with super powers. From bickering to eventually warming up to each other, an unlikely romance blossoms between them, but will a cosmic conspiracy keep them apart?
Rambling
*Beware of spoilers*
I started this drama solely to kill time while I await the newest Lost Love in Times episodes (because that show is the equivalent of C-drama crack—so good!). Therefore, I didn't pay as much attention to the first five or six episodes, even dozing off through a few parts and neglecting to go back and watch those missing minutes. This drama actually didn't rank too badly with me. I thought it was decent, watchable, and definitely had some high points.
I had never seen anything with Wu Qian in it (Love O2O is still sitting in my drama queue...), but I found her performance as Tian Jing-zhi like a caricature (read: extra). Her facial expressions were over the top; she was always laughable because there was no middle ground. She was constantly acting as if the people sitting in the back row of the theatre couldn't see her emotion. It reminded me a tiny bit of a silent film.
I did appreciate that we were dealing with a bonafide second female lead who couldn't act, and she was fully aware of all this. In this respect, it was fun to see her grapple with her B-list success and be best friends with a first female lead, Zhang Xuan Xuan.
Kim Tae-hwan, on the other hand, was just the opposite. His stoicism was annoying for the first 18 episodes. His face started to thaw out (ironically) after the death scare in the frozen vault. I didn't know his name at the start of this drama, but of course, it makes sense that he's Korean since he played a sidekick in Bride of the Water God. He was just as stone-faced.
I think the flashback scenes sort of helped to understand why the character at least could be so unemotional. Just being alive long enough to see all your friends and family die is depressing enough but also witnessing every aspect of human depravity and greed is probably enough to make you have RBF (resting bitch face) for the rest of your lonely eternal life.
Here are some thoughts I jotted down during a few episodes:
Episode 1: Wait, so this drama is going to be casual about suicide? It seems like Tian Jing-zhi often contemplates her sadness (or latest breakup) on the edge of a building. No one is questioning this?
Episode 15: Monster Xue saves Tian Jing-zhi from the warehouse fire, and the aftermath of the raging blaze is him with perfect cat whisker ashes on his face? ::squints eyes:: Fine.
Episode 21: This episode was absolutely gut-wrenching. When Xue refused to heal/save Li Yan Zhi, you could feel Tian's pain and desperation. I finally felt her performance reach a believable level. The feeling of her despair and brokenness, knowing there is a way to save this brother figure, it was palpable.
Episode 22: Monster Xue finally gets himself drunk enough to hobble through the streets in the rain...and proceeds to get jumped by three guys for not watching where he's going? That was super excessive.
Episode 27:
In a flashback, Monster Xue confronts a drunk Lai Bao in the rain. Something pulls Lai Bao literally straight up off the ground and Xue drops his umbrella to "fly" up and bring him down. What the hell? Did I see that wrong? What lifted Lai Bao in the first place?
After Monster Xue rescues her, Zhang Xuan Xuan asks him, "After living for 500 years, how can you stand Tian's utter nonsense?" L O L.
Did Monster Xue actually think guilting Lai Bao into doing the right thing would work?
How does Monster Xue's blood not coagulate when he freezes, though? Is that a special property of his monster self?
What is this rubrospinal nonsense? ::looks it up:: Uhh, that is a highly complex nervous system component that starts in the brain. Professor Li is a researcher, not a surgeon ::squints eyes::
As for the finale episode, I liked how the revenge Xue was so set on taking against Hong Shi Guang/Lai Bao didn't matter anymore. He just let Lai Bao age and die as he was supposed to years ago. Its own sort of punishment for a man who coveted Xue's immortality.
Now, I always find the I-love-you-but-we-can't-make-it-work a terrible grind for any show, but the way they handled this one was massively undercooked: Monster Xue leaves our girl, just as he said he would. Tian goes on with her life, eating her feelings while Xuan Xuan jokes that she has the appetite of a pregnant woman. Then Tian cuts herself after washing her hands in a bathroom, but the injury heals immediately just like Xue's healing abilities. Cut to Xue in the forest clutching his chest as he feels Tian's heartbeat...and a second heartbeat? THE END.
I am of the opinion that Tian is definitely pregnant with their monster child, thus Tian has now acquired some strange characteristics of the baby/father (a la Bella from the Twilight series). It's also nice to think that after all the ordeals Tian experienced, she is also now somehow immortal like Xue, but that theory doesn't hold much water for me.
I would have preferred less of a cliffhanger ending. I hate unanswered questions and ambiguity that is not in service of the art.
Lastly, best C-drama name goes to Calamari. Hands down.
UPDATE: After I finished the drama, I found out that it was inspired by the K-drama juggernaut My Love from the Star, so it all sort of made sense after that. It did have a bit of a fanfic feel to it.
Did you see My Amazing Boyfriend? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow us!