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[Mainland Chinese Drama 2018] The Evolution of Our Love 爱情进化论


sugarplum892

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2 hours ago, catocat said:

Mother illness -  It was joke.  Mad or crazy? visit doctor > Litterly having brain issue. Operation and WOW mom has complete change of views. Emotional scenes but all of this was intentional done humour.

 

I would think many who go through an experience where they realize their mortality would have complete change of views. Not to mention that Lu Fei's mother, in this case, also had the opportunity to speak to He Xin, allowing her to see things from another perspective that she would have never considered before.

 

What I found humorous was the conversation b/w the women at the mahjong table about the plots in dramas they've watched--how if someone dies in the last 2 episodes, then they're really done for.

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Ok done! :)  With the expected happy-ever-after,  of course there had to be a lot of hit-over-the-head philosophical discussions but still the point is quite nicely done that beautiful romances don't happen in books, they happen in real lives, we just have to know what to look for.  And honestly it's not a big change, they always were in love and always felt like a married couple, they just decided to acknowledge it and added kissing to their repertoire. ;)

 

Overall, while this is not my favorite drama, it was decent entertainment (I can't believe I watched all 40 episodes! It's not often I finish a series like that) and had  thought-provoking value, plus pleasantly reinforced my view that the leads are great actors so keeping my fingers crossed they both go on to more dramas ahead!

 

Thanks everyone for the lively debate and discussions here- see you guys perhaps in another forum another time!

 

 

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I just finished the drama.

What am I supposed to do with my life now? :D

 

Spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

 

As a fan of the original, I gotta say this one did a very good job. It have it's problems but overall I think it's worth the watch. The story itself, even in the original is hard to watch...sitting through all the angst and hurt for the male lead...enduring through all the stupid choices the female leads made to finally arrive at a happy destination. I've mention it in my previous post, one of the thing I really like about this version better than the original is the fact that it is very expressive and obvious. The leads feelings for each other, their struggles internally and externally are very expressive. I can feel their love and care for each other...when they put each other as their priority..running to each other every time to comfort each other. Like I mention, in the original, maybe I've missed it or don't remember it much but I didn't feel like You Qing cares enough for Da Ren. While in this version, there are many times where Ai Rouman drops everything to run to Lu Fei's side, protecting him and comforting him...from when they were in high school till when he "broke up" with Qing Qing or till when his mom is in the hospital and etc. Of course Lu Fei pamper her more and care for her a bit more, in turn making a lot of us viewer overlook all the moments that Ai Rouman really shows how much she love and care for him. In term of loving each other, Ai Rouman loves Lu Fei no less than Lu Fei loves her, even if she is just in denial. I can feel every pain and hurt Lu Fei goes through but I can also understand Ai Rouman's struggles and confusion with her feelings and wants. A lot of people blame RM for being selfish and she is very self absorb but in fact I feel like she is the way she is...partly due to Lu Fei. A couple of times where Lu Fei almost confesses to her, like the kiss on the cheek in the tennis court,....her heart actually wavers and I feel if Lu Fei didn't back away and actually confirm his feeling...she actually might realize her own feeling earlier and we wouldn't have the rest of the drama to watch lol. But he back off and push her back towards her "dream". When the "truth" is spilled and he finally want to step up...she was already too far in that "dream" of hers, the image she made up of a perfect relationship with DYY. She became too stubborn to wake up from it.

 

It wasn't until when she almost getting marry and Lu Fei finally "disappears" from her life..that's when she realize her own feeling that she has always have for him. The moment where she told her parents she doesn't want to get marry with DYY anymore....and she said

 

"I'm not afraid of getting marry, i'm not afraid of the future getting dull with DYY, I'm not afraid of him being infidel, I'm not even afraid of losing him....but if it was Lu Fei, I'm gonna go crazy." 

 

She tears up after mentioning Lu Fei...that one sentence alone is enough to show how deeply she loves Lu Fei. Just a few days without any contact with Lu Fei after he "disappears"...(after witnessing her proposal)....she already went crazy. That's the moment where she realizes the difference between love and idolizing...between her own feelings and the image of perfect relationship she created for herself. 

 

Zhang Rou Yun and Zhang Tian Ai did a fantastic job as the two main lead of this drama, especially Zhang Rou Yun. I bawled my eyes out every time he gets hurt.

 

The other supporting actors though not so much. Especially the actors for DYY and Qing Qing.....they still have a lot to learn and improve. I also don't understand why Qing Qing character have so much screen time. The character does nothing for Lu Fei, doesn't make him realize anything...doesn't change him or anything like Maggie in the original did. Her character was pretty much an annoying, useless filler. But they still show her throughout and till the end. I don't want to be mean but I actually don't care about her at all. They should have written her off and let her disappear after the "Break Up". I was more invested in seeing a resolution for He Xin's character instead...and i feel like He Xin should have been the main supporting character on the level on DYY instead of Qing Qing. But I don't even get to see He Xin's ending...and have to force myself through watch some last unnecessary moments of Qing Qing. Maybe it's the horrible acting or the way the character is written so horribly and one dimensional....I feel no sympathy, no interest in her. All I feel is annoyance and wants her off my screen.  Maggie in the original was also a bit annoying but I actually care for the character and she actually matters in the story and character development.

 

For DYY, even though I like his character better in this version because he is not sleazy or a cheating bastard. However I'm a little bit disappointed in his character, again one dimensional character...who only have one trait with no depth. I'm starting to not even know why Ai Rouman likes him so much. He is smart and successful..yes but that's about it. I guess that is why when they start to date, she finally realize her image of him is not as perfect she thought it would or that the only trait she likes of him is not enough to really love him. Like a fan loving an idol without truly knowing who they are. I wish the writer would have given DYY a little bit more depth of a character...let us understand why he act the way he act...why he is bossy and controlling...let us feel a tiny bit sorry for him when Ai Rouman leaves him....or angry at him or something but we don't even get that. 

 

Some other characters was seriously unless...like Qing Qing best friend...I swear I thought they are gonna end up together but nope. Or Lin Kai in Hong Kong with Lu Fei....he is pretty extra. In the original, Da Ren's new set of friend in Singapore (equivalent of Lin Kai and He Xin)...actually matters in his life and have a sweet story of their own. But in this version....all the supporting characters from the parent to cousin to friends around them fell really flat. Which is really a disappointment. 

 

On the ending....because of how expressive the drama and characters are...I actually am satisfied. Ai Rouman might not break heaven and earth to get back with Lu Fei and I still kinda feel like she should have given a tiny bit more effort but I'm glad that she is the one running to Lu Fei. In the original...Da Ren pretty much just came back to You Qing. In this one, even though Lu Fei give in very easily but I'm still glad Ai Rouman made an effort to go to him.

 

I was a little bit disappointed in the a few of the key scenes and dialogues in the last two episodes though. 

First one is the scene where Lu Fei give Rouman the recording on the phone and the result of their "bet"....In the original...that was the most heartfelt scene and I bawled my eyes out over and over no matter how many times I rewatch it. It's a key moment where even though she had "won", You Qing finally realized everything she lost and will lose for winning. Losing her own heart, her true feeling, her love for Da Ren...losing him. It was then she realizes what she truly wanted in her heart. In this version....maybe it's the way it's edited and how spread out it is....but the dialogues and the scene that was supposed to be the key moment of the drama....felt really flat. Almost like it didn't matter. I wish that scene would have shown to be more of an impact on why Rouman decide on what she did. It should have been the final impact on why Rouman start to realize her own feelings....but how the scene plays out...was really a disappointment. 

 

The other scene I was disappointed in was the kiss...yes the kiss and the dialogues at the meal after. In the original, that was the sweetest scene for the couple. Their first kiss was awkward, but cute and then steamy. This kiss was steamy but also just.....sorta flat. The dialogues at the meal was almost the exact same as the original but the scene that it's at and the way it's deliver (not the actor fault but in term of context)....was also really forced and flat. Also the call at her birthday...about her best friend Lu Fei....also feel kinda flat and forced. 

In the original....those dialogues, kiss, and scene was the cutest moment...it was a key moment that marks the beginning of their relationship but in this one...it's cute but I hate how they spread it out and made it very out of context to it's true meaning. 

 

With 40 episodes, twice as much as the original, I would have thought i could see a little more of their "life" after....like marriage and such...maybe more than what is shown in the original. But what we got was just a class reunion....with SIDE CHARACTERS we honestly don't care about. Even though I'm satisfied with the emotional resolution....and I don't hate the ending....but seriously nothing is resolves...they waste so much screen time on unimportant character (like Qing Qing) or events....where it should have been used to show more of the MAIN LEADS. But what do I expect....it's a mainland drama....they don't know how to write endings.

 

The Ost is on point though. I love them as much as the OST from the original. 

 

Overall I still really like it and think it's worth the watch despite of it's flaw. 

 

Sorry for my long rant and thanks for listening to it lol. It was quite a journey through this drama. 

 

Here are some pictures to make up for it. Put it under spoiler for those who haven't seen it. lol


 

Spoiler

 

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As far as resolution goes, Episode 40 isn't a bad one. In the history of C drama endings, it could even be considered good. But for me, it does come up short as I had a suspicion it might considering the time limitations. It certainly isn't as good as the Taiwanese one, even though that had its flaws because there wasn't the expected level of fanservicing I'm sure that people who had persevered for this long had been hoping for. Whatever the faults and limitations of the original, I unequivocally rooted for the OTP to be together from start to finish but in this version, I wavered and there's still a part of me that wonders if LF would not be better off with someone like HX even despite MM's realisation that she cannot live without LF in her life. Many of the problems with the resolution I suspect, stems from the fact that the beginning was probably too long and the ending was rather too short. 

 

I don't think anything in this resolution came anywhere close to the delight of the T version, rushed though it was. The director there knew how to give us what we want and milk the chemistry of the leads for everything it was worth. ;) Even though I think ZRY is generally the better actor, CBL's DR was given more opportunity to show how delighted he was to be finally dating the woman of his dreams. The Ikea confession and kiss, the video chats, the marriage proposal, the flyby dates... that was the kind of compensation the doctor ordered for the pain and suffering he (and the audience) was put through.  I don't feel we got much of that in this instance. I don't see the point of the class reunion this late in the story except I imagine, for an extra dose of moralizing. Qing Qing was dragged back in, probably for yet another dose of sermonizing about the importance of choosing the right marriage partners carefully. We didn't need it. What we needed was more LF and MM goodness now that the angst was behind them... jugging their dating life or even a marriage proposal. Even the Korean version understood that much and took things up several notches once the leads were a thing. (I enjoyed the Korean version incidentally, flawed though it was.) Without that extra goodness, the title of the C version makes little sense... "Evolution?" What evolution? Sure, some thing remained the same as they would but some things were different. They weren't just good friends anymore... at least on her side... The kissing scene on the street was alright I suppose but interrupted by flashbacks we'd seen how many umpteen times about how they'd come along way to this point. We didn't need them. 

 

But I still thought that 34-39 were really great episodes in terms of MM's development and self-understanding. I also loved how LF found healing in his relationships with both his parents... that was also very well done. But in the end, I found the working out of that realisation and acceptance of their newfound relationship status fell a bit short. The show talked a lot about romance and pontificated, waxed philosophic about love in it all its forms and the shortfalls of romance but it seemed surprisingly shy about showing more when the two people we were supposed to root for were finally ready to take their relationship to the next level. It's a shame though, not to make use of the great chemistry that the leads had.

 

@litopanda

Agree with a lot of your criticisms. I'm inclined to think that the show mainly used these side characters as mouthpieces of the writer/director for teaching moments. The strength of the T version was that it was able to have teaching moments and tell moving stories about these people as well.

As a whole, I think the show was stronger on why LF and MM couldn't be with other people than they were about them as a couple. That is evidenced by the fact that we had some voice over and fourth wall breaking in that last scene.

 

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The 1st Chinese drama whose every episode i watched.

 

Good Music - Ost - songs - Sfx

Good Acting - From Both Main male and female actor, Especially from Male Actor.

 

Average Direction and Average Script - Criticize both director and writer for it.

 

Chinese Dramas like to teach or advocate or shoutout Good Character, Moral Values, familyhood. Quite good propaganda Chinese shows are and same goes for this show. Whenever opportunity arises writers stands up and start analysing Love.

 

Episode 40 is quite strong on teaching about what it love and who is the right partner.

 

Who is evolved, how is some evolved and does title really is the right one for these characters?

 

You can joke about their future kids but are not ready to show how Lu Fei and Ruoman are living together is just ridiculous. This show deserves at least 1 more episode.

 

I find it more surprising that Main Characters have less screen time together than they have with side characters. Qing Qing took 18 episodes to go. Wow . I have no problem Qing Qing appearing in this episode, still, Spending time on Qing Qing than main character just shows how much writer liked that character or maybe doing some service to the actor of Qing Qing.

 

@litopanda agree with most of your comment but most of the foreign aka english audience highly dislikes Ai Ruoman.

I wanted a direct confession from Both Lu Fei and Ai Ruoman but writer has so much love for NOKIA phones that this is how we come across watching both express their feelings.

 

If you treat it as Original then i don't think you will be that disappointed.

 

@40somethingahjumma He Xin certainly needed some screentime here but director was short on time and writer thought high school classmates gathering was better way to Announce the relationship of Lu Fei and Ai Ruoman. 

 

The kiss scene could have been better with more dialogues and less Presentation of main scenes.

 

Seems like Cousin got some love life too.

 

This show touched my heart. Made me almost cry.

 

@creidesca That's what writer's intention was and we the audience understand it but i think Writer did brain disease intentionally as a taunt. Yeah, making fun of cliches was good.

 

Also, there are is 1 scene they didn;t air which i think happens after Raincoat confession from Din Yuyang > Kissing Ruoman.

 

Another scene which we got from flashback is  Ruoman vomiting and then carried by Lu Fei and Graduation scene and Ruoman in upset in a room and Lu Fei shouting at her.

 

Some scenes are made for flashbacks but i think Channels cut few scenes to manage the time of 45 minutes per episode.

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On 8/24/2018 at 5:44 AM, 40somethingahjumma said:

I don't think anything in this resolution came anywhere close to the delight of the T version, rushed though it was. The director there knew how to give us what we want and milk the chemistry of the leads for everything it was worth. ;) 

 

The Ikea confession and kiss, the video chats, the marriage proposal, the flyby dates... that was the kind of compensation the doctor ordered for the pain and suffering he (and the audience) was put through.  I don't feel we got much of that in this instance.

 

@40somethingahjumma

This. Thank you for putting into words my exact feelings about the lead couple and their ending. You Qing in the original, throughout made me and a lot of the audience mad and hurt whenever she hurts Da Ren. Suffering through all that pain with Da Ren, the resolution to their love story...when they actually begin their relationship and every sweet thing after...leading to marriage and the life after was so sweet and amazing (even though it was only like 30 min of it)....it healed all ours and Da Ren's hurt and suffering from all the episode previously. It proves that their love was right...and even if they fight...they will always come back together. (If you remember the very last scene of the original). 

 

In this one, they did show a tiny bit of sweetness after they "dated"....but when they just end or stop the drama there...it made all their words about enduring each other worthless and just words. In the end, even after their whole speech about how they are made for each other. All of it just felt like empty words that stated beautifully. If they only cut out all the useless Qing Qing scenes and the cut down the class reunion, they would have time to show a little more of how their love grow and "evolves" through time. The key word there is time. Any pair of friends can be lovers but not all those couple can stay together and endure the test of time.  The original showed us through the drama that their love survived through 15 years of friendship and through the ending that their love can indeed endure through the test of time and through all the changes in life for the next 15 or 30 more years or even the rest of their life. In this one, even though they got together...there is no guaranteed their love will last because we weren't shown it. For all we know, they might break up after that beach walk. lol

 

The whole drama, they talked about marriage...choosing the right marriage partner...how to deal or how not to deal with a dying marriage and etc....you would think they would end the drama with a marriage that actually work despite of everything. They really missed their chance on concluding their own theme. Sigh but then again mainland dramas don't know how to write endings. It's a curse. 

 

Unless they are planning for a sequel. Please don't. I mean I would still watch it and it would be a nice extension of their love story but a sequel would have a totally different dynamic and feeling. Mainland sequels always sucks anyway so I really hope they would just leave this beautiful story right where it is and don't ruin it. 

 

20 hours ago, catocat said:

I find it more surprising that Main Characters have less screen time together than they have with side characters. Qing Qing took 18 episodes to go....Spending time on Qing Qing than main character just shows how much writer liked that character or maybe doing some service to the actor of Qing Qing.

 

@litopanda agree with most of your comment but most of the foreign aka english audience highly dislikes Ai Ruoman.

I wanted a direct confession from Both Lu Fei and Ai Ruoman but writer has so much love for NOKIA phones that this is how we come across watching both express their feelings.

 

If you treat it as Original then i don't think you will be that disappointed.

 

@catocat

I never knew who Qing Qing actress is and now I actually don't care who she is. If they are really throwing in scene for her just to do some service for her...then that's just stupid. I guess connections and power play is something that no drama production can avoid. It reminded me of some other shows that do the same thing. It's pretty annoying. Maybe it's to boost her popularity but I don't think her popularity is going anywhere after this if it doesn't drop any further. I feel bad for her, but her character was butchered so badly. She might be a decent actress....but I honestly don't want to see her on screen anywhere anytime soon lol. 

 

ZRY and ZTA, the two main lead yes. They are going places after this. I mean they already have a name to themselves before this but this drama really calls my attention to the both of them. I didn't pay much attention to them before...I actually binge watched Go Princess Go just for Zhang Tian Ai and about to watch the Dr. Qin drama for Zhang Ruo Yun after this. 

 

Anyway the Nokia phone confession wasn't even a confession though. It didn't feel like one.

 

In the original, it was a song Da Ren sung for himself/You Qing in their high school days that she didn't get until almost the end. The lyric is him telling himself not to love her, how he won't love her, how he is trying so hard not to love so that he won't lose her. In the lyric there is also a line that said with you, even if it rains, it will still be beautiful. Right after she listen to the song, the main lead missed each other, Da Ren wrote You Qing a last note in the heavy rain and You QIng read it under the same heavy rain. His note to her only said that he is leaving again and congratulate her on her marriage and apologize he won't be able to attend and that he will pay up for losing the bet. The song, the rain, and the note together made a huge impact on You Qing's realization of the things she is losing for "winning" this bet. It wasn't the fact that she know Da Ren love her, she had known for a couple of episodes. But it's the fact that she finally realized the pain Da Ren had been enduring for all those years. That is when she realize how she will not be able to endure that same pain of losing him. It was the biggest cause for her realization of her true feeling. I guess why I love the original so much is that, like @Kim Yunmi once stated, it was very well made. Every scene...every dialogues..every sound...is there for a purpose and when you watch it again, you finally see how beautifully it complemented one another. Like Da Ren's song lyrics and the rain and the scene and emotion of the scenes its at. Nothing is out of place. 

 

Meanwhile in this version, the last two episodes, all the key/meaningful scenes and dialogues are so out of place...it felt worthless. It felt like they just took the beautifully written lines of dialogues and threw in somewhere in the episode just to have it...without understanding the meaning of the scene or the line. The nokia confession....what was shown...the lines that RM listen to....was pretty much just Lu Fei restating that he still love her after all the consideration. I guess it could count as a "confession"...but in the context of the drama sequences it made no sense and no impact whatsoever. He didn't mention her marriage or anything...he left that in the "rain"...yes but the content of what is left behind.....is kinda pointless don't you think? If she is really set on getting marry...what is even the point of what he is saying. Nothing will change so why say it. Also RM had known his feeling for her for a couple of episodes already....it made no sense that just because he said he love her again through a magic nokia phone that now she finally realize she loves him too. That's why I feel like that scene, even though imitated from the original....feels really flat and pointless. Sorry it really disappointed me how they deliver the most iconic and meaningful scene/moment of the original in a way that it felt worthless. 

Maybe I just didn't understand it fully in the context that it's in and need to watch it over again a couple more times....but at the moment that's what it felt like. 

 

The scene that made the biggest impact on her realization in my opinion is her "dream" of Lu Fei removing her make up and she talks about how she is going crazy without contact with him for the last couple of days. It follows with her confession to her parents later about how she realize that she is actually ok with losing DYY but if she loses Lu Fei...she is gonna go crazy. She is already on the verge of insanity with that dream. 

 

You are right. Maybe because I loved the original too much and put a lot of this in the context of the original feeling and meaning...I might have overlook or miss the "meaning" of this version. It's the same story but the dynamic and theme of the two is very different. If I had watch this on it's own without the knowledge of the original, i wouldn't be as disappointed. Without comparing it to the original, the ending of this drama is actually pretty good. 

 

On the side note...Let's go back to Ai Rouman's dream for a bit. 

I'm gonna put this under the spoiler tab so those who don't want to see spoilers...

Don't click on it until you're done with the drama. 


 

Spoiler

 

Maybe it's just me...

But do you guys remember the scene of Ai Rouman's dream where Lu Fei removes her make up and they made out? 

And then she woke up the next morning...freaking out and asking her parents who removed her make up for her and her parent thought she is going crazy. They did said she removed it herself...but then they changed the subject. 

 

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Fast forward to the last episode before they really kiss. 

Ai Rouman said she had never kiss a friend and Lu Fei told her she already did. 

 

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And then the flashback scenes that follows in between their smooches.....actually have the scene where she was dreaming of him removing her make up for her. 

What if what she thought was a dream...actually happen. It's in a flashback. Flashbacks are memories....of things that actually happen. 

I can't think of any other scene where they kissed (except for his dream...but I'm positive that was a dream of his). 

That kiss (her dream) was actually the true causes for her realization.....all he had to do was tell her he loves her and kiss her. All these 12 years...it was as simple as that lol

Haha maybe i'm just reading too much into it. But it's fun to speculate haha. 

 

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