April 11, 2020

The Love Equations | Recap and Review

The Love Equations
The boy likes the girl. Why? I don’t know.
Notable Actors/Actresses
Gong Jun: Zhao Fan Zhou
Liu Ren Yu: Zhou Xiao
Li Ge YangCai Ya Si
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Wu Xue YingZhao Qian Qian (+Author)
Chinese Title
致我們甜甜的小美滿
NetworkTencent Video
Year2020
Episodes: 13/27
First Impression: 1.5/5

Mini Recaps

[Ep1] Zhou Xiao is late for her first day of campus orientation and Zhao Fan Zhou is the orientation leader who waited for her for over an hour. That's the beginning of their twisted fate. From here on she keeps appearing wherever he is. Her immediate emotional changeover from crying to laughing catches his attention. First episode is honestly boring and I don't like the girl. She's too ditsy in a non-likable way.
[Ep2] Zhao Fan Zhou seems to be in love already. His heart flutters when she smiles at him. And then when it's his turn to smile at her, she shivers in fear. Fear? From that beautiful face.
[Ep3] New character: a narcissistic badminton star who is Zhao Fan Zhou's roommate. He starts a bickering relationship with Zhu Lu, Zhou Xiao's roommate. These four have an awkward meeting in the cafeteria where Zhou Xiao has something to ask his senior, Zhao Fan Zhou.
To me, Gong Yun's face is made for haughty roles so I'm not used to seeing him shy. Zhou Xiao and Zhao Fan Zhou work together to find the hacker. It was actually Zhou Xiao's childhood friend, Cai Ya Si, who hacked the school computer to get back at this girl for bullying Zhou Xiao.

[Ep4] We're learning more about Zhao Fan Zhou. He works at the library. Zhou Xiao tells him it doesn't suit her. But it does. He likes the job because it's quiet. It's the only time he can ignore his mother's calls without feeling guilty. I think his mom has depression. Just listening to bits of his mother's phone call is exhausting for me. While he's working, Zhou Xiao is messing up the orders of his books but he finds it amusing. He finds her asleep but instead of waking her up, he's lifting her hair to see her sleeping face.
ZFZ calls ZX and tells her to save his number. She doesn't understand why. He's quick to find an excuse and reminds her they're in the same club.
[Ep5] ZFZ is trying to pursue her but she's utterly unobservant, When he asks her for dinner, she thinks she has to pay. When he picks her up for the date, she thinks he's trying to save transportation fee. He takes her to a fancy restaurant, she thinks he's out to get her money. At dinner, he'll eat the carrots she picks out. She tells him when she was small she said she would marry whoever ate her carrots for her. That's why he ate it. But she thinks he loves carrots. In fact, he too hates it. Everything she does is cute to him. Even when she was slow at mental math, he would snicker on the side. Why does he like her? 
[Ep6] ZFZ accidentally kisses her forehead. Is this drama poorly edited or these two just have no chemistry?  Maybe both. Other things he would do for her: take the window seat just to catch a glimpse of her during class; buy a book for her but hide that fact by making it look like a library code with a barcode and everything. 

[Ep7] Boring. Zhou Xiao is so dumb.
[Ep8] Boring. ZFZ convinces her to work with him at the library.
[Ep9] Boring. Probably the first time ZX notices how handsome ZFZ is 😔. Cai Ya Si also confesses. But the oh so dumb ZX doesn't get it (much to ZFZ's delight).
[Ep10] Boring. They find a lost cat.
[Ep11] Better. ZFZ is too busy to reply ZX and now she finally feels his presence. This is in stark contrast to Cai Ya Si. He's also gone but she's not thinking of him at all. When Cai Ya Si's misses his chance it becomes ZFZ's opportunity.

[Ep12] CYS had given her a Detective Conan stuffy which had a QR code sticker which upon scanned would have been an audio recording of his love confession towards her. Aw. However, Cai Ya Si has permanently missed his chance.
It's the end of the year holiday and everyone returns to their hometown except ZFZ (aw). ZFZ wants to pick her up when she returns to school but she's too nervous to reply. She sends him the wrong text which makes everything right. Now ZFZ knows she likes him too. He no longer has anything to fear and pursues her straight on. He'll blatantly ask her why his name is set as "Do Not Pick Up" when he clearly knows it 's because she's too nervous to hear his voice. He also doesn't have to eat her carrots anymore because he can just tell her he was jealous.
[Ep13] Doesn't ZX like him too, why is she avoiding ZFZ like a plaque? It's enough that he has to lock her in a room for him to confess. This is such an awkward and cringe-y drama from accepting the confession to asking to be fed to holding hands. Alright drama, this is the last straw.
[Ep14]
[Ep15]
[Ep16]
[Ep17]
[Ep18]
[Ep19]
[Ep20]
[Ep21]
[Ep22]
[Ep23]
[Ep24]
[Ep25]
[Ep26]
[Ep27]


Remarks


[First Impression (Ep1-6)]: Sister drama of Put Your Head on My Shoulder and A Love so Beautiful. As much as I wanted to like this, it's mediocre. The heroine's imagination scenes are such a bore. I had to force myself to finish watching these episodes hoping it would get better at one point. It didn't.

[Actors and Actresses]: Gong Jun and his female lead in "Flavour, It's Yours" have different dramas airing on the exact same date (Song Yi Ren is in Best of You in My Mind). I'm unaccustomed to this soft Gong Jun. His character doesn't match his face. And his tonality is odd. 

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