Chinese Title
愛的厘米
愛的厘米
[Recaps]
Cast
Tong Li Ya: Guan Yu Qing
Tong Da Wei: Xu Qing Feng
Han Tong Sheng: Guan Yong Nian (Dad Guan)
Xu Di: Xu Xiu Lan (Mom Xu)
Tan Jian Ci: Guan Zhen Lei
Zheng He Hui Zi: Li Bei
Crew
(Updated as of May 2022)
Director: Pan Yue
Scriptwriter: Nan Xi
Producer: Zou Wen
♠ Be Together (2021)
♠ Medical Examiner Dr. Qin: Silent Evidence (2021)
♠ Go Ahead (2020)
♠ Healer of Children (2020)
♠ The Stage (2020)
Also participated in: ♠ Royal Feast (2022) ♠ Find Yourself (2020) ♠ To Dear Myself (2020)
Reviews
Five (5/5)
Four (4/5)
Reviewer: cynlynn
(Copied and pasted from Recaps&Review)
Hearts: ♥♥
I highly recommend this, but not for the usual reasons. The Centimetre of Love is not beautifully romantic, or insanely funny or cunningly smart. It’s none of that. It’s just one wild ride with a toxic, toxic family. I can’t remember when was the last time I was this agitated for a drama. It makes my blood boil to a new high. It’s such an aggravatingly addictive drama and yet at the heart of this is two pure souls who truly deserve some proper loving.
The Toxic Dysfunctional Families. Xu Qing Feng is raised by a single mother. She (Xu Xiu Lan whom I call Xu Mom) has her son latched so tightly he can barely breathe. He can’t eat, sleep, text or breathe in peace without his mother monitoring his every move. Perhaps Xu Mom believes it is love, to give her son twice as much since he didn’t grow up with a father, but to Xu Qing Feng, it is torture. Because of his mother, he sees no future in marriage.
Our other main lead, Guan Yu Qing, is the opposite. She yearns for her father’s love, just a bit would be enough but even that is denied. She is the second daughter of the Guan family. She has an older sister and a younger brother. Her older sister has a different mother so she feels like the oldest in the family, the one who should be responsible especially if her brother causes trouble. That brother of hers makes me livid. He’s this living piece of volatile trash but Guan Yong Nian (Guan Dad) treats him like a precious treasure. This son of his can do no wrong. Guan Yu Qing, the awesome pilot, can just foot the bill; if one house is not enough then two houses it is. To Guan Dad, Guan Yu Qing is merely a tool to replenish the family’s resources so the brother can live as he please. Guan Dad’s polarizing favouritism drove me bonkers. How can a father unconditionally love a son who has continuously betrayed him but not the daughter who was always filial to him. 犯賤.
In the first half it felt near impossible for our main leads’ families to redeem themselves. I was set on never forgiving Xu Mom, Guan Dad and Guan Zhen Lei, but in the end I wept for all of them. It’s not that they’ve completely undid their wrongs. It’s just that they have changed. No matter how awful they were in the beginning if Guan Yu Qing and Xu Qing Feng are willing to give their family a chance and their family are willing to change, as a viewer I’m happy.
The “Villains". Although Tong Li Ya and Tong Da Wei are the main characters and they’re sweet together, it’s the evil, awful family members that make this drama aggravatingly addicting.
Xu Xiu Lan. This woman is a delight to hate. Despite how awful she is, her logic makes sense most of the time. To be honest, I find her amusing as long as she’s not suffocating her son. Surprisingly, she became the highlight of this drama for me whether she was hilariously battling her potential daughter-in-laws or cutely attending school. During her redemption arc, she was the cutest thing in this drama. To me, she made a satisfying redemption.
Guan Zhen Lei. I refuse to believe there’s a brother more appalling than this one. He’s a leech that sucks his sister dry and yet his father would dote him like he’s a baby – a 30 year old baby. Frankly, he’s an insult to babies. A crying, peeing, pooping, and shrieking baby would be a thousand times better than him. This guy cannot redeem himself. There’s no way. But he did. He really did. In the end he made me sob. Forgiving him might also be related to the fact that I really like this actor, Tan Jian Ci. His suffering face makes me laugh at times. I was constantly impressed at how well he was selling his awful character.
Lan Qiao Qiao. The home-wrecker. She doesn’t deserve any pity. She also has no redemption arc. It’s a good riddance to her, I just wish I got to see her fall from grace. Her character design was well crafted: guilt-free hate and a formidable opponent. I was always in awe at how cunning she was.
What I like about these toxic characters is that they’re relatable. It’s not like the crazy makjangs where there are hollering ladies who don’t make sense. These people have their flaws and it’s very human, albeit exaggerated. I don’t think it’s uncommon at all for a Xu Mom (a controlling mother), a Guan Zhen Lei (a lazy bloodsucking brother who plays victim all the time), and a Lan Qiao Qiao (a home-wrecker with obvious malicious intentions) to exist, hopefully not all together in one person’s life.
The Romance. It’s quite innocent. Xu Qing Feng is the man with too much love (perhaps not the right love) who pampers Guan Yu Qing with the love she had lacked all her life. They’re really stable once they’re together.
Verdict. If you can get over the unrealistic career outlooks of our main leads in the first few episodes and you have a decent blood pressure, this was an agitating worthwhile ride that made me laugh and cry a lot.
The Toxic Dysfunctional Families. Xu Qing Feng is raised by a single mother. She (Xu Xiu Lan whom I call Xu Mom) has her son latched so tightly he can barely breathe. He can’t eat, sleep, text or breathe in peace without his mother monitoring his every move. Perhaps Xu Mom believes it is love, to give her son twice as much since he didn’t grow up with a father, but to Xu Qing Feng, it is torture. Because of his mother, he sees no future in marriage.
Our other main lead, Guan Yu Qing, is the opposite. She yearns for her father’s love, just a bit would be enough but even that is denied. She is the second daughter of the Guan family. She has an older sister and a younger brother. Her older sister has a different mother so she feels like the oldest in the family, the one who should be responsible especially if her brother causes trouble. That brother of hers makes me livid. He’s this living piece of volatile trash but Guan Yong Nian (Guan Dad) treats him like a precious treasure. This son of his can do no wrong. Guan Yu Qing, the awesome pilot, can just foot the bill; if one house is not enough then two houses it is. To Guan Dad, Guan Yu Qing is merely a tool to replenish the family’s resources so the brother can live as he please. Guan Dad’s polarizing favouritism drove me bonkers. How can a father unconditionally love a son who has continuously betrayed him but not the daughter who was always filial to him. 犯賤.
In the first half it felt near impossible for our main leads’ families to redeem themselves. I was set on never forgiving Xu Mom, Guan Dad and Guan Zhen Lei, but in the end I wept for all of them. It’s not that they’ve completely undid their wrongs. It’s just that they have changed. No matter how awful they were in the beginning if Guan Yu Qing and Xu Qing Feng are willing to give their family a chance and their family are willing to change, as a viewer I’m happy.
The “Villains". Although Tong Li Ya and Tong Da Wei are the main characters and they’re sweet together, it’s the evil, awful family members that make this drama aggravatingly addicting.
Xu Xiu Lan. This woman is a delight to hate. Despite how awful she is, her logic makes sense most of the time. To be honest, I find her amusing as long as she’s not suffocating her son. Surprisingly, she became the highlight of this drama for me whether she was hilariously battling her potential daughter-in-laws or cutely attending school. During her redemption arc, she was the cutest thing in this drama. To me, she made a satisfying redemption.
Guan Zhen Lei. I refuse to believe there’s a brother more appalling than this one. He’s a leech that sucks his sister dry and yet his father would dote him like he’s a baby – a 30 year old baby. Frankly, he’s an insult to babies. A crying, peeing, pooping, and shrieking baby would be a thousand times better than him. This guy cannot redeem himself. There’s no way. But he did. He really did. In the end he made me sob. Forgiving him might also be related to the fact that I really like this actor, Tan Jian Ci. His suffering face makes me laugh at times. I was constantly impressed at how well he was selling his awful character.
Lan Qiao Qiao. The home-wrecker. She doesn’t deserve any pity. She also has no redemption arc. It’s a good riddance to her, I just wish I got to see her fall from grace. Her character design was well crafted: guilt-free hate and a formidable opponent. I was always in awe at how cunning she was.
What I like about these toxic characters is that they’re relatable. It’s not like the crazy makjangs where there are hollering ladies who don’t make sense. These people have their flaws and it’s very human, albeit exaggerated. I don’t think it’s uncommon at all for a Xu Mom (a controlling mother), a Guan Zhen Lei (a lazy bloodsucking brother who plays victim all the time), and a Lan Qiao Qiao (a home-wrecker with obvious malicious intentions) to exist, hopefully not all together in one person’s life.
The Romance. It’s quite innocent. Xu Qing Feng is the man with too much love (perhaps not the right love) who pampers Guan Yu Qing with the love she had lacked all her life. They’re really stable once they’re together.
Verdict. If you can get over the unrealistic career outlooks of our main leads in the first few episodes and you have a decent blood pressure, this was an agitating worthwhile ride that made me laugh and cry a lot.
I love the leads. I really liked Tong Da Wei's Xu Qing Feng. They had the cutest balcony dates. 😍 He was a great boyfriend - sweet, smart, and a bit awkward. He was more of an open book than her.
As for Xu Qing Feng's mother - I couldn't stand her!! At some point, I just skipped over some of her scenes because she was being so disparaging/ hysterical/grating. She's definitely got a mental illness.
Lan Qiao Qiao.....wow. XQF's mother deserved having her world fall apart for meddling in her son's affairs. It broke her and finally humbled her. It wasn't until later that I could forgive her. Thankful she didn't ruin her only son's life. I felt so relieved when she finally stopped trying to control his life and the couple's lives. (I felt so sad for him when I realized why he couldn't date nor get married.)
I hated Guan Yu Qing's brother. You're right - there's really no brother worse than this one. But those last 10 eps... I didn't really expect Zhen Lei to have much character development.. But he finally hit rock bottom and no one was going to bat for him anymore. I cried when XQF told him he'd help save 17 people in 4 days. I cried when I saw how much he believed in himself to be better. My heart broke for him when I saw Beibei's baby bump. (I was to remember how much time had passed, who the father was, etc.) I cried when BeiBei told him THREE times that was he was the baby's father (and when her parents finally barged and just told him point blank) and when he told her that he really, really loved her. I never doubted that he loved her but he just couldn't fend for himself or for her before. He really needed to grow up and be a man but his father enabled him to be so much less.
GYQ's father was a real piece of work, too. I'm not sure what it was about Zhen Lei but their father really forgot how to love GYQ (and just had her as the primary provider somehow) for so long. I could not believe it when he asked her to delay the wedding, indefinitely, for her brother. I didn't feel too sorry for him when she did cut him out of her life. I'm happy that they did work things out though and I wish her mother would've done more than just watch her husband nearly ruin all of their children's lives.
When Guan Duo Yan asked for the divorce multiple times - I was proud of her. It's not easy being a single mother but she wanted to free herself. I know that her father was partially to blame for the deterioration of her marriage but her husband cheated on her and resented her and her entire family.
What happened to Sun Xiao Bai?? He was in some crucial scenes and then just disappeared. Don't think I didn't notice Cui Yi - she just brightens up every series she's in!
Stuff I could've done without: CGI is pretty hilarious. Her "flight" scenes... lol The ending after their wedding, with Wuhan/COVID... really?? I wanted the series to end with the wedding for once. There were some real draggy eps in the latter half of the series.
I can only watch so much of family trauma dramas. It was frustrating, infuriating, heart-breaking, and just a great story about family, love, and everything in between. I wouldn't re-warch this for quite some time.
As for Xu Qing Feng's mother - I couldn't stand her!! At some point, I just skipped over some of her scenes because she was being so disparaging/ hysterical/grating. She's definitely got a mental illness.
Lan Qiao Qiao.....wow. XQF's mother deserved having her world fall apart for meddling in her son's affairs. It broke her and finally humbled her. It wasn't until later that I could forgive her. Thankful she didn't ruin her only son's life. I felt so relieved when she finally stopped trying to control his life and the couple's lives. (I felt so sad for him when I realized why he couldn't date nor get married.)
I hated Guan Yu Qing's brother. You're right - there's really no brother worse than this one. But those last 10 eps... I didn't really expect Zhen Lei to have much character development.. But he finally hit rock bottom and no one was going to bat for him anymore. I cried when XQF told him he'd help save 17 people in 4 days. I cried when I saw how much he believed in himself to be better. My heart broke for him when I saw Beibei's baby bump. (I was to remember how much time had passed, who the father was, etc.) I cried when BeiBei told him THREE times that was he was the baby's father (and when her parents finally barged and just told him point blank) and when he told her that he really, really loved her. I never doubted that he loved her but he just couldn't fend for himself or for her before. He really needed to grow up and be a man but his father enabled him to be so much less.
GYQ's father was a real piece of work, too. I'm not sure what it was about Zhen Lei but their father really forgot how to love GYQ (and just had her as the primary provider somehow) for so long. I could not believe it when he asked her to delay the wedding, indefinitely, for her brother. I didn't feel too sorry for him when she did cut him out of her life. I'm happy that they did work things out though and I wish her mother would've done more than just watch her husband nearly ruin all of their children's lives.
When Guan Duo Yan asked for the divorce multiple times - I was proud of her. It's not easy being a single mother but she wanted to free herself. I know that her father was partially to blame for the deterioration of her marriage but her husband cheated on her and resented her and her entire family.
What happened to Sun Xiao Bai?? He was in some crucial scenes and then just disappeared. Don't think I didn't notice Cui Yi - she just brightens up every series she's in!
Stuff I could've done without: CGI is pretty hilarious. Her "flight" scenes... lol The ending after their wedding, with Wuhan/COVID... really?? I wanted the series to end with the wedding for once. There were some real draggy eps in the latter half of the series.
I can only watch so much of family trauma dramas. It was frustrating, infuriating, heart-breaking, and just a great story about family, love, and everything in between. I wouldn't re-warch this for quite some time.
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