Review: Scent of Love (Liu Jia Xi, Wang Xuan,Xu Bin,Song Yi Xiong)
Another drama review! That’s because I have more time to spare recently. What’s a better way to utilize your spare time if it’s not watching a random Chinese drama? When 2022 started, I told myself that I will only watch 2022 dramas and forget about old dramas because 2022 has great dramas to offer. Scent of Love is one of the dramas all of us must watch. I’ll keep this review short just like the drama itself, I take it as an appetizer before I watch Immortal Samsara.
First Impressions.
One thing I learnt from watching mini dramas/ short dramas is that they always have good stories to tell. Scent of Love only has 14 episodes, meaning that I have already watched the first part of the drama when I wrote this. Did it have a good story introduction? Of course, like you see someone getting killed within the first 1 minute of the episode.
While you at it, the female lead gets you hooked on the drama by stating that she has spent 300 years trying to save the guy but he kept dying lifetime after lifetime. You start to wonder, “is there a time loop?” This is no spoiler, I’m sure you read the synopsis. As the episode keeps running, they only give one or two clues. They didn’t just drop everything on us in the first episodes even though they only have 14 episodes.
Storyline.
There’s absolutely nothing interesting about the storyline, it was weak and I didn’t entertain it. It was interesting at first with the ‘I have been searching for him for 300 years’, it gave me hope for a better story. 90% of the story it’s just about Wan Niang and Fang Mo chasing after one another, 7% is the interesting love story of Fang Yuren and Lan Ze and then the remaining 3% is about Wan Niang’s past. I know that it’s just a 14 episode drama but the story could have been gold if it was well executed. We had the black cat demon saga, Fang Mo’s reincarnation, the man in the dark and the master’s death, they just needed more preparations.
Characters and Chemistry.
In the beginning, I was a fan of Wan Niang and Fang Mo. Their love story was progressing well until Lan Ze and Fang Yuren came into the picture. Lan Ze cross dressing, Yuren falling for her and he starts to think he’s sort of ‘gay’ if its appropriate to say. It was fun watching the comedic interaction between them especially after they fell in love but won’t admit it.
Wan Niang and Fang Mo were the ‘It couple’, they started well but they began to bore me as I kept watching the drama. Their interaction was dull, in South Africa we’d say ‘It was just Nje’! The chemistry was there but their segments looked like a copy and paste of the previous scenes. I started to skip some of their scenes whenever they’re flirting. Fang Yuren carried the whole drama on his shoulders with his comedic scenes. Let’s not even debate about it, most people would’ve dropped the drama if he wasn’t there.
Conclusion.
It’s a nightmare to start a drama and have to wait for the next episode, you begin to lose interest and will eventually drop it. It would have been better if they dropped two episodes per day. One thing I love about the drama is the ending. I was impressed when they ended the drama during the current timeline (modern world), considering the identity of Wan Niang and her friends. You begin to paint a picture in your mind and questions keep popping. It’s really crazy how they managed to produce a good drama like this one with less than 20 characters, excluding the extras. The drama would have been trash if it had more than 20 episodes. Watch it or not, it’s totally upto you plus you won’t have to wait for new episodes like I did. I’m giving it 7/10 ratings. I would have given it more higher ratings but I feel like I’ve been robbed because they didn’t show Wan Niang’s true form that much.
Anonymous
I agree, they could have developed the storyline a lot more, even in 14 episodes. Could have been a contender.
1 comment