Well-Intended Love 奈何BOSS要娶我 Review

★★★☆☆

The 2019 Chinese drama starring Xu Kai-Cheng as Ling Yi-Zhou, Simona (Shuang) Wang as Xia Lin, Ian Yi as Chu Yan, Huang Qian-Shou as Wen-Li, Yang Hao-Ming as Nan Jin-Tian, and Liu Jia-Xi as Jia Fei. Directed by Wu Qiang with 20 episodes, running 45 minutes each. Also known as How My Boss Wants to Marry Me, or Boss Wants to Marry Me.

Brief synopsis: Xia Lin, a third-rate actress, finds out she has leukemia but the only potential bone marrow donor happens to be a successful corporate CEO named Ling Yi-Zhou. She hunts him down to get him to agree to the transplant surgery, but Ling Yi-Zhou has only one strange condition: that Xia Lin marry him. They marry privately, much to the confusion of the people around them, but as Xia Lin spends more time with Ling Yi-Zhou he seems to be serious about their relationship. Although Ling Yi-Zhou appears perfectly caring as a husband, it feels like he’s keeping secrets from Xia Lin. Too bad she’s too curious to let it slide!

This drama starts out with a good idea. The contract-marriage theme never seems to go out of style. From the beginning, we also see a lot of character diversity that keeps us watching. But as we make our way through the episode list, we start to recognize the drama’s weaker points. The plot isn’t very strong. In fact, the show is such an emotional roller coaster that we can’t understand half of the plot events. Reminded me of a morning soap opera!

That said, the drama isn’t very deep. There’s nothing that would make you stop and think, no concepts to ponder. This drama is better suited for those times when you can’t really pay attention but need something to bide the time. Plot events may be exciting or funny, but it’s not likely that you’ll get a deeper drama experience that will speak to your heart.

Character development is minimal overall. We expect Ling Yi-Zhou to become more acclimated to Xia Lin’s lifestyle and personality, but it’s more like she adjusts to him. And yet by the ending they’re supposed to be the only characters we really care about. This was just a little disappointing because I started to like the secondary characters more. Chu Yan seemed a lot more fun than Yi-Zhou, and I found the chemistry between Jia Fei and Wen Li adorable!

Although there is plenty of effort to amplify the “rich guy” trope around Ling Yi-Zhou, I wish more effort was put into the plot. It’s not that I lost interest, but I got tired of the same antics about 2/3rds of the way through the 20 episodes. I stopped watching. Even if the drama has a good theme to begin with, it wasn’t executed well because of low budget and a weak plot. Any one of us could have helped write a better development.

And yet, it’s not the worst drama I’ve ever seen either. 3/5 stars.