I have had Crush on my plan to watch list for a while. It normally is not a drama I usually go for but so many people liked it when it aired, I decided to try it out. I really wish it could have turned out differently. This drama had some FANTASTIC things about and other parts of the drama INFURIATED me! Who has seen this drama? What did you think of Crush? You can watch Crush on the iQIYI app (at least where I am). If you are interested in this drama even after my review, I would love to hear what you think of it.
*Now as per usual with any review I write, I will not be including any spoilers in this review.*
A QUICK SYNOPSIS OF CRUSH - Sang Wu Yan is a college senior and wants to work in radio. A mysterious songwriter who has the name "Yi Jin" is her idol. She meets Su Nian Qin who is visually impaired. They become close and get romantically involved. Then tragedy strikes and life gets in the way. Will these two find each other again and get their happy ending?
Overall, I had high hopes for this drama. Maybe that was my mistake. I went into this drama thinking I would enjoy it because so many other people did when it aired. At first, during the first half of this drama, I did enjoy this drama quite a bit. It was during the second half of this drama where my problems with it began. I wonder if other people who have seen this drama had this same issue as me?
WHAT I LOVED ABOUT THIS DRAMA
THE MAIN COUPLE - One of my favorite things about this drama was the main couple. I loved watching their relationship. I loved watching them together. How they supported each other and how they navigated life together. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE DRAMA! Their relationship in the second half of the drama had some issues for me but I liked them together so much, I can overlook some things. I will still say what I did not like in their relationship in the WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER section of this review. I cheered them on and loved this couple being together.
THE ACTING - The acting was great in this drama. I think one of the reasons why I loved this couple so much together is because the actors made me believe this relationship. They portrayed the emotions so well and had great chemistry together. I am sure it wasn't easy for Evan Lin to play a visually impaired man but I was so impressed by his performance. All the actors portrayed their characters great. They made us care for them and they portrayed the emotions of the characters quite well.
THE PRODUCTION - I have to give some props to the production. I am not visually impaired obviously but you can tell that the production did their research. They had so many details in this drama to portray how living as a blind person might be. The production just had details in the drama that you wouldn't think of. I liked that that production payed so much attention to how they were going to portray this character and get it right.
THE CINEMATOGRAPHY - On the same note that I was mentioning above, the production even used cinematography to portray some unique and clever camera perspectives from their visually impaired character. I thought that was a nice touch and supported the emotions being portrayed in these certain scenes or parts of the drama. It was an unexpected treat. Overall, the cinematography was beautiful to watch and added a nice touch to the overall drama.
THE OSTs - I LOVED THE OSTS FROM THIS DRAMA! Both leads contributed to the soundtrack with Evan Lin singing multiple songs. I love when the cast does this because I think it adds something extra to the drama itself. Both of the stars have beautiful voices so it was nice to hear them throughout the drama. I thought the OSTs supported the drama nicely. It added a little extra emotion to the scenes where the songs were played which is what you want with an OST.
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER
THE PLOT - The writer did us dirty with this one. I LOVED the first half of this drama and then it just went downhill during the second half. It got better near the end but my experience was already tainted by then. I get adding drama to the story. I mean drama moves the plot forward BUT MAN THIS DRAMA WAS BOGGED DOWN IT! It was like one horrible thing happening after another for a bit in the middle of this drama. I don't think the plot needed this many obstacles. It would have been fine with one or two. What made me even more angry though was the female lead's mother! She was AWFUL and then the plot just decided to miraculously forgive her and not mention it again. The plot never talked about ANY of these obstacles in the end. They were all sort of swept under the rug. All to just get a happy ending.
THE LEADS - While I loved the leads together as a couple, I also had some problems with them. Both of the characters were SO STUBBORN which made them do stupid stuff and created obstacles in the relationship. Again, I get adding drama to the plot but I was SO frustrated with both of the leads in this drama sometimes. Some of their actions were questionable in this drama as well. The writers did not portray these characters and their actions in a good light some times.
NO COMMUNICATION - One of the major problems this couple had in their relationship was they did not communicate. I know this is a common trope with romance dramas. It creates drama and a problem which then the couple resolves later. This is the exact opposite that happened in this drama. Instead of the couple splitting and coming back together and talking everything out, no, the writers added EVEN MORE crazy plot twists to create more drama at the very end. This made the last 2 episodes seem very rushed and muddled the ending. I don't think this couple ever aired out their issues and just became this happy couple in the end. I thought that all could have been done differently. It just irked me that this couple never really sat down and talked about their issues.
SUPPORT CHARACTERS - I saw no point for the side characters or side storylines in this drama. While I loved the female friendships and the family relationships that that male lead had with his aunt, this drama didn't need them. ALSO, WHAT THE WRITERS DID TO THESE SIDE CHARACTERS IN THE END WAS JUST BAD!! One couple just completely disappeared and never came back. The writers just used these side characters to push along the story or add drama to it and not in a good way. The choices the writers made to especially harm the female lead which again, they just added more and more negative things in her life, I thought was very unnecessary. The side characters just took the plot nowhere and was not needed, especially according to the writers of this drama with the second half of this drama. Why even have side characters and plotlines in a drama when you are not going to use them AT ALL!?
Rating: 7/10 (Streaming on iQIYI now)
If you are curious about my reaction to the drama IN REAL TIME - here is my tweets/watch thread for the drama
AND THAT IS MY REVIEW OF CRUSH!!
Did you watch Crush?
What did you think of the drama?
Is it on your list to watch?
Will you watch this drama now after reading my review?
WE NOW ALSO HAVE A DISCORD SO TALK TO US ON THERE AS WELL!?