Frankly speaking, I didn’t have very high expectations for Love Unexpected (不可思议的爱情). I was merely watching this for the rom-com factor after the emotional roller-coaster The Wolf put me under. But, unfortunately, this proved to be a real struggle to complete. It will have its fans but this is definitely not for me. My Love Unexpected review below will explain why. I’m just thankful that it is a short rom-com that I was able to endure it till the end. Otherwise, this would be one of those very rare occasions that I dropped a drama once I have begun.
My rating: 6/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Romance
Aired: January 2021
Images Credit: MGTV
The Cast Of Love Unexpected
- Kris Fan Shi Qi as Xu Nuo
- Judy Qi Yan Di as Ke Si Yi
- Wang Xu Dong as Zhou Yan Xin
- Zha Jie as Liang Zhi Xiao
- Shen Yao as Lin Wen
- Zhang Chu Xuan as Li Yun Zhu
- Shi Rui as You Wei Wei
- Shi Yu as Li Da
- Wang Jing as Wu Dong De
Main Characters
Xu Nuo
Xu Nuo is an investor who specializes in mergers and acquisitions. He is a cold man who is detached from his emotions after the death of his mother 3 years earlier. Hence, he is unable to smile, laugh, or cry. This makes him very clinical in his assessments and his decisions are always made with profits in mind.
Ke Si Yi
Si Yi is a fresh graduate and daughter of a combat sports coach. She has a warm and bubbly personality who is passionate about combat sports and her father’s team, Kuanghu. Si Yi can be naive but protective of the ones she loves.
Supporting Characters
Zhou Yan Xin
Yan Xin is Xu Nuo’s best friend and lawyer. He knows all of Xu Nuo’s secrets and is his adviser on love matters. Yan Xin is an easy-going man. His love interest is Lin Wen.
Liang Zhi Xiao
Zhi Xiao is a producer of variety shows at a media company. He is also Si Yi’s childhood friend and is secretly in love with her. Zhi Xiao is protective of Si Yi and would willingly take risks to help her.
Lin Wen & You Wei Wei
Lin Wen and Wei Wei are members of the Kuanghu team and also Si Yi’s good friends.
Li Yun Zhu
Yun Zhu is Si Yi’s adoptive sister and the best fighter in the Kuanghu team. She is an angry lady as she doesn’t feel that she belongs to the family since she is adopted. She perceives his adoptive father as being bias towards Si Yi. Yun Zhu is also secretly in love with Zhi Xiao.
Li Da
Li Da is Si Yi’s father and the combat sports coach of the Kuanghu team. Yun Zhu is his adopted daughter. Li Da is a strict but loving father.
Wu Dong De
Wu Dong De is a sly businessman and Chairman of Hege Media. He is also Xu Nuo’s business rival.
Synopsis
Xu Nuo is a cold and emotionless man after losing his mother in an accident. He has been undergoing brainwave psychotherapy with a volunteer partner although their identities are kept a secret from one another.
Xu Nuo is also a successful investor who is into mergers and acquisitions. He has just taken over Hege Media which owns Kuanghu Stadium and the combat sports team. His intention is to destroy the stadium and disband the team to build a mall. Si Yi is the daughter of the Kuanghu team coach and wants to protect the team. So, she applies to be Xu Nuo’s bodyguard to try to get close to him and find out about his plans. In the process, she cooperates with Wu Dong De who is Xu Nuo’s enemy and fellow shareholder of Hege Media.
Unbeknownst to Si Yi, she is also Xu Nuo’s brainwave psychotherapy partner and both of them start to experience each other’s physical pain and feelings. They also gradually fall in love with each other. But will the cold Xu Nuo admit his feelings for Si Yi? What will happen to their relationship since Si Yi has betrayed Xu Nuo by cooperating with Wu Dong De?
Love Unexpected Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
Love Unexpected has a happy ending. In the last episode, Si Yi risks her life to protect Xu Nuo when Wu Dong De tries to run them down with his truck. Xu Nuo has outwitted Wu Dong De in the fight for control of Hege Media which caused the latter to lose everything. Hence, Wu Dong De wants revenge. Si Yi ends up being knocked down when she pushes Xu Nuo out of harm’s way. She is in a coma after the accident. Xu Nuo takes care of her until she awakens and hugs him in the last scene.
There are 2 short episodes or extras for those who are interested in a proposal and wedding scene. There are 3 couples in the wedding scene and they are Si Yi-Xu Nuo, Lin Wen-Yan Xin, and Yun Zhu-Zhi Xiao. They don’t add anything extra to the plot other than to satisfy viewers’ cravings for a sweet ending. Hence, even if you don’t get to watch them, you are not missing anything important.
When Did Si Yi And Xu Nuo Get Together?
Si Yi indirectly admits that she likes Xu Nuo in Episode 12. On the other hand, Xu Nuo admits to Yan Xin that he has feelings for Si Yi at the end of Episode 14. When Zhi Xiao proposes to Si Yi in Episode 16, Xu Nuo finally makes his feelings known and they officially become a couple. But Xu Nuo starts pushing Si Yi away again in Episode 21 as he is afraid Wu Dong De will target her to exact revenge against him. Si Yi is miserable until she realizes why Xu Nuo is doing so towards the end of the drama.
Why Xu Nuo Can Feel Si Yi’s Pain?
Xu Nuo and Si Yi are brainwave psychotherapy partners. During a session, a malfunction in the equipment causes things to go haywire. Xu Nuo ends up feeling Si Yi’s physical pain while she can feel his emotions. This is where some of the comical moments will appear as Xu Nuo will be in pain each time Si Yi hurts herself or even when she has her monthly period.
Why Yun Zhu Hates Si Yi?
Yun Zhu is simply envious of Si Yi as she thinks the latter has what she wants without needing to make any effort. She loves Zhi Xiao who has feelings for Si Yi instead. Yun Zhu also thinks her adoptive father is bias towards Si Yi who gets to go to college while she has to train hard and compete.
In the end, they settle their differences. Yun Zhu learns that her adoptive father wasn’t bias but thought she loves combat sports which was why he pushed her down the path. She even tries to matchmake Zhi Xiao with Si Yi when the latter has been dumped by Xu Nuo. But Zhi Xiao realizes Yun Zhu has always been there for him and chooses to be with her in the last episode. He surprises her by accompanying her to go for her training abroad.
Love Unexpected Review – A Struggle To Complete!
Love Unexpected is the type of drama that sucks you in because the of the hot and romantic short clips. But once you get in, you’d just wish you have chosen something else to watch. The drama is not grounded in reality which is fine because many rom-coms such as The Night Of The Comet 2 also has an element of fantasy. However, the plot is infuriating because the female character is extremely naive and desperate for the man’s love. The way the guy chooses to protect the girl in the end is also overused in romance dramas.
While being naive can be cute in rom-coms such as Perfect And Casual, Si Yi’s naivety extends to betrayal when she cooperates with her boyfriend’s business rival which is a real turn-off for me. Although she has her reasons, it is just hard to identify with her actions. She chooses to continue to deceive Xu Nuo for some time rather than to trust him which makes it hard for me to love this couple.
Comical And Yet Boring
There is a fair share of comical moments in the drama especially in the beginning. The sound effects magnify the laugh points. But the constant denial of the main leads’ feelings for each other gets played over and over again that boredom sets in after a dozen episodes or so. Perhaps the female character’s naivety and betrayal fail to make me feel invested in the romance and that contribute to the boredom.
I guess Love Unexpected could be a fun drama to watch if you don’t really mind the flaws in the female lead. If you give her a lot more leeways than I do and don’t overthink about the plot, it can make you laugh with its lighthearted flavor. But for me, I just can’t get into it because there is only so much stupidity and deception that I can take in a main character of a rom-com which is very different from a business-focused drama like You Complete Me.
Great Chemistry Is The Only Bright Spark
If there is a single factor that saves the drama from being unwatchable, it has to be the great chemistry between the leads. In fact, Judy Qi’s chemistry with Kris Fan is much better in Love Unexpected than with Derek Chang in Love The Way You Are. I have not bothered to check if the dating rumors of Judy Qi and Kris Fan is true or otherwise but they did get the acting and chemistry right in the rom-com. It is just a pity that the story and character development are too mediocre to take full advantage of the leads’ great chemistry.
Kris Fan’s stern and long face fit the cold and emotionless Xu Nuo but it also has a comical expression when the scenes are supposed to be funny. Judy Qi is cutesy but you don’t really feel that her acting is exaggerated to the point of annoyance. When you put them together, they make a good-looking couple on-screen and their interactions are easy on the eyes. Their kisses look natural as they don’t hold back during such scenes. It kind of reminds me of the couple in Love Is Sweet and Love Designer. So, the chemistry and kisses are something you could look forward to if you decide to watch this rom-com after all.
My Verdict – Don’t Waste Your Time
Rom-coms are a dime a dozen. Hence, there are definitely better offerings that you can pick instead of Love Unexpected. Normally, I don’t explicitly tell people to avoid a particular title outright because we all have different tastes and preferences. But Love Unexpected is simply too frustrating to watch with the way the female character has been packaged to fit the mediocre storyline. I know many romance dramas rely on chemistry and sweetness rather than the plot to worm their way into the viewers’ heart and Forever Love is a clear example. However, Love Unexpected fails to capitalize on that great chemistry because the female character’s actions simply lack common sense at times.
Therefore, for this Love Unexpected review, I can only give it a 6/10 score. I can’t relate to the plot and the female character. It has neither the warmth of Go Go Squid 2: Dt Appledog’s Time nor the fluffiness of My Little Happiness. Thus, it is hard for me to recommend a watch for this one although the beginning might not seem so bad. Unless you are a sucker for a cold male lead kind of romances, I would suggest you drop this for something more inspiring. Alternatively, you could catch the first 10 episodes and then fast forward the rest!
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