Midsummer Is Full Of Love Review

Chinese rom-coms like Midsummer Is Full Of Love (仲夏满天心) are a dime a dozen. Many of them are average productions bordering on the mediocre. At times, you will be able to flush out a gem among them. I was also hoping that this particular rom-com starring Timmy Xu and Yang Chao Yue would prove to be an exception, but alas, it is not meant to be. Well, at least it isn’t for me as I find it to be somewhat lacking. My Midsummer Is Full Of Love review below will have the details.

My rating: 6/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Romance
Aired: August 2020
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of Midsummer Is Full Of Love

• Yang Chao Yue as Luo Tian Ran
• Timmy Xu Wei Zhou as Jin Ze Yi
• Kira Shi Meng Jiao as Tiffany
• Leo Li Jia Ming as Yun Shu
• Jiang Zi Xin as Jin Xiao Qin
• Liu Miao Lin as Lin Che
• Zi Jian as A Tai
• Cao Wei Yu as Jin Wen / Director Jin
• Jack Sun Ke Jie as Ling Xi Quan
• Tiffany Zhong Qi as Meng Meng

Main Characters

Luo Tian Ran

Tian Ran is a waitress and an amateur songwriter. She is independent-minded and has her own dreams. She is also a forgiving and loyal friend. Tian Ran has no family after the death of her father but remains cheerful and optimistic. She had a very close bond with her late father.

Jin Ze Yi

Ze Yi is a pop idol with lots of fans. He can be willful but is determined when it comes to his career. Ze Yi has a strained relationship with his father who is against his decision to be an entertainer. But he has a mother and grandmother who are more supportive of him.

Supporting Characters

Tiffany

Tiffany is Ze Yi’s agent. They have been partners for 7 years and shares a close relationship. Tiffany is a resourceful and capable agent who has contributed a lot to Ze Yi’s success. She is secretly in love with him.

Yun Shu

Yun Shu is a doctor and student of Ze Yi’s father. He is a polite but serious man with an interest in music. He and Tian Ran share the same music taste. Yun Shu has an insensitivity to pain which is a congenital disease. He yearns for the girl who showed him kindness when he was a kid.

Jin Xiao Qin

Xiao Qin is Tian Ran’s closest friend. However, she is also a manipulative and opportunistic friend when it suits her. Xiao Qin helps out Lin Che at his food truck and also sells cosmetics and accessories online. She is in debt because of her younger brother.

Lin Che

Lin Che is also Tian Ran’s good friend. He runs a food truck near Tiffany’s office. Lin Che is an honest and kind man with loads of patience. He has a crush on Tiffany.

A Tai

A Tai is Ze Yi’s loyal assistant and Tiffany’s subordinate. His duties include protecting Ze Yi from fans and keeping an eye on his movements to prevent negative publicity.

Jin Wen / Director Jin

Director Jin is a doctor and owner of a hospital. He has a serious demeanor and is a strict father to Ze Yi. His wish is for his son to be a doctor and helps him to run the hospital. As a result, both father and son find it hard to communicate with each other.

Ling Xi Quan

Xi Quan is a pop idol. He is always jealous of Ze Yi’s success and wants to be better than him.

Meng Meng

Meng Meng is a costume designer. Her family and Ze Yi’s family are old friends. She has just returned from abroad and is keen on Ze Yi but he has no interest in her. She ends up befriending Xi Quan.

Synopsis

Tian Ran is living in a nice house by the sea which is left to her by her late architect father. During a drunken spell, she signed a power of attorney to give her best friend, Xiao Qin, the right to the house. Xiao Qin sold the house to Ze Yi to pay off debts taken by her younger brother.

Ze Yi is a pop idol who is constantly being harassed with questions about his love life. Due to the pressure and frustration, he impulsively announces that Tian Ran is his fiancee during a function. This leads to a proposal for a 1-year contract marriage between the 2 parties. Ze Yi needs Tian Ran to stop all the gossips and unwanted attention on his private life while she wants back the house.

As the bicker away while living together in the same house, they also start to fall in love with each other. However, misunderstandings arise when both of them thought the other is in love with someone else. The secret of their contract marriage also gets exposed eventually to cause them trouble. Will they end up together after all the obstacles thrown their way?

Midsummer Is Full Of Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Midsummer Is Full Of Love has a happy ending after all the difficulties faced by the main couple. When their contract marriage is leaked by Ze Yi’s rival, Tian Ran willingly takes the blame when Tiffany asks her to consider doing so. She quietly leaves Ze Yi after the announcement because she wants to protect him and his career. But Ze Yi is unwilling to let Tian Ran’s reputation to be stained. He comes out and tells the press that he is the one responsible for the mess and that he loves Tian Ran. Thereafter, he takes a break from the entertainment circle.

Ze Yi doesn’t know where Tian Ran has gone to and they live apart for a year. They reunite after Yun Shu bumps into Tian Ran by chance and informs Ze Yi. In the end, Ze Yi proposes to Tian Ran and they get married for real this time. He also returns to singing with his charity concert. The slight twist in the very last scene of the final episode is Tian Ran was adopted by her late father when he found her abandoned outside his house. For a full drama recap, you can check out the Midsummer Is Full Of Love episode summary.

Does Yun Shu Love Tian Ran?

Yes, Yun Shu loves Tian Ran but knows he can only be a friend to her. Tian Ran is the girl from his childhood that he has always yearned for. Yun Shu didn’t directly confess his feelings to Tian Ran but left enough hints for her to figure out who he is and how he feels. He hopes to see her on the date and at the place where they first met as kids. But when she didn’t turn up, the answer is clear. Yun Shu also moves on. When they meet again after a year, they remain as just friends. Yun Shu also has someone else with him whom he introduces to Tian Ran.

Tiffany’s Feelings For Ze Yi

Tiffany does have feelings for Ze Yi initially which is why she is uneasy with his growing attachment to Tian Ran during the contract marriage. But she finds it hard to admit her feelings and act on them due to her position as his agent. So, she has never confessed to him although she has worked very hard and sacrificed much to make him a superstar.

When Ze Yi admits that he loves Tian Ran, Tiffany gradually gives up. Moreover, Lin Che starts to appear in her life and gives her unconditional support. Lin Che is also good at making her laugh and feeling like a woman in love. They end up as a couple despite the age difference.

What Happened To Xiao Qin

Well, nothing really happened to Xiao Qin despite her opportunistic behavior. She is still Tian Ran’s good friend. At times, she is a loyal friend as she fights with others who gossip negatively about Tian Ran. She also wants her and Ze Yi to be together. This is towards the later part of the drama. In the last episode, something also seems to be brewing between her and A Tai as she moves in next door to him.

Midsummer Is Full Of Love Review – Unrealistic Story

I understand that there is a Korean and Thai version of this story which is better known as Full House. However, I have not watched them and hence, this review would just focus on this drama alone as I would not be able to make any comparisons.

Plot

Going by the story in Midsummer Is Full Of Love, there are glaring plot holes and unrealistic situations that I find a little difficult to stomach. The main character’s best friend is an opportunistic individual who sold her house and threatens to expose her contract marriage but they are still friends throughout the drama. If Xiao Qin is also a victim because of a horrible younger brother, that angle is hardly explored except for a 2-minute scene in the last episode. Hence, when you watch Tian Ran’s continued friendship with Xiao Qin, it feels kind of silly.

Moreover, the way Tian Ran thinks she can live in the house when her friend has sold it borders on the illogical. This is before they agreed to a contract marriage. I don’t know how it is presented in the other versions but this one isn’t convincing for me. And if you are particular about details, Ze Yi is given the keys to the house as the new owner with all of Tian Ran’s belongings still there, right down to the family photos.

Chemistry

Apart from, perhaps, cute, I can’t really feel the chemistry between the leads. They dominate the screen time with little attention given to other couples but they lack the sizzling chemistry to push the drama up a notch. As in many rom-coms, the story need not be the main selling point. The chemistry between the leads is. The plot can be unrealistic like Well Dominated Love and Intense Love, but the interactions between the lovers on-screen must give off that romance vibe naturally. I don’t get enough of that vibe in Midsummer Is Full Of Love.

Perhaps the female lead’s acting skill is still unpolished which contributes to the lack of chemistry. I get the same feeling when I watched Yang Chao Yue in Dance Of The Phoenix with Xu Kai Cheng. The romance also feels kind of flat. Her facial expressions fail to effectively convey the emotions needed at times. Of course, it isn’t fair to just lay the blame on her alone. It takes both partners to comfortably draw out each other’s feelings and personalities of the characters that they play. Unfortunately, those couple vibes are just lacking for this pairing.

Similarly, it is also hard to feel invested in the secondary couple. I’m okay with an older woman and younger man romance and I did enjoy Find Yourself. But I think the second couple’s story in this rom-com lacks proper development due to limited screen time. Hence, again, apart from cute, there is nothing to make me root for this couple.

My Verdict

While I’m critical of Midsummer Is Full Of Love, I also understand that this rom-com will have its fair share of fans. This isn’t my cup of tea but if you like bickering couples and can see love through those instances of childish bullying and one-upmanship, then you might have a different idea than me. For about 15 episodes, the bickering never really stops for this couple. It gets better when they start to acknowledge their feelings for each other and the relationship becomes a little more mature.

Hence, it really depends on your definition of a cute couple and what kind of relationship dynamics suit your taste of a compatible pair. This drama does remind me of My Love, Enlighten Me which also features a bickering couple but that one has better chemistry and acting overall. But if you like this kind of “noisy” communication style, then Midsummer Is Full Of Love might be worth checking out.

Nothing Exciting

There are only a few kisses in this drama, none of which are steamy. So, don’t expect passionate smooches like you would find in Love Designer or even milder ones in Mr. Honesty even though the couple lives together in the same house. Neither is it particularly funny as it doesn’t have the comical element unlike The Night Of The Comet 2.

Overall, for this Midsummer Is Full Of Love review, I would only give it a score of 6/10. It is skippable unless you are a big fan of the leads. You might also enjoy it if you like to watch bickering couples. Other than that, I really can’t find a good reason to push this as a must-watch rom-com. But if you really want to give this a go, just don’t be too fussy on the plot and you might enjoy it more.