Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard Review

Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard (乌鸦小姐与蜥蜴先生) stars Fair Xing and Allen Ren and that is enough to get me to dive into the first episode. I didn’t read the synopsis before I started but I have a certain level of expectations when it comes to its watchability given the leads involved. Furthermore, the online ratings for this drama to date seems pretty high. So, does it really justify the hype and ratings given? Check out my Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard review below for my thoughts on this romantic love story.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 36
Type: Romance
Aired: April 2021
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard

• Allen Ren Jia Lun as Gu Chuan
• Fair Xing Fei as Jiang Xiao Ning
• Wayne Liu Rui Lin as Xu Cheng Ran
• Chloe Zhao Yi Huan as Zhao Yan
• Jun Sheng as Tang Xu
• Ge Shi Min as Su Man Lin
• Ma Wei Jiang as Xu Guo Xiang
• Vila Fan Tian Tian as Jiang Ling
• Zhu Ya Ying as Grandma
• Wang Wei Hua as Tang Zheng Cheng
• Lulu Xuan Lu as Chen Wen Wen
• Wang Ce as Gu Yuan Shan
• Zhang Li as Fang Ning
• Zhao Zheng Yang as Wang Kai
• Guan Chang as Qiao Meng Jia

Main Characters

Gu Chuan

Gu Chuan is the Design Director of his own company’s architectural studio. He is well-known in his field with numerous awards under his belt. But Gu Chuan is an emotionless workaholic. He needs to be cold and distant due to his mechanical heart.

Jiang Xiao Ning

Xiao Ning is a part-time worker who is looking for a better job. She has quit college to finish her architectural studies on her own in order to support her family. Xiao Ning sees herself as an unlucky person but has a cheerful and positive attitude. She is also sincere and trusting towards others.

Xu Cheng Ran

Cheng Ran is Gu Chuan’s best friend and business partner. He has a very rich businessman father but they do not get along. Cheng Ran is a playboy who enjoys fooling around with all the free time that he has. But he has his principles and is a loyal friend.

Zhao Yan

Zhao Yan is Xiao Ning’s best friend. She works in the marketing department of Reindeer Group which belongs to Cheng Ran’s father. Zhao Yan is a feisty gal who is good at combat sports. She also has an aversion towards men who are rich due to their family’s wealth.

Supporting Characters

Tang Xu

Tang Xu is Cheng Ran’s father’s foster son. However, Cheng Ran doesn’t like him one bit and has never acknowledged him as a brother. Tang Xu is also Xiao Ning’s childhood friend and cares a lot about her. He works for Cheng Ran’s father and hopes to earn his trust.

Su Man Lin

Man Lin is Gu Chuan’s subordinate and oversees the design department of his architectural studio. She is a capable and hardworking deputy who wants to gain her boss’ affections. Man Lin is a scheming and jealous woman.

Xu Guo Xiang

Guo Xiang is Cheng Ran’s father while Tang Xu is his foster son. He is a rich businessman who controls Reindeer Group.

Jiang Ling & Grandma

Jiang Ling and Grandma is Xiao Ning’s paternal aunt and grandmother respectively. They share a close bond and live together in a rented home. Xiao Ning’s grandmother also suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

Tang Zheng Cheng

Zheng Cheng is Tang Xu’s biological father. He is a convicted criminal serving time in jail because of embezzlement. Tang Xu hates him for ruining his life due to the crime committed.

Chen Wen Wen

Wen Wen is Gu Chuan’s ex-girlfriend. She is a photographer and has a warm personality.

Gu Yuan Shan & Fang Ning

Both of them are Gu Chuan’s parents. They live abroad and have a distant relationship with their son who keeps shutting them out of his life.

Wang Kai & Qiao Meng Jia

Wang Kai is in charge of the administration department of Gu Chuan’s architectural firm. He has interest in Meng Jia who is a co-worker in the design department and is always fawning over her.

Synopsis

10 years ago, Xiao Ning was traveling in a car with her parents on her birthday. A truck driver hit their car. Gu Chuan happened to pass by and tried to save them. But the truck driver pressed on the gas again and knocked them down a ditch. Xiao Ning’s parents were killed. Gu Chuan’s heart was pierced when he fell. In the darkness, Gu Chuan still tried to comfort Xiao Ning before he passed out.

10 years later, Gu Chuan is now an established architect with his own firm. He has been surviving on a mechanical heart ever since the accident. However, no one knows about his secret except for his best friend, Cheng Ran. Gu Chuan has become an emotionless and melancholic man as he couldn’t lead a normal life. His heart requires regular charging and if it exceeds 100 beats per minute, he would discharge an electric current. Hence, he can’t fall in love as physical intimacy would increase his heart rate.

Gu Chuan and Xiao Ning couldn’t recognize each other when they meet again. She ends up as his assistant and is studying to be an architect herself. He begins to feel that she is special and falls for her. The feelings are mutual but he keeps holding back because of his mechanical heart. Will he tell her his secret? Would she know that he is the man who tried to save her a decade ago?

Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard has a happy ending although it is kind of rushed. Gu Chuan was injured while trying to save Xiao Ning who had been abducted by Xu Guo Xiang’s assistant. Tang Xu’s father had given them the evidence of Xu Guo Xiang’s crimes and the latter wanted them to hand it over. During the fight, Gu Chuan’s heart rate increased and he discharged an electric current to electrocute the enemies. Then, he fell into a coma.

The last 10 minutes of the drama shows a time jump 3 years later. Xiao Ning has graduated and is now a qualified architect. Gu Chuan has recovered as another group of scientists have managed to fix the glitches in his mechanical heart. He can now live his life like a normal person. Xiao Ning is sending an email about her impending marriage to Gu Chuan as the drama draws to a close.

Was It An Accident Or Murder?

Xiao Ning’s father, Jiang Guang Da, and Tang Xu’s father, Tang Zheng Cheng, were co-project managers of a building contract. Their superior was Xu Guo Xiang. When Guang Da found out that Zheng Cheng and Guo Xiang were involved in embezzlement, he was killed. Guo Xiang gave the orders and a man was hired to make it look like a hit-and-run accident. Then, they pinned the blame on the dead man as the main culprit behind the embezzlement while Zheng Cheng admitted to being an accessory to the crime.

Zheng Cheng made a deal with Guo Xiang that he will admit to being the accomplice while the latter will go scot free. In return, Guo Xiang will take in Zheng Cheng’s son as his foster son and support his education and career. While Guo Xiang gave Tang Xu opportunities in his group of companies, he also made use of him to launder his money.

When Zheng Cheng was released from jail and found out that Guo Xiang has been taking advantage of his son to do his dirty deeds, he decided to release the evidence on the past embezzlement case to Xiao Ning. Cheng Ran called the cops to arrest his father when the latter refused to listen to his plea to turn himself in. Tang Xu was also arrested.

Cheng Ran & Zhao Yan

After the arrest of his father, the family business collapsed. Cheng Ran wanted to divorce Zhao Yan as he felt he had nothing to offer her with all the mess that he had to face. But Zhao Yan convinced him that she wanted to marry him instead and they remained a couple.

After 3 years, we are told that Zhao Yan is pregnant through Xiao Ning’s conversation with Gu Chuan.

What Happened To Su Man Lin?

Man Lin was influenced by Tang Xu to leak Gu Chuan’s design for a bidding proposal. The plan was to copy the design and then accuse Gu Chuan of plagiarism. Tang Xu convinced Man Lin that she could get close to Gu Chuan once the latter realized that she is the only one who can help him in times of trouble. Tang Xu wanted to break up Gu Chuan and Xiao Ning’s relationship as he wanted Xiao Ning for himself.

However, the plan backfired as Gu Chuan had suspected Man Lin’s disloyalty. He told her to leave the company. Man Lin regretted her action. She made up for it by helping his firm with a project which ran into design difficulties when Gu Chuan was unwell. Man Lin and Gu Chuan remained as friends. He helped her to submit her resumes to other firms and she ended up going abroad to start a new job. She also made peace with Xiao Ning and wished her well.

Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard Review – It Fell Flat!

Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard started off well with the accident 10 years earlier. There is anticipation of how the couple would meet again and develop feelings for each other as well as finding out that they are connected in some way to their tragic past. But as the story moves along, it starts to get lame for me because of the cliches which I would touch on below.

Nevertheless, the one thing that feels “new” in the drama is the mechanical heart angle which makes the male lead not only cold and emotionless but also kind of depressed about life. So, here comes the female lead to change him for the better. Their feelings for each other is very mutual but he keeps holding back due to his health. So, it is also not so common to see the gal confessing first instead of the guy although it does happen in some rom-coms such as Be With You whereby it is the girl who does the pursuing.

If You Don’t Mind The Tropes… (Spoilers Alert!)

There are no disapproving parents to give problems to the couple. But you still get the jealous third parties cliche in the form of a co-worker and childhood friend. We have seen this kind of storyline time and time again including in Sunshine Of My Life, You Complete Me, and Mr. Honesty. Apart from that, there is also a breakup in Episode 29. Again, it is the I’m-leaving-for-your-own-good kind of excuse to make the guy appear selfless. The saving grace is the misunderstanding isn’t prolonged and the main couple got back together in Episode 32.

For me, this kind of plot has been repeated countless times in many romance dramas. Sometimes, the cliches work while at times, they will fall flat. I think it really depends on the other factors in the drama such as the chemistry between the leads, overall feel, and how well those tropes fit into the whole story. For Miss Crow And Mr. Lizard, I just wish the screenwriter had given a lot more thought into the main couple’s relationship development and the obstacles they face rather than reverting to the easy way out of a breakup to make up content for 36 episodes.

Suffice to say that if you want to watch this romance drama, be prepared for recycled plots. If you don’t mind them, then it may well be a drama that is worth your time. Otherwise, you may end up skipping parts just to quickly complete it once you hit around Episode 25 onwards.

Chemistry Between The Leads

Personally, I find the chemistry between Allen Ren and Fair Xing to be just average. She generated more sparks with Daddi Tang in My Little Happiness and I think it has nothing to do with the abundance of skinship in that drama. She just seems more comfortable and the couple looks more natural as lovers there. Comparatively, her cooperation with Allen Ren has more of a friendship than lovers feel to me. Perhaps the story does not really allow their relationship to develop like a normal couple and hence, the chemistry also becomes stunted as a result.

I know some will disagree and feel that the chemistry is so good that it actually saves the drama from being utterly mediocre. For me, it is their acting skills which help to uplift this drama given the lame plot that they have to work with. Allen Ren is suitable as a cold male lead with his melancholic appearance while playing the role of a cute and cheerful lass is hardly a challenge for Fair Xing. Together, they created just enough chemistry to make the romance passable with their dialogues and facial expressions.

My Verdict – Neither The Best Nor The Worst

If you are looking for a really good love story, Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard will fall short of expectations. But if you don’t mind a cold guy with a warm-hearted girl romance with all its cliches again, then by all means give it a go. It is an okay drama to me as I have seen both better and worse productions. One thing that you cannot expect from this drama though is passion in the romance. Thus, the relationship feels platonic at times because physical intimacy isn’t possible with this unique couple. So, all you will get are little pecks and hugs. If you want more passionate and fluffy scenes like in Love Is Sweet, you won’t get them in this drama.

The other factor that makes it lose points to me is the rushed ending. It is like a lazy way to end a story. Being a romance drama, you can predict the ending but it doesn’t have to be so simplistic and rushed. It feels as if effort was lacking in giving viewers a more memorable conclusion after 36 episodes. It could have been more well-planned and executed when the mechanical heart issue has always been central to the drama.

Lastly, I also feel that 36 episodes is too draggy for this story. It could have been shortened to improve on the pacing especially towards the middle. 7/10 will be my score for this Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard review. If you can feel great chemistry between the leads, this drama will be worth watching. But if you can’t, it will fall far short of expectations as the plot is nothing to shout about as well. Oh, and one more little thing – the drama has an overdose of product placements which gets kind of annoying.

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