Nothing But You Review

After using some brain cells to sit through Sword Snow Stride, I was actually looking forward to Nothing But You (眼里余光都是你) for a more relaxing drama. I knew it would be the typical rom-com with expected cliches. I don’t mind them because they still can be entertaining at times. Moreover, this type of dramas tend to be stress free with all the sweetness and fluff. So, did this particular title hold my interest and meet my simple expectations? Unfortunately, no! My Nothing But You review below will have some of my rants about this Chinese drama.

My rating: 5/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Romance
Aired: January 2022
Images Credit: iQIYI

The Cast Of Nothing But You 2022

• Rain Wang He Run as Jiang Li Li & Bi Xiao Ran
• Luo Zheng as Lai Zheng Yi
• Ding Jia Wen as Qin Yan Fei
• Su Xiao Ding as Lai Zheng Ling
• Wang Yi Tian as Ding Dong
• Zhou Yu Ting as Ren Qing Yan
• Yumiko Cheng Hei Yee as Ning Xia
• Zhang Xiao Ang as Ye Chen Yang

Main Characters

Jiang Li Li

Li Li is an online article writer on the entertainment industry. Her interest is in revealing inside stories. She is a jovial lady but simple-minded and timid. Li Li has an identical twin sister but they share different surnames with each taking their father’s and mother’s surname respectively.

Bi Xiao Ran

Xiao Ran is Li Li’s elder twin sister. She is a respected drama producer in an entertainment company called Lemeng. Xiao Ran is a consummate professional who is known to be stern. She is not one who will take things lying down and has the courage and wits to meet troublemakers head on.

Lai Zheng Yi

Zheng Yi is the CEO of Lemeng. He started the company after graduation and gradually built it up. Zheng Yi is an adopted son and comes from a rich family. He is very intelligent and astute but tends to hide his true feelings. His assistant is Xiao He.

Supporting Characters

Qin Yan Fei

Yan Fei is a novelist and scriptwriter. He is Li Li’s ex-university mate and has been in love with Xiao Ran for a long time.

Lai Zheng Ling

Zheng Ling is Zheng Yi’s younger brother. Although he is their parents’ biological son, he feels disfavored and overshadowed by his adoptive elder brother. Hence, they have a poor relationship especially when Zheng Ling is impulsive and immature.

Ding Dong

Ding Dong is Xiao Ran’s subordinate. She is a capable assistant whose only interest is in doing well in her work and building her career.

Ren Qing Yan

Qing Yan is an actress who is interested in Zheng Yi. Her father is a director at Lemeng. Qing Yan doesn’t get along well with Xiao Ran. She is a scheming and arrogant woman with an inflated sense of entitlement.

Ning Xia

Ning Xia is Zheng Yi’s senior at university. She is also his business partner and co-worker. She has feelings for him since their university days.

Ye Chen Yang

Chen Yang is an employee of Global Pictures. He is also Li Li’s long lost friend from their primary schooldays and has feelings for her. He also knows Ning Xia as they work in the same industry.

Synopsis

Xiao Ran has worked hard to establish cooperation with Global Pictures for an upcoming drama project. But on the eve of the contract signing, she was heavily injured in a hit-and-run accident. Her younger twin sister, Li Li, was with her at that time and knew how important the contract is to her. Therefore, Li Li turned up to sign the contract by pretending to be Xiao Ran.

However, Xiao Ran’s boss, Zheng Yi who is the CEO of the company, could see through the pretense. Li Li has no choice but to tell him the truth. As the contract would be invalidated without Xiao Ran as the producer, they decided that Li Li would continue the pretense as a stop-gap measure until Xiao Ran recovers.

To make matters worse, Xiao Ran and Zheng Yi have all along acted as a fake couple for business convenience. When there are rumors that both of them have been caught being unfaithful towards each other, Zheng Yi convinces Li Li to move in with him to kill off the negative publicity. Soon, Li Li begins to find herself being attracted to Zheng Yi.

Nothing But You Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Nothing But You has a happy ending. Chen Yang’s attempt to blackmail Li Li into leaving the country with him failed. He gave a gift to Li Li which contained a hidden camera. Thus, he has a recording that proves that Li Li and Xiao Ran have swapped identities. If released, this would jeopardize the cooperation between Lemeng and Global Pictures. Zheng Yi’s and Xiao Ran’s reputation will also be tarnished as a result.

Hence, Li Li broke up with Zheng Yi to protect him and her sister. But Zheng Yi found the hidden camera and understood why Li Li asked for a breakup. He and Xiao Ran released the video instead and explained publicly why they swapped identities. With Global Pictures supporting their revelation, the issue was easily resolved. Therefore, Li Li has no more reason to follow Chen Yang to go abroad.

As Li Li reassured Zheng Yi that she will stick by him in the future, they end up registering their marriage. The drama ends with their pictures being taken during their marriage registration.

When Did The Couple Get Together?

Zheng Yi and Li Li officially got together in Episode 12. All along, they have been pretending to be a couple as Li Li is assuming Xiao Ran’s identity although the romance felt real. But in Episode 12, Li Li properly confessed her feelings to Zheng Yi and kissed him. He kissed her back and they began a relationship as a real couple. Li Li moved back into Zheng Yi’s home in Episode 13 after having shifted out earlier due to Xiao Ran’s order in Episode 10.

The couple had a serious disagreement in Episode 22 when Zheng Yi sabotaged Chen Yang’s effort to attract investments to the company he is working for. Zheng Yi helped Chen Yang’s rival instead. Thus, Chen Yang lost the promotion to be the branch office CEO. Li Li felt that Zheng Yi didn’t trust her and hence, they both needed to calm down and think things over. She moved back to her parents’ place in Episode 23.

Zheng Yi refused to give up and waited in the rain for her. He eventually got to explain to Li Li that Chen Yang had been stealing information on Lemeng’s projects from her. They reconciled in Episode 24 but broke up shortly after when Chen Yang blackmailed Li Li as detailed above. But the issue was then quickly resolved for a happily ever after ending.

Is There A Love Triangle?

Yes, apart from Chen Yang who was after Li Li, Ning Xia was also interested in Zheng Yi. Hence, Ning Xia would try to create misunderstanding between Zheng Yi and Li Li. For instance, she would insinuate to Li Li that she and Zheng Yi had spent time together. When those methods didn’t work, she dropped the information that Zheng Yi had sabotaged Chen Yang’s effort to get promoted as she knew Li Li would quarrel with him because of that. This happened in Episode 22.

Before that, Zheng Yi had made clear to Ning Xia that they are only business partners and friends in Episode 19. But she didn’t give up that he rejected her again in Episode 23. This was after Li Li had a disagreement with him over Chen Yang. Ning Xia realized then that she would never stand a chance with Zheng Yi even if Li Li has left him. She finally accepted that Zheng Yi will never love her in that way in Episode 24 and wished him and Li Li well.

Childhood Link

Li Li, Zheng Yi, and Chen Yang were ex-primary schoolmates. She doesn’t have clear memories of those days after a bout of high fever when she was a kid. Li Li got to know Zheng Yi first and when he started to take a liking for her, she found a new friend in Chen Yang. She became close to Chen Yang and they were like a pair of young lovers. Then, one day, Chen Yang simply left school without a word and they lost contact.

Zheng Yi thought Li Li would pay attention to him again now that Chen Yang was gone. He was disappointed when she didn’t and not long after, he also got adopted by his current family. However, he couldn’t forget her and was intrigued when Xiao Ran joined his company. He did some investigation and found out that Li Li is Xiao Ran’s twin sister. Li Li was a university student then and he quietly set up a place opposite her dorm just to look at her. That was why Xiao Ran was against Li Li’s relationship with Zheng Yi. She knew Zheng Yi investigated them and was suspicious of his motive.

That was also why Zheng Yi could easily see through the pretense when Li Li turned up as Xiao Ran. He has been carrying a torch for her all these years. All these is fully revealed by Zheng Yi to Li Li in Episode 22.

Side Couples

Xiao Ran and Yan Fei got together in Episode 20. In fact, Yan Fei fell in love with her at first sight when he was a university student. Yan Fei and Li Li were university mates and he even suggested that they try dating since they were the only ones who were still unattached. But 18 hours later, he changed his mind when he saw Xiao Ran after accompanying Li Li home.

Ever since then, Yan Fei’s feelings have never wavered. But Xiao Ran was still hung up about her ex-boyfriend. They broke up when he was struggling in his painting career until he even got scammed. Xiao Ran borrowed money from Zheng Yi to pay off his debts and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She also felt responsible for his predicament because he gave up an overseas opportunity to be with her. This is revealed in Episode 15.

Xiao Ran finally put the past behind her in Episode 19 after Yan Fei confessed his feelings to her and told her that it pained him to see her living in the past as if she is begging for her ex-boyfriend’s love. She knew then that it was time for both her and her ex-boyfriend to move forward.

Zheng Ling confessed to Ding Dong in Episode 18 with Li Li and Zheng Yi’s help. She agreed to be his girlfriend but wanted their relationship to be kept a secret. But their colleagues were suspicious and started gossiping about Zheng Ling. So, Ding Dong admitted that they were dating and publicly announced their relationship.

Nothing But You Review – Nothing But Trash!

I’m seldom that harsh in my reviews but I think it is hard not to vent with this drama. I understand that many online productions have to make do with a small budget. Many of them have similar storylines and the usual tropes. These are acceptable to me as long as they do a proper job with how the characters are depicted and give viewers a coherent story.

For Nothing But You, the characters leave a lot to be desired. The production team has tried to mould Li Li into a cute young lady. But it failed glaringly to me. If you see being gullible, timid, silly, and a little childish to be cute, then this drama might be charming to you. Perhaps this is done on purpose to appeal to young viewers. But for a matured woman like me who is way past the teenage years, this female character is rather lame. Maybe I have a different idea of what cute is and naivety as well as being easily manipulated don’t constitute as such.

As for the male protagonist, he is no better. He is an expert in manipulating the girl and guilt-tripping her so that she will be with him. Zheng Yi is not overly domineering and controlling like the male lead in Hello Mr. Gu, but he will slyly evoke the girl’s sympathy to gain her favor. I guess it really boils down to your own interpretation of what you see as romantic or otherwise. While I can still put reality aside where the male character is concerned, Li Li’s childishness is simply too much for me to take especially when there is nothing really attractive about the plot to draw me in.

Jealous Love Rivals

The only thing about the story that is a little different from the usual is the presence of a pair of twins with the younger one being forced to assume the identity of her elder twin sister. Even then, there is nothing exciting about this because the male lead already knew about the pretense right from Episode 1. Other than that, the rest of the plot is also similar to any other romance dramas with jealous love rivals turning up and trying to break the couple apart.

Basically, Nothing But You is not a drama that you will want to watch for the plot. It doesn’t have much depth to its story and characters unlike Lie To Love or Fall In Love 2021. The whole plot also doesn’t make much sense as nobody in the office seems to question how Xiao Ran’s personality and intelligence can change overnight when Li Li secretly assumed her sister’s identity. Both the sisters may look similar but they have vastly contrasting personalities and behavior. This kind of reminds me of Cute Programmer whereby the female lead cross-dresses as a man to join a company and no one seems to have any idea that she is a woman even though she looks like one.

In other words, you can’t use your brain too much when you watch Nothing But You. It is not meant to be anything clever or wise. And you should also stay away if your heroine needs to be someone matured, confident, and smart because you won’t be getting any of that in this drama.

Passable Chemistry

The chemistry between Rain Wang and Luo Zheng is passable in Nothing But You. They are watchable and look matching visually as an on-screen couple but it stops there. Perhaps the chemistry would have been more glaring if their characters were a perfect fit. But in the drama, they don’t seem to have much in common to me with the guy being much smarter than the girl. To put it in another way, she is really too simple-minded for him.

I don’t think we can blame the leads either that the drama ended up being mediocre. They did their part well enough with what they were given. Luo Zheng looked good as a reserved and capable CEO. Some might find him creepy but then the script already had him as someone sly and manipulative. Rain Wang certainly looked the part of a gullible and silly young woman. She had a better role in My Bargain Queen and I guess the leads in Nothing But You simply deserve a better script overall.

My Verdict – Plenty Of Better Dramas!

There is really no need to waste your time on this one. I’m sure you can find a better drama out there. For a romance-driven drama with a very simple plot, the characters really need to be likable first before it can begin to work its magic on the viewers. Then, comes the chemistry between the leads to push the drama up if the selling point is simply sweetness and fluff. That is why dramas like Love At Night and Once We Get Married can attract viewers despite their simplicity.

However, Nothing But You have characters that are a turn-off. I doubt women in general would still want to watch a female lead who is on the dumb side and/or a male lead who is manipulative. In reality, such a relationship would be full of red flags. But of course, this is only a drama and hence, its enjoyability would really depend on your ability to accept the way the characters have been depicted.

For this Nothing But You review, I would give it a score of 5/10. This is a really painful watch for me as I don’t find the female character’s antics to be cute. I think this trait is what the producers and screenwriters have in mind when they created Li Li which I can’t buy into. Together with a very average plot and chemistry, the overall drama just isn’t attractive as a package. Maybe the younger generation will find this cute and romantic especially if they see the male lead as an eye candy. But for me, this is a total waste of time!