Please Love Me (拜托, 请你爱我) is one of those rom-coms that you watch to pass your time on a relaxing weekend. It is neither heavy like Royal Nirvana nor compelling such as Love And Destiny. But even rom-coms need to have a wow factor to make it stands out from the rest. Otherwise, they would only attract die-hard fans as many have proven to be. So, check out Please Love Me review below to see if this rom-com would meet your standards for you to give it a go.
My rating: 6/10
Episodes: 24
Type: Romance
Aired: December 2019
Images Credit: MGTV
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The Main Cast Of Please Love Me
Zhang Yu Jian as Yi Han
Yi Han is a popular actor and singer with lots of fans. While he is talented, he is also temperamental, wilful, and immature. Yi Han has been in love with his manager for 10 years but she is married.
Xu Xiao Nuo as Pei You You
You You is a manicurist and nail artist. She is very good at what she does. You You comes from a broken family and has suffered much during her younger days. Her mother left her when she divorced her father. Despite her hardships, You You is optimistic and kind. She is also frugal.
Supporting Cast
Kido Gao Han Yu as Lin Tian Nuo
Lin is a talented film director and You You’s childhood friend. He has feelings for You You and tries to woo her quietly. Lin has a rational and calm personality.
Lu Zi Zhen as Kan Di
Kan Di is Yi Han’s manager. She has been looking after him ever since he was a rookie. Yi Han has feelings for her but she isn’t interested in him romantically. She only cares for him as a friend and manager. Kan Di is married but on the verge of a divorce.
Lu Yan Qi as Ran Zi Shu
Zi Shu is an actress and comes from a rich family. She is snobbish and shallow until she falls in love with Lu Ming. Zi Shu is also You You’s client.
Wu Chen Xu as Lu Ming
Lu Ming is You You’s half-brother. He didn’t know of her existence until their parents passed away in an accident. So, he came looking for her from abroad. Lu Ming is honest and sincere. He is also very protective of his sister.
Pan Lei Yi as Sun Qing Qing
Qing Qing is You You’s colleague with a dream of becoming an actress. She is always jealous of You You especially after You You’s relationship with Yi Han becomes public knowledge.
Zhang Yu as Gao Lang
Gao Lang is a reporter with a sister who is lying in a coma at the hospital. He blames Yi Han for the fate that befalls his sister and is hell bent on causing him trouble.
Synopsis
You You is a manicurist who is on her way to see a client. Yi Han is an idol who is rushing off to give the director of his upcoming movie project a piece of his mind for relegating him to a supporting role. Yi Han’s car bumps into You You’s scooter. With the accident, their lives become entangled. When Yi Han is photographed with his manager, Kan Di, the night of the accident, his popularity plummets. They try to deny that they were together when vigorously questioned by reporters. You You helps them by insisting that Yi Han was with her at the hospital at that time. But Yi Han takes it one step further and says that You You is his girlfriend and that they are getting married!
Thus, the seed for a contract marriage is sown. Yi Han needs it to protect his image while You You needs the money to buy back her family’s old house which her father has sold years earlier. They agree on a one-year marriage and then divorce. You You is then forced to move in with Yi Han to avoid suspicions about their relationship. Will this fake marriage turn out to be real after all? How would they handle their differences and the problems that crop up?
Please Love Me Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
While Please Love Me has a happy ending, it is far from satisfying either for the viewers. Gao Lang and Qing Qing’s schemings finally bear fruit. Gao Lang got someone to try to sow discord between Yi Han and You You. Of course, Yi Han’s own selfishness results in You You moving out and asking for a divorce. He hid an invitation for You You to attend the finals of the prestigious nail art competition because he thought the winner would be offered a 3-year course in France. He is afraid she would leave him to pursue her dream.
When You You finds out, she is furious with Yi Han and leaves him. Yi Han is devastated and gets himself drunk at a bar. Qing Qing takes the opportunity to bring him back to the hotel and photographs them in bed together. Then, she frames him by telling everybody that they are lovers. This causes Yi Han’s image to suffer badly. Advertisers are asking for their money back which could land him in debt and job offers dry up. You You is heartbroken to see Yi Han suffering and wants to go back to him. But it is Yi Han’s turn to insist on a divorce to avoid dragging You You into debt with him. You You refuses. In the end, Yi Han makes an announcement that he will withdraw indefinitely from the entertainment scene and simply disappears.
2 Years Later
2 years later, Gao Lang and Qing Qing are finally sentenced to prison for their wrongdoings after their trials. Yi Han is vindicated. You You is now a well-known nail artist with her own brand and shops. She is still yearning for Yi Han to return to her but there is no news from him at all. When the last movie he acted in got him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor, You You is invited on stage to receive the award on his behalf as his wife. After the ceremony, You You is walking around alone in a park. Yi Han finally appears and they are then shown hugging in the last scene.
As for the side couples, Lin and Kan Di are in a relationship. He has proposed and pursuing her to get married while she is trying to fend him off. Lu Ming and Zi Shu are still together as a couple. In fact, according to Kan Di, Zi Shu has proposed to Lu Ming but he turns her down. Lu Ming wants to build his career and earn enough money before marrying Zi Shu.
Please Love Me Review – It’s Really Nothing Great…
I may be a bit harsh to say that Please Love Me is kind of forgettable. But this drama just doesn’t have that wow factor to convince me to give it a good review. The positive thing about it is that there are cute and romantic moments in the drama that is kind of sweet. Viewers can see them transforming from enemies into lovers. So, there are definitely cute and funny quarrels in the beginning and then lovey-dovey scenes like any married couple towards the middle. In fact, you get to see their married life unlike many romance dramas that put a wedding scene at the very end.
The Plot (Contains Spoilers)
However, the plot for Please Love Me is nothing new. While you can still make a success out of a contract marriage storyline, the way it is written towards the end is a big letdown. The reason for Gao Lang’s vengefulness towards Yi Han is flimsy. The disappearance of Yi Han for 2 years with no news is not adequately explained while You You is shown pining for him. His sudden re-appearance and their reconciliation seems more like a forced happy ending to give viewers what they want.
The side couples also lack story development. Lin and Kan Di’s relationship could have been made more meaningful. However, it seems like they are quickly thrown together in the last few episodes. Lu Ming and Zi Shu’s story is a little bit better as they have some sort of progress along the way. But we are also not shown the conclusion to their story towards the end apart from what we could glean from Kan Di’s conversation with You You.
Chemistry
I have watched Zhang Yu Jian in Le Coup de Foudre and Find Yourself. He doesn’t disappoint in his acting and I have no complaints in his performance in Please Love Me either. But if you are looking for some breakthrough from him, it is missing from this role. I think he has better chemistry with Janice Wu Qian in Le Coup de Foudre than with Xu Xiao Nuo in this drama. While it is still a pleasure to watch, the chemistry isn’t explosive to the extent that it can make you swoon.
My Verdict
To me, this mainland rom-com drama simply falls short that I can only give it a 6/10 rating. It tries to cram too many things into a simple rom-com that all end up without satisfactory story development and resolution. They bring in You You’s mother into the story but we are not told why she had the heart to leave her young daughter. They also include 2 secondary couples when they could have just opted for 1 and make it more fulfilling for the viewers. A rom-com can have a very simple storyline and yet succeed such as Love 020. There is no need to include too many unnecessary fillers.
Apart from the disappointing last episode, some parts of the drama are also a drag to me. Once Yi Han and You You has got together as a couple, I get the feeling that they are trying to stretch it to fill a few extra episodes before the finale. The drama could have been shortened or the time better utilized to develop the supporting characters.
For this Please Love Me review, I would say this rom-com is skippable. Unless you are a Zhang Yu Jian fan, there are better rom-coms out there to spend your time on. Also, not everyone will like Yi Han’s character as he is a pretty immature guy. If you are really keen to watch it, they do have the mandatory sweet moments and kisses that one would expect in a romance drama. For that, at least you won’t end up being disappointed. Of course, with only 24 episodes, it is also easy to sit through it. I did it without much difficulty. But once I reached the end, the whole drama is also kind of forgettable.
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