Since I Met You (遇见你之后) is a short Chinese rom-com with a total of 16 episodes of about 30 minutes each. It is precisely because of this reason that I gave this title a go. I also wanted something more relaxing and normal after a few time travel dramas in recent days. Bearing in mind that this is a low budget production, I wasn’t expecting anything extraordinary out of it. It was just a time filler while I searched for something more substantial to watch. But did it exceed my expectations to offer a nice surprise? My Since I Met You review below will have the answer.
My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 16 (30 minutes each)
Type: Romance
Aired: October 2022
Images Credit: Douban Movie
The Cast Of Since I Met You
- Zhou Jun Wei as Cheng Mu
- Jin Zi Xuan as Jiang Si Han
- Xu Ke Er as Cheng Yu
- Brian Chang Bin as Li Jing Yang
- Lennon Sun Si Cheng as Rui Rui
- Zhou Jun Yu as Han Mu Zhou
- Zhou Ming Xuan as Han Xiang Lan
- Chen Xiao Long as Bai Bin
- Chen Jian Yu as Jian Yi Hang
Main Characters
Cheng Mu
Cheng Mu is a dessert chef and the owner of a dessert shop called Sol. He is a talented and creative dessert maker who comes up with his own recipes and designs. Cheng Mu is reserved towards the opposite sex and has never dated.
Jiang Si Han
Si Han is a food blogger under Cheng Yu’s media company. She is a warm and bubbly girl who has a crush on her class president while in university. Si Han can be shy but also clear about what she wants.
Supporting Characters
Cheng Yu
Cheng Yu runs a media company and Si Han is one of the bloggers under her stable. She is also a very responsible and protective elder sister to Cheng Mu. Cheng Yu is a confident career-minded woman.
Li Jing Yang
Jing Yang is Cheng Mu’s good friend. He is a model under Cheng Yu’s company and has been in love with her for a long time. Jing Yang is younger than Cheng Yu but is persistent and attentive.
Rui Rui
Rui Rui is Si Han’s nephew while Cheng Mu is his godfather. He is a cute little boy who is also astute and understanding.
Han Mu Zhou
Han Mu Zhou is Si Han’s class president and crush while in university. He is a gentleman and works as a manager in an international dessert chain shop called Sweet.
Han Xiang Lan
Han Xiang Lan is Han Mu Zhou’s younger sister who is back in the country for holiday. She is a very direct girl who is not shy to express her feelings. She is a little immature and has a huge crush on Cheng Mu.
Bai Bin & Jian Yi Hang
Both of them are Cheng Mu’s staff at his dessert shop together with Sun Nian Xing and Wan Jie. Bai Bin is the next in command after Cheng Mu and handles the shop’s promotions.
Synopsis
Si Han was drunk during her graduation party and mistaken Cheng Mu to be her crush. She ended up kissing him but couldn’t recall much of what happened the next day.
A year later, Si Han is now a food blogger and chasing a story about a popular dessert. She meets Cheng Mu again when he turns out to be the dessert chef. Although embarrassed by her previous action, she is forced to get along with him when he also happens to be her nephew’s godfather. As Si Han’s sister and her husband are going through a messy divorce, they have sent their son, Rui Rui, to be taken care of by Si Han and Cheng Mu for the time being.
Hence, Si Han moves in to live with Cheng Mu to share the responsibility of looking after Rui Rui. As they fall in love with each other, Si Han keeps waiting for a confession from Cheng Mu which never seems to arrive. Si Han then begins to doubt Cheng Mu’s actual feelings for her.
Since I Met You Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
Since I Met You has a happy ending. Cheng Mu proposes to Si Han to which she agrees to marry him. He is also opening a new shop as part of the Healing Project to give employment and support to people with mental illness. Cheng Yu is pregnant and decides to register her marriage with Jing Yang. Yi Hang and Han Xiang Lan get together as a couple. The last scene is of Rui Rui returning to look for Si Han and Cheng Mu as his parents are quarreling again.
When Did The Couple Get Together?
Cheng Mu and Si Han like each other but he has reservations about confessing his feelings due to his depression and panic disorder. He is afraid that he will be a burden to her. On the other hand, Si Han has been waiting for him to express his feelings. She feels angry and disappointed when he fails to do so in Episode 10 after much anticipation. Hence, she decides to take a break and stay away from him in Episode 11.
Si Han learns about Cheng Mu’s condition through Cheng Yu in Episode 12. At the same time, Cheng Mu realizes that he shouldn’t be leaving Si Han in the dark and make the decision for her after listening to his master. He should tell her and let her decide instead. So, Cheng Mu and Si Han confess their feelings for each other and start dating in Episode 12.
Is There Any Breakup And Love Triangle?
There is no breakup after Si Han and Cheng Mu got together. There is also no love triangle even though Si Han used to have a crush on Han Mu Zhou. She no longer has any romantic feelings for him a year later after she meets Cheng Mu. Instead, it is Han Mu Zhou who has feelings for Si Han. He didn’t pursue her back in university and missed the opportunity when she mistakenly thought he was with another girl.
By the time Han Mu Zhou confessed his feelings to a drunk Si Han in Episode 8, she has already fallen for Cheng Mu. Thus, Han Mu Zhou backs off and they remain as friends.
Cheng Mu’s Past
Cheng Mu has a bitter childhood due to a depressive mother who eventually committed suicide. With his elder sister being away at boarding school, he felt abandoned. He developed post-traumatic stress disorder which led to depression and panic attacks. All along, he is on medication to manage his condition.
Cheng Yu feels responsible towards her younger brother and cares about him deeply. She has sacrificed her past relationship with Shen Meng Li as she didn’t want Cheng Mu to feel abandoned again. That is why Cheng Yu is reluctant to commit to a relationship with Jing Yang initially. It is also why Shen Meng Li chooses to destroy Cheng Mu’s reputation through online attacks in Episode 15 as he is dissatisfied with Cheng Yu for breaking up with him.
But with Cheng Mu being stronger than before, he decides to be open about his condition in Episode 16. He uses the social media to explain his experience and offer support to those with mental illness through his business.
Second Couple
Jing Yang has feelings for Cheng Yu right from the start and pursues her openly. They slept together in Episode 3 after getting drunk. But Cheng Yu isn’t interested in a relationship with him and insists that it doesn’t mean anything in Episode 4 as they are both adults. In Episode 7, Cheng Yu gradually gets drawn to Jing Yang and misses him after rejecting her ex-boyfriend’s advances.
Jing Yang asks Cheng Yu to be his girlfriend in Episode 8 and she agrees. But she doesn’t want their relationship to be made public in Episode 9. She only makes it known to others in Episode 14 after a heart-to-heart talk with her brother who encourages her to pursue her own happiness. Cheng Mu doesn’t want to be a burden to her and tells her so. Cheng Yu and Jing Yang’s relationship becomes public knowledge in Episode 15 after Shen Meng Li exposes them out of spite.
Third Couple
The third couple got together in Episode 16. Han Xiang Lan starts off being interested in Cheng Mu but gets rejected outright in Episode 8. The embarrassing scene is overheard by Cheng Mu’s employee, Yi Hang, who cheers her up. She starts to fall for Yi Hang in Episode 9 but he is not keen to be her boyfriend.
Han Xiang Lan is persistent and even pays off Yi Hang’s debts for him which riles him up in Episode 13. He is not comfortable with the money issue between them until she is about to finish her holidays and return to her studies in Episode 16. Yi Hang is ready to accept her as his girlfriend then and he is confident he will be able to pay her back by the time she returns to him after her studies.
Since I Met You Review – Short And Simple
Since I Met You is not meant to be an award-winning drama. It is merely one of those cliche rom-coms that you watch because you have nothing better to do or want something short and simple to escape from the stress of the day. Because it doesn’t require a heavy time investment, you will kind of overlook its faults. Basically, it is a cute and sweet rom-com with nothing much going on in terms of plot.
The girl moves in with the guy due to practical reasons as they need to look after her nephew together. So, you are watching them living together and feeling shy with each other for the most part. She is waiting for him to confess while he has his own personal demons to overcome. It gets resolved pretty quickly though and it is not really the focus of the drama either.
Hence, if you are waiting for something to happen to spice up the story, there is none. No toxic jealousies, disapproving parents, or major troubles to give the main couple’s story some excitement. The opening is there to explore some of these issues including mental health like in Hello, The Sharpshooter but they are all glossed over in a very simple manner. Perhaps the short length prevents in depth exploration of these issues. Thus, the whole drama ends up being pretty bland to me. Unless you really like the couple’s interactions, Since I Met You isn’t going to be anything memorable to a viewer.
Cute And Light
Since I Met You’s selling points are light, simple, and cute. It banks on the leads to create awesome chemistry so that viewers can feel the sweetness and fluffiness of the romance. It is not a drama that you will watch for the plot. This is not My Deepest Dream or Love In Time. Instead, it is one that you watch to enjoy the couple’s interactions and feel that heart fluttering.
I think this will resonate with young viewers with the innocence of first love. For me, the shyness is always a drag as many rom-coms and youth dramas will also play up this same issue. If you find this cute and sweet, then Since I Met You will have its appeal to you. Otherwise, you just wish they open up their feelings quicker and get on with the relationship rather than dragging it out unnecessarily.
Leads’ Chemistry
Personally, the leads’ chemistry is not that great although passable. There is not enough attraction and yearning in the couple unlike My Girlfriend Is An Alien S2. I think the lack of refinement and polish in the leads’ acting contributed to the muted chemistry. On top of that, their relationship lacks depth as there is not much time available to build a strong foundation to their romance. With problems not being explored in detail, their ups and downs won’t move you as you watch. Hence, you can’t feel any growth in the characters and relationship.
This is not to say that the romantic vibes are missing. You can feel the romance but it just lacks passion. Maybe the idea is just to make them look cute and sweet and leave the hotter scenes to the second couple. Well, this is basically what you get in the drama. The second couple actually stole the limelight when it comes to a more passionate romance.
The Positives
Despite the very average storyline, Since I Met You is not without some positives. At the very least, the leads are not annoying. They may not be the most gorgeous stars but their characters don’t put you off either. They don’t appear weak, childish, or stupid to make you drop this halfway through.
The child actor in the drama is also simply adorable. He is the same boy in Unforgettable Love and if there is one good reason to give this a go, it will be him. The short length is both a boon and a bane but if you don’t have time for longer dramas, this is simply a decent filler with its simplicity and lightness.
My Verdict – Simple But Bland
Since I Met You is not a frustrating watch and it is easy to binge on due to its brevity. It is low budget with limited location settings like Maid’s Revenge but still a decent production overall. It attempts to be cute and sweet to target the younger audience. So, if you can feel the fluffiness, you will enjoy this rom-com. But if you prefer dramas with a higher quality in terms of plot, directing, cinematography, and execution, this wouldn’t cut it at all.
Basically, this production is full of rehashed tropes with a mass production feel to it. It doesn’t mean it is unwatchable but it is nothing memorable. It is a watch and forget kind of drama and the romance won’t linger on your mind once the 16 episodes are over. The drama feels bland with not much excitement and significant events to give the story momentum.
For this Since I Met You review, I would give it a score of 7/10. Please don’t expect this to be in the league of You Are My Glory or The Oath Of Love. But you can still watch it simply because it is decent enough to be a filler in between longer and more intense dramas. It will also fulfill the craving for brevity and simplicity at times. Apart from that, the drama really has nothing much to offer. I think there is only so much that one could sell cuteness which in turn is highly subjective. Hence, it will be hard for this title to really appeal to a broad base of audience.
Leave a Reply