Skate Into Love Review

Skate Into Love (冰糖炖雪梨) is a college romance drama but with a sports background to add a certain degree of uniqueness to the story. After all, youthful romance dramas are nothing new. They can be predictable and boring if not done right. Therefore, I was a bit apprehensive to watch this until I found out that it stars Janice Wu Qian. I was curious how she would jump from her role in Le Coup de Foudre to this one. So, I watch it from start to finish in less than 5 days and wrote up the Skate Into Love episode summary as well. The drama review is as below for those who are wondering if they should give this a go.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 40
Type: Romance, Sports
Aired: March 2020
Images Credit: Tencent

The Main Cast Of Skate Into Love

Janice Wu Qian as Tang Xue

Tang Xue is a bossy and spunky girl in her first year at Lincheng University. Although she may appear domineering, she does have a kind heart. She is a veterinary medicine student but she is less than enthusiastic about the discipline that she has chosen. Tang Xue also used to be a top speed skater back in school but has given it up for a number of years.

Steven Zhang Xin Cheng as Li Yu Bing / Ping San

Yu Bing is a university student and star ice hockey player with X Dragons Club which is also based at Lincheng University. He is a good-looking guy which lots of female fans. Yu Bing is a determined and fearless player in the rink and is also known as Ping San or Ice God. Outside of it, he is a loyal and dependable friend. Yu Bing and Tang Xue used to be classmates in elementary school and sat next to each other.

Supporting Cast

Zhou Li Jie as Yu Yan

Yu Yan is a timid and shy figure skater with X Dragons Club. He is talented in his sport but faces strict control and pressure from his mother. Yu Yan strikes up a friendship with Tang Xue and slowly develops feelings for her.

He Xuan Lin as Xia Meng Huan

Meng Huan is a veterinary medicine student and Tang Xue’s good friend and dorm mate. She has a cheerful personality and is an animal lover.

Qin Tian Yu as Liao Zhen Yu

Zhen Yu is Tang Xue’s ex-high school classmate and good friend. He is a medical student at Lincheng University and falls in love with Meng Huan at first sight. Zhen Yu is an easy-going and a laidback type of guy.

Lu Jun Yao as Ye Liu Ying

Liu Ying is Tang Xue and Meng Huan’s dorm mate. She is a top philosophy student who can spew little nuggets of wisdom to enlighten people around her. She is studious and shy.

Chu Yue as Zhou Ran

Zhou Ran is a broadcasting student at Lincheng University. She has been a straight-As pupil since she was a kid. Zhou Ran and Tang Xue are cousins and ex-school mates but she sees Tang Xue as her enemy. She is also interested in Yu Bing.

Vincent Wei Tian Hao as Bian Cheng

Bian Cheng is a journalism student at Minghua University. He is also a top student who is very serious about achieving his goals. He used to be Tang Xue’s high school mate and she had a crush on him back then.

Cao Bo as Jiang Shi Jia / Da Jiang

Da Jiang is Yu Bing’s team mate at X Dragons Club as well as dorm mate. They are the best of friends. Da Jiang also has feelings for Wei Wei but keeps it a secret.

Han Jiu Nuo as Zhang Yue Wei / Wei Wei

Wei Wei is the top speed skater at X Dragons Club. She is a hard-worker who is determined to fulfill her dream to be a national skater. Wei Wei is in love with Yu Bing but keeps it hidden. Together with Da Jiang, the 3 of them are the best of friends.

Jin Zi He as Deng Jian Guo

Jian Guo is the goalkeeper of the ice hockey team. He is also Yu Bing and Da Jiang’s dorm mate. Jian Guo has a crush on Zhou Ran and persists on trying to woo her.

Zhang Lei as Coach Xu

Coach Xu is the ice hockey team coach of X Dragons Club. He shares a close relationship with Yu Bing. Coach Xu is divorced from Coach Chu but still harbors hopes for a reconciliation.

Ding Zi Ling as Coach Chu

Coach Chu is the coach for the speed skating team at X Dragons Club. She can be strict but fair to her charges.

Xia Ming Hao as Coach Jin

Coach Jin is the figure skating coach at X Dragons Club. He trains Yu Yan and is always giving him pressure to succeed. Coach Jin and Coach Xu are love rivals as he is also interested in Coach Chu.

Zang Yi Ren as Ma Xiao Bin / Manager Ma

Manager Ma is the manager of X Dragons Club. He is an effeminate man who has a soft spot for Yu Bing. Manager Ma may appear business-minded when dealing with the team members but he does try to help them behind the scene as best as he can. His father is the owner of the club but he has never told anyone about it.

Synopsis

On entering Lincheng University to study veterinary medicine, Tang Xue applies to do part-time work as an assistant to a top ice hockey player. Unknown to her, the player is Yu Bing who is an ex-classmate when they were in elementary school. When Yu Bing sees her application, he tells Manager Ma to take her in. The reason being he wants to exact revenge for the times Tang Xue had bullied him back then. So, Yu Bing and Tang Xue start off their working relationship as enemies rather than friends.

As they work together more and more, Yu Bing finds out that Tang Xue still has passion for speed skating. It is a sport that she excelled in back to school and had given up halfway through. He also starts to develop feelings for her. At the same time, his good friend and a top speed skater, Wei Wei, is also interested in him and has been for a long time. But Yu Bing is oblivious to her feelings.

Tang Xue decides to pick up speed skating again when given a chance. But she faces doubts and parental objection over her decision as she strives to fulfill her dream. Her friends and team mates at X Dragons Club also have their own trials and tribulations as they all work hard to reach their goals of being champions. They also face love problems and enemies who put obstacles in their path.

Would Tang Xue and Yu Bing end up together? How would all of them overcome setbacks and reach for their dreams?

Skate Into Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

Well, you can say that Skate Into Love has a happy ending as all the relevant characters manage to overcome their darkest moments to climb back up as successful athletes. Even those not into sports are doing what they are passionate about. In the last episode, Tang Xue and Wei Wei are now in the national team. Yu Bing recovers from his head injury and fights back to regain his confidence and form as a top ice hockey player at X Dragons Club. Yu Yan is striving to be a figure skater champion. Zhou Ran and Bian Cheng are going to pursue further studies at Cambridge University. Liu Ying has become a lecturer. Meng Huan is on her dream trip to South America while Zhen Yu is pursuing his interest in medicine.

The Couples

Tang Xue and Yu Bing’s relationship remain solid. Yu Bing openly declares his love to Tang Xue again from the rink in the last episode. Zhen Yu and Meng Huan are still as cute and loving as usual. Wei Wei accepts Da Jiang’s affections for her and they become a couple. Liu Ying and Jian Guo are dating. Coach Xu and Coach Chu are planning to re-marry.

How Did Yu Bing Overcome His Setback

As Yu Bing is recovering from his brain surgery, he is fearful that he would not be able to regain his position as a top ice hockey player. He becomes demoralized and loses his self-confidence especially when he finds out that Tang Xue has been offered a place in the national speed skating team. Yu Bing doesn’t want to be a burden to Tang Xue who is willing to forego her place in the national team to be with him while he recovers.

The best advice comes from Yu Yan as he has experienced the fall from the top right to the bottom when he was suffering from anxiety disorder. Yu Yan has gone through what Yu Bing is experiencing. His advice to Yu Bing is take away Tang Xue’s worry for him so that she will be free to pursue her dream. This means he will have to rise to the challenge to better himself in order to achieve his goals. In this way, Tang Xue will be reassured that he will not give up and wither away like she did back in school.

Skate Into Love Review – Good But Can Be Shorter

There are a few things going for Skate Into Love to make it worth a watch. Firstly, the chemistry between Janice Wu and Steven Zhang is pretty good which makes it easy for viewers to root for the couple. The characters have excellent relationship dynamics to make them unique instead of being your typical lovers in a romance drama.

Secondly, there is a story behind Tang Xue, Yu Bing, and Yu Yan as they strive to be national athletes. So, there is character development and you see them grow and become more mature as they learn to overcome life challenges and setbacks. Despite it being a drama, there are certainly lessons to be learned in Skate Into Love. Thirdly, the main female character in the drama is a strong and determined woman. She knows what she wants and are not relegated to be a cheerleader to the male lead like what you will see in Go Go Squid! Hence, her character has more depth which is more realistic to watch.

Lastly, I quite like the acting by the male and female lead. Tang Xue is a bossy and domineering character but somehow, Janice Wu managed to make her likable. Otherwise, it could have easily put viewers off. Steven Zhang also gave the Yu Bing character a cool persona as a sports star and yet, knew how to appear flustered at the right moments when confronted by the prospect of confessing to Tang Xue. One little bonus for Allen Deng Lun’s fans is that you will be able to catch him in a guest role in Skate Into Love. The last time I watched him was in Blossom In Heart.

The Drawbacks

Skate Into Love has an element of nationalistic sentiments built in. Some may be put off by it especially when it appears like a promotion of China’s patriotism. Personally, I find it to be mild and it doesn’t really affect my overall enjoyment of the drama. To be fair, they did dedicate the drama to the country’s winter sports athletes at the very end. So, I guess some form of nationalistic pride in the drama is to be expected.

Apart from that, Skate Into Love is a little too long to my liking. 40 episodes isn’t really necessary to bring out the story of Yu Bing and Tang Xue. The plot starts to disintegrate when they try to fill it with unnecessary sub-plots. For instance, Bian Cheng’s obsession with Tang Xue which causes him to hate Yu Bing is really stretching it a little too far. Many rom-coms end with less than 30 episodes such as Love The Way You Are and Lucky’s First Love. They can be short and sweet when done right and there is really no justification to lengthen the story unnecessarily.

In addition, there are quite a few side couples in the whole drama. It is like they try to pair everyone up to come to a big happy ending. It is simply predictable. Not that it is annoying but it does seem a little forced. Sometimes, it is just not necessary to give everyone a partner. I think it is far more realistic to let certain characters to remain as friends or just part ways.

My Verdict – If You Have Nothing To Watch…

Skate Into Love is not too bad to fill your time if you have nothing better to watch. The winter sports theme gives a unique background to the story. But Yu Bing is an immature jerk with his childish antics against Tang Xue in the beginning of the drama. So, you will need to get past that if you want to watch it till the end. While the last episode has a happy ring to it, it doesn’t fully show Yu Bing’s actual rehabilitation process and hard work to climb back to the top either. The way Yu Bing gets to remain in the club also seems a little too easy. So, in that sense, the ending is kind of simplistic.

Personally, for this Skate Into Love review, I can’t give it a very high rating as a romance drama. Hence, a 7/10 score from me. The love story between Yu Bing and Tang Xue has a lot of potential to become more emotionally moving but they just fail to develop it more deeply. More time could have been invested in this couple’s story rather than building up unnecessary sub-plots. So, you don’t really get a very touching conclusion to their love story despite the happy ending. Watch it for the main characters’ stories of how they achieve their dreams instead. For me, that is more satisfying to watch than the romance.

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