Amor Insubstituível (2020)

Unsatisfying Slow Burn Drama

I started 2x speed at one point and then eventually fast-forwarded on 2x speed. I mean, the drama is passable as a slow burn kind of drama IF you want it to be, but there's barely any development anywhere. With these types of drama, you have to deliver it in either the workplace, family drama, or love line. I think it did terrible in all three aspects as it felt anti-climactic and unsatisfying. I wanted to enjoy it, but I didn't.

STORY-ACTING-REWATCH VALUE
I think it had an interesting start and premise. The acting wasn't bad either. I've seen a few of Sun Yi's work, she hasn't blown my mind, but she's doable. It was my first time watching Bai Jing Ting, and I would like to see more from him. I wouldn't recommend anyone to re-watch unless they enjoyed it. I barely finished, but I've made it a goal to try not to drop dramas this year and I was already knee-deep in this drama.

OVERALL RANT (major spoilers, proceed with caution)
More things happening to the protagonists and extra drama in the storyline doesn't make it more climatic and enjoyable to watch. It felt draining episode after episode to want certain things to develop, but they don't. Four example rants with SPOILERS:

1. Them overcoming their "sister-brother" relationship could have been a lot better. We waited for a good maybe 16 episodes for Luo Shu to realize his feelings for Chu Yao. Then in episode 19, Luo Shu confesses, but Chu Yao doesn't confess until episode 32. They're "together," but not really, and they finally get approval from their dad in episode 44. And honestly, I felt no chemistry between these two at all. Maybe because we already see them treating each other as mutual siblings, I didn't feel the chemistry. Like he always calls her 'big sister' and she calls him 'little brother.' They help each other out and always put each other first, but that's it. It's not a make my heart pound or go 'aww' kind of moments. They had a lot of head-on shoulder moments, but that was like the main skinship. Even in the last scene where Chu Yao had her head on Luo Shu's shoulder, their body was so distant, it looked so awkward to me.

2. So, why play it out like Luo Shu was doing so well in the business industry, in the beginning, to make him fail at every turn? He's this smart guy who dropped out of college and had a business idea/product that was at one point worth 10-12 million dollars. We see them building this business idea/product for so many episodes with the big corporations, investors, and competitors against them. The writers build it up so well that we expect them to prevail, as they're a small group who are smart and resilient. Then BAM! chaos hits, and he gave it all up for Chu Yao. What?! Of course, he starts over, but it's just not the same anymore, especially when he already invested so many episodes in his pivots and all. They never gave him a satisfying comeback.

3. Why did they never try to get help for the mom? Instead, they let her live a life of ignorance like that. The mom is probably the most fragile character ever as she needs to be protected in a bubble and cannot do anything or see anything. If they truly love the mom and Luo Shu, they would want him to have his identity and for their mom to recover. Luo Shu went through an identity crisis so often that it wasn't fair to him as an outsider. He had no responsibility to treat this family with so much thought and care. They never gave him an option to leave, and when he would leave, they would pull him back to appease the mom. Also, if they were to help the mom and reveal Chu Chen's death, Chu Chen would finally rest in peace. The family can now hold his death anniversary and visit his grave. However, this doesn't happen, so poor Chu Chen is just forgotten.

4. What's with this never-ending phase of antagonists and the world against them? Even Zhi Mo became the bad guy?! Did we need another reason to have another antagonist at that point of the drama? No, the writers could've just closed up loopholes and tied everything up to make it all good.

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After interesting beginning, ending flops.

I thought the beginning had an interesting premise. Being a romance drama I expected the plot to have many twists and turns until the ML and the FL found their way to true love. The drama got more and more interesting for me as each episode unfolded. I enjoyed the young man's perseverance as he was thrown obstacle after obstacle trying to block his professional success. I both loved and hated all the attempts to keep the young couple from finding the love they had for each other. NOTE: Though the Ml and the FL portray brother and sister at home for the sake of the mother's mental health due to her real son's death in a fire, these two are not blood-related. There is NO incest in this drama. That said, we come to the ending. With all the drama that followed our young lovers, we expected a happy ending. What we got was junk, totally un-necessary, and an anger-provoking conclusion. As the story got near the end, I was thinking of a very good rating but the ending completely blew it.

It is too bad that the story ended the way it did. I thought the acting was good, the drama throws one back and forth with joy and frustration. I loved the performances by all the characters. The title says it all, there is an irreplaceable love between them and they come to show it, to live it. It was marvelous right up to the last episode and then...

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