This was my very first CDrama and only my 4th Asian drama period. (Squid Game, Alice in Borderland and Sisyphous: The Myth.) This show made me mourn its ending so badly that I wound up on YouTube looking up the OST which lead me to eventually being able to mimick along with the songs (can you call it "singing" along if you dont speak the language? ?) and eventually lead me to KPop. I've now watched over 100 dramas and movies, I'm an official member of multiple KPop Bands, attended 4 livestream KPop concerts, have 3 premium subscriptions to Asian steaming video apps and am learning korean (it's a slow process, I'm lazy and have too many shows to watch ? I'm barely into vowels but I'm going to do it dammit!). And all in less than 10 months.
This drama started me down the rabbit hole and I've never been happier. it'll forever have a special place in my heart. The acting isn't great and there were so many cringe moments that I had to pause to calm down from laughing at how embarrassing or bad a scene was but the story was so good. it never let me down and there were MANY nights I got about 3 hrs of sleep because I HAD to find out what happened next. I laughed so hard and I cried uncontrollable sobs and the OST is amazing. Being in what I affectionately call my "Mid-life Crisis" this took me back to my younger days and remembering the newness of being attracted to someone and flirting and falling in love and I think that's why I became so obsessed with this show as well as all the other dramas I've watched. Every show I watch brings that feeling back and makes me feel young again. Is it Cheesy, Yes. Is it embarrassing to swoon over boys half my age, Yup. Is it worth watching anyway, Absolutely!
I've also watched the Korean Version 'Boys Over Flowers' (OMG the hair! still cant see that preview without laughing) and the Japanese and Thai versions are also on my watch list.
Oh! and if you watch this, watch 'My Unicorn Girl' afterwards, (it's cute and you get to see more Darren Chen!) there's a huge Easter egg in it that I screamed and laughed so hard I literally woke my entire household up ?

8.5.22 - I wanted to come back and update this review to say, I just finished the Hana Yori Dango trilogy and I now fully understand the obsession with it. But I also wanted to say that Meteor Garden was the closest adaptation to the original. The Korean Version was like a "Cliff's Notes" highlight version but with Meteor Garden you get the full story. And while Hana Yori Dango now takes my top spot for the Best of all the versions, Meteor Garden still holds a very special place in my heart. This story, no matter what language it's told in, is timeless and will never get old.

I also understand why they went so obnoxious with the hair in the HYD adaptations ??