Follow Your Heart (2024)

I Followed my Heart, Watched it and Enjoyed it

Not a masterpiece, but this drama had a good amount of love, comedy and sensibility to keep me watching til the end. The story follows Jiang Xingbai (Leo Lou) and Yan Nanxing (Song Yi) as they battle the evil forces behind the Zornia case while coming to an understanding of each other's secret.
Leo Lou's amazing act of portraying Jiang Xingbai is flawless. If I had to pick favorite characters in this show, Jiang Xingbai would be the only one. Not that the other characters are bad, but Xingbai is more memorable to me than the rest probably because both the writer and actor brings him to life. I appreciate that the writers point out Xingbai's thoughts in the first few episodes for the audience to understand how he determines people's identity not by their faces, but their posture, smell, hands, voice, ect. Takes less explaining as the story progresses and it makes sense. In comparison, Song Yi also did a wonderful job portraying the bright and bubbly Yan Nanxing. I have to say my biggest laugh of Nanxing's doppelgangers scene was the guy who appeared on their wedding night. Still can't stop giggling when I think about that scene XD. All the secondary characters overall were great. Enough for me to enjoy watching them interact with each other and understand their arcs but not take away from our leads.
If you're looking for a good drama to watch and not think too hard, this is the one to just sit and enjoy. You can probably miss a few snippets here and there and the story will still go on and make sense. I didn't feel time wasted after finishing it, but at the same time wished it was something different. Will I rewatch it again? Only if I'm a die hard Leo Lou fan who plans to rewatch all his drama, then this will on the list.

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Sweet romance but draggy plot

This drama is about the main leads who are both after an illegal poisonous drug. The male lead is the investigator of the drug, suffering from face blindness while the female lead is a travelling doctor (but more like beauty shop owner) that has the uncontrollable ability to shape-shitft.

I pretty much started this drama for the cast, especially my favourite guys Luo Yunxi and Ryan Cheng. The best part of this drama is the cute romance between the three couples. In fact, the romance is what kept me going to finish this drama. The worst part is the boring and extremely draggy plot.

POSITIVE:
- Sweet romance between the 3 couples. I was very much invested emotionally, especially the two side couples. The main couple is ok, still sweet. Everyone did “follow their hearts” just like the title alludes to.
- Platonic friendships between men and women. The second male and female leads are friends, the third male and female leads are also friends. But in terms of couples, the second leads get with the third leads. I truly loved seeing this dynamic play out as it's very rare in cdramas.
- Light-hearted with some funny moments (although sometimes the comedy can turn cringy).
- Cool fight scenes (not a lot but what you get is nice. Although in the later episodes due to LYX leg injury his fights are not as good. But Ryan Cheng slayed all the way).
- Awesome finale episode. One of the sweetest and happiest I’ve ever seen.

NEGATIVE:
- One overstretched plot line for 40 episodes. Apparently the drama was written as 24 episodes but then got re-written and extended for 40 (greedy producers). I can totally see that because there are many filler episodes and I had to skip tons (I’m talking whole episodes). In general the plot was a snooze fest and if it was only 24 episodes it would have been 10x better.
- Mix of good and bad. Some episodes were super fun and engaging, others super boring and draggy.
- Annoying mother. In general I hate cdrama nagging mothers. This one was no exception.

OVERALL:
This felt like a light-hearted mindless watch. It's an ok drama to pass the time but nothing more. I feel like the cast’s talents got wasted here.

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