Rhea
Malaysia
Be With You is the type of drama that is made for pure entertainment whereby you shouldn’t put on your thinking cap while watching. Just treat it as dramaland fantasy and you would probably enjoy it. I would also see it as being targeted at a younger set of audience. Maybe that is why it doesn’t resonate with me and I have to force myself to finish it quickly for the purpose of this review. The good thing is it is short and I could avoid the temptation of abandoning it halfway through.
Girl Chasing Guy Drama
If you like romance dramas that see the girl taking the initiative to pursue the guy, then Be With You would fit the bill. This theme is similar to Begin Again but without the same depth to its story. I guess this is to be expected as Be With You is a rom-com after all. So, it is not a drama that you would see serious character growth and deep exploration of feelings unlike the more intense romance in You Are My Destiny or Here To Heart.
Of course, it is perfectly alright to have a simple plot especially for a rom-com. But where Be With You is lacking to me is the mandatory sweetness which drives this type of dramas. I understand different people will have different standards of what constitutes sweetness in a romance. If you see a much older and domineering man taking the reins in the relationship as sweet, then you would like this couple. It is an unequal relationship albeit a protective one given that the guy is much more matured compared to the girl.
Personally, I’m more into couples that have mutual respect for each other like the one in Love Is Sweet. That is why it is a little hard for me to root for the couple in Be With You. This is not to say that I can’t accept an older man and younger woman romance. It also has to do with the couple dynamics and personality which bring up my next point.
Male Lead’s Character Flaw
A much older and successful male lead is nothing new in a rom-com just like Lu Jin in Dating In the Kitchen. But the female lead in Gu Sheng Nan is gutsy with a spine and hence, the relationship is able to generate the required sparks for it to be exciting. Comparatively, Qi Nian in Be With You is much meeker. With Professor Ji’s character being a controlling one, it is not exactly an ideal romantic couple in my books. Of course, no one is perfect and the saving grace is Professor Ji does love Qi Nian and is aware of his own controlling nature.
Thus, you really have to get over Professor Ji’s flaws to be able to enjoy this rom-com. If you start dissecting his character like I did, the romantic vibes will immediately take a dive especially if you also prefer couples that are more equal in terms of power dynamics in their relationship.
Chemistry Could Be Better
The chemistry between Ji Xiao Bing and Zhang Ya Qin is not exactly bad but there is definitely room for improvement. It is passable for a simple rom-com but it fails to lift it to its full potential. I don’t think that their acting is the problem though. Perhaps the nature of the characters that they play makes it a little hard to generate more sizzling interactions between them. I would think that if one character is too dominant and there is a lack of tender moments between them, it will indeed be hard for the chemistry to flow naturally. This is in contrast to say, Perfect And Casual, whereby the chemistry of the leads really drives the drama as the sweetness is magnified in each interaction.
My Verdict – It’s Nothing Special
Be With You is the type of drama that you would watch when you have absolutely nothing better to do and want to indulge in some fairytale romance. As mentioned, the plot is simple and whether it will come off as sweet will depend on your ability to overlook faults in the male lead who also seems to be toying with the female lead’s affections at times. Hence, he is very different from the suave and almost perfect male lead in Intense Love which is also a fairytale-like romance drama.
A further word of warning is that this short drama also has 2 other couple stories included. Hence, they take up quite a bit of screen time overall especially the second couple of Si Qi and Qing Wu. If you like the secondary pairing, it will be the icing on the cake. If not, it can be annoying because they take up the majority of the screen time around Episode 18 onwards which is similar to the problem in Love Designer as it progresses towards the ending.
For this Be With You 2020 drama review, I would give it a score of 6.5/10. It is really nothing new from the plot to the characters that it is hard to justify giving it a higher score. Watch it if you absolutely like stress-free rom-coms for a little escapism. Don’t think too much though if you really want to enjoy it. But if you are the type who can’t help but want a more perfect male lead and heartfelt romance, then drop it. Be With You would be hard put to satisfy the cravings for a fulfilling romance story.
Girl Chasing Guy Drama
If you like romance dramas that see the girl taking the initiative to pursue the guy, then Be With You would fit the bill. This theme is similar to Begin Again but without the same depth to its story. I guess this is to be expected as Be With You is a rom-com after all. So, it is not a drama that you would see serious character growth and deep exploration of feelings unlike the more intense romance in You Are My Destiny or Here To Heart.
Of course, it is perfectly alright to have a simple plot especially for a rom-com. But where Be With You is lacking to me is the mandatory sweetness which drives this type of dramas. I understand different people will have different standards of what constitutes sweetness in a romance. If you see a much older and domineering man taking the reins in the relationship as sweet, then you would like this couple. It is an unequal relationship albeit a protective one given that the guy is much more matured compared to the girl.
Personally, I’m more into couples that have mutual respect for each other like the one in Love Is Sweet. That is why it is a little hard for me to root for the couple in Be With You. This is not to say that I can’t accept an older man and younger woman romance. It also has to do with the couple dynamics and personality which bring up my next point.
Male Lead’s Character Flaw
A much older and successful male lead is nothing new in a rom-com just like Lu Jin in Dating In the Kitchen. But the female lead in Gu Sheng Nan is gutsy with a spine and hence, the relationship is able to generate the required sparks for it to be exciting. Comparatively, Qi Nian in Be With You is much meeker. With Professor Ji’s character being a controlling one, it is not exactly an ideal romantic couple in my books. Of course, no one is perfect and the saving grace is Professor Ji does love Qi Nian and is aware of his own controlling nature.
Thus, you really have to get over Professor Ji’s flaws to be able to enjoy this rom-com. If you start dissecting his character like I did, the romantic vibes will immediately take a dive especially if you also prefer couples that are more equal in terms of power dynamics in their relationship.
Chemistry Could Be Better
The chemistry between Ji Xiao Bing and Zhang Ya Qin is not exactly bad but there is definitely room for improvement. It is passable for a simple rom-com but it fails to lift it to its full potential. I don’t think that their acting is the problem though. Perhaps the nature of the characters that they play makes it a little hard to generate more sizzling interactions between them. I would think that if one character is too dominant and there is a lack of tender moments between them, it will indeed be hard for the chemistry to flow naturally. This is in contrast to say, Perfect And Casual, whereby the chemistry of the leads really drives the drama as the sweetness is magnified in each interaction.
My Verdict – It’s Nothing Special
Be With You is the type of drama that you would watch when you have absolutely nothing better to do and want to indulge in some fairytale romance. As mentioned, the plot is simple and whether it will come off as sweet will depend on your ability to overlook faults in the male lead who also seems to be toying with the female lead’s affections at times. Hence, he is very different from the suave and almost perfect male lead in Intense Love which is also a fairytale-like romance drama.
A further word of warning is that this short drama also has 2 other couple stories included. Hence, they take up quite a bit of screen time overall especially the second couple of Si Qi and Qing Wu. If you like the secondary pairing, it will be the icing on the cake. If not, it can be annoying because they take up the majority of the screen time around Episode 18 onwards which is similar to the problem in Love Designer as it progresses towards the ending.
For this Be With You 2020 drama review, I would give it a score of 6.5/10. It is really nothing new from the plot to the characters that it is hard to justify giving it a higher score. Watch it if you absolutely like stress-free rom-coms for a little escapism. Don’t think too much though if you really want to enjoy it. But if you are the type who can’t help but want a more perfect male lead and heartfelt romance, then drop it. Be With You would be hard put to satisfy the cravings for a fulfilling romance story.
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