Saturday, June 9, 2018

304. Tree in the River 动物系恋人啊 (2018) Taiwanese

Mike He, Gillian Chung, Ray Chang, Sonia Sui, Ken Hung, Lin Yu Pin

Drama Rating: 5/10     Neck Score: A++

I know that this show was going for a more realistic feel with all the relationships, and it might have started out that way, but I was soon just rolling my eyes at all the couples lack of communication and how contrived their resolutions were. Also how flip floppy they were. It was a bit too much for me. So while I never hated the show, it was never compelling for me. I just watched it because it wasn't annoying enough to stop, but I never looked forward to it every week or anything.


I was probably the most invested in the leopard mom, Fen Ni, but sadly her story ended up a little flat. I liked how they mostly focused on her and her daughter's relationship, but the fact that they were trying to also shove in the past relationship with House (the wolf) ended up cheapening their relationship in the end. They wanted them to have a reignited relationship, but in the end it remained about the daughter, which is good, but would have been better if they hadn't tried to also make them have a romance too.

I didn't really like how long they dragged out the main couple's resolution either. They waited for the final episode to gave all the couples together, but that made the actual resolution rushed, thus in my mind cheapening them. It just dragged for me in the last half of the drama and relied on the use of other people to force the couples back together, such as the daughter or the rival/best friend who would then tell them everything they were missing our misunderstanding so they could then rush back to each other and suddenly be okay to try again. Ridiculous, but I guess it gets the job done. Also, they endings are also all very open ended and not really satisfactory. Like, was his job the problem? Did he have to quit or could they have just established some values?

I guess it was like this drama was almost good, but instead just scratched the surface instead of digging to the depths I wanted it to, which was sad. It had potential. A great cast, good chemistry, but in the end they all just ran around like chickens with their heads cut off and sometimes didn't act very consistent to how they had originally established them. Misunderstandings galore, etc. Then a dead dad and a forced, rushed wrap up, the end.

I guess I don't really have a lot to say because I don't have any really strong feelings about this drama or anyone in it. I didn't love anyone, I didn't hate anyone, and I never got really invested in it. I just watched it, which is why I gave it a solid 5 for a mid meh effort.