Early Access: Love is an Accident E1-4 (Patreon)

E1-4. Surprise, everyone! The show that I'm picking to replace My Lovely Liar, here on Patreon, is this little c-drama.

I'd originally shortlisted The Kidnapping Day to replace My Lovely Liar, but because that's just started airing, there aren't enough episodes for me to work ahead on, the way I'd said I wanted to.

And so, I'm shortlisting The Kidnapping Day to maybe replace Moving (but also, maybe I'll replace Moving with The Worst of Evil, I'll have to see).

For now, this little show just meets me where my mood is: something easy-breezy, cheerful and light.

I find this fun and easy to watch, and I hope you guys will have fun with it too.

But, first up - this show is not perfect by any means, so let's talk about managing expectations, shall we?

1. The production values are cheap and cheerful

After spoiling ourselves with the sumptuous production values of My Journey To You, the production values in this kinda jump out at you with how basic, and well, cheap they are. 😅

So think budget web drama trying to create sets for two timelines, rather than big budget extravaganza that has dollars to blow.

The tighter budget is very obvious in this, particularly in the flimsy-ish-looking sets and the cheap gauzy fabric.

On a related tangent, it feels like Show isn't fussed with trying to make this realistic in any way.

The costumes and wigs are one thing; the lack of historical context is another.

Show isn't trying to pretend to be a part of actual history, I don't think. I'm going with this story world being completely fictional, without any historical connections, and that works just fine.

2. The acting is kinda patchy

What I mean is, most of the acting is just serviceable. Some actors seem to be doing better than others, 4 episodes in.

On the upside, male lead Xu Kai Cheng is doing a nice job injecting emotion into our male lead, a young master of a prestigious clan, who goes by the name An Jingzhao.

On the downside, I have definitely seen better from our female lead Xing Fei.

I really enjoyed her in Put Your Head On My Shoulder, where I found her bright and charming.

I don't know what the issue is, here, but she's coming across as rather perfunctory, in this role.

Like, when her character Chuyue cries, with fear &/or sadness, it's very clearly pretend; like, there are literally no tears. She just bawls like it's just for pretend, like she's in a school play or something, and then we're moving on.

I'm hoping that this will settle into something better, once Chuyue starts developing feelings for Jingzhao, because I know Xing Fei is capable of more and better.

3. Our story is where it's at

Even though what I've written about Xing Fei's acting would often be a dealbreaker for me, I find that I'm still having fun with this show, and I realize that, for me anyway, the story is where it's at, with this show.

I am very entertained by the entire premise, where she literally drops into his world, and is now desperate to find her way back to her own world.

And, I'm also looking forward to future hijinks that the trailer has promised, where he ends up arriving in her world, so all of the fish out of water hijinks will be reversed. 😁

For now, I'm happy with the explanation that Show gives us, that it's because of a magical meteorite that's split into two, that's fallen into the two different worlds, that enables the connection between the two worlds.

I'm also not very fussed with how quickly our leads adapt to the idea that Chuyue has arrived in this world, from another, completely different world.

I'm just entertained by how Jingzhao wastes no time in making Chuyue his fake fiancee, and all the hyper-proximity that results.

Well, not so much the hyper-proximity itself, really; I'm more taken with the idea that Jingzhao's quickly falling for Chuyue, now that he's decided to trust her.

Every time Chuyue talks about wanting to go home, he has all these secret wistful-tending-crestfallen looks, and I'm very much here for that. 😁

This means that all the so-called fake couple stuff, where they get kinda skinshippy and close, is not just play-acting, for him, and I find that idea of him secretly pouring his feelings into this pretend engagement, quite delicious. 😁

Of course, there's also how Jingzhao is clearly kind of jealous of Gu Qingfeng, whom he's never laid eyes on, all because Chuyue's talked about wanting to get close to Gu Qingfeng, because she likes him.

Heh. Jealousy, already? I have no complaints about this. 😁

Also, I like how his grandmother is onto him, with the way she teases him with vague remarks about how someone is hoping that the engagement is real and not pretend.

Hahaha. I kind love Gran for how feisty she is, and how she clearly wants to be Jingzhao's wingwoman, in finding love.

A plot point that I found particularly amusing, this set of episodes, is the faded Pikachu temporary tattoo on Chuyue's forearm, that Gran spots - and then later turns it into "evidence" for how Chuyue is really Jingzhao's long-lost fiancee, Wanqing, who'd gone missing years ago.

The way Gran describes her "birthmark," saying that it's yellow, and a little plump, and is the special spiritual animal that's unique to the Hanshui Sect, where Wanqing is from.

Hahahaha. I was extremely tickled by this, because Gran is obviously describing the Pikachu on Chuyue's forearm. 😂

Of course, we've got a jealous, priviledged second female lead who's got her eyes set on Jingzhao, and as we close out episode 4, she's hatching a plan to poison Chuyue, to get her out of Jingzhao's orbit.

I know she's not going to succeed, obviously, but perhaps with Jingzhao getting all intense and protective of Chuyue some more (as he's already been doing, these 4 episodes), will help to open Chuyue's eyes to his appeal..? 😁

Next episode notes will be out on: Thursday, 5 October 2023!

* This show will be covered on the VIP Early Access (US15) Tier *