Review of Only for Love / 以爱为营

I have a confession to make before we get deep into this blog post: I used to really despise Chinese dramas. I don’t know why, as I used to watch the Taiwanese ones with Aaron Yan back in the day, but for the longest time I haven’t been able to get into Chinese language dramas as a whole.

But lately, I’ve been getting super back into studying Mandarin, as I’d studied it for over ten years before stopping, and I purchased a Viki subscription because I’d been hooked on Korean dramas again. That led me to stumble upon this show after finishing my latest Korean drama.

And despite me not really watching Chinese dramas, I pressed play on this.

Maybe it’s because I’ve somehow seen two other Dylan Wang dramas, Meteor Garden, which really upset me because of how badly the female character was treated, and Love Between Fairy and Devil, which I also don’t know why I watched.

But I have another confession: ever since watching Only for Love, I’ve been on a Chinese drama kick. Like it’s actually getting bad. A lot more reviews are coming out on this blog in the coming months.

Let’s get into this review then, shall we?

A finance journalist falls in love with one of the biggest rising company’s CEO.

So our female lead in this drama is Zheng Shu Yi, and at the beginning of the drama, she’s going through a bit of a rough patch. Her long-time boyfriend she finds out is cheating on her with a wealthier girl, and she’s obviously very devastated upon realizing what he’s done to her.

She throws herself into her work, as she works at one of the biggest financial papers in the country, and is assigned to get an interview with Shi Yan, the CEO of one of the biggest rising companies lately. Well, he’s not the easiest guy to get ahold of, but when her coworker also tries to get the scoop, it’s now a competition.

Shu Yi ends up meeting with him, and this’ll be a dance that lasts through quite a bit of episodes, as Shu Yi’s assignment and coverage is going to take some time.

When the two first meet there aren’t really a ton of sparks, but as they continue meeting, they both start having a crush on each other. At the same exact time, his niece starts working with Shu Yi as an intern, but Shu Yi doesn’t know they’re related.

Said niece is also going to have a romance of her own, as she relentlessly chases after one of Shi Yan’s employees, who also happens to be her professor (a bit weird dynamic there—the fact she’s dating her professor can be a little cancelling here in the US).

Shu Yi’s best friend also has an on and off relationship with Shi Yan’s other employee and friend, which makes it a weird little connection between everyone as well. Shu Yi’s ex also keeps appearing, as well as his new girl, making it more difficult for Shu Yi, as she doesn’t tell Shi Yan anything about her previous relationship.

Basically, this is the entire premise of the show. More inciting incidents are inserted here and there, such as a rival technology company appearing out of nowhere and poaching a star employee. The head of that company also starts making his move on Shu Yi, as he reads one of her articles while on a flight and decides that he likes her.

Our female lead also has some crises because while she’s really good at her job and is one of the best reporters around, she absolutely sucks when it comes to her love life. A lot of the conflicts in the drama really could have just been avoided if everyone just communicated.

Overall Thoughts

I didn’t think this was the greatest drama at all, and that the plot was quite simplified and overbaked in some points, but it entertained me for thirty-six episodes. I don’t know how I watched all of these, especially because it got quite repetitive towards the end and I felt like that I needed a break from the show.

The main problem with it is I got frustrated with the main couple, as Shu Yi needed to communicate, and some of the problems seemed a little dumb to me because if they had just communicated, none of this would be happening.

There’s also not a lot of character growth too, and everyone just kind of feels static throughout, especially the male lead/Shi Yan. While the female lead has her faults with communication, she at least had more of a character arc.

I still didn’t hate this drama though, which says something right there.

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