Lost Romance Review: Romance Not ‘Lost’ But Found In Abundance In This One

It’s been a few days since I finished ‘Lost Romance’ and I still can’t get over the warm fuzzy feeling the drama left me with. ‘Lost Romance’ was so high on love, that it makes me greedy for more.

Despite the lockdown last year, I could hardly watch any dramas in 2020. I did an ample amount of reading but watching dramas wasn’t really down my alley. In fact, the more I was forced to stay indoors, the more I grew averse to spending time in front of a screen. Working on the PC the whole day and then watching dramas on the same PC did not appeal to me.

But starting this year, I resolved to commit to watching dramas again and I turned to my beloved Japanese and Taiwanese dramas. Why? Because everyone is watching and talking about K-dramas. ‘K’ dramas and pop music are everywhere. So, I thought why not show some love for my dear T and J dramas. Don’t get me wrong, I still love K-dramas, but preferred watching something that wasn’t being overly talked about.

And I got really lucky with the Taiwanese drama, ‘Lost Romance’. Nah, it wasn’t luck. I loved Marcus Chang in ‘Behind Your Smile’ so I looked up his dramas and found this to be his latest work so I gave it a shot.

The basic plot of ‘Lost Romance’ is somewhat similar to the Korean drama, ‘W-Two Worlds’ in which the female lead of the story enters a parallel universe where she leads a different life before returning to her own real life. That is the start and end of the similarity between the two as this show is more focused on developing romance between our main leads.

Love that was impossible in real life, blossoms in a parallel universe. Does the love get carried forward in real-life too? Well, that is what we’ve got to find out through the show.

  

Lost Romance (2020) (20 Episodes)

Zheng Xiao En (Vivian Sung) is a romance novel editor and works for a publishing firm. Her love for romance novels makes her well versed with clichéd romance tropes. In her free time, she likes to stalk Tian Xing (Marcus Chang) through her drone that hovers over his office building.

One day, while stalking Tian Xing she happens to witness something she wasn’t supposed to see. Shortly afterward, she falls terribly ill and happens to collapse. When she wakes up in her bed, she is happy to be fine and oblivious to any kind of change around her. At work, she bumps into Tian Xian and cannot believe her luck to be in such proximity to the man she has always admired from afar. However, her happiness turns into shock as she realizes that Tian Xian is actually Situ Aoran the CEO character created for the new book she was working on and that she has been magically transferred into the fictional world interacting with real people but fictional characters.    

I enjoyed watching ‘Lost Romance’ because…

…Zheng Xiao En was an entertaining and exciting character. She is neither completely timid nor extremely strong as a person. She is neither overly positive nor too negative. She has her share of good and bad traits that make her a very real character. She is a happy and hard-working person in both her universes and dreams of marrying a rich and successful CEO someday.

When Xiao En is magically transported to the fictional universe she realizes that she is a part of a romance story but the story is not about her and that the romance is between Situ Aoran (Tian Xing in the real world) and Chu Chu, who works in his company.

Being an editor of romance novels, she correctly predicts tropes that the main leads could follow to come closer and fall in love. But she doesn’t let that happen and instead sabotages Chu Chu’s chances of winning over Situ Aoran and tries everything to become his object of affection.

In her attempts at side-lining Chu Chu, Xiao En does some smartly calculated and innocently stupid acts that make Aoran notice her and grow suspicious to the point of disliking her.

Actress Vivian Sung is absolutely delightful as the chirpy Xiao En. In the show, Xiao En often finds herself in comical situations and Sung carries the character so well that even the childish scenarios make you laugh.

From whatever I have seen of Vivian Sung on her YouTube channel and in the BTS videos of this show, I feel she seems to be a fun person in real life so the character probably came very naturally to her. She steals the limelight even in scenes where she only has to react to another character. She is simply amazing and I would recommend this drama only to watch this beautiful and entertaining lady.

…I liked Situ Aoran and Xiao En’s magical love story. I may not have liked their couple chemistry as much as I would like to, but I still enjoyed watching them together. Their squabbles over mostly true and sometimes false accusations were extremely amusing.

And then there is their metal meltingly hot love scene which had me aggressively fanning myself to keep cool. The writer ensured the main couple did everything as per the viewer’s expectations and their effort is thoroughly appreciated.

The second half of the drama soars really high on romance with generous skinship between our dear leads. The romance tropes that they make fun of throughout the drama is what you get in the second half. But I have no complaints. I missed my drama tropes and was happy to get it.  

…I liked the second lead Qing Feng. Qing Feng is not a character of the real world but enters when Xiao En steps into the fictional world. The romance fiction world is incomplete without a sugary-sweet second-lead whose only job is to have our female lead’s back and fall in love with her so the male lead comes to his senses and starts chasing after her.

Qing Feng does his second lead duties very well. He helps Xiao En and is always there for her when Situ Aoran is not. He looks handsome and smiles innocently like a little kid.

As far as actor Simon Lian is concerned, I felt that he could have smiled a little wider or acted a little more real. He, more often than not, looked confused which to some extent ruined the liking you need to develop for a second lead. Not his best performance as an actor but certainly a good character to play.

I especially loved the way he says ‘Aoran’. Oh boy!! I would hear it repeatedly because it sounds so nice when he says it. ‘Ooraan’ ‘Auoraan’ ‘Aoraan’ <3   

I did NOT LIKE ‘Lost Romance’ because…

…the first episode was a drag. It was because of the slow and uneventful first episode that it took me days to get back to it. The first episode gives the impression of the show being excessively clichéd which was something I wanted to avoid. Since I knew of the change in the situation with the whole parallel universe thing, I decided to keep up with it. If you plan to watch this drama, try to be patient with the first episode. Sit through it and the remaining episodes will make up for it. 

…I was disappointed by Marcus Chang. As mentioned before, I picked this drama only for Chang but sadly, I did not like him much in the show. He suits the role but I think the character was a bit of a let-down.

Chang hardly had anything to do, other than looking good, in the first half of the drama and blame it on Situ Aoran. Aoran is a one-dimensional character who hardly shows any development. His poker face even in romantic scenes kinda dampened the mood sometimes. Luckily, Xian Tiang is not like that and has slightly more variety of expressions to show.

Chang is a handsome guy whose close-ups are a treat to watch but you just cannot watch his blank face all the time, you need to see some emotion to believe him. His lack of expression was more highlighted by Sung’s effervescence. She acted so well that Chang’s shortcomings become extremely evident. I hope his next show gives him more scope to showcase his acting abilities.  

…the product advertisement in the drama got a little too much. Right from the very first shot of the theme song you see a line of products being promoted throughout the show. They try to sell you reed diffuser, foot mask, chips, and whatnot. And it is quite effective product placement because I myself happened to look up the reed diffuser that Situ Aoran uses in the drama. 😉 Good for the brand, not so great for the viewers.

…the second lead Qing Feng walks behind the main lead Situ Aoran like a shadow. This is a very minor gripe but I cannot help mentioning it. I hated seeing Qing Feng walk a step behind Situ Aoran ALWAYS!!

They enter the office together and leave together and each time Qing Feng walks behind the boss like some bodyguard. He is the beloved second lead who is the support system of our female lead. Seeing someone like him like this made me uncomfortable.  

What works for ‘Lost Romance’ is its attractive cast, the cheerful and smart female lead, and decent storyline. And of course, Marcus Chang’s ‘Lost to You’ that currently takes the top spot on my playlist. Do not miss the scenes in which Xiao En imagines herself in place of female leads from popular Korean and Taiwanese dramas, enacting their famous scenes.    

I give ‘Lost Romance’ 3.5 out of 5 rating. Even with its flaws, this drama makes me happy to have watched it. If you do not mind drama tropes or you are a certified sucker for drama tropes (like me) then do watch it. It is highly entertaining and filled with lots of love.     

 

All Images and Screenshots Courtesy: Viki.com