Behind Your Smile (2016)

This was my first taiwanese drama after 2 years.. It's not the reviews that convinced me but the genre. As always, I'm a revenge-melo drama lover so when this show was still in it's early few episode, I've decided why not I give this drama a try. Who knows I might be like it. Now that I do. I did'nt just like the show. I LOVE IT. COMPLETELY. DEEPLY.

I will just give you all the reasons WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH BEHIND YOUR SMILE :

1) The intrigue plot of revenge. It's nothing original about it. You got a main male lead who was hellbent on taking revenge on people who had done wrong to his family and eventually lead to the death of his father. It was the only mission of his life provided that he successfully carried out his revenge. He since then become the Ice Prince, cold and heartless. Then our main heroin, the Warm-Hearted Princess came along into his life accidentally. She who since then melt his frozen heart and teach him how to smile again. The story sound so typical was'nt it? This no mistake was the foundation of the show but what made me fall in love with the show was how the story being directed and developed. There was nothing typical of it. It was addictive and compelling. Watch it if you want to know!

2) Good acting and great chemistry between leads. At first while watching Marcus Chang potraying Zhao Yi Ting, The Ice and Jerk Prince, I'm not so convincing. I noticed the awkwardness and it feel slightly fake. But as the show goes on, as I became more warm up to his character, I think that his acting became much better. He became better with his facial expressions even the subtle one. When he's in pained expression, I can feel it as my own. I can feel his heart breaking even when he wore a cold facade. I tell you that,if an actor manage to make the viewer feel that, He. Is. Really. A. Very. Good. Actor. And Liu Eugenie as Lei Xin Yue. Her character was annoying at first. Definitely became annoying and weak were her characters in the early of the show as the one who has been sheltered entire of her life and she did very good at that. Later on, she became the strong heroin that I want. She also shows that being strong is not when you let go of the person that you love but being able to forgive and hold on the person that you love even if he hurt you beyond reason because you can see the ways he love and take care of you more than the ways he hurts you. It sound dumb I know I know. But she really shows only those who have big heart can forgive people. :P

3) Very smart and wise male lead. This show have it. Zhao Yi Ting was never one step behind while dealing with his enemy. He is sensible and insightful.To have a revenge based drama, a smart and clever lead was a must. It is absolutely no fun in watching revenge show with dumb and slow-witted characters.

4) Good looking main leads. If you only watch the show with good looking leads. This show might be for you. At same point while watching the show in it's early episode, I even thought the 2nd male lead was much more good looking than the 1st male lead :P

5) No love triangle. If you hate a romance show with love triangle/ rectangle / polygon this might be the show for you. There was only one-sided crush present in the show and even that was'nt too burdening because our heroin's love to our main male lead was unwavering to the end.

6) Very hot steamy kiss scene :P (I'll leave it to your imagination of how hot it is.. :D )


7) The OSTs was so great. All the soundtrack was so damn fantastic that I must download all of them and keep it in my phone. I usually got bored while hearing the same song over and over again but it was'nt the same case with all the song in BYS. It now has been dozens of times already I listen to the Shi Shi - He is'nt Worth It, I keep wanting to listen to it more. I also love the Don't panic song the same. It is cute and catchy.


Alright, I think 7 reasons are enough for now. Lastly, I recommend this to everyone who want to watch revenge-melo-romance drama at this moment. Give it a try, you might love it the way I did ^^

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Behind your smile is my first Taiwanese drama and I am thankful to the friend who prompted me to watch it. Even without being particularly original or unique, Behind Your Smile was very entertaining and fun to watch having something for everyone without being too cheesy or heavy.

Story
The story is a combination of a romantic comedy with a grain of melodrama accompanied by a revenge subplot to spice things up. Tsundere male, seeking revenge for his destroyed family, meets the naïve and gullible female lead who tries to find her impeached mother. The two are intrinsically linked and form an ill-fated relationship that develops into a deep romance – havoc, tears, cheesiness and twists ensued.

The drama, despite its 75-minute-long episodes, was extremely easy to watch, enjoyable, not too basic plot-wise and not too complicated just enough to keep things interesting. Even if it was extended I can’t say it was dragged. The plotline was well-thought out making forward steps either on story or character-development.

My favourite part of the drama was the fact that it had a something for everyone. Mainly a romance-comedy, it was heavy on romance and even if I didn’t see any particular chemistry between the leads they shared some steamy, fan-servicy kisses, they looked great together and had good synergy.
Moreover, the comedy was kinda cheesy but cute and entertaining. While lastly, my favourite part, the backstory was not new but well-written and strong, implicating families, revenge, had twists and some melodrama, good for every taste and thorougly entertaining. I sincerely enjoyed the whole thing.

Continuing, the music was sensuous even if it was regularly repeated. Worth downloading, what I mainly enjoyed was the re-arrangement of the title song to fit many different situations, dramatic scenes, comedy scenes ect.

Character development and the concept of forgiveness and selflessness drives the story and gives significant lessons to viewers.

Acting
The acting wasn’t the drama’s strongest suit but I can’t say it prevented me from enjoying it.

Liu Eugene is probably the weakest link of the chain, maybe it was her character maybe not. It was kind of annoying to watch her being that defenseless at first, also her childlike attitude didn’t help, but it was part of the character, similar characters are usual in dramaland. In some scenes I was enjoying her performances some other times she couldn't convey her feelings properly tending to fall short or overact. Not bad overall, but a bit weak.

Hong Angel excelled in being a bad bitch with anger issues, I loved her, her role was a bit limiting, and she also couldn’t cry express any other emotion other than fury to save her life. She was good though as a raging mean girl and that was why she was there.

Yang Esther is probably my favourite out of the female characters, cute, funny and badass with a misunderstood emotional side. Beautiful as well.

I left my personal favourite for last; Chang Marcus wasn’t only the best actor in this but also he is easily the most handsome Asian actor that has graced my laptop screen. Extremely charismatic and charming he had the arrogant, mean bastard with a soft and kind interior act down. I’ll be stalking his next projects.

The full supporting cast did alright but the drama was mainly Eugene and Marcus, even the rest of the main cast didn’t really have a prominent role in this. –also thank god no unnecessary love triangles!

Recommend/Rewatch
As it was already mentioned, behind your smile has something for everyone. Rom-com fans will definitely enjoy this; the backstory makes this good enough for people who like more serious dramas too. It is a light-hearted drama, easy watch but still interesting with a strong plot. Even if there is nothing innovative about this drama, it is cliché done right. I will never rewatch this but I can see how it can hold some rewatching quality for some viewers.

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