Here to Heart (2018)

A slow burn, second chance romance with business maneuverings as backdrop.

So I finished Here to Heart more than a week ago. This drama had been in my watchlist for some time already, but I finally gave it a go because I just needed more of Zhang Han and Janine Chang after The Four. It's good overall, there were many heart-touching scenes – between lovers, sisters, parent-child, and friends. It also showed aspects of the corporate world, such as the business competition, maneuvering and strategizing. However, there were really frustrating moments, some parts dragged on more than they should, and there were some annoying characters, but I expected these after reading some reviews (I guess I have prepared myself).

What really shines for me is the cast, especially Zhang Han as Zhan Nan Xian and Janine Chang as Wen Nuan, who brought their characters to life, not to mention they have great chemistry! They have sweet and passionate moments together, but I can also feel the push and pull, and the tension between them. They showed a certain depth in their acting, and they're very good in the emotional and crying scenes.

My other favorite characters are: Zhu Lin Lu (Jing Chao), a friend who truly cares and is there for Wen Nuan during some of the lowest points in her life; Wen Rou (Zhou Qi Qi), a loving and supportive sister, loyal to Wen Nuan and one who would defend her and speak her mind; and Gao Fang (Ji Xiao Bing), Zhan Nan Xian's confidante, one who truly understands him and gives the right advice at the right time.

One character that I dislike is Yi Xin (Jenny Zhang), who is scheming, manipulative, and insecure (in terms of her background and relationship with Nan Xian) even though she is successful and famous. But I must admit, she is not all bad, and she has some moving scenes in the drama, such as those with her father.

The soundtrack is good! While watching this, there were days that I had last song syndrome of the opening and ending songs.

Final Verdict: You need patience to watch this drama, but if you like melodrama and slow burn, second chance romance, with business maneuverings as backdrop, then go watch this.

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Prepare your gallons of patience

If not for their chemistry, I wouldn’t finish this, but even so, I found myself skipping scenes in episodes. I love angst, but this one takes the cake. They really took the misunderstanding trope to the next level and dragged the story on and on. It could have been a shorter drama. You should prepare to have a LOT of patience. They brought the characters to be smart and all, but they really dug in to the “love can make you dumb” trope. The push and pull really isn’t it for me.

If you want angst and a slow story, then go ahead. But honestly, the main leads get annoying with their problem. The antagonists are smarter and not to mention there’s a lot of plotholes. Sure, they have their cute moments, but what’s that compared to the amount of irritating scenes?

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A Story of Manipulation and Phsychological Abuse

So this show was an absolute nightmare for me. I got thru the whole thing but found myself yelling at the tv because I just could not understand the mind of someone who could write somethig like this. The whole show is a series of manipulations and phsycological abuse perpetrated by every lead character in this drama. Male lead is a jerk, second male lead is constantly manipulating the female lead to get what he wants. The two seconday female leads, the actress who is a crazy bitch and the female leads sister who is also crazy and the cause of all the hurt and drama to begin with. Who could ever love any of these people? Female lead is a doormat because she is pathetically weak minded and has no communication skills. Everyone of these characters were pretty much horrible human beings who professed love but actually had no idea what love was. There was really no good characters except maybe the sisters assistant/boy toy who was decent but nothing special. The mother was a manipulative miserable human being. How is a plane crash anyones fault? Irregardless of why they were on it. The male leads constant tolerance of the actress even after finding out she did multiple bad things to the female lead. Just unbelievable. The whole show was just awful.

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This drama threw me for a loop! I was crying, laughing, angry at how everything went wrong sometimes for Wen Nuan, happy when things worked out; frustrated when the issues seemed endless and hard to resolve. The point is... the emotions were real and you simply couldn’t feel them by skipping through. Every character became an ingrained part of the story to the point where what they do affected the leads, everything was connected. I enjoyed it and it’s roller coaster of emotions it made me feel.

Btw, I put such a low score for the rewatch value because the feelings were just too real. I can’t handle it ????

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I read the reviews before i watched this drama and have to say they were spot on. This should have been a 16 episode drama. I started watching it because i had nothing else to watch. I continued watching because we are in lock down so I have nothing else to do. In the end i gave up and dropped it because i was so angry at myself and could not understand why i was torturing myself.
Also a part of this drama was set filmed in London. London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world and this drama completely failed to address this and white washed the drama as if white people are the only people in London. How disappointing.
The female lead was so annoying. She didnt want the guy. Didnt want anyone else ro have him and spent 90percent of her time crying over him. Her sister annoyed me so much that i would hit fast forward the moment she came on screen. The second lead actress had too much screen time but i actually have to say she was one of my fav in this drama. The male lead has a nice smile and thats the only positive i have to say about him.

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Great Drama and Great Actor/Actress

I watched the Hear to Heart on Netflix and was thoroughly enjoying the drama. The episodes is quite long but it’s so worth to watch it again and again! I was too worn out weeping, crying during and after the lovers emotional reunion. Nan Xian and Wen Nuan for sure the perfect couple! I was very impressed by their acting skills and they perfectly showed how they care so much for each other. I am drawn to both of them “Wen Nuan” and “Nan Xian”, they are my favorites couples now and hope to see them both in more dramas.

I would definitely recommend and re-watch this drama again.

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i love watching asian series so much since i started about 2 years ago..probably seen about 50 or so and really find something to like in all of them. even though they can be corny at times from an american perspective, its the simplicity compared to american tv that i like. american tv dramas/comedies take themselves way too seriously. i like the total sappyness of these dramas, and even though they are sometimes predictable, i still havent tired of them..and just love the acting too. also love to pick up the many cultural aspects that are so different for me, but very interesting (changing shoes when you come home, no socks in business and social settings, preparation of food as an endearing thing, soaking sorrows in booze- it goes on and on..i love it!)
even though long, this one never bored me. as always the most interesting are the lead characters, but the support stories worked well too. i didnt find myself disliking anyone, even Mr Pan turned out OK. For me, i am always drawn to the female lead, and Nuan was one of my favorites of all the dramas. you couldn't help but root for her all the way to the end. and even though a lot of time could be saved with just one long conversation, which is true for most of the asian dramas, in which i sometimes scratch my head as to so many opportunities to say something passes by, it is still entertaining to watch the build up to see the happy ending for all.
i have pretty much given up on american tv shows and will continue to try to find new asian shows that turns into a gem for me. i hope they keep getting better and better.

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OMG!!!!!

Oh man, what a rollercoaster ride that was. The very, very handsome charismatic male lead is the only reason I watched this for the whole 48 episodes. The other multi couples were boring. Though I was completely gobsmacked at my own reactions to the male lead and his cruel cruel treatment of the female lead. Leaving her behind at a drinking party where she had already been sexually assaulted while he watched and grinned, leaving her in the middle of the dance floor, humiliation after humiliation and especially towards the end. What a stupid stupid idea to pretend to get married for both bride and groom to have who they love come charging in!!! Especially if the woman was said to be pregnant with the groom??? Then the male lead was pissed off for six months hoping she will chase after him!!!! How did she know he was in the UK???? I did skip a lot of the episodes out just mainly watching the leads. Infuriating and frustrating but the leads were too awesome with their chemistry to not watch. I'm so glad they didn't have a 3-foot Chinese actress with the body of a primary school kid as his partner as other dramas do. And what a nasty nasty mother!!!! One big disappointment was the male lead never openly had the female lead's back, only later after she's just about had a breakdown.

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Best actor & most handsome man I've ever seen.

This is one Handsome and terrific actor, I have watched this story at least 75 times, I'm hooked on episode 28,29, & 30, this gorgeous actor, especially in this "Here to Heart" story, is wonderful, hope to find more movies & other stories to watch with him in it on Netflix, I only discovered him in the last few days. He puts ALL his emotions into his acting, just love him. :o) Just wondering WHY his neck and ears were red, IF you were taking notice, I surely did, it was either because he had done too many takes or he was embarrassed with the scene , it made him look human though when he put his all into the scenes, his emotions made ME cry along with him, sorry. I'll will be watching this story many more times, just to see Zhang Han's wonderful acting. :o) P.S. I must say I didn't like his attire or hair do in the last episode, he was more handsome with his hair style all throughout the 46 or 47 episodes.

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Coming into this drama I was familiar with Zhang Han and Janine Chang already. Zhang Han basically plays the same character (especially in modern dramas). He's the cool, suave, handsome, super rich boss of a company with a somewhat cold personality, but when it comes to love he gets pretty invested. Janine Chang I've only ever seen as a supporting actress, so I wasn't sure how this would play out; but, I knew that she and Zhang Han have worked together before and have decent chemistry together.

I'm normally not a huge fan of modern dramas (preferring historical since they tend to have much more going on plot wise - romance, drama, politics, scheming, etc.) because they pretty much all end up being about the same. Here to Heart falls under that same fairly basic formula for modern dramas.

STORY:
Overall while everything that was going on in the plot seemingly had logic to it - why they broke up, why they had miscommunications, why they couldn't get back together, etc. - it really just played out as overdramatic and nonsensical to me. I get that Wen Nuan (Janine Chang) is supposed to be this super loving character who really cares for the people around her (pretty stereotypical honestly) but it just doesn't make sense to me that all of this occurred when it probably could've been solved with some hefty conversations. Idk.

Even the storyline of what happened to her father - and her subsequent mental issues - I just don't see how they thought it would make more sense to keep that huge event hidden from her - as if she would never find out about it and continue to have mental problems relating to it. It just seemed like the whole drama was a series of the characters putting bandaids on bullet wounds the entire time. Every problem that occurred - major or minor - they just had the worst ways of going about dealing with said issues - which then made things even worse.

For the most part, the story was super meh to me. Nothing was outstanding or super memorable. It was just all very standard modern business drama/romance.

Acting:
Janine Chang - Wen Nuan - I think I disliked more how the character was written, moreso than Janine's acting. She was supposed to be this really smart and capable employee, but then her downfalls were being a TERRIBLE COMMUNICATOR and causing all of these emotional problems for basically everyone involved. There wasn't much about her character that was special to me. She was kind, hardworking, loving, etc. I also just think she was a fairly weak person, not really being able to stand up for herself and just kind of getting pushed along a lot of times.

Zhang Han - Nan Xian - As mentioned, he's just another basic rich guy CEO. He's loving, he's smart, he's loyal, etc. There was just nothing special about the characters that I remember. Zhang Han has done this type of character before, so nothing to phone home about.

OVERALL:
I honestly spent a lot of this drama just skipping through the scenes (which I rarely do). When I was watching it, there was nothing about it that was screaming - OMG THIS IS AMAZING - to me. It was just a lot of average everything. Story was not super memorable. Acting was fine. Production was fine as well.

I don't really see myself ever rewatching this. As for if you should watch it at all? It wasn't a terrible drama, but it's not a must see by any means.

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I saw this drama when I was scrolling in instagram and suddenly my eyes captured Zhang Han being the male lead in the drama so I hurriedly watched it because he also starred in "Boss and Me."

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What I must say about the drama was NEUTRAL. For me, it is a heavy drama. And there were only episodes that are heart relieving because of the little bit happy scenarios. And the main problem of the story was quite messy. You don't even know what reason why Wen Ruan suddenly broke up with Zhan Nanxian. Is it because of her sister? Her father? Her trauma? And the break up scenarios were already tiring. They kept on breaking up and after the next scenes both of them are already okay. But the acting was on point. I love their acting, the music was also okay. So to conclude, as the episodes goes higher, the more complications occur and becomes quite exciting. But I'm only gonna watch it once because of the messy plot and much episodes.

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Too Many Tears (Angst Over The Top)

I started watching this years ago and dropped it. Seeing it on Netflix I was determined to make it to the end, hence I can finally give a review.

LIKES:
Cinematography, locations, settings and buildings, were all beautiful. The Office of Zhao Nanxian was cool and unique. It’s one I remembered.
The wardrobe for the actors and actresses; movie costumes for Bo Yi Xin (played by Jenny Zhang) when working at her drama set, the business attire, etc. [However for the fashionable clothing, it was more cheesy and tasteless, than trend setting.]
Colour palate was also well chosen.
Acting and cast selection was on point, even supporting characters were well delivered.
Choice of music was appropriate.
I like seeing the office moments, as they were actually doing their jobs, not just all standing around gossiping (even though that happened a few times). The FL (Wen Nuan played by Janine Chang) was shown as a competent business woman, for the most part.
Ding Xiao Dad (played by Gun Zi Qian) a supporting character, showed a lot of character growth, (compared to some of the main characters).

DISLIKES:
OST: the music was very loud even when the characters were talking, making it hard to hear them (thankfully I read subtitles, so I didn’t miss out what they were saying). Also the theme song was over played way too much.
WRITING: too many filler scenes to extend the number of episodes. Hated how over the top Wen You (played by Zhou Qi Qi) was made [some of her scenes I fast forwarded due to being overly repetitive with her reactions]. They had the ML a total jerk, used manipulation and emotional blackmail, often being extremely childish, for a man who is a CEO. A lot of typical trope and cliche’s. They are all adults, but communicate very little, jumping to conclusions all the time. That’s just sloppy writing. Also how they handled (or didn’t handle) some of the more serious content (depression, alcoholism & suicide), wasn’t done well. Also over use of angst, which caused me to fast forward through some scenes.
DIRECTOR: having the actors/actresses constantly crying/weeping got old fast and lost its emotional impact. Excessively long pauses for reactions of characters.
PRODUCTION:
Pacing issues, it seemed to drag on in areas that could’ve been shorter. Seemed like more episodes than what was needed.

OVERALL: It had potential and failed due to writing. Some people will like it a lot, not me. I wont recommend it, and will never watch it again. [Now I know I was right the first time to drop it. LOL]

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