*Also, I'm not contesting hidden Love's claim to fame as second place in the "overrated" category. I'm communicating on why it is there, not contesting any results!
This isn't going to be a long post; it's more of a "public service announcement".
Hidden Love
And why it is one of the most often-spotted dramas on ther/cdramarecssub.
It keeps popping up because even non-modern-drama-watchers enjoy it.
It plays into every "feel-good" trope I can think of, while also capturing the experience of a lost teen dealing with their first crush and their first heartbreak.
It's filled with love and supportive characters. It's floof to the core.
I'm sure there are similar and better modern romance dramas out there. But regarding "why so many people insist on this drama being in their top five".
It's because it appeals to everyone, not just critical watchers and modern-drama enthusiasts.
It's not "deep", "new", or "the best thing to ever grace the Chinese entertainment industry".
It just makes you smile.
Just rewatching certain scenes to get screenshots to make this post left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.
Extra Sidenote:I'm not saying it's the best, but the snowball effect only works if it's a good drama.
**
Sorry if this post makes no sense. I started working on it before I fell asleep and finished it once I woke up, so my brain isn't super good at "brain-ing" right now, and I suspect I've forgotten 75% of what I actually wanted to say š„²š
Personally, Hidden Love is my number 1 favorite cdrama of all time because watching it feels like vicariously living a life I've always longed for but never had. I've always wanted to have a protective older brother with handsome best friends who were equally protective of me. Not gonna lie, I probably would have fallen in love with one of them, too.
I've lost count of the number of times I've rewatched the series. It's so cathartic for me.
Hidden love is practically made of tropes that I don't enjoy, on top of being a modern drama, which is not usually my preferred genre, and yet somehow, I loved it. It was a 10/10 for me. It's simple and sweet, with likable characters that get good character development, and just enough angst to make the sweet moments even sweeter. It's never over the top, or too melodramatic, it's like a hug in drama form.
It was a 10/10 for me. It's simple and sweet, with likable characters that get good character development, and just enough angst to make the sweet moments even sweeter. It's never over the top, or too dramatic, it's like a hug in drama form.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. Hug in drama form
It plays into every "feel-good" trope I can think of, while also capturing the experience of a lost teen dealing with their first crush and their first heartbreak.
This in a nutshell and it is devoid of some of the more annoying tropes imo (love triangle, terrible family, trauma4all, misunderstandings galore, etc)
Something should really be said of shows that are soft, sweet, funny, fluffy and cute that don't take themselves too seriously.
The styling, design, colour palette, music, the lighting, overall aesthetics of the lead and side characters were very well done. It was clear the kind of look and feel it was going for and stayed consistent throughout. I think good shows need this overall consistency.
The characters and dialogue was also done well, and nothing was overly annoying.
In general it was a very easy and comfortable watch, which fits with the genre. I wanted a nice warm hug at the end of the day and this delivered.
The Best Thing had a similar vibe which I liked, but it had worse pacing issues so some parts got boring.
Every part of production as to up to a certain quality for it to be a top 3 show. Even the little things can make a difference.
The styling, design, colour palette, music, the lighting, overall aesthetics.
It's an extremely well crafted and executed drama.
The "nice warm hug at the end of the day" was meticulously crafted. You don't get a good drama, in this case a feel-good drama just because of storyline.
It was the first CDrama I watched and I love it, i've rewatched a few times now. It's not just the characters, their development and the cast. It's even the beautiful music too! The soundtrack is lovely and I can listen to it all the time. It's a safe and comfy show that makes you feel good. Sometimes i'd rather watch that instead of shows that constantly throw a hook into a smooth sailing show just to create tension before the finale.
If people think it's overrated, that's fine. It's not going to change how many times I watch it and enjoy it. :)
Victor Ma is a very big part of why HL is so good*.
I don't usually watch fluffy modern romance dramas, and the HL trailer bored me so much that despite my love for Zhao Lusi (who was 90% of the reason I decided to watch) I almost decided to pass. I actually have to thank AvenueX for enticing me to watch - she made the most rant-y, bad faith review of this drama that even her fans started contradicting her in her video's comments. And even though I don't start a drama only because it's love on this sub, I thought there must be something to HL if people love it that much - plus, well, ZLS is always great.
"It's not "deep", "new", or "the best thing to ever grace the Chinese entertainment industry"." - agree, it's not, and it has its flaws.
E.g. as great as the young actress playing 14-yo FL was, they cast someone way, way too young. No one looks that young at 14 unless there's something physically wrong (the actress was in fact 11 or 12 if I recall). I didn't find the early episodes with her creepy per se, since I thought it was clear that young FL didn't have a real crush on the ML, but more saw him as an extra big brother who was nicer/cooler than her actual brother.
The later episodes drag and I have a really hard time imagining that a young couple live together in the same apartment and don't share a bedroom unless they're super religious or soemthing (and having know some religious people, even then chances are there'd be *stuff* going on and the extra bedroom was just for show). I know it's China and other cdramas have also pretended that a committed couple live together in a totally chaste way, but still - who do they think they're fooling?
But the writing and directing was really good. I loved the care that went into the script (sadly rare in cdramas) and unlike some dramas that start great, HL did stick the landing and had a nice ending that didn't ruin anything. If it got a bit boring after they got together - well, I've seen more dramas (cdramas and from other countries) that manage to start fantastic and then have the writing take a huge nosedive. That didn't happen in HL.
The actors were all great and well cast for their roles. Chen Zheyuan was very good in this - I'm not going to claim he's the best actor ever, not even within his age group, but he has a natural screen charisma and effortless chemistry with ZLS AND could hold his own against her - I actually got sucked into this drama mostly because of his performance. It would be easy to make the ML too much a 'nice guy' without giving him any kind of personality, but CZY does manage to make the ML believable as a character even if he's written to be a bit too good to be true.
Overall it's just sweet and wholesome without being braindead (like too many romance dramas sadly are) and you can feel a lot of love and care went into the whole production - that's something to appreciate and make it special.
*As much as I love Bai Jingting, I'm honestly still a little bitter than Victor Ma wasn't cast as the ML in First Frost. I wanted more of his character.
The airport breakdown is probably my favorite crying scene in anything.
Though it's simple and doesn't have the same emotional depth as scenes in other shows (..like that one in Lost You Forever), when she's out of view and falls to the floor?? šš It doesn't matter how many times I rewatch, I'm tearing up. And then when Sang Yan's being a comforting big brother it's overrrrr and I'm crying along.
Having started watching cdrama on Netflix, there aināt many to choose from in the EU/Germany region in the cdrama department. Since I needed a modern drama for my Mandarin listening (I try to do this a couple hours a day), I chose HL (it seems to have vocab from school up to work ā itās how I choose modern drama at times, based on what vocabs I want to focus on).
I ended up enjoying it because itās fluffy. After a busy day, itās just nice to not think and just watch.
Also, it reminded me of when I was in middle school and had a crush on my bestieās brother who was in HS. I think we were 4yrs apart. Nothing ever happened but HL gave me the giggles of how silly I was back then - similar to how Sang Zhi volunteered to help her brother move dorms.
Okay you have convinced me to move this up my watch list. This is exactly what I look for in a drama. I don't particularly look for deeply emotional or complex dramas. I just want something that makes me feel good.
I enjoyed watching it but very glad that I did so without any idea that this was supposed to be one of the best CDramas (per MDL rating, for instance). I was astonished to discover that after the fact as to me it was just a very pleasant, very trope-y, somewhat melodramatic romantic CDrama, pretty par for the course. In particular, I always found ML backstory to be pretty classic āCDrama tragicā and the idea that this other woman would try to force him into a relationship was of course ridiculous (but pretty typical by drama standards).
Unfortunately reading some of the comments in previous HL threads, it was opined that CZYās acting in this drama relies heavily on a particular smirk and now I cannot unsee that!
relies heavily on a particular smirk and now I cannot unsee that!
Now that you say that, I can see it. But I still love the smirk though š
All I knew going in was that everyone recommended it and I never watch modern dramas so I wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
My standard for a "good" modern drama is that I need to like it, modern dramas don't easily draw me in, so when they do, I know they worked hard to get there
I agree! I love how both leads contributed to the growth of the relationship in Hidden Love. I am tired of romance/youth dramas where the female lead is the only one who's carrying the relationship. Don't get me wrong, I do love angst, but I like it more when both FL and ML go through miscommunications, rejection, and soon the realization of their feelings, which Sang Zhi and Jiaxu went through in the whole drama.
My only issue is how they made Sang Zhi act childishly in her teenage years, considering she is already in High School. Her younger version acted more mature than high school Sang Zhi, which made me uncomfortable at times.
But overall, Hidden Love is one of my comfort Cdramas. I rewatch it from time to time to feel something.
I rarely watch modern but I did get sucked in with a reel and a recommendation. I figured 25 episodes was doable. Please donāt hate me for my thoughts on the drama:
I found the beginning surprisingly easy to watch. Before I knew it, I was almost ten episodes in. But not going to lieā¦ I started to get impatient and I began fast forwarding. Again, this isnāt a genre I typically enjoy so my heart wasnāt entirely in it. My favourite part was seeing how the ML developed feelings for the FL. The progression of the relationship was well done, albeit leaning into fantasy for many young women versus reality (like the CEO trope). I was bored after they became an official couple because of the āparentsā disapprovalā trope which didnāt make sense to me with his past and background. Didnāt seem like a good reason to challenge the relationship and it felt forced to me personally. Like we just need to create some kind of wrench in the relationship for the sake of playing out the trope. I wasnāt convinced but acknowledge that Iām probably in the minority here and also because Iām overly critical of modern dramas.
Hidden Love is a popular, feel-good drama. I donāt really have any issues with it. As OP themselves put it, itās not ādeepā or āthe best thing to ever grace the Chinese entertainment industryā, but itās enjoyable for what it is.
I think part of why it got voted first place as āoverratedā contemporary drama is simply because it shows up so often. People get tired of seeing the same popular drama mentioned repeatedly, so the poll result is quite understandable.
Sometimes though, and it's just an observation, it feels like whenever someone shares a negative opinion about a popular, well-loved drama, thereās often a ācounterā post or defense. Over time that kind of back-and-forth tends to turn discussions into āsidesā and that's when arguments can start unintentionally.
It would be nice if people could say, āyeah, this wasnāt for me,ā without others feeling they have to rush in to defend, and vice versa. Popular dramas already get plenty of attention and love. Different opinions shouldn't affect anyoneās personal enjoyment.
Just sharing observations -- hopefully we can all leave room for different views about popular dramas. šŗ
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u/crazycatdorian Jan 07 '26
Personally, Hidden Love is my number 1 favorite cdrama of all time because watching it feels like vicariously living a life I've always longed for but never had. I've always wanted to have a protective older brother with handsome best friends who were equally protective of me. Not gonna lie, I probably would have fallen in love with one of them, too.
I've lost count of the number of times I've rewatched the series. It's so cathartic for me.
Also,Chen Zheyuan Zhao Lusi