My Overall Thoughts
WTF did I just watch?
Seriously. I finished Please Smile and sat there wondering how a drama this short managed to waste so much of my time.
This was supposed to be a romance. There are only 17 short episodes. You would think that means the writers would have to move quickly, develop the couple, give us chemistry, kissing, actual relationship time, and then wrap everything up.
Apparently not.
Instead, Please Smile somehow gave me a couple who barely felt like they knew each other, threw some romantic moments at them, declared that this was apparently love, and then raced toward the ending.
Where was the actual romance?!
I kept waiting for the relationship to really start.
Then the drama ended.
Excuse me? ๐ญ
The Romance Was Basically Missing
My biggest problem with this drama is very simple: there is barely any romance.
And yes, there are technically romantic scenes. There is kissing. They go on a date. The show clearly wants me to believe these two are falling deeply in love.
But a few romantic scenes are not the same thing as actually developing a relationship.
The progression felt like:
They barely know each other โ feelings suddenly happen โ random confession/relationship โ a couple of romantic scenes โ proposal โ THE END.
I wanted to watch them actually become a couple.
I wanted flirting. I wanted conversations. I wanted them learning about each other. I wanted that period where you can actually see why these two people are obsessed with each other.
Instead, it felt like the writers were checking boxes.
โ
Meet cute
โ
CEO notices unusual girl
โ
Kiss
โ
โRomanceโ
โ
Proposal
โ
Go home
NO. ๐
You cannot just throw a kiss into the story and tell me, โSee? Romance!โ
The Writing Was Dumb as Hell
There really is no nicer way for me to put this.
The writing was dumb as hell.
So many things happen because the plot needs them to happen rather than because the characters are behaving like actual functioning adults.
The drama constantly manufactures situations, misunderstandings, and emotional problems when a basic conversation could probably solve half of them.
I don't mind ridiculous plots. I watch Chinese mini-dramas. I clearly have a high tolerance for nonsense. ๐
But nonsense still needs to be entertaining.
Give me obsession. Give me revenge. Give me crazy chemistry. Give me an unhinged CEO who would burn down a building because somebody looked at his woman wrong.
Give me SOMETHING.
Instead, Please Smile kept giving me contrived problems without enough romantic payoff to make any of it worth suffering through.
If you're going to make the characters miserable, I need compensation.
I was not compensated.
Zhou Ye: Handsome Cardboard Cutout ๐ญ
Sheng Yichen is a good-looking man.
Unfortunately, somebody apparently forgot to tell Zhou Ye's face that different emotions exist.
The man had approximately one facial expression.
Happy? Same face.
Annoyed? Same face.
In love? Same face.
Probably thinking about lunch? Same face.
Sir. Please move an eyebrow. Anything. ๐ญ
It was such a waste of a handsome face because Zhou Ye should have been exactly the type of male lead I normally enjoy: wealthy, powerful, interested in the female lead, and capable of being protective.
But I needed more personality. More emotion. More intensity.
Instead, sometimes it felt like Qi Miao was having a romantic relationship with a very attractive cardboard cutout.
Qi Miao Deserved Better Writing Too
Qi Miao actually has a setup that should have made her fun.
She's outspoken, rebellious, protective, and not the typical helpless female lead. She can stand up for herself and other people.
That should have worked for me.
The problem wasn't really the concept of Qi Miao. It was what the writers did with her.
The characters kept getting dragged into situations that felt manufactured purely so the story could continue. Instead of letting Qi Miao and Zhou Ye develop naturally, the script kept getting in its own way.
I don't need every female lead to make perfect decisions.
I do need her decisions to make some kind of sense.
And Then There's the Proposal ๐
The ending gives us the big rooftop proposal.
Normally, this is exactly my kind of ending.
Happy couple? โ
Proposal? โ
Clear romantic commitment? โ
So why wasn't I happy?
Because I was sitting there thinking:
YOU TWO NEEDED A RELATIONSHIP BEFORE YOU NEEDED A PROPOSAL.
The proposal feels like the writers remembered at the last second that this was supposed to be a romance and decided to throw a giant happy-ending sign at the screen.
A proposal cannot magically replace all the couple development I was waiting for during the previous episodes.
I wanted to see them being together.
Not just arrive at the final destination because the script said it was time.
