Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 1 out of 5 stars
Synopsis
*From DramaList*
Tells the story of an ordinary girl who falls head over heels for the most popular guy in school. Xia Miao Miao is a shy, artistic student who develops a crush on a handsome, talented classmate and embarks on a journey of self-discovery through college. Because of Liang You Nian, Xia Miao Miao decides to make a change. Through the help of her friends, she starts to learn about fashion, join school clubs, and studies hard to raise her grades. Her ordinary life becoming more colorful by the day. Based on First Love, also known as Crazy Little Thing Called Love, a 2010 Thai romantic comedy film.
Ramblings
*beware of spoilers*
I’ll start by saying I’ll keep this one short! My last rambling went way too long, and I don’t want to get in the habit of writing 1,600-word reviews. Yikes.
A Little Thing Called First Love reminded me of the infamous Ugly Betty (in all its forms, both Spanish and English shows), as well as the Chinese high school-to-college drama Unrequited Love (which is also very good, I highly recommend watching that one).
The main character develops a full-blown crush on a popular boy in school, but because she has such a shy personality and an appearance that’s—let’s just say she’s not to her fullest potential, the romance stays one-sided until the boy wakes up and realizes she’s perfect.
Just like Ugly Betty, Miao-miao has a gradual transformation. Her hair starts out shoulder-length and curly—it’s a terrible wig, but whatever. Her complexion begins dark, tanned from the sun, and her teeth are discolored and crooked. Oh, and of course, she has glasses.
In the end, she transforms into a beautiful butterfly. Her obnoxiously curly hair and comically short bangs get relaxed into lovely long waves and tasteful side bangs (episode 22). Her complexion is whitened with the overt help of some skincare product. (Side note: the skincare product placements in this show were A LOT.) She gets braces, which sadly and unrealistically took all of two episodes. As someone who lived with braces for two years, it hurt my pride to see such a banal portrayal of wearing braces. Go full Betty! Wear braces for YEARS. And lastly, she wears contacts and then undergoes Lasik surgery to ditch the glasses.
I’ll dwell on the transformations for a second because you’re sort of waiting for them as the show progresses. Miao-miao undergoes most of these changes suddenly and as a result of someone spouting negative comments at her appearance. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, you’d love for a character to be proactive about bettering themselves and making big changes because they want to. But it’s realistic that Miao-miao was more reactive. Someone talks about her crooked teeth, so she finally gets braces—in fact, she drags her mother to the orthodontist instead of the other way around, as before the dirty comment, she didn’t want to get braces at all! And after that witch of a roommate talks shit about her dark skin, Miao-miao’s younger sister buys her decent skincare to remedy the issue. After a douchebag wannabe film director berates her for messing up a scene due to her being unable to see in front of her without her glasses, it gives her the push she needs to go through with Lasik.
I get it. These are things nobody wants to hear, but they can inspire change. They’re all mean, bullying comments in service of conventional beauty standards, but did they make Miao-miao happier? Sure, I think they did. Therefore, I think ultimately, no matter how she got there, it was worth it. Here, the end justifies the means.
There was an epic love triangle at one point, and I wasn’t mad at it. I loved how “bad boy” Lin Kai-tuo didn’t get the girl, but the mild-mannered, gentle, sweet boy is the one for her. Miao-miao had such a sweet spirit, it was heartwarming to see Liang You-nian be sweet right back to her.
I appreciated that while Miao-miao was shy, she didn’t have any problem asserting her lack of feelings for a couple of boys who tried to shoot their shot. When drunk Lin Kai-tuo practically screams at her that he likes her and she just says “but I don’t like you.” Wicked. But the next day he’s sober and he approaches her again. She’s so calm and well-spoken, giving him an out if only he took it. No, he essentially stands by what he said in his drunken state. So she says this zinger: “Fine, if you’re serious about it, I’ll reject you again seriously.” OMG! Yaasssss.
Speaking of Lin Kai-tuo, I could have done without the entire subplot of his biological father being a debt-ridden gambler who refuses any contact with Kai-tuo for fear of gangster debt collectors harassing him for money. It was so cliché and unnecessary. Episode 24 was one big eye-roll for a specific logistical reason. Kai-tuo’s dad falls into a scenic lake, and he jumps in as if it’s a life and death emergency. Both men obviously look like they’re in shallow water but were somehow having trouble staying afloat. Then suddenly Kai-tuo and his dad were in the center of the lake?? It was a contrived way to bring Kai-tuo and his dad AND Kai-tuo and You-nian together, since they reconciled their friendship after You-nian saves both dudes. It was dumb. I didn’t care for it.
The romance between Miao-miao and You-nian was slow. And I do mean slow. I kept getting frustrated at the loads of missed opportunities to advance their romantic relationship and get things more physical. You-nian picks her up from her Lasik surgery and she cannot see. Nothing happens between them. He almost holds her hand but then she ends up holding his shirt? The show cuts to the next day as if there wasn’t anything else that could have happened between the two? You’re kidding me, right? Or unexpectedly running into each other at the lighthouse during the festival and then lighting sparklers together. These are manufactured moments that weren’t utilized at all. And the one and only kiss that they shared? Still boiling mad about that. The showrunners decided to have a cavalcade of balloons block the camera and swirl colors where our leads should be having their first kiss—so no, we don’t even see them kiss.
I will say that their break-up scene at the pool was one of the better break-ups I’ve seen. There’s nothing like a male lead refusing to clear the air and communicate that gets things to bubble up. Miao-miao’s impassioned speech about her feeling insecure about his feelings for her and her just waiting for the other shoe to drop during the entire relationship was stirring. It made total sense, too.
The most upsetting part of this show was hands-down when the bitch roommate slut shamed Miao-miao on the online campus bulletin board and all the girls do to retaliate is make her eat fatty junk food snacks. BYE.
I’m going to wrap this up by saying this show wasn’t exactly satisfying, but I did enjoy the characters. I enjoyed the innocence of it. And ultimately, I’m not upset that I watched it. But if you’re looking for some steamy romance or even one with a standard kiss, you’ll be sorely disappointed with this.
Did you see A Little Thing Called First Love? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
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