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The Games We (Don't/Shouldn't/Wouldn't) Play

I don't know why I'm curious about video game dramas lately, but watching the Chinese romantic gaming drama Falling into Your Smile mostly made me glad I've never much liked video games beyond the occasional bout of Scrabble with the computer, or wordl. It did have some moments that nearly redeemed its predictable plot, its unwavering focus on the unimportant, and the weirdly missed excellent storytelling opportunities. The video game they used for the series seemed pretty bizarre and yet boring, which is a rather odd combination, but I won't complain about that because I don't know anything about these games.

The premise: after graduating college a young woman named Tong Yao (Cheng Xiao) is wasting her time mainly playing group video games when she's recruited to join the professional gaming team ZGDX. This is supposedly due to her outstanding performance in playing this one video game, but as she becomes the only female professional player in China that seems suspect. Her teammates show a few glimmers of doubt before fully embracing her as one of their own, which seemed unlikely, too. Yao starts butting heads with her team captain, the tall and fabulous Lu Sicheng (Xu Kai) as they play their way toward the national championships, and then of course they fall in love.

What had me scratching my head from the start was the romance between Yao and Cheng. As a character she's not especially likeable or relatable, cries too much, and otherwise just stands around in the presence of her BFF or a bunch of guys for the most part. Cheng is interesting, broody and mysterious (at least he is for two episodes before his inexplicable love for Yao turns him into a quivering bunny boy.) They have zero chemistry and I had no sense of why they even liked each other. I thought the wealthy gal who plays in the secondary romance was the better character, and would have suited Cheng much more. But no, she's off falling in love with this kid on an opposing team who with her has a hundred times more chemistry than the leads.

Another thing that puzzled me: while the different subconflicts were fine, there were so many chances at better storytelling that were there but strangely left to fizzle out. An ongoing rivalry between Cheng and a South Korean player called Hierophant that seemed like it was going to become epic, as it had so much potential -- the need to dominate each other, possibly a third for a romantic triangle, and definitely the dark and sinister vibe coming from Hierophant, but nope. They just presented the conflicts, did nothing with them, and let all the possibility evaporate. Same thing with Yao's ex-boyfriend, who is another professional player -- he could have caused them both some major problems. Mostly all he did was sulk until at the end, when he praises his ex. Sure, he would.

Falling into Your Smile will likely appeal to the youngsters who are heavily invested in video gaming and such. For me it was a lesson in romance failure, and what not to do with storytelling opportunities. Available on Viki.com and Netflix.

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