How to Ruin a Series

Watching the Chinese racing romantic drama Speed and Love took a while for me, frankly, because aside from the length (29 episodes) the storyline had an abrupt disjointed remaking of itself about two-thirds of the way through which almost ruined it for me. I came away thinking someone majorly messed with the script at that point to make the series something else, and it suffered a lot because of it.

The premise is the story of two non-blood-related siblings Jiang Mu (Esther Yu) a pampered little girl, and Jin Zhao (He Yu), an abandoned boy who becomes her older brother. Mu's parents get divorced, and her dad and Jin Zhao move to Thailand. As soon as she grows up, Mu heads to Thailand to find her brother, who is now a really handsome thug who races cars and fights in underground boxing matches. The attraction between them abruptly shifts from siblings to lovers, and then Mu learns that Zhao is risking his life in dangerous races for very noble reasons.

Up to the point when Mu and Zhao fall in love the series is okay. There are some plot holes and underused characters (criminally, the excellent character of Lin Sui, played to perfection by Thai actor Mike Angelo), as well as some skips in the story, but I didn't mind. Esther and He really work together as a couple, and steamed up the camera more than once without crossing the lines of Chinese censorship. Then something happens to wreck Zhao's ambitions as well as the entire series. This does not get resolved for six more years, basically ruins the romance and really turns it into a pointless sobfest for the last seven episodes. You could actually end the series on the episode when the wreck happens and it would make the series better.

I really liked Esther Yu in this series; she looked younger, her outfits were definitely interesting, and she was obviously having a good time with her character. That said, He Yu really carried everything done to ruin it and kept me watching. He's very subtle and quiet as an actor, relying on his presence and obviously fantastic looks to convey a lot, and that has a mesmerizing effect. Available on Viki.com.

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