Well Intended Love Season 2
Well Intended Love Season 2 (Available on Netflix)
Content Warning: Violence, Innuendo, Drinking
My Rating: C
Character Glossary:
Ling Yizhou: CEO of a company 
Xia Lin: A popular actress
Chu Yan: A popular actor
Fei Fei: Xia Lin's best friend and a screenwriter
Wen Li: Ling Yizhou's assistant
Ruan Meng: Fashion Designer
Ruan Meng: Fashion Designer
Fu Weining (And others involved with him): Some jerk guy I don't know how else to describe him
Well Intended Love Season 2 follows Xia Lin, a popular actress, who after getting involved with a scandal enters into a fake engagement with Ling Yizhou, a powerful CEO. As they navigate the press and threats against them the two grow closer together. But with secrets between them and danger on every side will their love be able to continue to grow?
First of all, I liked this season much better than the first one and if you have not seen the show (either seasons) I recommend watching this season first. I will talk about that more below but without spoiling anything the flow of the show and the relationship is handled much better and you don't need to watch the first season to enjoy this one. It does have fun call backs to the first season though which makes it a must watch for fans. But that being said I did have some issues with this show as a whole and, although I am glad I watched it, it is not likely I will ever watch either season again. But if you want a light, cheesy, non logical show this is the perfect one for you. It has a lot of good messages about relationships of all sorts as well as how to balance life.
SPOILERS FOR BOTH SEASONS AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
OVERALL STORY: Full disclosure it has been forever since I watched the first season so I will be going off what I remember--feel free to correct me if I get some information wrong. My biggest problem with the first season was the fact that Ling Yizhou was a liar, possessive, and manipulative person. He lied in her MEDICAL RECORDS about having cancer so that he could gain control of her and get her to fall in love with him. That actually really bothered me so I was curious if he would pull the same sort of tricks in this season. He doesn't. But it is hinted at the beginning that he was going to use it up until the scandal gave him a better opportunity. So.... I don't entirely know how I feel about that. Originally I felt entirely creeped out about some of the things he did the first half of the show (around 8 episodes). I started playing a game of sorts where I was like "What is the creepiest thing Ling Yizhou could do in this situation?" and 90% of the time HE DID IT. Which ruined the overall first half of the show because it was focused on this awkward romance between them. But the second half definitely upped the score for me because I felt like it threw away all of the crap that bothered me. We got some decent character development and it was far more realistic. (And less "stalkerish" thank the heavens) We also got a great, and unexpected villain, in Xia Lin's manager. I think I liked her better than Fu Weining who was helping her--her motivations were more realistic and I felt like she was the better villain. The plot developed really well and realistically although I could have done without the overblown amnesia sequence right at the end. (Although that did lead to some touching moments...) Overall the strong second half of the season made up for the weak first part.
MAIN ROMANCE: Like I mentioned above I had seriously problems with the main guy which impacted what I thought of their relationship as a whole the first part of this show. Which is why I want to focus on the good part of their relationship--that develops the second half of the show. I liked that they trusted each other, if someone made accusations that believed each other before they believed other people. Throughout their growth they learned more about each other and how to coexist with each other. I liked that they ACTUALLY COMMUNICATED. Sometimes I think they could have communicated better but in comparison to other shows I was impressed by the fact that they would be far more willing to talk their problems out. I think my favorite moment of theirs was when Xia Lin got amnesia and wanted a divorce. Ling Yizhou agrees but only if she goes to three places with him. As he is showing her all of these places that mattered to them it was really touching. It was totally corny but I couldn't help but love it. (I even got a little teary....) I liked how things ended for them too and I'm grateful we had another season to make me actually like this couple.
SECONDARY ROMANCE: This is between Wen Li and Fei Fei. In the first season their relationship goes far slower and Wen Li is more timid about approaching it. NOT THIS SEASON. It was a little jarring for me at first to be entirely honest. I wish we could have had some actual foundation to their relationship.... it would have made their relationship cuter. Their first interaction this season was when she was drunk and somehow he fell in love with her due to that. I'm not saying that can't happen but it fell flat for me. It made everything after seem just a little forced and unrealistic. But I did like them as a couple--I just think the writers could have done WAY MORE to make this couple better.
THIRD ROMANCE: This is between Chu Yan and Ruan Meng. I was really excited about them because we didn't get too much about them in the first season and I was thrilled that we'd actually get some real legit scenes with them. And while I did like them and appreciate the expansion on them I felt like the writers missed a huge opportunity in really solidifying their relationship and making it even better. My biggest issue was the fact that we find out that when she was younger Ruan Meng was kidnapped and as a result has a fear of men. That is actually super interesting and I think a relationship where she slowly learns to trust and rely on him would be AMAZING. But did we get that? Heck no! She meets Chu Yan and for some reason she is okay to be around him (I still would like some more explanation on how he pushed through the kind of situation that would lead her to be so--apparently--mentally scarred). If this makes sense to you please explain it to me because it makes zero sense. We don't even hear or get any indication of her past until she tells him about it towards the end of the show. I feel kind of ripped off as a viewer because we could have gotten so much more with them than we did. Honestly, it was one of the biggest disappointments of the whole show. If you are worried though that this makes them suck it doesn't, I just felt like it limited their relationship.
LING YIZHOU: Congrats! You are not a creepy manipulative stalker in this season! I actually kind of liked him as a character once we got into the second half. I liked how he supported his friends and Xia Lin. I wish we could have gotten more with his mother like we did in season 1 (that was freaking wild) but we got enough to know what happened to him as a kid. This season did better in understanding him and really making him more likeable. Like I have mentioned a million times so far his actions and hinted actions (the medical report) make me still a little wary of him as a character and I am still a little sad that they didn't completely rewrite his character to make him not seem like a stalker.
XIA LIN: I think I liked her even better this season than the last one. She was more confident and secure in her life which made her better able to handle things. I liked that she didn't have to rely on other people to solve her problems if she didn't want them too. She was perfectly able to dictate her own life. I loved how she trusted and supported the ones she loves. Her character was fantastic and one that I didn't have any big complaints about.
CHU YAN: Like Xia Lin I liked him better this season. He started out liking Xia Lin instead of eventually liking her and I think that big change improved his character. Such was the case when he saw Ling Yizhou and Xia Lin were really in love. Instead of trying to split them up he was like "I'm glad their both happy. Seeing them happy makes me happy." Which is the EXACT reaction people should have when this happens. Instead of being a jerk I think being happy for them is the better option. I liked seeing him grow as he changed from a movie star to a CEO--it did amazing things for his character. Overall he was probably my favorite character in the whole show.
FEI FEI: I don't have much to say about her because she was consistently the same the whole show for me. I liked her, I felt like she was fantastic at giving advice to Xia Lin. She was a good best friend and definitely helped move things along and I was grateful that she was involved. But there wasn't much character growth for her and I think expanding on her relationship with Wen Li could have given her some as well.
WEN LI: He was my favorite character in season 1 and I still liked him a lot but his more forward personality kind of weirded me out. Along with the fact that I liked him more because of how he was in season 1--you learn more about him. I think he, like Fei Fei, could have gotten some decent character growth if his relationship could have developed further.
RUAN MENG: I've pretty much discussed how I feel about her in the romance section above but I will still discuss her a little bit. I liked her, especially the fact that she was willing to be herself. That was a refreshing perspective. But, like I've mentioned, the plot line with her kidnapping was so casually mentioned that I felt like her character took a toll for it, at least in my case. I saw no indication of this issue that she has and that made me feel like they just added that to make her character more "well rounded" or whatever. I wish they had used that to really flesh out her character instead of the causal mentioning of it. Although I liked her there was a lot about her that fell flat for me.
FU WEINING: I won't talk about the manager (Xia Lin's) here because I feel like I discussed her enough above so I will just be talking about this jerk. He was seriously a crappy villain but not an ineffective one if that makes sense. He fit the plot and moved it along but we don't get enough from him and his backstory, in my opinion, wasn't enough reason to go around murdering people. Legit it was "Ling Yizhou got me expelled from school and because of that my mom die...etc" AND HE HAD NO PROOF THAT LING YIZHOU DID ANYTHING. It wasn't the worst reasoning but I was a little surprised at how violent he was because of it he was literally freezing them to death for it. (Also what was up with his whole "I like it cold" thing? I just---why???) He could have been a better villain but he was okay for the plot. Quick rant moment though: I have been watching way too much Criminal Minds (Not the Korean one) because of the fact that when Fu Weining locked Ling Yizhou and Xia Lin in his freezer place and was watching them on this camera all I could think about was the fact that if they took the camera down he would have to open the door because of his NEED TO WATCH THEM DIE. But no, Ling Yizhou just shouted at the camera uselessly. It did work eventually I guess but it was annoying when there was another solution. This was a totally random comment but it didn't feel right to leave it out.
QUOTE:
"Everyone can find their perfect love."
SHIP VIDEO: (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
I could only find good ship videos for the first and third couple so they are listed below:
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