All the C-Dramas I Watched in Quarter 1 of 2022

It’s five months into 2022 and I’ve already seen a questionable amount of dramas. How did I even make time to watch 8 c-dramas in quarter 1 of 2022? Well, it’s pretty simple. After a long day at work and running a bazillion errands, I unwind by viewing 1-2 episodes of a drama before bed. During my lunch break? I watch 1 episode of a drama. That leads me to at least 2 episodes a day. And on the weekends? I’ll probably watch 4 episodes instead of 2 if a drama is really compelling.

That’s probably why I’ve seen 8 dramas, about 2 per month, with each having 40 44-minute episodes. Sigh. Well, at least my Mandarin listening skills are getting better.

So what have I seen so far that I think is worth watching? Well, read this post reviewing all the c-dramas I watched in Quarter 1 of 2022, and maybe it’ll inspire you to watch something new.

1. Meteor Garden

You can read about my thoughts on this drama in this blog post here, but this show had a light chokehold on me in January. Oh my gosh, Daoming Si and his pineapple hair were actually giving me serotonin throughout the gloomy winter days.   

The way I played the song Like a River by Bishop Briggs on repeat is unhealthy. After watching a drama, one thing I do is pick out 1-2 of my favourite songs. Countless times I’ll play the song in the car and while I skate. Anyhow, read the review to see if you should watch it. Basically, if you’re in a cheesy, light-hearted mood, you should watch it.  

2. The Rational Life

It’s not really my thing to watch noona dramas, since how they’re executed is a bit cringe-worthy. However, I was on a Dylan Wang kick after Meteor Garden, and I needed to recover from his Meteor Garden role as Daoming Si. Hence, The Rational Life.   

I actually enjoyed it for what it was. Was it my favourite? Absolutely not. Even though it was slow and there were scenes I wanted to fast-forward, it wasn’t horrible and I didn’t regret watching it.  

3. Ancient Love Poetry

I loved it. After I wrote Xu Kai off as an overrated actor, I wanted to give him another chance. Well, after this drama, I’m a fan of his, and I’ll probably watch all of his dramas in hopes he’ll stop overdubbing his voice.   

But, besides that, can we please talk about how this was probably the best well-written female character in a drama ever? Finally! A female character who is the strongest character in the show. Not only is she strong, but she’s also famous, and she’s essentially the most revered character in this world. It’s so satisfying to watch, and this actress played Shanggu so well. Her sassiness, confidence, and playfulness were so much fun to watch. I almost felt like I was watching a female Wei Wuxian from The Untamed.

Furthermore, the way I became a stan of Liu Xue Yi as Tian Qi in this is shocking. I really disliked his character in Love & Redemption, but his character was giving everything in this drama. He was essentially the same person as Shanggu, but in the male version – sassy, confident and playful. He had serious issues, in the sense that he was selfish and prone to extreme decisions, but that made him a fun character to watch.

This felt like two dramas in one, because the first part of the drama is one story, and the second part of the drama is another story, with the same actors, but they’re playing different characters. Ancient Love Poetry seems to dive deep into Chinese mythology more than any other drama, and it adds another layer of intrigue to the story.

4. Falling into Your Smile

Now that my prejudice toward Xu Kai was over, I was ready to watch all the dramas he starred in. I tried to watch Falling into Your Smile in June of 2021 but gave up after episode 2 because it felt insta-lovey, which I don’t like. But I actually gave it another shot and it wasn’t insta-love at all. The main couple really didn’t get together until episode 20. Overall, I really liked it.   

I enjoy seeing a modern drama with a high-production value. It’s about e-sports gaming in China, and a League of Legends team that is aiming to win the national championship. It’s the first time a girl (the main character) is competing as part of an e-sports team and it’s a big deal to netizens.

I also liked how the show showed the impact netizens had on these e-sport players. On Weibo, the gossip is unmatched, and at times, it was damaging to the personal lives of these characters. Overall, it’s a cheesy drama, but if you’re in a lighthearted mood, it’s fun to watch. I wasn’t blown away by Xu Kai’s acting. But I wasn’t blown away by anyone’s acting. Nevertheless, the show was still good.  

5. Arsenal Military Academy

I’ve never been into Chinese dramas set in the Republican era. Military dramas don’t interest me either. However, Xu Kai stars in it with Bai Lu, who I also like, so I decided to give it a shot.   

I think it’s a very unique drama. What really stuck out to me was the whole drama’s brown colour scheme. Brown was the main colour of the characters’ outfits in 90% of the drama.

The brown outfits paired with brown colour-grading and brown set did a great job at making this drama look aged, despite the fact that it was filmed on digital cameras. I loved the banter between the leads, but I wish they got more screen time. Also, the drama was censored at times, and I really didn’t think it needed to be.

One other thing I liked about this drama was Xu Kai’s acting. In my opinion, this was his most impressive performance. He was giving Chuck Bass energy from Gossip Girl the whole time with his swagger and his careless rich boy persona. Definitely one of the most enjoyable aspects of this drama.  

6. Royal Feast was a royal disappointment.

Royal Feast is Xu Kai’s newest drama of 2022, and in it, he stars with an actress from Story of Yanxi Palace, and it’s just… not good. I watched eight episodes before giving up because the storyline felt messy.

The main leads barely got any screen time. I’m talking maybe a couple of minutes per episode. I just didn’t understand where the story was going. And I hated the makeup and styling for the lead female actress.  

7. Oath of Love

I can’t believe this drama actually got released. It’s unbelievable actually. With very low expectations, I put it on my to-watch list, but Tencent dropped it randomly on a random week in March. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Yang Zi is super fun to watch and Xiao Zhan, I can confirm, is such a talented actor. I remember him as the crazy Wei Wuxian in The Untamed, so it’s really weird to see him play the cold guy in a romance drama.

I’ve seen Yang Zi in Ashes of Love and Go Go Squid, but in this drama, I connected with her character in so many ways.

Watching this drama made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I could see myself rewatching this when I want a slow, soft drama and have forgotten most of the plot. Besides, I’m a sucker for medical dramas with a slice of romance on the side.   

8. The Business Proposal

I have a hard time finding K-dramas I actually like lately. After watching so many K-dramas, the format gets extremely repetitive and disengaging. Secondly, a lot of K-dramas these days are based on webtoons, which don’t have the most compelling plots.

In essence, I didn’t like this drama. It had its moments. I enjoyed the secondary male and female leads. I liked their personas, but the chemistry between the main leads was off and there was no real build-up to make their relationship feel credible.

The main character was really quirky at first, but then she lost her spark after the male lead showed interest in her. I think it’s lazy writing to change a character’s persona as soon as the male lead shows any interest in the female lead.

From this list of c-dramas I watched in Quarter 1 of 2022, I've seen some stellar dramas and some not-so-stellar dramas so far. One thing I’ve learned is to DNF quickly, and I certainly did that with Royal Feast. You shouldn't force yourself to watch a drama you hate.