Previously recapped . . . Ep 1-8, Ep 9-10, Ep 11-15, Ep 16-17 & Ep 18-22
Disclaimer: In a strict sense, this isn’t a scene-by-scene recap of the drama — it’s more of a thoughts/commentary/fangirling review thing. For a detailed explanation of each episode of Love O2O in English, you can read them all at Dreams of Jianghu, then come and read up my thoughts. Oh, and spoiler alert. (Duh).
The Basics:
- Name: Just An Alluring Smile, Love O2O, Kiss Me, 微微一笑很倾城(wēi wēi yī xiào hěn qīng chéng)
- Length: 30 episodes
- Language: Mandarin Chinese
- Genre: Gaming, College romance
- Airing: Two episodes per day Monday to Saturday, one episode on Sunday
- Based on the original online novel by Gu Man
The Cast Of Characters:
- Yang Yang (杨洋) as Xiao Nai (肖奈)/ ID: 一笑奈何
- Zheng Shuang (郑爽) as Bei Wei Wei (贝微微)/ ID: 芦苇微微
- Mao Xiaotong (毛晓彤) as Er Xi (赵二喜)/ ID: 欢天喜地
- Bai Yu (白宇) as Cao Guang (曹光)/ ID: 微光
How To Watch:
- Raw, unsubbed episodes on YouTube via Croton Media
- Subbed episodes on DramaFever
The Plot:
Bei Wei Wei (Zheng Shuang), a computer science major and avid gamer, “divorces” 真水无香 in the role-playing wuxia game Dreams of Jianghu (referred to as “倩女幽魂” in the drama). Her gaming abilities soon capture the attention of Xiao Nai, who, through the character 一笑奈何 — the highest-ranking player on the server — joins forces with Bei Wei Wei’s 芦苇微微。
The Actual Recap (Ep 23-26)
I’ve been somewhat neglecting them in my previous recaps, but a lot of the other scenes that I didn’t quite mention focused on this developing relationship between Cao Guang — who is still bitter over Wei Wei “cheating” on him — and the unfortunate Er Xi.
In other words, there’s actually going to be drama in Love O2O. Oh my.
Cao Guang, who’s always wanted to pursue Wei Wei, learns the misinformation that her online ID on Dreams of Jianghu is “欢天喜地” when it’s actually Er Xi’s ID. He’s hella pissed when Wei Wei actually starts dating Xiao Nai, but still continues to develop a relationship with 欢天喜地 online . . . until one day he vents out that he’s not going to pretend anymore, revealing, well, everything.
Er Xi, shell-shocked, silently sits in the dark corner of her room.
Juxtaposed with all this is the perfect OTP Xiao Nai and Wei Wei, who cutely make their way to the bakery to buy Er Xi a cake. When Wei Wei tells Xiao Nai that he gave her extra money, he replies that she should save up to please him in the future, evoking a giggle from the cashier.
The biggest drama in this, well, drama, is founded upon the misunderstanding between Wei Wei and Er Xi; Wei Wei doesn’t even know what Er Xi is mad at until she nearly gets into another misunderstanding. (That being said, they could’ve given the chocolate cake . . . to me!)
As Xiao Nai goes for his daily morning run, Meng Yiran approaches him and shows him this video:
(In an earlier episode, Meng Yiran’s “friend” secretly videotaped Cao Guang drinking and cursing at Wei Wei for “cheating” on him. Also, this is only like the fifth time the video’s been shown. Just stop.)
It’s admirable how Xiao Nai doesn’t automatically believe what’s presented on the video, even if it is video evidence. Instead of blaming anyone (ex.: like all the other emotional couples in dramas), he immediately confronts Wei Wei — after deleting the video from the owner’s phone, he silently shows Wei Wei the video.
When Wei Wei reveals that she has no idea what the heck Cao Guang is talking about, Xiao Nai explains that she should probably deal with it on her own. Cue flashback to an earlier scene in the game — though Yi Xiao Nai He helped Lu Wei Wei Wei, he says that it’s something Wei Wei should’ve dealt with herself.
So Wei Wei confronts Cao Guang in that hostile, cold, but completely calm manner — in other words, the most pissed off Wei Wei we’ll ever see.
Of course, this whole time I’m just here wondering: “What’s the deal? Why does it matter so much if you’re in an alliance with someone in an RPG but dating someone else in IRL?”
But . . . drama. Oh well.
When she tells Xiao Nai about it, he has her back — he meets Cao Guang in the basketball court for a showdown. It’s apparent that when Xiao Nai is pissed, he vents out his anger via basketball. Though neither Xiao Nai nor Wei Wei explain everything or reveal the truth, it’s enough for Cao Guang to realize what’s going on.
All of this build-up is basically for us to sympathize and say, “Poor Er Xi”.
Cao Guang apologizes to Er Xi the next day, but she isn’t having any of it — especially when Cao Guang kept saying that he thought 欢天喜地 was Wei Wei.
To make matters worse, Zhen Shui Wu Xiang — or the CEO’s son, anyway — basically reveals that she received an internship solely because she said in the interview that her gaming ID was “Lu Wei Wei Wei”.
It’s completely understandable that Er Xi is emotionally wrought, even if her blaming Wei Wei makes her look bad. Er Xi explains that she’ll be leaving but it’s Wei Wei who decides to leave instead.
And boy, never have I seen any character in this drama show so much sadness and desperation as Mao Xiaotong’s Er Xi. It’s the basis of my empathy for Er Xi, because otherwise it just highlights how imperfect her character is juxtaposed with our perfect OTP.
Speaking of perfect OTP — tears flowing down her cheeks, Wei Wei makes her way — in the pouring rain, of course — to Xiao Nai’s apartment. And here Xiao Nai himself actually looks really tired, too.
Still in a melancholy mood, Wei Wei wonders aloud whether she and Xiao Nai will ever experience drama and angst. Xiao Nai asserts that they won’t argue . . . ever . . . because they’ll solve any problems before it’ll ever come to that.
*cocks head* But is that supposed to be a good thing?
Wei Wei, she [Er Xi]’s a very small part of your life. I’m your everything.
If it really wasn’t apparent enough earlier, Xiao Nai is a very . . . erm . . . possessive and dominating boyfriend. Of course, he’s very good to Wei Wei, and sometimes that dominating side is really hot *ahem*, but this is probably where we back away and just pretend that he’s computer science nerd who doesn’t really know his way with words.
Except, he usually does. Moving on.
Xiao Nai only knows how to cook noodles; I’m gluten intolerant. Great.
Forced co-habitation is supposed to be one of those pivotal moments in modern romance dramas, no?
20+ episodes into the drama and Wei Wei is still shy and demure around Xiao Nai. Obviously, I’m not expecting them to sleep together or anything, but I was hoping she would be more comfortable around him. It’s the same awkward humor that maneuvers the characters over onto the bed and sofa.
The deadline for the demo of 新倩女幽魂 — which Xiao Nai’s company and that rival company are fighting for the rights over — is shortened for reasons. (Let’s pretend there was no stupid plotting.) Suddenly everyone finds themselves horribly sleep-deprived and basically live in the company during the remaining time.
Lacking sleep, Hou Zi Jiu, Mozhata, and Yu Gong lose their minds to find inspiration. ‘Nuff said.
Meanwhile, the girls are still finding stupid ways to plot against Wei Wei, and even attempt to loop Er Xi into the whole thing. Er Xi, realizing the scope of what Wei Wei has to deal with on a daily basis, suddenly thinks it all through and forgives her. She calls Wei Wei:
“I’m Xiao Nai. Wei Wei’s sleeping.”
“What? Sleeping . . . with you?”
I wish.
So the drama in the drama pretty much ends, Wei Wei eats cake with Er Xi, but they can’t co-habit just yet.
Overall Thoughts
The whole time we’re mostly frustrated at how Cao Guang irrationally deals with everything and causes the strife between the two best friends. Cao Guang, you really don’t deserve Er Xi!
I think it was a nice change of pace, even if the basis of the whole thing was all sorts of stupid. It does give viewers a sense of triumph and accomplishment, though, when everything’s all solved and we can get onto more OTP cuteness!
Also the stress (LOLOL) of these few episodes give us a nice excuse to indulge in fluffiness in the future episodes.
— moon148
Just moon148 
One Comment Add yours