Last updated on December 28th, 2022 at 09:31 am
This post may contain affiliate links meaning I might earn a small commission if you click on the link to make a purchase but it doesn’t cost you anything. Thanks for your support!
I’m finally going to be talking about another drama review this week and that is, the Oath of Love. Writing about Hi My Sweetheart was fun but the drama came out back in 2009.
I was itching to write a drama review in the current times and then, I found the Oath of Love, which finished airing recently.
Did you know that this highly anticipated drama was filmed back in 2019? So it’s been shelved for two years before it finally premiered in March 2022.
Synopsis
The Oath of Love is a love story between Lin Zhi Xiao, a university student that plays the cello. Her world comes to a stop when she finds out her father has cancer. Through her dad, she meets Dr. Gu Wei, who is her father’s doctor. They slowly fall in love and enter into a relationship despite the 10 year age gap.
The Oath of Love – Age Gap
The female lead is actress Yang Zi and she plays Lin Zhi Xiao, a 21 year old. Yang Zi does have a cuter young-looking face so it works.
In the drama, the male lead Gu Wei is supposed to be around 10 years older than her but in real life, he’s only one year older than our female lead. Although the actor, Xiao Zhan, is in his early 30s, he still looks like he can pass as someone who is in their mid-twenties.
I try not to carry so much weight on how old the character is versus how old the actor is because I’m used to watching characters in their twenties playing teens anyway. As long as the actor looks somewhat youthful, it gets a pass from me.
Romance Between the Two Leads
Their romance, for the most part, feels quite natural. It’s sweet in a realistic way. Well, generally anyway. It IS a drama, after all. You can’t expect every single thing to be realistic.
Since Gu Wei is a doctor and in his 30s and she’s in her early 20s, they are at different stages in life and have their own problems.
He has a sense of responsibility and may often be misunderstood because he’s not the best at communicating his feelings.
Gu Wei is more mature (unsurprisingly) and not the most romantic guy in the beginning but he does become better at this dating thing.
Lin Zhi Xiao is young, bubbly, and new to relationships. It shows in certain scenes and they’re usually pretty funny.
Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of public hype when you pair a popular actor with a popular actress. I was looking forward to their fireworks in the drama but their love line wasn’t that exciting.
In YouTube snippets and trailers, I kept seeing comments about how cute Yang Zi and Xiao Zhan were together but they just felt like another actor couple in any drama.
Maybe sensing chemistry between the leads are subjective because I have seen reviews on the Chinese drama, Love and Redemption that the two leads barely have any chemistry.
I was shocked because they have the most chemistry in a drama I’ve seen in a very long time. In fact, I think they have 夫妻相, which means they look like husband and wife.
Favourite Scene (*spoiler alert*)
Gu Wei and Lin Zhi Xiao went out on a group date. It was a bit of a disaster in the beginning. She wanted to show a more womanly side of her so she wore high heels on a trip where they had to walk a lot.
It was lunchtime and the two other couples were sharing noodles. He didn’t get the memo and got something else. Then, he leaned in and she got all excited and shy just for him to pull out her eyelid tape. Her reaction and the whole scene were HILARIOUS.
The Oath of Love – Family Relationships
The Oath of Love puts a lot of focus on family relationships as well. A big plotline is the relationship between Lin Zhi Xiao and her father.
There’s a sense of formality there because she refers him to Teacher Lin instead of dad. By the way she calls him, you can already tell they might not have the warmest father-daughter relationship.
Their family dynamic seems like a typical Chinese one. Lin Zhi Xiao and her dad butt head a lot and it’s her mom that smooths things over.
Her dad is not good at expressing love and affection while her mom is the softer, warmer one. Their relationship is far from smooth sailing but at the end of the day, you can tell they all love each other very much.
The Oath of Love does an extremely good job of drawing you into the family storyline as well.
The relationship Lin Zhi Xiao has with her parents is probably my favourite part of the series, which I’m surprised about. In most Chinese dramas, what captures my attention is the romance between the two leads.
I really like the cast who played her family. They gave a real family feel. The dad, in particular, was fantastic because I wholeheartedly believe he was the character. That’s when you know you picked the right actors for the job.
Other Supporting Characters
Other than Lin Zhi Xiao’s dad, none of the other supporting characters or cast stood out to me. They each had their developing storyline but I found myself quite bored during many scenes.
OST/Music
It’s common for actors and actresses to sing a soundtrack in the drama. I’m usually all about OST and there’s at least one song I’m obsessed with but unfortunately, none of the songs in this series stuck with me.
What Surprised Me About the Oath of Love?
I expected a lighthearted drama but in the earlier episodes, there were hints that cancer was going to be one of the themes in the series.
Cancer can be a taboo subject so I didn’t expect how heavy of a role it played in the Oath of Love.
Seeing certain scenes affected me deeply. Just like many people, I have people around me that have been affected by this disease.
Watching those scenes on the screen in front of me brought my mind back to those who had to deal with family members with cancer.
I found myself tearing up a lot during those moments.
Also, the relationship between Lin Zhi Xiao and her parents made me reflect on the relationship I had with my parents. That was completely unexpected.
Yang Zi as an Actress
Yang Zi is a Chinese actress I’m familiar with and I know I’m not the only one.
She’s extremely famous in China and if you’re a fan of Chinese dramas, you’ve probably heard of her. Some of her notable works include Ashes of Love, Go Go Squid, Noble Aspirations (although it’s Zhao Li Ying that’s the female lead), and Ode to Joy.
She did alright as Lin Zhi Xiao. I did notice that Yang Zi seems to be attracted to the naïve roles.
She played a similar role in Ashes of Love (at least in the beginning), Go Go Squid, and even the Destiny of White Snake.
She’s one of the actresses born in the 90s that has the strongest potential. She got her name out there but I would like to see other sides of her (she’s pretty good at crying scenes).
She’s also turning 30 soon so if she doesn’t diversify her acting roles, I’m worried that she will age out of this ‘cute, young girl’ phase soon.
Supposedly, she will come out with another Chinese drama this year called Immortal Samsara. The male lead is Cheng Yi (the male lead from Love and Redemption). I am beyond excited for the series.
He is my favourite actor EVER now and I can’t wait for his new project to premiere. I hope they do have sparks in Immortal Samsara but Yang Zi is going to have a really hard time beating Yuan Bing Yan (female lead from Love and Redemption) when it comes to having chemistry with Cheng Yi.
I will continue to support her in her future works but sincerely hope she takes on other types of challenging roles.
Xiao Zhan as an Actor
On the other hand, we have our male lead, Xiao Zhan, who plays Gu Wei. Xiao Zhan is probably most known for his drama the Untamed and Duoluo Continent.
I’m going to be straight up with you. This is the first full Xiao Zhan drama I’ve watched.
I tried watching the first few episodes of Duoluo Continent but I found it too cringey to continue.
Since there’s been a lot of home quarantine going on lately, I might continue watching the series if I find myself not having anything else to watch.
I knew of him but didn’t know what to expect.
In the past, I’ve watched dramas where the main male lead is almost expressionless throughout the drama.
Xiao Zhan isn’t like that. It’s more impressive considering he didn’t attend one of the top acting schools (this seems to be the way for actors to get their foot in the door to the entertainment industry).
After watching a variety of Chinese shows, I have much higher expectations for male leads. He’s not bad necessarily but nor did he wow me with his acting skills.
He’s pretty good but I wouldn’t say I’m a fan just yet (it could be because of his character Gu Wei. I felt meh about him). I’m willing to keep a lookout on his future dramas.
Final Thoughts
The Oath of Love didn’t drag on, which I’m glad for. Sometimes, dramas can feel like the plotline can be way too long but 32 episodes were good.
It was a show that has a good mix of humour and heartbreak. It almost pains me to write this because I did have higher expectations for this drama but I have to say that it was only alright.
The Oath of Love might make you go on a bit of an emotional roller coaster (the last few episodes were especially touching) but it wasn’t a drama that I was dying to keep watching.
For some other dramas, I felt like I was literally DYING for the next episode to come out, which is why I usually wait for a drama to end to watch.
But hey, sometimes you’re impatient and those episodes that already aired are just calling your name. Ya know?
In general, I feel like you’ll like this drama if you’re fans of either of the actors or like contemporary love stories.
But as someone who enjoys watching drama for fun, this might not be the most addicting series but rather to watch one when you’re trying to pass time.
You might want to grab a box of tissues though because it’s not all rainbow and unicorns in the drama.
Would I rewatch the Oath of Love again? No.
Last year, in 2021, was quite disappointing when it came to Chinese dramas. In 2020, I really enjoyed watching the Romance of Tiger and Rose, Love and Redemption, and Dance of the Sky Empire.
Since it’s not even six months into 2022 yet, I hope that more dramas or movies will come out. It would be absolutely amazing if there’s a drama to obsess over.
(My Sassy Princess came out shortly after the Oath of Love and it’s totally worth a watch.)
Now to You – The Oath of Love
LIKE THIS POST?
SAVE FOR LATER
Xoxo,
Nicole
P.S. When I first got the idea to write a drama review for the Oath of Love, I wasn’t sure if I had enough to say but after some edits and now seeing all this typed up made me realize I had plenty to say!