This post may contain SPOILERS
- What is Hidden Love (and this post) About?
- What Could Be Improved About the Age Gap?
- Conclusion (and my overall opinion on this drama)
What is Hidden Love (and this post) About?
Hidden Love (偷偷藏不住) starts with a high school girl (Zhao Lusi) having a secret crush on her brother’s best friend, Duan Jiaxu (Chen Zheyuan), who was in college. Years later, they meet once again and through their interactions, they fall in love. The age gap of approximately five to seven years, along with the fact that our female lead was a teen for a considerable portion of the drama, makes Hidden Love very hard to muster. As expected, many people have criticized the way this age gap was portrayed, and likewise I felt uncomfortable in specific scenes throughout the drama. Therefore, I present you with my list of suggestions on what Hidden Love could have done better in terms of the age gap.
What Could Be Improved About the Age Gap?
First Encounter Makes or Breaks
Our main leads’ first encounter was not it! The first meeting between the leads was when the male lead was in college and the female lead was 14. Or… so they say. But the actress for young Sang Zhi was only 12, leading to the illusion of an elementary student falling in love with this grown-up dude. What’s more aggravating is the fact that the director decided to add spinning camera angles and blinding lights that are usually used in a romantic setting. Along with that, Duan Jiaxu also agreed to join this young child in lying to her teachers, which is not something any sensible adult would do.
My advice would be to have their first encounter in the scene near the car, when Sang Zhi met Duan Jaixu for the first time in two years. More appropriate, cuter, and a lot more heartwarming!
NO Flirting Before Adulthood
This should go without saying, but I guess not! Do not flirt with an underaged teen. Phrases such as “Why are you blushing after seeing Ge Ge (brother/older man, similar to oppa)? Oh, I know… It’s because Ge Ge is so handsome.” make me want to vomit! Putting aside the fact that these pick-up lines are so cheesy, you can’t do this to an innocent child! If you want to include such lines, you have pleeeenty of time after she reaches adulthood. Now please excuse me while I grab myself a bucket…
More Dilemma With Dating
There was not enough conflict shown in Duan Jiaxu’s decision to officially begin pursuing (I hate how Youku translates this as “woo”) Sang Zhi. It was as if he failed to realize how weird it is to date a girl that was a child when you initially met her. Considering that you were in college… Moreover, the fact that Sang Zhi is his best friend’s sister is just 雪上加霜 (adding frost to snow/adding insult to injury). It makes our male lead seem ungrateful to Sang Yan, who not only is Jiaxu’s best friend, but also someone who was willing to support him when needed. I think Sang Yan deserves to know about this…
Not worrying also gives way to another problem: it seems as if Jiaxu was playing our little Zhizhi. By not having the process of reaching commitment, Duan Jiaxu’s actions can easily be explained as a whim. There are incidences where I felt as if Jiaxu uses Zhizhi as his last option, almost like he’s still single and she happens to be the closest person nearby. Just by adding the process of Jiaxu being in a dilemma before becoming determined to chase the female lead, all these problems would be gone! Poof! But then again… who am I to judge?
Girl… Grow Up
Something else about this drama was also bothering me, but I couldn’t place my finger on it until now! Here it is: Sang Zhi needs to grow up. You can’t insist you are “grown” while continuing to do the same things you did as a high schooler. Oh wait… she also parties at bars now! In fact, even when she becomes an adult, she still uses a fake high-pitched voice. The fake voice didn’t bother me personally but logically, it lacks sense as the female lead is trying to prove to the male lead that she has matured. Not the opposite! Character-wise, Sang Zhi was not developed at all. If it wasn’t for the bangs, I wouldn’t be able to tell apart the scenes from high school and the scenes from college. Any type of growth would be highly welcomed.
Conclusion (and my overall opinion on this drama)
Ultimately, the age gap could have definitely been handled better. This idea was very interesting though (we all went through that one phrase where we liked someone older… right?) and there was so many potential themes that could have been explore but (unfortunately) weren’t. I would be down to watch another drama portraying this concept. Hopefully done better.
As for the rest of Hidden Love, it was incredibly underwhelming, especially after all the hype. With that said though, I still enjoyed the middle point of the drama when Duan Jaixu was pursuing the female lead. Additionally, Ma Boqian was the highlight of this drama. All in all, I would recommend Hidden Love to people who are in the mood for a fluffy romance without a complicated plot.
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
cdramaqueen 
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