The release of the 2018 Meteor Garden has finally relieved teenage girls from dying of anticipation and professional drama critics in finding a new show to review.

The new talk revolves around the drama series “Meteor Garden,” produced by Angie Chai and directed by Lin Helong. It is a Chinese drama based off the first “Meteor Garden” series and Yoko Kamio’s “Boys Over Flowers.”

Chai had announced the remaking of Meteor Garden in April of 2017, with its first episode released in mid-July of 2018. Most of the shoots were set in Shanghai and London, featuring Shen Yue, Dylan Wang, Darren Chen, Conner Leong, and Caesar Wu as the main cast members.

The general story of Meteor Garden begins with Dong Shancai (Actress Shen Yue) getting accepted to a reputable university, where she meets four guys: Dao Ming Si (Actor Dylan Wang), Hua Ze Lei (Actor Darren Chen), Feng Mei Zuo (Actor Conner Leong), and Ximen Yan (Actor Caesar Wu). Shancai’s presence with the guys, known as F4 at the institution, will result in countless heartbreaks, love triangles, and other elements generally found in your friendly drama or romance series.

Personally, after watching this remake series, I can easily relate it to “Boys Over Flowers” and obviously the previous “Meteor Garden,” where it also showcases a girl beginning her life at a new school and becoming noticed by four ominous and popular guys.

For the new “Meteor Garden,” like other shows, it has its pros and cons.

Starting with the cons, the new “Meteor Garden” casts were mostly new to acting. I would consider about 85% of the romantic scenes to be somewhat stiff, awkward, and inexpressive. Some actors became rather cringey to the point where fast-forwarding was needed.

Also, the conflict between Shancai and Dao Ming Si accurately displays two individuals who initially “despise” each other, and then begin to develop feelings (but with 50 episodes of conflict), which makes their relationship questionable and sometimes annoying. It was like the same quarrels with a tiny difference in each one.

The original series had 27 episodes, while this one ended with 50, so I would say the plot is kind of dragged out, making the relationship falter.

Through the drama, the characters didn’t really display dynamic characteristics and were developed fairly little.

Aside from the primary couple, the show kind of added side plots that, in my opinion, had no relation and contribution to the main plot. Other elements that bothered me were that some lingering questions would never be answered, like what happened to Dao Ming Si’s father. The show did not go deep enough to understand some of the actions Dao Ming Si displayed that related to his father.

But the side plots were not something bad altogether. For example, focusing some episodes and scenes on Cai Na and Terrence actually helped give Shancai and Dao Ming Si’s relationship some lingering suspense. Although they showed no contribution to the main plot, it’s nice to have some distraction rather than constant arguments between the two supposed couple.

To add to that, some of Shan Cai’s arguments were childish and came from sudden anger. Shan Cai’s role in the general drama is that of a poor girl who has a pure heart and falls in love with a rich guy with no morals. Her actions and emotions that lead up to the arguments between her and Dao Ming Si kind of falls away from that role, portraying her as needy and self-centered, though she does show a sense of deep loyalty to her friends.

Cinematography-wise, the new Meteor Garden was good overall. However, at some points, there were uses of slow-mo and replays that were really choppy and questionable in their relevance.

So far, it probably seems like I hate anything and everything about this new remake series, but here are the pros:

I especially loved how they included songs from the previous “Meteor Garden.” It gave this remake a nostalgic view and brought back memories from when I watched the original version.

The filming locations, Shanghai and London, gave a particularly accurate perspective of some of the main character’s backgrounds. For example, this gave F4 a powerful and wealthy context in which they own multiple companies and houses throughout the city and have renowned parents.

Compared to the first version, this new “Meteor Garden” was lighter and more pleasant. There was less bullying and more of a flirting kind of bullying expressed in the show. The bullying of the antagonists, which generally were the fans of the F4 group, were also less harmful and dramatic than the previous one.

Also, in the previous one, the F4 members were kind of portrayed as untouchable and extremely superior while this new one gives them a more approachable aura. These slight changes between the old and new “Meteor Garden” intrigues me because it keeps you on your toes, letting you distinguish what had changed and what had stayed the same throughout the plot.

Overall, with acting, plot, and cinematography all in consideration, I would say that the new 2018 “Meteor Garden” definitely caught me by surprise. It was understandable that the acting was lacking a bit, considering that most of the cast was new to acting. Taking their novelty into consideration, however, it’s safe to say they did a good job. Chai and Helong did exceptionally well in keeping the new “Meteor Garden’s” plot composed.

Personally, I feel that this version precisely conveys how rich F4 is in the hierarchy. In the previous “Meteor Garden,” they were also expressed as somewhat arrogant, with multiple scenes of bullying, but this remake lightens the intensity of the negative actions.

At some points, the purpose and relevance of some scenes become debatable, but in my opinion, it was nice to have something to be sidetracked from Shancai and Dao Ming Si’s overly complicated and dramatic relationship.

But, all in all, everyone should be encouraged to try watching this since some opinions would differ based on one’s drama standards.