It Started with a Kiss 2: They Kiss Again

 

 

Cast

Ariel Lin as Xiang Qin

Joe Cheng as Zhi Shu
Jiro Wang as Ah Jin
Zhang Yong Zheng as Zhi Shu's father
Cyndi Chaw as Zhi Shu's mother
Tang Tsung Sheng as Xiang Qin's father
Zhang Bo Han as Yu Shu (brother to Zhi Shu)
Figaro Ceng as Qi Tai
Aaron Yan as Ah Bu
Supporting Cast
Guan Cong as Zhi Shu's grandfather
Jason as Hao Qian
Tiffany Xu as Zi Yu
Cai Yi Zhen as Luo Zhi Yi
Jiang Pei Zhen as Zhang Ni Na
Xiu Jie Kai as Zhou Chuan Jin
Candice Liu as Liu Nong
Petty Yang as Chun Mei
Rui Sha as Christine
Lin Jia Yu as childhood Hao Mei
Meng Geng Ru as teenage Hao Mei
Cong Yang as teenage Yu Shu

 

Other Titles: E Zuo Ju Er Wen, ISWAK 2

No. of episodes: 20

Synopsis:

It Started with a Kiss ended with odd couple Zhi Shu (Joe Cheng) and Xiang Qin (Ariel Lin) getting married in characteristically comical fashion, and the sequel picks up the story right away with their honeymoon and married life. Xiang Qin is as ham-fisted as ever, creating many funny situations as she learns the ropes of being a wife and tries hard to become a good nurse and work alongside her genius husband. Aspiring doctor Zhi Shu meets some obstacles at school when he encounters both academic and romantic rivals who are determined to dethrone him. The pressure of balancing marriage, work, and school often leads to mistakes and misunderstandings, and Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin soon learn that marrying young isn't all it's cracked up to be.

As Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin struggle with their professional ambitions, they also struggle with their personal relationship. Many times, Zhi Shu's coldness drives Xiang Qin to tears and she tries to run away. Zhi Shu himself tries to push Xiang Qin to higher ambition and making a life for herself. Zhi Shu soon learns to love Xiang Qin and forgive her bumbling ways, and Xiang Qin tries harder to become a better wife and nurse for her husband.

Zhi Shu and Xiang Qin are not the only ones having problems with their relationship. Xiang Qin's friend, Chun Mei (Petty Yang), gets pregnant by her boyfriend, Ah Bu (Arron Yan), but his wealthy, highbrow mother is desperate to keep them apart. Zhi Shu's younger brother Yu Shu (Zhang Bo Han) deals with his own first love, and Xiang Qin's childhood friend Ah Jin (Jiro Wang) deals with the affections of an English exchange student who latches onto him against his will.

 

What I Think:

This is the reason why I have been hibernating for weeks..21 episodes imagine that! But not a burden to watch though..hehe!

Ariel Lin as Xiang Qin was okay; yeah I cannot seem to describe her here. The good parts would be she is very loving and devoted to her husband…even if she has male classmates who obviously like her a lot. Ariel plays the role with much gusto; she is still funny, perky, wacky a lot more endearing as she is. One thing that irritates me with her and Zhi Shu’s roles are they don’t seem like a real married couple. In some scenes, Xiang Qin still follows and acts as if she and Zhi Shu are just schoolmates, she daydreams a lot, I really mean A LOT about the romantic things that she and Zhi Shu can do like as if they are not married?! So basically Xiang Qin’s character did not evolve at all, she is still clingy and dependent on Zhi Shu. Duh even her dream of becoming a nurse is connected with the fact that Zhi Shu will be a doctor so she wants to be with him and assist him. But then again Ariel Lin is the heart of this drama…she has superb acting skills, very versatile, mehn she can do bed scenes here people with much passion (check out their honeymoon ep!), and all-around wacky it girl. Hairstyle is better; clothes are better looking too, not those drabby, long skirts that makes you go ugggh!

 

Joe Cheng as Zhi Shu, if she was the heart of the series, he is the very soul of it. All the frustrations I had with Xiang Qin’s growth or the lack of it, was made up in his character. I thought he has the best character growth, if he was cold, and brutal in ISWAK 1, he can be loving and thoughtful in ISWAK 2. I was expecting that he would be more open and would show more love and tenderness and affection for Xiang Qin, you can see that all their couple romantic scenes are still lacking. But Joe matches Ariel’s acting still that is why they rock together no one overshadows the other. He still looks so damn good, his hairstyle a bit different but he looks different I don’t know I can seem to pinpoint what’s new with him.

 

Chemistry! These two (Arjoe) knows how to cook chemistry, and man the kisses were like for real! Who has seen the bed scenes in the honeymoon, they kissed and ate each other are you kidding me? And they did that in open air at the veranda! Holy Shmuck I went crazy for that scene! Okay I am now an officially rocking in the Arjoe ship!! Hahah!    

 

Other worth-mentioning stuff are Jiro Wang’s role was I think very small in this series ne? Not his place to shine I guess. But a new girl, Christine now seems to like him; he has a love life out of Xiang Qin after all. Christine, the foreigner girl is a lean and mean Chinese-speaking machine! Figaro Cheng…wow reminds me of coffee! He looks a lot like Max of TVXQ! He was ok in his role, not too impressive but I like the fact that he chased Xiang Qin and made Zhi Shu that he should fight for his wife’s attention all of a sudden. I still think Max is cuter haha…Figaro looks so-so.

 

Fave scenes:

** The honeymoon bed scenes haha!

** Xiang Qin crying on Zhi Shu’s shoulders after she moved out of his house

** Them 2 at the bus so lovey dovey

** Zhi Shu teaching and allowing his wife to extract blood from him

** Episode 11…I love this ep so much, believe me this is soooo nice! Nice is an understatement.

 

 

Rating: 9 Taiwanese Taicha out of 10

 

Other Stuff:

** Opening Theme Song:  Xing Fu He Zhuo She by Mavis Fan

** Closing Theme Song: Ni (You) by Ariel Lin

** Joe Cheng sang one song for the OST entitled: Zhong Yu Yuan Wei

** Most scenes are still based on the manga, Itazaru Na Kiss ("Prank's kiss") by Kaoru Tada

** That Joe calls Ariel “my wife” and she calls him “my husband” for real

 

Our fave couple...

 

Because Figaro looks kinda cute here...

 

The kissing scenes get howwttt..

 

credits: spcnet, wikipedia, soompi