Marry Me Again: After Two Proposals and Two Dozen Kisses

Introduction

I have been waiting to write reviews about Chinese short dramas again since my last short drama article in January. Still, every airing drama I wanted to watch before this one seems to lack something, whether it’s the same uninteresting themes, bad plots, unattractive actors or actresses, or characters they played, or mostly, unsatisfying endings.

So, what makes me write Marry Me Again? This drama is not perfect, far from it. There are many shortcomings I will write here, especially when comparing it with its prequel Ready for Love?, which I watched right before watching this drama. This is just my personal opinion. Many watchers like the sequel better. Therefore, I will also add a section to introduce the prequel as well as another section to compare and contrast it with the sequel. Feel free to skip the section on Ready for Love? if you don’t plan to watch it.

Now, about my article title. Why “After Two Proposals and Two Dozen Kisses”? As to marry the same person again, there definitely needs to be two proposals. Two dozen kisses? It’s like I don’t have anything else to do, but I counted that there are at least 24 real kissing scenes throughout the drama. I will list them in the Spoiler section at the end of the article.

To represent one of the 24 kissing scenes, I use one as the article feature image as I think it fits the drama than the official poster shown above. This is the most bizarre kiss that I have to make a GIF of it. Having watched so many romances, I thought I had seen all, but I guess not:

A passionate kiss on the top of a casket in a cemetery

Drama Info

Drama title: Marry Me Again 
(Native title: 请再和我结婚吧 )
Alternative title:  Ready for Love? Season 2,  Jie Hun Ma Hao De 2
Genres: Mystery, Romance, Drama
Aired: Apr 2, 2025 - Apr 21, 2025
Episodes: 31  |  Duration: 20 minutes
Director: Liu Tan ( 刘坦 )
Screenwriters:  Wang Yuan Ji ( 王元绩 ), Xu Xiao Hui ( 徐晓卉 ), and Zhu Wen Jie ( 朱文杰 )
Where to watch: WeTV
Trailer:

Synopsis

To save her late fiancé Tang Jing Xing’s struggling Chinese jewelry brand, Mi Chu Xia teams up with celebrity influencer Lu Yi. As they work together to revive the company, sparks of romance begin to fly. But when Chu Xia discovers Lu Yi’s true identity as Tang Jing Xing himself, she must confront the shocking truth behind his presumed death in a car crash a year ago. (Source: WeTV).

My note: The synopsis states that the car crash that kills Tang Jing Xing happens three years before the story in the drama starts. The drama reveals that the accident happened only one year prior.

Characters

I hunted down character posters everywhere, but I was surprised I couldn’t find any. Budget constraint, perhaps? Therefore, here are their booting ceremony pictures.

Main Characters

Zhang Chu Han ( 张楚寒 ) as Mi Chu Xia / Hua Ruo Yi / Hua Ruo Yu

After her fiancé Tang Jing Xing passed away, Hua Ruo Yi takes over his jewelry brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to save the brand, she collaborates with Louis (Lu Yi), an internet celebrity who looks exactly like Tang Jing Xing. During the process, she gradually develops feelings for him.

Mi Chu Xia, is Hua Ruo Yi’s adopted name.

Hua Ruo Yu is Ruo Yi’s twin sister who passes away.

Ryan Ren ( 任世豪 ) as Lu Nian Bai / Tang Jing Xing / Lu Yi

In public, he is the sarcastic internet celebrity Louis or Lu Yi.

He is also Lu Nian Bai, Lu Niang Qi’s younger brother, thus Mi Chu Xia’s uncle-in-law.

In fact, he is Tang Jing Xing in disguise after his fake death.

While mocking Hua Ruo Yi by saying “it’s better to focus on a career than to mourn,” he secretly helps her resolve the company’s crisis. In the end, he clears up the misunderstandings with her and finds love.

Supporting Characters

Mu Hua Jin (Ian Yi) – CEO of Mu Group and Hua Ruo Yu’s boyfriend

Lu Nian Qi (Pan Zi Yan) – Hua Ruo Yi’s stepmother and Lu Nian Bai’s older sister

Review

Directing and Scriptwriting

Initially, I aimed to integrate my thoughts on directing and script-writing into the story and characterization sections below. However, there are two interesting things that I noticed about them that I want to incorporate into a special section. Also, this section is my kudo to the director.

The director Liu Tan, is graduated from the directing department of Vancouver Film School in Canada, and is hailed as the new generation director of the internet age. My thought is that it’s a Western-influenced idea for Ryan Ren and Zhang Chu Han to perform real kisses without technical help to create fake kisses, like covering during filming or shooting from multiple angles. The first kiss in a cemetery, bizarre yet beautifully filmed, also has a vibe of a Western music video. Another Western-influenced idea I noticed in the dance at the masquerade ball. Many interesting and cinematic shots are seen in this drama are possibly due to Liu Tan’s directing.

The script-writing, on the contrary, is a mess, possibly because there are three screenwriters. Why need three for a short drama? The final blend of three scripts creates an incoherent story flow that could be mistakenly thought of as bad editing.

Story

Although Marry Me Again is said to be the sequel of Ready for Love?, after watching the prequel right before the sequel, I can say there is no connection between these two dramas, but only for the names of the Male Lead, Female Lead, Supporting Male Lead, and the company. That’s it!

The disconnection of the two drama stories is also possible because no screenwriter watches the prequel to logically connect them.

Although romance-wise this drama is good, thanks for all the kisses, the mystery plot is messy and illogical. I think to make it different than the prequel, the sequel wants to infuse a darker element with the mystery of who’s behind the past car accident, but the execution of the mystery genre is weak. The script takes hella lot of time to build the romance plot instead of the suspense plot.

Characterization

I’ll just go straight to my criticism of how the scriptwriters built the female lead’s characterization. Mi Chu Xia/Hua Ruo Yi is super cute, funny, and innocent. But she is also dumb, with poor character growth. She is warned many times by Lu Nian Bai/Tang Jing Xing not to get drunk when with only (other) men around, or some bad things will happen. This warning is not only because he is super jealous as her disguised fiancé, but logically, a grown woman should think about her safety and dignity. The same happens with walking alone at night, when she is almost assaulted by men a few times. Considering Hua Ruo Yi is a rich heiress from a big business group, having a driver or owning a car is more suitable for her status. Even though her fiancé gives her several self-protective devices for her to use, he still has to show up to be her savior again and again. I just think that the reason for the bad Female Lead’s characterization is that the Male Lead is there to be her babysitter and bodyguard in exchange for physical intimacy.

When Mi Chu Xia has her birthday, Mu Hua Jin says that she has been with her adoptive family for 18 years. From the prequel, it states that she was adopted when she was 5 years old. In my calculation, the Female Lead is 23 years old. Is that perhaps the reason the script makes her (still) immature?

Acting

Although bad characterizations are the scriptwriters’ fault, I think the leading actor, the leading actress, and the supporting actors did a great job under Liu Tan’s good direction. Ryan Ren has worked with Liu Tan before in Love in the Edge of Divorce ( 爱在离婚进行时 ), so it seems the actor already knows what the director expects, and the director knows the strengths and weaknesses of the actor. Ryan Ren fits playing dark or morally grey characters, even a villain.

Zhang Chu Han, I see she is still awkward and shy in initiating kissing scenes. But she manages to play a darn cute (immature) girl really well, despite she is way older than her character Mi Chu Xia.

Ian Yi, having the most acting experience than the leading actor and the leading actress, is very convincing as the despicable and obsessive Mu Hua Jin.

Ryan Ren, fits for dark roles.

The Visuals

As I wrote in the Directing section above, the aesthetic in this drama is cinematic, with good lighting and cinematography. The costumes are also not bad, befitting all four characters are rich. Although I have a complaint that the costume department dressed the cute actress in Sailor Moon-like dresses that make her look childish. Also, why she has to rent a certain dress if she’s that rich? For the filming set, the Hua mansion and Lu Yi’s house are also very luxurious.

Original Sound Track

“The Spinning Coin” (不停旋轉的硬幣) by Zhang Chu Han, the leading actress

“It’s Too Late to Say Goodbye” (來不及說再見) by Trevor Kuo/Guo Jia Wei ( 郭家瑋 )

About the Prequel: Ready for Love?

Drama Info

Drama title: Ready for Love? 
(Native title: 结婚吗？好的! )
Alternative title:  Get Married? OK!
Genres: Romance, Drama
Aired: May 17, 2023 - May 29, 2023
Episodes: 30  |  Duration: 10 minutes
Director: Deng Zhan Neng ( 邓展能 )
Screenwriters:  Mu Bai ( 木白 )
Where to watch: SENTV
Trailer:

Synopsis

Mi Chu Xia, a new professional in the workplace possessed by the “God of Bad Luck,” was deceived by her best friend and her boyfriend, and her back foot was on the gossip headlines together with Tang Jing Xing, the president of the luxury goods group. Weighing the pros and cons, the two decided to turn the scandal into “news” and use a contractual marriage to quell this huge blunder. (Sources: SENTV and Douban)