Hello, hello! I’ve finally gotten around to watching the mini drama ‘Because of You 2020’. I will be honest and tell you that I have no idea if the 2020 is actually a part of the title but I included it anyway because that’s how it’s been circulating around online lol. And I am most happy to report that I actually watched this drama before the year ended, whoo! I’m usually quite late when it comes to catching up on dramas. Staying up to date on new BL series can be overwhelming for me at times. Anyways!
This series follows three brothers, Jun Cheng, Jun Dao, and Jun Ping. They used to be close when they were younger but as they grew older, life and familial stress took them in different directions. They are all half-brothers sharing the same father but with different mothers. Jun Cheng is half Korean and lives in Korea. The other two are fully Taiwanese and live in Taiwan. They are the sons of the CEO of a huge Fortune 100 company so when I tell you they are rich, honeeyyy, they are swimming in money!
The show follows the three brothers as they deal with family matters as well as romances that could possibly make things difficult for them. Jun Cheng ends up catching feelings for a guy who saves him from some thugs trying to beat him up that were sent by his own uncle. Jun Ping likes his best friend from high school but tries to hide it. And Jun Dao is also in love with his best friend but doesn’t recognize it as romantic love. All three guys are dealing with this while also trying to please their father in order to get their cut of their inheritance while also trying to find who their father believes is their long-lost brother.
I know. It’s a lot lol. But trust me, it’s not that confusing once you’re watching the show.
Characters
I liked all the characters except one female character. But she was kind of irrelevant, so I won’t go into any details about her. I liked how different each brother was and how they varied in age. Jun Cheng (the Korean brother) was the oldest and was very cold and stern. He kind of had a chip on his shoulder due to things that happened in his life on his father’s side of the family, but he wasn’t an entirely unlikable character.
Jun Dao was the middle son. I’m not sure what his age was but I think he was supposed to be just above college age, so mid 20s. He was the reasonable brother that would talk sense into the others if need be. But when it came to the guy he was in love with, he was fiery and jealous and acted on impulse. When the drama was over, I found that Jun Dao was my favorite brother and I honestly have no idea why lol.
Jun Ping was the youngest and still in high school. He was lazy and spoiled (which didn’t surprise me because he grew up rich and getting everything he wants) but he was a loyal friend. Jun Ping had somewhat of a playboy reputation just because lots of girls liked him and found him extremely attractive, but he really wasn’t that way at all. He only had eyes for one person and that was his best friend.
I liked that all three brothers knew how to speak Korean and it’s assumed that they learned simply because they had a Korean half-brother. I thought it was cool that this entire drama used Korean, Mandarin, and even a little Taiwanese. That’s something that I’ve never seen in any one drama so this was unique, and I would like to see more dramas and movies using a mix of languages like this.
Another main character was Lin Xun who is the eventual love interest of Jun Cheng. I liked Lin Xun and he was definitely my favorite character overall. He was such a sweet and caring person and even though he couldn’t fight that well, he never put up with Jun Cheng’s foolishness and rash demands. Although he was grown and perfectly capable of taking care of himself, he had a purity to him that really made me like him. He accepted people for who they were. He was caring and went out of his way to help people. And even when he struggled with money, he never complained. I liked him a lot.
Actors
I think each actor played their characters really well. Each brother had their own distinct personality that really played well together in their crazy family lol. The only thing I think needed some work was a couple actors’ Korean pronunciation that wasn’t that great. I could hear the heavy accent when they spoke and I’m not even a native Korean speaker. Besides Jun Cheng (because the actor is actually Korean) Lin Xun and Jun Dao had the better pronunciation out of everyone. But I won’t hold that against them because speaking another language is hard. And let’s be real, they speak better than me anyway so who am I to complain? Lol.
Story
I think the story was just alright. I feel like so many elements were thrown in, but we just didn’t have enough time to explore it all because of the length of the episodes. Going into this show, I had no idea that the episodes were going to be so short. Each episode is around ten minutes and there are only ten episodes total.
This series had an irate uncle trying to stop his oldest nephew from getting the inheritance because he feels it belongs to himself instead as the younger brother of the CEO. But after the first couple episodes, this was never touched again. We have the CEO of said company thinking he has a long-lost son from a woman he grew up with but never married and apparently was the only woman he ever really loved. Which then got confusing with the explanation of how this guy was, in fact, not his son. Then of course, we have all the romantic side stories from all three brothers.
There was just too much thrown in and not enough time to explore it all. So, I really wish they would have taken some things out or just expanded the series into longer episodes. Ten episodes is actually a good series length if the episodes are 30-40 minutes long. You can expand on and explore so much with that time frame.
Locations/scenery
Taiwan will always be beautiful to me so maybe I am a bit biased in saying that the scenery was beautiful. And the final scene where Jun Cheng and Lin Xun share their kiss, the mountain they are on over the sea is absolutely amazing. It was a very beautiful place to share such a romantic moment.
Music
The music was kind of forgettable honestly, lol
Overall thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed the drama. I watched all ten episodes in one sitting and was able to get a few laughs out of it. There was no real drama, and everything wrapped up a bit too cleanly and unrealistic but I’m not complaining. It was a fun, lighthearted drama that I would actually watch again.
Rating
I give this show 3.75 stars out of 5 stars. Such an arbitrary rating, I know lol. But I feel like 4 stars is too high and 3 stars is too low so, somewhere in between is better. The series could use some improvement and with proper funding and a good writer, I have no doubt this could be an amazing series that could compete with the likes of Trapped and other popular Taiwanese series.
Watch it while it’s still free on VIKI.
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