Love Contract

So - I've been (and still am actually) really into this Taiwanese drama serial called "It Started With A Kiss" and its sequel "They Kiss Again." I loved the two main characters and their relationship, so I thought I'd look at some of the other idol dramas each of them has done. I started with "Love Contact," a series made in 2004 starring Ariel Lin (girl from ISWAK) and Mike He (also pretty big in the Taiwanese drama scene). "Love Contract" is about this kind of bossy girl, Xiao Feng, who's a total tomboy. Her friends see her as this really tough, fierce, loyal person - what they don't know is that she is really insecure due to an ugly burn scar that covers her shoulder and back. One night, she reveals that she wants to fall in love and be in a relationship, and so her friends set up a "Love Contract" between her and the captain of the swim team in her college. The captain, Ken, is Japanese, very dedicated to his pursuits, strong-minded, and really fit. He agrees to fulfill the contract if her friends can persuade people to join the swim team...things happen, and eventually the two fall desperately in love. It's really heartwarming to see how the previously independent Xiao Feng softens as she and Ken interact. The two have chemistry, I'll give them that. In one of the sub-plots, Ken's mother dies, and watching Xiao Fong comfort him was pretty amazing. Dramas are built on connections like these. Anyway, in the end, Ken pretty much proposes, but Xiao Fong refuses and tries to leave him because she feels like she isn't worthy of him. Ultimately, she reveals her secret to him...but then discovers the love contract (which is a physical document, sillily enough) and breaks up with him again. Ken falls into another fit of depression, and her friends try to engineer a way for them to get together.

And this is where "Love Contract" confuses and upsets me. On Xiao Feng's way to the meeting site, she has a run-in with a car, and becomes a vegetable. Permanently. There's no happy chance of her recovering. She's comatose and that's how it's going to be forever, it seems. So after grieving for a year, Ken decides to take her to all their favourite places. He brings her to where they first held hands. To the aquarium where they scuba dived and kissed underwater. To the movies, something that they had always meant to do together but never got to. He cooks her dinner - she always wanted to taste his food - and acts out this sad dialogue, revealing his despair that she's gone. Finally, he wheels her to their beach and talks to her about how he never wants to be separated from her, ever, and carries her into the ocean. And that's where it ends. A suicide attempt. There are two other short clips that follow - one where Xiao Fong comes back to life and they play in the waves, and another where they're in wedding gear and their friends (including someone who died in the accident) celebrate with them. I don't understand! These serials are supposed to be funny and heartwarming and happy - and this is not the case at all for this series! I was sorely disappointed - the series started out so well too! I really wanted them to get together - Xiao Fong should have realized that Ken was sincere and they should have lived happily together. I feel cheated of my storybook ending :(