I think it’s good to go into it knowing that you will need to fast-forward, you will gnash your teeth at the repetitive plot that keeps the leads apart, you will want to slap the well-meaning family and friends who act thinking that they are doing the best for their loved one even though it means you’ll be fast-forwarding even more, you must recognize that there are lots of things that keep the lead couple off-screen more than should be allowed in any drama (hence the fast-forwarding), even though there are some respectable performances by most of the male supporting characters. It’s not for nothing that some people have complained that Hans Zheng and Janine Chang are almost like guest actors in their own drama… But at the very end of it all… well, you can tune in for my rant after the jump at the bottom of the post!
Janine and Hans are trying to figure out why they can’t just be together
Even with all this complaining, there really were some entertaining moments in this drama. I think that’s what irritates me most — they could have had something solid, even very good, if they had just gotten out the scissors and cut this 48-episode show into, maybe 24… tops! Even though there are some personal space issues between between Hans Zheng’s spurned boyfriend/CEO and Janine Chang, the spurner (for good reasons)/his assistant, there are some moments where they work really well together, and separately. He’s got the driven, ruthless, yet tender-hearted thing down, and she’s very good at fragile-looking but strong. There’s some deep sh#t that’s kept them apart, and on paper it makes sense that she would find it very hard for her to believe that they should be back together again (no matter how much they long for each other).
I found the interferences of her guy pal and her older sister the most annoying, less so on his part, much more so on her part because this is ALL HER FAULT in the first place! She’s so immature at times, and needy, that I’d like to reach through the screen and slap her. Who she ends up with (and how) is somehow so appropriate, but yet it feels wrong, mostly because of the casting of her love interest. I do feel bad for Jing Chao’s character, the wish-he-could-be-boyfriend friendzoned pal. Maybe because he’s easy on the eyes… No, because he is trying really hard to be a good guy, even if he does cock things up now and then.
But what irritates me… spoiler rant after the jump
I cannot believe that Xiao Nuan (Janine’s character) gives in to her heart and makes up with Nanxiang (Hans’) 3 different times, even to the point of sleeping with him and moving into the dream house he’s built for the two of them and playing future happy families at around the halfway point in this show, only to give up that dream of happy-ever-after with him because his mother is never going to forgive her because of “her crime to his family” (I won’t spoil that for you…). And when all is said and done, IT ISN’T EVEN XIAO NUAN’S FAULT, that “crime” that is the barrier to her getting mom’s blessing. And it’s tossed out there almost at the end and there’s no joyful HEA for us like we get at the Dream House!
Oh, and there’s this whole fakeout wedding thing with the actress he plays the beard for so she’s not hassled by perverts — everything about that sequence of events will give you major aggro.
We Talk Dramas All Day 