Acting/Cast: I was glad to see that Danson Tang came back to the TDrama scene with a bang. His depiction of the main character was brilliant. I love how Danson was able to act out such a wide range of emotions on his face from sombre, mad, in love, sad, naughty, teasing to just being plain cold and arrogant. His was my favourite character in the drama. This brings me to my least favourite character in the drama - coincidentally, the female lead! Do not get me wrong here. Ivelyn Lee acted brilliantly and delivered an excellent performance. It is her character that I disliked. What I disliked about Ivelyn's character of Guan Xiao Tong was Xiao Tong's cowardice and indecision when it comes to love relationships. She tends to over-analyse everything (like the psychologist she is) and tries to predict how the relationship will end. She failed to just enjoy being in a relationship and just let things develop naturally. She's always putting one foot in the relationship and another foot out (just in case things go wrong!). Therefore, she would always take the first step to end the relationship before she would really get hurt beyond repair. It did not matter what the man did for her or how much he had expressed his love for her...she has her own agenda and has already decided how she will end things with him. And once she had ended things with him, she started to over-analyse and regret her decisions in her past relationships.....the indecisiveness of her character totally makes me angry. Hers is like a pendulum, always swinging back and forth, always trying to take the middle ground but failed. Personally, I dislike ppl who are indecisive and have insecurity issues. I am glad that towards the end, she learns from this flaw of her character and grows more mature in her relationship with the male lead. It is because of my personal dislike of indecisive characters that I rated this drama 8.5/10 instead of the 9/10 I gave for its story. A stronger female lead character would be more to my liking.
Music: Lovely music but I've heard better ones before.
Rewatch value: I love all the lovey dovey scenes and the scenes where Danson acted the jealous and naughty man going after the girl he likes. I am a traditional person when it comes to love and appreciate it when the man is the one who goes all out after a girl and makes it so very apparent to all and sundry! To me, that is very flattering to the woman and very romantic as well. Therefore, this drama has a high rewatch value for me because of all of the romantic scenes between the leads.
Overall: It has been a while since I'd watched a TDrama. The industry has experienced a slump of late but once in a while, you'll find a gem and as of July 2015, this drama is the gem of 2015 TDrama for me. If you like romance dramas with mature story lines with a hint of mature comedy such as 'In Time With You', 'I want romance', 'Gentleman's Dignity' etc - you'll most likely like this drama as well.
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What prevented this drama from getting full marks was the way the story line neutered the male lead. I've seen this a few times in dramas, and it is really annoying. They take a perfectly good guy who is confident, loving and loyal and reduces him to confusion over 'what did I do wrong, I only wanted to love you'.. It became worst when the female lead went from sweet & bubbly into a little 'I am woman, hear me roar, witch'. Girl Power became extremely overrated when she became unappreciative of all he does for her and decides to 'find herself';. She of course soon learns the hard way that the love she pushed away is really what her heart desires and to quote the drama, 'what you want most in life can be achieved if you persevere and work hard to the end'; Good life lesson.
There were so many romantic & touching moments and the music really complemented the moods. The OST is amazing, check it out on YouTube. I am now hooked on the New Artist, GJ who sang JUST WANT TO SAY. Turns out to be 2014 contestant on China Idol.
Going to watch it again....
PS: incredibly cute dog, POLO, throughout the drama,
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Story: It was alright at first, I thought the premise that the girl was unlucky held tremendous amount of potential, especially for a romance drama. It was also alright all the way till 3/4 into it, where the tension builds, where they play push and pull... until the last few episodes where I just got really frustrated with the (non-existent) issues that the girl was struggling with. In my mind the whole time I was just like... WOT M8 do you want him or nah? which made me minus a good chunk of points because of the shitty ending. Also the unlucky theme didn't surface consistently, so sometimes it felt like... was it even important to the story?
Acting/Cast: Ah, hot Danson with the cute girl. He's alright and she's the stereotypical meek girl, which works I suppose. They're okay. But the rest of the cast (other than our poor Jojo who's always the yearning second lead) is just meh. It was okay, but nothing spectacular or terrible to shout about.
Music: I actually don't remember the music. :x Was alright I suppose. Meh again.
Rewatch value: Wouldn't, except for the kiss scenes maybe.
Overall: meh.
Okay, it's not really worth a watch unless you've finished watching the better dramas and want to use this as a filler. It's just meh. It was a good premise but they didn't use it to its maximum potential.
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I found this T-dramedy to be too formulaic, stacking the deck with eye candy in order to compensate for a very dull story.
Oh man! Ji Jia Wei has mommy issues! Who cares? And Guan Xiao Tong got stood up. So how does that make her a love expert?
I'm sorry but Danson Tang had this creepy androgynous vibe going on like a #prettyboystalkerserialkiller. Of course, he was very convincing as an emotionally distant asshole, which is apparently a requirement for the role of romantic male lead in most Taiwanese television shows.
Ivelyn Lee is incredibly cute and adorable but she looked underage and the o-t-t pouting served only to emphasize that fact. She looked like she should've been carded in various scenes. I foolishly thought that maybe, just maybe the writers at some point would use her fake-id-middle-schooler-who-is-caught-out-after-curfew-look as a vehicle for some much needed entertainment mileage but I guess I was wrong.
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The plot was supposed to be about a girl who is very unlucky. Anything that can go wrong in a situation goes wrong for her. After being dumped by her boyfriend, she quits her job as a psychologist to begin a new career at a dating agency, so that she can help others find the true love she longs for. It just so happens, though, that a divorce agency opens up across the street. The boss of the divorce agency also happens to become enemies with her. Of course, that makes for a promising Asian drama, right? Especially when you throw in a kind, caring second male lead that keeps getting friend zoned and an ex girlfriend that just can't let go. Even though it was rather cliche, the first half was presented in a fresh way, devoting most of the time to the build up of the lead character's romance. We really got to see each step, the emotion, the reactions, the mental aspects. A great deal of time was spent on character dialogue and longer scenes, something most dramas do not do.
Then....
At first....
Nothing happens. You are waiting for the conflict to start. You know the signs, there is always a formula, right? It then happens and it's such a little blip in the story that you are left in disbelief. Instead, it is like the very distant roll of thunder right before a storm hits, except this storm is full of WTF, and I mean that in a bad way. Just a little after halfway through the episodes the story takes a big deviation. This is almost certainly due to very, very bad rewriting of the script. Suddenly, there is major conflict, but this major conflict makes zero sense, is stupid and DRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGSSS. Seriously drags on and on and on until the last episode, where it magically vanishes with a sudden epiphany and everyone lives happily ever after.
In conclusion, this drama had so much potential but just ended up being a huge, whopping disappointment.
I still heart Tang Danson though.
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It's light and fluffy drama which your average sweet sweet Taiwanese drama bits and the cringeworthy stuff, as much as I loved Danson doing his whole smouldering look charade for some reason it made my toes curl at the same time.
This drama had soooooo much potential if some areas of the drama wasnt so badly written! For the most part this drama was good, just good though. something simple and easy to watch without too much drama, some parts were unneccessary, if only they focused on other areas instead, like the second male lead, he didnt have much importance shown. I know what his role was meant to be but they didnt show it enough and back him up as a second male lead for me to be like ohhh which lead should the girl pick?!
I kinda wish they did more with the supporting characters, it felt like we dipped into their storylines but they didnt take the time to expand to make it a fully and wholesome cast.
Don't get me wrong i really like the Murphys Law in it, and I like how they linked it with the story! Danson's acting has certainly improved, its my first time watching the main girl, she's cool, if only her character didnt have so many whining scenes it wouldve been great!
The songs are nice and fitting, if you dont like the opening theme at first... you grow to like it cos the first half pretty much it is used for any type of scene... but its a good song..!
I would be able to rewatch this simply cos its easy to watch, i reckon id only skip to the fluffy parts though :P
One of the good things about Taiwanese dramas is that they often have BTS after each episode and these ones are worth watching!
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Oh my, Danson Tang. Thank you for coming back to T-dramas. His acting as improved a lot, and I could feel the emotions he was portraying. After loving him in Fabulous 30, I think his character in this drama was even better. I never seen Ivelyn (GuanXiaoTong) in T-dramas before but I thought she was a good female lead, and was paired well with Danson though her character was a bit annoying/indecisive towards the end. The supporting characters were likable. I liked Jia Wei's office staff, as well as Xiao Tong's co-workers. They were evenly matched, and some brought comedic relief while others added the friendship aspect. It was cute, and felt like a family. The second male lead wasn't that obnoxious, and the second female lead was annoying at first, but did get much better. For those of you who hate the cliche evil second female lead, this drama doesn't have that. :)
The music was so catchy! There were a few really good emotional songs played at the crucial scenes; I liked that a lot. The music was used to its advantage; it added to the drama tremendously.
I'm going to rewatch the drama soon to see if some of the plot adds up as well as rewatch the very romantic scenes between the leads. I do have to say though; the second half ruined it a lot. I mean, yes, I liked the ending but the ending wasn't enough to completely pull the drama back. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this drama a lot and the ending was semi-satisfying even though it could have been longer.
I would definitely recommend this drama if you can stand a bit of dragging near the end. Suffer through the dragging ( like 3 episodes) to see awesome chemistry and a refreshing first half storyline. If you have a similar taste in dramas as me, you will like this drama too! (9/8)
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This review may contain spoilers
It was going so well and then...
For the most part this drama is really cute. I loved it every time the ML got all giddy over the FL. Before watching this I saw a lot of comments about the main leads not having chemistry but I actually loved the main leads together.The way the first episodes starts you know there will likely be exes involved so if you don't like a story with exes or love triangles/squares then this isn't the story for you. Although to be fair, neither lead ever swayed. They only have eyes for each other. Which was kind of a surprise given how much the ML once loved his ex. It was refreshing to not have a lot of back and forth with that storyline.
xx - Big Spoilers Below - xx
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At one point the ML's mom who once abandoned him comes back to Taiwan from the US. Then the FL finds out some unfortunate information about her and why she's back in Taiwan. She is really upset about this and doesn't want to tell the ML because it'll break his heart. Then the ML's mom up and leaves for the US without telling him, abandoning him for a second time.
Here's where I got really frustrated with the story...
The FL doesn't tell him the information she knows and on top of that breaks up with him! His mom just abandoned him for a 2nd time and now she is going to abandon him too?!
Her reasoning is because she can't be herself when she's with him. Meaning her whole life revolves around him. This was never mentioned or hinted at before this so as a viewer I thought she was lying and using this as an excuse. I was thinking maybe she’s feeling guilty about not telling him the information she has about his mom and can’t handle keeping that secret from him so she breaks up with him instead…? Yes and no.
Even after his father tells the ML about his mom. The FL still doesn’t want to be with him because of the reason previously mention. He even blames himself for her not speaking up in their relationship. They clearly still love each other but decide to split amicably because they agree that the lessons they learned in their relationship can only be applied to their next relationships.
Honestly I didn’t even want to watch the last episode because by then Ep 15-18 burned away all good feelings from episodes 1-14 for me. The ending was nice and it was cute to see them being a couple again. Also, the OST has a few good songs too.
Would Not Re-Watch
Would Not Recommend
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The ending was the messiest part. The plot itself was honestly just too full of cliches and the typical angsty backstories. Having just watched another drama before this that basically did everything this one did but better, the comparison was even more jarring, which accounts for this low rating.
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This review may contain spoilers
If anyone is shocked that this is my first non k drama than you'll win the award for not being shocked. I feel like Twain dramas are so much more different than K Dramas that this did took a while to get into but it worth it. Story: For a story, it centers around Murphy's laws (which I know nothing about). Honesty it was not a turn off to start with, it about relationships, and what really goes into it. This is a basic concept, but it goes into so much detail, and with 1 hr 13 min episodes their is filler in there but I liked it. The story I give a 8.
Acting/Cast: I really do not know much about Taiwan actors due to I don't watch these dramas a lot. For starters I'll start with Tang Dawson the main male lead. I liked him as an actor. He mainly known for Chinese dramas, but he has done a few Taiwan dramas. For Li Ivelyn I liked her in this, but her character did get annoying sometimes. The final name I go into is Chien Jolin the second lead. A second lead he played the character well. For acting/cast I give a 9.
Music: So the music for me it grew on me. With these dramas they have a beginning and an ending theme. I start with the opening which is fly with me. It always nice when the opening is really great because it gets you really pumped up for the episode. and the opening itself was cute that is in itself should be watched once. The ending is All I Wanted To Say. this was not as great as Fly With Me, but it was great when it was sung in one of the episodes by one of the actors (not saying who for spoilers reason). The music I give a 10.
Rewatch/Overall: For a rewatch value it a 7, I have a tendency that I'll rewatch this due to it being my first. Overall is an 8.5 with the flaws it deserving of an 8.5.
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