Broker (2021)

A very flawed drama for die-hard LYX fans with a kick-ass FL ...**BUT**...

If you are a die-hard Luo Yunxi fan, Broker might be worth it as it really showcases his talent. He gives an emotional performance as a flawed and tortured anti-hero who falls in love with a woman who changes the entire course of his life. Broker could also be for you if you love your female leads strong, brilliant, independent, and mature. Victoria Song’s portrayal will have you wishing there were more characters like her in Chinese dramas. (I was going to add sensible to the FL's list of attributes, but unfortunately I can not due to her actions and words in the final two or three episodes.)

BUT. And this is a huge BUT. For everyone else? It’s kind of a toss-up. Broker is flawed and messy, and whether it’s for you or not will depend on your enjoyment or tolerance of soapy, unrealistic melodramas and other elements that some people love and others hate: the science talk, the office politics and scheming (only in the early episodes though -- it's great later), the secondary OTP, very tortured heroes/heroines/antogonists (To say Leo is put through the wringer, especially at the end, would be an understatement). As the series progresses, it also flirts increasingly with “dog’s blood (狗血)” plotlines -- until it VERY predictably goes all-in on the makjang melodrama in the final quarter. (A couple of the characters even reference “dog’s blood” dramas, which makes one think it’s a sly nod of self-recognition.)

Personally, I genuinely enjoyed nearly every ridiculous, soapy, melodramatic moment and couldn’t wait for the next episode. At the same time, I have a lot of caveats. I did park most of my usual standards aside and simply went with the flow. I tried not to think too much about details that didn’t make sense; annoying tropes; the rather ham-fisted effort at depicting anti-Asian/Chinese racism; the heavy-handed overtones of patriotism/nationalism; inconsistencies in pacing, tone, character depiction, and story arcs. Unfortunately, these last elements became very difficult to ignore at the end, especially in the final episode. While expected, the execution of the story arc was frustrating -- and almost cruel -- at times. (You can read my more spoilery views about the ending in the comments section below.)

REWATCH VALUE: If I could break it down, I'd give all of Leo’s scenes a 10 (no bias here :P) and many (but not all) of Victoria’s very high marks too.

MUSIC: Like many Chinese dramas, the instrumental background was sometimes too much, but the songs were solid. I especially adored the closing credit piece, Signature (署名) by Azora Chin (尤长靖), and Leo’s haunting theme, It’s Time To Stop (时间停止吧), by ANU.

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A rare gem

Fast paced opening.
Amazing character intros, both mains and supporting casts alike.
Good editing and camera language.
Intelligent characters that are actually smart, not fake smart.

This is rare in China produced drama.

Luo Yunxi must be commended for very believable fight and action scenes. Very clean and elegant execution. Kudos to the action choreographer as well.

Would like to add that most drama's first episode tends to infodump a bunch of faces that blur into a mass of look-a-likes. Not this one. Every character is unique, given time to show their personalities and roles, and only from the the first episode.

I watched it for Luo Yunxi, but I would probably explore more of the director, cinematographer, and action choreographer's other works as well.

The script is uneven, feels bipolar, like half was written by a pro, and the other half by a complete idiot. The main arc are sweet or painful or both. But it's refreshing to see a mature and steady couple that do not 'forget and abandon their goals' the minute they breakup or run into love-conflicts. People with jobs are still working despite the events in their personal life. Well, except the sister/doctor arc, which is the usual silly romance drivel kind of drama.

Love the use of bio-chemistry in the conversations, e.g. QJN on love, and life, and birthday wishes. Seriously, this is how science and tech people talk among themselves.
Love the friendship between the two sisters.

The last few episodes were kind of forced and with questionable logic. I think it was trying to tie back to the original novel, but no longer fit the earlier changes in the adaptation.

What would have made it better:
Many deleted scenes that could have explained the history and background better, and to allow the audience to understand the relationships and ties between ML and supporting characters, why he did what he did.

Cut out all the noisy back and forth hospital drama of unprofessional doctors not working and just gossiping and seriously, the doctor guy should have been charged with sexual harassment with his behaviour.

Should have more thrilling actions similar to what we had in 1st episode. And more showcase of ZXS's broker skills. The boy was supposed to be a genius. Why did he become so passive?

Unexpected bonux: Mo Li's actress is really good. Only reason QJX and MoLi's scenes work. Because QJX's acting is cringey.

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I wanted to like this so bad

I'm currently watching this drama, but dude it got so boring.

I had high expectations from this one, but seriously it's like a teen drama with labs, and science.

The plot is kind of interesting but after 25 episodes nothing much has changed. There are some really annoying characters that get too much screen time.

Honestly I have not dropped this drama (yet) because I like de lead actors and still have hope for a more exciting second half, but seriously, right now, the fast-foward button is my BFF.

Just finished and I regret so much that I have spent even one minute watching this. Seriously, the plot has more holes than a sieve.

For, supposedly, smart leads they are SO DUMB and clueless!!

The best "romance" scene with a Lead Actor isn't even between them, it's between the ML and an ex-girlfriend, so even if you are in for the chemistry (no pun intended) you'll get close to zero.
Don't waste your time, this drama is bad.

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Propaganda gone wrong

This drama was awful and I really had to torture myself to finish. It was drowning in propaganda. The irony of it is that the messages they tried to send across did the exact opposite for me. It tried to promote Chinese scientific research as becoming more advanced and reputable. It tried to encourage people to join the field. However, there was so much unprofessionalism, it actually disgusted me. It failed to persuade me why working in this field in China would be better than in any other country (that they were trying to discredit for being racist/plagiarizing). Furthermore, while the world is currently trying to convince people to get the covid vaccine, it made me really reluctant to try out any new drug or vaccine entering into the market because of all the crap that went down.

It tried to make women seem very badass and capable (girl power), but at the end of the day it made women look bad for being irrationally emotional. I'm a woman myself and I started disliking women because majority of the female characters just gossip, spread misinformation and chaos for no reason other than petty jealousy or boredom.

It was incredibly draggy, though the last few episodes had a bit more drama and some unexpected twists, so things got a bit more interesting. Majority of people were disappointed in the ending. I think I was just relieved that it was finally over. Overall, I would not recommend to anybody unless you work in this field. You will either enjoy it cuz you might find the office politics relatable OR you might hate it because of the inaccuracy (ex. wearing uncovered heels in lab *eyeroll*).

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Mixed emotions, waring between disappointment and thankfulness towards the actors.

First, many almost or totally negative opinions, I do agree on many of them.

I can's say that this drama was good. In many aspects, it was truly disappointing and I was tempted to leave it be in various episodes...
One of the worst comments in my head at one point was, how it reminds me of the 'Bold and the Beautiful, from when I was a child and my sister watched it from day to day. Thankfully this feeling wasn't constant and only came to me at the end of the drama.

I will write all the bad feelings and then I will add some light to why I finished it. All of the following is not in sequence of my feelings during watching the drama, just what my emotions are out right now.

First the national pride. Though I understand where they come from, why it was brought out, especially within the political mud throwing, pandemic, etc, we are facing these days, it was so overused that from some point I just fast-forwarded from those dialogues, talks and tried to see where the important stuff comes. It might be impressive and important that Chinese scientists are getting shadowed by Europeans or Americans, but all in all, from a common person's view, scientists as a person or one of the team of scientists, should be concentrating on their vision and work as scientists and not depend on country whom he/her belongs to. If you discover something, work on it, prove it(or however it's called) then yes, integrity is important, so don't sell it to the highest bidder, be proactive and publish it, don't concentrate on who might invent, discover something before you.

(In a way the same goes for writing books, I should stop writing because there are probably hundreds or thousands of writers who think of the same subject, think of the same theories and so on, what's the point in writing my story then... So this storyline really affected my mood and didn't suit my logic in life.)

So to the integrity of people... It's shown as non-existent or so overboard important that you would do anything to protect it. I will kill myself to protect the secret of a formula, to protect another life, to take revenge on someone. I think anyone would have thought of a few or many versions of how some of these huge stupid plot holes would have been better written.

Honestly, I think it's about 16-20ep long if taken the real, important, truly well played-written dramatic content. Not 42episodes. One of the reasons I watched it until the end... I really wanted to see how they play it out... most of it just disappointed me. I can't really tell what they wanted to show with this drama. Was it the science, Chinese integrity, sacrifice, sick twisted minds, self-degrading love... I could go on...

As a woman, I could take a plot with a strong female lead storyline and understand it, accept it and maybe even like it. Though they are hardly ever written and played out in a way I think they are commending to women... rather they try to say that women are good and acceptable, respected only when they sit in the same place where men do...
I think as a woman we should be able to do anything we want, is it the scientist, company CEO, cook or a mother, a knitter... all these should be given the same equal value... Vise versa, I think the same about men. They also should be able to do stuff they want even when we think they are stronger, and let's be honest a man lifting a 40kg box seems more natural than a woman doing it, but there are maybe women who want to do even that, not being forced to do it. But there might be men who want to cook, clean homes, knit, take care of kids, be a corporation CEO, scientist... Oh, I'm being too emotional...
So, I think these normal working women, in struggling positions, having kids, being degraded, given value based on what they do, having to get married before 30, etc... are just wrongly shown in storylines and these dramas do not give women rights, but rather popularize some of these old and demeaning traditions and twist the understanding of the possibility of being equal with men.

Side characters. I think there isn't much improvement in the plot, storyline's of the side characters, the amount of gossip, backstabbing, obsessive love, which has nothing to do with love at all, was again so overstretched, so though I commend the actors for their work, and I truly do. Then they had so much empty or pointless work, I just sincerely hope that someone, some director, or a writer or a producer is able to see in this drama, the acting stability and effort and talent they showed. Most of the actors I truly liked and think though I don't like the drama, I would watch other dramas with them.

Now let's give a little credit, so I'll end this on a lighter note. Almost.

Main leads, storyline, acting and actors themselves:
First, I can't get away from the fact that the love line was truly toxic. I would keep away from this kind of character if I ever meet him/her in real life. She has so much integrity and self-right that it's overflowing, not giving in, and only a small amount of forgiveness and acceptance for another person. I can't imagine being together with this kind of judgmental partner even if I was the most perfect person in the world. So I liked the female lead only about 35%

Male lead. I think there is this kind of broken person in some way, inside a lot of people. Maybe not so grotesque, and so broken, but as a therapist, one sees them, whether they show it or not, through therapy they are seen. Helping them heal, work through their misery and problems is possible only if they themselves are able to admit the brokenness and ask for help for real. So, I could relate to this broken character. His decisions in this drama, are still way beyond what I think a person should make... If anyone really leads this kind of life, my deepest sympathy, it's a harsh life then. There is unreal brokenness in people, in various places of the world, within various unreasonable situations, but emotional distress, hurting inner mind, still feels like the greatest torture for me. So, I did feel for him a lot. I think though I don't like the plot development, this character is the most well written in this drama and I lived through his emotions the most.

The storyline was so over the top, as complicated as could be, so the actors seemed to have been told to go through various and as many possible emotions, situations, character developments as the scriptwriter could possibly fit into one drama. Which took most of the interest out of watching. From one moment person's brain can't handle the emotional carousel and you just feel numb and want the drama to end.

Now the most admirable thing about this drama are these actors. Yes, I don't like Victoria. For years already, as I don't like many female singers, but that's my personal opinion. Never said she is a bad person or sings badly. Still, I do say, even though the plot ruined her character for me, she played her emotions pretty well. I even discovered crying once during her emotional scene and thought that she was pretty raw in her emotions and did all too well in the script she was given. I even hated her for a moment or two because she was so true to the character she played.

Leo Luo... He is the only reason I finished the drama at all. His acting skills impressed me in Ashes of Love and I liked him in Love is Sweet. But I didn't expect him to show such a class. I can say that I would like to see him in a truly well written, hurting, distraught character again, without this kind of a plot... I would feel like I did now, without at the same time hating the script. I think he is an amazing actor and I will really soon watch his other dramas, hoping to find a better feel and a better partner for him on screen in acting and character-wise.

All in all. I don't recommend this drama.
If there is someone, someday who would put up in YT or some other place, an edited version of this drama, including only scenes that are worthwhile, I will watch it and recommend it... Watching 42 episodes of this drama is not worth your while if you are not a die-hard fan of one of these actors.

My very personal, and emotional opinion(can't even call it a review anymore.) of this drama.

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An interesting premise with a strong start and very melodramatic ending

This review contains mild spoilers. Please do not read if you do not want to spoil yourself. I decided to add some since some of these will make or break the viewing experience.

First off, reading the summary, I was very intrigued. It seemed not like many cdramas that I have watched, which have primarily been fluffly rom-com dramas. And the first episode made me very excited. We see Jianing in a lab enduring (very direct**) racist remarks from her boss and in the next scene, we see Xiaoshan punching someone, which made me think this would turn out to be a great corporate espionage plot. I was envisioning a cat-mouse chase for her research with a lot of nameless villains and action-packed scenes. Unfortunately, that is not what we got.

Although it is not necessarily bad, I want to point out that in the latter half it gets very melodramatic. This is not explicitly in the tags, so I was not expecting it. The thing that was bad was the pacing and character arcs. While the first half focuses on Xiaoshan trying to get closer to Jianing and her enduring office politics which seems new and fresh, the second half does the same exact thing except drags it out in a manner that seems repetitive and makes you want to skip a lot of scenes since you have already seen it in a much more exciting manner in the first half. If you are not fond of what I just described like me, it's best that you just stop the drama before episode 30 at most.

I kept going because the first half was really quality writing and it left a lot of questions that I wanted answered. We hear a lot about Xiaoshan's ex. Originally, she's mentioned off-handedly, so while I was intrigued, I understood they might not explain. However, it turns out to be a big plot point in the second half, that I wished the setup was better for that because it felt really random that a major character related to her popped up without explanation.

While I applaud LYX and SQ acting, they really did nail it with what they had, the character development leaves me a little iffy. LYX gave 110% to Xiaoshan and you can really see that through his scenes. I really liked how SQ portrayed Jianing with a low EQ. It made me frustrated at times with the decisions she made, but it makes sense considering her low EQ. The second lead couple did a great job in my opinion. If you don't like sad endings (a melodramatic ending usually involves one of the main characters dying), then the second lead couple really brighten up the screen and you can just watch for them.

Mo Li, on the other hand. Damn, they did my girl dirty. I actually did like her as a character. Yes, she was impulsive, but we see growth from her in the first half. I really thought she was going to have a lot more scenes with the guy from the gym cause I really thought they were funny. However, she just disappears in the second half until the end where you realize all that character development from the first half is just gone, which was just disappointing. I did understand that she might have some reversal, but I didn't realize they would remove everything.

I did like Uncle Zha as villain even if he was a little cartoonish, but I felt the secondary villain Wenzhao was unnecessary. He really doesn't do much and it's just really a sad boi. Honestly, I know cdramas tend to add one last villain to defeat towards the end, but nothing could have prepared me for the last 5 episodes.

The OST was really great tho. I don't usually pay attention to them, but this one was too good to avoid. Although I will probably never rewatch this, I don't really rewatch any dramas again, I will definitely listen to the music.

**Now to refer to two things that really offed people.
First: how racism is portrayed. To give this perspective, I am an non-East Asian woman who grew up and lives in a Western country. I have worked in a lab. The racism portrayed is way too blatant and direct. This would most likely land Dr. Harry in hot water irl. A lot of the racism we endure is subtle aka passing over a promotion or making small digs (oh so that's how you do it?). Also, I agree with a lot of people that it was weird that Dr. Harry spoke in English while Jianing replied in Chinese. It was only a couple of lines and they had Chinese subtitles for Harry anyway and it could have showed another way Jianing was othered.
Second: the patriotism. Look, this is a Chinese drama. Regardless of whatever country you are from, they probably make patriotic movies/tv shows. I think it's personally normal that this had Chinese nationalism. This drama intended to show how research in non-Western countries aren't regarded with the same prestige which is true. It is geared toward Chinese viewers. You could take this and apply it to another country and it would work. Did I enjoy seeing the national scenes like the flag raising as a non-Chinese person? Nope, felt very awkward for me. I didn't know where to look. I bet a lot of people felt the same. But I did agree with the statement that scientists regardless of nationality should have a chance.

So while people have many reasons not to watch things, it doesn't mean it is necessarily bad. I read the summary of the drama and liked it, so I watched it. Was it what I expected? No, I did have my expectations high. Did I enjoy all of it? No. Do I feel like it was waste of time? No. I didn't really like it overall, but I wouldn't say that I wasted all my time.

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Main Storyline is quiet good. Give it a try

I didn't hv much expectations at the beginning. I'm not a enthusiastic fan of the leads.. just like the plot nd give it a try..
Main storyline is good. But I don't like the side of other characters that much.. they had a mixture of realistic unrealistic screen writing .. humor is good. But I didn't see professional writing for side characters enough.
Chemistry of the main characters are great.. Their understanding of each other growth of characters are great too.. I like that.
too many office bullies and one sided loves were there. they made it little boring and dragging..but soon they all disappeared...
Overall drama is good. Can give it a try.

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A great drama showcasing strong resilient leads

First of all, I'm disappointed in the genres being attributed to this drama. It's not an adventure and not much on the business side either. It should rather be something like: espionage, academic research, romance .

The characters are well-written and their actions aren't predictable at all. The changes in the Xiaoshan's and jianing's character are well within reach. I mean Xiaoshan wasn't a bad person to start with. He just needed a guiding light like that of jianing to smoothen his transition to the life of a regular person. Both jianing and xiaoshan stay true to their beliefs in the face of adversity.

If you want a break from all those childish FL and fluffy dramas, you are at the right place.

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A big regret for me.

Honestly I don't want female and male lead together ?. I hope female lead find someone who's good enough for her so that she can live a carefree life. Male lead saw light in his life because of jianing but what about her she loves him and still her first priority is Plan O. I'm glad she's an ambitious woman but for her life partner ZXS isn't really my choice but I accepted him because he's main lead. Jianing needs someone who is different from her who can bring joy to her life and make her realize that there's so much here apart from her work. I heard that this drama has an open Ending. I'm glad they didn't end up together. And yeah ML and his ex disappointed me till the end. The only main character and her of this drama is female lead.

*Spoiler: Main lead and his ex had s** together just before her marriage and now they've child together. *

Advice: don't watch it . The only character I love in this drama is female lead.

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a drama of indirect propaganda

This would have been a decent drama if not for all the un-necessary propagandas.

This is the second time I made comments of this sort on typed dramas, there are probably much more of the same patterns.....it is related to propagandas instead of a good script, a good story.

Why can't I just watch a show without all the unnecessary promotions on "how great china is"??????

As usual, most of the evil doers or the bad guys are foreigners..... China is "the greatest nation on earth".........but outsiders do not recognize and give us credits for being the smartest, most ethical, most moral, most righteous, most loyal,f etc. etc. etc...........Do you know???? Compliments should be given by others. Self flattery is like kissing your own ass.

Be dignified and noble, others will see and know you're worth!!!!!! One do not need to constantly broadcasting their accomplishments!!!!!

I said it once and I will say it again. I AM A HUMBLE CHINESE AND I AM PROUD TO BE ONE.

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Surprising chinese tv show

I confess that I started to watch this show mainly because the actress Qian Song and after I read what was about the story. I have to saw just one thing: this is one of the best chineses' tv show I ever saw it.
First of all, I thought that I already know how it'll end, but I was wrong. The story twisted in such a way that in my opnion the finale end surprisingly and blew my mind. So if you are a person who wants to get away with the same old history's kdrama this tv show is for you.
Besides that, I love that the charecter of Qian Song was a powerfull woman and not some damsel in distress. Futhermore, I amazed by the acting of Luo Yun Xi who I didn't know specially in some episodes and of course Qian Song who is a great actress.
In this way, I just want to say to you if you're doubtful if you should see it or not I say just give a try, because like me you can be surprising. So it exceeded my expectations and strongly recommend everyone to see it because it worth it.

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