Pride and Price (2022)

Urban Workplaces Struggles

I love this drama because of its worthiness. In my opinion, the producer has paid attention to quality. The cinematography is excellent. Liu Jing Jian (the cinematographer) successfully brought out the script's demand, to show how fashion industry magazines are on the screen. This could be a challenging task for him. But, as I said, he has succeeded. The music was beautiful, sound effect quality was also very good. The directors have done a good job. Now let me explain my rating.

Story (8.5/10)
The story is great, but not great enough to have my top point.
The story is a bit long-winded. The audience's curiosity has been awakened and then dies due to irrelevant attempts to create new curiosity. So in my opinion, the plot of the story is not cut off and reconnected in the right places. Time and time again I missed the tension I felt before. Perhaps this disturbance is caused by an excessive effort to cram too many characters with their individual stories that are not actually closely related to the main theme. Details of the story are not well preserved, which raises questions for viewers. Several similar scenes, which fail to direct the plot to the next twist, also fail to convey the essence of this story. If the screenwriter and director didn't try too hard, this drama would fit into 25 episodes and engage the audience better.

Acting/Cast (10/10)
The cast of this drama, from the main character to the supporting cast, all did their job perfectly. Everything looks so natural. The content of emotions and thoughts can be expressed perfectly.

Song Jia, who plays Chen Kaiyi rarely talks, cold and almost contemplative, but the audience can get to know her well, sympathizing with her for her fierce desire to achieve victory.
Chen He played Lu Pinpin so perfectly that the audience was annoyed with him.
The young star Song Zu'er as Li Na was extraordinarily good. There were quite a few other actors, and all of them acted really well. Nobody does that monologue to bring the characters to life, they express it.

Music (10/10)
I love the background music and the OST. I don't know much about music, but I think the right music strengthens the story. Credit should go to Dong Dongdong, the composer.

Rewatch Value (8/10)
I don't think I will spend time rewatching this drama. But this is a tricky question, for if I have nothing to do, I might consider rewatching this drama. Especially listen to the character Gu Mingshan cites Chinese ancient wisdom. The cinematography of this drama is excellent. Liu Jing Jian (Cinematographer) had done a great job, this is certainly one of the rewatch values.

Overall (9.0/10)
I enjoyed watching this drama. It is worth my time.

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