Master of My Own (2022)

A feminist unexpected delight, a champion of dreams and redemption.

Never in a million years would I have thought that one of the best stories told by women and for women would come from China. For a country that tends to gloss over issues this drama dealt so beautifully with corruption, sexism, abuse and abuse of power, but with all these heavy topics it never lost its heart and was never anything other than highly entertaining.
I fell in love with all the characters, and felt compassion for both the goodies and the baddies, a sign of how good the script truly was. But obviously my favourites were the two leads and the journey this took them through - and that was the greatest strength of this drama, the idea of a journey and a process that we all need to go through for our dreams and romance to come true.
If you are looking for a smart drama that wants to teach you something and isn't just your average rom-com than this one is for you. There is romantic in this one and it's lovely, but it isn't the sole focus and purpose because the FL Ning Meng knows she is worth more than her romantic status.

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funny, inspiring, moral lessons and entertaining

Love this drama. I like the plot and the many life lessons about friendship, loyalty, family values, and personal growth. I like the fact that Seven tan portrays the strong female character "Ning Meng" who did not give up her dreams in spite of all the struggles, problems and people who tried to stop her from doing what she wants to do. Seven Tan played the character very well and her acting performance is so amazingly natural and convincing. You can feel all of her emotions when she was happy or sad. there were many funny moments as well as touching scenes that made you feel her frustrations. I also like the pace of the drama how the main leads develop their friendships , trust and love as they work together. I also like the strong character of Ning Meng (female lead Seven tan) who didn't give up her projects and trust her own feelings about the value of the projects and did what she can to resolve the issues to make it successful. Everybody who works with her trust her because they know she is trustworthy, honest and has integrity in the business world. She never cross the line and will stick with doing what is right.

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a journey of independent woman's success

This review is directed towards drama watchers who get paranoid about betrayals (like me), so I'm saving you time and mentality by breaking down the characters in the drama.

*BEGINNINGS*

Ning Meng (FL) is an intelligent and hard-working worker who dreams of becoming an investor. However, because of HR's urgency to find a secretary, she was given false promises to work temporarily as a secretary. Not knowing that it's been three years since she became a secretary, she decided to change her career path since being a secretary leads to nowhere in her career planning.

Lu Ji Ming (ML) is a successful investor and FL's boss. He's arrogant and selfish - it shows how he treats the people around him. He's very dependent on FL with his daily tasks and gave FL not only work-related stuff but also his personal stuff. As FL stated, she became more of a nanny than a secretary.

I hate comparing dramas, but I feel like it is necessary to point out a few details: (yup, this is a rant)
*take "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (WWWSK)" for example:

- ML in MOMO is very unbearable to watch. Don't get me wrong, the actor is exceptionally charming and attractive, but his actions angered me throughout the drama. The writer chose a storyline where ML shows childish behaviour when falling in love. MOMO and WWWSK are similar in terms of a boss, who's very dependent on a capable secretary, and tries to convince the secretary to stay. But WWWSK is an excellent example of ML doing childish behaviour that is acceptable in some ways.

- However, MOMO's ML is very different, as they show the worst ML I have watched in drama history - even worse than Dao Ming Si. Sure, deep deep deep down, ML cares about FL in a way, but that does not excuse his toxic behaviour. Not only did he put FL in her place, aka downplayed her, but he also took the secretary job for granted.

- ML is also very misogynistic. I don't care about his upcoming character development, but his comments should not be taken lightly. This drama is the first series where I want FL not to be associated with ML anymore. I feel bad for FL becoming a doormat to her boss.

- Also, as I saw comments on VIKI, I realized many people still defend this behaviour - saying that deep down he cares for her. I don't care if he cares for her; if anyone were put in FL's position, it would scar them for life. Don't people know that, or just because he's hot, his toxicity is downplayed? My question is, what if a less-attractive male is the one who did all of that? Would people still go to defend him?

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*MID DRAMA*

As I reached half of the drama (Episode 16), ML got a slight character development, where he slowly learned how to soften his arrogant attitude. As shown in the previous episode, we got a back story of ML's traumatic childhood experience, where his dad behaves exactly like ML. It explains how ML got his toxic behaviours but doesn't excuse his current actions. The writer is trying to gain sympathy towards ML's actions; however, they still don't gain mine.

As for the side characters:
- I love ML's friend, who is the polar opposite of ML. He respects FL and also treats people nicely. I admire him for his level of patience in dealing with ML.
- I also love how Xu Si Tian got her character development. Though it doesn't show in her work ethic, at least not explicitly, I love that she befriended FL and knows how to give up her one-sided love. Unlike other annoying SFLs who dwell on a man that treats her harshly, she knows her limit and decides not to pursue it as it's not worth it. My favourite scene would be when Xu Si Tian, ML's friend, and FL go RV camping and ignore ML's calls.
- I admire FL's current boss/mentor, Shi Ying. She trains FL in a way that she hoped someone would teach her in the past. She's also empowered and changed FL's self-perception by constructing her self-confidence. Unlike FL's old boss, Shi Ying recognized FL's talents and helped her nurture those talents.
- As for right now, I am still determining the true nature of SML, but it smells fishy to me. There are no sparks in his eye, which led me to question his real intentions in approaching FL. I hope FL doesn't do anything stupid, believing in delusions that could've hurt her.

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*END/CONCLUSION*

FINAL CHARACTERS:
- We finally get to see ML's character development. Both ML and SML have character improvements. Though their personalities are somewhat intentionally polished, the memories of their past toxicity still linger in my mind.

- In the last four episodes, we can see ML was struggling, and not to be harsh, he deserves that. Humbling experience may bring a good change in his character, and I was right - through his struggles and people looking down on him, I can see that his rude and arrogant personality turned 180º.

- FL is still admirable as ever; not only is her character so inspiring, but she has also improved over time. Her struggles and challenges helped her become more mature professionally.

- However, I still had mixed feelings when FL chose to leave the company as soon as she got a promotion. On the bright side, I appreciate her loyalty and striving to be independent by starting a start-up business. At the same time, I question her real intention for leaving the company. Is it for the man she loves or her ambition to become successful on her own?

- Though SML actions are unforgivable, it's still understandable. As he got trauma from his ex-girlfriend because of betrayal, he seems to have difficulty letting go of that incident. His ending, however, seems too rushed and polished but somewhat decent.

- FL's best friend's EX-boyfriend was such trash. I changed my mind about ML becoming the worst character as he got the worst character award throughout the show. He does illegal stuff and is also a serial cheater who got his mistress pregnant. Honestly, seeing him makes me sick to my stomach and also traumatizing. I wish the director had elaborated more on his suffering and consequences. Putting him in jail is not cutting it for me.

- The most admirable character in the show is FL's boss/mentor. Seeing her supporting women is inspiring. Tbh, I wish that I had a mentor/friend like her, who I could depend on.

- Bonus: ML's ex-one-sided-love, Han Yi Meng, is also very mature. Usually, in this situation, where a person just broke up, they choose to find a rebound. I'm glad she didn't use ML as her rebound or take advantage of the situation. Once she realized ML had feelings for FL, she chose to leave and advised ML - which is such a mature move.

STORY:
- I gave it a 9/10 because of some issues. Too bad I could've given this drama a 10/10 if they had better story-writing. This drama is very slow-paced. Sure, many good dramas are slow-paced, but I feel like the climax of this drama happened in the end, especially in the last five episodes. Thus, the ending feels too rushed for me.

- As for the whole drama, I find it easy to understand, despite my inferiority with numbers and stocks.

I will end this review by mentioning the best quote in the drama:

"Whether you succeed or not is what others think of you.
Whether or not you are happy is decided by your own self."

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Almost forget about this drama existence, but fortunately YouTube sometimes know me so well.... Haha... So here I come watch this drama. Let's discuss....

This drama about dream, friendship, love & still true to yourself. The message this drama want to give actually good. But the plot or maybe how the scene shape or how the actor/ess involve act or maybe just me being in the edge of cliff of Drama Slump somehow make me don't give a sh*t about the drama overall. But once again because of Seven Tan & Kenny Lin I still endure enough to watch till the end, with double speed & fast forward button still....

What many times make me raise my eyebrow:
? how they portray the investment company. Is it actually like how Ning Meng (NM) work, or is it just her being busybody that like to involve in her client company...? I like the approach they took, but really if everyone that involve like NM I also think it's a little bit too much for investment company or not... Haha...
? No one envy NM at her new company at Shi Ying, especially because the boss really like her & kinda rely on her.

What I like:
+ The positive energy NM give out & how till the end she never sacrifice her principal & stay true to herself. Of course that's also influenced by her parent.
+ The way NM still consider for Su Wei Ran (WR) feeling by making space with Lu Ji Ming (JM) when they're in relationship.
+ They never really forced the relationship between NM with WR & JM, and all that unnecessary jealousy scene, they really let the time flow & take care of the things.
+ What make me frustated yet adorable is JM. OMG seeing him make me want to slap his head or face sometimes, especially at the beginning of the drama where he still have no manner & so rude to NM. Don't know how to feel about the end of JM feeling for Han Yi Meng, good or bad. Bad because it's a little bit too good to be true, It's just like something that so easy to be end. But the good thing about that it is just like our life, sometimes we don't realize how we just hang on to the MEMORY of our feeling instead actually still have that feeling.
+ They show us the good & bad side of human being. Like WR, how he at the end fight between the demon and angel in himself.

Overall this one mature drama with not much of drama in it's plot or too much romance. If that's what u looking for, I think you'll gonna like this drama

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Not the romantic comedy I expected, but overall good series

This was not the typical romantic comedy I was expecting, but it was an good series overall. I am huge Kenny Lin (Lin Gengxin) fan so I want to watch all his work.

Storyline:
- Overall it was good. Interesting view into the world of investing in China's market. Good pacing and I'm glad they kept it at 30 episodes rather than dragging it out. But all the hype build up to the main male and female leads...seemed extremely rushed and wrapped into the very last episode. It was very interesting how the story intersected w/ the FL as lowly assistant rose to success as the ML godlike success came crashing down. While both the ML and FL did an outstanding job w/ their acting - they as a couple lacked chemistry. There was more chemistry between them as boss/employee and co-dependency in each other lives, rather than romantic chemistry.

Acting / Characters:
- Kenny Lin as the ML Lu Ji Ming was great. He was able to portray a very powerful rich, arrogant, chauvinistic jerk on the exterior while deep down being a very ethical, loyal and caring person at heart. And later he was able to portray the despondent, humble person who fell far from his pedestal. With every character development / arc in the series, you are just drawn to his charisma.
- Tan Son Yin as the FL Nin Meng - this was the first time I've seen this actress in any series. She did a great job playing the nerdy, lowly assistant. And her gradual growth into success was well done. Her happy go lucky, can-do attitude was so charming w/out over doing it w/ the cutesiness. And her quiet sadness scenes broke your heart. She's not the typical tall, eye-catching beauty that they usually cast in these types of roles so it was a bit 'off' casting alongside Kenny Lin who is really tall and good looking.
- Supporting actors that all did great and great chemistry: Ceng Yu Hang - ML's best friend. He was not good looking but he played his charming, funny, down to earth rich kid role well. Xu Si Tian who started out as the villainess was so hateful and petty and became adorably charming as part of the friend group. And one of my favorite support characters was Shi Ying, the FL's mentor and boss. Her calm, empathetic yet powerfulness was portrayed so well by the actress.

Music:
- not bad, but nothing memorable. But one of the instrumental songs seems like it was the same song in another recent Kenny Lin series (To Love).

Overall:
- Good series, but I don't think I would re-watch it

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Strong Female lead

I am a Tan Song Yun fan. As an Actor she plays diverse roles. This drama is no exception. The Producers and writer finally got one right. The FL (Ning Meng) is not a weak minded person, who cowdowns to ML. Lu Ji Ming is the typcal Chinese drama character. He is arrogant, no female can't do it by themselves, demean a female at any given chance person. I really this doesn't turn into a romance. There is so much going on now, it's not needed.

The cut throat Invester industry is exposed. What greedy folks will do to get to the top. Lu Ji Ming will want to make a person want to reach in and slap him. Ning Meng is a driven to suceed person. She knows what she want and she is going for it. You can feel the hurt she has as she is blocked at every turn. It's the way Chinese dramas are: the man gets to be a douche throughout the series to the female. Then about midway he says sorry and changes and the woman that has been disrespected, demeanded and yanked around forgives him. They end up together at the end.

This drama isn't a romance drama per se. It's about Ning Meng coming on her own. Mix in her life is romance. It's who should I choose, the School Crush or the demeaning Domineer Ex-Boss. The subplots are great and some are funny. When you find out that your best friend's bf is cheating how do you handle it? This was addressed in this drama and it was done well. The ups and dones in this drama is outstanding. It wll make you pay attention, because if you miss a part you will have to rewatch that portion. If you don't you lose out. This drama runs the gambit. It has Love, Hated. loyality, betrayal and you feel it all. It will give a glimspe at the inner working of the invest industry, a bit hollywoodish.

The Writer, Producers and Directors did a fantastic job on the Drama. It was well writen and played. The episodes fit together, there were only a couples of spots where it seem to drag. The ending was alright. It would of been better if the FL did not pick either one of the men. This is NOT a romance drama. The Cast and crew were great, with great chenistry.

I recommend this Drama to everyone and I will watch it again.

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An Underrated Series

This drama is relatable. This series brings up the psychological upbringing of any Asian families with an overbearing stubborn parent & how we see parents never expressing how they really feel. How parents never apologizes when they know they’re wrong. How kids can be mentally traumatized by verbal abuse of behavior. This is the first series that has a root cause and effect of how people’s upbringing differs from the social norm.

The way I see it, it gives value in the choices we make and what those consequences can entail. Kenny Lin did a great job portraying how an abused child can take effect as the years go by. I’m pretty sure no one picked that up. It’s not your typical rich boss scenario like all the others I’ve seen in a drama. His character had to unlearn those bad habits.

This series is very underrated.

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Nothing is exciting about this drama

I really tried to like this drama. The premise is interesting telling a story about a woman's personal and career growth. But, a promising start about female empowerment fizzles out into an uninteresting and hardly exciting corporate drama with almost no romance.

The writers build up Lu Ji Ming as an overbearing jerk who constantly undermines Ning Meng's education, career aspirations, and talent. He always berates and insults her abilities telling her that she will never amount to anything other than being his secretary. Based on this characterization, it's very hard to root for him as a romantic lead because no self-respecting woman would ever fall in love with a man with such an abusive behavior. But, after many episodes of being a jerk, the writers drastically change his personality making him suddenly nice to Ning Meng so they can have a happy ending. There is no consistency in character development and storytelling.

The pacing is slow for the majority of the show. There is too much corporate filler, that is not particularly interesting, and not enough romantic development. To make matters worse, the writers introduce love rivals half-way through the show taking the opportunity away from the main couple to spend any meaningful time together. That's why these types of shows should not drag for longer than 20 episodes. There is no consistency in story telling with too many unnecessary plotlines deviating from the main plot and creating a very boring and choppy story. Overall, the drama has a good start but falls flat in later episodes and has very lukewarm romance.

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Worthy of re-watching!

Love how the male character develops as the show progresses. LGX aced his role, once again!
LGX once again showcased why he is the ideal lead-man for this show. His portrayal of a tough boss who seems only result-oriented and totally selfish is so believable that many netizens hated him, to the point that some of them cited his character as being the reason why they want to stop watching the show! This only cements his ability to accurately portray his character!
As the show progresses, you can see that while the ML seems to always be tough with the FL, you can actually see from his facial expressions that he cares for the FL very much, and was actually trying to help her indirectly.
The chemistry between the ML and FL is great, and their characters development in the show from being boss/worker to business partners to being lovers in the end is totally believable and nicely played by both.
Aside from both the leads, the supporting actors and actresses also did a good job with their characters. The FL’s good friend at LGX’s company who replaced her as LGX’s secretary is both funny and cute.
Overall, a very enjoyable office drama, that is worthy of re-watching!

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I found this to be the most boring show I've seen in the last month or two

I actually love watching business plots but this show had nothing more to it than a boring and way too dragged-out business plot. I have literally fast-forwarded more than 25 episodes of this show. That's how boring it was for me, personally. I'm so angry at the unnecessary 32 episodes, that just adds to one's misery.

There is barely any depth to the characters. More and more side characters keep getting introduced without any proper story or need. Even the love triangle seems to be so forced. It was not at all needed to be extended for 20 long and boring episodes.

The only thing going for this show that allowed me to finish all the 32 not-needed episodes is the beautiful female comradeship shown in the show. I love how women support one another throughout the show whether it be in friendship or work. Very nice to see! Another saviour was the brilliant acting by all the actors. I can't fault them at all. They had great chemistry and skill but the script and direction was just too faulty and did them really bad. I hope I get to see them in a better drama soon!

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