She and Her Perfect Husband (2022)

Life Lessons, Humorous

From strangers to contract marriage to lovers. Sounds cheesy? Yeah, that’s how I felt initially. Yang Mi partners with Xu Kai? I couldn’t visualize them together. As I intended to skip this drama, the philosophy of the male lead – The Pareto Principle – caught my attention. And then I saw a clip of Yang Mi looking homely with her wide frame glasses and no make-up, my interest was piqued. It turned out better than I had expected.

The Pareto principle states that 80% of the results we get in life are determined by 20% of our decisions. This principle can greatly guide our life so that we are not so bogged down by unnecessary demands that may make life miserable. It has become the alternative title The 80/20 Rule of Love. Unfortunately, the principle has not been explored further apart from some brief mentions by the male lead at the beginning.

This drama is about a 28-year-old ex-financier, Yang Hua (Xu Kai), who lives like a hermit with his parents. His mother constantly nags him to get married. One day he crosses path with Qin Shi (Yang Mi), a 34-year-old single and ambitious lawyer working in a law firm where she claims to be a married woman for a promotion. With that white lie, now she needs a man to act as her husband. Yang Hua comes in handy. At the same time, Yang Hua is fed-up with his mother’s relentless nagging, so he needs a girlfriend to keep his mother off his back. Meeting Qin Shi helps him resolve this need, at least for now. To ensure no one takes advantage of the other, they sign a contract, and get married. It turns out they are made for each other, supplementing, and complementing each other. Yang Hua helps Qin Shi in avoiding disasters with his savvy financial knowledge, and in getting the promotion she desires.

Qin Shi is a good lawyer, talented in her sharp rebuttals when faces challenges. In the office and the legal circle, she is shrewd, eloquent, and intelligent. But in private, she is vulnerable, disorganized, and insecure. Yang Hua comes to see this side of Qin Shi and realizes she is a girl who needs love and care. He falls in love with her. For Qin Shi, she falls for Yang Hua too because he respects her and treats her gently and kindly. What initially a contract marriage is now a romance in brew. In front of Qin Shi, Yang Hua feels like a little boy, each wanting to protect the other.

As always, Yang Mi is beautiful and elegant. She makes a very believable Qin Shi with her gutsy style and at the same time, very sophisticated and sensual. However, Yang Mi’s acting is confusing at times. For example, she acts so cozy with her boss, purring at her (her boss) to get her way, and yet she can become so scared of the same boss in an instant and totally loses herself. When she’s with her ex-boyfriend, she seems to be still in love with him with her body language, though later the relationship becomes clearer. I don’t know if this is meant to be because of the writing, or because of Yang Mi’s own interpretation of the character. I feel she may have overacted, at the same time, underacted with her lack of facial expressions.

Xu Kai’s acting here is acceptable. As the hermit Yang Hua, Xu Kai’s styling is rather down to earth, dull and stiff. Though I found it hard to visualize the two as love birds initially, their chemistry is not that bad, and becomes somewhat interesting later.

Both actors use their own voices in dubbing. Standalone, Yang Mi’s voice is quite nice. But here, I find her voice too high pitched and child-like. It takes many episodes to feel more comfortable with her voice. Xu Kai’s voice is low, soothing and a bit uncertain, quite well fit for the subdue Yang Hua character. The OSTs are beautiful, fitting appropriately with the ups and downs of our characters and the mood of the story.

My Verdict

When famous stars like Yang Mi and Xu Kai are chosen for a drama like this, the actors are being scrutinized more thoroughly, and the demand on them is higher than on other less famous actors - something fans have to accept. Both Yang Mi and Xu Kai are not too bad for their roles. Though initially I couldn’t envision them to be the one true pair, I do enjoy the story especially after episodes 24 or so when the couple grows stronger together. The character development is at times inconsistent. This has to do with the writing, but Yang Mi’s acting doesn’t help. Xu Kai is acceptable, acting as a rather boring character. The overall cast is quite well chosen and believable.

There are many life lessons in the story – The Pareto Principle, how to enjoy defeat, forgive others to forgive oneself, win or lose is just temporary, losing is not scary but helps one see one’s deficiency so that the next time, one can become stronger, etc. It is a mature drama, funny, humorous, ironic and paradoxical.

It is refreshing to watch a drama with a strong female lead and a subdue male lead. In fact, most of the women in the story are strong one way or another, and realistic. For romance buffs, there are plenty of real kissing scenes between Yang Mi and Xu Kai. The couple do separate for a brief period of time for growth that makes their eventual reunion stronger.

A fun watch. Recommended!

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Love

Very good drama I in love with the drama very good characters very good couple love story line very good chemistry love the way the couples talk nice drama by all standard good best friend, good mom, good father, good mother-in-law, good father in law,nice siblings beautiful female lead and handsome male lead close friendship lazy brother hardworking female lead intelligent female lead and intelligent male lead ggjjkkkkkgxssghjkkbfd DJ kkkkh lel am back of game Lee DJ old is or sump Jessa room sir few offload Jesse limo idea khoa ha kilo NCD no back lol idea kilo ha no HSA sump faq kilo I've Jill hear Hmong ha GMP ha hp ha no

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Almost perfect

My wife is the drama addict, so I chose this as my first one to watch, to see what this is all about. I thought it was excellent. It clearly is a love story, all the side stories seemed kinda disjoint at the beginning, but in the end they all came together perfectly. My only disappointment is that QS exclaimed her love for YH to herself and everyone but YH, in the last episode I was so hoping to hear her say those words to him. I could feel it in her tears and see it in her eyes but the words never came. That would have been all that was needed to complete it for me. I was left hanging … was this intentional?

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This was annoying.

I mostly blame the writers, especially the ending scenes.
Yang Mi's character is a lawyer. I disliked her voice intensely it wavered between bossy school mistress to baby lisp. I could not imagine her being in court and we are not show any scenes, despite the premise she is a top lawyer. In the script I can accept that she has no desire to marry and play second fiddle to a husbands needs. I suspect she is possibly asexual because the lack of intimacy and passion shown and her overall stiffness. Always needing to be an alpha - top dog - her actions towards her fake husband (even after deciding she loves him) is often dismissive and she is competitive to her co workers.
Yang Hua's character is a genius stock trader, who, at only 22 gets set up as the fall guy and this crushes him. He is a bit of a loner and always wants to do things to the best of his (considerable) abilities so this set back drives him home and into a 4 year reclusive lifestyle.

His mother is quite controlling and his father thoughtful and compliant so his choosing a similar situation in the contract marriage is not surprising.

The 2nd ML plays his role well. He does not grasp the concept of misogyny even when the reason for the fake marriage is spelled out. He assumes the FL will come to him and is quite obnoxious when drunk. He also refuses to assist a female worker being sexually harassed by a client and tells his coworker to film the evidence and then does not report the incidence even knowing it is vital for a conviction.

The 2FL is young and doted on by her parents and feels very privileged. She perceives her fiance's renewed interest in the FL and her youth and jealousy cause her to create scenes.

The woman in charge of the Law office and the other lead female lawyer have strong roles. Neither is written too sympathetically and some of their dialogue is borderline offensive yet is not challenged.

It has an interesting plot framework that jarred with me on many levels.

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Waste of Time and Talent

I don't understand the highly rated reviews for this series. The premise of the story was promising - portraying the unfair glass ceiling for women in the professional world dominated by men. The strong FL with the unconditionally supportive partner/spouse. But the pacing and the editing made it extremely boring. There was no real build up to the climax of the series...just really long drawn out, repetitive dialogue. Tons of screen time showcasing the FL's career as a lawyer. A lot of the legal cases were just ridiculous.

While the lead actors did a decent job acting, as the leading couple they had zero chemistry. Yang Mi usually does pretty good, this is the first time I've seen her in a modern drama. She came across as self-absorbed for her own personal gains, and he came across as a wimpy doormat/servant. This is the first time I saw the ML actor in a series, and it does not make me want to see any of his other shows.

40 episodes was way to long, what a waste of time. I sat thru it, skipping a lot of episodes just to see if the ending justifies enduring the time spent. Not at all. No major sense of happiness or satisfaction with the ending. I was just annoyed for wasting my time.

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Mature script

I just love everything about it from the script down to the acting. Perfect Male lead and Female Lead for this drama. Although I don't like Yang MI's bright and dark red lipstick colour. I guess it might be just to fit in to the role. I don't know if her voice was dubbed or she's doing it on purpose I hope it gets to sound better. But I love it either ways. Xu kai's character seems a little stiff. I am yet to understand what they are really trying to say about who his character is. I guess most of this stuff will become clearer as the characters grow. I definitely want to beat up her best friends husband. Like mehn. His so damn annoying as it's supposed to be. Great acting to him but the character is annoying.

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I'm just going to have to reimagine the ending, but not for the reasons you think. Any ideas?

1. Yang Hua. Enough said.
But actually, he's like so progressive, but like in a, well duh, kind of way, better yet, he's progressive in such a way that he makes progressive the new standard and anything else antiquated and regressive. And it results in the (obvious) tolerance, love, devotion, forward-thing, accepting, respecting, and intelligent person he is. I mean, he defends and defines the entire concept of feminism while just discussing the topic for one of her cases. (I am going to save his words until the end of time). I mean, he's simply using his unassailable intelligence and logical reasoning to lay out succinctly why the patriarchy exists and why it is created out of man's fear of losing power and control of human capital, i.e. that the patriarchy is stupid, and that women are biologically and societally more valuable than men, and that men are the lucky ones to be allowed around women, and unconsciously adds that he is especially lucky because he's with her. And the female audience is like, wait wut? and plays the scene another twenty times.
2. progressive relationships
2.a. that the woman is the breadwinner and the man is the homemaker.
I find this especially progressive for China, and yes, at the end, they imply that he's become a HUGE name in his field, but what's important is he clearly expressed throughout the show that he didn't need that. That her being the breadwinner was something that he loved about her and respected in her and promoted for her. Uh, I'm fangirling so much right now. That scene where she totally schools the top lawyers at that party where all the men are around the table smoking and drinking whiskey and they try to make her agree with their sexist comments about women belonging in the house and being best kept in the house rather than working... ok so after that, they try to turn it back on her and ask how her husband would feel/feels and he comes up behind her and puts his arms behind her and defends her, saying he's happiest when she is doing this, and happy keeping home so she can do this. We were all like SNAAAAAAP. Gah his character was the best. I have seen that actor in other shows and I thought he was extremely talented in those and I will admit, I came here to see good acting from him again, and while I wasn't blown away, it wasn't by bad acting, it was simply the character he was playing had subtler emotions, but when they came out ooooo, it was nice to see. like when SPOILER=======he asks her for the divorce and his eyes... I could feel his pain so close to my heart. And his reasoning for the divorce, I know some viewers didn't like it, but I thought it was beautiful and it showed such a close understanding of her thoughts and fears and her character. He knew what she was using the marriage to hide from, he understood, from her families context, and how she cared for her family her views on marriage and where her feelings and fears and insecurities stemmed from, and he gave her just what she needed.... and then the plot fell apart. I think I understand why he didn't "choose" between her and Yao Yao, or at least the second time, it felt like he was sad that she didn't understand the depths of his feelings for her and that she could even think that of him. But then, the showing up at the restaurant to pick up Yao Yao. and then at the airport when he saw Yao Yao and her son (omg what a great actor/character) off what he said around, "I've got it, I've got a plan, I'll take it from here" after pretty much tricking her into thinking he went to Australia with him? As other reviews pointed out, it shows a manipulative side that was very not in character. I'd like to think that his plan was just to give her time to reach the decision that allowed her to balance her morals and her career (i.e. not going back to that toxic law firm and staying independent), before she could move on to deal with other things like figuring out her feelings on marriage and if and how she wanted him in her life. So wft, what was with him just moving in across the hall. Him thinking, "Psych, I've decided it's been enough becuase now I'm acting like a stuck-up know-it-all (he was just a plain, carefree know-it-all before) now that he a CEO of one of the biggest organizations in China?" Like did anyone else feel like he was almost conceited?
2.b open/non-standard relationship
When he was talking with the parents he said he was fine with however she wanted him in her life, and given her experience with the marriages around her, family members as well as a divorce lawyer, he explicitly said they didn't need to be married. It's just a label afterall, and if their relationship wasn't pressured into a particular mold or expectation if the word marriage was attached to it, then that was what he wanted for them.
I couldn't tell from the ending what kind of relationship they were going to form, but knowing Chinese censorship, I'm almost positive it didn't end up as an open relationship (though it looks like they wouldn't be living in the same house, which is already one step of the normative relationship ladder).

So back to creating our own ending. How can we make one where he doesn't appear to be manipulative, scheming, or pretentious? How can we make it where she reaches an equilibrium with her ideas around marriage and what she wants in a relationship, and then *she goes out and FINDS HIM?* I don't like that he just moved in across from her. Consent?? Hello? Also, what about waiting for The Character growth you were working on so hard for her to complete? I mean I guess we can as omniscient readers make him omniscient and say, tada! he knows she finally took that step in her career that put her values and justice at the front, but that still showed nothing about her coming to terms with her feelings for him (THIS IS A G-DAMN ROMANCE SHOW) She never said I love you.

Ok, so circling back. Ideal ending: an ending where
1 he stays true to his nature,
2 they have a relationship that is different enough from the norm such that how they define it, whether as marriage or not, allows her to feel comfort and safety, but most importantly one free/unconstricted/unconstrained by the trappings that the word marriage brings to a relationship,
3 it allows for the non-standard gender roles to be played out in whatever way the characters needed, and
4 She reconciles where she wants to stand with her career (the only thing that actually happened) and with him, and then goes out and does something about it herself. Not him, like wtf.

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yang mi really looked like a goddess

I think what made me gravitate towards this drama is because it contains a lot of things I've been dreaming to watch; a perfectly balanced cool-but-not-overwhelmingly-cold, just the right amount of loser kinda malewife and a domineering, but still sweet in particular time wife. Even though the marriage contract trope is stale at best, but I kinda like the dynamic between the two leads. this is my first chinese drama that I followed thru until 40 episodes, ngl it's kinda hard, but the pacing of the story and how the conlicts are peppering right is what made me continue on.

i saw a lot of people complain about "unnecessary conflict" at the last 6 episodes but I think it's inevitable. their entire brand relationship is based and fundamentally build on lie, so it made sense to rework the building into trust if they actually want it to work. But i really dont understand the male lead's wishy washy attitude. all in all, not a fan, but i could understand it a little bit.

I watched xukai's performance in falling into your smile, and i could say i did not really see a different acting her and there? but it's still good, because Yang Hua's character is just the right amount of aloof and caring. Yang Mi though, it;s my first time watching her in cdrama, and I could honestly say she embodied Qin Shi very well. the actress and actor are being saved by the characters i guess?

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Why disappoint at the end

Is best they had extended it for a next four episode than to ruin a good show like that. I just started cussing from when they missed each other at the airport total cliche with all airport scenes but then I saw seven months later what happen between that seven months am like what the hell where are they going with this show and if that wasn’t enough to piss you off boom here comes she running into his arms let’s get back together show done like bruhhhhhhhhh whyyy y’all does give me so much high blood pressure don’t try cram everything in one episode after having a good flow throughout the series.

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A WORKPLACE NOONA STORYLINE DONE INTELLIGENTLY

Let's get something out of the way first;

The following review is from the POV of a millenial.So it will only be based on my own opinion.

And please dont listen to the comments who judged the whole drama based on the episodes between 35-40
The ML made the right decision to allow the FL to separate herself from an emotional fortress and reality.
He wanted to start over without all the complication of their "fabricated marriage" because He really had fallen in love with her
But she couldn't differiante feelings and ambitions

Am unashamed to say that I enjoy noona romance(older FL younger ML) and personally age is just 1234, a numeral number and I dont get triggered as long as it's within the legal bracket.With great luck,writers didn't put it in our faces repetitively and in the end it was never an issue that was visible.
Am a sucker for a FL who is strong with a badass attitude and the creators picked one of the best in the industry Ms Yang Mi,not only she came with beauty and determination but with her,she showed up on the scene with a brain and a glorious wardrobe.

In the field where the glass ceiling is higher than the Eiffel tower and decisions of who advances or who stays at the cubicle desk are made in the boardroom and in the bedroom.So you better be playing chess not checkers,and if you are a woman the game is even worse.

So the whole drama is based on a “tiny” white lie told by her mentor during her hiring process after she was rejected by everyone because of her status and this became a premise of her rise or downfall.

Enters our ML played by Xu Kai,Just your normal introvert but genius with a touch of OCD.who fell from grace and is hiding in his parent house who have decided that 4500 RBM per month is all he needs to survive,without knowing that for the last 2 years he is been someone’s perfect husband in a couple’s picture somewhere in a lawyer’s office and as fate would decide they meet at a party where he is giving in to his mom constant request to go on a blind date and our FL is trying to get her foot in the door by socializing and networking with the same people who don't want you to even come to the door.

From the time they bump into each other to contracts being signed and sharing the same space,their intellectual banter is what really kept me hooked,no matter how much the crybabies in the comment section kept on being impatient.
The two characters had the most memorable communication I have ever seen in the C-drama world.They really completed each other without even noticing that they are yin and yan.
She brings home all her frustration of the day and he picks her shoes which without malice she tends to leave at the door and he cooks,cleans and soaks her feet in the bucket to release her stress.As the drama is called, He is the perfect husband.But there is more….
How will they continue to survive as the truth of the lie keeps getting in the gossip circles closer to the office and their families who came with their baggage?
I was immersed in the topic and the character development that I don't think talking about production,Set,OST or cinematography is necessary because it was a top tier production and thank you to whoever designed all the sets and houses..Should i mention the wardrobe team? Yes they slayed all the looks,You could feel the Shanghai soul in all the looks and the location that were used..It felt like 1920 has incarnated into 2022.

OVERALL;This is a beautiful drama that requires the viewer to love the subject and patiently look forward to how Yang Hua will solve Qin Shi’s puzzle in any of her cases that has fiances in them.

WHAT I DISLIKED: The last episode.The jump of a whole 7 months from the airport scene where the FL thinks the ML has left the country..I won't say where he was to avoid spoilers but that last episode could have gone a lot better.

Yang Hua’s famous line in my books,He had many philosophical and poetic ones whenever he was drunk but this one was epic while he was sober.

“I have never been wrong about money and numbers”

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