Be Your Own Light (2023)

Watered Down Sex & The City w/Lukewarm Romance Centered Around a TV Station & Some Debt

Watched only for LYN's first foray into an ML role in a modern drama and he made me proud. The story itself was a bit trying too hard to fit a lot of things into itself at once. It worked in the parts of being female centric and cultivating the friendship between the three women but I felt it could have easily been a 30 episode series and covered everything as with even 40, it still left many unanswered questions. It was pretty much a watered down Sex & The City w/lukewarm romance centered around a TV station & some debt.

Pros: Though he was the ML and did a great job at it, his role wasn't as substantial as the three women whose plot this really was and their lives. That said I'm still incredibly proud of LYN for tackling this new challenge and his slow but steady growth as a leading character.

I liked the fact that all 3 women were very flawed in their characters and even stabbed each other in the back at work before realizing it really wasn't worth it. Their evolutions came from both the necessity and the fact that they had no other choice like in the case of HH and her runaway husband. In the first episodes she took hit after hit; the disappearing hubby, the mountain of debt, her show's cancellation, her mom's illness and becoming a single mom. Many of us wondered how she would handle it as it was just insane. But out of the three despite all of that, she was the first one to realize how quickly she had to change her outlook and mindset in order to survive and though they weren't yet as close as they became, the other two were very encouraging of her. The tv station was the main base for the entire series.

Looking at it from another perspective, JJH was like a male version of her, starting with being in so much debt thanks to her husband and owning nothing, to slowly building himself and her up as well. HH's new business became very successful because of him. I also liked how they incorporated LYN's real qualities and both former and current jobs as a chef, livestreamer, and singer into the show. It made his character more realistic.

BY and YY both were extreme opposites of each other; one would do anything to get what she wanted even if it was quite shady, while the other was the epitome of Joan of Arc with her righteousness and stubbornness. They butted heads often but only when they really started to stand in each others shoes did they understand where the evolution must happen.

Other great characters were Zimo, the two directors of the tv station, plus main boss, RJ, LL, and HH's parents. The antagonists, I believe there were 4 of them grand total, honestly were an after thought to the rest of the plot. Costumes, OSTs, locations, were on point.

Cons: The show could have just been 30 episodes because there were so many things that weren't properly done or finished. Like did the 3 doofuses who lost money to OKG ever get that money back? Yes HH and him got divorced and the 4 buffoons were arrested for whatever insane illegal activities they did but even that wasn't properly explained. I've got a business background and all of my degrees are in that and I have absolutely no idea what exactly they did, why OKG had to run, why he blackmailed them for 100 million RMB, why he swindled those poor folks out of whatever he owed them. It had to do with stocks and finance but it was so muddled and rushed, that I still don't know. That could have been explained so much better and written into the series.

Also some characters were shoved into the spotlight to make things really uncomfortable for our female leads which I felt quite unnecessary like that Zhang Ke guy who was a borderline stalker of YY and was willing to do whatever it took (like ruining her reputation and nearly getting her fired) for her to date him when it was obvious she didn't like him. And the chick who looked up to HH but did some shady things herself and acted about 12. These were just two of several characters that really just didn't make sense of why they required so much screen time.

The character of OKG wasted a solid 2 episodes trying to get HH to go on the run with him. They could have used those same episodes to fortify her relationship with JJH and the other two couples. The romance portion of this drama was almost like an afterthought. I felt like HH turned robotic towards JJH once she found he had developed feelings for her. She treated him better when they were "enemies". And the sudden turnaround when he'd done so much to grow her business and helped with her mom's health and death, could have been a lot smoother. It felt like a whiplash. There definitely were a few plot holes in this series that could have been better explained. It was also quite obvious that many scenes were cut because they appeared in the opening or closing credits but never in the show itself.

Would I recommend it? I would for the female bonding primarily. If you're able to look past the cons, you will enjoy this show.

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Watched it for Liu Yuning

Never really watched the actress before or maybe I just can't remember. I was not familiar with other actors as well so it was all because of Liu Yuning that I started this show with little to no expectation especially with this kind of storyline (read the summary if you don't know). I am still in confusion how I ended up watching the whole show even though I was skipping many parts which was outright boring and even after skipping I could still understand the story.
There are three couples and most of the time I skipped the parts of the one who was the head of reporters (forgot her name). I just didn't understand her character. Maybe because she was just not sticking to anything. Giving resignation then coming back like nothing happened, insisting to fire her friend from job then asking for not doing it because as usual she was wrong :/ She behaved like an angry bull who just hits anyone without any reason. She never tries to understand other's perspective and SHE WAS A LEADER ( sigh...)
The FL was a good actress but but but...she was too perfect as described by ML in a scene. In reality her character was the perfect image of THE perfect citizen, wife, mother, daughter and add as many perfect role you want to put before her name. Which was just so not real. I can't believe there was not a teeny tiny bit of imperfection in her that could make me see her as a real person. Anyways ML was the one that made me love her scenes. He was quirky and fun guy that I enjoyed the most. It was a breather for me to see him in a different kind of role.
The most annoying character was the third FL. and the funny part was that she was the most real character in the whole show. She had all the negatives and conniving scenes. You might hate her but you won't be able to because THAT IS WHO WE ARE. Yes...she represented many women struggling out there in the professional sphere who strives to do anything to earn her living without connections and try to achieve her dreams at all cost and guess what she was the one who actually did not get a perfect ending like other two FLs. (Eye rolls)

I don't know how well they represented media's role in China. They tried very hard to portray a media which is very honest and doing its job to represent truth without any bias. ( which I highly doubt). Rest of the cast is just there for show you won't even remember them. I liked mom's role to bring out more emotions from FL. The ending looked rushed and I just couldn't digest the way FL ended up with ML while she was about to forgive her husband seconds ago. ( It was not a spoiler you can just guess the storyline right away). Overall it was one time watch and I watched it for Liu Yuning who overshadowed everyone. I was not even that much interested in their cases related to their job. Oh! I forgot to mention the kid of FL. He was the best part of the show apart from Liu Yuning. Acting wise it was really good, music was ok and that is all.

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Less than extraordinary, but still more than good

It is obvious that this drama wants to promote the difficulties, changes and positive energy encountered in the new media era. I love how the FLs represent three different kinds of women working in that field, who encounter various situations in real life.

The heroine He Huan (Liu Tao) is a wealthy and successful lady both in marriage and carrier as a newscaster/ host. After her husband ran away leaving her and their child with debts, she chose to sell her expensive bags, trying to rent out their house, and doing some odd jobs. She didn't run away from the creditors even though she's not obligated to pay the debts. Her show also got cancelled and she had to accept the new change happens in her workplace. I appreciate her character that was brave to return to zero, very hardworking, and keeping on her professional ethics even when she's in the lowest moment of her life.

Bai Yang (Qin Hailu) is a news producer who represents a strong woman dedicated to her career. Her story tells us the perspective of a single, older, and career-minded woman facing a blind date and the thoughts of marriage. Her love line with her rival Ren Jie was fun to see, without knowing it i was rooting for them all along.

Jiang Junhao (Liu Yuning) is responsible for making the refreshing, funny and sweet atmosphere in the drama. I appreciate that our ML isn't the kind of rich second-generation. He just suddenly appeared in the life of the heroine, is an ordinary person working hard as a chef who was cheated for money. On the road to collect the debt with the other creditors, he actually wasn't that stupid as he tried to play tricks to get the money back, but in the end his soft heart made him lost. He grew together with the heroine and support each other. I like how their love story isn't fabricating an unrealistic dream of a prince charming for the audience.

Last FL is Yuanyuan (Chai Biyun), although she is a bit vicious and likes to scheme, she is actually not annoying, has positive vibes and a bright character instead. As a child from an ordinary family in the countryside, she needs to work 100 times harder than others. All she can do is try to seize every opportunity to survive. She has clear mind about what she wants both in love life and career, and honestly she has the best character development among the FLs.

In general, this drama is unexpectedly relaxing and funny, as well as warm and relatable. The friendship among the FLs and their respective love stories are well-written. There are some dialogues that i felt like being written and acted carefully and it's succeed to convey the message to viewers. The drama title was well-chosen too, since the story tells us that friends and lovers might enlighten you in life, but the one who can make you stand up again is your own self.

I wish they could shorten the episodes though, we alr have 3FLs and 1ML, they shouldn't add more unnecessary parts about the supporting characters who actually don't have significant roles to the main story.

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Good Enough to be better than most

A story about three career women in their 30s-40s, who’s life goes through various changes in terms of work, family, friendship and love.

There are plenty of cdramas with the same set up released in the past few years but I find that "Be Your Own Light" outshines them by having a more mature, relaxed and realistic approach.
It stays true to it’s title and the main characters all grow to become their own light.

The three female leads are not perfect people and only grow (together) over the course of the drama.
All of them are completely different in terms of character, how they work and also their personal life and romantic line are not alike.

I did not find everyone likeable at first however in retrospect it was refreshing to not have picture-perfect people but also some that would do anything for the job. Especially if you are soliciting funds for marketing, you might have to put on a smile when you don’t want to and I liked how the other 2 women came to respect that, when they were judging her for it at first too.

The men in this drama are more like supporting roles and if you purely came for the romance, this might let you down. Whenever you see the ML it always has something to with the FL and we don’t get to know him all too well apart from that. I was fine with that since I really loved watching the women grow in their work and go through ups and downs.
Yes, all 3 have love interests and one of the women has more focus on romance than the other two, but overall it’s a female centered business (reporter, news station, marketing) drama and with that comes some romance.

The story of the FL and ML starts with her owing debt since her husband ran away (luckily he doesn’t pose as a problem the entire drama cuz I would have hated that) and how he wants to get the money back is quite funny, unrealistic but it adds to the comedic relief of the drama. Although overall the drama is not blood pressure rising or aggravating a lot anyway.

The negative:
At some point the drama felt too long but in the end it wasn’t long enough, I wanted more.
The ending is like so many cdramas - rushed - I just felt like this drama really took it’s time so I would have loved for that to carry through until the end.
Potentially this could go on for several seasons since it had a never ending business sitcom vibe :)

While I liked that the "villains" were not that dangerous and quite civil, I‘m also wondering if I had enjoyed it more had they been more evil. But they, like so much in this drama, were quite realistic. They know how to put some pressure on you, but if that doesn’t work they aren’t gonna kill you if you know what I mean… they’re more concerned about saving their own behind.

As mentioned above it’s good enough to be better than most dramas of it’s type but it’s nothing too special, rather something to watch in between or during dinner. It definitely has flaws but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Having completed this drama I can safely say this was a comfortable watch. There were enough unique moments, to not make me compare it to every similar-set-up drama I know

Random thing I loved: non of the FL were childish + I liked that YY bought HH used car and drove it for the rest of the drama.

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A hidden gem: Now this is how you write a slice-of-life script!

I have to admit that it could be a hit or miss depending on who is watching, but for me, this drama served as a pleasant and delightful surprise, from the pacing, to character development (zero cheesy acting, even the little kid held his own), the OST and ending.
From the abandoned woman who discovered new lows and new highs, to the kid who lost a father and found another, to the woman who realised what she was blindly holding unto for years was not what she actually wanted or deserved, everything fits my preference and I wish we had more dramas like this!
I'm not really into contemporary C-dramas but this one actually surprised me. Anyone knows anymore dramas like this? Please help with recommendations, thank you!

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Good women centric story, triumphant against all odds.

I was not planning to watch "Be Your Own Light" until it was recommended AvenueX YouTuber. Now 37 episodes in, I found it quite enjoyable and love drama with strong will women who want to move forward with life against all odds.

Synopsis: He Huan has had to deal with many things, such as her husband fleeing and leaving her with huge debts, setbacks in her career, and her mother falling seriously ill. Through the encouragement of friends, He Huan remains tenacious in her attempt to start over. Relying on her wisdom and sincerity, He Huan begins to overcome the difficulties in helping her mother seek treatment as well as the creditors relentlessly chasing her for money; with her persistence and pure intentions, she quickly climbs the ranks from a hotline operator to a show's host, thus returning to the peak of her life and becoming her own light. After realizing her goals, He Huan and her colleagues actively explore the potential for transforming traditional media. With the help of influencer Jiang Jun Hao, He Huan joins the tide of the times and participates in forming integrated media for TV stations. While her career starts to become smooth sailing, she faces a new choice emotionally. Her husband's selfishness and ruthlessness have led He Huan to become an independent person. Meanwhile, her relationship with Jiang Jun Hao has gone through many phases as they move towards a relationship of appreciation and mutual understanding.

Review: I like He Huan's character, and against all the odds that she was dealt with, she managed to press forward and deal with life's curve balls head-on and, in the process, find love and support from her friends.

I give it a 7.5 rating because of a good story about dealing with life curve balls and friendships, as all three deal with personal setbacks.

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Values and characters worth to learn from

It was an unexpected day for He Huan. On her 10th year marriage anniversary, her husband went MIA, and 4 debtors soon came to collect million of debts owned by her missing husband. As if this news weren't shocking enough, her long term program got cut due to critical reviews by her friend, her mum diagnosed with cancer, oh and her missing husband - turns out he cheated.

Thus, we have our story's premise for Be Your Own Light, a story of a woman requiring to step back up on her own feet after her world crashed oversight.

What works well for a seemingly cliche plot is the element of surprise. The show smartly use our bias to make us enjoy the show. It has grounded and likeable characters. It has smart, witty slightly over the top approach for moments that were supposedly cringey or dramatic. It has sincere dialogues and positive messages for us to learn from - on career, on life struggles, on beliefs.

And the show smartly turn its focus to He Huan's, Bai Yang's and Yuan Yuan's career line after the necessary context of He Huan's situation was established.

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Starting with our main female lead, He Huan played the role of a woman who seemingly had it all, with stable career and loving family. When her world crashed before her, I was impressed with how the show laid out her growth and development. Here, we saw a strong woman who picked herself back up steadily and decisively after going through the proper stages of grief. Yes, there's a tad teeny idealistic cliche-y moments. No, there is no domineering CEO boyfriend to the rescue nor some untapped special potential that He Huan unlocks. If anything, her talent is always recognised before she left the news industry 13 years ago to prioritise family.

I like that He Huan is kind, but not a Mary Sue, principled but not a preacher. She had clear and admirable motivations for her actions. He Huan accepted the reality that her skills may not be able to meet the current fast paced environment and humbly chose to start again. She worked through the ranks again, and gained the rightful recognition through effort, sincerity, and tenacity.

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Bai Yang played the foil of He Huan's character - the successful career lady who remained single. With her blunt, no nonsense, demanding, rigid and prideful personality, she can be a character that's easy to dislike or sympathise. To Bai Yang, she says what she means and she means what she says. If anything, Bai Yang, though the most expressively critical of He Huan, is one of the few that truly believed in He Huan's capability and often helped the latter in tangible ways.

While Bai Yang's arc may feel a little outdated in 2023 for some modern single ladies, I enjoyed how the show highlighted her vulnerable sides and how the few perceptive ones in the show could see through as well. I love they knew the right opportunities to offer words of comfort which Bai Yang needs to hear. Sure, Bai Yang has a strong steel of armor, but she is no machine. These moments ground her characters and made Bai Yang real.

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Last but definitely the most refreshing, we have Yuan Yuan. Yuan Yuan resembles a lot of more what people who term as "masculine" traits. She is ambitious, competitive, assertive, courageous, calculative, and decisive. With people, she is direct in expressing her thoughts whenever the moment is right. She is the first one that helped He Huan and gave the latter a much needed dose of reality checks. At work, she is resourceful and almost never let emotions get in the way. While certain actions toe the line, Yuan Yuan has her principles that she doesn't cross. With the right reminders, she focus on her own pie and value. In relationships, she is clear with what she wants, and is quick to honor her thoughts when she changed mind too.

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To wrap up my review, Be Your Own Light shows that light can come in many forms - so long it is our own effort.

While my review did not highlight much of Liu Yu Ning's character and arc, he did a great job too and his character, Jiang Jun Hao, is one of the cutest onscreen debtors. The pacing is by and large okay, with the last part a little rushed. I don't quite get He Huan's husbands' motivation / actions, and I personally also didn't feel we need Jiang Jun Hao and He Huan falling in love. But I guess we won't have a story if the husband isn't a jerk and each of these lovely females having a "worthy happily ever after" partner. Oh well, the silver lining is their love stories aren't that forced, cliche or not.

And thus, Be Your Own Light is an enjoyable series with admirable characters, especially the ladies.

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Solid female centric drama that fell short of being great

This Show certainly started with a bang. It is dramatic and engaging right from the start. It was the classic “how the mighty falls” trope writ large. Liu Tao has the titular role and I love her acting and visuals. She was ably supported by Qin Hai Lu and Chai Bi Yun. Together they formed the triumvirate that seems to be de rigueur for the current crop of similar shows.

Our hapless FL is tested time and again. Her despair and suffering are palpable. She is pushed to her limits, but this only fan the flames from which the phoenix can rise again. The Show did a good job keeping us engaged. The problem lies elsewhere.

Most of the subplots are tropey and they come in waves. When one FL gets a handle on things, the next one will hit the wall and the cycle repeats. This is not helped by the fact that all three FL’s works in the same regional TV station doing different roles. It is interesting to see how the newsroom and the business side works, but it is a small pond. It becomes more claustrophobic as the episode count ticks up. The Show tries to stay relevant by having the leads branch out into the “new” streaming platforms. It helps, but it doesn’t feel “real”. These are not backyard operations but well staffed business ventures. Many struggling streamers must be rolling their eyes.

Weaving through all these challenges are love lines for each FL. Some are more interesting than others. Obviously, the Liu/Liu pairing is the focus, and I can totally ship them. In fact, it is this burgeoning romance that keeps me watching. The ML is so earnest and devoted, he can make any woman swoon. I love his unique visual with the hint of a rebel.

Speaking of romance, it is a key selling point of this Show but also its Achilles heel. There is nothing wrong with the 3 pairings but other than talking the talk, they don’t really walk the walk. After all the push-pulls and trials, we end up with a ripple rather than a wave when they are finally together. Yes, they are loved up but there is next to no skinship. A couple of hugs and a peck on the cheek is it. The other two CP’s don’t even get that far. Maybe it is the age of the actors, but it is not very rewarding after shipping them for so long.

While most c-dramas work hard to hook us within the first few episodes, this show does better than that. The middle section where the FL’s start to turn things around are some of the better episodes. However, the tail didn’t quite fire. Part of the problem is the return of the FL’s husband and the resolution of his mysterious disappearance.

I know crimes must be punished in c-dramas. However, his return feels too scripted. I would prefer for him to keep his distance rather than showing up all guns blazing. He behaved just as you’d expect and utters all the cliché lines. It is formulaic and feels lacking. A better option might be for him to send her all the damning information and an apology letter. Then set her free with a divorce by proxy. He doesn’t deserve redemption per se but that would be a more nuanced approach than just painting him as an one-dimensional crook.

In the end, the Show is a good example within this popular genre. I appreciate the solid acting, chemistry of the Liu/Liu pairing and good production values. However, the plots lack originality and that certain je ne sais quoi to lift it above the rest. It is an enjoyable watch but not high on my rewatch list. It gets a credit rather than a distinction. Peace out.

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An uptight snob meets a disgruntled simp

Interesting premise, lackluster execution.

Although, I love Liu Yuning, I didn't like his character in this drama. He was like a wet noodle with no personality and existed exclusively for FL's convenience. If He Huan said jump, he would ask how high. Watching their romantic development was as exciting as watching the paint dry. I didn't like her either. She was a bit snobbish and had an inflated sense of morality. She also used Jiang Junhao without giving anything in return. For some reason, she decided to take on her husband's debt, although she had no legal or moral obligation to pay it back. This required her to take on side gigs and work late nights. Jiang watched her son, cooked her meals, fixed things in her house, took care of her parents. They had an incredibly unbalanced relationship where he went out of his way to help her, and she continued doing her own thing without giving anything back. Their entire relationship was incredibly one sided. She bebopped through life pursuing her own goals while he patiently and conveniently waited for her to reciprocate his feelings. I like caring and loving characters, but there has to be equality where two people grow together and both contribute to the relationship. This wasn't the case here.

I really liked Yuanyuan's character. Although she made some questionable choices, she had a very dynamic personality and experienced the most growth. And, watching her finally dump that momma's boy was very satisfying. She wasted too much time on him.

The overall pacing of the show was very slow. It could've reached its logical conclusion in under 30 episodes. I couldn't bring myself to care about most side stories, including He Huan mom's cancer arc. It just wasn't that interesting. The other plotlines involving journalism were somewhat entertaining, but they didn't really move the plot forward. And, if you are like me and watched the show for Liu Yuning, you would be disappointed because he played more of a support role and was absent from many episodes.

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Don't Waste Your Time

This series was 40 episodes too long. A poorly written, uninteresting story with boring characters and very little relationship development or chemistry. The couples were perfunctory and there was absolutely no romance or PDA at all. The relationships between the 3 female characters were nothing special, and I hope is not indicative of sisterhood in Chinese women professional or personal.

One emotional story arc was the death of the FL's mother. That was pretty powerful despite the silliness of trying to pass off the boyfriend as her son-in-law. Still, their exchange was touching.

I like Liu Yu Ning - and actually watched because of his main role. I got a bonus thrill seeing Dai Gao Zheng (even with his shirt on the whole time). But their characters were really blah and boring, as were the characters played by the lead actresses. On the whole, all the characters were about as exciting and interesting as watching paint dry.

This was a very disappointing drama. VERY DISAPPOINTING. Spare yourself and save your time for something worth watching. You'd get more out of watching the real news than this drivel.

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I only watched it for FL and her story

I gotta be honest: i was expecting more.

as I said in the review's title, i only watched it for the FL's story.

for me, personally, i was interested to watch a single mom's story.

i was excited to see her rebuilding her life, overcoming things and growing up as a woman and a person.

and, yes, that was exaclty what i received, but if the drama were only focused on her and not on so many boring side characters, it would have been better.

i didn't like the other two FC, and i'm sad to say that, cuz I'm always interested in stories about women and told by women, but this time it didn't work me.

overall, i wasn't surprised by the fact we didn't get a kiss and no romantic scenes at all. sadly, the chemistry between the main actors was wasted. would be interessing finally seeing the FL having fun and being loved — even though she were loved by the ML throughout the series, since he really care so much about her — at one point i was so sick to see her suffering, and not having, at least, any good thing in her life

maybe, if the drama had fewer episodes, maybe 10 less, it would be more interesting and enjoyable to watch.

I enjoyed the acting, but i felt no "passion" between the lead actors.

the "debt story" was resolved very quickly, after all the drama.

the husband's character is just...boring, there was no need for him to be back, they could just kill him that was enough for me.

despite the negative points - for me, ofc -, the drama brought good discussions and real questions about love being much more than just loving and sex, it's about companionship, patience, giving and reciving, understanding and empathy.

FL is an incredible woman, she was admirable the whole time, and as I said, she was the only character that made me want to continue watching.

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