All of Her (2024)

Predictable But Entertaining for 4 Hours and 20 Minutes or Less

With 4 hours and 20 minutes or less, you can enjoy this short-length series between two long dramas or when you're spare time is limited. One of the better short-length series of many China has produced nowadays. I will review not with the usual format to highlight the positive and negative aspects in a bullet point.

• Predictable but still entertaining
This is just my opinion since I am also a mystery-genre fan, so I watched too many similar setups. I could guess the plot just by watching Episode 1 only. But the drama is highly entertaining nonetheless because of the suspense and the chemistry between the main couple Yan Zhen and Chu Ze Jia/Chu Ze An.

• Great chemistry but not many smoochies and skinship
In short-length dramas, which usually are not censored heavily, we can expect real kisses and/or skinship. Especially for the husband-and-wife scenes, aren't they married? Not in this drama. We can feel the sexual tension between the two, but because of the in-law circumstance in the current plot, we don't see the intensity of the romance. Regardless he is her husband Chu Ze Jia or her brother-in-law Chu Ze An, in the current situation (not flashbacks), he is a family member, not a romantic partner.

• Good acting but underutilized the twin roles
Overall good acting by the leading actress Meng Xi, whom I've never seen before, and Li Zhuo Yang, seen in the mini-drama "Mutual Redemption Love". However, I think the production team underutilized the twin brothers Chu Ze Jia and Chu Ze An roles. They have strikingly different personalities with the older Chu Ze Jia being more reserved and mannered because he is a company CEO, in comparison to the younger Chu Ze An, who is more outgoing and free-spirited being a globe adventurer and photographer. But I'm not sure if the actor was not directed to act differently, or if he couldn't act differently, sometimes I couldn't really tell the difference between the two. I got it that the actor is somewhat new, so he probably did not have much acting experience. But a good director can make the best of a rookie.

• Nice mother-in-law but annoying sister-in-law
In short-length dramas, it's common for them to follow a soap opera-ish trope with mean MILs. Luckily, in this drama, Mrs Chu is a very nice MIL. Not the sister-in-law Chu Ze Xin. Although she doesn't oppose Yan Zhen, her character is the same ol' trope of SILs in rich families: annoying, immature, and bratty. You can skip the scenes with Chu Ze Xin because it's a filler, IMO.

Before the last bullet point regarding the ending, here are the two nice OSTs of this drama:
1. Ending theme "Rose Graffiti" by Fei Zhen Hua
2. Insert song "Waiting for Love to Return" by Guo Gai Ya

Scroll down to find out about the ending spoiler.














• Happy ending but with disappointing trope
A lot of viewers are disappointed with this typical Chinese drama ending style, including that I docked 0.5 points of my final rating. After the showdown with the villain, the drama ends with Yan Zhen leaving Chu Ze Jia and he couldn't find her. Viewers might think this is a retaliation against him leaving her in the past. However, I think that this is normal since Yan Zhen is pretty much exhausted mentally from all the hard work she did, investigating the mystery (the initial mystery and the mystery of her husband) and managing the company for years. Including the mourning and heartbreak because of the deaths. That girl needs a break. So she went vacationing by herself.

The drama ends with Chu Ze Jia visiting the place where they first met and a woman comes to take a Polaroid picture of him. We can't see the woman's face, but it's Yan Zhen for sure. because the scene is similar to when they met for the first time. So it's not an open ending. But I'm disappointed nonetheless since Chinese dramas like using this kind of ending, a mysterious reunion in which we can't see the other person's face, a similar voice calls the protagonist, or the protagonist looking up to the other person with a surprising look.

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Starts With a Sizzle and Just Fizzled

This drama starts out sizzling hot. We have the ML (Li Zhuo Yang aka Chu Ze Jia/Chu Ze An) walking into the house as we see the FL (Meng Xi aka Yan Zhen) coming barefoot down the stairs. As Chu Ze Jia walks further Yan Zhen comes up behind him using her hand as a gun, she presses it into his back and says, "Stay still." Chu Ze Jia puts his hands up as Yan Zhen tells him to remove his glasses. Still holding his glasses and arms up, Yan Zhen puts a blindfold over his eyes. Chu Ze Jia tells her that her perfume gives her away and turns around. He starts to remove his blindfold only to have Yan Zhen say, "You want a surprise, don't you? " He smiles as Yan Zhen turns him around again and takes off the blindfold to show him the room decorated for their anniversary.

Chu Ze Jia gives her a diamond necklace which he places around her neck. He then asks her where is his present to which she begins to take off her negligee and seductively let's it fall to the floor. Thus begins the most sexy and sensual make out session every. The chemistry between these two was off the charts. They could just look at each other and you could feel the electricity coming from both of them.

They were leading such a happy life until Yan Zhen's husband dies in a boat explosion after their anniversary. She then takes over the Anshi group as the general manager of her husband's company. But we knew something would happen when she was about to declare her husband legally dead. He comes back or does he.

Thus begins the question is he or isn't he her husband due to the fact we find out he had a twin brother, Chu Ze An.

We are lead on a good "cat and mouse" chase. There were moments when you suspected the SML (Wang Yi Lei aka Gu Cheng) of not being her friend but someone to be leery of. Then you had the SFL (Qiu Jia Qi aka Chu Ze Zin) who was the sister to Chu Ze Jia/Chu Ze An which was an utter waste because she served no purpose. Her voice and nonsense whining just took the drama down.

But the surprise comes in the very last episode. Yan Zhen, after everything has been settled decides to leave Chu Ze Jia. I was so shocked by this move. Her reason was: For the past four years, she was waiting for her loved one to come home. She was exhausted physically and mentally. She needed time for adjustments. She just said she was sorry. He tries calling her and gets the message: The number you have dialed cannot be reached. She further tells him not to try and find her. If they are destined to be together, they will meet. Even without her, she wanted him to believe that there would be someone in the world that would love him unconditionally.

I honestly was shaking my head in disbelieve. What was that. I was thoroughly put out by what she had just stated. They had solved the issues of what happened within the company and when they finally can be happy, she leaves him.

There is hope, if you can call it that, we do not know how much time transpired but we have Chu Ze Jia go back to where they first met still hoping that he will find her. As he looks away, you hear a camera click. Chu Ze Jia turns around and we assume it is Yan Zhen because he is smiling.

I had high hopes for this drama because of the casting of Li Zhuo Yang. I have seen him in all of his short dramas such as: The Princess New Clothes and Mutual Redemption Love. These are both good watches by the way. Each drama so far, he is in, the man is fire.

Unfortunately, for me with all the good intrigue and coming back together, it fizzled at the end because we were left empty handed with just a smile for comfort.

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