This review may contain spoilers
A very good work place centered, love over the long term romance
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 Chinese romantic comedy drama series with 32, 45-52 minute episodes.First I provide a synopsis then review
Synopsis
Xiang Yuan (Wu Qian a.k.a Janice Wu) is living a carefree life as a top gamer/influencer when her grandfather’s threats of blind dates and marriage lead her to strike a deal for her continued freedom. If she can save the Xi'an branch of the Donghue group from bankruptcy her grandfather, and guardian since her parent’s early deaths, will drop the subject of marriage. Grandfather is confident he will win their deal and even gives her three feathers to be used for favors toward accomplishing her mission. She does not realize that the boy she was in love with in school, Xu Yanshi (Vin Zhang), who rejected her before transferring, is now a mature but still devastatingly handsome man, who works at the Xi’an branch of her company. Prior to being rejected, Xiang Yuan pursued Xu Yanshi throughout their school years. Seeing him again she initially takes up with trying to win his affection then remembers a romantic relationship leading to marriage is the very thing she was avoiding. As a brilliant navigation engineer, he is almost single handedly keeping the company afloat. So they must work closely together to save the ailing branch. The feelings that were always there spring back to life only now it is Xiang Yuan that realizes his feelings for Xiang Yuan and seeks to convince her he still is the one for her. Can the two save the company? Will their second chance at romance end happily?
Review
It is overall a feel good love story with a happy ending. The only person the female lead character is a push over for is Xu Yanshi. She is strong, confident and provides instant karma to those who need it. In their younger years she relentlessly pursues Yanshi and is rejected by him several times. When things finally flip and he is the one pursuing her she slowly finds out his feelings ran longer and deeper than the rejections would indicate. We also get to see her grow from a heir without a lot of confidence in her business acumen to a force to be reckoned with who is capable of running the family conglomerate. I liked it very much and would recommend it to others that like modern romantic comedy dramas. I loved several of the OST songs from this.
Spoilers
Toward the end both main characters make some decisions that were inconsistent with their central character traits to that point. For instance Yanshi is suddenly OK with her significant other being gone, long periods of time when she found that extremely hurtful as a child when her mother did the same. I know they tried to spin it that she changed it and now as an adult she finally understands why her mother was so focused on her research, but I don’t care being absent is being absent. They also tried to make it into the love of country and ability to bring your country to the next technological level is more important than personal family relationships, and it felt like it had a very heavy CCP influence on that aspect. Not to say that the United States doesn’t do the same thing with some of the patriotic aspects to movies , but in this, it just felt like they took one direction through the majority of the movie with putting more focus and care on personal relationships to only at the very end make it so that yeah but it’s OK if you’re furthering the interest of the country. That love of country over family was also contradictory to Yancey‘s personality, because that had been his dream early on but so many things in his life had come along that changed his perspective on that it seemed like a reversal. Rather than having his time tied up on a research track and being absentee he could have continued on the business track and still furthered the technology yet had more time with her and their son. They specifically emphasized he did not regret, taking a step back from his dreams to raise his brother and iIn fact, he felt like that was one of his greatest gifts. Therefor it made no sense that he would be an absentee with his child, and would spend less time with his own family to focus on his dream when he quickly altered his goal and dream to raise his brother. So the ending is happy, but would have been better if he had revealed that had been his dream early on but his love for her and being there for his family was his new dream.
I thought what Yanshi’s mentor said to Yuan about being selfish, and, holding Yanshi back from his dream, was not only uncalled for and unmerited, but extremely rude and unkind. Later they portrayed it as he was really embarrassed about it when he realize that wasn’t the case but I wanted the moment where lead guy set him straight and said yes, that was my dream when I was younger, but now that I have Yuan my goals have shifted. That would have been more satisfying. I also thought that it was his mentor being selfish and living vicariously through Yanshi that resulted in him pushing so hard for Yanshi to join the academy.
I could see her point that she did not want him to give up his dream to help save her family’s company. What thought he should point out was that if he pursued his dream and her company went bankrupt when he could have saved it - he would not have felt good about that either.
#JaniceWu
#HereWeMeetAgain
#WuQian
#VinZhang
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This drama have my heart!
I like Janice but I started watching this drama after watching many clips on youtube. I came for the romance of main couple and felt very satisfied.Vin Zhang and Janice Wu are both mature and sweet, both are literally glowing in this drama. They have amazing chemistry and good friends around. I liked the ost as well.
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The first half set in Xi'An is strong. Xiang Yuan, the high energy 'princess,' is assigned to a regional, failing subsidiary of her grandfather's company. There, she reunites with Xu Yan Shi, a former school genius now fallen from grace, This is an excellent core plot about how corporate spaces with their jealousy, mediocrity, and office politics can ruin talent. Additionally, Xiang Yuan is a great character - with family and friends, ambitions, ethics and intelligence. She is not just the muse for Xu Yan Shi.
Unfortunately, the show falls apart as they transition to Shanghai. The secondary romance never really gets off the ground and 'villains' pop on and off screen with no real logic to them. One highlight, though, was Xu Yan Shi finally seeing the university classmates who ruined his life reap the consequences of their own character flaws.
The main leads are attractive and competent. Vin Zhang playing the serious and 'old soul' lead with just the right touch of fire, and Xiang Yuan mostly succeeds in being high spirited and naive while not crossing the line into childish. The secondary characters and actors here are not memorable.
The music and credits are average, and there isn't much I'd rewatch. I grade on other criteria:
Complex Themes - 8.0
It's state propaganda sure, but the depiction of soul crushing office politics was well done and realistic. Greed and power often do override any desire to recognize great talent and create great products. I also appreciated the realistic depiction of the difficulties of modern relationships, the travel, lots of time apart, extremely hectic and busy with work lives that are emotionally draining.
I will always appreciate plot lines around supportive friends and I found that theme particularly touching here.
Complex Characters/Growth - 7.0
Xiang Yuan learns to transition from the girl who would throw away cake if it came an hour late, to someone who can be patient and persist. Xu Yan Shi recovers from his career set back and is forcibly pushed to realize his dreams of being a pioneer in Chinese technology.
Complex Women/Women Centered plots - 6.5
Xiang Yuan is a good role model of a modern career woman. Otherwise, her relationships with her women friends are fairly superficial. In her family, she is the only woman, on her team there is only one other woman and they barely interact, there is the typical middle aged woman villain etc.
Production Values/Cinematography - 8.0
The clothing here was excellent. There was the occasional misstep, but generally very fashionable and fit the main leads well. The sets, cars etc. were also well done and felt 'in the real world' for the most part. Otherwise, this was not very creative or cinematic.
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A light-to-medium romanctic comedy
The only reason I rated this show so highly was because of Bin Bin.He's a terrific actor in each and every show I've seen him in, and this is no exception.
He carried this for me.
Characters:
ML is a very smart and capable IT programmer/designer. His ambition is to help build satellites/satellite navigation systems.
FL is the rich grandchild of a conglomerate owner with no great ambition in life.
Plot:
ML and FL are old high school classmates. She chased him but he seemingly turned her down.
They part on bad terms.
The show opens when they meet again at a subsidiary of Grandpa's conglomerate.
He's the leader of a tech team whose talents have been overlooked in favor of those with better connections.
She joins the company as a deputy team leader after betting with her grandpa that she can build up the failing subsidiary within a year before HQ decides to close it permanently. In exchange for doing so, Grandpa will stop pestering her to get married.
If I had to encapsulate the story in several words: The struggles of succeeding in business and achieving our dreams against a backdrop of workplace politics, financial struggles, and family struggles. And finding the right person, and sticking with them, despite all odds.
The relationship between the ml and fl is not antagonistic exactly, but they do push and pull each other in the directions they each want to other to go. Each somewhat manipulates the other in order to get their desired results.
The ML cares deeply for the FL and works extremely hard to protect her. Aside from one incident when things spun beyond his control, he never does anything throughout the entire show to harm her or hurt her feelings. He's too selfless sometimes. I only wish he'd used his words. Because while actions 'should' or might speak louder than words, in this case, our FL was just too dense to recognize what was happening, and this ended up hurting the ML unnecessarily.
The FL is innately kind. She'll go to bat for those she cares about. And she will not silently swallow or watch injustice. She's a fighter and l love that about her. She's also very witty and sarcastic, the queen of one-liners. She made me LOL multiple times.
My one gripe with her, and this is a big gripe which continues through a large part of the developing story, is how she treats the ML.
While she's kind to everyone, as I said earlier, with him she isn't. Or, at least, not to his face. She blows hot and cold so often and suddenly, that it's impossible for our poor ML to know if he's coming or going. Through no fault of his own, he's forced to put up with her drastically changing moods and her inexplicable temper, all the while being left in suspense about how she truly feels about him. Another thing she's the queen of is mixed messages. That's cruel and childish of her. A grown woman of 26 should behave better.
My favorite part of the show began at approximately episode 20. That's when things really started getting good.
However, the last three episodes introduced a new conflict which the characters handled in a way I didn't like. As always, it was the FL who annoyed me the most with her response. Although for once, the ML wasn't 100% blameless here. Since the two were already a couple at that point, he could've handled things better. I still appreciated his responses though, and admire him for what he did.
Ultimately all conflicts are resolved and we are shown everyone's happily ever after.
The ending was very sweet.
Music and Cinimetogrophy:
Mediocre
Acting:
ML= terrific
FL= fine
Side characters= solid
Rewatch value:
6.5 to 7
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Very catchy, well-paced drama with cool OSTs.
I really liked this series, on the one hand because I'm a fan of the 2 leads, Zhang Vim ❤❤❤ & Janice Wu ❤❤❤, on the other hand, because the story is believable, well told, well written and that the production is almost perfect.Plot: reunion of 2 former high school friends/lovers, ML / FL, who had parted over a misunderstanding, in a high-tech company. The ML is a manager of the Technology department and the FL (heiress sent anonymously by her grandfather, by challenge , to refloat this company in distress) is an employee there.
The 2 leads, both famous actors, have developed an incredible chemistry, with intense OTPs. The other actors are good, performing the secondary roles brilliantly, with a bit of humor and a lot of friendship.
=> An excellent drama to watch and rewatch without any hesitation.
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Drama très accrocheur, bien rythmé, avec OST sympas.
J'ai beaucoup aimé cette série, d'une part parce que je suis fan des 2 leads, Zhang Vim ❤❤❤ & Janice Wu ❤❤❤, d'autre part, parce que l'histoire est crédible, bien racontée, bien écrite et que la réalisation est quasi parfaite.
Plot : retrouvailles de 2 anciens camarades de lycée, ML / FL, qui s'étaient quittés sur un malentendu, au sein d'une entreprise de géolocalisation / navigation. Le ML est un manager du département Technologie et la FL (héritière envoyée anonymement par défi par son grand-père, pour remettre à flot l'entreprise en perdition).
Les 2 leads, tous les 2 acteurs renommés, ont su développer une alchimie incroyable, avec des OTP intenses. Les autres acteurs sont bons, assurant les rôles secondaires avec brio, un peu d'humour, beaucoup d'amitié.
=> Un excellent drama à voir et à revoir sans hésitation.
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Worth the watch in 2023
This is a very cute series with strong leads. I love the chemistry between the ML and FL as well as the 'banter' that they have between each other that only they understand. There are times where the communication is lacking. Due to the 'history' of the lead characters, the communication to avoid misunderstandings should be better between them. The support cast is very good. There are a few scenes that are unnecessary and could have been dropped so that the last episode wouldn't feel rushed. The last episode was cute, but definitely rushed. The last episode had a lot of spot 'assumptive' scenes that just left the audience saying 'okay'. The series gave you that 'You are My Glory' feel. However, it's not as tightly executed. This could have been a solid 28 to 30 episode series with tighter editing. Both leads are good. I appreciate the dynamic acting from them both. Good OST and Production.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Writing is a mess but good romantic scenes
Wow! So many resemblances with "You are my glory" and "A Romance of the Little Forest." But the drama had its own story and vibes. I gotta say I was really expecting more from this one, but there were some things that bothered me along the way.- It was little draggy in the beginning. I didn't really understand why the couple took that much time to be together. It's not that they took a long time, but they didn't have any obstacles to their love, so why didn't Xiang Yuan say yes to Xu Yanshi before?
- The writing is not that good. There were some plot points that were poorly explained or could've been better developed. Like Yanshi's family; his father was never present in his life and he holds a grudge bc of that, but they never really talk abt that and Yanshi just gives his little brother away to his father. And no explanation is given as to why he let his brother go that way; Yanshi's mother appearing in the last ep was really weird. His dad raised him all by himself, through many difficulties, Yanshi is always addressed as a poor and alone guy, but then we find out that his mother is alive, well AND rich! And they are in good terms with each other. Then why did he need his professor's help with his brother so he could study?! And the debt with Chen Shan?! Where was his mother during all that?!
- The main couple is good and have chemistry. I really like that they have a lot of skinship and appear natural and intimate together. There are a lot of good kissing scenes and the couple trust each other. But that break up in the 30th ep was unlike them. They should've talked abt their views and opinions on the problem. Both of them had a point but they just didn't talk clearly with each other and just gave up. At least that lasted only one episode.
- Second couple is boring af. They have absolutely no chemistry and doen't even make sense together. Chen Shu is annoying and so it is Gao Leng. I didn't understand why she was so mad at him to the point of breaking up with him, so it was confusing why she came back to him in the end.
- Side characters are a little boring as well. I didn't hate anything or anyone in specific but they were just forgettable. Like I said, the second couple was boring, and the other characters didn't shine or have their story told.
- All the Beidou lecture was too patriotic and just cringey. Maybe for chinese people it made sense but for me, a foreigner, it was just annoying. I also didn't understand most of the talk about navigation systems and all, so I just zoned out on those parts.
That's it. All in all, I enjoyed watching it, first eps are a little draggy but the couple is good. Although the writing is a mess, I think for some people it would be worth for the couple. They really deliver good romance. If I were to rewatch I would skip everything but them. I also think this drama could be 10 eps shorter, it would be faster and it wouldn't waste time with characters and plots we don't really care.
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Only You...
Played by Janice Wu & Vin Zhang of course I've to watch this one...The drama told about 1 man, Xu Yan Shi (YS), that like 1 woman, Xiang Yuan (XY), in his life. But life played them good & separated them again & again until life decided enough time to make them together now. Haha...
YS & XY have 4 times encounter: kindergarten, high school, university & workplace. But when in high school & university, YS's dad succeed screw up their chance & finally they have their chance in the workplace.
The story begin in Velin company, the branch of Donghe group that in the verge of collapse, cause bad management, corruption & nepotism deep in the management. XY is happy go lucky girl from rich family that at first don't care about her family business. XY grandpa, chairman of Donghe group, send XY undercover to manage this branch. In there XY finally group up from happy go lucky girl to the girl that finally understand how to manage business & care enough about her family business in the end.
What I like:
+ First of all really happy to finally have another director that using their brain when cast, to separate the cast of adult time & high school time... Sometimes I must sigh when I see actor/ess on end off their 20s or early 30s play as high school student. I know sometimes that relate to the budget etc. & the bonus point, they even cast the actor/ess according to their respective age in the drama...
+ The chemistry between Janice Wu & Vin Zhang is good.... They match each other perfectly. It feel really like old friend that finally get together. Janice & Vin Zhang looked like having fun while filming this drama.
+ The develop of YS & XY relationship is make sense. YS a few times make XY angry & XY not immediately forgive him, all need process....
+ YS is quite jealousy boyfriend, but his jealousy several time quite make sense. But I really like when he never restrict XY's life & really respect her, especially when he said that XY should not change herself just cause him.
+ The story of Gao Leng (GL) & Chen Shu (CS) also make sense. They love each other, but GL indeed need to grow up to match CS. And I kinda like how GL just not give up, but he still care & try to chase CS again.
+ The cute & adorable XY's grandpa. Especially when YS's friend try to messed his mind about his evaluation toward YS. Is just so funny...
+ Janice is quite adorable played XY, but still nothing too new about her acting...
Overall this really one good drama this year...
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Instead of an actress and aerospace engineer, we have a corporate girlie, whose grandpa is the CEO of the company, and a GPS engineer who is a prodigy in his field. The ML and FL are technically grade school sweethearts, who keep running into one another at different points in their lives, but seeming to miss one another.
I would sum this up as a sweethearts to strangers to friends to strangers to online lovers to strangers to coworks to lovers, romance. When I say they keep missing one another, I mean it!
I loved Janice Wu in this, a quirky yet mature businesswoman who wants to help her grandpa's sub-company not go bankrupt while correcting all the internal fraud that is being committed by the VP. I loved seeing Vin Zhang finally in a lead role, and not being a side character to a Dilraba drama... which is funny because I just said that this drama reminded me of a Dilraba drama.
In the 30-40 something episode drama, the writer and director took their time letting us get to know all the characters and their roles in the company as well as follow them throughout different projects - I felt like I was a part of the team! And I appreciate a drama that is well written and shot, not feeling like it is dragging... because I know these longer Chinese dramas and feel scary and boring when seeing how many one-hour episodes there are.
The romance was very cute, and honestly a bit sexy ... more than I have seen in a Cdrama before. I fell for both characters and wanted them to find love so badly with one another, and once they were together, it was sweet.
But going along with that point, I had to knock a point off because there were times throughout that I had no idea what was going on, and why the FL was crying or why the ML was comforting her or why the ML thought it was cool to start making out with the FL during an argument. There were also times when either one of them would be in a sales meeting and I had no idea what was going on... especially when the company seemed to be a huge factor or when the meeting ended up being fake? It is hard to explain even now because I feel like I was... on drugs and a part just flew over my head.
Other than that, loved this.
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Popcorn escapist power fantasy disguised as office drama
TLDR: If you can make it past the side characters and the second couple then you'll probably like itOverall: The show isn't anything new and follows a lot of the traditional cdrama tropes. But the business power fantasy and comeuppance is what kept me coming back for more and I have no regrets. Watching the leads go through their ups and downs as a couple and in the workspace was a treat to watch even if the rest of the cast was pretty lacking.
Story: The story is a pretty standard office drama with the only real twist that the FL has a powerful background that the audience sees from episode one but other characters find out as the show progresses. The appeal is really that you get to see how everyone reacts and watch her navigate the space while trying to get things done on her own merit. No new ground is tread but that was perfectly fine for this kind of show. If you can make it past the side characters and the second couple then you'll probably like what you see.
Acting: no complaints across the board. I feel like maybe some of the side characters were a little over the top at times but I assume that was the direction they were told to go in so can't really pick on it too much.
Characters: The leads were great. Probably one of my favorite FLs to watch in recent memory. She is strong in every sense of the word but also isn't afraid to ask for help which was refreshing to see. Janice Wu did a great job bringing her to life and it felt like I was right there with her through all the satisfying reveals. ML was ok as well. The character was kind of a doormat with a whole lot of backstory that gets revealed to make you feel sympathetic toward him. I felt that they could've done a better job with this because there never had to be any misunderstandings and it seemed to me like it was mostly just the ML refused to tell the FL important things that were happening. This isn't new to the cdrama space but I could've done without the whole years of angst because he didn't just say he had a family situation.
The second lead couple were the only other side characters that get any kind of background but they were unfortunately not my cup of tea. I felt like their relationship felt off from the beginning so seeing them go through their rocky patches actually felt pretty real and I was happy with that direction. But then the entire show just gaslit the woman into thinking that because the guy likes her a lot she should put up with his BS. I will say that normally breakups in dramas tend to be nonsensical, but this one had a really grounded and relatable reason that felt true to the characters as well. The guy had a character flaw that she didn't want to put up with, he repeatedly demonstrates that he can't fix it. She clearly communicates what the problem is and why she wants to end things. He still doesn't work on changing. The show puts them together anyway. Needless to say one of my least favorite couples out of the dramas I've watched.
The side characters in this show have got to be the worst I've seen in quite some time. No shade on the actors/actresses as I think most of the issues lie in the material that they were given or lack thereof. Starting off I don't think I've seen a group get so much screen time yet we know next to nothing about any of them. I literally could not tell you what any of their hobbies are, any childhood memories, outside friends, partners etc. etc. etc. They pretty much only exist to either start drama or react to drama happening around them which is sad because they could've been so much more. Just as an example, there is a sudden double agent kind of reveal halfway through and it came so far out of the blue that I was just like "Oh, ok." when I'm pretty sure they wanted it to hit a little harder and be some big shock. The only reason I didn't care was because we had no reason to care about the character in the first place (citing aforementioned lack of background) and there was literally no build up to it (even on second watch it felt like a writer rolled the dice and just said yeah, she gonna be evil now lol).
The other big miss for the side characters was their dynamic. I think the writers were going for some kind of super familiar, we've known each other for years vibe so we mess around with each other but it all felt really artificial. Couldn't really put my finger on it but I compared it in my head to the main trio in King the Land and I just felt like that dynamic felt authentic. The characters in this drama also flip between sides so fast which contributed to them feeling less like actual characters and more like set dressing. Tangible example is later on they hear the boss may be closing their company and instead of just asking the person they've grown close to over the course of a year they just instantly choose to believe that was her motivation the entire time because surely putting in so much work just to close the company makes sense. Its not even that it doesn't make sense its that they didn't even hesitate for a single minute to paint her as the new villain which made it harder to like them.
Music: I actually added a few songs to my playlist so that counts as a win in my book.
Rewatch: Despite the many problems the show has, I would rewatch it (and have) for the premise alone. Not even close to the top 20 best dramas I've watched but I've already watched it again all the way through not even a week after finishing it.
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Promising, But Boring
We get it, China. People with money= bad, poor people= good. We get it.Two childhood sweethearts divided by class difference. Nothing new here. We know they are going to get together, but there is no actual connecting story here, so the plot is stretched over sexual tension that just doesn't burn bright enough to keep interest.
I have a girl crush on Janice Wu, which is why I gave this a chance in the first place, and she did not disappoint. I love her facial expressions and mannerisms. The ML was ok as well, but he was written without any real depth, and that also has to do with his lack of flaws. A perfect ML is a boring one.
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Great chemistry and flirty repartee!
I love the fact that this story doesn’t rely on one of those cold, stiff characters that never smiles. Serious, yes, but not stiff. The flirty banter by Janice Wu’s character is always entertaining. I like the way they have revealed the hidden backstory of the ML slowly. I wait eagerly each day for the new episodes and while I wait I’ve rewatched scenes from earlier episodes that I particularly like. I almost never rewatch anything so this says a lot about just how much I enjoy these characters and their interactions.I understand the review about the FL’s misunderstandings being too easily influenced, but this is so far the only annoying trope we are dealing with in this series, and I feel like the smile I’m wearing on my face for most of each episode is more than worth it.
It’s funny, heartwarming, romantic — what more could you ask for?
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