Love Family (2013)

Story: This was a very heartwarming family drama that revolves strongly around family bonds, friendships and relationships.The focus of the story is around the relationship of Chris and Serena and all the obstacles they need to face; and of course the various other relationships that come about - won't mention them in case of spoiling for anyone even though they are quite obvious XD

Acting/Cast: Jack is so adorable!! I loved watching him in this. Chris, Serena, Amanda, Sean, Ke Fan, etc. Props to them all for giving us this wonderful drama!

Music: Personally, I did not like the opening song at all. This is one of those songs where you hear it and don't think much of it. Now I don't even remember the tune of it.. I'd even say none of the insert songs were even memorable.

Rewatch Value: This drama was a whopping 72 episodes! I probably won't be watching this again.

Overall: Nice family drama with really slow story development, but that is expected for such a long drama. I would recommend this to those who like watching romance and seeing couples being shy yet affectionate with each other. It is really cute.

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That I stuck this Drama out for all 72 eps (with MUCH ff, of course) is testament to the fact that it kept surprising me by avoiding clichés in many setups throughout the Drama. Sadly, it fell into one of the worst of them at about the 60 episode mark. Noble idiocy rears it tired, ugly head, and we have to endure the male lead having a personality transplant/brain removal before it's fixed just in time. So the kindest thing I can say about this one is, I liked the leads, and the execution was better than expected in many places. I've definitely seen worse. It was also a bit jarring to see the cute youngest sister and keep thinking about what happened to the actor who played her. Very sad.

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Yet another excellent performance by Chris Wang! Makes you wonder why he quit acting in 2015. Maybe he had too much of it and was burnt out. Truly a star of Taiwanese theatre.

There are many social messages in this story, as with many Taiwanese dramas.

There is the message about cherishing love through the years and decades as in the case of Papa and Mama Chen. There is the message of discrimination against people with HIV. There is the message about awareness of Alzheimer's disease. There is the message of parents giving up grudges for the happiness of their children, something which Korean parents can and should learn from, and there is the main story of Sheng-ren not giving up on his childhood dream of meeting his Angel, You-Ai who had saved him, and there is the message of You-Ai's mother who is the wise, caring matron of the household who binds everyone together, the message about young graduate who chooses the entrepreneurial path rather than being a typical good student and then not finding any job after college, an all-too real theme worldwide, and the message about women learning to be independent and not having to depend on their husbands who may have stopped caring for them.

The Happy House Inn is wonderful to watch all throughout. The stories of You-Ai and her two sisters are interesting even though You-Xing's divorce will disappoint you. Ying-Ying and Long-Shi's story is the happy thread that runs through the later part of the show.

You can watch it over and over again. Thanks to Netflix!

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