Why this show doesn't suck. (Episode review/summary focused on the leads)

Ep 18 - Un-Happy New Year!

Just watched Ep 18 (New Year's Eve @ the rooftop restaurant) and it was terrific.  When she interrupted his confession with her shout out about her career goals as a New Year's Wish, we could see the air let out of his soul.  Dylan's facial expression was perfect in this situation and I could really feel the life fade out of him (the use of the dying sparkler was a perfect way of symbolizing it).  Once again, she talked about her career at an inopportune time.  And his repeating back to her about wishing her career success as well (twice) afterwards was either his way of saying "do you realize how wrong that was?" or just giving up on them and wishing her well in her endeavors.  All this does is reinforce in his mind that his mistrust of her is well-placed and all is not what it seems in their "relationship".  He knows she holds her career above all else, including him.

I know she gets a lot of heat, but I feel for  ShanShan.  She's TRYING her best with advice, but she has very little to work with in ShuYi.  ShanShan, in getting the recap of that night's events finally realizes that maybe this relationship is a lost cause and her BFF isn't ready.  

New Year's Day, at the horse farm, he's had a chance to stew on it overnight and is definitely not ready to see her again.  He's even more confused by her actions and mistrustful of her aims - and the stable scene didn't help at all.  "He's like a kite...one moment he's close to me and then he's far away.  I don't understand him at all" (Beautifully written BTW).  While she isn't wrong, she's made no effort to understand him by connecting  the dots of the things she's learned about him .  When he holds her tight and nuzzles her (to her shock) he then pinches her cheek to let her know that it wasn't a dream....and walks off.  Leaving her to be the puzzled one this time.

And of course the whole point of the episode is, that by the time he finally found the courage to open up to her on the rooftop so they could move beyond the awkwardness, she blew it all away by talking about her career's supremacy in her life.

Sad, but a wonderful episode.

(and BTW the OST for this show is so good!)

Ep 26 - Thunder roars

The storm clouds that have been gathering over the last few episodes finally break.  The full fury of Shi Yan’s realization of what has actually been going on with her is about to rain on her and ruin the sand castle of a relationship her heart created.  The episode ends with Shi Yan figuring out the reason she fell for him: the secret she has been hiding so badly since the beginning of their relationship.

ShuYi never fails to disappoint and frustrate us.  Even here, when she realizes her house of cards is collapsing, she can’t bring herself to tell him her feelings.  Even worse (and this may be her low-point as a character) when he simply asks her “Compared to your ex-boyfriend, who do you like more -,me or him?” her inner mind screams “Can I choose neither?”  In the battle between her heart and mind, this was the final stroke:  Her mind wins and her heart's desires are crushed.  That scene on the divan, post-spa confrontation, was her opportunity to come clean to him, but instead she goes into full-evasive mode and we can tell that this time, he’s not buying it.  

Later on, when he’s drinking alone, he foolishly even contemplates giving her one more chance, if she would just tell him the truth.  When the awful truth does come to him in the hotel hallway, we can only pity the poor room-service porter who kindly asks him to step aside.

So, once again, our heroine’s mind simply can’t bring itself to give into her heart and sets her up for what is going to be a terrible episode 27.  Her inability to tell the truth to anyone:  her family, her friends (except for ShanShan), co-workers, about her feelings speaks volumes to the fear harboring inside this woman, who has relied on her intelligence and beauty to get her through the world and is completely unprepared for a committed relationship with a man who dearly loves her.  

As an aside, it’s interesting to note how both of these people have such blind spots in their business/life dealings, probably because they're so enamored of their success in life:  
- Him, being blindsided by Bruce’s departure from Le’an Tech and being left holding the bag of his prized investment:  a now-challenged tech company with a weak/defeatist CEO.  
- Her, with her over-achieving professional success leaving her bewildered when she discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her since college and that she is falling in love with another man.

God, I love this series.

Ep 28 - Sifting Through the Debris

This episode deals with the continuing fallout from the break-up in 27.  

It’s now official:  With his niece’s mission as a plant to keep an eye on ShuYi no longer needed, ShiYun tells her to quit her job.  Yet, ShuYi hasn’t figured this out yet and thinks that he’s pulling his niece away because he wants to isolate her from his family.  She has yet to make the connection to his niece being an agent of her uncle.

The following morning, when he goes to the garage to drive to work, he can't face getting in the Rolls...it's HER car, now.  And he just stares at it until he has the driver get the company car (minivan) and commutes to work in it.

And just when you think that things could have not gotten any worse, she once again lets us down. She goes to his office for a chance to see him and apologize personally, which he rebuffs by sending out his assistant to tell her that he won’t see her anymore and that the agreement between the companies is over.  She’s crushed (again) and slowly leaves while “Passerby” plays softy in the background.  Before getting on the elevator, she finally reaches out to him via WeChat and apologizes there – and he’s reading her texts as soon as she sends them.  (Mind you, she’s essentially standing right outside his office door and he knows it).  All goes well at first, and she even deletes her first text apologizing about their companies relationship (thank goodness she’s learned something?) she then sends two heartfelt messages apologizing for her behavior and we can see he’s touched and he glances at the door she’s standing outside of.  But then, on the third text message comes Faux Pas #3 as she stupidly says she hopes this won’t affect the relationship between their two companies.  At which point he slams down the phone. She sends one last message, simply expressing her sincerity in her sadness, that gets the dreaded red meatball with the exclamation point inside.  Was the message not delivered because he blocked her?  That is her belief and her grief again swells and her eyes tear up.  In slow motion, she walks out of his waiting room and gets in the elevator to leave his company, probably for the last time it seems.  She turns around and sees the closed doors of his office as the elevator doors slide closed.  This was a really heavy scene and difficult to watch with any enjoyment. 

The balance of this episode has them both lost in their emotions, as they continue to struggle with what has happened.  She reaches out again, via email this time to try to convince him to continue the series of articles and that she will step aside and let her peers take over.  This is because we learn the first installment of the series on his company was a hit at the magazine and her bosses have ordered it to continue full-speed-ahead.  Her boss and co-workers are stunned at her lack of interest (she’s still in a daze from being blocked by him) and she eventually tells her boss she must back out and will hand off the project to the rest of the team.  Her rival leaps at the chance to capitalize on ShuYi’s distress and she goes for the opportunity to take over ShuYi’s pet project with ShiYan.  Satisfyingly for us, it’s a futile attempt as he has no interest in renewing the series with anyone from Financial Weekly.  

And the skateboarding vulture Jackson Yi continues to try to snatch ShuYi away with more cheesy attempts to date her. Whatever, dude.  Just go away.

Meanwhile, ShiYan, completely frustrated and struggling with the debris of his feelings for her, first reaches out of his assistant Mr. Chen to ask hypothetical questions on how to deal with an angry lover, but his questioning is confusing as to who the offending party is.  His visit with Uncle Guan (who has figured out what's going on) brings him more unsolicited advice on how to handle a spat with ShuYi.  Later on, at the end of the episode he listens to his niece again on what one should do with an angry woman. In the meantime, he seems lost and distracted at the worst possible time, as the 2 elders on his board have now gone around him and appealed to his father to have him replaced due to the fiasco with Le’an Tech and Shi’s desire to invest in Juhe Battery Tech.  

The show ends with a heart-to-heart talk between ShuYi and YuYou.  She confides that her relationship with Shi has collapsed and that he’s blocked her attempts to apologize.  YuYou is incredulous at his reaction and has her explain exactly how she apologized.  Finally, and thankfully, he chides her (diplomatically) by telling her she prioritized the business aspect of their relationship while ignoring his feelings, which she acknowledged:  “I’m a terrible person”.  

We finally see them on a riverwalk walking towards each other, lost in thought, virtually  passing each other without even noticing, so deep is their grief at the death of their love.

Ep 30  An Affair to Delete

With no one at the steering wheel of their love, the relationship, like a runaway car, now careens downhill, picking up speed with every turn….at some point, it will fly off the road and crash into the abyss below. 

That point happens in this episode.  And again, it’s not easy to watch.

The episode opens with ShuYi learning from the buzzard that it was ShiYan who took her home from the charity dinner. Thankfully, she cuts the time with him short and goes back to the office, realizing it makes no difference as too much time has elapsed and she criticizes herself for being so foolish as to care.  And in the meantime he has to deal with “Fiona”, the daughter of one of the elders on his board who is a childhood friend and upon her return to China, wants to “help” at his company. 

But for ShuYi, there is no escaping the miserable solitude that has descended on her.   That night, while dining alone at her favorite seafood-noodle place, she sees a romantic drama on the TV there, with an actress in anguish over her failed relationship.  Our heroine can’t get a break it seems, but it steels her to finally face him, and apologize in person as YuYou suggested she do back in Ep 28.  So she goes to his office, somehow knowing he’d still be there (this is well after dinner time).  With just her luck, she sees him leaving with “Fiona” in tow and misunderstands.  Honestly, this was all she needed to get cold feet again and her bravado vanishes in an instant.  Unfortunately, she is unable to remember she already partially opened her heart to him when she was drunk.  So, she tells the cabbie to take her home.  Has she lost him already to another woman, she wonders?

The next day at FW, KongNan tells her about Fiona, trying to get her motivated to do SOMETHING.  It’s a day of relaxation for everyone else, as GuanJi and ShanShan are at his dad’s horse farm (along with his dad and Ms. Tang (his GF)).  After Uncle Guan and Ms. Tang depart, ShiYan shows up and ShanShan lets him have it – both barrels worth.  A panicked GuanJi tries to tell her to lighten up and help ShiYan reconcile with ShuYi – they all know that they still love each other. This is confirmed by ShiYan, who tells ShanShan “ShuYi has always been the only one I love” which catches ShanShan off guard.  But ShiYan tells them that this issue is something that he and ShuYi need to fix themselves – no one should help them. 

Sometime later (at least the next day) FW is abuzz because the problems at Yuanchang have reached the crisis point as 2 investors are ready to bail out and the board is in danger of losing 2 directors.  Ms. Tang is furious at Yuling because FW is supposed to have a “special relationship” with Yuanchang (which was actually based on our lead’s personal relationship) and they were caught by surprise as well.  Ms. Tang removes Yuling from the Yuanchang assignment and asks ShuYi to take it back over, as they are desperate to get in on this story.  Ms Tang brings out all the tools she has to coerce ShuYi to take the job including how her beloved e-magazine project’s future hinges on this.  A reluctant ShuYi agrees to resume work on the project and will go to Yuanchang and talk to ShiYan. 

And sit down, because now things go completely to Hell.

We know this will not go well, as she enters his office to the melancholy tune “Passerby”.  His back is to her, and she addresses him formally because this is a work assignment and not the opportunity to personally apologize to him.  He turns around and they stare at each other…ShuYi is transfixed and seems to be frozen in place.  (Beautiful camera work in this scene).  They stare at each other for almost 40 seconds in silence and her tension grows to the point where she clutches at her purse and finally makes it known that she is here to ask about the company.  Well, I can’t call it another Faux Pas on her part.  She was sent here on this mission to do exactly this and she had no choice.  Of course, he doesn’t know that and was expecting this to be her opportunity to come clean so they could start the reconciliation process they both long for.  When she starts talking about the company, his face just crumbles and he breaks eye contact with her.  He cuts her off and asks her “are you here just because of that?”  When she seems surprised (and still terrified) as his response, he responds with the same message that the company has issued to all media: That they have nothing to say at this time.  He then dismisses her.  She dutifully leaves the office, robot-like now, her emotions totally destroyed.  This was what she feared most and it happened.  As she shuffles out of the lobby of the building, she winds up getting bumped aside by the media gaggle gathered downstairs who are racing towards ShiYan who suddenly appears.  They are demanding to know what the story at Yuanchang is (the same questions she tried to ask).  They are blocking the exit and want answers before he can leave.   Off to ShiYan’s left stands a shell-shocked ShuYi watching this unfold.….  To her disbelief, he looks over at her for a few seconds (they make eye contact) and then he tells the media (and her) that neither the company or HE can’t accept someone nor something that is impure (depending on translation it could mean “can’t stand firm”).  He furthers the point and says that there will always be differences of opinion but that BOTH SIDES need to COME TOGETHER to solve their problems INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY (he’s referring to his board/investors AND her).  She is gutted to hear this last part and he leaves with the media in trail and she’s left standing there, a shell of the woman who walked into the building only a few minutes ago.  She returns to the familiarity of her office at FW and finally whatever was holding her together shatters and she breaks down sobbing in the hallway to the shock of the staff.  She eventually tells KongNan to leave her be and she wipes her tears and goes back to her desk to seek solace in her work. 

And there she stays, late into the night.  I’m not sure of what she could be writing, as she has no more information than any other media member.  Finally, with tears in her eyes, she picks up her iPhone and accepts what she sees as inevitable…..and she deletes his contact info from her WeChat.  To ShuYi, it has ended.  ShiYan, who likewise is still at his office late into the night, is stressed out and fed up with everything.  He stops at her favorite noodle place (of all places!) for dinner and thinks of their happier times and moments together.  After one bite of noodles he scrolls thru all their texts and WeChat messages and hears her voice in his head telling him all her silly things, ending with her poem when she went out of town.  He can’t take it anymore and finally texts her and asks “Do you want to eat some noodles?” to force the reconciliation process.  But he is shocked to see his message go undelivered with the red-meatball-of-doom showing that she’s deleted him from her contacts.  ShiYan sits in stony silence for a long time as everyone else in the restaurant goes about their lively business. 

And that’s it folks.  The runaway car of their relationship has gone off the edge and hurtled to its destruction. 

Now, there is a LOT more to this episode, including how the niece and Prof Yu actually manage to overcome their hesitance and become a couple.  It’s a nice counterpoint to the difficulties her boss and uncle are going thru.  The niece is much more emotionally mature than her boss at work…or her uncle for that matter. 

The episode ends on a funny note (it’s important to remember that this show does do comedic scenes really well).  For some reason ShuYi is with the buzzard at a dept store helping him shop, though she remains distant.  The niece and Prof Yu (on a date) see them together leaving the store and walking thru the mall and she’s determined to see what the heck is going on!  They tail her boss and buzzard to a restaurant in the mall and “accidentally” run into them so they can all have dinner together.  The niece watches ShuYi and Buzzard like a hawk, reporting everything to her uncle via WeChat, demanding he do SOMETHING.  ShuYi is watching her in disbelief, trying to figure out what the niece is up to.  This scene is much funnier than it sounds, as the niece’s anguish is matched by ShuYi’s confusion.  The close is when the niece sees how considerate buzzard is towards ShuYi (how very unlike her Uncle is) and she face-palms while demanding to know why her uncle hasn’t responded to her messages.  As the credits roll, we see him sitting in dejected silence at home as if he is reliving the events of the day.  Finally he picks up his iPhone and begins reading his nieces’ messages….

Ep 32 – Taking Out the Trash

ShiYan and Mr. Chen see the ex-bf in the building and he finds out that he’s getting an interview.  He arranges it to sit in on his interview, much to the shock of the dirtbag.  As you can imagine, the fool melts down and the interview fails.  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 

That weekend, she comes back to his office to resume Overtime work on the special series of articles on his company.  It’s a real feeling of déjà vu, as here she sits and works by herself while he’s immersed in his own work at his desk.  Once again she’s disappointed that they are actually working OT instead of having fun (she hasn’t figured this out, YET?).  Finally that afternoon he takes her to the movies to her delight where they run into Fiona; ShuYi asserts her role as his girlfriend to Fiona and gets her to back off.  All this to her delight and the amusement of ShiYan.  As they leave the theater, she suggests skipping the ride back in the Rolls and going for a walk together, which surprises him.  So he surprises her back and gives her a long deep kiss in public, to the shock of ShuYi and Mr. Feng the driver (this was a cute scene).  In the Rolls, on the way home, she gets texts from Buzzard, asking her out (she says NO) and then Prof Yu checking on her.  Jealous, ShiYan grabs her phone and she tries to explain the Prof is just her friend.  When he tells he’s jealous because all men would find her desirable, the driver immediately says “NOT ME”; another cute and funny bit.  Anyways, she tells him she’s off for a week on a business trip in a few days (she’ll take the niece with her).

In a few days, a meeting Shi was supposed to have with Le’an’s CEO is cancelled by them, distressing Shi who takes Mr. Chen with him to Le’an after all.  He meets with the (defeatist) CEO who confides morale is in the tank with the loss of Dr. Bruce.  ShiYan tells him to ‘buck up’ and take charge of the situation (good luck with that).  ShiYan tells him that if they fail, it will happen but they’ll survive, trying to get the CEO to lighten up.

Since ShiYan can’t drop ShuYi off at the airport for her trip (distressing her), he has Mr. Feng take her and the niece in the Rolls.  The difference now, is that ShiYan has figured out ways to assuage her and cheer her up, and he does so.  She and the niece go to on their trip to interview their subject and have fun. It’s clear by now that ShuYi has taken the niece under her wing to mold her as a journalist in the same image as Ms. Tang molded her, years ago. 

While all this is happening, the dirtbag gets fired from his old job for continued crappy performance and he slinks back to his apartment to get drunk and stares at pictures of him and ShuYi.  This is poor timing as the mistress returns and finds this going on and tries to talk sense into that idiot.  She dumps him after reminding him of “all she’s done for him”, etc.  But he blames her for all his troubles (this guy is a total loser).  Suddenly we next see a scene (the following day?) of the mistress walking out of Yuanchang with a box of her belongings.  This appears to be another instance of a scene being deleted (her being fired by Mr. Qui, the Finance Manager).  As she walks out, she encounters Shi Yan in the basement getting ready to board his car and tells him that the dirtbag is after ShuYi.  He doesn’t care and tells her off.  The scene is interesting as Mr. Feng (Her uncle) is not there as he’s off at the airport to pick up the girls from their trip.  If he were there, how would this have played out?

Mr. Feng drops off ShuYi at her apartment and finds a drunken dirtbag stumbling around trying to get into her building.  He beats the crap out of him (surprising even himself) and phones to interrupt ShiYan’s banquet with the Le’an Leadership team to tell him that the dirtbag is hanging around her building.  ShiYan excuses himself for a while and goes to her apartment to find that dirtbag has gotten ShuYi to open her door (dumb girl, use the peep-hole).  He casts dirtbag aside enters the apartment, slams the door closed and they have the most passionate kiss we’ve seen to date, leaving her breathless and shaky.  Mr. Shi is definitely at the mercy of his own jealousy.  He tells her to stay put and that he’ll be back.  HE returns to the banquet, not without warning Mr. Dirtbag (still outside the door) to get lost OR ELSE. 

ShiYan eventually returns, buzzed to her surprise, as she’s rarely seen him drunk (the last time was when the news broke about Bruce’s leaving Le’an).  He staggers to her couch and collapses, just wanting to rest.  Fascinated at how different he is when drunk, she plays with him and sees how gentle and sweet he is.  In a funny flashback to her own drunken episode at the Charity Ball, she asks him if he’ll remember how sweet he is when he sobers up.  To remind himself, he gives HER a hickie so there will be evidence.  She’s shocked beyond words and before she can run away (where’s she going to go?  She’s in her own apartment!) He holds and hugs her before she can make a sobering-up concoction.  Potion completed, the episode ends with her looking in the mirror at the forming hickie on her neck and her smile of bemusement. 

Ep34 Give me a hand, ShiYan

In the stairwell, Yuling initially denies being the gossiper spreading the info about ShuYi and the two ladies go at it, verbally.  When Yuling stomps out, our heroine tries to stop her from leaving by blocking the door but gets her hand caught in the jamb and the heavy steel door crushes it.  Yuling, meanwhile, had left the office to contact Mr. Qiu’s wife telling her ShuYi has been having an affair with her husband.  To which the wife tells her is impossible as ShuYi is dating ShiYan.  Yuling is staggered to learn this.  Both women return later to the office and report to Ms. Tang, with ShuYi having been to the doctor (no broken bones, but hand immobilized in wrap).  ShuYi demands some kind of accounting for what Yuling has been doing to her and Ms. Tang tries to defuse the situation by putting ShuYi on paid leave until her hand recovers.  (You have to feel some for Ms. Tang, as these 2 women are both her star pupils, but Yuling’s actions have backed her into a corner.  In the real world, here in the US, ShuYi would have a candidate for a very successful lawsuit against FW for fostering a ‘hostile workplace’ and doing nothing about Yuling since the time she stole the interview from ShuYi back in the beginning of the series). 

ShuYi surprises her boyfriend by heading to ShiYan’s office in the middle of the day. where he sees her wounded hand and hears her pitiful needs as a disabled person (whining and demanding pity are a ShuYi hallmark).  He decides to play along and take her one step further – and tell her to move in with him.  Her mind reeling, she accepts his offer.   He calls his niece and tells her to stay at her grandpa’s house for a while because her auntie will be moving in.  He then goes to Le’an and asks the dour CEO if he’s considered the collab offer from Buzzard.  And sure enough he won’t consider it (still) as he won’t give up his pride and joy. 

While this is happening, Ms. Tang notifies Yuling that she’s being transferred out of the Financial Publications Division over to a different assignment.  Yuling refuses and quits, thanking Ms. Tang for mentoring her (before ShuYi came along, she meant but didn’t say).

Meanwhile she’s back home and trying to pack her stuff but realizes she can’t do it one-handed.  So she calls him for help and like the good boyfriend he is, he shows up to help pack her stuff and head to his house.  She is a happy girl as she’s being pampered, tended to, and receives all of his attention.  While she is thinking this move is a temporary situation, ShiYan shocks her (again) by saying he expects this to be a permanent situation.  Again, her mind reels that things are happening faster than she expected.  It would seem that ShiYan’s tactic is to keep her in a constant state of surprise.

Therein follows the push-and-pull nature of their relationship in full view.   However, by now his incessant studying and analysis of her has paid off and he is quick to understand her confusion and resultant game-playing.  He is no longer frustrated but instead knows what strings to pull to get the desired results from her.  Yes, he’s manipulating her, but she’s been doing the same to him from the beginning.  He makes and feeds her dinner (she can’t use chopsticks left-handed, I guess) including dessert and despite the pain, she’s a happy girl.  She has him do all the chores she can’t (tie her hair back, help her undress) and all is going great until she realizes they will be sleeping in his bed.  Just helping her unhook her bra made her head spin and she was not prepared for this!  The first night, they are predictably awkward and of course she falls asleep before he does.  He gets frustrated as she keeps rolling into him and sleep-cuddling.  She briefly awakens in the middle of the night to hear him taking a shower (a cold one, I presume).  Which sets up the funniest line in the series…

The next morning at 9, she awakens to find him gone and calls him at the office.  She asks if he took a shower in the middle of the night, unaware that he’s having a staff meeting in his office and the look on Mr. Chen’s face and his 3 secretaries as they overhear this is priceless!  (I couldn’t stop laughing at how this done).  After hanging up, she laments they spent the night together and he didn’t even kiss her!  After Shanshan calls her to check on her, ShuYi updates her on the situation and her BFF just shakes her head after learning they could finally sleep together and have nothing happen.

The next day, bored out of her mind at his place with nothing to do and unable to type on her laptop, He sends his niece over and together they work on her next series of articles.  Once ShiYan gets home, the niece leaves and we’re ready for Round 2 of an Evening With the One I Love. This time at dinner, she pouts and wants to sit on his lap while he feeds her.  Despite his objection (he’s REALLY nervous now) she does it anyways and feeds her dinner again.  With her mind racing overtime and wondering WHY he hasn’t made a move on her, she dresses for bed in a man-tailored shirt and her slippers.  When she comes into his home office (he’s working late, as usual) to say goodnight his eyes nearly fall out of his head and he struggles to maintain his composure before he just wishes her a good night.  (You can bet another cold shower is due).  Her plan foiled and ego now completely shattered, has her wondering if she’s not as attractive as she thought she was???

The next night comes Round 3 (the gauze dressing is off her hand by now).  She’s texting Shanshan and already laying on the bed in a black silk negligee and looks AMAZING.  He shuffles in, just coming home from work, slightly buzzed from some business dinner.  He sees her and once again gulps.  He retreats to the safety of the den and she just rolls her eyes.  He is able see the WeChat she’s having and when ShuYi tells her BFF that nothing is happening and it’s not HER fault, his male ego short-circuits.  He storms into the bedroom, tosses her iPhone on the floor and takes his woman.  (This is the hottest scene of the series and the behind-the-scenes shown on YouTube for this scene show the director having to break them up as it got a little “enthusiastic”.)  The next morning, Buzzard calls (of all people) rousing them from their sleep and asks about her injury and wants to take her out to lunch.  ShiYan, annoyed beyond words and listening in softly calls her name so that buzzard can hear and he once again tosses her iPhone aside (I hope she has AppleCare on that thing) leaving Buzzard crushed, knowing they probably spent the night together. 

Ep36 - ShuYi to the Rescue

We open the last episode with ShiYan stressing about the negative public reaction to the project and his reluctance to speak to the media, including ShuYi, to clear things up.  She still feels some responsibility for all this as she thinks part of it is due to her recent article on the project.  At home that night, she embraces him and tries to get him to open up to the media and get ahead of the story, but he can’t yet.  He explains to her that there isn’t much to report in the way of progress and he doesn’t want to stir anything up (A really sweet scene to the opening of the finale).

In the morning, Ms. Tang asks ShuYi to follow up on all the rumors on the Yuanchang project but ShuYi tells her boss there isn’t much to report yet (and it’s not because of who her boyfriend is).  But the media abhors a vacuum on news, so articles begin to appear full of conjecture and half-truths about the situation with Yuanchang, and Ms. Tang is forced to have FW reply.  She gathers her staff asking someone to take charge of writing the article and ShuYi agrees, to everyone’s surprise (at this point, she has an agenda).  She goes about interviewing everyone BUT ShiYan and writes a complete explanation of the situation, the background of the project, and an optimistic tone about its eventual outcome.  (We don’t know if there was any disclosure about her + ShiYan’s relationship – probably not).  She essentially does what she urged him to do and put a factual and “maybe” positive spin on the project.  The article is praised and well-received by the public, appeasing his insurgent elders on the board, who vow to back off and let ShiYan proceed.  When he gets home that night, he thanks her (she feigns ignorance of helping him) and they embrace.  He grants her a promise made long ago:  He’ll sit down for another interview of him for FW.  

With that settled, FW proceeds to begin the e-magazine project in earnest and Ms. Tang appoints ShuYi as the interim director and tells her to start assembling her team and organization structure.  ShuYi gets her niece and is lucky to get Brier (the star intern hired at the same time as her niece) to volunteer for the project too.  She will also get a new intern (and future love interest for Brier) as her tech lead.

In 3 months time, she does a presentation on the project’s status for Ms. Tang & the Editor in Chief.  Obviously, she’s done a great job and is praised by Ms. Tang on ShuYi’s efforts to get the project started and her accomplishments as interim director.  At it’s conclusion she is cheered by her Editor in Chief, who DOES mention that he’s heard the rumors of her behing helped by her boyfriend, but she is honest and tells him that her boyfriend has helped but he is one of many resources she’s used in her job as a reporter.  When she gets back to her desk, the staff is CERTAIN she will get the permanent appointment and she promises to take them to dinner the next night to celebrate.  She feels as though she’s on top of a mountain.  However…..

Things move fast in China, and less than an hour later she’s in Ms. Tang’s office and finds out her Appraisal of Promotability goes badly and the Editor in Chief turned her down, after all.  Ms. Tang tries to soften the blow telling her that she is selfishly happy that she can stay with her and that the Editor does praise her a lot, it’s just that he doesn’t know her that well yet.  His concerns were due to her young age (she’s still only 25, remember) and her lack of management experience to lead such a vital new project.   With the mountain she stood atop just a few minutes ago now completely crumbling away under her feet, our heroine stoically accepts the decision and shuffles back to her desk.  

Her shift done, she leaves the office dejected and tells ShiYan what happened, to his amazement.  When he goes to meet with the Editor to question his decision, she grabs him and begs him to stop.  Dejected, she pouts and whines that night (that’s our girl) until he cheers her up by agreeing (just barely) to let her take a silly picture of them.  He also tells her that her ex-bf was recently fired and his mistress was dismissed as well (so much for them!) which puts a grin on her face.  

The next day, she takes the photo of them on the Temple Steps (from their trip to the Chip Conference several episodes ago) to put on her desk at work…and her spirits are lifted.  We now see them exchange pleasantries as a normal couple would and behave accordingly, to the point she refers to him as her husband.  That night, it snows in earnest at their home and they embrace and kiss as he carries her off to bed.  The next day at work, she does get to have some fun, and tells her niece that she’s passed her probation and is appointed permanently to FW.  (Be sure not to miss the funny scene when the niece informs Prof You of her good news).  

We are now presented a montage of events sometime later on:   We learn that the Dark Horse/Le’an collaboration does produce the tech breakthrough they sought and they have begun production of millimeter-wave chips; ShuYi is presented with her second award for reporting excellence (for an article from before the series began on elderly health care) at the 10th annual Financial News Award Ceremony; Le’an, at it’s 7th year anniversary banquet has CEO Shen announce to his staff and VIPs from Yuanchang (ShiYan, GuanJi, Prof You, Fiona) that they are going public (a feather in ShiYan’s cap as their investment will really pay off now) and ShiYan (who brought along ShuYi) is asked to speak to the staff.  It’s interesting that the Black Horse CEO Mr. Buzzard is there (given their collab project is essentially done) but he says nothing and stays in the background.  

With the banquet speeches over, and the attendees leaving, ShiYan pulls his girlfriend aside and gives her an engagement ring in the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Typically for our girl, she initially refuses (she loves to poke him) and when he chases her down to ask WHY???  She tells him she’s already married…and he picks her up and twirls her around the room in joy.

Later on, in Ms. Tang’s office, her boss reveals that she is getting married and invites ShuYi to be her bridesmaid.  ShuYi is shocked to learn her boss is marrying her “Uncle Guan”.  (This looks like another instance of rushed editing, as I’m sure the scene where Ms. Tang And Mr. Guan decide to marry would been filmed, given the time devoted in previous episodes on their relationship and her reluctance to marry at her older age).  

The final scene is at the wedding, and Ms.Tang is lovely in a gown befitting her statuesque figure and age.  A couple of odd things, though in this setting:  they don’t kiss after exchanging rings and just embrace (we’ve never seem them kiss at all); Guan Ji is not his father’s best man – ShiYan takes that role.  At the reception, all the family members meet and the Three Musketeers are teased as to which one is next to marry?  After a suggestion from Uncle Guan that they have a group wedding, which the Musketeers like but is quickly shot-down by the girls, the episode ends with Ms. Tang tossing the bouquet with all our ladies vying to catch it.

Ep 36.5 – Vows Made &  A Secret Revealed

So in the bonus episode, necessary because of the sloppy editing of the series, we finally get their wedding.

With her wedding invitations ready to go, Shu Yi gets frustrated that ShiYan just lets her decide everything, including her wedding dress.  She reaches out to her BFF again for help and Shanshan makes the needed decision on which venue is best (she confirms the choice that ShuYi wanted all along).  But the one thing that ShiYan is against is her choice of this venue as he feels it’s “too pink”.  She pleads with him (I’m not sure how much of this is teasing on his part) and finally threatens (uhhh “promises”) to cook his dinner every evening.  Alarmed at the thought of her cooking, he relents and she gets the pink wedding of her dreams.  

We jump to the ceremony which is sweet and funny and typically her (BaiLu makes for a beautiful bride).  It’s fun to see the entire cast assembled together as well, with Mr. Chen, ShiYan’s personal assistant doing the honors as officiant.  In a interesting arrangement, the invitees are arranged such that one side of the aisle are all his employees and the other side is the FW crew from her office…showing just how much their professional lives have dominated them.  She gets her idol-cum-sister-in-law-to-be to sing as well.  After exchanging rings, we see the promised kiss between husband and wife that has teased us in every opening credit from Episode 1.  After the reception and they see all their family members off, he pulls her back into the church to tell her a secret:  the first time they actually met (which he teased back in Ep 31) was at the 8th annual Financial News Awards when she won her first award at 23 years of age.  He tells her how she caught his eye back then and that he’s followed her ever since:  both surprising and immensely pleasing his bride who kisses her husband again.  The final shot is a pan back from them kissing alone in the church and is beautifully arranged with the background music.

I’ll leave any final comments in the REVIEWS section.  Thanks for reading all along to this unusual and addicting series.