I used to think that China can't portray the workplace realistically in dramas, until I saw Ideal City. Although some of the major events in the story felt unbelievable, the characters' reactions and character developments are quite on-point and very realistic. Finally a workplace drama that really focus on the workplace and tell it like it is.

This is set in the construction industry, our heroine is a cost engineer-- she does the budgeting, costing and oversee construction projects to ensure it does not exceed budget. I think it is brilliant to choose this industry, quite an unknown field and most viewers would not know how accurately the work is portrayed 😅 What makes the work settings believable in this drama is the dressing and make-up. Sun Li had on very light make-up and her clothes are standard office wear. There was this scene of Mark Chao changing footwear when he reached his home, he was wearing sports shoes with suit and tie-- realistic dress code as he had to visit construction site very often. And the office settings are not overly beautified or expensive, look like regular office.

The heroine, Su Xiao, is an independent and smart office worker. We watched how she did her best at work and was sabotaged, how idealistic she continued to be and relentless in keeping to her moral codes and work ethics, yet still managing to make a comeback and climbed up the ranks. She never gave up nor accept the toxic work culture, keep holding onto her own beliefs and refused to become "one of them".

The storytelling is fast-paced and have some really clever plotting and scheming, and plot twists!! It was quite an exhilarating watch for me. Although the romance is very little in this drama, that is alright for me, as the focus is on the work and politics. And wonderful acting by all the actors!! Even Yang Chao Yue whom I was worried for, they gave her a character that has YCY playing herself 😅 Her role was really cute and adorable in drama, brightens up the screen whenever she appears!!

I would have rated this 10/10 except for the last arc. It felt like a rushed ending or maybe that wasn't the original ending....? The events that happened in the last few eps were quite confusing, and overly idealistic. Su Xiao had a very grand, "all-for-one, one-for-all" theory but realistically speaking it is not possible to execute that. Her being able to convince the CEO to accept that proposal was really stretching the reality for me..... I was quite upset with her, wish she would have let Xia Ming did what he had planned, it was going well, and her proposal although is great for everyone, if it failed in the execution, would turn to bad situation for Xia Ming and his uncle. They wanted to have the freedom to run Tian Ke the way they envisioned, separating from HQ is the better alternative. But we'll never know if Su Xiao succeed in eradicating the toxic in the management system, if staying back was good for Xia Ming as drama left it at that.

And I think they cut too much of Hongmei's scenes 🤨 Might as well not even include her scenes in the ending, rather then giving viewers a "why, what happen?" feeling.