Zoe
I considered dropping this drama several times.
Chinese dramas take a while to introduce their topic and I don’t really have the patience for it.
I didn’t think I’d be interested in middle aged people’s stories. But I was. This show has a good sense of balance. When the bad guys scheme, it doesn’t drag on and on and on and their plans often go bust. There’s a good sense of satisfaction and triumph that their evil ways don’t go unpunished. They suffer immediate consequences often.
I liked the beginning and then I had to skip a bit through the intro episodes of the 12 years later because it was like starting a new show where the bad guys were still exactly the same but you had to reacquaint yourself with the good guys.
I found Yi Bei’s childhood story incredibly sad.
The cruel and manipulative lies are so frustrating. The selfishness is appalling.
There are some things towards the end that I liked.
1. seeing who decided to come clean and who didn’t.
2. linking the fact that Yun Kai was always joking and then Yi Bei decided to also joke towards her elders and the grandmother asked if she was being influenced by Yun Kai. (Because Yi Bei is always so serious)
Guo Guo
Guo Guo is stereotypically bright and sunny and nice to everyone except her hero. I like that motherhood makes Guo Guo a stronger person. She has something to protect and fight for so she won’t let anyone step on her. I love that she doesn’t let people guilt trip her as the drama goes on. There are so many manipulative people but they don’t stand a chance when Guo Guo has made up her mind. She was so impressive towards the end how quick she was at revealing the truth. She was truly formidable. When she decided to go head to head there was no stopping her. I loved her despair/angry acting. She so seldom gets worked up, but it seemed so genuinely distressing when she did start shouting at people.
Yun Kai
Yun Kai as an adult is a real character. You can tell he puts up a front a lot of the time. He loves making people feel uncomfortable. And the actor does a good job of showing how he can act charismatic and sarcastic but he has a lot of hidden depths.
For someone with such a painful childhood, he does a wonderful job of pretending to be a happy-go-lucky kind of guy with minimal brooding. It’s almost like he’s just decided to give up on the people around him and just have his fun where he can. Every second sentence out of his mouth is a joke. I like that he can rock wearing shorts in such a fashionable way.
Romance
“Why do I think you’re unhappy? Tell me! Who bullied you? I, the great lawyer, will help you punish the evildoer. Hurry, tell me who it is.”
It was interesting to see our heroine not really giving a stuff about our hero for a good long while. Her antagonism against Yun Kai gets to the point of awkward that she continues to push him away without explanation. I really enjoyed seeing Yun Kai fall in love with Guo Guo.
“Don’t worry. There is someone who dotes on you and your mother too. He will definitely court your mother and marry her.”
The show takes the time to see him looking at her with such hope and expectation. Even though he gets pissed at her he just steadfastly continues to like and hang around her.
“Let’s go. Don’t move. I will pack this. You need your hands for embroidery, so you can’t do manual labor. I’ll do it.”
He gets involved with the high drama and helps to protect the ladies in his life with all his lawyer training.
“For the two most important women in my life, I can run until my legs break.”
I like that he appreciates Guo Guo’s cooking.
It’s a bit strange that even though Yun Kai should technically feel betrayed by Guo Guo, she’s just so antagonistic towards him he never even gets a chance to breathe his grievances. Despite seemingly endless immaturity, when it comes to the big moments in his relationship with Guo Guo, he is surprisingly mature. And despite Guo Guo’s attempts at dumping him at every corner she sticks it out with him too.
Guo Guo - “I didn’t not believe in you. I just...I just don’t know how to face it.”
Yun Kai - “I need your trust because I love you to the point that no medication can save me.”
Yun Kai - “I already made myself clear to my dad. In this lifetime, I will only love you.”
Yun Kai’s delivery of romantic lines is really on point. For once, I understand the heroine’s insecurities about the hero’s love. She has so many people in her life putting her down it’s crazy.
“If you give me up because of my mother’s opposition, then won’t I be too pitiful?”
I like that he gives her a chance to see if she wants to go the long road with him, because it’s so obvious that she’s putting on the breaks. And he makes himself clear how he feels about her. It was so satisfying when Guo Guo started to finally fall in love with him too. But just when you think she’s going to be nice to him, she goes back to acting like he’s an annoying fly. This frustrated me. I lived for those moments when she smiled at Yun Kai. It was so freakin’ rare.
Twisty Things
In a way, despite the terrible plot twist of Yun Kai believing someone else is Yi Bei, it was so nice to see how his love for Yi Bei as a child was different from his love for Guo Guo and how he treasured Yi Bei. If the show didn’t do this, we wouldn’t have seen this wonderful side of Yun Kai not caring who “Yi Bei” is in the present, and loving her anyway.
Le Tong
This little girl is so magnificent. I love the way she approached and talked to the adults that they forgot they were arguing with a 5 year old when she spouted her philosophical wisdom.
Chinese Vs. Kdrama
I always have a little note about the differences between the countries’ productions since I’m mainly a serial Kdrama viewer.
Recently, I have been really enjoying Chinese dramas just for something different and for more comfortable and less over the top romances.
One thing that remains consistent is the strange character development or deux es machina that occurs with relationships. People reconcile, or resolve differences just because and there is not much story telling in that aspect.
Chinese dramas take a while to introduce their topic and I don’t really have the patience for it.
I didn’t think I’d be interested in middle aged people’s stories. But I was. This show has a good sense of balance. When the bad guys scheme, it doesn’t drag on and on and on and their plans often go bust. There’s a good sense of satisfaction and triumph that their evil ways don’t go unpunished. They suffer immediate consequences often.
I liked the beginning and then I had to skip a bit through the intro episodes of the 12 years later because it was like starting a new show where the bad guys were still exactly the same but you had to reacquaint yourself with the good guys.
I found Yi Bei’s childhood story incredibly sad.
The cruel and manipulative lies are so frustrating. The selfishness is appalling.
There are some things towards the end that I liked.
1. seeing who decided to come clean and who didn’t.
2. linking the fact that Yun Kai was always joking and then Yi Bei decided to also joke towards her elders and the grandmother asked if she was being influenced by Yun Kai. (Because Yi Bei is always so serious)
Guo Guo
Guo Guo is stereotypically bright and sunny and nice to everyone except her hero. I like that motherhood makes Guo Guo a stronger person. She has something to protect and fight for so she won’t let anyone step on her. I love that she doesn’t let people guilt trip her as the drama goes on. There are so many manipulative people but they don’t stand a chance when Guo Guo has made up her mind. She was so impressive towards the end how quick she was at revealing the truth. She was truly formidable. When she decided to go head to head there was no stopping her. I loved her despair/angry acting. She so seldom gets worked up, but it seemed so genuinely distressing when she did start shouting at people.
Yun Kai
Yun Kai as an adult is a real character. You can tell he puts up a front a lot of the time. He loves making people feel uncomfortable. And the actor does a good job of showing how he can act charismatic and sarcastic but he has a lot of hidden depths.
For someone with such a painful childhood, he does a wonderful job of pretending to be a happy-go-lucky kind of guy with minimal brooding. It’s almost like he’s just decided to give up on the people around him and just have his fun where he can. Every second sentence out of his mouth is a joke. I like that he can rock wearing shorts in such a fashionable way.
Romance
“Why do I think you’re unhappy? Tell me! Who bullied you? I, the great lawyer, will help you punish the evildoer. Hurry, tell me who it is.”
It was interesting to see our heroine not really giving a stuff about our hero for a good long while. Her antagonism against Yun Kai gets to the point of awkward that she continues to push him away without explanation. I really enjoyed seeing Yun Kai fall in love with Guo Guo.
“Don’t worry. There is someone who dotes on you and your mother too. He will definitely court your mother and marry her.”
The show takes the time to see him looking at her with such hope and expectation. Even though he gets pissed at her he just steadfastly continues to like and hang around her.
“Let’s go. Don’t move. I will pack this. You need your hands for embroidery, so you can’t do manual labor. I’ll do it.”
He gets involved with the high drama and helps to protect the ladies in his life with all his lawyer training.
“For the two most important women in my life, I can run until my legs break.”
I like that he appreciates Guo Guo’s cooking.
It’s a bit strange that even though Yun Kai should technically feel betrayed by Guo Guo, she’s just so antagonistic towards him he never even gets a chance to breathe his grievances. Despite seemingly endless immaturity, when it comes to the big moments in his relationship with Guo Guo, he is surprisingly mature. And despite Guo Guo’s attempts at dumping him at every corner she sticks it out with him too.
Guo Guo - “I didn’t not believe in you. I just...I just don’t know how to face it.”
Yun Kai - “I need your trust because I love you to the point that no medication can save me.”
Yun Kai - “I already made myself clear to my dad. In this lifetime, I will only love you.”
Yun Kai’s delivery of romantic lines is really on point. For once, I understand the heroine’s insecurities about the hero’s love. She has so many people in her life putting her down it’s crazy.
“If you give me up because of my mother’s opposition, then won’t I be too pitiful?”
I like that he gives her a chance to see if she wants to go the long road with him, because it’s so obvious that she’s putting on the breaks. And he makes himself clear how he feels about her. It was so satisfying when Guo Guo started to finally fall in love with him too. But just when you think she’s going to be nice to him, she goes back to acting like he’s an annoying fly. This frustrated me. I lived for those moments when she smiled at Yun Kai. It was so freakin’ rare.
Twisty Things
In a way, despite the terrible plot twist of Yun Kai believing someone else is Yi Bei, it was so nice to see how his love for Yi Bei as a child was different from his love for Guo Guo and how he treasured Yi Bei. If the show didn’t do this, we wouldn’t have seen this wonderful side of Yun Kai not caring who “Yi Bei” is in the present, and loving her anyway.
Le Tong
This little girl is so magnificent. I love the way she approached and talked to the adults that they forgot they were arguing with a 5 year old when she spouted her philosophical wisdom.
Chinese Vs. Kdrama
I always have a little note about the differences between the countries’ productions since I’m mainly a serial Kdrama viewer.
Recently, I have been really enjoying Chinese dramas just for something different and for more comfortable and less over the top romances.
One thing that remains consistent is the strange character development or deux es machina that occurs with relationships. People reconcile, or resolve differences just because and there is not much story telling in that aspect.
Was this review helpful to you?
