naemryi
This review may contain spoilers
Eloquently Written Original Storyline with Reversed Roles
Before you feel this story is so groundbreaking, know that is it believed by the Chinese that a woman who is six years older than the guy is a perfect pairing. They are quite equal and open-minded in their thinking.
I really appreciated the original story between an older girl and younger guy. A prominent theme throughout the series was gender equality and it was interesting to watch the female lead be the breadmaker and fighter, while the guy supported the female lead's wishes and directions. It was genius and trending to make Yang Hua a stocktrader, which gave his character respect and intelligence, able to make money and have the education degree, work connections, yet stay at home. The main story was interesting to watch and had substance to it, filling about the first couple episodes, sporadically to around episode 10, then picking up again at the series halfway point at around episode 26. The side stories did not take up a major part of the episodes and were easy to watch and skip if wanted.
Another thing to draw attention to is that the female lead and casts are constantly changing outfits. We can learn fashion trends from the show and see each character's personality through their outfits.
The writers were genius in writing Li Da, by balancing her ambition while not presenting her as the stereotypically depicted antagonistic woman who is shallow and mean, without their own career and methods at life, even though they are at an even level to compete with the main characters.
In regards to pacing, I feel some cases were given too many episodes, such as the first cases, and others were blown through too quickly. The ending was very well-rounded and finished off, however it felt sudden compared to how the filler episodes spaced out progression of the plot until that point.
Qin Shi's brother and sister-in-law's romance was confusing logically and I skimmed through most of it after the initial episodes.
The exes of both leads were written beautifully in that they were moderate and not too-extreme in their pursuit of love or creating tension between the main leads. I love that Yang Hua's ex-girlfriend, Yao Yao, had her own life and maturity to realize they don't belong together anymore and not drop everything in her life to pursue him. However I feel the show writers wrote her out too quickly afterwards when that was established. How can a case go to court when the paintiff drops out?? It doesn't quite make sense, again, creating the rushed ending.
This show is a real testament to the female narrative and girl power, giving many eloquent and beautiful arguments of independence and equality from Qin Shi. The show writers did a wonderful job of writing original dialogue, paired with creating authentic characters by the commendable choice in using the actor's real voices. As a result, each character's little twitches and reactions that is natural to the actor's themselves was incorporated into their characters, separating them from the normal Chinese tv series of flat voices and robotic expressions. In this way, despite my initial hesitation of a show between Yang Mi and Xu Kai, they have grown on me and irreplaceably made the show's character's their own. (It also helps that Xu Kai doesn't act in many modern shows so his acting of this role gave a fresh impression to male leads). I immensely support the series for using all the actor's real voices, using the character's wardrobe to emulate their stories, and the original storyline with impeccable balance of a hard topic and eloquent messages written for the characters.
This show is in many ways all about balance, and the show writers exemplified it in all aspects.
Other comments:
- The depiction of a law firm is not accurate LOL (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, but all that drama about money investments was really hilarious because this is not a business corporation despite what the writers are writing it to be)
- Lawyers can't just switch the topic of law they practice so easily (I think?)
- They barely have any court scenes LOL. Also much of a corporate lawyer's job is writing reports
I really appreciated the original story between an older girl and younger guy. A prominent theme throughout the series was gender equality and it was interesting to watch the female lead be the breadmaker and fighter, while the guy supported the female lead's wishes and directions. It was genius and trending to make Yang Hua a stocktrader, which gave his character respect and intelligence, able to make money and have the education degree, work connections, yet stay at home. The main story was interesting to watch and had substance to it, filling about the first couple episodes, sporadically to around episode 10, then picking up again at the series halfway point at around episode 26. The side stories did not take up a major part of the episodes and were easy to watch and skip if wanted.
Another thing to draw attention to is that the female lead and casts are constantly changing outfits. We can learn fashion trends from the show and see each character's personality through their outfits.
The writers were genius in writing Li Da, by balancing her ambition while not presenting her as the stereotypically depicted antagonistic woman who is shallow and mean, without their own career and methods at life, even though they are at an even level to compete with the main characters.
In regards to pacing, I feel some cases were given too many episodes, such as the first cases, and others were blown through too quickly. The ending was very well-rounded and finished off, however it felt sudden compared to how the filler episodes spaced out progression of the plot until that point.
Qin Shi's brother and sister-in-law's romance was confusing logically and I skimmed through most of it after the initial episodes.
The exes of both leads were written beautifully in that they were moderate and not too-extreme in their pursuit of love or creating tension between the main leads. I love that Yang Hua's ex-girlfriend, Yao Yao, had her own life and maturity to realize they don't belong together anymore and not drop everything in her life to pursue him. However I feel the show writers wrote her out too quickly afterwards when that was established. How can a case go to court when the paintiff drops out?? It doesn't quite make sense, again, creating the rushed ending.
This show is a real testament to the female narrative and girl power, giving many eloquent and beautiful arguments of independence and equality from Qin Shi. The show writers did a wonderful job of writing original dialogue, paired with creating authentic characters by the commendable choice in using the actor's real voices. As a result, each character's little twitches and reactions that is natural to the actor's themselves was incorporated into their characters, separating them from the normal Chinese tv series of flat voices and robotic expressions. In this way, despite my initial hesitation of a show between Yang Mi and Xu Kai, they have grown on me and irreplaceably made the show's character's their own. (It also helps that Xu Kai doesn't act in many modern shows so his acting of this role gave a fresh impression to male leads). I immensely support the series for using all the actor's real voices, using the character's wardrobe to emulate their stories, and the original storyline with impeccable balance of a hard topic and eloquent messages written for the characters.
This show is in many ways all about balance, and the show writers exemplified it in all aspects.
Other comments:
- The depiction of a law firm is not accurate LOL (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, but all that drama about money investments was really hilarious because this is not a business corporation despite what the writers are writing it to be)
- Lawyers can't just switch the topic of law they practice so easily (I think?)
- They barely have any court scenes LOL. Also much of a corporate lawyer's job is writing reports
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