So much fun

I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. The office setting was really well done, very relatable if you've ever worked in that environment. While the characters weren't always in realistic scenarios, it still felt very true to the office life experience, at least for me. The micromanaging of the higher-ups, the random initiatives to increase productivity... It all rang true to life with a silly twist.

I mostly watched this drama to see Wang Hedi and Chen Yuqi, but I came out of it really enjoying all the actors and their characters. While Wang Hedi is labelled as "specially invited actor" he's in pretty much every episode, though not always a central character. It's worth watching if you like him and want to see him do a more comic and boyish role. Chen Yuqi also does really well in her role. Her comic moments in Unchained Love were some of my favourite parts, so it was nice seeing her do more comedy here.

Zheng Kai was very likeable as Li Tianran, and the natural build of his romance arc was done very nicely. I liked that the focus of the show was on the interpersonal relationships between all the characters, with at least one episode featuring even the smaller side characters more prominently. The romance arc is just an added feature instead of the focus.

Overall, this was a really fun watch. I tore through all 40 episodes, which surprised me because I usually take a longer time to watch things. It was just so easy to watch several in one go, and I enjoyed it a lot.

Read More

A pleasant surprise

I went into watching this drama with very few expectations. I had tried to watch it when it first aired, but I found the first couple episodes not very engaging and a bit cheesy. I decided to finally give it an honest try this year and loved it. After the third episode, things picked up for me and I found myself getting swept into the story.

I really enjoyed the messy relationship between the two leads. I found them very fascinating, even when their dynamic was quite toxic. There's a lot of the trope where the characters (the ML especially) lie and hurt the other in order to "protect" them. If you really dislike this trope, this might not be the drama for you. For me, I've never been especially fond of the trope but I thought they did it in a really engaging way. I was glued to the screen.

There was one point towards the end of the drama where this trope felt over-used and tired, but it was luckily a brief arc.

What really makes the drama shine to me is the ensemble cast. All the side characters were interesting and I enjoyed the dynamics formed between the side chars and the leads. I really liked Bao Na and Ma Zhaixing's friendship especially and I also really enjoyed the family dynamic of the Night Fiends. Ji Chong was also a really fun character and I liked the friendship between himself and Ma Zhaixing, and even later his dynamic with Prince Bo. Chu Kui was a pretty interesting villain as well, there were times I forgot he was the bad guy!

There were a few moments that could be triggering to viewers that I want to point out. There were two instances of attempted sexual assault. In both cases, the ML does it to make the FL stop loving him, and they're not treated as romantic, but they're very uncomfortable to watch. A scene in Ep 15 especially is very uncomfortable. There is also a miscarriage scene in EP 16.

Overall, I really liked the drama and I'm glad I gave it another shot. If you struggle through the first couple episodes, be reassured the third is where it picks up, and by the fifth I was hooked. 49 episodes just flew right by, and I really had a lot of fun with it.

Read More

I gave up

I am not one to drop dramas. It takes a lot for me to consider it. But I really couldn't go on watching this one. I tried, I even adjusted the speed, even read spoilers to see when the story picked up again, and I really couldn't continue.

It's upsetting because I really like Wang Hedi and Bai Lu, and I was willing to put up with a lot of nonsense on their behalf, but even they couldn't keep me entertained.

The drama started off strong for me. It was entertaining and light, the cast was fun, and I liked the side couples as well as the main one. But around the 24th episode, I was starting to lose faith. By episode 27, I was completely over it. While the pacing was slow in earlier episodes, I didn't mind it so much because it felt like the writers were building towards something. But then by episode 24, it seemed like the writers were just making excuses for why the characters couldn't be together. While there had been some obstacles established early on and forgotten, by the time they were reintroduced, the characters were too interested in one another that those obstacles shouldn't have mattered. Combine this with introducing a new man to fawn over the FMC well past the halfway mark, it really just felt like the writers needed to fill extra episodes.

I think a 20-episode show would've been the perfect length, because the first twenty episodes were really good to me. It's after that that everything started to fall apart. Kudos to Bai Lu and Wang Hedi with doing a good performance while working with what they got, but they really deserved better. I'd love to see these two work together again, with hopefully a much better script. I think they could've had a really stellar drama had it not been for the very poor writing.

Read More