Hope All Is Well With Us (2019)

Hope All Is Well With Us is my favourite drama of the year so far. I only started watching it because I like both main leads. I expected the story to be gloomy and sad, maybe even depressing, because of the synopsis. I mean, the female lead is depressed, and the drama starts with a divorce - doesn't sound too uplifting, does it?

The drama soon proved me wrong. It is not a depressing, sad or dark drama.The characters (pretty much all of them!) go through difficult things and they suffer, but… they find joy, and friendship and strength! The drama also has many funny as well as touching moments. It tackles some serious issues, but not in a way to make you feel down. (This might be a flaw to some people, but not to me.) Some of these things, however, are not really taken as seriously as they should but are rather just glossed over. Other things are convincing enough, though, such as the male lead's pain and anger, and the gradual transformation he goes through.

They both change for the better. Liu Tao and Yang Shuo are both the main leads, but it feels like his character, Xian Quian, has more background, is more developed and thus more interesting to follow throughout the drama. The father and son scenes were great! Being a single father is not easy, though, and he is very bitter when it comes to his ex, Xun Zhao. She finds a job at a fashion magazine where she makes some friends and twice as many enemies. I guess I'm not too sure how she changes as a person because I'm not quite sure who she is as a person. Still, I liked her and cared about her story.

The second leads, then - Alisa and Hu Nan. I really liked Alisa and rooted for her, and the friendship between the two women was a good part of this drama. When it comes to Alisa and Xiang Qian, at first I disliked their interactions... Little by little, though, it started to make sense, and their scenes together started to be funny and cute! (She and little Hao Han were also cute together.) Hu Nan, I liked him at the start, but I liked him less as the story progressed. He was good for Xun Zhao in some ways, but some things about him were hard to understand. There was also the married couple aka the best friends of the leads - they were good friends, I liked them, and I liked how they struggled to remain loyal and helpful without taking sides.

To sum it up, this drama had many good characters and actually not too many unnecessary parts or annoying things. It was warm, enjoyable, not too long, and well worth my time. It was less cheerful and bubbly compared to some c-dramas I’ve watched, and more "real" and less melo than others. It's not all the way up there with my favourites Ode to Joy and To Be A Better Man, though. Close enough!

I recommend it to anyone who want adult characters in a drama about family and finding your way in life. You should not expect romance, though, because there is almost nothing! Sure, some fall in love, but the plot is not about romance. The thing is, the characters have lots of other things on their mind during this time in their life! That is pretty realistic, I guess. I'm not going to lie - I would not have minded more romance! The fact that there isn't any to speak of is not a big flaw, though. That will have to wait for another drama. (Yang Shuo can do it, I know it!)

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