You Are Not Her (2023)

A surprisingly good romantic drama

I have only seen this up to episode 9 but I feel I need to put out there how much I enjoy watching this drama. I remember seeing the ad for this with Karl Ting and Crystal Fung plastered all over it and I thought, "Oh no, this is going to suck." I mean the last few roles they had weren't particularly rememberable and they never left a lasting impression. However, this drama had them turn it all around. I can feel their chemistry on the screen and the scenes where they were together and enjoying each other's company felt very genuine. This is all bolstered by a great romantic theme song "Officially Missing You" sang by Aster Lau that is easy to listen to and enjoy time and time again.

I, also so far, have not found any character to hate. The supporting cast are all great and have their own troubles to solve, but they all work together around the main leads without taking too much of the spotlight. Even William Chak is not bad acting as this bastard who just got out of prison.

The story is still quite a mystery because Crystal Fung's character is very serious and angry at the start of the drama, but during an argument and sudden car accident with Karl Ting at the wheel, there is a flash of light with Crystal flying through the windshield and yet she is completely unharmed, with her personality taking a one-eighty degree turn. The once serious and cold Crystal is suddenly very passionate and forgiving of her boyfriend, which Karl did find weird but ultimately accepts. I can't wait to find out what is going on because there have been so many theories on this I have discussed with friends. Is she an Angel in disguise? An alien? Maybe a fox spirit taking Crystal's form to help out her last wishes? We don't know. At least not yet!

Update: boy the last 2 episodes were a massive rollercoaster ride. Karl starts getting annoyed with Crystal sticking her nose into everybody’s business and helping them face their problems. His reasoning is that she would do this behind his back and without considering the feelings of others when doing so. Crystal’s stance is that we should directly face issues and tackle them head on. I understand both arguments so I could not choose a side, I kinda agreed with both arguments so I was massively conflicted.

The disagreement leads to Karl avoiding Crystal and speaking to his grandma and friends for about the situation. All of them tell him how great they thought Krystal was and how she helped them face and resolve their issues. Then finally, in episode 14 while Karl was at an arcade to avoid Krystal at home, he suddenly had an epiphany and ran home to hug Crystal to apologise to her and say how stupid he was for acting like he did when he had such a great girlfriend. This scene was great and I thought the relationship drama was over, but no, there’s more! Karl noticed later that Crystal was trying to hide something in a wicker basket, so he decided to sneakily take a look and discovered a futuristic phone with 7G (7G!!). He saw the background wallpaper had Crystal and himself, but he had an hairstyle he had never had before. He listened to a voicemail and recognised his own voice but he did not remember leaving such a message before. Finally, he watched a video clip where Crystal was being arrested after a car accident before the camera pans over to the passenger side to reveal another version of Karl sitting there dead. This frightens our Karl as he was clearly alive.

Predictably, in episode 15, the final episode, Karl confronts Crystal about this and after pressing her repeatedly, she finally revealed that she was from another universe that found herself in ours after she crashed her car at the same time he crashed his and swapped places with his Crystal. This realisation horrifies Karl because he knew his Crystal was in her universe and was in prison for a crime she did not commit, so he begged other Crystal to bring his Crystal back. Despite the protests of other Crystal’s love for Karl, Karl couldn’t accept this and finally speaks the name of the drama, “You’re just not her.” He said the thing!!

Cue the next few hours of them just wandering around until night when other Crystal decided to kneel down and cry on the side of the freeway. Somebody suddenly drove by and stopped to check on her to make sure she was okay, but other Crystal noticed that the car was the exact same car she drove on the night she crashed. So, predictably, she stole the car and drove it to Karl, asking him to get in as she explained herself. She explained that she thought it was heaven’s way of giving her another chance because her direct approach in her universe led to her boyfriend wanting to break up with her, and in an act of anger she crashed the car, accidentally killing him, but managed to switch places with our Crystal so thought it was an opportunity to start again. Since our Karl was so adamant in getting his Crystal back, other Crystal was going to try and recreate the situation that caused them to switch places by driving the same model of car with them in the car and crashing into the same place with her seatbelt undone. We see this kinda work and other Crystal flies out of the windshield with a huge flash of light.

We finally go to the next scene where Karl wakes up in hospital and asks where Crystal was. The doctor tells him that she had suffered more serious injuries and was in a coma. We spend the last few moments of the episode watching Karl constantly visiting her and waiting for her to wake up, until one day he gets a phone call to inform him she had woken up. He arrives at the hospital and after some hesitation, enters her room to ask of she was his Crystal, where she only smiles, leaving it all ip to the viewer’s interpretation.

The ending was a lovely touch to keep it mysterious and I still really loved the drama, but there were so many things that ruined the immersion. Other Crystal’s carjacking had no consequences at all, and I know it was left out due to time, but it was sending the message that stealing cars was fine as there are no consequences for doing so. Also, during the final scene where Karl wakes up and has Crystal in a coma, none of the other characters are seen to visit them. These characters were seen to be indebted to Crystal and yet we do not see any of them visit Karl or Crystal during their time at the hospital. They didn’t have to be shown saying anything, just a montage of them standing there silent would be enough to show they cared. Also, how does dimensional travel work her? Does it require you drive a Subaru WRX Impreza STi, particularly the 2009 model with the optional sport pack for it to work? Nothing is explained! There are other plotholes as well that doesn’t allow me to give this a score above 8, but ultimately this was a great romantic drama that I hope gets a sequel. The romantic scenes between Karl and Krystal made the romance between Romeo and Juliet in TVB’s recent Romeo and His Butterfly Lover look like a joke.

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