All-Time Favorites

It has been years since a TV show, movie, or drama could get me to cry. This is the first drama to have made me cry every single time I watch it - the one drama that is willing to spend time properly mourning the death of a partner without it seeming over-the-top or ridiculous.

The amount of detail paid to the plot line  and character motivations still amazes me months after I have finished watching this. Even more, the screenwriter and director paid amazing attention to the unfolding of plot twists, and the camera team has used some of the most beautiful cinematography techniques I have ever seen in a drama. Plus this drama has Hu Ge who developed amazing chemistry with everyone on set. Enough said <3

Since I was a kid, I had made it a rule not to watch modern-day dramas created by a mainland crew and cast. I had always found the plot trivial, the characters contrived, and the directing style too immature for my tastes. This drama has completely overthrown those beliefs for me. It's the first modern-day Chinese drama I have watched where romance between two leads is not the main focus. Instead, romantic relationships take the sidelines and the sisterhood between the five female floormates take center stage. This drama focuses on the struggle Chinese people face in an increasingly fast-paced modernization of Chinese society, especially for the female counterparts. Not only does it discuss female roles in the workplace, daughters' roles in comparison with sons' in families, but it also depicts a very real comparison between rural and urban communities, as well as struggles faced by poor, middle-class, and rich families. In a culture that maintains that the personal life remains personal, this drama does a very personal dive into the microscopic and macroscopic problems faced by Chinese women. 

I will be the first to admit that the plot of this drama can leave me baffled and frustrated at its stupidity. However, the acting of Jun Ji Hyun and the amazing OST brings me through a roller coaster of emotions whenever I watch this drama. I come back to this drama time and time again, because the romance between the two main leads genuinely sucks me in every time. I love the style the drama incorporates with the mini video "diaries" that reveal the leads' growing feelings towards each other. It's so beautifully created that the directing style and aesthetic qualities of the drama allow me to easily overlook the plot holes. 

It's cheesy and the plot is full of flaws, but the chemistry between the two main characters still gets to me every time I watch it. I love the comedy and I love the music they used in the drama. At first glance, this typically isn't a drama I would like, but I just can't help loving it.