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A show that made me mad and happy at the same time
I'll be honest, I dropped this show three times while watching. It took me more than 3 months to finish this show even though I'm on a career break and have lots of free time. All this because it gets too annoying and trope-y for me at points to just ignore and power through.
Having said that, there are some things that I like.
- First, the child actor and Cindy. Some really great acting by both their characters that had me wishing for more screen time constantly. They make you grow fond of the characters which are simply fun and easy going. It's characters like these that make the show an easy watch.
- I also enjoyed the way they handled the topic of sexual harassment at workplace. By their initial ignorance to the issue from Min Hui's perspective, I was mad. It was just another East Asian show where this was going to be a given and nobody does anything about it. But they way she pivots when here junior is affected, take actions, counsels her and makes sure the perpetrator suffers for her makes me so proud and so happy. They have aptly covered all aspects of this issue - how the survivor is conflicted, how they feel, how they can overcome it, their options, and the best the support provided when they voice out their story. Absolutely proud that this was handled so sensitively and nicely. Though a little trigger warning before the episode with her junior would've been nice considering how it was depicted in detail.
- As a Li Chuan fan, might I add that I loved his character and acting. I think he was the one with the most character development and I'm all for it. The way he improved as a person/lover for Zi Zhu is amazing. Though it still blows my mind how easily they've shown him recover from a love of four years. I do not believe in bullshit like you can't unlove someone so easily. People fall out of love just like that. There are all kinds of people. But some story development would've been nice to make it seem more realistic to many people.
- Lastly, both the leads were fantastic in their acting. I just have so many problems with their characters that I can't just overlook that and appreciate the actors more. Plus their chemistry did not seem natural to me at all and seemed very forced for the most part. Like, I can't believe I was skipping kissing scenes. Come on, I live for those!
Now the things I absolutely hate:
- Lack of consent, privacy and the glorification of stalking. The male lead quite literally did not take no for an answer when Min Hui told him she's not interested in taking whatever they have forward. It's like the same argument harassers give that she did not mean it. No one cares if she meant it or not, it's for her to decide whether she meant it or not. Not for you to test it out. He literally acts like a stalker by crashing her dates, using their son and also lying to get her attention. This blatant ignorance of consent has made me very very angry.
- Min hui dragging out the entire denial for so long. After a point it just feels useless and just a torture for the ML which she seems to be enjoying quite clearly. Like, you love him, just admit. Why make him suffer unnecessarily? It's not always cute acting too hard to get. You have a kid together, you're not some 16 year old teenager to pull off nonsense like this. It makes me so angry at the unnecessary plot.
- The drag that this show is. This show did not need 28 episodes. It could have been very nicely wrapped up under 20. Just every little plot/trope was so dragged out in this story with lots of filler content. Like the last two episodes are literally so extra.
- The unrealistic expectation of majority people here to demonise Min Hui for not telling him about his kid, Just donating your sperm (in a way, just giving an analogy) does not make you a father. The guy literally was angry with her (I'm not saying that his anger was not justified but at the end of the day he was beyond pissed), refused to talk to her or hear her out and then vanished. The woman learns of her pregnancy. What do you expect? She should travel 7 continents to find him? What load of crap! She gave birth to the child alone, faced the pregnancy alone and was taking care of a sick child alone. She deserves the right to decide if she then wants to involve the father in his life or not. It is very easy to sit on the other side and say she should've told him but do you even realise how difficult it is to do so? She was scared he would take away her only family, the child was already sick and was clearly very dependant on her as his mother - she had to consider everything before she simply revealed to him who the child is once they met again.
All in all, the good overshadowed the bad for me. I went through the entire show more for the secondary couples than our lead couple here because that just got way too boring for me. Also, the business storyline in itself was pretty addictive for me to just ignore. If you can overlook some red flags, the show is an easy watch with lots of cute moments between different couples and an intriguing business plot. Would recommend watching this with your brain kept aside to not question every single thing. Happy watching!
Having said that, there are some things that I like.
- First, the child actor and Cindy. Some really great acting by both their characters that had me wishing for more screen time constantly. They make you grow fond of the characters which are simply fun and easy going. It's characters like these that make the show an easy watch.
- I also enjoyed the way they handled the topic of sexual harassment at workplace. By their initial ignorance to the issue from Min Hui's perspective, I was mad. It was just another East Asian show where this was going to be a given and nobody does anything about it. But they way she pivots when here junior is affected, take actions, counsels her and makes sure the perpetrator suffers for her makes me so proud and so happy. They have aptly covered all aspects of this issue - how the survivor is conflicted, how they feel, how they can overcome it, their options, and the best the support provided when they voice out their story. Absolutely proud that this was handled so sensitively and nicely. Though a little trigger warning before the episode with her junior would've been nice considering how it was depicted in detail.
- As a Li Chuan fan, might I add that I loved his character and acting. I think he was the one with the most character development and I'm all for it. The way he improved as a person/lover for Zi Zhu is amazing. Though it still blows my mind how easily they've shown him recover from a love of four years. I do not believe in bullshit like you can't unlove someone so easily. People fall out of love just like that. There are all kinds of people. But some story development would've been nice to make it seem more realistic to many people.
- Lastly, both the leads were fantastic in their acting. I just have so many problems with their characters that I can't just overlook that and appreciate the actors more. Plus their chemistry did not seem natural to me at all and seemed very forced for the most part. Like, I can't believe I was skipping kissing scenes. Come on, I live for those!
Now the things I absolutely hate:
- Lack of consent, privacy and the glorification of stalking. The male lead quite literally did not take no for an answer when Min Hui told him she's not interested in taking whatever they have forward. It's like the same argument harassers give that she did not mean it. No one cares if she meant it or not, it's for her to decide whether she meant it or not. Not for you to test it out. He literally acts like a stalker by crashing her dates, using their son and also lying to get her attention. This blatant ignorance of consent has made me very very angry.
- Min hui dragging out the entire denial for so long. After a point it just feels useless and just a torture for the ML which she seems to be enjoying quite clearly. Like, you love him, just admit. Why make him suffer unnecessarily? It's not always cute acting too hard to get. You have a kid together, you're not some 16 year old teenager to pull off nonsense like this. It makes me so angry at the unnecessary plot.
- The drag that this show is. This show did not need 28 episodes. It could have been very nicely wrapped up under 20. Just every little plot/trope was so dragged out in this story with lots of filler content. Like the last two episodes are literally so extra.
- The unrealistic expectation of majority people here to demonise Min Hui for not telling him about his kid, Just donating your sperm (in a way, just giving an analogy) does not make you a father. The guy literally was angry with her (I'm not saying that his anger was not justified but at the end of the day he was beyond pissed), refused to talk to her or hear her out and then vanished. The woman learns of her pregnancy. What do you expect? She should travel 7 continents to find him? What load of crap! She gave birth to the child alone, faced the pregnancy alone and was taking care of a sick child alone. She deserves the right to decide if she then wants to involve the father in his life or not. It is very easy to sit on the other side and say she should've told him but do you even realise how difficult it is to do so? She was scared he would take away her only family, the child was already sick and was clearly very dependant on her as his mother - she had to consider everything before she simply revealed to him who the child is once they met again.
All in all, the good overshadowed the bad for me. I went through the entire show more for the secondary couples than our lead couple here because that just got way too boring for me. Also, the business storyline in itself was pretty addictive for me to just ignore. If you can overlook some red flags, the show is an easy watch with lots of cute moments between different couples and an intriguing business plot. Would recommend watching this with your brain kept aside to not question every single thing. Happy watching!
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