EPISODE 1 RECAP (and a bit of 2)
Like all romance stories that want to earn the female-empowerment point, the drama begins with an unsuccessful romantic relationship for the female lead Shuyi (Bai Lu). You know, a little something she can move on from before beginning a new story, otherwise, people would say she had no life before meeting the male lead.
Zheng Shuyi is a journalist who has the fortune to work for a very nice boss.
Her boss arranges an interview for her with an important figure in the business world: guy who tries very hard to look like he actually knows the business world — Shi Yan (Dylan Wang).
His terrific day starts with him offending his business partners and walking away in shiny shoes and all that.
Shuyi is overjoyed, she phones her boyfriend to tell him the news and that she will have to miss his birthday party tonight because of that interview. The first thing that comes out of the boyfriend’s mouth is: but I only get to celebrate my birthday once a year, waaaahhh…
After a bit, he agrees to not be mad at Shuyi and will wait for her.
But because of another engagement, Shi Yan the “businessman” cancels the interview. Now, Shuyi isn’t going to just take it, she has worked too hard for this.
So, she goes to the hotel where Shi Yan is attending the other event and appeals to his assistant with a phone call.
The assistant was going to turn her away but fortunately, he happens to catch a glimpse of her from a distance. Well, a pretty face does help, after all, because the assistant decides right there maybe he can do something for her. He tells her to wait while he informs Shi Yan she’s here.
While waiting for Shi Yan, Shuyi becomes hungry and tired. A little bored too. She is greeted briefly by another businessman with a soft voice and a friendly demeanor.
He will probably become important later, but for now, I think they’re just throwing out all these guys to make us pull out our hair in bewilderment as to why Shuyi even dates the guy she’s currently.
Anyway, Shi Yan doesn’t want to change his plan. The assistant then offers Shuyi some food and a ride home. Shi Yan says no.
It’s not that I didn’t expect female leads in these dramas to say yes to a sensible offer, but… why?
I can understand if you don’t want the ride home because your boyfriend is coming or whatever, but if you’re so hungry that you have to take food pills, then why turn down the FOOD? At least take a biscuit or something.
It’s a rainy night and there’s traffic so Shuyi ends up waiting a long time for her boyfriend in the rain. She is now near fainting due to hunger and exhaustion. At one point, Shi Yan’s car drives by. But as he just starts the conversation to offer her a ride, due to the stress of the day, she snaps at him and tells him to leave her alone. Girl suspects he’s trying to pick her up and screw her up.
Shi Yan rolls down his window a little, just enough for Shuyi to see that it’s him, giving her a taste of what she’ll be missing and driving away.
Shuyi’s boyfriend does show up to collect her in the end. They have a pleasant conversation, but then on the same night, Shuyi finds out he’s been cheating on her with a rich girl.
When she confronts him about it, bro straight up admits that he is with this girl right now BECAUSE she is rich. He doesn’t want to do hard work and he also doesn’t want to wait for Shuyi’s career to work out, he wants the money now. Shuyi is heartbroken, naturally.
To the audience, though, this has got to be the easiest goodbye ever. Even Shuyi’s friend and boss say they’re happy about this breakup. So, come on, Shuyi, this isn’t Zhou Shengchen, give him the boot already.
Enraged by the guy’s behavior, Shuyi wakes up the next day feeling energized and determined. She’s still thinking about getting that interview.
It takes Shuyi quite a bit of time and effort to secure the interview, but she gets to meet Shi Yan at last. Due to some inconveniences that happened beforehand, they end up having to do the interview in his 10-million-dollar car.
The interview ends with Shuyi asking Shi Yan whether he’s seeing anyone — that combined with the outfit she chose to go on this trip should tell you how professional our journalist girl is and how well she is prepared for her job.
Anyway, Shi Yan has some business at a horse’s stable so Shuyi gets to tag along. The stable’s owner is a friendly businessman played by Nie Yuan.
How the heck did they get Nie Yuan to agree to do this?
Now, at no point during her exchanges with the two men does Shuyi show any sign of professionalism or even maturity of someone who works for a newspaper. But once again, if you’ve got a pretty face and the demeanor of a silly, naive girl in these dramas, you automatically get to enjoy all the privileges these rich people have to offer.
The stable’s owner lets Shuyi stay for a bit to learn horseback riding. And who’s her teacher? Who else but an outwardly reluctant Shi Yan?
Of course, instead of actually teaching her what to do, he climbs behind her on the horse’s back and does his Fantasy Male Lead things.
By the way, are we going to finish that interview or not?
COMMENTS
This drama has a terribly low score on Douban: a 4.3, which piqued my interest because I didn’t believe something Bai Lu stars in could be that bad.
I have gone through only three episodes and haven’t seen anything terrible yet. Or perhaps I should say that I have not seen anything more terrible than what I’ve encountered in contemporary romance dramas so far. But I can tell that it’s certainly heading in the “terrible” direction with all the poorly executed tropes and camera choices that seem to focus too much on showcasing the actors’ looks.
One thing I can say for sure is that the drama is very formulaic. There isn’t anything new in its plot or the story and it’s unable to generate excitement about any of the characters. I mean… if you’re going to be crappy, at least be creative about it. I care about Shuyi, but only because she is played by Bai Lu, and I guess I still see the lovely Shiyi from One and Only when I watch her act.
Dylan Wang, on the other hand, is still very much Dylan Wang. His character may have turned hearts and heads in Love Between Fairy and Devils, but his later projects have proved that he needs the aid of good directing, which this drama doesn’t provide.
I really agree with your opinion on this drama, I also thought that Dylan Wang was laughably unconvincing as his role, feels a bit like a miscast. Perhaps it’s rude of me to limit people to certain roles, but an individuals looks and vibe is important to the character. Maybe I’m too stuck in my LBFAD impression of him but the brash, dramatic, humorous, almost a bit thuggish character suited him a lot more than one that’s cold, elegant and supposed to be super smart. As you said it can also just be poor direction.
I love how you pointed out the silly outfits they dressed poor Bai Lu in! Maybe that one would have been fine without the beret, but there are a lot of questionable outfits for her. I could see Bai Lu was trying to add something to the character in some scenes but with character with the personality of a cardboard box that can be hard. During some of the ‘romance’ scenes in later episodes I felt like Bai Lu must be screaming inside at some of her embarrassing lines.
Ultimately I ended up dropping this when Kunning Palace aired, which despite a couple flaws I am obsessed with it! Are you going to review Kunning Palace?
Agreed. Some actors have universal looks that are suitable for any type of role, but for some others their outlooks do limit what they can convincingly do.
And yes, poor Bai Lu is so underused in this drama XDD
I do have Kunning Palace on my list.
I will look forward to it then!