Dear Missy (2020)

Wonderful story, chemistry- wonderful drama

So at first, I watched the trailer and didn't really expect much, except for the Hikaru No Go crossover. At first I thought that this will be just like another adult drama with draggy storyline and annoying characters, however to my surprise, this drama is excellent.

The series revolves around the 2 best friends work and love life. Throughout the series, you can see how each character develop to become a better person. In this series, each person plays an important role, not only Li Yi Tong and Chen Jin as the main lead, but I feel like every one is the main lead in the drama. At first, I kinda grumbled seeing how the third couple (Ye Zhou and Guan Ye) has so many screen time, thinking that it was unnecessary and boringg. But after finishing the drama, I realised that every one of the character in the drama is the main role (even though their world revolves around Lu Ke and Shen Si Yi) . Each of the characters have their own story shown, even though not much of the screen time of them is shown. Every person that appears in the drama and the problems encountered help every one of the character in the drama grow, they grow alongside with the main lead (which is very unoften to see in dramas). Insignificant characters and their own story makes me very attached to this drama, it is their presence and each of their story that makes the drama a 很了不起的 drama.

And another important thing is this drama doesn’t have draggy problems and storyline. The problems encountered in the drama is very realistic and they don’t drag the problem solving. Also, (THANK GOD) there is no annoying male or female lead.

And of course, li yi tong and chen jin chemistry is impeccable!! Their acting skills and chemistry made me really though that I am watch a documentary series about them. Last but not least, the cinematography and music is also perfect. The camera angles, editing, and everything it is like watching a movie production. The slow-tempo and jazz music is the perfect combination for the cinematography. With both of them, you really feel the ambience of the series. You can feel that you are “IN” the series, watching alongside each of the characters and their growth.

In conclusion, if you are watching for a light hearted drama which makes you smile, laugh, cry this is the perfect drama!! My review can't really sum up how amazing this drama is, but I do recommend every one of you to watch this drama!!
And I don't know if they dubbed for this series, but god.. I am in love with Zhang Meng's voice and accent!!!

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A MUST WATCH DRAMA

I seldom write long reviews but Dear Missy deserve it. So I started this drama as it is an adult life drama and the filming seemed good from the trailer. It was better than expected. The series revolves around two friends and the people around them. Friendship and relationships are the main theme. Each character was well developed, actually you can find a little bit of yourself in every character, this is what i felt at least.
Every relationship and every person had its ups and downs and the way characters dealt with their problems was completely realistic. Nothing was exaggerated and that is what I liked the most. Everything seemed like a daily life encounter, nothing was unreal.

At first, I couldn't understand why a second lead couple had so much screen time, but later I realized that if they hadn't i would not have gain so much from the series. This couple is actually all young adults. At the end this drama, made me see things from another perspective, and I am so grateful,this is something that rarely happens and I believe writers and director is to thank.
As for the main leads Li Yitong and Gina Jin I have no words, their acting skills, their chemistry everything was amazing. It was like seeing two real best friends. Gina thought (OMG QUEEEN) in this role is amazing, such a dynamic woman, something that we rarely see in Chinese dramas.
I would like also to comment on the direction. It must be one of the best directing in Chinese series. Each episode was like watching a movie. After that I will definitely watch the works of the same director.
To conclude, if you are into adult life dramas or a young adult I definitely recommend this drama. Don't be discourage from the comments here (this is what happened in my case and at the end the drama was a masterpiece for me) I feel that my review cannot express well how good was it so please give it a try

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Excellent performances by Li Yi Tong and Gina Jin

I admit that I started watching this series because of "Hikaru no Go". Wanted to see the characters cross-over in this drama. However, it got me hooked from episode 3 onwards.

Both female leads were excellent in their roles and the chemistry on screen was amazing. It brought back very fond memories of my own best friend adventures and stories.

The character script for the 2 main leads were well thought:
The character of Lu Ke seems faultless and was shown her weakness in losing her own identity with her 1st boyfriend.
In contrast, the character of Si Yi, aggressive and domineering, yet we saw her vulnerability when it comes to falling in love.

However, the characters for some of the supporting roles were sort of "obsolete" or were given too much air time. Like the role of Guan Yue (too much air time) and Chris (obsolete). Instead, I was hoping that they would develop and give more air time for the interaction between Shi Guang and Yao Yuan. After all, this encounter gave Shi Guang the closure he was seeking.

Thank you for the happy ending for each of these characters.

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Felt like an American show

I was very excited to watch Dear Missy since the director and writers were involved in making one of my favourite modern Chinese dramas “Hikaru no Go”. I have to admit, I also watched this mainly for the HNG cameo with Shi Guang, and also because I wanted to watch something with Zhang Chao (Ji Li is also another actor I was interested in watching this for). However, the sismance aspect drew me in as I’m always interested to see strong women on shows.

The story started out well and had that warm fuzzy feeling that HNG had (basically, friendship and kindness). I think for about 3 episodes, I was invested in these friends and their journeys. They were portrayed as strong, independent women although Lu Ke and Shen Si Yi are like polar opposites. They still supported each other and had to help their failing company.

Then came all the extraneous stuff I found rather boring - Zhang Chao’s character pursuing Si Yi - them getting into a passionate romance. Other romances and stuff happening simultaneously. It was like I was watching an American show with all the usual tropes of mutual friends falling for the each other, people who hate each other initially falling for each other eventually, passionate kisses, pregnancy scares, proposals, weddings at the end of the show, will they- will they not couples. These are things seen multiple times on American shows, so I felt that the show was nothing new or fresh from that perspective.

In fact, Si Yi felt a lot like Robin from How I Met Your Mother. She’s kind of tough and all on the outside, but warms up to the male lead at the end. They have their trials and tribulations, both date each other first and then other people. But they finally end up together.

I still went on watching the show expecting it to change at some point. Don’t get me wrong- it’s not a bad show by any means. It’s just very formulaic and lacks the depth or philosophical aspects of many other Chinese shows I’ve seen. It was trying to be far too much like an American show, in my opinion, and therefore lost the chance to be unique. I know many people probably like the drama for this reason- it is familiar as everyone has seen American shows before. I guess the fact that this was supposed to be a Gossip Girl remake actually lends to it a very American show quality.

My favourite scene was undoubtedly the one where Shi Guang (Hikaru no Go watchers will know) has his little cameo. It made me tear up for the first time on the show (and I cry very easily). That was by far the scene that felt most unique and not tropey.

Overall, the characters are good and the acting has no problems. However, I couldn’t relate to anything. The girls lived a very lavish lifestyle for those in their 20s. They also had a lot of time to talk about their romantic lives. I wanted to see more of their friendship minus all the romantic stuff. I like the realism in many coming of age Chinese dramas - especially those the screenwriter has been involved in (Hikaru no Go and With You come to mind), but this show had very little that seemed realistic. Eventually Dear Missy became about getting married or getting together with the one who got away. Everyone ended up in relationships and that was the happy ending. Because of this, this show feels more like it’s about romance than friendship. If that’s your thing, go for it. If you expect to see a show where friendship is given more emphasis than the romance, then watch something else.

It did get super draggy at points, especially with the back and forth in romances. I would probably give this show a 6.8/10 but I’m giving it an extra 0.2 just because of the HNG reference.

I honestly feel let down as I expected more. It did not stay with me at all after finishing the drama. Not a bad show, but quite superficial and very forgettable .

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This is the show I wish all career-girl shows were like!

(This is less of a review and more of a rambling love letter. I had to go back and delete the words "I love" 6 times.)

I love this show so much, I actually stalled watching the last ten or so episodes to save them for days when I hated my job and needed a work-life related pick-me-up.

This show feels, sounds and looks so real, if I had a magic machine which would transport me to a fictional world, I would want to be dropped in right here, thankyouverymuch.

I felt like the working life of everyone was not just a plot device to move them here and there, ending in overly dramatic boardroom scenes. No, some enjoyed their job more than others, but everyone was trying to do their best work, whether they succeeded or not, their struggles were diverse and their motivations to work were real. It was such a breath of fresh air, treating work like it is a real time-suck, but also a motivator, and not something you throw aside as soon as the love interest shows up.
Everyone had not only a job, but also a love-life and a friendship-life and a family-life, that took up an appropriate amount of their time and focus. They also went overseas, and it wasn't willy-nilly and all the foreigners were caricatures, even that part was realistic and well done.
But it is not just that, these women (and men) are written with so much depth and realness, they feel like real friends and co-workers. And it is not just them either, the side characters are really well written and distinctive and real as well. Despite all their flaws and shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, I just wanted to hang out with them much longer. No one was perfect or a one dimensional villain, not even the many antagonists.

And let us not talk about the friendship between Shen Si Yi and Lu Ke, each of them a badass in her own special way and they portrayed that mix of love and annoyance of longterm, closer-than-sisters friendship so well. I am not surprised people thought this should have been a GL, because I have also experienced friendships so close people thought we might be dating.

The acting was on point all around. Don't care for OSTs, didn't find anything particuarly annoying.
The fashion, which is always a plus for me, was very understated, distinct and stylish.

Honestly, the only criticism I have is that there are so few kisses between Lu Ke and Zhang Mang, and I wanted more scenes of them together.

Watch it, that's all.

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Love the cinematography but disliked plot

Its a magazine, in 2020, that is like the weakest subject matter I feel.

When watching this series, it will be compared to "my best friend story" which was aired mid way thru the broadcast of this series, so competition for viewership was fierce during that period. For me "my best friend story" is more of a slice of life drama about 2 friends that will do anything and protect each other. For Dear Missy, it feels ..... that they are friends just because they have to be friends. However this series has the better cinematography and is much brighter.

This series really started off well, but it just lost its wheels for me mid way, especially when there is just so many scenes with Guan yue and Ye Zhou. Their story was so fleshed out that it made viewership lose focus on the 2 FL till it seem frivolous.

Thru out the series I do not feel that Lu ke even loves Zhang mang and chemistry was poor for this pairing. Si yi and yao yuan romance was great to watch from the start, but because they part ways and si yi actually fell for Bai Xiao Chuan with kiss scenes, this resulted in many comments "that being an actress is really not easy when one has to have kiss scenes with an uncle". However the romance of si yi and yao yuan is just too messy and lacks substances due to the lack of development and structure. They just happen to appear, chat and patch up like its magic.

Overall if you watched the first 8-10 episodes and then watch the last 5 episodes. You really arent missing out on much, they are just as happily ever after as from the early episodes and just ended up in pairings.

Its just a romance series where no one died, nothing major happened to any of the cast and its happily ever after.

So for me the best scene in this series is when guest role Hu Xian xu aka Shi guang in "Hikaru no go", asked Juck zhang aka yao yuan if he plays "Go" in a bar (even the theme BGM for that series came on), as he has been searching everywhere for his friend. If you have watched that series, you will get the relation between this pair, because Juck zhang was Chu Ying in that series (Chu ying was the spirit that guided Shi guang to play and love the game of "Go")

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Amazing chemistry of the two best friend! Love them! So, watch it, ladies!

Great acting and amazing chemistry of Li Yitong (Lu Ke) and Gina Chen Jin (Shen Siyi). They have done best to bring up the storyline to a something much enjoyable to watch. The story may not be extraordinary but It is a mature real-life story for some and I love watching the love and hate friendship between Li Yitong and Gina Jin who are both beautiful and attractive in uniquely different way, despite of their complete opposite characters! So yes what can I say, I love this drama! Moreover, the music and soundtracks in this drama were fab too!! It’s just brighten my days :-)

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Slice of life plot with great acting~!

I was wavering between giving this 7.5/10 or 8/10. In the end, I decided to give it the higher rating because of the stellar acting from the entire cast. :)

What I liked about this drama:
- An engaging slice-of-life drama which made me want to go from one episode to another to find out what would happen next.
- In general, this drama was fast-paced enough and things moved along.
- The acting from every single member of the cast was stellar and I was, frankly, blown away by how natural they were as the people they were acting as!! :)
- This drama is interesting enough and the ending is fairly happy with everything tying up for the main cast.
- Lao Huang was a gem of a friend and I liked how the friends were there for one another.
- I liked the chemistry between Yao Yuan and Shen Si Yi. They looked good together.

What I didn't like:
- I hated the characters who constantly f-ed themselves up, namely, Cheng Nan and Guan Yue. Cheng Nan was all sorts of insecure and he did not cherish his relationship with Lu Ke, who gave her all into their relationship and was sincere to him. He was a bast*rd to cheat on her. He did not deserve her love and affections.
- I hated Guan Yue because she was constantly just very loud in the show. She was very shouty and she didn't have the best of brains. How can a designer simply give her design away to anyone at all? This isn't about trusting the other party. This is about protecting one's "baby" with one's life. Would you hand over your baby to a stranger even if the stranger is a famous person? The answer is a big NO. She was so senseless and the fact that she blamed everyone else, like Lu Ke, and made things go from bad to worse and worst was insufferable to watch. I hated seeing her on-screen. She also did not have chemistry with Ye Zhou and I felt that Ye Zhou was much more sensible and was too good for her. (However, the fact that she could make me be filled with wrath indicated that she was a very good actress because she had performed her role well.)

Overall, I enjoyed this drama. It was a good enough ride!

I recommend this drama to others. The acting is stellar and the 2 female leads (especially Shen Si Yi) are real good-lookers. Their fashion was great! Both looked like models from glossy magazines. I like how real / human the characters are. A great slice-of-life drama that should be enjoyed! :)

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One of the best in its genre

Another solid work by Sugarman Media, that keeps living up to its reputation as one of best production teams in the industry following the success of Hikaru no Go.
Hikaru no Go is also the reason I decided to check out this drama, but Dear Missy stands on its own as one of the best life-in-the-big-city, female-centered, contemporary-romance dramas I've seen, for me only comparable to the Ode to Joy series.

What I liked:

- The cast/acting is excellent, as is the character writing. The characters feel like real, actual people; some are likable, some are annoying, everyone makes mistakes, everyone goes through ups and downs. And your perception of them changes along with the story as they grow and develop.
- The writing is solid and never insults the viewers' intelligence with cringy situations or overused drama tropes
- The cinematography is movie level. I especially love the lighting and the color grading that give this drama a very sophisticated look.
- Everyone uses their own voice (which is always a bonus point in c-dramas) and there are characters that speak with a strong accent just like people in real life Shanghai would. There are also scenes where cantonese is heavily featured.
- I liked the choice to use English songs for the soundtrack because it suits the "global city" feel of this production.
- The Hikaru no Go cameo is a must see for everyone who's watched and enjoyed that drama :')

What could have been done better:

- I think this drama could have benefitted from trimming down a few subplots and scenes involving secondary characters, that in many cases felt too fillery and prominent as if they were taking away screentime from the leads (yes, I'm thinking about Guan Yue). This is the reason I'm only giving the story an 8. A 24-episode formula would have suited this story better. Nowadays, 36 episodes for this kind of slice-of-life contemporary drama is already too long for me.
- A personal wish: I was hoping to get more flashback scenes with the two leads about their time in high school (same Fang Yuan high school from Hikaru no Go btw!). Instead the flashbacks were mostly limited to the first few episodes. I think it would have given the two leads' relationship even more depth, plus the two actresses playing their younger version are really good.
- It's a minor thing but I need to mention the Chris character. I know I just said that the characters feel real, but Chris is an exception that sticks out. He's too much of a foreigner stereotype and doesn't really fit in a drama like this. Thankfully he was only there for a few episodes.

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Really Good

I just finished rewatching “Why Women Love” and I wanted to watch something else that Jin “Gina” Chen was featured because that woman can act and has the best matured strong sexy FL aura for CDramas on lockdown IMO and I was looking for a mature CDrama without all the cutesy baby-voiced and baby-like FL characters and needed a break from all that. I never knew Cdrama had this mature type of series. It’s like watching real life adults live their everyday life’s.
There is no oh they are pushing 30 and haven’t been in a relationship before and that pull/push CDrama trope between the leads and then they start dating and are the only ones for each other for all of times but can’t even sit close to each other without being so shy and looking so awkward and also wouldn’t even sleep on the same bed, even a bed big enough for 3 people, how tf are you in a relationship but can’t even share a bed together, I still do not understand the logic behind this behavior in Cdramas because you can absolutely share a bed without having sex but wait for it, this same people who are pushing 30 and haven’t been kissed before nor being in a relationship and who are so shy and adverse to sharing a bed at the beginning of the said first relationship would suddenly in a few episodes into the dating life, become experts in the bedroom without any prior experience, puhhhhh-leaassseeee.
But there is none of that in this drama, thank God for that. The characters are real world/life adults here with their own struggles and challenges.
The only character I do not like is Guan Yue. She feels she is owed something by everyone. She is annoying with the constant woe is me attitude towards her supposed failures which she is the architect of most of the time. I’m at ep18 and she has become less annoying but I don’t know if it’s too late for viewers to fall in love with her.
Shen Si Yi takes life by the bull horn, she knows what she wants and she goes after it. She been so scarred for life by her parents and it’s really sad. I love her character so much, I agree with Yao Yuan though, if she doesn’t open herself to real love, she’s letting her parents win and they don’t deserve to win so I really wish she would open up herself to love so as to not let them win and also she can experience life in full.
My favorite line so far is from ep18 when Lu Ke got back from here date with Zhang Mang and wanted to sneak in but Shen Si Yi wasn’t having it. During their convo she told her that “Zhang’s eyes are shining when he looks at her”, she’s like really, Shen Si Yi is like “Ofcourse not, it isn’t as if he has light bulbs for eyes”, I laughed so hard at that.
It’s a really good series and I’m really enjoying watching it.
It’s really not something I would rewatch though.

Update @ep23. I didn’t think GuanYue could be dumber but well she’s proven me totally wrong. She finally gets her big break through connections (which I personally have nothing against as long as you are worth it but in this case she’s not totally not worth it IMO) and then she’s so dumb, stupid and gullible and just hands over her design to someone else just like that, she deserves to be fired IMO. The business/art world is cutthroat and nobody has the time to hold your hands.
I don’t know where she gets off throwing tantrums and the self righteous indignation towards her friends, who are trying their best to cheer her foolish self up. I can’t for the life of me understand how she’s friends with that group. She looks and feels out of place with them. Even though they are struggling with maintaining personal/romantic relationships, they all still have the matured adult aura but she just looks and behaves like a child who is playing dress up with her elder ones friends. And the group keeps babying and coddling her instead of telling her to grow the hell up.

Update @ep36 after completing the series.
I reduced my original rating of 9/10 to 8/10 just because I wished the series focused more on the personal/romantic relationships of the characters, I don’t know if they changed directors half way, because the mature sexy romance of the first part turned into a muted romance, maybe that’s why they left Shen Si Yi and Yao Yuan’s reconciliation to the last episode because there was no way they could have muted that chemistry/romance, which was a real shame that we didn’t get to see them together for longer. Guan Yue should have as well been one of the leads because lemme tell you it felt like she got more screen time that the leads, which would have been fine if her story arc was interesting. Anyways overall I enjoyed the series and I don’t regret watching it because I got to watch Jin “Gina” Chen.

Rewatch value 5/10
Overall 8/10
Even though I would not necessarily rewatch this I highly recommend you watch it once.

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Missing a little "oomph" in the chemistry department

Completed: 9/25/2022 - 7.75 rounding up to 8.0

Picking a somewhat unknown and unpopular drama is because one of the writers and one of the directors are from “Hikaru no Go”, one of my favorites. I was hoping the writing of “Dear Missy” would be good and I like the two female leads, Li Yi Tong and Gina Jin. However, I might have expected too much and left a little disappointed.

The focus of “Dear Missy” is friendship, especially the friendship between Li Yi Tong/Lu Ke (Editor) and Gina Jin/Shen Yi Yi (Publisher). They were high school best friends but had a fall out due to a misunderstanding. They lost contact but met each other again 9 years later when Shen Yi Yi became Lu Ke’s boss. The two female characters have very different personalities. Throughout the drama, you can see how their personalities create conflicts, yet how they complement each other in their personal and professional lives. Theoretically, this should be a great setup for amazing writing for a good sismance. But I feel that something is missing. Despite writing how close they are, I don’t feel the same closeness as the sismance in other dramas, e.g. “Remembrance of Things Past” or “Delicious Romance”.

I would say the secondary focus of this drama is the friendship between the 5 high school friends. They often gather at one of the friends’ bar to hang out and celebrate. Conversations flow when they catch up on what’s happening in each other's lives. They are a tight bunch from start to finish, even though some romantic feelings could threaten their friendship. Similar to what I described earlier, I am also missing a little ‘something’, a special chemistry to make this friendship stand out. It’s just OK.

Though there are several romance subplots, they are secondary to friendship. The romantic chemistry is just OK again. No sizzling hot chemistry, and not enough cute fluffiness for my favorite couple. If I have to pick, Shen Yi Yi and Yao Yuan might have the best chemistry out of the bunch. Secondary might be the initial attraction and competition between Shen Yi Yi and Bai Xiao Chuan. However, what I miss most are the scenes between Lu Ke and Zhang Mang. They are so cute together but after they officially date, we barely see them as a couple. I should say, we do see them as a couple, the romance part is pushed to the background to everyone else’s romance storyline. What I want less are scenes between Guan Yue and Ye Zhou, our third leads. The drama focuses way too much time on this couple. I find Guan Yue very annoying and childish for the majority of the drama, and feels that she doesn’t deserve Ye Zhou as well. She did get better in the last few episodes, but I am still pissed and have to lower my rating because of her.

Despite complaining about all the romantic plots, I do want to point out that the drama is refreshing in a way that it explores multiple love interests and relationships per character. Oftentimes, you get one female lead paired with one male lead, and the drama follows the same pairing throughout. But in this drama, we see multiple pairings and see how the characters grow through different relationships. I just wish the drama had better time management and allocated more time on some and less time on others.

I would not watch this drama for the business plots. They all seem very shallow/unrealistic and did not really add a whole lot of excitement, especially in the first two-thirds of the drama. There might be a little bit more towards the end and most of that was sparked by the professional trouble that our third female lead, artist Guan Yue, encountered. I guess that’s why the drama spends so much time on her, to build up the misfortune, which we will see the consequences in later episodes.

Overall, it’s an OK watch. It lacks a little oomph in the chemistry department (friendship and romance). I don’t hate it, but I also will not strongly recommend it either. Watch it if you like the actors/actresses as the acting is decent.


Other Random Observations:
1. LOVE the Hikaru no Go reference and surprise.
2. Actors are all using their real voices, even for Hong Kong actor Sunny Sun. I am really surprised he didn’t get dubbed.
3. Whenever I hear Zhang Chao’s voice, I just can’t help but think of his role in “Hikaru no Go”. His deep voice also reminded me of Jeremy Tsui’s voice. I love a deep sexy voice.
4. So glad to see a wedding in the end, and a very unique one as well.
5. BGM is too loud when the actors are speaking to each other.
6. OST is not memorable at all.

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