This review may contain spoilers
Marital relationships
Unlike the typical romantic drama, this is an un-romantic one. It is vaguely based on the movie Unfaithful with Richard Gere and Diane Lane, except without all the adult sexual themes and murder of that typical Hollywood movie.The theme of the show is the gradual estrangement of the wife from her husband, for various reasons. Not all of them reasonable.. And when she meets a book store owner whom she falls in love with. It is sad to see the husband lose his wife and his child at the end.
Overall, a very good show. We saw this in 2020. And when we went to go over it again this year, it was gone. Gone from Netflix, never to be seen again.
Netflix has been doing that to more and more shows. I hate it when that happens. Now there is no way to see it again. Isn't it sad when in this day and age, you see something and all you have to remember it is your own memory of it?
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The story was pointless
I want to first start off addressing the male main lead's acting skills. His growth, care, sorrow, and anger were all compelling; I felt it wholeheartedly. Upon facing his wife (during an ordeal) his tears flows, but his face is red. He brings both compassion and anger during every scene when he believes he will lose his wife. With that being said beyond him the show is not worth watching. The MFL and the side dude have simply no chemistry. She is just looking for a way out, after making a choice of giving up her career. Had another man come along at anytime that gave her attention she surely would have fallen for him. But beyond this you are asked all the time why do you love the second lead (side dude) again? He provides her with little romance, and they have nothing in common. It was a boring watch, and I was not rooting for anyone.Was this review helpful to you?
It is a love story but is not about lovers.
Reading the synopsis one might believe that it is a story about two lovers and their forbidden love, but the drama really focuses on the married couple Yi Zhen (Tien Hsin) and Shao Wen (Christopher Lee) and the decline of their marriage apparently perfect.Shao Wen is the only son (man) in a fairly conservative family who only understands women as wife, mother and housewife, and who places great importance on society. Shao Wen is an architect who works hard to fulfill his dream, to have his own high-level studio (which he already has), a dream that his father demeans.
Yi Zhen is also an architect, with big dreams in her youth. By marrying Shao Wen, she is reduced to the role of a wife, renouncing her own personality to accommodate that of her husband and that of his family. Also, and although, Shao Wen loves his wife, dedicating all his time and efforts to work has created an abyss in their relationship. When she meets Shang En, a man who sees life differently than her husband, she wonders for the first time if she is happy with him and with the life she leads.
The story maybe starts a little slow but as it goes it gains strength. It makes us put in the place of each of the spouses and understand their positions and decisions.
Definitely the best-built character and the one that has the most emotional charge is Shao Wen (Christopher Lee won an award for that role) who suddenly sees his idyllic world fall apart (he was not aware of the loneliness and frustrations of his wife) and tries to get his wife back while dealing with pressure from his family.
The soundtrack is very beautiful. Some lyrics are suitable for the moment that characters are living.
The actors perform very well, again highlighting Christopher Lee who does a great performance (I knew him in this drama).
It is a 100% life drama story; it has no comedy, suspense, fantasy, etc. It is just the story of a ruined marriage.
----------------- spoiler:
The best is the end: pretty touching.
It made me very sad how Shao Wen loses everything. He gives the woman he loves and his (not yet born) daughter to another man, and he loses his studio due to the debt he acquired in an outburst (trying to get back his wife) and the pressure of his father.
In the end he remarries, he is going to have a kid and remains a recognized architect, but he is not married to the woman he loves but the ideal for his parents, he is not going to have the son of the woman he loves, and he is not the owner of his own studio but his father's pawn. However, he still is considered a good son by his parents and to have learned to be a good husband.
He could have "broken" relationships with his family and defended his marriage, but we know the importance of family and the feeling of duty towards parents in Asia.
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