Murphy's Law of Love (2015)

Story: This is a typical love story between two people with two vastly different beliefs, character and background. Anything that can go wrong did went wrong with the relationship. There are many cliches in the story and if it's not for the brilliant writing, dialogue and chemistry between the leads, it would have gone terribly wrong. What I love about the story is the fact that although it has cliche setting and scenes, the character development and the rationale for the growth of the relationships were excellent. Unlike typical Asian drama setting where revelations would bring about catastrophic turn of events, our leads dealt with all of the challenges thrown at them maturely, logically and calmly. I can totally see how this sort of relationship can be found in reality. The underlying philosophy of ending things well and moving on in life is also a mature take on how what's in the past should stay in the past. Both the leads have their personal issues that they need to deal with as they move forward in their relationship and this is how we see the character growth. I love the interactions between the leads and the people around them. They are a very sweet couple. I love the naughtiness and 'smartie pants' kind of things the male lead gets into in order to get the female lead to fall for him. There's plenty of skinship (forced, planned and natural) between the leads that reminds me why men are such devious creatures! There is no sudden deviation of character because of the challenges faced, rather the characters remained true to their natures while learning how to grow in relationships. There wasn't a single moment in the drama that felt rushed or dragged. Each scene and episode is vital to the natural pace of the story. If you are expecting 'drama', you will be disappointed, but if you are expecting a beautiful story that flows naturally, you will be delighted. The ending makes sense and was not rushed. In fact, I find myself wishing the couple all the best! Fans of mature story-telling would love this drama.

Acting/Cast: I was glad to see that Danson Tang came back to the TDrama scene with a bang. His depiction of the main character was brilliant. I love how Danson was able to act out such a wide range of emotions on his face from sombre, mad, in love, sad, naughty, teasing to just being plain cold and arrogant. His was my favourite character in the drama. This brings me to my least favourite character in the drama - coincidentally, the female lead! Do not get me wrong here. Ivelyn Lee acted brilliantly and delivered an excellent performance. It is her character that I disliked. What I disliked about Ivelyn's character of Guan Xiao Tong was Xiao Tong's cowardice and indecision when it comes to love relationships. She tends to over-analyse everything (like the psychologist she is) and tries to predict how the relationship will end. She failed to just enjoy being in a relationship and just let things develop naturally. She's always putting one foot in the relationship and another foot out (just in case things go wrong!). Therefore, she would always take the first step to end the relationship before she would really get hurt beyond repair. It did not matter what the man did for her or how much he had expressed his love for her...she has her own agenda and has already decided how she will end things with him. And once she had ended things with him, she started to over-analyse and regret her decisions in her past relationships.....the indecisiveness of her character totally makes me angry. Hers is like a pendulum, always swinging back and forth, always trying to take the middle ground but failed. Personally, I dislike ppl who are indecisive and have insecurity issues. I am glad that towards the end, she learns from this flaw of her character and grows more mature in her relationship with the male lead. It is because of my personal dislike of indecisive characters that I rated this drama 8.5/10 instead of the 9/10 I gave for its story. A stronger female lead character would be more to my liking.

Music: Lovely music but I've heard better ones before.

Rewatch value: I love all the lovey dovey scenes and the scenes where Danson acted the jealous and naughty man going after the girl he likes. I am a traditional person when it comes to love and appreciate it when the man is the one who goes all out after a girl and makes it so very apparent to all and sundry! To me, that is very flattering to the woman and very romantic as well. Therefore, this drama has a high rewatch value for me because of all of the romantic scenes between the leads.

Overall: It has been a while since I'd watched a TDrama. The industry has experienced a slump of late but once in a while, you'll find a gem and as of July 2015, this drama is the gem of 2015 TDrama for me. If you like romance dramas with mature story lines with a hint of mature comedy such as 'In Time With You', 'I want romance', 'Gentleman's Dignity' etc - you'll most likely like this drama as well.

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This drama started off really good. A cute story with great leads and funny and interesting side characters. Somewhere along the way, however, it took a wrong turn and became a trainwreck.

The plot was supposed to be about a girl who is very unlucky. Anything that can go wrong in a situation goes wrong for her. After being dumped by her boyfriend, she quits her job as a psychologist to begin a new career at a dating agency, so that she can help others find the true love she longs for. It just so happens, though, that a divorce agency opens up across the street. The boss of the divorce agency also happens to become enemies with her. Of course, that makes for a promising Asian drama, right? Especially when you throw in a kind, caring second male lead that keeps getting friend zoned and an ex girlfriend that just can't let go. Even though it was rather cliche, the first half was presented in a fresh way, devoting most of the time to the build up of the lead character's romance. We really got to see each step, the emotion, the reactions, the mental aspects. A great deal of time was spent on character dialogue and longer scenes, something most dramas do not do.

Then....

At first....


Nothing happens. You are waiting for the conflict to start. You know the signs, there is always a formula, right? It then happens and it's such a little blip in the story that you are left in disbelief. Instead, it is like the very distant roll of thunder right before a storm hits, except this storm is full of WTF, and I mean that in a bad way. Just a little after halfway through the episodes the story takes a big deviation. This is almost certainly due to very, very bad rewriting of the script. Suddenly, there is major conflict, but this major conflict makes zero sense, is stupid and DRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGSSS. Seriously drags on and on and on until the last episode, where it magically vanishes with a sudden epiphany and everyone lives happily ever after.

In conclusion, this drama had so much potential but just ended up being a huge, whopping disappointment.

I still heart Tang Danson though.

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