Middle: 6.5/10
End: 9/10
Ahh 17 weeks and its over! *sad face* Refresh Man was the first Taiwanese drama I watched, and I’ve got to say, I loved every moment of it! (except for the one episode per week, it was terrible!!) The story was pretty standard, nothing overly excitable but it was still delivered very well and captured my interest majority of the time. The middle did drag in my opinion, maybe just after that half way mark but the story picked up towards the end, and it was very suspenseful and left me wondering what was going to happen next! Aaron Yan (so charming ;-;) and Joanne Tseng have great chemistry, the friendship and romance between the two is very cute, overall they played their roles very well, and I look forward to watching more dramas by the two in the future! The rest of the cast also did a solid job, Lene Lai was brilliant, she was probably my favourite character! Refresh Man shows determination and hard work through the characters and their roles, and if you’re new to Taiwanese dramas like I was definitely give this a try, or if you just love romance and business-like themes I hope you will enjoy Refresh Man as much as I did!
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I don't watch many Taiwanese dramas, so I don't know the actresses well. I wonder if Tseng Joanne is a popular actress. She drove me crazy with that frown look. Very rarely in this drama was she smiling naturally. I don't know how to explain my aversion to her acting, but she is pretty. She did an ok job as Zhong Yu Tang. I didn't think she had any chemistry with Ji Wen Kai played by Yan Aaron. Maybe it was because they knew each other since high school. I hear Aaron plays a lot of CEOs. I can see why since he does it well. He was efficient but not cold. I enjoyed his character a lot. This is the second time I have watched Lee Jack play the second lead. In this one he was more of a jerk as Wang Zi Yu. He is cute though. LOL The other actors are good also.
Some of the music I really enjoyed and some of it I absolutely hated. Lalalalalalala
I won't rewatch this.
If you like romance where the guy loves the girl from beginning to end, then this is the drama for you.
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The two big isses I had with the show was with the story. I would've given this show a higher rating if it weren't for two major things 1. The racial part. And 2. The show "supporting" an abusive relationship. Which I am not okay with in the slightest. I apologize in advance if I hints about anything.
I watched this series theough Netflix and leaurned about the reacial part after finishing the show. I took the time to look up the the scene and it was awkward and distatesful. I couldn't find the english sub, but i got the jist. Even if in East Asia, the beauty standard is being fair skin, this doesn't excuse the scene.
The arch with the character and her abusive ex-husband I couldn't bear with. I can understand that people can change, but in this way no. This person is a strong developed character. We see early on how scared and frighted she is because of him. This really upsetted me also because this degrated all of the characters. Team Three is very protective and caring among their cowerkers. Sending the character off and everyone being okay is very out of character for everybody. If anybody ever physically or mentally abused me I wouldn't let them near me or anybody else. Which left a very bad taset in my mouth afterwards.
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Office romance + childhood friends
I haven't watched so many Tdramas and wanted to try them out. Came across Aaron Yan and my eyes were set on him lolThe story is a typical office romance, but with a twist at first. The couples have great chemistry but the show has little skinship and kiss scenes( a total of 5-6 i guess lol)
Each episode is exceptionally long and you won't miss much if you skip a few minutes each episode.
it literally takes a long while before they become a couple and in my opinion, with the good onset chemistry between the leads, they could have focused more on their relationship.
There is a low-key love triangle and it doesn't get dangerous lol
Wish it focused more on character development, rather than showing office work.
Overall, a decent watch. The leads are so good together.
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The story is light and plaesant, so that I didn't notice how each episode came to an end...
Acting was good enough...
All those who are looking for a pleasant and romantic drama, I recommend you to start watching this drama immediately...
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If so, consider watching Refresh Man. Honestly speaking, the overall story is nothing new, but the love story is sweet. But it's for that reason that this drama is a leisurely watch. You don't need to think much at all. Just enjoy the good-looking main leads with their cute love story. The acting is acceptable, but again, this is not the type of drama to require strong acting chops.
I liked that the female lead is not air-headed and that her love "rival" isn't even technically a rival. There's no petty cattiness or frustrating misunderstandings.
There's also uplifting life reminders throughout the drama for people who are in their mid-20s and beyond; the situations are very relatable. Who hasn't felt stuck in life at one point, or felt too comfortable, then slowly became less and less ambitious?
Aaron Yan and Joanne Tseng have a good dynamic, the side characters have good stories, and it doesn't drag things on for too long. Overall, this is a decent drama.
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Anywho, I understand that these shows are formatted to be watched on a weekly basis (which makes binge watching them more difficult with numerous recaps) hence the butt load of flashbacks. However, I have to question the producers of this show, when the flashbacks dominate the series, seemingly for the female lead's benefit and not the viewers. It's as though the director felt that viewers needed their hands held week after week trying to recover from bouts of amnesia, not being able to recall episodes the week prior.
Joanne Tseng is beautiful but she should not have been cast as the romantic lead in this show. Her facial expressions seemed to convey more of a discomfort rather than a desire to be with Yan, robbing their scenes of the necessary chemistry to sustain my interest in their relationship.
I did enjoy the corporate drama and that it was easy to digest but the ending was predictable and therefore anticlimactic.
I'm in love with Lene Lai. I was team Elsa the entire time.
In addition, I watch all my Asian dramas on Netflix and just found out that they cut the black face scene in episode 12, which was very offensive. I learned about the black face scene on another website's review of the Refresh Man and I saw the actual scene on YouTube. Netflix should NOT be commended for not showing the scene because they still stream the series that produced it in the first place! ASSHOLES!!!!
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I enjoyed it way more than I was expecting. The love story was very cute and sweet and the supporting cast were really engaging.
A couple of the subplots felt tacked on a bit but I could mostly overlook it. I was pretty unhappy with the resolution of one in particular. The chemistry between the two leads was great. I'd never seen Aaron Yan in anything before and really liked him, will look out for him again.
The middle drags a little but picks up towards the end. I stayed up way too late to watch ' just one more episode' many times so its pretty addictive.
Am expecting to rewatch!
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I am from USA tired of same old tv shows on US TV. The Asian dramas are so different, a lot lighter and more sentimental. i like that on my tv shows. I am tired of tv dramas trying to be too real life. Also, the love story is also different. in usa shows, leads jump into the sack right away. it is refreshing to see love grow and respect for each other being very important. most of the light asian dramas they dont even go that far which is way different than usa shows.
I have watched about 40 comedy/dramas now and hope i dont run out. will search for more with Tseng Joanne as she is one of my favorites now.
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First, this is about office drama, but it's kinda like childhood lovers. Aaron Yan as always so charming and perfect to plays this kind of CEO role. What I like about this drama is not only the romance betweek Ji Wen Kai and Yu Tang, but the relationship between their Sales Team 3 is incredible. Furthermore, the Sales Team 3 family are so cute and adorable, and not to forget their fighting spirit that we all should learn too! Hahaha
And of course, really like the secretary Miao Ai Sha. She is so pretty. humble, and have the perfect character. Last, but not least, really like the last 2 episodes from this drama, everything is good about the story. Really recommended for all of you that love romance and business drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
If you're looking for something to watch that's light and easy to follow, I would recommend watching Refresh Man. Of course, the sight of cool and handsome Aaron Yan is a definite bonus too! The chemistry between Aaron Yan and Joanne Tseng is very interesting. For the the first 1/3 of the drama, all they do is bickering and fighting and they irritate each other all the time. However, as the drama progresses, you start to see a change in their character and relationship. I like how Aaron's character starts to show that he cares for Yu Tang in ways that would make me go super ga-ga over him. The kissing scenes are wow too! It's not your usual awkward just closed lips touching closed lips, but this is real kissing :) I would re-watch this drama just for these scenes alone!. The reason I did not give this drama a higher score is because of the business storyline. I get that this shows the inspirational part of the drama, about team work and friendship and how to find motivation at your "supposedly" dead-end job. In fact, Yu Tang's team and colleagues are an interesting bunch of characters. But there are many parts of the business storyline that just doesn't make any sense to me and some of the villains are just despicable human beings that I keep skipping their parts because they are just too annoying (especially Managed Jia and Wendy)!
Overall, this is a good and enjoyable drama. I also like the OST, especially the ending theme song by Weibird, it immediately got on my playlist and I must have listened to it tens of times each day. Go and definitely watch this if you are a fan of Aaron Yan. He looks amazingly cool and handsome here!
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