My Dear Boy (2017)

I decided to watch My Dear Boy out of boredom and it’s something I don’t regret. My Dear Boy is a drama about a boy and a woman who find comfort, friendship, and love together through the trials of their lives. I’ve seen many noona romances before, and though this isn’t anything new story wise to add to the genre, it has a warm feeling to it and was a joy to watch.

The story of My Dear Boy is very simple. Our male lead, Ahn Qing Hui, encounters our female lead, Luo Xiao Fei by accident because of their messy love lives. Though these two are very different, an odd friendship blossoms between them. Though the story is simple, the best thing about this drama is watching the budding friendship between our leads and how they grow by being there for each other. This drama is more than just romance, but about growing up, dealing with the complications of love and falling in love with someone, dealing with your career choices and what you choose to do with your future. These are the great things about the drama, though it’s not all perfect and it does suffer from a few flaws and that’s mostly pacing. This drama could have benefited from having lesser episodes and 16 probably would have been better. Also, some things could have been a little more clearer in the narrative during the latter half.

The cast is really good. Both Ruby and Derek do great jobs with their roles, especially in their emotional scenes. I really did believe in the chemistry between them and when I talk about chemistry I’m not simply speaking on a romantic level, but that they work really well together, and they never felt awkward around each other. I really believed in their friendship which I think is the best thing about this drama. I thought both Qing Hui and Xiao Fei were well written, interesting characters and Ruby and Derek embodied them bringing their characters to life. Watching their story made you want to see them grow and get their happy ending. I also liked the other male leads and I thought they were great additions because they weren’t so one note and they never felt like they were there to solely cause problems between our leads. They were well written and well used. I do think some of the supporting cast could have been used better. Shampoo’s appearance at one point felt off. The same thing with the Qing Hui’s friends. And some of the characters, mostly the family members, fall prey to the common tropes of the ‘I’m against the relationship so I’ll do everything to ruin it’.

Overall, this drama was a fun watch. It’s not perfect and has some flaws here and there, but it’s enjoyable to watch and I loved tuning in every week. Ruby and Derek are great and it’s a joy watching them both.

I recommend this drama if you’re a fan of Ruby or Derek, or noona romances because this is a nice addition to the genre. Simple, sweet, fun, and heartfelt.

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I've always loved Noona romances and so I happily sat down to watch this show about a young man and an older woman who change each other's lives for the better.

The show started off very strong. Although Derek Chang's An Quinhui is very young and very immature, he has lovely chemistry with Ruby Lin's Xiaofei. The acting is very good and, at least in the beginning, the show has a nice vibe of verisimilitude: these people feel real, their lives feel real and the story feels real too. This is a classic slice of slice drama - or at least it is until the episode 14 mark where it starts to go horribly wrong.

At one point it became clear that Quinhui was far far too young and far too immature for Ruby Lin's character and the idea this relationship would progress to a romance was somewhat laughable. No mature professional woman her age would be genuinely interested in this child and yet the show pursued the relationship anyway. It's not surprising that it inevitably crashed and burned.

I am yet to see a Taiwanese drama that doesn't attempt to fill its long episode run with a touch of Makjang and unfortunately this was no exception. The last few episodes were a tough watch as An Quinhui responds to his feelings in the most immature way possible and the people around the main couple behave just as badly. In the end, what I had enjoyed about the show was slowly eroded until I was just left with frustration and second-hand embarrassment.

I only finished this show because I'd already devoted so much time to it. It's yet another Taiwanese drama that started off well but couldn't maintain it over so many episodes.

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