This review may contain spoilers
I was very skeptical about this drama after watching the first few episodes because i found it too cringey for my taste. However the more episodes i watch, the more i get lured into the story. Okay, this drama has its flaws. It is not perfect. It is cliche at times. You will get frustrated with some characters that you just end up screaming in front of your laptop because of how stupid they are. You will probably have a love-hate relationship with the main characters. But I guess that's what makes this drama really addicting. It gave me different kinds of emotions and will make you think if you should empathize with some characters or not. Midway on the drama and I was already rewatching some episodes. And now that I finally finished it, I am back with rewatching my favourite parts again lmao.
The chemistry between GJ and YZ is no joke omg. Their love story is one hell of a ride but the end made it all worth it T_T The acting is also sooo good, most especially Zhang Ming En. I fell in love with his portrayal of YZ - how he nailed being a sweet boyfriend to GJ and how he acted as a jerk in the latter part. I felt his pain when he thought GJ betrayed him. I also love the character development that is very much present in the drama and how it walked us through the characters' journey to forgiveness.
Overall, there's never a dull moment watching this drama and I believe they wrapped everything up in the end. Definitely recommended if you're a sucker for romance like me. But even if you're not, it is still a good watch as it offers you some life lessons along the way (which is for you to find out *winks*)
PS. Also the OSTs make the drama even better huhu
PS2: So I have read other reviews about this drama and to be very honest, I enjoyed this more than Because Of You. I guess it's really a hit or miss. Try watching a few episodes atleast and see if you'll like it.
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Story - emotionally abused family and young girl with talent tossed around work & life
Acting - fair to fair. Female lead could really cry. The male lead is young and had some swagger just not enough to convince me he was not a singer whose trying to act.. Rest of the cast was okay. Of course the gratuitous annoying assistant-friend whose voice & dialog makes cartoons sound good.
Music: jeez folks
RW: NO. not even for snow days
Overall: after watching several strong female - male leads in cdrama this dragged. This is 33ep too long! Yes, skipping is needed. If you want a storyline that seems to drag with an overabundance of wicked-evil women screen time + limp. victim played lead - give this a go. Be warned there are better acted and story's out there!
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This review may contain spoilers
Good
Start with renowned designer then her journey takes many turns,in her journey she faced so much ups and down and then her journey became a story of unsucessful to successful story where she faced love ,hatred ,love triangle,jealousy and at the last happy ending .Lead actor and actress looked together so amazing like a perfect match .Only end part I am not getting it what happened to second lead couple .I thought one more episode because they are some missing parts .Sometime lead actress emotions do not match with scene ,at one side lead actor shows happy face and her emotion so loose that she destroy the emotions .Rest everything is good ,just enjoyed watching it. Thumps upWas this review helpful to you?
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This review may contain spoilers
love-hate relationship
At the start I was really getting interest in this drama but as I kept watching I'm getting real frustrated because not only YZ treated her badly after he thought GJ betrayed him, he went beyond the scales of throwing things at her to make her feel bad. GJ is a very innocent, talented jewel designer and I got really mad when GJ joined shuizhiyao (company by Si cheng) because she lost her ability to design jewels because of YZ. thats when I started to hate him.GH is also getting out of hand- her mom WXC copied GJ's mom design and won awards, GJ lost to GH in the competition because WXC paid someone to break her design last minute she had to come up with a plan to build it back up and luckily she did not give up, and now GH at episode 40 is framing GJ for copying their design when really SC drew it. >
The ending is good thats all I can say.
This drama is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ONLY IF YOU WANT TO THROW A TANTRUM ON SOMETHING.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama is basically about how two people fueled by revenge fall in love with one another, but have to make the decision of what their revenge will cost them and if it is worth it in the end.And this drama is so hard to watch for that reason.
At first, when I watched this drama, everyone seemed to have a double and it was hard to figure out what was going on. Such as how Jocelyn's mentor and friend at Fancy looks identical to James's cousin and still to this day, I can't tell them apart. I also got James's step mom and Gao Hui confused for such a long time as well as James's mother and Jocelyn's mother who look nothing alike, but I still got them confused. So for a solid few episodes, I thought that James and Jocelyn were secret siblings, and how he thought that his mother was dead, but was actually alive and hidden away by his step mother (so she could marry into the family) and lived with her daughter Jocelyn which a brain injury. You can tell that I have been watching way too many dramas. But the idea wasn't so far-fetched. I came up with the idea because his step mother seemed to know something that no one else does and she is connected to both James and Jocelyn. Instead, we finally figure out that James's step mother who he hates with a passion and is seeking revenge against, is Jocelyn's blood related aunt (sisters with her mother) who she loves deeply because she basically raised her as her own daughter. Which....will cause a lot of issues at the end. Or...the beginning -
This drama opens up episode 1 with a scene from the present at James's and Jocelyn's engagement ceremony. After walking across the stage, James announces to everyone that Jocelyn and his step mother have been scheming to take down the company from the inside for years and how they should both be fired and hates Jocelyn with every inch of his being and how she is a shitty designer. We get zero context about what happened and a few minutes later, we are taken back to the past 8 months prior where their romance began in Thailand. So now we know that all the episodes that lead up to this broken engagement is the past, and the viewer already know what this huge plot point is going to be which will happen around ep 34/35.
And to be honest, I kind of HATE knowing about the broken engagement from the beginning. It makes watching this drama super cringy. We know that the broken engagement will come from James finding out before their engagement ceremony Jocelyn's relationship to his step mother. Also, just watching the past 32 episodes is cringy and stressful because when they are together, they whisper these sweet things to one another such as James saying that she is his everything and nothing in their world will tear them apart or make him fall out of love with her...yet...we all know that there is something that will make James think it is okay to put Jocelyn on BLAST at their engagement ceremony. To be honest, I kind of hate both mains in this drama...actually...that is a lie. I hate everyone in this drama and it is soooooo hard to figure out who's side to be on. I hate Guo Hui because she is obsessed with James and thinks that Jocelyn broke them up and got engaged to him to prove that she is better than her, even though James and her never dated and only pretended to be somewhat close to try and sell their "love" collection. That is one of the reasons why I hate James too, he doesn't have the guts to stand up for Jocelyn whenever Guo Hui is making her life hell. But going back to Guo Hui, ever since the beginning at the competition where her mother had to sabotage Jocelyn in order for Guo Hui to win, Guo Hui HATES Jocelyn. Even though Hui Hui was brought up with a silver spoon, a perfect family, and every opportunity handed to her, when she sees her half sister becoming a great designer from the ground up, everything is thrown out the window and Hui Hui wants to completely and fully ruin Jocelyn's life. Honestly, even though Jocelyn's mom has the EQ of an 8 year old, she still acts more mature than Hui Hui. Which makes it so hard for me as a viewer to want to root for Yu Yi who is completely in love with Hui Hui. I also know because of his love for her, he is going to sacrifice revenge to do anything Hui Hui asks him to do.
Jocelyn is a badass designer, such as QiQi was in Sweet Dreams whenever she would focus on her work and not follow Bo Hai like a little puppy dog, but that is where the similarities end. I think Jocelyn is becoming a great designer through her experiences and the people she is meeting, but she is sooooo deep in revenge that she is willing to give up anything to prove her mom is innocent, which includes her career and her relationship with James. At around ep 32, after so much back and forth with their relationship, they are finally at a place where they are completely honest with one another except for Jocelyn not telling him her relationship with his step mother. Believe me, she wants to tell him their relationship, but she is so scared that he'll hate her if she tells him. It has nothing to do with the secret benefiting her and her revenge plan, but of course, when he finds out their relationship in the next few eps, he will think that. I think that Jocelyn is a little bit of a coward when it comes to love, and she is definitely putting her revenge above everything else, including her love for James. That is why I dislike Jocelyn and it is so hard for me to root for her. I want her to succeed in her plans to find justice for her mother, but it is so hard to follow her because she is wild when it comes to her revenge. There are so many times when I get annoyed because something will effect James if she goes through with it.
James on the other hand I dislike for different reasons. Even though James is fueled for revenge for his mother, you can see that he will never put anyone he loves in the crossfire and if he does, it is a complete accident where he didn't think of all the different avenues it could backfire. He is very prideful and emotional as well. He basically wears all his emotions on his sleeve which is honestly terrifying. If he is mad, he goes full on beast mode and throws a tantrum (such as his reaction at the engagement party). If he is in love, he will act like a complete goober. If he is jealous, he will mope around and throw a fit. Basically, he believes that his feelings are completely justified and whatever emotion comes out during the time of an event is the correct emotion and he should amplify it 100000%. I think a lot of the men in this drama are honestly very aggressive while the women are all very good at scheming, and it honestly makes me extremely nervous. Of course everything will be blown out of proportion when you have men who don't think before they act and women who think that everything bad that happens to them is because another woman is scheming against them.
It makes it super hard to watch this drama, especially when one plot point can take 4 episodes to completely ride out the idea and still NOTHING major happens. It is a lot of fluff at times and all I want as a viewer to get to the engagement scene already and see how the two mains will somehow get back together and see if it is actually realistic.
Now if you have stayed with me this whole time and are actually reading this right now, I think this drama is worth the watch. Yes the episodes leading up to the engagement scene were cringy to watch because you didn't believe all the sweet things James told Jocelyn about trusting her and loving her, but it adds so much to the episodes after. After the engagement, we see a shift in everyone's character. Jocelyn realizes what her revenge cost her and knows what she did was wrong, but she also knows that if James loved her like he said he did, he would have sought out the truth and realize that she didn't do what he accused her of. Regardless, she now wants to live a simple life with her mother away from everyone, now that she has lost the two things she loves (James and 1 other thing that I will not spoil). James is James and starts to act out as James does, but it is a lot worse because he is still in love with Jocelyn yet doesn't want to be because of something he found out that he thinks is the truth. But once they are back in each other's lives, it is a very bumpy start, but once James finds out the truth, this drama finally became something I wanted to watch. All the bull crap from before became worth the watch, to see James realize he was completely wrong and needed to change in order to get the love of his life. After that point, they become relationship goals. Jocelyn remains very calm and very determined to reach her goals, while James turns into this completely different person. James ended up mellowing out and because of the past he has completely opened his heart and 100% puts his trust in Jocelyn. It was amazing and heartwarming to see them actually open up and talk things out with one another especially when it came to her mom getting justice from Hui Hui and her mother. They both became mature and actually smart with their plans. James and Jocelyn now share a common goal instead of their separated revenge.
This drama has such a great ending - the only thing that didn't make me give this a 10/10 was because the episodes before the drama made me cringe and dislike all the characters. I believe that I only started liking the mains was after the engagement when they both got a big slap to the face and realized that both of their actions were unacceptable.
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BTW, my favourite character apart from Zhang Min En's 于直 is 外公. He is such a wholesome character, and I love his wide knowledge that helps 高洁.
Also, the ending is good, so don't skip this drama, definitely worth the watch of 53 episodes.
However, this is the kind of drama that you watch once and not watch again, (apart from playing the cute scenes over and over again.) as you know what's going to happen next. So that's why the re-watch value isn't good. That's why when you watch it the first time, treasure every moment.
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Daytime Soap Opera Alert
I was kind of hoping this would be a good show, but didn’t hold out for much. Unfortunately, it was even more disappointing than I expected. The only thing I can say for the actors is they seemed to give it their all. The music was forgettable. The scenes were overly dramatic — making it seem forced and ridiculous. The plot had very little substance beyond the FL’s attempt to rise to the top as a jewelry designer. She did have a sick mother and difficult life where she was treated badly by people who should have cherished her, but that can only make up for a little of the stupidity of this show. On top of all the other fails, this show was filled with toxic relationships. Even the FL and ML had a relationship that I could not support. After plotting and pretending nothing was wrong, he publicly humiliated and broke up with his fiancé at their engagement party. Who does that? Sneaky, hateful, arrogant pricks. And then she took him back because he helped her when she got kidnapped? No thanks, he did one decent thing, he’s not Superman. He didn’t deserve to get her back. Forgiveness, yes. Getting back together, no way. Some things just can’t be fixed and the fact that the drama spent so much time making everyone hateful and every relationship toxic and then basically spent two episodes turning everyone into happy, loving, trusting family members, just makes it unbelievably trite. Did they not have enough episodes to show actual character development rather than a rushed mass karma event? I thought 53 episodes was about 30 episodes too many. I admit to skimming through about 1/2 of the episodes because it was too daytime soap opera for me to care.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Disclaimer: I'll try to put spoilers towards the end of this reviewAt first, I can tell you that if you're the person who liked Because of You (or Jang Bo Ri is Here, the Korean title) then you'll probably like this one. I'm usually fond of dramas revolving around these family trades like embroidery or in this case jewelry designing.
Overall, I think the story followed a good base for a drama. It has the biggest family drama I've seen with the bonus of twice the misunderstandings. Yu Zhi and Gao Jie meet in the jungle but their love story goes on for the whole 53 episodes on a roller coaster. From family drama and vicious love rivals, they face quite a lot. At one point, I'm pretty sure I broke down cause I didn't believe the stuff they went through...with half the drama to go. I do think the plot points are catered to mirror Because of You and those types of dramas with competition between the main and second lead the goes deep (like the generation before them deep) and it often has the final eggs in a basket thing where winner takes all at the end. Aside from Gao Jie and Gao Hui's messy relationship, we also dive into the relationship of their parents and other people involved with them. Mu Zi Yun, Gao Jie's aunt, is a key player in this drama as the advocate for "I did this for you but ended up hurting you in some shape" which I can understand actually. The character development is also noted for me cause it shows it in almost all the characters (which is another bonus of these types of dramas). I mainly say this for Yu Zhi cause there is a point in the drama where you can see that his character has come so far, especially for Gao Jie.
Acting wise, I think the chemistry was quite rocking between Yu Zhi and Gao Jie. I also loved seeing Melody Tang (she was in Fifteen Years of Migratory Birds, check it out!) as the second lead that rivals Gao Jie. She made me hate her character which is what I applaud honestly. Spectacular acting from Gao Jie's mom as her character suffers from amnesia throughout and its certain scenes which she portrays this that make you tear up.
In terms of music, I think it was quite catchy. I've also linked my favorite song from this drama, a song that I think really expresses the feelings well of the characters at certain points in the story.
< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaWN_tg78l0 >
Would I re-watch this drama? Maybe the key parts but definitely not the whole thing. As a 53 episode drama, it was dragging me at times but it was still overall watchable. Nothing too boring or spaced out. I think it's a drama where I'll refresh my memory on what happened rather than watch the whole thing.
This has been Nice to Meet You.
To conclude, I'll be adding some points that I wish was different. These are spoilers, so you've been warned!
- They kind of pushed this whole thing in a way that blames the aunt more than her husband (Yu Zhi's) dad which is what I hated. They do get closure but I wish it wasn't just so one-sided.
- Between Gao Jie and Gao Hui, I do wish Gao Hui showed more empathy earlier on instead of treading so selfishly, which she does get called out for. I mean she does realize her mistake which is what makes this ending similar to Because of You but I wish they showed more of her ending like what happened between her and Yu Zhi.
- There was thing time gap sort of that I think they could've added more shots of instead of dragging on the whole competition honestly.
This is just beef I had with the drama in my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.
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Have your finger on the fast forward button...
This would be excruciating to sit through if you couldn't fast forward. Nobody learns anything. Killers get off with a "sorry". The usual happy ending garbage Chinese soap operas throw at us all the time. Let someone go to jail. It is okay to kill characters off but, nobody gets in trouble for it?They had a strong story but, dragged it out by having the characters do the same things over and over and over - never really progressing, Evil people stay evil and suddenly find god in the last two episodes? Really?
Someone ruins your business...takes everything from you...and you just forgive them? How many times do the characters say "...the past is in the past. Let it go." Lazy writing.
Things to help make this go faster.
- FL lead only has three expressions and uses the pouty 4 year old in trouble look for almost the entire production.
- Every time you see the evil jewelry designer girl - you can fast forward through everything she says and does. She is evil. She cheats. She allows others to cheat for her. A awful human being.
- Evil girl's mother is even worse. She should have been run over by a truck by the 19th episode.
- ML is the only one who drank bottled water and saved himself by living overseas. Just a screwed up group of people.
- FL's best friend has issues - FF through everything she is in.
- FL's mother is excruciating to watch - ignore absolutely everything she is in. She is disabled and pitied. That is all you need to know. She suddenly is cured for no apparent reason (they can't afford real special effects).
- A rich family with many worthless people. A grandmother who sends a child away to protect a b**ch? The SIL who ruins an entire family and doesn't care and thinks she can still drop by to throw insults.
To show how much of a mess this is. I started it at episode 12 and didn't miss a thing. This is a true soap opera that ran for almost a full year. They have to keep reminding you of the past for the people that had a life and would miss several episodes. Keep that in mind when watching it. Fast forward when you feel it is getting lather-rinse-repeatish.
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