Master of My Own (2022)

The best C drama of 2022

The story starts with a girl having big ambitions in life due to her past family history. The way she fights all odds and slowly gains recognition in the corporate world is simply amazing. Till date have watched upto 14 episodes. Each episode is not only worth watching but inspiring to those hardworking and ambitious people who want to become successful in life but face lot of obstacles.

The acting of both ML and FL is excellent especially seven tan. She is definitely a versatile actress. Can perform any types of role naturally and effortlessly.

7 tan in this drama looks very beautiful and cute. Loved the way she portrayed the role of a secretary. And then had a complete makeover where she looks equally beautiful and very professional. Never seen any actress performing both secretary and investment director role so well and flawlessly. Full marks for her amazing acting. The drama is so exciting and fun to watch I would say its one of the best entertaining and no.1 drama of the year. The small funny scenes are mind blowing and love to watch again and again. Love ❤️ this drama very much. Worth watching more than once.

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Strong Alone, Stronger Together.

This drama looked good because a YouTuber I trust recommended it and I was looking for something extra to watch. I don't follow anyone here but have wanted to see Kenny Lin since Princess Agents and this drama did speak to me. First time seeing Seven Tan in anything.

Pros: NM was by far my favorite character and the entire storyline of hers was probably the most properly evolved out of the entire cast. I'm in the business field myself though not in investments nor corporate anymore plus all of my nearly 3 degrees are in that as well so I understood what I was watching. I loved how strong, intelligent, capable, steadfast, and true she was regardless of her situation at work. She wouldn't let any naysayer keep her away from her ultimate goal. And then gave that up to start almost from scratch to help the ML. She used every opportunity wherever she was to network and find people to work with. It was a very smart way to cultivate real workplace relationships.

My second favorite character by far was her boss Ms. Shi. If I had a boss like her in my corporate days, I probably would have never chosen to switch careers. This woman was the epitome of what an actual boss of any corporation, big or small should be like in both the workplace and outside. Very fulfilling character; job well done. The ML was flawed to high hell. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, which did explain a lot and although you really wanted to deck him especially after episode 11, he did start to evolve thankfully after that and only through really realizing he was being a prick because he had feelings for our FL.

All of the side character friends and coworkers gave the series the much needed comedic relief and support it needed many a time. I liked the positive ones. This wasn't a romance drama unless you count the longing looks of the ML at FL and the last 5 minutes of the last episode, which was totally fine by me. It really didn't need the romance, it was doing just fine as a corporate drama with some comedy.

Cons: While the show had a decent pacing, the timing was quite weird. It shouldn't have taken 11 episodes to show how much of a pompous jerk the ML was; could have been just as easily done in 5. Also placing the main meat and potatoes of the story in the literal last 5 episodes was way too much. The spreading of the drama could have been done way better, but that's a fault of production.

The only problem I had with NM was that after the incident, she didn't immediately break up with SWR. She needed her boss's guidance to help with the situation. Here she was ready to fight grown men at work for her client and for her best friend, but for herself she went all deer in headlights; that was the only time I wondered if they were really going to dumb her down but thankfully she returned to her old self immediately after. Just the slightest inconsistency in her character that one time.

The antagonists were like a mean, whiny evil. What they actually did was done unseen to the viewers. Though the main big bad, SWR was a good antagonist, with DV and some form of mental issue that wasn't discussed; his entire existence seemed forced. Even his supposed redemption was a cop out. Ok so he turned himself in after a heart to heart with NM but he was so brutal to her and others before, using her every step of the way. It was a bit messy for this big bad hunter after its prey that he was. Turn the hunter into the hunted instead. But they ran out of episodes so it was what it was.

Would I recommend it? Yes, if you're looking for a strong female that always goes against the grain but still does it by working very hard and learning quickly. The drama was good and funny, just keep the timing situation in mind.

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A better version of a lot of shitting office romances

The beginning of this drama does not bode well for the ML because he is intolerable HOWEVER he develops slowly throughout the drama to be a decent human. Meanwhile, FL is an outstanding truly hardworking gal and is exactly what you would expect from someone who is emotionally secure and stable. The ML actually had emotional baggage and terrible communication skills (his family dynamic with his father is proof). Just as the FL learns how to work and do the job she dreams of with all the minor hurdles, the ML (especially near the last 10 episodes) must deal with his problems. If we solely focus on this aspect, it is not bad drama. I actually would have SLIGHTLY preferred a friendship story, but oh well. Onwards...

The problem with this drama lies in a lot of the cliches that were thrown in, the bad guys, and the lack of necessary developments. There was also a scene that genuinely PISSED ME OFF because it was a chargeable offense. Many of the side characters were also one-note and interfered too much. The drama drags unnecessarily (a typical move).

What I enjoyed the most about this drama was Seven Tan's acting. There were also a lot of great lines delivered and the banter we did get from the FL & ML is cute. The reason I think this drama is better than a lot of shitty office romances is that it delivers good acting, and lines, and it doesn't brush aside the actions of the characters as nothing, especially the ML (being a not-so great boss and rude).

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Great Character and Career Development of a Strong Female Lead

Completed - 6/12/2022 - Subjective rating - 8.75, Objective rating - probably 9.0+

“Master of My Own” has received rave reviews due to Seven Tan’s character and her portrayal. I have to agree that she was great in this drama. The drama doesn’t have any glaring flaws and I enjoyed it quite a bit, and it’s very binge-able. Despite that, my gut reaction after watching “Master of My Own” is not an automatic rating of 9.0+. There’s something missing that I can’t really pinpoint. It doesn’t quite move me? Not dramatic enough? I don’t know. However, this is a great drama and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a drama about the character and career growth of a strong female lead. Don’t expect fluffy cute scenes or lots of skinship.. The chemistry is there between Seven Tan and Kenny Lin, but this is not about a great love story.

Seven Tan/Ning Meng (Lemon) - It is so nice to see Seven Tan in a mature role and not as a teenager anymore. I have enough of her loud/outgoing, tomboy roles with a mushroom bowl haircut. She looks absolutely stunning here in her hair and makeup with nice tailored and fitted suits. Her portrayal of Lemon is great and convincing. We followed Lemon’s journey from a more introverted secretary who has to endure her supervisor’s insults and torture, but continues to believe and works towards her dream to be an Investment Director. Seeing how she grows and works towards her goal is the best part of the show. Her upbringing and tight and loving family creates a big contrast to the male lead. There’s no instant success, nor having the male lead to always help her to solve her problems. We see Lemon falls down, picks herself back up and then excels in her career. Along the way, she meets people in her life and career where she treats them sincerely, and they in turn are there for her when she most needs help.

Kenny Lin/Lu Ji Ming - Before I started watching this drama, I had heard about how our male lead is a jerk and could be quite intolerable in the beginning. Maybe my expectations were low and I was prepared, I am pleasantly surprised that he doesn’t bug me as much. Yes, he does talk down to Lemon, denies her strengths and potential, and is unwilling to give her a chance. However, maybe it’s due to Kenny Lin’s acting or the writing of the character, I never dislike him that much. I’ve seen my fair share of mean and abusive bosses in dramas, and his character is not as despicable (at least to me). When we are introduced to his family, we finally understand why he acts a certain way. Definitely, Like Father, Like Son. The best part of Lu Ji Ming’s journey is his character development. We witness his personality change throughout the show, and it’s mainly due to his interaction with Lemon and witnessing how she works towards her ultimate goal. When you compare how he behaves in the first episode and the last episode, you can really see a difference. And I appreciate the gradual change. There’s no love at first sight and immediate personality change because of a romance arc.

Romance/Love Triangle - As I mentioned earlier, this is not a romance-heavy drama. However, there’s definitely chemistry between Kenny Lin and Seven Tan through their interactions as boss/subordinate, colleagues in the industry and business partners. I look forward to scenes when they are together, even if they are bickering and screaming at each other. This is probably the slowest burn romance I have seen, and I actually don't mind. What I do mind is the disappointing kiss that we got after waiting for so long. There are actually more dating scenes between Lemon and her senior, Su Wei Ran. I read spoilers before about the issue that Su Wei Ran had which caused Lemon to break up with him. I was actually worried that the issue would be dragged out for several episodes. However, I am glad to see it resolved rather quickly, because our amazing female lead does not take crap from others anymore. I do pity Su Wei Ran and am glad that Lemon actually did go out with him for a while. Their short relationship forces Lu Ji Ming to re-evaluate his feelings for Lemon, and also encourages Su Wei Ran to reflect on the type of person he wants to be.

Supporting Cast - Let’s talk about Director Xu. If all women (actually everyone) has a mentor in their life like Director Xu, we will be living in a better world. Personally, I am thankful to have supportive supervisors in my career, and I also strive to be a good mentor and supervisor to my staff. We are missing characters like Director Xu in Chinese and Korean dramas. We’ve seen enough abusive bosses, why not great ones who see your potential and want to nurture that? The bromance between Lu Ji Ming and Ceng Yu Huang is quite fun and satisfying. They are so different, yet they are there to support each other. There’s something more enticing about a great bromance than a great sismance. Why is that? The supporting cast is solid and I don’t feel that there’s any annoying character. That’s a big plus!

Investment stories - I enjoy the side plot of different investment stories that Lemon helps out - textile factory, exercise company (reminds me of Peloton), household appliances. Each story is simple but it provides some ‘warmth’ to this drama. It’s nice that they ended up inter-connecting with each other. On the flip side, I think I am missing some ‘edge-of-my-seat’ type excitement from all the investment stories. Yes, there are crises and troubles, but not evoking a lot of emotions from me.

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Charming with a very strong female lead

This is the first drama where I wrote a review before I've finished a series. Yes, this series is THAT good. And now that I completed it, I still say that this is a recommended watch. I thought there would be some kind of revenge from the FL to the ML to spice the story up but there was none. I love how grounded this drama world was, introducing us to the world of investment while teasing us with the relationship of the leads. I also admit that I am a fan of go-getter FLs and Seven Tan as Ning Meng doesn't disappoint. The FL has no illusions about herself but was not afraid to test her limits. When she felt that the ML is bullying her, she tried to hold her peace but did not just take it lying down. This girl was no doormat, she gave as good as she got. She's loyal too and never burned any bridges during her career growth. Kenny Lin as Lu Jiming was also great. He played the brilliant but temperamental boss perfectly. His words were sometimes too harsh that I want to slap him myself. His childishness was so much part of his personality base that when he's jealous, he became petty. His micro-expressions ranging from confused to secretly happy/proud were so good that I can believe that he was already in love in the first few episodes but did not know it yet. That he's actually softhearted and caring was teased during the first episodes but was clearly shown in the last episodes.

I also liked that LJM started to encourage NM once he discovered her motivations in becoming an investor. They became the catalyst for growth of the other, without them even trying. I would have liked more scenes of them being a couple but I'm still satisfied with the ending.

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Smart Female Lead

If you enjoyed Love is Sweet, you'll love this!

I'm always drawn to dramas with smart/strong female leads. I like Seven Tan and Kenny Lin, so I gave this a go. I like that she wasn't being the secretary for too long and that she doesn't let anything to stop her ambition to be an investor.

What I love most about this drama is the slow burn romance and the banters between the ML and FL. The character development of ML is amazing. His character is not just one dimensional - in fact it's three dimensional. Kenny Lin is great at portraying the character with many different emotional levels.

The supporting characters are also so adorable I have a tendency to fast forward supporting characters' storyline but not with this. The supporting characters are all so adorable.

This drama is just getting better and better the closer it is to it's ending. I always get so excited to watch the next day's episodes.

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Story too unrealistic

This was a very disappointing drama. It started out fun, but it went down to being unwatchable. I do like 7Tan, but this drama story is too unrealistic. For example, during the financing of the home products company, the storyline doesn't make sense. Why would she go out of her way to help so much ... almost got injured.

The chemistry started out fine but around 20+, it started to derail when they started to act like "friends". After that, there was no longer a tension.

I skipped after 27 because it was too boring to watch.
I hope she will be in a better drama next time.

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Female lead steals the show!

This show covers a lot of aspect from work to love to friendships and more. The casting for ML and FL is 10/10.. both their acting and persona fits in perfectly. Tan Song Yun have grown to be one of my favourite female actress in the recent years. Her role as Ning Meng is a courageous, meticulous and goal orientated woman.. YET she still shows the side of her where she lives in a practical world. Ling Geng Xin's role as the ML and CEO is perfect too as he don't seem like a the typical young, handsome and rich guy that is good for nothing. He is someone albeit mean but really good at his job. Overall, i think it's a good drama if you want to escape from the lovey dovey dramas.

PROS:
- Character development from both ML and FL
- Plot is not draggy and ML & FL don't 'randomly' fall in love
- Supportive friends

CONS:
- FL and 2nd ML's romance can be improved.. no chemistry at all.. otherwise not needed/can be expressed differently
- ML and FL could have been together sooner (i guess romance is not the main part for this show..)

FINAL VERDICT: i will probably not watch it again but it's a good show to watch over a meal, not worth your sleepless nights.

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Strong FL. Some clichés. Office Drama that gives you an idea how to handle toxic workmates.

I feel I should put it out there that I'm a Seven Tan fan, not so much of Kenny Lin.

Story:

I think the screenwriter's have put effort to create great scenarios/ circumstances and provided solutions to issues in the dramas which is not usually a popular take in the c-drama land. At first, I thought it will be a spin of "what's wrong with secretary kim" but it came to, what happened if secretary kim actually resigned and got another job in another company.

If you've ever worked in the corporate, this depicts office politics so some scenarios might be relatable for you and you can probably get some ideas on how to handle toxic people in your company. In a way, this drama can be inspirational. It's not also far from reality that there are bad people in the workplace, but there are also good one's like finding a boss who actually trusts you and not back stab you.

I like that the characters here have their own colours.

It started good, but it got boring somewhere in the middle. There are some episodes that are painful to watch I almost dropped it. I'm not sure if the screenwriters' sort of have given up somewhere because they had to use one of the biggest cliché in c-drama land towards the last few episodes.

Acting:

Seven Tan is on point here as well as the other supporting characters. Kenny Lin's acting here was not so bad, but I think he could've done better. Of all his works that I've seen this is probably one of the best.

Warning:
This is not your usual lovey-dovey drama, so if you're looking for those then better skip it. There are some small heart-fluttering moments here and there but it's far from those honey-drenched idol dramas in c-drama land.

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For me, this drama was irritating

Positives first:
1) Tan Song Yun as Ning Meng was excellent. Her growth from secretary to investment person was interesting to watch. This was a character that depended upon herself to succeed. She wasn't whiny, stupid or over-the-top in any way.
2) The character of Ning Meng (when she wasn't making bad relationship decisions). She was not the typical damsel in distress character.
3) The clothing that Ning Meng wore. Mature, classy.
4) The friendship that ultimately is developed between the ML and FL.

Unfortunately, the list is short for the positives. The negatives far outweighed them.
1) The character of Lu Ji Ming. I think that Ling Geng Xin did a good job portraying him, but this man was abusive, plain and simple. They made a point of saying, multiple times, that she had worked for him for three years, so she'd been putting up with this for quite a while. He was mean, and the name calling was terrible. He called her stupid, saying she had no talent, and could not be successful at anything other than being his secretary. It's bad enough when it's just the two of them, but when he bad-mouths her to her new boss, I thought he'd progressed to a new level of low. Then he basically stalks her and tries to convince her to come back and work for him!
2) The excessive amount of push and pull in their relationship. It was just one drama after the other designed to keep them apart. An editor would not have been remiss here. I mean, it seemed like filler just to complete the "required" number of episodes. Each time there would be a glimmer of hope, I would look at what episode I was on and think, "Okay, what bad thing is going to happen next, they've got a bunch more episodes to fill." This would have been so much more enjoyable with half the episodes.
3) To call this a slow burn romance is not correct. They finally got together in LITERALLY the last five minutes of the last episode. There was no burn, no sizzle, no spark, no flicker. Personally, I think to call this drama a romance at all is misleading.
4) I appreciated their chemistry once they became friends. I liked that the FL was the one to come to the aid of the ML and to stand by him. However, since I watched this show looking for romance, I was sorry to not see any romantic chemistry between them.
5) The handling of the physical and/or verbal abuse. There is never an excuse. I really didn't like the turn the writers took in trying to explain away the ML's verbal abuse "I was raised that way", etc. Just once, I'd like to see a character realize how wrong he was and sincerely apologize.

For anyone that has been patient enough to read this review, I'd say, decide for yourself whether to give this drama a try. Typically, I don't love C-dramas because of the length, dubbing, characters being apart more than they are together, ridiculous costuming, etc. I have seen a couple of C-dramas that I really loved, but most, not so much. So, if C-dramas are what you gravitate to, you might like this one.

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I started watching this because I was impressed with Tan SongYun's performances in Go Ahead and Road Home. She is able to portray such spunky characters that her natural personality must surely be similar. Likewise in Master of My Own, she moves from being a nerdy but spirited secretary to a confident and dedicated investor who is more interested in helping entrepreneurs achieve their dreams than the money that comes with success. This is yet another absorbing performance from Tan SongYun.
This was my first time watching Lin GengXin and I am also impressed with how he moved from portraying an arrogant and self-absorbed boss to one who becomes humbled by his experiences. However I do think that the later Lu JiMing should have maintained a bit of the swagger of his earlier self - the transformation was a bit drastic and unbelievable.
Despite the lack of romance described by many reviewers, the storyline was captivating enough to keep me watching. I will suggest you give this a go!

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Interesting Business, Character Development, and a Mature, Slow-burn Romance: Give it a Try :)

I absolutely loved this drama! I loved the business, it was mostly understandable for someone who doesn't have a lot of knowledge in this area. So many things I loved about it.. I don't know how to write reviews but I am jotting down my favorite things about the show. If you appreciate any of these things, give it a try:

*ACTING: The actors did a great job portraying the many emotions, especially Tan Song Yun! I also appreciate a show where the men are vulnerable and have crying scenes. All the crying scenes were great, not cringe at all, it felt so real I wanted to cry too lol! Also love the no dub, I HATE DUB!
* CHARACTERS: The women in this show are all so powerful and diverse in their abilities and positions in life (stay-at-home girlfriend or CEO)
* The mature characters, not 22 year olds as CEOS but people in their 30s-60s! Casting was amazing :)
* PRODUCTION: Some nice camera-work moments that I don't usually see when I watch c-dramas.
*The music is nice, but I didn't really pay attention to OST at all. I liked the music they played during heavy moments though.
* THERE IS ROMANCE, but the main focus isn't love but the relationship between the main characters. I loved their dynamic, they were very interesting to watch and I didn't need any fluff for them as they are mature adults. If you do care about romance, just pay attention! Anyone who likes fast, fluffy romance, this is the opposite, slow and mature!!
*CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!! Usually in dramas we have characters that attack the main-leads for no reason and are just the hated relentlessly by fans but I didn't hate any character (maybe the villains but you'll soon learn who the bad guys are and who the regular humans with emotions are)..
* REALISM: We don't see mary sue characters who never fail, but we don't see any quitters! They are always fighting and it is very inspiring. They have ups and downs like normal people.
*THE SLIGHT FORESHADOWS: Many shows show a picture of something or make a character do something weird and leave it unexplained, but in this show, each moment has a purpose. I feel fulfilled after watching. I was worried near the end they wouldn't explain this character or something, but they cover most of it.

I really enjoyed this show and wish I can find more Chinese shows with strong, realistic, mature characters, an interesting plot, and of course a lovely romance! I don't usually re-watch slow-burn romance shows, but I would re-watch scenes of the leads together or certain moments when I need some inspiration.

*The plot is not the same at all but I loved reset, it came out a few months ago and it is also one of my favorite c-drama with a well thought out plot with amazing characters of all ages. I hope people enjoy this show!

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