The Psychologist (2021)

Strong Start But Then Became A Downhill Runaway Train

This series had a ton of potential. A show about a psychologist counseling patients with various problems and in depth look at just how each session progressed. Her own life and the life of her friends, family, and romantic interest as well the antagonist were all very strongly introduced. Each main plot and subplot were going well until about episode 29, around that time this smooth moving train lost its conductor and started to go downhill at top speed.

The subplots started to obscure the main plot, the characters behavior didn't align with what they had previously done and many useless characters were brought in without a proper explanation to cause trouble only to completely vanish later in the same way they appeared. Or scenes that were shown in opening and closing credits, never actually happened. The guess is that after the first review and cut in episodes, the editing was done extremely poorly.

The main antagonist aka el creepo or YJH was forgiven or given a slap on the wrist judgment for really horrendous things. His character development was a constant tug of war between evil and some version of good. Though he was hell bent on revenge, it seemed his revenge was aimed at the wrong people and totally misguided by his adoptive father who was the real criminal in the entire plot.

The mega scandal promised in the synopsis that would evoke HD's sleep walking problem; didn't and wasn't that huge. It was also left for the final 11 episodes to sort out. HD's father was thrown into the mix and neither that relationship nor problem was solved in the end. Many of these main plots were left hanging. I'm all for a cliffhanger as I've written my share of them, but you need to tie some of the loose ends up and leave just one hanging to really grab the audience, not 36 of them. Which could speak to a season 2 but considering how poorly written and executed the second half of the drama was, do people really want to see season 2? And will season 2 have the same cast because a whole new cast would make this a disaster. Plus c-ent has a tendency to do sequels up to 5 years after the fact and at that point everyone has lost interest.

Lilli's change in men was like a whiplash, because from rich, snotty, and "cute", in a span of one full episode she fell for an average Joe cop. It was as if, the writers really had no time to develop Lilli's evolution as a woman and wrote the polar opposite of what she fell for before like an epiphany of sorts and hoped the viewers wouldn't notice.

Instead of properly closing out this series, the writers threw in another couple for HD to help cure in 2 episodes. And the ending went from el creepo crying over his mom after she tried to kill herself, to an ambulance, to suddenly out of nowhere a monologue of HD talking about her work and the patients she's helped. The last episode honestly looked like it belonged to a completely different show. There were so many inconsistencies and inaccuracies, towards the end that I'm sure I missed explaining a lot here.

I commend all of the actors on their terrific acting but only that and the OSTs were what remained of a really great and strong show at the beginning. I was very much looking forward to this series and I'm really disappointed. Would I recommend? Depends. It certainly has its strong beginning, but a very weak and inconsistent second half and ending. Judge for yourselves if you choose to.

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A good and enjoyable psychological-romance drama with amazing lead chemistry

Actually, I watched this drama for Yang Zi. As her fan, I am satisfied. I have not watched any psychological dramas until this drama. I did not expect to enjoy the show as much as I did. I thought psychological dramas are not my type. But, this drama changed my opinion about these kinds of dramas. It took me a few episodes to get completely hooked. But, now, I can confidently say that this is one of the best Yang Zi drama I have seen to date. At first, I thought that 40 eps will be too much for a morden c-drama. But, now, I will be perfectly fine with another 40 eps. This drama got better episode by episode and left a deep impact about mental health in my mind.

Story: 9.5 stars
The course of story is just nice. I liked the way all the knots untied slowly. The stroy was neither draggy nor too fast. This drama is a psychological romance drama and it had just the right amount of psychology and romance.
This story shows us how important our mental health is. I also shows us the hardships faced my psychologists. This drama helps us to understand our mind, how it works and why it works like that.
Also the comedic scenes in the drama gave me relief after each serious psychological case.

Acting and Cast: 10 stars
I think I don't need to explain why I gave 10 stars. Yang Zi and Jing Bo Ran are veterans in the feild of acting. Intially, I wasn't familiar with JBR. I had only seen in the move One Smile is Very Alluring. At that time, I really didn't like him at all. But, this drama changed my perspective of him. Now, I think he is a versatile actor who is capable of acting comedic scene (which only some actors can manage perfectly).
I n this drama, YZ plays He Dun, a psychologist who faced a trauma when she was young and JBR plays Qian Kai Yi, a lively radio host. Both the lead were once highschool classmates. I won't say anymore or it would be a spoiler :D
The leads had great chemistry. It puts a smile on my face everytime they are on my screen together. :)
Also, the actors who played side characters like Ye Jia Hui and Tang Li Li did an amazing job. I especially liked the acress who played He Dun's mother, though I didn't really like her character.
Anyway, through this drama, I understood that YZ can nicely portray drunken scenes with kisses lol. (Those who have seen Go Go Squid! can understand me).

Music: 9 stars
I really like the OSTs of thsi drama especially the song Little Secret. The link to the song is given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0J8dE5TU9E
Also the songs sung by YZ was also great, especially, Flower House Cafe. The link is given below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6fQvo9kWzU

Rewatch value: 8.5 stars
I don't really rewatch dramas. I don't have the time for that at the moment. But, I really don't want to admit that the rewatch value is so low for a Yang Zi's drama as she is my fav actress. If I rewatch any drama at any point of time in the future, the probability is less that I would pick this drama.

Overall: 8.5 stars
I have given the darma what it deserves: 8.5 stars. I am not being partial, but, this drama deserves it. I hope the rating of this drama increase in the coming days.
This drama is an enjoyable watch. There won't be a dull moment for you in this drama if psychological dramas are of your type.

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The Good . . .. The Bad . . . . . . & . . . . . .The Ugly

In the first half of this drama, I can honestly say, it was as good as it could. It had an impressive pace, story, & acting. And of course, the best part (in my opinion) was the side story - stories that could be seen as an average CSI case but from a psychological standpoint. They had different patients with everyday normal issues with He Dun, the “profiler”, being able to assess them in a manner that could help them overcome or at least live with those issues. Of course, it was interesting to see and enjoyable. The characters that were included were also terrific, but my favorite was undeniably Qian Kaiyi. He added laughter and amusement into the show that was needed due to some stories being darker than others. I felt he was a great balancing element for the show where people didn’t just see the heartbreak, sorrow, and hatred from those individual cases. And I also got really used to those ugly Hawaiian shirts he tends to wear (lol). All the actors in this drama delivered a great performance and I can’t genuinely say any one person did a bad job in portraying their role. Yang Zi & Jing Boran both did great jobs as the leads.

Enter THE BAD. This started around episode 25ish. To be honest, I knew the great storyline and pacing I had been permitted to in the first half was not going to continue and there would be some decline, which is on par with most tv shows. But I wasn’t expecting THIS. The script writers touched more on the main story and sort of pushed the side stories to the literal side. If I said the main story was underwhelming it would be placing it mildly. I thought there would be more excitement and more shock factor going into it, but it fell short - now I can admit that due to the story being so great at the beginning that my expectations were a lot higher hence I expected more. But what they wrote just wasn’t IT. The ruse that the 2nd main antagonist used to defeat the Professor was just not what I imagined. It felt like the entire scandal used to take him down could have easily been resolved if the police just did a thorough investigation. It took Lilli (He Dun’s best friend) a day to find out that the accuser was in debt - hence a motive that could be the reason for her accusation. Any logical person could have used that to blow the case wide open but it never came up once - now I can take it has a huge plot hole and let it go but the entire thing was just a lot of he said she said allegations that felt ridiculous and not something a brilliant mastermind would take years to plan. Frankly, it felt more like they made it up on the go and just hoped that it would work out in the end. I expected more from the villain due to him being built him up to be this smart instigator that was behind the scenes, but his plans can be deemed obvious to say it bluntly.

The Ugly. The last 9 episodes were probably the most aggravating. As each episode was released it clearly started to seem like they had no intention of answering any of the questions that the audience had since the beginning of the series. They shoved in other new elements to cover up drama time so it wouldn’t be too obvious that they were unwilling to give answers. They added new characters, a new romance, and to top it off a new side story mixed in with the main in the last 3 episodes. The pacing started looking off and they added more questions about the antagonist’s behavior and what his actual plans were. The entire thing just started looking messy and really didn’t seem to make any sense pacing wise. It does seem that there might be a 2nd season but even if that is the case, I felt there should have been some answers to ALL those questions they had accumulated throughout the drama. Some of the questions being He Dun’s family dynamics, the radio station, Lilli’s new romance, He Dun’s & Kaiyi’s relationship, Jiahui’s whole mess of a family dynamic and his mom (I feel the mom is a category in it of herself with how many questions we have on her), the 2 new female psychologists and what is their role in this whole thing, etc. To be honest, I feel they could have answered all the questions up to the 2 new female psychologists that they added in, and it would have been a smoother transition to a 2nd season – because we don’t need a million questions for us to be hanging on a cliff. A simple “who is she?” would have sufficed. But those are just my opinions garnered by the expectations I had from a great start.

Overall, I would recommend this drama just for the first half because it was terrific and the acting was on point as for the latter half, I would just say not to have such high hopes - like I did. The drama had great potential because the story was something different from what I tend to see in c-dramas but it just wasn’t executed properly enough through to the end.

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I'M IN LOVE WITH THIS!

I love love love this drama so much I kid you not I stay up all night just for the next ep. Can we just appreciate qian kai yi's adorableness like damn he's adorable. Defo the funniest character and ye je hui is sus but I kinda like him. Ik everyone else hates him but that's what makes it interesting and if yall hate him it just shows how good his acting is. Tang lili is everyones dream bestie...well defo mine. (Kinda shipped her with ye je hui ngl but fate had other plans...)
And we must not forget the one and only queen YANG ZI. Truly does not dissappoint me every TIME. (why is she so cute but serious at the same time?) And the chemistry between he dun and qian kai yi is chef's kiss. Mwuah.

Future viewers are lucky as hell but I'm telling you if you want to watch this drama and you aren't sure then just try the first 2 eps...if they don't hook you then just slap me. ;)

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Why no one warning me....?????

S**t a** ho**s!!! Why no one warning me in the review about this. I'll gonna write a big spoiler if u don't wanna to know just skip my review. If u curious just continue read, don't say i don't warned u ahead tho...

==================================BIG SPOILER ALERT================================







THIS IS AN OPEN ENDING!!! :( :( :( With very much unfinished story!!!!




S**T!!! When i wait for Yang zi drama to be release never expected the only drama aired this year to be an open ending. If i know ahead this is an open ending i'll gonna wait until second season at least being announce :(. So at least i'll not gonna have clifhanger feeling like this... :(. I'll gonna change my score a little bit after at least second season being announce.

==================================================================================

Ok. Enough about the rampage. Now we discuss the drama.

I really like the premise of this drama. All the problem that the 'visitor' have quite relatable with our daily life. Yeah we often don't dare to even aknowledge we have mental issue, because we don't wanna people think we are 'crazy'. But just like all the 'visitor' mental health not only talk about something wrong with our head but it's also talk about how we actually need someone to talk to, that quite frangkly, don't judge us.

Now about the main problem of the story, the story of our main cast. Like Enigma05 wrote: "the subplots started to obscure the main plot". But what i mean not exactly like Enigma05 mean. What i mean is the subplot is a little bit too many. Like the last visitor, the husband & wife, why they have to put that story... Why not just use the rest of duration to finished the main story. Like He Dun problem with her past & her dad, or like Ye Jia Hui problem with his mom, dad & foster dad. Why u must make it into the promise of second season. Ughhhhh!!! Really pissed me off... Really hope they can shoot second season & not just hang us up without closure.

And the BGM sometimes quite annoying. They put a lot of like mysterious BGM that make us sometimes waiting for something, but turn out nothing.

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If You Have A Mental Disease, You Should Get A Treatment

The Psychologist
An adaptation from the novel "Nü Xin Li Shi" (女心理师 ) by Bi Shu Min (毕淑敏).
A suspense romance drama that included many cases related to psychology and how they treated the patients for the cases. The production covered all types of psychological cases and it was different for every cases even though it's still related to the mental and behaviour characters.

In FACT, there were so many cases related to psychology in the world. People should care about their minds and behaviours state either it is in a good or not. If they think their minds state was bad, they should go and get the therapist instead of let it getting worse.

▫️Opinions
~ He Dun and Qian Kaiyi meet again after ten years. He did not remembered her but she remembered him since he was her first love but now she hates him after he spoiled her confession and acts like spoiled brat in middle school.
~ He Dun has her own difficulty in her childhood but she’s now became a psychologist and treating many patients who came to get the treatment. I guessed it was so hard for her to do that but she was indeed great in treating the patients became so well.
~ Qian Kaiyi was a radio host. In order to get his program become the top one, he got the help from He Dun and collaborated with her to host the program for his radio. Luckily, he was successful in doing his job and finally his program became the top one.
~ Jiahui acts in suspicious way like he has a hidden agenda. He was a bad guy who get close with He Dun in order to gain her trust. I am hating him since he was so bad.
~ Lili was a good friend of He Dun. She was nice and good to He Dun. But she also has her own selfishness, she got blinded by the rich man who was tackled her. She taught he likes her and loves her. But at last, he lied her.
~ He Dun's mum always liked to prank her daughter by acting like she was died. I thought she was really bad since it was not good to prank like that since He Dun was really sad. I do not know why her do that but maybe she has her reason.
~ Qian Kaiyi was really funny and silly guy. He was not serious and likes to play a joke. It was so good since his character can help to harmonize the drama. I can giggly happily when watching him. He was scared cat when he heard ghost sounds.
~ I loved to see He Dun and Kaiyi in relationships. They’re so good and cute together. Hoping to see more sweet scenes from them. But it was a bit dissatisfied since I can’t watched many sweet scenes between them and the ending was just like that, nothing else.
~ Tang Lili was a bold girl. Even though she had hurt her feelings before because of the jerk, but she did not afraid to fall in love again. That policeman was really suited with her and I supported them together ^,^
Their ending scene was a bit unfinished but it’s was okay since they’re together.

▫️Characters Intro
~ He Dun as the psychologist had met with different types of people that have a bad minds and behaviours condition. She was never afraid and gave up her patients. She wants to help them and treats them even they were in bad conditions. As a psychologist, she try to understand her patient's mind and behaviour conditions before making them go through the treatment processes. Even she was also has her own difficult, but she was never showed it to the people. It was difficult to read her minds as she covered it with her positive attitude.
** I dislikes her dressing code and styles. She was pretty cute but she wore the blazers with dark colour and it does not suited with her beautiful and cute face. I noticed that she always wore the same blazers and shirts and repeated them.
~ Qian Kaiyi was a positive guy but a bit silly. If you watched the drama you will found that he was really silly and sometime he was a little fools. I am giggly happily when I watched his parts. He fell in love with He Dun after meeting her at a bar and they were closed to each other after collaborating together in radio program. He Dun fell in love with him during their middle school. After that, she hates him since he spoiled her confessing, acts childish and annoying brat.

◽️Overall
I found the drama was so interesting and amazing. I could see how good was Yang Zi acts in this drama and she had a great chemistry with Jing Boran. They nailed it! But for the ending, i am a bit disappointed since the drama was ended just like that and there’s so many questions about the drama was not answered yet in the storylines.

This was my first time watching Jing Boran's acting and I was kind of like him. He was indeed a good and professional actor.

I never found Yang Zi's weaknesses in acting. I knew her since she acts in Ode To Joy and always loves her acting. She was so cute during that time and now she became so beautiful and pretty. Yang Zi was always the best!!!

For the rewatch value, I gave a low rating because of my preferences in rewatch the dramas if it was a light and good to be watch again. It was not because of this drama was not good and interesting but it because of the genre, psychology. So I think I would not have time to watch again and not gonna considered it again in future. ^,^

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A bittersweet psychological drama.

The cases follow one another over the course of the episodes, evoking multiple aspects of psychological and mental disorders.
The whole is treated with intelligence, finesse, subtlety. Indeed, not everything is necessarily consistent with clinical reality, but I think it is an interesting and educational approach.

I particularly appreciated the way the director visualized the thoughts and the intellectual journey. A big bravo!
To put some balm in the heart of the spectator, there is the performance of ❤❤❤ Jing Bo Ran ❤❤❤, really excellent, talented, funny, seductive, super in the action scenes. I hope to see him again often in new dramas.

The Yang Zi / Jing Bo Ran duo show a beautiful chemistry, which will continue, I hope, in season 2.

The actors besides are all very good: the scenes of psychic disorder are not easy to act, but the actors interpreted them in a masterly way.

The OST are really appropriated.

The whole drama is not really feel-good, avoid watching that on a day when you want to relax, but I highly recommend it.

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An episodic drama with a good amount character side-plots

The entire value of this drama is on the consistency in storytelling when it came to He Dun (our main female lead) counseling patients. Each patient dealt with many things that relate to social issues, media misuse, and how awful people's judgment/character assassinations. A lot of heavy topics are handled quite well and even take pointed moments to blame certain people (ie media outlets, netizens, victim-blaming asshats, predators) for their actions. I definitely would NOT recommend this to anyone who may be triggered by the topics. But again, the best parts of this drama game are from He Dun talking and counseling each patient. It was incredibly hard not to feel for each patient and their struggles. Their problems were also not quick fixes; they involved work and even passed seeing them we know they are still working on it. This was a really good message to have.

In terms of our characters, each one has their own mountain of personal issues they deal with. One character, Ye Jia Hui, takes a good chunk and slow burn of the character side plots right to the very end of the drama. His plotlines are arguably what has kept this drama from getting a higher rating for me. He Dun and Jing Bo Ran are a delight in chemistry and their romance plotline was a bit slow and really enjoyable as well as rewarding. Tang Li Li was a ball of energy filled with flaws that many could identify with. Each character had their pride/ego that they put up against each other but ultimately sought friendship from each other. He Dun & Tang Li Li's friendship was endearing.

If you are into healing dramas this is solid but be aware that it is not really built on our characters as much as nurtured by them. The focus is often on the patients, and we get our main characters in the backgrounds developing most of the time.

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First of all, I like this drama very much. Her story is very interesting, the rhythm is fast, and the performance of the actors is also very good. What surprised me most was the long shot of the first episode, which is not available in other Chinese dramas, and the filming technique of the whole drama is also very advanced. The most important thing is that each episode has a lot of foreshadowing. And full of details. None of the other Chinese dramas I watch is as refined as this one. From this show, I can feel the director's intentions, the crew's intentions, and the actors' intentions. And every case in him is so real, and some made me want to cry. I plunged myself deeply into the drama. And Yang Zi's acting skills surprised me.

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EYE OPENER TO PSYCHOLOGY WORLD

lI did took my time watching this coz i tried to understand the situation for those people who seek for psychology counselling. As we live in this world , there are times when we need help if we are in helpless situation esp when it is related to mental health. This drama help me to understand the situation better and open my eyes about psychology.So i give 10/10. It seem this drama gonna have Season 2 ,n i hope Yangzi and Jing Boran still in season 2.

No need to say about Yangzi,she indeed up to expectations. She really good n you gais can believe her acting ability. For Jing Boran,this is my first time watching his drama. i gotta say, he is really good. With his handsome ,cute face plus his playful side,he and Yangzi have an explosive chemistry . I smile alot when both of them on screen.it make forget her past chemistry with Allen Deng??.Sorry ?.

About the side character,Tang Lili is the best friend ever. Hedun is so lucky to have her around.Make me jelly with bestfriend like her.

i love everything about this drama. I WILL WAIT FOR SEASON 2???

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