Apesar do Vento Forte (2023)

smartly written with excellent performances

The trailer looked smart & interesting so I gave this drama a try, and wow, what a surprisingly good show it turned out to be. It's funny, poignant, and carefully examines human relationships with a sensitivity rarely reached by any show these days.

Shuo Bing & Tang Chen are both workaholics in competing high profile public relations firms in Hangzhou. They're also a couple engaged to each other, until they ask the impossible of each other when it comes time to consider marriage. Then comes a stunning betrayal.

Tang Chen is a 40 year old CEO of a PR firm he built from scratch, and one who desperately wants his world to be perfectly tuned to his own drum beat. His workaholism drives him to neglect his fiancee's needs to his detriment, forcing her to choose between marriage and career. Shuo Bing, in her 30's, is a mid level manager who makes the difficult choice between being ruthless enough to ruin a competing business (ie Tang Chen's) for a massive promotion, or settling for a domestic life she can't support. Later it's revealed that Shuo Bing's calm & cold demeanor hides a crushing & turbulent storm underneath, to which Tang Chen is completely oblivious.

The ensuing aftermath of that decision only serves to showcase Tang Chen's mastery of psychological manipulation in PR as he rebuilds his career. It's a fascinating look at his method: taking the time to find out about a person, where they have been in their lives and thus guiding their trajectory toward the success they seek. And not only does he bring out the best in his clients, he applies the same sensitivity & skills in bringing out the best in each member of his new team. References to Journey to the West are frequent and such that even the founding members of this team are named Tang, Sha, & Zhu, supporting each other and persevering "in spite of the strong wind" bringing more & more powerful demons against them.

Imbedded within this cut-throat competition of the PR world are case studies of 3 couples deeply in conflict. Tang Chen uses his empathic skill to guide his core team members through their personal issues, while taking lessons from his own parents in realizing what success & relationships truly mean to him, & that all of his skills are for naught if he didn't apply them to his own fiancee. The road of examination leaves almost no stone unturned as everyone eventually finds an endpoint they can be satified with.

What a difference mature, experienced, & talented actors make. Jin Dong and Song Jia play their characters with such a deep understanding of two people walking a razor thin line, navigating horrendous forces that turned them into professional rivals, while trying to find a way to hold each other in their hearts. The ensemble cast is excellent. Wang Yu Wen has been in modern lead roles, but here I feel she is in a more suitable role which actually shows her talent better. Oddly, Zhou MaiJie is not credited on MDL for his role, Hou Zhi, a major character. He's credited on IMDB, but there's no info on ZMJ at all.

At any rate, this is a gem of a show: well acted, smartly written, funny, poignant, and which I'm glad to have come across.

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Not perfect, but still a RECOMMEND

Watching a show about PR firms at war with each other over clients? Doesn't sound that great, right? And if I told you there are four romantic couples at various stages of coupling, de-coupling, or re-coupling -- I'd understand if you yawned.

So this show isn't about the premise. It's about the very interesting characters. You will become attached to them and start to hope this series will have a Season 2 maybe. The Gray Whale firm ends up feeling like family, but we also feel for Song Jia's character as well. I will miss them all.

So if I'm this attached -- why only 8.5? Again, Public Relations is only so interesting. Also, the lawyer couple didn't quite work. The show devoted a lot of time to their Mom/Son confusing relationship, but it seemed to go in circles to the point I wanted to see more of the young office girl and the young rich boy instead. Those two simply had a more interesting story.

But now that I've dealt with the show's weakest point, the strongest was our leads Tang Chen and Shou Bing. Song Jia is what dragged my eyes to this show and that girl doesn't disappoint. Fans of SHE AND HER GIRLS won't recognize her here, not at first anyway. But as the story progresses you'll see her stubborn self rise and it's another gem of a performance.

Jin Dong's 'Tang' was new to me and ladies -- he's easy on the eyes. I'm a Wallace Huo man myself but Wallace just may be too good looking for his own good whereas Jin Dong seems more like an actual normal man. You'll absolutely adore every second Tang and Bing spend on screen together -- and they're why this imperfect series get a RECOMMEND from me.

I love Tian Yu's 'Old Sha'. I remember him from JOY OF LIFE but find his performance here very endearing. He's got a sweet Nathan Lane thing happening and really delivers as Tang's best friend in the world.

It was so refreshing to watch a series that didn't have a soundtrack of pop songs pummeled at me non-stop. I think they had 2 songs, and they were only played once. That background music was gorgeous, however, and sets an example of how most shows should use music.

The set designs were appropriately bleak in corporate settings. The informal sets were much warmer, including the nicest hospital room I've ever seen. You hope to get sick enough one day just to be in it, lol.

Three negative notes --

1. Xin Zhi Lei fans will see her in the opening and go OMG and wait to see her appear. The wait is surprisingly long and her stay is surprisingly brief. Almost a bait and switch scenario for fans like me, but she finally got to play a role of a nice beautiful girl instead of a serpent. And what happens to her is so simple and yet so heartbreaking. It's a shame she wasn't made into an actual supporting character.

2. There's a disturbing misogynistic tone that pops up enough times to mention here. You'd presume the series was written by a man and will be shocked to learn it was written by Li Xiao, the feminist A TALE OF ROSE scribe. I just didn't like how Tang would grab Bing. How Bai Ying was dangled before men as (let's face it) 'virgin' bait. And the worst was when moments after a character was in the process of being raped -- there's this God Awful scene in an elevator with the victim that was played for yucks. That one scene prevented me from giving this otherwise solid series a 9.

3. If you devide this show into 4 acts, the second one -- where the new firm is put together -- felt padded at times. It also ran too comedic, straining the more dramatic tone of our leads. But since the first quarter and the second half moved along nicely, I can look the other way here.

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