Lady Tough (2021)

Being a tough lady is tough

I saw a recommendation for this show from my go-to C-drama reviewers on Youtube. They have yet to let me down, and this show was no exception.

This is a great story about the stress of adulting and coping with loss. It is a nice change from all the rom-com shows that seem to make up a third of the C-drama market (the other two thirds, of course, being costume dramas and shows about the revolutionary war). The story is a little predictable, especially if you're familiar with the British show "Fleabag." I would even go so far and say that this is a Chinese interpretation of "Fleabag" - more on the nose about morals and less sex.

Here are my top 3 reasons why I highly recommend this show:

3. The humor: Despite it being a story about loss, it is still a comedy with plenty of fun moments that had me laughing out loud more than once (e.g. when Liu Lian meets her ex's new girl-friend for the first time, and says that he seems to be into matcha now - she is indirectly calling her a "green tea b****"). The little theatre scenes in the beginning of each episode are like a glimpse into Liu Lian's mind and both funny and thought-provocing.

2. The OP: The opening song "Unlimited Holidays" (lyrics by Wu Jing, music by EnjiA) is amazing and fits the show perfectly. Ingrita's voice is, similar to the female lead's, gritty and soulful. I knew one song from her previous to this, called "Her and her and her" (她和她和她), which is also a great song about women in today's society.

1. Well-written characters: What I liked the most are the characters, who come across as actual three-dimentional people and less stereotypes. Especially the protagonist Liu Lian is very fleshed out. She is not perfect, but she is trying to live her best life in her own way, and that makes her real and more loveable. One can tell how much thought was put into developing this character just by having a closer look at her name. "Liú Liàn", as how her name is correctly pronounced, can be understood as "reluctant to part with someone or something", which perfectly fits the story. At the same time, she also goes by "Liú Lián" which means "Durian". Just like the fruit she protects herself with a hard prickly shell, and does seem appalling to most people on first glance. However, when one takes time to get to know her better, she turns out to be a real softie and a loving friend.

Thanks for reading! Hope you'll give this little show a chance ...

Oh, wait! It's only 12 episodes with 30 minutes each!! It can be binged within A DAY!! So I guess that means ...

0. IT'S SHORT and awesome! So why won't you go watch it now?! ;)

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Completed - 2/11/2022

I don't remember how I came across this drama. It's short and sounded interesting. Without knowing much about it, it appears to be a comedy full of laughs and life lessons. I then realized this drama shows our protagonist's journey of revisiting and re-examining her relationship with her mother, and dealing with her mother's sudden death.

Liu Lian (FL) aka Durian is an independent, happy-go-lucky 30-year-old feminist, who is trying to live her life to the fullest and not caring about what others think of her. She's a little quirky and a little weird, is loud and obnoxious. Like her nickname, she's spiky like a durian and protects herself with those outer spikes She's a fun character to watch. However, deep down she is lonely and really misses her mother. She has a hard time dealing with her mother's sudden death.

Throughout the drama, there are many flashbacks of Liu Lian's life with her mother. From these flashbacks, we learned of their complicated love-hate relationship, and saw how much they are alike. There are many life lessons learned in this drama, and the opening theatrical acts are an interesting way to peek inside Liu Lan's inner thoughts and feelings. Though this is a small budget web drama, I don't feel that it's a cheap production.

However, there are quite a few plot holes where things don't line up. Why did Liu Lan go back to work for the same company after her fake pregnancy announcement, as if nothing happened? How come she couldn't pay her ex back from the insurance money? What happened to her relationship with Ma Ye?

Since it's such a short drama, it's worth a watch if you have some time to kill. It's very easy to binge all 12 episodes in one day.

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A blue and yellow series

The amount of blue and yellow colours in this drama is off the charts, from the opening screensaver to the final credits of each episode. For example, in the second episode, one hospital is shown, and even its doors are one blue and the other yellow. The main heroine often wears the same yellow and blue suit throughout the series. Moreover, in the last episode, a high-rise building was illuminated with blue light, and it looked like a blue and yellow one. In general, it is not a series, but a solid Ukrainian flag. :) I was very pleased to see іt all.

I liked the story, as well as the drama itself. It is short, with only 12 episodes, but this is its advantage, not a flaw. While watching, I didn't notice any gaffes or plot holes in the drama. The story developed smoothly, consistently, logically and concisely. I especially liked the mini-theatre at the beginning of each episode. It was original. I've never seen anything like that before. I liked the mini-theatre in the last episode the most.

The story deals with the eternal problem of the relationship between parents and children, in particular a mother and a daughter, as well as the personal tragedy of each of them. But that tragedy is also shown in an original way. The drama reminds me more of art house cinema, and it is definitely a quality melodrama series.

Everything in this drama is well thought out and written: the plot, the main idea, the characters, the music, and even the titles of the episodes. I finally watched the cinema picture that I wanted to give the highest score to.

This TV series is about the importance of loving, respecting and cherishing your mum. If you make a mistake, you need to apologise to her in time, because you never know when she will be gone and you may not have time to do it. One of God's commandments in the Bible is to honour the father and the mother. That is why it’s so important to love and appreciate your parents.

But the drama is not just about that. Parents also often make the mistake of hiding the truth from their children, thinking that will protect them from harm, but in fact, they do them even more harm. So for me, this series is a story about the necessity of mutual understanding and openness between mothers and daughters, despite the mistakes they both make... despite everything.

I liked the protagonist. She is, of course, with her own flies in the head, but she is cool and natural, just the way she is. I agree with the idea expressed in the series that you don't need to copy the behaviour of another person, but to be yourself, even if your behaviour doesn't fully meet generally accepted social standards. You need to live your life as best you can, as you are able to; love yourself, enjoy life and appreciate it, and not try to be the first in everything, living as if in a constant race.

I also came to that conclusion after living my whole life like one of the heroines of the drama, Yi Zu Zhu. All my life I endured insults and then came home and cried into my pillow. And when I defended myself against bullying, the people who insulted me would trumpet to the whole neighbourhood that I had a bad temper. Yeah, how easy it is to defame and ruin a person's reputation. All my life I have had impeccable behaviour, but unfortunately, no one but God appreciated it. Now I try to be a little bit like Lady Tough. :)

Moreover, one cannot be saved by any good deeds, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. This is what He Himself has said, as we can see from the Gospels, especially the Gospel of the Apostle John. The Apostle Paul also emphasised it in his epistles, in particular the Epistle to the Romans.

The mother in Lady Tough, on the contrary, tried to get her daughter to live a perfect life, not to be herself, although she herself had made enough mistakes in her life, and she didn't even dare to tell her daughter about it, hiding the truth from her all her life. Perhaps, trying to make her daughter perfect, she wanted to compensate for her own mistakes. Because Liu Min Zhi was far from perfect.

I really didn't like her behaviour in one of the scenes. She should have put wedding rings in that fruit instead of condoms. Did she want her daughter to make the same mistakes and live like her? Condoms do not protect against pregnancy one hundred percent.

In the series, I have seen a problem that exists not only in China, but probably all over the world. It's the public opinion that women who are unmarried for a long time are either mistresses or sluts. But, of course, that's not true. There are many women in their thirties (what can I say, I'm one of them) who have never slept with a man and are still virgins. It's not something that's accepted in society to talk about; only parents and a personal gynaecologist know about it.

It's unlikely that any of them are waiting for a prince. They just had no luck meeting their soul mate. As for me, that was my personal conscious choice. I have always tried to live by God's commandments. I didn't want to live in fornication, and I didn't meet a worthy candidate to marry. So much for the difference between gossip and reality. I could only guess what was said about me behind my back, but I didn't care. It's my life and my choice.

I would like to speak about a few more storylines in the drama. For example, I was glad that the main heroine was not given that female cat. Because that “princess” would have sat on her head, stretched its paws and ruled her as it wished. But animals should serve people, not people should serve animals. It is better to take a cat from an animal shelter that is desperately waiting for its owner, whom it will love and serve faithfully.

Similarly, the protagonist should not have been so upset that her ex-boyfriend was not coming back to her and was marrying someone else. That her ex-boyfriend suspiciously resembles Huang Xuan. She doesn't need that kind of “happiness.” :)

Almost from the beginning, I guessed how things really were with the main heroine's father, but I still hoped Liu Min Zhi wasn't lying to her daughter. You must admit that it is better to be born from a test tube than from a bad father, an alcoholic, drug addict or mentally ill father. The truth turned out to be sad and banal. It's a pity...

But I liked everything about the drama, something more, something less. I had a lot to think about while watching it. I enjoyed the cast and the acting. All the actors were in their places... I mean, in their roles :), and they did their job well.

I would also like to focus on the actress Kan Qing Zi (Adi Kan), who performed the female lead, and her acting. As you might have guessed, this is the actress from the younger generation of Chinese actresses that I like the most. She even looks a bit like me with her facial features, especially when she frowns. So you see, I have kept my promise and have told you who is my favourite actress from the younger generation. I think she's a strong actress and she has acted her part in this drama just perfectly. In addition, in my opinion, she is also beautiful in appearance with a good figure.

Kan Qing Zi has acted with Huang Xuan in more than one drama, but he hasn't even paid attention to her! Of course, he specialises only in whores. О_о Instead, he chose Xu Lu, a wimpy and emotionless wench, thin as a sliver, who had no intelligence, imagination or talent, and pursued her for five years like a sexual maniac.

I first saw Kan Qing Zi as Princess Ji in Tribes and Empires: Storm of Prophecy, and since then I've really liked her as an actress. In my opinion, she was supposed to act as the female lead, Lady Su Yu Ning, in that fantasy drama, but Huang Xuan pushed his “love interest” into that role.

I probably know the best how Lady Su Yu Ning is supposed to look and behave. Because I am the real Su Yu Ning. I have always been her. In the worst times of my life, I forgot about it, but God would poke my nose and remind me. And the real Su Yu Ning has nothing to do with the one we have been pushed for seventy-five episodes in a row in Tribes and Empires.

When I first read the synopsis of that fantasy drama and watched the opening credits for the first time, I thought: “Yeah, with an empress like that, Emperor Muyun Sheng will freeze in bed like an oak tree and die young. :):):)” I think it's unnecessary to write anything more about Xu Lu's so-called acting. But Kan Qing Zi would have performed her wonderfully, just as she did as Princess Ji.

You know, there is one very symbolic scene in Tribes and Empires. At the wedding feast, Prince Lu grabs Su Yu Ning's hand and drags her out of the hall away from Muyun Sheng. Guess who has pulled Blue water tigress, aka the real Su Yu Ning, away from the real Muyun Sheng? It was Jesus Christ. And the puffed-up and plucked peacock, aka Sun Jian, overslept. He continues to sleep, thinking that God will do everything instead of him.

God is not going to do anything instead of him. He will just give Blue water tigress into the hands of someone who will love, protect and defend her for the rest of her life. And He will keep her away from such goats as Huang Xuan and Sun Jian. By the way, Sun Jian also used me. But it didn't hurt me, because I didn't even love him. I wanted to sneeze at him from a high tower.

I also never cease to wonder why I have fallen in love with Huang Xuan. Indeed, what did we have in common: while he was drinking and chasing girls, I was studying hard and winning first places in Olympiads.

I was disappointed in Chinese men. I was told that they were among the best men in the world. But it turned out to be a lie and a myth. Did those two jerks think they were superior to me because they were actors? They forgot the times when people like them were called clowns, plebeians, buffoons, and the price of their services was pennies. I can remind them of those times. Maybe people have forgotten, but God remembers everything.

Do they think that they are doing more good with their acting than ordinary people who work all day long from morning to evening in the sweat of their brow? The great English playwright William Shakespeare said: “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women are merely players”. In saying that, he was not far from the truth. We're all a bit of an actor, so why don't we get the same fees as other actors?

Do you know who the real men are and who are really worth marrying? They are Ukrainian soldiers who are on the frontline defending the territory of the Ukrainian state from russian invaders. I dedicate a Ukrainian song to them, which is written about them. This is a song by the Ukrainian singer Jerry Heil called Kozatskomu Rodu (To Cossack kind). I'll even give you a link to this song on YouTube. Here you have it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhKEUfSuRws. It is available with Ukrainian and English subtitles, and can be automatically translated into any other language.

So, we've come to the end of my review. If you ask me whether the Chinese series Lady Tough is worth watching, I'll say it is definitely worth it. If you ask me whether it's worth rewatching, I'll say yes. I advise all mothers and daughters (and not only them) to watch it and draw their own conclusions.

I wish Kan Qing Zi success in life and more leading roles. This is definitely not the last drama I will watch with her in it. I wasn't disappointed in her acting, quite the contrary, and that's good. I have been disappointed in many things lately, more than I should be. That's enough.

In recent times I have also come to understand better why so many women have served and followed Christ. Not only did He speak and behave with them as if they were His equals, but He could reach them more easily than He could reach men with their pride and arrogance.

And it's very interesting for me to watch how He is waving you all around, choosing exactly the right dramas for me. I wonder what will happen next... See you soon.

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