Why this show doesn't suck. (Episode review/summary focused on the leads)

As requested, I'll put in my non-too-brief review by episode in no specific order as I only began in earnest once they were about to break up.  I apologize in advance for the TLDR nature of some of these, I tried to keep it short by only reporting on the lead characters as possible.  When I go back to re-watch the series from the beginning, I'll follow up with the missing episodes.  Those reveiws should be shorter, as I'll omit most of the business aspect of the drama.

(these are place-holders as at the time I didn't think anyone was interested in a detailed run-down)

I just finished ep 22 and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better depiction of the struggle between a woman’s heart and mind as this series has given us:
•-In Ep 19 her MIND tells Prof Yu that she’s “only 25 and not ready for this” (dating, romance).  
• -In Ep 21, in a moment of drunken candor, her HEART reaches out to the depressed ShiYan to reassure him and they share their most intimate, uninterrupted kiss of the series to-date.  She doesn’t pull back this time, and proclaims her role as his girlfriend.
•-And in Ep22, we get 2 key scenes that she is becoming aware of her internal struggle and he recognizes it too:
oShe tells her boss that she wont risk love or career for each other
oOn the riverwalk, our couple both finally acknowledge the importance of her career, and Shi Yan promises to support her.

Is her heart winning?  It’s definitely asserted itself, but I still wonder if she is in love with him or simply the concept of being his girlfriend?  

Unfortunately, there are dark undercurrents (reminders of her original scheme to date ShiYan out of vengeance) in this episode that hint storm clouds are gathering on the horizon.
 
PS- Just finished Ep23, and her guilt and paranoia over her initial motivations continue to grow...the end must be near.

Ep 27 - The End of the Beginning

Well, we knew it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier to watch.

And I’ll be the first to admit that she got what she deserved for refusing to tell him the truth about many things.  But still, it’s impossible to not feel sorry for her, even in the least, for what she is going through.  And naturally, she realizes she has no one to blame but herself now, which makes it even worse for her (she can’t lash out at her ex-bf or his mistress this time).  

And it’s interesting that she KNOWS that he is going to be angry when he finds out the truth (and let’s face it, she’s suspected this all along).  How angry and forgiving is the question.  So on the Fifth day of Chinese New Years, she has decided, once again, that THIS time she will tell him the truth about why she was initially attracted to him.  After a restless, sleepless night she rises early to face the moment (literally) of truth, looking as enthusiastic as an inmate heading for death row.  We know, though, that the cat is already out of the bag and he is just waiting to end the relationship….he’s finally had enough of the lies and wouldn’t believe anything she says at this point.  His facts about their relationship as a whole may be a little confused, but he’s figured out at least WHY she came to him.  And that’s enough.

The episode does a good job of building a sense of foreboding as events lead up to their scheduled meet at the aquarium at 10 in the morning.  She senses something is not right when he is not on time.  When she finally builds the nerve to call him to find out where he is, the tension continues  after he finally picks up the phone and all she hears is 15 long seconds of dead air.  His eventual terse response “ To come and act with you?” before hanging up on her is the thunderbolt she’s feared and she’s left to walk back to her parents in tears…while reliving past conversations about their relationship, all to the sounds of "Passerby" (if you haven't read the lyrics to this song, you should...it's perfect for this series and very very sad).    And of course he is just around the corner, watching these events unfold for reasons that we can only speculate on. Why is he there? Wasn’t it enough to simply tell her on the way home?  Or was he still waffling even at the last minute to go and see her in person?  Or was he so cruel that he WANTED to see the pain his words would inflict?

Now let me stop here for just a minute. If we look back, she must have realized by now that since his niece was actually working for her, she must’ve been the source of the information getting back to him about the things that she was up to ( like the blind date with YuYou).  So she knows by now that his niece was spying on her for him. Why this has not brought about any anger on her part perplexes me. Shi Yan’s behavior during this has been questionable at best. He has spied on her, eavesdropped on her, and been kind of creepy all under the guise of being an introvert who purports to have her best interests at heart. Cherry on top of this was the fact that he was only just around the corner while giving her the Coup deGrace to end their relationship.  In my opinion, he is really getting off Scot-free.

OK, back to the summary….

Now that things have been completely destroyed, neither of them really know what to do. They stare at their phones in furtive attempts to see if there’s been some life in their chat group, but it is as cold and dead as their relationship is now.  His niece’s mission as a spy having been accomplished, he begins to pull her out of Financial Weekly. His niece, however, still has no clue of the role that she has been playing and she also hasn’t yet figured out the extent of the relationship between her uncle and her boss. In other words, she doesn’t yet know that her uncle is “The Uncle”. I would assume that later on both the female lead and his niece will connect the dots to find out what has actually been happening.  The fact that she was sent to Finance Weekly to get a “job” wasn’t a coincidence…will they figure that out?  

Of course, circling the remains of the relationship, like some sort of hybrid of a skateboarder/buzzard, is Jackson Yi who senses the opportunity to snatch her away for himself. Her reaction to this shows her confusion as well, as she lies to him that her relationship with ShiYan is still strong. Yet she indulges her passion for her work, and accepts yet another interview with him. And as typical for her, she is fascinated by, and leaps at the opportunity to use Jackson as a means to write another series of articles, this time featuring ex-pats returning to China.  So now she will use HIM to further her career and just-like-that  we return to where she was in Episode 1:  the opportunistic journalist using her connections, intelligence and looks, for professional gains.

Yes, other things occurred here, especially with ShanShan/GuanJi, but they pale by comparison (GuanJi’s open-hearted honesty about his past was in stark contrast to Shu Yi’s deceit.  And their mutual boldness to try to reshape their relationship provides the counter-point to ShiYan and ShuYi).  

The lasting image for me from Episode 27 is the 3 forlorn Musketeers at the horse farm, splendidly clad in their riding attire, being absolutely miserable thanks to the women in their lives.

Ep 29  Love Bites

Just when I thought they would give us a brief break in the heart-wrenching scenes, and I could write a few paragraphs to wrap this up....they drop this gem on us.  There is some significant deviation from the book beginning with her attempts to meet with him at his office back in Ep 28, so I can’t refer the novel for much clarification.

This whole episode revolves around one 11-minute scene at a Charity Dinner.  And within that, the core is a 3 minute cut that is staged in front of a tree, of all things.  So, let’s get started:

The episode has us wondering if ShiYan actually blocked her on WeChat or not.  He acts thru the episode as being surprised that she has not reached out to him (that is what he tells his friends at least) but we know that her last message to him was not delivered.  (In the book he DID block her).  The episode picks up with his conversation with his niece who wants to know why he’s still in such a bad mood and she knows by now it has something to do with ShuYi.  She tries to get him to take the initiative and explains things from a woman’s POV… and while he’s hearing her, he’s not listening.  When she asks him what he thinks the most important thing in a relationship is, his answer is simply “honesty”, giving us insight to the hurt that ShuYi has inflicted on him, but he then rambles on about what makes successful couples, as if he’s distracted.  When he stops, she finally asks him the fateful question: “Is ShuYi the one for you?” After fumbling for an answer for 10 seconds, he finally just tells her to go to bed.

The next morning, back at her office, Yuling is still trying to stick thorns in ShuYi by bragging about her non-existent interviews with Mr. Shi.  And then depressingly, the buzzard Jackson Yi tosses ShuYi the catnip she craves:  he’s set up an interview session with his expatriate friends for her this afternoon at his HQ.  Suddenly her dull eyes lift and we see the smiling, proficient journalist at the interview session in Jackson’s office that afternoon.  Her article appears in the online magazine to rave reviews, and she credits the niece in the by-line too.  This gives the niece the kick in the butt to realize that being a journalist like her idol is exactly the future she wants.  By now, the timeline is a bit fuzzy, as we don’t know how many days have elapsed since this interview nor do we know how long it’s been since the breakup at the Aquarium on Lunar New Year +5.   

Sensing he’s on a roll, the buzzard then invites her to a big charity dinner and she accepts since it’s a networking opportunity for her.  However, it seems there has been something edited out, as the scene then abruptly cuts to the dinner being held at some kind of mansion.  She arrives looking better than most of the actresses attending the Oscars, in an evening gown that must have cost a fortune (how did she pay for it?  Only the niece would have been able toafford it) and her hair beautifully styled as well.  When did all this happen????  I think these must have been the scenes left on the cutting-room floor.

Putting all that aside, buzzard offers his arm to escort her in, but she’s not having it and they walk in separately (yayy).  Once inside she and ShiYan instantly spot each other and the director does a magnificent job of soft focus on everyone else around them, so that all they see is each other (tunnel-vision, if you will).  As the attendees gossip, his ex-gf (the real actress) approaches him to ask if they can reconcile and he turns her down.  While this happens, buzzard yanks ShuYi and pulls her out of the ballroom to the outside patio (ShiYan seethes when he see this) and she begins drinking wine hard and fast.  She gets buzzed pretty quickly and tells JY that she still has ShiYan in her heart and there is no place for him (double-yayyy).  As they continue talking, she gets increasingly tipsy. And once again he pulls her away, this time from the mansion towards the grounds.  ShiYan finally frees himself from the ex-gf and goes looking for her, only to find her…climbing a tree!  For unknown reasons, buzzard is a few branches above her and she’s about 6 feet up in a saddle of the branches, tottering back and forth.  ShiYan demands she come down, while buzzard tells her to avoid him and climb up to him (how stupid).  At this point her liquid courage has kicked in and she tells ShiYan off and he coaxes her down by calling her “Little Fairy”, her favorite pet name.  She falls into his arms (almost literally) and hugs him, whispering in his ear that he’s a weirdo and that he has a cruel heart…and then she BITES his neck (followed with a quick kiss).  Hickie ensured, he takes her away in a fireman carry (she’s too loaded for him to carry her on his back, but I’m shocked he didn’t do the princess carry again – it would have been a great F-U to the buzzard.).  As he walks off, buzzard fires his last salvo at ShiYan, telling him if he “can’t give her what she wants he should stay away”, but Shi responds that he, no matter what, will make sure she always has what she wants.   

Under the watchful eyes of the chauffeur, he gently places her in the back seat of the Rolls..but just before she passes out, she again tells him of how much she misses him and how sad she is that everyone is allowed to talk to him but her.  At this point she embraces him and begins sobbing (this is really a tough scene to watch).  He simply asks her “Did you ever have feelings for me?” but, as drama allows, she passes out in his arms before she can answer.  He holds her and the Rolls pulls away from the Dinner.  They drop her off at her house and he goes home, staring in the mirror at the developing hickie on his neck.  Before he goes to bed it appears he re-adds her to his WeChat.

The next morning, she has no idea how she got home.  Who put her in bed?  ShiYan, for his part, makes sure to wear his turtle-neck sweater to cover the hickie when he dresses for work.  Unfortunately, the buzzard is relentless, and sends her fruit gift-baskets to the office which she decides to have distributed to the staff.  Then, he follows up by sending her a skateboard to the office.  (Go away, you punk!)  She’s not having it but wants him to tell her who took her home, which he refuses, unless he sees her for a date (what a dirtbag!).  In the meantime this infuriating news gets back to ShiYan via an ad-hoc intelligence network (KongNan to her boyfriend Mr. Chen), which is kind of funny, because for all he tries, ShiYan can’t avoid finding out what is going on at Finance Weekly.  It’s also odd that he doesn’t ask Mr. Chen exactly HOW he knows what is going on there.  While at Finance Weekly, Yuling is getting chewed out by the boss because her draft report on taking over the Yuanchang series is basically crap because ShiYan won’t meet with her…thus she’s not fooling anyone with a bunch of filler and speculation.  

The episode finally ends with ShuYi and ShanShan dining at her place while ShiYan & GuanJi are at a bar…and Shi is drinking way too much – he’s upset about the whole situation especially considering that the skateboarding buzzard won’t let up.  During this, Guan and Shan (the only couple with anything going on) call each other on the phone and Shi can’t help but hear Shan giving Guan a piece of her mind telling her how messed up ShuYi is but confirming that ShuYi isn’t interested in the buzzard.  Since Shi is in listening distance on the phone, she unloads oh him too.  (I still like ShanShan, despite her imperfect advice).  The episode closes with ShiYan stalking off and Guan stopping him and asking his oldest friend “What are you thinking? I’ve never seen you like this!”  A question Shi cannot answer and he simply holds his hand open and says “I don’t know”.

Ep 31 – The Reluctant Reconciliation           

Just when you thought things would at least pause to give us a break, now that their relationship is “done”, the show ramps up again and we’re off and running. 

This will be a difficult episode to review because SO MUCH happened and you really need to hear the exact dialog.  I will try to surmise it as much as possible without quoting every line which would make this review a chore to read.  I had to watch this episode 3 times to be able to catch everything that happened in it.

It opens with ShiYan reading his nieces text messages from the restaurant that evening.  It is the eve of a holiday of some sort and he’s up late, lost in his misery that comes from knowing ShuYi blocked his messages.  Angered, he grabs his coat and goes to her place and parks outside (creepy ShiYan again).  It’s starting to rain again and she is home by now but feverish as she can’t sleep and she feels the flu coming on.  He stares at her bedroom window from his car, and since her bedroom light is off, he is about to go home (not really sure what he intended to do?) when he suddenly see her outside on the patio shuffling around and taking down clothes she had left drying outside.  The rain picks up as she finishes and goes back inside and her lights are extinguished again.  As he’s about to leave he is stunned to see her walk out of her building and wait in the rain under her umbrella, all bundled up.  He calls to her and after a couple of tries, she realizes what is going on and sees him, outside his car under his umbrella.  They have another starting contest for a whopping 71 seconds of silence as she can’t believe he’s there and he just looks annoyed that she’s standing in the rain…all the while we hear “Not Speaking” (appropriate given its lyrics) in the background as his car is running with the wipers bobbing to and fro (I guess the rich can afford to keep there car just running there).  She tells him she’s sick and waiting for her cab to take her to the ER and (of course) he takes her there instead.  As they drive there she is trying to figure out why he was there and her guilt and sadness get the best of her and she silently starts crying, to which he hands her a tissue as he drives (that’s ShiYan finally being pro-active as his niece demanded he be).  It’s 10:10pm.

At the ER (suspiciously empty at this time of night) she is at the lab about to have blood drawn which makes her uncomfortable. As the crusty nurse is about to put in the needle ShiYan covers her eyes so she doesn’t see and the deed is done.  Once finished withdraws his hand and leaves….she begins to sob and the nurse doesn’t understand what is going on and admonishes her to act like a grown up and not cry after bloodwork. 

While waiting for the results, he asks her why she cried and our girl does it again!  Instead of being truthful, here comes Faux Pas #4 as she denies crying and just says she “didn’t expect to be in the hospital at this time”.  But THANK GOODNESS ShiYan isn’t going to let her get away with it!  Mr. Proactive responds by shocking her with “Yeah, you should have been at my house at this time”.  He gets the intended response as she freaks out with her mind and heart arguing with each other in her head.  Looking away from him she agrees with him.  (The good omen here is the background music turns to the more upbeat “Stars & Light” which is usually played in happy scenes in this series).  After she gets her lab test results, the doctor tells her to come back for an IV in the morning if the fever hasn’t broken.  After she leaves the Dr’s office, he appears to have left and she shuffles out, coughing now, trying to figure out why he seemed to reach out to her…and suddenly he appears with a cup of hot water for her throat.  They quietly walk out of the ER together and wants her to say SOMETHING “Are you mute?” he asks, but then tells her to never mind. 

As usual, she falls asleep in the car on the way back to her home but awakens in time to hear Fiona asking him on the phone if they can get together on the holiday (he is annoyed at Fiona for asking and hangs up and then notices she’s been listening). She asks him if he’ll go out with her tomorrow, and he replies “should I?” putting the ball back into her court.  I’ll give ShiYan this:  He’s TRYING.  So she tells him she doesn’t want him to go…which surprises him, but he knows better and wants to know which actress is talking to him now?  But unfortunately Our Girl does it again and here comes Faux Pas #5 (gee, 2 in one show?) as she tells him the almanac says it’s a bad day for travel as there will be a great disaster (ARRGHHHHH).  He rolls his eyes and tells her to go home and peels off.  SHE DID IT AGAIN.

The following morning (the holiday) the niece calls ShuYi and finds out she’s at the ER getting the IV after all.  The niece tells her Uncle this as he’s having breakfast (a really cute scene) and he cuts short his breakfast and goes to the ER to find her asleep with the IV still dripping.  At this point his frustration and annoyance with her is at its boiling point.  She awakes to see him sitting next to her, bundled under his coat.  When she asks him “Why are you here, I told you to stay home today” his reply of “Aren’t YOU the greatest disaster in my life?” is the highlight of the episode.  (BRAVO!!!)

The IV done, he wants to leave, but she’s too weak to stand and once she convinces him that it’s not an act this time, he princess-carries her to the car.  And after 30 episodes of torture with them, we FINALLY get the moment we’ve been waiting for:

She wraps her arms around his neck as her carries her and she looks him straight in the eyes and tells him this time she’s not acting and tells him that even though their relationship started off for bad reasons she fell for him and it stopped being acting.  She confesses she really has feelings for him and wants ‘a perfect ending’ with him (it was beautifully written).  His response to her confession: “Oh” (our old ShiYan is back!)  Which drives her crazy: “What does THAT mean?”, she demands.   “It all depends on your performance” and this reply leaves her stunned…’performance of what’ she asks herself.   As he drops her off at her house, she has flashbacks to when they first met, standing in the rain at the Warner Mansion.  When he tells her that was NOT the first time they met, she is once again confused. And with that he leaves and she goes inside to rest.

That night she texts the niece and thanks her for her help (leaving the niece confused) and asks for her Uncles WeChat contact info because she ‘accidentally’ deleted it, which the niece is NOT buying.  But she gets it, and their WeChat is reopened.  They have a funny conversation about what is his ideal of his perfect girlfriend and when she proudly says she meets all those requirements, he relishes the opportunity to send back screenshots of prior conversations to show her that she falls pretty far short of them.  Embarrassed at being called out, she puts down the phone and whines under the covers.

And all is perfect again with them.  At least as perfect as she can let things be.

eanwhile, back at Youngchang things have gone from bad to worse to OMG.  The staff gathers outside the conference room where the 2 uncles are letting ShiYan have it for sticking with Le-an Tech.  He assures them he’ll make up for any losses but they call him on it, saying he can’t go to his dad for the money.  And they tell him it’s not about the money anymore and again he asks for time to fix the problems at Le’an.

AT FW, our heroine is whistling at her desk, happy as a clam now that her love life is seemingly back-on-track.  But here’s buzzard lurking outside trying to pick her up for a date.  She agrees to do to lunch with him and politely tells him he’s not the one for her and will never be.  She has reconciled with ShiYan and he’s not one to be trifled with.  She puts the buzzard in his place and reflects on how much better a man ShiYan is).  BUZZ OFF, BUZZARD!!!

The episode ends with ShiYan and Mr. Chen stunned to see the dirtbag boyfriend walking out of the Youngchang building.  They don’t know that the mistress (chauffeur’s niece) arranged an interview for him.