6
52
3
virgievirgie
Lost in Dramaland
Missing a little "oomph" in the chemistry department
Completed: 9/25/2022 - 7.75 rounding up to 8.0
Picking a somewhat unknown and unpopular drama is because one of the writers and one of the directors are from “Hikaru no Go”, one of my favorites. I was hoping the writing of “Dear Missy” would be good and I like the two female leads, Li Yi Tong and Gina Jin. However, I might have expected too much and left a little disappointed.
The focus of “Dear Missy” is friendship, especially the friendship between Li Yi Tong/Lu Ke (Editor) and Gina Jin/Shen Yi Yi (Publisher). They were high school best friends but had a fall out due to a misunderstanding. They lost contact but met each other again 9 years later when Shen Yi Yi became Lu Ke’s boss. The two female characters have very different personalities. Throughout the drama, you can see how their personalities create conflicts, yet how they complement each other in their personal and professional lives. Theoretically, this should be a great setup for amazing writing for a good sismance. But I feel that something is missing. Despite writing how close they are, I don’t feel the same closeness as the sismance in other dramas, e.g. “Remembrance of Things Past” or “Delicious Romance”.
I would say the secondary focus of this drama is the friendship between the 5 high school friends. They often gather at one of the friends’ bar to hang out and celebrate. Conversations flow when they catch up on what’s happening in each other's lives. They are a tight bunch from start to finish, even though some romantic feelings could threaten their friendship. Similar to what I described earlier, I am also missing a little ‘something’, a special chemistry to make this friendship stand out. It’s just OK.
Though there are several romance subplots, they are secondary to friendship. The romantic chemistry is just OK again. No sizzling hot chemistry, and not enough cute fluffiness for my favorite couple. If I have to pick, Shen Yi Yi and Yao Yuan might have the best chemistry out of the bunch. Secondary might be the initial attraction and competition between Shen Yi Yi and Bai Xiao Chuan. However, what I miss most are the scenes between Lu Ke and Zhang Mang. They are so cute together but after they officially date, we barely see them as a couple. I should say, we do see them as a couple, the romance part is pushed to the background to everyone else’s romance storyline. What I want less are scenes between Guan Yue and Ye Zhou, our third leads. The drama focuses way too much time on this couple. I find Guan Yue very annoying and childish for the majority of the drama, and feels that she doesn’t deserve Ye Zhou as well. She did get better in the last few episodes, but I am still pissed and have to lower my rating because of her.
Despite complaining about all the romantic plots, I do want to point out that the drama is refreshing in a way that it explores multiple love interests and relationships per character. Oftentimes, you get one female lead paired with one male lead, and the drama follows the same pairing throughout. But in this drama, we see multiple pairings and see how the characters grow through different relationships. I just wish the drama had better time management and allocated more time on some and less time on others.
I would not watch this drama for the business plots. They all seem very shallow/unrealistic and did not really add a whole lot of excitement, especially in the first two-thirds of the drama. There might be a little bit more towards the end and most of that was sparked by the professional trouble that our third female lead, artist Guan Yue, encountered. I guess that’s why the drama spends so much time on her, to build up the misfortune, which we will see the consequences in later episodes.
Overall, it’s an OK watch. It lacks a little oomph in the chemistry department (friendship and romance). I don’t hate it, but I also will not strongly recommend it either. Watch it if you like the actors/actresses as the acting is decent.
Other Random Observations:
1. LOVE the Hikaru no Go reference and surprise.
2. Actors are all using their real voices, even for Hong Kong actor Sunny Sun. I am really surprised he didn’t get dubbed.
3. Whenever I hear Zhang Chao’s voice, I just can’t help but think of his role in “Hikaru no Go”. His deep voice also reminded me of Jeremy Tsui’s voice. I love a deep sexy voice.
4. So glad to see a wedding in the end, and a very unique one as well.
5. BGM is too loud when the actors are speaking to each other.
6. OST is not memorable at all.
Picking a somewhat unknown and unpopular drama is because one of the writers and one of the directors are from “Hikaru no Go”, one of my favorites. I was hoping the writing of “Dear Missy” would be good and I like the two female leads, Li Yi Tong and Gina Jin. However, I might have expected too much and left a little disappointed.
The focus of “Dear Missy” is friendship, especially the friendship between Li Yi Tong/Lu Ke (Editor) and Gina Jin/Shen Yi Yi (Publisher). They were high school best friends but had a fall out due to a misunderstanding. They lost contact but met each other again 9 years later when Shen Yi Yi became Lu Ke’s boss. The two female characters have very different personalities. Throughout the drama, you can see how their personalities create conflicts, yet how they complement each other in their personal and professional lives. Theoretically, this should be a great setup for amazing writing for a good sismance. But I feel that something is missing. Despite writing how close they are, I don’t feel the same closeness as the sismance in other dramas, e.g. “Remembrance of Things Past” or “Delicious Romance”.
I would say the secondary focus of this drama is the friendship between the 5 high school friends. They often gather at one of the friends’ bar to hang out and celebrate. Conversations flow when they catch up on what’s happening in each other's lives. They are a tight bunch from start to finish, even though some romantic feelings could threaten their friendship. Similar to what I described earlier, I am also missing a little ‘something’, a special chemistry to make this friendship stand out. It’s just OK.
Though there are several romance subplots, they are secondary to friendship. The romantic chemistry is just OK again. No sizzling hot chemistry, and not enough cute fluffiness for my favorite couple. If I have to pick, Shen Yi Yi and Yao Yuan might have the best chemistry out of the bunch. Secondary might be the initial attraction and competition between Shen Yi Yi and Bai Xiao Chuan. However, what I miss most are the scenes between Lu Ke and Zhang Mang. They are so cute together but after they officially date, we barely see them as a couple. I should say, we do see them as a couple, the romance part is pushed to the background to everyone else’s romance storyline. What I want less are scenes between Guan Yue and Ye Zhou, our third leads. The drama focuses way too much time on this couple. I find Guan Yue very annoying and childish for the majority of the drama, and feels that she doesn’t deserve Ye Zhou as well. She did get better in the last few episodes, but I am still pissed and have to lower my rating because of her.
Despite complaining about all the romantic plots, I do want to point out that the drama is refreshing in a way that it explores multiple love interests and relationships per character. Oftentimes, you get one female lead paired with one male lead, and the drama follows the same pairing throughout. But in this drama, we see multiple pairings and see how the characters grow through different relationships. I just wish the drama had better time management and allocated more time on some and less time on others.
I would not watch this drama for the business plots. They all seem very shallow/unrealistic and did not really add a whole lot of excitement, especially in the first two-thirds of the drama. There might be a little bit more towards the end and most of that was sparked by the professional trouble that our third female lead, artist Guan Yue, encountered. I guess that’s why the drama spends so much time on her, to build up the misfortune, which we will see the consequences in later episodes.
Overall, it’s an OK watch. It lacks a little oomph in the chemistry department (friendship and romance). I don’t hate it, but I also will not strongly recommend it either. Watch it if you like the actors/actresses as the acting is decent.
Other Random Observations:
1. LOVE the Hikaru no Go reference and surprise.
2. Actors are all using their real voices, even for Hong Kong actor Sunny Sun. I am really surprised he didn’t get dubbed.
3. Whenever I hear Zhang Chao’s voice, I just can’t help but think of his role in “Hikaru no Go”. His deep voice also reminded me of Jeremy Tsui’s voice. I love a deep sexy voice.
4. So glad to see a wedding in the end, and a very unique one as well.
5. BGM is too loud when the actors are speaking to each other.
6. OST is not memorable at all.
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