This show is the exception to that.
I started this show because I saw an article talking about how this new show is a must watch and really takes you by storm. That was a solid statement. Everything from Rainie and Yu Lin's acting to the plot itself is so complex, so amazing that you forget what's happening around you. They bring forward the essential questions and make you think, is there a right or wrong choice in life? Both versions of Rainie's character Ru Wei go through their own journey's and viewers are left with a choice of their own, which decision and life they approve of, one with her sacrificing her career for family or the opposite?
Quite honestly, this show really made me not only think of the choices I've made in life, but also taught me that things don't work out exactly as one plans and thats okay. I binged this show all day on Saturday and when the final episode ended at 4 am, I couldn't stop thinking about how moving this show truly was. It's been a long time since I've seen something that deeply effects me (not just in the typical romantic drama way).
Rewatch? Hell yeah! This show needs more recognition, it's actors and plot are truly amazing and I don't know about the other reviewer's rating but don't let that stop you from watching. You won't regret it!
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This review may contain spoilers
To be honest it's only 6 episodes but I understood what was going on on the 4th.At first I thought it was something like a back and forth on her life before and after they broke up but then it shows that she gave birth to her child so I was like "was it all a dream?"
So actually on the 3rd episode it shows her life on a parallel universe. In first case she gave up on her dreams , got married , had the baby , sacrificed her life pretty much and was unhappy (plan b). In the other case she chose her carrier , got rich and successful and was happy (plan a).
Of course at the end she chose plan b because she realised that family values more than money or career. I would prefer it better if she would have chosen plan a. Now the end it was so predictable.
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A recurring theme in this story lies with Regret. "What would have happened if I had done Plan A/B"
is a common question that plagues Ru Wei throughout. In what may be an accurate portrayal of regret,
it shows how hard moving forward can be while constantly looking backward. Needless to say, it kept
the protagonists quite unhappy - as it hinders them to find gratefulness for what they actually have.
Quite a worthwhile lesson to apply in real life as well.
Overall the show and it's delivery are nicely packaged, beautiful acting and a very complementing music.
Despite certain romantic drama tropes surfacing, it's definitely worth a watch.
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For starters, Rainie's acting in this was amazing. Any story that requires an actor to fulfill more than one role and play it off well is a feat of its own, and she really managed to nail it. In fact, everyone played their roles so well that I felt genuinely depressed watching them grapple with their relationships, both with others as well as with themselves. Although the supporting characters were there to...well, support, they felt like real people you'd meet and talk to, rather than another forgettable prop in the grand scheme of things. The pacing and the story worked really well, and it didn't feel too long or too short. I finished it with a sense of satisfaction (and a bit of unease, because that means I'm going to have to be forced to reevaluate my own life now).
Riding off the relatively upbeat tones of Love of Sandstorm, I feel like Life Plan A and B just punched me in the face. There's a certain depth, complexity, and somberness that I feel like I'm starting to see become popular in Taiwanese cinema. It's that sincerity and that willingness to be vulnerable and thought-provoking that really had me watching it so intensely, even when it felt uncomfortable at times to do so. The lesson it teaches is one I'll surely take to heart.
*also rated the music an 8/10 because i oddly have no recollection whatsoever of the music at all. but i'm sure it was great.
(edited to lower the rating a bit after some thought bc it was a bit confusing to follow but i still enjoyed it a lot!)
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Plan-A ◀️⏸️▶️ Eason Down the Road - °7.5° °VG°
“Don't go chasing after happiness. Let happiness find you.” Someone told Ru that awhile back and she believes it's true.It isn't the club (going to clubs is chasing after happiness), but one can meet interesting people at the 7-11. That's where our FL is having a snack when a man points out a wallet next to her foot. That's got nothing to do with her ~ It isn't her wallet. Still, they start talking. She's doctored up her ramen superbly, so she shows him how. We learn later that Yan was chasing happiness. This wasn't a chance encounter.
LPA&B is a 2016 release that is rated 7.5 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 6 90-minute episodes. Huang Tien Jen (Someday or One Day, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love), & Wang Shau Di (Fantome, Ou es-tu) are the directors and the screenwriter is Mag Hsu (Mars, In Time with You). Per AI: “Taiwanese Q Series dramas are a collection of TV series produced by Q Place Creative Inc., with the aim of fostering world-class audiovisual production talent and innovative entertainment in Taiwan. These dramas, supported by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Culture, are known for their high quality” Episode 1 is fine, though it's no feelgood jaunt. By the end of ep2 it opens up to provocative and impressive depths.
These two start dating. Ru has a chance to go to Shanghai - for triple the pay. Yan applies for a position at a Shanghai firm - and he gets it. They start making plans, but right before they're set to go, his father lands in the hospital. Things are in complete upheaval. “Sacrifice doesn't always lead to fulfillment,” her supervisor is telling Ru at work. The only reason Ru got the promotion is because her supervisor, married with kids, cannot make the move. The woman goes on about how she's not appreciated at home, they resent her working long hours for low pay, and they nitpick over everything. “I let so many opportunities pass me by because I married young,” she complains. “I just want my life to be less mundane,” Ru whines.
Yan's father will need fulltime help and the family can't afford that. Mom cannot take care of him herself. Yan won't be going to Shanghai - that was Plan-🅰. Plan-🅱 is stay in Taipei, take care of dad, and make it work. He wants Ru to stay. In fact, he wants Ru to quit her job and be dad's helper. It would ruin her career and professional reputation to back out now, though. She already accepted the position, and Yan's not even her fiance. She has no blood ties to his father. The company will NOT understand, her boss promises. Ru weighs her options. She weighs them again. She weighs for days. She finally decides to “bet on Plan A.” She's going to Shanghai.
Rainie Yang (Devil Beside You) plays the FL, Zheng “Ru” Wei. I've only seen her in Drunken to Love You-7; the show would have flopped without her. She carries it. She can do that because she's adorable. RU is determined to make her ordinary life less ordinary. Kenny Yen (Happy Enemy, Golden Dream on Green Island) portrays Tang You “Yan”. I don't like one thing about Yan. He's self-centered and weak. He does have good points, he's certainly a wonderful son, but he's not a good bf or husband… Husband? Didn't Ru leave? How does the viewer get to see Yan as a spouse? The show alternately follows Plan-🅰 and Plan-🅱 to see how things work out.
Plan-🅱 is a mess. Yan's mother takes Ru for granted. She's horrid! Yan's sister flies home from 🇺🇲. For weeks, mom prepares She's getting herself excited. Their apartment is 3 bedrooms and Ru’s been using the spare bedroom. But sister's going to need it, and Mom won't let Ru sleep in Yan's bedroom. So, Ru is going to go visit her uncle for the holiday week. Given how Ru has devoted her life to caring for dad, it's a gut-punch.
Mom will get her own gut-punch. Sister walks into the hospital room, looking West-Coast-Fabulous in thigh-high boots and a shaggy alpaca jacket. We get to watch mom's face drop as she realizes that sister is not even coming to their place! Her husband's waiting in the lobby because he ‘hates the smell of the hospital’. He can't be bothered to come up and say “hello”. They have a client in town and they'll be traveling around Taiwan with the client ~ even on the holiday, because the client's interested in local customs and how they celebrate. Yan starts a big argument with his sister (in English, so the parents don't understand). She storms out. She wasn't even there 10 minutes!
Back to Plan-🅰. Ru is settled into her new place and new job when she gets wind that Yan was in a car with a woman. It looked “off”. It looked intimate. Ru panics and submits her resignation. Her new boss, Rong Yi Chao / "Eason” (Johnny Lu from Wacko at Law & The Last Thieves) is sex-appeal in a 3-piece suit. So many of these Asian actors have divine voices. His baritone is so rich he is close to a base. He probably does Barry White in Karaoke. He asks her why she quit? She's evasive. So he suggests they discuss it over dinner. He narrows it down to the issue at hand, but Ru isn't 💯% certain she's been dumped. “Your Heart probably knows the answer,” he supplies. Ain't that the truth! If we're constantly running around busy and continually emotional without a care to logical analysis, we'll never figure it out. Stop. Reflect. Act accordingly.
I sometimes look at these situations as just a case of mistaken identity. Ru had identified Yan as a good life mate, a person who was committed to her and would be true, loving, and loyal for the length of their lives. If Yan can cheat on her so quickly, he can't be the things that she had projected onto him. She had loved a lie. What does one do when one realizes that s/he chose to believe a lie? Some will get angry. True idiots get angry at the other woman, a practice that I've always found completely ridiculous - /that person/ isn't the cheater. But some will play it smart and just walk away. What's going to give you more fulfillment later? An emotional scene or silence and dignity? Some cannot handle loneliness at all. That isn't an excuse; the same circumstances and challenges are completely different for different individuals. I don't subscribe to the concept of there just being one perfect mate out there for everyone. Potential
love interests can be analyzed as 1-99% propositions. It looks like Ru and Yan are a 70% match. They get along great, but they fall short of being optimal. She has dreams and plans. He really doesn't. She's thinking big. He's thinking small. To be together forever ~for them~ means one or both of them will have to change - sacrifice. It's usually the woman. It's better to hold out for a 85%+ match. Invite the left brain in to analyze your love life. The right brain cannot do it alone! In Yan's case, he's probably the type that would be true - as long as everything goes well. He has a soft core: He'll cheat the 1st time something goes wrong. We see who he is when he pushes Ru for sex when she's sick in bed from exhaustion (Plan-🅱 scenario). He sees her more as a possession, not a human being. Ru is a tuffy. I don't think she'd ever cheat on her mate. She's projected that part of herself onto Yan. She saw what she wanted to see, and not the truth. This is a human failing. This is what we all do.
Back to Ru & Eason. “You insist on hearing him say it,” Mr. Sexy Voice sounds more like a berceuse. “But why? Why should you be the one thrown away?” Why indeed. His solution: 📌❇🔸 “Don't focus on the things you've lost. Count the things that you could have.” He promises to give her the next step once she learns the first one. The entire scene is riveting.
Ru starts alleviating her sense of loss with possessions. Shoes. Bags. Clothes. They're a temporary high, but ultimately, they leave us more empty, not more fulfilled. The Goodwill stores are full, and our hearts are empty. She says she has the things and the look that she wanted. She equates that to having the life that she wanted. The only thing she's missing is a person to eat dinner with, she reasons. An inebriated Ru shows back up at Easton's place demanding to know the second step. She wakes up the next morning on his couch and tries to slink out, but he has breakfast set out for her. 📌❇🔸 “Break up with him. That's the next step.” He'll later say, in the post-break-up-break-down, that they sound more like 2 people who “don't hate e/o and are afraid of being alone.” He wonders if people need love or just a way to ward off the loneliness? He suggests they experiment together. “Do you hate me?” She shakes her head. “PERFECT.”
📌❇🔸“Don't allow anyone in this world to really understand you,” is his next tip. “Won't that make you feel lonely?” She wants to know. “It's human nature to feel lonely,” he replies. “Only love, as well as marriage and family, can comfort the fear of being alone. It could never solve the feelings of loneliness.” “One day, you'll have an epiphany. Even if there was a person who understands you completely, you would still feel lonely. Therefore, being afraid of loneliness is the most stupid thing.” I know this is true. Get sick. Struggle mentally and emotionally from it. Watch all your relationships evaporate. On one level, I understand it. I never expected anyone to be there for me, primarily because I never expected to be in need. My experience has turned my sights upward, spiritually, and backwards to what I learned in Sunday school. “From a really young age, I trained myself to enjoy loneliness and to enjoy the feeling of not being understood.” Ru studies him, but she doesn't understand him.
The primary theme is the complications of womanhood. There's a huge disconnect between the lies we've chosen to believe about how women should live their lives and reality. Like rain falls from the sky, everything falls on the woman. This is true even when she works full-time. At the end of ep1 they have a scene showing Plan-🅱, in which she becomes a wife and a mother. She's treated like a servant, nothing is good enough, and she's practically criticized for the way she breathes. At the same time, she's being pulled in a dozen directions.
Women are sneered at if they choose to be housewives, though everything a housewife does is work that must be done. It's not just full-time, it's overtime work. For career women, they're criticized for how they don't keep it together or give enough. Most careers are not fulfilling. The workplace can be dismal. Spending a third of your life in a cubicle is a level of hell. How much of what we do, do we do because it's expected? Are we really happy with our choices? Most of us seniors would do things completely differently if given the opportunity. There's no one-fits-all answer. Before a woman makes a decision between Plan-🅰 and Plan-🅱 she should weigh it for days. Following a career path for which you have a passion has a great chance of being fulfilling. Following a career path only for pride has almost no chance of being fulfilling! Being a housewife for a man who adores and appreciates you is fulfilling. Being a housewife for a man who fails to love and respect the wife will be crushing. Carefully weigh the costs. After factoring in wardrobe, transportation, lunches, and childcare, most women are hardly making minimum wage. Your job will never love you back. Even if you're the CEO, it will go on without you. You build love and fulfillment through your family. Whether a woman works or not, that's living.
Another theme is that one should not mold their life around anyone until one is married. Until that lifetime selfless commitment is spoken and sealed, work on yourself and become the best you can be. Some women will be happy as a housewife and raising kids. That can be a beautiful life. Ru isn't ready for that yet. Holding eachother back is not the way. That only generates resentment.
Back to Plan-🅱. She’s feeding Yan's father. He's depressed. Rue mentions how devoted his wife is. “We stopped loving a long time ago,” Dad dolefully admits. “We just feel bad about leaving.” Things have been very sour since she turned down Shanghai and she doesn't think she has a future at her job. She is going to quit. “I don't want to drag you down,” says Yan. It's a little late for that, though, isn't it?
There's no better feeling in the world than having an adult child that one is proud of. In Plan-🅱 we see parents who spoiled a child so badly that her life is a mess. Nasty divorce. No friends. No prospects. No skills. She fights with her mother and blames mom for all her deficiencies. Raising kids is hard. Growing up is hard. But the alternative is the WORST. Back at Plan-🅱, the marriage is on the rocks. It's about his family all the time. He complains how awful it is to constantly feel gratitude and guilt. It's too much pressure. He tries to claim that he's made sacrifices too, and they've made them together for a better life, but that isn't fair. Everything is for his family, and while his father is extremely appreciative, his mother and sister are detectable.
Plan-🅰 is fraught with lonliness and loss as well, though she ends up with plenty of money. The show continues toggling until the end. Actually, both plans work out in their own ways. Taiwan has the second highest divorce rate in Asia, and the birthrate is very low. I suspect they're trying to encourage people to stick with their families. The main message seems to be that life isn't easy, and it's up to us to find a way to make it work. I'm Plan-🅰 all the way. Yan and his mama can have themselves.
QUOTE🗣
Your Heart probably knows the answer.
You can't save a love that's already expired.
You have to smell with your nose and observe with your eyes, but never listen with your ears.
You can't exchange sacrifices for happiness. You have to find yourself first. Then, your happiness will approach you.
IMHO〰🖍
📣7.4 📝7.6 🎭7.6 💓6 🦋6 🎨6 🎵/🔊7 🔚8 🤗4.5 ▪ 🌞4 ⚡3 😅2 😭3 😱1 😯3 🤢1 🤔7.5 💤0
Shazams:
年輪說 by Rainie Yang
Age 13+ Rated 15+
Re-📺?
In order of ~lite & trite~ to ~heavy & serious~ you may also like:
🌐💓 -
C🇨🇳:
A Little Thing Called First Love 8.5;
Find Yourself 8.9;
The Romance of Tiger and Rose 9.8;
The Sleepless Princess 9.1;
Wait, My Youth-8.4
K🇰🇷 :
A Witch's Love 7.8;
Love To Hate You 8.9;
Touch Your Heart 8.2;
Crash Landing On You 9.1;
Oh My Ghost 10;
It's Okay Not to Be Okay 9;
Hospital Playlist 9;
My Mister 9.5;
🇹🇼Taiwan
Age of Rebellion-9.5,
Autumn's Concerto-7.2,
Back to 1989-7.1,
Black & White-6.8,
The Fierce Wife-8 - worth sticking with,
Inborn Pair-4.2,
Love, Now-3.6,
Love You-7,
Office Girls-7,
The Perfect Match-5.5 (ep 1-9=8,1-17=7.5,1-22=5.5)
Two Fathers-7.5
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