As Beautiful as You

Loving it!!

I read the novel like 5 times before the drama started! In all honesty, I have no idea why some people are hating the drama? Yes, sure, the writers changed Han Ting's character to be more approachable, more human vs the cold Han Ting in the novel. I think that by creating a new backstory of them knowing one another in college really makes Han Ting's love & pursuit of Ji Xing more realistic. I mean while I was reading the novel, I was wondering how would a successful and powerful COE like Han Ting who has invested in so many companies and who is so busy with his own battles have the time and energy to coach and pay special attention to Ji Xing? Like what he said, he has seen so many new start ups and they all have the same passion and drive. So what made Ji Xing so special in the novel? Just because she banged into his car in the beginning? But in the drama, it just plays out so well....this guy unexpectedly met his first love/crush after 10 years!!! And what do you know, she works in his company and in the same building. Squeal! So there he is, using all opportunity and chance to try to get closer to her. And guess what? Her passion and ideals are still the same as in college!!! I honestly believe that he loves her...but unfortunately, they didn't start on the right foot....it was a one-night stand (to her) and they are in a mentor-mentee relationship. They don't know one another on a personal level, like their likes/dislikes etc. So I think that's where the miscommunication started. But you know what, I am loving this and I can't wait for everyday to watch a new episode!

Read More

Once again, Xu Kai takes on a Potentially Good Story which Unfortunately Veers off into the Tedious

A woman who is the brains behind the design of a new medical technology is on the precipice of rising to a new level within her company and subsequently the medical technology industry. Not only that, she seems to be well rounded with a personal life full of friends and a loving boyfriend who wants to marry her. Of course her road to career success starts off rough with her male supervisor knowing her talent but deliberately blocking her growth for fear that she’d outshine him and the inevitable male pig or two who feels he can treat women like sexual objects whom he can harass at his leisure. The first few episodes entailed the FlL dealing with these obstacles in the office with no support from her male or female office leaders. It was infuriating to watch, but entertaining.

Ji Xing (FL) was a strong woman who stood up for herself. Reporting sexual harassment when others tried to deter her complaint and quitting her job when she realized they’d never reward the value she brought to the company. Many of us have been there. So I cheered her on when she made that wise decision to move on. Moreover, when friends, colleagues and even her boyfriend weren’t overly supportive of her starting her own business she pushed forward, making adjustments to the business plan where needed, to improve her chances of success. Loved this.

On a shallow note, the FL looked 35 rather than her character’s age. Good actress, but she looked too old to be in her early 20s. The styling of her hair didn't help and the ML though in real life in his late 20s, looked way older than his character's age. But at least he looked old enough to run a conglomerate unlike most of the MLs in C-dramas who look all of 21 years old. Lol.

That said, I liked the business interactions between the leads and was intrigued by how the romance would develop between them, but I also liked the potential that was the relationship between the FL and her boyfriend. The story started to lose my interest with the contrived breakup of the FL and her boyfriend. The reasons made no sense and was a mere plot device, not well written I might add, to make the FL easily available to the ML. It would've been more interesting had the ML had to fight for the FL's affections with her eventually realizing he was a better match for her than her boyfriend. Unfortunately, no such luck. I could predict where the story would go from here as the plot contrivances started almost immediately after the breakup with the ML showing up at the FL’s home for some ridiculous reason, and in turn, happened to meet her mom who loved him. And of course with him now having invested in her business, mind you he only invested so that he could continue to work closely with her in hopes of then dating SMH, the plot contrivances would undoubtedly continue. At this point, I stopped watching the show. It’s a shame because I really liked the set up of the story, but the writing kind of got lost within itself after about 10 episodes.

Read More

Fill with small and big spoilers. So read at your own risk!

Xu Kai and Seven Tan of course here I came…. So far this is one the best mature business romance dramas this year. Mature ML & FL make the drama not so dramatic and problematic. But still it has unnecessary understanding & prolonged episodes… Haha…

Ok. Let’s talk about drama….

Story about Ji Xing (JX) & Han Ting (HT), university friends that separated & meet up later on. HT had feelings for JX since university days, but they were just acquaintances. On the day of their separation, HT had to go to Germany for study. He tried to reach out to JX to tell her about his situation, but because of the unfortunate turn of events, JX’s phone had been stolen so she never gets the info & always thinks HT just goes without saying goodbye.

Now, many years later, HT met JX again & all the feelings started to come back or should I say, never actually gone… HT & JX come across in their company, with HT as the investor in the company she works on. But like MDL told us, JX who was frustrated with unfair treatment in the company she works on decided to quit her job & start her own company together with her junior, Su Zhi Zhou. After circling around to look for investors for her company, JX finally accepted HT's offer to invest in her company.

Now, as usual, typical ML as investor & FL as the one he invests money in… HT teaches or ‘mentoring’ JX closely… And as MDL told us, with HT backing, JX’s entrepreneurial journey begins to gain momentum. And as HT & JX collaborate closely, their professional relationship starts to deepen, and of course in the end romance sparks fly.
But unfortunately even though HT has deep feelings for JX, he still can’t forget his identity as businessman & investor. One thing led to another, eventually that’s what caused misunderstandings between JX & HT. That in the end at one time made JX run away from HT & they broke up. Just to be reunited in the end… Haha…. Ok. That’s pretty much the story about JX & HT.

Now, the other side story…

JX has 3 best friends, Li Li, Tu Xiao Meng (XM) & Wei Qiu Zi (QZ). But in the drama it’s more about 2 of them, Lili & XM. Cause you can say QZ love story not crossed with HT & JX story.

1st Wei Qiu Zi (QZ). When JX separated from HT, she had a boyfriend, Shao Yi Chen (YC). When JX was about to start her company YC really saw the differences that cannot be crossed between JX & himself, so YC just broke up with JX. QZ, who turned out had long feelings for YC, began chasing & finally they ended up being together.

2nd Tu Xiao Meng (XM). XM is an online influencer & JX’s roommate. Lu Lin Jia (LJ) originally didn’t like XM, due to her bickering with LJ idol. But when they get closer, LJ finds out XM has her own charm & starts to fall for her. XM that thinks LJ as one of her friends never really thinks more about LJ as a man. But time goes by and so the friendship becomes closer & the feelings start to spark too… With the help of LJ’s mom, they finally end up together.

3rd Li Li. Lili is one of the top sales marketers. But because of one problem, she quit her job & later she decided to join JX’s company as their sales director. Su Zhi Zhou (ZZ) long admired Lili, but Lili is in a relationship with Xiao Yi Xiao (YX) & Lili thinks ZZ is still quite immature. So their relationship bloomed late.

Ok. That’s pretty much the story. Now let’s talk about what I like and don’t.

What I like:
+ The mature JX & HT. Although there’s some misunderstanding about HT’s intention for JX’s company, in the end JX understands about HT’s real intention for her company.
+ The communication between JX & HT. Once again, although there’s some misunderstanding between JX & HT, I really like how in the end JX communicates what she dislikes about HT’s behavior & intention. And how HT starts to fix what he lacks…
+ The growth of JX. We can watch how JX blooms to amazing women on our screen.
+ The growth of ZZ. At the beginning of the drama, ZZ was indeed not so ‘mature’, but when he took care of the business & when JX left he started his own maturity & till the end proved that he can be relied on.
+ Lili is a complex yet interesting woman. I really adore her when she can cut loose YX & later just treat him as a fellow businessman. She knows what she wants & she grabs it fully with her heart. & she proves herself as a worthy companion & true friend for JX.
+ Xiao Yi Xiao (YX). XY adores Lili & wants to be with her. But he is also a mature man that knows what he wants & not. & I really like him when he dares to tell Lili the truth about what he wants for their relationship.
+ Lu Lin Jia (LJ) is a childish man. But when he set his heart to the right place he bloomed & became a man that knew his responsibility. I love his relationship with his mom. His mom is also one adorable mom…
+ Shao Yi Chen (YC). Oh I adore him when he can let go of his ego, feeling & decided to break up with JX. He knows JX is not fit for his future & aside from how long his relationship & his own feelings with JX he dares to break up, that’s really adorable…
+ Wei Qiu Zi. She’s one good friend. Although she’s long crush on YC, she never really acts on it. Until YC & JX broke up. Although I’m sure many condemn her behavior. But for me, when you have a long crush (serious crush not just puppy love or admiration) with your best friend boyfriend & can wait calmly and not act anything harmful to your friend or their relationship. That’s something you have to admire.
+ Tang Song (TS) [Han Ting's assistant]. Oh this one very capable assistant. Not many in dramas have I seen an assistant as capable as TS. Usually, it’s either become friendly with ML or they just simply never told us the story. The assistant is sometimes just like an unimportant character in the background.

What I don’t like:
- JX is a childish woman sometimes. She ‘eats’ fully what Zeng Di (ZD) said & not trust HT in the end. But yeah I understand the manipulation that ZD did.
- ZD. UGH…. I hate that woman. She is one stupid woman that doesn't want to let her ambition & feelings for HT. She can’t even see one nice guy in front of her, although he already gives her his real intention.

Overall this is really one good business romance drama with many interesting characters to be told…

Read More

“How to become an excellent business leader” courses

PLOT: Professional reunion in medical engineering of 2 former high school friends. He became CEO (& heir) of a huge group and investor, she is now a brilliant engineer and ends up creating a start-up. The ML guides her, helps her to become an entrepreneur. They face difficulties together, multiple rivalries, and their own mistakes too.

PROS:
+ A superb CL, with great chemistry. BUT they don't have enough screentime together :). The choice to focus on “how to become an excellent business leader” is certainly instructive, but quite boring.
+ The supporting cast is excellent, and some actors are really promising (particulary Zhou Da Wei & Tang Zhen Chao).
+ The story is well constructed, psychologically coherent. The parents are normal, reasonable (which is not always the case in dramas :). I really like the mother-son duo with the uncle and the great aunt.
+ Production is efficient, with no downtime. The images are beautiful and the framing is well done.
+ The OSTs are appropriate, without being memorable.

WHAT I LIKED LESS:
### There are too many characters and secondary stories which dilutes the narration => at times, the story loses its interest :(
### The FL3's character, streamer, is childish (including her outfits) and quite annoying.
### Seven's outfits correspond neither to her age nor to the minimum professional requirements (always in an ultra-short mini skirt or in shorts). This production's choice is very questionable!
### The scenes supposedly filmed in Germany are not very credible (pigeons, Bavarian waitress outfits and incomprehensible dialogues in German with a weird accent).

＼(〇_ｏ)／ Even more, in all C Drams, when scenes are supposed to be set in foreign countries, they just assume that everyone speaks fluent chinese (teacher, advisors, a lot of students, every business person ever,...) without needing a specialised translator.

=> Nice series for fans of Seven & Xu Kai (and I am one of them) but full of flaws and not addictive.

********************************************************
PLOT: Retrouvailles professionnelles dans l’ingénierie médicale de 2 anciens camarades de lycée. Il est devenu CEO d'un énorme groupe et investisseur, elle est ingénieur (génial) et finit par créer une start-up. Le ML la guide, l'aide à devenir une entrepreneuse digne de ce nom. Ils font face ensemble aux difficultés, à de multiples rivalités, à leurs propres erreurs aussi.

PROS:
+ Un great CL, avec une belle alchimie. MAIS ils n'ont pas assez de screentime together :) . Le focus sur "comment devenir une excellente dirigeante d'entreprise" est, certes instructif, mais assez lassant.
+ Les acteurs de soutien sont excellents, et certains sont très prometteurs (Zhou Da Wei & Tang Zhen Chao en particulier).
+ La story est bien construite, cohérente psychologiquement. Les parents sont normaux, raisonnables (ce qui n'est pas le cas dans toutes les séries :). J'aime beaucoup le duo mère-fils de l'oncle et de la grande tante.
+ La réalisation est efficace, sans temps mort. Les images sont belles et les cadrages bien travaillés.
+ Les OST sont adaptées, sans être mémorables.
+ Specail Episode très sympa.

WHAT I LIKED LESS:
### Trop trop de personnages et d'histoires secondaires ce qui délaye la narration => par moments, l'histoire perd de son intérêt :(
### Le personnage de la FL3, streameuse, est puéril (y compris ses tenues) et assez agaçant.
### Les outfits de Seven ne correspondent ni à son âge, ni aux exigences professionnelles minimales (tjs en mini jupe ultra courte ou en short). Ce choix du producteur est très discutable !
### Les parties supposées tournées en Allemagne, ne sont pas très crédibles (des pigeons, des tenues de serveuses bavaroises et des dialogues en allemand incompréhensibles).

=> Série sympa pour les fans de Seven & Xu Kai (dont je fais partie) mais bourrée de défauts et non addictive.

Read More

The storyline is thoughtfully crafted, and the actors give strong performances

The details are carefully crafted and logical, capturing the characters' subtlety or innocence through even the smallest actions, which makes the overall structure quite coherent and well-aligned. Additionally, the character development is very reasonable and emotional, with the characters' maturity gradually and clearly shown through their later interactions.

The story is deeply moving, revolving around a pure love. The emotions while watching are largely positive, with very few moments that evoke negative feelings for the audience. The actors deliver strong performances, effectively portraying the characters' personalities. It’s a film worth watching again.

Read More

Honesty, Perseverance and Reward

I have one complaint about this drama and that it is all of the screen time dedicated to the side couples. If more time had been spent with the ML and FL I would have given it more time. Not because of their relationship but because of their evolution of becoming stronger individually and in business.

While Seven’s character went from a tech position to entrepreneur in a relatively short time, her development as a business owner and then CEO was grossly underdone. They highlighted the difficulties others inflicted on her, but gave no insight on how she decided to make the decisions she did.

After a while, the ML and FL scenes became so short that it almost seemed like they were one of the side couples and not the leads.

Basically it is a story about knowing your worth, not giving up when things seem out of control, and learning that love doesn’t always come attached to a bouquet of flowers, with glittery clouds and happily ever after. It’s hard, requires swallowing your ‘right’ to demand your way is right, and learning to adapt and love your partner despite their imperfections while talking out issues rather than insisting you get your way.

Seven and Xu Kai had fire for chemistry. They were so natural and actually portray every aspect of their characters perfectly.

The villains were portrayed well and really showed what happens when you compromise good behavior and business practices in order to get what you want because someone else has what you want. There were instances finger pointing, blame transference and excuses in every misdeed the committed. But in the end, they were punished for their crimes.

Spoiler here - the bonus us episode will require tissues; have them close by. It was the sweetest, most beautiful way to end this drama.

This was my second watching, and I enjoyed much more this time around.

Read More

This Is Not Just An Office Romance

I never imagined that Xu Kai and Tan Song Yun would be in the same drama. But here we are.

Since the drama's poster was released, I had high hopes. Of course, because I trust in the acting quality of both of them.

When I saw the poster, I thought this drama would be a romantic comedy, like What's Wrong With Secretary Kim. I assumed it would be just another office drama, full of cliché scenes between a boss and the employees. But I was completely wrong. This drama is truly different from what I had imagined.

For a drama, it’s quite detailed in discussing business and AI. In my opinion, if you're not interested in one of those topics, this drama may be hard to accept. The portion dedicated to business and AI takes up much of the duration, compared to the romance. However, since I’m interested in both, I can say that this drama is very informative.

As someone living in a Southeast Asian country, I would even add another genre, which is Sci-fi. The AI they created in the drama is so detailed and amazing that it feels like a fantasy. I can’t imagine something like that existing in my own country. China has truly advanced. At times, it felt like I was in a different time altogether.

Back to the drama, its pacing is quite slow. Especially in the first 15 episodes, there are many back-and-forth moments that can be frustrating. However, by episode 20, I couldn’t stop watching. Every episode sparked new curiosity. Many interesting characters in this drama are portrayed as antagonists. However, among all the antagonists, I dislike Wei Qiu Zi and Shao Yi Chen more than Zeng Di and Chang He.

The two main antagonists (Zeng Di and Chang He) have clear reasons for doing what they do. Neither of them asks to be seen as good people. But as for Wei Qiu Zi and Shao Yi Chen, they’re just two cowards, sticking together because they feel they can rely on each other. Shao Yi Chen is the most cowardly character I’ve ever seen in a Chinese drama. He refuses to move forward, always behind Ji Xing, who is constantly pushing ahead. Yi Chen only wants to live in his comfort zone, but he’s too cowardly to directly tell Ji Xing this. So when he finds a trivial mistake that could free him from blame, he immediately decides to break up with Ji Xing. It’s so cowardly. Ji Xing wasn’t the one absent during his lowest point; it was Yi Chen, who cowardly didn’t let Ji Xing see him at his lowest. What an annoying character.

Wei Qiu Zi is no different from Yi Chen. From the start, Qiu Zi never saw Yi Chen as Ji Xing's boyfriend. From the beginning, she targeted Yi Chen. As Ji Xing’s friend, she didn’t try to hold back her feelings at all. Honestly, I would avoid people like her in real life. That’s why she was there when Yi Chen was going through a tough time — because she tried to wedge herself into the relationship between Yi Chen and Ji Xing. And she got her moment. Honestly, Yi Chen and Qiu Zi are very well suited for each other. Thankfully, by the end of the episodes, they no longer appeared, so I could calm down when those two acted as if nothing had happened.

I can somewhat sympathize with Han Yuan’s character. She’s in an uncomfortable position. Though she’s the older sibling, she’s a woman. She’s also not as smart as her younger brother. She took care of Dong Yang while Han Ting was in Germany. Han Yuan is capable of leading Dong Yang. Unfortunately, Han Ting is also very capable of taking Dong Yang further. Understandably, Han Yuan lost direction at times because she was trying to maintain her presence. Thankfully, in the end, Ji Xing helped Han Yuan realize that she didn’t need to push Han Ting aside to keep her place in Dong Yang. After all, Han Yuan does have an important role there.

Ji Xing's character is very strong-willed. From the start, she had a very firm stance and determination. It’s no wonder someone like Yi Chen couldn’t match her. Even Han Ting was overwhelmed. But the reason why Han Ting endured and Yi Chen didn’t was that Han Ting never felt inferior to Ji Xing's strength. Instead, he wanted to become stronger too, so they could both improve together. On the other hand, Yi Chen felt inferior as Ji Xing grew stronger.

Previously, I had one favorite male character in Chinese dramas, Yu Tu from You Are My Glory. But now, that character has been replaced by Han Ting. I think someone like Han Ting couldn’t possibly exist in the real world. He’s the type of person who, when making a decision, will give 100% or even 200%. But he’s also very logical, he considers many factors, which makes him seem unreal. But if I met someone like Han Ting in real life, I’d probably chase after him haha.

When a huge argument happens between them, from Han Ting’s perspective, Ji Xing might seem selfish. She doesn’t know how much effort Han Ting has put in to protect her. But from Ji Xing’s point of view, what she did makes sense. Even though Han Ting is kind, intelligent, and logical, he never communicates his plans to Ji Xing. Ji Xing always felt like she was being told to "Just leave it to me," which wasn’t reassuring at all. Their relationship was built on a fragile foundation in the beginning. But fortunately, both Han Ting and Ji Xing didn’t give up trying to start over. Unlike at the start, when many people supported their relationship, now that they were getting back together, many people doubted them. But the two of them didn’t doubt at all.

Because they truly trusted each other. They communicated the right way, working hand in hand so that neither felt burdened or diminished. They truly valued each other's presence.

Honestly, the special episode of this drama left me feeling uncertain. I know, the end of a person’s life is like that. But still, when it was shown, it felt hard to accept. And yes, the scene where the camera focuses on Han Ting’s hand holding the forgiveness card made me cry. Earlier, Ji Xing had said that if Han Ting left first, she would be very angry. But in the end, Han Ting did leave first, and Ji Xing wasn’t angry because Han Ting used the forgiveness card.

My favorite scene in this drama was actually when Han Ting and Ji Xing had that huge argument. The scene was so intense, and the acting from Tan Song Yun and Xu Kai was amazing. I could feel Ji Xing’s anger and fear, but I also felt Han Ting’s frustration and annoyance. Xu Kai’s eyes conveyed those emotions so well.

This drama truly made me feel the ups and downs of a relationship. Overall, it might not be the best Chinese drama I’ve ever watched, but in terms of the experience while watching, this drama made me feel so many emotions. Especially when Han Ting decided to make Doctor Cloud’s data open-source. At that moment, I felt how wonderful it would be if something like that could happen in real life. Because, as we know, nowadays, data has become a tool for war between businesses and even nations. But in this drama, data was what brought them together. Dong Yang’s mission is truly noble, even the board of directors sarcastically commented that Han Ting turned Dong Yang into a charity organization.

Honestly, I might never feel the same way when watching another drama. Even though I rate this drama an 8.5, I enjoyed this drama, and I feel lucky to have watched it. This drama has become one of the most memorable ones for me.

PS: All the actors and actresses performed very well.

Read More

their chemistry was insane

You would think the leads were together in real life lol their chemistry was insane!

Her ex was full of doubts - wondering he can never give her the life she wants. That’s BS! She can never give him the life he wants because his support was very selfish when she decided to start her own company and not to mention that “specific” so called best friend who liked her friend’s man. I couldn’t stand either of them.


Anyways, even though it was a bit long, there were so many scenes I enjoyed watching and their chemistry made it so so much better.

THANK YOU FOR THE EXTRA EPISODE BECAUSE YOU GOT ME HERE CRYING. It made the ending perfect!!! I would definitely watch this again.

Read More

As Beautiful as you

Excellent drama. Great story. Love the chemistry between the leads. Xu Kai is doing a superb job so is Seven. It might give us a hint of how starting a business is in China. It is a romance drama with quite a few good secondary stories. This is definitely a good watch! Excellent drama. Great story. Love the chemistry between the leads. Xu Kai is doing a superb job so is Seven. It might give us a hint of how starting a business is in China. It is a romance drama with quite a few good secondary stories. This is definitely a good watch! Excellent drama. Great story. Love the chemistry between the leads. Xu Kai is doing a superb job so is Seven. It might give us a hint of how starting a business is in China. It is a romance drama with quite a few good secondary stories. This is definitely a good watch!

Read More