Born to Be the One

“We haven’t enjoyed the present yet. How can we talk about the future? ”

This is, in short, a story about three couples. Each of them faces different challenges in life, career, and relationship.

Na Wei and Shen Li are a married couple in their forties. Their story went through drastic changes that are both heartbreaking and inspirational. Shen Lin is my favorite character in the entire show. She is, to me, a strong inspiration for a lot of women out there. She’s brave, smart, and loving. She knows how to stay on her ground and knows when to let go of her pride, which is admirable.

Na Juan and Xiao Yue are the youngest couple in the story. Their problem as a couple is deeply rooted in their opposite values in life, especially when it comes to career. They’re the least interesting to me. But, I have to say, I have a soft spot for Xiao Yue in my heart. She reminds me of myself a little bit. And she has made some decisions that I also made in the past. Out of the cast, she’s the one I related to the most.

Lastly, Shen Lei and Mei Lan. The couple in which I was interested the most but was disappointed because we didn’t get enough out of their story. Mei Lan is such a polarizing character. I wanted to get more of her story.

This is a solid and underrated slice of life story full of lessons.

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Which "One"?

A mature Chinese drama about ordinary people and their daily lives in the bustling capital?
Everything I'm looking forward to watching.

The story of three couples at different stages of life shows us how the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle of the metropolis transforms us in different ways we don't even realize, regardless of the country we live in.

After all, people are people.

Mundane yet extremely relatable dramas, with a couple in their 40s afraid and insecure about having to start over, and other couples realizing they're looking for different things for the future, and their partner doesn't seem to be the right companion for that.

But as the drama's title suggests, we were born to be the "one." But what is this "one"? What are we expected to be? What we already are now, or the result of others' expectations? These questions permeate the psyches of our protagonists, bringing about different actions and consequences in their lives.

What is truly important?

Be loyal to your bosses who treat you as disposable, or be loyal to yourself and those who will be by your side when you hit your lowest point?

Adapt to a lifestyle that makes no sense to you, just to please your partner's materialistic desires?

Accept the reality that society imposes on success and give up your health in pursuit of the desired financial freedom, in exchange for all other aspects of your life?

The drama's strongest point is developing these stories without making a definitive judgment value about which path is the right "one" or who is definitively right and who is wrong. On the contrary, it reinforces the different ways of living in this modern world we inhabit, and how different personalities and goals can, and should, bring different meanings to what it means to be the "one," something that everyone is to themselves, their own protagonists in their own story, but who are not necessarily beings who follow and aspire to travel the same path.

Once again, a Chinese series, from a country on the other side of the globe, manages to connect with me in a way that no other series from a "neighboring" country can, demonstrating the country's strength in this style of narrative, which for me is its strongest point in these fictional stories.

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