Perfect Match

Not So Perfect Match

Perfect Match isn’t exactly a perfect match for everyone, but despite its flaws, the heart of the show shines through in its family dynamics and emotional moments.

When I first started this series I really couldn't get into it for the first couple of episodes. I held off watching it, taking long breaks between each episode. There wasn't much happening in the very beginning of the series but there was that slight intrigue of wondering what's going to happen between the couples that kept me from dropping it. I'm glad I didn't!

Perfect Match is one of the few series I've seen with multiple couples and enjoyed but it is far from perfect. There are many cliches, annoying or recycled plot points, some very over-the-top events happening that took away the immersion, but overall it was worth the watch. I liked that each sister got their own screen time, but I disliked that the other sisters were basically abandoned/turned into side characters once they got their happy ending. Some storylines felt too long while others felt too short. The passage of time was quite unclear, there were mentions of children but we barely see any of them, etc. What I truly loved the most was Mama Li, even though I'm unmarried and don't have children of my own, I truly felt all she went through. Having to raise six daughters without your husband, money and terrible relatives, especially in those times is truly a difficult and scary task. And then after you have raised them like flowers, having to find truly good husbands for them... oof! She really is a trooper!

Out of all the storylines my favorites are in this order: 4th Lady<3rd Lady<5th Lady<1st Lady<2nd Lady

I would say the biggest character growth and the longest screentime had to be for the 4th sister. She really went through A LOT, her story was the most interesting of all. But she moved on from the "events" that happened to her way too fast. Like the rest of some plot points in other sisters storylines, some BIG plots weren't really addressed/were skimmed over too fast in 4th lady's storyline and because her story was the more "bigger stakes" one, it felt incomplete.

The Li sisters are better than me because 80% of what some of the MLs did would instantly make them a big FAT no for me lol.

Things I liked:
1. The husbands who were down bad for their wives
2. Smart sisters United!
3. Mama Li <3
4. The relationships between everyone in the Li family

Biggest problems:
1. No communication for creating plot twists/angst
2. Constant beatings... I'm looking at you 2nd and 5th sisters. Like I get MLs are supposed to be good men who don't touch women even if they are being beaten, but 5th sister beats everyone and all the other men just... take it? That ruined the immersion for me especially with how terrible some of the supporting characters were.
3. A somewhat recycled version of the same dynamic/story in every single couple. As an analogy: It felt like each sister’s story was basically the same sentence, just written in different scripts -- one in pinyin, one in traditional Chinese, and one in simplified. Different on the surface, but structurally almost identical.
4. Rushed. Rushed. Rushed!

Overall, this was an enjoyable watch. If you're like me and don't have much patience, I'd recommend you to give it a chance for at least 5 episodes. If you didn't find it interesting you should probably drop it, but if it was growing on you, definitely continue.

Read More

Felt like a combination of short stories

This slice of life romantic comedy featured a strong widowed mother of 5 daughters and her journey to have them all wed to worthy men. We watch as the story takes us through each daughter and their tumultuous matches to find peaceful marriages.

With high production value, beautiful styling, excellent acting, and entertaining couples this show is a good way to pass the time. It provides great comedic timing at points and enjoyable chemistry between most of the pairs. What lowers the rating for this show for me however is the repetitive formulaic arc movement and disconnect between the couples especially in the second half of the show.

Broken into 4 main story arcs we watch the 4 unmarried daughters find husbands and experience newlywed life. Each arc and story starts in the same way with the daughter being smart and cunning while the men are rakish, cold, and domineering. This stands true for all 5 daughters. Each woman is depicted as kind, righteous, virtuous, and can outsmart anyone while the men are all rude, spoiled, and very flawed. Each daughter then spends her arc taming her man until they each become the same lovesick husband that bends to the women and improves himself. This repetition becomes fatiguing by the third arc and painful by the fourth. I found myself beginning to fast forward as we got further into the series for this reason. Each man was also progressively worse than the one before at the start of each arc.

This drama also failed to maintain the sister dynamic consistently through the end of the drama. While the beginning allowed them to share more of their struggles together due to being unmarried and living together we see toward the second half that the older three sisters just begin to fall away. While it makes sense to see them less due to new family ties it also failed to maintain the connection for the viewer because we essentially get no closure with the couples as we continue to move on to the next making this entire series feel more like a collection of short stories.

There was also very little thought put into the sixth adopted daughter's storyline with the series passing her off with just a few lines of dialogue. There are sections that are fun to watch but also long sections where it is very boring making this feel much longer than the 36 episodes it actually is. While I love this premise and will always adore strong women I think this would have benefited from either less daughters to marry off or varying up the tales each told. Instead of every daughter marrying the same difficult man and then spending her arc taming him and his family they could have focused more on the sisters dynamic by creating at least one marriage with less friction upon the bride entering. Overall not a bad story but I wouldn't watch it again. This heavily reminds me of New Life Begins, which I preferred over this drama, while also reminding me of The Sword and the Brocade with each family drama.

Read More

Praises to the MOM!!!

Praises to the MOM!!! Raising so many daughters is not easy. Her being hard on them was only for their own good. It's great to have a mom like that. I didn't watch the trailer for this but I know Wang Xingyue work.
I thought that the series was based on him and Lu Yuxiao but surprisngly, it was based on all the daughters. So you get a little bit of their lives after getting married. Some are exciting while others are more laid back.
I do realized that after a while, you dont see much of 1st and 3rd sister.
Listen, I am biased because I wanted to see more about the 3rd sister and her husband.
***SPOILER*** They didn't even show or talked about when she was pregnant. They only mentioned "kids" in the last episode so we can only assume it happened in that 3yrs.
But, I believe the writer did good to keep us entertained with their lives so we didn't get bored.
Overall, it was a decent watch!!!! They all found their perfect match

Read More

Ancient Soap Opera

LIKE

I like how the story slowly moves through all the festive seasons

Did not know ancient times are so open minded where ladies could re-marry as many times as they want

Never-ending drama ups and downs one after another

Li Wu Niang’s marriage totally bizarre - hilarious

What Wu Niang did to Yang Xian on their wedding night and his friends at a restaurant

DISLIKE

All good

MUSIC - personal fav

红鸾 Hong Luan - 吴宣仪 Wu Xuan Yi
截冰 Jie Bing - 张曦匀 Zhang Xi Yun

REWATCH VALUE

Five for now

Read More

Battles of the Sexes: Ancient Marriage Edition

This drama is half family drama, half romantic comedy, with an overarching question intertwined throughout all the storylines: Who is more important: man or woman? Son or daughter, husband or wife, father or mother?

The premise: The Li family, without a male figure in their family (a dead father and a long-lost brother) escapes their money-hungry relatives to the capital to start anew. The protective and sometimes brash mother seeks good matches for her four daughters (a fifth one is already married) and adopted daughter while trying to make a living and make enough money to provide dowries for the daughters. The sisters and mother stand strong together in the face of trouble and danger, navigating out of different schemes to a peaceful and happy end.

With this kind of story and setup, the story heavily emphasizes on the sisterhood and mother-daughters bond, supporting each other fiercely. Because the father died when they were fairly young, they have faced all kinds of misogynistic, societal, and hierarchal problems, and know they must sometimes trick people. It's not always nice, but it's a method of surviving and gaining a better hand. It's also a way to get justice and revenge for their family because they sometimes can't fight people outright due to their low status and identity.

IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE POINT ABOVE, then I think you will enjoy this drama because you are sympathetic towards the Li family. And you can understand why the Li sisters (and mother) take certain actions or behave in certain ways toward the male leads.

IF YOU ARE THE TYPE OF PERSON TO "PITY" THE MALE LEADS for any little wrong thing that happens to them, then I don't recommend this drama for you. The female leads often have to take certain actions or make certain plans that aren't beneficial to the male leads. Especially since the male leads are mainly all leads who have a certain high regard/reputation or high status (noble or royal, typically), and they are men in a patriarchal society, so the odds are always in the men's favor. My advice? Don't feel (too) bad for them. They get humiliated at times, but their reputation won't be completely destroyed the way it would for women. Also, they aren't helpless. Because they're smart, they know how to scheme as well in subtle ways to protect their pride, too. So don't feel (too) bad for them because they will always end up fine.

A few warnings and reminders:
-This is ancient times, where physical abuse is tolerated and even expected if an elder needs to discipline a younger person or a wife needs to be rough with a husband to get him under control. So, expect that a certain level of physical punishment is okay in this time.
-The men WILL do some annoying schemes in the beginning of the drama--especially in a few of the couples' storylines. Be prepared to be baffled and annoyed, but if you can get through that, the latter relationships are quite enjoyable!
-The men on this show will say one thing, but do another. This drama shows the complex layers of marriage life and of men and women. Men, in public or in front of other men, will put up a front and try to be all tough. But men in private will not be quite so.

Overall, watch it if you support women's rights (and wrongs). Don't watch it if you're a men's rights activist. (JOKING. But also, I'm half serious.)

Read More

I started watching this with zero expectations, but surprisingly, it's so entertaining!

I am deeply impressed by the eldest sister and the Tanhua scholar (the third-place imperial graduate) couple. Initially, he felt forced into the marriage, yet he actually adores every single one of her qualities—whether it's managing the household, painting, calligraphy, or taking excellent care of both his mother and himself. When he faces danger, she also comes up with great ideas to help him. She is such an impressive, wonderful woman. However, because it was sort of an arranged marriage combined with a last-minute bride swap, he felt cornered and showed signs of resistance. Seeing him come back to win her over after surviving his ordeal is absolutely adorable.

The court debate scene regarding filial piety and parental debt serves as a perfect slap in the face to a dysfunctional Confucian society that degrades women. It makes me feel that Confucius had a terrible personality and a lot of complexes to have despised women and suppressed them to such a low status.

Read More

Fun series with an ensemble cast

I found this to be a fun romantic comedy about a family of a mother and 5 daughters (plus 1 adoptive daughter) working to find husbands for all of the young women. The series spends 5 or so episodes centered on each of the daughters in turn and does a great job of giving them a different plot-line in finding their 'perfect match'.

I found the first few episodes enjoyable but a bit hard to follow. Part of the issue is that there are a lot of main characters to introduce and considering half of them are the Li family and thus couldn't be rolled out over time, the first few episodes throw a lot at you. But then it settles into a good pace of finding a husband for each of the unmarried daughters.

The series does a great job of keeping the stories interesting as the match making for each daughter is different and presents its own set of challenges for the rotating set of protagonists to solve. It also does a good job of keeping the entire family relevant throughout the series. Even after a particular daughter finds her match, she continually returns into the story to assist the next in line in solving the challenges that arise.

Overall, a fun series that excels at mixing light comedy, suspense and action into an enjoyable watch.

Read More

Cn ver of bridgerton, but slightly more chaotic

A wholesome watch, I loved the family dynamics, the sisters (Shou Hua loml). The alliance between the brother in laws was my favorite. I loved everyone of the actors/actresses and am keeping an eye out for their other projects. While it did have its flaws, I loved it.A definite rewatch.
Something I would like to note, in regards to certain things that deterred people from this drama.
Misogynistic Male leads:
Honestly, yes in the start most of them are misogynistic (some more so than others) but that is a part of the point because after meeting their respective partners all of them went through decent character development. They have flaws but they learn and become better partners. Its actually progressive.

Some pills were tough to swallow to be honest like YangXian but he does go through character developement...
My Favorite couples/storylines
1. Haode/Huizhao AND Shou Hua/Yanxi (both of them had me in a chokehold so they tied)
Shou Hua and Yanxi might be controversial, Yanxi was an idiot in the beginning but he went through a lot of character growth and become one of my faves. He was so adorable, the scenes where he tried to grovel were my favorite.
Huizhao was best boi no other words needed to be said. Would watch the drama a 100 times just because of Huizhao and Shou Hua

2. Leshan/Yangxian
Despite Yangxian being a tough pill to swallow watching leshan beat the shit out of him made me very happy. The scenes between him and Madam Li stole my heart. The found family dynamic they had
3. Kangning/Chai An
They were fun to watch but didnt leave that much of an impression on me tbh. The scheming aspect was fun.

last Fu Hui and her husband
Her husband was a huge loser and definitely shot my blood pressure at the start but he becomes more like phil from modern family. His idiotic antics were fun to watch later on tho

Read More

Perfect match follows madam Li, a lioness mother of five daughters who relocates her family to capital with two goals in mind: building a new life and finding suitable husbands for her daughters. In a society whew a woman's future is determined by whom she marries, Madam Li makes sure that her daughters futures are safe. What follows is a chaotic mix of family drama, matchmaking schemes, clashing personalities and fighting injustice.

One thing I liked about this drama is the theme of justice. Their dad taught them that they should learn the law and know their rights in order to protect themselves. After he died his wife had to tolerate all sorts of injustice for being a woman without husband or a son. Each daughter carries a different wound from seeing these. They learn the laws and power dynamics and unwritten social rules in order to navigate them. They fight for what they think is right. they fight injustice but not only the ones that effect themselves but other peoples too . This gets reflected the best in 4th sisters story who marries a judge. She had the most interesting story in my opinion.

Another thing i like about this drama is the Li family's healthy dynamics. The family is full of annoying individuals but they communicate everything. They discuss their problems, listen to each other, help each other and give each other grace.

Also love the aesthetic of this drama. its a maximalist approach full of bold colors and bling bling accessories and weird updos. everything screams for you attention. Individually they can look tacky, but sit everyone together at the same table and suddenly it makes sense. The chaos is cohesive.

I enjoyed different couples to varying degrees and interestingly enough, some of the more trope heavy ones ended up being more entertaining. Sometimes tried and tested formulas work the best and I'm not going to complain when a drama knows how to use them.
The one couple I cant get behind tho was the eldest sister and her scholar husband. Good lord... they tested my patience....Please get out of my screen. He was obnoxiously rude and jealous. She was a self righteous and emotionally constipated piece of work that was still stuck in the past. They were unpleasant people already but getting together mad it worse. Mostly because I don't believe he earned the forgiveness. He did way too much without communicating to anyone.

Another thing that I don't enjoy here is how hitting your spouse is framed as comedic. domestic violence is still domestic violence regardless of which gender is doing it to the other. This drama shows wives beating their man in such a casual manner just for laughs. Especially in 5th sister story. It just went overboard.

my list of couples from best to worst:
4th sis and judge
3rd sis and teahouse owner
The adopted sis and surprise match ( Trying to be spoiler free )
5th sis and the brat
2ns sis and useless puppet ( The drama starts with them already married and their marriage goes through some rough patches. overall the marriage sucks but it gets a better resolution than the one bellow and they do add some value to others stories as secondary characters )
1st sis and scholar guy

And of course the mom is the best character here. Love this woman to bits. She was fiery and brave. Also enjoyed the consort character she is so pretty.

Read More