Forget You Not

A Beautifully Painful Drama Of Life

This drama caught me off guard. Not with plot twists or flashy romance, but with its honesty. It’s a slice of life, but the kind that doesn’t taste sweet all the time. It’s a little burnt around the edges, soft in the middle. Real.

Cheng Le Le is in her 40s, doing stand-up comedy that barely stands on its own. So she works part-time at a convenience store too. That’s her life. Not a dream, not a tragedy. Just life. Her story unfolds around the people in her orbit, her dad who believes in aliens, two friends who shouldn’t make sense together but somehow do, a husband she once loved, maybe still does in some quiet corner of her heart. But deosnt matter as the marriage life is near its end.

There’s no climax. No victory lap. Just roads she has to walk. Because life doesn’t come with a final destination. It flows. Sometimes like a river, sometimes like a flood. And when loss comes, no amount of preparation saves you from breaking. What hurts even more is when you realize you have to keep walking, even when your legs don’t know this new path.

The show was labeled with a healing tag, but don’t believe that. No one heals here. Not in the way we want. They endure. They laugh, they cry, sometimes in the same scene. And I cried with them. For joy. For grief. For being alive.

That’s the thing about Taiwanese dramas. They’re too real. They don’t pretend. They remind you you’re human, beautifully, painfully human. And I love them for that. Even when I say I hate them.

I was especially grateful this wasn’t about some teenager/20-something figuring out life. This was about a woman who’s already halfway through it, still stumbling, still unsure, still trying. Cheng Le Le is not your ideal protagonist, and that’s what makes her perfect. She’s ordinary, unpolished. She turns her pain into punchlines, not healing. Just survival.

And her dad—what a character. He says, “Being childish for your whole life is quite an achievement.” And he’s right. I’m going to hold onto that. But let’s not pretend his life was all sunshine and UFOs. His sadness was there too, packed deep inside, not hidden from us, but from himself. I liked him. I really did. And like Cheng Le Le, I’ll keep looking for aliens after him.

His death was a quiet, painful unraveling. But the harder part was watching her feel it. That kind of grief lingers. It lingers even now.

Visually, the drama is stunning. Not dramatic. Just beautiful in the way reality is, natural light, soft shadows, warm colors that bleed into everyday spaces. The kind of cinematography that makes you feel like you’re there.

And this line will stay with me:
“Others call their dads superheroes, but I call mine an alien. He always said the universe is infinite, and humans are insignificant. We should take it easy in life. However, he forgot to tell me, humans exist in the world, and humans are complicated.”

What a beautiful, aching piece of work.
8 out of 10
And a piece of my heart with it.

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"If the sky falls, the tall will hold it up"

I stumbled across Forget You Not and to my utter delight found a hidden gem dealing with the joys and pitfalls of family, friendship, marriage, and work. Hsieh Ying Xuan and Chin Han gave beautifully realistic performances of a daughter and father distanced through their own faults and misunderstandings. Every chapter was meaningful and gave insight into their lives and loves. As only Taiwanese dramas can do, the characters were flawed and real, relatable guides on this journey into aging and life.

Cheng Le Le’s life is shaken when her marriage falls into trouble and her “unreliable” father is diagnosed with dementia. Her rocks are her two best friends and her job as a stand-up comedian.

Each chapter in Forget You Not focused on a different aspect of Le Le’s life-her father, the mother who abandoned her, her friendships, her husband, and circled back to her father as his illness progressed and he became completely reliant on her. The episodes wove flashbacks with the present, never wandering afar and always giving insight into everyone involved. Aside from Le Le, we also peer into the stress of Zhang Kai’s privileged life, Cheng Kuang Chi trying to provide for his family working aboard ships, and Hsiao Fang’s pressure to raise a child largely alone.

The writing was thoughtful, showing people’s strengths and foibles. As in real life, marriage was a work of balancing expectations and needs, some not always fulfilled. Friendships were forged with people who were imperfect and faced their own crisis at times. As people aged, they suffered the loss of friends and family, whittling down their social circle we all depend upon. Parents were fallible, some capable of the job, others not. Children, even adult children, focused on themselves often shuttling parents’ needs aside. And ultimately, some children came to be caregivers of aging parents reversing the roles of a lifetime.

Forget You Not never shied away from the difficulties in relationships and caregiving. One of the most thankless and difficult jobs is caring for a loved one, often without any help. Even when done out of love and familial responsibility, it can bring a person to the breaking point physically, mentally, and emotionally. And financially. It is consuming and exhausting with the person always haunted by guilt with the questions of, “Am I doing enough?” Often followed by, “Will this ever end?”

This drama was heartbreaking and heartwarming. Following Le Le on her journey of self-discovery and a new relationship with her father was a deeply emotional journey for her and me. I tend to call out dramas that work too hard to manipulate the audience through cheap tricks and maudlin music. Forget You Not had absolutely gut-wrenching moments earned through authentic storytelling and nuanced acting. It was not all sorrow, for there were moments of levity, joy, and laughter. Sometimes when it seems the rain will never end, all you can do is dance in it.

28 January 2026

❤PSA-If you know a caregiver, please drop off food, ask to run errands, or find a way to relieve them so they can rest, shower, get out of the house/hospital for even a small amount of time. Anything so that they know they aren't alone. Sometimes caregiving takes a terrible toll on people's physical and mental health.

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