Cuo Ai Hou, Bei Mei Nv Lao Ban Qiang Hun (2025)

Gender role reversed - dominant & rich FL with ML that underwent a lot of character growth

I watched this drama at the recommendation of a reddit friend. I was unfamiliar with the leads but heck this was a fun watch.

What I liked:
1. FL characterisation - I loved the gender role reversal. FL was the more successful of the two - she led her own company & was a smart & fair boss.
2. ML characterisation - There was a lot of character growth for ML. He started off as a bully victim who was given a second chance at life. I chose to be with FL instead of SFL and it was cool to see him as a kept man but later had his own ambition to succeed.
3. Romance - I liked that FL was more dominant and proactive than ML but ML also made efforts as the relationship grew. I wish there were more romance in the last 30 minutes.
4. Supporting characters - I really liked FL's assistant for helping out ML with love advice. She saw value in making her boss happy and indirectly less stressed at work.
5. Retribution - Yes, the antagonists got their comeuppance.
6. Styling - This is first time I saw a ML getting a glow up. I actually liked his before and after looks - the thick framed glasses and hair with bangs looked good on him while the better hairstyle (forehead seen) and outfits made his character more mature & serious.

What I disliked:
1. Antagonists - The Lins were horrible people. However it's refreshing to see a jealous brother instead of the usual jealous sister in many vertical dramas. Qin Ruoyao was damn annoying.
2. The past - FL was insecure and later we got to know that there was a past relationship between FL & ML. I had a lot of unanswered questions - why were they separated? Why wasn't ML able to recall that past? Why didn't FL tell ML about this past (because why did writer include this past then)?

Favourite scene
ML made his move while FL was on a work video call

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