A Modern Day Fairy Tale
I think the best way to enjoy this series is to avoid thinking of it as something that could really happen. Instead, it should be thought of as a combination of Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, and maybe even Beauty and the Beast. DON'T TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY! Think of it as a live action cartoon. It's one of the funniest dramas I've watched recently.The main female lead has been told she's unattractive her whole life. (Who could think of Landy Li as being unattractive? Anyway...) She has a chip on her shoulder because of this, and has basically given in to the idea that she's ugly. The main male lead is a brilliant scientist with very low EQ. After a disaster at their class reunion, he makes a thoughtless statement about her appearance, and things go downhill from there.
However, the female lead has a good heart, and as a reward for a kindness she extends to someone she receives a bracelet which is actually a gadget that serves as a 'filter', changing her appearance so she seems to be a glamorous woman...and various other personas.
The male lead is unaware of this and falls in love with the glamorous woman, not realizing her true identity.
It sounds confusing...and it is to begin with as the characters try to figure out how to deal with the situation, but it's also very funny. Both Landi Li and Tan Jian Ci have excellent comic timing, and they can both sell the set up so the viewer can believe it might happen.
As the female lead goes through several iterations, the male lead finds himself growing fond of an alpaca and falling in love with another one of her personas. He does some soul searching, trying to figure out why he's so fickle, not realizing they're all the same person. As mentioned in the drama, he may be responding to her pheromones....her body chemistry. Whatever the cause, he continues to find them fascinating.
The OST for this series is outstanding, and I've listened to many of the songs several times.
I enjoyed this series quite a bit. There are some angsty parts which serve to make the viewer consider how society views people who are considered beautiful compared to those who are supposedly less so. The main characters have to decide how they really want to view themselves and each other.
My only minor complaint is the ending of the second couple's story. I think that should've been left out of the series, and it could've ended with 30 episodes. However, that didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the series, and I'll probably watch again at some point.
Watch it with an open mind, and have fun!
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Comfortable and Cozy
I enjoyed watching Shine on Me, but I don't think it's a 'perfect' drama.Our two main leads were well cast and their acting was good, but I sometimes got the feeling that they were just being who they normally are as people instead of acting. Is that good or bad? I guess it depends on your point of view. Song Wei Long seemed confident in this role. In this series, he carries himself as someone who believes in his own abilities. Zhao Jinmai was also good as a young woman who starts out as someone unsure of herself and her place in the world and then grows to become a CEO . They were convincing as a couple, in my opinion. Both of them are good at using facial expressions to convey their feelings. There are some heart fluttering moments between them as the characters get acquainted with each other. Both of them handled the technical vocabulary well, and were able to present themselves as scientists and successful business people.
Unfortunately, the SML was a different story, but I don't think that was his fault, but rather that of the script. His character doesn't really have much to do except stand around and look upset. In fact, I began to wonder why the SML was even a part of the story except to show how greed can prevent someone from truly achieving happiness. A lot of his actions didn't make sense, and he didn't really have a huge impact on the story except to make the FL realize that the ML was a keeper.
The idea that greed is destructive was a common theme among our 'less desirable' characters. The FL's father and the ML's cousin both embody the idea that seeking profit at the expense of friends or family can create problems.
Some of the other secondary characters also suffer from inadequate writing, especially those from our FL's college years. The 'mean' girl who picks on the FL is written as shallow and rude at the beginning of the series. However, towards the end, she see the error of her ways.
The story is fairly basic and probably could've been told in fewer episodes if some of the solar energy jargon was eliminated. However, it seems that part of the purpose of the story was to point out China's growth in that area as well as other technologies. If the country has improved that much, good for them.
I have read a lot of reviews saying that the story is boring. I will admit that when I re-watched it, I skipped a lot of the PV jargon, (and I'm a former science teacher.). However, I thought the relationship between the main characters was refreshing in that they took their time getting to know one another and were honest with each other about their feelings and what they wanted. To me that's more realistic. I like the way they teased each other, and when they were finally together after working out the ML's misunderstanding over a case o mistaken identity, they were together for good.
I also liked that our two main characters were intellectual equals and both were driven to succeed in their chosen field. I appreciated that our FL lead is allowed to grow from a somewhat silly girl into a woman capable of running a major corporation.
The major time jump at the end of the drama is a little extreme, since there was no attempt to 'age' the actors, but it gives the viewers a happy ending.
If you want to watch something that doesn't require a huge amount of thought, you might enjoy this series. If you prefer a heavy hitting, serious series with a lot of angst, this probably isn't for you.
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This review may contain spoilers
Enjoyable but slightly frustrating
This review may contain spoilers.Always Home is a slice of life drama that follows the adventures of three teenaged characters as they grow up, go to high school and then attend college.
In the beginning the story reminded me of A River Runs Through It, because the two main male leads have similar personalities to the male main leads in that drama, but the female lead is very different than the female lead in that series...she has a stronger personality and seems more confident in herself. I think the actors that were cast as our 3 main protagonists were outstanding in their roles. It's hard to imagine someone else playing any of their parts.
I enjoyed the way the drama was written so that the lives of the parents were portrayed as being important to the development of our main characters. The parents were written fairly realistically, flaws and all. The parents suffered setbacks that affected their children, but also they demonstrated how to overcome adversities.
I also appreciated that our main characters were 'allowed' to fail from time to time. Often in dramas everything always works out and success is always achieved, but this drama was more realistic in the sense that the main characters experienced sadness and disappointment but still had to figure out how to carry on and move forward in life.
Of course, since this is a coming of age drama, there is some angst among friends and romantic situations that have to be addressed but I expected that. I think maybe some of that could've been condensed to make room for other things to be added to the drama (see spoilers below) but I didn't feel like it was too draggy most of the time.
Possible spoilers below!
As much as I enjoyed the drama, I was disappointed and frustrated with the ending...not the actual ending scene, but the way it left me wanting answers. I think it would've been a good thing to have an extra episode to answer the following questions:
Is Xi Chi still unemployed? Did Huan'er finish graduate school? Are Song Cong and Du Man really an item? When will Xi Chi and Huan'er get married?
As it was, I felt like I was given characters I cared about but I didn't get any closure...I didn't get to find out what happened between them after everything was said and done. However, in real life we don't always get answers, so maybe that's the point. In my opinion it would've been more satisfying to cut some of the length in the middle and add it to the end...or else add on an episode or produce a bonus episode.
Overall, though, I thought this was a good series, and I'll probably watch it at least once more.
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I really enjoyed it!
This was the first K-drama I've ever watched so I don't have much knowledge in way of comparison, but I thought it was well done. The actors were well cast for their parts, and they brought the story to life. I enjoyed the setting of the story, and I appreciated the technical aspects. The scenery was lovely, too. The story has humor, drama, and a slice of family life, and it's easy to relate to.Of course, since this title is a reworking of "Go Ahead", comparisons can't be avoided. That being said, I actually like both versions, but for me this one is easier to watch (I've already completed it twice) because a lot of the secondary characters and secondary storylines have been trimmed down or removed. In my opinion, the Korean version is more like a condensed version of the Chinese version instead of a complete re-make. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to the viewer, I suppose. Of course, the actors in "Go Ahead" are quite talented and their characters are memorable. However, there's no denying the fact: that version of the drama is very, very long, perhaps needlessly so.
I know a lot of people have a soft spot for "Go Ahead", and they weren't pleased that another version was made. I suppose to some it seems like a sacrilege. I understand that. I have favorite dramas as well, and there are some that shouldn't be remade, in my opinion. However, in the case of "Family by Choice" I think condensing the storyline and removing a lot of the extraneous characters was a good thing in the long run. For example: in "Go Ahead", did the viewer really need to know about Ming Yue's parents' divorce? How did that move the story along? Why do we need to worry about Tang Can? She was cute, but in the end, her story seemed unfinished. To me, it made sense to 'weed out' some of those unnecessary scenarios, even if they were in the original IP.
So my advice would be: don't hate this drama just because you love "Go Ahead". Approach it with an open mind and be pleasantly surprised. I was.
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