John Hart

So it's so fantastic to see a modern drama outside of the office! Yay! Corporate world sucks, it's what escapism is trying to escape. This series did it with beautiful coastal photography and rainbow set designs. Yum. But then --

-- we're dropped in an office. Worse, I have no idea why a strapping young man would fall for a severe older lady alcoholic. None. Zero. Their story simply doesn't work.

OUCH

I'm deep in this series and there's a regrettable flaw that has emerged. My REALLY GOOD rating to PRETTY GOOD. Spoiler below --

So, an in general response is that I hear you telling me not to express my opinion. Sorry, that's going to happen.

Now, if you want to pick a specific comment I made and suggest how it's incorrect, go ahead. But I will reply and offer you yet another opinion you may not want to hear. So there's that.

For instance --

"Most people understand that some Chinese dramas are made to promote China."

That angle doesn't matter to me. I'm saying there are influencer PR campaigns to MAKE people try shows like MEET YOURSELF. The way Amazon has fake reviews? MDL and REDDIT are full of fake praise.

"Many of us watch dramas to relax and escape from all the noise in the world. We don't want to be policed by side PSAs constantly shouting don't watch this, it's "propaganda," "it's not inclusive," "it's sensitive," or other social mambo jambos. If we wanted that kind of pressure."

I agree, but in your group you included something that doesn't belong there: "Don't watch this." Maybe you haven't noticed, but this site offers a comment field and star ratings and reviews. Reviews and comments either encourage or discourage viewership by their very nature.

What I'm reading here is that you resent someone suggesting your opinion may be wrong. "How dare that person say that!" Why do I dare? Overlong shows I was tricked into watching from over-rated reviews and scores piss me off. And so --

-- I explain to people why I disagree with hype when it applies. At the same time I try to hype what I consider under-rated shows. You're leaving that part out.

MEET YOURSELF is over-rated. I get exactly what it wishes to do but IMO doesn't pull it off. Read my review if you don't believe I can support that argument.

In Chinese Drama Land, I've concluded their are obvious social media campaigns to promote shows to make them 'hits'. This is painfully apparent in Idol Dramas. "Oh Gosh! He's so cute! So is she!" yaaaawwwnnn

I've been duped by campaigns to promote MEET YOURSELF and especially JOY OF LIFE. I don't fall for them any longer and -- as a critic -- warn people to save them the confusion.

Instead of asking me to define terms, read my review and tell me where I was wrong.

If I was 45 and saw this girl being 'jailed' by her Mom, and the girl liked me, I'd say 'forget me and let me help you get out of jail' in a paternal way. In reality, that would be it. In fiction, a love might form... providing she helped him get out of (whatever his dilemma is).

But I get that you're feeling... irked.

My wife and I are at the halfway point and both agree with you but also disagree.

I don't cringe at a 20something and a 40something finding love instead of lust. Two consenting adults. Back in the day I was a huge fan of Woody Allen's MANHATTAN but only wished she was of age, so that the story would have better realized its intentions instead of causing much cringe then.

What's strange about this show is that he looks young enough to erase this issue, which kind of confuses the entire premise. I'm not cringing at their slow burn love. I'm cringing that the show actively hides its premise.

In a Western show he'd open by saying, "I'm WAAAAY too old for you." Just those words would make us go, oh, I see. I didn't read the show description until today and I'm frankly surprised. Yeah, I noticed the "I'm your child thing" but that's about all we understood.

Meaning I wish it had been more blatant.

Correct. I wish MEET YOURSELF was half as good as some of its songs.

Turned out to be a RECOMMEND despite a big flaw and a few mini flaws. See my review above if interested.

Regina Wan as THE Lead Role? Perfect!

This show is over-rated and I can't recommend. Full review here -- https://kisskh.at/profile/JohnHart/review/453214

My review got so long I decided to post this here. The writing in this series is as good as it is also bad. It's like eating dumplings but every fourth one is spoiled. The other three are great, but that fourth one keeps spoiling the experience.

As to not spoil, let's talk of ROMEO AND JULIET. One reason that story works is because our lovers die in the final pages. If, instead, Juliet died 9 minutes into the story, that would really ruin it, right? The writers of MEET do not understand the simple concept that it takes time to develop an actual effective tragedy. The event I'm referring to is a cheap trick that has almost nothing to do with the tone of the series.

At the end of the story, this cheap HOSPITAL SCENE TROPE is deployed again. When all seems to be going well, an older woman has a heart attack and rests in the hospital. The problem is that the cast of this show is so unnecessarily large both my wife and I had no idea who this woman was. Why oh why did these writers not instead pick one of the many Grannies -- who we at least had emotional connections to? Pure amateur hour.

And worse, with continued sloppiness, this woman who appears to be dying immediately appears on a sunny afternoon in the next scene. In the blink of an eye. My wife and I thought, oh, this is a flashback. A minute or two later we're like, wait, no -- this is later where she's already recovering. The writers/directors failed to properly transition from (death?) to (all is well.)

I have a review coming (it's pre-posted but I still have 3 episodes left.)

As to not spoil much, what I will share is this series treats all characters as supporting characters. The FL and ML aren't really the thrust of the show, or at least not in a major way. This choice makes the series feel really long... because it's almost like looking out a window and watching real life. There's no real plot.

Now, many around here seem to love this. Me? I love an ensemble show, but I need it to have some discernible direction. THE YOUTH MEMORIES is a show like this show that has a great ensemble. It's slice of life too but there's more ups and downs, twists and turns, and so many things that are not predictable.

This show seems to be developed for people who are going thru so much personal stress that they cannot handle any fictional stress as well. Like a show someone in a hospital might like to watch. I love CDramas precisely because many of this very relaxing quality that makes for calmer entertainment before bed, but is overlong series is too calming for my tastes and I'd predict most tastes.

I'd watch A TALE OF ROSE. I has the same female lead but isn't boring.

When I watched A TALE OF ROSE (which I recommend, and here comes a mild spoiler about that show) it seems the female leads of these shows have something in common: men can't resist them.

(Including me, but don't tell my wife.)

It was my first CDrama and almost nothing has touched it for quality. Zhou Xun in IMPERFECT VICTIM comes close. TO THE WONDER is technically better, but it's not really a fair comparison because it's so short.

ROSE has a better pace, tells more story during the story, and is a more emotive and 'complicated' love story. I agree with your recommendation, but I believe these should be seen in your order. MEET, then ROSE. I'm doing it backwards and regretting it. (But no skimming or fast forwarding. I have 11 episodes left!)

Is Gia Ge dubbed?

I'm a Ma Yi Li man myself

Here's a sideways answer: watch the classic film LOCAL HERO. The music is lovely, the scenery is just beautiful, the story is simple, the villagers charming -- and you, like the ML, consider moving to this village as the story wraps up. I've seen this film around 20 times and love it.

Now if you get 20 or so minutes in and consider it really slow and boring, MEET YOURSELF is way way longer... and... the music isn't as good, the scenery/photography isn't as pretty, the story is too simple, the villagers are almost as charming... but... I feel it simply doesn't have the same alluring effect on me, that of moving into this village maybe.

I'm more than halfway thru and wish I could walk, but I'm interested to see how it ends and I don't believe in fast-forwarding or skipping ahead. Sigh.

I agree with your story notes. I fear that these competing channels are too desperate for hours of content instead of shows worthy of 40 episodes.

So I recently saw a 'murder mystery' show that wasn't that long and squeezed two episodes in. I wasn't expecting so much until my wife and I got HOOKED, but the hook is funny. It's not the mystery as much as the relationships in the story. You got the feeling the producers really wanted to do a straight drama but couldn't inspire interest, so instead they weaved in two murders to get it produced. I kinda miss it.

https://kisskh.at/744977-interlaced-scenes

Ignore the MEH title and the MDL rating. It's only 15 episodes but does so much in that time, yet doesn't feel rushed or crammed. I gave it a 9. I want a Season Two.

Thanks. That was adapted from an original analogy I feared might not cross from West to East successfully -- a Christmas tree.

The tree can be real or synthetic. Big or small. It can have lights and decorations of any color. Why I recently saw one upside even, which I thought was a form of protest but actually is a thing.

But a piano in a large bathroom wrapped with strings of yellow zucchinis is NOT a Christmas tree. Even if you spray the words "Christmas Tree" on it.

Christmas trees must be recognizable as such and offer areas of creativity. For instance, you could string together brooms and mops and dusters into a Christmas tree shape, spray paint it purple, cover it with golf balls... if it looked enough like an Xmas tree.