ShuYi’s article on Yangchuan’s difficulty with Le’an (part of the special series and the article that the niece helped her write while she recuperated) exposes the issues ShiYan & CEO Chen face. On the positive side, it also forces CEO Chen’s hand and makes him realize that he needs to accept ShiYan’s proposal for a Strategic Alliance. He seeks counsel from Fiona, who seems to be a Corporate Attorney after all, and empowers her to begin the process to iron out the legal issues. But he needs to get approval from Buzzard first to see if he’s in on the deal. He gets Buzzard’s contact info from his girlfriend who is suspiciously nice when he gets home (she’s needlessly worried her article got him into trouble). Since they have gotten beyond the intimacy issue, they are now much more relaxed and natural with each other.
Buzzard is initially reluctant to accept ShiYan’s “win-win” proposal until he reminds the punk that he’s in no position to call the shots as his company is struggling in it’s R&D tasks and that he won’t be able to do a talent grab from Le-an. Buzzard is surprised that ShiYan has so much inside info on how much Dark Horse is struggling, so Buzzard is essentially backed into the corner to agree to the plan to cooperate on Millimeter-wave chips.
In a scene not aired, we learn that the niece gets into a car accident with a distracted delivery driver and is in the hospital. This happens while it’s learned that her mom (the singer & ShiYan’s sister) was snapped by paparazzi hugging a man (her husband) which is scandalous info. ShuYi meets ShiYan at the hospital (with Prof You behind her) and tells him all about how disappointed she is in her idol singer being caught with his Brother-in-Law. Unfortunately for our heroine, his sister appears behind her as she’s saying this and she learns that his sister is her idol, the Famous Song LeLan. (This was a sweet and funny scene). ShiYan has no idea how big of a doghouse he’s in with his girlfriend.
Now that his sister’s secret life has been exposed, the niece’s parents meet Prof You in the hospital and her dad gives him a slight once-over but we can tell he already approves of him.
Hospital duties done, our couple head home and bid farewell to his sister who is devising a publicity plan to clear the air on her life. ShuYi apologizes for anything she may have said inadvertently but the sister understands since her brother never told her who she was. She then gives her younger brother the stink-eye and wags her finger at him for stringing his girlfriend along. Once she leaves, ShuYi is furious with ShiYan and refuses to hold his hand. She even wants to go back to her apartment to sleep there and tells him she’ll sleep ALONE. (Between her anger and his sarcasm, this is a cute extended set of scenes) But, her electronic door lock is dead and she doesn’t have the keys; what to do? She then drags him to Shanshan’s where she’ll spend the night there. Unfortunately her BFF’s door is opened by a partially clad GuanJi and Shanshan in their PJs. Horrified and shocked, both sides excuse themselves quickly and Shanshan and GuanJi realize they have a lot of explaining to do.
Back at his place, he tries to make up to her with a delicious dinner which she can’t refuse. Enjoying the meal she relents and tells him never to lie to her again, to which he can’t resist (DON’T DO IT SHIYAN) and tells her he TECHNICALLY didn’t lie to her and reminds her of all the times she didn’t want to talk to his sister. Well, THAT did it, as she didn’t like her nose being rubbed into it and she goes straight to their bedroom and locks him out. As she is explaining all this to her BFF on the phone, he unlocks the door (he has the key, after all) and carries her to the bed. In frustration he asks her what he has to do to get her over her anger and together, they hear Shanshan (who is STILL on the phone and listening in) tell him JUST DO IT ALREADY. Mortified and staring at each other, he hangs up, tosses the phone and they, ahem…make up. (This whole set of scenes; beginning with the hospital visit to the end of the night was one of the cutest and best of the series).
The next morning, as ShuYi returns to work from her injured-hand medical leave, the FW’s office is abuzz with the news that their intern was the daughter of a famous singer and niece of an industry tycoon, who happens to be ShuYi’s love interest after all! Ms. Tang, grateful to see her star pupil recovered and back in love, grants her fervent wish for the e-magazine, as it has been approved. She tells ShuYi that she should start preparing for its’ startup.
Later that day, Buzzard approaches her (doesn’t this guy ever give up?) to do a series of articles on the Dark Horse/Le’an project. She backs out but will assign one of her trusted peers for the project and reminds him (and takes the wind out of his sails) that the project isn’t due to his decisiveness but to ShiYan’s innovative proposal.
ShuYi’s Mom, suspicious that something funny is going on with her daughter calls her and inadvertently speaks to ShiYan (they’re back to living at his place). That weekend, he takes her to his family home to meet his Dad and Sister. She’s nervous as can be expected but all goes well and the niece comes too to meet her “Auntie” too. They excuse themselves and the mentor and her intern walk in the yard and chat. The niece tells her she’s decided to make a career at FW and is OK with the staff knowing who her mom is.
Some time later and back at his/their house, as she cooks dinner for ShiYan, ShuYi is stunned to see him return from the airport with someone he accidentally met - her Mom! (Evidently there was a set of scenes that depicted their planned meeting that was cut). Her mother, not impressed with her daughter’s cooking skills, is relieved to hear that he does all the cooking. The surprise inspection complete, ShiYan returns his future-mother-in-law to the train station after dinner and her Mom is at ease with how well he cares for her daughter.
The episode closes on a down note, however. ShiYan’s “win-win” strategic proposal angers his elders on the board who are not alone as seeing it as a give-away of Le’an’s Intellectual Property to Dark Horse. Frustrated, once again they go around ShiYan and appeal to his Father directly, providing him with evidence on how badly the planned project is being received. They also throw GuanJi under the bus for not taking a more active role at Yuanchang and they tell him that “things are a mess there”. They demand that Yunchuang be absorbed back into Mingyu and ShiYan be dismissed. Mr. Shi is visibly distressed.
The end scene shows ShiYan refusing to talk to the media about the project.
@LA_Drama Fan you raise a very salient point. One of the reasons I have kept watching this show is because of…
I think the thing that gets me most about the MaRi character is that the character gets so frustrated but doesn't know how to express it, so she acts out. Plus that she's aware that things aren't "right" with her and it's heartbreaking to see her try to deal with it, when she doesn't understand how to communicate it effectively. The actress is so good at portraying this, I find myself compelled to watch her scenes despite being totally uninterested with the adults she has to deal with.
@LA_Drama Fan you raise a very salient point. One of the reasons I have kept watching this show is because of…
I hear you, Sean. I have a weird relationship with this show. I watch it on KBS America (which is 2 weekends behind) but sneak peek the current weekend's releases on Kocowa. This weekends shows were OK (for the leads) so I think I will skip shows 27-30 and just jump ahead. And I'm skipping so many chunks of the story that I am not totally aware of what's going on, outside of the lead's story. The attached families don't interest me. If I had to prepare a review of this series, I'd fail miserably.
The actress portraying the Granny was in a similar role in It's Beautiful Now. I'd love to see her interviewed about portraying Alzheimer's patients and how she deals with it.
I find it interesting that the two most endearing females in this series are an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's and and a brain-injury victim her late 20s.
And at this point, I'll admit I was wrong: The actress playing MaRi is amazing. She and the FL are two of the most compelling characters I've seen. I can't help but be moved by them, especially in emotional scenes. I hate to give this writer any props, but I've never quite seen a character like MaRi and the young woman playing her must win SOMETHING at this year's KBS Awards. She's unbelievable.
Lastly, for those of us who FF a lot thru this show, be sure to watch starting at the 24 minute mark of Ep 32 (street scene outside club). I won't spoil anything. But after watching this scene, I was certain how brilliant an actress Han SooA is.
You're correct, there isn't a "reveal" per se. He first sees her mom (knowing who she really is) from the doorway of the hospital room with ShuYi & ShiYan as the niece berates the delivery driver. But neither parent is "introduced" to him. By this point, it seems that some scenes are missing and I guess they were trying to tighten up the show to fit the running time??? For instance, we miss the neice getting into the accident (seems odd to omit that) and her mom finding out PLUS being discovered by the paparazzi.
In the stairwell, Yuling initially denies being the gossiper spreading the info about ShuYi and the two ladies go at it, verbally. When Yuling stomps out, our heroine tries to stop her from leaving by blocking the door but gets her hand caught in the jamb and the heavy steel door crushes it. Yuling, meanwhile, had left the office to contact Mr. Qiu’s wife telling her ShuYi has been having an affair with her husband. To which the wife tells her is impossible as ShuYi is dating ShiYan. Yuling is staggered to learn this. Both women return later to the office and report to Ms. Tang, with ShuYi having been to the doctor (no broken bones, but hand immobilized in wrap). ShuYi demands some kind of accounting for what Yuling has been doing to her and Ms. Tang tries to defuse the situation by putting ShuYi on paid leave until her hand recovers. (You have to feel some for Ms. Tang, as these 2 women are both her star pupils, but Yuling’s actions have backed her into a corner. In the real world, here in the US, ShuYi would have a candidate for a very successful lawsuit against FW for fostering a ‘hostile workplace’ and doing nothing about Yuling since the time she stole the interview from ShuYi back in the beginning of the series).
ShuYi surprises her boyfriend by heading to ShiYan’s office in the middle of the day. where he sees her wounded hand and hears her pitiful needs as a disabled person (whining and demanding pity are a ShuYi hallmark). He decides to play along and take her one step further – and tell her to move in with him. Her mind reeling, she accepts his offer. He calls his niece and tells her to stay at her grandpa’s house for a while because her auntie will be moving in. He then goes to Le’an and asks the dour CEO if he’s considered the collab offer from Buzzard. And sure enough he won’t consider it (still) as he won’t give up his pride and joy.
While this is happening, Ms. Tang notifies Yuling that she’s being transferred out of the Financial Publications Division over to a different assignment. Yuling refuses and quits, thanking Ms. Tang for mentoring her (before ShuYi came along, she meant but didn’t say).
Meanwhile she’s back home and trying to pack her stuff but realizes she can’t do it one-handed. So she calls him for help and like the good boyfriend he is, he shows up to help pack her stuff and head to his house. She is a happy girl as she’s being pampered, tended to, and receives all of his attention. While she is thinking this move is a temporary situation, ShiYan shocks her (again) by saying he expects this to be a permanent situation. Again, her mind reels that things are happening faster than she expected. It would seem that ShiYan’s tactic is to keep her in a constant state of surprise.
Therein follows the push-and-pull nature of their relationship in full view. However, by now his incessant studying and analysis of her has paid off and he is quick to understand her confusion and resultant game-playing. He is no longer frustrated but instead knows what strings to pull to get the desired results from her. Yes, he’s manipulating her, but she’s been doing the same to him from the beginning. He makes and feeds her dinner (she can’t use chopsticks left-handed, I guess) including dessert and despite the pain, she’s a happy girl. She has him do all the chores she can’t (tie her hair back, help her undress) and all is going great until she realizes they will be sleeping in his bed. Just helping her unhook her bra made her head spin and she was not prepared for this! The first night, they are predictably awkward and of course she falls asleep before he does. He gets frustrated as she keeps rolling into him and sleep-cuddling. She briefly awakens in the middle of the night to hear him taking a shower (a cold one, I presume). Which sets up the funniest line in the series…
The next morning at 9, she awakens to find him gone and calls him at the office. She asks if he took a shower in the middle of the night, unaware that he’s having a staff meeting in his office and the look on Mr. Chen’s face and his 3 secretaries as they overhear this is priceless! (I couldn’t stop laughing at how this done). After hanging up, she laments they spent the night together and he didn’t even kiss her! After Shanshan calls her to check on her, ShuYi updates her on the situation and her BFF just shakes her head after learning they could finally sleep together and have nothing happen.
The next day, bored out of her mind at his place with nothing to do and unable to type on her laptop, He sends his niece over and together they work on her next series of articles. Once ShiYan gets home, the niece leaves and we’re ready for Round 2 of an Evening With the One I Love. This time at dinner, she pouts and wants to sit on his lap while he feeds her. Despite his objection (he’s REALLY nervous now) she does it anyways and feeds her dinner again. With her mind racing overtime and wondering WHY he hasn’t made a move on her, she dresses for bed in a man-tailored shirt and her slippers. When she comes into his home office (he’s working late, as usual) to say goodnight his eyes nearly fall out of his head and he struggles to maintain his composure before he just wishes her a good night. (You can bet another cold shower is due). Her plan foiled and ego now completely shattered, has her wondering if she’s not as attractive as she thought she was???
The next night comes Round 3 (the gauze dressing is off her hand by now). She’s texting Shanshan and already laying on the bed in a black silk negligee and looks AMAZING. He shuffles in, just coming home from work, slightly buzzed from some business dinner. He sees her and once again gulps. He retreats to the safety of the den and she just rolls her eyes. He is able see the WeChat she’s having and when ShuYi tells her BFF that nothing is happening and it’s not HER fault, his male ego short-circuits. He storms into the bedroom, tosses her iPhone on the floor and takes his woman. (This is the hottest scene of the series and the behind-the-scenes shown on YouTube for this scene show the director having to break them up as it got a little “enthusiastic”.) The next morning, Buzzard calls (of all people) rousing them from their sleep and asks about her injury and wants to take her out to lunch. ShiYan, annoyed beyond words and listening in softly calls her name so that buzzard can hear and he once again tosses her iPhone aside (I hope she has AppleCare on that thing) leaving Buzzard crushed, knowing they probably spent the night together.
Is this show really about the leads? There has been undue focus all along on the parents, especially now. I really appreciate the comments here to let me know I'm not alone in thinking this series stinks too.
Ep 33 Back in her apartment, ShiYan wakes up and drinks the sobering potion and leaves, after teasing her by asking if she wants him to spend the night. With her mind is working overtime on if she should ha ask him to stay, he leaves (hopefully not driving himself). She also changes her name on his phone’s contact list to “Sweet Babe” to which he does not object. The following morning, she calls him at his parent’s house, and the niece is there too. Seeing “Sweet Babe” on the Caller-ID sends his niece into a tizzy and his Dad and Sister give him raised eyebrows as well (the niece knows who Sweet Babe is, but isn’t telling).
While this is happening, ShuYi is with her boss, and Ms. Ting knows that things went well on the business trip and confirms that ShuYi is back in love (she isn’t aware yet that it’s ShiYan again). When ShuYi asks Ms. Tang when she’ll get a boyfriend of her own, Ms. Tang defers. And this is a really interesting facet of the series: Ms. Tang is her role model and like her mentor, ShuYi has sacrificed a lot of her personal life for her professional one. Neither can openly admit their affection for the man in their life (they both have wealthy boyfriends) and struggle to embrace their feelings fully. Continuity error: They forgot to put the hickie bruise on ShuYi’s neck (when she bit him after the charity ball, he came to work the next couple of days wearing a turtleneck).
We get an extended montage where Yunchuang/ShiYan is working with Le’an trying to turn things around at their tech partner. So, true to his word to his uncles at his firm, ShiYan is TRYING to fix things with their investment.
Later on, Fiona has been on-boarded with Yunchuang and sees ShiYan to tell him that her dad (one of the elder uncles on the board) has been meeting with the other elder and the director of Finance and discussing the Le’an matter. She asks if she should intervene somehow with her father, but Shi tells her no, and that he’s got something to discuss with the Le’an CEO. While meeting at Le’an with CEO Kang, they are surprised when Buzzard barges in and asks to meet with them (he’s having issues of his own, as Dr. Bruce tells him Dark Horse’s lab isn’t big enough or experienced as it was when Bruce worked for Le’an and they’re going to fall short of their goals at their current pace). So he proposes buying out Le’an and merging it with Dark Horse (this is just a talent-grab, but whatever). Buzzard points out the problems that the Le’an CEO is having and how this benefits both firms. CEO Kang is furious with the idea and yells at Buzzard, annoying ShiYan, who is witnessing this. Kang claims all Le’ans problems stem from Buzzard stealing Bruce from them, so how could he claim to solve all their problems! Buzzard calmly explains why it’s a good idea in broad strokes (much to ShiYan’s silent interest) and leaves.
ShiYan picks up ShuYi after work and takes her to the airport to meet Shanshan who’s returning from a business trip and she jokingly refers to him as her driver, because her boyfriend would have brought her flowers. In the airport parking lot, she’s left speechless as he actually DID get her roses. (This was a really cute scene). Just as he’s about to kiss her, Shanshan calls from the arrivals terminal to tell her their Singing Idol is in the terminal and meeting fans, so our heroine shoves the flowers back to ShiYan and rushes to meet her BFF and idol in the arrival area. She still has no idea her idol will be her future Sister in Law and ShiYan teases her about her idol-worship of some ‘pop singer’. As they leave the airport her guilt begins to overwhelm her again at how easily he forgave her and the guilt is replaced by fear that there might be some retribution he will exact from her for her bad behavior. Amazingly (for her), she actually confesses this to him when they get back to her apartment. So he says, OK, and bites her hand. He’s extracted his revenge and now they’re even, he says. That settled, they once again passionately kiss, and again she’s overwhelmed by her feelings for him and backs off, begging him to be patient with her (The battle between her heart and mind rages on). He urges her to leave the past behind them and embrace their feelings for each other. As he leaves her place, she has one favor to ask: stop using her full name, to which he smirks and calls her “YiYi” for the first time in the series.
The next day, he picks her up from work in the Rolls and on the way home he surprises her with a diamond bracelet. Stunned, she asks what it is for, and he replies that it’s a makeup gift. The first of many gifts, as that evening a delivery man has several other packages delivered from him to her house. They have dinner at her favorite noodle place in a very funny scene that I’ll leave to your imagination, as I’ll just say she relishes her role as his girlfriend. They have an extended conversation about his sister and her shyness is irresistible to ShiYan who gently prods her to meet his sister/her idol. When she later learns that the password to his phone is her birthday, she’s is over the moon and her day (and evening) are made. In her mind, all is right with her world.
Then the dirtbag ex-bf shows up at Dark Horse and talks to Buzzard of all people, seeking a job as an ex-employee of Le’an who can dish on things happening there. Unwilling to stoop to that level, Buzzard kicks him out of his office, telling him he’s an embarrassment to his Alma Mater. The loser sulks out of the building, hopefully never to be seen again.
To close out this episode, at FW Yuling overhears the niece and ShuYi talking and understands that ShuYi is seeing the niece’s uncle. Thinking this must be an older man, she spreads salacious rumors immediately via chat groups and the company’s intranet about how their Star Employee is dating an old man, possibly the Financial Director of Yunchuang. When word of this gets back to ShuYi (via her boss) she’s irate and tells Ms. Tang it’s not true. In the last scene, she finds out it’s Yuling spreading this story and confronts her in the building’s stairwell.
As the series nears its end, the writer is trying to tie up loose ends. Hopefully the ex-bf’s story is done now. And there is a touching scene between GuanJi and Ms. Tang where he gives his blessings to her relationship with his father. She acknowledges the ball is in her court now.
ShiYan and Mr. Chen see the ex-bf in the building and he finds out that he’s getting an interview. He arranges it to sit in on his interview, much to the shock of the dirtbag. As you can imagine, the fool melts down and the interview fails. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
That weekend, she comes back to his office to resume Overtime work on the special series of articles on his company. It’s a real feeling of déjà vu, as here she sits and works by herself while he’s immersed in his own work at his desk. Once again she’s disappointed that they are actually working OT instead of having fun (she hasn’t figured this out, YET?). Finally that afternoon he takes her to the movies to her delight where they run into Fiona; ShuYi asserts her role as his girlfriend to Fiona and gets her to back off. All this to her delight and the amusement of ShiYan. As they leave the theater, she suggests skipping the ride back in the Rolls and going for a walk together, which surprises him. So he surprises her back and gives her a long deep kiss in public, to the shock of ShuYi and Mr. Feng the driver (this was a cute scene). In the Rolls, on the way home, she gets texts from Buzzard, asking her out (she says NO) and then Prof Yu checking on her. Jealous, ShiYan grabs her phone and she tries to explain the Prof is just her friend. When he tells he’s jealous because all men would find her desirable, the driver immediately says “NOT ME”; another cute and funny bit. Anyways, she tells him she’s off for a week on a business trip in a few days (she’ll take the niece with her).
In a few days, a meeting Shi was supposed to have with Le’an’s CEO is cancelled by them, distressing Shi who takes Mr. Chen with him to Le’an after all. He meets with the (defeatist) CEO who confides morale is in the tank with the loss of Dr. Bruce. ShiYan tells him to ‘buck up’ and take charge of the situation (good luck with that). ShiYan tells him that if they fail, it will happen but they’ll survive, trying to get the CEO to lighten up.
Since ShiYan can’t drop ShuYi off at the airport for her trip (distressing her), he has Mr. Feng take her and the niece in the Rolls. The difference now, is that ShiYan has figured out ways to assuage her and cheer her up, and he does so. She and the niece go to on their trip to interview their subject and have fun. It’s clear by now that ShuYi has taken the niece under her wing to mold her as a journalist in the same image as Ms. Tang molded her, years ago.
While all this is happening, the dirtbag gets fired from his old job for continued crappy performance and he slinks back to his apartment to get drunk and stares at pictures of him and ShuYi. This is poor timing as the mistress returns and finds this going on and tries to talk sense into that idiot. She dumps him after reminding him of “all she’s done for him”, etc. But he blames her for all his troubles (this guy is a total loser). Suddenly we next see a scene (the following day?) of the mistress walking out of Yuanchang with a box of her belongings. This appears to be another instance of a scene being deleted (her being fired by Mr. Qui, the Finance Manager). As she walks out, she encounters Shi Yan in the basement getting ready to board his car and tells him that the dirtbag is after ShuYi. He doesn’t care and tells her off. The scene is interesting as Mr. Feng (Her uncle) is not there as he’s off at the airport to pick up the girls from their trip. If he were there, how would this have played out?
Mr. Feng drops off ShuYi at her apartment and finds a drunken dirtbag stumbling around trying to get into her building. He beats the crap out of him (surprising even himself) and phones to interrupt ShiYan’s banquet with the Le’an Leadership team to tell him that the dirtbag is hanging around her building. ShiYan excuses himself for a while and goes to her apartment to find that dirtbag has gotten ShuYi to open her door (dumb girl, use the peep-hole). He casts dirtbag aside enters the apartment, slams the door closed and they have the most passionate kiss we’ve seen to date, leaving her breathless and shaky. Mr. Shi is definitely at the mercy of his own jealousy. He tells her to stay put and that he’ll be back. HE returns to the banquet, not without warning Mr. Dirtbag (still outside the door) to get lost OR ELSE.
ShiYan eventually returns, buzzed to her surprise, as she’s rarely seen him drunk (the last time was when the news broke about Bruce’s leaving Le’an). He staggers to her couch and collapses, just wanting to rest. Fascinated at how different he is when drunk, she plays with him and sees how gentle and sweet he is. In a funny flashback to her own drunken episode at the Charity Ball, she asks him if he’ll remember how sweet he is when he sobers up. To remind himself, he gives HER a hickie so there will be evidence. She’s shocked beyond words and before she can run away (where’s she going to go? She’s in her own apartment!) He holds and hugs her before she can make a sobering-up concoction. Potion completed, the episode ends with her looking in the mirror at the forming hickie on her neck and her smile of bemusement.
After the last two episodes (29, 30) i don't even know who are the leads and who are the support roles. Especially…
I think they're bad for different reasons. This is horribly written with hateful characters taking the lead roles. How are we supposed to care for anyone in this drama? (I just finished Eps 25-26 this weekend, and they both sucked).
TRHC failed because it had structural problems with the plot (too many couples) and the leads were totally dysfunctional. The FL actress especially, checked out mid-show and it became so evident that it was even mentioned by other characters in the show. It did give us 30 good episodes before it melted down. This show has given us about 10 good eps??
I’m on episode 17 and I have no idea what their relationship is. They kissed (sort of lol) and held hands but…
This is a really different drama. You're correct that they seem more intimate via texting than in person, and if you think about it, that's on her. She can deal with him better virtually than in person, and he's not much different.
I've been thinking about this show a lot as I type the episode summaries. And I've distilled it down to this:
For all his business acumen, ShiYan doesn't seem to grasp the severity of the situation his company is in by Ep 32, with not only the Le'an fiasco but his insistence on not investing in the established Zhanlan Battery Corp and wanting to go with an unproven startup. No matter how well-meaning he is with the latter, the company is in so much trouble with the former that he needs to be more reasonable with his board. First, they try going around him to his father to get their way, then 2 investors are threatening to bail on the company and 2 rebellious board members are threatening to quit. So with things getting worse, ShiYan is called on the carpet by the elder directors. They try reasoning with him to get the company out of the Le'an entanglement, but his clumsy (and unintentionally insulting) response rankles his elders for they seem like they are both stupid and disloyal. He then promises them that he'll make good on any losses out of this relationship with Le'an and this really pisses them off and they let him have it - it's not about money any more they tell him, no matter how much cash he gets from his Father to make good on the unrealized earning projection. They can't get thru to him that the company cannot be continued to be tied to this losing situation.
His only reply is to tell them basically 'thanks for your concern I'll come up with a solution ASAP'. Now we know he obviously will (this is dramaland after all) but this was a textbook example of how NOT to hold a corporate meeting (especially with the staff on the other side of the windows listening in and worried about the company's future.)
Ep 31 – The Reluctant Reconciliation Just when you thought things would at least pause to give us a break, now…
I'm finally caught up. But this one is truly TLDR. I don't know how to summarize it any more as there are so many crucial things in Ep 31. It's 1550 words, so read at your own peril.
Just when you thought things would at least pause to give us a break, now that their relationship is “done”, the show ramps up again and we’re off and running.
This will be a difficult episode to review because SO MUCH happened and you really need to hear the exact dialog. I will try to surmise it as much as possible without quoting every line which would make this review a chore to read. I had to watch this episode 3 times to be able to catch everything that happened in it.
It opens with ShiYan reading his nieces text messages from the restaurant that evening. It is the eve of a holiday of some sort and he’s up late, lost in his misery that comes from knowing ShuYi blocked his messages. Angered, he grabs his coat and goes to her place and parks outside (creepy ShiYan again). It’s starting to rain again and she is home by now but feverish as she can’t sleep and she feels the flu coming on. He stares at her bedroom window from his car, and since her bedroom light is off, he is about to go home (not really sure what he intended to do?) when he suddenly see her outside on the patio shuffling around and taking down clothes she had left drying outside. The rain picks up as she finishes and goes back inside and her lights are extinguished again. As he’s about to leave he is stunned to see her walk out of her building and wait in the rain under her umbrella, all bundled up. He calls to her and after a couple of tries, she realizes what is going on and sees him, outside his car under his umbrella. They have another starting contest for a whopping 71 seconds of silence as she can’t believe he’s there and he just looks annoyed that she’s standing in the rain…all the while we hear “Not Speaking” (appropriate given its lyrics) in the background as his car is running with the wipers bobbing to and fro (I guess the rich can afford to keep there car just running there). She tells him she’s sick and waiting for her cab to take her to the ER and (of course) he takes her there instead. As they drive there she is trying to figure out why he was there and her guilt and sadness get the best of her and she silently starts crying, to which he hands her a tissue as he drives (that’s ShiYan finally being pro-active as his niece demanded he be). It’s 10:10pm.
At the ER (suspiciously empty at this time of night) she is at the lab about to have blood drawn which makes her uncomfortable. As the crusty nurse is about to put in the needle ShiYan covers her eyes so she doesn’t see and the deed is done. Once finished withdraws his hand and leaves….she begins to sob and the nurse doesn’t understand what is going on and admonishes her to act like a grown up and not cry after bloodwork.
While waiting for the results, he asks her why she cried and our girl does it again! Instead of being truthful, here comes Faux Pas #4 as she denies crying and just says she “didn’t expect to be in the hospital at this time”. But THANK GOODNESS ShiYan isn’t going to let her get away with it! Mr. Proactive responds by shocking her with “Yeah, you should have been at my house at this time”. He gets the intended response as she freaks out with her mind and heart arguing with each other in her head. Looking away from him she agrees with him. (The good omen here is the background music turns to the more upbeat “Stars & Light” which is usually played in happy scenes in this series). After she gets her lab test results, the doctor tells her to come back for an IV in the morning if the fever hasn’t broken. After she leaves the Dr’s office, he appears to have left and she shuffles out, coughing now, trying to figure out why he seemed to reach out to her…and suddenly he appears with a cup of hot water for her throat. They quietly walk out of the ER together and wants her to say SOMETHING “Are you mute?” he asks, but then tells her to never mind.
As usual, she falls asleep in the car on the way back to her home but awakens in time to hear Fiona asking him on the phone if they can get together on the holiday (he is annoyed at Fiona for asking and hangs up and then notices she’s been listening). She asks him if he’ll go out with her tomorrow, and he replies “should I?” putting the ball back into her court. I’ll give ShiYan this: He’s TRYING. So she tells him she doesn’t want him to go…which surprises him, but he knows better and wants to know which actress is talking to him now? But unfortunately Our Girl does it again and here comes Faux Pas #5 (gee, 2 in one show?) as she tells him the almanac says it’s a bad day for travel as there will be a great disaster (ARRGHHHHH). He rolls his eyes and tells her to go home and peels off. SHE DID IT AGAIN.
The following morning (the holiday) the niece calls ShuYi and finds out she’s at the ER getting the IV after all. The niece tells her Uncle this as he’s having breakfast (a really cute scene) and he cuts short his breakfast and goes to the ER to find her asleep with the IV still dripping. At this point his frustration and annoyance with her is at its boiling point. She awakes to see him sitting next to her, bundled under his coat. When she asks him “Why are you here, I told you to stay home today” his reply of “Aren’t YOU the greatest disaster in my life?” is the highlight of the episode. (BRAVO!!!)
The IV done, he wants to leave, but she’s too weak to stand and once she convinces him that it’s not an act this time, he princess-carries her to the car. And after 30 episodes of torture with them, we FINALLY get the moment we’ve been waiting for:
She wraps her arms around his neck as her carries her and she looks him straight in the eyes and tells him this time she’s not acting and tells him that even though their relationship started off for bad reasons she fell for him and it stopped being acting. She confesses she really has feelings for him and wants ‘a perfect ending’ with him (it was beautifully written). His response to her confession: “Oh” (our old ShiYan is back!) Which drives her crazy: “What does THAT mean?”, she demands. “It all depends on your performance” and this reply leaves her stunned…’performance of what’ she asks herself. As he drops her off at her house, she has flashbacks to when they first met, standing in the rain at the Warner Mansion. When he tells her that was NOT the first time they met, she is once again confused. And with that he leaves and she goes inside to rest.
That night she texts the niece and thanks her for her help (leaving the niece confused) and asks for her Uncles WeChat contact info because she ‘accidentally’ deleted it, which the niece is NOT buying. But she gets it, and their WeChat is reopened. They have a funny conversation about what is his ideal of his perfect girlfriend and when she proudly says she meets all those requirements, he relishes the opportunity to send back screenshots of prior conversations to show her that she falls pretty far short of them. Embarrassed at being called out, she puts down the phone and whines under the covers.
And all is perfect again with them. At least as perfect as she can let things be.
Meanwhile, back at Youngchang things have gone from bad to worse to OMG. The staff gathers outside the conference room where the 2 uncles are letting ShiYan have it for sticking with Le-an Tech. He assures them he’ll make up for any losses but they call him on it, saying he can’t go to his dad for the money. And they tell him it’s not about the money anymore and again he asks for time to fix the problems at Le’an.
AT FW, our heroine is whistling at her desk, happy as a clam now that her love life is seemingly back-on-track. But here’s buzzard lurking outside trying to pick her up for a date. She agrees to do to lunch with him and politely tells him he’s not the one for her and will never be. She has reconciled with ShiYan and he’s not one to be trifled with. She puts the buzzard in his place and reflects on how much better a man ShiYan is). BUZZ OFF, BUZZARD!!!
The episode ends with ShiYan and Mr. Chen stunned to see the dirtbag boyfriend walking out of the Youngchang building. They don’t know that the mistress (chauffeur’s niece) arranged an interview for him.
Ep 30 With no one at the steering wheel of their love, the relationship, like a runaway car, now careens downhill, picking up speed with every turn….at some point, it will fly off the road and crash into the abyss below.
That point happens in this episode. And again, it’s not easy to watch.
The episode opens with ShuYi learning from the buzzard that it was ShiYan who took her home from the charity dinner. Thankfully, she cuts the time with him short and goes back to the office, realizing it makes no difference as too much time has elapsed and she criticizes herself for being so foolish as to care. And in the meantime he has to deal with “Fiona”, the daughter of one of the elders on his board who is a childhood friend and upon her return to China, wants to “help” at his company.
But for ShuYi, there is no escaping the miserable solitude that has descended on her. That night, while dining alone at her favorite seafood-noodle place, she sees a romantic drama on the TV there, with an actress in anguish over her failed relationship. Our heroine can’t get a break it seems, but it steels her to finally face him, and apologize in person as YuYou suggested she do back in Ep 28. So she goes to his office, somehow knowing he’d still be there (this is well after dinner time). With just her luck, she sees him leaving with “Fiona” in tow and misunderstands. Honestly, this was all she needed to get cold feet again and her bravado vanishes in an instant. Unfortunately, she is unable to remember she already partially opened her heart to him when she was drunk. So, she tells the cabbie to take her home. Has she lost him already to another woman, she wonders?
The next day at FW, KongNan tells her about Fiona, trying to get her motivated to do SOMETHING. It’s a day of relaxation for everyone else, as GuanJi and ShanShan are at his dad’s horse farm (along with his dad and Ms. Tang (his GF)). After Uncle Guan and Ms. Tang depart, ShiYan shows up and ShanShan lets him have it – both barrels worth. A panicked GuanJi tries to tell her to lighten up and help ShiYan reconcile with ShuYi – they all know that they still love each other. This is confirmed by ShiYan, who tells ShanShan “ShuYi has always been the only one I love” which catches ShanShan off guard. But ShiYan tells them that this issue is something that he and ShuYi need to fix themselves – no one should help them.
Sometime later (at least the next day) FW is abuzz because the problems at Yuanchang have reached the crisis point as 2 investors are ready to bail out and the board is in danger of losing 2 directors. Ms. Tang is furious at Yuling because FW is supposed to have a “special relationship” with Yuanchang (which was actually based on our lead’s personal relationship) and they were caught by surprise as well. Ms. Tang removes Yuling from the Yuanchang assignment and asks ShuYi to take it back over, as they are desperate to get in on this story. Ms Tang brings out all the tools she has to coerce ShuYi to take the job including how her beloved e-magazine project’s future hinges on this. A reluctant ShuYi agrees to resume work on the project and will go to Yuanchang and talk to ShiYan.
And sit down, because now things go completely to Hell.
We know this will not go well, as she enters his office to the melancholy tune “Passerby”. His back is to her, and she addresses him formally because this is a work assignment and not the opportunity to personally apologize to him. He turns around and they stare at each other…ShuYi is transfixed and seems to be frozen in place. (Beautiful camera work in this scene). They stare at each other for almost 40 seconds in silence and her tension grows to the point where she clutches at her purse and finally makes it known that she is here to ask about the company. Well, I can’t call it another Faux Pas on her part. She was sent here on this mission to do exactly this and she had no choice. Of course, he doesn’t know that and was expecting this to be her opportunity to come clean so they could start the reconciliation process they both long for. When she starts talking about the company, his face just crumbles and he breaks eye contact with her. He cuts her off and asks her “are you here just because of that?” When she seems surprised (and still terrified) as his response, he responds with the same message that the company has issued to all media: That they have nothing to say at this time. He then dismisses her. She dutifully leaves the office, robot-like now, her emotions totally destroyed. This was what she feared most and it happened. As she shuffles out of the lobby of the building, she winds up getting bumped aside by the media gaggle gathered downstairs who are racing towards ShiYan who suddenly appears. They are demanding to know what the story at Yuanchang is (the same questions she tried to ask). They are blocking the exit and want answers before he can leave. Off to ShiYan’s left stands a shell-shocked ShuYi watching this unfold.…. To her disbelief, he looks over at her for a few seconds (they make eye contact) and then he tells the media (and her) that neither the company or HE can’t accept someone nor something that is impure (depending on translation it could mean “can’t stand firm”). He furthers the point and says that there will always be differences of opinion but that BOTH SIDES need to COME TOGETHER to solve their problems INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY (he’s referring to his board/investors AND her). She is gutted to hear this last part and he leaves with the media in trail and she’s left standing there, a shell of the woman who walked into the building only a few minutes ago. She returns to the familiarity of her office at FW and finally whatever was holding her together shatters and she breaks down sobbing in the hallway to the shock of the staff. She eventually tells KongNan to leave her be and she wipes her tears and goes back to her desk to seek solace in her work.
And there she stays, late into the night. I’m not sure of what she could be writing, as she has no more information than any other media member. Finally, with tears in her eyes, she picks up her iPhone and accepts what she sees as inevitable…..and she deletes his contact info from her WeChat. To ShuYi, it has ended. ShiYan, who likewise is still at his office late into the night, is stressed out and fed up with everything. He stops at her favorite noodle place (of all places!) for dinner and thinks of their happier times and moments together. After one bite of noodles he scrolls thru all their texts and WeChat messages and hears her voice in his head telling him all her silly things, ending with her poem when she went out of town. He can’t take it anymore and finally texts her and asks “Do you want to eat some noodles?” to force the reconciliation process. But he is shocked to see his message go undelivered with the red-meatball-of-doom showing that she’s deleted him from her contacts. ShiYan sits in stony silence for a long time as everyone else in the restaurant goes about their lively business.
And that’s it folks. The runaway car of their relationship has gone off the edge and hurtled to its destruction.
Now, there is a LOT more to this episode, including how the niece and Prof Yu actually manage to overcome their hesitance and become a couple. It’s a nice counterpoint to the difficulties her boss and uncle are going thru. The niece is much more emotionally mature than her boss at work…or her uncle for that matter.
The episode ends on a funny note (it’s important to remember that this show does do comedic scenes really well). For some reason ShuYi is with the buzzard at a dept store helping him shop, though she remains distant. The niece and Prof Yu (on a date) see them together leaving the store and walking thru the mall and she’s determined to see what the heck is going on! They tail her boss and buzzard to a restaurant in the mall and “accidentally” run into them so they can all have dinner together. The niece watches ShuYi and Buzzard like a hawk, reporting everything to her uncle via WeChat, demanding he do SOMETHING. ShuYi is watching her in disbelief, trying to figure out what the niece is up to. This scene is much funnier than it sounds, as the niece’s anguish is matched by ShuYi’s confusion. The close is when the niece sees how considerate buzzard is towards ShuYi (how very unlike her Uncle is) and she face-palms while demanding to know why her uncle hasn’t responded to her messages. As the credits roll, we see him sitting in dejected silence at home as if he is reliving the events of the day. Finally he picks up his iPhone and begins reading his nieces’ messages….
I really don't understand the point of this series? She goes thru the whole amnesia thing, yet winds up with the same manipulative family and will get screwed over again....rinse and repeat. So what is the message here? You can't outrun your relatives? Family ties are unbreakable (for better or worse)?
This is such a shame, as there is a kernel of a good series here. The leads are fun to watch and the brother/aunt couple are OK too. Just keep her mom as the only villain and fire the rest of the cast.
ShuYi’s article on Yangchuan’s difficulty with Le’an (part of the special series and the article that the niece helped her write while she recuperated) exposes the issues ShiYan & CEO Chen face. On the positive side, it also forces CEO Chen’s hand and makes him realize that he needs to accept ShiYan’s proposal for a Strategic Alliance. He seeks counsel from Fiona, who seems to be a Corporate Attorney after all, and empowers her to begin the process to iron out the legal issues. But he needs to get approval from Buzzard first to see if he’s in on the deal. He gets Buzzard’s contact info from his girlfriend who is suspiciously nice when he gets home (she’s needlessly worried her article got him into trouble). Since they have gotten beyond the intimacy issue, they are now much more relaxed and natural with each other.
Buzzard is initially reluctant to accept ShiYan’s “win-win” proposal until he reminds the punk that he’s in no position to call the shots as his company is struggling in it’s R&D tasks and that he won’t be able to do a talent grab from Le-an. Buzzard is surprised that ShiYan has so much inside info on how much Dark Horse is struggling, so Buzzard is essentially backed into the corner to agree to the plan to cooperate on Millimeter-wave chips.
In a scene not aired, we learn that the niece gets into a car accident with a distracted delivery driver and is in the hospital. This happens while it’s learned that her mom (the singer & ShiYan’s sister) was snapped by paparazzi hugging a man (her husband) which is scandalous info. ShuYi meets ShiYan at the hospital (with Prof You behind her) and tells him all about how disappointed she is in her idol singer being caught with his Brother-in-Law. Unfortunately for our heroine, his sister appears behind her as she’s saying this and she learns that his sister is her idol, the Famous Song LeLan. (This was a sweet and funny scene). ShiYan has no idea how big of a doghouse he’s in with his girlfriend.
Now that his sister’s secret life has been exposed, the niece’s parents meet Prof You in the hospital and her dad gives him a slight once-over but we can tell he already approves of him.
Hospital duties done, our couple head home and bid farewell to his sister who is devising a publicity plan to clear the air on her life. ShuYi apologizes for anything she may have said inadvertently but the sister understands since her brother never told her who she was. She then gives her younger brother the stink-eye and wags her finger at him for stringing his girlfriend along. Once she leaves, ShuYi is furious with ShiYan and refuses to hold his hand. She even wants to go back to her apartment to sleep there and tells him she’ll sleep ALONE. (Between her anger and his sarcasm, this is a cute extended set of scenes) But, her electronic door lock is dead and she doesn’t have the keys; what to do? She then drags him to Shanshan’s where she’ll spend the night there. Unfortunately her BFF’s door is opened by a partially clad GuanJi and Shanshan in their PJs. Horrified and shocked, both sides excuse themselves quickly and Shanshan and GuanJi realize they have a lot of explaining to do.
Back at his place, he tries to make up to her with a delicious dinner which she can’t refuse. Enjoying the meal she relents and tells him never to lie to her again, to which he can’t resist (DON’T DO IT SHIYAN) and tells her he TECHNICALLY didn’t lie to her and reminds her of all the times she didn’t want to talk to his sister. Well, THAT did it, as she didn’t like her nose being rubbed into it and she goes straight to their bedroom and locks him out. As she is explaining all this to her BFF on the phone, he unlocks the door (he has the key, after all) and carries her to the bed. In frustration he asks her what he has to do to get her over her anger and together, they hear Shanshan (who is STILL on the phone and listening in) tell him JUST DO IT ALREADY. Mortified and staring at each other, he hangs up, tosses the phone and they, ahem…make up. (This whole set of scenes; beginning with the hospital visit to the end of the night was one of the cutest and best of the series).
The next morning, as ShuYi returns to work from her injured-hand medical leave, the FW’s office is abuzz with the news that their intern was the daughter of a famous singer and niece of an industry tycoon, who happens to be ShuYi’s love interest after all! Ms. Tang, grateful to see her star pupil recovered and back in love, grants her fervent wish for the e-magazine, as it has been approved. She tells ShuYi that she should start preparing for its’ startup.
Later that day, Buzzard approaches her (doesn’t this guy ever give up?) to do a series of articles on the Dark Horse/Le’an project. She backs out but will assign one of her trusted peers for the project and reminds him (and takes the wind out of his sails) that the project isn’t due to his decisiveness but to ShiYan’s innovative proposal.
ShuYi’s Mom, suspicious that something funny is going on with her daughter calls her and inadvertently speaks to ShiYan (they’re back to living at his place). That weekend, he takes her to his family home to meet his Dad and Sister. She’s nervous as can be expected but all goes well and the niece comes too to meet her “Auntie” too. They excuse themselves and the mentor and her intern walk in the yard and chat. The niece tells her she’s decided to make a career at FW and is OK with the staff knowing who her mom is.
Some time later and back at his/their house, as she cooks dinner for ShiYan, ShuYi is stunned to see him return from the airport with someone he accidentally met - her Mom! (Evidently there was a set of scenes that depicted their planned meeting that was cut). Her mother, not impressed with her daughter’s cooking skills, is relieved to hear that he does all the cooking. The surprise inspection complete, ShiYan returns his future-mother-in-law to the train station after dinner and her Mom is at ease with how well he cares for her daughter.
The episode closes on a down note, however. ShiYan’s “win-win” strategic proposal angers his elders on the board who are not alone as seeing it as a give-away of Le’an’s Intellectual Property to Dark Horse. Frustrated, once again they go around ShiYan and appeal to his Father directly, providing him with evidence on how badly the planned project is being received. They also throw GuanJi under the bus for not taking a more active role at Yuanchang and they tell him that “things are a mess there”. They demand that Yunchuang be absorbed back into Mingyu and ShiYan be dismissed. Mr. Shi is visibly distressed.
The end scene shows ShiYan refusing to talk to the media about the project.
The actress portraying the Granny was in a similar role in It's Beautiful Now. I'd love to see her interviewed about portraying Alzheimer's patients and how she deals with it.
And at this point, I'll admit I was wrong: The actress playing MaRi is amazing. She and the FL are two of the most compelling characters I've seen. I can't help but be moved by them, especially in emotional scenes. I hate to give this writer any props, but I've never quite seen a character like MaRi and the young woman playing her must win SOMETHING at this year's KBS Awards. She's unbelievable.
Lastly, for those of us who FF a lot thru this show, be sure to watch starting at the 24 minute mark of Ep 32 (street scene outside club). I won't spoil anything. But after watching this scene, I was certain how brilliant an actress Han SooA is.
In the stairwell, Yuling initially denies being the gossiper spreading the info about ShuYi and the two ladies go at it, verbally. When Yuling stomps out, our heroine tries to stop her from leaving by blocking the door but gets her hand caught in the jamb and the heavy steel door crushes it. Yuling, meanwhile, had left the office to contact Mr. Qiu’s wife telling her ShuYi has been having an affair with her husband. To which the wife tells her is impossible as ShuYi is dating ShiYan. Yuling is staggered to learn this. Both women return later to the office and report to Ms. Tang, with ShuYi having been to the doctor (no broken bones, but hand immobilized in wrap). ShuYi demands some kind of accounting for what Yuling has been doing to her and Ms. Tang tries to defuse the situation by putting ShuYi on paid leave until her hand recovers. (You have to feel some for Ms. Tang, as these 2 women are both her star pupils, but Yuling’s actions have backed her into a corner. In the real world, here in the US, ShuYi would have a candidate for a very successful lawsuit against FW for fostering a ‘hostile workplace’ and doing nothing about Yuling since the time she stole the interview from ShuYi back in the beginning of the series).
ShuYi surprises her boyfriend by heading to ShiYan’s office in the middle of the day. where he sees her wounded hand and hears her pitiful needs as a disabled person (whining and demanding pity are a ShuYi hallmark). He decides to play along and take her one step further – and tell her to move in with him. Her mind reeling, she accepts his offer. He calls his niece and tells her to stay at her grandpa’s house for a while because her auntie will be moving in. He then goes to Le’an and asks the dour CEO if he’s considered the collab offer from Buzzard. And sure enough he won’t consider it (still) as he won’t give up his pride and joy.
While this is happening, Ms. Tang notifies Yuling that she’s being transferred out of the Financial Publications Division over to a different assignment. Yuling refuses and quits, thanking Ms. Tang for mentoring her (before ShuYi came along, she meant but didn’t say).
Meanwhile she’s back home and trying to pack her stuff but realizes she can’t do it one-handed. So she calls him for help and like the good boyfriend he is, he shows up to help pack her stuff and head to his house. She is a happy girl as she’s being pampered, tended to, and receives all of his attention. While she is thinking this move is a temporary situation, ShiYan shocks her (again) by saying he expects this to be a permanent situation. Again, her mind reels that things are happening faster than she expected. It would seem that ShiYan’s tactic is to keep her in a constant state of surprise.
Therein follows the push-and-pull nature of their relationship in full view. However, by now his incessant studying and analysis of her has paid off and he is quick to understand her confusion and resultant game-playing. He is no longer frustrated but instead knows what strings to pull to get the desired results from her. Yes, he’s manipulating her, but she’s been doing the same to him from the beginning. He makes and feeds her dinner (she can’t use chopsticks left-handed, I guess) including dessert and despite the pain, she’s a happy girl. She has him do all the chores she can’t (tie her hair back, help her undress) and all is going great until she realizes they will be sleeping in his bed. Just helping her unhook her bra made her head spin and she was not prepared for this! The first night, they are predictably awkward and of course she falls asleep before he does. He gets frustrated as she keeps rolling into him and sleep-cuddling. She briefly awakens in the middle of the night to hear him taking a shower (a cold one, I presume). Which sets up the funniest line in the series…
The next morning at 9, she awakens to find him gone and calls him at the office. She asks if he took a shower in the middle of the night, unaware that he’s having a staff meeting in his office and the look on Mr. Chen’s face and his 3 secretaries as they overhear this is priceless! (I couldn’t stop laughing at how this done). After hanging up, she laments they spent the night together and he didn’t even kiss her! After Shanshan calls her to check on her, ShuYi updates her on the situation and her BFF just shakes her head after learning they could finally sleep together and have nothing happen.
The next day, bored out of her mind at his place with nothing to do and unable to type on her laptop, He sends his niece over and together they work on her next series of articles. Once ShiYan gets home, the niece leaves and we’re ready for Round 2 of an Evening With the One I Love. This time at dinner, she pouts and wants to sit on his lap while he feeds her. Despite his objection (he’s REALLY nervous now) she does it anyways and feeds her dinner again. With her mind racing overtime and wondering WHY he hasn’t made a move on her, she dresses for bed in a man-tailored shirt and her slippers. When she comes into his home office (he’s working late, as usual) to say goodnight his eyes nearly fall out of his head and he struggles to maintain his composure before he just wishes her a good night. (You can bet another cold shower is due). Her plan foiled and ego now completely shattered, has her wondering if she’s not as attractive as she thought she was???
The next night comes Round 3 (the gauze dressing is off her hand by now). She’s texting Shanshan and already laying on the bed in a black silk negligee and looks AMAZING. He shuffles in, just coming home from work, slightly buzzed from some business dinner. He sees her and once again gulps. He retreats to the safety of the den and she just rolls her eyes. He is able see the WeChat she’s having and when ShuYi tells her BFF that nothing is happening and it’s not HER fault, his male ego short-circuits. He storms into the bedroom, tosses her iPhone on the floor and takes his woman. (This is the hottest scene of the series and the behind-the-scenes shown on YouTube for this scene show the director having to break them up as it got a little “enthusiastic”.) The next morning, Buzzard calls (of all people) rousing them from their sleep and asks about her injury and wants to take her out to lunch. ShiYan, annoyed beyond words and listening in softly calls her name so that buzzard can hear and he once again tosses her iPhone aside (I hope she has AppleCare on that thing) leaving Buzzard crushed, knowing they probably spent the night together.
Back in her apartment, ShiYan wakes up and drinks the sobering potion and leaves, after teasing her by asking if she wants him to spend the night. With her mind is working overtime on if she should ha ask him to stay, he leaves (hopefully not driving himself). She also changes her name on his phone’s contact list to “Sweet Babe” to which he does not object. The following morning, she calls him at his parent’s house, and the niece is there too. Seeing “Sweet Babe” on the Caller-ID sends his niece into a tizzy and his Dad and Sister give him raised eyebrows as well (the niece knows who Sweet Babe is, but isn’t telling).
While this is happening, ShuYi is with her boss, and Ms. Ting knows that things went well on the business trip and confirms that ShuYi is back in love (she isn’t aware yet that it’s ShiYan again). When ShuYi asks Ms. Tang when she’ll get a boyfriend of her own, Ms. Tang defers. And this is a really interesting facet of the series: Ms. Tang is her role model and like her mentor, ShuYi has sacrificed a lot of her personal life for her professional one. Neither can openly admit their affection for the man in their life (they both have wealthy boyfriends) and struggle to embrace their feelings fully. Continuity error: They forgot to put the hickie bruise on ShuYi’s neck (when she bit him after the charity ball, he came to work the next couple of days wearing a turtleneck).
We get an extended montage where Yunchuang/ShiYan is working with Le’an trying to turn things around at their tech partner. So, true to his word to his uncles at his firm, ShiYan is TRYING to fix things with their investment.
Later on, Fiona has been on-boarded with Yunchuang and sees ShiYan to tell him that her dad (one of the elder uncles on the board) has been meeting with the other elder and the director of Finance and discussing the Le’an matter. She asks if she should intervene somehow with her father, but Shi tells her no, and that he’s got something to discuss with the Le’an CEO. While meeting at Le’an with CEO Kang, they are surprised when Buzzard barges in and asks to meet with them (he’s having issues of his own, as Dr. Bruce tells him Dark Horse’s lab isn’t big enough or experienced as it was when Bruce worked for Le’an and they’re going to fall short of their goals at their current pace). So he proposes buying out Le’an and merging it with Dark Horse (this is just a talent-grab, but whatever). Buzzard points out the problems that the Le’an CEO is having and how this benefits both firms. CEO Kang is furious with the idea and yells at Buzzard, annoying ShiYan, who is witnessing this. Kang claims all Le’ans problems stem from Buzzard stealing Bruce from them, so how could he claim to solve all their problems! Buzzard calmly explains why it’s a good idea in broad strokes (much to ShiYan’s silent interest) and leaves.
ShiYan picks up ShuYi after work and takes her to the airport to meet Shanshan who’s returning from a business trip and she jokingly refers to him as her driver, because her boyfriend would have brought her flowers. In the airport parking lot, she’s left speechless as he actually DID get her roses. (This was a really cute scene). Just as he’s about to kiss her, Shanshan calls from the arrivals terminal to tell her their Singing Idol is in the terminal and meeting fans, so our heroine shoves the flowers back to ShiYan and rushes to meet her BFF and idol in the arrival area. She still has no idea her idol will be her future Sister in Law and ShiYan teases her about her idol-worship of some ‘pop singer’. As they leave the airport her guilt begins to overwhelm her again at how easily he forgave her and the guilt is replaced by fear that there might be some retribution he will exact from her for her bad behavior. Amazingly (for her), she actually confesses this to him when they get back to her apartment. So he says, OK, and bites her hand. He’s extracted his revenge and now they’re even, he says. That settled, they once again passionately kiss, and again she’s overwhelmed by her feelings for him and backs off, begging him to be patient with her (The battle between her heart and mind rages on). He urges her to leave the past behind them and embrace their feelings for each other. As he leaves her place, she has one favor to ask: stop using her full name, to which he smirks and calls her “YiYi” for the first time in the series.
The next day, he picks her up from work in the Rolls and on the way home he surprises her with a diamond bracelet. Stunned, she asks what it is for, and he replies that it’s a makeup gift. The first of many gifts, as that evening a delivery man has several other packages delivered from him to her house. They have dinner at her favorite noodle place in a very funny scene that I’ll leave to your imagination, as I’ll just say she relishes her role as his girlfriend. They have an extended conversation about his sister and her shyness is irresistible to ShiYan who gently prods her to meet his sister/her idol. When she later learns that the password to his phone is her birthday, she’s is over the moon and her day (and evening) are made. In her mind, all is right with her world.
Then the dirtbag ex-bf shows up at Dark Horse and talks to Buzzard of all people, seeking a job as an ex-employee of Le’an who can dish on things happening there. Unwilling to stoop to that level, Buzzard kicks him out of his office, telling him he’s an embarrassment to his Alma Mater. The loser sulks out of the building, hopefully never to be seen again.
To close out this episode, at FW Yuling overhears the niece and ShuYi talking and understands that ShuYi is seeing the niece’s uncle. Thinking this must be an older man, she spreads salacious rumors immediately via chat groups and the company’s intranet about how their Star Employee is dating an old man, possibly the Financial Director of Yunchuang. When word of this gets back to ShuYi (via her boss) she’s irate and tells Ms. Tang it’s not true. In the last scene, she finds out it’s Yuling spreading this story and confronts her in the building’s stairwell.
As the series nears its end, the writer is trying to tie up loose ends. Hopefully the ex-bf’s story is done now. And there is a touching scene between GuanJi and Ms. Tang where he gives his blessings to her relationship with his father. She acknowledges the ball is in her court now.
ShiYan and Mr. Chen see the ex-bf in the building and he finds out that he’s getting an interview. He arranges it to sit in on his interview, much to the shock of the dirtbag. As you can imagine, the fool melts down and the interview fails. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
That weekend, she comes back to his office to resume Overtime work on the special series of articles on his company. It’s a real feeling of déjà vu, as here she sits and works by herself while he’s immersed in his own work at his desk. Once again she’s disappointed that they are actually working OT instead of having fun (she hasn’t figured this out, YET?). Finally that afternoon he takes her to the movies to her delight where they run into Fiona; ShuYi asserts her role as his girlfriend to Fiona and gets her to back off. All this to her delight and the amusement of ShiYan. As they leave the theater, she suggests skipping the ride back in the Rolls and going for a walk together, which surprises him. So he surprises her back and gives her a long deep kiss in public, to the shock of ShuYi and Mr. Feng the driver (this was a cute scene). In the Rolls, on the way home, she gets texts from Buzzard, asking her out (she says NO) and then Prof Yu checking on her. Jealous, ShiYan grabs her phone and she tries to explain the Prof is just her friend. When he tells he’s jealous because all men would find her desirable, the driver immediately says “NOT ME”; another cute and funny bit. Anyways, she tells him she’s off for a week on a business trip in a few days (she’ll take the niece with her).
In a few days, a meeting Shi was supposed to have with Le’an’s CEO is cancelled by them, distressing Shi who takes Mr. Chen with him to Le’an after all. He meets with the (defeatist) CEO who confides morale is in the tank with the loss of Dr. Bruce. ShiYan tells him to ‘buck up’ and take charge of the situation (good luck with that). ShiYan tells him that if they fail, it will happen but they’ll survive, trying to get the CEO to lighten up.
Since ShiYan can’t drop ShuYi off at the airport for her trip (distressing her), he has Mr. Feng take her and the niece in the Rolls. The difference now, is that ShiYan has figured out ways to assuage her and cheer her up, and he does so. She and the niece go to on their trip to interview their subject and have fun. It’s clear by now that ShuYi has taken the niece under her wing to mold her as a journalist in the same image as Ms. Tang molded her, years ago.
While all this is happening, the dirtbag gets fired from his old job for continued crappy performance and he slinks back to his apartment to get drunk and stares at pictures of him and ShuYi. This is poor timing as the mistress returns and finds this going on and tries to talk sense into that idiot. She dumps him after reminding him of “all she’s done for him”, etc. But he blames her for all his troubles (this guy is a total loser). Suddenly we next see a scene (the following day?) of the mistress walking out of Yuanchang with a box of her belongings. This appears to be another instance of a scene being deleted (her being fired by Mr. Qui, the Finance Manager). As she walks out, she encounters Shi Yan in the basement getting ready to board his car and tells him that the dirtbag is after ShuYi. He doesn’t care and tells her off. The scene is interesting as Mr. Feng (Her uncle) is not there as he’s off at the airport to pick up the girls from their trip. If he were there, how would this have played out?
Mr. Feng drops off ShuYi at her apartment and finds a drunken dirtbag stumbling around trying to get into her building. He beats the crap out of him (surprising even himself) and phones to interrupt ShiYan’s banquet with the Le’an Leadership team to tell him that the dirtbag is hanging around her building. ShiYan excuses himself for a while and goes to her apartment to find that dirtbag has gotten ShuYi to open her door (dumb girl, use the peep-hole). He casts dirtbag aside enters the apartment, slams the door closed and they have the most passionate kiss we’ve seen to date, leaving her breathless and shaky. Mr. Shi is definitely at the mercy of his own jealousy. He tells her to stay put and that he’ll be back. HE returns to the banquet, not without warning Mr. Dirtbag (still outside the door) to get lost OR ELSE.
ShiYan eventually returns, buzzed to her surprise, as she’s rarely seen him drunk (the last time was when the news broke about Bruce’s leaving Le’an). He staggers to her couch and collapses, just wanting to rest. Fascinated at how different he is when drunk, she plays with him and sees how gentle and sweet he is. In a funny flashback to her own drunken episode at the Charity Ball, she asks him if he’ll remember how sweet he is when he sobers up. To remind himself, he gives HER a hickie so there will be evidence. She’s shocked beyond words and before she can run away (where’s she going to go? She’s in her own apartment!) He holds and hugs her before she can make a sobering-up concoction. Potion completed, the episode ends with her looking in the mirror at the forming hickie on her neck and her smile of bemusement.
TRHC failed because it had structural problems with the plot (too many couples) and the leads were totally dysfunctional. The FL actress especially, checked out mid-show and it became so evident that it was even mentioned by other characters in the show. It did give us 30 good episodes before it melted down. This show has given us about 10 good eps??
I've been thinking about this show a lot as I type the episode summaries. And I've distilled it down to this:
SHE THINKS TOO MUCH.
His only reply is to tell them basically 'thanks for your concern I'll come up with a solution ASAP'. Now we know he obviously will (this is dramaland after all) but this was a textbook example of how NOT to hold a corporate meeting (especially with the staff on the other side of the windows listening in and worried about the company's future.)
Just when you thought things would at least pause to give us a break, now that their relationship is “done”, the show ramps up again and we’re off and running.
This will be a difficult episode to review because SO MUCH happened and you really need to hear the exact dialog. I will try to surmise it as much as possible without quoting every line which would make this review a chore to read. I had to watch this episode 3 times to be able to catch everything that happened in it.
It opens with ShiYan reading his nieces text messages from the restaurant that evening. It is the eve of a holiday of some sort and he’s up late, lost in his misery that comes from knowing ShuYi blocked his messages. Angered, he grabs his coat and goes to her place and parks outside (creepy ShiYan again). It’s starting to rain again and she is home by now but feverish as she can’t sleep and she feels the flu coming on. He stares at her bedroom window from his car, and since her bedroom light is off, he is about to go home (not really sure what he intended to do?) when he suddenly see her outside on the patio shuffling around and taking down clothes she had left drying outside. The rain picks up as she finishes and goes back inside and her lights are extinguished again. As he’s about to leave he is stunned to see her walk out of her building and wait in the rain under her umbrella, all bundled up. He calls to her and after a couple of tries, she realizes what is going on and sees him, outside his car under his umbrella. They have another starting contest for a whopping 71 seconds of silence as she can’t believe he’s there and he just looks annoyed that she’s standing in the rain…all the while we hear “Not Speaking” (appropriate given its lyrics) in the background as his car is running with the wipers bobbing to and fro (I guess the rich can afford to keep there car just running there). She tells him she’s sick and waiting for her cab to take her to the ER and (of course) he takes her there instead. As they drive there she is trying to figure out why he was there and her guilt and sadness get the best of her and she silently starts crying, to which he hands her a tissue as he drives (that’s ShiYan finally being pro-active as his niece demanded he be). It’s 10:10pm.
At the ER (suspiciously empty at this time of night) she is at the lab about to have blood drawn which makes her uncomfortable. As the crusty nurse is about to put in the needle ShiYan covers her eyes so she doesn’t see and the deed is done. Once finished withdraws his hand and leaves….she begins to sob and the nurse doesn’t understand what is going on and admonishes her to act like a grown up and not cry after bloodwork.
While waiting for the results, he asks her why she cried and our girl does it again! Instead of being truthful, here comes Faux Pas #4 as she denies crying and just says she “didn’t expect to be in the hospital at this time”. But THANK GOODNESS ShiYan isn’t going to let her get away with it! Mr. Proactive responds by shocking her with “Yeah, you should have been at my house at this time”. He gets the intended response as she freaks out with her mind and heart arguing with each other in her head. Looking away from him she agrees with him. (The good omen here is the background music turns to the more upbeat “Stars & Light” which is usually played in happy scenes in this series). After she gets her lab test results, the doctor tells her to come back for an IV in the morning if the fever hasn’t broken. After she leaves the Dr’s office, he appears to have left and she shuffles out, coughing now, trying to figure out why he seemed to reach out to her…and suddenly he appears with a cup of hot water for her throat. They quietly walk out of the ER together and wants her to say SOMETHING “Are you mute?” he asks, but then tells her to never mind.
As usual, she falls asleep in the car on the way back to her home but awakens in time to hear Fiona asking him on the phone if they can get together on the holiday (he is annoyed at Fiona for asking and hangs up and then notices she’s been listening). She asks him if he’ll go out with her tomorrow, and he replies “should I?” putting the ball back into her court. I’ll give ShiYan this: He’s TRYING. So she tells him she doesn’t want him to go…which surprises him, but he knows better and wants to know which actress is talking to him now? But unfortunately Our Girl does it again and here comes Faux Pas #5 (gee, 2 in one show?) as she tells him the almanac says it’s a bad day for travel as there will be a great disaster (ARRGHHHHH). He rolls his eyes and tells her to go home and peels off. SHE DID IT AGAIN.
The following morning (the holiday) the niece calls ShuYi and finds out she’s at the ER getting the IV after all. The niece tells her Uncle this as he’s having breakfast (a really cute scene) and he cuts short his breakfast and goes to the ER to find her asleep with the IV still dripping. At this point his frustration and annoyance with her is at its boiling point. She awakes to see him sitting next to her, bundled under his coat. When she asks him “Why are you here, I told you to stay home today” his reply of “Aren’t YOU the greatest disaster in my life?” is the highlight of the episode. (BRAVO!!!)
The IV done, he wants to leave, but she’s too weak to stand and once she convinces him that it’s not an act this time, he princess-carries her to the car. And after 30 episodes of torture with them, we FINALLY get the moment we’ve been waiting for:
She wraps her arms around his neck as her carries her and she looks him straight in the eyes and tells him this time she’s not acting and tells him that even though their relationship started off for bad reasons she fell for him and it stopped being acting. She confesses she really has feelings for him and wants ‘a perfect ending’ with him (it was beautifully written). His response to her confession: “Oh” (our old ShiYan is back!) Which drives her crazy: “What does THAT mean?”, she demands. “It all depends on your performance” and this reply leaves her stunned…’performance of what’ she asks herself. As he drops her off at her house, she has flashbacks to when they first met, standing in the rain at the Warner Mansion. When he tells her that was NOT the first time they met, she is once again confused. And with that he leaves and she goes inside to rest.
That night she texts the niece and thanks her for her help (leaving the niece confused) and asks for her Uncles WeChat contact info because she ‘accidentally’ deleted it, which the niece is NOT buying. But she gets it, and their WeChat is reopened. They have a funny conversation about what is his ideal of his perfect girlfriend and when she proudly says she meets all those requirements, he relishes the opportunity to send back screenshots of prior conversations to show her that she falls pretty far short of them. Embarrassed at being called out, she puts down the phone and whines under the covers.
And all is perfect again with them. At least as perfect as she can let things be.
Meanwhile, back at Youngchang things have gone from bad to worse to OMG. The staff gathers outside the conference room where the 2 uncles are letting ShiYan have it for sticking with Le-an Tech. He assures them he’ll make up for any losses but they call him on it, saying he can’t go to his dad for the money. And they tell him it’s not about the money anymore and again he asks for time to fix the problems at Le’an.
AT FW, our heroine is whistling at her desk, happy as a clam now that her love life is seemingly back-on-track. But here’s buzzard lurking outside trying to pick her up for a date. She agrees to do to lunch with him and politely tells him he’s not the one for her and will never be. She has reconciled with ShiYan and he’s not one to be trifled with. She puts the buzzard in his place and reflects on how much better a man ShiYan is). BUZZ OFF, BUZZARD!!!
The episode ends with ShiYan and Mr. Chen stunned to see the dirtbag boyfriend walking out of the Youngchang building. They don’t know that the mistress (chauffeur’s niece) arranged an interview for him.
With no one at the steering wheel of their love, the relationship, like a runaway car, now careens downhill, picking up speed with every turn….at some point, it will fly off the road and crash into the abyss below.
That point happens in this episode. And again, it’s not easy to watch.
The episode opens with ShuYi learning from the buzzard that it was ShiYan who took her home from the charity dinner. Thankfully, she cuts the time with him short and goes back to the office, realizing it makes no difference as too much time has elapsed and she criticizes herself for being so foolish as to care. And in the meantime he has to deal with “Fiona”, the daughter of one of the elders on his board who is a childhood friend and upon her return to China, wants to “help” at his company.
But for ShuYi, there is no escaping the miserable solitude that has descended on her. That night, while dining alone at her favorite seafood-noodle place, she sees a romantic drama on the TV there, with an actress in anguish over her failed relationship. Our heroine can’t get a break it seems, but it steels her to finally face him, and apologize in person as YuYou suggested she do back in Ep 28. So she goes to his office, somehow knowing he’d still be there (this is well after dinner time). With just her luck, she sees him leaving with “Fiona” in tow and misunderstands. Honestly, this was all she needed to get cold feet again and her bravado vanishes in an instant. Unfortunately, she is unable to remember she already partially opened her heart to him when she was drunk. So, she tells the cabbie to take her home. Has she lost him already to another woman, she wonders?
The next day at FW, KongNan tells her about Fiona, trying to get her motivated to do SOMETHING. It’s a day of relaxation for everyone else, as GuanJi and ShanShan are at his dad’s horse farm (along with his dad and Ms. Tang (his GF)). After Uncle Guan and Ms. Tang depart, ShiYan shows up and ShanShan lets him have it – both barrels worth. A panicked GuanJi tries to tell her to lighten up and help ShiYan reconcile with ShuYi – they all know that they still love each other. This is confirmed by ShiYan, who tells ShanShan “ShuYi has always been the only one I love” which catches ShanShan off guard. But ShiYan tells them that this issue is something that he and ShuYi need to fix themselves – no one should help them.
Sometime later (at least the next day) FW is abuzz because the problems at Yuanchang have reached the crisis point as 2 investors are ready to bail out and the board is in danger of losing 2 directors. Ms. Tang is furious at Yuling because FW is supposed to have a “special relationship” with Yuanchang (which was actually based on our lead’s personal relationship) and they were caught by surprise as well. Ms. Tang removes Yuling from the Yuanchang assignment and asks ShuYi to take it back over, as they are desperate to get in on this story. Ms Tang brings out all the tools she has to coerce ShuYi to take the job including how her beloved e-magazine project’s future hinges on this. A reluctant ShuYi agrees to resume work on the project and will go to Yuanchang and talk to ShiYan.
And sit down, because now things go completely to Hell.
We know this will not go well, as she enters his office to the melancholy tune “Passerby”. His back is to her, and she addresses him formally because this is a work assignment and not the opportunity to personally apologize to him. He turns around and they stare at each other…ShuYi is transfixed and seems to be frozen in place. (Beautiful camera work in this scene). They stare at each other for almost 40 seconds in silence and her tension grows to the point where she clutches at her purse and finally makes it known that she is here to ask about the company. Well, I can’t call it another Faux Pas on her part. She was sent here on this mission to do exactly this and she had no choice. Of course, he doesn’t know that and was expecting this to be her opportunity to come clean so they could start the reconciliation process they both long for. When she starts talking about the company, his face just crumbles and he breaks eye contact with her. He cuts her off and asks her “are you here just because of that?” When she seems surprised (and still terrified) as his response, he responds with the same message that the company has issued to all media: That they have nothing to say at this time. He then dismisses her. She dutifully leaves the office, robot-like now, her emotions totally destroyed. This was what she feared most and it happened. As she shuffles out of the lobby of the building, she winds up getting bumped aside by the media gaggle gathered downstairs who are racing towards ShiYan who suddenly appears. They are demanding to know what the story at Yuanchang is (the same questions she tried to ask). They are blocking the exit and want answers before he can leave. Off to ShiYan’s left stands a shell-shocked ShuYi watching this unfold.…. To her disbelief, he looks over at her for a few seconds (they make eye contact) and then he tells the media (and her) that neither the company or HE can’t accept someone nor something that is impure (depending on translation it could mean “can’t stand firm”). He furthers the point and says that there will always be differences of opinion but that BOTH SIDES need to COME TOGETHER to solve their problems INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY (he’s referring to his board/investors AND her). She is gutted to hear this last part and he leaves with the media in trail and she’s left standing there, a shell of the woman who walked into the building only a few minutes ago. She returns to the familiarity of her office at FW and finally whatever was holding her together shatters and she breaks down sobbing in the hallway to the shock of the staff. She eventually tells KongNan to leave her be and she wipes her tears and goes back to her desk to seek solace in her work.
And there she stays, late into the night. I’m not sure of what she could be writing, as she has no more information than any other media member. Finally, with tears in her eyes, she picks up her iPhone and accepts what she sees as inevitable…..and she deletes his contact info from her WeChat. To ShuYi, it has ended. ShiYan, who likewise is still at his office late into the night, is stressed out and fed up with everything. He stops at her favorite noodle place (of all places!) for dinner and thinks of their happier times and moments together. After one bite of noodles he scrolls thru all their texts and WeChat messages and hears her voice in his head telling him all her silly things, ending with her poem when she went out of town. He can’t take it anymore and finally texts her and asks “Do you want to eat some noodles?” to force the reconciliation process. But he is shocked to see his message go undelivered with the red-meatball-of-doom showing that she’s deleted him from her contacts. ShiYan sits in stony silence for a long time as everyone else in the restaurant goes about their lively business.
And that’s it folks. The runaway car of their relationship has gone off the edge and hurtled to its destruction.
Now, there is a LOT more to this episode, including how the niece and Prof Yu actually manage to overcome their hesitance and become a couple. It’s a nice counterpoint to the difficulties her boss and uncle are going thru. The niece is much more emotionally mature than her boss at work…or her uncle for that matter.
The episode ends on a funny note (it’s important to remember that this show does do comedic scenes really well). For some reason ShuYi is with the buzzard at a dept store helping him shop, though she remains distant. The niece and Prof Yu (on a date) see them together leaving the store and walking thru the mall and she’s determined to see what the heck is going on! They tail her boss and buzzard to a restaurant in the mall and “accidentally” run into them so they can all have dinner together. The niece watches ShuYi and Buzzard like a hawk, reporting everything to her uncle via WeChat, demanding he do SOMETHING. ShuYi is watching her in disbelief, trying to figure out what the niece is up to. This scene is much funnier than it sounds, as the niece’s anguish is matched by ShuYi’s confusion. The close is when the niece sees how considerate buzzard is towards ShuYi (how very unlike her Uncle is) and she face-palms while demanding to know why her uncle hasn’t responded to her messages. As the credits roll, we see him sitting in dejected silence at home as if he is reliving the events of the day. Finally he picks up his iPhone and begins reading his nieces’ messages….
This is such a shame, as there is a kernel of a good series here. The leads are fun to watch and the brother/aunt couple are OK too. Just keep her mom as the only villain and fire the rest of the cast.