rachfull

Dylan did really well in his recent drama The Rational Life. Warning-- it's more of a workplace/slice-of-life drama than a romance. There is romance, but it's veryyy slow-burn but SO worth the wait!

I was just thinking the same thing-- "ANOTHER Eternal Love???"

Of course you are entitled to your opinion, but I think this drama is very good by Cdrama standards. Cdramas don't hold up to the high bar set by Kdramas these days. I feel this drama is a big step in the right direction-- not frustrating, not draggy, a FL who is *actually* independent, rational, and smart, a ML who is sweet and kind and capable, no obnoxious outsiders trying to break up the relationship, no annoying SML, no breakup... all elements that set it apart from other Cdramas.

I think she doesn't stand up for herself in the moment because her boss is just looking for a reason to fire/push her out of her position. If she missteps, it'll only give her boss a reason to get rid of her. She explains this to QX. The point is that because women are outnumbered by men in high positions in the workplace, they do not have the luxury of being confrontational or open like that. I agree it's not healthy, but it's reality.

Hope it's not too late:
-First kiss/couple getting together is ep 27. Slow-burn romance, but definitely worth the wait!
-ML semi-confesses to the FL for the first time in (I think) ep 23
-No break-ups. The leads communicate with each other openly and directly. Very refreshing.
-No outsiders try to break the leads up. Some people have a hard time accepting their relationship, but those people come to accept it in time.

Against my better judgment, I rewatched this drama recently. The first half really is quite good. I liked Yuan Song's character even better. I liked it better than before (against my will). A lot of it was because I could skip the frustrating parts XD

I think this drama would've been exceptional if it either had a) only 30 episodes instead of 40, or b) spent more time building up to YS and HFX's relationship. They could've easily spent three more episodes or so showing interactions between the two, shown them getting to know each other, etc. before the relationship started. Then they could've spent a few more episodes with single post-breakup HFX instead of having her jump right into a relationship with the SML. They could've shown her deeply pondering and discovering what she truly wanted from a romance, now that she's had a taste of real-life romance. She dates SML for a few episodes (5-6 MAX), realizes she's not attracted to him and breaks up with him, then spends the last two complete episodes trying to win back YS.
I feel like the pacing of this drama was its downfall. HFX dating YLM was necessary for her character development, but it dragged on wayyyy too long. Any rational woman (especially a woman her age) would've realized they weren't right for each other and broken it off.

Just finished watching this one. What a great drama!I came for the hilarity of the first half, then stayed for the lovable characters and interesting storyline. Perfect pacing and a great finale. Great change of pace from the Cdramas I normally watch, which *always* drag and then rush the last episode.

Am I the only one that noticed that Lee Yeon Joon's house is also the house in Secret Garden?? The nostalgia! And I know Park Min Young from Sungkyunkwan Scandal, which I watched almost a decade ago. I was shocked when I realized who she was. Now all I see is her in her little scholar outfit! Her acting's improved a ton since then.

LLSR had the potential to be so good, but the writing was just plain bad. It only got worse throughout the drama-- almost as if the drama were buckling under its own weight. It's really a shame since Nadech and Yaya have acted together a ton and have each others' mannerisms nailed.

I love DOBY (it's great for a Cdrama, might be disappointing if you're used to the high bar set by Kdramas). The real classic is Secret Garden, though. I remember watching that with my sister almost ten years ago. Haven't watched it since, but I still remember most of the major scenes. That's how iconic it is.

I'd also add Goong (2006) to the list. That drama is the definition of nostalgia for me.

The real question being: is there anything Steven Zhang CAN'T do?

The very end still sucks though. I'd forgotten how stupid that part was. Why do drama writers always do that? I suspend my disbelief as soon as I embark on another drama. I don't expect them to be realistic, ESPECIALLY dramas like this. I skipped the last ten minutes because I like living in my fantasy world XD

I just re-watched this one, and I actually liked it even better the second time around. It's not perfect, but this drama does so many things right that I keep coming back to it. Steven once again steals the show with his amazing acting. Sweet, fairytale-like romance between the leads. No silly misunderstandings or side characters I don't care about. The characters are really well-rounded for a Cdrama-- nobody's perfect or a completely terrible person, they're just... people. Will make you laugh and maybe even tear up a little.

Final thoughts:
I feel like the drama kind of lost its way during the last ten episodes or so. We hardly ever got the three siblings together and barely saw Li Hichiao anymore. I liked the side characters' stories, but they spent so much time on them that the drama didn't feel like itself anymore. I wish they'd cut out the storyline about someone copying Li JianJian's work (it felt like it was there to kill time) and given Ling Xiao's mom less screen time. Both storylines dragged a lot. Maybe it's partially a cultural thing, but I started begging LX to take a leaf out of ZQ's book and cut his mom off completely. Classic Cdrama lead: you can't set healthy boundaries because "she's still your mom." "Mom" is a title that is earned, not given. LX's mom did not earn that title. If I were him, I would've blocked my mom on everything, refused to tell her where I was going, refused to tell her where I worked/lived, and left it at that. That is a healthy boundary against an abusive parent.
I wanted a little more romance between LX and JJ, especially at the end. How could they get engaged all of a sudden with no proposal scene? So his mom just took off and they hitched up? We barely got to see them interact in the last few episodes.

This drama started out fantastic, but lost its way at the end. The last episode felt really rushed. They could've cut some stuff out and taken their time coming to the resolution. Now I'm disappointed.

Every Cdrama writer should watch this and take notes on how to properly deal with a love triangle. I was fully expecting to bawl my eyes out for Ziqiu when he got rejected, but his confession scene was so funny I kept coming back to re-watch it. Kinda reminded me of Darcy's first proposal in Pride and Prejudice XD him holding onto her legs to keep her from running away had me rolling. And then when she said couples have to have sex and he was grossed out XD XD XD He's such a brother.

I'm so glad our precious Ziqiu wasn't really hurt. They just clarified their feelings for each other and he moved on. It didn't tear the siblings apart at all, at least not so far. If you're going to have a love triangle, THAT is how it's done, Cdrama writers!

Also Steven Zhang outshines the cast of every drama he's in. I'm excited to see what he tackles in the future. Weilong has potential, but I've never seen him do anything but broody, hot characters. Seven Tan is absolutely fantastic. She and Steven have the sibling dynamic NAILED.

I was wary at first too, but the love triangle actually barely exists. It was handled very very well and I got no SLS from it. It didn't negatively impact the sibling relationship at all.
So if it's about the love triangle, I encourage you to keep watching.
If it's about the romance in general, then maybe not.

I think it was the fact that she was very capable on her own, but a man respectfully and kindly offered her help and she was smart enough to take it. Part of being independent is knowing when to ask for/accept help from people who are willing to help.

Exactly.

Happy to meet another lakorn watcher! I'm actually going to watch that one as soon as all the episodes are out. The only other Thai noona that I know of is Madame Dun, which wasn't very good. Mario and Ploy had absolutely no chemistry.

You put into words my exact feelings about this drama. The second half frustrated me so much, I threw my pillow at the wall multiple times. WHY DID SHE GIVE YE LU MING SO MUCH TIME??? She always knew she wasn't interested in him.

Once I reached the end, I wasn't happy. I was actually angry that they ended up together because I thought Yuan Song deserved so much better than her. There are a lot of things I liked about this character, but I 100% agree that the leads' relationship did not have enough substance to keep me invested. I still don't really get why they even liked each other.

I watched The Rational Life to get over this one. THAT'S how noona romance should be done.

I just finished episode 8. This drama is such an emotional rollercoaster! One minute I'm laughing, the next I'm bawling.

I'm not really sure I want there to be any romance... I love the sibling interactions. We'll see how I feel when it reaches that point.

Also, Li Jiangjiang's dad deserves a Father of the Year award and the actor deserves the Chinese equivalent of an Oscar.

My #1 is the OST of Thailand's version of Full House. It's just gorgeous and works so well with the tone and progression of the drama. Definitely changed the way I watched dramas because it got me from Kdramas into lakorns, and now Cdramas.