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"Life has no script"
I’m Married…But starred two of my favorite Taiwanese actors, Jasper Liu and Ko Chia Yen. No one does realistic marriages like Taiwanese dramas, but somehow this one didn’t completely blow me away.
Lin I Ling and Zeng Xue You have been married almost four years and are still living with his parents. Zeng is fine with the set-up, he has two women to take care of him leaving him plenty of time to build his Lego town after work. Lin is not nearly as enamored with the set-up which causes a lack of privacy and autonomy. Zeng’s first words tend to be, “My mom said…” Not what a wife wants to hear every time they discuss an issue. Lin doesn’t want children while Zeng does. At least once a week Lin contemplates divorce. When she puts a soul mate app on her phone due to a client’s request, it changes the trajectory of her relationship.
These two characters seemed ill matched. Zeng was passive and overly kind to everyone. Lin was blunt and easy to anger. I don’t know what age the characters were supposed to be but the actors were both pushing 40. If they hadn’t been able to save enough money by that age, especially living at his mom’s for free, it’s doubtful they would ever put enough cash together for their own “house.” Another sticking point being that Zeng’s mom had a tendency to reallocate their savings. Disagreements over whether to have children can doom a marriage. Both flirted with other people. For me, this drama would have benefited from showing what inspired them to marry in the first place.
The special effects were telling. The father-in-law and other older men were often portrayed as houseplants, completely invisible to the rest of the family. When Zeng heard difficult news, his brain funnily enough displayed the blue circle of death with a “stop function” indicator. Lin’s talking uterus popped up out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly.
Six episodes into the drama I was ready to divorce Zeng because as nice as he was, no wife wants to be second to another woman, even her mother-in-law. I kept waiting for Zeng to find his useless cajónes. While he did have some character growth, that growth never displayed itself by disagreeing with his mother. His mother may not have been evil, but she was manipulative. Newly married couples need to learn to depend on each other and make decisions for themselves.
I enjoyed this short drama primarily for the actors’ performances. Jasper Liu stretched and displayed more emotional nuance than I’m used to from him. I found many of the couple’s decisions mind boggling though many real life couples fall into the same pits they did every day. As much as I love Jasper Liu’s beautiful smile, I might have been tempted to smother him in his sleep the ten thousandth time I heard, “My mom said…”
29 April 2025
Slightly spoilery comments below
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
The minute “Rain” showed up, the Piña Colada song (Escape) sprang into my brain.
“If you like piña coladas
And gettin' caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga
If you have half a brain
If you like makin' love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for
Write to me and escape”
Infertility was not treated the same for men as women. Lin was subjected to every woman in the family giving her advice, forcing vile potions on her to drink, they had priests chant over, and even moved the bed to a more favorable (public) feng shui place in the house. When it turned out Zeng was the one who was infertile, everyone clammed up and left. Speaking of which, Lin’s uterus also shut up, and baby making was never brought up again. And on that subject, Lin thought about divorce incessantly and then suddenly decided to have a baby. Baby’s do not heal marriages, they exasperate current problems and reveal new ones.
I will admit, a man buying menstrual pads for a woman he is dating would definitely give him a star in the win column. I’m not sure that would be enough for this couple to stay together, maybe a place of their own and a good couple’s therapist. These two needed to be able to make their own decisions, one of which should have been to purchase a CPAP machine for beautiful Zeng to tame his snoring.
Lin I Ling and Zeng Xue You have been married almost four years and are still living with his parents. Zeng is fine with the set-up, he has two women to take care of him leaving him plenty of time to build his Lego town after work. Lin is not nearly as enamored with the set-up which causes a lack of privacy and autonomy. Zeng’s first words tend to be, “My mom said…” Not what a wife wants to hear every time they discuss an issue. Lin doesn’t want children while Zeng does. At least once a week Lin contemplates divorce. When she puts a soul mate app on her phone due to a client’s request, it changes the trajectory of her relationship.
These two characters seemed ill matched. Zeng was passive and overly kind to everyone. Lin was blunt and easy to anger. I don’t know what age the characters were supposed to be but the actors were both pushing 40. If they hadn’t been able to save enough money by that age, especially living at his mom’s for free, it’s doubtful they would ever put enough cash together for their own “house.” Another sticking point being that Zeng’s mom had a tendency to reallocate their savings. Disagreements over whether to have children can doom a marriage. Both flirted with other people. For me, this drama would have benefited from showing what inspired them to marry in the first place.
The special effects were telling. The father-in-law and other older men were often portrayed as houseplants, completely invisible to the rest of the family. When Zeng heard difficult news, his brain funnily enough displayed the blue circle of death with a “stop function” indicator. Lin’s talking uterus popped up out of nowhere and disappeared just as quickly.
Six episodes into the drama I was ready to divorce Zeng because as nice as he was, no wife wants to be second to another woman, even her mother-in-law. I kept waiting for Zeng to find his useless cajónes. While he did have some character growth, that growth never displayed itself by disagreeing with his mother. His mother may not have been evil, but she was manipulative. Newly married couples need to learn to depend on each other and make decisions for themselves.
I enjoyed this short drama primarily for the actors’ performances. Jasper Liu stretched and displayed more emotional nuance than I’m used to from him. I found many of the couple’s decisions mind boggling though many real life couples fall into the same pits they did every day. As much as I love Jasper Liu’s beautiful smile, I might have been tempted to smother him in his sleep the ten thousandth time I heard, “My mom said…”
29 April 2025
Slightly spoilery comments below
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
The minute “Rain” showed up, the Piña Colada song (Escape) sprang into my brain.
“If you like piña coladas
And gettin' caught in the rain
If you're not into yoga
If you have half a brain
If you like makin' love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
Then I'm the love that you've looked for
Write to me and escape”
Infertility was not treated the same for men as women. Lin was subjected to every woman in the family giving her advice, forcing vile potions on her to drink, they had priests chant over, and even moved the bed to a more favorable (public) feng shui place in the house. When it turned out Zeng was the one who was infertile, everyone clammed up and left. Speaking of which, Lin’s uterus also shut up, and baby making was never brought up again. And on that subject, Lin thought about divorce incessantly and then suddenly decided to have a baby. Baby’s do not heal marriages, they exasperate current problems and reveal new ones.
I will admit, a man buying menstrual pads for a woman he is dating would definitely give him a star in the win column. I’m not sure that would be enough for this couple to stay together, maybe a place of their own and a good couple’s therapist. These two needed to be able to make their own decisions, one of which should have been to purchase a CPAP machine for beautiful Zeng to tame his snoring.
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