galactics

woo thank you for sharing this! was out here thinking they left such a bitter premonition for those two

Wu Lang need more love out here. He really said imma shoot my shot with this married lady and he did, respectfully. Then he was ride or die. A real one.

Agreed! What I really like about FL character is that to me they really set up clearly why she was not particularly enamored of the ML at the beginning. They refer to the story of her parents who were very much in love, with her mom being the brains of the butcher business, which fell apart a bit after she died since her scholar husband didn't know how to run the business. It's a realistic scenario, and also gives some depth to why the FL didn't want a husband like her father. And yet the FL comes to see the ML's strength through his idealism. My type of story!

It really be like that sometimes! I can't remember how I felt about it at the beginning but have a slight tug of a some side eye in my memory lol. I do know that it didn't take me that long to get into though. I've come to realize that I love me a a soft male lead, but with some firmness and the will to stand their ground when it counts (another thing that made me love Ji Hoo's character in Love and Leashes). I feel similarly about the male lead in Into the Ring. Either way, curious to know what you think if you do end up watching it, and hope you are watching something you enjoy at the moment. Also, I've started watching Meeting You based on your list and it's been fun so far :)

Coming here after your wonderful review of Love and Leashes. I tend to look for next drama inspiration and comrades of similar taste after watching something I particularly enjoyed. I wonder if you have seen Into the Ring? Seems like a drama that would fit in on this list, but that is of course my personal opinion. Either way, thank you for sharing this great list!

I totally agree that letting his character be insecure and vulnerable is a good trait, and I enjoyed watching that. But you can be insecure and communicate that, while also respecting someone's desire for time and space. JX ignored JY's request for space more than once. An apology doesn't mean much if you keep doing the same thing you're apologizing for. But I was glad that JX did finally step back from the proposals, and it was refreshing that JY got to propose and say clearly that she was ready whileJX got to be emotional about it.

I agree, Song Jin's death felt really unncessary. Just fabricating some tragedy to stretch out the plot.

While I enjoyed the domesticity of Jia Xin working hard at showing Jiang Yue the benefits of their relationship (or potential marriage), I REALLY did not like how Jia Xian ignored Jiang Yue's request for time and space. He would say he understood and literally less than 5 min later he's back whining about 'but why not?'. I did like Jiang Yue's refusal of the proposal and felt that was the writers trying to do some gender flipping by making Jia Xian the one to be eager for marriage, but still uncomfortable with how Jia Xin's anxiety was imposed on Jiang Yue.

Same. That's why it's satisfying to find a drama with credits I watch. I'm don't often listen to pop music but the opening song to Why Women Love is kinda catchy.

Honestly I think I mentally give a drama some extra points just for not showing spoilers in the intro/outro credits. Why do I have to see some of the best moments of a show before I've even watched it?

I love all of this so much! Thank you for taking the time to write it out. And I couldn't agree more, Shen Ruo Xin felt like a fuller character. Her love of astronomy was one of my favorite things about her! And it was definitely swoon-worthy when Qi Xiao designed that necklace with this in mind. I also appreciated Ruo Xin's relationship with her mother. Often taut and complicated, but there was a lot of love. It gave depth to some of the decisions she made.

I'm realizing that there is a lot I don't remember about the shows, but funnily enough one of the things that has stuck is that I kind of liked that Lin Yang got to whine in her own story. It felt relatable and a bit more human than the strong woman character who soldiers through everything with little time given to grieve every day struggles. It's truly exhausting and even enraging being a woman or femme with skill/power in your field, where men will target you specifically for being good at what you do. I wish Ruo Xin had been given space to do a bit more whining.

I'm similarly tired of the older woman with no past relationships trope, and/or whose work is at the center of their lives. In the case of Jiang Yue, I like that she gets to be driven by her work, but wish she could have some passion elsewhere. I think they are trying to flesh this out a bit more in these later episodes, but feels a bit like an after thought. I live for Jiang yue's expressions and one liners though. She's got wit!

Now I'm curious about how you compare the male leads in these dramas. One of my delights in a romance with a strong female lead is watching her match up with someone that's worth her time, as hard as it is to find this. I'm about to start ep 19 of Why Women Love so there is more to see, but Qi Xiao might be my winner.

Agreed, though I am sad to say it.

You are certainly not alone. Story of Ming Lan is a go-to if you haven't seen it already. Also Under the Power as suggested below. I liked Love in Between, although it's a younger cast and the romance is not as prominent. Dear Diary was also a super fun and romantic cdrama, but very different genre.

I actually ended up dropping this show but just remembered your reply and had to go look. Golf outfit like she just came out the sleepover with the gworls from the basketball team. LOL. The burlap sack dress still takes the cake tho.

Creating a character who is repeatedly portrayed as meek and weak-willed to then later be raped is coming way too close to saying that those who aren't strong of character deserve to be assaulted or had it coming. Regardless of the intentions of the show's creators, it is extremely harmful to make a character so annoying that you have a large part of the audience just waiting for her to face consequences, only for the outcome to be that said character gets sexually assaulted. AND THEN to have that same character go on to harm someon one else, because what Qui Min did to Qin Xuan is absolutely sexually assault, brings things even further over the edge of really terrible characterisations. Yes, we need stories about the complicated evolution of people who have experienced rape/assault, but not in ways that make it seem like there is anything anyone could do to deserve that. This may have already been said in the comments somewhere, but I guess I'm saying it again.

They did Qiu Min and Qin Xuan's characters so incredibly dirty...(content warning: rape/sexual assault)

Aight, imma say it--Jeremy Tsui really out here serving with his acting. Qiao Xin is def holding her own, but Jeremy Tsui got a lil extra seasoning on his expressions. He is very convincing as the cold officer turned soft for love, and we are all apparently weak in the knees for the way he got his character looking at QY. Where or where will I go for my Liang Yi vibes? This is a real question, where y'all going after this? Ming Lan is my top shelf romance (and story)-wise, and LY and QY seem to be following not far behind (couple-wise, not the actual story of Autumn Ballad. Gotta keep it real.)

Agreed with all of the above! And also have a particular soft spot for My Fated Boy and The Rational Life as recent favorites. Would be curious to know how you might compare all the FLs of all three dramas once you've seen Why Women Love.

agreed, they are super cute. and maybe the healthiest of all the relationships on the show?

Woo, this drama deserves all of the analaysis and essays! Does anyone know how the show was recevied in Taiwan, especially by aboriginal or indigenous communities? I've done some light research and haven't found much so far, but not giving up yet.