K-Drama 
After all the icky cheap plot gimmicks of last episode this one starts off with a nice and sensible reconciliation between JJ & YS and hopefully sets the stage for no more deceptions and a a start to an actual equal-footing romance. But .... then she immediately lets herself get lured right back into creepy Du Lei's manipulations!!!???? I just don't get why she is so stubbornly stupid about how dangerous it is to keep associating with this creep. It doesn't make sense and feels so manipulative by the writers. Fortunately, once Du is off screen again, the rest of the episode is charming. It's kind of a fundamental about this show: It's extremely enjoyable when both leads are on screen and otherwise kind of tedious. The other side stories are either flat or cringe.
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This episode is all about the writers leaning into all kinds of very annoying plot tropes to contrive drama. We have an absolute ton of misunderstanding-fueled over-reaction trope. We have plot-induced stupidity in large doses as the FL stupidly falls back into the influence of creepy Du Lei, as the latter blatantly stalks her and pumps air into the should-be-flat tires of his wanna-be-love-triangle. How can she be so stupid as to not see through this lying piece of crap by now is ridiculous and requires a suspension of disbelief. She's just plain acting so stupid and foolish for trusting this creep. And we have noble idiocy in play by the ML as well. A whole bunch of contrived drama with a current purpose of to separate the leads simply so we can watch them come back together again. Oh and of course we get another awful aggressive toasting-to-get-people-smashed scene to put the FL in danger so the ML can rush in to save her. The aggressive toast/drinking trope is one of the most disgusting tropes that keeps getting used in c-dramas. I guess the shows collectively are trying to impress on people just how awful this 'tradition' is?
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I never like to victim blame and she's not at 'fault', but Jiang Jun was incredibly foolish to go visit Wan Shan alone and then come back on foot alone in the dark. Her character never struck me as this stupid before so this feels like plot-induced stupidity to create the drama moment. This whole sequence just seemed contrived and poorly written. Then the next sequence with Xu Li going to campus to stalk Riley Wang's character was also stupid. No savvy computer nerd walks away and leaves their laptop screen unlocked like that. And really, the whole Xu Li + Xiaochuan storyline is just not interesting. Too carrtoonish, cringe and weird. This episode goes further south with the cheap setup that Du pulls off to get Jiang Jun mad at Yuan Shuai and sympathizing for him. So obviously contrived and the writing makes JJ look more stupid again. The writers have totally suspended her common sense and critical thinking in this episode. The funny/romantic/cute scenes at the end of the episode between JJ & YS almost make up for it, but it's hard to forgive that much junky plot shenanigans.
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Not too surprising, the show has started to build out a sad-sack sob-story for Du Lei to build sympathy in you for the creep. Whatever. I will probably skip through most of his scenes from this point forward. The truth is, in every drama with his type of character, it just feels like a waste of time when shows spend a lot of minutes trying to make you feel sorry for the unrequited love interest when he isn't someone I can feel sorry for at all and you _know_ he is not the one who is going to get the girl. Plus, Du is just creepy and pathetic to look at. And clearly a lying snake, stalking her and contriving to 'save' her from someone (probably his own man) with a car ride. And he's morally compromised. He obviously knows that Wan Shan is an abuser of women but does nothing about it, only warning FL - a woman he cares about - to stay away. Du could care less about all the other women who that scumbag has raped.
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Any bets on whether Du Lei will do the psychopathic delusional thing of so many 'unrequited love' SMLs and misconstrue her simple gift of a plain old tie as if it is some expression of her undying love for him? I really hope we don't have to suffer through an excess of screen minutes devoted to this creep. Especially if it's at the expense of time that could be spent on the two leads. Also what's the deal between Du Lei and Du Ling ('Linda')??? Are they siblings? Why does she seem to have the hots for him? Lots of hints of past intimacy between them!! Is there really an incest vibe going on here? Or will they be revealed as adopted or step siblings? Probably, to get past the censors. Nevertheless that got freaky. Later, Bai Lu does drunk Jiang Jun in absolutely hilarious fashion! Her chemistry with Leo is crazy good and especially when they get comedic!
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Unexpectedly, Yuan Shuai gets some really solid advice from his assistant, Su Chang. In so many dramas, the cold, dominant ML's assistant is too much of a clown or too socially challenged to offer decent relationship advice. Su Chang, who does come across as a little clownish, nevertheless gives his boss so really sensible advice regarding Jian Jun. Then we get some "I'm sick take care of me" hijinks by YS (drama trope) which leads to a great, steamy moment when JJ reads a very steamy passage from a book! The only downside to this fun episode is that we have to suffer through another appearance by the creepy Du Lei. I guess he's just going to be around because some writers just don't know how to write a story without a 'love triangle'. Grit teeth and skip. It's funny just how pretentious the restaurant and fragrance chamber places he takes her to are - especially after Yuan Shuai took her to a place that made a noodle dish that specifically emotionally evoked her father's homemade noodles. The contrast in her reactions to the food on each 'date' was stark. The end of the episode ending with a face-off between Du & Yuan was oozing with testosterone but it at least revealed Du for who he was so JJ now knows honestly who she has been dealing with.
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Credit to actor Gau Han Yu, His portrayal of Du Lei just oozes creep. It's cringe to watch our innocent FL get caught up in his sticky slime.I hope they don't drag out some awful love triangle with this creep for very long. It was cute to see how jealous Yuan Shuai got when he saw her get out of the car with a rose! Side observation: For someone who is allegedly golf-obsessed. Deng Ke's golf swing is absolutely awful. The race car match was ... silly and cringe. And made no sense within the time constraints. This contrived 'suspense' was awkward and almost ruined the episode for me. But getting more of the backstory about what happened with her speech in high school was good.
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Superficially, the ML comes off as an abusive, obnoxious bully and she is justifiably pissed at him for not just his current 'unfair' behavior towards her but a long held grudge over him apparently having stolen her speech way back in high school. But then this is interwoven with him taking complex steps to 'take care of her' both in the current time (subsidizing her to have a new apartment near him, trying to force her to take a less stressful career path) and also in the past, when they were young. The problem is, his care has almost always focused solely on preventing her from being in situations where she might cry. This is his legit mission that he seems dedicated to. But this means he's also been super-controlling and she quite naturally resents that control because she wants freedom to live her own life. Further, it is his over-protective dominating control that has actually often been the trigger for 'crying events' in her life and so she has come to associate him with her medical issues. BUT ... she also literally grew up with him closely involved with helping and caring for her and she's weirdly quite used to him not only being around her but physically doting on her, touching her, fixing her shoelaces, adjusting her clothes. He may be (probably is) wrong in his 'control everything' approach to caring for her. Because it does harm to her. But his core intentions are strangely legit. Oh ... and ugh. What is it about Gau Han Yu (Du Li) that makes him look like such a creep as the SML? How can he be handsome and so pathetic looking at the same time? I can already tell he's going to be the type of character that I kinda hate watching screen minutes wasted on. I predict some sob story background that tries to build viewer empathy for him (to create a fake 'love triangle') but in the end he will still be an evil creep. A very annoying trope.
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This was a much better edited and paced episode than episode 1. Still a little bit rushed and contrived such as with how fast the whole 'get her to move to my next-door apartment' scheme played out. And the Du Li / Li Taimo face-off moment in the library was weird. Other than those nitpicks, the feisty chemistry between the leads is so entertaining. The fact that these two actors are such good friends in RL is definitely energizing them to get fully into their roles.
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First episode gets off to a bit of an uneven start. The story is a bit smashed together with only barely enough info to make it make sense. And the whole 'allergic to tears' thing is a bit weird and contrived. Why not give her a more believable condition such as maybe an anxiety disorder or heart defect or low-blood pressure that leads to fainting or whatever? Whil being allergic to tears (actually the proteins in tears) is not completely unreal, it's extremely rare and a strange thing to base a story on. That said, both Bai Lu and Lu Yun Xi kick off their roles in great form. They both look great and they immediately have chemistry even though they are at odds to start off. Oh, and Du Li already reeks of pathetic annoying unrequited SML before we have even started. Hopefully we won't have to endure too much of that creep.
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I'm a little disappointed in the ending. It wasn't 'bad', but some plot decisions were far less than satisfactory. Because they skipped ahead 2 years from the proposal to her master's degree graduation, we completely missed any interaction with the parents, which is something I was kinda looking forward to. And then while we got some 'wedding-like' events in the return trip to Guillen (the photo shoot and the 'banquet'), we never get the actual wedding. Also, because they had dragged out the Duo-Dou + Ya Song storyline forever (12 freaking years of unwanted 'friend zone'????!!!) that storyline filled up the final episode instead of, well, an actual wedding for the leads! And we also skipped right on past Zheng & Xiaoxing actually confessing to each other. That was just hand-waved over and we just accept it must have happened somehow. Finally, returning to Dou-Dou and Ya Song: This plot was just annoying. It started off great. Based on other commenters on the Viki stream, I wasn't alone in really liking the potential of this couple when first hinted at way, way back. Chen Hua Lan is one of my favorite actresses and she was wonderful right off the bat as Sister Dou Dou. But the show kinda ignored resolving the obvious 'thing' between her character and Feng Ya Song for too long and when they got back to it they turned Feng Ya Song into one of the most irritating baby man-child idiots that by the final episode I was rooting for Dou-Dou to give up on him and go find herself a mature man who would act like an adult. So disappointing. Unbelievable that they dragged their going-nowhere relationship out another 2 years (12 in total). Otherwise, the story we got in the limited time they left for the leads was okay. Just could have been much better. if they hadn't had to devote so much last minute screen time to the immaturity of Feng Ya Song.
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Huge step in this episode with MQC officially meeting with Sheng Sheng's Grandpa and her 5 million brothers. He still has to officially meet her parents and she has to meet his parents. Heck, so far we, the audience, have not even met his parents! In addition to family matters for the leads, the show's remaining episodes need to wrap up the other two couples stories.
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Vincenzo in the freshly pressed blue suit was giving me Phoenix Wright vibes. And the wink and grin by Hong Cha Young at Choi Myung Hee just before they went in was so precious! Jeon Yeo Been has me in stitches, watching this show. On the darker side, Jang Han Seok is the scariest kind of villain because he's hiding in plain sight and seemingly harmless to everyone but we as the audience know he is a dangerous psychopath. So there will be constant tension around him at least to the point where he is finally revealed.
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So it's cool that the first thing he does upon leaving the hospital is go pay his respects to Papa Hong. Later, while it was also super-cool the way they start the revenge arc, one nitpick I have that also bothered me in the opening episode: Lighting the fire by casually dropping your lighter looks stylish for the show, but (a) means you lost your nice lighter and (b) is evidence connecting you to arson. Looks cool. Kinda dumb. Also kinda dumb of Cha Young to take off her mask once in the truck - never know if a security camera might still get a good angle. Oh well. This is just nit-picking. Absolutely loved the emotional reveal in the van ride of just who is helping them get revenge for Attorney Hong. Wonder how long before the good guys make the connection between the "Jang" brothers?
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Episode starts out where prior left off, with the party successfully holding off the demo crew ... for now. Hong Cha Young and Choi Myung Hee start off at odds at the big law firm. Cha Young's intern randomly blurts out the future with, "He's your soul mate.", comment about Vincenzo ... The Italian food taste off between Toto and Vincenzo looks like it's going to last for a while. Our heroine so far doesn't seem to be achieving any successes on screen in this show. Would like to see her start to score a few wins just to validate the premise of the show that she does whatever it takes to win. Jeeze I do love her constant physical comedy. Her constant quirky physical humor antics are a wonderful running gag so far. Making fun of Choi's exercise routine, while professionally stupid, was hilarious. Wow! Papa Attorney Hong already tagged Vincenzo as the son of his client! Still working out whether the big law firm is fully in cahoots or just caught up in a trap w/Babel. Was Choi brought in to try to dig them out? Or the opposite? Is she taking Cha Young off the Babel case because of lack of progress? Or to protect her? Choi is still a mystery character at this point. Ha ha! The sight of Vincenzo trying to get out of the line of fire when Hong dad and daughter are arguing! Woah! I can't say I was totally surprised by the ending. They had lots of foreshadowing that something like that was going to happen. But it still sucks and is going to be a huge revenge arc kick-off.
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