Hou Lang (2023)

Finding one's purpose and family

I am not a great fan of medical dramas, but this one initially caught my attention for two reasons: Zhao Lusi and the topic of TCM (traditional Chinese medicine). My overall impression of the drama is quite good. Still, there are some issues which I disliked.

On the one hand, Lusi’s character Tou Tou enabled me to experience a variety of emotions. I enjoyed her mischief, admired her resilience despite much adversity, hoped to see her find the family she deserves and create a sense of purpose for her life. Tou Tou’s journey from survival to thriving was beautiful to see and it is one of the key reasons I looked forward to each episode. Learning with her about TCM was interesting too.

Another highlight for me was the relationship with her mentor Ren Xin Zheng and later that with his son Tian Zhen. There is an affinity between Tou Tou and her teacher that shifts into a father-daughter bond, which is very heart-warming to watch. All the older members of the Ren family are relatable, with qualities and flaws and made me reflect on their views and actions. As expected, the veteran actors brought convincingly these characters to life.

Tian Zhen’s character was more controversial for me. Early on I considered him arrogant, entitled, even irresponsible and at one point firmly believed he would not be able to redeem himself in my eyes. Yet Tian Zhen proved me wrong. He is probably the one who experienced the most growth throughout the drama. Luo Yi Zhou acted well a wide range of situations and emotional states. His gaze and facial expressions conveyed much more meaning than his words.

I know everyone has been curious about the romance, bearing in mind it is not the story’s main focus. My advice is be patient because it’s worth it. Tou Tou and Tian Zhen gradually become friends and then like each other romantically. Their scenes together made me giddy, laugh and just feel good in general. The shift in their interactions is subtle but beautiful to see. There is an iconic scene of Tian Zhen confessing his love, which I will remember for a long time.

On the other hand, this drama also has a key problem in my opinion - the script writing is inconsistent and featured some dubious choices. I was disappointed by the plot around Meng Meng’s character, which turned out to be very problematic, illogical and dragged for too long. The script writers created an ambiguous relationship between her and Tian Zhen, which caused misunderstandings and confusion. While I felt sorry for Meng Meng, what bothered me most was that Tian Zhen was never professionally trained to help her.

Moreover, in the last episodes, questions and challenges were raised building up to the climax, which affected particularly our adorable couple. Instead of dealing with those challenges and tying up loose ends, the drama showed many filler scenes and often pointless discussions that went on for several episodes. So the ending was rushed, some questions were left unanswered or glossed over, but it was a happy one.

All in all, I would recommend giving this drama a try. You may enjoy it more than anticipated, as I did.

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40 episodes are truly too long.

I recently completed watching this drama, it's not a romcom drama but it has all elements like humor, romance, life lessons, awareness about mental and physical health, cuteness and many more. This only has about 10% of love scene in it. This drama is more like family drama who continue to practice Traditional Chinese Medicine. The chemistry with M.L, it became quite good towards the middle Because they used to fight in the beginning.

Acting & Chemistry:-
The acting is solid, with Luo Yizhou and Zhao Lusi leading the cast. The lead actors Luo Yizhou and Zhao Lusi deliver standout performances with remarkable chemistry, making their on-screen romance both compelling and heartfelt. There are two more side couple stories. Their characters represents ‘ Yin and Yang ‘ thru the episodes. Supporting roles are seamlessly integrated into the storyline, adding a layer of realism and energy. These moments also serve as a backdrop for character development, highlighting personal growth and resilience.

Humor:-
Humor is a strong suit of "Gen Z," with the series featuring a number of funny moments that provide much-needed levity. The comedic elements are well-placed and add a light-hearted touch, though they occasionally feel inconsistent with the more serious tones of the drama. For me humor is a plus point of this drama.

Why 7.0 stars?
My overall impression of the drama is quite good. Still, there are some issues which I disliked. There were few frustrating episodes towards the end and some of the stories weren’t necessary to be included in the drama.
Some characters had extremely problematic personality traits that could not be overlooked, no matter how much they tried to redeem them at one point or another.
40 episodes are truly too long. It's dragging in general and forced plot would pop up from time to time.
Serious issues were also glossed over, ignored and not concluded. There was so much “side issues” going on that at one point I really didn't know what the actual story was.

overall If you like medical drama, family drama, funny/serious/romances then don’t miss it!

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Lusi again executed the wonderful character

If you are looking for her typical romance drama, this only has about 10% of love scene in it. That’s why the low rate reviews are mostly disappointed reviews due to luck of romance.

This drama is more like family drama who continue to practice Traditional Chinese Medicine. Lusi will be chosen as the future successor, however she is a typical free spirited orphan who doesn’t like to be told what to do. And she meets son of family and romance will develop. You must see with your eyes what will happen between them. It’s not an easy love with so many ups and downs.

If you are fan of Lusi, then I’m positive you will like this drama even there are little romance. First of all, the chemistry with ML, it became quite good towards the middle. This new comer ML, he was amazing to play the son and love interest of Lusi as spoiled yet struggling to find his position in his family. It’s so surprised to know this drama is his 1st drama!! There are two more side couple stories. Their characters represents ‘ Yin and Yang ‘ thru the episodes.

I usual like to give 10 stars due to bias fan of Lusi, but there were few frustrating episodes towards the end and some of the stories weren’t necessary to be included in the drama. Sudden change of story lines and nuance were really not my favorite in this drama. So I deducted 0.5. If they wrapped up the last 5-6 episodes with more romance between FL and ML, it would have been 10.

If you like medical drama, family drama, funny/serious/crying moments/romances, and of course, Lusi fan, don’t miss it!

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Unusual Subject TCM

I thought I would be bored watching a drama about Traditional Chinese Medicine, but it turned out to be a really interesting and informative watch. The cast, from young to old were all brilliant, the scenes in the countryside wonderful to see. Lusi as usual was amazing, over the top one minute as her character and then having you teary in emotional scenes. Luo Yizhou in his first drama does an amazing job, with some very emotional scenes which he delivers very well. There are some quite long dialogues between older couples in some episodes which I felt slowed things down at times, and could have been shorter, and in some episodes Lusi hardly appears, which seems such a waste of her talent! The ending was a bit lacklustre in that I wanted father and son to have more dialogue over why the father had lied to him, and caused such distress to the young couple but the overall exerience was one of enjoying this drama.

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traditional Chinese medicine

i really love how the do traditional Chinese medicine and the acting💯Maturing, she persists and finds herself taken with traditional medicine.

Tou Tou and Tian Zhen become closer as they learn to understand and empathize with each other. Tou Tou, her classmates, and their lecturers can now begin to follow their dreams.
this drama also has a key problem in my opinion - the script writing featured some dubious choices. although I was disappointed by the plot of Meng Meng’s character, which turned out to be very problematic, illogical and dragged for too long. The script writers created an ambiguous relationship between her and Tian Zhen, which caused misunderstandings and confusion.

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Gen Z Review

**This is my first time writing a review, usually I just make a comment on my overall thoughts**
(per recommendation, I am posting my comment/synopsis in a review...so if you have read my comment, it is basically the same, with a bit edited)

I ended up giving this an overall 9 and the reason being is the acting. The acting alone is what sold the whole story.

To begin with Zhao Lu Si's was basically born to play this part and she did it so well, as she does with almost every single character she acts. She knows how to embrace her characters and basically becomes them and you root right along with her or cry with her or laugh with her. Overall, she was exceptional.

Luo Yi Zhou, this kid was amazing. For being an idol turned actor, he has such a bright future. I can only see great things and wish him many huge roles in his career. What a talent and I am looking so forward to what he will do.

The rest of the cast all amazing, although there were one or two I didn't particularly care for, but they grew on me as the story progressed. Rebecca character being one. I really did not like her character at the beginning, but with every character I think she had some amazing growth in this story. So kudos to Alina Zhang for creating a wonderful hate to love character.

Another character, I want to point, whom I thought would have so much more protentional, but was so disappointed in how the writer took their story, but he played the character so well that we all ended up hating him toward the end, was Li Quan. Zhu Jun Lin, is another great talent and I was quite impressed with his acting, even though he was dealt a horrible story in my opinion. He excelled at his character.

And finally, all the veteran actors, amazing as always. I do want to point out, Wu Gang's character, Ren Xin Zheng was a very complicated character. A lot of people will look at him and see a mysoginist, a person who didn't care about his family, only medicine and helping the less fortunate, etc. I see a dedicated, caring TCM doctor. Yes he didn't always convey his feelings toward his family, yes he would do things without consulting his wife and yes he took in an abandoned girl and spent more time on making her his apprentice and with her than his own son, but as the story progresses you understand why he did a lot of that. If you really watch and listen to him, with his conversation in episode 39, you will understand why he did all that he did. I liked his character and he had the best relationship with ZLS's character in this drama. They were really great together. Looking forward to seeing Wu Gang in JOL 2.

Now for my thoughts on the story in general:

I will start off by saying, I think this could have easily been only 24 episodes. I will go on further to explain why below. The focus on TCM was great (could have been a bit better) and that is what the drama was suppose to be about. I loved all the lessons and the use on patients. Actually I even learned a few tidbits. It was really refreshing. I came to watch because of that and of course ZLS. The Covid arc did not bother me, because I liked seeing how they integrated TCM along with Western Medicine. I wish actually there was more of that and less of say the Meng Meng storyline and the LQ storyline. It was okay to have some side situations, but there was to much focus on some of these.

There were definitely some episodes/arcs that could have completely been left out and/or more added and it still would have been an amazing story. The relationship between master/apprentice and TCM as the just the main focus of the drama and it would still have been an amazing story. It was okay for a side story maybe half an episode or not at all, because a lot of those side stories made the drama look bad. No doctor in their right mind would have treated Meng Meng the way that RTZ did, she would probably have lived, if she had gotten the right treatment; LQ's story was just way to extreme for this slice of life drama; TT spending that many episodes looking after WSD; the lie about TT's parentage; all these are examples of wasted time that could have been used for more TCM or even more of master/student bonding and learning.

The last episode was also a bit of a disappointment. There were a few cute scenes, but the dancing (not that it was bad, was a bit out of place, imo, I mean it came out of no where). I really enjoyed how they interated all the Solar Terms, but I preferred them in each episode vs spending what 5-10 mins in one segment in the final episode. I wish they had given TT and RTZ a bit more bonding/screen/reconciliation time. Rebecca and PSY's proposal was a bit cute, perfect for them. The final scene was perfect, the master passing the baton so to speak to his designated successor.

Overall, there was way to much drag, the writing was lacking and needed less unnecessary stories and more stories dedicated to the main focus of the story, it definitely would have shortened the series and still made it good. The acting was the best part of the drama, the casting was on point. The OSTs were absolutely wonderful too. I don't usually pay much attention to that, but the ones in this dramas were amazing and very memorable. So thank the actors for the score, because otherwise, I probably would have dropped this a long time ago.

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I ALMOST GAVE UP ON THE ROMANCE???

I went into this drama only because of Zhao lusi. With little or no expectations from the plot and cast ( Except ML) But I ended up Loving it more than expected.

Firstly, The characters portrayed in this show was simply fascinating. Beginning from lusi to others, It was really fun watching them and grow. Basically from their naturally bad self into a better version of themselves. The quest of transforming our typical 21st century Gen Z into an aspirants of TCM was a success.

But I was most impressed by lusi acting. She is indeed my fav actress for a reason. Her charisma and all, She really pulled it in here. Like other roles of her, she was shining brightly here!

The Master and student relationship here was admirable. Lusi and her dear Master was a fun chaotic duo to watch and it's heartwarming how we watched them grow.

And did I say I almost gave up on the romance in this show?😂 yeah, romance was one of my reason for watching and I was a bit sad thinking the romance was sinking because my ship lusi and ML was all I had. But boom! We got the romance and I had to say. THIS IS CURRENTLY MY FAV COUPLE 2023! The romance was serving ( although romance wasn't it main plot) but I can remember always smiling at my screen at this two. Because they're so cute and cheesy that I want to cry😭😭 I want another drama with them and a romance plot! Now!!

If you're someone who might come for the TCM...Then eh...Based on what I've heard. You might be disappointed 🥲 I'm not someone who is knowledgeable in Medicine so I'm not really interested in the Medicine aspect.

The plot Wasn't so Wow, because it was a calm family/ medicine growth drama. And it did do well in it's aspects of family and medicine ( At least?) And I'd like to say that although, This drama might not have the most realistic approach to TCM, it indeed takes an approach Treating Mental Problem and mental problems through TCM.


It like watching Healing show with TCM, which was nice.

The family was one of my fav aspects because they're so convincing as a real family. And omg, The Older couple are indeed COUPLING 😂

Help, The Comedy 😭😂😂 I won't say much because whenever you see lusi, YOU SEE COMEDY ITSELF! She is a naturally flowing comedic actress. She wears and eats comedy in all movement to compliment her impressive acting.

And I'm new with the ML but Heard he was an Idol and wow. He's indeed good for this being his first time!🥰🥰👌👌 He really did Carry his role well here. and he didn't even give off himself as a new comer.

Other roles were also convincing. either as hateable roles or likeable ones, They were nice and realistically done. And especially the character development was commendable. because not only lusi but other support roles went through this character development which was nice to see.

the OST WAS standard and benefiting. indeed a nice feel added to the whole drama. beautiful song with Beautiful scenery heheh.

One thing I didn't like about this show is the fact of The writer or so wasting this screen time on some stuff that didn't matter or so. some screen time given to some wasn't necessary at all. even though it was..It was given a little bit too much. but hopefully the drama wasn't draggy at all!

When I sit and look at it's name. I wonder why call it Gen Z, and then you realise. yeah. this is a drama where the Old age ( probably Gen X? Gen y? ) Meet the rebellious Gen zs. because in an attempt to pass down their legacy, They have to tame these wild Gen Z and make them learn through the ways of old.

it was fascinating watching various generations clash to make a comfy watch. the old with the Young... Learning and growing.. that was Amicable.

Overall, it's a nicely portrayed show I'd recommend to people who would appreciate such genre. Because it's Indeed a beauty Story told.

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The comment section gives the real rating.

As much as I love ZLS, as much as the ML’s acting impressed me and as much as I don’t want to undermine a writer’s efforts as I’m sure writing a script cannot be easy, this drama was a complete miss for me. The characters had extremely problematic personality traits that could not be overlooked, no matter how much they tried to redeem them at one point or another. Some relationships made no sense, the doctor-patient relationship we had to watch for 30 episodes is the main example of this! Serious issues were portrayed so carelessly, like the psychiatric patient’s (her diagnosis vs the symptoms she portrayed and her final video did not correlate at all). Serious issues were also glossed over, ignored and not concluded. There was never any real retribution for anyone’s bad actions. There was so much “side issues” going on that at one point I really didn’t know what the actual story was. I can understand fans wanting to give this a good rating because of their favourite actors but one look at the comment section will tell you everything you need to know about this drama.

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A series that feels like HOME

I will always remember this beautiful series. You will find human feelings and learning. It is a nice reminder to sacrifice, love and trust others, and take care of your health. What I liked and influenced the most are the women of this series, starting with the mother of the teacher’s wife Rin, who is a cohesive and wise woman, then her daughter, who sacrifices from For her love, who is her husband, she is a responsible and sacrificial woman. Sun Tou tou never had parents to teach her about love and other things, but she would sacrifice herself for her friends and others. She puts other people's happiness before her own.and The scene of Rubica who learned medicine to save others while trying to help the woman who hates Rubica and thinks she is the cause of her husband's death to give birth, a great great scene that I will never forget the. women helping each other and feeling each other's wounds because they are women like each other, Ming Ming and the paralyzed girl where they felt and loved each other because they felt the same connection and pain, also the mother of the paralyzed girl and the owner of the accident became friends after they forgave each other and forgave .when she gave up A traitorous person found another loyal one, as it was said in the series, God takes, but he also gives. I cannot describe in words the extent of my admiration and love for this series, it is a series that I would like to make my husband and children watch, I will feel empty but also in communication, later in my life I will re-watch the series or some episodes so as not to forget, except to forget to be tolerant and kind and to love And tell others my love, soon heartwarming 🩷

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Amazing show. I definitely recommend this show if you love heartfelt comedies about found family

This show is so good. I started it a week ago not expecting much from it , but to my suprise it was AMAZING!! I ended up binge watching all the episodes and somehow finished all 40 in this week.

Everything about this show was great. Sun tou tou was so damn likable, in my eyes she can do no wrong. I love her fizzy energy and her bad jokes and her chemistry with rian zhen was really unmatched. Ive seen some people show hate for meng meng but i loved her character too and although i dont like the ending they chose for her i can understand why it was necessary

The plot twists in this show are actually shocking and not very easy to guess which i usually cant say about shows

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another wholesome c-drama

I watched this mainly because of zhao lusi (and as expected from my favorite c-actress, she doesn't disappoint in her acting), but i really enjoyed this show from start to finish. I love how they ventured through the world of TCM, the conflicts are also resolved in a logical manner. I'm suprised to know that it's also luo yizhuo's first drama because he did so well, I am looking forward on his future projects. I love the master-disciple relationship, the actors really blend so well together. I really appreciate how they focused more on TCM, those situations in which they perfomed practices that can actually heal people, and how it differs Western medicine rather than just the loveline.

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