7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 Chinese Romantic Comedy drama with 22, ~45 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Su Jishi (Cecilia Boey), a Ph.D. Geologist, is perfectly happy spending her days doing field work. Jishi’s identical twin sister, Su Jin (Cecilia Boey) leads a completely different life as a glamorous movie star. When Su Jin takes an unexpected hiatus and disappears, her manager asks Jishi to pretend to be her sister so all the things she worked for do not get taken away. Jishi agrees to pretend to be her sister not wanting her sister to lose her hard won status. A surprise is in store once Jishi is poised to fulfill the role, Su Jin is in a theee year contract relationship with Mu Xiulun (Gao Hanyu). Jishi finds herself not only trying to navigate the entertainment industry but also partake in a “pretend” relationship with Xiulun who happens to be the CEO of a company that has mining as a central business activity. Common interests and mutual attraction soon draw the two together for real. Is there a way forward given the underlying deception? Will Su Jin return and what happens when she does?

Review

Overall what can be expected from a modern Chinese drama. Typical flow and a lot of the standard tropes occur in this one. It was good but not great. The ending was happy enough and resolved the major plot lines. If you do not have too high of expectations then someone could enjoy this. I am pretty jaded at this point since I have seen so many outstanding series that the failings of this could be minor to others but are particularly egregious to me. It was slow in parts and ended reasonably happy with most major plot points tied up well. I would not watch it again though myself but would recommend it to those that like romantic drama series.

 

Spoilers

It started weird because the manager kidnaps her and she is just essentially okay with it.  Like yep, perfectly legit you kidnap me so I can stand in for my sister. Then after he kidnaps her, he tells her what is going on and asks her to stand in for her identical twin sister. So why didn’t he just ask her. There was no reason to kidnap her.

I liked the sassy main character. She did not cave to pressure and tended to do what she thought was right even if there were negative consequences. But, what I liked about her in the beginning became a source of annoyance in the last episodes. After getting with main guy and steadfastly staying with him through multiple conflicts, she decides that it is best if they break up so his company does not suffer from the scandal she and her sister created. As if the sister swap scandal is just too great to overcome. I am always annoyed when a character makes a decision independently without considering the viewpoint of the person they supposedly love. And, she makes this stupid decision without consulting him and it was over a year separation. So she did not go off stupidly on her own for weeks or months but for over a year. Even after the year, when he said there were no concerns with her coming back, she still did not. She stubbornly continued to say they should separate.  He just sort of accepts it.  Doesn’t like it but seems to accept it and just wait for her to come back or at least reappear. But instead of them getting married, or at least firmly on the path, there is this long completely pointless separation.

To fill up the time during the pointless separation of the main couple they switch focus back to the second romance which is between Gao Ling (Cheng Lei), Xiulan’s secretary and Mu Xioman (Lin Zilu) his younger sister. I guess they figured it was good timing to see the culmination of that second romance and it shows Xioman and Gao Ling’s wedding. That was a poor substitute as I found that couple incredibly annoying from the outset. Gao Ling originally said he didn’t feel that way about Xioman, he had seen her since she was young and felt more brotherly toward her but then suddenly did a complete reversal for no solid reason.  Him caving all of a sudden and professing to be madly in love with Xioman was completely unbelievable. Xioman, whom I had liked up to that point, became a whiner about him not liking her that way. As if Gao Ling owed her romantic love. She went from an interesting and spirited younger sister side character to a pouty petulant child woman. Xioman’s behavior seemed to more prove Gao Ling’s original point that she was much younger, and less mature, than him.  So we see them, who I don’t really care about, get married but do not get to see the main couple marry.  That was disappointing.  This was after we spent many episodes with the main couple seeming firmly together to the point of wondering what was left to happen with the plot.  It got boring they were so seemingly solidly together. But then, all of a sudden, there is the scandal and now, at the almost very end, they “have” to separate. And they are like all is not lost for love as now you can focus on 2nd couple. No thank you. I could not see how anyone would like her treat my like a Princess, you have to love me because I love you and whiny behavior. RUN while you can.

Then the main couple get back together finally, at the very end, and he surprises her at an award like banquet and she agrees to marry him (but she did before and then backed out so it is not definite). But no extravagant proposal or wedding just m’kay guess we will be back together now. not sure what they were trying for that. She’s some kind of strong, confident woman that doesn’t need a ring and a wedding. It was just weird to go through all of that and have such a soft reunion. I didn’t trust her. She promised not to leave him behind before, but then she did the minute the going got tough. She made a decision on her own. Nothing to say she would not do that again in the future. The quick reunion was less than satisfying.

#ExplorationMethodOfLove

#CeciliaBoey

#GaoHanyu

#ChengLei

#LinZilu