Can you tell I’m on a roll for popular and well reviewed dramas in 2021?
- Age: 15+, high school and up
- Romance: sweet
- Genre: medical, contemporary, romance
- Episodes: 40x45min (30 episodes)
- Actors: 白敬亭 (Good Bai), 馬思純 (Sandra Ma)
- Wiki: Chinese, English
- Released: March 2021
- Where to Watch: Line TV, WeTV
TLDR for Friends
What’s up with the bleargh English title.
It’s basically Chinese DOTS (Descendants of the Sun), except he’s a special police and she’s a doctor. But it doesn’t have the angst of DOTS and the plot lines don’t go your typical Kdrama way.
Definitely worth a watch because how can one resist a hot shot special forces guy and a level headed and very competent doc? Though, the two leads felt more like siblings than a couple in their CP feel. The romance was still done well enough to be believable. The 2nd lead stories were kind of typical though. I kind of fast forwarded through them.
I really liked the overall industrial loft look of the set. Also, I salivated over his 書房. It’s wall to wall! Can you imagine it all with books?!
If I had to watch a level headed non-makjang romance with my kids, this could be one. Otherwise, enjoy it gleefully without the kids!
Plot and Quick Review
Main lead (白敬亭) first meets female lead (馬思純 ) when he saves her from a hostage situation. Five years later they meet again when she’s training with special police to learn disaster relief aid. The drama follows them as they progress in both their careers and fall in love. 白敬亭 (Good Bai) is definitely not Song Joong Ki in DOTS. He was quite bumbly and cute when pursuing the doctor.
I had quite a few, “Seriously? There sure are many convenient situations that require both doctors and police!” moments. For example, 馬思純 (Sandra Ma) conveniently get locked in a hospital elevator with a patient who needs surgery, NOW!
A refreshing aspect of the drama is that it’s about two mature adults falling in love. No makjang whatsoever. They communicate with each other, respect and support each other’s careers and decisions.
There’s also a definite lack of “evil” people in the drama. All the potential conflicts resolve very nicely. For example, Sandra Ma finds out that her best doctor friend deleted her research data to sabotage her chances of turning in a good thesis, but she forgives her pretty quickly and they still remain friends.
The only thing I wasn’t too thrilled was was the long rescue scenes or disaster relief scenes. However, the last big conflict was super well done. I kept wondering if China really has such a big problem with people who do drugs or have hostage situations. Though of course, thinking logically, US doesn’t have that many but we sure do have tons of dramas about it.
Otherwise, overall, the drama was well acted (Sandra Ma has won acting award and it shows), pretty well shot, and well paced all the way to the end, minus the long disaster relief scenes in the middle of the drama.
What Parents Need to Know
Romance-wise, it’s pretty sweet. There are lots of kissing but that’s about it I think?
There’s also your usual gore from doctors performing surgery and people getting shot. A multi-episode earthquake disaster relief scene that may stress out younger kids who are scared of earthquakes. Opening scene is a hostage situation which, given US realities, may also stress kids out.
Because of these aspects, plus the more mature adult romance, I gave it a 15+ rating.
Chinese Aspect or Things to Talk to Kids About?
I actually had to Google what 城池營壘 means. 城池 is like moat, city wall, and 營壘 is like barrack and enclosing wall. So I guess the title kind of means “Your’e my fort in life”, someone who protects me and supports me.
You definitely learn a lot of Chinese medical terms. I learned what neurosurgeons are called. I knew it as 神經外科醫生 so it took me awhile to understand what 神外 meant! I kept wondering why God is involved in brain surgery.
Otherwise it’s not necessarily a thoughtful drama. But, as I mentioned, the two leads were very mature in their romance, which is a much better watch with kids than your typically 瓊瑤 like kind of romance.
Lastly, I leave you a picture of the hot-shot special police as evidence to why this drama made the lead even more famous and why people fell in love with the drama.
