Oh no, I forgot that I did watch one drama before going down the rabbit hole of the Untamed. Darn the Netflix for their auto-play previews!
- Age: 17+, high school and up
- Romance: rational and supportive
- Genre: contemporary, workplace romance
- Episodes: 35x45min (16 episodes)
- Actors: 秦嵐 (Qin Lan), 王鶴棣 (Dylan Wang)
- Wiki: Chinese, English
- Released: March 2021
- Where to Watch: Mango TV, Netflix
TLDR for Friends
Probably more of a woman-centric drama than a strict romance drama. The female lead is super strong. I like how she’s uncompromising in her principals. She doesn’t take sh*t but isn’t mean about conveying her point of view either.
I wouldn’t necessarily watch this for the romance, though its sweet enough. It’s more of an office drama. But a really good character drama.
The issues she brings up are definitely things worth discussing with high school teens. I will see if I can watch it with Thumper when she gets older.
Plot and Review
The female lead, 秦嵐 (Qin Lan) is a 30 something corporate lawyer who is happy with her life and isn’t in a hurry to get married, though her mother wants her to. She hires 王鶴棣 (Dylan Wang), who is fresh out of school, to be her assistant. (They have a 12 year difference.)
In the first few episodes, she is schemed and pushed out of her department and takes Dylan with her. The drama follows her as she works through various workplace obstacles, many due to her being a woman, with Dylan on her side. Though his unfailing support, she comes to realize that relationships don’t need to be a burden.
The drama actually features 3 different couples, with each woman being the stronger or more capable one, though their partner are always supportive and respectful of their boundaries. 秦嵐 (Qin Lan)’s best friend faces pressure from her husband’s family on having kids. And she questions if she has another role in life other than being a wife and mother. (She doesn’t work.)
Her former assistant, also a 20-something young lawyer, has a boyfriend who is not as successful as her. It took a few episodes for him to come around and agree to be with her, as he had no career nor house nor car…something many men feel they must have before a relationship that leads to marriage. Theirs was a tertiary conflict that didn’t get a lot of screen time. And yet still a relevant topic as many women now adays are more educated than men.
Not all the men are horrible in the drama. One reason I kept watching the drama was how it did not go as I expected most typical workplace harassed women drama to go. I thought 秦嵐 (Qin Lan)’s boss was going to be the sleezy one who pursues her and then perhaps seek revenge if he doesn’t get his way. But instead he turns out to be a very supportive boss. (He totally reminds me of 劉德華 Andy Liu for some reason!)
While 王鶴棣 (Dylan Wang) was a competent and capable person, they also didn’t portray him as this amazing smart guy who just needs a few more years to become successful. At the end of the day, the focus is on her, the female lead, and her struggles and he really did play second fiddle in his character development.
However, he is every woman’s dream in a romance drama: he cooks, he is supportive, he comes to the rescue when need be. There’s also required hair washing when you’re sick scene for you to enjoy.
I really liked the drama for all the thoughtful issues it brings up with many of its characters: the super boss, the original annoying boyfriend, the sexist co-workers, the snooty educated pursuer, her mother, his mother, her best friend, etc. Each one brings up a different issue/point of discussion about what a modern women faces in her working life.
But I have to admit I skipped after episode 23 and went straight to the 30s before re-watching the rest cuz i really just wanted to see if she slays her bosses and becomes the director she so wanted.
Oh, there was this one scene where her super boss declares his intention and gives her this bling bling necklace. It was so well acted! The way she’s holding everything in, even though you know what she’s thinking, her response to him that was quiet, firm, and yet diplomatic. One of my favorite scenes.
I could go on and on about the things the drama brought up. It was well shot and well written. The characters were all well developed. Rather than a happy ending, the ending was in line with the overall theme.
What Parents Need to Know
A few fairly tame kissing scenes, 1-2 regular ones, and that’s about it. Nothing else is shown.
Chinese Aspect or Things to Talk to Kids About?
If you ever want to discuss women’s experience in the work place with sons and daughters, this is definitely one Chinese drama to watch together, especially through a Chinese culture expectations lens.
秦嵐 (Qin Lan) point blank asks quite a few questions many women in their 20’s and 30’s may ask: Do women really need to get married? If a woman is very competent in her field and independent in her life, does she need to marry a man who may expect her to serve him in their daily lives?
Her best friend asks the question: Do women need to have children? Is that their role? And I as a viewer wondered, she has a college education but she doesn’t work. Why does she get to not work while her husband works to support her?
秦嵐 (Qin Lan) experiences sexism and the glass ceiling multiple times in the drama, what would you do in her situation? Her reaction is not typical of the ones we see in American dramas.
Lastly, there are the relationships between the two main characters and their mothers. 秦嵐 (Qin Lan)’s mother barges into her house whenever (she has a key) and keeps trying to set her up to get married, even though she herself is divorced. Her mother was definitely a very stereotypical Chinese mother.
Does her mother have a right to do that? It would be an interesting discussion for the children to understand where her mother is coming from.
