Taiwanese Drama: Home Sweet Home (真情之家)
Broadcast Date: October 24, 2017
Airs: Monday-Friday
Total Episodes: TBA
Leads: Esther Yang and Yorke Sun
For this particular T-daily, it would be easier to introduce each couple instead of doing a general synopsis, so here we go:
Main Couple: (By the way, all most every character in this show has English names so for the ease of typing I will just be using their English names.) Ji Yan Xi (Matthew) & Wen Xin (Ivy):
A legend in the field of advertising for his ability to win any bids, our hero Matthew Ji is less than pleased when after an unfortunate run in with our heroine Ivy on the plane, he meets her yet again as his competitor in a bid. Too speechless to even roll his eyes when he gets home to find Ivy as his adopted mother’s brand new boarder, Matthew wants nothing more to do with our heroine…but then promptly ends up getting convinced by her to team up for a new case that her company desperate needs.
Our heroine is the bright and happy type on the surface but is secretly harboring a painful romantic past that will become an obstacle once our perpetually cool hero starts to fall in love with her.
Second Couple: Xiang Yi Rou (Yvonne) & Lai Yong Kang (the only one without an English name):
As an aspiring model who keenly feels the pressure of her age, Yvonne is nonetheless determined to achieve her dream through hard work. Grateful to Yong Kang who extended a helping hand when she was accidentally hurt on a shoot, Yvonne mistakenly assumes Yong Kang must be an “advanced age” aspiring model like herself and proceeds to zealously tries to help him achieve his dream as well. Taken back when Yvonne doesn’t believe him even when he tries to tell her that he is the owner of the car company she was modeling for, Yong Kang decides to just let Yvonne believe what she will and enjoy their developing friendship.
Third Couple: Xiang Yi Yang (Frank, Yvonne’s younger brother) & Kelly Wang
Self dubbed “Rich Princess CEO”, Kelly is used to people jumping to her many demands and is stunned when she meets Frank, a lowly coffee street vendor who doesn’t buy any of her high and mighty attitudes. Deciding the best revenge is to make Frank fall in love with her so he will gravel at her feet, Kelly begins to do everything it takes to tie Frank to her side so he will fall hopelessly in love with her. Unfortunately, Kelly’s plan backfires because instead of Frank falling madly in love with her, she is the one that can’t stop thinking of him.
This couple was probably my least favorite in the beginning but they have really grown on me by episode 10. The Kelly character is understandably quite annoying in the beginning but the writer has done a good job of adding realistic lovable traits to her as we go along.
Fourth Couple: Amanda & Leo
A romantic novel writer, Amanda has not let her infertility stopped her from being a mom. Taking in our three main characters (Matthew, Yvonne and Frank) when they were young and without a place to go, Amanda has created a safe harbor for the kids to call home. Basing all her romantic novel’s hero on her editor/boss Leo who is deathly afraid of marriage, Amanda makes sure each of her heroes suffers an ignominious end.
This particular couple is the wise sages for our main characters but they are also a fun bickering couple who dances around their own feelings for one another.
Ninja’s First Impression:
This new T-daily that has turned out to be a surprisingly easy watch. The main couple’s romance is a bit predictable with an unpleasant first meeting then the subsequent repeated meetings that eventually leads to them having to work together. While I found the main couple’s romance cute but too formulaic, what this show has going for it is that the three other couple’s romances are all pretty interesting. I consider any daily an automatic success if the writer could make all or almost all the secondary story lines engaging.
I was a bit uneasy at first that the romance of each of the couples seem to be progressing at a rather fast pace (for a daily at least) but that turns out to be fine since most of our characters carry some sort of hang ups regarding relationships so I think the writer will have no shortage of materials. (We will have to wait and see if the hang ups will make the show feel draggy but thus far they have been good spices to the couples’ developing romance.)
All in all, Home Sweet Home looks like it will be a nice and relaxing T-daily to follow, you know, the sort that won’t keep you hopping waiting for the next episode but cute enough to watch if you just need something in the background while folding laundry.
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I’m so glad you had a good first impression of this one! As I understand about a handful of words in chinese, I have to wait for subs so I’ve only gotten as far as ep 5 but it’s definitely been a breezy fun watch so far! It’s the first time I’ve watched a Taiwanese daily in particular haha. All the couples are adorable and I’m looking forward to seeing them bicker and fall in love.
Also sidenote (a very fangirly and shallow note lol), I forgot how ridiculously good looking Jason Tsou (aka Lai Yong Kang) is and how deliciously deep his voice is as well
Thank you for writing a recap of this drama. I started following it due to Esther Yang and Yorke Sun being the leads. I have noticed Esther since Love, Now. She is a good actress so I’m glad that she is finally not acting as someone’s younger sister and has landed herself a lead role. As for Yorke, his role this time is quite different from his usual dorky roles so it is refreshing to watch him in here. It is also nice seeing him and Esther together again as a couple since Bitter Sweet. They were really cute in Bitter Sweet as An Jie and Muo Muo.