Taiwanese Drama: The Ex-Man (前男友不是人)
Broadcast Date: May 19, 2018
Airs: 1 episode/Friday
Total Episodes: 13
Leads: Rainie Yang & Blue Lan
Synopsis:
With a perfect boyfriend by her side, our heroine, Lee Chin Ai is certain that the painful breakup with her first love 10 years ago is nothing but a distant youthful memory. Showing up at her 10 class reunion looking absolutely dazzling, Chin Ai is quite pleased when she was able to casually greet her ex-boyfriend and walk away feeling nothing more than a sad twinge that time is truly something that can wash away everything…or so she thought.
Rushed to the emergency room after she was hit by a car, Chin Ai wakes up to find out the shocking news that her ex-boyfriend, Dai Hai An is missing at sea. Desperate to hold onto hope that Hai An is still alive, Chin Ai’s heart breaks when Hai An’s ghost, in the appearance of his high school self, starts popping up around her.
Finally convinced that Hai An’s ghost proves that he is really dead, Chin Ai can’t understand why her whole world feels like it has stopped.
Ever the perfect second lead, Chin Ai’s boyfriend understands her sadness over her ex-boyfriend’s “death” completely and even takes her to the sea so she can say a proper goodbye. Knowing that she has to accept Hai An’s death and move on, Chin Ai tries to do exactly that…if Hai An’s ghost can just stop showing up.
There is a big twist at the end of episode two that changes the story completely and it would be difficult to write a proper first impression without including it but that will obviously spoil the surprise so only read on if you have either watched the show or don’t mind spoilers.
First Impression
I had walked into this one expecting it to be a romantic comedy so I was rather surprised when the tone of the first two episodes was kinda heavy. Thankfully, the show didn’t take long at all to reveal that our hero is alive and well. The fact that our hero is not dead obviously is a big game changer since the story just went from a ghost romance to…um…delusional heroine?
After the first three episodes, I am tentatively hopeful about The Ex-Man. I wasn’t too excited to watch yet another story about first loves (boy, is that theme popular this year) but the “ghost” element certainly makes this one stands out so I am being extra patient with the story…including the necessary flashbacks. Another thing worth mentioning is that I am curious about what the writer is planning to do with the second leads who are respectively our heroine’s perfect boyfriend and a female best friend that has stayed by our hero’s side for the last ten years. There is no doubt that we will end up having a love square…but both second leads seem too “nice” to really create much trouble unless they suddenly turn to the dark side…which again, doesn’t seem to fit their character thus far.
I am usually the type that is not too excited with love squares, however, in this particular case, I actually think it creates an interesting dilemma. Both second leads are logical if not seemingly perfect choices for our now grown up leads. Not to mention that our leads actually do care very deeply for these two very important people in their lives, so much so that even as an audience I can’t really in good conscious yell “Just abandon all and chase after that guy/girl you haven’t seen in ten years!” There is no doubt that there are lingering feelings between our two leads (especially on our hero’s side) but when is a youthful relationship true love and when is it just something that needs to let go? Of course, I typed all that knowing that there is 99.9% chance our two leads are true love… but oh, well, let’s just all pretend we are very mature adults who like to ask deep questions like that.
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