Hello Mr. Gu (Chinese Drama, Youtube)
This one is a fairly standard C-drama fare of “a damsel in distressed entering into a contract marriage with haughty CEO who is secretly harboring a wound”. Still, very predictable plotline aside, I liked the first two episodes of Hello Mr. Gu enough that I think it would be a good show to turn on when I am in the mood for something light and fluffy.
Breath of Destiny (Chinese Drama, IQIY App or Youtube)
As part of the Chinese medical team on a two-year service mission to a remote island, our heroine is quite unsettled when her team is met with a big earthquake on their very first day. A surgeon with vast overseas experience in medical service missions, our hero is visiting the remote island to attend the wedding engagement of his ex-girlfriend to his best friend. Promptly volunteering his skills when he sees the devastation around them, our hero eventually finds himself working with the Chinese medical team on the island’s hospital. Despite the doctors’ earnest desire to help the inhabitants of the island, there seems to be a sinister conspiracy at work to throw their obstacles in their way and to hide a brewing medical crisis.
Despite the rather chaotic and lackluster first episode, I ended up marathoning the first 10 episodes of this show in one shot. As far as the medical storyline goes, I would probably give it a 7/10 especially since there is a bit of mystery going to keep things interesting. The thing that makes me stick around though is the awesome sizzling chemistry between the two leads. Stephy Qi and Tony Yang are both actors I am familiar with and liked well enough but I was unprepared for how cute their chemistry is as an onscreen couple. Tony Yang is doing a super job portraying our bad boy hero who every good girl knows to stay away from but can’t help and fall in love with him anyway. I am used to seeing Stephy Qi in more strong confident female roles so it is refreshing to see her playing a girl who while very capable as a doctor is quite uncertain when it comes to love.
Love Scenery (Chinese Drama, Youtube or IQIY)
As an award-winning singer, our heroine’s talent in singing, unfortunately, does not extend to online gaming. Accepting an offer to become a video game company’s spokeswoman, our heroine is determined to elevate her gaming skills…with help from a certain gaming master. Convinced by his friend to help out a newbie gamer, our hero is clueless that he has just been given the rare opportunity to befriend his idol.
This one’s storyline kinda reminded me of Dilraba Dilmurat and Yang Yang’s upcoming drama “You Are My Glory” at first but this one is a noona romance and the two leads don’t know each other beforehand (In You Are My Glory, our two leads are old classmates) so I think the two dramas will be quite different. I am four episodes in on this one and I am really liking it thus far. Despite being a noona romance, our heroine’s character acts quite young especially since she is a complete novice in the gaming world who has to rely on our hero’s superb skill. However, in the real world, our heroine is obviously an established celebrity so it is going to be interesting to see how our two leads’ relationship will change once they meet in real life.
ps. On IQIY app, you will need a membership if you want to watch past the first episode. (That’s not the case on every drama though. For example, membership is not needed to watch Breath of Destiny) Youtube is obviously free, but the episodes are being released two episodes a day…I think.
Sell Your Haunted House (Korean Drama, Viki)
Jang Na Ra’s new drama where she plays a real estate broker who uses her exorcist ability to specialize in selling haunted properties. Back from his military service, actor Jung Yong Hwa plays our con artist hero who will end up partnering with our heroine.
I really enjoyed the first two episodes! Thus far, Sell Your Haunted House looks to be a total package: Suspense, evil ghosts, possible budding romance for our two leads, and a heroine who is a super good fighter. When I think of Jang Na Ra I either think of her super sunny bubbly roles in C-dramas or the more mousy mature character she played in K-drama, so it was really refreshing to see her character here as a straight-talking exorcist who can fight her way through both the living and the dead.
Court Lady (Chinese Drama, Viki)
Born into one of the most privileged families in the Tang empire, our hero’s sole aspiration in life is to do nothing, learn nothing and play everything…that is until he fell in love at first sight with our heroine, the daughter of a local merchant. Desperate to win the love of his goddess and realizing his own unworthiness, our hero eventually embarks on a path of becoming a heroic general like his own father. While our hero is undergoing his transformation, our heroine is also embarking on her own adventure as a court lady (a female palace official).
I like the show’s concept where while our hero starts way behind our heroine in terms of maturity and accomplishment, but as he progresses, our heroine will also go on her own journey so she is not left behind. I do have to admit though, that as much as I like both of our leads and the story in general…the first three episodes felt really slow. My other gripe…this is going to sound totally unlike me and strange sounding but there are too many great looking secondary male characters in this show! Xu Kai (our hero) can obviously hold his own against the good looking male cast but it is still odd to have these handsome side characters popping up who look like they should really be starting their own web drama somewhere else yet is just doing super minor roles here. I don’t think I realized until this drama how much I counted on leads looking like leads and minor characters to look…um…not like leads. Anyhow, as I said, I like the concept of the story but I am not feeling this one as of right now.
Ni Chang (Chinese Drama, Viki)
The daughter of a silk merchant, our heroine lived a carefree life under the care of her doting older brother and parents until her family was torn apart after being framed by evil villains. Determined to clear her family’s name, our heroine becomes an apprentice at an embroidery shop with a pseudo-identity. Through her talent and hard work, our heroine learns the skills to raise her family out of ashes again but that’s when the evil villains discover her existence and are equally determined to kill her.
Our hero is a prince who was rescued by our heroine after he fell off a cliff and lost his memory. Our two leads are separated when our hero suddenly recovers his memory AND lost the memory of his time with our heroine. Of course as fate would have it, our hero would eventually meet our heroine again and come to her aid when she needs it the most.
This one is alright so far. I wasn’t awed by it but it was an easy enough watch. The story’s pacing is quite fast (I am four episodes in and the heroine’s family has already fallen on hard times and she is left completely on her own) and the chemistry between the two leads seems promising.
By the way, this one is the “sister-drama” (I believe that means the two shows are set in the same kind of world and perhaps share some minor similarities but the two stories are not connected) to “I Will Never Leave You” 2019 with Ariel Lin and Vin Zhang. For those who have watched the first show, you guys should recognize the actress playing the older brother here also had a similar role in I Will Never Leave You.
She Is The One (Chinese Drama, Viki)
Unable to reject her father’s pleading to go through an arranged marriage in place of her older sister who suddenly disappeared, our heroine shows up at the wedding only to find the groom missing as well. Taking this as the heavenly sign that she should run away, our heroine makes a run for it…right into the groom’s car. Clueless that the stranger whose car she had just hijacked is the very person she wanted to run away from, our heroine proceeds to enlist our hero’s help to get out of her unwanted marriage.
Obviously a fairly predictable storyline but the story is fun nonetheless. One tiny warning though. Our hero is not shy with the forceful kissing…in the first two episodes no less. I don’t usually complain too loudly about the wrist grabbing and forceful kissing tropes since they are the trademark of Asian dramas but even I had to roll my eyes here. By the way, the hero’s character is actually not that overbearing at all so I think it was just the scriptwriter being overzealous.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com