Fated to Love You (T Drama review)

- Fated to Love You 24 episodes total / around an hour and 10 mins each. Chen Xin Yi (Joe Chen) is a lowly office girl nicknamed "sticky note girl" - someone who is helpful but unnecessary and easy to throw away. She goes on a cruise with her low life boyfriend who takes the time to meet an older richer woman. On the same cruise is Ji Cun Xi (Ethan Ruan), a wealthy heir to a soap and cleaning product company. He plans to use the cruise to propose to his long term ballerina dancer girlfriend Anna (Bianca Bai). Unfortunately, she is heading to NY for an opportunity of a lifetime, unknown to Ji Cun Xi. In a silly mix-up involving drugs and carelessness, Xin Yi and Cun Xi end up sleeping together and only realize their mistake the next morning. They agree to dismiss the whole incident and move on with their respected lives, until a few weeks later Xin Yi discovers she is is pregnant. Cun Xi learns of this and insist on an abortion only to change his mind and raise the baby as his own. In the process, they reluctantly get married and try living and dealing with each other. Ultimately it is unsuccessful and during one of their misunderstandings Xin Yi is hit by a car and loses the baby. Devasted Xin Yi takes this chance to move to Shanghai with her art dealer friend Dylan, who is attracted to her and Cun Xi patches things up with Anna but continues to search for the whereabouts of Xin Yi. Two years later, through a random occurrence the two run into each other in Shanghai and all the unresolved pains and issues come flooding back for the two of them. Cun Xi has realized he has always loved Xin Yi and wants her back and Xin Yi is dealing with moving on from her love for Cun Xi. In the end, the two reconcile and get married again and have a baby together.

I was on the fence about watching this since it was from 2008 and felt and looked super dated, however I'm glad I watched. Although silly at times, it was a strong drama with two amazing leads. The chemistry and connection between Joe Chen and Ethan Ruan was so spot on. When Xin Yi loses the baby, her cries and grief were so heartbreaking and Cun Xi's devastation of not being able to protect Xin Yi and the baby was tragic. The storyline with Anna and Dylan being long lost brother and sister was a bit dull and flat, mainly because I didn't care much for Anna. Dylan was alright and a good friend to Xin Yi. I appreciated how he helped her to gain the confidence she needed within her life. I really enjoyed the interaction of Xin Yi and her mother and sisters, even when they were over the top and silly they watched out and cared for each other. Same could be said for Anson, Cun Xi's loyal and trusted assistant as well as Cun Xi's grandmother, who was so welcoming and loving.

The Fox's Summer (C Drama review)

- The Fox's Summer (Fox Fall in Love) 44 episodes total / around 45 mins each. Li Yan Shu (Tan Song Yun) is an independent free spirited woman who plays by her own rules even if that means lying to get what she wants. She is considered a fox by some. She has recently returned to Beijing to work as a designer. Gu Cheng Ze (Jiang Chao) is the president of a large department store and adopted grandson of the Gu family who owns and operates the department store. Gu Cheng Ze is extremely OCD and can tell when people are liars, to a point where he has allergic reactions. He is considered the rabbit because of how clean and clever he is. Gu Jinyu (Daniel Zhang) is the rightful heir to the department store corporation but is lazy and spoiled. Cheng Ze and him have a brotherly and loving relationship. Jinyu changes his ways once he learns Lin Yan Shu (his old high school sweetheart) is one of the designers at the department store and begins to pursue her. Through various twist of events Gu Cheng Ze and Li Yan Shu's lives intertwine and they fall in love.

Due to lack of proper subbing it took me awhile to finish the series, around five months. Overall, I enjoyed the drama but it had very strong Mainland China vibes, from the clothing to mannerism. The biggest selling point of the drama was Tan Song Yun. Her personality and acting was contagious and entertaining. She came off very cute and fun loving and never annoying or dull. On the other hand, some of Jiang Chao's acting in the first half was so stiff and robotic it was painful to watch. He improved greatly the second half when he was more casual and relaxed. The interaction between the two leads during the drama were so heartbreaking, they really cared and loved each other but had family issues they had to overcome to get there. I hugely enjoyed watching them together. Sadly then there was the two second leads, who were just awful in the first half of the series because they had such childish and flat storylines. Luckily the writing changed cause the second half they were much more tolerable and I actually really grew to like the Gu Jinyu character. By far the worst characters were Li Yan Shu's mother and Jiang Chao's adopted grandmother, they were petty and shrewd and just plain narrow minded. I didn't get their line of thinking or lack there of. There was additional storylines with the male sectary, which was a real bore and the next door neighbor who was a delight!! The OST was cute but the opening one for the drama reminded me a lot of a Mentos commercial, it was so much like a jingle.