Notable Actors/Actresses
Qiu Dong Na's father. He's a SCUM.
Wen Qi: Qiu Dong Na
Liu Min Tao: Qiu Xiao Xia
Roy Qiu: Gu Fei
Director
Chinese Title
生活家
生活家
The Experts of Life/Living
The Story & Characters
Mother and Daughter:
I really liked the mother-daughter pair in the beginning. Qiu Dong Na is more mom-like than the Mom. Them nagging at each other is endearing and relatable. It's funny how they're incredibly cheap and yet they will take life-threatening risks to be morally righteous. Although Mom sounds very clever, she fails at every attempt to scrimp and save. She ends up losing so much more had she not been so cheap to begin with. [Minor Spoiler] Mom's level of fail is the loss of an entire house. [/Sp]
Main Romance:
Gu Fei and Qiu Dong Na’s relationship reminds me of Twenty Your Life On’s Xiao Guo and Zhou Xun: a fresh graduate meets the capable boss. There’s more to them: he was her mentor during university when she was interning. The starting point of the drama, though, is a year or two after they knew each other and so throughout the drama, we uncover bits of their past which is sweet but you’d never know with how these two interacted in the beginning.
Qiu Dong Na has an ex-boyfriend: Bai Shi Chu, better known as Xiao Bai, who’s a young rich boy (I’m also reminds of Twenty Your Life On but of Xiao Guo and Duan Zhen Yu!).
Cons: In the drama, Qiu Dong Na is supposed to be in her mid-20s and Gu Fei is probably in his mid-30s. The age difference in the drama is fine. The real age difference between the actors is greater than 20 years which isn’t that big of a problem if Wen Qi (Qiu Dong Na) wasn't a minor. She’s currently 17 and possibly 16 when she filmed this. Then adding on top of that, Roy Qiu (Gu Fei) is 38/39. I’m the type of watcher to let the acting do the talking but whenever there were sweet moments of them, I had to will myself to forget she is a minor. It helps that she’s a good actress and that Roy Qiu is simmering hot and that the drama keeps the physical skinship tame while keeping the sweetness high. However, it sucked that the romance felt restraining on my end whenever I remembered her age and on the drama's end that they couldn't do more because of her age. It would have been so much easier to love this couple if the actress was at least 18-20.
Wen Qi is loved for her brilliant acting talent but I just want to compliment Roy Qiu in this. He was walking on a dangerously thin line where if he stepped to the left, he'd be a creepy pedophile and if he stepped to the right, he'd look like a dad pampering his daughter but this man walked perfectly inline to be one of the sweetest man who loved, admired, and supported his girl the way she wanted to be treated.
"Brothers":
In the beginning of the drama, the relationship between Gu Fei and Wang Shi Cheng is a mystery. I say it's pretty satisfying and interesting why Gu Fei cares so much about him.
Second Romance:
It's between Qiu Dong Na's mom and Wang Shi Cheng. He fell in love at first sight with her.
Rivalry:
Qiu Dong Na and Li Chu Ning are both interns who naturally headbutt whenever they meet. Again, they have a history. It's a bit of a misunderstanding from Li Chu Ning's end who just wants the respect she deserves from a worthy opponent like Qiu Dong Na.
Also, I like how this drama portrays women for the most part: spunky, strong and independent.
Other Dynamics:
Cheng Fan Yang, Gu Fei's business partner handles everything with cold precision. She loves her husband (Bai You Xin) and really wants to be a mother. The problem between this married couple is Bai You Xin's son (Xiao Bai) from his previous marriage. Xiao Bai hates Cheng Fan Yang because he believes his father cheated on his mother with Cheng Fan Yang.
Qiu Dong Na will eventually get herself involved with Cheng Fan Yan's life especially towards the end of the drama.
Actually, the entire drama is Qiu Dong Na's interactions with every character in the drama.
The Spoiler Review
Extra warning: Spoilers Ahead.
Gu Fei's character is rather tragic. His father committed suicide and amassed a large debt. He too contemplated suicide and it was Cheng Fan Yan, who in her cold but warm way, motivated him to live on. Then it was Qiu Dong Na during her intern years who slowly opened up his heart.
Gu Fei and Wang Shi Cheng. Like I said, Gu Fei is a pretty tragic character. The night he and his ex-girlfriend broke up was the night she was raped. Wang Shi Cheng was the man who saved her but she was already raped by then. He fought the men and his actions could be considered self but unfortunately, the men died. I guess to the court, his actions went beyond what was reasonable. This is why Gu Fei would go to the extent of emptying his bank account to help Wang Shi Cheng establish a career that would have otherwise been difficult for a man with a criminal record. Gu Fei felt responsible for everything. If only he had sent his ex home, none of this would have happened. This guilt of his manifests into a habit where he always sends female coworkers home if they work late in the office.
Ending Spoiler for Cheng Fan Yang. She becomes pregnant and here's the but, she doesn't know who the father is. She thinks she had a one night stand with Chen Jing Feng. She didn't. He was threatening her with her nude pics for money laundering (?). It's quite ironic he was the one teaching the interns business ethics in the beginning. Anyway, she manages to bring down Chen Jing Feng, save her company with Gu Fei, reunite with her husband, and give birth to a healthy baby. She just loses her accounting license and has to start again, which isn't a problem for Cheng Fan Yang who's so capable.
(Cheng Fan Yang's story is mostly in the ending arc and, frankly, I was bored of it so I didn't pay too much attention).
Ep25 is an emotionally high episode for me because we learn that Dad approaches Qiu Dong Na, pretending to be a caring father, with the true intention to guilt-trip her into donating bone marrow to her half-sister (Dad's other daughter with his current wife) – a sister Qiu Dong Na never knew existed. There's a term in Chinese "道德绑架". This means kidnapping (绑架) one's morals (道德). Qiu Dong Na's father might be pitiful from the perspective of his other daughter but it is not Qiu Dong Na's obligation to donate her bone marrow (a very painful procedure by the way) and yet it becomes her responsibility that if she doesn't donate then someone, her "sister", will die. Dad has abducted Qiu Dong Na's morals and if she doesn't do it, she's the bad guy.
I love it when Gu Fei comforts Qiu Dong Na on this: 'Whatever choice you make is right.'
There's more to Dad being a scumbag and it's his post-donation behaviour. Qiu Dong Na agreed to donate not because she’s saving her sister, but because she’s saving a life regardless of who that person is. Gu Fei had to order Dad to arrange a hotel near the hospital so that Qiu Dong Na could rest between the donations which is a two week duration. Then on the very last day of the treatment, Qiu Dong Na was going to rest at the hotel but she's checked out already because f*ing Dad only paid for the exact duration of her donation period and not a single day more.
I didn't even list out everything he did, guys. It roils my stomach to think of this man.
By the way, the picture above is Gu Fei taking revenge on Dad for Qiu Dong Na (:
Mom was getting a little too annoying (for me). When Qiu Dong Na's father came back into the scene, Mom was really insecure. I do feel for Mom for possibly losing her daughter to him (especially when Dad appeared so caring and so capable) but she was way too clingy for my comfort. This is a personal thing. If I were Qiu Dong Na and have a mom who just clings on me like that, I'd feel like I can't breathe. They lost a bit of endearing points from me. It's not that big of a problem in the drama, though, because Dad turns out to be a jerk anyway.
Li Chu Ning is very cute with Qiu Dong Na. The moment Li Chu Ning cleared up her misunderstanding with Qiu Dong Na, it's like this girl found love. Li Chu Ning really likes Qiu Dong Na. There’s a cute scene in Ep28 where Li Chu Ning phones Qiu Dong Na to ask for her address so she can send her loads of health products after her bone marrow donation.
My Favourite Romantic Part. The escalator hug in Ep31.
Overall. I like this for being an unconventional family drama. Simple, without anything too dramatic. Excellent acting, different from the usual fare of actors.
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