January 10, 2024

Our Interpreter | Recap and Review

Our Interpreter
An ex (IT geek) is back for revenge, and here's how he's doing it: automating FL's profession. 
Notable Actors/Actresses
Chen Xing Xu: Xiao Yi Cheng
Song Qian: Lin Xi
Director
Screenwriter
Chinese Title
我們的翻譯官
Our Interpreter
Year2024
Episodes: 23/36
Recap Grade: C
First Impression: 3/5

[Dropped (Ep23)]


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Mini Recaps


[Ep1

"If I should meet thee 
After long years, 
How should I greet thee? — 
With silence and tears." 
– George Gordon Byron
I see no tears. Only a twat ↓↓. 
Xiao Yi Cheng is the childish ex, refurbished into a sleek CEO, on a mission to see his ex grovel. Well, he made her bow. Lin Xi – his ex – hiccups when she's nervous and bowing was the trick he taught her. I wonder if he's slightly smug he made her hiccup, and how many more hiccup tricks he's got...^^" 

They're not just exes, they're rivals now. He's a leading entrepreneur in AI translation trapped in a Mango drama, threatening to replace human interpreters like our elite Lin Xi. The AI vs. Lin Xi challenge was very interesting to me because I feel like that's exactly what I do here LOL. I am Lin Xi against the machine subs, hahaha (but not as good as her)
A curious coworker imposes on Xiao Yi Cheng's dating history with his ex-gf sitting there. He's only ever had one. Oh. Lin Xi mitigates the awkwardness with her foolproof technique: sipping water. But then he compares her to plain water. LOL. He says she's....

– ordinary and mediocre. So mediocre that you're embracing risk just to challenge her after 8 years.
– no benefit, no harm. So pointless that you purposely got her tea when she can't drink alcohol
– drink or not, doesn't matter. So unimportant that you pretended to make an important call just to have the waiter make the spicy fish not spicy
– not salty, not bland. Dude, what water are you drinking that isn't bland

Pst. The real reason that she's water is because she's his necessity and his clarity.

[Ep2]

"The furthest distance in the world
is not between life and death,
but when I stand in front of you
yet you don't know that
I love you."
–– Rabindranath Tagore

Lin Xi misunderstands that Xiao Yi Cheng is married with a kid. Great. Now every move he put on her is scummy to her. Dude, do you want her back? 

2nd CP: Wei Tian and Tan Sha Sha. Wei Tian is Lin Xi's colleague+friend. Tan Sha Sha is Lin Xi's cousin. Once upon a time Wei saved Tan. She remembers; he doesn't. 

Our main couple are flashing back. Xiao Yi Cheng remembers the last time they met was to break up. Meanwhile Lin Xi remembers the first time they met. Aw. She was selling facial masks at uni to him (????), but it seems he already knew her and liked her, and so he buys all of them. He was so cute and shy in front of his crush.

Poem connection: In the present, they don't know their love is reciprocated. In the past when they first met, they also didn't know they already liked each other. 

[Ep3

“Once we dreamt that we were strangers. 
We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.” 
― Rabindranath Tagore

Lin Xi is asked how she ensures the 雅 in the three principles of translation, which are:

信 xin is faithfulness. Translations should be accurate and not deviate from the original idea, not omitting details, and not adding or subtracting meaning at will. 
達 da is expressiveness. Translations should not stick to the original form, but with smoothness and clarity. 
雅 ya is elegance. Translations should be appropriate, pursue the elegance of the article itself, be concise and elegant. 

Lin Xi says 雅 is from her "feel" and "habit". She explains "feel" with an example: if you're promoting a product to a stranger, how do you determine if this stranger is worth promoting to? By your instincts, your feelings, and your sixth sense. Omg. So when she sold him facial masks, was she interested in him already? :O Xiao Yi Cheng is motivated to personalize translations to individuals based on their feelings and habits. Ok

Lin Xi was the Noble Idiot in their break up. It's set up convincingly tho! She couldn't give up her job opportunity to leave with him. If he had known about her offer, he would have stayed with her, and given up his dream. Lin Xi's mother had faced the same dilemma. Between her love and her dream, she chose love. For countless nights, Lin Xi would see her mother flipping her books, reminiscing her dream. Lin Xi doesn't want to be like her mother, and she doesn't want Xiao Yi Cheng to like her mother

Poem connection: it's a continuation from Ep2. Even when they were strangers in the beginning, they had feelings for each other. She was interested in him already.

[Ep4]

"The morning will surely come, 
the darkness will vanish, 
and thy voice pour down in golden streams breaking through the sky."
― Rabindranath Tagore

Lin Xi attracts a didi (Cheng Yao), also a masterful interpreter. Meanwhile our ML is still a toddler when it comes to romance. Don't worry folks, we have Tong Xin babysitting, and educating him. 

[Ep5]

"In ecstasy we laughed
Drinking the wine of love.
Had not the music of our joy
Sounded its highest note?"
–– Sara Teasdale

Investors are pulling out of Yuyi (ML's company). 

Cheng Yao has pushed his way into Lin Xi's life and becomes her roommate. Apparently, the grandma she was living with isn't her grandma, but Cheng Yao's grandma.

Xiao Yi Cheng might be the toddler bullying the girl he loves, but when his classmates gossip about Lin Xi, his eyes turn steely, shutting down the accusations. I wish he did more! But I like the anger seething from his composure

[Ep6]

"Don't cry because it's over, 
smile because it happened." 
–– Dr. Seuss 
Show quotes "Thomas Browne" instead of Dr. Seuss. Is my Google not working?

Lin Xi is just drunk, but seeing how Xiao Yi Cheng is speeding, you'd think it was life-threatening. The only life that was threatened was Wei Tian's in the passenger seat. Xiao Yi Cheng also found the time to order detox delivery (under Wei Tian's name, looooool. Yes. Just use his life, and use his name). By the way, Lin Xi is drunk because she wanted to help Xiao Yi Cheng find investors. Awwww

Tan Sha Sha disapproves of Wei Tian for letting a drunk Lin Xi leave with Xiao Yi Cheng until she realizes they really are exes. I like her much better after this scene. In front of the guy she likes, she speaks up for her cousin. It rains, and Tan Sha Sha sprints to the nearest shelter. Her shoes cannot be wet because her entire sole is made of leather. Wei Tian is incredulous. Why buy such a useless pair of shoes? It's airy, she says. Airy is very important, haha. When the taxi arrives, she takes off her heels, preparing to go barefoot. Wei Tian lifts her in his arms. She's astonished. She shields him from the rain with her purse that's hitting his head. In the car, she's a little sad, though. She thinks she won't be hired, and that he thinks poorly of her. He's like you've got qualities! Like? He ponders. "You're polite!" That's human decency.

Lin Xi is sober now. Xiao Yi Cheng (politely) refuses Lin Xi's help. She tells him he has so many flaws: lazy, depressed, weak, sensitive, clingy. But the one quality she will never doubt is his wits. If he wants to do something, no one can do it better than him. He thanks her, but he still wants to solve his own problem to show her that he can do it

[Ep7]

"If recollecting were forgetting, Then I remember not; 
And if forgetting, recollecting, How near I had forgot! 
And if to miss were merry, And if to mourn were gay, 
How very blithe the fingers 
That gathered these to-day!"
–– Emily Dickinson

In the past, Lin Xi really was Xiao Yi Cheng's motivation. He was kinda depressing, had a fear of losing ("weak"), and needed a lot of confidence-boosts. She didn't make up his flaws

Currently, what will Xiao Yi Cheng do without Tong Xin a.k.a. his babysitter? She sets up a date between the exes (with her kid, Peter) to give them a chance to make up. Wait. She makes a correction: to give Lin Xi a chance to make up with him. The manchild nods in approval. 
He flicks his own face with water and makes her wipe it. I don't hate myself for liking you, sir :)
I felt really bad though for Lin Xi throughout the children's day event. I don't think it's necessarily Song Qian's acting, but more my feelings if I were her. She had to smile all day for them when she thought Peter was Xiao Yi Cheng's son. I would crawl into the nearest hole and sob. This was the man I loved for 8 years and I'm babysitting his kid because his wife is busy. Hmph! >_<

In the car, Xiao Yi Cheng asks Lin Xi: "The past you and the current you, which one do you like more? Then what about me? The past me and the current me, which one do you like more?" Dude. Maybe tell her you're single and not married first?!!? Tong Xin to the rescue. She clears up the father misunderstanding. Tong Xin, did it hurt when you fell out of heaven <3? 
She's hiccuping.He's smiling, lol.
Flashback to their first day together. Xiao Yi Cheng can't take spicy but orders the most intense level because Lin Xi likes it. She says this is their last meeting because she isn't selling masks anymore. She's trying to get him to tell her he likes her, but he's too shy and too dense! 
Shocked he is when he learns she's got a boyfriend. She then introduces a girlfriend to him. Lin Xi says she's right outside. 

He protests. 

"I'm going to be angry." 

He sits. 

Legs shaking, fists clenching, he frantically waits. 

It's Lin Xi! She brought herself to be his girlfriend. Awwwwww. We all knew it, but it's still so sweet ~ 

*Gurgle* 

Xiao Yi Cheng shoots up! 

He's gripping his buttocks. He can't hold it anymore. Butthole will explode. He dashes to the toilet, but tells her not to leave. "I like you." HAHAHA. Such a loser LMAO. Very cute

Currently, Xiao Yi Cheng knows how to cook when he didn't before, and it's all a perverted level of spiciness. Do your tongues still taste at that point. Serious question. Lin Xi has changed too: she doesn't eat spicy anymore. Then he recalls the same question about who she likes more: the past him or the present him. The same spicy meal, but he's asking her out now. Fate has it that we just can't hear the answer to this question as there's another interruption. Fortunately, our CEO's brain is finally unclogged and he quickly clarifies that the annoying lady who interrupted them is only there for business. His brain is unclogged likely because his heart is jittery. He's elated that Lin Xi seemed jealous of the lady and bothered that he was "married". He's confident she has feelings for him. 

[Ep8

"Love is cruel, love is sweet,--
Cruel, sweet.
Lovers sigh till lovers meet,
Sigh and meet--
Sigh and meet, and sigh again--
Cruel sweet! O sweetest pain!"
–– Thomas MacDonagh 

O sweetest pain is... Lin Xi's period cramps. During the night, she's lusting for Xiao Yi Cheng. During the day, she's pushing him away. Understandably hormonal

Lovers meet...and we sigh. Nothing is accomplished. Xiao Yi Cheng drops everything to save his girl from period cramps pain; it's just she refuses to depend on him. At least he learns more about her: ever since they broke up, she stopped doing everything she loved, especially everything that was related to him (e.g. eating spicy food, lazing in the mornings, and singing at the KTV). So they both tormented themselves

[Ep9

"How does love speak?
In the faint flush upon the telltale cheek, 
And in the pallor that succeeds it; by 
The quivering lid of an averted eye – 
The smile that proves the parent to a sigh 
Thus doth Love speak.”
–– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Translation business is lethal y'all. The last time Lin Xi received anonymous medication, it was poison from their competitor. Our 'Do And Not Say' CEO finally admits it was him. The minute Lin Xi's off the phone, she retrieves the meds, telling her nosy roommate that it's from a friend, a regular friend. He's like "A regular friend knows you have hemorrhoids?" It is still bleeding, but from a different hole

Lin Xi stores the hemorrhoid/diarrhea/constipation meds with the rest of Xiao Yi Cheng's presents: (it's hilarious) a USB (!), a calculator watch with light (lmao), and an eternity flower (I'm disappointed this isn't geeky). 
Btw, is there an error in the years? LX celebrated 3 years of birthdays with XYC, and the first one together was her 21st, making her 24 when they broke up. But he's been in America for 8 years, and is currently 29. Even if I add in COVID as a negative year, this is not mathing

Xiao Yi Cheng confesses! But Lin Xi rejects him. He texts her after, "You lie like you did eight years ago. I will wait, wait until this 膽小鬼 is willing to face her feelings. I like that they both call each other a type of 鬼. Him to her: 膽小鬼 dǎn xiǎo guǐ = coward; her to him: 小氣鬼 xiǎo qì guǐ = cheapskate (he's a cheapskate because his feelings are petty). 

Advice for Wei Tian time! He's confused like us all. What is up with Lin Xi, rejecting a man she loves who loves her back? She says love is only 10% of her life. Wei Tian is like "You're thinking too much". I think it's related to her abroad opportunity and perhaps her mother's dream. She wants to accomplish what her mother couldn't, and she wants to prove to her maternal grandfather that her mother didn't make the wrong choice in choosing love. I felt that from her charged and estranged relationship with her maternal grandfather. Maybe she thinks that her resolve will break if she chooses to go back to Xiao Yi Cheng *shrugs*

Xiao Yi Cheng is rejected, tired, and overworked, but he's smiling. It's because he knows Lin Xi still loves him and so he can wait. I just love people who don't think much isn't complicated

Tan Sha Sha is spoiled, but she's got a good head on her shoulders, except for the excess air in there. She's astonished that a pair of runners can be priced at human level. Wei Tian uses a funny quote on her: 打敗你的不是天真是無邪(鞋) = what defeats you isn't nativity but no evil. However, WT used "No shoe" instead of "No evil". 

This show, We need to almost lose a kid to get a forehead kiss from our main CP. Lin Xi blushes from that. Cue poem

Love rivals meet! 
Latte from Cheng Yao
L: Xiao Yi Cheng's poop; R: Lin Xi's heart

[Ep10]

I am not yours, not lost in you, 
Not lost, although I long to be 
Lost as a candle lit at noon, 
Lost as a snowflake in the sea. 
–– Sara Teasdale

Cheng Yao is determined to pursue Lin Xi, but is he motivated by love or rivalry? And I can't believe CY is calling XYC "uncle" when in fact they're the same age! Xiao Yi Cheng is proactive too. He knows Lin Xi is stressed, and takes her to aerial yoga....to rock her like a baby. 
Lin Xi giggles at the thought of Xiao Yi Cheng in her posture because he did this in the States before (for his insomnia). Pettily, he rocks her roughly (but how rough can he be. Look at him hovering around her, ready to swoop her in his arms if the fabric fails). 

Lin Xi wins the bid. Xiao Yi Cheng is so proud of her presentation. Look at his smirk! It's filled with affection and admiration. Without even talking about their vision, they're already on the same wavelength. 

[Ep11]

"Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate."
–– William Shakespeare
 
Lin Xi lunches with Xiao Yi Cheng and Cheng Yao, but there is more melon-eating than there is lunch-munching. Xiao Yi Cheng asks her if she took her meds yet. (This same phrase can be used for insulting someone, looool.). Now Cheng Yao identifies the "regular" friend who knows about her "hemorrhoids". Then Xiao Yi Cheng talks about going to the States. He's like, "Actually, I went abroad because of......her!" Water! Give Lin Xi her water! She hiccups. Teehee. Naive Cheng Yao eagerly motivates Xiao Yi Cheng to reconcile with his ex. Our boss grins. 
Xiao Yi Cheng brings Peter over to Lin Xi's to seduce not Lin Xi, but Grandma Rose. Our sweet, sweet grandma betrays his grandson practically on the spot. She allows Xiao Yi Cheng to stay over and cook lunch, and so the three (Xiao Yi Cheng, Lin Xi, and Cheng Yao) shop for groceries. Xiao Yi Cheng makes Lin Xi fetch his phone from his coat pocket...his inner coat pocket. The next time he needs to pay, Cheng Yao aggressively volunteers, but this time it's in the butt pocket. If his hands are full, tele how'd the phone get there LOL. I'll help tho! Hello! Pick me! 

Tan Sha Sha's aunt *something* visiting. Someone tell me what subs are saying. I'm not hearing this interpreter's English. It's her menstruation, and my gosh, do the ladies in this family have it bad. Wei Tian offers to piggyback her, but she's too slow and he thinks she doesn't want it. She wants it! Crouch down again sir! She finally tells him this isn't the first time he carried her; he had saved her in high school.

[Ep12]

"I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, 
Or all the riches that the East doth hold. 
My love is such that rivers cannot quench, 
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense."
–– Anne Bradstreet

Tan Sha Sha is about to confess, but learns Wei Tian has a girlfriend. 

Chen Wen hates Lin Xi for reprimanding her mistakes (gee) and as revenge, deletes Lin Xi's email. She instantly instantly regrets it, but struggles to recover the email. Girl. If you can't undo a deleted email, what do we do with you?  

Xiao Yi Cheng rents next door to Lin Xi (thanks to Grandma Rose, their secreter supporter, and traitor of her grandson)

Cat Guy from work drops off his dog to his boss (aka Lin Xi) without her approval. Where is she supposed to raise this dog now? At the next-door's hunk, of course! This show, lol. We need a grandma, a kid, a cat guy, and a dog to have these two breath in the same space.  Thanks to the universe pushing these two together, they're finally inches from each other's face. What does he say? "Are you shorter now?" Dude

[Ep13]

"I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking."
–– John Masefield

Don't know what happened, but Wei Tian suddenly really cares that Tan Sha Sha is giving him the cold shoulders. 

There's people sabotaging our main leads' success. As far as I understand it It's because they're evil people. 

[Ep14]

"If you were a teardrop
In my eye,
For fear of losing you, 
I would never cry.
And if the golden sun,
Should cease to shine its light,
Just one smile from you,
Would make my whole world bright."
–– George Fordon Byron

Xiao Yi Cheng swears that he will overcome the obstacle without sacrificing the girl he loves (the easier option). The least I expect from my romcom MLs

Lin Xi: Xiao Yi Cheng, whenever I see you recklessly confident like this, I want to beat you up. 

Things happen, and now he's massaging her. He asks her how it feels under his magical fingertips

Lin Xi: I want to kill someone. 

[Ep15]

"Nothing in the world is single, 
All things by a law divine 
In one another's being mingle— 
Why not I with thine?"
–– Percy Shelley

Yuyi Translator 2.0 can translate your personality too! (As in it'll translate based on your speech pattern i.e. personality). 

Lin Xi rejects Cheng Yao. 

[Ep16]

"Fair Daffodils, we weep to see 
You haste away so soon; 
As yet the early-rising sun 
Has not attain'd his noon. 
Stay, stay, 
Until the hasting day 
Has run 
But to the even-song; 
And, having pray'd together, we 
Will go with you along."
–– Robert Herrick

3rd CP: Tong Xin and Cheng Yao. She has to take responsibility for his butt. Omg, he's going to be a family with Peter. But between Cheng Yao and Peter, who will be the kid?? xD 

Another rejection, but this time from Xiao Yi Cheng to Chen Xiao (the uni alumni). Essentially, he tells her she never had a chance, not in the past, the present or the future. I technically like this, but Shows are more generous to guys than girls. Cheng Yao had a better treatment than this chick. To Xiao Yi Cheng, there's only Lin Xi. 

Xiao Yi Cheng: Lin Xi is every understanding I have of love.


[Ep17]

"I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life.'
–– Elizabeth Barrett Browning

No work today. Just playing, and celebrating Lin Xi's birthday. 
They're cute!
The kiss interrupted by the phone call and not by the brim of the hat that's attacking his bangs
An unhappy cowboy. 
A shark's unfinished meal: the head
He made her princess wish come true!
My friends, the real highlight of the show: HIS SMILE. It's more dazzling than any firework. 

[Ep18]

"No magic but in thee! 
Thy touch makes desert bloom to life. 
Harsh thunder, sweetest song, 
Fell death, the sweet release."

–– Swami Vivekananda
Wei Tian has too few brain cells to figure out that Tan Sha Sha likes him. This dim guy makes this shy girl say it out loud, and finally they're together. So slow, and now so fast!
Lin Xi's problem is her low self-worth. She's surrounded by natural talents: Xiao Yi Cheng, Tan Sha Sha, her grandfather. She's envious of them. If they fall, they can easily pick themselves up again. But she's like her father. They worked so hard to be where they're at, and still no one recognizes their efforts. They can't fall. Xiao Yi Cheng, who had dropped everything to go to her (again), comforts her. If it wasn't for her motivating him, his talent would rot. He says there is strength in self-discipline. 

[Ep19]

"Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet"
–– William Butler Yeats

Lin Xi wakes up in a hotel, blacking out from the night before. She tiptoes out. 
"Running?" Xiao Yi Cheng's smooth voice comes from behind. His hair is wet and curly. His pecs peep from his robes. Lin Xi freezes in her spot and pounces on him  – ah nope that would be me. He tells her that she had begged him to come back to her. It's a lie. He converted her voice with his AI translator (3.0). Technology never fails to scare me.  

The owner of the spicy restaurant (where our couple became a couple) is ready to spend the rest of his life with his first love, which is also a second chance romance. Lin Xi asks him if he ever thought of being with someone else when he was separated from his first love. Yes. That's exactly the question we should be asking in public and in front of his first love. The owner replies no. Xiao Yi Cheng glances at her, and nervously reaches his hand for hers, as if telling her that his answer is the same, and his answer will always be Lin Xi. She doesn't resist! 
The thigh.
The cyst that is Chen Wen refuses to subside. She threatens Xiao Yi Cheng that he's going to regret rejecting her. Nobody cares. Xiao Yi Cheng only wants to know Lin Xi's feelings. 
Xiao Yi Cheng is upset that Lin Xi wouldn't change her choice from 8 years ago. She'd still break up with him. He sweeps in for a kiss, but withdraws. He's got the jitters! Then he sees a pair of hands reaching for him. It's Lin Xi with desire. She wants more. 

And then they're together. Is this it? Is this my climax?? And did we even solve what was stopping her from accepting him?

First date: an alpaca spits on Xiao Yi Cheng's white clothes. 
[Ep20]
"With separate ‘I’ and ‘thou’ free love has done,
For one is both and both are one in love:
Rich love knows nought of ‘thine that is not mine;’
Both have the strength and both the length thereof,
Both of us, of the love which makes us one."
–– Christina Rossetti
Cheng Yao trades his freedom for love. He chooses to pick up more work so that he can replace Tong Xin's bracelet. 
At a meeting, Xiao Yi Cheng "accidentally" drinks the water from Lin Xi's cup. 

Xiao Yi Cheng: I was just going to say why this water is so sweet. 

Privately, he smugly tells her that he just wanted to know the taste of her lipstick. 

Then she steals a kiss! Which is the lightest peck
He would have devoured her if his secretary wasn't always interrupting.
Xiao Yi Cheng: Anything else? Tell me all at once. Ha
Secretary: I don't think so. Is he that dense? He knows, right? 
Xiao Yi Cheng: Okay. Even if the sky falls, only text me. I have important make out sessions matters to discuss with Director Lin. 

Much, much later, Xiao Yi Cheng asks Lin Xi the question he asked 10+ eps ago: "The past me and the current me, which one do you like more?" I'm really not that curious about her answer, but gosh, we still have to wait one more episode for this.  

[Ep21]
"Who has seen the wind? 
Neither I nor you: 
But when the leaves hang trembling, 
The wind is passing through."
–– Christina Rossetti

Lin Xi's answer that no one but ML is waiting for: "No matter if it's the past you or the present you, the person I love is always you." 
I'm very worried about Wei Tian and Tan Sha Sha when they go tea making. He's so bored. HAHAHA. He even tells her now he knows why these tea houses are still functioning. Because there are customers like her. LMAO. Then he takes her to skewers. Tan Sha Sha scrunches her nose. Places like that stink. Oh dear, lol. But then they're cute again like this ↓↓
Lin Xi and Xiao Yi Cheng are on another posing date. Lin Xi is naturally athletic. 
[Ep22
“Power said to the world,
"You are mine."
The world kept it prisoner on her throne.
Love said to the world, "I am thine."
The world gave it the freedom of her house.” 
― Rabindranath Tagore


The email problem has finally escalated. The Lin cousins' jobs are on the line. Incompetency at all levels. And Lin Xi has a password that everyone knows?!?! What word in password does she not understand. Lin Xi discovers the culprit: Lin Xi, herself Chen Wen. 

Xiao Yi Cheng sues Chen Xiao for journalism libel (against Lin Xi). Why must she be my sex.   

I'm the one who needs a hug from recapping this. Xiao Yi Cheng, I can translate too!

[Ep23]
"Es stehen unbeweglich
Die Sterne in der Höh,
Viel tausend Jahr, und schauen
Sich an mit Liebesweh.

Sie sprechen eine Sprache,
Die ist so reich, so schön;
Doch keiner der Philologen
Kann diese Sprache verstehn."
–– Heinrich Heine 

Translation

Immovable for ages 
The stars are set above; 
They look upon each other 
With all the pain of Love. 

And oh, they speak a language, 
So wondrous, each to each, 
That not the wisest scholar 
Can understand their speech.

Lin Xi is rich – as in her family owns a mountain type of rich. She takes Xiao Yi Cheng home and her father, being Chinese Drama fathers, challenges the thief who will steal his daughter with very scary wine and food. 
Cheng Yao and Tong Xin looking cute. They're on their way. 

[Ep24]
[Ep25]
[Ep26]
[Ep27]
[Ep28]
[Ep29]
[Ep30]
[Ep31]
[Ep32]
[Ep33]
[Ep34]
[Ep35]
[Ep36]


Remarks



[First Impression (Ep1-6)] Ladies, 'tis the trope where your ex – who you still love – loves you more. The love is burning, tormenting his heart for eight years. I love it. An "I love you" would solve everything, but they make it so difficult for themselves. This can be annoying, but their suffering is my delight. 

Warnings: 1) FL contracted a serious case of Noble Idiot syndrome; 2) there's two preschoolers: the real child, and the manchild. 

I take extra time reading the poems before each episode. My favourite so far is Ep2's: "The furthest distance in the world / is not between life and death, / but when I stand in front of you / yet you don't know that / I love you." That captures their relationship relatively well, except his love is blinding, and petty. 

Main couple is the best, but I also like the rest. 
  • 2nd CP are cute by Ep6. Actually, the whole show is better by Ep6. 
  • Tong Xin is my favourite supporting character. She's the mother of ML's godson, but actually, her real role is babysitting our ML, haha. She's his motherly voice of reason.
  • Wei Tian is my second favourite. He's FL's fatherly voice of reason?? Haha. I love that our ML and FL have best friends of the opposite sex, giving all the right advices. 
  • The translation profession is both fresh, and surprisingly relatable to me. It's AI translations vs real human translation (Me!! Hello guys!). I'm curious to know how they're going to resolve automating translation, and therefore eliminating FL's profession. It seems, however, our FL doesn't see it as a conflict, but rather an opportunity for a collaboration between humans and AI for improved translations. 
[Cast&CrewChen Xing Xu and Song Qian are well matched. They really suit their characters. Show also found a convincing voice for Song Qian's English VA. I almost thought that was all her. 

Unlucky Chen Xing Xu has two dramas airing at the same time, both with suits in a romcom. I'm told if you distinguish by his muscles, you won't mix 'em up. He's interviewed about this (his dramas, not his muscles), and his answer is that both roles are precious to him like it's his children. Ok sir. I'll watch both your children. 

[Behind the Scenes] Because I'm lazy, if there are BTS, they'll (re)posted under the 2nd comment.

[Glossary]
膽小鬼 dǎn xiǎo guǐ –– Coward, 
小氣鬼 xiǎo qì guǐ –– Cheapskate (pettiness with money or pettiness with feelings). 

[Ending]

[Dropped (Ep23)Sorry Chen Xing Xu, I'm orphaning your babies. 

I duped myself into thinking this romance will have tension, a sensual tension. Chen Xing Xu is fine. Song Qian is not – girl, you make it so hard to defend you. She did well in Find Yourself. What happened? 

Not having tension in the romance isn't even the major problem here. Show has an agenda (I swear) to subdue the romance by freezing their actors in their "high" romantic moments. A lot of (or all) dramas do this, but this one in particular stops at the most passionless moment. This romance doesn't seem to know how to prolong a romantic scene.

Story is too bare. The "climax" (when our main CP are together) felt so inconsequential that it doesn't make sense why she refused him for so long. 

Secondary couples have cuter moments, but not cute enough to last me 36 episodes. 

Recommendations


Moody Men Moody Men Moody Men
Summer's Desire Here to Heart My Sunshine

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