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Well, you guys are in luck. There's a typhoon warning in Taiwan right now, which means I don't have to go to work. It also means that I'm stuck at home and thus have ample time to do a proper recap of the first episode of Miss Rose (螺絲小姐要出嫁).



Compared to Office Girls, Miss Rose doesn't seem to have the same umph in the first episode, but there's still a lot to praise, and I'm already loving the chemistry between Roy Chiu and Megan Lai. I'm a Roy/Tang Yan shipper at heart, but I can't deny that he and Megan are hitting it off beautifully, and the BTS segments are even funnier than OG's.

So without further ado... Episode 1 of Miss Rose: "Lonely All One's Life, Peaceful All One's Life"

( Life is like a game of cards. Or 'cahds,' if you're going by how Roy says it.Collapse )

The paper airplane idea works after Xu Ran tosses his jacket off the roof as well. Some guy on the ground notices it and calls the number on it, which is Ye Rou's number, and tells her that Manager Xu is on the roof and needs to be saved. At that moment, Xu Ran is hugging Tang Qiqi because she said she was cold. She's a little freaked out.



Qiqi asks him if the suit jacket he threw off was expensive. "Not bad," says Xu Ran. "A little more than $50,000." That's apparently more than twice Qiqi's yearly salary. Xu Ran wonders why she talks so much -- she's like a sparrow, chittering away constantly.

And then... it starts to snow.





Xu Ran, of course, is bitter about seeing it snow. Qiqi asks him if he's had a bad experience with snow, but he says he doesn't want to talk about his past with her. She then shares a story her dad told her about happiness: when she was little, she traded a doll for a cane, but she obviously wasn't happy about getting a cane. But her dad told her that it was her fortune that she didn't need the cane. "So happiness is actually very easy," she concludes.

"Well, that's pretty interesting," says Xu Ran, "but tell me, what's so happy about two people who are about to freeze to death?"

"At least," she replies, "there are two people about to freeze to death. And not just you alone."

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After their fiasco of a meeting at the end of episode 2 of Unbeatable, Wei Xiao is ready to give Ye Rou a good scolding, since she was speeding and also crashed into a policeman.



Ye Rou holds up a hand and says, "I swear I didn't see a policeman go by." Wei Xiao replies, "Then what am I?" Ye Rou is about to immediately reply "A policeman," but then pauses and thinks about what she just said, and then says, a little sheepishly, "A policeman."

Wei Xiao is probably thinking something like "Darn right I am."



Another shot of Roy because I'm biased like that. See those cheekbones? ♥



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Okay, I lied about not recapping episode 2 of Unbeatable. I've decided to post snippets from it, due to the sheer awesomeness of the beginning. This is what happens when you start an episode off with Roy Chiu, my favorite from My Daughter's Fantastic Four.


THOSE EYES. If that's not smoldering, I don't know what is.

Episode two starts off with Wei Xiao (Roy Chiu) dictating a letter while at the police station. This threw me for a bit of loop because isn't he a police officer? What's he doing in jail? And why is he writing a letter to his non-existent wife? Here's the letter:

My dear wife,

I very much regret that the first letter I ever wrote to you was written in a police station. I really miss you. It pains me to see your back as you take the trouble every day of cooking for me. I shouldn't have watched TV every day right after meals, and let you silently clean up the dishes by yourself. I am guilty.

My dear wife, I am very sorry that all of the unfortunate experiences in your life occurred because of me. Please forgive me. I. Love. You.

The guy writing down the dictation is sobbing uncontrollably as he writes the final few words. Wei Xiao then comes out of the room, and it turns out that he was outside of the jail cell, and is really now entering the cell, where the sobbing letter-writer is. Wei Xiao was actually dictating the letter for the guy, who was arrested for domestic abuse. He tells the guy not to hit his wife anymore, and that he'll deliver the letter. He also reminds him to buy a Christmas present for his wife after he's released. LOOOOL.

( Lots more Roy behind the cut :3Collapse )

Just a note... I probably won't be able to recap this entire drama because I'm going on vacation starting the 10th -- which means I'll barely have time to catch up on my dramas, let alone update LJ. And then the fall semester will be starting up. But I figured I should at least get some info about the first two episodes down. I'll be capping off my Youku downloads, for the most part, so apologies in advance for the low quality.

Anyway, judging from this drama's posters, you'd think Unbeatable would start off in a fancy-shmancy office building, with lots of hot guys wearing suits, but no. Instead we get several shots of Xu Ran (Hu Ge), drunk and passed out, lying on a stone wall.



The surface of his expensive-looking watch then shows a girl passing by. She is Tang Qiqi (Tang Yan), and she sets two cups of tea down on the wall next to Xu Ran and stares at him. Then she smiles, pokes him, and says, "Time to wake up!"



Xu Ran mumbles and turns away from her -- but since he's lying on a stone wall, he loses his balance. Qiqi tries to pull him back, but he freaks out and falls over the edge and is only saved by Qiqi grabbing his left hand. What a terrible way to wake up.



( The pool scene occurs during this episode, and there are picsCollapse )

Clockwise from top left: Ivy Chen, Hu Ge, Sandra Ma Sichun, Wilson Chen Bolin

The drama starts off with Ivy Chen clambering over a brick wall, thinking, "The day I turned 22, a lot of people charged into my life... I never guessed that these people would change my life so deeply."

During this voiceover, we get a montage of characters whom we will meet over the course of this first episode... Xie Feifan, Ling Jie, Wen Xue, Hua Zai, Ye Sasha, and Shen Qiang. The montage is a bit overwhelming the first time, but I guess it works.

Anyway, off to the first character...



Xie Feifan (Hu Ge) is a nonprofit lawyer, sent to a run-down village to help out a client who got hurt in an accident. His name, feifan (非凡), means "out of the ordinary" or "unusual" (in a good sense), and, while walking along the village path in his dapper suit and tie, he is very unusual indeed.

He's also very good-looking, which the village girls take notice of at once. All except Xia Hongguo (Ivy Chen), who accidentally runs into Feifan, forcing him into a puddle of mud, and then skips off without even noticing.

Our protagonist Hongguo is a girl who grew up in the village but wants to go to the city to work for ELLE magazine (she appears to own every issue of that magazine). Today happens to be her 22nd birthday, and she's got her escape to the city all figured out. She jumps the brick wall (tossing her bags into Feifan, who is wandering around on the other side, and then using him as a ladder to get down) and then runs off to freedom.

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Despite the very obvious cliffhanger, I had to stop at episode 1 because I've got two midterms tomorrow. I really like the tone of this drama, though -- very lighthearted (for now, at least), and with lots of opportunities to show off Hu Ge in nice suits. (Come on, why else would you be watching this drama?)

Ivy Chen, thankfully, does a nice job with the acting. I was getting a little worried after seeing her in Meteor, Butterfly, Sword, but I guess she's much better in modern dramas. Plus she just exudes cuteness.

Hu Ge is very steady throughout the first episode, although his character seems a bit passive (minus the part where he was running alongside the bus). He just seems to be a very deliberate kind of guy, who thinks things over before he acts (again, minus the bus part), so whenever he interacts with Hongguo, his reactions come across as a little slow.

But they are both very cute, and I am interested in what will happen next (must use weekend to catch up!), so this drama is here to stay.

So after a looong break from this drama, I'm back to watching Morning Glory, aka the Absolutely Sucky Life of Xia Qingen and His Siblings. Seriously. My heart just breaks watching this drama. It's so sad. :'(

Anyhow, some highlights from episode 8: ( Read more...Collapse )

While wandering around aimlessly, Qingen gets a phone call from one of the teachers who had taught A Bao before, during the brief time they'd tried sending her to school. Apparently, said teacher happened to drop by the Xia house, saw that A Bao was all alone, and brought her to school. She tells Qingen that they can arrange for A Bao to spend the whole day at the school, so that'll be one less burden on Qingen, and he says he'll think about it, although he knows A Bao will be against the idea. When he goes out to bring her home, they discover that she's run away.

Qingen guesses that she's gone to the seaside, where they held the "funeral" for their mom, and he arrives just in time to prevent A Bao from running into the sea. Since she knows she's nothing but a burden to her older brother, she feels like everything will be better off if she dies like their mom did, but Qingen refuses to let her say something like that.

The tone at dinner is quite somber, with no one really saying anything. (Although Qingjun has finally returned home, so I guess that's a plus...kind of.) Qingen promises his younger siblings that from now on, no more changes will happen to the family. Then A Bao speaks up, saying she dreamed of their mother, who told her that parent-less children have to work harder, that they have to listen to Older Brother, that they have to be well-behaved, and so they have to work at it together.

Their spirits lift somewhat, but not for long. ( Read more...Collapse )

Lianlian goes back to Qingen's restaurant and they have a little chat outside. It's as awkward as it looks, and both of them manage to convince themselves that the other now has a different love interest (Qingen's being A Mei, Lianlian's being Dayu). I'm a little confused as to why Qingen doesn't tell her that A Mei isn't his girlfriend. It's possible that a) he is considering the prospect of dating A Mei and thus doesn't want to get tangled up with Lianlian again, b) he just wants to be over Lianlian because she's caused him heartache for like four years, c) he thinks Dayu is a better choice than him, or d) all of the above.

But not only does he not clarify his relationship with A Mei, he also makes it seem like he and A Mei got together two days after Lianlian left for England, which leaves Lianlian quite distraught (since he said he'd always wait for her). I can't really sympathize, though, because she was the one who wanted to break up, just so they could have their romantic reunion. Jeez, if you have a guy that good, you keep a grip on him no matter what!

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In order to keep A Bao out of trouble at home, Qingjun brings her to school with him, which seems to work out after Teacher A Mei gets the okay from who I think is the principal. They also discover that A Bao has a really good memory for numbers, as she's able to memorize Fan Xiaoxi's phone number after having only seen it once.

After class, A Mei goes to Qingen's restaurant, presumably to talk about A Bao, and since it's raining and only she has an umbrella, they walk back together. Like usual, they get into an argument, this time about sending A Bao to school. Qingen says he's already tried, and every time A Bao went, she would return home in tears. To this, A Mei says she can teach A Bao.

Qingen: I don't have money!
A Mei: I never said I wanted your money!
Qingen: But I don't want to owe you anything.
A Mei: Well... I don't want you to owe me anything either! (storms off)

Qingen gets a cold from walking home in the rain, and the next day he collapses while at work. His coworker sends him to the hospital and then calls A Mei. This part is pretty funny because when she picks up the phone, the coworker calls her "Da Sao," which is what you use to address the wife of your older brother. LOL.

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