abs-oluteM

I have watched till episode 16 , and this drama is a comfort show for me. So many little things I love about it - from the friendships that are being formed among the tenants especially the girls, to finding out that quirky Mr Ma was such a successful man before this. The leads are not spared from village gossip as the village folk realise that the attention that Yao is paying HD , and the amount of time they spent together are not things they have seen Yao do. Rumors fly off the handle saying she was an ex-flame from Beijing and that they are about to get married . Though the leads give up on refuting the rumors, no fire no smoke right? Everyone from the kids to grandma, and even his father can see something there. This is the face of a man in love! 

I do love how organic the relationship is developing. They spend a lot of time together since she is helping him to sort out his business affairs. I can see how HD would certainly complement the things that Yao is trying to do in this village. Yao, is the go to guy who has plenty of ideas , business connections and resources. I am glad that Yao is not some rich man's son - he's truly investing in this town with everything he's got. But he needs someone to work on the details while he looks at the big picture. HD's management and people skills would help him and make them such a match in business heaven. And as they start spending more time together, they start to open up to each other on a personal level too. 

 The real highlight for me though is understanding the heart of this show through Yao's aspirations. 

ZY: Do u know why I'm doing all these things for the village? That's the reason.

Yao left his high flying job in BJ to redevelop his hometown so that kids don't have to live apart from their parents who have to work in the city. What an altruistic goal.  It wasn't an easy path for him and still isn't, and I can understand his father's objections. So I thought it very interesting when Yao's dad, sensing his interest in HD, decides to approach HD to encourage Yao to return to his high paying career job. But HD managed to convince dad that Yao's ambitions should be lauded and is something she admired because he's got a clear goal & direction  about what he wanted. Yao overhearing this must surely be able to see that he's found someone who truly understands him , someone he could possibly call his soul mate. 

For me , it is clear now where the romance is headed and how HD's life would change. I can foresee her building a future here. 

12 minutes ago, peperomia said:

 Did you watch this week's episodes? They're not a must, but do let me know what you think of the finale next week! 

I have watched Monday's episode but haven't got a chance to watch Tuesday's. Will catch up soon

@SilverMoonTea I think this story centres around her. The 3 men including your ( or was it @OsmanthusTea's ) old flame Wallace Hou are the 3 different men that will come into her life. This show piqued my interest since I am watching Liu YiFei now in Meet Yourself, and more importantly I just realised that LGX will be here . 

Synopsis seems a lil heartbreaking though. 

 So she will become a mum...LGX is the father? Since they do get married 

Trailer

@rocher22 @themarchioness I was a bit reluctant to start this at first because it is 40 episodes. My short attention span and jaded drama viewer problems don't help either. But somehow I found myself done with 10 episodes of this slow pace slice of life and even slower pace romance. What is surprising is that I find myself rather invested in the journeys of the characters here.

There were plenty of memorable moments but my favourite often involves Yao's grandma. I too love this moment in eps 7 when she realised Yao's interest in Hong Dou. I don't even think that he realises that himself. 

The Zhi Yao we were first presented with came across as a carefree bum but who knew he was such an enterprising man who practically owned half the businesses there. I love it that he isn't some rich man's son and that he's returned from the big city to help rejuvenate the village. But of course it isn't easy running businesses where half the employees are neighbours / relatives who saw you grow up. So I am glad he saw Hong Dou's experience & expertise, and with grandma's help ( this was hilarious) managed to get her to help him work on issues at the cafe. It was super funny too when she first thought he was trying to confess his love when what he really wanted was her help.

I feel that this could very well be Hong Dou's path for her life. I know that she's grieving and feels lost. Unwittingly, she's getting more involved with the affairs of the village, and  that through Yao, grandma and the rest of the characters , she's beginning to open up. She doesn't realise it just yet, but through helping Yao, she's finding her purpose and direction in life again. 

@ktcjdrama I am finally watching this. Go check out Will Love In Spring if you have time. Li Xian is a revelation . Wish I had discovered him earlier.

@rocher22 I kind of know how it all went down , certain developments which I don’t like but you are absolutely right about Dong. He’s amazing.  I am waiting for ep21 tonight to be released on WeTV before I should say more . Regardless I think this is one of the best cdramas I have watched. 
 

@40somethingahjumma yay ! ZYT is very pretty & she’s great for this role . I love Jie’s positivity but she also has a lot emotional baggage that you’ll see later . The leads chemistry here is 🔥🔥

Jun Ho was her star student 

JJH aging like fine wine  - BTS 

Finale preview 

I love the simplicity of life & how uncomplicated things are then when it comes to relationships & marriage. Looks like we will journey with Young Han  where we see his progress in both his personal & work life 

The wedding ❤️

On 5/1/2024 at 3:19 PM, rocher22 said:

guess Grandma sent the emoji.....

Did you watch eps 19 yet? Hahahah see grandma's face when she came to his apartment in the morning after he and ZJ spent the night there. LOL..

The last few episodes have been lovely in a sense we see the leads romance really taking off. ZJ overcoming her body insecurities and now they are all over each other every second they are together . But there were also plenty of poignant moments with Grandma Lin's death and CMD's views on living and dying. TBH, I would marry him in an instant. 

But then I am not ZJ , I suppose. This girl has big dreams and they are valid. I know why she's so passionate about medical care since she has been a recipient of the benefits that medical advancement brings. I am not against her starting her own thing in Shanghai or even looking at returning to Shanghai. LDR's can work too if both parties put some effort and come to a middle ground.  What I don't get is why she isn't talking to CMD about it. She says the time isn't right but I feel that is more an excuse than anything else. 

5 hours ago, Nohamahmoud2002 said:

Poor Suji. I am watching the episode of the press conference. NY is so mean.

Yes...I saw the raw cut. NY pretty much hijacked that . 

Suji's career is going downhill and what is worse is that her mental health is deteriorating fast! 

From today's episode

@mademoiselle @SilverMoonTea I think the most important info is that shippers can rejoice since it has been revealed that he's supporting his niece ( sister's daughter). His sis is divorced and husband not responsible. Niece also has medical issues - so being a good brother he's helping the sis.  But TBH...the romance here between the leads is almost non-existent  ...accept for the fact that we know they both care for each other. 

The latest episodes suggests that it could be the PM who set his grandfather up in that bomb thing. Somewhat not surprising as well that Secretary Jeong has other motives and she's the PM's mole.  Anyway PM knows that BF has the sort of technology he wants but JY is not willing to comply with his requests of making it exclusive. JY is an idealist and she isn't doing this for the money. The money is a byproduct of her efforts but ultimately I feel she's an altruist at heart - clearly she wants this organ thing to work to save lives.

How updated are you @Nohamahmoud2002?

Up to eps 26, what I like most is that WooRi sees more and more of NY's true colours. NY is really such an awful person - selfish and entitled. Glad to see SuJi standing up to NY too. 

2 hours ago, rocher22 said:

the ML's blind date in that restaurant, he glanced at Hongdou but she didnt noticed it because she

was enjoying the pancake...ep (3)

Ooo we are about the same pace then. I finished till eps 4 . I agree with all the scenes you listed.

This scene is my favourite at this point since I think it's the moment we realise she's caught his interest. 

Yao and Dong are like day and night. Yao gives out these positive vibes. Very approachable person. Dong is definitely a tortured soul. Lovely to see LiXian's interpretation of both characters. 

59 minutes ago, themarchioness said:

 

You are in for a treat!!! 

Loving it so far . Will  Love In Spring is ending so this is perfect for me . Li Xian’s character here & in WLIS is very different but both attractive. Must be his face card 🤣🤣.

Love  the scenery & the interesting characters. I’m like I should take 3 months off and live here 😂😂

@rocher22 are you planning to watch this too? 

@rocher22 WeTV , the annoying capiltalist that they are is making us pay for the express package to access ep 18 to 21. I am on the VIP , and can only watch ep17.  . 

But this edit without their big conflict ...ahahah...they'd be popping babies at this rate. 

TBH, this show is not like a must watch if you ask me @mademoiselle @SilverMoonTea. There are some twist and turns that caught me by surprise but would that be enough for me to recommend this wholeheartedly? Not really . I have very different reasons for sticking on plus I have come too far to give up now.

@peperomia ep 13

This has pretty complete subs

New teaser

I somehow didn't enjoy the case in episode 4. I know it's very realistic - I can imagine in those days  child trafficking would be even harder to deal with. There are no photographs, no cctvs etc. This is truly an analog type investigation. But somehow the show felt a bit too serious. The only thing I appreciated was that we got to understand Detective Kim's past and why he was particularly so upset about it. Next week will feel rather personal for Young Han with the death of that young boy whom he had so much fondness for.  Also I am grateful for a bit of romance and we will see the relationship progress in tandem with his career. Given the title, this show should span a period of time where we get to see Young Han become the Chief. 

17 hours ago, gilaswan said:

I think the ending was meant to have some poetic link back to their start in “the happiest place” at the very beginning of their married life together. However, I personally didn’t like it - didn’t think it necessary to let us know that she lived another 50 years into the future (which seemed to look a lot like our present, something that feels therefore unreal to me). 

 

My mum said the same thing. She felt it was not needed ...and she says no way she could have live to 80 plus given her medical history. I think the show lost a bit more congruence to the writing towards the end. I confess I liked the first half more than the 2nd half. 

41 minutes ago, mademoiselle said:

Rating promise 😆

hahahah... this will surely set the shippers' hearts on fire 

10 hours ago, rocher22 said:

I liked the both episodes regardless of the angst. The sensitive bed scene was full of strong emotions.

But they solved that too and still they had their first snow. 

Agreed. It turned out so much better than I had expected. Even the painful moments were necessary and I liked how things resolved. The only thing is that mum had a big hand in how she felt about herself. I know mum is human too but I think in trying to be overprotective she said some really unnecessary things that contributed to ZJ's low self esteem.

By the way I am loving the love line between Cui Ge and Xia Xia ...too darn cute! 

By the way , major spoiler video here on Weibo. Not sure if you can access it. Very nice

The sound track is so good 

@SilverMoonTea come watch with us.

@mademoiselle Okay done. You will still use this thread right? If so , I will put this drama link under the TBD section as well. 

@rocher22 this pic gives me hope. I know eps 15 & 16 will be angsty. But these are two fragile souls each with their personal baggage. I can imagine she'd have some insecurities with her body. But once she can accept herself , and realise he accepts her as she is , it will work out. Am sure it requires some conflict in order for them to come to some sort of middle ground.  

Aiyo poor aunty Beom Ja....why her Leslie Cheung so slow? They were such a cute couple and provided me with plenty of laughs! Everyone got their happy ending and all loose ends tied up.  I am glad that DaHye and Grace did have to go to jail for what they did. I thought that they would overlook that. 

This was a pretty engaging show for most parts though I didn't think the accident at the end of episode 15 was needed . The writing on this show reminds me of those old school kdramas. I know there were complaints on my TL  that this was such a dated plot but since I am pretty good with all things makjang , I thought it was a good watch. I mean people just have to suspend belief and go with the flow. It really helped they had a very strong cast - am sure that contributed to the high ratings. 

If you are looking for a replacement show , come watch this with me . 

I finally started this cause right now I am in LiXian mode thanks to Will Love In Spring  . First episode had me bawling my eyes out. 

@rocher22 looks like his ex was a non-issue anyway. So CMD was really dating her out of guilt 🥲. What annoyed me last night was more about ZJ’s mum . She of all people should know that family background shouldn’t be an issue. Anyway I appreciate all the sweet moments between the leads & glad that CMD supports her decision to continue her life in Shanghai. I know he won’t move there cause of grandma so I wonder how it will work out in the long run. 
 

Anyhow angst is coming! 
 

@Tofu the leads have sizzling chemistry. Since the drama is only 21 episodes, the pace is pretty good . I love all the supporting characters too from her bestie & siblings to his grandma.