One OK Drama
Rather quickly, I went through Q Series: Love of Sandstorm as it's a pretty short Taiwanese drama at 7 episodes of 1 hour 20-ish minutes each. So each day, it was like watching a short movie.
The drama plot focuses on the Lin family and each person's various struggles with life/love/friendship/career/school. I thought it was done exceptionally well and I really enjoyed the drama. Instead of the standard cast and characters section, I'll delve right into the characters and their struggles (a lot of spoilers).
The Parents
The parents, Lin Yuan Ming (Guang Yao Fan, Black and White, 10,000 Miles) and Chen Pei Ling (Shu Qin Ke, Marry Me, or Not?, ToGetHer) have been married 20-some years and have three kids. They had married young right after Pei Ling found out she was pregnant. After 20 years and with their kids grown up, their marriage is falling apart.
Pei Ling found herself nagging after her husband who spends long hours at work. Then after work, he's entertaining clients instead of spending his time at home with his wife and kids. The insecurities start popping up. Is he just not emotionally invested in their family anymore? Did they make a mistake by marrying too young? Is she getting old and unattractive? Is she losing her sex drive?
So when a young Korean teacher showered her with attention, she signed up for his Korean class despite Yuan Ming's objections.
That led to her falling for the teacher's scam of selling beauty treatment coupons to a spa and increasing the strain on her marriage. Later on, she goes on a weekend getaway with an old school friend. While at the getaway, she meets a widower who shows appreciation for her and she finds herself liking the man for his kindness and willingness to help others out.
Yuan Ming, on the other hand, thinks his wife and children take him and what he does for the family for granted.
He's always been a busybody in terms of taking care of his neighbors and just being an overly friendly, bending over backwards for people type of guy. So when a young upstairs neighbor, Na Na, came by and needed his help with things, he started to think that Na Na might find him attractive.
When Na Na teasingly calls him her boyfriend, Yuan Ming took it seriously and started doing many foolish mid-life crisis things, like renting a motorcycle, dressing "hip", much to his kids' embarrassment.
Both Pei Lin and Yuan Ming behave quite foolishly and neither of them are wholly in the right in their various arguments.
Big Brother
Oldest brother, Lin Yi De (Chris Wu, The Crossing Hero) seems really successful on the outside. His younger male colleague admires him for how easily he flirts with their female clients to get more sales and he seems really put together financially on the outside along with a rich, attractive girlfriend.
But in reality, Yi De spends a lot of money on his princess syndrome girlfriend, Jiao Jiao (Esther Yeh, Die Now), and lives completely under her crazy thumb. She has cameras installed all over her apartment so that she can keep an eye on him. She tracks his phone so she knows where he is at all times. Coming home after a long day at work, he needs to say hello to all of her (many) stuffed animals. And obviously, if he doesn't do it, she can tell because she crazily stalks him.
While it's clear that Yi De really loves Jiao Jiao and that Jiao Jiao - despite her crazy - loves him, their relationship is full of dysfunction and culminates with her threatening to kill herself...
...then threatening murder suicide unless he marries her.
To save himself from their dysfunctional relationship, Yi De's plan to end their relationship is to fake his own death.
One thing I got out of this drama is that you can rent refrigerated coffins just to put in your home in Taiwan.
Sister
Middle sister, Lin Yi Shan (Yu Chen) is the president of her college's struggling Brazilian jujitsu club.
She's best friends with Yang Min Ni (Cammy Chiang, Cafe, Waiting, Love), who is too naive for her own good when it came to guys and dating and Yi Shan often finds herself comforting her after one breakup or another.
When Min Ni starts dating their college's well-known bad boy Zhuang Hao Yang (Greg Han, Meet Me @ 1006), Yi Shan stalks Hao Yang to try and find evidence of Hao Yang's cheating ways so she can convince Min Ni to dump him and avoid heartbreak.
One night, while out making sure Min Ni doesn't get taken advantage of, Yi Shan drank something laced with roofie (or similar drug) meant or Min Ni. She randomly runs into Hao Yang and they have an accidental one night stand.
From there on out, Hao Yang and Yi Shan end up falling in love with one another. That obviously affects Yi Shan's friendship with Min Ni, who still has a crush on Hao Yang.
Youngest Brother
Youngest brother Li Yi Qian (Yukai Deng) is an honor student at school but is suffering from what media tells me is the standard teenage boy hormone issues but what Henry tells me is greatly misrepresented.
It's made worse when he mistakes his dad's erectile dysfunction medication for his asthma medication and comedy ensues.
In school, he is bulled and school bad girl Lu Yi (Ye Chen Ting) comes to his rescue. The school's honor student and bad boy strike up an unlikely friendship.
What I Love
Instead of the usual pros and cons, I'm just going to talk about what worked for this drama, and that's everything! At seven episodes, I thought that was too short because I wanted to watch more about the Lin family and their shenanigans. But in retrospect, it ended so perfectly, that to go on any longer risks dragging things out and turning something great into something boring.
Even though the plots aren't about grand, dramatic stories, they work well because they deal with everyday people's lives.
The struggles with the parents feel authentic. Neither of them are victims in their marital troubles. Both of them have a hand in acting foolish and gives the other party reasons to be upset. But just as the drama does a good job of showing how their relationship deteriorate, it also does a good job of bringing them back together. At various points in their petty arguments, both Pei Ling and Yuan Ming realize they ought to be more understanding of each other. But pride keeps them from conceding until the very end when divorce was mentioned.
I got so emotional during their storyline at the end! Props to these two actors because I think they did really well throughout the drama. They were frustratingly foolish to watch and satisfying when they got their happy ending.
Even though I can't relate to Yi De and his crazy girlfriend storyline with Jiao Jiao, they really brought good comic relief. Jiao Jiao, especially, could easily be an incredibly annoying character. But she's just so crazy and over the top and it somehow works well.
Their relationship is immature and crazy is so many ways. Yet even that somehow ends on an oddly uplifting note for both of them.
From watching Chris Wu previously in The Crossing Hero, I didn't think much about him as an actor. But he's great in this drama so I'm going to blame it on The Crossing Hero's general bad second half. Esther Yeh is fantastic as Jiao Jiao. She apparently just sounds that annoying in real life. But she manages to play Jiao Jiao so that it's somehow endearing? That's incredible to me, because 99% of the population would be exasperated with a character like Jiao Jiao in real life.
The relationships that I think are cute and that I like a good amount are Yi Shan and Hao Yang's and Yi Qian and Lu Yi's.
It shouldn't be a cute situation, since Yi Shan, knowing jujitsu, easily overpowered Hao Yang even in her drugged state and pretty much raped him.
It's implied that he eventually consented to it, but it's easily not a cute situation were the genders reversed. But anyhoo!
With the one night stand comes the threat of accidental pregnancy and the drama manages to do comedy fairly well in a dramatic scene.
That whole possible accidental pregnancy storyline wraps itself up but not before Hao Yang makes a big declaration of love.
Yi Qian and Lu Yi has fairly decent friendship going on between characters that are opposites. As the school's honor student, his teacher warns him against befriending Lu Yi since she's known as a derelict student.
While the stories themselves might not be innovative or novel, I think the drama has a lot of heart. The basic idea is that, no matter how oddball your family may be, they're your loved ones and it sure beats having nobody. All the actors are excellent in their roles and bring the characters - flaws and all - to life.
The drama also makes good use of One OK Rock's "Wherever You Are".
All of that makes this drama perfect, in my opinion.
The drama plot focuses on the Lin family and each person's various struggles with life/love/friendship/career/school. I thought it was done exceptionally well and I really enjoyed the drama. Instead of the standard cast and characters section, I'll delve right into the characters and their struggles (a lot of spoilers).
The Parents
The parents, Lin Yuan Ming (Guang Yao Fan, Black and White, 10,000 Miles) and Chen Pei Ling (Shu Qin Ke, Marry Me, or Not?, ToGetHer) have been married 20-some years and have three kids. They had married young right after Pei Ling found out she was pregnant. After 20 years and with their kids grown up, their marriage is falling apart.
Pei Ling found herself nagging after her husband who spends long hours at work. Then after work, he's entertaining clients instead of spending his time at home with his wife and kids. The insecurities start popping up. Is he just not emotionally invested in their family anymore? Did they make a mistake by marrying too young? Is she getting old and unattractive? Is she losing her sex drive?
So when a young Korean teacher showered her with attention, she signed up for his Korean class despite Yuan Ming's objections.
That led to her falling for the teacher's scam of selling beauty treatment coupons to a spa and increasing the strain on her marriage. Later on, she goes on a weekend getaway with an old school friend. While at the getaway, she meets a widower who shows appreciation for her and she finds herself liking the man for his kindness and willingness to help others out.
Yuan Ming, on the other hand, thinks his wife and children take him and what he does for the family for granted.
He's always been a busybody in terms of taking care of his neighbors and just being an overly friendly, bending over backwards for people type of guy. So when a young upstairs neighbor, Na Na, came by and needed his help with things, he started to think that Na Na might find him attractive.
When Na Na teasingly calls him her boyfriend, Yuan Ming took it seriously and started doing many foolish mid-life crisis things, like renting a motorcycle, dressing "hip", much to his kids' embarrassment.
Both Pei Lin and Yuan Ming behave quite foolishly and neither of them are wholly in the right in their various arguments.
Big Brother
Oldest brother, Lin Yi De (Chris Wu, The Crossing Hero) seems really successful on the outside. His younger male colleague admires him for how easily he flirts with their female clients to get more sales and he seems really put together financially on the outside along with a rich, attractive girlfriend.
But in reality, Yi De spends a lot of money on his princess syndrome girlfriend, Jiao Jiao (Esther Yeh, Die Now), and lives completely under her crazy thumb. She has cameras installed all over her apartment so that she can keep an eye on him. She tracks his phone so she knows where he is at all times. Coming home after a long day at work, he needs to say hello to all of her (many) stuffed animals. And obviously, if he doesn't do it, she can tell because she crazily stalks him.
While it's clear that Yi De really loves Jiao Jiao and that Jiao Jiao - despite her crazy - loves him, their relationship is full of dysfunction and culminates with her threatening to kill herself...
...then threatening murder suicide unless he marries her.
To save himself from their dysfunctional relationship, Yi De's plan to end their relationship is to fake his own death.
One thing I got out of this drama is that you can rent refrigerated coffins just to put in your home in Taiwan.
Sister
Middle sister, Lin Yi Shan (Yu Chen) is the president of her college's struggling Brazilian jujitsu club.
She's best friends with Yang Min Ni (Cammy Chiang, Cafe, Waiting, Love), who is too naive for her own good when it came to guys and dating and Yi Shan often finds herself comforting her after one breakup or another.
When Min Ni starts dating their college's well-known bad boy Zhuang Hao Yang (Greg Han, Meet Me @ 1006), Yi Shan stalks Hao Yang to try and find evidence of Hao Yang's cheating ways so she can convince Min Ni to dump him and avoid heartbreak.
One night, while out making sure Min Ni doesn't get taken advantage of, Yi Shan drank something laced with roofie (or similar drug) meant or Min Ni. She randomly runs into Hao Yang and they have an accidental one night stand.
From there on out, Hao Yang and Yi Shan end up falling in love with one another. That obviously affects Yi Shan's friendship with Min Ni, who still has a crush on Hao Yang.
Youngest Brother
Youngest brother Li Yi Qian (Yukai Deng) is an honor student at school but is suffering from what media tells me is the standard teenage boy hormone issues but what Henry tells me is greatly misrepresented.
It's made worse when he mistakes his dad's erectile dysfunction medication for his asthma medication and comedy ensues.
In school, he is bulled and school bad girl Lu Yi (Ye Chen Ting) comes to his rescue. The school's honor student and bad boy strike up an unlikely friendship.
What I Love
Instead of the usual pros and cons, I'm just going to talk about what worked for this drama, and that's everything! At seven episodes, I thought that was too short because I wanted to watch more about the Lin family and their shenanigans. But in retrospect, it ended so perfectly, that to go on any longer risks dragging things out and turning something great into something boring.
Even though the plots aren't about grand, dramatic stories, they work well because they deal with everyday people's lives.
The struggles with the parents feel authentic. Neither of them are victims in their marital troubles. Both of them have a hand in acting foolish and gives the other party reasons to be upset. But just as the drama does a good job of showing how their relationship deteriorate, it also does a good job of bringing them back together. At various points in their petty arguments, both Pei Ling and Yuan Ming realize they ought to be more understanding of each other. But pride keeps them from conceding until the very end when divorce was mentioned.
I got so emotional during their storyline at the end! Props to these two actors because I think they did really well throughout the drama. They were frustratingly foolish to watch and satisfying when they got their happy ending.
Even though I can't relate to Yi De and his crazy girlfriend storyline with Jiao Jiao, they really brought good comic relief. Jiao Jiao, especially, could easily be an incredibly annoying character. But she's just so crazy and over the top and it somehow works well.
Their relationship is immature and crazy is so many ways. Yet even that somehow ends on an oddly uplifting note for both of them.
From watching Chris Wu previously in The Crossing Hero, I didn't think much about him as an actor. But he's great in this drama so I'm going to blame it on The Crossing Hero's general bad second half. Esther Yeh is fantastic as Jiao Jiao. She apparently just sounds that annoying in real life. But she manages to play Jiao Jiao so that it's somehow endearing? That's incredible to me, because 99% of the population would be exasperated with a character like Jiao Jiao in real life.
The relationships that I think are cute and that I like a good amount are Yi Shan and Hao Yang's and Yi Qian and Lu Yi's.
It shouldn't be a cute situation, since Yi Shan, knowing jujitsu, easily overpowered Hao Yang even in her drugged state and pretty much raped him.
It's implied that he eventually consented to it, but it's easily not a cute situation were the genders reversed. But anyhoo!
With the one night stand comes the threat of accidental pregnancy and the drama manages to do comedy fairly well in a dramatic scene.
That whole possible accidental pregnancy storyline wraps itself up but not before Hao Yang makes a big declaration of love.
Yi Qian and Lu Yi has fairly decent friendship going on between characters that are opposites. As the school's honor student, his teacher warns him against befriending Lu Yi since she's known as a derelict student.
While the stories themselves might not be innovative or novel, I think the drama has a lot of heart. The basic idea is that, no matter how oddball your family may be, they're your loved ones and it sure beats having nobody. All the actors are excellent in their roles and bring the characters - flaws and all - to life.
The drama also makes good use of One OK Rock's "Wherever You Are".
Click to viewAll of that makes this drama perfect, in my opinion.