When I watched this episode of Drunken to Love You I just had this desire to break out in song and dance to celebrate the continued unbelievable awesome of male lead Song Jie Xiu. Conversely I also had a desire to just lock Xiao Ru up in a room with him and not open the door until she gets over her hang-ups. What I love is that DTLY is really low on the angst, but whatever issues are dealt with maturely and with a sophistication of emotional narrative. Perhaps I should take a step back and realize that Xiao Ru’s continued hesitation isn’t the anomaly.

Her emotional fears are real and lifelong burdens she been carrying around with her. What is the anomaly is how fast, hard, and decisively Jie Xiu has fallen in love with her. He is the outlier, and he realizes this. He’s going to wait for Xiao Ru as long as it takes, and chase her to the ends of the world until she admits that she loves him, too. What a priceless guy. Joseph Chang needs to thank his lucky stars he got offered this role, and we need to burn some extra offering to the drama gods because Joseph accepted the role.

Cup 12 recap:

Jie Xiu tells his contract wife that when she gets drunk, she can only marry him because that is his right. Xiao Ru looks stunned at how possessive Jie Xiu is. Be more possessive, Jie Xiu!

Tony is dancing and flirting with Avril, who pretends her name is Amy. He thinks Amy looks like Avril, who asks Tony whether he thinks Jie Xiu looks better with Avril? Tony says no way, the way Jie Xiu dragged Xiao Ru off means that he’s totally into her. They may even be making out in some corner right now. Tony thinks that Jie Xiu couldn’t like someone like model Avril, who nearly bares all onscreen. Avril pretends she’s a bad dancer and steps on Tony’s feet a few times to get him back for his unknowing insult to her.

Samantha isn’t hitting it off with Lee Da Fu. A dancer from the club hits on Samantha because he thinks she’s an easy mark. Lee Da Fu takes off for the bathroom where he sits in the toilet and mopes while Tony tries to console him. Avril sits down and Samantha reveals that the guy wants to give her a gift.

Xiao Ru tells Jie Xiu to stop being so petty. Samantha bought her such a cute outfit and she wants to wear it. Jie Xiu suggests that she wear it at home just for him. Xiao Ru wonder why this is still happening since the Temple lady had already severed their destiny. Xiao Ru tells herself to be strong. She takes off Jie Xiu’s jacket and walks back to the table. The dancer hands Samantha a pill and tells her to take it, it’ll make her feel better. Avril tells Samantha not to accept anything from strangers.

The dancer takes off and the club owner accuses Samantha of causing trouble at the pub. Without the dancer to perform a Chippendales show, the guests will all leave. Jie Xiu and Xiao Ru walk back and Samantha tells him to take care of matters. The club owner tells the group to find a muscle man to take the MIA dancer’s place and dance on stage. He spies Avril and suggests that she come and do a pole dance. Xiao Ru tries to call the cops but it stopped.

Lee Da Fu steps up for Samantha and says that he will take care of her mess but the club owner is not cowed. He realizes that Jie Xiu fits the bill and wants him to dance for ten minutes and get the guests happy. Xiao Ru tries to convince him to do it. Jie Xiu stares at his mom and tells the club owner that he’s not doing to do it because he has no relationship with that woman. He informs his mom that she might as well stay overseas and never come back. Why can’t she just be like his mom, stay at home and cook for him and behave properly.

Xiao Ru grabs Jie Xiu before he leaves the club. She asks him if there is anything his mom did that he ought to be thankful for. She reminds him that his mom sacrificed to take care of him when he was young. Jie Xiu just wants a mother who cares about him and stays by his side. Xiao Ru and Jie Xiu start arguing, which is when Samantha comes over and slaps Xiao Ru. Omo! She tells Xiao Ru that she has no right to speak with her son that way. If Jie Xiu doesn’t want her, then he can leave. Xiao Ru cries and says all she wants is a mother, but she can’t even have that.

Xiao Ru says that compared to her, Jie Xiu already has so much. Jie Xiu looks at Xiao Ru quietly and makes a decision. He walks back into the club and agrees to dance. He asks Tony and Lee Da Fu to help him, because he can’t do it alone. The club owner introduces the three guys as the successor group to Fahrenheit (Fei Lun Hai), calling them Ce Lun Bing (Car Tire Pancake – LOL, I’m dying here!). Dressed in the costumes of Hawaiian dancers, complete with leis and coconut bras, Jie Xiu, Tony, and Lee Da Fu walk out on stage. The club owner promises that all three will strip naked by the end of the dance.

The ladies in the audience start cheering and the guys gets ready to dance. Jie Xiu looks directly at Xiao Ru before he starts to dance. He clenches his hand into a fist. For Xiao Ru, just for her, he’s on that stage. You can just tell how much he loves and respects her. He thinks back to how she cheered him up before with the picture of the wild boar girl when he was upset. He unclenches his fist and starts dancing.

Samantha tells Xiao Ru that this Hawaiian dance was what she performed once for Jie Xiu, and was the last time he ever saw her dance. Xiao Ru tells Samantha that Jie Xiu couldn’t possibly hate her if he is performing her dance. Samantha thinks Jie Xiu is willing to get on stage because of the courage given by Xiao Ru. But Xiao Ru reminds Samantha that people can only be hurt if they still care. The boys start dancing wildly in earnest and all the ladies go crazy.

Suddenly the cops arrive for a spot inspection. The gang is dragged to the police because Samantha has in her possession a drug that the dancer gave her. A guy in the station tries to film Samantha but Jie Xiu tosses the guys phone into a glass of water. Samantha is asked if there is another person who saw the dancer give the drug to Samantha. She wants to call Avril, who is rushing back home. She thinks someone is following her so she hurries, dropping her phone in the process. The phone is picked up by that person, who we don’t see his face.

The dancer gets dragged to the police station so the police let the group go. Samantha is really touched by what Lee Da Fu did for her, and she suggests their next date be a little bit more low key, just “you and me.” Lee Da Fu is thrilled to have a second date. Tony secretly tells Xiao Ru that the previous Jie Xiu used to pack his schedule with work, but today Jie Xiu wanted to rush home to be with Xiao Ru when he had free time.

Jie Xiu is still sulking off to the side and Xiao Ru and Samantha try to ask what is wrong? Jie Xiu thought dancing on stage was all he needed to do today, but why’d they have to end up at the police station because of something else Samantha did? Xiao Ru tries to silence Jie Xiu but Samantha wants to let him vent. She hugs him, screaming that her son is back to normal. She is happy with him yelling at her like this rather than rejecting her outright. Jie Xiu stalks away, muttering that it’s so damn awkward.

Samantha thanks Xiao Ru for bringing back the boy Jie Xiu who still needs him mother. She apologizes to Xiao Ru for slapping her today in the heat of the moment, but Xiao Ru brushes it off as nothing. Avril sits at home wondering why no one is back and it’s already so late. Jie Xiu walks in and heads straight to his room. Avril apologizes to Samantha for ditching them to conceal her identity. Samantha asks why Avril didn’t pick up her phone earlier? Avril looks through her purse and realizes her phone is missing. Samantha doesn’t explain why she needed to call Avril. She tells Xiao Ru to hurry up and go to Jie Xiu’s room to rest.

Avril asks Samantha what is going on, but Samantha just says that she will take care of Avril tonight if her wound hurts. Xiao Ru gets a text from Meng Jun apologizing that she still can’t find the wedding ring. Avril wants to knock on Jie Xiu’s door but Samantha stops her. She takes Avril into the room and asks to speak to her. Avril can’t handle Jie Xiu and Xiao Ru spending the night in the same room. She thought Samantha was on her side? Is Samantha mad at her for what happened today?

Samantha says she’s not mad at Avril, she’s mad at herself. Tonight she was so afraid that Jie Xiu would leave her, and she realized how horrible she made Jie Xiu feel for so long. But Jie Xiu ended up going on stage for Samantha, who doesn’t deserve him treating her this way. She concedes she’s a terrible mother. So Jie Xiu needs to be with a woman who will never ever abandon him.

Today at the police station, when Jie Xiu heard that Avril took off, he wasn’t surprised at all. In fact, that was what he expected her to do. Samantha calmly tells Avril that she is not the woman for Jie Xiu, who doesn’t need a second Samantha in his life. Oh hell Samantha, why’d you have to turn out to be so decent at the 11th hour. Avril asks if Xiao Ru is the right woman? Samantha says she doesn’t know, but she wants Xiao Ru to have a equal opportunity to compete. More importantly, Jie Xiu has a right to decide who he wants to love. If something happened between them tonight, that is also Jie Xiu’s choice. Samantha leaves Avril with quite a lot to mull over. Avril sits down looking totally dejected.

Jie Xiu and Xiao Ru are standing on the balcony. He asks why she’s standing so far away from him? Is she afraid he’ll eat her? He orders her to come over! Xiao Ru asks Jie Xiu whether he’s tired from pursuing something where the end result is already predetermined. Nothing he does is going to change their relationship. Jie Xiu smiles and tells her to loosen up, he just wanted to talk with her.

Jie Xiu starts to talk really loudly since she won’t walk closer. Xiao Ru immediately runs over and puts her hand over his mouth. Jie Xiu asks if it was so hard for her to bridge the distance between them. He thanks her for what she did today. Xiao Ru looks down and Jie Xiu wonders why she won’t look at him? Did she do something wrong and is afraid he will yell at her? He tells her he is angry and asks her to stick her hand out. Xiao Ru is afraid he’ll see the missing ring but Jie Xiu grabs her hand.

Turns out she hurt her hand at the police station and Jie Xiu noticed it. He’s angry that she doesn’t take better care of herself. She wants to put on the medicine herself but finally allows Jie Xiu to do it. I swear how much he loves her just breaks me into tiny little pieces of goo. Xiao Ru wonders why he’s so thorough with the ointment application? Jie Xiu reminds her that her hands are very special – it changed his bad memory associated with bread and even made a bread just for him. And today when Jie Xiu couldn’t think clearly, her hand helped him clear up his feelings and desire to protect that person (Samantha).

Xiao Ru suggests they watch a good movie she collected recently to help lighten the mood. Jie Xiu smiles and wonders why type of movie she is talking about. Xiao Ru runs to get it and Jie Xiu does a few pushups to prepare himself for nocturnal activities. Turns out Xiao Ru grabbed a cooking program, which promptly puts Jie Xiu to sleep the way his architectural video put her to sleep back in episode 3.

Jie Xiu falls asleep on Xiao Ru’s shoulder. She moves his head back to position, wondering why his brows are furrowed even when he’s asleep. She smooths out his frown and notices that he has thick and busy eyebrows. She looks more and wonders why his nose is so upright and why his mouth is so cute when he smiles. Suddenly Jie Xiu rolls over onto Xiao Ru and she quickly pretends that she was just talking in her sleep in case he overheard her admiring his face. But Jie Xiu is fast asleep. Xiao Ru flashes back to all the declarations Jie Xiu made to her recently about how much she means to him.

Xiao Ru gets up and looks at her empty hand, promising the sleeping Jie Xiu that she’ll get the missing ring back. Lady, he doesn’t want the stinking ring, he wants YOU! At the hotel, Daniel calls his adoptive brother and asks how their mother is doing. Daniel is told to come back and help with the family business, and is reminded that he was adopted only to have someone help out with the family business. So Daniel should stop thinking the family is really his.

Daniel flashes back to his adoption where his adoptive brother Simon immediately rejected him. He also flashes back to Xiao Ru rejecting him right after he was adopted. He wonders why the world is so big, but there is nowhere he belongs. Xiao Ru walks into the stairwell and sees Daniel. She makes small talk and asks why he’s not gone home so late at night. Daniel offers to help her look for her missing item, as a way to apologize to her.

Xiao Ru looks around the stairwell and Daniel starts following her around, which ends up with his face close to her butt. Xiao Ru thinks he’s trying to loosen her defenses and them pounce on her. She straighens herself and grabs a broom to repel him. Daniel asks if what she is looking for is cleaning supplies. Xiao Ru says he’s looking for a ring, a one-carat ring. Daniel asks if its a ring her boyfriend gave her? Xiao Ru tells Daniel that soon she will have nothing to do with that guy. Daniel asks if she’s planning to dump him soon? Xiao Ru tells him to stop asking about her personal life. She says the ring was lent to her and is very important because she has to give it back.

Xiao Ru and Daniel sit outside later that night. He takes off his sweater and drapes it over her. He asks her what to do since no one can find it. Xiao Ru says she just wants to sit here for awhile and Daniel asks to join her since he’s still jetlagged. Xiao Ru apologizes to him for accusing him of being such a bad guy.

Daniel says that he’s just like her, looking for something very important. He’s looking for why a good friend from childhood wouldn’t keep her promise? Xiao Ru tells him not to make such a big deal about promises. If one day he likes someone, he needs to look deep into her eyes and he’ll see the real him in her eyes. He just needs to live for the person he loves, and then his live will have meaning. Daniel realizes that Xiao Ru is repeating something their orphanage director once told them. Xiao Ru gives Daniel a box of croissants to thank him for helping her look for her ring.

Daniel asks why she carries a box of croissants around? Xiao Ru says the croissant was given to her by her friend Meng Jun, bu we know that it was actually Daniel who has been giving her croissants everyday. He asks if her locker is still as messy as it used to be? Xiao Ru mentions a boy who used to clean up her locker, but one day he went o the US. Xiao Ru confesses that she abandoned him.

Daniel asks if Xiao Ru never thought of about this boy, or tried to look for him. Xiao Ru thinks that life goes on and she doesn’t want to wallow in memories. She really doesn’t like that boy. Daniel asks if Xiao Ru remembers what his name is. She recalls his name being Wang Jin Tu. Xiao Ru then falls asleep. Daniel thinks that he used to consider Xiao Ru the most important person in his life, but now she’s completely abandoned him and can’t even correctly remember his name. He tells the sleeping Xiao Ru that the boy’s name is Wang Jin Xui. We see someone snap a picture of Xiao Ru sleeping on Daniel’s shoulder, and it turns out to be bitchy Kelly.

Jie Xiu wakes up the next morning to find himself alone. He wonders where Xiao Ru went? He knocks on Avril’s door and walks in looking for Xiao Ru. Avril realizes that the second Jie Xiu doesn’t see Xiao Ru he is immediately nervous and worried. But she’s standing before him and he doesn’t even see that she’s hurting. Jie Xiu apologizes to Avril – he went into this contract marriage hoping to get the happiness he wanted at the end of it. Turns out that in the contract marriage was the happiness he was looking for. Xiao Ru is the first woman who gives him this feeling.

Avril asks if Jie Xiu considered whether this is just a temporary feeling. If it turns out to be fleeting, will Jie Xiu be willing to leave Xiao Ru? Jie Xiu thinks long and hard and tells Avril that his feelings for Xiao Ru are real. Avril’s face collapses, but she asks what will happen if Xiao Ru gives up and refuses to stay with him. Jie Xiu says even if Xiao Ru leaves him, he will never give up on her. He tells Avril that if she’s willing, he will be her friend for life. Avril says she doesn’t want his friendship. If he can’t reciprocate her feelings, then she won’t stay here any longer.

Jie Xiu walks out and sees him mom outside. Samantha asks where Xiao Ru went, and she left her phone behind. Samantha suggest they bring her phone to the hotel and find out what’s going on with Xiao Ru. Avril packs her stuff, wondering why everyone is worried about Xiao Ru, but her feelings never get reciprocated. Avril finds the marriage contract between Xiao Ru and Avril. She throws the contract on the bed and screams that it’s all the fault of that damnable contract. Oh lord Avril, it’s 100% your fault. The paparrazi sees Jie Xiu and Samantha rushing out and he decides to go inside to look for evidence of Jie Xiu’s fake marriage.

At the hotel, Samantha happily sees Lee Da Fu and says hi. She asks him to treat her to a meal and he gladly agrees. Jie Xiu is looking for Xiao Ru when he gets a text with the picture of Xiao Ru sleeping on Daniel’s shoulder. Meng Jun tells Jie Xiu that Xiao Ru was seen sleeping on a raft in the middle of the swimming pool. But Xiao Ru can’t swim. Daniel is sitting by the pool telling the sleeping Xiao Ru to wake up. He’s pissed she doesn’t remember him and this is his payback prank on her.

Xiao Ru wakes up and immediately topples into the pool. She struggles and starts to sink. Daniel and Jie Xiu both dive into the pool to save her. Daniel gets to her first and drags her out of the pool. Jie Xiu pushes Daniel off Xiao Ru, telling him to get away from his wife. Jie Xiu starts to do CPR on Xiao Ru.

Thoughts of Mine:

Don’t take the brevity of my thoughts section for any indicator that I don’t love DTLY or that the story isn’t meaty with great discussion material. What is clear is that there is no real angst, and the performances of Joseph and Rainie Yang are so seamless (without crossing over into any RL shipping possibilities) that I’ve been lulled into a state of blissful enjoyment. I feel like a cat with cream, wanting more to watch this drama than to dissect it. I also think that we’re in a stage in the drama where the characters have long ago laid out the issues, and what is left is simply taking small steps forward little by little. Ergo, this drama is fully in the watch-and-enjoy stage.

I confess to being taken aback by Samantha – her recognition of her own faults and shortcomings, as well as her quick study of Xiao Ru and realization of which woman is right for Jie Xiu. While it doesn’t excuse her shitty parenting, and continued irresponsibility, I think ultimately she wins back enough goodwill from me that I’ll excuse her from the bad parent of the year awards. I hope this is also the end of the Avril arc. If she still couldn’t accept the raw honesty that Jie Xiu used to describe his feelings for Xiao Ru, then she needs to check herself into a mental hospital. I think she’s finally gotten the message (about 5 episodes too late IMO).

I don’t know what it is about TW-dramas. When it gets everything right, the OTP feel like people you meet in your life, and their relationship is completely grounded in reality despite the slapstick scenarios and flights of fancy. Sometimes when the drama tries to add plot is when it flounders a bit. The Daniel arc isn’t very interesting to me, either as a potential rival for Jie Xiu or even as a close friend for Xiao Ru. It feels a little lightweight to be honest, though Daniel’s own parental and abandonment issues do finally connect with me in this episode. I am looking forward to the return of jealous Jie Xiu.

We’re definitely headed towards the finale of the show, especially once the papparazi finds evidence of the fake marriage and everything with Avril comes tumbling out int the open. It’ll force everyone to finally work through the problems, let go of the past, and embrace the future with a clean slate.