When watching dramas, I can simply like or dislike based on my immediate reaction. It’s personal and introspective. When writing about dramas, my likes and dislikes take on a life of its own outside my private thought bubble. I’ve noticed people can be offended if it differs from theirs, or find validation when it coincides therewith. That’s fine by me, since I take it in stride, believing only that candor is always cathartic.
With that said, this rant and rave discussion of In Time With You will likely put me squarely in the minority opinion on this drama, and likely rile some feathers. Eh, if I can eviscerate Secret Garden earlier this year, I’ll take on all comers with my discussion as to why I am having a horribly constipated time watching ITWY, which stars my favorite TW-actress Ariel Lin. I still love you Ariel babe, but I freaking want to destroy your character Chen You Qing. Imma getting my sword ready now, sweetie, so you better hold on tight.
Like all first impressions reviews I write, it’s based on one or two episodes at most, and is merely a snapshot of the set up to presuppose what’s to come. I genuinely loved episode 1 of ITWY, and elected not to recap it because I felt it was a drama best watched alone and not discussed communally. The subsequent episodes continued to be enjoyable for me, but I was starting to get that little pit in my stomach, that flutter which left me feeling uneasy. Something was beginning to feel more and more off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it (yet). As my love for the drama turned to merely like, and finally into a reluctance to watch each new episode, I figured I owed it to my darling Ariel to figure out why.
After much inner back-and-forth debate, I finally came to a startling realization. It feels like SG déjà vu again, a drama highly anticipated by me, starring my fave actors, helmed by my fave scribe or director, ending up disappointing me to such a degree that I have whiplash and feel way more horrible than if it just sucked out right. The main reason for SG and ITWY’s failure for me is the exact same crutch – both dramas aim so high, have such promise and ability to fulfill every expectation, but fail because it refuses to dial down the manufactured characterizations. Or like Serendipity once said about a drama “this fails the Aspirational Gap test.”
What fails for me in ITWY? It stems from one person only – the heroine Chen You Qing – and radiates outward from there like a miasma. Let me explain. From the beginning I found You Qing difficult, a character that is prickly and seemingly complex. I liked that she had an attitude, even if her attitude comes off as self-absorbed and holier-than-thou. I figured we’re along for the ride to see her mature and change.
She spent all of episode 1 waxing platitudes about turning 30, complete with dreams of furry time chasing her, and making it Such A Big Deal. Lemme tell you something – turning 30 is not a big deal. Turning ANYTHING is not a big deal. Every day is a big deal, living your life with purpose, conviction, and meaning. A birthday with a round number? That’s just a figurative milestone but is not a literal switch that means You Qing is starting to age. But You Qing makes it that way. She’s like a 16 year old who thinks that her life is pretty much downhill once she turns 30. But a mature (and realistic) 30 year old would look back fondly on her life lived until then, and then press forward to make sure the next 30 years are just as good if not better than the past.
So right off the bat You Qing gives me the impression that she is self-absorbed and a drama queen. Remember her chiding the teenagers in the elevator, and her attitude towards vapid La La who might be clueless but surely isn’t spiteful or evil and warranting such condescension from Queen You Qing. While You Qing may think she knows better and can lecture people, but she comes off as petty and patronizing. As I watched more and more of this drama, I came to realize that You Qing doesn’t just come off that way but is secretly magnanimous and wise, she IS in fact petty and patronizing. Even worse, she’s that way to everyone, including her best friend and poor mistreated Li Da Ren.
What really drives me up the wall is that 30 year old You Qing is literally the same version as her 18 year old self in high school. She has not grown a single bit of emotional maturity, and instead continues to think the world revolves around her. She can give pep talks to friends and family members in trouble, but she doesn’t actually live any of the grand speeches she spouts. She tells her divorcing friend to be strong and move on, when she herself is stuck on Ding Li Wei still. Worse yet, You Qing lies to herself and tries to pretend she’s not. She’s the worst combination of hypocritical and delusional when it comes correctly judging herself.
You Qing really needs to thank the lucky stars that she has a friend like Da Ren who understands her and gives her such wide latitude to be a snippy bitch whenever she feels like it. The fact that all the guys love You Qing makes me even more pissed, because the drama posits that men like her brand of passive-aggressive posturing paired with only the least amount of ability to be genuinely honest with herself. If You Qing derides men in general for liking the “eternal 25 year old” pretty young thing, at least they admit to thinking with their shallow primitive instincts and don’t pretend otherwise. I can’t fathom what the drama is trying to convey when two male leads are in love with a selfish and condescending harridan like You Qing who believes she’s some sort of awesome specimen of womankind.
While I loathe You Qing, I firmly stand by my initial impression that Ariel is hitting it out of the ballpark in her performance. The eye-rolling, the know-it-all smirks, the piercing looks of annoyance, Ariel has got all the tics down pat. Ariel can’t possibly do anymore to sell You Qing, who feels three-dimensional because of her performance, but completely one-dimensional as a character construct. I never thought the day would come that Ariel could play a character I dislike more than I disliked her Yuan Xiang Qin in It Started with a Kiss, but she’s outdone herself this time.
I disliked Xiang Qin in ISWAK because she’s got no backbone, has the brain power of a mildly intelligent guppy, and looks perpetually confused. But that dislike never veers towards loathing because she’s so damn earnest, and is such a caring person with her heart on a platter for Zhi Shu. Xiang Qin is like my uber-affectionate Shih-tzu, who can lick me to death but also can’t quite figure out where his tail is. How can I hate on such a clueless but big-hearted puppy?
You Qing is completely different, and right now something HUGE has to happen in the drama to redeem her for me. I refuse to conditionally like her just because she’s the heroine of this drama and is played by Ariel. That would make me a brain dead lemming. I find You Qing akin to my neighbors annoying pampered pet Chihuahua. That thing thinks she’s god’s gift to the world, prances around like she’s the Queen doling out haughty looks left and right, and then nips at my fingers when I try to be nice and pet her. She has the most annoying high pitch yapping, and doesn’t have a clue that even in the dog world, she’s small fry that the neighborhood sleepy Golden Retriever can smush with one paw if he wanted to.
Stepping back from the You Qing ranting, as a whole, ITWY is a masterful work that is leaps and bounds above almost any other TW-drama out there, current and previous works alike. Director Winnie is just brilliant in the way he films, mixing shot angles and movement (or inaction) so that the scenes feel intimate and connects with the audience. For the last few episodes, I’ve been watching solely to appreciate his directing, as well as enjoying Bolin Chen’s spot-on and understated performance as perpetually lovelorn Da Ren. Newcomer Sunny Wang is totally making me cross-eyed and spazzy with how much impact he’s making in any of his scenes. His massive body tattoo aside, he’s got masculine sexual chemistry oozing out of his pores. No wonder You Qing goes weak-kneed around him.
While I complain about You Qing, I know there have been leads in other dramas written so unlikeably which doesn’t drive me nearly this insane. What perplexes me is how ITWY tries to force feed the audience into accepting that You Qing is supposed to be “right” and “commendable” and “strong”, when to me she’s none of that. It’s the aspirational gap at work, where the drama wants me to like a heroine who I can plainly see is a grade-A bitch if I ran across her in real life. I simply find You Qing holding her temper in check most of the time because she has to since she’s in the professional work place and is supposed to be an adult now. Otherwise she’d be even more impossible to stomach.
In high school, You Qing didn’t have to pander to anyone (such a work place environment and professional and personal etiquette), so she was free to prance around class like she had a stick up her ass and purposely torture the poor belittled male classmates. She clearly must’ve gone out of her way to design that ridiculously froufy pink cat mascot just to stick it to the boys, because otherwise I can’t figure out why she’d pick that rather than some less polarizing mascot that might appeal to both genders of the class.
But since You Qing was still in high school, and I found their boy-girl battles funny and cute in it’s pointless silliness, I cut her some slack. But over a decade later, I feel like she’s still the same immature girl inside, now wrapped in the professional shell of a seemingly well-adjusted and successful career woman. Which is why her jabs and passive-aggressiveness towards many of the characters in this drama drive me bonkers, because she should know better by now and accept that she’s not some all-knowing goddess with the right to judge everyone else.
I had huge issues with the way You Qing behaved towards Da Ren and his clearly not-going-to-work relationship with Maggie. First You Qing snarks about Maggie behind her back, and during the dinner early on when Maggie invites herself along and tries to be polite and engage You Qing, all she gets is loads of backhanded comments and eye-rolls that go all the way to the ceiling. Really, You Qing? This is how you treat the friend of your best friend? Granted Maggie isn’t the right one for Da Ren, but You Qing’s complete lack of graciousness really grated.
Things went from bad to worse when Maggie tagged along, as she had every right to because she was dating Da Ren, on the weekend trip with Da Ren and You Qing. One would think You Qing was Da Ren’s girlfriend and Maggie the interloper, the way You Qing acted like her trip was ruined and couldn’t even be bothered to be anything more than barely civil to Maggie. When You Qing declined to go sightseeing the next day with her excuse that she wanted to work out some more at the hotel, I seriously wanted to reach into the screen and slap her silly. That was how I behaved with I was 9 years old and didn’t want to attend a family dinner with my folks, and my parents did slap me silly for being a brat.
I think the drama cannot have its cake and eat it, too. It cannot build up You Qing to be so distasteful, and then force feed her to me as something tasty. This is not saying You Qing doesn’t have plenty of good traits, and push comes to shove she is a decent person. But she is nowhere near the endearing and generous character that we are led to believe based on the fact that poor blind Da Ren loves her and Ding Li Wei is inexplicably still hung up on her.
Da Ren is clearly much too good for You Qing, but I don’t have much sympathy for him in the conundrum he created for himself. A man who doesn’t have the guts to confess his feelings for the woman he loves digs his own grave of self-pitying sadness. Though You Qing really is to blame for most of it, since she actively refuses to allow Da Ren even the slightest chance to confess to her, even if neither is that delusional as to think the other person doesn’t secretly know the truth already.
Eight episodes into ITWY (which is scheduled for 13 episodes total), I’m just exasperated by this story despite the beauty of the storytelling mechanism. If You Qing still wants Ding Li Wei and the man is back and supposedly changed and still wants her, then she should by all means go for it. Her woe-is-me resistance rang so false and futile, like a queen dramatically falling down in a faint oh so daintily. That man is sex-on-legs, and I for one would be completely understanding if You Qing took him back and gave him another chance. If he’s still a douchebag, then end it again. It’s really not that big a deal.
But once You Qing took Ding Li Wei back, then clearly something has to give with her very complicated relationship with Da Ren. While men and women can be platonic friends, it’s clear to everyone in the drama that Da Ren does not have platonic feelings forwards You Qing. I don’t blame Ding Li Wei for being insecure about him, and I fault You Qing for being so self-absorbed that she’d completely dismiss her boyfriend’s very valid concerns.
I feel like all the relationships in this drama are a series of people going about love in all the wrong ways, and then suffering more because of it. While everyone else accepts their faults, only You Qing appears to live in the self-deluded grandeur that she’s doing things right (for the most part). Erh, no. I found You Qing’s break up with Ding Li Wei years ago to be really screechy and whiny on her part, even if she was in the right and he was in the wrong. I find that even when You Qing is right and logical, her attitude and the way she conveys it just comes off all wrong.
It pains me to have such a huge aspirational gap with this drama, because it might be one of the most beautifully filmed and acted dramas I have seen from any country. So much care went into it, and it is conveyed beautifully. The drama continues to climb in ratings, breaking 3 as of episode 8 which aired this past Sunday. I think ITWY deserves all the accolades, and I am happy to pile on more when it comes to its presentation and execution. I think the OST can be dialed back a tad, but the music is wonderfully evocative most of the time.
Ultimately I think the story concept is fundamentally flawed and not even the best acting by Ariel and Bolin can patch the gaping holes. I still don’t understand how and why You Qing and Da Ren are best friends, and the depth and meaning of their friendship eludes me on a fundamental level other than the superficial trappings where they know each other’s likes and dislikes and put up with each other’s quirks and shortcomings.
I’m told they are best friends, they act like best friends, but the foundation of their friendship rings hollow to me. It feels like Da Ren has been in love with You Qing but hadn’t the courage to confess in the beginning, so he elected to become her best friend to stay close to her. And You Qing reciprocated his friendship because Da Ren was always reliable and not a threat, becoming her perpetual fallback option. That is not a best friends story I can buy into and root for.
At this point, I want You Qing and Da Ren to get together because he’s obviously the only one who can put up with her attitude and love her unconditionally because he knows ALL her flaws. You Qing also needs Da Ren because she’s so insecure that only someone with his grounded sincerity can give her the security blanket in love she craves. I feel like all the secondary leads like Maggie and Ding Li Wei are the collateral damage to the pas-de-deux of You Qing and Da Ren’s low-EQ way of having a relationship.
I love Ariel so much it actually tempers how much I loathe You Qing, because anyone else playing You Qing I would pretty much stabbity to death in my mind already. I’ve had to go rewatch parts of LoCH2008 to coo over Ariel’s perfect portrayal of Huang Rong to get the bad taste out of my mouth from her You Qing. And while watching LoCH, I suddenly had an epiphany, realizing that You Qing is a modern day version of Huang Rong, with even the same character growth trajectory.
High school You Qing is bratty and prickly, thinking she’s smarter than everyone else and always itching for a battle of wits. She’s pretty much Huang Rong in LoCH, the 16 year old Rong Er who caused havoc because she could until she met her steady rock of a Guo Jing. You Qing at 30 years old is identical to adult Hong Rong in RoCH, which universally all the critics have found fault with for being an adult but still having teenage Huang Rong’s brain smarts but not enough of a mature woman’s EQ.
Everyone loves teeange Huang Rong in LoCH and hates adult Huang Rong in RoCH, even though she is the same character in both books. Young Huang Rong was motherless and had a barely there father, hence her dissociation with human affection and morality until she meets Guo Jing. I accept her character’s growth in that story, but hated when the adult retained her brilliant deductive mind but appeared to have lost empathy along the way. Similarly, while high school You Qing’s attitude and antics are cute in its childish pettiness, the same shit being pulled by a 30 year old You Qing is just unacceptable and really off-putting. I expect characters to grow, and so far I see none of that in ITWY.
I feel like ITWY is like a bizarro modern version of the LoCH love story. So instead of smart but morally ambiguous Huang Rong (You Qing) and dumb but kind-hearted Guo Jing (Da Ren) getting together when they are teens because they realize they are made for each other, somehow that relationship doesn’t happen. So Guo Jing instead wastes his time with clingy and forward Princess Hua Zheng (Maggie), while Huang Rong messes around with a bad boy like Ouyang Ke (Ding Li Wei) for awhile. What a big old waste of everyone’s time, forcing everyone to spin in circles because the two leads refuse to just be honest with each other.
When I watch a romantic drama like ITWY, which tries to aim for realism and sincerity, I am even more picky than if the drama was some over-the-top silliness that doesn’t purport to be anything other than throwaway entertainment. I wanted ITWY to be brilliant inside and out. But my conclusion is that it’s just fabulous looking on the outside, but rings with manufactured manipulation on the inside. ITWY is akin to a gorgeous photobook, beautifully put together, but a deeper look reveals each picture is artfully but artificially posed.
I’m not even sure I have any desire to finish the drama, other than to keep enjoying watching Ariel onscreen plus savoring the eye candy of the visual presentation of this gorgeous piece of work. Frankly I don’t care if I’m the only person on the planet who feels this way about ITWY. In the end, this is simply my personal opinion. I will never say ITWY is a bad drama. On the contrary, I think it’s an excellent drama that has one huge and significant characterization flaw that I simply cannot bridge because it undermines the very foundation of the love story it wants to tell.
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So sad, but it's good I hadn't started to watch it 'cause I'm still on a Drunken to Love You High and have not been able to get past ep.7 of Black and White.
I trust your judgement.
You know, I've been kind of going through this same thinking the past few days. I loved the first few episodes and, I was waiting for her to start to redeem herself. Then it just didn't happen. I had to stop after they went on the trip together. I haven't watched the newest episode, and I kept trying to figure out why I didn't really care to, but I do think it's because of her character. I just can't relate to her in any way and it's hard to root for her too.
Not relating to You Qing in any way does make it hard for one to love this drama because she's the heroine. But for me, it's deeper than that. I think there are load of inconsistencies in the way she's written that move beyond simply disliking her character. I can dislike a character but still connect with the person if he/she is written thoroughly so there are no glitches that take me out of the rhythm of the story. Da Ren, for example, is written superbly. I dislike his passive and reactive nature, but completely can connect with him as a three-dimensional character.
I love ITWY. xD I can understand if someone dislikes YQ, but in my opinion DR isn't that much better. That guy didn't change much from High School to now either, because if he had changed he would have confessed his love to YQ. (or at least told her that he didn't mean his words back then, when she asks "Why did you say that you could never love me?") I don't think YQ is actually that strong, and confident as she likes to think she is. If she were, would she call her mum and ask her if she is loveable and cute? If she were would she take LD words 'I can't love you" to her heart until now? If she were would she really believe that the only man left for her is a man that left her 5 years ago completely heartbroken. I can understand why she treated Maggie the way she treated her, because Maggie may seem innocent but she is actually really intrigant. In my opinion YQ is woman that is strong and self-centered on the outside, but rather weak and unconfident on the inside.
Erm...I don't know what to say. I understand You Qing's treatment towards Maggie. Ugh, that girl was annoying. And You Qing probably wouldn't think being 30 was such a big deal if everyone around her didn't keep reminding her...so I get that too.
While I don't really like You Qing either because she is I admit, hypocritical...I can relate to her because she seems so real. All of the people in this drama feel like they could exist in real life.
Overall, I like this drama. Some scenes are so poetic. I love the dialogue between You Qing and Da Ren. I think they sound like wise people...
At the moment, I am frustrated with Da Ren for not telling You Qing straight up that he's in love with her. Telling her that would put an end to this ridiculousness with Lei Wei.
Ms. Koala,
I have to say that I find your opinion very well thought out and agree with many parts of it, but yet I love and enjoy ITWY. I like that Ariel's character is basically an unapologetic, whiny bitch because I feel that is more real to life than the shiny wallflowers that are usually the drama heroines. YQ may be immature, but she is shown to be fairly professional at work and she has obviously done a well enough job to get promoted. Also, *spoiler* she originally says no to DLW's proposal telling him that Da Ren is more important to her. YQ knows her priorities, they just get lost or confused sometimes. Also addressing the statement, "She’s the worst combination of hypocritical and delusional when it comes correctly judging herself," in the most recent episode when she's talking to Nick, I felt that she knew this about herself. She says that it's easy to see solutions to others' problems, but difficult to know what to do about yourself. I feel that it's not that she doesn't know she's wrong, rather she just doesn't know what to do at all.
That all being said, I wish for once a show could realize that guys and girls can be friends without being in love. I have close guy friends (plural) who I would never date and they wouldn't date me, so it's possible. I think I would like this show better if DR and YQ weren't supposed to be the OTP. Then I wouldn't just be "like, so, when's it gonna happen" I could just enjoy their friendship.
I agree with you regarding YQ....just a few weeks ago I was gushing about Bolin's LDR. Sure, he's spineless when it comes to confessing to YQ but he's such a beautiful person....Episode 7 exasperated me....I don't care a fig about YQ's ex (he's hot 'n all but my loyalties lie with LDR :D)....I remember skipping all their scenes. All, I want is YQ-LDR to get together already....is it too much to ask?! Ep 7's exasperation led me to not yet watching Ep 8. I did catch the preview for Ep 9 and with YQ kneeing LDR I guess he did confess to her :/ In hindsight, I kinda get as to the reason why he hasn't confessed. YQ is way too arrogant and frankly if he would've confessed a decade ago in addition to breaking off her friendship with him she would've slapped him silly. :/
I kinda get what you are saying and when reading what you wrote i see what you mean and how horrible YQ can be, but when I was watching it i never thought or felt about her that way. The only time i really disliked her was when she forgot LDR's birthday. I mean he helped her celebrate her birthday and brought her this very special and meaningful gift, and she forgot his birthday because she was too busy thinking about her ex and got him a pen as a gift. Really? But i kinda understand her and i think she, too, knows some of her imperfections like that conversation with Nic about relationships and such. And her relationship with her ex i understand. Watching him ooze his charms towards her makes it very hard to resist him even if he does annoy me. And she does just want to date him and see where it goes but he all of a sudden wants to get engaged and the parents are kinda pressuring her to it. I also got why she was so annoyed with Maggie because Maggie was very annoying. I don't find her as annoying now that she broke up with LDR and i liked that she didn't tell the reason for their breakup. LDR and Bolin's acting is so sincere and it hurts watching him in pain. I also understand why he can't confess now but i don't understand why he didn't confess in their teenage years. Overall i am thoroughly enjoying the drama and i can't wait for episode 9. The storytelling and directing is enough for me to watch.
I was at first nervous when I read the title of this review, (I admit to stalking Viki each Monday/Tuesday until the new episodes of ITWY is subbed). How can Koala hate such a beautiful show? Then I read it, and realized that subconsciously I have been feeling the exact same. I have been so caught up in the trappings (the gorgeous cinematography, the phone calls that symbolically/visually bring our leads together), that I never deeply considered whether or not I actually liked the characters. I remember thinking at moments like when You Qing screams at Da Ren about giving Li Wei her number and taking responsibility, that I'm not sure why she is being so selfish and aggressive and why Da Ren is just taking it, but then the drama would bring on the pretty and suck me right back in.
I agree with your assessment of You Qing, but now I think Da Ren deserves the same treatment. It may seem like Da Ren deserves Man of the Year for the patience he has shown this far, but spin it another way, and Da Ren may be one of the most passive characters ever. He never seems to take charge of his life, regardless of his relationship with You Qing. Everything seems to just happen to him, and he rarely seems to take a stance on anything. The poor guy has allowed all of the aggressive people in his life beat him into submission. At least You Qing has personality (albeit shrill and egotistical) - I can't even think about Da Ren apart from how he relates to other people.
You said some very true things about YQ and LDR but i still love the drama. while i hate the self-righteous side of YQ and wish she would make more sacrifices for LDR, stop taking herself so seriously, and admit when she is wrong more often (it seems like LDR is always the first to extend an olive branch), I love how it was filmed and still feel for the characters (though I, too, would NOT like YQ in real life). YQ seems to have a tough exterior that covers an insecure little girl, so she can be relatable, and her small epiphanies do seem to show baby steps forward (though recent episodes also show steps back--but this, also, is relatable). Perhaps the five episodes to follow will give us the character growth and honesty we all want.
I guess you were pretty pissed off at the end of ep. 8 Koala?.lol I was pulling my hair out too. But, like you said we are here to agree and disagree at the end of the day. To me the drama hasn't fail me yet, it still amazing and one of the best twdramas in ages. The concept is very different from so many dramas out there and the directing has been top notch to say the least, every shot, every angle is beautifully done. The acting we get is outstanding.
The reason I love YQ character is cause she is real, she is flaw to no end, she is selfish, she is a drama queen, she is smart, she is kind, she is clueless, she is childish, she is stubborn, she is loyal and caring. To me YQ is complexity and I love that in characters. I hate cookie cutter characters in the sense that we know our heroine is so morally good that she will suffer anything and have people walk all over her cause she feels she has to let them. YQ is so different and that why I love her, she is real to me, she is real on how she debates on what to do with her ex, how she feels jealous of Maggie because she feels she is stealing her best friend away from her. You guys can call me childish too, but I would have done the same thing to Maggie on that trip, I'm sorry the trip is supposed to be with me and my bff not his girlfriend. So, yes YQ is real to me.
The whole drama in my eyes is about YQ journey and getting to a place of happiness within herself or with someone else. I love how she has struggled for 14 yrs on regards toward her true feelings about DR, she knows deep down that DR is her soul mate, I mean every episode starts with YQ thinking "Li Da Ren...." yet she is afraid of crossing that line and destroying their friendship, that to me is real insecurity and who doesn't have those insecurities feelings. Same goes for DR he is afraid of breaking that bond, and I like that he is stepping back and let YQ make choices without her security blanket a.k.a DR.
I love how the writers have DR and YQ dance around each other and I do buy their friendship. I guess that why DR during High School told YQ he will never fall in love with her, cause he didn't need her will strong attitude, he had enough with his mother. But yet as he gets to know her on a deeper more intimate level he can't help but fall in love with the real insecure, childish, caring, kind YQ and that to me is what resonates with me. How two different people with so many layers of flaws and qualities come together and balance each other out.
What I also get from ITWY is that nobody is perfect and we can be 20, 30, 40 and yet never reach that level of maturity either emotionally or mentally.
Agree with everything you said about YQ. Hated her during the high-school scenes, hated her snarky treatment of Maggie during dinner & the trip (although I loved part of it too because Maggie is so annoying) hate her superior attitude towards almost everyone and hate the way she treats DR. However, I love this drama to bits. Love seeing that she does indeed have faults, one of them being the inability to resist bad boy Li Wei. As for having the men fight over her, maybe it's the same - they're drawn to a bad, bitchy girl? Dunno.
I truly think this is Ariel Lin's best work but that's just IMO. (absolutely hated ISWAK1 & 2) *ducks from things being thrown at me*