I’m used to the 2-episode a week format for K-dramas, and the even more painful 1-episode a week format for TW-dramas and J-doramas. But when it comes to C-dramas, I’ve been spoiled on the 5-episode a week format so much that watching 2-episodes a weekend of Drama Go Go Go has been so so so painful because the drama has been just that good. It’s a rom-com complete with all the romance tropes but done in a way that is self-deprecating and self-aware, not to mention with a sweet sincerity that belies the understanding that the tropes may have been stale and overused but the genesis of them all come from a place of dreams and hopes for romantic satisfaction. While it appeared the ending was headed for a reversal of fortune with Ruby Lin’s character Wang Ming Ming choosing not guy 1 or guy 2, but instead the super smexy older guy 3, in the end guy 1 Eason played by Jiro Wang pulled out the well-earned and oh-so-lovely win and won back the confidence and faith of his beloved Ming Ming that their celebrity-nobody younger guy-older woman love story could have a happy ending. I enjoyed every minute of DGGG, with the drama in turns funny, down-to-earth, softly romantic, and thoroughly well executed. All the characters were fleshed out and well integrated into the story and the journey was crafted with careful consideration and meaningful twists and turns. This is one drama I can safely recommend as totally worth watching and doesn’t miss a beat from beginning to end. DGGG is a triple win for the books!
I don’t know how this drama did it, but it created three equally compelling male leads with their own unique story and chemistry with the leading lady. I can’t say I was always rooting for male lead Eason to get the girl, but I felt reassured by the end that when they did get together after all they went through, they really earned the right to say they picked each other after thoroughly understanding each other’s strengths and weaknesses and still wanting to be together. As the drama progressed, I could always understand everyone’s motivations and pressure which made the angst really realistic and low key. There wasn’t a single makjang element thrown in and instead everyone tried to balance expectations and realities while making the choices that would make them happy. All three male leads had very compelling reasons for why Ming Ming should pick them, and all three wowed me with their straight forward and upstanding affection for Ming Ming.
In the end, she picked the one she loved the most, and I wasn’t left crying over the other two who lost one. Little brother Tong Shao Tian had all the playful bantering and great camaraderie with Ming Ming, but ultimately she never saw him as a romantic interest. Hu Bing’s mature and warm Fu Yun Kai was sexy and gentlemanly with patience and understanding, but being the perfect man didn’t mean Ming Ming could easily pick him for that reason alone. Through the course of Ming Ming helming her first solo drama scriptwriting project, Eason climbing out of the idol D-list and achieving newfounded stardom as an actor, Shao Tian trying to woo the women he’s called older sister for half his life, and the rest of the interesting denizens of that little corner of the showbiz world, DGGG successfully created a rom-com that allowed the romance to ebb and flow naturally while the comedy was peppered deftly throughout.
DGGG had a fantastic OST, a really talented director at the helm keeping the story visually flowing without any awkwardness, and a cast that was firing on all cylinders in terms of acting ability and chemistry with each other. There wasn’t a weak link in this drama and it really is all thanks to leading lady/producer Ruby Lin, who has proven she has the smarts and great intuition to assemble a pitch-perfect group of folks behind and in front of the scenes to deliver one of the rare C-drama rom-com wins in recent memory.
Love this show! Not a super big fan of Ruby but i liked her in this show. Love love loooooooove LGX, I want a “younger brother” like that too! Hu Bing…what a super fine sexy aged wine that I would love to gulp down! haha.. however for some reason I just can’t get behind Jiro, his odd-looking face distracted me from truly liking his character. =P
Perhaps his odd-looking face n personality n no airs not the typical handsome-pretty actor was chosen because it’s very in-character of Eason, has been pop-star… natural acting or tailor-made role for him….
I love this show. I’m willing to wait weeks while some generous soul subtitles the show. Thank you Ms. Koala to turning me on to quality Chinese dramas.
It was kind of hilarious to me that Jiro’s character was only 2 years younger than Ruby’s character and yet that is still considered an ‘age difference’…
Personality of Jiro is youthful n bubbly n free-spirit while Rubylin is typical feminine, conservative dresser n coy n sweet. The scriptwriter is also confusing in her age distinction… also the case of Jiros Mommy manager who is a junior classmate of yun Kai. N yun Kai is close to Mei’s age. So scriptwriter is also muddled in the age differences of his chars!
Also, doesn’t it just suck that this drama did pretty poorly ratings wise? I’m not sure whether weekend dramas have different standards, but the ratings basically declined from above 1 (really good) to about 0.5 near the end.
I don’t think the mainland audience really likes the concept of ‘jie-di’.
I blame mostly Hunan for that. The drama was supposed to air in the Summer, the cast attended some promotions event and the long trailer was released, but then it was delayed for 4 months… And then, after the first couple of episodes, the editing got really messy with some episodes having up to 15 minutes repeated from the previous ones, some scenes cut midway, the dubbing of some actors going on and off a lot (especially Pei Ni’s voice), etc. To make things worse, the drama didn’t air for 2/3 weeks and it was supposed to come back after New Year in a new time slot (Monday and Tuesdays) but, at the last minute, it was changed again and aired on Saturday and Sunday instead. No one really knew when it was going to air. Not even the drama’s official weibo. So… yeah. I guess at one point, only the actors’ fans kept watching.
Also, I think it got really draggy in the middle. After Ming Ming and Eason broke up, for a couple of episodes it was like they were repeating the same plot over and over again. Eason running after Ming Ming trying to get her to forgive him and getting rejected every time, and then more and more misunderstandings keeping them apart. Pei Ni trying to get Eason to love her but getting rejected as well. Shao Tian trying to convince Ming Ming that he really loved her as a woman… It was like every episode was a deja vu of the previous one. I confess it was kinda hard for me to stick up with this till the end, and I’m a fan of Jiro. At one point I just wanted to bitch-slap every single character in that drama. Hard. Especially Ming Ming (god, did she really need to be so stubborn and use Shao Tian’s feelings to drive Eason away?) and Eason (why wouldn’t he just give up already)! Thankfully, it got better towards the end. I still think the ending was rushed, though. But the drama was supposed to have 30 episodes instead of 28, so I guess Hunan cut a lot of stuff? Can’t wait for the drama to air in Taiwan to watch the unedited version.
I agree with all your points – I didn’t realize that the broadcasting was so choppy. Plus, I never really supported the Ruby-Jiro pairing (Hu Bing was on another plane of hotness in this drama) so maybe that turned other people off as well? Either way, must be a disappointment to Ruby.
I soooo agree!! The airing schedule was a mess!! And then the plotline around the middle lost point and got really draggy and so i lost interest. I soo wanted to bitchslap all the characters!! I’m still up to ep 24 and i don’t have the urge to watch till the end…..:/ And i’m a huge fan of Jiro too!! 🙂 But i still remember how nice the first half was!! Got me wanting to have Satirdays only. 🙂
I also felt that midway through, the drama’s pace really slowed down. It’s the reason why I stopped watching to focus on School … the k-drama. I was planning to continue watching DGGG after I finished School(the finale’s tomorrow!), but here, as I opened this web page, the ending was completely ruined.
I was hooked throughout but was thoroughly confused by the editing too (watched via Maplestage if that makes a diff). Almost every episode ended midway through a scene without a clear cliffhanger or logical ending point (same thing with BuBuJingXin).
Confused as I thought TW and Cdramas don’t suffer from liveshoot issues like kdramas do..
Do these things get cleaned up in DVD form?
And ockoala, thanks so much for pointing me to this drama to begin with. I was totally rooting for hot, mature, sexy, all round perfect Fu Yun Kai (the QiongYaoesque hero name cracks me up) and was really hoping for the drama to break the must-keep-original-OTP requirement, but didn’t find the reversion dissatisfying either. And I liked the complications and imperfections the scriptwriter gave to Pei Ni’s life, who was refreshingly complex.
I’m still waiting painfully for viki to fully sub all the videos.
*tapping the desk/trying not to be impatient* Me, too. Does anyone know of anywehere else besides viki that is doing English subs?
Thanks_- I started it based on your recommendation– good to know that it finishes well. Will wait (with gratitude) for the subs.
Out of curiosity how was the drama ratings wise?
I haven’t had the time to watch more than two episodes of this drama. It makes me happy that almost all the taiwanese dramas end with a wedding 😀 it’s like a proper conclusion
I tried to check it out when it you first wrote about it, but I realized it was C-drama and not a TW-drama that I occasionally watch (actually, the presence of Jiro confused me). It is slightly weird to watch a C-drama for the first time, but you tempted me again.. I hope all the subs are out by the time I get around to watching it.
Btw, I’m about 40 minutes in the first episode this drama… and I’m already scared of continuing… shao tian is leading straight into my heart and i dont know if jiro can catch up. the last thing i want right now is second lead syndrome… T__T I’ll give it until 2nd episode to see if i change my mind.