That was really mean of SETTV to not release a preview for episode 11 at the end of episode 10 of In A Good Way but thankfully that’s been rectified and now we’ve got a peak at what’s in store for civic right’s minded Jia En and her right hand protest man Liu Chuan. A key component of IAGW is the late 90’s setting and the drama has been weaving in Taiwanese politics, news, and culture from that era in mild dosages. Nothing is done in a way to disrupt the story line while adding a bit of nostalgia to reference events from the past. The dawn of civil protest in Taiwan can be traced back to the 1990’s since the island was in a state of martial law for the forty years prior to that with the ROC and the PRC being still technically in a state of war since 1949. The declaration of martial law by the ROC government allowed for the quelling of any civil dissent but also heralded the ability to get things done quicker since there no debate about it. I like how the drama has brought the protest movement to the CDU campus and made it very important to the main characters since it affects someone close to them. Xiao Wei’s situation isn’t just about failing one class and Professor Chang’s despicable behavior isn’t just limited to her. She can lose her scholarships and the chance at a college education while he’s been doing it before and will keep doing it unless someone stops him.
Jia En fighting for Xiao Wei is the right thing to do, but we can now all debate whether the protest route is the right way. I think for Xiao Wei’s sake it’s not, but for the greater good it probably is. Liu Chuan is the perfect guy to organize and lead a protest because he’s always the voice of reason and righteousness without coming across as bloviating. I can see the entire Treasure Hunting club getting involved in the protest now that Liu Chuan has cast his lot in with Jia En, and I think her parents will also be supportive. Jia En is lucky in that she has parents who can financially support her while Xiao Wei has nothing to fall back on hence her fear of causing ripples is completely understandable. One wrong move and her college education is over and with it goes any hope for a better future. So if Xiao Wei cannot act then having Jia En being her protector is all sorts of perfect because Jia En used to need someone to help her out in a bind and now she’s graduated to helping others. The Jia En that was afraid of what people might think of her is causing a scene in public and letting people stare all they want. I’m so proud of her maturation and growth in the first ten episodes of the drama and cannot wait to see what else is in store for her as she continues her college education. After this protest melee with the school, Jia En will probably vault to near Liu Chuan’s status as the campus rock star. Guys already think she’s da bomb after the Christmas party but now she’s adding being an awesome friend to the list.
Preview for episode 11:
[youtube id=”E73IE-qDXLI” w=”625″ h=”445″]
Jia En: Thank you so much for helping me. There is no way I could do all of this stuff by myself.
Tracy: What can protesting accomplish? You’ll just enrage the school and affect innocent bystanders.
Professor Chang: The school policy is going to give a demerit and there is nothing I can say about it. So I made a decision but I will need your help.
Xiao Wei: Why is every one of you berating me?
Liu Chuan: Since inception there has not been a student protest at CDU to demand student rights. If we back down now it’ll be a waste of us being born into an era of freedom.
Ms. Koala, any confirmations on the episode count for this show?! Am holding off until we reach halfway before I start watching. It’s becoming very difficult with EVERYONE raving about it.
No confirmation. Live filmed SETTV dramas don’t have set episode counts and usually run between 18-24 episodes. I still have no clue where the 35 episodes floating around the web came from.
come soooner next friday!! thanks koala
Thanks a lot. Was eagerly waiting for this. Now have to wait until next week. Sighhh
Excited…excited!
Honestly, I just about have it UP TO HERE with Xiao Wei. I tried to be understanding with her situation and inferiority complex, but gahhhhh she is testing my patience.
Although I admire the fact that Jia En is a good friend who standing next to her friend, I still feel that she forced her highly developed sense of justice on Xie Wei. People are individuals and everyone has different ways of coping with difficult or absurdities situations.
True, Xie Wei is scared and timid girl who needs to learn how to become more socialize and how to stand on her principles, but it’s not the right way to force Jia En’s way as the ONLY right way. That’s why you can see in the preview different views of people who are close to both girls on the same situation.
I feel the same way about Xiao Wei. I am more of a Jia En but I respect Xiao Wei’s right to live according to her own principles and this matter was really her decision to make. But then Jia En is also doing it so the Prof can’t continue to victimize other students so her protest has bigger implications that just Xiao Wei. In this case, I like that neither girl is all right or all wrong, and their friends also can see both sides. It’s a very mature way of presenting a topic that isn’t so clear cut. I also think protesting is really a tad too much at this point. Jia En ought to have escalated her complaint to the Department Chair, then the School Chancellor, and if she’s rebuffed in all avenues, then a protest would likely be her final option. She kinda went from zero to 100, but heck that is so very Jia En.
I am with Jia En 100%! I just about had it with Xiao Wei. Even if she wants to ‘avoid’ trouble she should at least have the good sense of loyalty as a friend to tell Jia En to stop. Her lack of moral courage pisses me off and I really don’t care if she ends up having to ”mai bing lang”. An education is wasted on her!!!!
Excuse me, ‘mai bing lang’? What has Xiao Wei done to deserve that? No one is at fault here and the blame can’t be placed entirely on her. This situation is a matter of different ways of dealing with a thorny issue. Yes Xiao Wei is timid and shy and unwilling to stand up for her own rights, although she’s fully aware of being a victim of power abuse. However if put in her shoes, could you fault her for deciding to let the matter go? She’s in a position where she’s juggling studies, college life, financial problems, living away from family etc. She’s doing her best to survive during a period where she’s supposed to enjoy college life, interacting with friends, the freedom to explore new opportunities, basically to have fun. This is her era of freedom! But due to unforeseen circumstances, her time and energy are spent on working under a harsh boss, waking up early and coming home late, counting every single penny to save money, being a financial and emotional support for her family, studying for finals whenever she can squeeze in time. And I must say it’s impressive looking at her scores! Her results is so good (bar Professor Chang’s) considering her current dilemma. Furthermore, Xiao Wei did try to stop her, only not directly, trying to look for Bai Xue to help but instead ran into Liu Chuan and well we saw what happened. She has told Jia En her stand on this matter, pleading to brush off the whole matter, worried of escalating the problem and Jia En getting dragged into it as well. But Jia En, with her strong sense of justice and knowledge of other students being victims of Professor Ass, barreled through to seek for justice not only for her beloved friends but also for other students. I must applaud the writer’s touch of realism on this matter, in reality there are many Xiao Weis while not many Jia En exists. Although we may protest fiercely when we encounter unjust situations, normally through the internet, but honestly how many of us would have the courage to take action to the streets to voice out our displeasure. Xiao Wei represents most of the people’s mindset. The last scene with both Liu Chuan and Jia En showed that when more than one person express their opinions, it will bring about attention and may become the first step to change.
The reason why Professor Ass (love the name by the way) has been able to get away with this for so long is becuase there are far more Xiao Weis in the world than Jia En. I may be a Jia En now, but I was not when I was in college. I would have been just like Xiao Wei because my parents had no money and I was in college purely by the grace of a scholarship and federal loans. There was no way I was going to risk that and go back and shame my parents by getting kicked out of school by protesting against a professor. I did not know how the university world worked and had no idea how to file a legitmate complaint; neither did my parents Who had not gone to university themselves. I would have just kept my head down, hating myself for it, but muddling through all the way. I did not have a friend like Jia En.
Agree with JL and trot wood.
I agree that Xiao Wei is very weak willed and she is wasting everyone’s time if they are out to fight for her.
I seriously doubt Xiao Wei had anything to lose if she was willing to stand up for herself. For one, she had already established that she only had 2 answers that were different from Jia En’s and she could show that the rest of her grades were good. Also, Jia En could probably find other students to support the fact that Prof Ass was being bias against those students who did not buy his book for the class.
If Xiao Wei was so troubled by her financial situation, she had everything to gain to fight for herself – get a review on her paper and get a proper grade then she would have been able to continue to apply for scholarship money and be able to help her parents out financially. What she did instead was retreat and feel sorry for herself. Yes she could continue with her 101 jobs but it’d not get her out of Prof Ass’s class nor will she be able to bump up her grades….unless she bought his book – which appeared to be Prof Ass’s problem with her. The solution was fairly simple – for her to buy his book. She didnt and got a bad grade. Then she wallows in self-pity and rebuffs her friend’s good intentions to help her.
It is highly likely that even if she studied harder for her next test with Prof Ass, nothing would have changed. It was really not because she did not study in the first place. So really her only sensible choice would have been to fight and be grateful she has good friends to support her cause.
Sounds like JERK Chang is going to ask XW to stop JE somehow.
I bet he will try to cut some deal to keep his nefarious dealings secret.
JERK! I am so glad he is there to give JE and LC a chance to shine.
John Chen is always playing the douchebag asshole. I keep wanting to yell “Johnson!” whenever he shows up in IAGW even though the days of Terry are long past….
The days of Terry are past but not forgotten.♥
Didn’t he play the really good-hearted paparazzi guy in Janel Tsai’s In Between? I keep thinking it was him, but I cannot find the complete cast list.
Yep, that’s definitely him. His name is listed on its dramawiki and chinese wikipedia.
thx Ms. Koala for posting this! ^_^ Although I look 4ward to this upcoming episode, I especially look 4ward to LC soothing JE’s head “bubu.” ^_~ How I wish i were JE!!! i’d give Lego a tight hug… ^-^
I have watched that two seconds countless times now, too. Yippee. I’ll take skinship where ever I can get it between these two. Head injury be damned!
Momo is so useful. He ought to be the ringbearer at Liu Chuan and Jia En’s wedding.
hahaha LC-JE skinship wherever we can get us all excited–hahaha this show really knows how to tease and i think the director/writers know that we are thirsty for JE-LC skinship so they like to torture us bits of skinship every episode..i will patiently wait because once JE-LC become gf-bf they will be adorable together lol
serious aside..I really like the fact that everyone in the club has a different opinion of JE’s protest..Tracy and XW are not as suppportive as LC..but that’s a good thing because not everyone will agree and it’s nice to see different povs..but i know we can predict that in the upcoming episode, the whole treasure club will come together since JE is not just fighting for XW, but the whole future student body for this injustice…yes it’s kinda extreme to go that route of protesting but it’s a good drama plot–and i think this will also be one of JE-LC duo tagteam milestone that they will both remember…
I admire JE so much. The little naive girl from the countryside is standing up for her friend and causing a whole movement. Someone mentioned how this drama seems to be lagging compared to the beginning episodes, but I disagree. The transformations have been amazing. Every character is being rounded out.
I loved XW’s explosion in Episode 10 at JE’s naivety regarding their different situations, and JE’s calm, sincere thanks for having being put in the picture. I can definitely empathise with both of them in this situation, but while I think that JE’s protest is a great show of how real her commitment to her friend is, the reality is that XW does stand to lose a lot more than she. There’s no way the Professor will go after someone connected to Rep. Liu’s son in any significant way, so the target for any retaliation will definitely be the already defenceless and vulnerable XW. Do we have to wait one week or two for episode 11 – I read somewhere that it would not be airing on New Year’s Eve?
New Year’s Eve is not the coming week, but the next one. So I believe we’ll still get Ep. 11 this coming Friday.
Ah thanks, lost track of time for a moment there. So it’s Episode 12 we’ll have to wait an extra week for. 🙁
I can certainly understand that XW with everything else she got going on just not having the time or energy to go against her uni professor. It’s easier to knuckle under and re-take the class.
But if not fighting means she loses the scholarship money, half of which she sends to her parents, then I become less understanding. If that’s not enough for her to make take a stand what will be? JE’s method of fighting back wouldn’t suit her but there are other ways.
Part of me does think that JE is overstepping, XE told her she didn’t want to pursue it but by publically kicking up a fuss XE is going to be dragged into the protest whether she wants to be or not.
Thank you, koala! a glimpse of next episode will keep me from being excited! can’t wait for another Friday again! Thank you for your recaps! it really helped me a lot. I think that grown-up and polished woman Jia En will be far yet as we see in the flow of the drama. But im excited to see her as one! 🙂