Pleasantly Surprised with Puff Guo and Liu Yi Hao Premieres Friday and Looks Super Fantastic
I am so in love already with the upcoming SETTV Friday night drama that is taking over the In a Good Way time slot that I’ll forgive it for changing its name yet again. The drama formerly known as Love Meets Cupid (爱情遇见邱比特) changed its Chinese title to Like One Person/Like to be Alone(喜欢·一个人) and appeared to settle on the English title Love Myself or You. All of that was fine and dandy for me and then the press conference arrived yesterday for the drama and I discovered the English title is now Pleasantly Surprised. Huh? Color me not pleasantly surprised since the title has like zero correlation with the Chinese title. Oh SETTV, can’t you leave well enough alone? With that said, the drama released a 15-minute long preview that is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Freaking so good I was salivating over the food porn, the lovely cinematography, the refreshing female lead who is capable and self-sufficient with a truly meaningful backstory, and a male lead who may be a rich chaebol heir but is also nice, talented, and considerate.
I’m grateful this drama has no annoying perky female lead with an inexplicable attitude problem, no rich arrogant wounded male lead needing emotional saving, plus plenty of great conflict revolving around the denizens of a French cuisine restaurant. The full cast includes Puff Guo as a capable sous-chef, Liu Yi Hao as a French chef masquerading as an intern, Lene Lai as Puff’s rival sous-chef, Sean Shao as the head chef who likes Puff’s character, Jolin Chien as Lene’s brother and a food critic who is also Puff’s college sorta boyfriend, plus a bunch of nice looking interesting supporting characters in roles ranging from best friend restaurant manager to punk rock waiter to goth pastry chef. The teasers and 15-minute trailer are all so addicting right off the bat that it does it job and then some, making me immediately want to watch more of this story and spend more time with the characters. All signs point to the pairing of Puff and Liu Yi Hao hitting a home-run so here’s to hoping Pleasantly Surprised ends up being Totally Anticipated Awesome. Check out the drama goodies below to whet your appetite.
Puff Guo plays an aloof chef de partie at a French restaurant where her a persistent suitor played by Sean Shao works as her head chef. Her rival at work is another fellow chef de partie played by Lene Lai, and I’m already crying tears to see two capable female characters who are in positions of power at work and shown to be good at their jobs. The head chef decides to have the two chef de partie compete so that he can decide which one becomes his sous chef. The two chef de partie split into teams with the other assistants and under-chefs in the kitchen and each produce a classic French dish. Liu Yi Hao plays the son of the restaurant owner who loves cooking and has no desire to take over the family business. Mom and Dad sweetly try to wheedle him back by asking him to be an intern at the restaurant for a month and afterwards they will stop bugging him about taking over. He agrees and arrives at the restaurant on the day of the sous chef competition is underway.
The head chef designates him as the judge and he picks Lene’s plate which we later find out is because the head chef secretly sabotaged Puff’s dish. He’s been wanting her to fail so that she will agree to date him thinking he can take care of her, but she’s so stubborn and self-sufficient that she refuses to be cowed by his repeated attempts to woo her. Puff has been working her butt off for years trying to become the sous chef so Puff vows to make Liu Yi Hao’s character’s life a living hell at the restaurant. He quickly finds out that she was his childhood sweetheart (and wonders why her personality changed so much since she used to be sweet and bubbly) and they also end up as neighbors living in the same floor in the same apartment complex. Puff’s taking care of her orphaned nephew who will end up bonding with the nice uncle next door and of course it’ll bring the OTP closer together.
Everything about the set up of Pleasantly Surprised rubs me the right way (purrrrrrr, moar please). I can’t get over how refreshing Puff’s character is, she’s not mean because she’s angry and bitter, she just likes to be alone. What is wrong with that? Nothing. But Liu Yi Hao comes into her life with his ray of sunshine and rivers of warmth and just this sincerity in wanting to reconnect with the sweet girl he used to know. It’s first love without any baggage and just a tiny thread that gives him more reason to want to get close to her, but he’s already fascinated by what an odd girl she is. The way she lights up around food but closes up around people. Puff and Liu Yi Hao look so good together I’m already “Aaron who?” and dying for the romance to start. It’ll be a slow burn but that’s the best kind there is. This drama doesn’t look stupid in the least. Watch the trailer and teasers below and enjoy!
15-minute Long Preview for Pleasantly Surprised:
Short teasers for Pleasantly Surprised:
I’m so irked that they changed the English title so late into the game. And being the Grammar Nazi I am, I’m also very irked that the p in pleasantly isn’t capitalized in all of the stills and teasers.
But aside from that, I’ve been totally smitten with everything this production has released, especially the fifteen-minute preview and its spectacular opening sequence and theme song!! Can’t wait to watch it today. 😀 Not to discredit Aaron but I couldn’t help but notice how much better the narrative quality already is in this drama versus his, lol.
wheee i’m really excited for this just because liuyihao. i really like the sunshine boy vibe he gives off. and i’m loving the ost already (the one by ian chen) 😀
Hi! I’m quite curious as to what you think about Aaron’s drama at the moment? I honestly miss Puff with Aaron and while I’m looking forward to Pleasantly Surprised, I’ve not yet started with Aaron’s drama — one, because I can’t stand Tia’s acting, and two, they just don’t seem to have the chemistry Aaron had with Puff and it’s stupid, but it ticks me off idek.
Fall in love with me . His latest drama with Tia . They look kinda cute too . But i agree witb you that aaron and puff have a great chemistry tgt !
So gooddddddddddddddd
I watched the press conference just to see the pairing. Oh what a delectible couple:)). Puff was so beautiful that it’s hard to believe that Aaron let her go haha and Yi Hao was so eye candy that I wished Puff would lick him good. Ok I am getting weirder by the minute. Then there’s Heechul who takes advantage every opportunity to touch her body, kiss her nape, and whisper I Like You in her ear. Who’s Aaron? Who’s Yi Hao? Puff’s recent popularity is undeniable. I’ll be watching this drama since I am in love with food already, adding a gorgeous couple and a sassy rival would make my friday night plate extra scrumptious.
Who would sub this ? Viki?
Yes, Viki is subbing it and I’m sure DramaFever will sub it as well, as they seem to be subbing everything from SETTV these days.
Sorry, just CANNOT get pass Puff Guo’s humongous and thick mouth… Still acting as she did when she played the spoiled and annoying second lead…
Hahaha good one, her mouth is the first thing that turn her off for me. I thought I’m the only one who notice it.
I can’t stand puff too, no offense. That whiny voice. I starred at her mouth too. Going thru iagw withdrawal symptoms.
I thought I was the only one who thought her mouth looked really weird. Also her nose looks weird too and her acting here is exactly the same as when she played Li Er in Inborn Pair
Dude, self check… Everything you said here, typically described you. It’s alright to be jealous..
Uhhh…what? Those are her most awesome facial features. Without them, she looks like any other vanilla-ass actress -_- If individuality annoys you, then alright, but don’t use it as an excuse to diss her for no good reason…
wtf?? Just for that, you decided to turn her down… Not everyone was born perfect.
I am in love with this drama already!
Sigh. I am going to have to watch this now. *making room on the drama shelf*
Liu Yi Hao!! I see the outline of Seo Kang Joon and the details of Park Ki Woong. He could be my new obsession.
Are you planning to recap this drama?
It’s being recapped on Give Me Dramas!
It’s really good so far I think. Can’t wait for more episodes to come out! Highly recommend at least giving the first episode a shot.
I enjoyed ep1 too! Made me want to watch more 🙂
Love the preview.. Please miss koala, recap this drama. How many episodes will it be? Where can I watch it aside from viki and drama fever? (Already excited, what a pleasantly surprised :)) )
Okay!!! I was so sad today to arrive at the site because I knew how much I would miss my weekly recaps of In A Good Way! But, very happy with this drama coming up. I had to double check on LYH as I swore he looked familiar then saw that he was in that show Pastry Show With No Name. I liked him in that but then the subs stopped and I never got to see the rest of the show. Anyhow, his dimples stuck with me though-ha ha!
Excited for this one, ahhhh~I’m terrible at maintaining interest in ongoing series though, so I’m debating whether or not I should watch live or wait to marathon.
Thanks for highlighting this drama, Ms Koala. I’ve caught the first episode and have found it enjoyable. I much prefer Yi Hao with this new hair cut then his usually broccoli top :). Puff’s fun to watch as well so I’ll be tuning in for more.
Yes yes yes! That is why I didn’t recognize him at first! The power of a good hair cut.
omg it looks sooooooo gooooood!!
I watched the 1st episode. 1st episode is already quite nice. Hopefully, it will be nice till the 1ast episode 🙂
I’ve watched all three episodes that came out so far. Surprisingly, the drama is pretty good, not awesome, but good enough to make me want more. I’ve seen Puff Guo in Just You, and GOSH, I just couldn’t stand her character and disliked her acting because of that. Now, I’m seeing her in a different light hahah. The leading man is awesome too!