One reason I’m ready to let In a Good Way go on the SETTV Friday night time slot is due to the imminent arrival of the seemingly delightful new drama Love Myself or You starring Liu Yi Hao and Puff Guo of Dream Girls. It’ll be my go-to idol drama since I’m blocking the existence of the SETTV Sunday night drama from my consciousness other than occasionally staring when a hot picture of Aaron Yan pops up. The first thing to love about Love Myself or You is the fantastic title – the Chinese title is 喜歡 一個人 – which has multiple meanings though the literal translation is Like One Person. It can mean to like one person, i.e. I like a person, or it could mean like to be alone, i.e. I like to be alone. What makes both meanings work in this drama is Puff’s character is a girl who likes to be alone, she enjoys life in the solitary when she can do her two favorite things which are cooking/eating delicious food and reading her beloved mangas. I swear she is like a carbon copy of me in my heyday.

It’s rare to have a leading lady in a TW-drama be cold, aloof, competent and non-bumbling, not in-your-face, and content to be left alone. The only other similar leading lady in recent memory was Rainie Yang‘s awesomely shy Momo in vastly underrated ToGetHer, who come to think of it also had a manga fixation (everyone remember Prince Kashaba?). Puff’s character is a sous-chef and most of the action will unfold in a French restaurant where she works alongside newly arrived assistant chef and secret chaebol son played by Liu Yi Hao, her rival sous-chef played by Lene Lai, head chef played by Sean Lee, and Puff’s character’s former high school boyfriend and now restaurant critic played by Jolin Chien. The first teasers have me salivating already for the sparks to fly between Puff and Liu Yi Hao (they look sooooo good together) and enjoying Puff’s toned down performance for a chance to spend time with a very low-key leading lady short on histrionics and pratfalls. Continue reading →