Before I start my highlights, I’m posting a requiem…errr paean for Jerry Yan. I never thought I see a day when he’d be dissed in a drama. Is there a Taiwanese vs Chinese battle raging through drama world, too?

He’s the guy with the pineapple haircut. hahaha.

Hmph!! “You’re dead.”

I know Xiao Nai is our “Best Boyfriend Ever” in this blog, but Jerry Yan’s character in “Down With Love” (2010) was yummy, too, once he fell in love with that silly girl. And like wine, this actor aged very well.

So, don’t you dare laugh at my pineapple boy, Yin Li! That guy was iconic. Let me see you rock that hairstyle before you diss Jerry Yan. 

Let’s proceed with the highlights then.

1. “Take a selfie with someone you like”

Of course, we were all grinning right when we saw his selfie. So sneaky of him.

We all saw what GWY did there.

And she must have seen that he included her because she smiled to herself,

and glanced at him. He looked at her, too.

I liked this brief moment because of the weird mental telepathy. He wasn’t sure but he hoped that she got the secret message that he only wanted her in the picture. Meanwhile, she was hoping that he intended her to be the only one visible in the picture with him but she really can’t be so sure. There’s this whole hopeful/hoping dynamic going on between them, and the ambivalence is soooo thrilling.

2. The first kiss

I like her eyebrow wiggling.

And I like that he was smiling before he kissed her.

I like her peeking at him.

I thought the her comedic face made up for this unsatisfying, dream-state, non-kisser of a kiss. lol. It reminds me of that kiss in Reply 1988.

 

3. The balloons

The shower of balloons was a nice touch, and it made sense.

I’m not an electrical engineer but from what I understand, static electricity was keeping the balloons up in the ceiling. But their kiss (and their attraction for each other) generated enough electric charges of its own to reverse the direction of the flow of energy.

The blue balloon hitting him on the head reminds me of the beer can hitting him on the nose.

That’s why the balloons came falling down on them. As corny as it looked, I prefer the balloons to a heart-shaped bokeh effect. Kdramas love to use this kind of camera effect in their kissing scenes.

Although I see the director couldn’t resist the shots of two hearts.

4. The blanket

I thought giving him the blanket was sweet considering that she just told him that she didn’t care if he froze to death out there.

5. Her dream

I wasn’t surprised that the next scene turned out to be a dream. I was clued in by this heart-shaped sunny-side up.

Nice try, director!

A typical boyfriend doesn’t do that kind of thing. Sure, he’ll serve you breakfast in bed, but he won’t be as meticulous as to shape the eggs into a heart. That’s a girl thing.

Guys would be like:

lol.

Plus, Gu WeiYi isn’t the type to go for toasted bread.

To digress a bit here, since we’re smart bitches around here. Do you know what a continental breakfast is?

Continental breakfast got its term from the skimpy breakfast offered in mainland Europe. (Judging you, my French, German and Belgian cousins!) It’s essentially bread and butter or jam, and fruit and beverage.

A continental breakfast is different from the “full breakfast” served in the United Kingdom (it’s “non-continental” breakfast. Get it? Britain isn’t geographically part of the continent.) A full breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, bangers (or sausage), grilled tomatoes, fried mushroom, beans, and toasted bread.

With an American breakfast, you get the whole enchilada (oops! that’s Mexican). You get eggs, bread, bacon, ham, sausage, oatmeal (or grits is how we call them in the South), pancakes, waffles, toasted, potatoes, seasonal fruits, and salmon. That’s my favorite nowadays: smoked salmon with cream cheese on toasted sesame bagel.

If you want to know my go-to place for weekend brunch en famille and the reason I’ve to jog in the mornings, it’s this restaurant. This is their brunch offerings: everything scrumptious.

Anyway, to continue:

WY: Eat your breakfast.
Mo: Thank you.
WY: Last night, did I trouble you?
Mo: Huh?
WY: Sorry, I shouldn’t do that without your permission. Actually, I’ve liked you since a long time ago.
Mo: So have I. (she cringes in embarrassment)

They kiss over the breakfast table.

I thought the sound of popping balloons waking her up was witty. It’s life imitating art. Reality DID burst her balloon, or her fantasy bubble.

And when she said, “What the crap! So have I?” she was talking about her confession in her dream that she liked Gu WeiYi. She worried that she had in fact fallen in love with him…because she didn’t know how he felt about her. She probably was thinking, “Oh no!!! Here I go again! I’ll suffer another heartbreak again.”

That’s why she got upset at breakfast.

WY: Eat your breakfast. (she glances at the breakfast he served before she sat down)

Mo: Thank you.
WY: Last night…
Mo: Hmm?
WY: Did I trouble you?
Mo: Huh?

Put yourself in her shoes. Her heart must be crazily pounding, “Oh nooooo!!! Why is this sounding like my dream??”

WY: Sorry. I shouldn’t….

Look at her face.

WY: let you clean up all alone.

Her crestfallen face.

WY: I have picked up the balloons in the living room.
Mo: Huh?
WY: What’s wrong?
Mo: You forgot it? Don’t you remember anything else?

WY: Anything else? What? What’s that?
Mo: It’s okay. (she stands up) I don’t want to eat. I’m going to be late.

And like a black tornado, she whirled from one place to another, leaving him bewildered and dumbfounded.

It’s okay, Gu WeiYi. You wouldn’t be the first and last man to ever ask “What did I do wrong?” and be given the silent treatment.

Even Richard Armitage would be confused.

Richard Armitage: Did I do something to upset you? Me: Yes. Humor me and quit looking handsome, willya?

See now, I wonder if she would react in the same way if she didn’t have the dream. Her dream made her expect that something more would happen.

5. Her sulking vs his sulking

Later that day, he texted her, “I’ll be late for experiments. Won’t be back tonight.” She said, “How could you forget the kiss? Rascal.”

“Jerk” is usual word.

But she texted him back. “Don’t come back then. I’ll watch the ghost movie myself.”  So he eagerly found an excuse to go back home. He used his sneezing to go home early. Of course, he didn’t know that STM would be dragged to go out to eat out after work with FP so he was upset that STM wasn’t home. He greeted STM with his best imitation of Creepy Night Stalker.

His face would have scared me, too, but his sulking in the dark was too funny. I would have burst out laughing if I were STM. Like, he’d been waiting in the dark all this time??!! Are you kidding me? 

Mo: You said you wouldn’t be back tonight.
WY: Where did you go? You smell like hot pot.
Mo: I just had a hot pot.
WY: With whom?
Mo: Fu Pei.
WY: You said you rejected him.
Mo: He suddenly turned up and he knows my colleague.
WY: It has nothing to do with me.

Of course, he was jealous. That’s why he was throwing a man-tantrum. He was still sulking the following morning when they meet at the bus stop.

Mo: Waiting for the bus? Going back to the new campus? (he grunted) What a waste! (the better term here would be “Too bad!”) We don’t have radiators in the house and it’s not snowing. The weather is so cold. I wish.. I’ve never made a snowman.

She was trying to make a conversation with him, to get him to open up. She knew he was still upset with her. And she’s just uttering whatever came to her mind. She wanted radiators so she’d be warm and toasty yet she wanted the weather freezing enough so she could make a snowman.

WY: I came from the North.
Mo: So you’re not afraid of the cold, right?
WY: We have radiators.
Mo: Oh… Let’s have a hot pot tonight.

It’s ominous how he said he came from the North to suggest that he was strong and invincible when he was already sneezing yesterday in the lab. She was extending an olive branch here. Take it, Gu WeiYi!

WY: You had it last night, didn’t you?
Mo: We can still have it tonight. It’s cold. Hot pots are for cold weather.
WY: So lame.

And he was irritable at the lab, too.

The Math guy joked that he came just in time after the equipment had been set up, implying that he was lazy. GWY told him to return everything to its original setting and he’d reset it himself.

When the Math guy complained when the Prof gave GWY extra work, GWY told him to take it, implying that the Math guy was stupid to be asking for MORE work.

He told the Prof that he was fine, but he snapped at the Math guy that he was fine even before the Math guy could ask him a question.

He’s never snippy with the Math guy so they knew something was bugging GWY.

7. The Love Advice

At her office, Situ Mo overheard her colleague talking about her roommate problems. She overheard that people in love are insane.

STM immediately thought of GWY’s moodiness and came up with the wrong conclusion. Actually, she came up with TWO BLUNDERS. The obvious one was that she suspected that GWY was in love with his lab partner, Yu Yin. It didn’t help that she eavesdropped on him and heard him tell Yu Yin, “Okay, I’ll wait for you to come back.”

She didn’t know that YY had been absent in the lab. With YY gone, the guys were able to talk about GWY’s love life.

And that was how Gu WeiYi was able to receive his own love advice from Prof Jiang and the Math Guy. GWY didn’t need the “Love guidebook” that Prof Jiang gave him. But being a “scientific” guy who relied on data, especially published data, GWY worked on the tips outlined in the How-To guidebook.

He could have fared better without the book. He was doing so well when he noticed that STM was in pain and showed concern.

WY: What’s wrong?
Mo: I use a warming patch for a stomach ache.
WY: I’ll take you to the hospital.
Mo: It’s okay.
WY: Let’s go.
Mo: It’s okay. I have my menstruation.

hahaha. That’s why he should be the boyfriend ALREADY. He knows intimate details about her that I consider “boyfriend’s privilege.” Like the brand of her pads, the time of her menstruation, the kind of bra that she wears, the sleeping position she prefers.

WY: Is it painful?
Mo: It’s okay, I can stand it.
WY: You are strong.

Now, see that was so unnecessary. Had he known, he was already doing what many girls with period pains appreciate: being attentive. He didn’t have to go overboard and praise her for her folding skills.

Mo: Huh?
WY: You folded clothes well. Smooth and straight. (two thumbs up)
Mo: Thank you.
WY: You’re welcome.

In kdramas, this was when the girl would scream, “You don’t have any sincerity!!!” lol. Sincerity is a big thing in kdramas.

But the sex talk after this scene was also side-splitting funny. GWY read from the guidebook again:

“Most boys misunderstand that all girls feel scared to talk about sex. When an energetic girl (Huh? Active? Enthusiastic? Physical? Not shy?) is with the boy she likes, talking about sex in a simple and natural manner will make her think you’re interesting.”

So this genius decided to talk about “bombus affinis.”

Bombus affinis is a bumblebee. He was talking about mating habits of bees while she’s eating a banana.

Did you get it?

He’s saying that overweight bees fail to mate thus causing their species extinction while. she’s. eating. a. BANANA.

I must have the dirtiest mind in this blog. How come I’m the only one who knows phallic symbols around here??

Let’s just say: Bananas are meant to be eaten naked.

FYI again. Did you know that China banned banana porn?? Strange but true. You can check it out yourselves. pwahahaha.

To continue…

WY: Why are laughing?
Mo: Nothing. I find it interesting. Overweight will cause extinction, huh?
WY: Exactly. You’re right.
Mo: Where did you get that strange information?
WY: From “The Atlantic”.

Atlantic is an American magazine. Here’s its November 2018 issue on Alexa, @agdr03. It used to publish literary articles. I skip it when it talks about politics.

Mo: What? I’ve never heard of it.
WY: It’s a foreign magazine. My senior brought it to the lab.
Mo: I’ll go to bed now. Remember to turn off the TV. (and she leaves in a huff)

And the episode ended the way it started: with Gu WeiYi frowning because he doesn’t understand her mood swings.

lol. You see, the other blunder that Situ Mo made was thinking Gu WeiYi was the only one in love. She too was in love with him and that’s why she’s also acting insane.

She hadn’t realize yet that her actions were signs of a person in love. That’s why she was friendly then annoyed with him in the span of one minute. That’s why she got upset that he forgot about his drunken kiss. That’s why she was jealous of GWY’s lab partner. That’s why she tried to make him jealous, too, and insulted his hairstyle.

So, to answer her question whether she had fallen in love with GWY, yes. A resounding yes, she had fallen in love with him.