Presenting my next Chinese drama “My True Friend” starring Deng Xiaoping, Angelababy, and Zhu Yi Long.

This was an easy choice for me because the whole first episode made sense to me. Whether the series can sustain my interest for – I don’t know – 30? 60? 200? lol episodes is another story entirely.

But for now this show is a green light.

Thanks, @agdr03, for the recommendation!

*************

The first episode is about character exposition. Although initially this drama drew my my attention because of the actor Zhu Yi Long (he’s the character wearing the striped jacket in the photo), I knew within 10 minutes of the drama that he was the surplus goods in this drama. The spare tire.

It’s this scene, the accidental encounter of the two male leads, that settled it for me.

Zhu Yi Long plays Jing Ran, the guy in the suit. He was standing still on the moving walkway when the other guy Shao Peng Cheng (played by Deng Lun) suddenly came up from behind him, nudged his coffee, and with a brief “I’m sorry,” passed him by. Jing Ran could only stare after him.

That 20 second clip, my dears, is the metaphor of their respective romance with the heroine, Cheng Zhen Zhen (played by Angelababy).

Jing Ran wouldn’t know what hit him.

At the start, he was way ahead in the affections of Zhen Zhen. ZZ had nurtured a crush on him since their college years. But he moved away to Italy to pursue his career while she was content secretly admiring him from the distance and communicating with him as an anonymous fan.

Unfortunately for him, Peng Cheng would appear out of nowhere and push him out.

With youthful zest and brashness, he would stride forward. If we were to imagine the girl Zhen Zhen waiting at the end of a 400 m dash for the winner, then Peng Cheng reached her first. He left Jing Ran in the dust.

Thus, this scene at the moving walkaway was the first hint of the OTP (or the “One True Pairing”).

When it comes to romance, that proverb “Faint heart never won fair lady” is a favorite among drama writers. This means the meek, hesitant and  undecided guy will lose EVERY SINGLE TIME to the guy who pursues the girl sincerely, boldly, and wholeheartedly.

Cough. cough. cough. Remember “Reply 1988?”

In that Kdrama, the underdog Taec won the girl because he RAN. He had an important Baduk championship that morning but he skipped it. He went to the tournament to announce his withdrawal and then he RAN all the way to the concert hall because he realized that THE girl was waiting out there in the cold. Meanwhile, the other guy was waiting for the start of his movie, Forrest Gump. He’d also realized that the girl was going to wait outside in the cold by herself. Moreover, he knew it was going to rain.

But he didn’t connect 1 + 1 and he entered the movie house without concern. An hour and 7 minutes into the show (lol, I even checked the movie to find out exactly when he ran out), it finally dawned on him what he should have done: go after her. When he finally arrived at the concert hall, Taec was already there.

Fortune favors the bold.

But there are other hints in this episode that the Shao Peng Cheng is the match for Zhen Zhen. The show is already setting them up.

Take for instance the ZZ’s first line in the show. (lol. I pay attention to the first lines, too. I’m obsessive that way….)

She was on the phone with a client, “Please leave a rating for my service.”

She worked for a rental property/housecleaning company. Her job was people-oriented. Her first line indicates that she’s good at pleasing people and accommodating their needs. She serves with a smile.

Another proof: she earned 500 likes on her social media account. She needed to accumulate 500 likes in order to attend the re-opening of an aquarium designed by her college idol Jing Ran. She lost one “like” while she was waiting in line, but she easily regained it.

Her character is established in the first 10 minutes of the episode. She’s likable and sociable.  She’s a people-pleaser.

Jing Ran is the exact opposite of a people-pleaser.

He’s an introvert. His office space is minimalist. His schedule is neatly planned and organized. He works in solitude.

He flew all the way to Shanghai from Rome to visit the aquarium on its opening day as the honored guest. But he didn’t mingle at all with the crowd for WHOM he designed the aquarium. (Loner alert!) In fact, he “escaped” the crowd when he was given the grand tour all by himself.

He toured the exhibits with two guides. He saw a smudge on the glass and asked for a tissue to wipe it. (Note: he’s meticulous.)

He disliked the classical music playing in the background and he asked it to be replaced with his recommended music to match the overall atmosphere. (A control freak? lol)

He told the aquarium guides that his music playlist will “match the rhythm of the architecture.” He added pedantically, “All objects have their own rhythm and beat. Architecture is no exception.”

I’m shaking my head when he said that. What a pretentious twit!

You see, he didn’t realize that when the kids flock to the watch the fish, the only sound echoing in that exhibit room would be their voices. The fish in the tank couldn’t care less about his music. Nor would the young spectators and their guardians, “ooh-ing” and “ahhh-ing” at the sight of the fish.

The point here is architecture certainly has its own rhythm and beat, but so do the occupants and inhabitants of these physical structures. In fact, people have heartbeats and pulses, not just rhythm and beat. That’s why the human element is the first and foremost consideration in architecture. This is Jing Ran’s character flaw, his lack of human touch.

The heroine Zhen Zhen noticed this defect in him from the start. She put her finger on it when she commented on his work.

I believe that your design’s techniques are practically perfect. The aesthetic style is also unique and very thoughtful. It’s just that I personally have a tiny suggestion. I hope it will help you. I believe that your design didn’t completely factor in humans. Your house is cold, calm and private.

I prefer the warmth and intimacy of a home. These are my subjective feelings. I’m not sure if they are right. You’ve always been the best. You can definitely win the gold medal. I wish you luck.

Furthermore, I find it very interesting that Jing Ran’s inspiration for his aquarium design was the conch shell.

The aquarium guides were gushing over his genius but to me, however,

his creative idea is very revealing of his personality. It tells me that he’s a shell himself. Meaning, he’s hard outside and hollow inside. He’s a shell of a man.

For somebody who’s a people-pleaser like Zhen Zhen, a cold man like Jing Ran wouldn’t work … especially when there’s a Shao Peng Cheng beside her.

See here now: This is the kind of couple pairing the writer intended for the kdrama “A Poem a Day” until the director changed the flow in the 12th episode. The heroine in that story was originally intended to end up with the troubled-friend-turned-good-guy instead of the uncle figure.  But the director admitted to changing the script in the final lap to suit the fangirls. To the undiscerning and untutored mind, his trick worked. In my un-humblest opinion, however, that show won the ignominious award of being one of the most technically flawed and logically skewed (and screwed, lol) kdramas ever written.

The end couple pairing in “A Poem a Day” is an eyesore like a puzzle piece jammed into a space it doesn’t belong.

Hopefully, this Cdrama will show better judgment.

Shao Peng Cheng is the opposite of Jing Ran. The audience’s first view of Jing Ran is at his office. He was designing intensely at his work station behind a big monitor.  His assistant intruded on his concentration to update him on his trip schedule.

In contrast, the audience’s first view of Shao Peng Cheng is at his bachelor pad. While there was no trash in sight, his basketball and baseball equipment was on the floor. His toys were in the foreground and background. These indicate that he’s a man-child or an adult still engaged in a child’s play.

Then, instead of sitting at a desk like Jing Ran, he was standing behind a mini-bar and talking to a friend. The bar suggested that he was a social creature. He liked entertaining friends at home. (lol. You don’t need a bar to drink alone.)

Instead of discussing schedules with his assistant like Jing Ran, he was talking about skipping the all-important final exams to go to Shanghai and attend the same re-opening of the aquarium as Jing Ran.

The impression here is that he’s a typical over-indulged rich kid. However, he was actually griping over his father’s misuse of money. “The more spend his money, the more he feels the sense of accomplishment and control. If he didn’t have the money, how would he be able to keep control over his employees, me and mom?” And he glanced at his mom’s photograph with him.

Here, the Cdrama is introducing his “daddy issues.” But I find very amusing that he’s estranged from his father, yet his password to his apartment was “Who’s your Daddy?”

On a side note: “Who’s your daddy?” in American slang that suggest dominance. It’s like asking, “Who’s the boss?” but in a more crude way. I won’t explain the sexual connotation but I’ll go with the sports example. The idea behind this expression is that a dad spanks or thrashes the child to teach the child a lesson. So when a sports player is badly beaten or thrashed in a game, the winner can gloat about his victory by taunting him, “Who’s your daddy?” The defeat should teach the loser never to go up against an obviously superior guy.

The reason Zhen Zhen doesn’t understand this is because she doesn’t play American sports like Peng Cheng.

Moving on….

Peng Cheng was skipping his exams to go to Shanghai because he wanted to take part in the re-opening of the museum. According to him, it was his mom’s work. This tells me that he prioritizes his family above his personal gain. He was willing to risk his academic advancement just to perform volunteer service for his mother’s sake.

I’m assuming here that their family was a big patron of the aquarium and his mother was one of the dolphin trainers at the aquarium. I think his mother was the one featured here in this wall poster, and his location in front of that dolphin wasn’t an accidental camera shot by the director. 🙂

From the start, the connections of Jing Ran and Peng Cheng to the aquarium showed them at odds with each other.

Both he and Jing Ran received a courtesy call from the aquarium to welcome them.

“Mr. Jing, we are from the Shanghai Aquarium. We truly welcome you for personally attending the re-opening ceremony.”

Jing Ran didn’t respond. He was busy ordering his coffee. He was interested in the cakes but he only ordered coffee to go. (Personality alert: he’s abstemious)

“Hello, Mr. Shao. We are from the Shanghai Aquarium. We are very grateful for you coming to volunteer.”

Unlike Jing Ran, Peng Cheng responded, “I’m assisting my mom with her work. This is something I should be doing.”

Also note the use of the split-screen here. I thought it was brilliant. The screen was divided, cut, and slashed as the two men walked out of the airport. Visually, the split-screen was effective in showing how their lives were going to intersect. They were on the same screen side-by-side, weren’t they?

But symbolically, they were going to “cut” each other’s romance with Zhen Zhen. That’s why the split-screen wasn’t the customary horizontal or vertical division but diagonal. The slanted split-screen reminds me of the sword-slashing motion of two combatants fighting. And it foreshadows Shao Peng Cheng’s and Jing Ran’s fight for Zhen Zhen.

At the aquarium, Peng Cheng was a hands-on volunteer — not an esteemed guest like Jing Ran. He interacted with the crowd and he blended with them. Although he was a “chaebol” (to borrow a kdrama term), he didn’t act like he was above the common folks. Like Zhen Zhen, he had people skills. 

As a volunteer, he collected tickets at the entrance, where he encountered Zhen Zhen for the first time.

As a volunteer, too he hosted the dolphin show. He joked around with the crowd and he spotted Zhen Zhen in the crowd.

For me, that was the last clue that Peng Cheng is Zhen Zhen’s match. He recognized her in a sea of faces. Lol. It’s like a scene from “Where’s Waldo?” but he saw her.

And he called her up to stage with him. The dolphin splashed her accidentally. (lol. Getting the volunteer drenched has always been part of show here.) She changed into one of the uniforms so she ended up wearing a “couple outfit” with him.

But the big thing here is that Peng Cheng recognized her even after their brief encounter at the tickets while Jing Ran didn’t recognize Zhen Zhen at all. She obviously expected to be remembered by Jing Ran but he failed.

For me, one of the funniest line was delivered by Peng Cheng. He overheard Zhen Zhen begging for another picture with Jing Ran.

ZZ: Mr. Jing, can I take a photo with your?
JR: My apologies. I’m in a rush.
ZZ: Mr. Jing, do you really not remember me?

He’s escorted out by a hotel rep. Peng Cheng then approached her and looked her up and down.

He replied, “Snow White.” He meant he remembered her from his children’s storybooks. He was mocking her. If Jing Ran didn’t remember her, hey, at least he did!

He knew she was just putting on this sweetheart-girly-innocent image for Jing Ran because he knew that she had a mean temper.

That’s why I think he’s going to end up being titular character in “My True Friend.” He will NOT be the lovey-dovey, swoony boyfriend with hearts-shooting out of his eyes.

Like cough cough cough Gu Wei Yi.

But he’s the boyfriend from that PINTEREST meme. hahaha. You’ve seen that around, right? Peng Cheng is that boyfriend who’ll steal the umbrella from the girl, jump on puddles to splash her, and kiss her before she could yell, “What the heck are you doing?”

He’s the guy who’ll drive her crazy just to make her smile. He won’t outright say that he likes her, but the way he teases her will say that he does.