The Negotiator Episode 1 Recap
Title: The Negotiator
Date released: 4th February 2018
Episode: 42
Synopsis: Tong Wei, a genius negotiator who is the star of the US-China Business Council meets fellow negotiator Xie Xiaofei at a business deal. Xiaofei is actually the sole heir of a wealthy Chinese-American corporation who wants nothing to do with the family business. He vents his frustrations on Tong Wei, though their bickering relationship soon takes a romantic turn. The couple separates after Tong Wei discovers the Xie Family had a hand in her parents’ deaths, only to meet several years later as negotiators of rival firms. (taken from Wikipedia)
Episode 1
The episode begins in New York City.
At a business lobby in a hotel, a furious White old man in business attire is lashing out at Qin Tian Yu (Dylan Kuo) where it seems the old man's company, Yep, is having a 17 hours delay of merger negotiation with a Chinese company, Quick/ Kuaishan. Tian Yu as the negotiator/ representative of Yep is forced to solve this problem quickly. The old man warns Tian Yu to be fired (including his firm) if he doesn't come up with a solution in an hour.
Quick's owner, Mr. Chen Mo seems to be holed up in his private room in the hotel where the negotiation is being held. He walks back and forth, then munches a stick of Pocky (I'm not sure the brand's name, let's just go with a famous one, XD), seems caught up in a deep thought. His staffs are waiting outside his room. They are confused as well with his decision to stop the merger after his effort of flying all the way from China. 30 minutes has passed and Tian Yu is worried as there is no progress.
The scene changes to another place where a woman, Tong Wei (Yang Mi) asks her secretary, Cui Xi (Long Zheng Xuan) about the situation. Tong Wei flips through the document containing all background info about Mr. Chen Mo and the detail is Mr. Chen Mo is Quick/ Kuaishan's boss, a car-hailing app and the rival is Yep. His initial intention to merge with Yep is to gain more market value. He also is not short of money. She's wondering why Mr. Chen suddenly decides to stop his plan. A quick call from Tian Yu asking Tong Wei to help him as he only got half an hour left.
A yellow supercar and a yellow cab arrive at the hotel. Getting out from the supercar is Xie Xiao Fei
(Huang Zitao) who in a voice-over, tells us he is arrogant, overbearing and looks down on others. Pfft. He throws his key to the valet boy, but the key drops to the floor. Tong Wei who is just getting out of the cab, picks it up and passes it to the valet boy. Xiao Fei seems indifferent and just walks into the hotel. He continues narrating that if he hadn't meet her that day, he would still remain the same. Both of them walk into different direction once they enter the hotel.
Tian Yu is relieved to see Tong Wei. She asks where Mr. Chen Mo is and both of them head to Mr. Chen Mo's room. In front of the room, Tong Wei loudly declares that she is a Kuaishan app user, and she got a complaint. Hearing that, Mr. Chen Mo immediately opens the door.
Going inside the room, Tong Wei introduces herself as the negotiator from a well-known negotiation company, CAEA. Hearing that, Mr. Chen Mo becomes uninterested and asks her to leave but Tong Wei requests him to at least listen to her complaint.
Tong Wei explains that she's in USA for 10 days for a training program. A flashback tells us a few days ago, on the day to Shanghai Pudong airport, she called a taxi by using Kuaishan app. The driver asked her whether she's also a Yep app user and requested her to hire him with Yep's app. He also offered to give discount for the fare. Curious, she opened her voice recorder app and recorded the conversation (this is too reaching, XD, but let's just say this side-plot is to stress that Tong Wei is a great negotiator, but what an illogical coincidence, lol). The driver explained that if the user opens Kuaishan app and uses Yepu app at the same time, the driver will get paid by both companies (since the destination is the same). He told that it's a win-win situation for the passenger and the driver as they won't lose anything. Hearing the recorded conversation, Mr. Chen Mo realizes the unfortunate outcome of his company's competition with the rival.
Speaking with calm and rational tone, Tong Wei explains it's a loss to both companies if they continue to compete and put so much money into subsidy/ promotion only to lose it to the drivers that misuse the system. She also recalls the effort and hardship of Mr. Chen Mo when he started out as a businessman (because she checked his background). Mr. Chen Mo shares his worry that he stops the merger because Yep already has a big share in the market, and once merged, only one company will monopolize the industry which is a bad thing. Tong Wei then asks Mr. Chen to do his part to contribute as she's assured that Mr. Chen Mo has his own plans after the merge, asking him to not giving up and to ceate benefit for himself and the users. Mr. Chen Mo seems to be softened by her words.
The people of both companies wait anxiously outside. Mr. Chen Mo walks out from his room, and heads towards Yep's representative. He holds out his hand as a sign of an agreement to the merger, and both sides are pleased with the outcome. However, Tong Wei worryingly warns Mr. Chen Mo to not hate her after this as she says ominously that often things will be ruined by people with good intention and Mr. Chen Mo obliviously ignores her warning as he is in a good mood. He hopes to see her again as he walks away.
After that, Tong Wei has a celebratory dinner with Tian Yu at an oriental restaurant. They talk about the negotiation result and he is thankful to her. As a repayment, he playfully offers his body and Tong Wei warns him to not joke around. Clearly Tian Yu is interested in her but it is just one-sided.
Somewhere in New York City, an illegal boxing match is being held. As it is illegal, clearly weight class doesn't matter. A Russian boxer named Bulldozer, enters the ring. The MC then announces his challenger, a boxer that the audiences never heard of, Xiao Fei. 😂. As he walks towards the ring, he narrates that he likes boxing but sadly expresses that his family never support him. At the corner of the place, a Chinese woman cheers for him. Because Xiao Fei looks skinny and inexperienced, few audiences scoff and boo at him.
As the fight begins, a black car approaches the building and we see a man with his bodyguards go inside to the building where the match is. This is Xiao Fei's younger step-brother, Xie Xiao Tian (Lai Yi). He looks worried for his brother. As the audience becomes wild with the great display of fighting from both boxers, Bulldozer then kicks Xiao Fei and he stumbles to the ring's corner. This ticks Xiao Fei off and he stands up and easily knockouts Bulldozer with a flying knee kick and a flying front punch. (I'm sorry, I'm not used to fighting terms, 😂).
The bunny ring girl presents the winning money to Xiao Fei and he gives it to still-lying Bulldozer and says he knew about Bulldozer's sick sister and to use the money for her treatment. The crowds all cheer and clap for him (but seriously, can they be more convincing other than look/stare-not-talking at Xio Fei XD). Once outside the ring, Xiao Tian asks Xiao Fei to come back home instead of engaging in dangerous activities. The woman who cheers for Xiao Fei, Song Aili (Xun Yie), counters that the match is exciting and Xiao Fei lazily (sorry, H. Zitao really talks lazily most of the time in this drama, lol) told Xiao Tian that this kind of place is fun. Xiao Tian reminds Xiao Fei that tomorrow is an important day and Xiao Fei says of course he remembers the oh-so-boring monthly family get-together.
Outside, Xiao Fei gives Xiao Tian a chewing gum as he says his younger brother always looks so stiff and unable to loosen up. Within seconds of chewing, Xiao Tian starts to feel dizzy and drunk and Xiao Fei playfully says that those who are not used to getting drunk will easily feel dizzy because of that special gum. He asks Xiao Tian to just go home while he goes in a car with Aili. While Xiao Fei is driving, Aili tells him that because Xiao Fei is the sole heir of Family Xie, of course Xiao Tian is worried about him all the time. Hearing Family Xie's name, Xiao Fei grumpily warns Aili to not mention that name in front of him. He grudgingly says that he will never live like the family, the money-making machine.
At the hotel, Tong Wei gets a call from her uncle in China. He's in panic mode, as her younger sister, Tong Tiantian (Li Tingting) is missing. Her auntie takes over the call and tells that Tiantian has been missing since yesterday. She did ask Tiantian's classmates and they said she went abroad. Tong Wei asks her auntie to check whether there's any note in Tiantian's room to indicate her whereabouts and the uncle finds an itinerary about a trip and send the picture to Tong Wei. Seeing the itinerary, Tong Wei calls her secretary to find info about all shows for New York Fashion Week.
Next day, in Family Xie's residence, Xiao Fei's father, Xie Tian You (Winston Chao, let's just call him Dad Xie) takes note that Xiao Fei is still not present for the family get-together. He disappointedly complains to his wife that Xiao Fei takes lightly of the passed-down family's tradition to gather on 5th every month.
On the way to the residence (woah, that's a big house!), Xiao Fei narrates that he dislikes the idea of the gathering as his pretentious relatives attend it with a fake smile while actually having ulterior motives for their benefit.
Xiao Fei struggles to secretly come into the house but the butler, Uncle Ou comes to the rescue. He notifies Xiao Fei that there's still 10 minutes left until the gathering started and ushers Xiao Fei to get ready. Uncle Ou also says he will go to the hospital later.
After that gathering, Dad Xie calls Xiao Fei to the study room and confronts him about his boxing match last night. The match made it to the news, lol. Dad Xie basically is angry with his son's reckless lifestyle and both him and Xiao Fei's uncle remind Xiao Fei to act like a true heir.
Xiao Fei goes on a long monologue of rant on how he is being used as a tool to make money and how the elders never once ask him when they decide anything regarding his life. He compares that the boxing feels real as opposed to the relatives' fake smile. God, the music for this scene is so dramatic, 😂. Xiao Fei walks away from the room as the butler and Xiao Tian calm Dad Xie down as he starts having trouble to breathe. Outside the house, Xiao Fei gets a call. With a concern look, he immediately replies he's coming.
Around the area of New York Fashion Week, Tiantian dons a blond wig with a uhh "stylish" outfit, seems waiting for something. A group of fashion show attendees walk by, followed by a photographer. With a broken spoken English, she begs to the photographer to let her in too to the fashion show, but he refuses as she can't go in without the ticket. Anyway, that's a lame ass fashion style, XD.
Tong Wei grabs her by her shoulder. She chides Tiantian for wearing something unrecognizable as it takes her for a while to find her younger sister. Tiantian defends herself because she's wearing a high-street fashion outfits. Whatever, lol. Tiantian refuses to follow her sister and Tong Wei scolds her for being childish and says her parents are so worried. So, it seems that Tiantian is her younger cousin (?), I guess. In the end, Tiantian with a dissatisfied look forcefully walking behind Tong Wei but sneakily runs away and enters a private building, Massum Health Center, while Tong Wei doesn't pay attention.
While Tiantian is exploring the private health centre, somewhere in the same building, a group of doctor and nurse seem apologetic to Xiao Fei. They mistakenly give him a false alarm about his mother's condition. His mother is bed-ridden and in deep coma. Xiao Fei clearly is upset as he rants to the medical team that he gives them so much money and yet her mom still doesn't show any sign of recovery. Uncle Ou calms his down.
Once the doctors leave, his cold demeanor drops. His voice is breaking as he asks Uncle Ou to leave him alone with his mom. Xiao Fei cries while sitting down on the chair besides the bed and his voice-over says that in his fake family, the only thing that he treasures the most is his mother. He wonders when will she wake up and how he misses her so much. Awww. T_T.
Tong Wei asks help from the building's guards to find Tiantian and they manage to find her location through the CCTV. They spread out to find Tiantian and a distress call is made to alert the security about the intruder. A guard manages to caught Tiantian and while she's being dragged, Tong Wei angrily scolds her for causing trouble. Seriously, what a troublemaker! Urghh.
Somehow, Tiantian escapes by biting the guard's arm and she runs away randomly in the building. She goes into the elevator and escapes to the level 13 and the guards frantically follows her. Tong Wei follows behind and once on level 13, she searches and tries to open every room but many of them are locked. She walks into a room and comes face to face to Xiao Fei. He asks who she is.
Thoughts:
I watch this drama with no expectation as I am not interested with anything that related to business, lol. But colour me surprise as I find that this drama is intriguing and interesting so far. For a 1st episode, it really does well in establishing each character's personality. We get a glimpse of how they react for the situation and how they solve the problem. So far, it balances between serious and light tone.
This is my first time watching Huang Zitao acts. I am pleased with his acting. While his character's setup is a cliche, but his character admits that he is arrogant and a jerk, XD. I love his way of narrating, it seems so sarcastic and lazy, indicates that he himself is tired of his life. Despite his cold demeanor with strangers, he does have a soft spot to people that he cares, like his playful act with Xiaotian and he shows his weak side to Uncle Ou. Just like any other rich family setup in any dramas, Family Xie does appear as a cliche rich family, with ill dad and devious relatives, but somehow I'm curious as how the plot will unravel this family. What happened to Xiao Fei's mom? Is Xiao Tian's concern for his brother genuine?
I've watched few movies of Yang Mi, and I always like her calm and collected acting. Her character in this seems to be tailor-made for her. Oh, how I love a capable, responsible and dependable heroine 😍. I sense a forewarning and can't help but feel worried when she reminds Mr. Chen Mo to not hating her in next few months. It's true though. She is a negotiator, basically any merger between the companies depends on the negotiation. The agreement made affects a lot of company's future. The weight of the negotiation can't be taken lightly, who knows if the merge will make the company lose more than what is planned or worse, forced to shut down. Hence, her worry is valid. Her words of how some good intention will ruin things ring a truth bell. I wonder if her path will cross again with Mr. Chen Mo in upcoming episodes.
Aside from some ridiculous side-plot (that recorded conversation with that taxi driver, lol) to show Tong Wei's capable side, I'm looking forward for more negotiation method/ solution from her. Also, it seems like from the synopsis, Xiao Fei will start to work together with Tong Wei. I can't wait for the plot to settle down and to see they working together as a team. They are totally opposite in character, with Xiao Fei being impatient and emotional while Tong Wei is so calm and rational.
p/s: I can never get used to the dubbing, it takes away the realness of the emotion of the actors because for me the voice while they are acting can show so much the emotion's depth.
Stay tuned for next episode. Thank you for reading. 😊
Date released: 4th February 2018
Episode: 42
Synopsis: Tong Wei, a genius negotiator who is the star of the US-China Business Council meets fellow negotiator Xie Xiaofei at a business deal. Xiaofei is actually the sole heir of a wealthy Chinese-American corporation who wants nothing to do with the family business. He vents his frustrations on Tong Wei, though their bickering relationship soon takes a romantic turn. The couple separates after Tong Wei discovers the Xie Family had a hand in her parents’ deaths, only to meet several years later as negotiators of rival firms. (taken from Wikipedia)
Episode 1
The episode begins in New York City.
At a business lobby in a hotel, a furious White old man in business attire is lashing out at Qin Tian Yu (Dylan Kuo) where it seems the old man's company, Yep, is having a 17 hours delay of merger negotiation with a Chinese company, Quick/ Kuaishan. Tian Yu as the negotiator/ representative of Yep is forced to solve this problem quickly. The old man warns Tian Yu to be fired (including his firm) if he doesn't come up with a solution in an hour.
Quick's owner, Mr. Chen Mo seems to be holed up in his private room in the hotel where the negotiation is being held. He walks back and forth, then munches a stick of Pocky (I'm not sure the brand's name, let's just go with a famous one, XD), seems caught up in a deep thought. His staffs are waiting outside his room. They are confused as well with his decision to stop the merger after his effort of flying all the way from China. 30 minutes has passed and Tian Yu is worried as there is no progress.
The scene changes to another place where a woman, Tong Wei (Yang Mi) asks her secretary, Cui Xi (Long Zheng Xuan) about the situation. Tong Wei flips through the document containing all background info about Mr. Chen Mo and the detail is Mr. Chen Mo is Quick/ Kuaishan's boss, a car-hailing app and the rival is Yep. His initial intention to merge with Yep is to gain more market value. He also is not short of money. She's wondering why Mr. Chen suddenly decides to stop his plan. A quick call from Tian Yu asking Tong Wei to help him as he only got half an hour left.
A yellow supercar and a yellow cab arrive at the hotel. Getting out from the supercar is Xie Xiao Fei
(Huang Zitao) who in a voice-over, tells us he is arrogant, overbearing and looks down on others. Pfft. He throws his key to the valet boy, but the key drops to the floor. Tong Wei who is just getting out of the cab, picks it up and passes it to the valet boy. Xiao Fei seems indifferent and just walks into the hotel. He continues narrating that if he hadn't meet her that day, he would still remain the same. Both of them walk into different direction once they enter the hotel.
Tian Yu is relieved to see Tong Wei. She asks where Mr. Chen Mo is and both of them head to Mr. Chen Mo's room. In front of the room, Tong Wei loudly declares that she is a Kuaishan app user, and she got a complaint. Hearing that, Mr. Chen Mo immediately opens the door.
Tong Wei explains that she's in USA for 10 days for a training program. A flashback tells us a few days ago, on the day to Shanghai Pudong airport, she called a taxi by using Kuaishan app. The driver asked her whether she's also a Yep app user and requested her to hire him with Yep's app. He also offered to give discount for the fare. Curious, she opened her voice recorder app and recorded the conversation (this is too reaching, XD, but let's just say this side-plot is to stress that Tong Wei is a great negotiator, but what an illogical coincidence, lol). The driver explained that if the user opens Kuaishan app and uses Yepu app at the same time, the driver will get paid by both companies (since the destination is the same). He told that it's a win-win situation for the passenger and the driver as they won't lose anything. Hearing the recorded conversation, Mr. Chen Mo realizes the unfortunate outcome of his company's competition with the rival.
Speaking with calm and rational tone, Tong Wei explains it's a loss to both companies if they continue to compete and put so much money into subsidy/ promotion only to lose it to the drivers that misuse the system. She also recalls the effort and hardship of Mr. Chen Mo when he started out as a businessman (because she checked his background). Mr. Chen Mo shares his worry that he stops the merger because Yep already has a big share in the market, and once merged, only one company will monopolize the industry which is a bad thing. Tong Wei then asks Mr. Chen to do his part to contribute as she's assured that Mr. Chen Mo has his own plans after the merge, asking him to not giving up and to ceate benefit for himself and the users. Mr. Chen Mo seems to be softened by her words.
The people of both companies wait anxiously outside. Mr. Chen Mo walks out from his room, and heads towards Yep's representative. He holds out his hand as a sign of an agreement to the merger, and both sides are pleased with the outcome. However, Tong Wei worryingly warns Mr. Chen Mo to not hate her after this as she says ominously that often things will be ruined by people with good intention and Mr. Chen Mo obliviously ignores her warning as he is in a good mood. He hopes to see her again as he walks away.
After that, Tong Wei has a celebratory dinner with Tian Yu at an oriental restaurant. They talk about the negotiation result and he is thankful to her. As a repayment, he playfully offers his body and Tong Wei warns him to not joke around. Clearly Tian Yu is interested in her but it is just one-sided.
Somewhere in New York City, an illegal boxing match is being held. As it is illegal, clearly weight class doesn't matter. A Russian boxer named Bulldozer, enters the ring. The MC then announces his challenger, a boxer that the audiences never heard of, Xiao Fei. 😂. As he walks towards the ring, he narrates that he likes boxing but sadly expresses that his family never support him. At the corner of the place, a Chinese woman cheers for him. Because Xiao Fei looks skinny and inexperienced, few audiences scoff and boo at him.
As the fight begins, a black car approaches the building and we see a man with his bodyguards go inside to the building where the match is. This is Xiao Fei's younger step-brother, Xie Xiao Tian (Lai Yi). He looks worried for his brother. As the audience becomes wild with the great display of fighting from both boxers, Bulldozer then kicks Xiao Fei and he stumbles to the ring's corner. This ticks Xiao Fei off and he stands up and easily knockouts Bulldozer with a flying knee kick and a flying front punch. (I'm sorry, I'm not used to fighting terms, 😂).
The bunny ring girl presents the winning money to Xiao Fei and he gives it to still-lying Bulldozer and says he knew about Bulldozer's sick sister and to use the money for her treatment. The crowds all cheer and clap for him (but seriously, can they be more convincing other than look/stare-not-talking at Xio Fei XD). Once outside the ring, Xiao Tian asks Xiao Fei to come back home instead of engaging in dangerous activities. The woman who cheers for Xiao Fei, Song Aili (Xun Yie), counters that the match is exciting and Xiao Fei lazily (sorry, H. Zitao really talks lazily most of the time in this drama, lol) told Xiao Tian that this kind of place is fun. Xiao Tian reminds Xiao Fei that tomorrow is an important day and Xiao Fei says of course he remembers the oh-so-boring monthly family get-together.
Outside, Xiao Fei gives Xiao Tian a chewing gum as he says his younger brother always looks so stiff and unable to loosen up. Within seconds of chewing, Xiao Tian starts to feel dizzy and drunk and Xiao Fei playfully says that those who are not used to getting drunk will easily feel dizzy because of that special gum. He asks Xiao Tian to just go home while he goes in a car with Aili. While Xiao Fei is driving, Aili tells him that because Xiao Fei is the sole heir of Family Xie, of course Xiao Tian is worried about him all the time. Hearing Family Xie's name, Xiao Fei grumpily warns Aili to not mention that name in front of him. He grudgingly says that he will never live like the family, the money-making machine.
At the hotel, Tong Wei gets a call from her uncle in China. He's in panic mode, as her younger sister, Tong Tiantian (Li Tingting) is missing. Her auntie takes over the call and tells that Tiantian has been missing since yesterday. She did ask Tiantian's classmates and they said she went abroad. Tong Wei asks her auntie to check whether there's any note in Tiantian's room to indicate her whereabouts and the uncle finds an itinerary about a trip and send the picture to Tong Wei. Seeing the itinerary, Tong Wei calls her secretary to find info about all shows for New York Fashion Week.
Next day, in Family Xie's residence, Xiao Fei's father, Xie Tian You (Winston Chao, let's just call him Dad Xie) takes note that Xiao Fei is still not present for the family get-together. He disappointedly complains to his wife that Xiao Fei takes lightly of the passed-down family's tradition to gather on 5th every month.
On the way to the residence (woah, that's a big house!), Xiao Fei narrates that he dislikes the idea of the gathering as his pretentious relatives attend it with a fake smile while actually having ulterior motives for their benefit.
Xiao Fei struggles to secretly come into the house but the butler, Uncle Ou comes to the rescue. He notifies Xiao Fei that there's still 10 minutes left until the gathering started and ushers Xiao Fei to get ready. Uncle Ou also says he will go to the hospital later.
After that gathering, Dad Xie calls Xiao Fei to the study room and confronts him about his boxing match last night. The match made it to the news, lol. Dad Xie basically is angry with his son's reckless lifestyle and both him and Xiao Fei's uncle remind Xiao Fei to act like a true heir.
Xiao Fei goes on a long monologue of rant on how he is being used as a tool to make money and how the elders never once ask him when they decide anything regarding his life. He compares that the boxing feels real as opposed to the relatives' fake smile. God, the music for this scene is so dramatic, 😂. Xiao Fei walks away from the room as the butler and Xiao Tian calm Dad Xie down as he starts having trouble to breathe. Outside the house, Xiao Fei gets a call. With a concern look, he immediately replies he's coming.
Around the area of New York Fashion Week, Tiantian dons a blond wig with a uhh "stylish" outfit, seems waiting for something. A group of fashion show attendees walk by, followed by a photographer. With a broken spoken English, she begs to the photographer to let her in too to the fashion show, but he refuses as she can't go in without the ticket. Anyway, that's a lame ass fashion style, XD.
Tong Wei grabs her by her shoulder. She chides Tiantian for wearing something unrecognizable as it takes her for a while to find her younger sister. Tiantian defends herself because she's wearing a high-street fashion outfits. Whatever, lol. Tiantian refuses to follow her sister and Tong Wei scolds her for being childish and says her parents are so worried. So, it seems that Tiantian is her younger cousin (?), I guess. In the end, Tiantian with a dissatisfied look forcefully walking behind Tong Wei but sneakily runs away and enters a private building, Massum Health Center, while Tong Wei doesn't pay attention.
While Tiantian is exploring the private health centre, somewhere in the same building, a group of doctor and nurse seem apologetic to Xiao Fei. They mistakenly give him a false alarm about his mother's condition. His mother is bed-ridden and in deep coma. Xiao Fei clearly is upset as he rants to the medical team that he gives them so much money and yet her mom still doesn't show any sign of recovery. Uncle Ou calms his down.
Once the doctors leave, his cold demeanor drops. His voice is breaking as he asks Uncle Ou to leave him alone with his mom. Xiao Fei cries while sitting down on the chair besides the bed and his voice-over says that in his fake family, the only thing that he treasures the most is his mother. He wonders when will she wake up and how he misses her so much. Awww. T_T.
Tong Wei asks help from the building's guards to find Tiantian and they manage to find her location through the CCTV. They spread out to find Tiantian and a distress call is made to alert the security about the intruder. A guard manages to caught Tiantian and while she's being dragged, Tong Wei angrily scolds her for causing trouble. Seriously, what a troublemaker! Urghh.
Somehow, Tiantian escapes by biting the guard's arm and she runs away randomly in the building. She goes into the elevator and escapes to the level 13 and the guards frantically follows her. Tong Wei follows behind and once on level 13, she searches and tries to open every room but many of them are locked. She walks into a room and comes face to face to Xiao Fei. He asks who she is.
Thoughts:
I watch this drama with no expectation as I am not interested with anything that related to business, lol. But colour me surprise as I find that this drama is intriguing and interesting so far. For a 1st episode, it really does well in establishing each character's personality. We get a glimpse of how they react for the situation and how they solve the problem. So far, it balances between serious and light tone.
This is my first time watching Huang Zitao acts. I am pleased with his acting. While his character's setup is a cliche, but his character admits that he is arrogant and a jerk, XD. I love his way of narrating, it seems so sarcastic and lazy, indicates that he himself is tired of his life. Despite his cold demeanor with strangers, he does have a soft spot to people that he cares, like his playful act with Xiaotian and he shows his weak side to Uncle Ou. Just like any other rich family setup in any dramas, Family Xie does appear as a cliche rich family, with ill dad and devious relatives, but somehow I'm curious as how the plot will unravel this family. What happened to Xiao Fei's mom? Is Xiao Tian's concern for his brother genuine?
I've watched few movies of Yang Mi, and I always like her calm and collected acting. Her character in this seems to be tailor-made for her. Oh, how I love a capable, responsible and dependable heroine 😍. I sense a forewarning and can't help but feel worried when she reminds Mr. Chen Mo to not hating her in next few months. It's true though. She is a negotiator, basically any merger between the companies depends on the negotiation. The agreement made affects a lot of company's future. The weight of the negotiation can't be taken lightly, who knows if the merge will make the company lose more than what is planned or worse, forced to shut down. Hence, her worry is valid. Her words of how some good intention will ruin things ring a truth bell. I wonder if her path will cross again with Mr. Chen Mo in upcoming episodes.
Aside from some ridiculous side-plot (that recorded conversation with that taxi driver, lol) to show Tong Wei's capable side, I'm looking forward for more negotiation method/ solution from her. Also, it seems like from the synopsis, Xiao Fei will start to work together with Tong Wei. I can't wait for the plot to settle down and to see they working together as a team. They are totally opposite in character, with Xiao Fei being impatient and emotional while Tong Wei is so calm and rational.
p/s: I can never get used to the dubbing, it takes away the realness of the emotion of the actors because for me the voice while they are acting can show so much the emotion's depth.
Stay tuned for next episode. Thank you for reading. 😊
Great recapped... i’m Disappointed they dubbed their voice since this is a modern drama...but still a fun drama to watch this really odd coupling hahaha ...storyline/plot nothing new... I’m in for the ride with ZTao and YM...
ReplyDeleteYep, agree with the disappointing dub. It feels weird. Sigh.
DeleteYep, epecially for YM, even though it's the same voice actress who did her as Bai Qian (which I have no problem) but in here it feels kind of weird and off like you said...I'm up to episode 10 and used it to now....now i'm glad in Les Interpret YM/HX used their real voices...
DeleteHey ..thanks for the recap..love from India...
ReplyDelete