A mini-push for Easy Fortune Happy Life

[dangermousie]

(Yes, I know, I am horribly behind on comment response. I promise to get to them today).

But for now - I've seen this topic come up on my friendslist so I am making a little push for last year's Easy Fortune Happy Life starring Chen Qiao En and Blue Lan.

EFHL was a controversial twdrama - some people didn't care for the hero and wanted him eaten by piranhas and others (like me) really enjoyed the drama. I think the set-up explains the controversy quite well - Blue Lan plays Da Feng, an arrogant scion of a greedy, soulless family. Upon finding out that his inheriting a fortune depends on marrying some random girl he's never met, he decides to do the only logical thing - hire a hitman to take out his unseen fiancee. But because this is a twdrama, little does he know that his fiancee is the quirky, adorable Fu An (Chen Qiao En), the girl he's been fighting and slowly falling in love with.

You can see why many people had a problem with him as the lead :) But I did not at all and, shockingly, it wasn't because he was played by the mega-hot Blue Lan. The reason I did not mind was twofold: (1) The drama itself made no bones Da Feng is an utter bastard (until his inevitable reformation). Seeing his upbringing, it was not particularly surprising either. My big problem with drama characters arises when my perception of them differs from the makers' and here it was not the case. (2) Fu An is hardly a wilting weeping flower. She can stand up to anything (this being a twdrama, actions are of course exaggerated - he gets a hitman but she tries to get him drowned in quicksand :P They are made for each other :P).

Anyway, it's not the best drama ever made, but I enjoyed it. Count me in on the "yay" side of the debate.

And even if you don't watch it, at least check out this very very adorable MV with a LOT of kissing.

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I semi-liked this one - the secondary guy was yummy. The lead guy wasn't my cup of tea, a bit on the ugly side.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heh, blasphemy! Oh well, more for me.

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

Didn't the hitman arc end very quickly? For some reason I had the impression he ends up marrying her just for the money, and then falls in love much later, and that's what made me quit watching it before it even happened.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's one big harlequin novel, I loved it.

[sodahands.livejournal.com]

he gets a hitman but she tries to get him drowned in quicksand :P
Lmao this sounds like something you'd see in Passions which was truly awful but I loved it when I was in middle school.

I'm going to have to watch this drama some time.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's so ott and ridiculous

[musthavesubs.livejournal.com]

Although I didn't care much for the leading man- a character that I would describe as morally merky- (he was subsequently responsbily for the leading lady's grandma dying!) I actually quite enjoyed this drama- it had a good pace, not too long, great soundtrack and hate it or love it, you defitiely won't be indifferent.Plus,I too agree with the comment that the secondary guy is yummy!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he was a jerk but for some reason it didn't bug me

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

Randomly, I had a dream you called me while you were waiting in line for something and you read me Pablo Neruda poetry.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Hehehe

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

...dammit. You're like a drug pusher. God, he's just...let me put it this way, NOM NOM NOM.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heeee. If you didn't say you didn't want angst, I'd rec The Outsiders where he is one of 3 best friends who join the mob.

[seven-trees.livejournal.com]

I would die from the angst. DIE. *sigh* This guy needs to do a drama that's fluffy and where he's not a total d-bag.

[boginje.livejournal.com]

OMG, you have no idea how much this guy irritates me(it was hate at first sight).
Chen Qiao En- I`ve started watching Mainland dramas because she seems to be in every single successful Taiwanese drama ever made-she isn`t really in every single one of them, but she is definitely in way too many of them.
I like her, but how about giving someone else a chance?

In terms of plot this drama was ridiculous, really messed up and plain bad-everyone ordering murders, overnight personality changes, real illness, fake illness,random new subplots,they`ve been engaged and than 15 minutes later not together anymore a couple of times URGH... !!!

The only plotline showing consistency and natural progression was Zhen Zhen/Yan Yang love story. I LOVED those two.

Zhen Zhen started of as a smart, materialistic girl capable of breaking the law and even ordering murder(or was it only an assault?). Than she met her match in Yan Yang(you can`t see it but now I am smiling from ear to ear while reminiscing about the "I am not gay" kiss).Things got out of control and soon enough she hit rock bottom. I love how they gave her 2 years to change/grow cuz she really needed to find herself again. I was so touched by Zhen Zhen/Yan Yang meet-up at the end of the drama--there was a time when I felt lost in terms of who I was and who I wanted to be and it took me awhile to think things through and move forward with my life.
Everyone probably felt that way at some point of their life which is way I think her character is the most "real" of them all.
Superficial note: I want to see Jocelyn Wang in more projects- she is definitely not a bad actress and I find her prettier than Chen Qiao En.

Yan Yang- I LOVE him.He is such a mature person-he understands himself and others. I LOVED how he needed time to forgive Zhen Zhen and knew she needed time to forgive herself and learn how to like herself(as opposed to Fu An forgiving everything almost instantly). He stayed away and yet he closely followed her self-discovery/change/growth(with a little help from her mother-how cute is that?!).And he kept the hamster(now THAT can melt any girls heart).
Basically Yan Yang is my definition of "the prince charming". However the best thing about Yan Yang is that HE IS PLAYED BY XIU JIE KAI-Xiu Jie Kai is probably the only tw actor who can pull of a gay looking and yet manly character.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:Xiu Jie Kai is my favorite Taiwanese actor(This video*starting from 4:00* should give you a clearer picture of how versatile he is as an actor /the rest of the video features a couple of Zhen Zhen/Yan Yang scenes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skERM7lKMtI )

Ending this long and fangirly rant cuz now I am getting carried away:)

[musthavesubs.livejournal.com]

Chen Qiao En IS in every T drama going- seriously over exposed or what!
I agree about the Yang Yang- Loved him.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Don't agree on main couple but certainly agree on secondary one :)

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

sorry - but no amount of cute MVs can get me to watch this one after what I read about it on flisties' journals:)

also hiring a hitman to take out an innnocent girl is a level of lost-ness that it would take miraculous events to change from - and I have a strong feeling this drama doesn't provide that. The only way I'd be semi-okay with that scenario was if it was in a gangster drama and the guy was tormneted about it and/or ended up gettnig punished for it in the end anyway.

but it's nice that some people enjoyed.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I view this sort of cracky twdrama very differently from a realistic kdrama or jdrama - the actions have an almost cartoony level of exaggeration (she tries to drown him in first ep mainly because she's annoyed at him, she has no idea who he is. Realism and this drama aren't buddies).

[kitkat-cat.livejournal.com]

I started out enjoying it. Mid-way, i kinda went off it as the combined powers of big plot holes and annoying little brother really hacked me off, but then, i started loving it again!

So, I suppose that I'm on the yay side too!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yay, am not alone