Guys With Kids (2021)

A checklist of annoying tropes, frustrating characters

Have you ever watched a show so terrible you were compelled to actually write about it? This was that show for me. Guys with Kids was relentlessly, unmittigatingly, thoroughly frustrating from the get-go. The urge to share how dreadful it was, was so strong that I actually created this MyDramaList account just to pen a review. :P

I’ve never encountered a drama with such an astonishingly frustrating cast of characters who also embodied a checklist of bad tropes. It adopted all of the worst and most annoying plot devices and developments found in the Asian drama library and cranked them up to 10.

No wonder it was shelved for six years before being finally released, presumably on the heels of Luo Yunxi’s success with Love is Sweet.

Some of the most ridiculous elements of the drama (with only the slightest hyperbole) included:

- Everyone was in non-stop crisis mode
- Nearly everyone kept WILLFULLY MISUNDERSTANDING AND READING THE WORST INTO EVERY SITUATION. So much bad faith.
- Nearly everyone stupidly believed the lies told by people they barely knew about those closest to them. Where is the trust?
- Nearly everyone had zero financial sense. The amount of money being borrowed and stolen and lost and loaned felt pretty ridiculous.

Male Lead (Gao Han): PUSHOVER ALERT. I’ve never seen a lead so obsequious, self-effacing, and apologetic about everything to everyone. A “bà dào” (霸道) executive he was most definitely not! (Not that I'm a fan of that trope either :P) He is extremely kind, too generous, too patient — definitely to a fault. There were so many instances where he really needed to stand up for himself, especially to his ex-wife and … he doesn’t. The frustration level is high. I have also never watched a drama with a main character more bedeviled by terrible timing and worse luck. His character alone could be enough to quit the show.

But wait. Just like a bad TV infomercial — there’s more!

Female Lead (Shan Shan): The female lead was equally frustrating in her legal and business dealings. She had little basic common sense and zero skills for reading people (both good and bad).

Second Female Lead (Ma Xiaohong): At first, she seemed like the classic stalker who wanted someone who didn’t love her back, but she really ended up being one of the least frustrating characters — smart, sensible, kind, generous, and pretty kick-ass.

Second Male Lead (Yu Bo): Along with the 2FL, Luo Yunxi’s character and the girl who liked him (Kang Qian) were by far the most sensible people in the entire drama.

Third Male Lead (Wang Dongyang): I believe he was supposed to be the goofball, “slapstick” comedic foil in Guys with Kids. Instead, most of the time he simply came across as an incredibly selfish and self-centered jerk who absolutely did not deserve the amazing girl from his hometown who loved him.

The Baby: Poor kid. He often looked like he was on the verge of tears or outright crying. (For those who wondered, his multiracial appearance is explained or alluded to in a throwaway line near the end of the drama.)

The Obsessed Classmate: She embodied three of my least favourite tropes — an evil character who was portrayed as a little “crazy” and determined to have the person they “love” no matter what the other person wants, and got a redemption arc through a dramatic and sudden 180 change of heart that belied her decades of effort to finally ensnare the ML.

The Ex-Wife: I could not staaaaaaaaannnnd her. She was awful in every way: greedy and grasping (even at the expense of someone else’s life-saving medical treatment), incredibly manipulative, and completely illogical. She also used her daughter against her ex-husband, who loved his daughter, but was too critical of himself to think he deserved to even fight for her. Of course, this drama would not be complete without giving the ex-wife her own Redemption Arc too! Because, why not?

OVERALL

Guys with Kids came across like it was meant to be a slapstick romantic comedy, especially with the third “pairing”, but like so many Chinese dramas that start off as light comedies, it veered into melodrama territory by the final third of the show.

I don’t know if I simply started rolling with it by episode 18 or 19 (everyone still did stupid things and were terrible communicators) or if things actually settled down, but there were fewer annoying moments it seemed — for at least about 10 episodes before my eyes started rolling and my teeth started clenching again. XD

For all its terribleness, I did end up grinning and snort-laughing a fair bit at the ridiculous scenarios, bad dialogue, and the makjang/dog’s blood plot twists. So there you go! Unless all this sounds like your cup of tea, you’ve been adequately warned.

(No English subs yet that I've seen)

(This is a slightly shortened version of a review first posted on my drama blog: https://www.solarina.ca/dramaddicts/dramaddicts-blog/2021/6/3/guys-with-kids-a-checklist-of-annoying-tropes-and-frustrating-characters )

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