The Queen of SOP (2012)

Story: The question this story aims to answer is this: "Who will you choose if both men loves you and you love both of them too?" Arrgh! The headache and heartache of choosing! Let's start with Man 1 and the female lead. The love story between Man 1 and the female lead started through a series of accidents. Originally, Man 1 did not like the female lead and vice versa. Man 1 was in love with another woman. Due to fated incidences with the female lead, Man 1 was cornered into making decisions that sees the female lead ending up as his fiancee. At first, he did not realise that he had actually fallen for the female lead. He will only realise that he loves her after she had left him. Let's move on to Man 2. The female lead and Man 2 are great friends and Man 2 was very supportive of her through the ups and downs. Man 2 has always love the female lead but the female lead has only thought of him as a friend. The climax is when both men pursue the female lead. Punches were thrown, of course! LOL Throw in office and business politics and you'll get The Queen of SOP. Who will she end up with in the end? Watch to find out!

Acting/Cast: Loooove the cast. Godfrey Gao is hot but his acting is not as matured as the rest of the cast. The chemistries between Godfrey and Joe and between Joe and Zhang Han were VERY good. I honestly believe that this drama is as successful as it is now mostly due to the chemistry between the leads. Will you be in team Godfrey or team Zhang Han? Which man will you cheer on?

Music: Good enough but not something I will get excited over.

Rewatch value: Minus the boring and draggy bits in between where the office and business politics kind of took over, there are parts of the drama that I would gladly rewatch anytime simply for watching the chemistry between the leads. This drama makes me a Zhang Han fan. I never thought much of him from "Let's go watch meteor shower" which was the chinese version of Hana Yori Dango. It was a complete flop. But in The Queen of SOP, he shone! Now, I want to watch more dramas with him in it! And Godfrey Gao... even though there is much he needs to learn about acting, the man is a walking hunk of yumminess. I seriously do not know how Joe Chen could ever choose between the two of them!

Overall: Good entertainment and eye-candy value but most importantly for a romance drama, the chemistry between the leads are oh-so-yummy!

Conclusion: Yes, I am raving like a young fool over some good looking blokes....but anyone who knows me know that I do not give looks that much credit in a drama anyways. My brownie points go to the chemistry between the leads. Being yummy is a bonus! Which team am I in? I'm in team Zhang Han. I always like to champion the guy who is your best friend and who had always supported you all the way. I reckon the best relationships stem from such invaluable friendship.

My advice: Watch it, but feel free to fast forward the middle parts with all the office and business politics. Enjoy!

Leggi di Più

I have to admit i was waiting for this drama for about half a year and now I finally finished it!!! In this drama what i liked most was the acting and chemistry between characters.

Typical drama

the friendship that made me wish i had a best friend like that- someone who understands you and thought the same as you or close to same as you.

There was a couple of people that bothered me.

Love triangle - its nice to see the relationship develop between Xiao Je and the two male leads.

the fashion- I live in Ny therefore if i try on some of asian fashion people will look at me funny, but how i wish i could get a stylist to do my makeup and clothes. The whole drama i was staring at the females eyelashes- too bad they are fake, but its nice to look at. ^.^

Not typical drama
I always get annoyed when the story rises to its climax and so many problems arise- most of the time I would just drop the drama or start looking for another drama to watch, but this was an exception.When i say this is not typical I mean It had this kind of nice and warm feeling. No evil mother. It was a mother who was open to accepting things- as many other characters except a few.

Although this is a mature drama, but i really enjoyed the romance and you know how romance can be childish at times. You have to see it.

And finally, this drama had a mature characters. A strong female lead- I saw how she grew in work,she doesn't always need someone to protect her because she can do it!!!

Overall there were many "awwww" moments and moments where i could not stand to see what the old grandpas where saying. But they weren't up to where i would drop the drama.

Leggi di Più

I'd been planning on watching this for a long time and now I've finally completed it (cheers to my first Chinese drama!). The span of 33 episodes was long, tiring, happy, sad and frustrating. I admit this is a drama that totally gives off a fresh vibe in spite of its cliches. What I loved best about it was its modern and relatable aspects.

The story is hardly anything new or different. Yet, it does something to suck you in. The cast is amazing and they make their characters very likable. It's a love triangle and there was sweet romance in it. My complain is that there should have been more time devoted to the romance between leads. There was some very boring office politics stuff after episode 16 that I had no interest in. Be prepared to skip a lot of boring parts in the drama after it runs half its course.

I have to say I love Xiao Jie. She is a strong woman and very grounded. I liked how she gave importance to her professional life over her personal problems. She never sat around moping because her life sucked. Joe Chen's wardrobe was also nice and she looked very pretty in this. My favorite guy was Tang Jun. I have a thing for silent lovers who play Daddy Long Legs to the girl because it's so sweet. Plus, he and Xiao Jie had an actual build up from strangers to friends to lovers. It was long and tiring but worth it in the end. Although Godfrey Gao is very hot, his acting was stiff and his character didn't impress me much, counting out the last episode where I liked him a lot.

In some ways this story reminded me of Hana Yori Dango. In both the dramas the main couple has to go through lots of obstacles to get together. I've just not seen a drama with so much makjang in a while. :D

The Queen of SOP is a happy and relaxing drama. It is a bit slow compared to Korean dramas and such but it has things in it that makes it so cute. At times a bit realistic and at times a bit too dramatic- this drama had it all. The best thing was the absence of melodrama. Seriously. No depressing stuff in a drama is like sunshine on a cold day for me. That alone is a reason to not let this pass up. Watch this drama and give it a chance. :)

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This drama started off strong, with a cast with great chemistry and a story line that although not original is still one that is enjoyable to watch. The episodes at 40 minutes long are easy-watching and breeze by quickly. However, around episode 13, the show shifts its romantic focus and instead become more of an office drama dealing with the difficulties and complexities of trying to keep a large corporation afloat, in addition to family drama associated with the pressure of one’s own family owning a company and the pressures that come with that. For me, this was very dull and was not the story that I was intending to watch which was a letdown.

In addition, I feel as though this drama should have been titled The Queen of Shutting Off Phone, or in some cases NOT silencing their phones. In every crucial confession, important, or will they/won’t they romantic scene, the main character’s phone would be either off, or would ring and ruin the moment. This was the writers only way they used to accomplish a distraction, and because of this it was not only infuriating but made the story seem juvenile, unoriginal, and repetitive.

Although some of the actors’ performances were exceptional, it could not save this script and make this drama into a classic. The soundtrack as well was appropriate and fitting to the drama but was not spectacular in and of its own right. Overall, this drama is an okay watch. Highly enjoyable in the beginning only to fizzle out just before the halfway mark. However, if you like the actors in this drama, it may be worth the watch for the chemistry and love story.

Leggi di Più

This drama left me highly disappointed.

I was initially looking forward to it because Joe Chen was the main female lead but then the character was a berserk. There was no consistency or proper flow in her character's development as Lin Xiao Jie. The writers might have wanted to make her progress fast but they did it TOO fast there was nothing substantial in her newly reformed persona. As for Tang Jun, at least him being Tom and Tang Jun at the same time was a clear cut thing. And his fondness to Xiao Jie was obvious and unwavering giving us a solid main lead. Then there's Godfrey as Gao Zi. The man is like a prince, I swooned at first sight and I was already shipping for the second lead instead of the main one. His character was quite fickle though that's why I still liked Tom despite the huge difference in the hotness scale.

The story was subpar, the usual rich-guy-meets-poor-girl and it was all predictable I almost cried out of boredom because I was already telling myself what's about to happen. There were also scene executions in which made the story far fetched and circus-y already. There were unneeded plot lines which only made the story dragging and made the episodes longer. Over all it was tiring to watch. I only finished it because I was hooked with London's wonderful view along with Xiao Jie and Tang Jun's cutesy moment.

Oh... I also liked the soundtrack... but I'm still not recommending this as a must see drama. I would hate myself if you wasted precious drama time on this. But then again if you're a fan of the main leads... go ahead and knock yourself out with their cuteness.

Leggi di Più

In typical t-drama fashion the love triangles take a circle shape.
The Queen of SOP is a Cinderella type story with a love pentagon holding everything together.
I really liked the strong lead female character, she stayed the same till the very end. The leading male characters were played really well and the characters evolved. Not only the leading men, but in this drama the characters were not your run-of-the-mill drama stereotypes. All of the characters were written well and there were no really evil antagonists that i despised. There were a whole lot of familiar faces from T and C dramas, giving a good dose of eye candy. (This was the first time i liked both of the leading men!)
The story itself is really so so , for them to have such great characters (and pretty good actors) there was a really typical story. There was a lot of "i loved you, now i love this person", and "I will fight for my love at all costs!" *slightly throws up in mouth* Good thing there werent too many sappy parts or i would not have been able to finish! There wasnt a lot of original ideas, it was as if they pulled out the Tdrama playbook and pulled ideas :( Towards the end there was a bit of a boredom, but they wrapped it up and finished it off.
Otherwise the scenery was great, the leading female had great hair but bad clothes, the attempts at english are awful (they could have gotten Ethan to help!), they end with a few loose ends (its bearable) and they set up the episodes so you will watch them back to back.
I will admit this is one of the best Tdramas I have seen to date. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a feel good drama with a strong female lead. A word of warning though, you will want to know just what do they do at the end of 1 episode and end up watching another 3 episodes.
p.s. I HATED the theme song. OMG! Ugggh

Leggi di Più

I finished watching the drama a few days ago but I still can't get out of Tang Jun spell. Well, it doesn't happen to me very often. I would give this drama a few credits just for this reason.

Firstly, the story is a typical romance drama. You shouldn't expect too much for the storyline/plot to give you surprises. However, I feel that the drama was directed in such a way that it isn't boring at all.

Well, I give it a 10 just because of Zhang Han/ Qiao An couple. However, the drama really has great cast for each role. Chen Qiao An's character is different from her previous roles. I didn't like/dislike her before but now, I really enjoy her acting in this role. For Zhang Han, he became my new bias in Taiwanese actors. His charms/acting really suits the character Tang Jun. And their chemistry was just perfect.

Music - didn't give much impression but still, I think it suits the mood of the drama

Rewatch value - in fact, I am rewatching some scenes from the drama. If you enjoy the chemistry of the leads (either TangJun/XiaoJie or ZiQi/XiaoJie), you will feel like watching it again.

Overall, a great drama that is worth to watch if you are looking for not-too-dark, not-too-melo romance drama

Leggi di Più

Interesting show. Ticked all the stereotypical boxes, although didn't really go beyond that. The plot was both quite convoluted and also quite predictable. A lot of stuff happened and left a lot of loose ends, but the overarching story was easy to figure out way before the half way point. The show has a fairly clear divide into two parts and I thought character and plot development in the second half really suffered. Only the main lead male character really evolved, whilst everyone else quickly became quite stale. The second half was a very predictable, tame and unadventurous telling of a very simple and short story. The first half was a lot more dynamic and exciting. I wouldn't say the show was especially drawn out, but more could have been done to really keep us invested in the story.

The casting was really strong though, despite quite a few weak characters. Everyone performed really well in my eyes and there wasn't really anyone I could single out as a let down. The female lead especially was really impressive, as I've seen her in other shows and I hardly recognized her in this. I think the actors were let down far more by the relatively weak writing than by their actual skills.

Music was largely forgettable. Not as strong as many other shows, but not inherently bad. Not really sure what else to say about this; it wasn't really here or there.

I personally don't have any incentive to rewatch this. It was largely quite predictable and most of the characters weren't too likable. There were no huge stand out moments to really make me want to see them again.

Overall, despite becoming quite bland as it progressed, it's still a decent show worth watching. The first half of the show gets you invested in it *just* enough to make you want to see it through to the end, although don't expect anything groundbreaking.

Leggi di Più

I got into this show because the cast seemed interesting. They had my attention until the end, but a story that focuses too much on the office drama is hard to like, even if the romance is good. However I have come to like this show.

The story follows typical love triangle protocol where Lin Xiao Jie(Chen Joe) falls in love with her boss Gao Zi Qi( Gao Godfrey a.k.a future Magnus Bane... I can't wait!). Meanwhile, Tom(Zhang Han), a guy she meets in England falls in love with her. Both male leads have great chemistry with the female lead and you struggle to decide which one you want her to end up with which in my opinion sets it apart from other Taiwanese romantic comedies. Furthermore, it manages to make it hard to decipher whom she would end up with until the show starts to make its way towards the end. However like I previously stated this does follow typical love triangle protocol and for those that don't know what I'm talking about it includes exaggerated misunderstandings, second female leads that act like spoiled bitches, rich male leads, poor female lead(this one is more middle class though), funny assistants, sick family member of the male lead, and situations where the male lead look it like a douche. Cliche, but cute it had the makings of a great story. That is until the writers shove the working life of the characters in my throat. I understand that the environment the characters are in is an important asset to the plot and I understand that one of the main subplots emerged from the office, but when the work plot starts to be more stressed then the romance I can't stand it. That is why the story gets a 6(please put the blunt object down).

The acting was good. I love Chen Joe and in my opinion this role suits her image of a hard working female. Her character Xiao Jie is a hilarious drunk, independent women, who makes mistakes in love that people make. This was my first time seeing Zhang Han in a drama and I'm glad it was this one because he stole the show. His acting was so natural I wouldn't be surprised if this is how he acts in real life. Tom is such a down to earth person who loves hard in other words the nice guy every girl claims to want, but only a few would actually date(call me Tom!). This was also my first time seeing Gao Godfrey act and he is good, but I feel this role wasn't the best for him. Sometimes his acting seemed bland(especially dialogue), I understand his character Gao Zi is the Mr. Arrogance, but I felt his deliver with words were weak on some occasions. However what he lacks in words he made up for in body language. The guy is natural in the art of body language. From the passion of kissing to the superior stares, I felt that this was Gao Zi. This was the arrogant bastard who is sweet when he wants to be. The other characters where good as well except for Chu Chu(one of the second female lead). Not only did the actress seem dubbed, but the character lacked substance. Even the other second female lead had character! Character 8.5.
The music was good, matching the fluffiness of this drama. What probably made me like it even more was the fact this drama actually switched up the bgm instead of playing the same main theme OVER AND OVER AGAIN, but in different tones. Overall, I loved this show and I wrote this review while rewatching the show, so yeah the rewatch value is high.I would recommend this to Chen Joe fans or people who want some drama, but not too much.

Leggi di Più

When I started this drama I though I could never go through 33 episodes because a typical drama is only 16-20 episodes long. A drama can only keep your attention for so long. But it went by pretty fast as a 40 min per episode drama.

The story was all right. It was nice to see a drama where the man's family was very supportive and nice, compared with the pettiness and drama in typical dramas. There weren't many cliche and corny scenes, except for one part where the main couple were using their hands as phones. Their intimation of a phone ringing sounded hilarious

This drama was good with the excellent acting. Many of the actors had plenty of experience in dramas, so there were no amateur acting mistakes. The acting was natural and spot-on for the characters, with no unnecessary dramatics.

One thing I didn't like about the drama was how the love triangle was executed. The main character in this drama wasn't clear on who she wanted to be with. She did say she wanted to be with one man, but then got intimate with the other. I wasn't sure which man she wanted to choose, and actually thought it was going to end in a threesome. (I wouldn't have minded because the main dudes are good looking , but dramas usually don't take that route.)

Another thing I didn't like was the focus on business, which made it seem really boring in some episodes. One minute, the main couple would be really intimate and then work somehow slides in and ruins the moment. There should have been more focus on the romance if that was supposed to be the A plot.

Overall, I liked this drama, despite its shortcomings. It was fresh and interesting, without many of the cliches in your typical dramas.

Leggi di Più

I debated on whether to give this drama a 7.5 or an 8. In the end, I bumped it up to an 8 because of the chemistry between Joe Chen and Han Zhang.

I have mixed feelings about the cast. This is the first time I'm seeing Godfrey Gao act. Although he's very good looking, his acting skills are sub-par in comparison to Joe Chen in their scenes together. I cringe for him because it's so awkward. Coco Jiang's scenes with Godfrey are worse. I couldn't deal with her incessant whining so I fast-forwarded their scenes. Now, the annoying antagonist with a crazy family? Yes, that exists here as well. I definitely fast forwarded all those scenes as well.

Now, it does seem like I'm naming many negatives but Joe Chen and Han Zhang make up for a huge portion of the negativity. Their scenes are like a breath of fresh air, and many scenes created in this drama are full of ingenuity. The premise of this drama was also promising. I enjoyed being in different settings: Taipei, Shanghai, and London. The Peter Rabbit motif throughout the drama was also cute and fitting to the characters. I loved the actress that played Han Zhang's character's older sister. She's super pretty and great at acting.Her character was enormously supportive of Tan Jin (Han Zhang)-I loved that! I have never seen her act in other dramas though. I also like how they support Tan Jun (Han Zhang). So glad there's no cliche plot in this drama about not being able to be together because of class differences. Tan Jun supports Xiao Jie (Joe Chen) the whole way through and in that respect this drama reminds me a little of In Time With You.

Music was mediocre, unfortunately. They didn't have a strong OST but some songs were cute.

Re-watch value.. no I don't think I would re-watch this at all. Once is good enough since it was kind of long. That being said, I would maybe re-watch some of the OTP scenes. All in all, I guess I can recommend this drama. So watch this if you're a fan of Joe or Han, if you can deal with some mediocre acting, if you can deal with crazy family plots, and if you're okay with the leads not being together until more than halfway through the drama. Yeah, they move very slowly, but hey they're cute together so I'm still glad I picked this drama back up after I got bored and put it on hold halfway through it. (7.25/8)

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Starts strong but gets messy; Cast and "old-cdrama" vibe should be only reasons to watch

This won't be a very detailed or comprehensive review - more of just thoughts after finishing the drama and hopefully it can help someone decide whether or not to start it.

The production quality is what you would expect from a 2012 drama. It was fine for the time but watching it now, you'll realize that it feels a bit dated. Office cdramas are becoming more and more common and China especially churns them out in bulk. If you want the "best" use of your time based on 2020 quality standards, this isn't it. Although new office dramas often are "brain-numbing" with their use of tropes and drag (especially ones to try and make them 40+ eps), unfortunately, this one is in the same vein. You'll find your common tropes: love triangle, detestable family members, naive female lead, SML that some people love while others hate, and office-politics (control over company, etc).

So what should be the reason to actually watch this instead of the more recent office dramas that have 8.0 and higher scores on MDL?

1) The actors and actresses. Zhang Han and Joe Chen are really the saving graces. They're both popular and acted their roles well. Godfrey Gao was very stiff. His looks are plainly one of the main reasons he was in this drama. His character is supposed to follow a redemption arc / growth arc but I don't think his performance was compelling enough. As a result, the love triangle from a viewers perspective was very one-sided. Other than his appearance, there wasn't much going for it and Zhang Han's character was obviously the better choice to root for. One neutral comment I have is that I liked that this wasn't dubbed for the leads, made the show seem more immersive. However, it's a mix of Taiwan and China actors/actresses so the accents differ and this might throw you off if you watched many c-dramas.

2) If you want to watch a show with that "feel" of an earlier c-drama. Although different premises, I want to compare this to Beijing Love Story (2008). It has that "early-stage c-drama" vibe which heavily relies on typical (and often frustrating tropes). Both were immensely popular with Chinese audiences when they aired so they definitely have something going for them (at least back then), but as for whether they're worth watching now, there are present-day choices.

3) The plot? Maybe you read the synopsis and thought it was very intriguing or the trope was something you wanted to see more of. For me personally, other than the cast, I thought it was going to be interesting to see the romance of a "hidden" best friend and how he protects her but then later on, FL flips the situation and helps him out. Unfortunately, this aspect was very underwhelming. The romance was average and as the show progressed, more of the cliche and frustrating tropes appeared. The romance and relationships take a backseat to the business politics. The show continues with the love triangle for way too long that it loses its freshness and interest. Lastly, the relationship of the FL and ML becomes messier and weaker (might be because of presence of SML, maybe the stubbornness of primarily the FL). The relationship feels driven by the ML while the FL, who was supposed to become a stronger character with a more active role did not seem to achieve that goal. In my eyes, the ML had the short-end of the stick (imbalance in the relationship) while the FL remains pretty naive.

Conclusion: I wouldn't recommend watching this show unless you want to watch for one of the 3 previous points (or you completely ran out of things to watch). It's watchable so I guess I can consider it aging well enough, but even modern day cdramas have very typical issues so older cdramas that aren't exceptional fall deeper with respect to these issues too (cliche, draggy, unrelatable characters, tropes, frustrating). Even with all these "flaws" I mentioned, it's by no means a bad drama, but consider alternatives if you're looking for an office cdrama.

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