The Wonder Woman (2020)

Stalkery Makjang MESS

This Drama is billed as being about a strong capable woman. It STARTS that way, but, like so many TW Dramas, melts into a makjang mess. Here's a quick synopsis of why I gave it 3/10 (I could have gone lower)

1. STALKING IS NOT ROMANTIC - For the first 11 episodes, the ML is not only an utterly self-absorbed whiny spoiled manchild, he's also actively stalking the FL with a tracking app she is unaware of. This is creepy, disgusting and criminal, not romantic, but apart from her slamming the door on him in one scene he basically gets a free pass from her in part because

2. MAKJANG MELTDOWN - ML's father dies, and older half-brother peels off the Scooby Doo mask to reveal a full-blown psycho nutjob underneath. At the same time as he goes on a murderous rampage, the FLs protege goes on her own descent into diabolical double-dealing, for why? BECAUSE SHE CAN"T GET A MAN. For a Drama that supposedly celebrates a powerful, independent woman, to see her deputy turn "evil" for no reason other than jealousy that the man she's crushing on has a crush for the FL is major head-desking material.

I was impressed with the actor playing the female lead, and will be looking out for her again. But my advice to anyone who doesn't find masochistic delight in watching promising potential destroyed by makjang mysognist melodrama is simple: AVOID THIS DRAMA

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What I have learned about Taiwanese dramas so far as they are great on female characterization but still a little “meh” on execution. The same is true with The Wonder Woman. By far the females in the show are the most interesting part and there are even some “oppa” worthy males. Alas, that’s all it is. Good female characters with a bland story.

STORY:
Du Aisha is a tough no nonsense business woman who will do a lot (but not everything) to be successful. Her mother and brothers are an emotional mess and her father abandoned her when she was a child. Yi Fei Yang is a rich business man running a competing company who wants Du Aisha’s company and her expertise on his team. His own family is quite dysfunctional as well, with his father and mother married but pretending to be invalid and caretaker rather than husband and wife.

Each have a group of family, friends, and co-workers that may or may not want the best for the two and their prospective companies. Standard corporate hijinks ensue and oh yeah, they fall in love (betcha didn’t see that one coming).

CHARACTERS:
Aviis Zhong does a fabulous job of creating a tough but loveable Du Aisha with just the right amount of strength and enough vulnerability to make her appealing watch. Wes Lo’s Yi Feiyang is playful and fun and loyal, and I loved the dichotomy between the two played out on screen. Du Aisha isn’t mean, just gruff and Yi Feiyang isn’t weak, just flexible. A match made in heaven. There wasn’t riveting chemistry between the two but wasn’t it off putting.

Jack Li and Lan Zhang play the 2nd leads and their chemistry certainly never manifested on screen. Perhaps it was because I found Ye Xuan (Jack Li) to be a weak and almost whiny character. Xiao An was big time whiner almost to the point of off putting. She was saved from being completely forgettable with her short foray on the dark side during the last few episodes.

The other characters were interesting from Demi Yin’s Wen Jing Jing, the conflicted business manager to Steven played by Ckay. Both showed more depth and conflict even though the writing didn’t give them a lot to work with. I thought they were complicated and interesting. Qi Zhen Kai played by Gabriel Lan was a decent bad guy, but I would have liked a little more of a life lesson taught to Vicky and Du Nan Cheng (Du Aisha’s brother). Both of which weren’t bad, necessarily, but sure were obnoxious and needed a good spanking.

SOUNDTRACK:
If I can’t remember a single song, its not a great soundtrack, but it also means that there wasn’t an annoying repeating song. So again, “meh”.

RE-WATCH VALUE:
Well, I’m not planning on re-watching this anytime soon. It was entertaining, just not enough to watch over and over and over (PS. I have a list if you’re interested).

OVERALL:
The Wonder Woman is a great show for female characters…..its just that, other than Du Aisha, they just don’t get to really shine as they could, given the dialogue and episodes (focusing more on them and less on Yi Fei Yang and his strange parentage). Watch it if you need to calm down from binge watching one of those shows that you just can’t let go of (ie. Ashes of Love, The Untamed, Goblin, Hotel Del Luna, etc).

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