My Heroic Husband (2021)

The Highly Intellectual & Devoted Husband + An Interesting Fresh New Concept.

What a breath of fresh air... Hmm, So where to start? Honestly speaking this 'Matrilocal Wedding' Custom is something I never heard of before so I was intrigued and is expecting a lot from how they will unfold and handle the story from here on and I must say that it both has its positive and negative sides to it...

From all these years i've been watching dramas from different countries, I never once expected to ever encounter a new concept that can catch my interest this much. I mean, getting used to repetitive plots and concepts can really worn out one's standard at some point. So having to encounter new ideas once after a long while made me anticipate a lot. So let me share some of my thoughts after completing this drama.

×× Positive Feedbacks

+ I love how they incorporated comical scenes here and there to make the story lighter and more enjoyable to watch and I was very satisfied on how they executed and resolved the critical conflicts in such an innovative and brilliant way with the help of the MLs exceptional Business Prowess.

+ The relationship between the Main Leads is really something to look forward to. The way they trust and depend on each other left an impact to me. It may seem like the FLs always a liabilty at first but eventually you'll see how she understand her husband the best.

×× Negative Feedbacks

+ The story got so draggy after the first 1-15 episodes. I felt like they strayed so much from their original storyline in hopes to make the story more interesting but for some reason it got too draggy and heavy to the point where they don't know how to end it.

+ Giving us 6 episodes to resolve the supposed main issue of the story still made me question things... Everything felt so rushed and fast-paced (althought it was carried out smoothly) to the point where I was asking why they spend almost half of the drama to hype things up when they can simply give us more by making most of them short and use the remaining episodes to give us more interesting scenes to watch.

Story - 9.0, I really wanted to give it a higher score but the way they dragged and barely get out of that black hole still left distaste in me. I felt like this story could've been more interesting if only they shorten most of the Lin'an situation and made use of those episodes to give us more of the Main Lead's interactions.

Acting/Cast - 10, Great execution from all of the cast. I simply love the natural and funny synergy they all have when they're acting together.

Music - 8.0, I almost never notice any BGMs honestly. Well, aside from those overly dubbed singing performances and opening theme that's all about humming, the rest felt like air to me. Invisible.

Rewatch Value - 8.5, Probably not... and If ever I do, I'll make sure to skim-through some of my considered 'not so important' scenes. I don't want to go all through this again.

Overall - 9.0, Despite all of my complains about the story; I must admit that it was still well executed and the script is well-written. It's just that they got so engrossed in polishing a specific part that they almost neglect the story as a whole.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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My Heroic Entrepreneur Husband

My Heroic Husband I would say is a spin-off story from Joy of Life (JoL) in a different universe with Guo Qi Lin/Ning Yi and Song Yi/Su Tan Er as the main leads as they were so loved in JoL. (Many casts from JoL are also in this drama!) The story has a fresh take on the MC/ML teleported into ancient society/story where he brings with him the wealth of knowledge from modern society. The drama is half RomCom/ half Polictical where both sides are weaved together very nicely to fulfil the ML's ambition, to be the Greatest Businessman and Richest Person! The first half of the drama is mostly comedy and business empire building through the ML's modern knowledge and quick wits, while the second half is more political and relationship with the 2nd FL.

Quick Story/Plot
There wasn't much explanation/reason how the story begins and not needed honestly, but it starts with the ML writing a modern novel/story where he decided to start afresh and write a brand new story set in Chinese historical times. The ML (or other story's character) conscience is teleported to his new character set in ancient times. The ML starts to adapt to his new world and the first task is to survive his upcoming marriage! Being married into the FL's family as a Matrilocal husband, the ML helps run the FL's family business from an operations side and uses his wits to resolve impending problems. Using modern techniques like franchising, batch processing and lottery prizes, the first half the drama is the battle of businesses/merchants. The second half of the story begins with the ML/FL going on a honeymoon and is then kidnapped by bandits during a civil unrest where the ML meets the 2nd FL.

Quick Acting/Cast/Characters
- Ning Yi (ML) has a modern conscience transferred into him where he utilises modern techniques and commericial strategies with the sole goal to become the wealthiest businessman. He uses his expanded knowledge and quick wits to get around obstacles and recruit people to his cause. It is also due to this that he is acknowledged by powerful people in the political sphere and wish to recruit him. Relationship wise, the ML is the inferior one and would also do everything in his power to support and assist his wife.
- Su Tan Er (FL) is a daughter from a well-respected fabric/clothes family business which she is currently managing. Under her management, she frequently gets hit with multiple problems due to people trying to sabotage and take advantage of her business. Relationship wise, She is the boss where the ML would always listen to the FL.
- Liu Xi Gua (2nd FL) comes in 2nd half of the story as the captain of a band of bandits. I am going to say it... Liu Xi Gua is the definitely the 2nd wife and the ending with the ML was very emotional...Being the brute and tomboy character, she does her best to get on the good side of the ML and was really entertaining to watch. Olivia Jiang played her character very well and made me an instant fan of hers.
- Special shoutout to Lu Hong Ti, the 3rd wife/ship :P

Music/OSTs
The Music and OSTs are excellent and extrordinary. If you like Gu-Feng (古風) you will most definitely like the whole playlist and sound tracks. It weaves into the scenes very well and gives off the whole ancient chinese society vibe.

Rewatch Value
Would rewatch to experience the story all over again.

Why my rating (9.5)
I took half a point away from perfect 10 because there were a few times where the big reveal/explanation of the master plan took time to be explained much later, which may confuse the audience initially. Also the story was split into 2 different FLs with the wife as primary focus in the first half and then disappearing for most of the 2nd half of the drama making room for the 2nd FL story. One small dissappointment, there weren't any intimate scenes, maybe occassional hand holding and hugging. The story also does well incorporating the military/political aspect which mostly makes sense and the emotional scenes were really moving. Intense scenes and death of characters were really heart-wrenching and pulled on heart strings. This was a good one-time spin-off story to watch.

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Decide what you want to do and stick to that, screenwriter?

This started off quite promisingly, as a fairly domestic historical drama - modern man transplanted into body of scholar in ancient times uses his nous to support his new wife and her family in making money. Ning Yi is usually two or three steps ahead of everyone else, which isn't all that difficult with the level of intellect from some of his family members, as well as introducing modern techniques and gadgets to the business.

Then the screenwriter took the story in a completely different direction and, at one point, the pacing was just awful and the episodes really dragged on. The main relationship literally disappeared off the screen when they ended up separated for multiple episodes. Even after Ning Yi and Su Tan'er were later reunited, that only lasted a couple of episodes before he was off doing his thing again.

I knew this was taken originally from a harem novel, where all the women fall in love with the male lead, so was pleasantly surprised at the screenwriter managing to make the male lead have good friendships with other female characters and not just have them all be smitten with him. There are, however, a couple of implied or off-screen sexual assaults on female characters and that was uncomfortable as a plot driver given how positively the rest of the relationships are written.

In general, the supporting cast were good and the main villain suitably villainous. I hadn't seen either of the leads in anything else before, being apparently one of the few people around here who hasn't seen Joy of Life (it's on my list now, promise!) and I enjoyed both their performances too.

I'm not sure I'll prioritise season 2 over anything else, though. I was looking for one thing in this drama and then was served with another, which I was already getting from other shows I'm watching - that kind of bait and switch always makes me a little annoyed.

Leggi di Più

Wife guy saves everything

It's Joy of Life, but a bit different. There, that's the review.
It has all the cool actors from JoL, it has the same approach to humour, the characters are nice and the story is competent if a bit predictable.
In my JoL review I wrote:
"Put simply - the show is all about intrigue and plots, with a side of romance and mystery.
Trouble with this - the intrigue is not very clever or engaging, character motivations are shallow or terribly overcomplicated.
....
I wanna watch Fan Xian and his brother run a book shop, or do poetry battles and flirt with pretty ladies. I don't care who his parents were, or what the two princes are secretly plotting."

MHH improves on this, somewhat. There's no mystery and the annoying courtly intrigue only takes over about half way into the drama. Before that we do get the fun characters doing fun things. And yeah, the second half is suddenly about "Serious Matters" and I immediately liked it a lot less.
The main couple has great chemistry and I loved seeing them together.
The show leans heavily into the girlboss thing, but it's more lip service than the plot actually reflecting that girls can do it too. Like there's a whole huge chunk where the wife is not even present (because we need space for another love interest, which is the same thing I complained about in JoL). And in many other episodes she doesn't really do anything clever or competent, she's just there.

It's fine. It's ok to binge and skip the boring parts. It's fun to watch the many wife guys be cute and a bit useless, it's cute to see the main wife guy's dynamic with his cool wife.
The story I could not care less about. Of course there's a big "twist" at the end, because this is Joy of Life But Different (tm). Whatever.

Leggi di Più

simple concept, wonderfully done

I finally got around to watching this one and it's actually pretty great. I wasn't sure what to expect because it's a lot of the same cast from Joy of life, but this series is actually much more fun and clearer to follow.

The bad:
I don't have too many nitpicks here. I think some of the young cast is not as good at acting but in general the leads are pretty well done. At times the hero is overpowered, but to be fair time traveling should be a pretty big advantage.

The good:
The play on gender stereotypes is the main theme of the show and not new but the screenwriters are not too heavy handed. Lastly the hero fights his way through the story using mostly logic and doing reasonable things. His clever solutions to problems are very enjoyable, particularly the "I am your father" sequence, though they involve a lot of luck too.

The great
The ML and FL have a very cute relationship that develops in a really natural way. In fact the relationship between the second FL and the ML is pretty interesting too, and has an organic, awkward dynamic that it's hard to find in cdrama land. There is also some very clever wordplay that unfortunately only comes across in Chinese.

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Hopes dashed

Seven stars for the first half and 2 for the latter. The early episodes were funny and lighthearted, and our leads Ning Yi and Tan’er had good synergy. The dialogue matched the atmosphere and whatever issues they faced were dealt with intelligently, however, once the story transitioned to the bandit arc, it lost its vitality and essence. Clearly, the plot is meant to be darker and in many ways the writers attempted to achieve that by introducing more violence and gore but the dialogue and acting never quite matched what should have been deadly situations. Guo Qilin was out of his depth. He lacks the skills needed to fully convey the direness of their situation. It was also at this point that Guo’s acting veered towards Zhang Ruoyun’s mannerisms. The pursed lips, the head tilt and a few more which, if you’ve ever watched Joy of Life or Sword Snow Stride, are easily discernible.

Another factor that dragged down the rating is the set design, both for the first half and the palace scenes. It looked low budget and lacked the aesthetics required to fully immerse the viewer. Everything looked staged, as in it’s obvious this was a film set. Even the vista looked fake as if generated by CGI.

Lastly, it ends on a cliffhanger, and for those of us who are still pinning for Joy of Life season two, you’re better off shelving this until season two is released.

Leggi di Più

Creative and funny drama !!

After finishing this, i cant wait for season 2 !!

Story : if you finish joy of life and love it ! You will love this drama too. It is not same but it too real than Joy of life !! Joy of life, male lead is too perfact in every angles both fighting , planning and poison ! However, this drama male lead can survive because of his brain ! That make story real and interested. Moreover, this story is very funny in every ep. so i enjoy in every ep.

Actor : all actors did well especially male and female lead. He has a special charming . The one that i like is some female in drama ( Qi kwa) a young actor in the middle to the end of story. Even it less of romantic and love scene, couple is good chemistry !

Overall, I like it and hope to watch season two ! All actors please the change it ! Finally, please enjoy this drama !

Leggi di Più

A refreshing spin on parallel universes thru the eyes of a book writer. A MUST SEE

loved it, it was a refreshing new outtake on a Chinese drama including time travel. The cast, writers, crew, the stage, clothes were by far exceeded my imagination. It was an amazing drama that you felt the characters emotions you laugh, cried were happy & sad, rejoiced when bad guy died, cried when the good guy died. Tells of true friendship, love, betrayal and jealously.
It start as a book writer is told to change his thinking and finish what he's working on and start on a comedy. So as he's writing the ending" Jiang haochen is betrayed by his business partner Tang ming yuan and hit in the head laying in blood. The End" but Jiang raises his head and says is this the ending you want so he changes it. He rewind the story to a parallel universe showing both Jiang and Ning li both being hit in head at the same time. Upon the story being rewritten Jiang wakes up and he has travels back in time into the body of a runaway husband name Ning li who is a marital husband (one that doesn't come from a prestious family) and doesn't want it. Now he has to figure out who Ning liheng is and why did someone want him dead. He also know that his marriage is to the Su family daughter and since he hurt his head he can play he amenia. Since he remember his past life, he bring futuristic idea into his time of Wu dynasty and makes a contract with his wife that he helps her get the family clothing seal and she'll divorce him. Well as time goes on between betrayal from family, rival stores, attempt murder and more there relationship begins to blossom. She finally get the seal, but her uncle/cousin keep sabotaged her plans. So ning li steps in and makes them loose and others loose everything. He is a great business man with plenty of ideas. They realize they fell in love and go thur so many trials and errors together that there bond is unbreakable. They work together to help recover Lil ian from the bad bandits and also help bados bandits get out safely and to not fight back/rescue there Master. The story continues as he has been helping the secret investigation department solve the problems of wu dynasty getting back the 6 states of Ling. He helps implement a peace treaty with king of jiang and will give back to wu dynasty and it will open up fair trading between all states and have to leave the CP as a prisoner for 5yrs in good faith. 1yr later General dong reports that bandits are attacking transport Caravan and hiding in Jiang and some business in town are putting out fake pottery and selling as real. Next thing we see is back in Jiang the king is telling the prince his family will not come for him and to call the king father. Then you see him discussing how they will destroy Wu dynasty with Chancellor Gu aka Tang min yuan T. B. C Season. 2.This is a definite must see drama 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻The writers is the character of Ning liheng👀

Leggi di Più

Une surprise comme on les aime

Dans ma "watch list" depuis un moment, je me suis décidée à lancer ce drama dans un moment de "craving" intense, la saison 2 de "Joy of Life" se faisant de plus en plus attendre, en manque total de ma dose "Fan Xian", la seule certitude que j'avais en me lançant dans les aventures de Ning Yi fut le bonheur de retrouver Guo Qi Lin et Son Yi. Cerise sur le gâteau, une apparition, certes éclair, mais une apparition tout de même, de Zhang Ruo Yun.
L'équipe est donc pour beaucoup composée de "Joy of Life" : Gao Shu Guang, Hai Yi Tian, Tian Yu ou Karina Zhao. Je ne vous cacherai pas, bien que le drama soit loin d'être aussi réussi que "Joy of Life" (et en toute honnêteté, ce n'est sûrement pas prêt d'arriver), cela fut un immense bol d'air frais (surtout après "LuoYang").

Basé sur le roman "Zhui Xu" (赘婿) de Fen Nu de Xiang Jiao, "Zhui Xu" signifie matrilocalité.
Kézaco? Tout simplement, le fait que l'époux, après l'union, vive dans le village de son épouse, dans sa demeure ou à proximité de sa famille. C'est une particularité culturelle, peu commune, que l'on retrouve notamment chez les iroquois ou chez les Moso du Yunnan et du Sichuan au sud-ouest de la Chine par exemple.

Ning Yi est donc ce mari matrilocal, épousant Su Tan Er, l'unique fille d'une famille aisée, commerçant de tissu.
L'histoire pourrait prêter à sourire, un époux matrilocal, ce n'est pas commun.....et il faut avouer que nous sourions avec joie et parfois, si ce n'est souvent, follement face à ce couple ultra adorable. La première surprise vient donc de ce duo qui crève allègrement l'écran et pétille bruyamment devant nos yeux pleins d'étoiles! L'alchimie flagrante de nos tourtereaux est soulignée par le jeu, toujours aussi, impeccable de Guo Qi Lin et de Song Yi. Les étincelles fusent à chaque interaction, l'attitude pro-active de Tan Er est un régal!
Ce que je regrette peut-être un chouia est le ralentissement dans cette relation, qui il faut l'avouer est un enchantement, durant la deuxième partie. Tan Er disparait ainsi durant plusieurs épisodes, laissant place aux personnages de la seconde partie. Bien que leur lien nous soit démontré avec force, la magie de la première partie s'est un peu émoussé. Rien de bien méchant, mais je n'aurais pas été contre d'un peu plus de Ning Yi et Tan Er se titillant maladroitement.

Ning Yi est le deuxième gros plus de ce drama. Loin du cliché habituel, le scénariste nous dépeint ici un époux matrilocal comme au final nous aimerions en voir plus souvent. Acceptant sa condition de la manière la plus simple qui soit, Ning Yi use sans modération de ses réparties pleines d'humour et d'intelligence, gagnant ainsi le coeur des protagonistes qu'il rencontrera tout au long de ses aventures. Si l'aspect "bel homme" et "homme fort" fait place à un homme dont les capacités physiques sont moindres, la justesse de ses observations et la finesse de son esprit en valent pleinement la chandelle. Sans parler de son amour inconditionnel envers Tan Er. Il fait bon de voir un époux aux petits soins envers sa belle, et cela dès les premières minutes de leur rencontre. Oui, car loin de s'en plaindre, Ning Yi s'accommode de ses tâches de mari matrilocal avec un sourire bon enfant.
Mais pas que.
Il est aussi le premier à s'élever contre les préjugés, apportant ainsi une touche de modernité drôle et rafraichissante.
A noter que Ning Yi a beau être adorable et simple dans sa façon d'aimer, il ne fait pas bon de s'en prendre à ceux qu'il aime, ses amis, et surtout Tan Er. Certains en feront (durement) les frais.

Face à lui, il n'en fallait pas moins une pointure de taille afin de lui donner la réplique. Song Yi, sans surprise, est éclatante de beauté et de perfection dans son jeu. Je venais de la quitter dans "LuoYang", c'est donc avec bonheur que je la retrouve dans un rôle qui lui va (toujours) comme un gant.
L'alchimie attendrissante du couple est en grande partie due aux actions de Tan Er. Ses minauderies sont à mourir de rire. Les actions de la jeune femme afin de faire avancer plus rapidement leur relation sont impulsives et émouvantes. L'attitude active de Tan Er afin de faire avancer rapidement leur relation est appréciable.
La scène où apprenant que Ning Yi est possiblement en danger avec Qin Si Yuan, nous voyons une Tan Er attrapant un couteau au passage et s'envolant à son secours nous aura bien fait rire pendant plusieurs jours.
Comme souligné plus haut, je regrette tout de même que dans la dernière partie du drama, Tan Er perde un peu de son importance. Je comprend bien sur que cela soit avant tout les aventures de Ning Yi, que j'apprécie par ailleurs, mais un peu plus de Ning Yi et de Tan Er jouant au chat et à la souris auraient été le bienvenu. Mais je pinaille.

Les personnages secondaires sont très intéressants et nous donne l'impression d'un scénario qui donne la part belle à ces dits protagonistes. J'ai adoré l'amitié entre Ning Yi et ses amis, apportant cette touche d'émotion que seuls des amis vrais savent apporter.
Mais les relations dont j'ai le plus apprécié, en dehors de Tan Er, sont celles :
- La plus problématique. Ning Yi, Xi Gua et Chen Fan. Touchante et drôle, nous sentons dès le départ une fin prévisible et douloureuse. Et bien que le sachant pertinemment, mon coeur s'est tout de même brisé durant les derniers épisodes. J'espère de tout coeur que pour la saison 2, les choses pourront s'améliorer. Vraiment. Une amitié sincère se construisant au fur et à mesure des obstacles rencontrés. Face à l'adversité, leur amitié n'en était que plus forte. Et si bien sûr, Xi Gua en voulait beaucoup plus, elle n'a jamais cherché à être plus gourmande que ce qu'elle était en droit d'attendre. L'actrice Jiang Yi Yi ne m'avait pas du tout impressionnée dans "Eagle and Yougster". Ici, elle nous délivre une interprétation juste, touchante et drôle de Xi Gua.
- La plus adorable mais aussi la plus émouvante. Ning Yi et Geng Hu Yuan.... La maladresse de Geng Hu Yuan est à la hauteur de l'immensité de son coeur généreux.... Leur relation était la plus jolie à voir, d'une sincérité désarmante, nous n'en avions jamais assez de leur chamaillerie qui au final n'était qu'une façon de cacher des émotions d'amitiés. C'est aussi avec eux que nous rions et que nous finirons par pleurer toutes les larmes de notre corps. Un super duo!

Le scénario n'est pas d'une complexité désarmante mais suffisante pour maintenir l'attention de l'auditoire. J'ai par contre une préférence pour la première partie où Ning Yi nous démontre avec brio tout son talent d'homme d'affaire. La deuxième partie perd un peu de la fraicheur du début, et l'accélération de certaines parties, due probablement à l'obligation de respecter le format des épisodes dont on leur a octroyé, gâche un peu cette seconde partie. Il faudra s'y faire...

Pour conclure, une surprise plaisante où on ne voit pas le temps passer.

Leggi di Più

Intriguing and fun watch!

I didn't know what to expect starting this drama but it was a fun ride! Usually I prefer romance over plot but the storylines of this drama were so good it kept me interested the entire time. The main characters are three dimensional and have realistic motivations and actions that don't feel just for plot sake. Ning Yi (the main character) was such a good lead and acted very well. I think the whole cast did amazing. The romance and chemistry between the main couple is very good as well and feels natural to them. This drama made me laugh and tear up and was just a great watch overall.

Leggi di Più

At last a story with light hearted fun and well appointed drama!!

I completely enjoyed this story and can agree with much of what the reviews have already stated. I started watching to follow the FL having watched her in “Brilliant Girls” and thought it would be interesting to see her in this period piece. Which my habit of following interesting actors from on story to another and then happily discovering new actors. I was not disappointed and I’m so glad I did. The ML, while some reviewers are saying he’s not “typical handsome,” I find him very handsome because of his essence and virtue that is not too heavy handed in this story. I will add him to my list of leading men that I can watch tell good stories.
I was laughing out loud right away and continued to do so in those places that were meant to be funny! I found the places that had seriousness to be well pointed and perfectly placed within this story.
I loved the development of each and every character and the way the story arced was excellent. I cried and laughed throughout.
Overall, this story surprised throughout and delighted me with a very good ending.
I would rewatch to remember the fresh take on a good period piece.
Bravo 👏🏾 !

Leggi di Più

The perfect blend for the unseasoned historical drama watcher

As a person that has problems with getting into and even then finishing historical dramas this was the first one I made it until the end. Although I did drop it after the first arc, but it kept popping in to my mind every now and then, and I rewatched the first part and finished it all about 2 months later.

This Drama has a lot of strong points. The story is well written for its theme with a great mix of comedy, seriousness, gore, action, court drama, and overall general pacing of the story is great. Although like a lot of people mentioned, and I agree that after the 1st arc it feels very different looking back at it, it still turns out great with the whole story in mind, and how they are even able to weave in the funny parts and making them into things making you feel sad due to reminiscence.

To back up this great story that just makes you feel all sorts of emotions they also cast a great cast where the actors/characters were distinct and not just "pretty boys" (no hate but in some historical dramas I can barely differentiate the characters unless they say their names in every scene, I'm Asian myself btw) The actors were able to show the characters emotions very well even with all the different types of pacings and different kinds of scenes in the story.

I might give this drama a rewatch in the future and I definitely believe there is value in it especially the 1st arc. Although the music wasn't anything outstanding to me it still does the job and is nothing that turns out to be a plus or minus for the drama.

In the end I will give this drama an 8/10 as I like it although not really loving it, to me it just missed a happier end for the 2nd female lead (But with this in mind I'm hoping for a season 2) So I will be recommending this drama to anyone that wants to give historical dramas a try.

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