The Rational Life (2021)

This is Dylan Wang's second modern drama after MG2018

• Story: I like the story. Maybe little heavy for teenager like me. But no need to worry because in this drama a lot of comedy scenes are included which make the story more relaxed.
• Acting: the actors played their roles very well! I salute! like qinlan who is 40 over but can play ruoxin who is 30. Dylan Wang who has a bad boy face can play qixiao a soft boy (he looks cuter than being DaoMingSi) and other actors. Actually I'm interested in watching this drama because there is Dylan Wang. But apart from that, everyone played it well.
• the OST is good to hear. I even put this OST in my music playlist

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The Modern Life

A very good drama that incorporates many modern ideas. It gives an accurate portrayal of women in the workplace in a patriarchal society. It also shows the conflicts between several modern and traditional values, and does a good job resolving them.

The actors have great chemistry. Qinlan gives a great performance, as always, and brings much depth to our main character. Dylan's acting is much improved from his previous works. Both are a joy to watch and it's obvious they work well together.

The writing is a bit lazy at times but not enough to be an issue. The overall plot flows very well. Definitely worth a watch.

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I hadn’t expected to actually like it this much but I was pleasantly surprised how much enjoyable I found it.
I think the strength of this drama is definitely the female character. It's been a while since I saw a woman written like a normal human being. Writers seem to confuse strength in a woman with aloofness, coldness, and belly full of schemes especially if they are writing a career woman. Because a woman can’t build a career if she’s not a ballbuster. Or they’ll give you a woman on the other end of the spectrum so immature and whose sole focus is on a man and a man alone. I half the time question if these writers have ever met a woman or it's just misogyny and patriarchy shining through.

The female lead here is an ambitious woman in her 30s. She is smart, good at her job, and here is a kicker, she’s actually nice. She knows how to draw boundaries, is firm but never arrogant or rude. She works hard, knows when to fight and when to retreat. This woman actually looks and acts like someone who’s matured with wisdom gained through lived experience. Even when she was breaking up, rejecting a romantic advance, or responding in a workplace exchange she was never a screaming shrill woman. She never threw tantrums or cursed out people even in places you wish she had. She did everything with dignity and poise. She really was the selling point for me.

The other thing I loved about this drama was how it used our female lead and her best friend to showcase two women, who made different choices in their lives and what problems they face. And more importantly how there is no such thing as a perfect life. One chose to work, the other to get married and when things get tough they look at each other’s life and say “at least your life is better than mine” only for life to show them that what seems perfect is only surface level. Each choice has its own issues, its obstacles, its own freedom, its own happiness. The drama showed us how each woman navigated through it while supporting each other until they came out the other side. It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t heroic or epic it was ordinary life. I found it very relatable.

The romance was indeed a slow burn. It was also sweet, mature, and more importantly very much less cringe 🙏

Now having gone all gaga like this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems. I found the work issues rather repetitive at times. I strongly feel this drama should have been about 5 episodes shorter.

The best friend seems to have things available to her at each moment she needs it — having a hard time finding a job, oh I happen to know the kitchen has an opening and omg a housewife for a while and you happen to be a great cook… you don’t want to cook anymore and need something else... Uhm you used to play the drum in college? my band just so happens to have our drummer walk out on us, what a coincidence… what’s that you say? You don’t feel like being a professional drummer.. wait here’s a random guy who happens to own a music school for kids who coincidentally happens to hear your performance and want to hire you at your own term, you don’t like kids ah, not even your nephew? but that one odd kid whom no other music teacher can get through miraculously clicked with you and wants you and you only… 🙄 — please it wouldn’t have killed them to make her struggle just a little.

Another issue would be the terrible taste in jewelry this drama has. Be it the “expensive” dream catcher looking thing they claimed to be a necklace and draped over her neck or the “charming” simple necklace made out of love or the one designed for competition under grueling mental and emotional gymnastics, all looked cheap and tacky. This may seem like a nonissue but the male lead is a supposed wanna be jewelry designer. You can’t tell me the character you want to make a successful career as a designer make things that look like ones my baby sister picked from Clairs. Sorry, I can’t accept that.


"Compared to the 18-year-old or 20-year-old who's still searching, I like myself better in my 30s. Although nobody thinks I'm cute anymore, and I'm aging by the minute, the 35-year-old me compared to my past, knows me better than I've ever before." — As someone in their 30s, I related to this on a spiritual level.

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DYLAN WANG WITH ANOTHER HIT!

I decided to watch this drama because it’s one of the first modern dramas Dylan Wang is starting in since meteor garden 2018. Not only did Dylan deliver a wonderful performance… the whole cast had me binging the whole series! I could not put this drama down even if I wanted to! The story line was a great mix between business (current in market technology), following your dreams, family pressure, family respect, and finding love within this vast universe. I feel like they could have gotten a couple of more episodes out of the series towards the end to explain more final events… but everything was answered. What a wonderful drama this was! Out of the hundred + Chinese dramas I’ve watched, this drama landed as #4 on my list. Thank you Dylan and the cast for bringing such a pleasant emotional drama into my life!

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This was a rare find

Although this drama has an Older Female/Younger Male dynamic, I would recommend this one for the grown and sexy. Not too silly, the romance was a slow burn but once it gets started it never stops. Although several years younger than the female lead, and in a different financial situation, the leading male still showed how supportive he could be of her throughout the show. The male lead started liking the female lead early on in the drama, but there wasn't a question as to why...some of these dramas the love is questionable...but it was easy to fall for the leading lady such Rou Xin...

The cast was perfect, the secondary couples were cute and did not take away from the main story.

I really enjoyed this one.

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Amazing

I LOVED this one, incredible acting and storyline. there were no toxic second leads or any toxicity of that in general. a sweet slow burn romance, that didn’t feel dragged at all or rushed by the end. i also love how they focused on her work life and on the marriage of her best friend (i love how they solved all the issues they had between them, without having both the husband and wife ending up in a stereotypical marriage). overall and amazing 11/10 drama. i put the rewatch value that low, because i generally never rewatch anything i watch, no matter how it is, so please dont let this one put you off guard :)

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this show DID IT!!!!!!

when i first heard of this show i was extremely skeptical- okay girlboss and a boss-employee relationship w a 12 year age gap ??? there's no fucking way they can make this work in a way that is also healthy, appropriate and doesn't cross boundaries, it's impossible................... and then i watched it....

it proved me wrong.... SOOOO wrong. to be fair i also was hot off the heels of watching 'use for my talent' which was basically just constant workplace sexual harassment and abuse and was unbearable. i have some level of just turning my brain off and being able to watch toxic stupid shit in dramas if some other factor is making me continue (shen yue is just tooooo cute) but it was truly impossible to watch after a certain point. so i just didn't believe that any c-drama could make it work....

BUT RATIONAL LIFE!!!! DID IT!!!!! their relationship really feels like it does and can work by the end, and they treat each other with such respect and care and learn together. the show honestly in general is just really lovely in tone- able to show real life issues and genuine conflicts without feeling like cheap dramatics or feeling too 'dark and gritty reality.' instead the tone is able to keep this lightness and positivity that's rooted in the reality of the show. serious issues are treated with severity, but it never drags you down, the slice of life aspect also never really gets boring, and is still engaging. Conflicts never feel senseless, like you understand where everyone is coming from, and how all people are affected by patriarchy and societal pressure, even when there is a right and wrong. the villains are treated sympathetically, but aren't forgiven and are rightfully punished. but there's no gleeful vengeance either and just feels a little sad, like the realities of life and the cost of their actions. it really feels like the writers really care about talking about these issues and creating a really positive impact.

i really loved the way they talk about modern issues, especially on what women face in the workplace. they have an extremely clear stance and message against misogyny and yet even though ruoxin is technically a girlboss, there's no lame over the top girl boss WINS!!! type of tasteless vibe that you often get in many other shows, especially US ones, which ends up just feeling like cheap pandering to be relevant. it's never shown as the greatest achievement, ruoxin isn't incredible because she's a boss and a girl, but because of her skills and abilities- we admire her the most when she's problem solving and getting herself out of sticky situations with so much finesse. she starts the show incredibly ambitious and seemingly cold and rational, fully fixated on work, but is also clearly depressed and lonely and living unhealthily. throughout the show her actions are based in surviving in the company, not mindlessly valuing career achievement. full dedication to work is shown as a clear flaw, and they do such a wonderful job showing us her learning slowly and naturally throughout the series. in the end she does attain the highest position at their branch, and obvi in universe it's her moving up in her career, but NArratively, the writers are rewarding her with a high position and career achievement not BECAUSE of her being hard working, but because she learned balance! how to appreciate her life fully and enjoy it outside of work!!!!!!! it's a reward that feels earned because she finally took the right steps to be happy!!!

and the relationship!!! is so good!! so sweet!! it's super super slow burn which is the only way to do a big age gap boss employee relationship imo. they spend most of the show as a very proper and healthy boss-employee relationship. she's a really good boss who never acts inappropriately towards him and respects him fully. while he gets a crush on her pretty early, their feelings develop and deepen slowly over time, from being together everyday, understanding each other, admiring each other, making it through all their obstacles together as a team, and just making each other happy!! while the very clear boss/employee, mentor/mentee dynamic is still in effect for most of the show, it's only at the very end that it develops to a point where the romance feels clear and real- the time this takes is necessary! it really comes in the form of qi xiao taking care of her, teaching her to take care of herself and about what really matters in life, which is so necessary in making the relationship feel like that amongst equals. and then as soon as they get together he resigns and they end their boss employee relationship to be partners.... i know the bar is low but thank GOD for this show. and then after they get together i really liked them working through their issues together too, there's not much time, maybe about 10 episodes of this? but it's still nice that the show was able to at least introduce some conflicts they would have based on their age gap, former power imbalance, and both their personalities, as well as how they would work through it together. truly it shows how far they've come when we see her taking a day off work to be his assistant at the end..... that got me so bad.....

ok onto all the side plots!! i love how they dealt with ruoxin and xu zong's relationship a lot actually! it's so good to see them fully show us that her young and attractive boss pulling all the typical things in dramas (buying her fancy things, manipulating and lying to her to get her to go on dates, etc) was clearly inappropriate and wrong- when this is the norm and considered super romantic in other shows. and yet xu zong also wasn't shown to be some evil monster either, and could still be a good boss outside of those actions. i like seeing that a 'good' man who can respect ruoxin and values her first and foremost as his right hand, can still cross boundaries and be in the wrong. they end the show with a healthy boss-employee relationship and maintained really clear boundaries, which i really appreciate and enjoyed seeing.

i really loved ziyan and zou cheng's storyline too, it's rare to see a show give us such deep issues that feel fully unresolvable, as in they are different people who want different things in life, and yet still show us that they were both able to learn while they were separated, and come back together. ziyan's full journey was such a joy to see! i really enjoyed su yang's storyline too, especially since i'm also an illustrator and they got his struggles down SO accurately. i like what they used his character to say a lot, but i also found him unbearable at times because i hate his attitude and how much work you sijia had to constantly put into their relationship, when he rarely did anything at all for her! i truly could not understand why she would like him at all.... makes no sense.... my only real critique of the show is their relationship. i also don't love how things with ruoxin's mom are resolved in terms of ruoxin learning how much she sacrificed and then being willing to try more. i wish her mom was already a much better mom than how she was in the beginning at that point. tbh god bless qi xiao's mom basically single handedly making ruoxin's mom change for the better.

all in all, this is my perfect comfort show and i highly recommend it! engaging and real, yet still hopeful and positive, with so much love and kindness between the characters, and real care given by the writers. modern dramas aren't my thing and i've seen like, 10, but this is 10000% the best one that i've seen.

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35 Eps drama is not my usual taste but watching this one i didnt feel bored through the whole thing. There is barely any romance cliche or issue. on the contrary it was quite a warm, down to earth, mature and realistic drama, welp, minus the cheesy and cringe bit from the second half of it i guess (xD) but thats still manageable (lol, ive seen worse).

Both ML and FL are definitely the highlight of this drama. They are both interesting character and not ones you usually find in romance drama but for me the most interesting character is actually Ruoxin's mother. She was such a complex character that it hard to read her at first but when you learned her history, you'll understand and feel sympathy toward her character.

All in all, this is good drama, no regret watching through the whole long and slow 35 episodes.

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Unexpected Surprise

This show was an unexpected surprise. I started watching it for Dylan Wang (male lead) as I'm a die hard Meteor Garden fan but the female lead totally swept me away in this show.

The story's premise was interesting to me as it can be challenging in society to break the norms that are out there. The way the story weaved the main plot lines with the sub plot lines seemed very real to me. The friends were all supportive to one another and they genuinely wanted each other to succeed in all the obstacles. It wasn't just about two characters in this show, it was about all the well rounded support characters.

The main part of the show I fell in love with was the female lead character. She was poised, calm, collected, sophisticated, intelligent and a genuine person. She never bad mouthed anyone and always reacted to the other person in the calm manner. There were never a moment where she 'freaked' out towards anyone regardless of what the person was doing to her. I admired that quality and wish I possess that quality.

The male lead has improved in his acting compared to his performance from Meteor Garden. He portrays anger well but he still has work to do when it comes to portraying the happy emotions. I'm sure as he does more shows, it will get better.

The rating on this show should be higher than what it is showing up as, the show was definitely binge worthy, I couldn't stop watching it for the story, the female lead's character, the plot lines and the sub characters.

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Mature

Good acting, Good story,, Love theme music. Shen Ruo Xin is a professional career woman in her 30s and she has to navigate through many things in her life. From swimming through the cesspool of office politics with its nepotism, sabotage and company problems, to withstanding familial pressure to settle down and marry, to handling suitors interested in her for their own selfish personal motives, to being counsellor and mentor to her best friend and her juniors, she is one busy lady but watch as she handles them all with great aplomb while managing to find romance in an unexpected place.

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A Heteronormative Life in an Electric Car

This drama is a celebration of heterosexuality as it shows a whole bunch of heterosexual couples... young, old, age gap... And so on and so on... They seem to be trying to have a somewhat taraditional meets progressive approach, gender role reversal, Woman Can! Heterosexual Love is Love... A real man can appreciate a successful woman and so on and so on... As it is not easy to be a woman in a Mans world... where woman are pressured daily in to marriage or even worse children... this drama starts off telling the viewers that it is okay not to get married and have kids, let the women choose for them selves... while still showing that at the end of the day woman can not resist marriage and kids... But sure the pressure women meet is not ok.They will inevetebly make the decision to get married and have kids on their own.

The female lead is a strong, rational woman who does not budge while facing som pretty awful sexism, gaslighting, and flat out bullying in the workforce. She keeps her calm, is strategic and has a whole bunch of qualities etc. I admit I actually liked her, she did not annoy me and had a whole bunch of rational things to say thru out the show.

The male lead is Dylan Wang, the main reason I watched this, he is the sweetest guy ever, supportive, patient does not force himself on the female lead even once, though he does make some questionable choices here and there... Id say he is 90% progressive dream guy dripping honey 10% sexist. Nobody will of course notice that since compared to the rest of the men portrayed in this drama he is pretty much a saint.

The other suiters range between toxic, to privileged but decent, to flat out abusive... and show a hole bunch of red flags... The best friend is bad ass but married to a chauvinist pig. The other friends are pretty cool, especially the second couple who shoed the biggest character growth of them all. The Male leads mom is one of the best moms in all of dramaland, I loved her so much. the female leads mom was not as bad as the female leads mom in Something in the Rain but at times she did get close...

This drama also serves as a looong commercial for "new Power" cars (electricity), the struggles of the industry against back wards striving gasoline lovers who seem to do all in their power to cut the power... While empowering women at the same time.

All in all a decent watch, not amazing but good at times. and easy to binge.

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