story and characters: the drama is centred around a 33, soon to be 34, female lead who needs to navigate a difficult click based office politics while also facing pressure from her mother due to her age to get married quickly. The romance plot line is between her and a younger by 12 years assistant. I liked how she is portrayed as a strong but feminine female lead that doesn’t need to completely abandon what is considered traditionally feminine. She has ambitions but I like how she says that she only wants to advance her career as far as her abilities take her (that’s not to say she is not competent, she is really competent) but she knows when to step back and put other, more important to her, things first. She is very rational through the end. The male lead is cute and youthful but mature and provides exactly what she lacks. He is very kind, loyal above all else and likes to take care of people. She is also very loyal and takes care of people although for her this aspect is especially prominent in her work life. Overall they complement each other well.

There are two romantic subplots between the ML’s best friend and a female coworker of theirs and the FL’s best friend and her husband. I didn’t care much for the first and was partial to the second.
The first relationship is centred around a guy fearing to start a relationship amidst professional uncertainty and seemingly fruitless struggle to achieve his dreams which would then force him to leave Shanghai and settle for a safe and stable yet unfulfilling and boring (in his eyes) life in the suburbs.
The second romantic subplot deals with a couple coming to an agreement before marriage about their future way of life only to discover a few years later that their needs and wants have changed and they need to choose again whether they should stay together with one side settling for the sake of the other or they should part in order to satisfy both of their wishes separately. Overall I found the second romantic subplot more appealing mainly because they deal with more profound issues and issues that are slightly more relevant to me, while the first romantic subplot also seemingly had an interesting theme but was a little boring for me.

In general I think many Chinese contemporary dramas tend to spend too much time on subplots and supporting characters which leads to the main romantic relationships not being as flashed out as they could have been or to too much background noise (as I call it, which is basically everything that is unnecessary for the progression of the general plot). This Drama also has this sin although I gather many would still enjoy this show despite or because of it.

There is also a plot line revolving around the mothers of the two leads which in the case of this drama, was a breath of fresh air and one of the best portrayal of parents and different parents in CDramas that I can remember. They had very different personalities and you could see so much of them in their children. While one mother was always in support of her child the other was always in opposition but the parents’ motivations were always grounded and relatable. The had a fantastic dynamic together and it was enjoyable to watch.

Acting: the acting was great. I have no complaints about anyone. Dylan Wang truly acted the character’s age which is another aspect I liked.
Music: nothing memorable on that front.
Rewatch Value: Chinese dramas are long and while this drama was fun there was nothing so memorable as to require a rewatch (which I couldn’t say for “You Are My Glory’).

To sum this up, I would give ”The Rational Life” a solid 8. This drama truly lived up to it’s name and was wholly rational till the end and while I did get bored at times and maybe skipped trough some moments it was worth the time spent.