And so my long-awaited Chinese drama of 2015 has finally finished airing its first 2 episodes! Consider this as my bravest moment as a writer here because it’s my first time to write a first impression post and episode recaps as well. Of fashion, friends or foes, flings, there are surely a lot of things to be excited for in this new C-drama. Read more to know what happens!

Title: My Best Ex-Boyfriend
Native Title: 最佳前男友
Country of Origin: China
Airing date: August 15, 2015- ?
Episodes: 40-42
Channels: Shenzhen TV, Heilongjiang TV, Youku Tudou

Main Cast:
Jerry Yan as Li Tang
Maggie Jiang as Fu Fangsi
Ron Ng as Yin Hao Ran
Viola Mi as Cheng Xiang Nan

(Note: I only got a few screencaps since I had to watch (and tried hard to understand!) without subtitles while most were just taken from the active Jerry fans on Weibo so I owe them a lot 🙂 For the scenes without screencaps, just bare with my narration first then maybe I can update it when I get hold of them 😀

EPISODE 1: 

The drama opens with Fu Fangsi (played by Maggie Jiang) being busy in her design studio which was cleverly named as Fancy. Too busy that she managed to break a lot of pencils while sketching. Her assistant panics and tries to get a new set of pencils and a sharpener which were nowhere to be found so she gave her a make-up pencil instead…

On the other side of the story, our main male lead Li Tang (played by Jerry Yan) appears and to say that I didn’t react with a squeal or a big grin on my face when he appeared would be the biggest lie ever.  Let’s just be honest and say that majority of the people are actually watching this drama just because Jerry’s headlining it.

He comes out of the airport as her current girlfriend, Cheng Xiang Nan (played by Viola Mi) has been waiting for his arrival. They almost shared some sort of “I missed you” hug until…

some stranger accidentally hit Tang causing his coffee to spill. Judging from his appearance and a first impression from his character, he wouldn’t let go of that incident…

So he got this scarf from the stranger and that already made him happy. This scene seriously reminded me of Jerry’s Dao Ming Si days haha!

Back to our female lead’s storyline, she’s in need of a male model who can carry her creations well. The one that they got didn’t seem to match her idea until she found a stranger in the background who seems to suit her ideas while their lame male model was posing…

I’m not quite sure if he just randomly stumbled upon the area of where the ongoing photoshoot was because he just looked picture-perfect handing out a balloon to a little girl. Fangsi kept taking photographs of the male stranger who happens to be Yin Hao Ran (played by Ron Ng) until he noticed what’s been going on. He called her out and left but Fangsi chased him wherever he went.

Back to Li Tang, he shares a romantic dinner with his girlfriend but the view outside with the large glass window/door just distracts him as he barely listens to their conversation. He caught a glimpse of Fangsi (she did not see Tang) walking with Hao Ran and I’m not sure if his girlfriend was able to see what he just saw.

Not the specific screencap but Fangsi tries hard to get Hao Ran as a model but he refuses again and again. They were almost in the middle of the road so they were definitely causing traffic when the stuff inside Fangsi’s bag fell which caused her phone to fall into a canal (yikes!).

Tang’s friend, Tang Huang (played by Jiang Bing), who provides comic relief in the drama,  interrupted our current couple’s lovey-dovey moments. This is also the part where you can see that Xiang Nan saw Fangsi outside already that she was intentionally trying to catch Tang’s attention. This time, Fangsi saw the two of them being intimate so she stormed away. One of her assistants did not understand why but when her other assistant, Xiao Nai (played by Du Yuchen) saw what was happening, she knew right away the reason why Fangsi acted that way.

No screencap scenes:

• Hao Ran agrees to Fangsi’s request which makes her so happy that she almost forgot to pay him (guessing it’s his modelling fee lol)
• My favorite part of the episode (which badly needs a screencap!): Cheng Xiang Nan vs. Fu Fangsi! Since Xiang Nan already saw her outside the window, she waits for Fangsi outside and some form of verbal catfight just happened. Xiang Nan told Fangsi that she’s already dating Li Tang who happens to be the CEO of Don Juan garments where Xiang Nan is the endorser/model of the brand.

Forgive my muddled brain but as far as I know, the first episode ends here! Fangsi goes back to her studio as she reminisces (enter flashback scene) her roots as a designer/seamstress. Her father was also in the clothing industry and he taught her ever since she was young which gave good memories to her until now. Back at the present time, she looks at an invitation to a fashion event/show in which the story of the next episode will revolve around.

Since it was my first time to watch a drama via livestream, I had no idea that an episode of a currently airing C-drama would just end abruptly without any ending song or credits. All this time I was just waiting for the really long commercial breaks to be over though it was also a treat to my eyes with commercials featuring my favorites, Fan Bingbing, Eddie Peng, and Angelababy just kept replaying haha! Next thing I know it was already the next episode…

EPISODE 2:
(Note: my understanding of the dialogues in this episode are not as clear and my poor memory can also hinder this from happening but I hope you can still enjoy it!)

This episode is set in the fashion event in which many interesting (and juicier!) things would take place. Hao Ran tries to see Fangsi in her studio but sees Xiang Nan instead. which stirred a sense of awkwardness as they are former lovers

No screencap scenes:

• Something came up regarding the event which caused Fangsi to leave her studio first. Xiang Nan sneaks in and sabotages one of her creations by cutting it endlessly (classic fashion sabotage on the loose!)
•  Fangsi rushes back to find out that her work has already been destroyed. She barges in the Don Juan room and accuses Xiang Nan right away. Of course she denied it because why would she do that, right? Unfortunately, her sabotage was caught by the surveillance camera so no way to escape the wrath of our main female lead!

And so my favorite parts are here which all happened during the fashion event!

Hao Ran’s apparently one of the judges/organizers in the fashion show. I wasn’t able to include this in the recap of episode 1, but a co-worker or someone superior to him was not so happy that he was helping Fangsi and it’s probably because of this event.

While Xiang Nan walks for Don Juan, Fangsi and Xiao Nai think of a way to salvage her sabotaged work. Luckily, our heroine is smart and thought of a way in a snap!

Fangsi walked the runway and looked perfect with her salvaged creation of course. This kind of storyline is all too familiar that it reminded me of Jenny Humphrey of Gossip Girl and Makino of Hana Yori Dango if you ask me!

Fangsi and Hao Ran got all the attention and enjoyed it until…

Li Tang finally appears into the episode! Yup, I really waited longer compared to the first episode where he appeared almost right away into the episode.

His wild imagination of Hao Ran being with Fangsi appeared as seen in the screencap above. He was definitely not satisfied seeing his ex-girlfriend with some other man enjoying the spotlight all to themselves. So it’s time for his light bulb to work!

He calls Xiang Nan and she goes to him without knowing why. And our very first kissing scene in the drama happens! He declared his love for her and proposed with a matching precious necklace.

As expected, they stole away the spotlight from Hao Ran and Fangsi. Nice way to make someone jealous, Tang!

What would you feel if you saw your ex-boyfriend/former love declare his love for someone else? At least in the drama world, this calls for flashback scenes! Fangsi reminisced the old days when she was still with Tang and just because the words he uttered for Xiang Nan during the event seemed all too familiar for her.

They were already planning out their lives and they were just so sweet to each other which would make you wonder, what happened that made him just her ex-boyfriend now? And so here’s what we’ve been waiting for…

The first dialogue between the main leads finally happened. Tang was bragging about his earlier proposal to his former lover and they talked about other things which didn’t turn out so good of course. In a matter of a snap, Fangsi, who just finished reminiscing her good memories of Tang is now carrying a dark cloud above her head. What’s next for these former flames?

No screencap scene: The episode ends with Fangsi going home and here we were able to meet her jolly mommy. Again, I had no idea that the episode ended again so I really apologize for that! I even waited for a 3rd episode but apparently they’re just going to show 2 episodes in one night.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
My opinions on this drama will be divided into major categories to make it both writer and reader-friendly 😉

VISUALS/MISCELLANEOUS
My friend asked about my opinions on the drama and the first thing I said was, “I love the visuals and the fashion theme!”. The cinematography of the drama is really well done and everything was just a feast for my eyes. One scene that I really loved was during the fashion event when Li Tang appeared and looked at Fangsi on the runway. Too bad I couldn’t find a screencap of the scene but it was done nicely because from Tang’s perspective, it seemed that him and Fangsi were the only ones in the place despite all the people and the attention.

I think I have watched enough C-dramas to say that the way “My Best Ex-Boyfriend” was filmed and edited is definitely of high quality. This should have been expected too given that three channels (2 TV, 1 web) are broadcasting it. Another major factor that shows that a large amount of money was spent on its quality is the fact that the actors were not dubbed. I’m not saying that a C-drama has a low quality when the actors are dubbed but one factor why the production team decides to dub is because getting a sound/microphone system that blocks out the outdoor noise can be pretty expensive. Most of the scenes in the drama were actually outside and the fact that they were not dubbed is already saying a lot about the production quality.

MUSIC
I have listened to the drama’s opening song even before its premiere but I couldn’t say much about it yet. Although when I listened to it again twice since there were two episodes, I actually learned to love it! As a Jerry Yan fan, I was honestly expecting him to contribute to the OST because he actually did for 95% of his projects. So it’s really surprising that this drama is part of the 5% haha! As for the other songs, maybe give me more time to have a clearer opinion.

ACTING
I have only watched Maggie Jiang in “So Young” (2013 C-movie) which is also the reason why she became famous despite her supporting role there. As early as the first episode of the drama, I believe that she portrayed the character of Fu Fangsi so well. A smart, confident, and fierce lady who is not willing to let anyone or anything stop her from achieving her dreams as a fashion designer.

As for Ron Ng’s Yin Hao Ran, I think I’ll still need more episodes to watch since I have yet to understand his character’s motives, desires, etc. It’s also my first time to watch him and I actually can’t wait to see more of him in the following episodes.

Viola Mi’s Cheng Xiang Nan can be your typical female drama villain that you’d love to hate her here! I just loved her character and acting in “My Sunshine” (2015 C-drama) which is why I’ve been looking forward to see her performance here. She was also a model there but I can already easily distinguish her character there from “My Best Ex-Boyfriend” with the latter being bitchier haha!

Jerry Yan’s Li Tang is a combination of his Meteor Garden’s Dao Ming Si and My Splendid Life’s (his first C-drama back in 2011) Liu Yuhao. Cool, confident, and overbearing but actually has a soft side when it comes to matters of the heart. There were some scenes with him that I just couldn’t help but laugh and I’m not sure if it’s about the drama trying to be funny or maybe him in those ridiculous high-fashion outfits is enough to make me chuckle. Either way, seeing him on the screen just makes me happy since he became my ultimate Taiwanese love because of his amazing acting (I’m quite aware that he has a lot of haters in terms of his acting though).

STORY

• The story is so simple but we all know that it can never be simple in the Chinese dramaland. Tang and Xiang Nan may be enjoying their love right now but we all know that it’s too early to tell given that they’ll be seeing their former lovers a lot.
• I also love that they showed Fangsi’s childhood memories in relation to her profession now. As a fan of Western fashion-themed shows like Gossip Girl, Jane by Design, and Carrie Diaries, I just love how this drama does not disappoint in showcasing the fashion industry.
• The glimpses of Fangsi and Tang’s love in the past are just probably the appetizer to the main course that we’re all just waiting to devour! I already can’t wait to watch the next episodes 😀

Ending this super long post with this promotional photo of Jerry and Maggie when they filmed a flashback scene in episode 2 😀

Never knew that writing these kinds of posts could be so stressful! It is only through your comments/feedbacks would I know if I should continue but I promise to make it so much better and with lots of perfect screencaps to fit my narration as well 😀 So what do you think of “My Best Ex-Boyfriend” so far? Do we share the same sentiments or not? Or are you interested to watch it now or not? Hope to know your comments here!