The Little Nyonya (2020)

Dramatic Story & Characters

I was not interested in this drama at all when I first saw the poster, but then I stumbled across the OSTs for this drama and they sounded too good. So, I gave the drama a try and the first episode grabbed my attention. It was somewhat like your typical romance drama with the cliches and evil supporting characters, but it somehow kept me watching until the last episode. However, I did watch it with 1.5 speed the entire time with the occasional skip when the evil characters kept talking. Despite this, it was a good watch because of the love lines.

Be warned of spoilers below!


So, the good points were:
1. Cute chemistry between Ju Xiang and Yosuke, and Yue Niang and Chen Xi
2. Great OST to bring out the emotions
3. A decent plot that didn't get boring (sometimes..)
4. Good acting of main characters
5. The female characters who called out the traditions of women and marriage (charity, arranged marriage,etc)
6. Nicely shown Baba and Nyonya culture

Some bad points were how:
1. So many evil characters who were so hateful to the point that it was super annoying whenever they showed up on the screen- like why so many bad people ganging up on the main girl?? (Huang family men & women, Xiu Feng and Xiu Juan, Charlie Zhang & son, etc)
2. The bad characters for a long time kept winning by bullying the female lead which got so tiring to watch; even though those characters eventually got their retribution
3. How the men were so weak in controlling the women while sometimes they just don't listen to the women
4. Some characters were so easy to manipulate (Zhen Zhu) or were too easily swayed by others' lies (Chen Xi's grandmother and his grandmother's servant- they keep trusting the bad people too easily?)
5. The ending could have been better even though it was mostly wrapped up; there were loose threads that were left unresolved and not mentioned again (Yue Niang's grandmother who was pushed down the stairs, Ju Xiang and Yue Niang being pushed off the ship by Huangs)
6. (my opinion) The evil characters did not get punished enough and were not apologetic nor remorseful; Yue Niang was too generous to them considering how poorly they treated her mom, grandmother, and herself. They never properly apologized to Yue Niang for their cruel treatment either, yet were so eager to accept her help when she was successful with her business, such as when she bought back their old Huang house.
7. Unrealistic, though it is a nice concept, how Yue Niang is forgiving and has a big heart but it just bothers me how they never apologized but she treats them like normal-- a family that treats you like that is not real family even if you have a kind heart (there are times when the line needs to be drawn).

Despite this, I would recommend this drama if you're interested in a dramatic kind of Cinderella story but you would need the 1.5 speed to help make this faster because it is 45 episodes.

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Highly recommend it and am glad I can find it on YouTube. I watched the original drama years ago when it was aired in Singapore. However, I still remembered parts of it. It is an interesting story based on the Straits Chinese living in Singapore and Malacca, and gives you insights into the customs and traditions practiced by this group of people during the days when Malaysia and Singapore were British colonies. The Straits Chinese were early Chinese migrants who had settled in South East Asia and had adopted a lot of local practices, developed their own distinctive Nonya cuisines, and spoke Malay/Indonesian and their own Chinese dialect. The ladies were known as Nonyas and the men Babas.

The story is a little more complex and less predictable. It is a departure from the typical Chinese and Korean dramas and will give you a refreshing new perspective away from these dramas. The original version is available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzSSMPsDiI4&list=PLgvSxx961Tt4KD4xApfD6E1u6NWI5bl0I

The original version was produced by Singapore Mediacorp and this review is based on that.

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