Project Runway meets the Apprentice

For the first ten episodes, I kept thinking that I was going to drop this show. And at the end of each one, I wasn't sure why I was still watching. But I kept going--just one more and then another and another. I liked the variety of clothing from the runways to the characters' everyday lives. And I really wanted to know whether the ML was "good" or "bad" because he was presented so ambiguously. So now I'm done, but I'm still not sure it was worth my time. Here's my glance down from 10,000 feet.

1. PLOT- Although sometimes confusing, the flashbacks were well integrated without being overly repetitive. Fairly early on, I guessed the "man behind the curtain" who was malevolently orchestrating everything, but a couple twists really surprised me. I enjoyed the fleshed out secondary and tertiary relationships, but I think they probably could have edited these a bit more tightly--perhaps down to 53 or 54 episodes. The 2ML's confusion about friendship and love was particularly drawn out. And the typical "everything was my fault" narrative emerges over and over fro m different characters. Three people felt responsible for the pivotal and fatal auto accident from 5 years earlier.

2-SETTING- I appreciated that the story was spread across two countries: China and France. And rather than be trapped in the stereotypical Paris, Marseilles was the primary French location. On top of that, the fashion shows were a delight to watch and the integration of technology felt en pointe. While the product placement (1734 wine, nutritious nuts for snacking, the AC fir VP Shao) felt imposed rather than integrated with the story, it didn't totally derail the story, Finally, office gossip was a bit overused for scene setting within the company.

3-CHARACTERIZATION- while a few characters felt fairly flat (evil mastermind, 3rd & 4th couples), several were explored with some depth. I was particularly interested in the portrayal of someone with autism and then someone moving toward a mental breakdown with OCD. The third of four couples showed a noona relationship where the F was 28 and the M was 23. That one seemed the least probable of the 4, simply because she was so abrasive and verbally abusive early in the relationship. Yet the young man kept pursuing her.

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I had a lot of dissonance while watching this because I kept trying to like the ML and couldn't. 2ML was the lead in my heart from the start. In this way I think the writers did a good job of helping me feel what the fairy was feeling (supposed to like one but drawn to another).

Was this a great drama? Not particularly. Like many others it had plot holes. But I liked the way my well-founded genre expectations were challenged. 2ML and Jeon Soon were both fun characters to watch. So despite

(1) my lack of appreciation for FL's portrayal (I really struggled to understand why every character fell in love with her--I'm wondering if this was an issue of casting)
(2) my loathing for the excessively flat characterization of the 2FL and
(3) the absurdity of the three other local immortals (Teacher Goo. Fairy Oh and Wizard Park) who were more like the three stooges than actual people (really--is that how ridiculous you are after living over 600 years?),

I was engaged enough to watch this entire love triangle drama.

And the ending...I would have totally expected the sweet and substance-less disintegration from a Taiwanese drama. Here it was a bit of a surprise (and let down). Like the cotton candy (or cloud candy) so prominently shown in the finale, everything faded into rosy-tinted happily ever after. But really, can a ML truly have that dramatic of a change? The professor was so gentle and empathetic and almost glowing at the end.

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