Love, Now: Episode 1

If the pilot is anything to go by, I'm in deep trouble. Because this show promises to be addictive as hell, and probably just as nourishing. Abscenes, *cough* I mean the absence of second-hand embarrassment is a prerequisite of mine when it comes to twdramas, and to my relief I haven't had the urge to hit pause in the middle of the show (except that one time. Toilet break, ahem.)

My only complain is the BG (i.e background) music, and I daresay this wouldn't be my last. I guess at this point, I'd have to hand in the towel and accept this as part and parcel of a twdrama. But sweet jesus in heaven, WHY?? It's 2012 and cheesy BG music is still an integral part in twdramas WTF.

NOW PLAYING
Love, Now OST - "Temporary Boyfriend" by Yen-j



EPISODE 1 RECAP
The Most Interesting Person award has got to go to our hero. At first glance, he seems to be the Type-A cold city man with a stick up his arse, but oho, look what we've got here:

 DO HE GOT THE BOOTY? HE DOOOOO.

Man loses wallet, luggage, everything. No spare cash, nada. What does man do? He wiggles his butt for the audience! Ooh yeah, work it baby! But to understand how he ended up shaking his booty in Boracay, we'd have to go back to the opening scene (boo):

LAN SHI DE (George Hu) raises his hand in the middle of a meeting, and the employees are like uh-oh, shit gonna go down. Us viewers are alerted to this by the Very Dramatic Music.

True enough, the employee doing the presentation is skewered alive. The scary part is the yelling, or should I say, the lack thereof. Instead, Shi De steps closer to him, leans in, and in a chilling voice he tells the old man: "Don't think I don't know what you did behind my back."

Oooh mama. That can't be legal. He goes on to say that he's a petty person, and the things that are taken right under his nose, he'll make him purge it out, with interest. It seems that the old man has been doing this for the past five years.

Now we are in Comic Relief Moment, because surely, the background music doesn't lie. Grandma and mom is here to remind him about his blind date. Satisfaction guaranteed, mom says, for the lady in question tick all the boxes of Shi De's ideal woman: big eyes, pointed nose, tall figure, and the most important of all - long hair that parts in the middle. (Hmm, fairly specific stuff, don't you think?)

In fact, I'm fairly sure those specs refer to... Omo, is that her leaving his premises? Lucky day! He makes the run for it, down a flight of stairs and... drat, nearly makes it. Damn those fast closing elevator doors. 

Not giving up yet, he races down the stairs - but alas, it's too soon for our OTP to meet.

The escapee is none other than our heroine YANG YI RU (Annie Chen), and once outside, she gets a call from her boss. It's an emergency, and she is to hurry back ASAP. 

The introduction of our second lead, SUN QI MING (Bobby Dou) is of him feeding his fishies. 

Oh god, this dude is too creeeepy. The whole scene screams I'm A Psycho Serial Killer!

(Turns out the emergency call is no emergency, he merely wants to get off work, heh.)

Meanwhile, Shi De's blind date seems to be going well... all 30 seconds of it. Both grandma and mom are concerned, how can Shi De find someone if he won't even give the poor woman a chance? Older sister LAN SHI YUN (Li Wei Wei) console the ladies: it might be just 30 seconds this time, but the round it could be 1 minute... 1 hour... 1 whole day... and even.... "A lifetime!" grandma and mom finishes excitedly. 

But the joke's on them, because Shi Yun is actually on Shi De's side. She encourages him to stick to his four heartless criteria, since "you're not to get married before me!" 

"I know that," he says. In return he asks her to persuade grandma and mom to stop hooking him up with the ladies. Big sis replies that he has only himself to blame, because he never fails to cave in when he hears that they have found the person that fits all four criteria.

When alone, he pines away, looking at a photograph of himself. (Okay not really, but close enough - it's the mystery lady behind him). And ooh, he has more! A ballpoint pen - a seemingly everyday object, but is obviously never to be thrown away because it has once graced the hands of the heroine.)

I know you guys can't wait for the cray in Boracay to happen, so lets just get this out of the way...

HOW SHE ENDED UP IN THE PHILIPPINES: Yi Ru comes home, files in her hand forgotten when she sees her family members crying. Dad tries to hide a rather large envelope from her, but this only raises more suspicion - what is it? Yi Ru demands to have a look.

What she sees shocks her to the core. TERMINAL LIVER CANCER?! How can this be, she doesn't smoke nor drink. With only 6 months left to live, the poor girl is whisked away to the Philippines (don't ask). In a characteristic fashion of dramas, Shi De follows minutes after she checks in.

I gotta be honest, I was surprised to find out that Yi Ru's family was in on the cancer scare - I thought it would be your run-of-the-mill hospital mix up, heheh. But no hospital involved, just your everyday photoshop skills and onions to keep 'em tears coming. Guessed I should've paid more attention to the BG music during the revelation (why no Serious Tune?)

Shi De, now in Philippines, was thoroughly pissed that his guide was late (no surprise given his personality), but has an 180 degree change of heart when he chances upon his dream girl. (And for once I actually like the BG music, magical *twinkling sounds* appear when she turns around and he realizes it's really her, lol). 

But when he saves her from getting hit by a passing van, all hopes of making a good first impression is lost when he ends up yelling harshly at her due to her absent-mindedness. "Do you want to die?!" No, she doesn't. "I want to live," she whimpers, again and again.

(Gah, can I just say how sweet it is to see his personality undergo a 180 degree change when he's around her? Usually for this kind of radical thing to happen, one would have to wait till the middle of a series. He follows her around like the lovesick puppy he is, and since his unattended luggage got stolen because of her - he has an excuse for doing so! I'm wondering why his wallet is with his luggage as oppose to his pocket, but anyhoo... let's not question our hero's good fortune too much.

As a reward for his heroic efforts, Shi De gets to stay in the same hotel as her, along with her personal thanks. She's sorry that he lost all his belongings because of her (hmm, technically I don't think that's true - the luggage was halfway stolen when he summoned some unknown local to take it for him. But again, shouldn't question luck). He mutters, "I don't mind losing my luggage a few times if I get to meet you." Geh, who is this man and what have you done to Shi De.

(Meanwhile, in the hotel room she was supposed to stay in...  the explanatory note of the well-meaning prank gets blown away by the wind. Aiyaya, this does not look good.)

Back to the bazaar - Shi De is enraptured by a street performance, and has a light bulb moment when he sees the jar of money they have been earning. 

(Not gonna lie - I thought he was going to steal the money. Had a momentary panic there, I tell you.)

But as we all know, nah. False alarm - his idea is to dance!

At lunch (his treat with his hard-earned money), Yi Ru commends him for being so bold. Shi De shrugs, and tells her that he believes in striving for what you want, because no one else can help you. Yi Ru agrees, though a tad melancholy at the words "no one else can help you."

Heheh, he is staring at her again. But this time Yi Ru calls him out on it. He responds, "You look like someone I once knew." Yi Ru: "Me?" Yi Ru cheekily responds that he must have liked that someone, judging from the way he was leering at her.

Hey, what leering, he defends himself. Reminiscing is more like it.  

Alright, no need to get in a huff; she is only pulling his leg. Besides, she is so used to these stares in Taipei. Her boss is like that too. Upon hearing this, Shi De's demeanor changes, all alpha male. You can sue him for sexual harassment - or better yet, I'll teach him a lesson when he gets back, he says in all seriousness.

Yi Ru manages to placate him, barely. She was only joking, really! 

But the lightness of the mood is soon gone when she sees an old couple at the restaurant. Because Old Couples Must Be Happy, she bursts into a fresh bout of tears, because now she can no longer live long enough to be that couple.

The meaning of it doesn't register on Shi De until later at the beach (he brought her there to de-stress). She tearfully asks no one in particular,"Why? Why liver cancer?"

Next up: The Wedding! Oohlala. This is going to be so good, I tell you.