Genre: Modern/ Romance/ Comedy/ Business/ Revenge

Episodes: 40

Stars: 3/5 (*Note*: Changed from a 2.5 to 3 after finally finishing the series)

Characters/Cast List & Analysis:

Joe Chen Qiao En - Liang Xiao Feng/ Luong Tieu Phung
At the beginning of the series, she portrays Fei Yang and it seems too much 'cause her exaggerated playfulness is getting on my nerves. But scenes when she's serious or crying, she did very well. A bit of playfulness afterwards is fine too.

Her intro for Xiao Feng's character is really funny and better than the one for Fei Yang's intro. She's more natural in this role for some reason and that her facial expression isn't exaggerated anymore, which is good.

I spoke too early when I wasn't even done with the series yet. Either her character was written so "poorly" or her exaggerated acting just made the whole thing worse. I'm guessing it's a little bit of both 'cause she's like super obnoxious and laugh and all clever at one point then she jumps to being all "naive" and clueless from the other. It's not a natural transition either. It seems like she has some personality change in 2 shakes or something.

February 2008: Finally finished the series after leaving it to die for almost a year or so. But glad that I did finished it because my opinions have changed.

Her character is alright overall and I do sympathize with her how her mom isn't understanding towards her, making her feel neglected. As I actually step back and look at her character overall, I don't think she's stupid. I think she feels abandoned by others and just want someone to care for her. Her mom's impartial attention towards her sister makes her feel even more mad and frustrated since she has been by her mom's side the past 20 years. She's just stubborn and wants to be mad at them for a while. When she cools down, it's okay. I think it's mostly Wei Xiang's fault for causing her to be mad all the time since he kept confronting her and saying how she's Fei Yang, etc when she deinied numerous times already. Although she does have the same habits as Fei Yang but their personalities are different for the most part. He should have been more smart (considering how he's the scholarly type plus a lawyer), he should find out more instead of just basing it on how "two people can't look the same unless they're twins". (Although they are but at that time, no one knows.) Overall, Xiao Feng does seem unreasonable at times, but she's just frustrated at how no one ever believes her over her sister or try to hear her out.

I admit that I was super harsh at first in judging her acting, but I think it's mostly due to the length of the series and inconsistency of the drama, but her acting is alright. Just need to tune it up more. Her sad scenes are better than humorous ones since she tends to over-react.

Penny Lin - Zhuang Fei Yang/ Trang Phi Duong
Taking over the character Fei Yang from Joe Chen 'cause of the plot, but she pulled it off very well. The intro scenes for her, like when she finally took the bandages off to see for herself what she looks like is amazing. She looked truly shocked, horrified even. Her crying is convincing too for that scene.

Fei Yang is falling back to her indecisive nature like in the middle of the series and it gets on my nerve too, but I like her character better than the character Xiao Feng for many reasons. She does learn and grow so there are some depth to her character.

February 2008: Her character gets better again around near the end where she's determined to take on revenge and plot everything out herself. It seems manipulative and cunning, but that's the only way to take revenge upon Peter. I really like her at that part 'cause I thought that's the whole theme of this series - and it was going off on a different tangent - so I'm glad it was back on track again near the end.

Her acting is quite good. She was very convincing as the vulnerable and confused Fei Yang when she realized she lost everything due to her naive nature and when she transfer that into energy thus being strong and expressing her hatrid towards Peter. She could also be the cunning and evil person near the end where she knows she must go up to Peter's level in order to carry out her plans. It's the first series that I watch of her, but I'm impressed already. (Actually did watch Pawnshop No.8 but didn't catch all episodes on TV so didn't catch her in there. Need to go find that one and watch later.)

Wallace Huo - Li Wei Xiang/ Ly Vi Tuong
A totally different role from other series. He has mixed characteristics in here in which he could be all serious and then kind of playful/ clumsy sometimes which is pretty interesting. A surprising fact is that he was introduced at first with plain clothes and how he looks all bum-like but his past flashbacks shows that he's a very educated and talented person. Wallace's excellent like always 'cause it shows on his face and in his eyes each emotional state he goes through and how he deals with certain matters.

February 2008: After watching the series some more, I realized that this isn't one of Wallace's best roles 'cause it gets quite annoying later on. His acting is up to the part, but his character is always irritated and his moods change so much. He focuses too much on his love life and sacrificing other stuffs. It's just too much sometimes. Not only that, but he doesn't cherish his friends - considering how the other two guys are always supporting him and worried for him as well as the girls in IM, but he never care or help them fulfill their dreams or contributing to them, but just get mad at them for not caring for him. He expects, but doesn't give back. He thinks he's so self-sacrificing, but MOST of the people in this series sacrifices more for their family, friends, and others - including Peter - more than he ever could do for them. He ONLY cares about Fei Yang and wants her attention 24/7. Even so, he doesn't accept the fact that Fei Yang doesn't like him anymore (although that wasn't true), but he can't pull out of the whole relationship. If compared with someone in real life, he can't accept failure and wouldn't admit it. He always act so pitiful that's so annoying, especially towards the end. I sound really, really harsh on his character, but I was just sooo disapppointed in his character since people kept praising this character over all the characters that Wallace portrayed. I'm just shocked.

Deric Wan - Peter Fan Bi De/ Phan Bi Duc
He looks really cute and nice and the beginning of the series and then later on he looks super mean and crazy. Thanks for make-up and his acting abilities, he pulled it off.

February 2008: The plot was kind of weak in how he finally decided to let go of revenge and all since he kept getting paranoid and going back to seek other alternatives in order to get rid of his past, but it could be accepted on some level since he was willing to change and slowly start anew because of Xiao Feng.

Jason Hsu - Meng Zhe Lin/ Manh Triet Lam
His character is really nice and kind in here. I like his character more than the other two guys combined for this series although he rarely appears. He likes Fei Yang and tries to help her as much as he could, but he doesn't expect anything back. It's really nice to know also that he is the first one to like Xiao Feng for who she is. That conversation with Xiao Feng before he left was very nice and touching. If it wasn't given that he falls for Xiao Feng later, I would have prefer him to end up with Fei Yang more than Wei Xiang although I'm a fan of Wallace!

This is my 2nd series of Jason so can't really comment much. His acting is decent for the most part and he could bring out his character. I can't really focus on him until I watch more dramas but he has potential in this area.

Joyce Zhao Hong Qiao - Feng Xiao Chan/ Phong Tieu Thuyen
Let's just say it's mixed emotion for her. I think her acting is really good. I mean she acted out well the scenes of a flirty girl vs. scenes where she's more serious towards the end. And there are parts where she's playful and funny too. I mean there are multi-layer to her character than seem on the surface. At first, I really hate her character for being flirty and annoying too, but as I step back and analyze it more, it's an interesting character. She portrayed it really well.

Jiang Zu Ping - Chen Sha Sha
Two words: interesting character. She appears to be the weakling (or at least just the type to follow Peter's instructions at all time because of love), but later she appears to be more scheming than that. I guess she does learn well from Peter.

At first I thought her acting is really good, but after watching Hi-Fly, I think she's only decent 'cause her routine gets quite repetitive. Or maybe I was sooo bored with the series itself. But will discuss about that in the review for Hi-Fly in the future.

Summary:
The Chairmen of Formosa died from a plane crash incident - whether it was planned or not - leaving his daughter behind to deal with the turmoil of other shareholders who feared for the company's future itself and how it will affect them. Zhuang Fei Yang - although she has a Business degree, no one has faith in her because she is young and inexperience and most importantly because she is seen as a "princess" by others. Because of the sudden blow of her father's death, she relies heavily on the general manager, Peter Fan, to help her through this hash times. Unknowingly, she falls into the trap set by none others but Peter Fan, who has revenage under his sleeves and he's not about to back out any time soon.

What appears to be a romantic marriage proposal turns out to be a murder plot in the happening. Fei Yang survived the arranged car crash incident and was saved by a doctor, but was given another face image because the doctor has gone mad over his daughter's death thus leading him to turn Fei Yang into "his daughter". After Fei Yang wakes up and learns that she's still alive, she feels both lucky and unlucky. She stays with the doctor because of both pity for him and the loss of her father as well as her trusted one. Curious and anxious, Fei Yang takes off her bandage without waiting for the doctor to come back, she is shocked - horrified even - after she takes off the bandages herself to reveal a stranger's face. She escaped from the place and finally returns to her habitat to find out that her father's company has been taken over by Peter's manipulative schemes. Not being able to prove her identity because she no longer has "her face", Fei Yang wanders endlessly around - confused and frustrated. She encounter her look-alike and finally decides to seek help in avenging Peter as well as getting back her father's company by coming up with a plan for the girl to pose as her. But with the cunning and manipulative Peter Fan, will she succeed or will they be exposed? With love, hate, and betrayal all in one package, things just gets even more complicated and not as easy as Fei Yang has planned it out to be. Will they ever get past all obstacles and pull through?

Opinions:
February 2008: Throughout this series, I have been having mixed feelings towards different characters and the plot itself. I think after doing some major "stepping-back" observation, I think it is the fault of the plot than the cast themselves for this series to fail in many ways. I have to say the character that they ruined the most is Xiao Feng and the contradictory of her personalities and behavior half of the time. Other than that, can't say that the cast didn't try.

Recommendations:
IF you're a hardcore fan of anyone of the cast and wouldn't mind watching the series for just pure "love, love, love" without caring about anything else, go ahead. But IF you're looking for hardcore and/or dead-on revenge plot and all out on the whole thing, forget it. Or if you just want to watch it for the whole J-stars people, go ahead.

Bonus Section:

Couples:

Wallace Huo & Penny Lin
Character-wise, Wei Xiang doesn't deserve Fei Yang. He's never understanding enough and only cares for whether he feels hurt or not. He knows she likes him, so why can't he wait? There are more important things she needs to take care of and he keeps pestering her. Like her life isn't complicated enough already. I like parts near the end where she's determined to take revenge, so she breaks up with him in the cruelest way. It's quite heart-breaking, but I don't feel sorry for him. She hurts even more seeing him like that. If he honestly doesn't believe she is like that, why doesn't he wait and see? But just keeps on forcing her.

As co-stars, I do hope that they have a chance to collab in the future as a couple again since they look really compatible and cute together.

Deric Wan & Joe Chen
Odd to death. Who came up with the idea to pair this two together?

February 2008: Take back what I said earlier since they do have some chemistry near the end. It does make up for it in a sense, considering how the plot was built. However, needs time to accept.

Jason Hsu & Joe Chen
At first, I thought they would make the cutest couple and support them more than Deric & QE pairing. But I'm not so hype about that anymore as the plot for Peter & Xiao Feng develops more. And I think I like him w/ Joyce Zhao in Westside Story more. (lol)

Deric Wan & Jiang Zu Ping
They look better together as a couple since she has a more matured look.

Overall Take of the series
*Note*: I decided to take out my usual section of Favorite/ Least Favorite scenes because I don't feel the need for it for this particular series.

Debates:

All over the place:
I'm sure everyone knows when a series is like all over the place and doesn't have a definite target. This is one of those series that gives me the feeling. I know they must add in dramas here and there to create obstacle and making things interesting, but they NEVER know when to stop. It's quite annoying with the whole "Xiao Feng gets it, then she doesn't" thing. They should taken care of it once and for all and then move on to develop more into Peter's character regarding how he turns back, etc. They dragged the whole drama on Xiao Feng too much that makes it sound like she's really unreasonable - which she isn't, because she's only frustrated and stubborn. They didn't need 10+ eps to get the point across. If Peter's character was given more time as how he turns back and drops the whole scheme, it would have been more convicing than just letting things happen around the last 5 or 6 eps. The plot is like both draggy and all over the place. Never a strong focus on revenge - except for the beginning and then near the end where Fei Yang finally breaks out on her own and does it.

The twist about Wallace's past:
That was a shocker since I thought the guy who's fishing with him is his father but no. There's a story behind it and it's a shocker to learn of such story. Typcial story sometimes regarding the law but still surprising that they did the little twist like that in this type of series.

Fei Yang vs. Xiao Feng:
There has been many polls and debates in different forum, so I thought I put it in as one of the topic to discuss in my review. I thought that both characters have their own good and shouldn't be compared to. The person who compares and single them out the most is the mom, causing many conflicts thoughout the series. Fei Yang and Xiao Feng shouldn't be blame for who is being favored or like by mom at a certain time. Since they weren't manipulative or cunning in their actions in getting her attention, but it was she who expects too much. The mom finally gets it near the end when she was talking about cherishing what's right in front of you to Fei Yang and realizes that Xiao Feng has been with her all this time. But the slap shouldn't have been given to Fei Yang for the lack of attention on Xiao Feng, but the mom should blame herself for her actions. Fei Yang didn't cause all these, her mom is the one thinking all the thoughts and comparing the two sisters.

*Note*:
My feelings for this series has been mixed throughout and the words I used at the beginning were quite harsh towards certain characters and/or actors/actresses versus after I finished watching, so hopefully it didn't offend any fans. I sound like I'm trying to justify my actions, but I was just so disappointed in the plot itself and lack of character development here and there AFTER so much hype over this series from numerous people and recommendations. Maybe it is the cast that saved this series after all. 40 episodes? What were they thinking? 40 episodes and they still couldn't create a turnback point for Peter or have a better solution than cram it into the last few episodes? Go figure. Not to mention I have no idea what Wei Xiang's purpose in this series either. To pursue Fei Yang and create dramas ? Or to whine about how Fei Yang's neglecting him? Get real! Okay, I'm getting into the "unreasonable" mode, so I'll just stop at that.