Inborn Pair (2011)

OVERALL
Good drama, but unpolished. Watch if 1) You feel like taking a long ride, 2) You want to watch a family show (as in, a story that follows a family, not just two individuals), 3) You're looking for many cute couple scenes and a few more mature ones, 4) You want a good-looking cast, 5) You're patient. Dont watch if 1) You can't stand screaming (there's lots, and lots, especially at the beginning), 2) You can't stand dragged plots, 4) You're not up for romantic comedy, but comic romance (there's a difference in focus, you see).

THE STORY
Very simple and cliche premise, dragged on for 80 episodes or so. The leads are sloooooowwww; it takes age before any development in their relationship. There's also a few characters (three to be exact) who's stories left me quite indifferent. That being said, there's too much fun in this show to give it up, and when I mean fun, I mean real fun, not over-the-top humor that we sometimes find in dramas. To the fun, add some good characters and an amusing secondary love story (even if the romance is a bit surreal). You get a pretty nice show. So what if you sometimes end up skipping some parts? By the end, you're still very satisfied with the story. Believe me.

THE ACTING
I'm no expert, but acting in this drama was good. I don't know about Chris Wang, the main guy, but I became quite a fan of the main actress (Annie Chen) after the show. Don't care if she's not the best actress, that girl has charisma and a killer smile (so envious). The little boy was pretty good, I was quite surprised.

THE MUSIC
Fine soundtrack, fitted for the show. There was comical instrumental for the comic scenes and emotional songs for the more serious ones. Not to mention that I liked almost all of these songs and particularly the one from Della Ding, Can't be alone (Yi ge ren, bu ke neng). I still listen to it today.

REWATCH VALUE
Rewatched. Three times.

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Inborn Pair is a classic. Having watched it 3 times over again, we can still watch it once again. Ke Wei-Xiang and Yi-Jie's developing love interest is interesting to watch, when Yi-Jie keeps rejecting him. We never understood why he rejected Luo Yun all this time, but apparently that was the case. Yi-Jie and Dong Yang's love story was the true love story in this series, and one can feel that Yi-Jie can never get over it, even when she accepts Ke Wei-Xiang.

His brother Ke Wei-Chang and Li-Er's romance is also interesting to watch, with her father Tian Li's objections to it all. The appearance of Xiao Xing changes it all. Bao Ge and Nai Nai have a the key role in setting up the main relationship and both were very funny to watch. The parents in this case are not shown as against the setup, honoring Nai Nai's wishes, but the scene when circumstances change and separation looms is hard to digest.

A very good series ! Everything clicked together in place.

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Main couple cute but lots of lying and deceiving going on

8.5/10 os my rating. This is a 2011 Taiwanese romantic comedy drama with 84 approximately 45 minute episodes.

First I will provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Ke Wei Xiang (Chris Wang) and Song Yi Jie (Annie Chen) never envisioned themselves married to someone they had been promised to in the womb, I mean how old fashioned! But when Yi Jie gets to know and love Wei Xiang’s grandmother who professes to have a terminal illness, they decide to marry to fulfill the grandma’s wish. The young pair, who likely never would have selected each other on their own, marry but have a secret agreement to divorce in a year. Wei Xiang’s idea of his ideal match is very different and Yi Jie is avidly pursuing a legal degree. Will this “only to fulfill Grandma’s dying wish” arrangement become real?

Review

The romance between the main couple is believable and cute. The family dynamics are frustrating at times but also heart warming. There are a lot of really long scenes where it was a character reflecting on this or that, and I actually fast forwarded it through a lot of them because they felt really unnecessary. Eight four episodes is a lot and I think they could’ve easily reduced the length of the series if they had cut a lot of those things out or at least shortened them. Overall it was very good, definitely worth watching, but only invest when you’re ready to watch a really long series. I wouldn’t watch it again any time soon because it was just a lot, but it is good enough to rewatch at some point. I recommend it to people that like family dynamics, contract, marriages, growing through conflict and sweet love stories. The ending is happy although somewhat abrupt.

Spoilers*

I thought the level of filial behavior the elders expected was borderline abusive. On one hand I loved the granny (Tan Aizen) but at the same time, I thought what she expected her grandchildren to do to be filial and grant her wishes was ridiculous. She also was watching them to the extent that she invaded their privacy continually in many ways. She was cute and her behavior was cute but there were times when it wasn’t cute and she was just being nosy bossy and a bit of a bully.

We Xiang was wrong to let another woman so close to him, even though it was a fake marriage. Even in a fake marriage, it would be humiliating for people to think your spouse was getting it on with another woman. He used the excuse that he had to do business with her, and that may have been so, but he still could’ve kept a professional distance from her and he let her get in his romantic space way too much. Later in the series, when he fully fell in love, he was willing to burn every bridge so as not to be misunderstood. So it showed he should have known letting another woman that close was not appropriate. So when he set really clear parameters and definitively stated it was not going to happen, I was glad they turned it around that way.

Ko Wei Cheng’s (Kunda Hsieh) mob Princess girlfriend, Fang Hsueh Tu (Chen Mei Yang) was just straight up, mean to him most the time. Although he was a bit of a ladies’ man and not very responsible, that didn’t excuse her behavior. She both physically amd emottionally berated him. If she was angry, she let her thugs beat on him. I felt sorry for him at so many points. I wish he would’ve told his family what was really going on when they were first encouraging him To date her. I did not like that they met because he bullied her and that she then grew up to bully him. That couple and their relationship was built on violence,

We Xiang’s mother, Fang Xue Ru (Yang Chieh mei) liked a girl that was clearly a snobby person just as she was over someone her son and most of the family had chosen. It was heart breaking when Yu Jie would be trying so hard only for her mother-in-law to harshly criticize everything she did mostly because she liked another girl better. I liked that Yi Jie’s ex boyfriend told the being evil mother-in-law off. I wish the Ko family were told more of that back story about what was going on with him and exactly what he did to Yu Jie. I also liked when Yi Jie’s mother, SongLin Hao Yun (Yang Li Rin) told Xue Ru off.

There were so many lies and deceptions in this one. It made the Ko family seem bad. They clarified and resolved the lies and deceptions still it seemed that was their default solution to everything.

It ended so abruptly I actually ran it back to be sure I had not accidentally forwarded it. After all thet we do not get to know if she ever passes her bar? We got to see everyone else with their children but not the main couple? I felt cheated.

#InBornPair
#ChrisWang
#AnnieChang

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***WARNING***
I'm not a fan whatsoever of Chris Wang's acting. Just puttin' that out there. It doesn't matter what T-dramedy he's in. I know I can expect to retch, roll my eyes, and cringe, in varying amounts depending on if he's cast as the romantic lead, supporting role, or just making a guest appearance.
Unfortunately, he was cast as the romantic male lead, Ke Wei Xiang in Inborn Pair, where his facial expressions seem to range from a happy-go-lucky-dumbass to a completely-clueless-dumbass, mouth open, with a look of mild to severe constipation in between.
I don't know. Maybe it's just me.
I mean, as the viewing audience we're already expected to overlook a lot of the technical shortcomings (scenes with no continuity where the actor will be shown smiling from one angle but crying from another), suspend our disbelief when it comes to the show's premise we know is not likely to occur in the real world in order to enjoy these TTV romcoms. But when you have an actor like Chris Wang giving such a robotic performance, never closing the emotional distance needed for me to sympathize with his character at any time, the show became a chore to watch.
Personally, I don't believe 84 episodes were needed to tell us that the romantic leads would eventually end up together.
But it's the journey that counts, not the destination. Right?
Yeah, whatever.
I think the producers of this show were actually trying to convince themselves that Ke Wei Xiang and Song Yi Jie (Annie Chen) were meant to be together, despite being manipulated into marriage.
Needless to say, I didn't buy it.
A lot of their "chemistry" was paper thin, failing to make the transition from script to screen. What I found problematic about Ke Wei Xiang was that he was near perfect and whatever character flaws he possessed were not deal breakers. And really there was no logical reason for Wei Xiang not to be with Luo Yun (Or more likely why she would want to be with a clingy, insecure momma's boy. But then Pops Luo brought her back to reality. I'm not saying I approve of his method but I like the results. I just wished somebody would've done the same for Yi Jie).
I got far more entertainment mileage from the rest of the supporting cast with all their flaws, shortcomings and far more interesting stories instead of Wei Xiang and Yi Jie's who-gives-a-shit romance. Still. Eighty-four episodes? WTF?
I LOVE YOU Puff Kuo, Jenna Wang, Jennifer Hong, Annie Chen, and Fu Yin in that order.

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Too long...

Overall this is an interesting story and I have to be honest that the reason I watch this was because of Chris Wang. The first 1/3 of the series are pretty good but it sort of dragged on in the middle and I sort of lost interest along the way. But I managed to finish it. What I like about this drama is that it's light, there's no one villain that really irritates you and makes you want to throw things to your television. It's light and has some warm and funny moments. However, 84 episodes is just too long :) The music is great. I love the OST. As for rewatch value, i wouldn't want to rewatch this. Re-watching 84 episodes takes too much time and I don't have any particular likings to the character.

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Funny and Cute RomCom, However...

I enjoyed this series, although I think it could have been done in less than 84 episodes. I enjoyed the acting, especially the Granddad. a few things I didn't like: I didn't appreciate them using Pancreatic Cancer as a way to force things to happen by pretending on of the characters had cancer when they were really lying to get what they wanted. As someone that has lost 2 family members to Pancreatic Cancer I thought it was very callous and showed a lack of compassion for cancer patients and their families. The show also seems to support privileged people. The family members the show revolves around seems to think it is okay to do things that may hurt others feelings or cause problems and then not have to take responsibility for their actions. I realize this happens in most cultures in the world, but to blatantly write it into a show and show the "privilege" in action over and over again, to me took away from the movie. Overall, like I said, I enjoyed the show!

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Story interesting but too long

Maybe it is because I don't understand the Asia culture, but why does Luo Yun relentlessly chase after a married man. To the point she appears desperate. She attacked Song Yijie at every possible turn and refused to accept that Ke Weixiang wasn't into her.
Yanni was too much, in everyone's business, hugely disrespecting her husband and such a spoiled, bratty whiner. I wasn't surprised when the problems in her marriage exploded. She brought it on herself.
Mrs. Ke was determined not to like Song Yijie. She never gave her a chance. I still don't understand why.
Grandma and Grandpa were lovely. They were funny.
Couldn't understand why Song Yijie was so determined to end her marriage without giving her husband a chance, which she did in the end.
The story lines sometimes became silly.
Overall, the show was funny and cutely romantic, but way too long.

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This drama is quiet good to begin with. The idea of it may dated but it has such a strong appeal to me because some additional elements. This drama has a strong start and it becomes draggy and clingy from an episode to another. For me, around episode 50 until almost the ending, the drama become draggier and more
clingy. Too much unnecessary things added and potrayed in the drama, making me bored to watch it. Thus, i skip and fastforward the drama when i watch it. Plot holes and inconsistency exist inded. But, it doesn't ruin the story of the drama. What i dislike from this drama is the fact that it emphasized on love story and details a lot more than the whole story. Even the title is Inborn Pair, i expect it doesn't revolves on the leads love story with that much details. Surely, those details can be extinguished from the drama since it won't affect the overall story and the meaning of the drama. 60-65 episodes will be plenty enough for the story.

For the acting, all are good. I'm especially impressed with the little boy (he's so cute tho). Each casts potray the charatcters well even at several moment some characters went overboard.

For the music, i really like the opening. When i listen to it, it just please my ears

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