Challenges at Midlife (2022)

Reminiscent of TVB dramas from the 80’s

I decided to watch this because I liked Lei Jiayin and needed some background noise while I worked (I figured this wasn’t a drama that required my undivided attention… I was wrong). I usually stay away from modern cdramas as I find them a little too draggy. But, this one turned out way better than I expected and definitely had my full attention. I managed to finish all 38 episodes without fast forwarding, which is very impressive for someone as impatient as me. The love story, family conflict, and revenge plot actually reminded me of classic Hong Kong TVB dramas from the 80’s, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Jian Hongcheng and Ning You were two incredibly good people who suffered and sacrificed everything for their families. My heart ached for them and there were countless times where I wanted to shake some sense into them and tell them to live for themselves for once. But, they wouldn’t be the characters that I admired if they didn’t do the things they did. Lei Jiayin and Yuan Quan were very natural and believable in their roles. It was an A+ performance from the both of them.

But, Ning Shu ended up being the character that I rooted for and cared about the most. However, I must mention that I never liked Zhang Yixing or any of the characters he portrayed in the past. So, when I first went into this drama, I expected to dislike Ning Shu and be indifferent to his ultimate downfall. But, a few episodes in was all it took for me to become invested in his storyline and desperately wished he would get his revenge, despite knowing that it would never happen. Zhang Yixing really brought the character to life. His acting has improved tremendously and I am definitely looking forward to his future works now. He made me sympathize dearly with Ning Shu and I had really hoped that he would get a somewhat happy ending. I’m so sad the drama didn’t end on episode 33. He deserved that chance to start anew.

Aside from Jian Hongcheng, Ning You, and Ning Shu, I honestly didn’t care for any of the other characters, many of them I despised. But, unfortunately they ended up being the three people who suffered the most. And yet I am still inclined to rate this drama a 9 because the story is very well written and fast paced with fleshed out characters that make you see from multiple perspectives. I highly recommend this show for those looking for something a little more slice-of-life than idol dramas or if you’re a fan of older TVB dramas, you might want to check this out ;)

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Revenge ruins lives , some what realistic drama similar to real life mess

I will be absolutely honest ,, I watched this drama for Lay Zhang (Yixing) only ,, don't judge quickly ,, I'm a fan of his songs and dances but not acting to be honest but I was surprised here by his performance as an actor ,, he never showed that much emotions in his acting in his previous dramas but this one he certainly improved a lot acting wise and I was hooked by his acting from the start to finish

NOW ,,, lets talk about the drama itself

The drama as most modern social dramas in china is close to home and close to reality ,, it doesn't have romance not good romance at least and it doesn't have fluff or funny scenes ,, it talks about a feud and misunderstanding between two families that result into a traumatized kid who grew up hating the other family plotting to take revenge on them and his sister who fell in love with that other's family son ,, they got separated and the two siblings grew up ,, the traumatized kid grew up to became a manipulator at a company uses people to execute his revenge plan ,, nothing psychotic nor too extreme ,,just legal and financial schemes to get them in dept. and trouble and his sister reunited with her lover and they became close again rekindling their romance but of course failing miserably
for the first half of the drama it was boring a lot and draggy but it was easy to follow what's going on .... then at the second half of the drama things started to get messy and chaotic ... the revenge plot started falling apart and the reconciling was getting harder to and harder ,,, you can't decide who was at fault the most in those two families ,, they were both messed up
some what you root for the relationship and the good romance that was starting the bloom but then both sides had toxic people ruining every thing all the time
I got sympathy for lay zhang's character ,, he lost everything and was bullied ,,, his trauma is real and somewhat relatable and he couldn't get justice for himself and his family but also he screwed up his sister's relationship and became pratty kid sometimes

Spoiler a head

until the horrible ending that I'm not ok with at all
The evil lady sister who wronged the other family big time didn't get punished for anything and all her family suffered ,, also Ning shu paid for what he did in the most horrible way but what he did wasn't that horrible to get that punishment
over all the second half of the drama was enjoyable to watch

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