The reason that Korean and Japanese dramas tend to be superior is because they are able to change things up, for the most part. They don't rely on the same gimmicks, the same formula, the same story. Taiwanese dramas, are nearly all the same. My favorite one is still "Refresh Man." And it is largely because it doesn't follow the typical formula.
Taiwanese dramas also have a tendency to make the female lead into someone who isn't very bright. She can scarcely see the obvious. The writers tend to confuse being naive with being dumb.
I have lived and worked in Korea, China, and Taiwan. The premise with women is to take their age and subtract about 10 years or so to get their true maturity based upon a lack of life experience. So, a woman who is 26, is like trying to date someone who is only about 16. There's still a lot of "young girl" there and not much "woman" yet. Many of the female characters are portrayed in this fashion, which to a degree, reflects many of the young women in Taiwanese culture. The same is true of China.
Another premise is that most Taiwanese dramas have is that only a rich man can adequately provide for a woman and give her happiness. This has literally been the case of every, single Taiwanese show that I've watched.
This show is about Mr. Fang, who tragically loses his fiancee in a car accident, and is, himself, blinded. Enter Yuxi, a woman who looks exactly like his former fiancee (of course, there is a connection), who is hired to be his caretaker. Of course, we have the early-on bumps in the road where neither likes the other one too much. Then, we have the rich man doing elaborate things, that ultimately softens her heart and causes her to look at him differently. Then, we have the fear and ignorance regarding their actual feelings. You can see the trend and easily predict how things will end. Why? Because it's how they ALWAYS end with these shows.
Still, the characters are mostly likable and well portrayed. Lorene Ren does a good job of giving us a very immature, naive, and occasionally funny Yuxi. Kingone Wang (Mr. Fang) portrays him with a softness, an integrity, and a poignantly charismatic businessman, who always seems to be able to see the bigger picture and to make decisions without allowing his emotions to get the better of him.
Overall, this series was okay, with bits of "good" sprinkled in. If Taiwan can somehow begin to diversify and change things up with their programming, I'd be eager to come back. For now, though, I think I'll stick with the Korean and Japanese markets. They offer a lot more!
