Never Give Up (2023)

Unexpected treat

This isn't like any other series, it's not continuous story but it's more of a sitcom centered around planning department three and how they are put into various work and life situations with a touch of comedy...
What did I love about Never give up

1.The cast
They were all soo good I must say and pretty naturally funny, it isn't easy to be so serious and funny at the same time and these guys every one of the actors were soo good, Their interactions with one another felt natural and not forced they all had amazing chemistry with one another, they managed to keep the viewers engaged I sort of felt part of the planning department 3 family the entire time.

2.The plot setting
The plot felt consistent and funny though got real and emotional at some point that's what I call comedy with soul, I never got bored once like at all, I loved the setting it felt like these characters or actors and actresses were pretty much just having fun together, the pacing was perfect and yes don't worry about the 40 episodes each was 20 - 30 minutes long, it didn't drag out because each episode felt like a new adventure loved the sitcom setting

Overall this was a treat I didnt know I needed, it felt good to see Dylan Wang in a new role more funny and loving at that, I became a new fan of Zheng kai who was my favourite male character in the entire series, Yukee chen proved to me once again that she's a good actress hope to see her in more projects, and the other cast iam thankful for this, it kept me stress free, I enjoyed the 40 episodes journey of NEVER GIVE UP

I would highly recommend to watch this if you looking for some thing fresh and relaxing yet heart warming

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Daily dose of laughter

If you're looking for a regular drama and would be disappointed with a sitcom, please give this a pass. Don't say you weren't warned, giving this a sucky rating because it's not in the format you wanted. But if you're the open, adventurous type, give yourself a treat and tune in.

The series is packaged in 30-minute sitcom-style episodes. It revolves around Planning Department 3 of Gaofa Electronics Group that is responsible for coming up with new products for the company. While the prevailing theme is comedy, there are also heart-tugging moments. As with any other sitcom, some episodes might not be your cup of tea, but there are many that I consider masterpieces, like the costume/historical segment in episodes 33 and 34. And even episodes that are not spectacular are useful in getting to know the characters better.

Here are the flawed but endearing members of Planning Department 3 who can tickle your funny bone and warm your heart if you let them:

Li Tianran (Zheng Kai) - wishy-washy but cool guy whose ambition is to be a team leader

Fan Si Si (Chen Yu Qi) - competent worker who has had enough of being duped into working overtime thus gets herself transferred to Planning Department 3 after noticing that the team area is usually dark after 5 pm indicating nobody works overtime there

Bai Ma Shuai (Dylan Wang) - incredibly rich intern who does not want to depend on his dad's money to get ahead in the world

Ji Wa Wa (Liang Chao) - devoted family man who sometimes has to choose between home and work

Yu Qi Miao (Zhang Shao Gang) - the department head with a fiery temper

Jiang Mei (Zhong Li Li) - pretty, earnest and pleasant but turns wild after a few sips of alcohol

Yao Si Wen (Wu Ya Heng) - lonely bachelor who forces his officemates to have dinner with him

Wu Yi Mei (Cheng Zi) - beauty-obsessed professional whose face has been rendered expressionless by too much plastic surgery

Wu Ming Shi (Zhang Yue Chi) - introvert who oftentimes feels invisible but is the team's unsung hero

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So much fun

I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. The office setting was really well done, very relatable if you've ever worked in that environment. While the characters weren't always in realistic scenarios, it still felt very true to the office life experience, at least for me. The micromanaging of the higher-ups, the random initiatives to increase productivity... It all rang true to life with a silly twist.

I mostly watched this drama to see Wang Hedi and Chen Yuqi, but I came out of it really enjoying all the actors and their characters. While Wang Hedi is labelled as "specially invited actor" he's in pretty much every episode, though not always a central character. It's worth watching if you like him and want to see him do a more comic and boyish role. Chen Yuqi also does really well in her role. Her comic moments in Unchained Love were some of my favourite parts, so it was nice seeing her do more comedy here.

Zheng Kai was very likeable as Li Tianran, and the natural build of his romance arc was done very nicely. I liked that the focus of the show was on the interpersonal relationships between all the characters, with at least one episode featuring even the smaller side characters more prominently. The romance arc is just an added feature instead of the focus.

Overall, this was a really fun watch. I tore through all 40 episodes, which surprised me because I usually take a longer time to watch things. It was just so easy to watch several in one go, and I enjoyed it a lot.

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While I somewhat enjoyed watching this, I don't think this is a good office drama. The show is presented in a sitcom format, but it lacks the intensity that a sitcom would need to keep the audience interested. There were many really boring episodes, the comedy is just not that great. While I liked the acting ensemble & also the couple, but outside of a few episodes there is really not all that much worth seeing. The romance between the leads is good, but just so little of it is shown.. I watched about 2-3 episodes of this every day after work & I fell asleep multiple times, if I'm watching something worthwhile that rarely if ever happens.

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Never Give Laugh

‒Exec Summary‒
Couldn't muster more than 3 seconds of cumulative laughter for the 6 episodes I tried. But the episodes are short, and you don't need to pay attention to plot for sitcom, so if you find the humor, more power to you.

--Short Review--
This is an office sitcom modeled after the hit kdrama Gauss Electronics. The story revolves around the various employees at a Chinese conglomerate Gaofa and reflects some of common complaints and peculiarities of the urban Chinese office. I haven't watched the kdrama so I couldn't make a comparison between the two. Unfortunately, by failing to deliver even a charitable chuckle, I suspect that this drama failed the only comparison that matters.

Other than the comedy part of the sitcom, the drama provided your standard idol web drama quality in cinematography and production value. The acting was adequate, with Dylan Wang and Yukee Chen as the main leads. Perhaps I'm being too harsh or too divorced from the Chinese workplace culture since the drama did receive an perplexingly high 8.1 score on Douban. But it's not like the show was layering the dialog with frequent word plays or internet memes. Rather, it was just an endless assembly line of haphazard setups, milquetoast punchlines, and tepid characters. While the show misfires with its jokes about workplace drudgery, it nevertheless achieves mastery for atmospheric immersion‒by creating a viewing experience that feels like a marathon day of pointless meetings. Perhaps the experience is especially underwhelming for me as sitcoms are what American TV excels at and for whatever reasons, China produces very few. But my goodness, this show feels like a hatchet script from the dysfunctional Planning Department of Gaofa.

‒Why Watch‒
1) You want to cure your unhealthy obsession with Dylan Wang and Yukee Chen (assuming she has fans)‒this show might just do the trick.
2) You want something quick and easy. Only 25m episodes of concentrated boredom in sitcom format.
3) You need some guinea pigs to hone your review writing, so you end up writing a mediocre review for a mediocre show.

--Rating Subscores--
- Overall - 5
- Plot - 5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 5
- Acting - 6
- Visual & Production - 6.5
- Audio - 6
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 8 (yay at least crappy shows generally are more accessible)
- Subtitle quality - 7

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Started off well and then, became repetitive and dull.

[I respect other reviewers and their individual choices. There are plenty of dramas out there to suit every taste. Direct your support or lack of to the drama itself. If you support this drama, good for you and please continue to. Please write your own good reviews. If you do not support this drama, please also write your own review. We are reviewers. Not personal attackers. We review. We do not attack. Reserve your opinions for your reviews and not for the reviewer who is responding to the drama itself and not to other external aspects. I am responding to this drama that I have watched and I am not personally attacking any actor or actress in real life as I do not know them at all and have no grudges against them. It is all based on this particular drama only/ this particular reel life only.]

I thought that this drama would be a cute, slice-of-life drama and for starters, it was. I truly enjoyed the first 5 episodes and I looked forward to more hilarious episodes. However, after episode 8 or so, things started to go downhill. Upon reaching episode 12, I knew that I could not continue.

What I Liked (at first):
- I liked Bai Ma Shuai. He was the mega rich and yet, very earnest worker.
- I liked the plots (at first).
- The soundtrack at the beginning of the drama was catchy.
- There was slice-of-life parts which made me laugh and made me tear as I empathized with the characters who were struggling/ going through a hard time in life and at work.

What I Eventually Disliked:
- The characters showed little growth/ development. For example, Fan Si Si was most boring. All she wanted to do was to knock off and to do as little as possible. I felt that this actress was not a good one either as she was pretty stiff in her acting and she did not showcase anything "wow". Similarly, many of the characters in the drama were stilted and lacked interesting character growth/ development. They went round and round, round and round, over and over again. It was painful after awhile.
- There was nothing much to look forward to in each episode. At times, I felt that the episodes were fairly disjointed.
- The 1st group in the company kept on trying to eliminate the 3rd group in the company and that was about it. The 1st group's attempts were futile but nothing worth the watch.

[I respect other reviewers and their individual choices. There are plenty of dramas out there to suit every taste. Direct your support or lack of to the drama itself. If you support this drama, good for you and please continue to. Please write your own good reviews. If you do not support this drama, please also write your own review. We are reviewers. Not personal attackers. We review. We do not attack. Reserve your opinions for your reviews and not for the reviewer who is responding to the drama itself and not to other external aspects. I am responding to this drama that I have watched and I am not personally attacking any actor or actress in real life as I do not know them at all and have no grudges against them. It is all based on this particular drama only/ this particular reel life only.]

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