I at first thought this was about pure investment, but it's so much more than meets the eye.

This show is so incredible, and I really do wish it was more accessible to a wider audience. I was one of the few fortunate enough to have enough background in Chinese to understand and experience this incredible story and pretty much binged this within a couple weeks time. The plot is so gripping and takes you through the highs and lows of the investment world, makes you care about (or get irritated by) every single character that gets introduced, and makes you laugh and cry and experience a whole whirlwind of emotions consistently throughout the watching experience. What's wilder is that I'm not even someone who's usually interested in office dramas, much less investment! This is truly a drama like no other. It is a drama about not running away and instead confronting personal weakness first and foremost.

- STORY -
"It may seem like the world is against you, but it's up to you to change yourself."
That's the main theme that I at least have taken away from this show, and while it's rather commonly depicted, it was shown (not told) brilliantly here without being shoved down my throat. Through every leg of the journey, through every troubling scenario that Group 4 had to encounter, and for every depiction of toxic workplace culture, there are insights to be gained via how characters interact with each other and choose to handle situations that are thrown at them. There is not always a clear cut answer for what is the correct path forward. This show instead chooses to present the realistic struggles and collateral damage caused by manipulative schemes with painful brutality alongside incredibly strong bonds and friendships that form through adversity, and I appreciated every moment of it. What's even better is that, to my knowledge, I don't think any plot threads were left untied - almost everything had an explanation. This story is honestly so strong that I am inclined to seek out the original Korean source material (or the kdrama at least) to perhaps compare and contrast the different depictions.

- ACTING/CHARACTERS -
I first encountered Bai Jing Ting in Ping Pong Hero and subsequently went on to watch him in You Are My Hero as well as Octogenarians and the 90's. This particular role of his as Sun Yi Qiu is, in my opinion, arguably one of his best roles he's done out of the series I have listed. Sun Yi Qiu is an incredibly subtle role, lacking in confidence due to his weak resume and constantly feeling like he doesn't fit in. He at first feels like he must fight alone, but eventually realizes that this corporate battlefield is filled with comrades and it's with them that he starts to understand his own value. Bai Jing Ting portrays this growth in character brilliantly with nuance and I have high hopes for his future as a multifaceted actor.

Mark Chao plays the troubled, prideful, but incredibly righteous team lead of Team 4, Wu Ke Zhi. This role is honestly so layered and tricky and I can only applaud this man's efforts in portraying this fascinating character that is at once a family man with a tender soul but also someone with incredibly high standards and blunt words. He may be harsh, but he honestly cares more than most, and it's beautiful to see his relationships with his team members (particularly Sun Yi Qiu and Lin Yu Ming) grow.

I'd also like to shout out some other notable performances.
Bridgette Qiao as Lan Qian Yi portrays the struggles of a female in a male-dominant work environment with strength and poise, and gains acceptance through her solid efforts and smarts. She is no damsel-in-distress and is arguably a career woman more capable than many men that surround her, and I admire her for that.
Pang Han Chen as Gao Si Cong is an intelligent man with high educational standing who learns humility and compromise through many twists and turns. He is a great reminder for those who are highly qualified to never look down on the seemingly mundane details, because simple mistakes can add up.
Wei Da Xun as Hao Shuai provides incredible comic relief, but also manages to have a reasonable character arc of his own that lets him stand up for himself against someone taking advantage of him.
Zhang Zi Xian as Lin Yu Ming shows such a heartwarming and memorable character who always puts friends first, and honestly, I'd love to be his friend in real life as well.

This doesn't even go into detail about all the other side characters and antagonists, but this section is already long as is. Just know that this drama would not be anywhere near this level of quality without such a brilliant cast, and I wouldn't trade them with anyone else if given the choice.

- MUSIC -
This is arguably the weakest part. The music was just not very memorable to me, but at least served to adequately support the rest of the content.

- CONCLUSION-
Through this show, I have learned that we make investments in so many things throughout our lives. We invest our time and money in friendships, family, work, and recreation, but an investment we really cannot neglect is the investment in ourselves. I know this is cheesy, but I'd like to pose this drama's major question to you. What is your selling point? And for what do you live for? Ponder upon these like the characters in this drama, and maybe, just maybe, you too will gain insight into yourself as well.

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A beautiful relationship interleaved with high-tension career moments

You Are My Hero is a lovely drama with a wonderful balance of lighthearted fun dotted with tense medical and police scenes (of which I cannot necessarily attest to their accuracy). Although objectively it may not be the most original story to grace this industry, the main characters are lovable and more than make up for certain pitfalls, heightening my enjoyment and the overall score I have given this show. The chemistry and maturity of the main relationship in particular kept me highly entertained throughout, so if you do decide to skim through this show, at the *very* least I think their scenes are quite engaging!

- STORY -
Story-wise, as stated above, I can't say it is filled with originality, and there are certainly moments that are rather tropey and plot convenient in that they are placed in there for the sake of providing some kind of conflict where previously none existed.

(spoiler)
An example of such I can recall is when the main lead's old childhood friend and her sister came back to leech on him to cover their medical expenses (and potentially further living costs). This is the age-old "third-person from the past comes in to disrupt the present relationship" trope, which is rather tiring and annoying, but luckily it does not last too long and in fact proves how grounded and stable the relationship between the main pair is.
(end of spoiler)

But that's the thing I can forgive: conflicts are not dwelled on for too long and mostly serve to confirm the strength of the main relationships! The plot may not necessarily be anything too special, and the ending may be a bit anti-climactic and lackluster, but I believe this drama is primarily character-driven rather than plot driven, so for the sake of the characters I can forgive these slights. Just don't come in expecting this story to be particularly groundbreaking.

- CHARACTERS /ACTING -
This is where this drama honestly shines the most, and is exactly what incentivized me to keep watching till the end.

Bai Jing Ting as Xing Ke Lei is a sight to behold, truly athletic, stern, and arguably convincing in this SWAT team captain role (he really rocks that uniform). I can tell that he worked really hard to maintain form for this role, and it shows in his posture and attitude. Sandra Ma as Mi Ka is positively lovely, with her straightforward and blunt but charming nature, genuine giggles, and serious sense of conviction. Her smiles are hard to resist and make me want to smile along with her. These two truly sold this show to me and each time they were in a scene together, I would honestly forget that they were *actors* and felt like I was peeking in to an actual relationship between two lovable career-oriented individuals. If I take away anything from this show, it's that these two, to me, represent an ideal and mature relationship filled with communication, support, and love. They both make sacrifices, they rub off on each other, and stick together through trying periods of their lives, and if that's not enough then I don't know what is!

In terms of the second couple, I did find them less interesting and a bit more typical to drama tropes, what with the small love triangle and the "I'm rejecting you because I don't think I'm worthy of you" mentality, but if anything, they stand against the main couple to make them feel more realistic and down-to-earth. They're a supporting relationship for a reason, I'll give them that, and for what it's worth, the actors definitely succeeded in delivering these characters as intended by the script.

What I did really enjoy, though, was Mi Ka's relationships with her friends, such as the doctors/nurses at her workplace, and the second female lead. In the same vein, Xing Ke Lei's team members all served as nice comic relief, and his relationship with his sister was also amusing to behold as well.

Altogether, the cast is great fun and managed to successfully pull off serious moments at the same time.

- MUSIC -
I'm not a musician by trade, but some of the main insert songs in this drama are rather fun and lighthearted and fit with the scenes they play in. In particular, "愛上了" by Hu Xia stands out to me with its simplistic, charming, hummable melody, and genuinely fits with the silliness of the second couple. " 呢喃" by 都智文 is also a nice and soothing piece that gives me kdrama vibes (even though I don't really watch kdramas)!
The rest of the OST is rather standard, befitting of tense or more melodramatic scenes. Nothing abominable, mostly pleasing to the ear. Certain songs have admittedly been added to my Spotify playlist to help me retain some good vibes.

- CONCLUSION -
This is a wonderful drama worth watching for the realistic relationship portrayed by Bai Jing Ting and Sandra Ma and certainly made me a fan of both of them! Sometimes I had to turn my brain off on certain plot points, but overall my enjoyment factor trumped over a lot of negatives and inclined me to give this a rather high score. Thank you for reading this far, and hopefully someone else will enjoy this as much as I did!

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