Unlike the romance in My True Friend which has come from love-at-first-sight, the romance in this drama is built on trust and understanding. The two main leads Sun Li and Luo Jin are both veteran and excellent actors. Luo Jin plays the Xu Wen Chang character who is a calm, unrestrictive office manager of a large multi-store realtor company. His leadership style is laissez-faire whereby he allows his people a free hand to achieve results in an ethical manner. His subordinates adore him and give him a nickname Gugu, meaning paternal aunty. Xu Wen Chang is kind, sincere and diplomatic. His magnanimity eventually melts away the ice of Fang Si Jin (Sun Li/Betty Sun) who is a co-manager of the same office. When Fang Si Jin is transferred to work there, her goal is to replace him eventually. But after months working with Xu Wen Chang, she finds out all his qualities and gradually falls in love with him. Fang Si Jin is an ambitious real estate agent who would go all the way out to do anything to close the deal. She’s up-tight, suspicious and calculative. But after spending some time under the warm office culture that Xu Wen Chang has inculcated, she starts to change. She sees humans in people and begins to love her subordinates who also come to adore her for her determination and compassion.
Every character has his/her own flaws, story and challenges, and this drama has carefully developed the characters and help them grow to meet and overcome their hurdles. The office culture here is very heart-warming; everyone is watching out for each other’s well-being and they are united like a big family.
This drama is an eye opening for international viewers on how brutal and stressful it is to live in a city like Shanghai. As a realtor, the work is hard and the competition is fierce. But most of all, all denizens in the city work extra-ordinarily hard and they are determined to achieve their goals, overcoming any obstacles that come their way. It also depicts all walks of life in the city – the good, the bad and the ugly. The good ones are beautiful and heart-warming, and the bad ones are ugly, greedy and unethical.
This drama is definitely a wonderful watch, especially if viewers want to better understand life in Shanghai. The depiction is authentic and realistic. It has provided me self-searching calls to look deeper into myself and to want to become a better person for others.
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The drama follows real estate agents who work in Shanghai in their personal and professional lives as they deal with rude clients, love interest, family matters, money issues, and of course, selling houses. I really liked the aspect that some of the clients they dealed with made appearance throughout the show, their story lines evolved along with the main cast members, making it feel more realistic to me. A major theme was that their work as an agent wasn't done once they sold a house, but rather just started because now they were invested in their clients lives, which was true as their clients stories kept developing and our characters had to manage these new challenges.
I really liked the FL, I think she is one of the prettiest actresses and I really enjoyed the way the ML kept looking at her. It was a slow burn, mature romance but also very light-hearted. I LOVE cohabitation romances' so this was a bonus in my book!
Overall, I would recommend this drama! Its easy to watch, there a some great plot points (mixed with some meh ones) a cute romance and a feel-good office story where the workers become one family!
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An engrossing, binge worthy gem
“I Will Find You a Better Home” surpassed all my expectations and provided a sweet respite from pandemic-related news. (The Chinese title 安家 literally means “Settle Down.”)Choosing a modern Chinese drama is something of a crapshoot. With their high episode counts, it can be a grueling investment of time just to keep up. This series, however, created a world I was reluctant to leave.
RICH CHARACTERIZATIONS
The show’s greatest strength is its rich array of fully realized characters in lead and supporting roles. The show is anchored by the beautiful partnership between Sun Li’s Fang Si Jin and Luo Jin’s Xu Wan Chang. I loved nothing better than watching two tender souls develop deep bonds. I couldn’t get enough of their scenes together, whether they were arguing or just hanging out. As they grew closer, watching them reveal their vulnerabilities and quietly care for one another was just so damn sweet.
Having seen her in other films and dramas, I fully expected Sun Li to rock the role of a woman transformed by love and her own cultivation. The real surprise, for me, was seeing Luo Jin embody such a warm, loving, erudite character. He is a man so beloved that they call him Aunt. The more we get to know Aunt Xu, the more handsome he becomes. Prior to IWFYABH, I would’ve described Luo Jin as competent and a good crier. And now? I think he’s exceptional. (I admit that part of Aunt’s attraction simply comes from the fact that Luo Jin’s natural charm is unencumbered by wigs, elaborate costumes or another voice actor.)
HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS
I loved the story on several levels.
I enjoyed it purely for its aesthetics. It looks so good with beautiful lighting, sets that feel real, and attractive leads.
It also has quite a few hilarious moments, thanks to the brilliant supporting cast that really feels like they’ve worked together for years. I will never look at a buffet table the same. It will take all my strength not to eat directly with serving tongs. A lot of the laughs also come from Aunt Xu’s best friend, Qin Tao. That man wins the supporting character MVP award. He’s the best friend we all need—wise, witty and calls you out on your bullshit.
As we learn more about the different agents and their clients, the show explores leadership, professional excellence, forgiveness, filial piety and what it means to really cherish the people you love. The stories of women are of particular interest as they navigate the challenges posed by work, marriage, family and the patriarchy.
Fang Si Jin’s story also fits within a quasi-militaristic framework. She’s essentially a soldier figuring out which master to follow. Her Beijing boss, Zhai Yunxiao, is a ruthless man who craves power and discards people who are of no use to him. He paraphrases Sun Tzu’s “know your enemy, know yourself” and calls Fang Si Jin his general while badgering her to complete her “mission.” In contrast, Aunt Xu cautions that one has to differentiate between generals. He likens himself to Lian Po, a 3rd century general famed for being a brilliant but prudent tactician. Our Aunt is an elegant Shanghai man who has undoubtedly internalized the 36 Stratagem and can use them at will. (Is there a stratagem for turning your “assassin” into someone who loves you?)
STUCK ON THE BOTTOM RUNGS OF MAZLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
“Fang” means “house.” As much as Fang Si Jin yearns for her own home—and all that entails—the pursuit of happiness is a luxury she’s never been able to afford. Before moving to Shanghai, all her energies went towards working, so as to keep her stomach full and support her rapacious family. It’s a joy to watch her open herself to the “optimism and joy, encouragement and dependence” that Aunt Xu espouses.
EMBRACE THE ANTAGONISTS
Aside from the occasional shitty clients, there are three main antagonists in this series. I urge you not to fast forward during their scenes. The coquettish ex-wife, the vampire mother, the calculating boss — as irritating as they are, these three are secret angels who sow the seeds of love and dependence between the OTP.
MUSIC
The series had several songs in its soundtrack and three stood out for me:
Opening title song: “City Fireworks” sung by Wang Zijian and Ding Jiale| 《城市烟火》
It’s an effervescent rap with traditional Chinese instruments
Closing credits song: “Shop Window” sung by Feng Xiyao | 《橱窗》— 冯希瑶
Also used as an instrumental background music
“Smile Again” sung by Liu Fengyao | 《微笑再会》 - 刘凤瑶
This gorgeous song is used almost exclusively for Aunt Xu and his little House at significant junctures in their relationship. From the spare instrumentation to full on vocalization, I feel like I’m falling in love whenever I hear it. I anxiously await its appearance on Spotify.
HIGH REWATCH VALUE
Is this show re-watchable? Hells yeah. After the series ended, I think I kept watching my favorite bits for three more weeks.
HOW TO WATCH WITH ENGLISH SUBS?
The series is finally available fully subbed for free on YouTube. During the original broadcast, I set my ExpressVPN to Singapore-Marina Bay and watched Tencent Video’s English subbed playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMX26aiIvX5rnHcPYXSN-GrUCJ5TnghYY
The translations seem good though there are moments where they made things a tad bland. (It's much sexier when Aunt says, "Don't mess with me ... or I'll bite" instead of the bland "or I'll get angry.") It’s such a shame that this series is not yet subbed by Viki. “I Will Find You a Better Home” is a special show worthy of the rich, contextual translations Viki is known for.
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This review may contain spoilers
This was a really interesting remake. Up until about episode 48, I was going to give it a score of around 6.5/10. It took the Japanese concept and invested it with warmth and humanity, and created characters to care about. The core concept was significantly better than the original, and if the drama had been 24 or 30 episodes instead of 53, I probably would have scored it 7.5 or 8. Now however I can only score it at 5 because of a troubling issue with the ML which resurfaced in episode 49.There was still a lot to like about the drama which is why I'm giving it 5 but it could have been so very much better. If they had cut 20 to 25 episodes, if they had handled the female villain arc better, and if they had made the lead pair a union of equals, without the patronising paternalistic promotion of the ML’s flawessness, this would have been one of my favourite mainland dramas ever. It had so much going for it that I am disappointed it fell on the home straight.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS VERY SPOILERY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
The FL’s mother was a vicious sadistic criminal, without any redeeming qualities whatsoever. The FL’s very NAME derived from the fact that her mother attempted to kill her as a child. The mother physically and verbally abused her daughter throughout the entire series without remorse or apology and without ceasing. She bled her dry financially and crippled her emotionally. The ML never fully acknowledged the scale of the damage this evil woman inflicted on her daughter. He had his own childhood trauma, but he grew up materially comfortable, and never fully appreciated the sheer horror of the female lead’s background. He was always dismissive, his words constantly implying that what the FL’s mother had done was not that big a deal. At one point, he seems to have helped the FL to simply let go and cut all ties with the vicious fiend who gave birth to her. I was fine with that, letting go of resentment is one thing, and makes sense. But he undid all of that in episode 49. According to the subtitles that I saw, he said when the hellish hag got sick "yes she extorted money from you, but she was doing that for the family not for herself" that was a lie. In that lengthy scene, a third of the episode or so, He defended the abuser against the victim and emotionally manipulated or even bullied the FL into giving this evil thief another huge sum of money simply because she happened to be sick. This is the woman who prevented her own daughter from seeing the grandfather who saved her life and raised her. This monstrous mother lied to her daughter to steal money from her while the grandfather was dying. And after all of that, the ML takes her side over that of her daughter, his fiancée. That incident in episode 49 was simply the most extreme example of something that had been made manifest throughout the series. The ML’s constantly minimising and failing to grasp the enormity of what the female leads mother had done. In the end he still spouted the usual "but she's your mother" BS. It was the apex of the Drama’s adherence to the usual East Asian Drama trope that the ML must always ultimately be right in all things and at all times. The FL must learn the error of her ways and adjust her thinking and behaviour thanks to the benevolent paternalistic wisdom of the ML. That whole incident soured the drama for me and I kind of fast forward through the last four episodes. The final four or five were also the most makjang. Several of the characters suddenly had all sorts of things going wrong in a way that felt like makjang. I was grateful that it was only the final 4 or 5 45-minute episodes out of 53, Taiwanese Dramas often have 4 or 5 90-minute episodes like that out of 16-20 episodes. Still it was tedious and disappointing to race through the end of the series with my finger resting firmly on the fast forward button, especially as the last couple of episodes were unabashed paeans to the supreme superlativeness of the ML, he was THE SAVIOUR, the fixer of every problem, the source of ALL the answers. It actually made me miss the J original, where the FL definitely did NOT say things like “without you I had nothing anyway”, as the FL here does in the penultimate episode in response to the ML unilaterally and without any consultation committing their entire resources to a project of his design.
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Superb Acting + Great storyline
I want to thank the people who wrote their reviews, because of them i get to see this beautiful, happy series. I don't have a lot of expecttaions because i'm not familIar with lead actors, but to my surprise not only the lead actors but all the supporting casts are really great.I want to praise the scriptwriters and director/s of this series because they did not only focused on the lives of the leads but to everyone in the Jingyi branch as well as the branch clients. Each sotries are relatable and will make you rethink how yoy deal with your daily struggles with your family, career and relationships.
You will not only enjoy the series but will definitely learn alot from it. If you enjoyed Ode to Joy series you will definitely love this series.
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Outstanding on all levels
Outstanding acting, and story and character development. There are no small roles in this series. The actors make them big. Really! Shocked to see that communist China is a place of cut throat competitiveness and survival of the fittest game. How did it get past censorship? The sweet tones, the humorous lines or characters cannot erase the brutal reality exposed: having a home in Shanghai is a big deal, sometimes unattainable, or attainable at the cost of trampling over other people's lives. Also intertwined with the personal history of the two protagonists is the question of being filial to the point of being bullied by one's own family. Again: outstanding work and an eye opener for someone like me, living outside of the Chinese culture.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
A drama full of unbearable characters
I don't know what the writers are thinking while making this drama. The only likeable and logical character in this drama is the Female Lead. Let me start off by breaking the characters:- Male Lead is very unlikeable in the beginning, instead, the Female Lead is the only one that makes sense to me. And yet the writers tried hard to make him appeared as a "saint" too. In the corporate world, especially in the industry where making sales are significant, every employees must be diligent and focused on reaching the target sales in order for the firm to operate. And yet, as the branch manager, ML chose to not lead the employees and chose the line "most important thing is people" bullshit. Yes, in property business, all of the elements need to be considered, including the providing the clients' needs and wants. However, most clients that they faced are too severe, to the point where the firm became the client's personal problem solver.
- Male lead also takes business too personal, which can be very unprofessional at times. For example, when one of the client decided to buy a house for his mistress. This situation led for the firm becoming a punching bag for both the husband, the wife, and the cheater. ML doesn't want to sell the house, but FL is different. She sold the house to the husband&mistress, which led her being slapped by the wife. In the end, ML said the slap is worth it. I have mix feelings about this situation. True, the situation sucks, but property agents are NOT marriage counsellor, nor private investigator. At this point, rather than not liking ML in this situation, I blame more on the writer, who prolong this situation just to make more episodes. Rather than showing us a good drama with the agents buying houses of their dreams, the writers chose to show makjang of a client's family situations, in which the scenes are very off-topic and unrelated to the entire plot line.
- As for other characters in the drama (the FL's mom) - I don't know if these situations are realistically happen in real life, but most of them are pretty relatable for my family sadly. I especially empathized with the FL family situation since my dad is in the similar situation as her. Yes, as much as unrealistic it seems, my dad too, also becomes the black sheep in the family, where he becomes the punching bag to everyone. I especially empathized where FL's mom extort all of her money for the siblings.
- The clients are very unbearable to watch, hence I skipped most of the scenes. I grew up in a Chinese family and surrounding, so it seems pretty realistic to me too. I don't want to judge, but yes, these clients actions happen in real life.
Overall, the drama is decent, but not to the point where it deserves the title "underrated drama". It's just that I don't understand why the writers purposely prolong these unnecessary plot line, are they trying too hard to reach 53 episodes? I feel like this should've been an office setting drama, but it somehow became a makjang (family themed drama, where the melodrama plot is often exaggerated). I just wished that they removed those unrelated scenes, instead, they could've focused more on the important events, such as the relationship between the Leads. Too bad, if this drama has 32 episodes, focusing on the daily life of a property agents and became a feel good drama, this drama could've been easily became a hit, or at least get higher ratings.
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