Taiwanese Drama: Easy Fortune, Happy Life (2009)
Grade:
B-
27
Episodes (42 minutes each)
Country
girl Xie Fu An lives with her younger brother and Chinese herbalist
grandmother Chun Xiang in the mountains. One day while out gathering
medicinal herbs, Fu An and her brother find a protected rare fungus
after it falls off a poacher's truck, which they bring home until
they can turn it in to the proper authorities. Meanwhile, the cold
and self-centered Yan Da Feng contacts the poachers in order to find
a gift for his grandfather's 80th birthday – the man who
founded a $2.5 billion pharmaceutical company, Ba Bao Tang – and
get on his good side. The poachers steal the fungus, starting a house
fire on their way out, leading to the grandmother's death. Fu An vows
to fulfill her grandmother's last wish: to see the man whom she had
met 60 years ago, fallen in love with, and waited for her entire
life. That man is none other than Da Feng's grandfather, the owner of
Ba Bao Tang, and the one who had pretended to love Chun Xiang in
order to steal her herbal remedy recipe. What will happen to Fu An in
the big city?
*I
actually liked this drama a lot more than I thought I would,
considering some of the cinematography is very cheesy and it's
definitely a lower-budget drama than most Kdramas I've watched. It
seemed to not take itself too seriously, as can happen with some
Kdramas - perhaps because in Mandarin there just isn't the same range
of verbal expression, since their speaking patterns are so much more
structured. Some of the clothing and scenes were more risque than
what's in most Kdramas as well, but nothing exceeding a mild PG-13. I
didn't like that the main character never really acts like a changed
man, but it had a fairly positive message about the importance of
family life and the ability to change and become better. Might
watch this again.*
