[END][Storyline Recap+Review] Ode To Joy Ep. 31- 43

Crazy stuffs happening in the drama and it is so interesting 😀 A lot of things are messed up in the drama (refer to my previous review where I disapproved of the storyline) and the fresh storylines are a lot better. Finally, it is finally a wrap!

Starring

• Liu Tao as Andy Tompson
• 31 Year Old, a mathematical genius and CFO in a big company
• Jiang Xin as Fang Shengmei
• 30 Year Old, a beautiful and capable woman still searching the love of her life
• Wang Ziwen as Qu Xiao Xiao
• 24 Year Old, second generation rich girl
• Yang Zi as Qiu Ying Ying
• 22 Year Old, countryside girl with a positive attitude, currently an office worker
• Qiao Xin as Guan Qu Er
• 22 Year Old, an intern translator for Fortune 500 company
• Zu Feng as Wei Wei,
• the mysterious cyber friend of Andy and her love interest
• Wang Kai as Zhao Qiping,
• a handsome and diligent doctor Qu Xiaoxiao fells in love with
• Jin Dong as Tanzong Ming,
• the friend and boss of Andy since her time in the United States
• Yang Shuo as Zhao Yifan,
• a second generation rich boy
• Zhang Lu as Wang Baichuan,
• university friend of Shengmei and founder of a start up. He has a big crush on her

Storyline Recap + Review

I am going to do this storyline recap slightly differently… I will start with the character with less content and work my way up to Andy, since her story and Shengmei’s are the ones that left the most impact on me. I will also add my comments as well as how I feel about the topics discussed.

Guan Qu Er

Guan Qu Er is still in love with Zhao Qiping, but knows he likes Qu Xiaoxiao. She can only watch him and give him her best wishes. It is the end of the year and at the internship, she must auto-evaluate her performance. Her supervisor tells her where she should work on. Guan Guan decides to stay away from the office drama (one of the interns slept with the boss) and her great performance wins her a full time position.

My comment: Guan Qu Er is an extremely hardworking and a diligent worker. I sincerely hope she can stay at the company. Overall, I wish she learns to be more independent and fall in love with the right person.

Qiu Yingying

Qiu Yingying works hard at the coffee shop and after listening to the advices of Qu Xiao Xiao, she decides to take more initiative and successfully attract more customers. At the end of the year, her CEO  gives her a huge bonus.

Also, a customer at the coffee house admits he has a crush on her, making Ying Ying’s heart flutters.

My comment: I love how focused Qiu Yingying is. At the beginning of the drama, she never took anything seriously. Now, she is able to cook, run a business, and be self-sufficient. There are a few moments in the drama where it is foreshadowed that her e-commerce will run into problems (e.g. her immediate supervisor dislikes her, her lack of business knowledge, etc.) so it would be interesting to see how she faces them.

Qu Xiao Xiao

Zhao Qiping breaks up with Qu Xiao Xiao when he realizes she lacks class and intellectual abilities. For example, he hates how she can be mean to others and how it is impossible to reason with QXX even when she is clearly in the wrong.

Nonetheless, he is still in love with her and realizing she is maybe dating again, he decides to pursue her.

On the other hand, Qu Xiao Xiao realizes she cares about the other four girls on the 22nd floor and decides to become friend with them.

Despite their differences, as the end of year approaches, the two hook up again.

Just at that moment, Xiao Xiao’s dad starts banging at the door…

My comment: This relationship, with Wei Wei+Andy, are the two most dysfunctional ones in the drama. No matter how much I love a guy, if I am grossed out by his values or actions, I would immediately find him off putting and unattractive. For Zhao Qiping to look past these flaws because he “is in love”, this is beyond me. In addition, as we discussed in the previous Ode of Joy reviews, their falling in love moment in the bar wasn’t convincing enough for me. Sure this couple has its cute moments but it is hard for me to believe ZQP and QXX are an OTP. I am also surprised someone like Qu Xiao Xiao would want to be friends with Qiu Yingying but they are indeed cute together.

Fang Shengmei

Fang Shengmei refuses to sent anymore money since her brother is out from jail. As a “solution”, her brother decides to poison the hustlers and flees. Her parents come to Shanghai for help. We see how bad her family treats her compare to her brother.

Shengmei’s father faints and they must do a surgery. Everyone helps Shengmei get back her brother’s house to cover for the surgery fees and tell Shengmei to stop sending more money than necessary home.

When she goes back home, Shengmei realizes no matter how badly her parents treat her, this is still her home and the place where she belong. Fang Shengmei comes back to Shanghai and confronts Wang Baichuan.

No matter how hard life will be, she wants to build a future with him. She decides to change her job to a better one and closer to WBC. The two gets back to their hometown. we discover her family is a lot better and her dad has slowly recovered.

However, as the two love birds go to WBC’s home, his mother screams, “This woman will never be part of this family!”

My comment: I love how her story wraps up (minus the last part)! When the episodes were airing, I was heartbroken for Fang Shengmei and was wondering… how the hell will she get out of this horrible situation? I am happy to see Qu Xiaoxiao, Wang Bai Chuan and Wei Wei found the solution for her. She is very lucky to have good friends to take care of the dilemma :)). The situation with her mother is really sad (“I don’t want a unfilial daughter like you, I have my son!”) but it is not something that can be changed. It is horrible to know some parents act this way with their children and you still love them no matter what. Personally, I feel like there is a distance between parents and offsprings in a lot of Asian families. But this is family and people in the countryside have this kind of mindset :”D. I can only hope Fang Shengmei learn to love and be true to herself.

Andy (OMG, her story is so twisted I don’t even know how to start the recap)

Andy meets Bao Yifan again and they laugh together, deciding to collaborate in the future. Wei Wei, hoping to get closer to Andy, decides to help her reunites with her true family. He finds her father, Professor Wei. WW bring the Prof. to her office. He tells her the truth: he is a scholar and his mother is a countryside girl. One day, her mother felt in the river which awoke her crazi-genes. She completely lost her sanity. Since he received a scholarship, he decides to flee, not knowing she is pregnant. Later, her mother got raped and die in labor, giving birth to Xiao Ming (her mentally ill brother). Andy, learning all of this, reacts very strongly, almost as if she is going to turn off her own sanity. Tan Zonming is mad at Wei Wei for telling this to Andy.

She tells Wei Wei she no longer want to see him and is afraid of turning like her mother if she starts a family. At the company, one of her employee, Mr. Li, continuously make mistakes and she reprimands him in front of the office. That night he dies of overwork. Andy is exhausted and when the remaining girls try to comfort her, she decides to come clean about the past. She realizes if she can overcome meeting her dad, breaking up with Wei Wei, and the death of Mr. Li… she is strong enough to defeat the illness. Andy thanks the girls for taking care of her.

At the end of the year, she goes on a trip by herself. Well guess who she meets: Bao Yifan (tipped by Qu Xiao Xiao)!

My comment: Stupid Wei Wei! He is so hypocrite to bring her dad to the office, just because HE want to get closer to her. Did he care about how she feels? Did he care about how vulnerable Andy is and what kind of people her family is? The drama describes WW as the person that knows Andy the best.. but he never acts this way. As Tan Zonming puts it, he only care about himself and is no matter how much he loves her, he is not the good fit for Andy. I sincerely hope he leaves her alone; each time the two meets, I am afraid Andy will explode and turn insane. And for her father, he is such a psychopath. He says he cares about Andy but why would he come back into her life? He does not care about her mother, her brother, or anyone else. He would rather kill Andy than let her live with the possibility of been sane, calling it parent’s “love”. So scary… I am so scared for Andy and hope Bao Yifan give her the love and support Andy needs. I really love Liu Tao’s acting in the recent episodes and it makes watching the drama so much more enjoyable ❤

Overall, I am very satisfied with the plausibility of each storyline (except the Dr. Zhao and QXX couple) and the last arc of the drama definitely makes up for the flaws in the previous episodes. If you read my previous reviews, you would know I hate how preaching the drama is. However, the deepness of the new storylines are so much more enjoyable!~ The ratings of the drama has gone crazy in the last couple of days and it is definitely well deserved, thanks to the great performances of Jiang Xin and Liu Tao.

For all the avid fans of the drama, good news! There are news that the drama has been picked up for a season 2. It is definitely possible since a large portion of the story, based on the book, is unveiled. I will write an article about this soon 🙂