ザラ Notes: 女王不下班 Four Gifts

27 December 2010

女王不下班 Four Gifts

Title: 女王不下班 Nǚwáng Bù Xiàbān
English Title:

Four Gifts
The Queen Does Not Get Off Work

Country: Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Year: 2010
Episode: 15
Cast:

張棟樑 Zhāng Dòng Liáng (Nicholas Teo)
王樂妍 Wáng Lè Yán (Chloe Wang); 王心如 Wáng Xīn Rú (Cynthia Wang)
修杰楷 Xiū Jié Kǎi
李康宜 Lǐ Kāng Yí
陳乃榮 Chén Nǎi Róng (Nylon Chen)
路嘉欣 Lù Jiā Xīn (Jozie Lu)
劉紓妤 Liú Shū Yú
陳勢安 Chén Shì Ān

SYNOPSIS

陳乃榮 Chén Nǎi Róng - 24小時瘋狂 24 Xiǎoshí Fēngkuáng (24-Hour Madness)

Four sisters who are successful in school and at work find that it is difficult to have it all when they deal with family issues and love problems.

Eldest sister Zhang Ruo Tian is a prosecutor who refuses to sit back and miss the action when the police are apprehending the criminals in her cases. Tough and assertive, Ruo Tian is sensitive regarding being treated differently by everyone just because she's a woman.

Second sister Zhang Ruo Wei works in the fashion industry. She is an assistant editor at fashion magazine La Citta, and she is the author of the bestselling book Kingdom of Love. Because of her resourcefulness, nothing is impossible for the recognized Queen of Everything.

Third sister Zhang Ruo Yi was just recently promoted as a project manager at her public relations company when she had to consider moving back home to care for their ailing father. Ruo Yi hasn't had much time to date anyone because she is always busy working her way up the corporate ladder while managing her family's affairs.

Youngest sister Zhang Ruo Yu has just turned twenty years old, but she's eager to get married and start her own family. Being much younger than her older sisters, they tend to forget her very existence at times.

The sisters lost their mother when they were young. Their mother left a special gift to each of her daughters: a scarf for Ruo Tian, a mirror for Ruo Wei, a suitcase for Ruo Yi, and a pen for Ruo Yu. Their father said their mother left a letter to explain the meaning behind the gifts, and he would give the letter to the sisters when they find happiness.

REVIEW

張棟樑 Zhāng Dòng Liáng - 之間 Zhī Jiān (Between)

Four Gifts is interesting because it showcases the complicated relationship dynamics between sisters. I think I kept watching the drama because I wanted to see how the sisters' relationships evolved over time.

In a way, our brothers and sisters will always be are greatest rivals, and it can't be helped because we would have competed for our parents' attention and affection with our siblings since birth.

How parents treat their children, particularly relative to each other, greatly influences how the siblings will treat each other. In the drama, the other sisters are accepting but always resentful that their parents played favorites, with Zhang Ruo Wei as the most beloved daughter.

I sympathize with Zhang Ruo Tian because although she is the first, considering the birth order of the sisters, she's always played second fiddle to Ruo Wei. I think she worked hard to become first in all other areas of her life because she's insecure and she couldn't understand why she wasn't loved as much as her sister.

Anyway, I think there's always someone like Zhang Ruo Yi in most families; someone who had to act as mediator between warring family members, and someone who had to make sacrifices for the family's sake because the other family members couldn't or wouldn't even consider making such choices.

Ruo Yi is described as a filial daughter as if that's her identity, but I wonder if being filial is an inherent trait, or she became filial considering the circumstances. I mean, if another sister was willing to care for their father, would Ruo Yi still insist on taking that responsibility or would she instead choose to make her career a priority?

Four Gifts also discussed the existence of true love in this world. Some people believe it is possible to be in love with another person for forever, but some people think it is just a fantasy.

Ren Shao Ting: According to research, love will be eroded by mindless things after two years of marriage so those couples who stay with each other for a lifetime are only together because they are used to each other and are afraid of change.

Personally, I don't know if I actually believe in true love. I think I want to believe in it, because if we have to believe in something anyway, why not hope for all the wonderful things to exist in this world?

The drama started out to be quite promising albeit a little dragging, but it was such a letdown in the end because of all the melodrama. I couldn't figure out the characters' choices in the end, because not only does their choices do not make sense in terms of the characters' own disposition, their choices are quite incomprehensible for any person to make if they have even an ounce of logic.

For instance, I don't understand how Tong Jia Liang is fine with Ruo Tian going away with her sick ex-boyfriend for some time. Although Jia Liang did it because he loves and trusts Ruo Tian, I don't understand why he is not aware that he could still lose his life at any time due to unforeseen events and time is always precious whether one is dying from cancer or not. Even more so, I don't understand how Ruo Tian can just go away with her ex-boyfriend like that, and how she can come back to Jia Liang as if nothing happened.

For another, it seems particularly out of character for a very proud and stubborn person like Ruo Wei to forgive Ren Shao Ting, much less get back together with the person who humiliated her by leaving her at the altar on her much-publicized wedding day. Although I understand that he had an emergency to take care of, it still seemed unnecessary to stop one's own wedding for the capriciousness of a third party. Couldn't he have delegated another person to help him settle those affairs?

I think all the relationship troubles encountered by the characters were supposed to showcase their true love for another person, but that was not how I ultimately see things because these characters either made crazy choices in a given situation, or surprisingly chose worse options even when better options are available to them.

Four Gifts uses a lot of proverbs and sayings in the characters' dialogues, but I didn't take note of it when one comes up and by the time I remembered that I wanted to keep track of these things, I didn't have the energy to go through all the episodes again to find it. I managed to note down one saying though, so that should be enough.