Title: 惡魔在身邊 Èmó Zài Shēnbiān
English Title:
- Devil Beside You
- Devils Do Exist
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Year: 2005
Episode: 14
Cast:
- 賀軍翔 Hè Jūn Xiáng (Mike He)
- 楊丞琳 Yáng Chéng Lín (Rainie Yang)
- 王傳一 Wáng Chuán Yī (Kingone Wang)
- 蔡裴琳 Cài Péi Lín (Joyce Tsai)
- 曾少宗 Céng Shǎo Zōng (Figaro Ceng)
- 范筱梵 Fàn Xiǎo Fàn (Ivy Fan)
- 傅小芸 Fù Xiǎo Yún (Fion Fu)
- 增山裕紀 Masuyama Yuki
- 王凱蒂 Wáng Kǎi Dì (Katherine Wang)
- 蔡淑臻 Cài Shū Zhēn
- 戈偉如 Gē Wěi Rú
SYNOPSIS
黃義達 Huang Yi Da - 臭男人 Chòu Nánrén (Jerk)Qi Yue has always admired her classmate Shang Yuan Yi from afar. When Qi Yue has gathered her courage to confess her feelings to Yuan Yi through a letter, Yuan Yi did not see her or hear her.
The school's troublemaker Jiang Meng, also known as Ah Meng, heard Qi Yue's confession and he found the love letter she dropped in her panic to get away. He threatened Qi Yue to become his personal servant or else he will publish the contents of her love letter to the whole college.
Dubbed as the devil, Ah Meng is infamous for always getting what he wants, and now he has set his eyes on Qi Yue.
REVIEW
楊丞琳 Yáng Chéng Lín - 曖昧 Àimèi (Ambiguous)Devil Beside You is about two very different individuals who come into contact with each other, and then they keep interacting with each other for various reasons. Initial hate on Qi Yue's part, and indifference on Jiang Meng's, or Ah Meng's, part eventually turn into love, but several sources of conflict keep them apart until everything gets resolved in the end.
賀軍翔 Hè Jūn Xiáng, 楊丞琳 Yáng Chéng Lín - 曖昧 Àimèi (Ambiguous)
There was an endless stream of other parties that challenged the main couple's love and relationship, but these people were forgettable. These individuals initially threatened the couple's relationship, but they eventually voiced out their support for the couple. It would have been better if there were one or two strong third party that posed as a serious threat.
I don't like that the main source of conflict for the two characters is the fact that Ah Meng's father and Qi Yue's mother are in a relationship and are planning to get married. I understand how their parents may be against their romantic relationship considering that they will become step-siblings but I would have thought that their parents can understand them.
If their parents are against the two of them living together under the same roof, there are several ways to resolve the problem such as Ah Meng living with either his mother or his grandmother, or he could live separately on his own.
What I remember the most about the drama is being surprised that two brothers can grow up not knowing the existence of each other. It was such a novel concept for me at the time, and I didn't understand how it could be possible.
It was only later on that I found out that in some East Asian cultures, the children of divorced parents only recognize the parent who has custody of them as their parent. In most cases, these children stop having any contact from their estranged parent and their families.
This particular situation was quite unbelievable for me, at least initially, because what I've been exposed to is totally opposite. In most Western cultures, children of divorced parents generally have the right and the prerogative to continue their relationships with their estranged parent and their families. Having contact and communication with the estranged parent seems the general outcome, unless the separation was not amicable or if it was both parties' choice not to have any form of communication and relationship.
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惡魔在身邊 Devil Beside You
