Welcome to the Open Thread, everyone! This is the final one! Thanks for watching this one with me, you guys. ❤️

And, I picked this screenshot to headline our post, because it’s one of Show’s iconic moments, brought full circle, now that we’ve gotten to the end. I thought that was a nice touch. 😃

SOME IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS, before we begin:

1. There will be NO SPOILER ZONE this week, because this is the final Open Thread for this show.

2. I will be putting up a brainstorming post next Saturday, 10 September, where we can discuss what show we’d like to watch together next.

Without further ado, here are my reactions to this set of episodes; have fun in the Open Thread, everyone! ❤️

My thoughts

Episode 31

Welp. It looks like we’re in the Very Angsty penultimate stretch, and I gotta say, I’m starting to feel rather antsy.

I’m still feeling reasonably engaged, sure, but I am definitely feeling impatient to get to the happy ending that Show’s been promising me all along, from its title (lit. “next stop, happiness”) to its closing credits.

I have to keep reminding myself that this is a retro drama, and that’s why everything’s extra melodramatic, and why people aren’t communicating better, and why everything’s being milked to its last breath, for the Drama of it all.

It does make the conversations (more like outbursts) between Guang Xi and Mu Cheng feel that much harder to watch, because if he would just stop cutting her off, or if she would just keep talking instead of allowing herself to be cut off, they could avoid a lot of misunderstanding.

But of course, Show won’t let them do that, right, since we still have a few more episodes of screen time to fill, before we’re allowed that happy ending.

I’m extremely surprised that it turns out the Mu Cheng did pawn the wedding ring after all, because, exactly how did she get a good enough dupe on such short notice, that she’d be able to convince Guang Xi that that was her real wedding ring?

And also, it’s really frustrating that Mu Cheng sticks to her lie, even when it’s clear that Guang Xi’s asking specifically about the ring.

Like you guys have been saying, Mu Cheng isn’t very smart sometimes. 😅

The whole thing between Tuo Ye and Chi Xin is also way more melodramatic than I think it needs to be, in that it feels like they’ve both been directed to deliver the scenes with a marked theatrical flair.

It’s kinda awkward to watch, to be honest, and I actually felt quite relieved when our focus shifted away from their conundrum, and back to Guang Xi and Mu Cheng.

It’s just like Chi Xin to offer to take the blame for Tuo Ye, and it’s also just like Tuo Ye, to insist on taking the blame himself, because he’s the one who’d stabbed Brother Fung.

From the way the police officer says that he’s being charged for attempted murder, I’m inferring that Brother Fung didn’t actually die, which is a good thing, since that means that Tuo Ye needs to  deal with comparatively less trouble.

It’s bizarre how nobody’s talked so far about how Tuo Ye did it in self defense, but I suppose that’s what Guang Xi’s there for – exactly as Ele had predicted (Go, Ele!)

It actually hits rather hard, when Guang Xi says that he will take steps to end the marriage, once he’s done with Tuo Ye’s case, because this state of affairs is all due to a gigantic bundle of tangled miscommunication, assumption and presumption.

While all this is going on, my head is protesting, “But it doesn’t need to beeee this wayyy!” 😞

That scene at the end, when President Mom talks to Guang Xi about his relationship with Mu Cheng, doesn’t really ring true for me, because President Mom’s never struck me as being someone with sufficient EQ to even attempt such a conversation.

I rationalize that President Mom is probably much more open to the relationship, now that she’s grown attached to Xiao Le, but that still doesn’t explain her newly acquired touchy-feely talking capabilities.

Also, it’s just quite dissonant to hear her talking about Mu Cheng, and saying that perhaps Mu Cheng lied to him because she loves him too much, and that there must be a reason that he and Mu Cheng met again.

It’s.. extremely weird, coming from President Mom. 😅

But y’know what, fine, I’ll take it, if it means that this nudges us closer to our happy ending.

Episode 32

Y’know what, it occurs to me that because it’s so out of character for President Mom to talk like this, that’s why it makes Guang Xi pause for thought as much as he does.

Nothing like someone acting against type, to get your attention, perhaps?

This episode, I feel like we’re just treading water until Stuff gets moving again, because it honestly feels like not a lot happens.

The more I see Tuo Ye being stubborn about admitting to attempted murder, the more I think that perhaps he’s not the one who stabbed Brother Fung.

And, you guys did say as well, that the way the scene was filmed was weird. Perhaps it was weird on purpose, so that we couldn’t say one way or the other, whether Tuo Ye had been the one to stick that thing into Brother Fung’s neck?

I would believe that Tuo Ye would choose to shoulder the blame, in order to protect Chi Xin..

And, if this is true, that it’s incredibly ironic, that Chi Xin had offered to do just that for him, believing him to be the one who’d stabbed Brother Fung.

This is the only explanation that would help make Tuo Ye’s current pigheaded attitude easier to swallow, honestly, because his blind insistence that he did it, nothing else to talk about, really gets exhausting after a while.

Credit to Guang Xi for having more patience than I’d given him credit for, in working to talk Tuo Ye around, so that Tuo Ye agrees to let Guang Xi represent him.

Again, President Mom going to Hua Village to drop off the photos and sugarless milk cookies for Xiao Le is a bit of a stretch, but if I keep telling myself what she keeps telling other people – that she’s mellowed with age, and Xiao Le’s caused her to see things differently – it lands a bit better.

I suppose we do need things to start turning around, if we’re going to have a happy ending on schedule.

As out of character as it might seem for President Mom, I do appreciate that she apologizes to Mu Cheng, and takes back what she’d said before, about Mu Cheng not being well brought up by her parents.

And, it’s just like Mu Cheng not to hold it against President Mom, but respond with kindness and grace, saying that they both love their children, and just have different approaches to things, is all.

As Tuo Ye’s trial begins, I find myself feeling rather impatient for this to be wrapped up, because time’s a-ticking, and we only have a limited amount of screen time left. 😅

I sure hope Chi Xin’s memory comes back soon, even though it’s highly unrealistic that it would actually happen in time for the trial.

But maybe Guang Xi’s got some tricks up his sleeve that I don’t know about yet?

Episode 33

Show really is stringing out the angst, and keeping the happy ending for the very end, isn’t it??

This episode, we don’t even get a hint of that happy ending, and if it weren’t already promised to us in the end credits, I’d be losing hope by now. 😅

Like I’d suspected, it turns out that Chi Xin had been the one to stab Brother Fung after all. So it’s good that that comes to light.

HOWEVER. My goodness, the manner in which the psychiatrist basically tricks and baits her into triggering those memories seems extremely unprofessional? 😳

I mean, it’s all for the melodrama, sure, but it does niggle at me, that this kind of (mis)treatment is effectively being lauded, because Chi Xin recovering her memories ends up saving the day.

Plus, the doc mentions in her introduction, that she’s finished treating Chi Xin, and.. surely Chi Xin’s still suffering from PTSD..?

And of course, to go along with that, the court proceedings are just as melodramatic, with Tuo Ye even telling the judge not to listen to Guang Xi. Essentially, things that would never go down in a real court of law, heh.

In the end, all’s well that ends.. as well as possible, given that Chi Xin is now taken into custody, just as Tuo Ye’s released.

But, at least we are given the assurance that her sentence will be mitigated by her circumstances as well as her mental state.

ALSO. I was SO GLAD that finally – FINALLY!! – SOMEBODY tells Guang Xi that the reason Mu Cheng had left him six years ago, was because President Mom had insisted on it, so that Guang Xi could receive the treatment that Director He’s company could provide.

Gah. It just feels like that’s been waiting to come into the open since forever, and in that moment that Tuo Ye finally tells Guang Xi the truth, it felt like a true moment of hope.

..That is, until Guang Xi brings everything to a grinding halt, saying that Mu Cheng’s accepted his decision to end the marriage.

Graarrgh. Seriously?? I was NOT expecting that to be Guang Xi’s response, for sure.

I was also not expecting Guang Xi to tell Gary to get him a one-way ticket to the US, either. Just, how is that supposed to help, Guang Xi?!??

Even if you divorce Mu Cheng, there’s still Xiao Le to think about, no?? 🤦🏻‍♀️

ANYWAY. It turns out that Guang Xi’s dad had been the one to wreck the marriage with President Mom, and not the other way around like Guang Xi had always thought.

Ooh. So I guess President Mom’s been upholding that misconception all these years, in order to protect Guang Xi’s memory of his father?

That’s.. not what I’d expected. Maybe President Mom’s softer on the inside than I’ve been giving her credit for, all this time?

Episode 34

YAS. We finally get that happy ending that Show’s been teasing us with from the beginning, and even though some of it is eyerollingly ridiculous and quite silly, I’m not mad about it, because at least Show keeps its promise of ending on a happy, feel-good note.

I remember that many melodramas from this era were more than likely to just kill off all their lead characters, rather than given them happy endings, so, given Show’s vintage, this really is way more Happy than most of its peers would be willing to serve up.

Keeping that in mind is really helpful, because there’s lots of stuff to wade through, even in this last episode, in order for us to get to the happy ending.

Like the reconciliation between President Mom and Guang Xi, where they finally talk honestly about what had really happened between her and Dad, back in the day, and why she’d never told Guang Xi the truth, all these years.

It’s noble idiocy of the highest order, to allow yourself to be vilified, so that the person who’d betrayed you, would remain a saint in his child’s eyes, but this is retro melo we’re talking about, so I suppose it’s par for the course?

I’m glad that Guang Xi apologizes to Lawyer Lin too, coz I do think that Lawyer Lin’s put up with a great deal, from Guang Xi, over the years. He really is one of our most long-suffering characters, isn’t he?

I thought it was a bit much for Tuo Ye to have to talk Mu Cheng through why it’s important for her to tell Guang Xi how she feels about him, because it kinda feels like rubbing salt into the wound?

Not only has Tuo Ye loved Mu Cheng in vain for years, now he has to be the one to convince her that she needs to tell Guang Xi that she loves him? Gosh, talk about a raw deal. 😅

The whole thing with Gary serving Mu Cheng divorce papers on Guang Xi’s behalf, followed by the whole fake kidnapping thing, was just really out there, but.. fine, as long as it gets Mu Cheng and Guang Xi to have some honest conversation, I’ll roll with it.

The whole divorce papers thing turning out to be an elaborate trick by Guang Xi, is definitely a stretch, and if I were in Mu Cheng’s shoes, I’d definitely feel upset, because that’s a good amount of stress that she goes through, because of said trick.

BUT FINE.

As long as we get our happy ending, right? And that, we do.

I’m glad to see Guang Xi and Mu Cheng finally getting along and being lovey-dovey, the way they’ve basically always wanted to be.

And, it’s icing on the cake, that they now have a little Cupid by their sides, coz Xiao Le’s always at the ready to get them to be even more lovey-dovey, using his little jokes and tricks. He’s such a cute, cheeky lil thang, isn’t he? 😍

And, it’s nice to see that things are warming up between Tuo Ye and Chi Xin.

I love his gift of a lotus to her, because of what it symbolizes: remaining clean even after touching mud.

That’s absolutely the kind of thing that I think Chi Xin needs to hear.

And, Tuo Ye’s bashful-pleased expression, when Chi Xin asks him to give her roses next time, tells me that there’s a happy ending coming at these two as well, which is a thought I really do like.

In the end, it’s also really nice to see that Lawyer Lin and President Mom do develop a romantic relationship, and the vibe I get from them is a wholesome, steady, sweet one, which I gladly approve.

All in all, this was quite the journey, and I have to admit that the road to happiness was a lot longer and bumpier than I’d first anticipated.

But, seeing the happy times that our characters have finally arrived at, sweetens the rough spots in my mind, and I’m actually pretty satisfied, that I took this journey and got to know these characters, who are beloved by so many drama fans.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Strongly tropey and melodramatic, in keeping with its vintage; manages to be rather moreish, in spite of it all.

FINAL GRADE: B