THE SHORT VERDICT:

Show is quite electric and fascinating in its front half, with its main focus on our female protagonist’s unconventional approach to achieving legitimacy, which had me completely absorbed.

However it does veer into rom-com territory in its second half — with a late splash of melodrama for good measure, which makes for an uneven watch.

Still potentially enjoyable if you’re happy to go with the flow.

THE LONG VERDICT:

I think the reason Love’s Ambition left me with mixed feelings is because of what I thought it was going to be.

I began the drama expecting a character-driven exploration of love, identity, and the cost of self-protection, but.. that isn’t quite the story the drama ultimately chose to tell.

What I eventually got was something more plot-forward and melodramatic, which meant that watching Love’s Ambition turned into an exercise in recalibration for me; one that I, even as a habitual lens adjuster, sometimes found puzzling and bemusing.

I feel like the proverbial partner who looks at her other half after a chunk of time has passed, only to say, “You weren’t the person I fell in love with.” 😜

So I guess it’s to my credit, that I tried to make it work, all the way to the end..? 😇

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it while you read the review.

Overall, I’d say that I enjoyed this show’s music very well; it gave an elegant edginess to our story world that I found appealing.

In terms of a favorite track, I’d have to say that Track 1, Loved Like Fireworks, stands out as the song that I most associated with this show. Listening to it always brought me back to the feels of this story.

Here it is on its own as well, in case you’d prefer to listen to it on repeat. Just right-click on the video and select “Loop.”

HOW I’M APPROACHING THIS REVIEW

First I’ll talk about how to manage your expectations going into this one, and what viewing lens would be most helpful.

After that, I talk about stuff I liked or didn’t like, on a more macro level, before I give the spotlight to selected characters and relationships, in a separate section. Finally, I spend some time talking about my thoughts on the penultimate and finale episodes.

If you’re interested in my blow-by-blow reactions, &/or all the various Patreon members’ comments during the course of our watch, you might like to check out my episode notes on Patreon here.

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think might be useful to keep in mind, if you want to maximize your chances of enjoying your watch:

1. Show has a.. multi-faceted personality

There are tonal shifts through the show, and being able to switch lenses when needed will help you enjoy your watch more.

At its heart, this is a story about love and personal growth — but along the way, Show leans into melodrama, rom-com beats and the occasional makjang-adjacent twist.

If you don’t mind melodrama as a vehicle, this show could work well for you.

2. Some suspension of disbelief is required

Whether it’s drama coincidences or heightened plotting, a little suspension of disbelief helps everything go down smoother.

3. You might need to fill in emotional blanks

Show doesn’t always spell out what our characters are feeling, so being prepared to do some interpretive work sometimes, helps.

STUFF I LIKED

The dance of lies

I didn’t expect to get as invested in Love’s Ambition as I did in its early stretch.

From the very first episodes, I was fascinated by Xu Yan (Zhao Lu Si) — by the precision of her lies, the way she curated herself for the world, and the quiet tension humming beneath every interaction. There was something deliciously precarious about watching her build a life on sand and wondering when — and how — it would collapse.

I was completely morbidly fascinated.

The underdog quality of our story

I found myself rooting for Xu Yan and wanting her to succeed in spite of her web of lies, and I do think that that’s because Xu Yan is presented as an underdog.

In a world where everyone looks down on her for her lack of pedigree qualifications, I felt sorry for her, and indignant on her behalf.

I believe this is why I wanted her to succeed against all expectations – even if it took a web of lies in order to do so.

General pacing

Show moves pretty quickly, as a general rule, which means that I never really had time to get bored.

Additionally, Show has a rollercoaster quality about it.

Part of it, is because it moves fast enough through narrative arcs and plot points, that the ride feels rollercoaster-esque.

The other part of it, is that I often found that I wasn’t quite able to predict a lot of what’ was going to happen next.

Altogether, these two elements combined to make my watch quite a breathless experience, sometimes.

STUFF THAT WAS OK

The way Show moves quite suddenly, sometimes

Show has a habit of.. making sudden movements, shall we say.

What I mean is, it sometimes introduces a character, or an arc, quite suddenly – and then moves on from that arc, just as abruptly.

This was something that didn’t break my watch, but which I found a bit disorienting at times; definitely something to get used to.

Here are a few examples, to illustrate what I mean.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E9-12. At the end of episode 8, we saw Hao Ming (William Chen) order his legal team to come up with a plan to hold Sun Si Wei (Wang Yi Yao) accountable, for bullying Xu Yan.

I’d imagined that we’d get to see what went down as far as Sun Si Wei’s comeuppance goes, but.. nothing.

Basically, Show’s moved on from this arc, and I’m basically the one looking like I can’t let go, because I’m thinking about the past, while Show’s already moved on to fresher pastures. 😅

E9-12. One of the major arcs, these episodes, is the one where Zhou Ze Yuan (Zheng Zhong Yu) shows up in Xu Yan’s life and tries to blackmail her into getting Hao Ming to invest in his company, which turns out to be nothing but a shell.

This arc is introduced almost out of nowhere, but also, Show wraps it up much faster and much more abruptly than I’d anticipated.

With the way Zhou Ze Yuan is shown pushing his way into Xu Yan’s orbit, and becoming increasingly aggressive as he grows more desperate, it seemed to me like Show was really building up to some kind of explosive moment – but then, suddenly, nothing.

Certainly, the implication here, is that Hao Ming has taken care of everything, and the whole reason we even see that bit of news, that Zhou Ze Yuan’s been arrested and exposed of his crimes, is due to Hao Ming’s intervention.

E17-20. The whole way Xu Yan ends up tagging along with Qiao Lin (Wan Peng) to her friend’s house, and then ends up suggesting going into business with that group of friends, feels quite sudden, like it’s been shoehorned in there.

It doesn’t feel truly organic to our story, and I have to confess that I didn’t enjoy this arc very much, even though I like the idea of Xu Yan working on a new business with a group of friends that includes Qiao Lin.

[END SPOILER]

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

The mid-run tonal shift

Roundabout the midway point of Show’s run, I finally understood the murmurs that I’d heard, that Show’s tone changes / gets a bit wonky, about halfway through.

In its first half, Show had landed as a breathless, almost makjang-adjacent melodrama, but at the halfway point, Show shifts gears and suddenly presents as a comedy.

This did not break my watch, but I found this sudden shift pretty whiplashy, can’t lie.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E17-20. I didn’t take to the comic tone that Show adopts, particularly in the beginning of this arc, when Hao Ming and Xu Yan are looking to make contact with the Barakins, in as “natural” a manner as possible.

This seemed like an odd choice, because this isn’t the kind of tone that Show’s used at all, up to this point in our story. It really felt like I was watching a whole other show with different DNA, all of sudden. 😅

It’s the eventual bandaid moment between Hao Ming and Xu Yan that I think Show might have been gunning towards, in leaning into the comic tone that shows up quite regularly in this arc.

My thought is that Show chooses the comic tone because it creates such a contrast to, and therefore the impact of, the soberness of them both recollecting one of the most pivotal moments in their early relationship

I appreciate the concept, but am rather iffy on the execution.

I would’ve much preferred if Show had used a more grounded, serious approach – like the conversation in the room, where Xu Yan asks, and Hao Ming tells her about why he’s been out of favor with his father, ever since Hao Chen’s birth.

Also for the record, I wasn’t too hot on the antics around Steve (Li Mao) interrupting the proceedings, and trying to poke holes in our OTP’s relationship, because it’s just weird to me how they try to prove him wrong, instead of having him punished for trespassing, which he’s clearly done, in order to get photos of their hotel room.

[END SPOILER]

When Show swaps emotional interiority for narrative catalysts

Love’s Ambition is a drama that changed shape as it went along.

Its early episodes suggested an emotionally grounded story — one that would take its time unpacking the fallout of deception and pride within a marriage. I expected to watch Hao Ming and Xu Yan slowly work through their fractures with the same care that had built them.

I found myself leaning in — not just for the romance, but for the interiority. The silences felt meaningful. The tension felt earned.

Somewhere along the way, though, the storytelling priorities shifted.

By its second half, Show became more plot-driven; more interested in momentum than emotional excavation – and the emotional throughline was the casualty.

I felt this most keenly in episodes 21 to 24, so I’m opting to leave my notes for these episodes intact for this review. You’ll find them further down, just before I discuss the penultimate episodes.

SPOTLIGHT ON CHARACTERS / RELATIONSHIPS

Zhao Lu Si as Xu Yan

I found it quite refreshing to see Zhao Lu Si in this role.

I’ve enjoyed Zhao Lu Si in a few shows now (Love Like The Galaxy, Hidden Love and Romance of Tiger and Rose – reviews here, here and here!), and what she gives us with Xu Yan as a character, is totally different from what I’ve seen of her so far.

I feel that we can tell right away in episode 1, from the entire way Xu Yan carries herself – from her posture, to her facial expressions, to the words that she chooses to speak – that this is a very carefully curated version of herself, that she chooses show the world.

To my eyes, Zhao Lu Si does a great job of putting that across, because I feel like Xu Yan was showing selectively us only a very small portion of her real self, from the beginning of our story.

And so, part of my interest also lay in wanting to find out how these lies would eventually (inevitably) break down, and what the real Xu Yan is like.

A good chunk of my early enjoyment of my watch, was piecing together a more accurate picture of Xu Yan in my head, based on the various clues that Show would give us, from episode to episode (examples in the spoiler section below).

Overall, a very solid outing by Zhao Lu Si, though I have to confess that by the end stretch, Xu Yan’s very measured vibe did start to wear on me a little bit. 😅

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1-4. I feel like we’re thrown smack into the middle of a very quietly intense playing field, where Xu Yan needs to fight for her life, without ever betraying the fact that she is, indeed, fighting for her life.

I’m quite mesmerized, honestly. 😁

It’s so fascinating to me, that she’s hired fake parents, and even prepared them meticulously – even taking them on a trip to the US campus where her father is supposedly working – so that they would be able to pull of the ruse flawlessly.

That level of attention to detail is really impressive, and I marvel at how much thought and commitment has gone into every aspect of this performance.

I do think that having her fake father be the author of a book – which has a real author all its own – is rather risky business, because this could well come back to bite her, but in the moment, I can’t help being impressed by the fact that Xu Yan’s even gotten Fake Dad to be able to fake the autograph so convincingly, on Yu Lan’s (Wen Zheng Rong) copy of the book.

And then, when Yu Lan questions Xu Yan on why Fake Mom doesn’t know that her own daughter doesn’t eat eggs, I kinda love that Xu Yan confesses to lying – and then tells a half truth, that she’d been raised by her grandmother (Wu Mian), and therefore hadn’t spent much time with her mother, which is why “Mom” doesn’t know that she doesn’t eat eggs.

This is honestly quite brilliant, in my opinion, because this way, Yu Lan feels that she’s caught Xu Yan in her lie, and the “truth” is something that she can accept. And now that she’s caught Xu Yan in her lie, it’s likely that, going forward, Yu Lan will be less suspicious of Xu Yan.

The fact that Xu Yan thinks of this response on the fly, when Yu Lan corners her, makes me feel all the more impressed, honestly. 😁

I do like the fact that Xu Yan comes across as smart and capable.

At work, she does well in her job, and so, I feel like she’s earned her opportunity to be a presenter, even though the current presenter is very disdainful of Xu Yan.

E1-4. I thought it was quite pointed and cruel, the way Yu Lan ignores Xu Yan, and then gets Xu Yan to meet her on another day, only to trot out other girls who would make better potential wives for Hao Ming, based on their background.

I feel like most regular people would have been intimidated into retreating with their tails between their legs, but not Xu Yan.

I love that she reframes everything for Yu Lan, by saying that what Yu Lan sees as timidity is her way of being polite, and that her so-called lack of a family background, is really her way of embracing independence, by making it at work on her own instead of relying on her family.

I got a good stab of satisfaction, from how Yu Lan gets all disgruntled and gets up to leave, while Xu Yan’s sitting there and speaking, all calm and collected.

This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to root for Xu Yan more, not less.

E1-4. Sometimes, the way Xu Yan goes about solving her problems, seem to me to be pretty obtuse, to the point where I often can’t tell what she has in mind, when she starts to approach a particular person.

That’s another part of the thrill of the watch for me; to see how these random-seeming connections are actually thoroughly analyzed and carefully mapped, as far as Xu Yan is concerned.

Like that connection with Ms. Qu, which Xu Yan pursues, from episode 3, as well as the lengths to which she goes, to pursue that connection.

I mean, learning how to dance Kunqu opera is no small task, and Xu Yan does that, after learning from Sun Mei Ling that Ms. Qu only cares about Kunqu opera. She’s clearly in this for the long game, and her dedication seriously boggles my mind. 😁

I would’ve never guessed that Xu Yan’s plan was to change the format of her program, and invite Ms. Qu on the show, thus attracting all the other elite ladies to join as well – which would then boost Xu Yan’s social credibility in one big swoop.

How obtuse, and how effective, at the same time.

And how shrewd of Xu Yan, to dangle a potentially beneficial connection, as a means to get Ms. Qu to agree to come on the show, in the first place.

Our Xu Yan is something of a master strategist, I feel, and I kinda love it.

Because, after all this, how strategic is she, to demur and give Yu Lan all the credit, for having reserved spots on the show for them, thus gaining Yu Lan social points.

This whole thing definitely gets Yu Lan to look at Xu Yan in a whole new light, and I am really quite blown away by how Xu Yan achieves this (because I am clearly not a strategist 😅).

Also, how great, that this entire endeavor also gains Xu Yan a lot of credibility at work, which goes a long way towards making her presenter dreams come true, because now she gets to host the new program, while the old host stews in frustration. 🤭

Talk about killing several birds with one stone, eh? 🥲

E1-4. We get some flashbacks to Xu Yan’s growing up years, and y’know, I can’t blame her for wanting to cut ties with her parents (Feng Hui and Liu Min).

I mean, they literally forget that she even exists, when that gas leak incident happens, and only save Qiao Lin.

And then, to decide that Xu Yan wouldn’t be going to college (because they can only afford to pay for one child’s college tuition), so that Qiao Lin would be able to go?

I absolutely understand how devastated and hurt Xu Yan is, because it’s not just about not getting what she wants; it’s about not being valued or seen for her worth, by her own family.

No wonder Xu Yan runs away to Gran and lives with Gran instead.

E5-8. Given that we’ve seen for ourselves just how much Xu Yan’s parents had neglected her in the past, I actually felt a stab of satisfaction, seeing her tell them so matter-of-factly that her wedding is none of their concern, and that there’s no need for them to get so worked up over it.

I think the thing that gets my goat the most, when it comes to her parents, is how self-righteous they are, particularly her father.

There’s no acknowledgment of neglect or any kind of regret for the past; it seems that to their minds, they’ve done absolutely nothing wrong by her, and she should be grateful to be alive, thanks to them.

Just based on that alone, I’m siding with Xu Yan’s decision to cut them out of her life.

E5-8. It’s true that we see Xu Yan do some things that most people would agree fall into the heartless category, and yet, I don’t see her as a heartless person.

Take the whole situation with Gran in episode 5, for example.

Gran’s only been looking forward to Xu Yan’s wedding since forever, and she’s so excited to attend the wedding, and yet, Xu Yan lets her know, in her indirect but clear way, that she would rather Gran stay home in the mountains instead of making the trip to Jingzhou for the wedding.

You can see that it breaks Gran’s heart, but clearly, Gran would do anything for Xu Yan, if it at all seemed like it would help Xu Yan or make her happy, so of course Gran agrees that the journey would be too arduous for her, even though she’s clearly sad on the inside.

The thing that stops me from thinking of Xu Yan as a heartless granddaughter, is the fact that we can see so clearly, that this is breaking Xu Yan’s heart too.

The way she eventually breaks into tears and ugly-sobs at the sight of the jars of osmanthus syrup in the fridge that Gran’s made for her, tells me that she wishes she didn’t have to do this – and I understand, without her having to tell me, that she believes that this is the safest way to keep her secret intact.

To her, her entire life depends on keeping up the fake world that she’s created for herself.

It’s really quite affecting, to see Gran embrace Xu Yan with such tenderness, and Xu Yan take comfort in that embrace.

Clearly, there is a lot of love here, and that love, that is obviously mutual, is another reason that I can’t look at Xu Yan as a heartless person, despite her choice to keep Gran away from the wedding. 🥲

E5-8.  As for Xu Yan’s approach towards Fang Lei (Zhong Ya Ting), I do think that she’d tried to be more indirect at first, with that faux-pleasant approach at the cooking class, saying that they should be friends, since Fang Lei is Hao Ming’s little sister.

But when Fang Lei continues her blatantly rude and inappropriate behavior, you can see Xu Yan’s claws start to come out, a little bit, in her tone and gaze with Fang Lei.

To which I say, power to Xu Yan, because Fang Lei is quite insufferable, in my opinion, acting all entitled to Hao Ming’s affection and attention, when Hao Ming himself has told her to behave herself. Talk about not taking a hint, eh? 😏

E5-8. The last big arc of episode 8, is the one where Xu Yan’s cover is threatened by Sun Si Wei, who happens on Fake Dad in an article about people hiring actors to be part of their wedding party. Yikes.

I honestly did feel a bit nervous, that Sun Si Wei would actually manage to buy Fake Dad’s cooperation, because he’s an actor for hire after all, yes?

But of course, that’s not how it goes down at all, and again, it’s one of those emotional rollercoasters that Show likes to serve up, where we’re on tenterhooks, thinking that Xu Yan’s about to be busted – but then turns the tables, so that we can heave a sigh of relief.

How smart and forward-thinking of Xu Yan, to have had Fake Dad cover up his birthmark for the wedding-related events, because that comes in super handy now, to “prove” that he isn’t the person in her wedding photos.

Muahaha. Take that, Sun Si Wei, you nasty scheming piece of work. 😏

To that end, I honestly kinda love the catty-petty thing that Xu Yan does, when the opportunity presents itself; she sees Hao Ming exit the elevator, and then baits Sun Si Wei, who slaps her in return – which is when Hao Ming comes to Xu Yan’s defense, and orders his entire legal team to come up with a plan to hold accountable the person who’s bullying his wife.

I’m sorry, but I’m definitely feeling a measure of schadenfreude here; Sun Si Wei had that coming to her, as far as I’m concerned. 😏

E9-12.The thing that surprised me, is that there’s a strong thread of empathy and poignance in Xu Yan’s arc with Hao Chen (Fu Bo Han), because Xu Yan sees her young self reflected in Hao Chen, as he struggles to cope with being pushed aside by his family in favor of things that were deemed more important.

I mean, I didn’t enjoy having to watch Hao Chen’s tantrums, certainly, but once Xu Yan reframes everything in her conversation with Hao Ming, and we see those flashbacks of her being overlooked by her parents in favor of Qiao Lin, I felt this arc hit home.

And, it did warm my heart very well, to hear Hao Chen finally address Xu Yan as “Sister-in-law” and even apologize for his earlier behavior.

Aw. It feels like Xu Yan’s now become his favorite person, almost, and this does land as a precious and genuine connection, that Xu Yan’s earned for herself. 🥲

E13-16. I do think that it says a lot, that soon after the fallout with Hao Ming, we see Xu Yan wiping off her makeup and sobbing into her cotton pads as she does so.

To my eyes, this is Xu Yan finally taking off the mask that she’s been wearing all this time, and I do think that it’s significant, that after this point, we see her wearing a more natural face, more often.

I think that this signals a new chapter in Xu Yan’s life, where she is determined to live more authentically as herself.

And of course, with Gran’s medical situation being what it is, I can certainly see how that would act as a catalyst, to galvanize Xu Yan into making the decision to divorce Hao Ming, so that she can bring Gran to live with her in Jingzhou.

E13-16. I’m drawn to the grit and courage that Xu Yan’s showing, in the midst of what must be one of the most difficult seasons of her life.

When her lies catch up to her at work, she quits her job, and then ‘fesses up to her parents-in-law, before leaving the family home.

The thing that gets Yu Lan’s attention and mine, is that Xu Yan remembers Hao Chen in the midst of everything, and shows sadness and regret, at the lie that she asks to be told to him; that she’s busy starting her own business and therefore can’t be around.

Aw. She really is sincerely attached to Hao Chen, isn’t she? I’m glad that Yu Lan is able to pick up on that. 🥲

E13-16. I felt a lot of sympathy for Xu Yan, watching her struggle to find a job, and then watching her struggle to get her footing in a completely different industry that requires her to tap on a very different skillset than the one she’d used most, as a news anchor.

I’m glad though, that we get to hear her tell Qiao Lin, at the end of episode 16, that she feels lighter and freer now, than she’s felt in a long time, because she’s now living with integrity, and doesn’t have to fear being exposed like in the past.

It feels like Xu Yan’s truly arrived at a new starting point in her life, and that she really has the most important things finally in place, and I, for one, am proud of her for making the tougher choice, and surviving the storm, and I’m really looking forward to see what new paths she will carve for herself going forward.

E17-20. It says a lot about Xu Yan, I think, that Hao Chen and Yu Lan both miss her so much, particularly in Yu Lan’s case, since Yu Lan is fully aware of the lies that Xu Yan had told.

It’s honestly quite cute how Hao Chen has been enthusiastically supporting her as “Warm Harbor” all this time, with the help of the housekeeper, who also has a lot of affection for Xu Yan.

And, I also think it says a lot about Xu Yan’s character, that she would continue to shield Hao Ming, when Hao Chen insists that Hao Ming must have made her angry, and that’s why she’s not coming home. This, even though Hao Ming had been so cold to her.

I believe that someone with lesser character, would have taken the opportunity to say something unflattering about Hao Ming, to Hao Chen.

And, even though it would absolutely hurt her sales numbers, she makes Hao Chen promise not to support her as “Warm Harbor” anymore, because it’s not right.

It’s incidents like this, that make me feel that Xu Yan is a more principled person than one might first imagine, given how she’d lived her life based on a web of lies.

One of the most satisfying things, around all this, is seeing Yu Lan retain her good opinion of and affection for Xu Yan, despite the unveiling of the lies and the impending divorce.

I got such a stab of satisfaction, seeing Fang Lei’s effort to shame Xu Yan in front of Yu Lan and her friends, come back to bite her instead, when Yu Lan defends Xu Yan, and leads her friends in supporting Xu Yan instead.

Ha. Take that, Fang Lei! 😏

E17-20. We see Xu Yan’s principles come into play on a consistent basis these episodes, like in the way Xu Yan refuses to sell stories about her in-laws in order to make more money, and ends up being backed into a corner where her boss tries to withhold her earnings from her.

And still, rather than sell out, Xu Yan would rather quit that job, even though she doesn’t have another source of income to fall back on.

[END SPOILER]

William Chan as Hao Ming

To be honest, I felt rather disconnected from Hao Ming a lot of the time, because his character is pretty opaque – by design.

In order for Show to keep us guessing about the real status of the OTP relationship, Show withholds insight into his inner thoughts and feelings for most of its run.

Structurally, this was effective, though the inevitable side effect here, was that I came away feeling like I’d never connected properly to Hao Ming as a character.

The good thing is that Show does give us some glimpses of Hao Ming’s decency, but the not-great thing is that I sometimes found myself having to work pretty hard, to try to understand his behavior and decisions.

In the following spoiler section, I’m including a couple of examples, to show you what I mean.

With Hao Ming, I often found myself doing interpretive work to fill in emotional blanks — and while that can be rewarding, it also meant that when Show later simplified his motivations, some of the earlier complexity I had imagined didn’t feel fully supported.

I’ll talk more about that later, when I talk about the OTP.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. I do think that Hao Ming’s drawing a clear line between Fang Lei and himself.

He tells her straight up that he’s getting married, then at the wedding, introduces her to his friends and announces that she’s very eligible and very single, and then, when she uses her own drunken safety to force him to meet her at the swimming pool, he tells her directly to get out of the pool, and then, when she tries to sway him by talking about their memories, he tells her to behave herself.

To that end, I am very pleased with how clear Hao Ming is, in responding to Fang Lei’s efforts to get close to him.

E13-16. I have to admit that, at first, I couldn’t quite figure out why Hao Ming suddenly appeared to turn cold towards Xu Yan, ignoring her call when he’s spending time with Hao Chen, and then choosing not to go home that night, when she’d just gotten wounded while shielding him from a knife attack, and he’d given her a spanking new limit-free credit card as a gift for her trouble.

It’s only on hindsight, that I realized that the whole reason was because he’d met with Fang Lei’s father, who’d made mention of his later elder daughter Fang Yu, whom Hao Ming had been dating, back in the day.

Hao Ming must have found that a rude jolt that shook this perfect picture that he’d created with Xu Yan, that brought him face to face with all his unresolved feelings towards Fang Yu, and what she represented, in his life.

Perhaps he didn’t want to face Xu Yan, while sinking into those memories? And perhaps, to him, choosing to spend the night with Hao Chen, was his way of choosing Fang Yu over Xu Yan?

E13-16. I have to confess that I was rather confused at why Hao Ming was being so patient and indulgent of Fang Lei, given that he’s shown that he finds her to be a nuisance, and it was only on hindsight, when Hao Ming cut her off, that I realized (very belatedly), that the whole reason he was being patient with her and letting her have her way, was to keep her in line, until his business with her father was settled.

On this point, I do feel like Hao Ming grossly underestimates the extent of Fang Lei’s unhinged-ness.

It’s true that he tries to use the law to then keep Fang Lei in line, but he fails to understand that by humiliating Fang Lei like that, he’s essentially multiplying her level of crazy to dizzying new heights.

[END SPOILER]

Xu Yan and Hao Ming

For much of my watch, I was morbidly fascinated by Xu Yan’s relationship with Hao Ming.

[BROAD SPOILERS]

I felt that at its core, Love’s Ambition was about two deeply imperfect people trying to love each other without fully knowing themselves.

Xu Yan builds her future on lies. Hao Ming builds his on control. Their marriage begins not as a fairytale, but as a strategic alliance wrapped in romance. That moral greyness was what initially drew me in. I liked that neither of them was clean or uncomplicated.

And for some time, the drama leaned into that complexity in a way that felt quietly compelling.

In fact, over a stretch, I believed the drama was building toward something more layered — that Hao Ming knew about Xu Yan’s deception, chose to love her anyway, and opted for a marriage model that allowed them both to keep their secrets.

That reading enthralled me. It felt morally complicated and emotionally rich.

In hindsight, I’m not convinced the show fully supported that interpretation. Once the truth comes out, Hao Ming’s insistence that he never loved her turns that reading on its head, and the drama never quite excavates the shift with enough clarity for me to feel anchored in its intended narrative.

Show never clearly articulates whether Hao Ming’s emotional cruelty (“I never loved you”) was calculated self-protection, denial, or genuine emotional absence. That lack of interior clarity makes his later regret feel rootless – which also made me feel rootless, as an observer.

In the next spoiler section, I’ll walk through how I experienced this OTP relationship in real time.

[SPECIFIC SPOILERS]

E1-4. Clearly, not all is as it seems, because aside from the fact that we know that Xu Yan’s created a web of lies, we also find out very quickly, that Hao Ming seems to be spying on her.

The upside to this, is that he’s upfront(ish?) about it, and seems to be keeping watch over her to help her, rather than out of suspicion, like the way he gets her that interview with Teacher San Mu, whom she’s failed to contact on her own.

I’d like to think that Hao Ming genuinely likes Xu Yan, and is keeping watch over her out of a sense of protectiveness, but I can definitely see how this would make Xu Yan feel even more on guard, since this means that there’s a higher chance that Hao Ming will catch her in her lies, if he’s got someone watching over her.

This means that she’s going to have to keep up the ruse even more perfectly, so that anyone looking on, at any time, wouldn’t be able to tell that the life that she’s living, is based on lie after lie after lie.

I enjoyed the flashback that shows us how Xu Yan and Hao Ming had first met, and how she’d ended up piquing his interest, and how she’d eventually become his girlfriend, officially.

As with the other lies that we’ve seen Xu Yan engage in, I’m impressed, again, at how she goes so far, in order to believably present herself as someone who just happens to have a similar interest in the agave plant, as Hao Ming, and is there for an interview, to work at his company.

She even seeks out that limited edition pair of scissors by the teacher that Hao Ming very much respects; she’s not one to play around, that’s for sure.

And this is when she’s not actively trying to attract him on a romantic level; rather, she’s trying to get him to agree to come on her program for an interview.

I was actually very surprised, that Hao Ming would have a personal gift for Xu Yan too, at that first meeting; not only that, but that it would be osmanthus syrup, which is something that has personal significance to her.

It kinda blows my mind a bit, that when Xu Yan asks him if this is a coincidence, he smoothly answers, with a smile, that of course it isn’t.

This means that he’s been “stalking” her as much as she’s been “stalking” him, and I just find that so morbidly fascinating.

I thought it made very little sense that he would invite her to his corporate office, and then have her sit in during a meeting that he’s having with his staff, because who does that, right? There’s corporate confidentiality and all?

I rationalize though, that Hao Ming must have been trying to impress Xu Yan with his corporate identity, and that he was therefore showing off to her, how capable he is?

In any case, it’s very handy that Xu Yan is unwell and ends up fainting right then and there, which means that Hao Ming suddenly has to take her to the hospital, and then function as her guardian, while he’s there.

Way to nudge this would-be couple closer together, and quite quickly, yes? 😁

E1-4. Sometimes, it’s Hao Ming who comes to Xu Yan’s rescue, like in episode 2, when Yu Lan’s trying to test Xu Yan on architectural stuff, while looking at apartments.

Heh. It’s at times like this that I find it useful that Hao Ming’s actively keeping an eye on Xu Yan. And honestly, I’d like to believe that his intentions are purely for noble reasons such as this. Time will tell, though, so we’ll have to wait and see.

I actually find myself quite drawn to the glimpses of sincerity within their relationship, like when Hao Ming tells Xu Yan that he can help her solve her problems at work, particularly with that very rude presenter; that Xu Yan has a family that she can rely on to help her, just like that other girl.

I thought that was very nice, actually.

And then I appreciated the way Xu Yan thanks him for loving her, and then asks him to trust her; that she’s able to solve her work problems on her own.

See, this is one of the reasons I like Xu Yan.

She could’ve easily relied on Hao Ming to pave the way for her, but she chooses to turn down the easy way, so that she can find her own way to solve the problem. 🥲

E1-4. I do really like how supportive Hao Ming is, when it comes to Xu Yan’s career.

When she tells him that it’s really difficult to become a news anchor because the competition is really fierce, he tells her that he believes in her, and will wait to celebrate with her, when she achieves it. Aw. That’s really nice, isn’t it?

E1-4. The conversation where Hao Ming and Xu Yan talk about the agave plant, and how it has to strive its whole life, for a single moment, because it has no choice, and has to be stronger and endure everything, in order to get a wonderful result, definitely feels like an echoing of what Xu Yan’s journey – though I certainly hope she doesn’t have to die after blooming. 😬

In this moment, though, as they talk about life, love and self‐sacrifice, it does feel like Xu Yan’s leaning on Hao Ming, as she contemplates the future, and I do like that glimmer of sincere connection, and I can’t help rooting for this relationship to eventually rise above the lies, to become stronger and even more genuine.

E5-8. All things considered, I am finding myself quite pleased with Hao Ming, as a husband.

He’s really quite thoughtful towards Xu Yan, and seems to sincerely want to honor her, as his wife.

For example, I like that he’s the one who insists on going to visit Gran, even though Xu Yan herself isn’t pushing for it.

And then, when they’re at Gran’s, I really like that he seems genuinely happy to be there, and as a general rule, he’s gentle and attentive towards Gran, which is very excellent.

Even his invitation to Gran to come to Jingzhou to live with them sounds sincere, and I like that very well too, even though Gran declines.

Another thing I really liked in terms of Hao Ming’s actions these episodes, is how he purchases that villa for Xu Yan, specifically for her to spend time with her contacts within the industry, in order to help pave the way for her to be a successful anchor.

I truly do love that he respects her dream, and her desire to achieve this on her own, and thinks of a way to assist her, rather than take away the reins from her. In fact, he even tells her that he’d do everything to assist her in pursuing her dreams, and I find myself melting over this. 🥲

I also love the fact that he seems to pick up on her wistfulness when they talk about parents measuring their children’s heights, and immediately measures her height against the glass door, using her lipstick.

And then, I find it quite affecting, really, that Xu Yan is so moved by all this, that she genuinely tears up. To my eyes, she’s overwhelmed by his demonstration of love, and by the feeling of being loved, and it feels altogether very precious and special. 🥲

It’s so interesting to me, that even though Show isn’t zooming in on the relationship minutia like most love stories do, I find myself quite nicely invested in this relationship.

I think a lot of it has to do with beats like this, where I feel like they are connecting in very sincere ways. 🥲

E5-8. I did think that it was quite abrupt, the way Show brings in Lin Tao to make a fuss, then has him magicked back to his workplace, just as abruptly.

But fine, I get the point, that this whole thing, of getting him out of Jingzhou and out of Xu Yan’s hair, is all orchestrated by Hao Ming – because, lest we forget, he is still keeping tabs on Xu Yan and everything that happens to her and around her.

Again, I’d like to think that this is out of a sense of wanting to protect her and help her.

I do appreciate the idea that that desire to help and protect flows both ways, with Xu Yan also wanting to be of help to Hao Ming.

I thought that whole arc of Xu Yan going out of her way to visit the mother-in-law of Mr. Huang, the business contact with whom Hao Ming would very much like to connect, and spending long periods of time with her, to help her condition improve, with regards to her Alzheimer’s, rather pat and convenient, and also, rather loose on the logic front.

Because, I find it hard to believe that Xu Yan would be able to help her improve by this much, in just a week.

But fine. I get the idea, and this is an echo of the other time, when Xu Yan had gone out of her way to connect with Ms. Qu over Kunqu opera; that Xu Yan is nothing if not dedicated and thorough – and sincere.

The thing that I think shines through, in Xu Yan’s visits with her, is the sincere emotion that she feels, when talking with her, and interacting with her.

And, I like the idea that it’s Xu Yan’s sincerity that moves Mr. Huang, who then reaches out to invite Hao Ming to a round of golf – which then evolves into a business lunch.

So, yay that Hao Ming learns that he can share his burdens with Xu Yan, and that she desires to assist him, as much as he desires to assist her.

That’s a very wholesome and sweet sentiment, yes? 🥲

E9-12. It’s becoming very clear that investigation and surveillance is part of Hao Ming’s MO, and if the first thing he does is get his assistant to run an investigation on Zhou Ze Yuan, through which he actually finds out the truth about Zhou Ze Yuan’s so-called company, then wouldn’t it also be a reasonable conclusion, to assume that he would have done the same, when first meeting Xu Yan?

Keeping that perspective in mind, a lot of Hao Ming’s actions take on a whole new layer of meaning, to my eyes.

It seems to me that he’s chosen to accept those lies, and is choosing to play along, while maintaining the facade of the perfect marriage – which, I think is the reason he keeps plying Xu Yan with expensive gifts; that just comes with the territory.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like he’s playing along with everything, with that same pleasant smile, but underneath, there’s a lot more strategy and shrewdness going on.

Like the way he’s so cordial to Zhou Ze Yuan, when Zhou Ze Yuan shows up and claims that Xu Yan had invited him to join her and Hao Ming for lunch.

Hao Ming doesn’t bat an eye and plays the impeccable host, but on hindsight, I’m pretty darn sure he’d picked up on Xu Yan’s discomfort, and knew that Xu Yan had not, in fact, invited Zhou Ze Yuan to lunch.

At this point, I’m convinced that Hao Ming already knows the truth about Xu Yan’s parents, so I’m seeing his pleasantries towards Zhou Ze Yuan in a whole different light; like he’s watching and observing Zhou Ze Yuan, and taking mental note of exactly how Zhou Ze Yuan is threatening Xu Yan, right before his eyes – and likely determining in his heart, to punish him for it.

Because, based on my observations, I do believe that Hao Ming very much cares for Xu Yan, and wants to cherish and protect her, in spite of the lies.

Of course, Show has not yet confirmed if this is true, but that’s the version of the story that I have going on in my head, and somehow, Hao Ming’s love for Xu Yan is working for me.

I think it’s the idea of him loving her and protecting her, and wanting her to live a carefree, happy life, in spite of her lies to him, that touches me; it feels so pure, put that way? 🥲

His consistent care and gentle doting and encouragement is definitely getting under Xu Yan’s skin, and we see her grapple with her conscience, these episodes, as she wrestles with the idea of coming clean to Hao Ming.

Which is how we get that scene where she tentatively tests the waters with him, by saying that she has a friend who’d lied to her husband and is thinking of coming clean to him.

The fact that Hao Ming tells her, without hesitation, that her friend should continue to keep her secret, is a little unexpected, but if we take the view that he already knows, and doesn’t want anything to break the picture of the perfect marriage that they’ve built, I can see why he’d shut down her attempt to broach the subject with him.

That said, as we get into episode 12, it becomes increasingly clear that Hao Ming has something to hide too, and circumstantially, it sounds like he has a son with his late girlfriend, who’d been Fang Lei’s elder sister.

The thing is, underneath it all, I get the sense that they do genuinely care about each other, and sincerely want this marriage to work.

That undercurrent of sincerity is definitely keeping me invested, and I am rooting for this couple to one day find the freedom to love and be loved, without the burden of keeping secrets from each other. 🥲

E13-16. You could say that I turned out to be quite in sync with Hao Ming and Xu Yan, in that, I think none of us thought that their hopes and plans would fall apart this quickly. 😅

To my eyes, it really does look like things fall apart for them, just as they’re reaching what appears to be a perfect peak: Hao Ming almost reaching a point in his career where he’d be able to have his own department and call his own shots in the company, and Xu Yan almost being confirmed in her new role as a news anchor.

It’s a world-tilting realization for Xu Yan to learn that Hao Chen is Hao Ming’s hidden son, and this is truly an important milestone and turning point for our story; certainly, a point that I, for some reason, had thought would happen much later in our story.

There are two key things that hit me, as I watched Xu Yan quietly confront Hao Ming, and the fallout that followed.

The first thing, is that for Xu Yan, there is a lot of genuine emotion that comes to the forefront, as she tries to process the fact that Hao Ming had lied to her about his past.

The second thing that jumps out at me, is the way Hao Ming reacts.

He doesn’t say much at first, but you can see the tension in his person, as he stiffens and then heads straight to that safe, to take out all the evidence that he’d prepared, ready to go, for such a time as this.

On hindsight, I realize that Hao Ming’s just the type to retaliate as hard as possible, whenever he feels threatened, and Xu Yan bringing up his past, was absolutely something that he perceived as a threat.

Which is why he lashes out at her and bears down so hard on her, that she barely has any room to speak.

For him, this interaction is a fight, and so his focus is completely on winning the fight, whereas for Xu Yan, her only concern, from amidst the rubble, is to want to know whether Hao Ming had ever truly loved her.

On hindsight, I feel that Hao Ming’s answer – that the moment he’d known about her lies, there was never any possibility of real feelings – was another form of lashing out; he’s using words calculated to cause maximum pain, in order to maximize his chances of winning this fight.

But in the moment, I have to admit that I did not see this, and I felt hurt and blindsided on Xu Yan’s behalf.

Can’t lie; this scene and the ones following, where Hao Ming keeps demanding that Xu Yan play her part to maintain their image as a golden couple, very hard to watch.

Xu Yan’s pain in this moment, as well as the emotional torment that she goes through, trying to keep up that picture of the perfect couple, really jumped out at me from my screen, in a very raw and confronting way.

I appreciate that Xu Yan tries to restore her marriage while taking Hao Ming’s terms and demands into account. To me, that speaks of how she’s truly sincere in her feelings towards Hao Ming, and therefore wanting to make the best of a bad situation.

I was honestly deeply disappointed to see the way Hao Ming is determinedly cold and businesslike towards Xu Yan, despite her efforts to smooth things over and start afresh, on new terms.

Again, on hindsight, I can rationalize this as him still being in “fight” mode and therefore aiming to hurt Xu Yan with his words, as a default, but in the moment, I definitely viewed him as being cold and heartless, and this was extra disappointing to me, because, as you might recall, I was very recently convinced that he did love Xu Yan, and even chose to love her, in spite of her lies.

In fact, I grew increasingly disappointed with Hao Ming, for the cold and businesslike way in which he proceeded to treat Xu Yan, from this point onwards.

It felt like all pretenses were stripped away, and therefore, no further effort was needed to keep up an act.

On hindsight, I’m rather inclined to interpret all of this as Hao Ming putting up a protective wall around himself, though I am uncertain yet, whether that is giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt.

It’s all quite unrelentless on Hao Ming’s part, which is why I think Xu Yan changes tack and pushes back in her own way.

The way Xu Yan bids that ridiculously high price for that ring in the auction, clearly making use of that limitless credit card that Hao Ming had given her, only to casually hand the ring over to Fang Lei, is absolutely her hitting Hao Ming where she knows it will hurt.

To my eyes, Xu Yan’s reached her limit of being subservient and cooperative with a cold and condescending Hao Ming, and this is her way to pushing back, in a way that will possibly make him regret looking down on her.

E13-16. It is quite fascinating to see Xu Yan go into fight mode with Hao Ming, because while Hao Ming is calm and intense when in fight mode, Xu Yan’s even calmer and quieter, which honestly kind of makes her come across as more deadly..?

When she asks Hao Ming if he’ll sign the divorce papers, or risk having them both go down in flames together, I totally felt like she was fearlessly betting her life on this, and would actually self-destruct if necessary, in order to force Hao Ming’s hand. 😬

And honestly, I feel like Hao Ming kind of.. respects that? And maybe is even a little drawn to that?

Because when he and Fang Lei run into Xu Yan in that restaurant, and Xu Yan calmly slaps Fang Lei before informing her that as long as she’s not divorced from Hao Ming, Fang Lei is the third party, Hao Ming actually looks quite low-key pleased and appreciative, as Xu Yan walks way.

And, he is quick to tell Fang Lei that, no, he and Xu Yan aren’t getting divorced, and are just going through a rough patch.

Certainly, it’s possible that he’s just playing it that way in the moment, to get Fang Lei out of his hair, but I would still like to think that, in spite of himself, he’s drawn to Xu Yan, for the steely strength that she’s showing in the midst of crisis.

E13-16. It’s only in the aftermath of the immediacy of battle, that we see Hao Ming start to show some emotion when he’s triggered to think about Xu Yan, like when Mr. Huang tells him that Xu Yan has continued to visit his mother-in-law, even after his deal with Hao Ming has gone through.

Hao Ming’s quite stoic and therefore not very easy to read, but I’d like to think that there’s some regret simmering there, as he thinks about Xu Yan, and how she’d helped him in the past, and how she’d told him that he was the life that she’d wanted.

I do think that he misses Xu Yan, and this is the reason he looks for her at her new apartment, even though he still positions himself in fight mode, when he speaks to her.

It feels fair, that both Hao Ming and Xu Yan have to struggle, in the wake of their divorce news leaking.

E17-20. One of the key things that Show works to establish, these episodes, is the fact that Hao Ming and Xu Yan are not truly “over” and that Hao Ming in particular, isn’t as coldly unemotional towards Xu Yan as he’d let her believe.

The thing that strikes me, as I think about these episodes, is that Hao Ming is the one who’s shown to have lingering feelings and regrets, whereas Xu Yan is the one who appears to be much more moved on, emotionally – at least, comparatively speaking.

The reason I found this interesting, is because, when the truth had first come out, it had been Xu Yan who’d been full of emotion, declaring that she loved Hao Ming, while Hao Ming had been cold and detached, informing her that the moment he’d known about her deception, it had been impossible to have real feelings for her.

It feels like Xu Yan had dealt with the heartbreak and tidied up her emotions, as hard as that had been, and is now finally in a place where she’s ready and determined to move on, whereas Hao Ming’s only now starting to realize that maybe he’d been too harsh and too quick, in tearing down Xu Yan, in order to protect himself.

Just look at the way Hao Ming is instantly fully interested, anytime Xu Yan comes to his attention.

Like when Chen Lin calls him with that update that Xu Yan is actively involved as a sales broadcaster now.

Hao Ming is, at that moment, in the thick of working on solving his work assignment, during his “exile” to the group’s most secluded subsidiary – he’s literally standing on site, in a helmet, when he gets the call – and yet, he stops to watch Xu Yan, and even gets all bothered about her big supporter “Warm Harbor,” to the point that he would place a large order, in an attempt to overshadow “Warm Harbor.”

Whether he’s cognizant of it or not, Xu Yan has a huge effect on him, and this is extra satisfying to me, in the light of how he’d been so cold to Xu Yan. Like, yes, you deserve to suffer now, Hao Ming. 😏🤭

I will say, though, that even though Xu Yan demonstrates a consistent determination to divorce Hao Ming, ie, she’s no longer looking to reconcile with him, she does also consistently show that she still cares about the family that she will soon be leaving.

I do think that this proves, once again, that even though Xu Yan had used a lot of lies and strategy in order to build her fake life, the emotions that she’d invested in the people along the way, had been genuine.

That’s why we hear that she’s still visiting Mr. Huang’s mother-in-law, and that’s also why we see her showing care and genuine emotion, when she encounters Hao Chen and Yu Lan on separate occasions in these episodes.

E17-20. Where we are in our story, whenever Hao Ming encounters Xu Yan, or even just the idea of her, I feel like he’s leaking shades of wistfulness, like he wishes he could return things to where they were, and that he could still be married to Xu Yan, instead of on the road to divorce.

That’s the vibe I get from him, when he goes to see Xu Yan and offers her that bank card, to which he says he will deposit money every month, while stating that she’s worth it.

Credit to William Chan’s delivery of the moment; I could see that these weren’t the words that he truly wished to be saying; that these words were the best he could muster, to maintain the agreement that they’d previously arrived at, to divorce.

And, credit to Xu Yan, who turns down the money, even though she does have financial struggles.

She could have taken the easy way out and accepted the money, but our Xu Yan is more principled than that, and would rather not rely on Hao Ming for anything, even if it means having to work really hard to make ends meet. 🥲

E17-20. The big arc of episodes 19 & 20, is Hao Ming getting Xu Yan to help him connect with the Barakins, by acting the part being in a blissfully happy marriage with him.

I like that Xu Yan declines the offer that Hao Ming makes, to invest in her company in exchange for her cooperation, saying that she doesn’t want him to invest, and will only take a fee for her trouble.

And I do like the idea of Hao Ming and Xu Yan being forced to spend a considerable amount of time together.

I appreciate that Xu Yan’s firm in drawing new boundaries in their relationship, like telling him to take care of his own things, where before, she would have been the one to help him put away his clothes.

Also, there’s the way she refuses to let him drape his jacket over her, when he catches those other men staring at her.

These might seem like simple, rather small lines in the sand, but I can feel that they hit Hao Ming pretty hard, because he can sense how their relationship has shifted fundamentally, even though they are still technically married.

I very much liked that “bandaid” moment, where both of them are triggered to think of that moment in the very beginning, when Hao Ming had put that bandaid on her hand at the hospital.

E17-20. I really liked the serious yet open tone of this conversation, and I feel like this is one of the key benefits to our OTP relationship, over the course of this entire “happily married” ruse.

And I also rather enjoyed that beat, where Hao Ming presents Xu Yan with her wedding ring, and bringing up the various moments when she’d helped and protected him, tells her that he misses her, and asks for forgiveness – which is followed by a passionate kiss, no less.

I have to admit, I was confused for a hot second, over whether or not this constituted a real reconciliation, since Hao Ming’s words were indeed based on facts, and the feelings behind the kiss had clearly been real on both sides.

However, when all is said and done, it’s Hao Ming who reaches for Xu Yan’s hand, as if he believes they’ve reconciled, while it’s Xu Yan who demurs and walks away.

I’m thinking that now that Hao Ming’s had a foretaste of what it would be like to be with Xu Yan again, he will likely now be much more ready to win her back, and honestly, I’m looking forward to see how he puts his sincerity into action, to woo Xu Yan properly – not again, but for the first time. 🥲

[END SPOILER]

Xu Yan and Qiao Lin

To be honest, I didn’t feel that this relationship was very well-written, in that we begin our story with Xu Yan and Qiao Lin deeply estranged, and this sense of cold distance is closed quite quickly.

Up till about episode 12, we get a reasonably slow teasing-out of their relationship, where we see that Xu Yan has a deeper regard for Qiao Lin than it first appears.

However, past episode 12, where I thought that we’d continue to spend time rebuilding the bond between them, Show fast-tracks them to a completely healed, mutually trusting relationship. I thought this felt rather unrealistic.

However, I did enjoy the sisterly bond where Xu Yan and Qiao Lin become each other’s source of support.

In this next spoiler section, I detail the slow thaw between them, in our early episodes.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E5-8. I’m beginning to see, in these episodes, that Xu Yan does care about Qiao Lin, even though they’ve been pretty much estranged over the years.

One of the first signs that their relationship isn’t that bad, is when Qiao Lin asks Xu Yan about her plan to marry Hao Ming.

The thing that struck me, in this scene, is that Xu Yan chooses to tell Qiao Lin honestly, that she’s not sure about the future, and is only thinking about the present, and that Hao Ming’s mother looks down on her background, which is why she has to choose such an extreme method in order to marry him.

So yes, Xu Yan doesn’t desire to have any involvement with Qiao Lin, but she does not dislike her, and even trusts her enough, to tell her the truth.

This means that she trusts Qiao Lin to keep her secret for her, and also, cooperate with her, so as not to upset any of Xu Yan’s carefully laid plans.

And she’s not wrong; we see Qiao Lin do just that, even though she grumbles and protests, and calls Xu Yan heartless.

E5-8. I find interesting that Xu Yan would actually go to the hospital, just because Yu Yi Ming calls to say that Qiao Lin’s dislocated her shoulder.

And then, when Xu Yan realizes that Qiao Lin’s living in a pretty rundown apartment with several other housemates, she insists on moving her to a better place.

Yes, she does pass this off as a means to avoid trouble for herself, but my gut says that she really does care about Qiao Lin, and just won’t say so.

Additionally, there’s the way Xu Yan speaks protectively of Qiao Lin, when Qiao Lin’s ex-fiancé shows up and accuses her to helping Qiao Lin cheat with another man, and tells him that she forbids him from interfering with Qiao Lin’s current life.

E9-12. I was very pleasantly surprised at the way Show is working to warm up the relationship between Xu Yan and Qiao Lin.

Given the cold start that we’d gotten, and the fact that Qiao Lin is part of the family that Xu Yan would like to keep hidden, I’d imagined that Xu Yan would be much more resistant to warming up to Qiao Lin, or even just spending time with her, for that matter.

I do think that the clincher here, is that Qiao Lin’s actively thinking of ways to help Xu Yan in terms of strengthening her relationship with Hao Ming, such that Hao Ming would want to forgive Xu Yan and be with her, even if he were to one day find out the truth about her background.

It’s Qiao Lin talking about this, in her matter-of-fact, garrulous way, that gets Xu Yan to smile, and relax a bit, and I really like that.

I also appreciate the flashback that shows us that Qiao Lin had been a good big sister to Xu Yan, when they’d been younger, and had given Xu Yan her mp3 player without hesitation, when she’s realized that Xu Yan had been longing for an mp3 player of her own.

Aw. That was very heartwarming to see indeed, and now I’m actually looking forward to seeing more of this pair of sisters spending time together and rebuilding their relationship that had been estranged over the years. 🥲

[END SPOILER]

Qiao Lin and Yu Yi Ming

To be brutally honest, I thought that the writing around this loveline was kinda all over the place.

I don’t have insight into whether editing issues caused or exacerbated the problem, but it truly felt like the relationship milestones between them occurred with little rhyme of reason – and sometimes it felt like the milestones must have occurred offscreen, because I certainly hadn’t seen any development onscreen.

[SPOILER ALERT]

I’m not just referring to the fact that Yi Ming’s interest in Qiao Lin suddenly goes from zero to pretty darn high.

There’s a point in our story where we’re given to understand that they are suddenly in an “almost couple” sort of understanding – but we had never seen evidence of them actually moving from unspoken feelings to acknowledgement of said feelings.

And then when Show decides to give us an actual scene minting the relationship, this couple goes from confession to consummation in what feels like 5 seconds.

[END SPOILER]

This didn’t break my watch. However, since Show didn’t invest in the emotional buildup of this loveline, I found myself completely uninvested and indifferent toward it. 😅

Zhong Ya Ting as Fang Lei [BROAD SPOILERS]

In our early episodes, Show introduces Fang Lei as someone who’s clearly nursing feelings for Hao Ming, and feels entitled to Hao Ming’s affection, never mind that Hao Ming’s engaged or married to someone else.

I started out trying to understand the psychology of her obsession with Hao Ming, especially since she appears more and more unhinged as we get deeper into our story.

She was.. morbidly fascinating in a way, but past a certain point, she started to land more as a plot catalyst than as a fully-formed character, to my eyes.

She existed to exert pressure on our OTP relationship and Show used her as a handy lever to nudge our story into more melodramatic waters.

And once she had served her function sufficiently, Show had her exit Stage Left, by shipping her out of China.

Because she’s positioned as a means to plot escalation rather than a fully-formed character, her increasingly extreme behavior felt less tragic and more mechanical, to my eyes.

Once I saw that she was intended more as plot device than anything else, my interest in her character dropped accordingly.

SPOTLIGHT ON EPISODES 21-24 [SPOILERS]

E21-24. Hm. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think that these episodes were Show’s best, you guys.

I didn’t hate them, to be clear; I just feel that Show could have done more, and better, in its efforts to nudge our OTP towards reconciliation.

Emotionally speaking, this is a very important stage in our story, because this is when Hao Ming realizes that he really doesn’t want to lose Xu Yan, and decides to actively do something to win her back.

At the same time, this is also the stage where Xu Yan’s already set her mind to move on from her marriage to Hao Ming, which means that there is a lot of potential for meaningful tension between her belief that their marriage is beyond saving, and a new budding realization, that perhaps there’s something there after all.

Unfortunately, Show chooses a fillery, external-factor-heavy approach to this stretch, which I think is easier to write, certainly, but far less satisfying to watch.

It doesn’t help that Show also leans into the comedy in this stretch, because, in my opinion, the comedic approach distracts from the core emotional throughline that needs to come to the fore here, if we want the journey to reconciliation to feel substantial and earned.

Not that Show isn’t allowed to be funny; that’s not the case at all.

Case in point: Recently Dynamite Kiss (review here!) did an excellent job with its handling of a tricky stage in its story, where angst, fallout and reconciliation occur, and it managed to do this while preserving its right to serve up humor. Because it teased out character interiority with a deft hand, it succeeded at landing this stretch with emotional resonance – without doing away with the humor.

Unfortunately, I don’t feel like Love’s Ambition is functioning at that level, which means that, naturally, I found these episodes less substantial and therefore less interesting to watch.

I will admit upfront that I’m not really interested in the business side of things – at this point, this would be Xu Yan’s new business venture – but I can understand if Show’s using this as scaffolding; something on which to hang its teasing out of our OTP’s steps towards reconciliation with each other.

I think that problem that I’m seeing here, is that Show is leaning rather too hard on the scaffolding, so that quite a lot of the time, it feels like the scaffolding takes the place of the main narrative. 😅

I think the deeper issue, for me, is that when comedy takes precedence in emotionally delicate moments, character consistency can start to fray.

For example, at the top of episode 21, we have that scene were Hao Ming and Xu Yan bicker in the car, and they both spitefully spit out truths that they hadn’t revealed in the past: stuff like Hao Ming never having liked any of the clothes that Xu Yan had picked out for him in the past, Xu Yan having lied about learning ballet, when she’d really learned street dance, and so on.

The scene is clearly positioned for comedy, given our musical cues, and I can see why the writers might see the benefit of having our OTP spit out truths for comedy.

I think that in the writers’ minds, they felt that this was a good “kill two birds with one stone” moment, where the truth comes out, thus resetting the playing ground, while we still get a chuckle or two out of it.

The problem for me, is that we get a pretty inconsistent portrayal of Hao Ming.

Just minutes before this, we’d seen him try to reconcile with Xu Yan via the way he reaches for her hand, even after the Barakins have said their goodbyes and left.

And then later, in these episodes, we have him trying to think of ways to win Xu Yan back.

Without Show giving us some kind of indication where this outburst sits in his emotional landscape, Hao Ming’s character starts to land as inconsistent.

Yes, I can rationalize to fill the gaps – “maybe this was him lashing out because his pride was hurt?” – but the problem is, Show does not give us any kind of insight as to whether that is correct, and that’s where I’m feeling the disconnect.

One of the things I would have liked, is for Hao Ming to have done something more meaningful, than simply try to delay the finalization of the divorce.

Given how Show had spent so many episodes in our first half portraying Hao Ming as generally even, calm and deliberate in the way he operates, I found it oddly out of character for him to simply scramble to find an excuse to not show up at the Civil Affairs Bureau – even if it means pretending to be out of the country.

This is another example of how Show prioritizes comedy while sacrificing character consistency.

And this, after Hao Ming’s supposedly come to the realization, via Hao Chen’s pep talk, that he shouldn’t be afraid of embarrassment, and should do everything he can, to win Xu Yan back.

Practically within the same breath (ie, in the very next scene), we have Hao Ming talking calmly and thoughtfully with his father, about contributing that piece of land to the company, while expressing regret at not apologizing, all these years, for bringing Hao Chen into the family the way he’d had.

I mean, I like this calm, thoughtful version of Hao Ming, don’t get me wrong; it’s just, why isn’t he applying this part of himself towards Xu Yan, whom he supposedly has realized he loves very much and cannot live without?

It’s.. not consistent, again. 😅

ALSO. Instead of wasting time by going for a whole day of check-ups that he doesn’t actually need, and instead of trying to block her from spending time with Jiang Liang, how about telling Xu Yan his honest feelings, or showing her how much she means to him?

I know that the writers are still in the “milking for laughs” frame of mind, but this means that while watching all this go down, I am no further convinced (and neither is Xu Yan), of why this OTP should reconcile.

I (and Xu Yan!) need Hao Ming to be vulnerable and open about his true feelings, in order to meaningfully move into actually considering whether this relationship is worth saving and investing in, y’know?

And, it’s not like Show’s presenting Hao Ming as a person who’s emotionally constipated and therefore unable to express his feelings.

No. He expresses his regrets and feelings just fine, when Yu Lan talks to him and encourages him to win Xu Yan back, at all costs.

He also does basically the same thing, when he seeks out Qiao Lin, in episode 23.

This contrast actually frustrates me, not gonna lie.

Because, if Hao Ming is perfectly capable of putting his words into feelings, then why is he not doing so, to Xu Yan, the person who most needs to hear it??

Pausing that for a second, I also wanted to touch on the relationship between Qiao Lin and Yi Ming, these episodes, because I found the execution of their arc really strange.

First of all, I never got the impression that they were actually together, but the way Show has Yi Ming actually saying that they’re together these episodes, really confused me.

And then, when he finally goes to seek her out after the “thinking period” is over, we move from confession to kiss to sexytimes in what feels like a single blink.

Excuse me? This did not feel organic at all, and it felt like the writers ran out of time, shrugged, and figured that compressing all their relationship beats into the space of 10 seconds would work just as well. 😅

This absolutely deepened my bemusement with Show’s handling of emotional arcs these episodes, and made me question our writers’ apparent lack of comfort with actually dealing with emotions.

It feels like they’re uncomfortable with letting emotions sit (and teasing that out in their writing) and therefore keep ducking behind crutches like humor, or a quick-gloss approach, like in the case of our secondary OTP.

I liked the idea of Hao Ming and Yi Ming becoming bros because of their shared relationship angst with Qiao Lin and Xu Yan, and I also thought it was promising, that they would actually sit down to talk, read and think about relationships.

However, once again, I feel like our writers are opting for the easy-out in the way of humor, in having Hao Ming interpret Yi Ming’s advice not to show any embarrassment in his efforts to woo Xu Yan back.

Instead of this translating into some heartfelt approaches from Hao Ming to Xu Yan, we get Hao Ming growing a super thick skin, while inserting himself, uninvited, into various points in Xu Yan’s life. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I really.. don’t think that this was what the original advice meant, and now I’m even beginning to wonder if the writers purposely had Hao Ming misinterpret the advice, or if this really is how they understand the advice. 😅

I was really relieved when Hao Ming starts to actually do things that are helpful to Xu Yan, towards the later part of episode 23.

Like the way he offers practical strategic business advice to Xu Yan, and then, in episode 24, when he rushes to help Xu Yan, when he hears that her vehicle has broken down, and the goods can’t be delivered on time as a result.

When he finally falls on Xu Yan’s shoulder while fast asleep, exhausted from the effort of moving the goods, this feels like a long-awaited moment of honesty, because, now, he’s finally not posturing – he’s genuinely wiped out, and suitably, this is also when we see the first strong indication of Xu Yan softening, in allowing him to rest on her shoulder.

As we close out episode 24, Xu Yan’s business is running into all sorts of trouble, thanks to Steve and his recruited sidekick doing their utmost to attack Hao Ming, and I’m pretty sure that Hao Ming’s meeting with Mrs. Barakin, will bring Xu Yan the help that she needs.

More importantly, though, I’m really hoping that Show will finally be able to focus properly on our OTP and the dynamics of healing their broken relationship, in the coming episodes.

Make it count, Show – you know you want to. 🥲

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PENULTIMATE EPISODES [SPOILERS]

E25-28. These episodes, I’ve come to terms with the fact that what Show had demonstrated itself to be, in our first half, isn’t actually what it wants to be, at the end of the day.

Very simply put, Show is revealing itself to be a much more plot-driven creature, when I’d originally believed it to be a lot more character-driven.

Up to the point of the aftermath of the divorce, Show had given us enough insight to our characters’ inner workings, that I’d felt that the next natural thing, would be for us to get to see Hao Ming and Xu Yan working through their differences, while Show maintained that window into their interiority.

However, it’s become clear that that’s not Show’s intent after all, and in order to maximize my own enjoyment of my watch, I’ve decided that the best way forward, is to meet Show where it’s at.

Since the main point of our story is the loveline between Hao Ming and Xu Yan, let me start there.

Gloria’s observation in my last set of notes, that she couldn’t figure out why Xu Yan was so cold to Hao Ming, given that she’d loved him so much, is very pertinent.

I conclude that the reason we don’t know what’s really going on with Xu Yan in terms of her stance towards Hao Ming, is because Show hasn’t taken the time to inform us of it.

It’s only in these episodes, when Show uses the batik couple as a mirror for Hao Ming and Xu Yan, that we finally get some clarity: that Xu Yan hasn’t been moved by Hao Ming’s efforts to win her back because she hasn’t dared to trust that his motives are free of personal gain.

That one idea suddenly puts her hesitation — and her lack of response to his many overtures — into perspective.

On hindsight, it makes sense. I just wish Show had let us sit with Xu Yan in that uncertainty, instead of skipping straight to the conclusion.

As it stands, I find myself inferring that Xu Yan has been afraid to let her guard down, because she doesn’t want to risk being hurt again — but that’s my own attempt to make emotional sense of her behavior, rather than something Show actively walks us through.

I appreciated the drunken encounter for the glimpse of honesty that it allowed, because we finally had both Hao Ming and Xu Yan being open with each other.

I don’t begrudge Show the way it plays the whole thing for comedy, because it is admittedly ripe for hijinks, though I would have liked if Show had allowed that openness to have lingered, the morning after.

I also did like how Show has Hao Ming and Xu Yan run into each other in Gubei Town, not because Hao Ming had been actively trailing Xu Yan (like he would have done earlier in their relationship), but because he genuinely wanted to learn about the plant dyeing process – because he knew that this was something that was important to her.

I do think that there is value in the direction that Show is taking with Hao Ming, where the emphasis is on how he demonstrates his love in action, rather than in words.

Seen through that lens, the way he does his best to help Xu Yan, while holding himself back in terms of putting pressure on her to reconcile with him, and even removing himself from her sight because she’d articulated that as a preference, is considerate, thoughtful and caring, and it’s a good demonstration of him putting her needs above his own.

However, I would have really liked them to have also had some open, vulnerable conversations as a couple, where they talk about their relationship, as part of the process of their reconciliation.

But fine. I’ll buy the idea that some couples just can’t function in that space.

And to Show’s credit, we do get a bit of meaningful conversation between them, as they reflect on life, and how rushing to a destination can make you miss the scenery along the way, and how it’s often hard to really know yourself.

I also really liked the open, unguarded moment of sharing, when Hao Ming talks about his memories with Hao Chen at Gubei Town, and it was also nice to see them have fun, with Hao Ming teaching Xu Yan how to skip stones on the water.

In place of that personal, tender conversation that I’d wanted between our OTP, we do have Hao Ming telling Xu Yan exactly how he feels, via the lines that he’d rewritten for the play in which he’s acting, and delivering said lines to her, in front of the whole audience.

Importantly, the message reaches Xu Yan, and she understands exactly what he’s trying to say – and we finally have a formal OTP reconciliation, as they run into each other’s arms for ardent, passionate kisses.

To be honest, I’m not as giddy or as satisfied with the OTP reconciliation as I’d hoped to be, but with my adjusted expectations and a willingness to maybe fill in some emotional blanks instead of waiting for Show to fill them, I’m reeeasonably happy with what Show serves up.

Going in our finale stretch, it’s clear that Show’s going to introduce more dramatic tension via other threads, namely:

1, Lin Tao going from reformed back to rogue, which we’re already getting big hints of in these episodes, and

2, Hao Chen’s birth being brought to light by Steve and Han Wei Ping, operating under the orders of Godfather Qu – all in the name of tearing down Hao Ming.

I’m admittedly not terribly invested in either of these arcs, but if this allows us a nice glimpse of Hao Ming and Xu Yan working well together as a couple, I’ll call that a win.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

E29-32. Not gonna lie, my friends. These finale episodes really did feel quite whiplashy to me, with Show’s sudden ramping up of the melodrama in episodes 29 & 30.

Basically, everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, in these two episodes.

Mr. Qu moves to topple Hao Ming and his father from Jinda, and the shock causes Dad to collapse and require surgery, and later we even have Dad going into cardiac arrest, while Mom’s screeaming in anguish at every turn.

In parallel, we’ve also got Lin Tao’s scheme coming to light, with him admitting to Qiao Lin that he’s cooked the books and will drag down the entire company if she doesn’t break up with Yi Ming and marry him.

Of course, there’s also the public scandal where Hao Ming is exposed as Hao Chen’s father, which opens a whole other Pandora’s box of troubles – including Hao Chen getting kidnapped, and then going into shock, and the doctor claiming that Hao Chen’s showing symptoms of “mild autism” 👀 and requiring intervention right away.

It’s A LOT of stuff moving at about the same time, and it feels overwhelming enough, that I was on the verge of tapping out – which I might well have done, if my sense of responsibility about giving this show a proper review didn’t grab me by the collar and stop me in my tracks. 😅

To be fair to Show, it does move the plot forward; it’s just.. not very elegant about how it goes about it, y’know?

That said, I did find myself breathing a bit of a sigh of relief once Hao Ming, Xu Yan and Hao Chen were in the mountains with Gran; it felt like Show was at least pulling back the dramatics for a bit, to focus on the important emotional arcs.

While I may not fully agree with some of the mechanics of healing on a more granular level, I confess that I liked the idea that Hao Chen would start to let tension go, while at Gran’s house, and while doing farm work together with Hao Ming.

It’s also good to see Hao Ming and Xu Yan having some couple time, where Hao Ming addresses the fact that Xu Yan’s photobook of memories had stopped at the point when they were getting divorced, and takes steps to rectify that, by taking new photos to add to the collection.

Additionally, I actually found the reconciliation between Xu Yan and her parents believable, because that’s honestly often how rifts are healed, in Chinese families.

Not with declaration or drama, but often with small indications of acceptance on both sides – which is exactly what we get, with Xu Yan and her parents.

As for the thing with Lin Tao, I found it a little perplexing that Qiao Lin would agree to Lin Tao’s demand just like that, and then not even try to give Yi Ming an explanation until he confronts her.

I know that this is just Show’s way of dragging out the drama until Xu Yan’s return, but I couldn’t help feeling like Show’s treatment of this arc leans a bit.. careless?

What I mean is, all we’ve seen is Qiao Lin and Yi Ming being understanding and committed to each other, so it felt out of character for this relationship, to have Qiao Lin literally hiding from Yi Ming, and then doing a 180, and telling him coldly, that she’s thought about things, and they aren’t really suited to each other.

But like I said, this was likely just to drag out the angst a bit, until Xu Yan’s return – which is when Show begins turning the tables on Lin Tao.

I’m a little disappointed that we hadn’t gone with the redemption arc that Show had first given Lin Tao, because that had felt wholesome and healthy, but this works too – Qiao Lin and Yi Ming are reunited, and Lin Tao fails miserably in his attempt to blackmail her back into his life.

Listen. When Show throws in that final twist, with Fang Lei ‘fessing up that Hao Chen isn’t actually Hao Ming’s son, and that she’d faked the paternity test results, my eyes nearly rolled outta my head, because WHAT. 😳

I get that Show likely wanted to give Hao Ming a clean moral slate in our eyes, but was that really necessary?

I think I would rather have Hao Chen be Hao Ming’s real son, because at least this way Hao Chen doesn’t end up not knowing who his real father is, y’know?

ANYWAY. The important thing that Show wants us to take away from this, is that Hao Ming and Xu Yan choose to love and care for Hao Ming as their own, which is wholesome in its own way.

And then of course we have Xu Yan assisting Hao Ming, as he works to turn the tables on Mr. Qu and make his corporate comeback.

What’s important here is not how this all gets done, but that the corporate chess resolves cleanly – and that Xu Yan is right there by Hao Ming’s side, not just supporting him emotionally, but even helping him as a business partner.

Even though I found the journey to this point very uneven, I have to admit that this is a satisfying point on which to end our story.

From building her life on a foundation of lies, where she’d still been in Hao Ming’s shadow, Xu Yan’s finally gotten to a point where everything’s now out in the open – and she’s finally found her place, as Hao Ming’s equal.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Starts strong but gets narratively and emotionally diluted in the second half.

FINAL GRADE: B

TRAILER:

MV:

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