This will be another shortie(ish) review as there is basically only two plot lines to talk about and one of which I almost skipped entirely. Fiancee is a 20 episode drama about a girl named Xiao Yi, who moves to the big city to be with her boyfriend, Tian Fei, only to find that he’s cheating on her with his co-worker, Lu Lu.
Before that all goes down, she meets what has to be the hottest man to ever grace the planet, Huo Zi(played by Dennis Oh). He’s her boss when she moves to Shanghai and they immediately have a connection, but because she is with Tian Fei, nothing comes of it.
Fast forward to Xiao Yi finding out that her bf is cheating on her. Lu Lu lies and tells him she is pregnant so he leaves Xiao Yi to marry Lu Lu. As is the case with dramas, while Lu Lu is in fact not pregnant, Xiao Yi is. She decides to have the baby and it’s a cute little girl.
In the meantime, I think she really liked Huo Zi, but being a single mother in China is apparently something to be ashamed of. And listening to the way people speak about the little girl, there is some expectation that should Xiao Yi remarry, that her daughter would not be welcomed and might even be abused. With this in mind, she makes a complete break from Huo Zi and for all intents and purposes, disappeared.
Three years later, Huo Zi is still carrying a torch for Xiao Yi and she is living as a single mother doing sales for a computer equipment company. Tian Fei is married to Lu Lu and he’s finally found out that not only did she lie before but also that she can never have children. This is where the bulk of the drama really begins.
Let’s start out by saying that Huo Zi is basically perfect. He’s got that amazing personality that is a pleasant combination of understanding but also passionate. He’s got a great job(he’s actually a company heir), is well off, and his family aren’t crazy.
This is in stark contrast to Tian Fei who has a drinking problem, is perpetually broke, has one of the foulest human beings ever for a mother, and is a cheater. I wish the writers hadn’t gone so crazy in trying their best to make Tian Fei into a terrible person. People can make mistake and do not-so-great things and not be caricatures.
Much of the drama is spent with Huo Zi making himself available to Xiao Yi as a friend, a shoulder to cry on, and pretty much a support system for her and her daughter. I’ve seen a lot of dramas where the female lead will leave the second male lead and the first male lead is all over the girl like a starving man on a banquet.
Huo Zi also has those feelings and we do see him when he’s speaking to other people about it, that he is quite serious about being with Xiao Yi and eventually marrying her. But even with all that, he doesn’t push super hard, and instead simply helps her when she needs it, and let’s her know what he’s there.
Xiao Yi, however does not want to drag Huo Zi down with her. She is not in a great position, socially, and marrying a company heir like Huo Zi can only hurt him, in her eyes. She doesn’t jerk him around which I appreciated. She’s very clear with him that she is not interested in being anything other than his friend.
While this is all going on, Tian Fei and his wife, Lu Lu are the stars of the secondary plot thread. To be honest, I skipped most of their parts because all they do is argue. Lu Lu is incredibly possessive of Tian Fei even while they’re making each other miserable. But since he’s a cheater, I guess she is right to keep a close eye on him. :/ During this time when he’s at his lowest, he finds out that Xiao Yi had a daughter, and now he suspects that Miao Miao is his child.
We all know pretty much where this is going so I won’t spend a whole lot more time on the conclusion, but I did want to say that this was a decent drama that didn’t annoy me, and let’s be honest, we can all watch Dennis Oh all day long.
I liked that Huo Zi was careful to keep himself contained and not to push Xiao Yi into a relationship. Where the disconnect occurs is when we are reminded that apparently a woman’s worth is tied to the man she is with. There were several instances where Xiao Yi was placed into bad/embarrassing situations only to have Huo Zi arrive, hold her hand and declare himself her fiancee, much to the astonishment and jealousy of everyone around.
I know dramas are all about romance and chivalry, but I’m also an older woman who cares about the messages that are being conveyed to the younger viewers who watch these shows. This particular instance was not nearly as bad as many other dramas, but it is something I wanted to note.
Drama Pros:
The romance is gradual and has a maturity to it. It’s not some whirlwind highschool wrist-grab relationship.
With the exception of a few outlandish people, everyone here was fairly normal and acted like adults with adult problems.
Drama Cons:
Depending on how you define a con . . . I skipped basically half the drama because I didn’t care about Tian Fei and Lu Lu’s screaming matches.
I don’t like the fact that Xiao Yi was ‘saved’ from embarrassment by the fact that she has a hot rich bf.
TL;DR: Mature drama for adult women showing a flowering relationship that starts as friends and then becomes a romance.
Sophie’s Rating: 7/10