Just by the title alone, Cute Programmer (程序员那么可爱) gives the impression of a rom-com that one would probably watch for some sugar and fluff. It points to a stress-free drama with lots of cuteness in the romance. Xing Zhao Lin also has a new partner here in Bambi Zhu which is a welcome change after his numerous projects with Liang Jie. But does the title live up to its name and can this new pairing generate the same chemistry to capture viewers’ imagination? My Cute Programmer review below will discuss further on this drama.
My rating: 5.5/10
Episodes: 30
Type: Romance
Aired: September 2021
Images Credit: Tencent
The Cast Of Cute Programmer
- Xing Zhao Lin as Jiang Yi Cheng
- Bambi Zhu Xu Dan as Lu Li
- Yi Da Qian as Chen Yi Ming
- Guan Xin as Gu Xiao Qi
- Tian Yi Tong as Jiang Zi Tong
- Joy Sheng Lang Xi as Li Man
- Jun Sheng as Gu Mo
- Zhao Zheng Yang as Zhang Zhi Yuan / Lao Yeh
- Wang Ce as Director Jiang
- Rong Rong as Cheng Yue Ru
- Wang Wei Hua as Lu Zheng Guo
- Xu Rong Zhen as Huang Cai Xia
- Pang Han Chen as Lu Jing Wen
Main Characters
Jiang Yi Cheng
Yi Cheng is the boss of Enchant Technology which is an online games developer. He was a top computer programming student back in university. While Yi Cheng is a very talented programmer and coder, he lacks sensitivity and EQ in terms of romance. He also can be hotheaded and childish. Yi Cheng comes from a very wealthy family.
Lu Li
Lu Li is a fresh graduate in computer programming which is a male dominated field. But she is ambitious and determined to make it in the industry. Lu Li can be stubborn and never gives up easily once she has set her mind to do something. Yi Cheng is her senior in university and she has been secretly in love with him for 5 years.
Chen Yi Ming
Yi Ming is the R&D Technical Director of Enchant Technology. He is also Yi Cheng’s best friend. Yi Ming is a very calm and understanding gentleman.
Gu Xiao Qi
Xiao Qi is Lu Li’s best friend. She is a cosplay live streamer and cat lover.
Jiang Zi Tong
Zi Tong is Yi Cheng’s younger sister. She is an idler who loves buying stuff. She will do her mother’s bidding to keep track of her brother’s relationships in exchange for luxury goods. Her life also revolves around courting Yi Ming whom she loves very much.
Supporting Characters
Li Man
Li Man is Yi Cheng’s ex-girlfriend who left him 3 years ago. She is an investor representative of EG Gaming. Li Man is a manipulative woman who wants to get back into Yi Cheng’s life. Her father is a gambling addict.
Gu Mo
Gu Mo is the Art Director at Enchant Technology. He is also Xiao Qi’s parents’ godson. Hence, Xiao Qi regards him as a brother. Gu Mo is a reserved and stern-looking man.
Zhang Zhi Yuan / Lao Yeh
Lao Yeh is a programming team leader in Enchant Technology. He is also Lu Li’s immediate superior and an easy-going man. Other members of his team are Da Huang, Lin Shu Tian, and Lei Ge.
Director Jiang & Cheng Yue Ru
Both of them are a rich married couple and Yi Cheng and Zi Tong’s parents. Director Jiang loves his wife a lot and would always take her side against their children.
Lu Zheng Guo & Huang Cai Xia
Both of them are husband and wife and Lu Li’s parents. Lu Li’s father is the more accommodating parent and dotes on his daughter. Cai Xia is a strict mother who prefers her daughter to listen to her. She and Yue Ru are ex-school mates who are always bickering with each other.
Lu Jing Wen
Jing Wen is the boss of a filming and animation company. He is also Lu Li’s senior and neighbor in a new city. Jing Wen is a playboy who is always looking for opportunities for a fling.
Synopsis
Lu Li is a fresh graduate and computer programmer. She has been in love with Yi Cheng from afar since her undergraduate days. Yi Cheng is her senior but has no idea who she is. He was the top programming student at that time and is now the CEO of Enchant Technology which is an online games developer. Hence, Lu Li is determined to join his company. However, Yi Cheng has a strict rule of not employing female programmers due to a bitter past experience. Lu Li then cross-dresses to masquerade as a man to join Enchant Technology.
At the same time, Yi Cheng’s mother is desperate for him to get married as her son has shown no interest in women. When Lu Li’s cover is blown, Yi Cheng’s mother sees an opportunity to pair them together. By resorting to a set-up, Yi Cheng and Lu Li end up registering their marriage. Lu Li moves in to live with Yi Cheng but they are merely playing pretend to fool their parents. Yi Cheng insists on keeping a distance between them but he also becomes jealous and irritated when he sees Lu Li being friendly with the other guys in the office. Just when their relationship starts to get better, Yi Cheng’s ex-girlfriend shows up.
Cute Programmer Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
Cute Programmer has a happy ending. Yi Cheng manages to reconcile with Lu Li and proposes to her in Episode 30. Lu Li already agreed to return to Yi Cheng and Enchant Technology in Episode 29. She told him that the baby she is carrying is his then. Earlier in Episode 27, she had given him the impression that the baby’s father is Jing Wen. The latter had told Yi Cheng so to test his sincerity towards Lu Li. But Lu Li didn’t deny it then and had kept quiet about it. She didn’t want Yi Cheng to be with her because of guilt and as repayment for the hurt that he has inflicted on her.
After thinking it over, Yi Cheng decided to still pursue Lu Li and simply wanted her to be happy. Lu Li was moved by his change in attitude and maturity and accepted his request to reconcile. In the last scene of the drama, they are shown kissing on the bridge leading to their office building.
When Did Yi Cheng And Lu Li Get Together?
Yi Cheng and Lu Li registered their marriage in Episode 8 and started living together as flat mates then. He wanted a pre-nuptial agreement signed with divorce after a year of marriage to which she agreed. This was kept from their parents to fool them into believing that they are having a real marriage.
Yi Cheng and Lu Li slept together in Episode 17 but he was drunk then. Lu Li thought he has mistaken her for Li Man and deceived him that nothing happened between them the next morning. She found out that she is pregnant in Episode 20. Lu Li resigned from Enchant Technology and asked Yi Cheng for a divorce in Episode 21 as she assumed that Yi Cheng and Li Man have got back together. She left the city in Episode 22.
After the breakup, the couple met again in Episode 24 as Enchant Technology had a collaboration agreement with Lu Li’s new employer. Yi Cheng continuously pursued Lu Li and she agreed to reconcile with him in Episode 29.
Side Couples
Gu Mo and Xiao Qi become a couple in Episode 27. Xiao Qi had always regarded Gu Mo as a brother and even ignored him at one point when she found out that he had scared away all her past suitors. But then she started to get irritated when Gu Mo had a new girlfriend. Gu Mo was merely putting up an act with the help of his colleague, Ye Zi, make Xiao Qi jealous. That was when Xiao Qi realized she has fallen for Gu Mo.
Yi Ming and Zi Tong also ended up together. He asked her to be his girlfriend in Episode 30 after she fulfilled his request to find her passion and not just sees him as her only focus in life. Zi Tong plans to open a boutique in the last episode as she has always have a keen interest in fashion.
The last couple is Da Huang and Ye Zi. Both are colleagues in Enchant Technology. They become a couple in Episode 27.
What Happened To Li Man?
Li Man was putting up an act with her gambler father to evoke Yi Cheng’s compassion for her. Yi Cheng caught them in the act in Episode 22. He also asked Li Man to leave as the investor representative in Enchant Technology when he got the evidence that she had deleted Lu Li’s demo files for a competition.
In the last episode, Li Man apologized to Lu Li for trying to break her and Yi Cheng apart. She will also be bringing her father abroad to get treatment for his stomach cancer.
Cute Programmer Review – Not Worth The Time
After watching all the 30 episodes of Cute Programmer, I can only conclude that there is nothing cute about this drama at all. I will try not to rant and be fair in my assessment but I really cannot recommend a watch for this one. There are a few reasons why which I will elaborate below. Anyway, this is not a cross-dressing romance drama like My Unicorn Girl even though it might look like one in the initial episode. Lu Li’s gender is already fully exposed by Episode 5 and the cross-dressing plot stops there.
Therefore, if you like the female pretending to be male trope in your romance dramas, Cute Programmer will not be a good choice at all. Neither does it focus much on the programming aspect or the business side of things unlike My Bargain Queen. It is pure romance with the relationship between the leads being central to the whole drama. There is nothing wrong with a romance-driven drama except that everything just turns out to be mediocre in Cute Programmer.
Recycled Plot
The plot itself is a rehashed of common themes in the romance genre. So, you will find cross-dressing in the first few episodes, then a contract marriage and co-habitation followed by a jealous ex returning. If you have watched enough of Chinese rom-coms and romance dramas, I think you can pretty much get an idea of what Cute Programmer entails.
While it is okay to have recycled plots, they must be done in a way that is sensible to viewers. For this drama, a lot of things don’t exactly appear as sensible or logical. Hence, you will have a cross-dresser masquerading as a male being able to get a job in a tech company without anyone questioning her gender. You will also have the female lead agreeing to marry the male lead when he obviously doesn’t even like her. Basically, it is the type of drama that you have to overlook the details if you want to enjoy it. I’m not too fussy about details at times but when other factors also start to weigh down the overall enjoyment of the story, that is when it goes downhill for me.
Badly Written Characters
I think the way the characters are written is the main turn off that kills this drama. Yi Cheng is someone who is childish and easily irritated. He is not evil or cruel. Conversely, he is a kind man behind all the harsh words and actions. However, he is also an insensitive fellow and lacks communication skills. So, some of his actions towards Lu Li border on petty bullying as he shows his irritation. Viewers’ patience with him will be further tested when his ex-girlfriend shows up as this will then shows his stupidity.
Lu Li’s character is not much better. I wouldn’t say she is like a doormat but simply nonsensical. She has a long-term crush on Yi Cheng but to cross-dress as a man to join his company is simply silly. There is nothing in Yi Cheng that is worth hanging on to for 5 years as he doesn’t even know who she is before she joins the company. But Lu Li is made out to be a girl who is hopelessly in love who doesn’t mind marrying someone who doesn’t like her. She even tolerates his bad attitude towards her most of the time.
I guess the redeeming quality in these 2 characters is that they do eventually grow to be more matured. But you will have to sit through more than 20 episodes to see that happen.
Some of the supporting characters are no better. Gu Mo is a guy who would use his brother status to secretly scare away all of Xiao Qi’s suitors. And he has been doing that since her high school days without her knowledge to chase away his love rivals. I don’t know how this kind of controlling behavior could sound romantic but that is how it is in the drama.
Leads Lack Chemistry
Personally, I cannot detect enough chemistry between Xing Zhao Lin and Bambi Zhu for this romance drama to flourish. Sometimes, even with a simple plot, a sizzling chemistry can make a huge difference in a romance drama as can be seen in You Are My Glory and My Little Happiness. But the couple in my Cute Programmer simply fails to inspire. It is as if they are just going through the motions to deliver their lines without really getting into the feeling of being lovers.
I don’t know if it is the problem with the script, the badly written characters or the acting. Perhaps it is a combination of all 3. If the plot and characters are top notch, the average chemistry displayed could probably still pass muster. But when the other factors are equally mediocre, then the lack of chemistry becomes amplified here.
My Verdict – Watch Something Else Instead
Cuteness is certainly not the hallmark of this drama especially when you have a jealous ex lurking around for about 10 episodes. That is more annoyance than cuteness. There is not much of sugar and fluff either as the love is very much one-sided for three-quarters of the story. So, if you want to see cuteness and sweetness, you are much better off watching Forever And Ever or even a typical rom-com like Sweet Teeth.
Having said that, I understand there are plenty of Xing Zhao Lin’s fans out there who might still give this a go. Well, if you reduce your expectations, this might still be watchable without too much complaints. As long as you can shy away from dissecting the characters’ antics and behaviors, this could work for you. Furthermore, if you see bickering, harmless jealousy, and childishness as romantic, then you would probably be able to enjoy it to a certain extent.
For this Cute Programmer review, I would give it a score of 5.5/10. I’m not going to recommend a watch for this one unless you are a diehard fan of the leads. There are just too many weaknesses to drag the drama down that it is difficult to say that it is worth the time especially when it is 30 episodes long. The whole story is predictable and I don’t think it will resonate with the more matured viewers. If you are going to watch it, just think of it as pure entertainment and switch off your brain for better enjoyment!
Hahaha never seen a review as brutally honest as this. Honestly if you’re into romance folk this is not really that great and some scenes are illogical.
I watched it through and agree with your review. That said, why get the lead female pregnant if you aren’t going to show a baby in the end 🤷♀️…makes no sense whatsoever!
The Cute Programmer isn’t the worse I’ve seen in the k dramas/romance/comedy. It shouldn’t be 30 episodes. At the beginning in the restaurant, I would have dumped that scene and the wasted parts of FL chasing ML around trying to get him to reconsider hiring her. All that was wasted time. I’d have had the FL be hired from the beginning after the interview. Leave the rest as the SCs find out she is a female. As she is proving to be great at her job and the ML is getting apprehensive because he is attracted to FL that he thinks is a male; he beginnings to pay more attention to FL then because FL started acting in some areas as a female. But anyway the beginning is just drawn out too long and of course the ML could be a little more attractive in personality and have dated some of the blind dates to get mother off his back…he could have be cold personality but still have manners. The mall scene where ML is chasing FL around was not funny…too long and boring. Once ML and FL move in together they shouldn’t have drawn out the scenes of them getting together until episode 17 (really) . ML should have started having remembered memories of them sleeping together and figuring that he’s the father of the baby and woo FL proving he loves her…even when she tells ML he isn’t the father and he figures it out she is hurt by his past mistake towards her. This probably would have been better if the episodes were no longer than 16 to 20…I picked this series to watch because I like the story line and I liked it to a point. I just skip scenes if they are to boring….
Hey people! At least the chicken torture was funny!!!
I watched it until their first kiss or an episode after and stopped, I was thinking of going back to it but after seeing the reviews and a few clips I gave up, I’ll just remember their cute interaction in the beginning not torture myself.
I liked it a little better than You are My Destiny. It was much funnier to me as the humor in You are My Destiny fell flat for me. Also, Cute Programmer felt less contrived, still a bit contrived with the ‘tropes’ mentioned by the reviewer, but the acting and directing in this were better. I agree that the writing could have been better, the ML was written a bit too verbally vicious at times for example. However, I completely disagree with the “lack of chemistry” comment, and the statement that he doesn’t like her when he marries her. It was obvious to me that he already had feelings for her but he was trying hard to shut them down and convince himself otherwise. I thought they did a good job of showing his inner conflict to us, but hiding it from her. When she was dressing as a man he gave her a lot of signals of attraction so it isn’t so surprising that she would marry him. And all the ‘unnecessary’ stuff at the beginning was to show her perseverance and his attraction even when he thinks she is a guy. And I thought it was refreshing not to dwell on the baby as the happy ending, but I would have enjoyed seeing the wedding…