You Complete Me Chinese Drama Review

I think many people would choose to watch You Complete Me (小风暴之时间的玫瑰) because of Hu Yi Tian after his role in the highly successful Go Go Squid! as well as My Roommate Is A Detective. It is not a bad choice but I’m also pretty sure that it is not the kind of drama that will appeal to a broad range of audience especially when it is 40-episode long. You Complete Me review below will give you an idea of what this drama is and is not. That way, you can gauge if you should plough ahead or give this a miss.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 40
Type: Business, Romance
Aired: December 2020
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of You Complete Me

• Hu Yi Tian as Gao Shan
• Bridgette Qiao Xin as Lin Wo
• Sean Zheng Hao as Su Yuan
• Tiffany Zhong Qi as Wu Dong Na / Alisa
• Hu Hao Bo as Bei Xiao Rong
• Wang Da Yu as Qin Sheng Sheng
• Liu Xiao Ye as Zheng Wan Ying
• Yang Fan as Chen Hong Yu / Director Chen
• Wang Yi Fan as Sun Li
• Ren Bin as Wan Jia He
• Hu Ling Meng as Sun Miao
• Yin Zhi Xuan as Deng Li

Main Characters

Gao Shan

Gao Shan is an assistant analyst at Most Sky which is a prestigious capital investment firm. He is an ambitious man who is also smart and shrewd. Gao Shan will not hesitate to resort to unethical means to achieve his aim. He hides a painful past and has a personal agenda. His father is Gao Feng who had since died due to suicide 10 years ago.

Lin Wo

Lin Wo is a headhunter with a small firm called Fengda. She is a go-getter and career-minded young woman with a stubborn streak. Her boyfriend is Tao Yao Feng who works in the same firm but is cheating on her with their boss-cum-owner. Lin Wo hates her father whom she blames for divorcing her mother and neglecting them.

Su Yuan

Su Yuan is Gao Shan’s good friend and peer in Most Sky. He is a rich man’s son and got into Most Sky through his father’s connections. Su Yuan likes fooling around rather than being serious in his work. His love interest is Dong Na.

Wu Dong Na / Alisa

Dong Na is Lin Wo’s best friend and housemate. She works as an investment executive in Dinghe which is Most Sky’s competitor. Dong Na has feelings for Gao Shan who is her ex-course mate in post-graduate school. She is ambitious and smart and would not hesitate to outwit her friends to secure a business deal. Dong Na is also a bold and sassy lady.

Supporting Characters

Bei Xiao Rong

Xiao Rong is a very reserved and unsociable young man who exhibits autistic characteristics. However, he is very smart and observant. He knows Lin Wo from his childhood days and has feelings for her.

Qin Sheng Sheng / Mr. Qin

Mr. Qin is the major shareholder and Chairman of Dalong Group. He is a cautious and suspicious businessman. Mr. Qin is also Lin Wo’s father. He loves his daughter and is always secretly looking out for her. But Lin Wo hates him because of the pain he caused her mother.

Zheng Wan Ying / Ms. Zheng

Ms. Zheng is the General Manager of Dalong Group. She is a very tough and business-minded woman who commands Mr. Qin’s total trust. She loves him and has been working for him for years. Ms. Zheng cannot get along with Lin Wo who blames the former for the breakdown in her parents’ marriage.

Chen Hong Yu / Director Chen

Director Chen is an old-timer at Dalong Group. He has been Mr. Qin’s subordinate for years.

Sun Li

Sun Li is one of the Investment Directors at Most Sky. He heads Team B and is competing with the head of Team A for a promotion. Sun Li is a ruthless and ambitious man who is also cunning. He is always cautious and doesn’t trust others easily. He has a loyal subordinate in Du Fei.

Wan Jia He / Mr. Wan

Mr. Wan is the Investment Director and leader of Team A at Most Sky. He is a workaholic and prefers to work quietly to show his worth rather than engage in open confrontation with Sun Li. He is also wary of people who try to get close to him. Mr. Wan is Gao Shan’s immediate superior.

Sun Miao

Sun Miao is Lin Wo’s candidate for a senior role in Most Sky. She succeeds in getting the job and works under Sun Li. Sun Miao also ends up being Lin Wo’s friend. She is married with a young son.

Deng Li

Deng Li is Lin Wo’s loyal subordinate in Fengda. They share a close bond and Lin Wo treats him like a brother.

Synopsis

Gao Shan is an investment specialist. He has just returned from abroad and wants to join an investment funds firm called Most Sky. But he is late for the interview and Lin Wo’s candidate gets the job instead. Lin Wo is a headhunter and her subordinate, Deng Li, has purposely delayed Gao Shan when they bumped into each other. Gao Shan accuses Lin Wo for being unethical and that is how their lives become entangled.

Gao Shan is adamant on joining Most Sky and willingly takes a junior assistant analyst role despite his high qualifications. He has a revenge agenda against Dalong Group’s Chairman, Mr. Qin, whom he blames for causing his father to commit suicide. Dalong Group is one of Most Sky’s big clients and they are planning for an IPO. Hence, Gao Shan maneuvers to try to get into Sun Li’s team which is handling the case for Most Sky.

In the course of doing so, Gao Shan has to help Sun Li to kick out Mr. Wan who is Sun Li’s internal rival for a promotion. At the same time, Lin Wo is approached by a client to poach Mr. Wan away from Most Sky. This causes Gao Shan and Lin Wo to see more and more of each other. They eventually fall in love but Gao Shan then finds out that Mr. Qin is Lin Wo’s father. How would Gao Shan approach his relationship with Lin Wo now? Will Lin Wo be suspicious of Gao Shan?

You Complete Me Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

You Complete Me has a happy ending. Gao Shan proposes and Lin Wo accepts. The last scene is of the couple sneaking off from their wedding reception to handle Lin Wo’s urgent business matter on a recruitment case. Mr. Qin has long accepted Gao Shan because he knows that Gao Shan loves his daughter. He also knows that Gao Shan is not the culprit who reported him to the police. In fact, it is Mr. Qin who encourages Gao Shan to return to China from Switzerland to reconcile with Lin Wo because he knows his daughter could not forget Gao Shan. He just wants Lin Wo to be happy.

Did Lin Wo And Gao Shan Break Up?

The main couple breaks up twice in the drama. The first time is around Episode 17 and 18. Lin Wo requests for it as she feels that Gao Shan is hiding too many secrets and she cannot catch up with his thoughts. But they reconcile very quickly and get back together within the next few episodes.

The second break up happens in Episode 35. Lin Wo wants Gao Shan to leave her due to his lies and she assumes that he has reported her father to the police without telling her. They had promised not to hide things from each other and Lin Wo feels betrayed and extremely guilty because her father ends up having a serious heart attack which nearly causes him his life. So, they break up and Gao Shan leaves for Switzerland before returning 2 years later.

Did Mr. Qin Scam Gao Shan’s Father?

Gao Shan’s father, Gao Feng, ran the most profitable factory in a small town a decade ago. The business is called Qingrun. Gao Feng wanted to expand Qingrun and list it on the stock exchange. Mr. Qin invested in it through an investment company. He also advised Gao Feng to acquire the suppliers to prepare Qingrun for listing. Gao Feng also got his employees and people in the town to invest in Qingrun to share in the prosperity.

However, Qingrun then ran into cashflow problems and Mr. Qin pulled out his investment which caused Qingrun to collapse. As the employees and townspeople had invested their lifesavings in Qingrun, Gao Feng couldn’t take it anymore and committed suicide by jumping off the factory building. Gao Shan always assumes that Mr. Qin had cheated his father especially when he finds out that Dalong Group had subsequently bought Qingrun’s businesses on the cheap.

In actual fact, the person who caused Qingrun financial difficulties is Director Chen. Director Chen is Mr. Qin’s subordinate and was sent to look after his investment in Qingrun. But he colluded with Qingrun’s accountant to fleece the company in their acquisitions which caused it to run into financial problems. Mr. Qin had no choice but to pull out his money rather than sink together as he had to ensure his own company’s survival. Director Chen also kills Gao Shan’s mother when she receives evidence of the fraud from the accountant 10 years later and tries to frame Mr. Qin for it.

Why Did Lin Wo’s Parents Divorce?

Lin Wo’s parents divorced because of differing values. Her mother was unhappy over Gao Feng’s suicide and felt that Mr. Qin was heartless. They quarreled over it and Mrs. Qin asked for a divorce. Mrs. Qin then took Lin Wo away to start life anew. Mr. Qin neglected them due to work after the divorce until Mrs. Qin passed away due to illness.

Ms. Zheng was Mr. Qin’s secretary then and they got closer while working together. Lin Wo always blames them for her mother’s pain. She refuses to believe Ms. Zheng that her relationship with Mr. Qin only started after the divorce. Lin Wo becomes even angrier with them when she finds out that they were holidaying together when her mother was dying in hospital. This causes Mr. Qin to hold back on his relationship with Ms. Zheng due to guilt.

In the end, they make peace when Mr. Qin has a heart attack with his life on the line. Lin Wo realizes that her father genuinely loves her and her hatred towards him has caused him a lot of heartaches.

Who Is Bei Xiao Rong?

Xiao Rong is the grandson of the owner of a large foreign investment company. He is competing with Gao Shan for Lin Wo’s affections and hates him for always hurting Lin Wo. Xiao Rong wants Gao Shan out of her life and resorts to unscrupulous means to drive a wedge between them. But this indirectly causes Lin Wo’s father to suffer a heart attack after he arranges for evidence to be mailed to the police to implicate Mr. Qin in Gao Shan’s mother’s murder. Xiao Rong wants Lin Wo to assume that it is Gao Shan who has reported on her father.

Lin Wo and Gao Shan break up but he returns 2 years later to pursue her again. Gao Shan finds out what Xiao Rong has done. Xiao Rong is frustrated and tries to kill Gao Shan in a fight. Lin Wo arrives and calls the police. Xiao Rong is let off after Gao Shan withdraws his report. Lin Wo knows that Xiao Rong really cares about her but the circumstances didn’t turn out the way he thought they would. As such, she doesn’t hate him or has any special feelings towards him. In the end, Xiao Rong decides to leave to go back to his grandfather in Germany.

The Side Couple

The side couple of Su Yuan and Dong Na ends up being married. Dong Na is pregnant 2 years later and gives up on a promotion to prepare for motherhood.

You Complete Me Review – A Draggy Plot

I see You Complete Me as more of a business drama than romance. The focus is on outwitting opponents in the investment world to achieve revenge for the male protagonist. The romance part is there and necessary but it is the business aspect that dominates the story. It is not like Perfect Partner whereby the main couple has to resolve individual business cases. Instead, the drama is more like Here To Heart with continuity to the story throughout but without the excessive melodrama and with less romance.

A Tad Draggy For The Plot (Spoilers Alert!)

At 40 episodes, You Complete Me is a bit too long-winded to me. I think the pacing would have been better if the producers have cut down the number of episodes and streamlined the story a bit more. Once I hit around Episode 20, it starts to get a little boring before the story regains its excitement about 10 episodes later. The office politics and warfare have been stretched too far. Hence, if you are looking for a real good romance story, You Complete Me would be far from an ideal choice because that is not the focus of this drama unlike Begin Again and Love Is Sweet.

The last 4 episodes are not great either with the direction the story has taken. It is as if the drama needs a real villain and someone has to fulfill that role. It is not exactly unwatchable but I just wish that the story has taken a different tack in resolving the main couple’s misunderstanding rather than relying on the usual jealous third party going berserk.

Passable Chemistry

The chemistry between Hu Yi Tian and Bridgette Qiao is acceptable but nothing superb. It doesn’t have the same sweetness and magical feeling as some other on-screen couples such as the pair in Forever Love and Perfect And Casual. I guess it is still okay because You Complete Me is a business drama which is more plot-driven. If it had been a romance drama that needs to rely on lover’s chemistry to make it tick, this might well end up to be an uninspiring watch.

I have no complaints about Hu Yi Tian’s acting. He is as cool as always which suits the character that he is playing with his painful past and secrets. Bridgette Qiao isn’t too bad either as she manages to display a toughness in her due to her need to be independent. But when the 2 of them interact, something is just missing which fails to move me much as a viewer. Perhaps there is a lack of tenderness in the body language, gazes, and gestures to make the relationship really sizzle the way Lin Yu Shen and Zhao Lu Si successfully did in Dating In The Kitchen.

Even the kisses don’t feel particularly special with mostly hard and impulsive kisses rather than something more gentle and tender to denote love. This pales in comparison to Love Designer where the couple makes their kisses work for them to take the chemistry up a notch.

Characters With Flaws

The main characters in You Complete Me are not the type that you will easily fall in love with. Gao Shan starts off as a man with an ulterior motive when he tries to get close to Lin Wo. Hence, you need to get past his behavior to enjoy the drama. His motives are understandable as the story progresses but it can still be annoying if you prefer more upright heroes.

As for Lin Wo, she can be pretty stubborn and reckless. It is also understandable why she turns out the way she does but some viewers might just find her irritating. The good thing is that both the main characters grow later on due to their experiences. But you will have to sit through a big portion of the drama before you reach that stage where they learned from their experiences and become better persons.

My Verdict – An Average Drama

You Complete Me is the type of drama that is neither good nor bad. It is a pity because there is great potential for it to be better with the storyline that they are given. There is plenty of room to build up on the viewers’ excitement in the male lead’s quest for the truth and the female lead’s discovery of her boyfriend’s identity. But somehow, those just fall short to make the drama being draggy overall and it ends up being a very average production.

As I have mentioned, You Complete Me is not for pure romance drama fans. If you are looking for lots of sweetness and love vibes, you should skip it. This story is more for those who are into office politics and maneuverings with revenge being an overarching motive. The romance is a necessary sub-plot and only gains more prominence in the later half of the drama. Thus, whether you will find this boring or otherwise will depend on your appetite for more or less romance and business schemings.

For this You Complete Me review, I would give it a score of 7/10. I don’t feel that I have wasted my time watching it but neither does it have anything compelling that will motivate me to re-watch any part of it. I won’t be surprised if some will drop this halfway through because it is really not everyone’s cup of tea especially with its boring stretches. If you are patient enough, the story does pick up and move along which is why I think it is still watchable overall.