Magicians of Love

I'm exhausted, so this is a quickie post about my latest drama, Magicians of Love.
"Magicians of Love" is the cutest drama! It stars Ming Dao, Sam Wang, and Jacky Zhu of the 183 Club (some boyband - though it feels weird calling them a boy band since they're all in their late 20's/early 30's :P) and Joanne Zeng. Bei Ruo Yi (Joanne Zeng) is a fledgling hairstylist with great talent but no technique, and is rudely criticized by Du Ya Si (Ming Dao) and his fellow hairstylists Lin Er Qi (Sam Wang) and Fernando (Jacky Zhu) one day at a competition. The trio of male hairstylists are the top hairdressers in Taiwan, and are called 'magicians of love', for their abilities to transform a woman's appearance and image. Fast friends, the trio opened their own hair salon, Neo-Image, which runs almost as a family. Ruo Yi and Ya Si run into each other again at an old folk's home (Ruo Yi visits there for fun and Ya Si is visiting his grandmother), and he realizes that Ruo Yi has a lot of talent. He brings her into his salon (after lots of drama of course), and she makes friends with the trio, especially Er Qi. One day, after Ya Si and Ruo Yi have a huge argument, she runs out into the street, and is almost knocked over by a car - a man wearing a certain brown jacket saves her. After Ruo Yi's recovery, she sees Er Qi put on the jacket, and begins to fall for him.

Now, Er Qi has his own really really really confusing past, involving Hong Kong gangsters, the mob, violence, etc. He is actually escaping from his godfather, the leader of the HK gang, and expects to die at any time. But as Ruo Yi and Er Qi get closer, he realizes that he wants to have "tomorrow", if only to spend it with Ruo Yi. They go through some pretty harrowing episodes actually, some life-and-death stuff. As feelings deepen, Ruo Yi confesses her feelings for Er Qi to Ya Si, who becomes a little jealous (and confused). Ya Si and Ruo Yi are also spending lots of time together visiting Ya Si's grandmother, who thinks that they are a couple.

Ruo Yi finally gets up the courage to tell Er Qi of her feelings that stem from the day of the accident. He, in turn, tells her that he cares for her too, but that she should know that Ya Si is the one who saved her - Er Qi was only borrowing the jacket. Er Qi tells Ruo Yi that he will stand by whatever decision she makes - she can choose Ya Si or Er Qi, and he will be okay with it. Right then, Ya Si walks in. Dum da da!!!! But Ruo Yi chooses Er Qi (due to their crazy experiences together), and Ya Si walks away broken hearted...but no! more drama ensues! Er Qi faces his godfather for Ruo Yi, and wins the right to walk away from the HK gang. The two get engaged...right at the time that Ya Si decides to tell Ruo Yi about his feelings. Ya Si misses his chance, unfortunately, and decides to shoulder bravely on. His ex-girlfriend returns, and he tries to make a pairing of it. Also at this time, Er Qi finds out that he has a son by his first ever girlfriend, who just died of illness. Ruo Yi's dad freaks out, and breaks the engagement. Ruo Yi and Er Qi decide to stay together anyway, but Er Qi's son disapproves - he wants his father to marry this other lady (who loves Er Qi and his son btw). The whole thing breaks Ruo Yi's heart, and Er Qi decides that for Ruo Yi's sake, he has to break up with her. Fortunately, the lady that his son favors used to be the girl that Er Qi liked before he met Xiao Bei (Ruo Yi's nickname)...so that little family works out well.

Ya Si is about to leave for England with his ex-gf (lot of drama here as well), but at the last minute, he misses the flight to run to his grandmother's bedside - she's really ill. He overhears Ruo Yi telling his grandmother about the broken engagement...and about the fact that she's upset, but also a little relieved, because she has realized that she actually loves Ya Si...eventually, the two of them get together as well. They are the cutest couple - Ming Dao has this great way of acting a little childish when he's with her, and it's very very sweet.

More drama ensues - the ex-gf joins a rival hair salon company in order to get revenge, but Ruo Yi's sweetness of character ultimately triumphs, loose ends regarding Ruo Yi's family history are all neatly sorted, as are the knots regarding Ya Si's family drama. All in all, a really catchy show! A little dramatic, but once you watch the first episode, you can't help but want to watch the rest of it :P