The Short Version
Begin Again really should have worked better for me.
Contract marriage? Yes.
Female CEO who actually has a personality? Yes.
Devoted doctor husband? Yes.
Gong Jun? Obviously yes.
Actual romance, kissing, and married-couple behavior instead of 34 episodes of staring at each other from across the room?
YES.
There is a lot here that I genuinely liked.
But then the drama decided that a perfectly good romance needed a six-year separation, a secret child, too many side relationships, and one of those weird “he’s technically not really her uncle” situations.
And that is where my rating started dropping.
I didn’t finish all 35 episodes, but I researched the rest of the story because I wanted to know exactly how everything played out.
After seeing where it goes, I’m comfortable giving it a 3.5/5.
Good romance.
Good leads.
A lot of unnecessary nonsense.
The Setup
Lu Fangning is a successful furniture-company executive who needs to get married because of pressure from her father and her plans for a new business venture.
Then she meets Ling Rui, a handsome surgeon who checks all her boxes.
And Fangning basically decides:
That one. I want that one.
😂
Instead of the usual rich CEO man aggressively pursuing the poor innocent woman, Begin Again flips the setup.
Fangning has the money.
Fangning has the power.
Fangning does the pursuing.
Ling Rui is the calmer, gentler one.
I actually liked that a lot.
She eventually gets him into a one-year contract marriage, and naturally this turns into a real relationship because nobody in a C-drama has ever successfully signed a marriage contract without falling in love.
Fangning Was Fun… Until Her Decision-Making Privileges Needed To Be Revoked
I like a female lead who knows what she wants.
Fangning is confident, direct, and capable.
She’s not sitting around waiting for a man to solve her life.
She’s the one pursuing HIM.
She also isn’t afraid to flirt, make the first move, or tell Ling Rui she wants him.
Excellent.
More of this, please.
Unfortunately, being confident does not automatically mean making good decisions.
Because later Fangning decides that she knows what is best for Ling Rui better than Ling Rui does.
And that is where we begin having problems.
A lot of problems.
Ling Rui 🥰
Ling Rui is much closer to my preferred male lead.
He’s gentle without being weak.
He’s protective.
He’s attentive.
He’s emotionally invested.
And once he truly falls for Fangning, he’s devoted to her.
I also like that their relationship doesn’t stay in fake-marriage territory forever.
Fangning realizes she actually loves him.
Ling Rui eventually admits his own feelings.
By Episode 16, he asks her if they can basically start dating after already getting married.
Which is adorable.
They went:
Marriage first.
Dating later.
Sure. 😂
Ling Rui is easily one of the biggest reasons this drama still gets a 3.5 from me instead of falling lower.
The Romance Actually Develops Before The Finale
This is one thing Begin Again gets right.
The drama does NOT make us wait until Episode 35 for the leads to admit they like each other.
Fangning realizes her feelings much earlier.
Ling Rui eventually confesses.
They officially become a real romantic couple around Episode 16.
There are kisses.
There is affection.
There are jealous moments.
There is physical chemistry.
There is actual married-couple content.
THANK YOU.
I cannot survive on meaningful eye contact alone.
And honestly, if the drama had stayed focused on this part of their relationship instead of blowing everything up later, I probably would have rated it higher.
And Then Episode 24 Happens 😑
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
Fangning’s company and family situation falls apart at the same time Ling Rui has an opportunity to continue his medical research in Germany.
Ling Rui is willing to sacrifice that opportunity because he doesn’t want to leave her while she’s struggling.
So what does Fangning do?
Does she sit down with her HUSBAND and discuss their future?
Of course not.
That would apparently be too easy.
Instead, she secretly arranges things so Ling Rui can continue his career, leaves him a divorce agreement, removes her belongings, and disappears.
He wakes up.
She’s gone.
He searches for her.
Nothing.
This is one of my least favorite romance tropes.
The famous:
“I’m hurting you because I love you.”
No.
You are hurting him because you refuse to communicate. 😂
SIX YEARS.
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
Not six weeks.
Not six months.
SIX YEARS.
The drama jumps forward and Fangning is living abroad.
And surprise!
She had Ling Rui’s baby.
Their son, Youyou.
Who Ling Rui DOES NOT KNOW EXISTS.
Absolutely not.
I usually like secret-child plots.
Give me a surprise child and an unsuspecting father and I will probably watch it.
But there has to be a decent reason the father didn’t know.
Ling Rui wasn’t abusive.
He wasn’t dangerous.
He wasn’t somebody Fangning needed to protect the child from.
She simply decided—for him—that staying away was best.
That means Ling Rui missed the pregnancy.
The birth.
His son’s infancy.
His first words.
His first steps.
YEARS of his child’s life.
Because Fangning decided she knew what was best.
This is the biggest reason this drama does not get a 4 from me.
The romance was good enough to build up.
Then the story deliberately wrecked it for six fictional years.
At Least Ling Rui Gets Angry
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
This is important.
When Ling Rui eventually discovers in Episode 27 that Youyou is actually his son, the drama does not have him immediately smile and say:
“Oh! That’s okay! 🥰”
NO.
He confronts Fangning.
He asks why she disappeared.
He asks why she raised their child without him.
He points out that she made enormous decisions about HIS life without allowing him to choose anything for himself.
Correct.
THANK YOU, SIR.
Someone needed to say it.
I appreciate that the drama at least understands that Fangning’s decision was not something Ling Rui should casually accept.
Of Course He’s Still In Love With Her 😂
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
This man never emotionally recovered from her.
Six years later, he’s successful and has continued with his career, but Fangning is very obviously still the woman he loves.
And once she comes back into his life with Youyou, Ling Rui gradually becomes the pursuer.
This reverses their original dynamic.
Originally Fangning chased him.
Now Ling Rui is the one pushing their relationship forward.
By Episode 30 he finally makes it clear that the relationship did not simply disappear because Fangning decided it did.
They reconcile.
They kiss.
They’re back together.
Fine.
I approve.
I am still holding a grudge about those six years, though. 😂
Youyou Is Basically The Best Part Of The Time Jump
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
The secret-child storyline at least gives us Youyou.
He wants to know who his father is and eventually helps drag Fangning right back into Ling Rui’s orbit.
And once Ling Rui discovers the truth, we finally get the father-son relationship that should have existed years earlier.
Cute?
Yes.
Does it erase six missing years?
NOPE.
It softens the storyline.
It does not fix it.
And Can We Discuss The “UNCLE” Situation?! 😐
Because apparently this drama did not already have enough going on.
Lu Yiyao is Fangning’s nominal uncle.
He isn’t biologically related to her. He was adopted into the Lu family, and they grew up together.
Fine.
But everybody knows him as her uncle.
And he has secretly been IN LOVE WITH HER.
Why.
WHY DO C-DRAMAS KEEP MAKING ME HAVE THIS CONVERSATION?
😭
No blood relation does not automatically make the setup less weird when you raised these characters inside a family relationship where one of them is literally addressed as the other’s uncle.
Thankfully, Fangning does not end up with him.
He eventually moves on to Cai Siyu.
But I did not need Uncle Rival™ in my contract-marriage romance.
Too Many Other People’s Relationships
Researched plot spoilers: my reactions below respond to researched story events; they do not mean I personally watched these later scenes.
Lu Yiyao and Cai Siyu also get an entire romance.
They date.
They break up.
Six years pass.
They reconnect.
He pursues her again.
They reconcile.
He eventually proposes.
Then Tang Ping gets her own romantic storyline too.
Everybody is pairing off.
Good for them.
But I came here for Fangning and Ling Rui.
I don’t require every unmarried supporting character to receive a government-issued boyfriend or girlfriend before the credits roll. 😂
This is another reason I couldn’t give the drama a higher rating.
The main couple already had enough going on.
I did not need this much romantic administration happening around them.
One Warning I Would Actually Mention
There is also an early storyline involving a man attempting to drug Fangning with the intention of sexually assaulting her.
Thankfully, Fangning is not portrayed as helpless.
She realizes what is happening, fights back, and the situation does not become a prolonged victimization storyline.
Still, it is something viewers should know about going in.
