Best Time: Sad Time Hidden by Tong Hua

Title: Best Time
Mandarin Title: 最美的時光
Country: China
Released year: 2013
Episode: 47 episodes + 2 special final episodes
Genre: Romance drama
Source: Secret Hidden in Time by Tong Hua
Actors:
Wallace Chung as Lu Li Cheng
Janine Chang as Su Man

Let me vent the drama and the novel for the sake of my sanity. The torture of reading and watching Best Time is too much I can't hold it inside 😂. I think the writer is beyond cruel. It is the only drama that I wanted so bad deviate from its novel source. I really wanted so bad. 😤 I read the novel and started to watch the drama almost at the same time. I read fast and I almost read everywhere, I always bring book so naturally I finished the book first. I can't decide whether the novel is better than the drama. If not only for ending, I think the novel is good enough to wring my emotion. It is so much better than a novel that makes me feel nothing.

Finishing the drama is another whole of rock climbing, because I’ve already known the ending of the story which is bad. Casting Wallace Chung as the male main lead and knowing there're special alternate final episodes don't help lessening my resentment toward the writer. What becomes the fuel for me to finish the novel is that I know people everywhere around the internet are always complaining how terrible the ending is. So I got curious, it can't be that bad right? Bad ending is subjective, but when there is such a fast agreement about the said bad ending, everything gets a little bit more interesting, and I get a little bit more curious. I was even still crossing my finger on the half way of the novel for different ending. 😭😭😭 How naïve of me.

This is when it all starts with such a premise, on such high hope. Don't believe all of these. They want us to think it is kind of a Cinderella story, huh??.

I give you the overall plot as the starter. The story is around the life of Su Man who chooses to leave her top management position to apply a junior staff position in new company. All of this because she wants to get close to her high school crush for ten years named Song Yi. Meanwhile meeting the love of her life, she encounters with Lu Li Cheng who is curious about her motive to switch job. Su Man not only stalks Song Yu in real life, she also stalks him on internet via social media. Ehmm *looking at myself* One day she braces herself to confess her long time crush to him and viola her feeling get reproached. At the same time, Lu Li Cheng also finds out the reason behind the job switch and finds himself falling for her. The rest of the story is about Lu Li Cheng accompanies Su Man through the ups and downs of her relationship with Song Yi.

The first time Su Man meets Song Yi, her ten years crush and triggers the idiotic decision of her leaving her hard-earned job to work at the same company with him as junior staff.

And swear God I'm gonna watch it and finish it. If I'm going to hate it, I'll hate and write it! I dropped the drama in the middle of 29 episodes. Because I don't even root for the female main lead character (Su Man), when the drama is supposed to take place from the female lead’s point of view. I usually fond of a story about a thirty something, capable independent, smart and sassy career woman, but I don't know why I can't feel, lest sympathize, for Su Man character. Even when she is laughing around and screaming at the top of her lung about how happy she is, I can't help rolling my eyes. She waits patiently for 10 years to meet her first love that really rings a bell for me. And look the story is about a single career woman who tries to work her work life and her love life, whats not to love??? But she is irritating me what so ever. I think the way she abandoned her hard-earned previous job to chase some man is other reason why I will never take her seriously. The writer thinks it damn romantic to do such kind of sacrificing; I think it is just damn idiotic. If someone, who makes you doing this kind of sacrifice, thinks it is romantic, then that someone doesn't respect you and then he/she doesn’t deserve you. If I ever finish the drama and the novel, I guarantee it is not because of her.

Song Yi, the cheating bastard who doesn't deserve all the effort.

At the first he just becomes the flat character whom I can't care less, but then as the story goes he really becomes such pain in the ass, all indecisive and playing-victim act in noble idiocy grab. Dude if you cheat on her, you may just own it! All the excuses you spat on her, just insulting the more of her and the MORE of me.

Another reason I left the drama in the middle of the series is that I couldn't even pick the next episode when I imagine I have to endure one more minute looking at Song Yi’s flat expression. Blerg. I truly appreciate the writer and the screenwriter for not making the second male lead a nice person but manipulative and evil second lead. Oh perhaps it only works if the second lead is female. How sexist. So yeah Song Yi is fitting the daddy long legged type of character, but I don't root for him, or feel a pang of pain for him when Su Man has a feeling (whatever kind of feeling is that) for Lu Li Chen, who is the main male lead, or feel happy when Song Yi finally has a relationship with Su Man. He is a handsome, affectionate, gentle, caring, smart, rich and good at his work. He is one who would rather sacrifice his work to put his love on the top priority. I probably will have a second lead syndrome in another dramas, but here. His indecisiveness drives me nutty. It is kind of indecisiveness that lead to someone else's pain. The one whom I usually want to drag to orthopedist to have back bone operation is the female main lead, but for this one time is the second male lead is the one.

When Lu Li Cheng knew all Song Yi's deeds, he said, "I really want to punch you right now". I said, "Hell ya, punch him Lu Li Cheng!"

So here he goes *satisfied*

I think my love for Wallace Chung is blinding me 😃 but I beg to differ. I thought I would never pick this up again, but I miss him so much after I finish General and I 😢. Then I pick it up again and pull my heart together to watch him suffer alone. 😭😢😤. I am the one who respect a writer’s privilege to control over where the story goes, but this drama is too much. I never take side in shipping war. Look I didn't mad to the writer of Answer Me 1988 for choosing the baduk player ha ha ha. I will just sulk at the corner by myself 😃

With brooding Wallace Chung as company :D

Seriously, this drama becomes a marathon of watching Wallace Chung brooding and sulking in all his glory. The drama's only saving grace.

And the madness. They promote the drama with Wallace Chung as Lu Li Cheng and Janine Chang as Su Man to be the male and the female main lead and of course the OTP. See the promotional poster. But the execution betrays this. The core of the drama or I may say the sole reason the writer wrote the story is how Su Man can have courage, against all odds, to work out her love relationship with Song Yi, her ten years old crush (or perhaps her first love?), so there is no such a thing called OTP as promoted. You know like you have to have faith on your one-in-a-life time soulmate, first love, etc, whatever. And the story spends so much time on Song Yi who is supposed to be second lead and whom I couldn’t even care less over Lu Li Cheng whom they promote as the male main lead (they tone down this part a little bit in the drama, but in the novel I can’t even, seriously Song Yi grates my nerve). Since the story is told mostly from the female main lead's perspective, I supposed I should at least feel something for her, sympathize with her, but I end up feeling more sympathy for Lu Li Cheng, and imagine myself trying to walk in his shoes. If you get mad when Seo Kang-joon took over the screen time from Park Hae-jin in Cheese in The Trap, you will be more than furious watching Best freaking Time.

Angrier than watching this cheating couple...

Or happier watching our heroine finally gets together with her ten years old crush....

I am more gobsmacked by how she begs him to love her and to stay. Seriously girl! Don't you ever read somewhere that the more you need to beg him to stay, the more you need to let him go. I can't understand her, I can't...

What even more absurd from Su Man character is the time when she blames him for leaving her with no sign, no notice, no word, after she loves him for all those ten years and all things she has done to get close to him. Duh he did not ask her to love him for all those long ten years or ask her to do all those crazy stupid things, she is the one who chose to love him, she is the one who chose to low her self to do all things she done. For those ten years she could just say 'I quit', and walk away or say 'Hell no I will do such a thing for a guy', but she chose and she did. She can blame him for all the things he did in the short time they were together, but she can't blame him for all Ten Years he didn't even exist in her life.

I wonder if the promotional poster only showing Su Man, not her and Lu Li Cheng, since the story is all about her. Or the poster shows her at the middle of Lu Li Cheng and Song Yi, because the story is about who Su Man chooses, regardless. And they cast two male actors with almost the same star power, so both of them have equal footing on the love story. It may reflect Su Man’s wavering heart, the undecided decision of her so is ours, the audience. I remember the novel is not quite clear about the male main character. The drama should be like that too.

But if you read the novel, at the epilog, suddenly the story has a narration shift to Lu Li Cheng’s POV. After years, Lu Li Cheng finally has the heart to look for Su Man (She is teaching English at Lu Li Cheng’s hometown. Sigh) to make confession, but at the end he only discovers she doesn’t have any attention to spare for him, she just happily walks past by him with hands holding Song Yi. She doesn’t even notice him who is just standing nearby. No chance for confession. He can’t ruin Su Man’s happiness, can he? That’s the peak of writer’s cruelty. How mean! Sure you want to keep with the novel’s tittle (Secret Hidden (Lu Li Cheng’s feeling and all things he has done for Su Man) in Time), Writer-nim. Go ahead and screw yourself 😛

Because it is painful to watch Lu Li Cheng helping Su Man cleaning up after she vomits, seeing Song Yi's new girlfriend

Or helping to take care Su Man's dying father in hospital

Or helping to fend off  annoying Su Man's house buyer so he can the house himself for higher price

Or deciding to not back to his office and not going out of town on the weekend so he can stay at the hospital

Or saying he still waits his future girlfriend to say comforting words with winking, nudging, half-confessing and Su Man just half-assed feigns ignorance....
When I've known the ending would be like.....

Oh the betrayal. It is I think what makes many people mad about the ending. They should just promote as it is. But the writer's guilt is that she makes the readers invest so much on Lu Li Cheng then she flips the table at the end. Sigh. She constructs Lu Li Cheng as the typical male main lead in Chinese romance novel like he is the first one who meets the female main lead, he is who helps the female every times she's in troubles, he is the one who is with her when she's sad, he is one to sacrifice something and endures everything in silence and hell even he is the one who has her spending time with His family. See the things that the writer wrote to tries to eluded us. He is such a great character, principled and true to his words. You can Not not fall for him or you are not a C/T/K drama fans 😄 You know it is torturing to watch Lu Lui Cheng's tortured face because he watches Su Man gets tortured by someone else. He can't do anything to lessen the pain. Someone says watching your lover's suffering is more painful than when you have to suffer yourself. Truer words never been spoken. And We just want our emotional investment back 😉

There's a reason why episode 35 is my favorite episode of the drama. When Su Man cries the hell out, being drama queen and all, after finding out the cheating hullabaloo, Lu Li Cheng tries to calm her down and slaps talk some sense to her by saying: "Su Man! Have some self-respect!" (just the way I want to do to the writer)
I rejoice! 🙌

I try to figure out what the writer's has in mind writing such story (Yeah I tend try to rationalize things when things get out of hands 😬). I think she is a masochist with sadistic streak. I think she is one who her first love never made it to come across, she needs companies. I think she wants to tell us that some love just never works no matter how we work for it. 😂 I think she wants to tell us love is about timing, never miss your/our timing, she, the writer, probably one who has ever missed her timing. I think she wants to tell us even if love doesn't work out at the end, love is still... LOVE. You know what without the belated, compensation closure in the drama, the point that really hit the home for me is that Lu Li Cheng who chooses his work over drowning in painful romance, who is stealth himself, who keeps on walking on the long lonely road by himself could be.....................................me

They think it is clever to have such kind of open ending (ep 47).

Yet I'm still not satisfied with this ending too because it doesn't lessen my resentment toward the writer, since some girls don't want to be a Cinderella and to wait for a prince with white shining armor....

Some girls just want to be regular girl who has a job that she does only because she loves and passionate about it and has a man who understands and respects her.

Title: Best Time
Alternate Title: Secrets Hidden in Time
Author: Tong Hua
Edition language: Indonesia
Publish year: 2016
Publisher: Haru Media
Pages: 464

P.S.: You can find the spesial final episodes at Youtube and Dailymotion. You can copy paste the mandarin title. I won't give you the link since I'm afraid somebody will take them down. Go straight to ep 49, just skip ep 48, if watching 47 episodes are enough tasking. No English subtitle though. Swear God watching the drama and reading the novel brought me a gloomy mood. Is the writer, Tong Hua, even a woman?? Ha, ha, ha.