Autumn's Concerto (Taiwanese Drama)

Okay, I am going to say this in a really simple way - THIS DRAMA IS WELL WORTH A WATCH. It's Adorable, Sweet and a bit Exceptional in some places.

The story might seem a little too much cliche to you, But the drama is nothing near cliche. The way that ordinary story is told is in an sweetly extraordinary way. The direction is good. The acting is really really good. Story execution is actually commendable.

And above all, the drama is worth to watch only for Xiao Xiao Bin (Liang Xiao Le). He rocked. He more than just rocked. This little child just ruled. And it hard to forget him ever. We just feel like covering him with hugs and kisses. I wish I can take this child home and keep him there forever or something. So cute........

Ok.... To leave it there. Let's look at other aspects of the Drama.

Story :

When Liang Mu Cheng's father died when she was young leaving her with her step mom. Mu Cheng lives with her step mom and step-mom's boyfriend. She is a hardworking girl and has a helping nature. She is trying to leave from her house, as the step-mom's boyfriend has bad intentions for her.
Ren Guang Xi, is the rich son of a business woman who is the director of a university. His dad committed suicide when he was young and he never could get out from the trauma of that. Guang Xi believes that his mother is responsible for his father's death and hence he hates his mother.Because of that he lives his life rashly and does not believe in the goodness in the world.

When Ren Guang Xi is studying at the university as a Law Student, and Mu Cheng is working in the canteen of the university, they meet.
For Guang Xi, Mu Cheng is the first girl whom he see crying from her heart, without any fake feelings. He starts falling for her. But Guang Xi's mom has different plans for him. She wants him to marry Heo Yi Qian, the daughter of a wealthy business group. Yi Qian is a smart yet warm person. When she meets Guan Xi, she starts to like him too.

Guang Xi figure out that Mu Cheng's step-father has bad intentions for her. But an incident occur where everyone suspects that it was Mu Cheng who seduced the innocent step-father, where in reality the guy had tried to rape her. Ren Guang Xi and Mu Cheng's best fried, Hwa Tuo Ye stand along with her and they clear her name. By now Mu Cheng is also in love with Guang Xi.

But then Guang Xi gets to know that the headaches he had been suffering from for some years is not just some harmless head ache, but in fact he is suffering from a really dangerous brain tumor, and his chance of survival is really slim. So he starts to avoid Mu Cheng, thinking he can't give her a future. But eventually he has to tell her that the reason he is avoiding her is because of his health condition. Mu Cheng tells his that she does not care and want to be with him. They gets in to a serious relationship with one another, and Guan Xi agrees to undergo treatment for Mu Cheng. Mu Cheng stays with him during his painful treatment processes and take care of sick Guang Xi.
Guang Xi's mom tell Mu Cheng that there is a procedure that can increase the survival rate of Guang Xi, but that procedure can't be provided without the help from Yi Qian and her dad. So Guang Xi's mom ask her to leave Guang Xi, so that he can get that treatment.
Mu Cheng decides to leave. She spend one last day with Quang Xi and then leave Guang Xi in a really cruel way, telling him that she is not sure he will be alive the next day, then how can she trust her future with him? She says she is going to chose Hwa Tuo Ye, instead of Guang Xi, and she leaves with To Yae. Guang Xi begs for her to stay. and even run behind Tuo Ye's truck, and finally falls down to the road. After Mu Cheng can't see him anymore, he gets stabbed by Mu Cheng's step-father who was wandering around for revenge.
Guang Xi is taken to hospital and he gets his brain surgery by the new technology Yi Qian and her dad suggested. But after the surgery Guang Xi's memory is lost.
And Mu Cheng who is with Tuo Ye discovers that she is pregnant.

Six years later, Mu Cheng now lives in the native village of Hwa Tuo Ye, with her five year old son Liang Xiao Le. Xiao Le is a sweet and smart kid, but he has diabetics. Young Xiao Le is told that his father is an alien from Planet Dahla. And Xiao Le believes his alien papa will come for him someday.
Hwa Tuo Ye, who had a crush on Mu Cheng since they had first met, is trying to get her accept him as more than a friend, but Mu Cheng still has not accepted him. Still Tuo Ye is always there for Mu Cheng, helping her as her best friend. And for Xiao Le, he is his big Bro.

Six years later Guang Xi is a successful lawyer, but unlike his old self, he is just focus on money now. Guang Xi is now engaged to Yi Qian, and he lives her a lot. She loves him back too.
But fate plays a game, and Gaung Xi is sent to the village Mu Cheng lives to fight a land dispute case for the villages, for a social service. Guang Xi is supposed to stay in Mu Cheng's home too.

Xiao Le first mistakes Guang Xi to be his Alien Papa. Mu Cheng is shocked to see Guang Xi, but she discovers that Guang Xi does not remember her. So she decides not to disclose her identity. She strictly prevents Xiao Le to call him as alien papa too. But Xiao Le and Guang Xi gets attached to each other a lot. While living with her, Guang Xi also gets some flashback s of memories with Mu Cheng. But Mu Cheng tells they have never met before when Gang Xi asks. They live on like friends. They even discuss topic such as 'Xiao Le's papa' but Guang Xi never know that Xiao Le's papa is actually him.

But on the day before Guang Xi and Yi Qian's wedding Guang Xi see his old photo with Mu Chen and he remeberes everything. He is angry and feel betrayed. He calls of the wedding with Yi Qian and goes to find Mu Chen to get some answers...

(I will leave the story there.... For the rest, you should see the drama....)

Characters : 

Vanness Wu as Ren Guang Xi : A rich guy living a rash life, until he met Mu Cheng. If we look at his character closely we can see that he is just a normal man as any other human out there, with ability to love and hate. With calmness and rage and love and vengeance equally mixed in. He can be charming, but can be irritatingly possessive or arrogant too. He likes to quickly jump in to worst case scenarios and is a bit scared to trust or love, because of fear to get hurt.

Ady An as Liang Mu Chen : A simple and honest sort of girl. She doesn't like to depend on others, and doesn't like to hurt others too. She is hardworking. And She really loves people who are close to her and like to help them and wishes well for them. She believes in hope and goodness in the wold, despite coming from an unsafe past. She believes that even if there is only one string left in the instrument, you can still make music by that one string, like her favorite music piece, Air on G string.

Chris Wu as Hwa Tuo Ye : Mu Cheng's best friend. He had fallen for Mu Cheng from the first time he met her and had been cherishing his feelings for her. But when Mu Cheng met Guang Xi, realize that he should be happy that Mu Cheng found love. But when Mu Cheng leaves Guang Xi and she is alone, struggling to raise her son, Tuo Ye, really wish if Mu Cheng will just accept his love so that he can take care of them officially.

Tiffany Hsu as He Yi Qian ; Yi Qian is the daughter of a wealthy business man. She is a successful pediatrician too. She is a honest and loving sort of person. She is engaged to Guang Xi, and she really loves him. She was the one who took care of Guang Xi after his surgery. But on Guang Xi's mother's request, after Guang Xi's memory loss,  Yi Qian never tells him about Mu Cheng.

Xiao Xiao Bin as Liang Xiao Le/Ren Xiao Le : Mu Cheng and Guang Xi's son. He is five year old and is really smart and intelligent for his age. Xiao Le has diabetics. Xiao Le is told that his father is an alien from Planet Dahla and that the insulin injection shots he gets everyday is crystal energy. Xiao Le believes that his Alien Papa will come for him one day. Even though he later admits that he knew that his mom was telling him all this to him so as he does not feel sad for not having a dad. Xiao Le is honest and smart and follows every good rule his mom taught him, like helping others and to not give others trouble.

Linda Lu as Fang De Rong : Guang Xi's mom. She was a strict materialistic woman. She did not believe that what she ever did in life, even if it's the case with Guang Xi's dad or about making Mu Cheng leave Guang Xi, she had done the right thing. She believes in all that until she meet Xiao Le. The love for her little grandson changed who she was and she starts to see life in a new angle.

Credits :

Director : Chen Hui Ling
Writers :  Chen Hui Ling, Zeng Yong Ting, Huang Ji Rou, Wang Yu Qi, Lu Yi Ha

Review :

You might think that the story is too cliche. A rich guy- poor girl... And mom trying to split them apart. And you might say what the hell - brain tumor? Amnesia? - Is that real? Come on... that's going too much. And the child even has diabetics! Isn't that really really going too far?
Eh...yeh! But it doesn't feel so. Not for one second. The story is told in such a way that all these 'oh come on' factors does not apply at all.

The main thing I want to mention here, the main thing that strikes me different in Autumn's Concerto which was different from any other Korean/Taiwanese Dramas I had scene is that her, they have shown the relationship between a man and a woman in a really raw way. I don't know how to explain it, but...I will try to explain. In other shows, they will try to beautify romances. In other dramas when a guy gets jealous for his girl, because of some other guy, we do not feel that raw disgusting in the jealousy. Jealousy, possessiveness, distrust...all these are negative emotions. That should actually convey as negative emotions. But when a male lead in other dramas have these emotions, we do not feel the negativity that much. We might even enjoy the jealousy of the male leads in many dramas. But here, the distrust and possessiveness and jealousy feel real. Like coming from an actual man in flesh and blood. Not just from any character.
And not just the jealousy, and distrust...each interaction between Mu Cheng and Gaung Xi, especially the later ones (towards the end episodes, after Guang Xi gets his memory back), feel like it's playing the actual life of a husband and wife. Maybe it's because the actors have done so well. But it did feel like real couples fighting, loving and hating at the same time.
I liked that way how they have shown it so raw. Un-beautified. Not cooked and garnished like any other dramas. It's just as it is in real life.

Another best thing about the drama was....First it was interesting... It was lovely to see the relationship development between Guang Xi and Mu Cheng in the initial staged. To the part where Guang Xi is living with Mu Cheng and Xiao Le, but does not remember anything, we began anticipating the next events in the story, and it really keeps our interest. But then, Guang Xi regains his memory....and it was like...A BOMB EXPLODED. Seriously, it was that good. The story and the emotions conveyed goes in to such a blasting high level... We get gripped, or more like blown away by the impact of it. Seriously - hats off to the writer and director and actors... The story goes in to a different level from then on. And it's from then on that the real raw element in relationship comes in to the show. And that actually works wonder to this drama.

I will again admit that the story is corny and cliche. But this next element sets it apart... Liang Xiao Le, is a child born out of wedlock and does not have a dad. In other normal drams, we can see mom sad trying to figure out what to tell the child about the dad. But Mu Cheng had told Xiao Le that his dad in an alien from the Plant Dhala. And she had met him when his space ship crashed in front of the bus she was travelling. (Mu Cheng and Guang Xi first meet when Guang Xi stops his car in front of the bus Mu Cheng is travelling and refuse to move it), Also , Xiao Le is told that, because Xiao Le is half Dahla Planet alien, he needs crystal energy to survive. The daily injections of insulin he has to take is told as Crystal Energy.
That is the cutest yet touching story ever. That sweet story Xiao Le believes in takes our heart away.
Also Xiao Le has that old bracken tape-recorder, which he believes is a transmitter which will transmit his messages to his Alien Papa. He goes around tuning it saying "Mishu Mishu... Does Papa read my signal? Over." That is a nice catchy touch to the story.

But maybe above all what makes this drama really lovable is Laing Xiao Le's character. The child is given a mature yet cute character. His dialogues, his actions everything is just cute but... It's not just being cute. Xaio Le is cute, over the top, unbearable cute. But that was not the point here. We have seen other cute kids. But no one like Xiao Le. Xiao Le was mature too. He likes to take care of his parents. He is honest. He teaches others a thing or two about being honest. And Xiao Le asks all type of questions. He understands situations and and like to make cute comments on situations. Liang Xiao Le is just one of a kind, I think. I am not sure if we can find such a child character in any other work (movies/series/dramas).  And Xiao Xiao Bin who plays Xiao Le's character is just WOW! He is such an amazing actor at such a young age, and CUUUUUTTTTTTEEEE! Like I said earlier, we just want to cover him with hugs and kisses and want to take him home and always keep him with you. That much cute.
And to say actually, Xiao Le is the true hero of this Drama. Not Vannes Wu or Ady An, but little Xiao Xiao Bin is the scene sealer, who just ruled the whole show.

All the actors in the drama have done exceptionally well. Especially Vanness Wu. The way we get that raw feel of a Man's love and hatred and possessiveness is because Vanness Wu has acted so well. Ady An, Chris Wu and Tiffany Hsu have all done a good job. And Xiao Xiao Bin has done such a great, tremendously great job for a child of his age. But the I want to specially mention one person and that is Linda Liu as Fang De Rong, Guang Xi's Mom. Excellent acting. The way the mom changes from Xaio Le's company is shown so well by her. She is a bit strict type person, so she should not be lovey-dovey all of a sudden. She is award at first about her love for the child. So the fleeting care in her expression of strict but awkward face is what brings a life to the relationship of the grand mom with Xiao Le. And Linda Lu has portrayed that so well. So I really want to take time to mention her, instead of just mentioning the main leads.

Also, it's well directed. The small attention to details is there. For example, Guang Xi chases the departing Mu Cheng in an Operation Theater's patient's gown. And he is wearing nothing else but that, with naked legs and all. That somehow brings out the whole impact of the departing scene. Also the past where Guang Xi's memory comes back, he had done research on their past. But Gunag Xi doing research is not shown, but as Guang Xi takes his coat for the wedding suit and leaves, a paper flies out from the table and falls on the ground, and the camera focus on the paper which happen to be print out of a google results of Guang Xi proclaiming his life for Mu Chang all those years ago in front of everyone in the University Hearing. The paper lies there, and Gong Xi leaves and an ominous tune keeps going in background... Those small things just brings out the feel of the whole drama to a high level.

Other small facts that come to my attention are that it actually brings together the concept of a family in a really nice way. Also I liked the fact that Tuo Ye is lot left alone and he develop feelings for Ci Xin. The whole case at the end of murder of Gangster Fang, gives an interesting mystery and excitement element at the end of the drama. All other villages in the village also brings out a nice homely feel to the drama.

The visuals of the intro and ending song are really good. Also the OST is really good. My personal favorite songs from the OST are 'Why Did You Lie' and 'I Presumed'.

Hm...if to say a few negative points of the drama, it had some silly jokes like every other Taiwanese Drama. Also the portions where Mu Cheng leaves Gaung Xi, and all the sad parts seems to drag a bit. Maybe I felt that way because I could not wait for them to unite again....  And... The end... well it was a good end. But it could have been better. It could have been more definite, or more passionate. It felt a bit simple of an end for me. And ya, I am sad that it ended. I wanted to see more happily ever after life of Mu Cheng, Guang Xi and Xiao Le.

That's about it. I will yet again remind you that it's actually a good watch, and the whole 34 episodes of it is well worth it.

My Ratings of this Drama : 9/10 

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