To Get Her/Superstar Express

Much-awaited(though somewhat forgotten most recently in the flood of other dramas) Taiwanese drama To Get Her, starring Ranie Yang and Jiro Wang, finally began airing with its first two episodes this month.

Synopsis:

Mars is a superstar whose popularity went downhill after a series of negative publicity. His finances went into red alert and he had to find a place to live. He ended up renting a place from Mo Mo, his agoraphobic homebody landlord. He befriended her and her childhood friend Jia Sen, a swimming captain with the intelligence of an 8-year-old.

It stars Rainie Yang as Chen Mo Mo, Jiro Wang as Zhuang Jun Nan/Mars, and George Hu as Wei Jia Sen.

The Yang/Wang(do those rhyme or is it just me??) drama flick was formerly known as Superstar Express, but apparently that wasn’t obscure/cheesy-sounding enough for the producers so they changed the title to “To Get Her” (thanks, Taiwan. really).

I’m enjoying it nothwistanding the title however, although I think that’s partly because my expectations were lowered after reading really bad reviews of it. It reminds me a lot of Mars – the bubblegum compaion to Mars – in its theme of a withdrawn, lonely girl who meets a badboy playboy who gradually falls for her. Rainie’s character is agoraphobic(hates strangers/the touch of strangers) while Barbie’s was autistic, but both are similar in that what saves their character from being annoying dishrag is a streak of steel that reveals itself pretty early. Mars is much much better, of course, but I”m enjoying To Get Her for what it is. Jiro’s character is quite similar to Vic’s in that he oozes confidence from every pore while hiding a deep streak of insecurity and need, and expects (with loud insensitivity) for everyone to love him, but treats every word the main girl says as if it’s striking him to the core(something I quite like actually:). The only difference is, Vic’s character was actually charming while Jiro’s only thinks he’s charming. In summation: so far, it’s a light, bubblegum, highly enjoyable drama, and while I look forward to seeing Jiro deal with more intensely emotional scenes, he’s carrying his weight so far, and it’s very refreshing to see Rainie as a withdrawn, quiet girl instead of the loud-mouthed, fiery character she tends to play(although her mischievious side still comes out in delightfully subtle – for her – smiles). This is a star drama. We don’t need to watch it for the plot.

Watch the first two episodes on Mysoju (the quality is bad but good by mysoju standards)

Billasub is where the videos are coming from; it’s the only fansub group to have  picked it up so far, though translation looks to be very slow as I know they’re understaffed, and they don’t offer direct downloads. For now, we’ll have to content ourselves with Mysoju.

Random Jiro Wang photo: