Down With Love

Chinese Title: Jiu Xiang Lai Zhe Ni
English Title: Down With Love / Just Want to Depend on You / Stick With You
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: January 2010 to May 2010

Cast
Jerry Yan as Xiang Yu Ping
- Ji Xin Ling as Xiang Yu Fei (niece)
- Xiao Xiao Bin as Xiang Yu Ting (nephew)
- Vicky Chen as Yu Fei and Yu Ting's mother

Ella Chen as Yang Guo
- Kelly Huang as Yang Duo (older sister)
- Gu Bao Ming as Yang Bo Tong (father)

Michael Zhang as Qi Ke Zhong
- Rong Rong as Qi's mother

Chen Zi Han as Ding Hui Fan
Amanda Zhou as Xu Yan Ling
Yan Yi En as Liang Zhi Hao
Jeno Liu as Su Fei
Judy Zhou as Ah De (Yang Guo's ex-boyfriend)

Synopsis
Cold and introverted Xiang Yu Ping is a divorce and inheritance lawyer, who is responsible for taking care of his niece and nephew after the death of his brother. Although he does not dislike them, he finds it hard to care for them and cannot seem to show them affection. He constantly hires nannies for the children, but they all end up either falling in love with him or scared away by the kids. Finally, Yu Ping asks his secretary Yang Duo to find a nanny for him.

Swimming in debt that her father left them, Duo will do anything and everything to make money. She tells Yu Ping to hire her younger sister, Yang Guo. Duo lies and says that Guo will definitely not fall in love with him saying that Guo is homosexual. Yu Ping believes this because he has met Guo when she was working at a restaurant he previously went to. In order to scare off a man who has been wooing her, Guo's best friend Yan Ling pretends that she likes women and kisses Guo in front of everyone.

At first, Yu Fei and Yu Ting do not like their new nanny, but Guo seems determined. Through a series of events, the children and Guo are taken hostage by a group of kidnappers. Yu Ping goes to save them but is captured himself, but not before managing to free the children and letting them escape. Through this Yu Fei and Yu Ting realize that their uncle really does care about them.

The kidnappers leave a bomb to kill off Guo and Yu Ping, but at the last moment, Guo takes the bomb from Yu Ping's mouth using her own, and throws it aside, saving both their lives.

Soon after, Guo meets Qi Ke Zhong, one of Yu Ping's very good friends. They become quick friends and he hires Guo to work at his interior design firm. He grows quite fond of Guo's cheerful personality, but does not see her as more than a friend. It is also revealed that Yang Duo harbours a crush on Ke Zhong.

Guo is also reunited with her estranged father, who had abandoned them when they were young and left them with a huge debt. He feels terribly sorry and ultimately, they patch things up.

Enter Ding Hui Fan, popular actress and Yu Ping's on-and-off girlfriend. He proposes to her but she rejects, later regretting it when he drifts away from her. Yu Ping eventually starts falling in love with Guo and also finds out that she is not homosexual. He breaks up with Hui Fan, but she desperately clings onto him. She even asks Ke Zhong, who has been in love with her since high school, to date Yang Guo so that she and Yu Ping cannot develop any further feelings for each other. Ke Zhong agrees.

Although Yu Ping does not love Hui Fan anymore, she insists that they are dating and even tells the press regardless of his protests. Meanwhile, Guo is developing stronger feelings for Ke Zhong with the more time they spend together. However, Duo is utterly heartbroken and sometimes takes it out on her sister, although she doesn't really mean to. However, Guo soon finds out that Ke Zhong doesn't actually love her and she is grief-stricken. She breaks up with Ke Zhong, but at this point he realizes that although their relationship had originally been an act, he actually fell in love with her in the process.

Eventually, Yu Ping confesses his love for Guo and they begin a relationship. Yu Fei and Yu Ting, although now on good terms with their previously cold uncle, leave to go live with their mother whom returned and wanted to see them again. They encourage his relationship with Guo. For the first time, we see a more immature and protective side of Yu Ping and he doesn't know how to act with Guo. For when he was in a relationship with Hui Fan, he could not openly express his feelings for her and didn't know how to deal with his feelings for Guo.

Ultimately, he proposes to her and they get married. The series ends off with a happier note, with Guo and Yu Ping celebrating their son's birthday and expecting another child.

The Verdict
I was happy when I heard that Ella was making her acting comeback. Although I was disappointed with her performance in Hana Kimi, I felt that she did a lot better in this drama (as there were no overexaggerated facial expressions and the fact that she actually looked like a girl this time). Please don't flame me for saying that, I'm actually a really big fan of Ella's.

Anyway, this drama wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Towards the end, everything seemed rushed. It was almost as if the writers said, "Okay, they've gone through enough now. Let's just get them married and reproducing like bunnies." Plus, I felt that Yu Ping's character progression was too quick. He was supposed to be cold and selfish, but already at the beginning he was rather kind to Guo when he thought she was a lesbian and wanted to stand up for her rights to "love whoever she wanted."

Hui Fan's character was rather annoying. She was the one who rejected his marriage proposal for the sake of her career, then she had the nerve to sabotage his relationship with Guo and manipulate Ke Zhong's feelings for her. Even when Yu Ping was telling her that there was no chance of them getting back together, she was ignorant and actually insisted and told the media that she was dating him. I mean, how desperate can you get? I lost respect for her as a woman, because what she did was shameful.

I don't really have much to say about this drama, because there wasn't really much to it. It was a very, very light-hearted drama, with the exception of the whole thing where Ke Zhong dated her for kicks but then ended up falling for her anyway. If you're looking for a light romantic comedy then I guess Down With Love is a good choice. However, don't expect too much. Jerry Yan was still charming as ever, but it wasn't his best performance of course. Ella's adorable as always, but her character didn't really have much depth either.

Overall, I'd say Down With Love deserves a three out of five star rating.