Green Forest, My Home

Cast:
Esther Liu Ping Yan as Sophie
Leon Jay Williams as William Spencer
Ethan Ruan Jing Tian as Jing Yuan Fang (Owen Jing)
Song Zhi Ai as Susan
David Chen Yu Fan as Brian

Plot:
Long ago:
A little girl named Susan moved into a new home because her abusive father died. She lived with the employers of her father. The people she lived with had a daughter named Sophie. Sophie lived in a nice house and had everything she longed for. She had a close friend named Jing Yuan Fang, who had a crush on her. Susan, a kid who was abused by her father and abandoned by her mother, was jealous and wanted everything Sophie had, including Yuan Fang and any other guy in Sophie's life.

A new kid, William, arrived in their school, Spencer Royal Academy. He and Sophie ran out of school and the two of them hung out together and got lost in Green Forest. They found their way out, but before that, they met an old lady. The old lady told William that the girl next to him would be his true love. He would meet her again and he must trust her with all his heart, or she would lose her life.

William took this to heart, bu he had to leave for Australia. He decided to give her a letter and looked all over the school for her. He could not find Sophie and gave it to Sophie's "sister", who said the little girl William met was named Susan, because William did not know Sophie's name. Susan did not give the letter to Sophie, but kept it for herself. Yuan Fang had to leave as well, but poor Sophie could not say goodbye.

Meeting again:
Years later the four kids, now adults, meet again. Yuan Fang, now a famous violinist known as Owen, returns to his hometown to find his childhood crush Sophie. Sophie is now a school teacher at Green Forest Elementary. She is sleeping at the airport when Owen recognizes the book she is holding and plays a little song to wake her up. Sophie wakes up, but Owen's violin has attracted many other people, including William. William is back from his studies and is taking his place as CEO of Spencer because his father is the founder.

Although William is back, he courts Susan instead of Sophie because he was told that the little girl he so adored is named Susan. Susan now works for Spencer and knows William is the little boy she tricked. Of course, Susan accepts William to achieve her plan of stealing everything of Sophie's.

Problems/Relationships:
- Green Forest Elementary is about to be closed down by Brian, who is in love with Susan. Brian is another CEO and is always against William because William is with the woman he loves. So William and Brian make a deal. If Green Forest Elementary wins first place in the Spencer Academy's annual singing competition, then Green Forest Elementary would not be closed down. If they get any place less than first, the school will be shut down. The chances of Green Forest Elementary winning is slim because it is a poor school with fewer that twenty students. But Sophie and the other teachers, along with Owen, prepare the kids for this competition to save Green Forest Elementary.

- William is courting Susan. Sophie does not know that William is her prince charming. Susan knows but will do anything in her power to take everything in Sophie's life. That includes Owen. Owen knows about Susan and her plan. He wants to convince Sophie of the truth, but still, Sophie knows that if she does anything to accept William, she will hurt Susan. Susan does not care and continues to hurt Sophie by taking William. William finds out that the real little girl was Sophie and tries to be with her, but factors like his mom and Sophie's unwillingness to hurt Susan get in the way.

- William's life is in danger because of Susan's ex-boyfriend. Susan's ex-boyfriend thinks that he and Susan are meant to be because of their low status. He does many dangerous things to get Susan to be with him and the more she resists him, the more he tries to make her be with him.

- Owen has a fiancee named Fiona, who is also his manager. They've been dating for four years, but Owen is still not certain that he will marry Fiona until he sees Sophie again, since Owen still loves Sophie and he always will. So basically, Fiona and Owen have problems in their relationship and that interferes with his career. Not only that, his love for Sophie makes him willing to sacrifice anything for her so for a while, Owen's career went downhill because of all the sacrifices he made for her.

-Sophie has a cut on a piece of leaf one night and develops a disease that is fatal. It starts out with a fever, which worsens over time and Sophie's life is in peril. Owen's mother had died of that illness and so he's always desperately trying to get Sophie to get treatment for this illness.

-Susan's mother abandoned her when she was young. It turns out that her mom has been watching her from afar and was in the employment to Susan's crazy ex-boyfriend. Susan's mom did a lot for her, but Susan did not know, so when the two meet again, Susan is unwilling to accept her mom. Brian tries with all his might to reunite them but Susan's stubborness and pain do not let her.

Performances:
Esther Liu Ping Yan as Sophie - Esther is really young, but her age doesn't show in her acting. Sophie is a person who is kind of like a little girl but is very kind-hearted and sacrifices herself for everyone. Esther portrayed her well. She looked cute and could cry on cue for someone so young - I don't think she's even out of her teenage years yet. My only problem is when Sophie is pretending that she's okay, she uses the cute, pouty factor a lot. It gets tiring after a while. But other than that, she did well. She had great chemistry with Ethan and Leon even thought Leon is older than her. I also like her outfits, they look so snug. Esther has really improved since Chinese Paladin.

Leon Jay Williams as William Spencer - At first I didn't like this guy since he was really stiff and he looked a little weird, but as the series progressed, he looked a little cute, at least his character got cute. And Leon's face matches with the William character. William is supposed to be a rich guy who isn't spoiled and very business-like. Leon's thin long face and his tamed hairstyle suit the character of William. Leon has a face that is really plain and William is very plain to me. He's cute, but kind of plain. Leon also made small gestures that match with William's personality. I think this guy is perfect for a character like William.

Ethan Ruan Jing Tian as Jing Yuan Fang (Owen Jing) - First of all, Ethan is really hot. He has a really cute face and he has muscles that do not look gross. He really portrayed Owen very well. Ethan has the whole playful thing going on and that's like Owen, he's always cheerful and playful around Sophie. And the looks Ethan have on his face that Owen is supposed to have everytime he looks at Sophie don't look fake. I'm pretty sure that Ethan can't play the violin, but he faked it well, even though pretending to play the violin isn't hard, but it really looked like Ethan knew what he was doing.

Song Zhi Ai as Susan - Song Zhi Ai is very pretty. I noticed that when I first watched the drama. She's pretty but at times she couldn't act very well. She's always the same. I don't see much difference in her facial expressions. But I do think she was good at scenes where she was crying, angry or fighting with her ex. He was man-handling her and she looked like she was really fighting back. She was also good at crying when she denied her mom in the streets. But when she tried to do scenes with hatred or evilness, she just looked weird. I haven't seen her in other series, so maybe this is the first series she's in and she just needs time to adjust and improve.

David Chen Yu Fan as Brian - This guy is okay. He's better than Song Zhi Ai though. And he and Song Zhi Ai look great together. He looks a little weird in a suit though. He's really buff and it just looks weird. But overall he did okay. I can't really put my finger on what was wrong with him, he just wasn't excellent as Brian.

Favorite Scenes:
- I love the scenes with Sophie and Owen togehter. They make a cute couple and Ethan is so hot!
- There was a part when William and Sophie had another argument and Sophie repeated the words the lady in the forest said. You can tell William was shocked, but he was able to keep his composure.
- The scenes of Ethan playing the violin were awesome. Ethan was really hot. It might be the lighting, but I know he really wasn't playing the right notes.
- One of the teachers of Green Forest Elementary had a crush on her colleague and she was planning to tell that guy about her feelings. She stuck a note on that guy's water bottle during a party. Sophie saw the note instead and went to that meeting spot (the teacher didn't leave her name, just the location she wanted to meet him). William saw that note as well, when Sophie put the bottle down without taking the note off. He also went to that location. The teacher had index cards and was practicing what to say. Sophie interrupted and the teacher ran out of the room, throwing all the cards on the floor. Sophie picked up all the cards and read them out loud. William arrived and heard all the mushy words and assumed that the words were for him. The last card said "Don't say anything. Just turn out the lights and kiss me." William did turn out the lights and kissed Sophie. I thought it was so funny.
- Sophie and William was running away from the ex-boyfriend and his little gang because the ex wanted to kill William. Sophie and William ended up staying in this little shack all night, unconsciously cuddling. When they woke up they were so surprised.
- Also love the scenes when Ethan is shirtless.

Music:
The music is great. I really like the sub-theme song, it sounds so sad. The theme song is pretty good, but it gets tiring after a while. I guess it's too...I don't know, folkish.

Comments:
I really like this series. Some of the scenes were kind of boring, but the whole thing was really good. I really love the fact that when Sophie's life was in danger, she did not tell William to leave her or intentionally hurt him. She wanted to stay with him. I was so happy. Ethan was really cute... and hot. The plot was really well written. At first it sounded like Stairway to Heaven, but it was so much better. Everything was so... green. And light-hearted. I wouldn't say it is as good as Meteor Garden or The Prince Turned To A Frog, but it has its own merits.