Miss No Good
The Good:
+Occasional moments of heartfelt drama
+Great performances from some of the supporting cast
The Bad:
-Main characters and main plot are formulaic beyond belief
-Xiao Hua's (Rainie) voice
-Lacks a lasting emotional impact
Details (WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!!!!!):
A. Characters
1. Rainie Yang as Jiang Xiao Hua
It's pretty much standard Rainie with the pitch knob turned up. Her voice is barely tolerable at best, and ear-bleeding at worst. Most people will find it somewhere in between. The Xiao Hua character is pretty much the EXACT same as Tong Jia Di from Why Why Love: Poor, works hard to make ends meet, ends up meeting not just one but two wealthy people... you get the idea. The problem is that Xiao Hua is far too annoying to have any sympathy for her plight or to root particularly hard for her success. Acting wise the character is far too shallow for Rainie to really try and and do much more than some sad puppy faces.
2. Will Pan as Tang Men
Plays the hottest stylist in Taiwan. Pretty much the standard badboy character that's actually soft inside... kind of like the love interest of everything Rainie is in (sans Spider Lillies). Ok that was an exaggeration, but not much of one. You can expect the standard angsty outbursts, really fast talking, etc. from his counterparts in other dramas. I don't think I really need to say much more than that. Will's acting is alright, but much like Xiao Hua, the character is too shallow to really have any meat for anyone to show off.
3. Dean Fujioka as Jia Si Le
Plays the pretty rich boy that all the girls want, just like every other Rainie drama... And like those other dramas, rich boy likes Rainie's character, but she gets stolen away by the other guy who isn't as good looking or as rich or as... well you get the idea. Dean's Mandarin is surprisingly good, but unfortunately, the character is once again far too formulaic and can only be taken so far.
4. Chen Yan Xi as Jiang Mi
Let me just say straight out that I love Michelle as an actress so I'm probably biased. However even with my bias, I can see that the character of Jiang Mi is once again, another cliche rich snobby girl who's the protagonist's rival etc. etc. I had really hoped there would be more depth to the character so that Michelle as a newcomer could have something to work with and show off her chops but I digress. You probably have a pretty good idea of what the character is like already just from that one sentence above; not much more than that I'm afraid.
5. Jian Chang as Jiang Da Shu
Plays the steadfast dad of Xiao Hua. This guy is great, as he plays up all the right attributes to make a character likeable without going over the top. An example of this is his forgetfulness. The character is also more layered than any of the leads, as Da Shu has a past that's been buried for 20 years, and leads to a nice twist in the plot. Jian Chang's performance is fantastic.
6. Wen Ying as Granny Jiang
Standard Granny character. Supportive, provides a moral center, etc. You know the drill. Occasionally her character launches into monologues while surrounded by weeping masses (exaggeation) and these tend to go a little long. However that's more a fault of the script and not the character itself. The acting is good, pretty much would you would expect.
7. Xi Man Ning as Zhu Ya An
The best character, and I say this because she has by far the most depth. The beginning paints her as just another rich snob looking down on the poor folks. But as the show progresses, we find that she has a long and sorrowful past that's been deeply buried, and the episodes that delve into this background I personally found to be the best. The development and redemption of this character was by far the most engrossing plot in the show. The actress playing her is fantastic, as she hits all the right highs and lows, goods and bads, etc.
Supporting Cast:
Tang Qi as Grandma Jia
Shi Yuan Jie as Dou Zi
Xiao Call as JoJo
Denny Huang as Lai Rui Ke
Jin Yu Lan as Tang Men's mother
Evonne Hsu as the Goddess
Pretty much all standard sidekick/support characters that you've seen before. The Goddess character I find a rather strange addition so look out for that. The actors/actresses here play their parts well with the material that they are given.
B. Plot
The main plot is as I mentioned before, formulaic beyond belief: Rainie love triangle and she picks the one who doesn't have everything. Sound familiar? The main character's humble background and hardworking nature probably also sounds familiar. That the guy Rainie rejects is the more successful/richer/more well-liked guy probably also sounds familiar. The real gem in the show is the subplot involving the Ya An and Da Shu characters. That develops a great twist which plays out nicely in the end. It's also part of most of the heartfelt drama. Everything else feels decidedly recycled from Devil Beside You and Why Why Love.
C. Music/Soundtrack
Pretty standard stuff. Rainie sings the pop ballads while Will provides the R&B/Hip-Hop opening track. Neither is likely to be remembered as fondly as Ai Mei from DBY. The background score is nice and generally doesn't overdo it.
D. Intangibles (X-Factors)
A formulaic plot and characters can still be pretty good if there are intangibles. The problem with Miss No Good is that it doesn't really have anything here. There's no particularly good chemistry between the leads. There's no great scenary shots, no memorable dialogue, etc.
Final Score: 2/5
