Angelo (2017)

I picked up this drama on a whim because there was nothing else on I felt like watching, and was very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it and ended up pretty much binge watching.

This story revolves around Li Xiaohan, a single mother of a daughter, Yiping, who contracted HIV after a blood transfusion. They live open a bed and breakfast on Baisha Island. Li Xiaohan definitely falls into the "naive but kind country girl" trope, but in her own way, is a very resilient character whose weakness is thinking of others too much.

An Jieluo is definitely plays into the the trope of a very over the top, bad-tempered, "bark is worse than his bite" rich second-generation heir, but he is also a talented doctor. After he loses his job for beating someone up at the hospital (his bad-tempter is no joke), he goes to work on Baisha Island where his mother's building a resort.

The resort project is lead by Jiang Fengen, the second male lead and Li Xiaohan's ex (who is still in love with her, of course). Xu Yiyun, Fengen's current girlfriend, who is the daughter of a company executive and a violinist goes with him to Baisha Island.

Yiping is also a complete delight to watch, and super duper cute. Much of the tension in the middle of the drama is about HIV, and how the villagers on Baisha Island don't understand it and react badly.

My favourite thing about this drama is how it subverts the evil mother-in-law/ex-girlfriend/girl-who-likes-the-guy-who-likes-you tropes that are pretty much staple in Asian dramas. There were elements of some of those, but they were handled maturely and not made a big deal of. Basically, the women who are usually pit against each other actually sat down, thought things through and talked with each other. I especially appreciated the friendship between Xiaohan and Yiyun.

All in all, it's a very steady, character-orientated and mature drama with no huge ridiculous eyeroll-worthy drama and villains.

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