Early Access: Mr. Bad [China] E1-2, E3-4

E1-2. There are two main reasons that I wanted to check out this show.

First, I love the ridiculous premise, where our the villain in our female lead's novel comes to life because she summons him in a moment of desperation, and he ends up becoming her neighbor, and then hijinks and romance ensue - of course.

It's all kinds of absurd, and offers lots of room for silly, and that just sounds like a potentially really fun time.

The other reason is, I have a great deal of fondness for Shen Yue, after her charming turn in 2017's A Love So Beautiful, and I welcomed the chance to see more of her on my screen.

And I have to say that right away, Show is delivering on both counts in fairly solid ways.

Our story shapes up pretty quickly, which I count a plus, because with most dramas, it's only maybe at the end of the first episode, that you start to see the pieces come together, to create the situation from which the story unfolds.

Not in this show.

Within about just 15 minutes, our male lead's been summoned from his world, and lands squarely in our female lead's lap, ha.

This already tells me that Show's not interested in waffling about; it wants to get to the point, and move things along, and that is very much fine by me, since I'm in the mood for easy-breezy, rather than something heavier and more complicated.

To be sure, the storytelling isn't anything groundbreaking, and there are a bunch of recognizable tropes that, coincidentally, vibe somewhat close to some of the tropes that we just saw in Love Between Fairy and Devil.

Importantly, though, they work within the framework of the story, and the execution is solid enough, that I still get a good chuckle, even though I've literally just seen variations of some of these, in another show.

I have to say, a lot of the credit for my enjoyment of this show, belongs to Shen Yue, because I find her really likable, as our female lead Nan Xing.

I love how she's such a petite little tiny person, who's so athletic and strong, that she can knock out a thief with a flying book, and princess-carry the mystery dude who's shown up passed out on her lap, without really even breaking a sweat.

I love more, how she's cute without being cutesy. There's an earthy, relatable quality to her brand of cute that I really dig; it makes her feel effortlessly endearing, and there's not try-hard about her cuteness, which is important to me.

I really like how straightforward and guileless she is, and it tickles me quite a bit, that she's so passionate and upstanding, that she's received multiple awards for nabbing all sorts of criminals, so much so that her coach's wall is running out of space on which to display them. 😁

I also really like how she's not easy to get down. Even when she thinks she's failed the interview at X-Culture for her dream job, she doesn't mope that much, and immediately thinks to cheer herself up with some milk tea.

Isn't that endearing, that the thought of milk tea is enough to perk her up, even though she's really very disappointed at the thought that she won't get to work with her idol Lu Zichen, like she'd hoped?

Most of all, though, I love how casually sweet and kind she is.

Even though our male lead Xiao Wudi is not the nicest to her (more on that in a bit), she does really nice things for him.

The little pamphlet she makes, with hand-drawn illustrations of how to live in the modern world, and her phone number, in case he needs it, is so thoughtful, really.

And the bottle of digestive medicine that she leaves for him, in case he suffers any indigestion from eating her mom's cooking, is very caring of her too, especially since, like I said, Wudi isn't exactly inviting the niceness by being nice himself.

Which brings me to the fact that I don't exactly like Wudi a whole lot, to start. But, I suppose that's built into the narrative, since he's the villain in Nan Xing's novel? Which means that he's supposed to be kind of bad?

I do find that he's rather brusque with her, and I don't like that he's essentially treating her like a nuisance-cum-burden, who's interrupted his life, but is too dumb to understand how or why.

This is also my introduction to Chen Zhe Yuan, so I have no pre-existing fondness for him as an actor, to fall back on.

And, from what I've seen so far, I honestly find him just ok, in the role.

I don't feel like there's anything particularly interesting, appealing or impressive about his acting range or his looks, but.. I could very possibly change my mind, depending on how our story unfolds.

I've been known to completely change my mind on actors and their appeal, sometimes due to heavy influence of the characters' appeal, so if Wudi turns out to be a really sweet boyfriend later on, I might just find myself eating my words, heh.

I find it somewhat amusing that because Wudi is smart and has a photographic memory (because Nan Xing's written him that way, heh), he learns everything about the modern world really fast, by studying at the library.

On that point, he kind of reminds me of Kim Boong Do from Queen In-hyun's Man, who also learned everything really fast, thanks to being smart, and thanks to spending time at the library.

It's just that Kim Boong Do was a nice male lead from the start, and Wudi.. isn't.

However, even though he's reluctant about it, he does intervene to save Nan Xing at the end of episode 2, when he gets summoned by her cry for help.

That's definitely a plus.

Also, I just find Show surprisingly amusing, sometimes.

I was very amused when Wudi decides that since Nan Xing had allegedly found him in a dream, then the way back to his world, must also be via Nan Xing dreaming - and so insists that she go to sleep right then and there, on the grass in the public park.

Hahaha! That was so ridiculous that I couldn't help giggling out loud.

But then, it became even funnier, that despite her misgivings, Nan Xing falls asleep pretty much right away.

And then, via her dreamscape, she comes face to face with the fairy who'd worked the magic to bring Wudi to life, because our fairy's a low-level, low-budget one, and he doesn't have the means to put Wudi back where he belongs, hahaha.

The way she physically attacks the fairy, for sending Wudi to her, is also unexpectedly hilarious.

Last but certainly not least in terms of Show's positives, I find myself gravitating towards our second leads quite nicely.

First of all, I instinctively knew that I've seen the actor who plays Lu Zichen. His face, and in particular, his voice, just stood out to me.

But, it wasn't until I looked him up, that I realized that I'd just seen him in Shining For One Thing, where he plays Chao Yang, the dude who's really into Chinese crosstalk.

It's pretty mindbendy for me to see him go from high-schooler to CEO in the space of a few months, but I like the discombobulation.

And, there's just something about the timber of his voice that really appeals to me. It has an unusual sound that somehow makes his CEO character vibe even cooler, to my eyes. 🤩

Also, I find myself being quite drawn to second female lead Ye Qing, who's the President (or would that GM?) of X-Culture.

She seems so calm, cool and capable, without coming across as standoffish or cold. I think she might turn out to be quite awesome.

All in all, a pretty solid pair of opening episodes, that make me feel very open to watching more of this show.

E3-4. As expected, our story trundles right along, this set of episodes, and by the end of episode 4, it feels like everything's pretty much in place for the height of the hijinks to take place. 😁

I am definitely digging Show's breezy pace; it feels like I barely need to wait for anything to happen, in this story world. Stuff just keeps unfolding, because, tick tock, we only have 24 hours to get to the finish line, no time to waste. 😁

This episode, I feel for Nan Xing, when Show reveals that she has PTSD after having been caught in a fire, in middle school.

Normally, Nan Xing is so cheerful and upbeat, that this reveal lands as extra poignant, to me.

And, the way she talks about how the doers cannot undo what's been done, because they're gone, makes me think that perhaps Nan Xing's father and brother had died in the fire, while working to save her.

If that's true, that would add such a dark layer of pain to Nan Xing's backstory, because it's bad enough to have been in a fire, and it's bad enough that she's lost her father and brother.

But it would be ten times worse, if she'd lost them because of the fire, because then there might be a lot of lingering survivor's guilt in the mix as well.

On the OTP front, it is definitely kind of convenient, that there's an empty apartment right next door, and it belongs to Nan Xing, so Wudi's got a quick place to stay, that's within easy reach of Nan Xing, but I kinda love it.

I mean, Show does give us an explanation for the apartment, which is that Dad had left it for Nan Xing, and it had been so precious to her, that she'd refused to let anyone lease it.

And, it is really quite handy, that we now have a view of both apartments at the same time, so that we can look into both main rooms and see both Nan Xing and Wudi at the same time. That's quite neat, I feel.

Plus, of course, it puts Wudi in close proximity to Nan Xing, without him having to camp out in her bedroom, which is nice, and much more practical for the medium- to long-term.

I'm not super hot on the way Wudi seems to treat Nan Xing as his maidservant, but like I said last episode, it gives him room to grow, so fingers crossed that he starts being nicer to her soonish.

That said, although Wudi responds to Nan Xing's trauma with fire by saying that now he knows her weakness, he does look suitably sobered when he says it, actually, so I still count that as a plus. As in, at least he's got a heart?

It's kind of tropey, the way Wudi gets summoned left and right by Nan Xing, on accident, this set of episodes, but I'm still rather tickled anyway.

Nan Xing's habit of pretty much saying the equivalent of, "Oh, help," every time she encounters some kind of setback, is quite funny, because it inevitably results in a very perplexed Wudi, finding himself suddenly in her presence.

And then the way he literally can't NOT do what she'd originally summoned him for, is quite amusing as well.

(Yes, it does kinda-sorta remind me of bits of Love Between Fairy and Devil, but it still works within the construct of our story, so it's all good.)

I'm actually quite surprised that Wudi decides that the best strategy to get himself back to his own world, is to help Nan Xing experience an unforgettable love - with someone else.

I'd somehow thought that perhaps he would offer to do some kind of contract marriage thing with her, so that she would experience that unforgettable love, but I think that's just me having watched too many contract marriage rom-coms, oops. 😅

His idea actually makes a lot more sense, because if he does find her someone to love for real, then he really is helping her wish to come true, right?

This episode, it becomes clear that Zichen's holding a torch for Ye Qing, and y'know, I'm already rooting for him to get the girl.

I dunno; there's something so wistful about how Luo Ming Jie plays it, that makes me want Zichen to succeed in winning Ye Qing's heart.

There's something quite endearing about how he's trying to keep playing his Cool CEO card, while trying to get close to Ye Qing.

Like the way he casually invites Ye Qing to dinner on her birthday, and then it becomes clear that his entire pretext for the dinner had likely been staged, so that she would think that he really did want to discuss the plot of his book with her, when really, all he'd wanted to do, was have dinner with her on her birthday, and give her that necklace as a gift.

It's all quite dorky, which I love, hee.

At the same time, his wistfulness that's written all over his face, when he realizes that not only does Ye Qing have a boyfriend, but said boyfriend had gotten her the exact same gift that he'd gotten her, lends a layer of poignance to his crush.

It's early days yet, but this ship has already grabbed me by the heart. 😁

On a tangent, I find it interesting, that Ye Qing had used to be Zichen's personal assistant.

I mean, I can believe that she's just so capable, that after 10 years of being his personal assistant and taking care of everything, that she'd be able to function perfectly fine as the company President.

But, it is an admittedly unusual career trajectory, isn't it?

I'd like to think that the whole reason it's possible, is because Zichen's that kind of openminded CEO.

So far, I really like how down-to-earth and approachable Ye Qing appears to be, despite her cool, capable persona.

The way she talks to Nan Xing on her first day of work and encourages her, is quite nice, honestly.

I did cringe when Nan Xing keeps freezing up in front of Zichen, and even thwacks him in an effort to act casual, not once, but twice.

BUT, I can totally imagine that Nan Xing will somehow find her stride in her new job, and end up becoming an asset to Zichen, quite possibly because of how in-depth her knowledge is, of his work.

Plus, she does do a bang-up job of reorganizing that storeroom, so at least that's a bright spot in the midst of that very bumpy start?

As we end off the episode, however, it sounds like Wudi has arrived at the company to pay Nan Xing a visit.

Oooh, is he going to try to matchmake her with Zichen, I wonder, since she has a massive fangirl crush on Zichen? I can only imagine the hijinks that would ensue, if that't the case.

To which I say, sure, bring it on, Show. I think I'm ready. 😁

Next episode notes will be out on: Friday, 18 November 2022!

*This show will be covered on the Ultimate Early Access (US$25) Tier*