“I've been thinking...everyone’s comfortable level of intimacy is probably different.”

This line as simple as it is will stay with me for a very long time as it puts some things in perspective and it’s just so beautiful especially when spoken by Tang Yan in the end credits. 

I’m typing this freshly awake from a six hour sleep after binge-watching 10 episodes of Lady Liberty till 5am as it’s been my weekend ritual for the past three weeks (now on ep 32). 

Cheers to the writers for giving us well developed side characters.

I’m a little sad as it feels like I’m the one whose company is closing down even though I have no business bone in my body. But I tell you, if you’re having a bad day, Lin Zhan Qiao is having the worst day. I can count the number of times she had a happy occasion so far and it’s not up to five. 

I love this drama so much, like genuinely, it’s so dear to my heart. It’s rare for a drama to pull me in this much even when I drop it for 7 days three times and the quality remains consistent. While watching the first 10 episodes, I realized it was fast paced and I wondered what the plot would be since there’s almost 30 more episodes left but now I know I’ll keep watching even if there’s 50 episodes in total. 

Setting my emotions aside, there are so many things I love about Lady Liberty. 

It’s a story of different people, shown as it is, just layers of human nature, whether good or bad, arrogant, ambitious, cowardly, greedy and everything. It’s also a story of love, forbidden, disrespectful, passionate, avoidant, happy, messy, angsty and a lot more. 

It’s a story benched on childhood trauma of the main characters and how it reflects and affects their entire personhood as an adult. Everyone is carrying scars from their parents and background and here, love doesn’t fix anything, no matter now huge and grand the feelings are. 

The plot starts with Lin Zhan Qiao( the fl played by Tang Yan), an editor and CEO of a small publishing house leaving a three years relationship with the male lead(He Nan played by Mark Chao), the biggest author in her firm and in the publishing industry in Shanghai. 

The abrupt end of their relationship triggered a large web of issues which the story revolves around. 

It caused a chain reaction so huge that led to the fl putting out fires from everywhere. What I love most about her is how confident she is and how she stands firm no matter what. She doesn’t look for trouble but she’s not scared of it either. Even when cornered, she tries her best to keep the situation under control. For someone who has strict principles and pride, she still manages to keep things to the standard. 

And I love how the show doesn’t gloss over her flaws, or other characters’ flaws. She's very proud (I personally don't think it's a big deal) and impulsive sometimes. She made quite a number of mistakes and without a plot armor, she's left with the consequences. Some, she was able to fix with the help of her loved ones, some couldn't be fixed.

He Han, the ml is another favorite character of mine. Gosh, I love his characterization so much. Wdym, we have a male lead who’s very comical, fine with looking uncool, extremely avoidant, has clear boundaries and expresses his love in the most gentle and beautiful way. The things he did for her were one of the kindest portrayals of love I’ve seen in dramas. His relationship with Lin Zhan Qiao was described best when he said;

 “I love you Lin Zhan Qiao but I hate myself more” 

 and when Lin Zhan Qiao said,

“When we’re good, we’re very good, but when things go south, it’s very very bad”

that captures everything about their relationship. 

The beautiful parts of their relationship was literally everything and the ugly parts will have you bawling in the middle of the night, at least that happened to me.

Here’s my short opinion on some of the characters:

Zhou Lanxin: I love how ambitious she is but deep down, she has self worth issues. She says Ling Yikai (her love interest) is the best man she can secure for herself. But if you’re trying so hard to win over a piece of shit, doesn’t that mean you see yourself as even lesser than that? I don’t necessarily like her or hate her either. It’s just in between. Sometimes I feel sorry for her and Ling Yikai.

To him, she’s like a vengeful ghost that won’t leave no matter how much he attempts to escape. It must be a nightmare to stay trapped in something you don’t want. And for her, forcibly holding onto someone who will never care about her is so pitiful. I keep asking myself what she sees in him. She says they’re the same, well, she’s so much better, more capable and more ambitious. I don’t like her tricks but she’s an interesting competitor. In a way, I'm glad they're together and not torturing some innocent soul.

I wonder how much she hates herself for her to keep torturing herself like that. Send everybody to therapy at this point. 

I wish we got a backstory to explain why she’s like that. Everyone seems to be affected by deep childhood trauma. Everything stems from their parents. 

Lin Zhan Qiao watched her parents live apart while still married to each other and she grew up wanting a close level of intimacy from her partner. I definitely won't survive in the kind of relationship her parents had.

He Han suffered physical and emotional abuse from his father and he grew up into an avoidant, traumatized man who has a distant level of intimacy. It's so clear how uncomfortable he was when she brought her toothbrush and pillow to his hotel. The context? they've been together for three years. If my boyfriend of three years can't stand the kind of intimacy I want, I'd break up too. Frankly, she's stronger than me cause I wouldn't have lasted five months.

But after 32 episodes, they're meant for each other, despite the big wall of issues between them. Only He Han can be with Lin Zhan Qiao and vice versa.

Zhou Mei : She grew up watching her mother pour her insecurities and hatred over her day by day and slowly she found herself becoming the exact kind of person her mother would hate. It doesn't justify her hypocrisy and contradictory actions, but it gives context to her character.

Gu Yan. Where do I start from? He’s deeply insecure. Tbh, with He Han being a legend, most people will be. But his desperate attempt at trying to hold onto everything and his blind obsession with surpassing He Han is turning him into something unrecognizable. 

All in all, I appreciate how dedicated the team is in sharing a realistic insight into the publishing industry. It was one of the highlights of the drama for me.

There are five episodes left before Lady Liberty ends and I know I may be heading for a mini slump (hopefully not) but I hope it wraps up nicely and I wish the cast success. 

The acting has been really good all round. Shout out to He Landou, it was nice to see her on screen again. 

I’m officially a Tang Yan fan because of this drama and I can’t wait to dive into her filmography. 

I’ll also be on the lookout for the other actors' dramas in the future like the actors who played Zhou Lan xin, Zhou Mei, Gu Yan and definitely Mark Chao. 

The OST is so beautiful especially the end credits song by Jane Zhang, currently listening to it while typing out this review. 

“I've been thinking...everyone’s comfortable level of intimacy is probably different.”

This line as simple as it is will stay with me for a very long time as it puts some things in perspective and it’s just so beautiful especially when spoken by Tang Yan in the end credits. 

I’m typing this freshly awake from a six hour sleep after binge-watching 10 episodes of Lady Liberty till 5am as it’s been my weekend ritual for the past three weeks (now on ep 32). 

Cheers to the writers for giving us well developed side characters.

I’m a little sad as it feels like I’m the one whose>! company is closing down even though I have no business bone in my body.!< But I tell you, if you’re having a bad day, Lin Zhan Qiao is having the worst day. I can count the number of times she had a happy occasion so far and it’s not up to five. 

I love this drama so much, like genuinely, it’s so dear to my heart. It’s rare for a drama to pull me in this much even when I drop it for 7 days three times and the quality remains consistent. While watching the first 10 episodes, I realized it was fast paced and I wondered what the plot would be since there’s almost 30 more episodes left but now I know I’ll keep watching even if there’s 50 episodes in total. 

Setting my emotions aside, there are so many things I love about Lady Liberty. 

It’s a story of different people, shown as it is, just layers of human nature, whether good or bad, arrogant, ambitious, cowardly, greedy and everything. It’s also a story of love, forbidden, disrespectful, passionate, avoidant, happy, messy, angsty and a lot more. 

It’s a story benched on childhood trauma of the main characters and how it reflects and affects their entire personhood as an adult. Everyone is carrying scars from their parents and background and here, love doesn’t fix anything, no matter now huge and grand the feelings are. 

The plot starts with Lin Zhan Qiao( the fl played by Tang Yan), an editor and CEO of a small publishing house leaving a three years relationship with the male lead(He Nan played by Mark Chao), the biggest author in her firm and in the publishing industry in Shanghai. 

The abrupt end of their relationship triggered a large web of issues which the story revolves around. 

It caused a chain reaction so huge that led to the fl putting out fires from everywhere. What I love most about her is how confident she is and how she stands firm no matter what. She doesn’t look for trouble but she’s not scared of it either. Even when cornered, she tries her best to keep the situation under control. For someone who has strict principles and pride, she still manages to keep things to the standard. 

And I love how the show doesn’t gloss over her flaws, or other characters’ flaws. She's very proud (I personally don't think it's a big deal) and impulsive sometimes. She made quite a number of mistakes and without a plot armor, she's left with the consequences. Some, she was able to fix with the help of her loved ones, some couldn't be fixed.

He Han, the ml is another favorite character of mine. Gosh, I love his characterization so much. Wdym, we have a male lead who’s very comical, fine with looking uncool, extremely avoidant, has clear boundaries and expresses his love in the most gentle and beautiful way. The things he did for her were one of the kindest portrayals of love I’ve seen in dramas. His relationship with Lin Qiaqiao was described best when he said

 “I love you Lin Zhan Qiao but I hate myself more” 

 and when Lin Zhan Qiao said,

“When we’re good, we’re very good, but when things go south, it’s very very bad”

that captures everything about their relationship. 

The beautiful parts of their relationship was literally everything and the ugly parts will have you bawling in the middle of the night, at least that happened to me.

Here’s my short opinion on some of the characters:

Zhou Lanxin: I love how ambitious she is but deep down, she has self worth issues. She says Ling Yikai (her love interest) is the best man she can secure for herself. But if you’re trying so hard to win over a piece of shit, doesn’t that mean you see yourself as even lesser than that? I don’t necessarily like her or hate her either. It’s just in between. Sometimes I feel sorry for her and Ling Yikai.

To him, she’s like a vengeful ghost that won’t leave no matter how much he attempts to escape. It must be a nightmare to stay trapped in something you don’t want. And for her, forcibly holding onto someone who will never care about her is so pitiful. I keep asking myself what she sees in him. She says they’re the same, well, she’s so much better, more capable and more ambitious. I don’t like her tricks but she’s an interesting competitor. In a way, I'm glad they're together and not torturing some innocent soul.

I wonder how much she hates herself for her to keep torturing herself like that. Send everybody to therapy at this point. 

I wish we got a backstory to explain why she’s like that. Everyone seems to be affected by deep childhood trauma. Everything stems from their parents. 

Lin Zhan Qiao watched her parents live apart while still married to each other and she grew up wanting a close level of intimacy from her partner. I definitely won't survive in the kind of relationship her parents had.

He Han suffered physical and emotional abuse from his father and he grew up into an avoidant, traumatized man who has a distant level of intimacy. It's so clear how uncomfortable he was when she brought her toothbrush and pillow to his hotel. The context? they've been together for three years. If my boyfriend of three years can't stand the kind of intimacy I want, I'd break up too. Frankly, she's stronger than me cause I wouldn't have lasted five months.

But after 32 episodes, they're meant for each other, despite the big wall of issues between them. Only He Han can be with Lin Zhan Qiao and vice versa.

Zhou Mei : She grew up watching her mother pour her insecurities and hatred over her day by day and slowly she found herself becoming the exact kind of person her mother would hate. It doesn't justify her hypocrisy and contradictory actions, but it gives context to her character.

Gu Yan. Where do I start from? He’s deeply insecure. Tbh, with He Han being a legend, most people will be. But his desperate attempt at trying to hold onto everything and his blind obsession with surpassing He Han is turning him into something unrecognizable. 

All in all, I appreciate how dedicated the team is in sharing a realistic insight into the publishing industry. It was one of the highlights of the drama for me.

There are five episodes left before Lady Liberty ends and I know I may be heading for a mini slump (hopefully not) but I hope it wraps up nicely and I wish the cast success. 

The acting has been really good all round. Shout out to He Landou, it was nice to see her on screen again. 

I’m officially a Tang Yan fan because of this drama and I can’t wait to dive into her filmography. 

I’ll also be on the lookout for the other actors' dramas in the future like the actors who played Zhou Lan xin, Zhou Mei, Gu Yan and definitely Mark Chao. 

The OST is so beautiful especially the end credits song by Jane Zhang, currently listening to it while typing out this review.