Screenwriters Ginger Wang and Wan-Zhen Zou directed Women in Taipei which is a story about a young town girl I-Shan from Tainan, who dreams to go to Taipei city and lead a future there. The story is adapted from the Tokyo Girl series but terribly fails at giving it new life. There are 11 episodes in total, each 50 minutes long.
The main cast includes, Gwei Lun-Mei, Kimi Hsia, Edison Wang, Cosmos Lin, Joelle Lu, Gail Lin, Sylvia Hsieh, Chih-xing Wen, Rhydian Vaughan, Patty Pei-Yu Lee, Andrew Chau, Kai-Syuan Tzeng, Chien-Ho Wu, Bruce Hung, Frederick Ming Zhong Lee, Yi-lan Chao, Cheng-Chun Chung, and Jia-Yin Tsai.
– Women in Taipei Review Does Not Contain Spoilers –
Women in Taipei: A Brutally Honest Review
A village person leaving to get a new life in the city is definitely a repeated concept. But the reason why I decided to watch this series despite knowing the synopsis is to see some Taiwanese culture, rich Taipei and Tainan places and of course, how Taiwanese dialogue is executed by the actors. When it comes to the actors, they all did good but the story, according to me, is a flop.
Just like a typical mother, I-Shan’s (Gwei Lun-Mei) mom keeps nagging her that city life won’t be as pleasing as village life, which yes, is true. However, every city has its perks as well. Sadly, the writers didn’t show the positive side of the city at all but instead only showed how gruesome city life could be. Was this to make the global mothers feel that they’re always right or did the writers have any particular hate towards the new-era cities?
I-Shan’s Sex Life and The Guys
Born and brought up in a small town of Tainan, I-Shan’s sex life became liberated only when she moved to Taipei. But was it all? The fact that her sexual encounters with different men due to relationship failures made it look like people who live in the city cannot settle for one. It depicted that everyone who lives in the party world won’t get married. What even is this? While some parts made sense, I completely felt like this is just another Sex and the City concept (but dumb) with just I-Shan and her sex life in Taipei city with all those men.
Women Empowerment? Really?
Why is it always portrayed that a beautiful and rich woman alone can survive in this world? I-Shan tries super hard to fit in Taipei city because she believes that all the women in Taipei are pretty, fearless and rich. Aspiring to become rich is fine but portraying that beauty and money are all it takes to succeed is negative. I don’t see a point in this series at all! If it was to show how I-Shan and most of the women think about beauty stereotypes which are wrong – it wasn’t delivered properly to the audience though.
I-Shan gets a job, succeeds, and she does become a hardworking woman. Rather than showing how she earnestly builds her life, the series only tries to shade city life by showing how women crumble. I mean, yes it is true, but if you’re really intending to show the life of women, there are seriously better ways out there. The writers could have shown a positive I-Shan who crosses her barriers. I found Women in Taipei extremely lost and dull-witted.
I-Shan is Such a Snob
No lie, this woman got on my nerves. If the writers intended to show how a girl who doesn’t respect her mother’s words ends up suffering, they did it well. But again, it seems like a personal move by the writers. A woman still can succeed in the city and bring happiness to her parents. Why wasn’t this shown? And the fact that I-Shan acts like she has nothing when she literally has everything spoiled my damn mood. I wondered how bratty this lady could be. Please.
Cinematography and Editing: Blunt and Boring
My eyes ached while watching the series. The visuals weren’t too noir nor too bright; I felt like the colourist didn’t even bother to give life to the picture. I’ve seen plenty of Taiwanese movies solely for the rich traditions and the spots that the movies/series show. Well, Women in Taipei failed in this aspect. They failed to grab the chance to show how cool Taipei locations are to the global audience.
Moreover, the editors added no flavour to the series. Seriously, it felt like two separate videos cut and joined to help the plot, that’s it. If you need a series to play on the screen for 11 hours while nobody watches it, pick Women in Taipei.
Soundtrack: The Only Good Thing
The soundtrack of the series is noteworthy. I specifically went to YouTube and heard them all because I liked them. There were a few that I fell in love with. Music has no language, but it can still carry a country’s culture. Truth be told, the series’ soundtrack certainly did it.
Women in Taipei: Final Verdict
Highly disappointed. It was hard for me to watch all 11 episodes when everything felt negative, slow and dumb. Honestly, the series was too stressful to watch. I don’t mean any hate towards the writers or the actors because they gave their shot. On a personal note, this isn’t the series for me.
If you believe that you could come up with another perspective, stream the series on Hulu, and let me know your comments.
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