Love Is Science?

This series from Taiwan is very watchable and enjoyable. A woman in her thirties, still reeling from a traumatic divorce, runs a matchmaking business in Taipei. She gets reacquainted with with the younger brother of one of her classmates who, unbeknownst to her, had a huge crush on her as a boy (and still does). He's now a kind-hearted beautician with an old-fashioned sense of morals and a dislike of technology (no Facebook page!). His womanizing best friend and co-worker gets involved with one of the employees of the matchmaking business, a gay man. The series also explores the ups and downs of two people her company (Love is Science) attempts to match up: one being a sweet-natured 40ish farmer and the other an older high-strung finance executive trying to get married before her ex-boyfriend does. While romantic love in different couplings is presented (older woman-younger man, blue collar man-white collar woman, gay man-"not" gay man), we will also see love between an established married couple, love between friends, and love between parents and children: each event asking us to think how much "science" is there in the connection between people that we call "love" and how such a connection can change us in positive ways. The majority of the characters in this series are certainly flawed but so pleasant that they're all the kind of people you'd want to be friends with. Even the ex-husband (who naturally returns to provide romantic competition) isn't a villain (though why he desires so strongly to get back with the wife he deserted is never adequately explained.) If there's any criticism I can level at this series, is that its ending is a bit muddled. The gay couple storyline (which does go in some interesting directions) kind of takes over and the other two couples recede into the background just a bit. My impression is that the pandemic disrupted the filming of this series and may explain why the ending feels just a bit rushed and more loosely structured. But overall, it was very enjoyable.

A gorgeous exploration of relationships that we don't often see, especially in Asian dramas. We have a divorced career woman in an age gap friends-to-lovers couple. An elderly wage gap relationship between a farmer and bank executive. And a relationship between a relatable gay man and a womanizing bisexual. We also see some other great dynamics with a jilted lesbian best friend, and a nontraditional family dynamic. Ultimately the show explores love, in all the different forms it may come in - ending with absolutely adorable, mature, and healthy relationships all around. But it also explores goals and boundaries - which is especially important in relationships.