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James Marsh

Lead cast: Hsieh Ying-xuan, Chin Han
Netflix advances its robust slate of female-fronted Taiwanese drama series with Forget You Not, written and directed by Rene Liu Ruo-ying and starring Hsieh Ying-xuan as a middle-aged woman who uses stand-up comedy to process the everyday challenges in her life.
Chief among these obstacles is her all-consuming relationship with her elderly father, played by Chin Han, while Wallace Huo Chien-hwa, Wang Po-chieh and Julia Wu Zhuoyuan round out the cast of this broad yet wholly relatable melodrama.
Ever since her mother walked out on them when she was just eight years old, Le-le (Hsieh) and her father, Kuang-chi (Chin), have only had each other to depend on.


When we first meet this headstrong 45-year-old divorcee, she is on stage at a comedy club, microphone in hand, regaling an elated audience with tales of how her father has repeatedly let her down.
Whether it was abandoning her in a market as a little girl or leaving her alone at the altar on her wedding day, Kuang-chi’s whimsical, carefree demeanour means he always puts life’s simple pleasures ahead of his larger responsibilities.
Conversely, Le-le has always been prepared to drop everything and care for him, at the expense of her career, marriage or personal happiness.
Their situation is exacerbated when Kuang-chi is diagnosed with dementia and risks losing his independence.
Over the course of eight episodes, Forget You Not slowly pieces together Le-le’s plight through a kaleidoscopic non-linear narrative, drip-feeding the viewer morsels of information surrounding the disappearance of her mother (Wu, seen only in flashback), her failing marriage and her rocky relationship with her father.

Among her challenges is Le-le’s romance with high-flying lawyer Chang Kai (Huo), who approaches her after catching her act one fateful night and sweeps her off her feet.
At first, Chang admires Le-le’s outspoken nature, a characteristic that has cost her more than one job over the years, as well as the way she channels her anxieties and frustrations into her craft, while making ends meet working part-time at a convenience store.
But as he rises through the ranks, he becomes increasingly self-conscious about his partner’s profession, with events coming to a head at a pivotal dinner with the partners at his law firm.
While Rene Liu continues to act intermittently, she has found notable success since pivoting to working behind the camera. Her debut as writer-director, the 2018 feature film Us and Them, also produced for Netflix, garnered positive reviews and five Golden Horse Award nominations, most notably for Liu as best new director.

Forget You Not marks her series directorial debut, and reflects a similarly assured control of the medium.
There is a natural sense of authenticity to the characters and their relationships that pervades the narrative, even when the show’s dramatic obligations necessitate contrived conflicts, misunderstandings and coincidences all too common within this inherently crowd-pleasing medium.
Hsieh is fast-becoming the face of Netflix Taiwan, having previously taken prominent roles in the hit series Born for the Spotlight, Wave Makers and Light the Night.
Hsieh imbues Le-le with a potent mix of strength, resilience and vulnerability that propels the drama forward, especially at moments when other characters with whom she shares an emotional bond fall by the wayside.

Le-le does not face all her struggles alone, however; through thick and thin, she has her two best friends at her side: single mother Chia-yun (Tracy Chou) and career-driven single lady Su-fei (Esther Liu Pin-yan). None of them is living the life they initially dreamed of, but with a little help from each other, battle on regardless.
Praise must also go to 78-year-old screen veteran Chin Han, whose lithe, virile and perpetually troublesome patriarch is the indelible heart of the show, and the source of much of its levity – even if the same antics trigger Le-le’s endless concern and frustration.
Chin’s portrayal, together with that of Wang Po-chieh as his younger self, seen in flashback, ensures that Kuang-chi is not scapegoated, and underscores that his failings as a father are ultimately redeemable rather than flaws to be demonised.
The same cannot be said for Wallace Huo’s Chang Kai, however, who remains a loathsome and materialistic prig throughout.

Forget You Not may not be the most original or innovative of Netflix’s Taiwanese drama series to date, anchored as it is by a straightforward and unshakeable family-first morality while offering little insight into dealing with dementia.
But Liu has constructed a sturdy stage for her leading actors to work their magic, and the results are never less than eminently watchable.
Forget You Not will start streaming on Netflix on May 23.


Netflix drama Forget You Not: Hsieh Ying-xuan, Chin Han lead Rene Liu-directed melodrama

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Hsieh Ying-xuan as Le-le in a still from Forget You Not. The Netflix show stars Hsieh as a woman who uses comedy to cope with her father’s dementia and life’s trials. Photo: Netflix

Chin Han as Kuang-chi in a still from Forget You Not. Photo: Netflix

Wallace Huo (left) as lawyer Chang Kai and Hsieh Ying-xuan as Le-le in a still from Forget You Not. Photo: Netflix

Tracy Chou (left) as single mother Chia-yun and Esther Liu as career-driven single lady Su-fei in a still from Forget You Not. Photo: Netflix

Hsieh Ying-xuan (left) as Le-le and Chin Han as her father, Kuang-chi, in a still from Forget You Not. Photo: Netflix

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Netflix’s Forget You Not stars Hsieh Ying-xuan as a woman who uses comedy to cope with her father’s dementia and life’s trials


Netflix’s Forget You Not stars Hsieh Ying-xuan as a woman who uses comedy to cope with her father’s dementia and life’s trials.


Netflix

Fame and celebrity

Taiwan

Dementia