I'd thought it was a mainland China show and so was very confused when I could only catch a word or two until I realised it was a Malaysian show about a Hakka family. Whew! I mean, I know my Chinese isn't very good at all (the little I learned growing up was Cantonese and I've since learned a spattering of Mandarin) but, still! I suppose I should have paid more attention before starting it, though it doesn't really matter; what I was looking for was a show that featured some cooking. At any rate, I don't know exactly what they are speaking in this show; a Hakka dialect? Mandarin with some differences? I dunno.
It really is kinda sad that I can tell Korean and Japanese a lot more. Anyway.
In this one, a single mother / owner of a restaurant has 4 grown up children, with the youngest being at university. They're all supposed to come home for dinner (once a week? Maybe once a month?), but they keep getting busy. The oldest son seems like a total slacker and very unreliable, as we see him get fired almost as soon as we meet him (for being lazy and eating off customer's plates before delivering them). The next oldest son is some type of professional computer engineer-y person and seems busy / type-A (but just as bad at communicating with mom). Daughter works as a producer and seems responsible, but very busy. Youngest son seems the most dutiful and was the one that was really trying to get home, but his professor made him stay over for a seminar because his grades have been slipping.
So none of them make it home this particular night. Mom cooks up their fav (esp. eldest slacker son) Hakka pork dish but then winds up eating a little herself and putting the rest up. Then she slips and falls and breaks her arm. Youngest son and onliest daughter rush to the hospital (daughter finally being off work). And then the rest is trying to figure out how to care for mom, with eldest slacker son not wanting to be imposed on, even though he's the one with the easiest schedule. He really is pretty awful.
There's some other stuff going on -- mom trying to set up oldest slacker son with a friend's niece (who we glimpsed early on in the bit where son was fired from restaurant; she was at the table he stole food from). And mom not wanting to admit she needs help, etc.
The pace of this show is very different from what I'm used to. It has a different rhythm. It's almost more like watching a documentary? Does that make sense? And there was a bit at the end when the actress playing the young version of the mom (farthest right upper corner in picture) cooks up the dishes used, almost like it's a separate cooking show. Very 4th wall breaking. I actually did really like that part (I know, I know, I love cooking stuff).
I'll probably give it another episode or two at least, though I'm not in a rush. I didn't love it. None of the characters particularly spoke to me. I mean, I know it's about the mom re-connecting / teacher her children, but honestly, the mom didn't excite me either? I didn't hate it though and I found the cultural differences intriguing, so I probably will watch at least one more and see if it grabs me. They do, at least, all feel like very real people.
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