Inborn Pair (Chinese: 真愛找麻煩; pinyin: Zhen Ai Zhao Ma Fan) is a 2011 to 2012 Taiwanese romantic comedy drama television series created and developed by SETTV. It stars Annie Chen and Chris Wang as the main leads,[1][2] and directed by Golden Bell Award winning director Feng Kai (馮凱). Filming began on November 18, 2011 and debuted on SETTV ETTV on December 13, 2011. Its final episode aired on April 9, 2012 with 84 episodes in total.

Inborn Pair
Promotional poster
GenreRomance
Comedy
Written byZhang Yuzhong 張宇忠, Shao Huiting 邵慧婷, Lín Pèiyú 林珮瑜, Wang Lingfei 王玲斐
Directed byFeng Kai 馮凱
StarringAnnie Chen
Chris Wang
Puff Kuo
Jennifer Hong
Opening themeConductor 指揮家 by Richie Jen
Ending themeI Don't Want to Leave You Alone 我不願,讓你一個人 by Mayday
Country of originTaiwan
Original languageMandarin
No. of series1
No. of episodes84
Production
ProducersFang Xiaoren 方孝仁, Rong Junyi 戎俊義
Production locationTaiwan
Running time60 minutes
Production companySETTV
Original release
NetworkSETTV
Release13 December 2011 (2011-12-13) –
9 April 2012 (2012-04-09)
Related
Ti Amo Chocolate

Synopsis

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Two people who have had a couple of run ins, who never had much luck in love, found themselves betrothed by their families. They give in to a slight hope that because they had drawn the same fortunes, met coincidentally many times, and found one another interesting and attractive, that maybe just maybe they were meant to be. They misunderstand, confuse, frustrate, and hurt each other along the way. Slowly they lay down their fears and mistrust as they grow into a beautiful closeness and genuine fondness for one another. In the end, they believe that they were indeed fated and destined for one another, but the road to happily ever after is indeed a rocky one.

Plot summary

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Song Yi Jie (Annie Chen) is a paralegal who is studying to obtain her legal practitioner license. She is a righteous girl who cannot tolerate the weak being bullied. When she sees an unfaithful husband at her law office refusing to divorce his wife because he wants to keep his good clean image, she volunteered her service by pretending to be his girlfriend in order to obtain evidence against the husband's infidelity.

Ke Wei Xiang (Chris Wang) is the General Manager and runs his family hotel corporation. He mistakes Yi Jie to be a cheater when he meets her at his hotel. The two get off on the wrong foot when she thinks he is a womanizer while he thinks she is a home wrecker. Wei Xiang is actually an obedient son who will listen and do everything his parents and grandmother tells him to do.

The two meet again when they find out they are betrothed to each other over a promise Wei Xiang's grandmother made to Yi Jie's grandfather years ago for saving her life from a robbery. No one agrees to this marriage not even them but in order to make their grandparents happy they hesitantly proceed with marrying each other, but the two eventually fall in love and make their marriage real.

Cast

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Main cast

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The General Manager of the Weihai Group, including the resort "Animal Planet". Betrothed to Yi Jie while still in the womb by his grandmother. A very considerate and kind person with a strong sense of familial piety and good business sense. Despite his career focused life, he hopes to find a true love. He comes into conflict with Yi Jie before discovering her identity when his plans to expand Animal Planet would require the demolition of the Song family house.
A legal assistant at a law firm in the process of obtaining her lawyer's license, she is career focused and less concerned with romance. While stubborn and brash, she has a strong sense of justice. Wants to become a lawyer to fulfill a childhood promise to her father who died in a car accident when she was young. Fiercely protective of her family home as the last memories of her childhood.

Supporting cast

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Ke Wei Xiang, Ke Wei Cheng and Ke Yan Ni's grandmother. Founder of the Weihai Group. Old friend of Song Jia Bao and architect of the arranged marriage.
  • Jennifer Hong 洪小鈴 as Ke Yan Ni
Oldest child and only daughter of the Ke family. Husband of Wang Ke Fan and friends with Song Yi Jie and Wu Jia Jia.
Youngest son of the Ke family.
Ke Yan Ni's husband and Deputy Manager of the Weihai Group.
  • Ai Wei 艾偉 as Ke You Xin
Ke Wei Xiang, Ke Wei Cheng and Ke Yan Ni's father.
Ke Wei Xiang, Ke Wei Cheng and Ke Yan Ni's mother.
Song Yi Jie's grandfather and Song Lin Hao Yun's father-in-law. Old friend of Ke Huang Rui Yin and the man who saved her from robbers.
Song Yi Jie's mother and Song Jia Bao's daughter-in-law.
Ke Wei Xiang's college classmate and business partner.
  • Tao Chuan Zheng 陶傳正 as Luo So Sai
Luo Yun's father and friend to Ke You Xin. President of a business partner to the Weihai Group.
  • Yin Fu 茵芙 as Wu Jia Jia
Yan Ni and Yi Jie's friend.
Song Yi Jie's college classmate and ex-boyfriend.
  • Little Bin 迷你彬 as Ke Xiao Sing
Ke Wei Cheng's illegitimate son.
Li Tian's daughter, Ke Wei Cheng's girlfriend.
  • Luo Bei An 羅北安 as Li Tian
A triad boss and Li Er's father.
  • Chen Yan Zhuang 壯壯/陳彥壯 as Yu Neng Qian
Ke Wei Xiang's personal assistant.
  • Lin Xin Bei 林欣蓓 as Jennifer (Ba Zhen)
Head secretary at Weihai Group.
  • Xie Qi Wen 謝其文 as Qian Zhen Wu
Lawyer at Da Tong law firm. Song Yi Jie's boss.
  • Gao Ying Hsuan 高英軒 as Ceng Jian Ren
Wu Jia Jia's ex-husband.
  • Darren Qiu 邱凱偉 as Huang Zi Ang
Manager of a construction company partnered with the Weihai Group.

Broadcast

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Year Country/Region Channel Timeslot Episode premiere Episode finale Avg rating
2011 Taiwan SETTV Monday to Friday 20:00 - 21:00 December 13, 2011 April 9, 2012 -
ETTV Monday to Friday 21:00 - 22:00 December 13, 2011 April 9, 2012 -
2012 Singapore StarHub TV VV Drama Monday to Friday 19:00 - 20:00 March 26, 2012 July 19, 2012
Hong Kong J2 Monday to Friday 13:30 - 14:30 February 9, 2012 June 5, 2012
Malaysia Astro Quan Jia HD Monday to Friday 22:30 - 23:30 November 30, 2012 March 27, 2013
2015 Thailand Amarin TV Monday to Friday 14:00 - 15:00 June 15, 2015 September 9, 2015

Soundtrack

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Inborn Pair did not release an official soundtrack. However, there are songs used in the series. In particular, the series had six songs from different artists released in their respective albums. The opening theme song used is "Conductor" (指揮家) by Richie Jen while the ending theme song used is by Mayday entitled "I Don't Want to Leave You Alone" (我不願,讓你一個人).

Track listing

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No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger - AlbumLength
1."Conductor" (指揮家)阿璞(八三夭)黃晟峰Richie Jen 任賢齊 
2."I Don't Want to Leave You Alone" (我不願,讓你一個人)阿信阿信, 冠佑Mayday 五月天 
3."Unopened Gift" (未拆的礼物)林夕張簡君偉Victor 品冠 
4."I'm Sure" (我確定)易桀齊易桀齊, 伍冠諺Victor 品冠 
5."Not Your Fault" (不是你的錯)黃婷林邁可Ding Dang 丁噹 
6."One Person Is Impossible by" (一個人不可能)嚴爵, 黃婷嚴爵Ding Dang 丁噹 

Reception

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Double lens opening ceremony on September 16, 2012 for "Love, Now" and "Love Me Or Leave Me". From left to right: Annie Chen, George Hu, Ann Hsu and Chris Wang.

Inborn Pair received positive reviews from audiences and garnered successful ratings, hitting above the 5.00 rating average on certain episodes. Right after Inborn Pair finished airing, the production team went into development for Sanlih's next romance idol drama. However, hoping to strike double-rating success, they decided to split Chen and Wang up to produce two different new dramas airing back to back on Thursday nights. Annie Chen was paired up with George Hu to film Love, Now, while Chris Wang was paired up with Ann Hsu to film Love Me or Leave Me. Both dramas are from the same writers as Inborn Pair and filmed at the same time. The staff who worked on the series were also split into two team to work on both new dramas since they were produced and filmed at the same time.[3]

Awards and nominations

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Year Ceremony Category Result
2012 47th Golden Bell Awards[4] Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series
Jennifer Hong
Nominated
Best Programme Marketing Nominated

References

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  1. ^ (in Chinese)"宥勝「真愛找麻煩」三立華人電視劇開拍". MSN. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  2. ^ (in Chinese)"陳庭妮宥勝有好感 吵架戲演得肉麻" Archived 2013-12-28 at the Wayback Machine. China Times. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  3. ^ "SETTV splits Chen & Wang to film different dramas" Archived 2012-11-15 at the Wayback Machine. Liberty Times. Retrieved 2014-2-18 (in Chinese)
  4. ^ "Golden Bell Awards (2012)". YesAsia. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
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