My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (我女朋友的男朋友) is a hilarious scifi comedy about a human getting schooled by his robot roommates on humility and respect.
When Azhai purchased his love android, he thought he would be living the high life with the prettiest girl by his side.
Because of customization error, he got a perfect boyfriend Adam instead. To his infinite horror. (Adam’s perfect enunciation takes a little getting use to in the beginning. But now, I worship the way he speaks.)
More tragic still is the replacement android, Eve, incorrectly registered Adam as her boyfriend and wouldn’t let Azhai send him away. Since then Azhai has been living in a romance hellhole where he tries to woo Eve, but Eve only wants to be with Adam, and Adam only has the eyes for him.
Adam and Eve are not just different in gender. Eve is a first generation companion android with pre-programed personality matrix. She does not change and cannot empathize with her owner. Adam, on the hand, is the newest model with water-proof skin and upgradable feeling matrix. He can adapt and modify his personality according to his experience with his owner (which will come mighty handy later on when Azhai is feeling super vulnerable because of evil Eve.)
I’m a bit surprised that this show passed the Chinese censorship. Rainbow is strong with this one. Then again, the protagonist did assert, in the strongest terms, that he is straight. And the only gay person in the show is not a person but a robot. So all good.
What do you do when you have two robots at home burning through your electricity bill? Put them to work and have them earn their keeping, of course. And boy, these robots know how to rack in the money.
The boat load of money did not bring happiness to the lonely Azhai. The more he uses it the less he can tell Adam to get lost. Poor Azhai only wants a girlfriend, and that goal seems to get further and further away from him.
But as a programming student, he is not backing down without a fight. He recruits his friend Wang Fugui to hack Eve’s system and reset her boyfriend registry. They did not know their action will lead them down a painful path of no return…
If a plan can go wrong, it will. The hack inadvertently activates Eve’s dormant personality matrix. And Eve2 is one scary sister. Thus, Azhai enters his “Cinderella before the prince” phase.
Adam strongly disapproves with Azhai’s hacking and the way he shows he is upset is hilarious (thanks to his upgraded feeling matrix, he is now the king of passive-aggressiveness). He ignores Azhai’s cry for help and lets Eve abuse him all she wants. The funniest bit is whatever Adam watches on TV the same scene gets repeated by Azhai and Eve in the other room. (Note: First drama is Princess Returning Pearl and second one is Mei Hua Luo. Both are written by Chiung Yao, the Master of Melodrama.)
In an attempt to save himself, Azhai, once again, recruits his friend to help him reboot Eve’s system and return her to her original personality. Boyfriend setting be damned! He just wants the adorable, non-violent Eve back. Their plan is good in theory but poor in execution. Eve2 catches them in the act and decides a harsher lesson is needed.
Then, Adam gets over his “anger” and agrees to help Azhai restore Eve.
Maybe, it is Azhai’s shameless begging that did the trick.
Or his willingness to give himself over for a less painful life.
Adam notices something strange. It appears Eve2’s personality is already switched by person unknown before his arrival. And he has a nagging suspicion that this Eve is not the original Eve either.
And Adam is right. Eve3 is a manipulative, cunning robot pretending to be the original Eve. And she is bend on destroying Azhai by exposing him as a pervert who bought himself a robot girlfriend. This way, Azhai and Adam can never be together.
If Eve2’s torture is physical, then Eve3 is definitely mental. And this time, Azhai can’t even ask Adam for help. Eve3 has him under mind control.
Fortunately, Adam intuitively knows Azhai is in trouble and comes to the rescue. In the process, he catches the person unknown in the act of changing Eve3’s personality. (Did we just go from scifi comedy to scifi horror?) The bad guy manages to escape but he/she leaves behind a device that vaguely resembles the sonic driver from Doctor Who.
Moving on. Eve4 is an easy crier. A prolific apologizer. A selfless sacrificer. (I know I am making up words.)
And that gives Azhai hope. If she wants to make up for her past bad behavior, she can start with him. How about a date to soothe his painful suffering?
Azhai soon discovers Eve4 is worse than Eve2 and Eve3. She thinks it’s her fault that the one she loves (Adam) cannot be with the one he loves (Azhai). She cannot be happy if Adam is not happy. The only way to break their vicious love triangle is by removing herself and offering Azhai to Adam. To Azhai’s bewilderment.
You think human brain can beat computer brain? I hope you are right.
If not, the robots will soon be living our lives for us.
