This Taiwanese TV drama turned out to be a pleasant surprise, upon discovering it on Netflix recently. Although marital infidelity has been "done to death" in television and movies worldwide, the writers of "A Good Wife" took the time to fully develop the two lead characters, the tormented wife Yi-Zhen (beautifully portrayed by Tian Tsin) and the out-of-touch husband Shao-Wen (convincingly played by Christopher Lee).
This story manages to avoid the clichés and simplicity of so many other shows by methodically uncovering the layers of motivation, inspiration and unresolved disappointment of the two main characters. The temptation the wife encounters to have an affair is not out of pure physical desire or even boredom, but rather because her husband is so blind to his family's needs and demands, he's totally lost touch with his wife's needs. He is not a bad person...just too oblivious to be self-aware of the neglect his wife has endured during their 7-year marriage.
Most of all, the gradual pace allows the viewer to feel the frustration and pain from each character's perspective...no simple "good" or "bad" person here. For anyone who has had challenges with a relationship or marriage (who hasn't?!), you will likely find emotions and words which will seem very familiar, both spoken and unspoken.
Though the show is not perfect (e.g. very repetitive background music, some secondary characters are a bit simplistic), both the sincere storytelling and excellent performances by the two leads makes this show worth watching.
