Even though I'm a Taiwanese American, I've always had mixed feelings about Taiwanese dramas. To me, the golden age for Taiwanese television was many years ago when I was in middle school and high school - that was when the shows still felt fresh, well-produced, and fun to watch. However, in recent years, finding a good Taiwanese drama has been difficult. The plots usually feel cliche (almost everything is some iteration of a rom com), the acting is mediocre at best (most actors are not professionally trained and are singers or models expanding into acting), and the production quality is lackluster, especially when compared to Korean dramas, which have become the golden standard for Asian entertainment.
So that's why I was excited to finally come across a new Taiwanese drama that I not only enjoyed, but would actually recommend. The drama is "Tears on Fire," and it tells a fictional story about firefighters in Taiwan. The main characters are firefighters Qiu Han Cheng, whose marriage is strained by his abnormal working hours; Xu Zi Ling, who is the only female firefighter on her team; Lin Yi Yang, who immediately flares up at any injustice, big or small; and Zhang Zhi Yuan, who is struggling with trauma but hides his need for help from his team. The four of them all work together at the same station, and through their individual stories, their relationships, and work, we see what human nature looks like in the most extraordinary situations. We see both the good and the bad, the strong and the weak, the corrupt and the righteous, and a loss and restoration of hope.
There were many things I liked about this drama. For one, the pacing felt just right, and I was engaged from beginning to end. Second, the acting was MUCH more natural than the average for Taiwanese dramas, and that is super important - the moment I can obviously tell someone is acting, it pulls me out of the story and makes me frustrated, so I'm glad that didn't happen with this drama (there were a few moments when the acting still felt forced, but it was already SO much better than my other Taiwanese drama experiences that I didn't mind). I also liked how the drama dealt with the fresh subject matter of firefighters. It's not everyday that you see a TV show that dives deep into their lives and profession. I actually went down a rabbit hole of researching firefighters after watching this show because it turned out to be vastly different profession than what I thought. For example, did you know most firefighters are also trained EMTs? I didn't know that until I watched the show and saw many of the characters being firefighters on one mission and then EMTs on the next. I also did not know in Taiwan that firefighters are also asked to get rid of wasp nets and catch poisonous snakes (my mom confirmed this)...basically, firefighters are like Swiss army knives - they must be prepared to resolve any kind of emergency that happens.
But what I found most intriguing about this drama was its insight into Asian culture. While I was born and raised in America, I grew up in a Taiwanese immigrant household, so I've often found myself code switching between Western and Eastern culture, and watching this drama put the differences between the two in high resolution. It was an interesting thought exercise to watch this drama and imagine how the story would play out differently if everything were happening in America. For example, it was interesting to see how the characters navigated and responded to conflict. In the drama, many of the characters chose to accept responsibility for problems that weren't their fault because they wanted to avoid the hassle of fighting back or were lower on the social totem pole. But if the very same conflicts in the drama unfolded here in America, I think there would be less hesitation to take things to court, protest, or leverage social media to rally widespread public support. Compared to Asian culture, which has a tendency to acquiesce in the status quo (i.e. a "too bad, that's life" mentality), Western culture encourages speaking up and standing up for yourself even if that means getting uncomfortable and fighting an uphill battle. Watching this drama as a Taiwanese American gave me a lot of interesting cultural topics to discuss with my parents.
Overall, I enjoyed this drama, so if you're looking for a TV series that is short (10 episodes), touching, and provides insight into an interesting profession and Asian culture, then this is the show for you!