IPartment

iPartment
Genre	Sitcom Comedy Comedy-drama
Created by	Wei Zheng Wang Yuan
Starring	Chen He Lou Yixiao Kingscar Sun Yi Zhou Li Jin Min
Narrated by	Chen He Lou Yixiao Kingscar Sun Yi Zhou Li Jin Min
Opening theme	"My Future Styles" by Guo Cai Jie
Country of origin	China
Original language(s)	Chinese Japanese English Korean
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	64
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	Shanghai Media Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	CCTV
Picture format	1080i 16:9 (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original airing	August 23, 2009 (2009-08-23)

iPartment (Chinese: 爱情公寓; pinyin: Aìqíng Gōngyù), is a sitcom from Mainland China. It was produced by Shanghai Film Group Corporation and Shanghai Film Studio, aired by Jiangxi TV in August 2009, with 20 45-minute episodes.

The second season moved into a different style approach and with episodes aired online, due to its online fan base and polls for upcoming episodes. The second season featured four of the same characters from the first season, with three new characters. The third season followed with the same cast.

The i in the English title is a reference to aì (爱), the Chinese term for "love".

Premise

The show details the lives of seven people in their mid-to-late 20's who are neighbors in an apartment building. Each person has a profession of their own and often gets into unexpected escapades.

Although much of the show is filmed on location, iPartment also contains a laugh track. The series uses a cinematic-style of approach with fast-paced editing and transitions, much like the British comedy series Spaced. There are also frequent references to more recent events and culture in China.

iPartment tends to combine genres such as drama, mystery, thriller, slapstick and surrealism. The second season leans more to a cinematic feel, with uses of CGI, camera effects and action scenes.

Cast

• Kingscar Jin (Jin Shi Jia) portrays Lu Zhanbo,

- A graduate from MIT who recently returned to China. He works as a network engineer. Zhanbo is very intelligent, but also socially inept and clumsy dealing with girls, often described by others as a stereotypical nerd. He likes watching scientific shows, and is a huge fan of Transformers. He first met Wanyu on the bus trip from the airport to the apartment, and fell in love with her. He eventually confessed his love to her at the end of season 1, which she accepted. He later went on a vacation around the world with Wanyu, and was absent for the whole season 2. He proposed to Wanyu in season 3, but she declined to pursue her future in Milan, and they break up despite still being in love with each other. He returns in Season 4, but then receives a job offer to go around the world for his company. He accepts the offer, and is missing from the rest of the season.

• Evonne Zhao (Zhao Ji) portrays Lin Wanyu,

- The daughter of a billionaire banker. She ran away from home when her father forced her to marry against her will, and met Zhanbo on the bus. She found various work and eventually got a job as a writer for a fashion magazine. She is smart and charming, but often thinks and acts naively and unrealistically in everyday life due to being raised in a wealthy family. She is into fashion design and likes Tarot/star sign predictions. She becomes Zhanbo's best friend. In the finale of season 1, she accepts Zhanbo and they go on a vacation around the world together as a couple. Around everyday life though, they appear more like friends than a couple. She eventually decides to go study fashion design in Milan, and sadly parts with Zhanbo in season 3.

• Michael Chen (Chen He) portrays Zeng Xiaoxian,

- A host for the late-night radio talk show: “Your Moon, My Heart.” He is kind, sensitive but wimpy, often being forced into situations that are out of his control. His signature catch phrase on the show is: "Good man is me, I am Zeng Xiaoxian." (Chinese: "好男人就是我，我就是曾小贤！") Despite jokingly claiming to be a famous celebrity, his talk show is very unpopular and he is often ridiculed by his boss, Lisa. He has a long-time crush for Yifei, but he never confessed his love to her due to his cowardice. In the end of season 2, he won ¥5,000,000 from Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but lost the money due to one of his fans winning it all away. At the end of season 3, the new co-host of his radio show, Nuolan, falls in love with him, but Xiaoxian has a hard choice whether to accept her or continue trying on Yifei, but deep in his heart, he knows that he truly loves Yifei and not Nuolan. He gets together with Nuolan in the fourth season, but always feels that he still like Yifei.

• Lou Yixiao portrays Hu Yifei,

- Zhanbo’s older stepsister. She is a PhD graduate who works as a lecturer at her university. She is tough, aggressive and very competitive, with many of her friends jokingly saying she has the strength worth two men. She often bullies her friends around (Xiaoxian most of the time) with her forceful personality, and expresses her sarcasm at their incompetence. She is constantly annoyed by Xiaoxian’s wimpy and bumbling personality. In various places, you can see that she likes him, but always denies this to the public. In the finale of each season, she gets a moment of love with Xiaoxian, but it always ends without much meaning with neither of the two confessing their feelings for each other. Up until season four, though, she begins to show that she likes him. In episode 8 of season 4, she gets drunk and shouts at Nuolan that she likes him, but only after she asked her many times. She feels envious and sour when she sees Xiaoxian with Nuolan. She kept her love in for 4 years already, but she's feeling really sour at this point, so it's beginning to burst. In the 21st episode, through several 'coincidental' incidences, she finally kisses Xiaoxian, and naturally he kisses back. The only slight problem is that Xiaoxian also happens to be dating NuoLan at the time.

• Sean Sun (Sun Yi Zhou) portrays Lü Ziqiao,

- A young man who moved into the apartment next-door at the beginning of the series. He is a freelancer, though often thinks of smart ideas to make money or trick his friends into doing his bidding (though also occasionally fail and lead him to trouble). He is cunning, irresponsible but very charismatic, and likes to use his charms to flirt with various girls. Not only is he flirty, but he often gives his friends advice on girls. He uses the fake name “Lü Xiaobu” (named after Lü Bu) when dating other girls. He has a constant love-hate relationship with Meijia, but nearing the end of season 3, while searching for the perfect woman, he realised the person he loved the most is still Meijia.

• Kimi Li (Li Jin Ming) portrays Chen Meijia,

- Ziqiao’s ex-girlfriend, who moved into the apartment with him to take advantage of a discounted rent deal. She initially worked as Guangu’s assistant, later as Yifei’s teaching assistant (though loses the job due to a clumsy mistake), and later in a pet shop. She is childish, cheerful and ditzy, and gets easily attracted to cute things. She has a love-hate relationship with Ziqiao, and often gets angry at his laziness or flirting with other girls, and she also had a crush on Guangu for a short time when he first moved in. In season 2, she left the apartment and moved to another city, but returns in season 3 after failing her work there. In the end of season 3, she realizes that she still loves Ziqiao, and is hinted to be pregnant with his baby, but in season 4, she is revealed to be not pregnant.

• Eric Wang (Wang Chuan Jun) portrays Sekiya majikku,

- A Japanese young man who moved into the apartment. He was a manga artist from Yokohama, but left for China to pursue his career. He is charming and very serious, but when angered, he becomes extremely stubborn and (comically) violent, often taking out a katana and scaring his friends by claiming he will commit seppuku. He is still learning Chinese, and often misuses Chinese phrases. In the beginning of season 2, he falls in love with Youyou and eventually the two of them become a couple. Although he loves Youyou very much, he is often too overprotective, which annoys her. In the season 3 finale, he mistakenly thinking Youyou is pregnant and proposes to her, which she accepts.

• Deng Jiajia portrays Tang Youyou,

- Ziqiao’s little aunt (the youngest sister of his mother). She works as an actress, though her movie character always dies without any character development, much to her frustration. Even outside of the movie set, she likes to act overly dramatic; in one instance she spent a few hours fabricating and acting out a (fictional) story to explain to a stranger about how she and Guangu met. She is also very bad at keeping secrets, but she always claims that she won't let them out. She meets Guangu at the start of season 2, and they eventually become a couple. In the season 3 finale, she accepts Guangu’s proposal, but reveals that she is not pregnant.

• Li Jiahang (Jean Lee) portrays Zhang Wei,

- A friend of Ziqiao that he met at the bar. He is a trainee lawyer. In season 1 he was a minor character that Ziqiao found to set up a date with Yifei, but he became a main character in season 2. He moved into the apartment after Ziqiao’s party caused him to miss his own wedding, indirectly causing his fiancée to run away with another man. He is kind-hearted and always keen to help others, but very unlucky and also quite stingy, often claiming he is saving money to buy his own house. He is allergic to seafood and ink stamps, and got hospitalized several times when he mistakenly eats lobster and crayfish, and also when he received an entrance stamp when the boys invited him to a nightclub. Throughout the series he has dated several girls, but his friends always end up unwittingly ruining it for him. In season 3 he leaves the apartment and found work as a lawyer in another city, though he has never won a single case for his client.

• Vanessa Zhao (Zhao Wen Qi) portrays Qin Yumo,

A high-school friend of Yifei who first appeared in season 2. She works as an office lady. She is a stereotypical white-collar worker: serious, level-headed but sensitive and easily depressed. She initially moved to the apartment to hide from her boyfriend, Richard. However, she finds texts on Richard's phone of a different girl named Tina and breaks up with him. Later, she finds out that Richard was already married to Tina. In season 3 she moved to another city, but still occasionally calls everyone to see how things are going.

Episodes

Season 1

Episode 1: Wedding Battle

Episode 2: The Super "Big" Scandal

Episode 3: March of Depression

Episode 4: The Revenge of Romance

Episode 5: Love Antidote

Episode 6: Fame In A Snap

Episode 7: Heterosexual Attractiveness

Episode 8: Mysterious Present

Episode 9: The Traffic Jam

Episode 10: Gambling King

Episode 11: It's A Small World

Episode 12: Life and Death

Episode 13: Memory Fragments

Episode 14: The Boring Weekend

Episode 15: The Halloween Fright

Episode 16: Gossip King

Episode 17: The Teller

Episode 18: You are Evil

Episode 19: Valentine (Two-Part Finale): The Valentine Prelude

Episode 20: Valentine (Two-Part Finale): The Last Valentine (Season Finale)

Season 2

Episode 21: I can Predict the Beginning, but I can't Predict the Ending

Episode 22: Drama Queen

Episode 23: I Am Legend

Episode 24: The Da Vina Code

Episode 25: Family

Episode 26: Raining With A Chance of Diamonds

Episode 27: In the Name of Love

Episode 28: The Drunk Angel

Episode 29: Dinner Party

Episode 30: The Festive Resurrection

Episode 31: The Conversion Fascination

Episode 32: The Best Actress

Episode 33: It's Not Father's Day

Episode 34: Hill of Hope: Cataclysm

Episode 35: The Secret Secret

Episode 36: The Story of the Single Woman

Episode 37: The Lady

Episode 38: The Boss

Episode 39: Millionaire Me (Two-Part Finale): The Beginning

Episode 40: Millionaire Me (Two-Part Finale): The End (Season Finale)

Season 3

Episode 41: Millionaire Me (Part 3): The New Beginning

Episode 42: Fusion

Episode 43: Silent Night

Episode 44: This Is A Miracle (Two-Part Story): The Return

Episode 45: This is a Miracle (Two-Part Story): Stay

Episode 46: Nice to Meet You

Episode 47: War of Proposals

Episode 48: 2:30 A.M.

Episode 49: The King's Scar (Two-Part Story): The Best Ending

Episode 50: The King's Scar (Two Part Story): Life Is A Circle

Episode 51: Counter Strike

Episode 52: The Twist of Fate (Two-Part Story): Watching the Meteor Shower

Episode 53: The Twist of Fate (Two-Part Story): Moments We Share

Episode 54: The Scriptures from the Forbidden Summit

Episode 55: Social Network

Episode 56: No Ifs (Three-Part Story): The Break-Up and the Make-Up

Episode 57: No Ifs (Three-Part Story): The Truth and the Lie

Episode 58: No Ifs (Three-Part Story): The Prankster and the Pranked

Episode 59: My Girl

Episode 60: The True Lie

Episode 61: Flying Across the Mists of Mt. Creation (Two-Part Story): It's Night-Time, Close Your Eyes

Episode 62: Flying Across the Mists of Mt. Creation (Two-Part Story): It's the Morning, Open Your Eyes

Episode 63: The Matrix

Episode 64: Final Fantasy (Season Finale)

Season 4

Episode 65: Case Closed

Episode 66: No Problems

Episode 67: In the Name of Bro

Episode 68: Rock 'n' Roll

Episode 69: Incepted

Episode 70: Flight 19

Episode 71: A Long River

Episode 72: Love Life

Episode 73: The Cold Wars

Episode 74: The Watchman

Episode 75: Rich Friends

Episode 76: Escape Plan

Episode 77: The Bro Code

Episode 78: About the Crazies (Two-Part Story): The Prequel of the Sequel

Episode 79: About the Crazies (Two-Part Story): The Sequel of the Prequel

Episode 80: Superhero

Episode 81: Weekend at Sean's (Two-Part Story): Saturday at Sean's

Episode 82: Weekend at Sean's (Two-Part Story): Sunday at Sean's

Episode 83: The Paladin Goddess

Episode 84: When Love Breaks In (Two-Part Story): The Story of Us

Episode 85: When Love Breaks In (Two-Part Story): The Bright Golden Lining

Episode 86: The Shine of the Goddess

Episode 87: If I Saw Her Again (Two-Part Series Finale): Never Give Up

Episode 88: If I Saw Her Again (Two-Part Series Finale): Love. Never. Now.

Reception

The show became popular after its premiere but has received mixed reviews since. Most of the criticism is directed towards the written material using jokes from Chinese-translated American sitcoms such as Friends,^[1] How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory.^[2]

Conclusion rumors

iPartment Season 4 has signed for a new season, iPartment Season 5. Along with the actors posting pictures of farewell to the other fellow actors, with background images of the crew ripping down the iPartment set, it is predicted that Season 4 of iPartment will not be the final season. However, Wang Yuan, the Executive Director, said that there might be an iPartment spinoff made into a movie. The production of the movie, however, is not yet confirmed by the other actors.

External links

• iPartment's Homepage at Sina.com