When a romance drama is centered around the translation industry, it’s expected that Our Interpreter would involve communication issues. As Lin Xi meets her ex Xiao Yicheng, eight years after their breakup, there’s an interesting push and pull between technology and human labor, analytics versus artistic interpretation, as well as speed over quality, and this dynamic is likened to their conflicting desires in forging their lives. The drama also happens to highlight the linguistic beauty of the Chinese language, particularly at the times Lin’s translation work is tested against AI. That being said, the drama doesn’t really delve into these interesting themes, as the show prioritizes the romance more as the drama progresses.

Being a master translator but not being good at communicating is an interesting characterization for a protagonist, and had this been done well, it would have made the classic romcom miscommunication trope fresh again, but the show doesn’t delve into Lin Xi’s background or even give us something to root for until after half the season.