Filter: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 8

Introduction

With exaggeration of humor to the fantastical level of comedy, Filter really shines! The message taken from the drama is equally deep about self-love and beauty standards. The suspense is refreshing and the romance is not sickening. With an original script, the story development is unexpected, making audiences wonder where the plot will go next. Here are the first part of four recap articles of this hysterical drama!

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Drama Info

Drama title: Filter (Native title: 滤镜 )
Alternative title: Lu Jing
Genres: Comedy, Romance, Sci-fi, Fantasy
Aired: Feb 24, 2025 - Mar 11, 2025
Episodes: 32  |  Duration: 45 minutes
Director: Chen Yue Jin ( 陈跃进 )
Screenwriters: Tong Hua ( 桐华 ) - chief screenwriter; Luo Xiao Feng ( 罗小葶 )
Where to watch: WeTV and Viki
OSTs:
Theme Song: "Say Goodbye" ( 好好告别 ) by Tan Jian Ci (official channel)
Full album (unofficial fan channel
Trailer:

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Synopsis

When Su Cheng Cheng, an ordinary woman, acquires a high-tech “filter bracelet” that allows her to change her appearance, her life changes completely. She begins to use the bracelet to adopt different identities, using her newfound abilities to help others. Unaware of her secret, Tang Qi, a man with gradually worsening eyesight, happens to fall for every one of her personas, only to lose them time and time again. To protect her identity, Cheng Cheng weaves an increasingly tangled web of lies, deepening Tang Qi’s heartbreak and Cheng Cheng’s guilt. Will Cheng Cheng ever reveal the truth to Tang Qi, and could they find true happiness together – with no lies or disguises? (Source: Viki)

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Characters

Main Characters

Supporting Characters

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Drama Recaps Episodes 1 to 8

Episode 1

Su Cheng Cheng has been strong physically and good in martial arts since little. She also has a strong sense of justice. But she’s neither beautiful nor intelligent.

The three friends Tang Qi, Gu Yu, and Zhou Jin Li are at the tennis court. They established a beauty product company Qian Dou Ji together. Tang Qi, the Research & Development Director, says that although 80% of people in WeChat Moment use beauty makeup, the cosmetic market looks saturated but still good for business. Gu Yu, the Marketing Director, is looking for a marketing staff. The person has to have not only ability but good looks also. Cheng Cheng goes for an interview at Qian Dou Ji. The interviewer is not impressed with her appearance and kicks her out. Sad Cheng Cheng sits on the park bench and pours her heart into her friend Lin Yuan. A man (Tang Qi) is sitting on the next bench opposite to her. He has a stack of resumes, so Cheng Cheng thinks he’s also in the same boat as her. He leaves a book and a cosmetic sample.

Cheng Cheng receives a school reunion invitation. She tells Lin Yuan about her school crush Tang Qi. Tang Qi also receives the same invitation, but he doesn’t want to go. He was weak physically and students looked down on him during PE including Cheng Cheng.

Cheng Cheng goes to the reunion anyway, after being dressed up by Lin Yuan. She’s embarrassed when she sees Tang Qi, who is specifically invited by the principal because he’s the top student. Classmates ask Cheng Cheng to demonstrate her strength by opening a beer bottle barehanded. Beer splatters all over her face and her makeup smudges her face. Tang Qi takes her picture and says “You look bad!” Tang Qi is embarrassed and runs out. On the way back home, she sees an old mute lady selling flowers. Feeling pity, she buys them at a higher price. The lady gives her a bracelet as gratitude, which Cheng Cheng wears right away. When she takes the subway home, she suddenly transforms into a beautiful woman!

“You look bad!”

Episode 2

Tang Qi shows the photo of Cheng Cheng to his colleague and says makeup products have to last long for active women who like sports, unlike the one Cheng Cheng wore. He is picky with the professional models Gu Yi hires for the makeup products, stating that they should use an amateur as a model instead to promote their product.

Lin Yuan goes the extra mile to make her bestie happy again, so she offers Tang Qi to use an empty warehouse she inherited from the family for his new business if he apologizes to Cheng Cheng. Tang Qi refuses, stating that he already asked for Cheng Cheng’s consent to take her picture. He just stated the fact of her appearance. About her looking bad, it’s her responsibility to take care of herself. Cheng Cheng hears that and quietly leaves. On the street, there is a child who almost gets hit so she saves the child. Tang Qi comes to the scene and sees a beautiful woman saving a child. He is impressed and offers the woman to be his company’s model.

Cheng Cheng and Lin Yuan find out the features of the bracelet, it can change not only her appearance but also her voice, clothing, and makeup. Cheng Cheng cannot take the bracelet off. They tried to find the old woman who gave her the bracelet, but she disappeared. Her sister finds Cheng Cheng an intern job at Qian Dou Ji through her client’s connection. She comes to the job but the staff mistakenly thought the woman who came for the job is the amateur model Tang Qi talked about.

Episode 3

Cheng Cheng has been embarrassed twice in front of Tang Qi, so she turns into a beautiful woman again and introduces herself as Su Miao. Tang Qi, Gu Yu, and Zhou Jin Li interview Su Miao. She rejects them and says that they don’t understand women. Some of them stand out because of their bravery. Some shine brightly because of their kindness. Others dazzle because of their wisdom. They’re beautiful in their own ways. Although his partners want to hire a pro model, Tang Qi insists on hiring Su Miao. He knows where to find her… with Cheng Cheng. Cheng Cheng asks why he thinks she knows Su Miao. Because they wear the same gym bag and the bracelet. Cheng Cheng calls Lin Yuan pretending she’s Su Miao. pretends to call Su Miao (but actually it’s Lin Yuan).

Cheng Cheng wants to take revenge on Tang Qi. Since she had a crush on him in high school, she knows his likes and dislikes. In high school, Tang Qi was sensitive to fluorescent and glittering things, so Su Miao wore a glittering dress and bling bling jewelry. Tang Qi couldn’t stand internal organs, so Su Miao ordered internal organ dishes. He tries to hold everything just for Su Miao to agree to be his model. She asks Tang Qi to send a group video apologizing to Cheng Cheng for calling her ugly.

The day Su Miao is supposed to do a photo shoot is the day Cheng Cheng comes to work. She cannot take a day off. Cheng Cheng goes back and forth to be Su Miao, much to other employee’s annoyance because she seems slacking and disappears to the bathroom or somewhere many times. Su Miao is nervous so Tang Qi makes her smile by wearing a fluorescent shirt and dancing. Tang Qi asks Su Miao to open a soda can that splashes her face and the makeup doesn’t smudge her face. Only then does she realize that Tang Qi called her ugly last time because her makeup doesn’t last.

Episode 4

The photo shoot is a success, and Su Miao and Cheng Cheng are invited to celebrate with the company. While Su Miao can excuse herself, Cheng Cheng can’t because as a rookie she better come. Everyone is drunk at the party. Lin Yuan picks Cheng Cheng up, but the drunk Gu Yu jumps into her car, thinking that she’s his designated driver. She’s not allowed to stop and park by the security guard so she has to drive away. Before she can kick him out, he pukes in the car (Ewww!). Lin Yuan can only call Cheng Cheng that she can’t pick her up because a psycho puked in her car. Cheng Cheng is just about the get out of the resto when the owner asks her to take the wasted Tang Qi. She just carries him on her shoulder and takes him home. However, she’s also drunk so they end up in bed together. The next day Cheng Cheng wants to leave but he wakes up too. She changes to Su Miao to face him and leaves. Tang Qi is so shocked he had a one-night stand with Su Miao but he doesn’t remember it. Meanwhile, Gu Yu wakes up in Lin Yuan’s car she just washed. She asks him to pay for damages but his phone is dead before he can transfer money.

After the photo shoot, Cheng Cheng decides to delete Su Miao, so she doesn’t want to answer Tang Qi’s call. People at work are not happy with Cheng Cheng because she enters the company with a connection. She decides to work overtime. There is thunder and lightning outside. When Cheng Cheng goes to the restroom she sees her face interchanging from hers to Su Miao’s!

Episode 5

Tang Qi sees that Cheng Cheng is the only one left at the office. He looks for her and then sees Su Miao in the restroom. Cheng Cheng is afraid he’ll find out that she is Su Miao, so she turns off the light, hugs him, and covers his eyes. When he tries to release himself from her, Cheng Cheng knocks him out! Omg…

Gu Yu comes to Lin Yuan’s home with a year’s worth of car wash as an apology. Before he leaves, Su Miao shows up and knocks down Gu Yu. Each doesn’t expect the other parties to know each other. Cheng Cheng tells Lin Yuan the bracelet’s system is upgrading so her original face can’t return. Although she’s happy she makes money as Su Miao, but she feels it’s because of Su Miao’s pretty face. Because Cheng Cheng’s original face can’t return she applies to work from home and Gu Yu approves. Tang Qi is not happy because he thought Cheng Cheng had changed when he saw her working overtime. When Tang Qi hears that Gu Yu saw Su Miao last night at Lin Yuan’s house, he goes to visit her and insists on waiting until she comes out. They can’t do anything else than let Tang Qi in, and he invites Su Miao to dinner.

It’s a private dinner on a ship with candles and flowers. The atmosphere is very romantic. However, suddenly there is thunder and lightning, and Cheng Cheng sees the upgrading system. She’s worried her face is back to its original. Tang Qi confesses to Su Miao, while Su Miao is trying hard to hide her face behind a vase, lmao! She can’t hold any longer, runs out of the window, and jumps into the lake! Tang Qi is so shocked and jumps into the lake after her, but her swimming is too fast for him. Luckily, Lin Yuan is waiting for her by the dock, so they leave. The worried Tang Qi goes to Lin Yuan’s house and wants to see Su Miao. She wants to go upstairs secretly but accidentally trips on the stairs. Tang Qi and Lin Yuan see Su Miao lying on the floor.

Episode 6

Tang Qi sends Su Miao to the hospital, luckily is a minor bone injury. Su Miao emphasizes that she doesn’t want to see Tang Qi again, that’s why she jumped into the lake and pretended to be sick, and now she is really sick!

Gu Yu finds the fuming Lin Yuan after she smashed many golden eggs to get the prize of winning the Lost You Forever‘s Xiang Liu (Tan Jian Ci’s character) figurine. She’s even angrier when he smashes one golden egg and wins the prize! He’s there to have an appointment with Su Qing Li for some legal business. To her surprise, Gu Yu tells her that her sister is sick and stays with Lin Yuan. Su Miao is still at the hospital, pestered by Tang Qi who visits her even after she rejects him. Since she wants to get out of the hospital, she sends out Tang Qi to buy cake and wraps herself like a mummy to escape! Tang Qi passes the mummy in the hallway and is suspicious it’s Su Miao and accidentally pulls off the mummy bandages, hahaha! At the right time, Qing Li arrives at the hospital with Lin Yuan looking for her sister. Tang Qi is shocked it was Cheng Cheng (the update is done). Although she doesn’t understand anything, Qing Li is pissed off with Tang Qi questioning Cheng Cheng, so she says she took Cheng Cheng to the hospital. Tang Qi is shocked to know Su Miao is also discharged and the nurse gives him Su Miao’s laptop with Qian Dou Ji’s logo. Oh oh…

Cheng Cheng can only tell her sister the truth about the bracelet and Su Miao since Qing Li threatens to talk to Tang Qi. Cheng Cheng shows her sister the bracelet and how she changes to Su Miao. Tang Qi, now suspicious that Cheng Cheng leaked the corporate secret, came to Lin Yuan’s house. Lin Yuan can only say loudly to the people inside the house that Tang Qi is here. Tang Qi walks into a flabbergasted Qing Li. Where is Cheng Cheng? She turned into a Buddha bronze statue! Tang Qi quite likes the statue so he approaches it, so Lin Yuan tries to divert his attention with a home tour so Cheng Cheng can escape. But the running bronze statue trips on the stairs again, and Cheng Cheng changes to a Chinese New Year painting, now running upstairs. When Tang Qi questions the disappearing statue and painting, Qing Li plainly says she moved them because she didn’t like them, hahaha! Cheng Cheng hops downstairs apologizes to Tang Qi about the laptop and accepts the punishment. She’s 100% sure Su Miao doesn’t steal corporate secrets. Tang Qi trusts Su Miao and forgives Cheng Cheng.

When Cheng Cheng gets back to work she finds out that a coworker used her idea for a work project. She follows the girl to the bathroom and changes to Sun Wu Kong, hahaha. The CGI is really good. Sun Wu Kong threatens her because she did bad things, so the girl confesses that she stole Cheng Cheng’s idea and apologizes to her.

Episode 7

The girls want to finish Su Miao once and for all to get rid of Tang Qi, so they will kill Su Miao. The bracelet is updated and has a lot more features so Cheng Cheng has a brilliant idea that even her sister agrees to help. Lin Yuan is tasked to buy a lot of stuff needed and runs into Gu Yu in the shopping cart. It seems every time they meet she gets unlucky, lol.

The mission D-Day. Su Miao called Tang Qi to meet in a remote area. Qing Li and Lin Yuan are nearby hiding. Su Miao wants to set off fireworks in the middle of broad daylight to blind Tang Qi while she creates a 3-D poisonous spider to kill her. Turns out Tang Qi, although afraid of the spider, smacks Su Miao’s head several times to get rid of the spider. Mission failed!

Su Miao tries another feature. She says there seems to be a meteor. She creates a 3-D meteor that is hitting her but Tang Qi quickly pulls her with him and they roll down the hill! Another mission failed!

Suddenly clouds come in and it seems it may rain. The quick-witted Su Miao tries another feature and asks Tang Qi to take a picture of her from far away. She creates a 3-D lightning that strikes her. Seeing Su Miao is struck by lightning, poor Tang Qi passes out! The cleaning team, Lin Yuan and Qing Li show up and finally, the mission of killing Su Miao succeeds!

Tang Qi is brought to the hospital. The doctor explains to Gu Yu and Zhou Jin Li that Tang Qi has a tetrachromat so his eyes are more sensitive than others. When Tang Qi wakes up, all his thoughts go to Su Miao. He doesn’t believe that she’s dead by a lightning strike, not according to the statistics! To convince Tang Qi, Cheng Cheng, Lin Yuan, and Qing Li set up a memorial service for Su Miao. Lin Yuan prepares onion juice to make them cry. Tang Qi, Gu Yu, and Zhou Jin Li come to say goodbye. Tang Qi insists on seeing Su Miao’s body but Qing Li says it’s too tragic so Su Miao is cremated. Omg!

Tang Qi feels so guilty, he should have known about the danger Su Miao faced in the wilderness: a spider, a meteor, and he should have taken her away before the lightning strikes. While the girls celebrate their success, Tang Qi goes to the street food eatery he went to before with Su Miao and drowns in sorrow with beer and internal food until he pukes. His health conditions worsen and the doctor strictly forbids him to work. Tang Qi never takes time off. Cheng Cheng feels guilty, but Lin Yuan emphasizes she should feel relieved now that Su Miao is gone.

Su Miao is not ‘gone’ though, not yet for Tang Qi. Gu Yu asks for Su Miao’s belongings, but Lin Yuan says everything is cremated. Luckily, there are still some props used for the photo shoot left. Lin Yuan warns Cheng Cheng that everything bears Cheng Cheng’s fingerprints and DNA!

Episode 8

Cheng Cheng visits Tang Qi who is off work sick but he rejects her saying she needs to be at work. The doorbell rings again, this time is not Cheng Cheng but a cute alpaca! Lin Yuan calls him saying that it’s Su Miao’s pet alpaca she gifted to him. Tang Qi turns down his house temperature very low for the alpaca and bundles up. Turn out Cheng Cheng turns herself into the alpaca and of course, she freezes to death! The reason for her to be at Tang Qi’s house is to destroy Su Miao’s belongings. The alpaca tears apart paper works left by Su Miao (they contain Cheng Cheng’s handwriting) and the cosmetics used by Su Miao.

Although Tang Qi is angry and depressed because Su Miao’s belongings are destroyed, he understands that the alpaca might be angry too because its owner is gone. He gives the alpaca carrot to eat but Cheng Cheng dislikes carrots, she has to eat it before Tang Qi takes it to the vet! Tang Qi likes the alpaca and wants to keep it, so he calls Gu Yu who happens to volunteer at the Animal Protection Association to come over. While eating the carrot, Cheng Cheng secretly texts Lin Yuan to stop Gu Yu while she tries to escape.

Lin Yuan stops Gu Yu’s vehicle pretending to be a construction worker. But another car drives by easily so Gu Yu thinks she’s a scammer. Before he calls the police, she lets herself fall and complains of spraining her ankle. Gu Yu finds out it’s Lin Yuan, and she asks him to take her home. She does everything to keep Gu Yu coming to Tang Qi’s house! Meanwhile, the alpaca opens the door itself and enters Tang Qi’s study room. It sees the faceless Su Miao painting he painted the first time he saw her. Tang Qi explains his eye condition, and Cheng Cheng realizes at the high school event when she wore a glittering and fluorescent dress he puked. When he saw Su Miao saving a child, he couldn’t see her face because of the tetrachrome. The alpaca listens to Tang Qi intently and he feels it understands him. After taking the medicine he falls asleep, and Cheng Cheng carries him to bed. She sees her hairband she left when she slept on his bed last time, and lets it be since that’s the only Su Miao’s belonging.

When Tang Qi wakes up Gu Yu is there but the alpaca is gone. Lin Yuan calls and says it runs away. Cheng Cheng finds it and takes it to the zoo. Su Miao wanted to take it to the zoo when she was alive. Lin Yuan didn’t explain clearly that she lent the alpaca to Tang Qi just for one day. Cheng Cheng takes Tang Qi and Gu Yu to the zoo to see the alpaca, but Tang Qi feels like it’s not the same alpaca. It can understand him and has an aura in its eyes when looking at him.

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Conclusion

With a dramatic death by a thunderstruck and a cute but savage alpaca, we’re looking forward to Cheng Cheng’s antics in the second part: Filter: Drama Recap Episodes 9 to 16!