weak story, poor writing, skip the first 15 eps

Early on I got very bad vibes of Love Me, Love My Voice, a show I rated at 5/10. There are parallels in the relationship development but I'll try not to repeat the same review.

The 1st thing I notice is the Canada Goose branded outerwear in the opening scenes in another Chinese-in-a-foreign-land scenario. There's a lot of nice designer winter wear in the first 6 eps, yet how is it possible to have packed 5 different puff down jackets into the single suitcase each character carries. But I digress.

Yin Guo is a 21 y/o pedigreed pool player who arrives in Helsinki, Finland with her cousin to check out a univeristy he's interested in while she herself is signed up for a local 9-ball tournament. They meet 27 y/o Lin Yi Yang, a graduate student & retired champion snooker player. It took 4 episodes just to get this much information. I didn't know when the story was starting, what the characters' backgrounds were, or even what their university majors were (& never will find out by the end). In fact, the first 15 eps could easily have been condensed into 3 eps. A lot (& I mean a LOT) of time was spent with the ML staring silently at the FL while she shifted around awkwardly. They don't talk much, but somehow the ML decides he's madly in love. He admits he doesn't know how to date so all he does is take her out to eat, resulting in 8 eps of food touring all over Helsinki. Everyone else just talks about their relationship status. By Ep13 the 9-ball tourny was only a distraction, there's still no story in sight & I've just watched one of the emptiest 15 eps of a drama ever.

This is the 1st time I've seen Leo Wu so stiff & expressionless, like he doesn't know what to do with his character, trying to portray someone deeply pained but not quite getting it. At least with his last sports drama, Nothing But You, we got a much better glimpse of the tennis world. In Snowstorm there's very little explanation of world of cue sports. Billiards, snooker, pool, 8/9-ball... it's obviously a varied & highly nuanced game but no insights are offered by the time the show is already half over.

Not until Ep15 does the story finally get off the ground after characters from YiYang's past gradually get introduced as they all start converging into Helsinki for the tournament. Things move along as YiYang makes a career decision, the professional competition circuit begins, and he comes to terms with the events of his past, clearing the way forward to a future he strives for. In the beginning it seemed that Yin Guo would be the central character. However, by the 2nd half, all the story conflicts & developments involved YiYang, making him the central character. The show was more interesting whenever there was less focus on Yin Guo, which leads to the question of how important a character is she really, considering all the screen time she gets. She's left unchallenged, unchanged, & actually does very little for YiYang except sleep with him (& almost carelessly at that). After the conclusion of an exciting pan-Asian cue sport competition, the drama reverts to the conventional wrap-up ending, i.e. waste of time final episode, and without really concluding any of the supporting characters' arcs (who weren't that developed to begin with).

So, a disappointing show given that Leo Wu has been in so many other far more entertaining dramas.

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story takes center stage

I don't quite have time or mindset for a detailed review, but I'll just say this drama was a pleasant surprise. In Blossom is a show that lets the story take center stage. It's a complex murder mystery intertwined with an almost equally complex romantic tale of two friends from noble families, betrothed by royal assent since childhood, working together to uncover a deep political conspiracy involving the imperial court. The writing was very good & the show kept me guessing right until the very last episode with a cliffhanger ending highly suggestive of a sequel. There's comedy as well as tragedy. Highly enjoyable.

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smartly written with excellent performances

The trailer looked smart & interesting so I gave this drama a try, and wow, what a surprisingly good show it turned out to be. It's funny, poignant, and carefully examines human relationships with a sensitivity rarely reached by any show these days.

Shuo Bing & Tang Chen are both workaholics in competing high profile public relations firms in Hangzhou. They're also a couple engaged to each other, until they ask the impossible of each other when it comes time to consider marriage. Then comes a stunning betrayal.

Tang Chen is a 40 year old CEO of a PR firm he built from scratch, and one who desperately wants his world to be perfectly tuned to his own drum beat. His workaholism drives him to neglect his fiancee's needs to his detriment, forcing her to choose between marriage and career. Shuo Bing, in her 30's, is a mid level manager who makes the difficult choice between being ruthless enough to ruin a competing business (ie Tang Chen's) for a massive promotion, or settling for a domestic life she can't support. Later it's revealed that Shuo Bing's calm & cold demeanor hides a crushing & turbulent storm underneath, to which Tang Chen is completely oblivious.

The ensuing aftermath of that decision only serves to showcase Tang Chen's mastery of psychological manipulation in PR as he rebuilds his career. It's a fascinating look at his method: taking the time to find out about a person, where they have been in their lives and thus guiding their trajectory toward the success they seek. And not only does he bring out the best in his clients, he applies the same sensitivity & skills in bringing out the best in each member of his new team. References to Journey to the West are frequent and such that even the founding members of this team are named Tang, Sha, & Zhu, supporting each other and persevering "in spite of the strong wind" bringing more & more powerful demons against them.

Imbedded within this cut-throat competition of the PR world are case studies of 3 couples deeply in conflict. Tang Chen uses his empathic skill to guide his core team members through their personal issues, while taking lessons from his own parents in realizing what success & relationships truly mean to him, & that all of his skills are for naught if he didn't apply them to his own fiancee. The road of examination leaves almost no stone unturned as everyone eventually finds an endpoint they can be satified with.

What a difference mature, experienced, & talented actors make. Jin Dong and Song Jia play their characters with such a deep understanding of two people walking a razor thin line, navigating horrendous forces that turned them into professional rivals, while trying to find a way to hold each other in their hearts. The ensemble cast is excellent. Wang Yu Wen has been in modern lead roles, but here I feel she is in a more suitable role which actually shows her talent better. Oddly, Zhou MaiJie is not credited on MDL for his role, Hou Zhi, a major character. He's credited on IMDB, but there's no info on ZMJ at all.

At any rate, this is a gem of a show: well acted, smartly written, funny, poignant, and which I'm glad to have come across.

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Engaging story, solid but boxed performance from Xu Kai

From the director of The Untamed and The Legends, no less! My expectations suddenly skyrocket, especially after last seeing Xu Kai in the rather disappointing She and Her Perfect Husband.

The Chinese title, LeYouYuan, is also the title of a Tang dynasty poem envisioning a beautiful but fleeting world (my rough interpretation). Translated as Wonderland Plains in the show, it represents both a physical and mental refuge and happy place. WoL is a tale of erupting power struggles in the wake of a coup. Li Ni (XK) is one of the last surviving members of a royal lineage in a kingdom usurped by a rebel traitor. Three major parties then vie for control of the land and resources: Li Ni's ShenXi army (loyal to his murdered grandfather, the former emperor), the independent and very powerful Cui Family army, and the self-declared new Commander-in-Chief Sun Jing. However, Sun's brutal reign forces an uneasy alliance between the ShenXi and Cui armies. Li Ni meets the sharp and cunning Cui Captain He (Jing Tian), and begins negotiating not only joint trade and conquest, but also love.

I've been following XK's work since Ancient Love Poetry. I saw hints in ALP (as well as The Legends) that he could be a very good dramatic actor but, so far that I've seen, he seemed to be playing the same type of character in most of his shows: ie. the boyish, cocky but likeable hero type, always cool, understated, and at the top of his game. I keep watching him to see if he can break out of this box, and unfortunately WoL doesn't stretch his range.

WoL starts off as a light formula romance, against a big backdrop of war and politics. By Ep20 the drama turns more serious as Li Ni learns Capt He's true identity and factors it into his political strategy. In fact, they both don't hesitate to use each other. Things then get far more interesting as he tries to balance his goals for the country against those for himself, which triggers direct conflict with Capt He's own vision for country, self, and themselves as a couple. The course of their relationship through treacherous terrain makes their characters more sympathetic as their belief systems start to clash. Circumstances push them to the brink in an horrific (and excruciatingly long) battle scene. Will either of them sacrifice their core tenets for the other? At this point the strengths of XK's and JT's performances come further through a crushingly sad wedding scene. Toward what seems will be a tragic ending, XK pushes to his best performance (but doesn't break the box), before the story winds down with a conventional ending.

The story is strictly wuxia and what makes it dense are the fluid shifts of alliances between the 3 groups as they manage not only dealings with each other but also challenges from within their own ranks. The most dangerous foes come from your own family. This results in a fairly large cast of characters, and the ensemble cast is competent, with many familiar faces.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable drama with decent performances and an engaging storyline. XK fans will be pleased with this work.

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way too long & this relationship gives me indigestion

Sheng Sheng Man is a senior college student who composes Chinoiserie music & participates in a chat group with celebrity voice actor Qiang Qing Ci. They connect through chatting about food & cooking, but don't formally meet face to face. QQC also happens to be a doctor working in a hospital across the street from SSM's family convenience store where she works part time. QQC & SSM are attracted to each other's voices, & QQC begins obvious pursuit online. When they finally meet, they discover that they'd actually run across each other many times.

It was great to see Zhou Ye get a grown up lead role in the highly enjoyable Back From the Brink, so it's disheartening to see her take on this rather brainless role. In too many scenes she is either hyperventilating or looking stunned, or both. Likewise Tan Jian Ci, who was absolutely electric in Lost You Forever, has now wasted his time in this vacuum of a show. The writing ("What do you want to do? I don't know, what do you want to do? How is this dish? Mmm, it's tasty!") is excruciatingly mundane throughout the entire show, & ZY's & TJC's talents can't make it any better.

The show feels like an infomercial, where all everyone talks about is voice acting & Chinoiserie music, with a sprinkling of recipes & food shots. SSM & her college friends seem to talk only about QQC & nothing else. Where the heck is the story? As the episodes drag along, it becomes apparent that the only thing anyone talks about is shipping SSM + QQC. The dialogue is juvenile & only serves as a bridge between music or food scenes. The leads don't know what to do when they're together, and other characters exist only to enthusiastically cheer them on. When SSM's mother meets QQC for the first time, within minutes she's giggling while highlighting SSM's talents to him like she's trying to sell a cow. Their relationship status is discussed almost every single scene. This one dimension barely lasts 2 eps, nevermind a mind-numbing 33.

There's a certain creepiness in a man who's almost 30 years old, never been in a relationship, suddenly developing an obession with a young college student just by hearing her baby voice online. What's even creepier is how everyone around them encourages it, inspite of QQC's own warnings about falling in love with a random voice on the internet. SSM repeatedly points out the fact they don't know one another that well, but is thrilled when he unexpectedly shows up at her classroom because he "knows her schedule". Is this not stalker vibes? QQC ends up driving the relationship every step of the way, including buying a house for them & planning a wedding without her knowledge or consent. She only follows along brainless & submissive. Even when the 2nd couple arc starts, it involves QQC's colleague, who's even older, pursuing SSM's schoolmate. What is wrong with this show?

Not until around Ep24-26 does the focus finally change, with QQC making a big career decision. He asks SSM if she loves him only for his voice. She denies it, but acts like his voice actually is the only thing that matters, "as a fan". She isn't mature enough to separate being a fan vs being a girlfriend. Tell me again how this relationship is supposed to work?

When the age gap is with an older female, there are scenes of the female being ridiculed for her age by the younger male's group of friends (Nothing But You, Find Yourself). However in LMLMV, the older males are idolized by the younger group as heros. This double standard is frustrating.

Is it really a college girl's fantasy to be pursued by an older man with her family's blind support? This drama is so unrealistic that not even the gourmet food shots can make it digestible. This show might have worked if it actually left out the romance arc & just focused on the performing arts scene, which did start to get interesting, & the show should've ended with the big music festival. The final 6 eps are a complete waste of time. So unless you just enjoy watching music videos sprinkled with too much mindless PDA this show will not offer anything else.

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a gem of a show, if you have the patience

I almost dropped this show after 6 eps, not because it was bad, but because the pacing was so slow I didn't think I was in the mood. There's a strong 1930's feel in the whole production. The mostly static camera work makes it feel like watching a stage play or an old black & white movie. The music score and the slightly over-the-top Classical Hollywood style acting all combine to produce a complete 1930's vibe. This old-movie style isn't to my taste, but eventually I appreciated the strong performances from all the cast. I recognized many cast that were also in Arsenal Military Academy & Court Lady, & I feel some of the musical score was reused in all 3 shows; it all sounded so similar. In fact, these 3 shows share the same directors.

Shang Xi Rui is an opera singer specializing in dan (femaie) roles. He's a naive & eccentric prima dona. But when the troupe hits hard times, he pulls through to lead with compassion, humility, & sincerity (in between the prima dona tantrums). He remains true to his art & his genius as he inspires & motivates his troupe to become the leading opera troupe in Beiping. I'm sure the singing is dubbed but Yin Zheng's mannerisms while in full opera costume are very impressive & he very deftly portrays SXR's growth & setbacks as he encouters new hardships without losing his core values.

2nd Master Cheng FengTai becomes SXR's friend & benefactor after SXR's performance awakens a hidden passion for opera. No idle aristocrat, he actively runs a distribution business (including weapons) & organizes culteral preservation projects. He tries to maintain his marriage by never arguing with his unacknowledged wife, which only feeds her insecurity. Ultimately, she comes through as the backbone of the family. The Cheng household is a busy one with many extended family members connecting 2nd Master to a huge network of government & military officials. This network provides the infrastructure for the complex interplay of family, politics, art, & war throughout the drama. Also, many characters aren't what they seem.

Since watching Lost You Forever S1 I've become a Tan JianCi fan & he was actually the reason I started this show (I didn't realize he was also in Court Lady!). But if you watch just for him, he won't show until Ep11 & is present in fewer than 10 eps. His role may have been very small, but his acting talent is equal to the rest.

Although this show isn't completely my cup of tea, what kept me watching was the character of SXR: intelligent, self-centred but with a heart of gold at the same time, how he could push through the strict boundaries of his art & be successful. The cast was very good at portraying multi-dimensional characters. I also liked the glimpse into the world of Beijing opera & I'm now curious about the stories & what makes a good performance. However, the pacing was either slow or slower, with loose ends left at the end in spite of all the time it took to get there.

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just enjoy the scenery, if only for a short while

I had to drop this show after Ep26. There are so many good shows to watch right now. This is not one of them. Watch it only if you want to see Cheng Yi and Zhang YuXi pose in designer clothes. I usually have hope that a show based on a novel should have a higher quality story but this drama likely didn't do it justice. It's my first time seeing Cheng Yi in a modern drama, but I'm afraid his talent couldn't fix this mess of a script. I started to believe his tears were real: not because of his character experiencing a life-altering event, but because he was stuck doing this show. Zhang YuXi has had better roles, but her talent is where it is.

Tropes fly off the shelf within the first 4 eps: bad 1st meeting, stuck together on assignment, suddenly falling in love while having a bandaid applied, staying up all night to nurse a fever. I wondered how will this show make it to 39 eps when the tropes run out. Our heroes do dangerous humanitarian work, braving guerilla militia without scuffing their shoes, while the poor villagers they serve act as props to line up smiling and waving gratefully as they leave. The scenery shots of the Southeast Asian water villages they visit are gorgeous. Wait, is this a travelog or a serious medical/war drama or a fashion show? I tried to just enjoy the scenery.

I've read mention that this show combines 2 novels. If so, it sure wastes a lot of time. An entire episode is spent on the leads trapped in a rock crevasse doing nothing more than just sitting there. The FL's traumatic past is revealed but it's treated like a side note. Sloppy editing abounds. The story gets a bit more interesting by Ep8 with post-trauma recovery, family succession struggles, love triangles and evil mothers in law. Many long shots of ML's angst without really telling us what's actually going on in his head. 39 eps should've been plenty to develop all the characters and their arcs but we just get long silent shots instead. So the only thing you can do is just enjoy the scenery.

Another thing that bothers me is how few actors are able to accurately portray medical/academic people. Not to mention the set details: a high end hospital's rehabilitation unit has no grab bars in the bathroom, zero wheelchair accessibility, and staff that let you fall down on your face repeatedly while taking you for a walk. But who needs details.

I'm at HSK-1/2 level Chinese and I could understand most of the dialogue, which tells you something about the level of writing. This meant seeing adults talk (and act) like 12 year olds, or older parents talking to their adult children as if they were 12. This is too much. Ep26 is as far as I'm going to make it on this drama, and it's already further than I wanted.

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entertaining, but confusing ending

Park Yeon Woo is a Joseon woman who finds herself suddenly in modern day Seoul after a botched murder attempt sends her through a time portal. The first person she meets is Kang Tae Ha, a young executive of a large retail corporation. Tae Ha not only looks exactly like the husband she had just married in Joseon & who passed away on their wedding night, he also carries the same name but doesn't recognize Yeon Woo. Gradually, she meets others in Tae Ha's circle who also look exactly like those who were around her in Joseon, including the vengeful mother-in-law.

The story then falls, as the title suggests, into the contract marriage trope in a tale of repeating fates as Yeon Woo's "new Joseon" adventure parallels her previous Joseon life, including finding a profitable high end market for her embroidery & dressmaking skills. Past secrets gradually get revealed in a sordid tale of family betrayal all in the name of social status & greed.

In spite of the dark undertones the show was light & funny with a few LOL moments, but as the ending approached it got rather confusing . Yeon Woo is given a chance to change the course of her family history but her behavior didn't seem consistent with what I thought her character might do with a 2nd chance with her past love. The last episode also felt very glossed over, after a dragging previous episode which was basically an hour long good-bye scene, & a longer epilogue would've been nice. One important character, the mysterious spirit who catalyses Yeon Woo's time travel, is never really fully explained.

Finally, Lee Se Young as Yeon Woo showed more spunk & comic flare than she did in the early eps of Red Sleeve & remained strong throughout. Bae In Hyuk as Kang Tae Ha, is obviously more inexperienced with his performance. Veteran Jin Kyung as the mother-in-law deserves special mention with her portrayal of one of the more complex characters in the show.

Overall, an entertaining watch but too bad the ending fizzled out.

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when a bright sun becomes a black hole; Yang Zi's most challenging role yet

This is a story of 6 childhood friends, growing up together until university & career scatters them all for the next decade. An impending marriage prompts a reunion, setting the stage for the rest of the drama. The story centres around Huang YingZi, played by Yang Zi, who is tasked with finding and bringing everyone back to their home town for the wedding of one who is marrying outside of the group. Frequent flashbacks gradually tie past & present together as each member of the group tries to come to terms with the problems in their lives, where they've been & where they need to go. Which is putting it lightly. The themes of domestic/sexual violence & familial neglect eventually bring the story down to the darkest depths of depression, culminating in an horrific trauma rocking the entire group at a time when most teens experience their highest hopes. The primary arc involves YingZi & her relationship with her closest friend & unrealized long love JiangYi. A significant secondary arc is the friendship between adult YingZi & her literary idol, Ding Ye, a once famous but now struggling author who shares a similar past trauma.

Somewhere between Ashes of Love and Immortal Samsara, YZ's acting matured very impressively and I was looking forward to seeing her in this drama. In a recent news article YZ is said to have had reservations about playing an 18 yr old & didn't want to be seen as "overacting" the part. Unfortunately, "overacting" is exactly the first word that jumped into my mind early on. Teenage YingZi is not only the centre of the story, she acts like the centre of the group: loud, in-your-face, commanding all the attention & telling everyone what to do. When switching to 30 y/o YingZi, YZ plays her much more subdued even though the character maintains the central status, & YZ appears more comfortable in the older role.

I didn't realize Yang Zi is already 31 years old. And I don't know why, but age & representation are becoming a big issue with me these days. Because the story jumps back & forth between past & present so frequently, & due to the large cast, using the same actors for both time periods makes sense. But the problem here is there's a 10 year age span between the oldest & youngest actor portraying this cohort. YZ is finally in an age appropriate role, but has to act opposite people who weren't even born yet when this fictional group first formed at age 6, & there's an 8 yr gap between her & her ML. Lack of maturity results in lack of depth. With the exception of YingZi, the group all experience severe abandonment & emotional abuse throughout their lives & portraying how that affects someone at age 30 is not something actors in their early 20's can pull off. Adult YingZi has matured to being better able to understand the issues her friends struggle with, & works to bring her friends together to help each other resolve them. However, some of the younger cast succeed only at giving downcast looks & being helpless. This just sets up YingZi to the rescue because, of course, she's the centre.

While the drama starts with the awkward overacting, it then follows a conventional line with the main leads dancing around each other, dodging possible love triangles along the way. YingZi became more sympathetic as YZ's handling of the transition of the leads' relationship was funny & spot on. And her character's in-your-face-edness is actually brought back to her as a criticism. The rest of the group go through workplace & marital/relationship problems of their own. The strength of the writing came through as I became more interested in the outcomes of all of the group member's challenges by the 2/3 mark of the show.

Unfortunately, not until the final 1/4 of the show comes a shocking twist, catalyzed by the character of Ding Ye. Instead of being the bright sun which all around her orbited, it becomes clear YingZi had actually been a black hole for 10 yrs, sucking up all of her friends' & family's energies into her own problem. I then realized the drama all along has been as focused on YingZi as she is on herself. Only her birthday is shown being celebrated with a big show of her receiving gifts from the others. They all bend to her whims. She's the only one with 2 stable & caring parents. She's done very little for her friends in comparison to what her friends have been doing to preserve her fragile psyche in her own fantasy world, in the aftermath of the severe trauma that affected them all. It's narcissism in the extreme. However, YingZi does come to realize her behavior with the help of ever patient & all forgiving JiangYi, & all her self-centredness comes crashing down on her. Nevermind whether this situation is even realistic or not, I'm not qualified to say, but this rollercoaster was exhausting to watch.

So... not knowing anything about the story beforehand, I found this drama very compelling & surprising that it tackled such heavy themes. What I found wanting was a deeper exploration of each member of the group, more of their own perspective & individual response. Whether the narcissistic focus on YingZi was intentional or not, it's too much to have viewers also get sucked into that black hole. The character of JiangYi could've served as an anchor & should've been given much more weight. Finally, I wonder about the overly aggressive product placement of Stefanie Sun at the end. This caters to a specific audience & only serves as a time waster. At any rate, it was nice to see YZ playing her age. This role is very challenging & I give her credit for being brave enough to try. I hope she continues to challenge herself in this way & I'll continue to watch her shows with interest.

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predictable story with average delivery

The premise seemed very intriguing so I had higher expectations coming into this show. It's a shorter run at 12 episodes. Yeo Hwa is a Joseon woman in the Qing era, grieving widow by day & vigilante masked crusader by night. Her crime-fighting stints soon clash with the newly hired captain of the local garrison, Park Su Ho. They then discover they both seek answers to dark pasts, with clues leading them all the way to the imperial court.

On comes a dizzying line up of characters, a total of 5 different families, all connected to the same trajedy of 15 years prior & shrouded in mystery until Yeo Hwa & Su Ho team up to uncover the truth. The storyline is just as dizzying with many characters harbouring secrets & layers of suspects are peeled away until the mastermind is revealed at the core. It's a lot to pack into only 12 eps & the story doesn't actually offer much new. Murderous backstabbings, cover ups, shadow ops & attempts to depose the sitting royalty are all familiar backdrops, but the show doesn't go very far below the surface. There are attempts at portraying hard hitting violent events but they don't draw any sympathy. The political drama outweighed the romance, likely because the sheer number of characters & complex interactions didn't allow for enough development of the relationships. The action scenes were well done but they just got lost in the mash up of everything else happening.

The details in the half life-time of deceptions & sufferings of the widow are a bit overplayed by the end. Her suffering is balanced by her plucky nature, yet somehow Yeo Hwa's character came off more as slapstick & with no edge. Lee Ha Nee was unable to portray the depth of strength such a character would've had to have cultivated by that time in her life. I found very few truly LOL moments; in fact, the writing was quite bland. There's also an 11 year age gap between the lead actors, & as Yeo Hwa has lived as a widow for 15 yrs prior to meeting the young & unmarried Su Ho, it's plausible the characters also have a similar age gap, although it's never acknowledged. I was left wondering if LHN was trying to play someone 10 yrs younger as it would've made more sense that Yeo Hwa was 30 yrs old. Thus there's an awkwardness in the leads' chemistry & it wasn't convincing. So awkward, actually, that they couldn't even muster up the courage for a kiss scene which only serves to downplay an already weakened relationship arc. None of the other characters seemed especially compelling.

Overall, this was a rather soft & mediocre drama, but watchable because of it's shorter length.

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light & entertaining but lacklustre finish

Song Kang, the "Netflix King" for having so many shows exclusively on this network, shows his comic talents in this story of a demon, Jeoung GuWon, who takes advantage of despair & suffering to make deals with humans willing to trade their souls for relief. A master in the human world who is used to having absolute power, he meets by chance Do Do Hee, a workaholic CEO who proves to be his nemesis. DDH is played by Kim Yoo Jung (a veteran at age 24) who gives her character a refreshing hard nosed edge, with enough depth to reveal a lost & vulnerable soul within without turning her into a caricature.

This show is infused with funny moments in spite of its very dark undertones. And although all the usual romance tropes are in play, somehow they're not annoying when you have SK to look at, & whose dramatic acting is actually decent. The storyline follows a largely predictable path but with smaller twists that aren't so obvious & keep things interesting. There's also the past lifetimes theme which is very popular in fantasy genres, showing how demons are born from pain & resentment, & tying the lead characters together over centuries. And, of course, no demon is complete without a demon hunter, but the character who I thought would be that, didn't become that. Questions of who or what constitutes evilness, whether the devil is in humanity or exists separately, are ever present. And, God is a woman, also of course, & one whom this demon serves.

In spite of the questions, Demon is not a deeply philosophical journey, but is entertaining and very binge-able until the rather lacklustre final episodes where innocents are redeemed & bad guys get their due.

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very lightly entertaining

I've followed Zhao LuSi for some time and she is on a lightning streak in her career. I never considered her particularly strong as a dramatic actress, but what she is good at are light comic roles, and the early part of this show suits her very well. Wang An Yu stands up well alongside ZLS's star power.

Like other epics, this story spans vast stages of time but this show deals with much narrower issues. It begins with the imminent awakening a Fire Phoenix god, whose birth event is disrupted by GuJin, a true god who has yet to arise to his own destiny in the divine realm. He comes across a lowly spirit beast & together they start a journey to revitalize the Fire Phoenix.

I've read that The Last Immortal is a sequel to Ancient Love Poetry, a show I enjoyed very much, but there's not a lot of reference to it. TLI takes a long time to even start approaching the intensity of ALP. The tone changes from light comedy to serious half way through & here's where the leads' lack of depth in their performances become apparent. The story & action also drags noticeably before picking up once more as we enter the second act. However, rather than develop the characters' relationships more deeply, the show deals with all the villians rather early or too quickly, as with the long suppressed demon god. Too much time is spent with everyone firing their energy beams at each other while crying in angst in between. The ending felt somewhat unsatisfactory.

I don't have a lot to say about this show. It's lightly entertaining but the storyline doesn't hold any surprises, the CGI is bad, the costuming so-so, and no deep philosophical questions. It's good that ZLS could have a career in singing (she sings the opening theme song) if her acting doesn't carry her much farther, but this show won't stop her current streak.

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well written + well acted = highly entertaining

If you're tired of the giant, mediocre celebrity machine, Ripe Town (or Under the Prosperous City) is a breath of fresh air. Qu Sangeng is a bailiff in the very early 1600's whose revered master is murdered as the start of a chain, leading him to re-investigate a 20 year old buried case of a mass murder of an entire wealthy family. With only a handful of trusted friends close to him, he battles not only gang leaders and hostile witnesses, but also hostile superiors and his own fellow bailiffs, in his discovery of shocking truths. The concept of justice gets blurred in a world of revenge, where very few have come by their successes honestly. Sangeng is smart and bold, but too naive to recognize what he's not able to control.

Comparisons to A League of Noblemen came to mind as I started watching, but Ripe Town is more down to earth. It's only 12 eps long so there's no wasted time. However, many characters were introduced quickly, and flashbacks often were presented without warning, so it was hard to connect people and events until much later in the show. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it made me pay closer attention to keep pace, and by the end it all comes together. I'm not familiar with the classical reference, Analects of Confucius, which is a major focus of the hunt for the serial killer, so I won't comment on its role in the story. But, I am one for whom a music score greatly affects my engagement with a show, and this show had interesting drum rhythms similar to that of A League of Nobleman (which featured an intriguing drum solo for its entire opening theme). It perfectly complemented an exciting chase scene as the Hunter Squad takes down a monkey demon thief on the run.

The acting was very good and I was especially impressed with the performance of 16 year old Yu Yao. Yu's role is listed as a support role, but so much time is spent on his character's backstory that he should be considered the 2nd lead. He was able to portray someone of high intelligence, and cunning, with surprising maturity. All of the young teenage characters are subdued, which adds to the ominous atmosphere of the story. Yu is definitely one to watch for in the future.

The story is not a bromance, which seems to be the going popular theme, but is still very male-centric. There was even a poke at the trope of females disguising themselves as males by simply wearing male attire. While this inexplicably works in too many shows, it's flat out rejected in Ripe Town in an amusing scene.

I wish more shows would have this level of writing, that challenge your assumptions of who is good or bad, your expectations of a main character as hero, as well as your ability to predict what will happen next. The scenes were beautifully shot, no sloppy editing, and the 12 ep length made for a nice, tight story. Overall, it was one of the more entertaining shows I've seen this year.

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fantastic ensemble cast

Best show I saw in 2022, & not just because the main character has the same last name as me. "A crime doesn't turn into a local custom just because everyone does it" (Ep13). In 2004 a wealthy village chief's son sexually assaults a bridesmaid at a villager's wedding, setting off a chain of events over the next 13 years, unravelling layers of misogyny, corruption, & oppression within not only the judicial system but among family members. The struggles between the individual & the collective is exacerbated in the migration from the village to the city & the march toward modernization. The story follows the bride in her relentless fight for justice for her family & their very own livelihoods. The ensemble cast is fantastic, portraying very complex & intersectional characters with sensitivity & grace.

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How to live in the face of death

It's been a while since I last saw Lin Yi (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) but he seems to have been quietly building an interesting portfolio of dramas with real stories. Angels Fall Sometimes looked like another interesting show. Lin Yi plays Lin Tuo, a talented young person with a promising career as a designer, suddenly facing an early death sentence with a diagnosis of ALS.

The last show with a similar theme that I watched was Love is Panacea (2023). Angels achieves what Panacea does not: it addresses the question of how to live in the face of death. In these types of dramas involving terminal illness, I tend to look for messages of hope or possibilities on an individual level. Panacea failed on several levels & for a while I thought Angels would fall short as well. Angels explored so many negative reactions, the what-not-to-do, surrounding the main characters for most of its duration. Its tone didn't change until the final episodes when all the questions that built up were finally addressed.

It's a cultural thing to cover up serious illnesses, but trying to maintain an alternate reality by lying is toxic & unsustainable. The level of denial & inability to cope is far worse than trying to face the truth in the first place. It was rather rediculous to watch, but sure enough, the friends who try to support Tuo break under the strain & his secret isn't kept for very long.

Toxic parents add to the mess, because why not? They suddenly become concerned & compassionate at the flip of a switch. If the workaholic father was essentially estranged from his sons for most of their lives, to the point of being oblivious to the younger son's near suicidal depression, why would he rush to Tuo's side at the drop of a hat & apologise for being a shit parent at first word of Tuo's illness? That didn't make much sense but at any rate they become an important part of Tuo's support network.

Keeping the illness secret from his grandfather by lying about why he's in a wheelchair is another level of incredible. Will the grandfather find out only when it's too late? The cruelest thing to the people around Tuo is to not allow for a proper good-bye.

Tuo retains intellectual capacity & the desire to work throughout his disease progression. His workplace supports his being there and eventually installs a wheelchair ramp at the front entrance. But instead of assigning an assistant to help him draw, his employment is initially maintained by making him use his wheelchair as a delivery cart to bring coffee & supplies to his office mates. From being a highly marketable designer, he becomes someone simply to be taken care of & every ounce of autonomy is taken away from the get go. Does he really accept this patronizing loss of dignity?

The acting overall was not bad. From the beginning the leads were so relaxed & easy with each other, it seemed natural & was nice to watch. But the 2nd FL character was annoyingly antagonistic & shouted most of her lines at the top of her lungs. Honestly, what is the purpose of such a character? Lin Yi did fairly well in portraying the very difficult role of Tuo, but Landy Li showed the strongest performance of all the cast as An ZhiQue, the steadfast girlfriend who takes matters into her own hands to pull Tuo through his ordeal. The actor playing Tuo's neurologist was so natural in fact, I wondered if he was an actual doctor. The show thankfully doesn't delve into romance tropes as the story is not a fairytale romance but a tale of endurance, purpose, & meaning.

I knew this drama was described as a "tear-jerker" going in, but what I was looking for was a message of hope and a show of possibilities. I'm a doer, not a cryer. Up to 20 episodes are spent highlighting the emotional impact on the people around Tuo, who behave quite badly. There's a lot of hysterical crying, shouting, & getting smashed drunk without realistic solutions to enhancing Tuo's quality of life. The despair & helplessness is somewhat unsympathetically portrayed. Then come moments of clarity, like ZhiQue's father telling Tuo to put as much effort into himself as his friends were putting into helping him (although an actual psychologist might've been more beneficial). However, by the final 5 episodes we then get Tuo finally not only facing his reality but also finding a new purpose to his remaining life. He revives his role as a designer and continues to work as I felt the character should've been supported to do so from the start of his illness. The show further explores the stories of other ALS sufferers & the various effects on them & their families, & ends with the decisions Tuo is able to make for his life as a result of the full support of all those around him. So the hope, possibilities, freedom of choice, & having a meaningul life are there & I'm glad this show was able to reach this conclusion.

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