Living Toward the Sun (2020)

Moving Biography. Captured essence & humanity of Love & Friendships

Rather than death, the story reminds us the beauty and priceless value of life. Xiong Dun is a remarkable person. Not because shes fearless but rather she wouldnt let her fear control who she is. Shes a person full of life, straightforward in speech, humourous, people person and endless love to give to the people around her.

The production handles this otherwise heavy theme of cancer, and looming death well by not filming and focusing on melodramatic angles. In 1 episode you get a cheating boyfriend and FL confronting him before episode 1 even ends..it doesnt dwell and the pace is good. Rather alot of focus is how resolute this woman, when shot, bites the bullet. Her inner strength and using good humour to cheer the people around her draws even more love from everyone that is lucky enough to have met her.

Its a story that is hard to rate. How do you rate a person's life? Well Xiong Dun would say: by how he or she lives. And given how much she loves life, I can leave this question unanswered Im thoroughly moved by the love shes surrounded with. Its like full circle. Her sincerity to people and her generous warm nature has affected everyone beside her. Not just her wonderful parents, her love interest doctor, her 2 bestfriends, her new bestfriend and fellow cancer patient, her boss and coworkers. All these people makes this drama a very good watch. Makes watching the journey of a cancer patient worth the tears and pain. Restores your faith in humanity and trust in selfless friendships.

I am glad to have met Xiong Dun brought to life in this story. May her story lives on and touch many more people.

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Underrated drama but definitely has many areas for improvements

Things I've liked: (The Cast, Acting and sometimes the Dialogues)

As a fan of actor Vengo prior to the show, naturally i will see him in filtered vision(even his bold haircut doesn't affect his visual imo😂) and so goes to the plot. But one can't deny such impressive improvements he had made over the course of his acting in mere three years since the first installment of 3L3W(the drama that I was first introduced to him). Without a doubt, he pulled off the mature, responsible, charismatic and tender-hearted Doctor Lin perfectly. He had great chemistry with his on-screen love interest as well. As much adoration I had for Vengo, I was just as much captivated by actress Jiang xin in the show. Her sparkling eyes dazzled with emotion on teary scenes. The same goes to the rest of the casts especially Xiong Dun's parents who definitely were both tear jerkers pros. The show had iconic dialogues that made me hook to the show. The first half was pretty fast-paced in which i really liked. Watching this feels like a roller coaster ride: great blend of comedy and melodramatic elements that I had to give it to the director(coughs*coughs* on a side note, made some questionable decisions as well that i will mention below)

Things I've disliked: (-_-)
*SPOILER ALERT*

Things started going tadbit haywire on the later half of the show(prob after Xiong Dun initial discharge... )
Pacing falls drastically slower.
Sometimes annoyed by Xiong Dun questionable behaviour. (I still pity her, in some extent..Kudos to Jiang Xin's acting that managed to convince me in a way)
A short handful of side fillers were okay... But the overused of Xia Meng's filler story arc that often overpowers scenes of both the main leads left a bad taste on me. Sometimes it even overshots XM scenes than the separate scenes of the leads as well until XM story had a closure. These fillers are often redundant to the main storyline, hence I am really confused with the plot decision making(Btw I am in no way had any ill-feelings towards the actress. She performed pretty well too..). It just feels like other than XM, every other characters, especially the main OP were greatly underdeveloped.
Despite the rich chemistry between Xiong Dun and Doctor Lin like i mentioned, not much depth was put into it(not sure was due to the director/writer/editor's fault).
My biggest issue will be the lack of emphasis in framing Doctor Lin's depression. I am glad that they provided the backstory(side note: Vengo shines his acting in the mini arc) but it was really rushed/weirdly edited that it seems his character did not completely heal in the end?! Or he seems pretty damaged and delusional that he still reimagines an alternate happy ending with his lover... 😢(Gosh i need a theory helper😌)

Overall thoughts:
I was contemplating on whether to write this review in the first place(I am always lazy to do it) but its one of the very few dramas that I was persistently committed to till the very end for this year. The show has its charm and it certainly holds a great place in my heart. Acting wise was unquestionably a 10/10 and I had no problems with the casting(everyone fit their roles perfectly well). Though no doubt i had issues with the obvious plot holes, character acting out of character at times and the inconsistent editing, its still hard to drop this drama halfway through. Part of the reason was the clever imput of cliffhangers and their selections of scenes in next ep previews. Overall, I have no regrets catching this drama and completing it. For a healing drama, it surely tries its best to tell the story of optimistic Xiong Dun inspired by her true story. I wouldnt be too harsh on this as I am really touched with the actors commitment in the project and pulling through despite being affected by the pandemic in the midst of filming. I still do stand firm on my complaints with the questionable editing but it's still a work to be appreciated.

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Excellent acting and realistic portrayals of hospital and medical procedures

I really like this drama. It is a rare gem among the more commercially oriented contemporary dramas. This is adapted from a real life story and based on a comic novel. The story starts a few days before a comic artist was diagnosed with cancer, how she handled the diagnosis, her treatment, her recovery and subsequent relapse. The production managed to balance this depressing plot with comedy, in the form of the FL who is a very optimistic and straight-forward talker (often talking before she thinks). Yet I could not give it a higher rating because of confusing editing (there are 2 editions) and THAT ending -_-

The Good Stuff
1) No product placement!!! That annoying face mask, 999 flu medicine and nuts snack are nowhere to be seen here! It was a relief to see FL using cucumber slices and other facial products. The only suspected product placement might be Vitagen.... it appeared about 3 times in the drama?
2) Excellent acting. I have no complain on the cast! Jiang Xin is such a good actress, I was confident she would deliver a great performance, and she did. I have worried on Vengo Gao, but the worries are unfounded. This is probably the best acting Vengo has done ;) And the other 2 FLs and supporting cast are great in their roles too. Special mention to the actor who played Xiong Dun's father, he was really endearing and had great onscreen chemistry with Jiang Xin (Xiong Dun).
3) Most convincing BFF friendships in a drama! My first tears were when Xiong Dun wanted to move out of Ai Mi's place because of Ai Mi's mother misconception that cancer is contagious. As a distressed Ai Mi asked Xiong Dun to stay, my heart went owwwww. The development of Xia Meng/Xiong Dun from enemies to best friends is very well done too!
4) Realistic portrayal of hospital and medical procedures. According to a few doctors' and nurses' comments at Douban, the medical aspect in the drama is quite accurate. The interactions between doctors, nurses and patients are realistic too, and the problems that the drama showed are real issues at hospitals.
5) Good storytelling and pacing. There isn't really any "filler" sub plot. Story is kept tight and well paced.

The Bad Stuff
1) Script tried to cover too many social topics... I do not understand why it has the sub-plot on Xia Meng's strained relations with her mother? And that scene with the pregnant lady on the train, trying to stir up controversy on motherhood? I feel that the scriptwriter and director could have focused less on this sub-plot. After all it is not relevant to the main plot, and not related in a medical drama? Instead I would have prefer more background stories on Doctor Lin and Ai Mi. Especially Ai Mi, as Xiong Dun's BFF since they were children, we really do not know much about her. Instead we know more on Xia Meng.
2) 2 editions of the drama. It is not a simple original vs uncut editions.... as both versions have scenes that are not in the other.
3) THAT ending. It completely goes against the "living toward the sun" mantra, seems to hint that Doctor Lin has mental problems after Xiong Dun passed away? Or is the director trying to give a happy conclusion to viewers, even if it is an imaginary? An artistic, open-ended conclusion which you can interpret in various ways. It can also be interpreted as how people deal with the passing of loved ones, coping by imagining she is still there although fully aware she has died.

But I would prefer a dinner gathering after few years. Ai Mi and Lao Zheng with a kid, Xia Meng coming to the dinner with Xiong Dun's parents (she promised to look after them like her own), Xiong Dun's boss with a wife, etc.. and sharing their recent happenings and future plans.

Or an ending showing Ai Mi and Xia Meng completing the bucket lists of Xiong Dun's and Xia Meng's :) and did Xiong Dun give the letters to Doctor Lin? Maybe not send to him yearly but gave all to him after she died? It is a waste to throw away the letters....

Music is okay. Some good lyrics in the title and ending songs. And oh, this has a high re-watch value because of the 2 editions. And I have also just realized the dvd edition at pangzitv has some differences with the dvd edition at Duboko -_- So i had actually watched 3 versions

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really annoying (sorry vengo)

edit: i made it 14 episodes in and i can’t do it anymore lol, i sensed myself starting to hate watch the show because i was seething with frustration at the mc. how can an mc be twenty nine whole years old and make such stupid, selfish decisions? i hear that rulu is a good actress so i’m gonna blame the direction for this. i found rulu’s portrayal of xiong dun utterly ingratiating. most of all it was her lying lmao. i know it was supposed to make her seem sympathetic but i felt no sympathy for seeing her actually hurt and endanger people around her. her voice was hard on the ears too?? i know she was supposed to sound cute and outgoing but she sounded like a woman in her mid thirties oncoming forties trying to sound like a baby. idk. gao weiguang i love the man but phew his presence wasn’t enough to save this shit. i really hope i can enjoy rulu jiang in another drama some day because this was really disappointing. not to mention her and viola mi’s styling was really unflattering here. i have no clue what these directors were thinking lmao. maybe i’ll return to finish watching for vengo but he’s the kind of actor that doesn’t carry a show as much as he depends on his costars and seeing as i hate everyone in the main cast that isn’t amy or xiong dun’s parents it’s not happening lol. the supporting stories, subplots, and cast are great though. it makes up for how unwatchable everything else is.

original review:

i think i’m not a big fan of viola mi or rulu jiang… the way they were styled in this drama was unflattering to say the least, and while i liked the character concept of xiong dun, i don’t really like her character? i always find myself more drawn to the characters around her—dr lin, aimi, her parents, the patients she befriends, etc. many ppl have commended rulu’s acting here, so maybe you’ll enjoy it. i personally didn’t, and the way they’ve styled her makes her already hard to watch. viola’s character xia meng has been a lot of shades of dislikable so far too, though i guess that’s on purpose.

gao weiguang is nice as usual. his short hair here makes him seem a little strange?? but you know, he has a nice face. those turtlenecks make him look a lot older and also cozy lol. and i love aimi’s actress and character so much i almost wish she was the main character. aimi and xiong dun are so close they’ve even made jokes about how they would marry each other if one of them were a man. to which i have to say, well why don’t you guys just get together regardless lol, it’s more realistic than being terminally ill and getting with your doctor. that’s another thing. i’m not sure how much of this is completely true seeing as it was based on xiong dun’s real life but it seems fairly disrespectful to sneak in such a weirdly unbalanced romantic plotline. what would the real xiong dun herself think?? it’s so weird!

there are a lot of other things in the show that i enjoy though. sub plots about sketchy doctors, about choosing love over all else including the pressures of work, the selfishness of children who don’t want to care for their parents but also the selflessness that many people are also capable of when seeing their loved ones are sick. it’s very much a touching show when it elaborates on these points. i’m looking forward to more of these side stories as i watch.

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