Obsessed about truth and justice

The main message in this drama is on justice and obsession. What is justice: are police and law able to mat out adequate justice to the sinners? What if you have sinned because you tried to protect yourself and your family? What if fate has been dealing out the bad cards to you all your life, then one day, fate arranges you to cross paths with the people that has caused your tragedies? Could you let the past go, or use the opportunity to mat out the justice which you feel the sinners has escaped from? And obsession. Obsession is the core element of the story, without which, the story wouldn't even have existed.

The main characters are obsessed with knowing the truth, and some after knowing the truth, chose to make themselves the punisher and punish the sinners.... they plan and administer their own investigations and "punishments" on the sinners. There is also a character who wants to remain unbias and judge on facts and evidence. A character who walks the bright and open way, another character who walks in the dark and is constantly in hiding. Both go about finding out the truth in their own way.

At the end, in the last episode, you are left with lingering feelings of what is truly right and wrong? Everyone was born like a plain sheet of paper, and with kindness and gratitude in heart. But over time, due to life experiences and situations, they change...

The characters' obsessions actually lead to more injustices. That car crash, he was obsessed to capture the driver and find out the mastermind. But in his obsession, he caused a tragedy on someone else and that someone became obsessed with administering own plan of justice.... Don't fast forward and miss on the details, they are like a chain, one triggering another event, and another event...

This is quite a strong story, and the revelations caught me off guard too. Happy to watch a police investigation cdrama where the end is not obvious. Acting is very strong, solid actors!! Story is very sad and can be quite depressing to watch. 1 point off because of this. If you like mystery suspense investigation dramas, this is a good watch.

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Time Seems to have Forgotten-- an unexpected surprise

This is not a drama for everyone. Although I rate it 10/10, you need to have patience and an appreciation for a complicated mystery that is tangled up in knots. Story takes its time to introduce and build up on the characters and their stories. I feel like I am doing a jigaw puzzle while watching this. Like when we piece together a jigaw, we start with piecing together small sections of it, before finally connecting all of them and having a clearer picture of the final image.... The beginning part of drama feels slow and some might even find it boring. But do not skip or speed through the drama, because it drops nuggets of important information (in the form of flashbacks and conversations) that give you clearer ideal on the core mystery.

I have a lot of praise for the script! Although this is an IP adaptation, the original story is very brief, its title is "Boyfriends Pawnshop", and it is about 3 women who pawned their boyfriends in exchange for wishes fulfillment. I didn't read the novel, but base on its synopsis and novel length, I guess drama is very different from novel. Screenwriter has expanded on the novel original premise and produced an intricate story. By the way, the screenwriter seems to be a newbie, because she has no previous works listed at douban, this seems to be her first credited drama screenwriting. It is worth noting that the producer, is the same producer for The Rational Life and When We Were Young. All has very cohesive scripts that focus a lot on characterizations, with realistic slice of life parts.

Forgotten is unusual in the genre of fantasy mystery, very seldom we see such story in this genre with a lot of realistic slice-of-life. But director has successfully melts these elements together so we feel like the characters are people we know in real life, they could be staying next door..... it reminds me of another fantasy mystery romance story that has similar slice-of-life vibes: Be With You (Japanese movie). And the cinematography!! The art direction and sets are gorgeous ❤ That is the main reason I continue to watch although it felt slow and somewhat boring in the early eps... Now that I finished the drama, I feel an impulse to buy miniatures of the Bus and Penguin, if the production are selling these!! The last drama that makes me wanna buy its souvenirs was Royal Nirvana. So yes, this drama has moved me a lot.

It is also worth noting that the drama has a lot more to tell viewers than the story it has told. Other then the life questions of is it worth trading in your relationships for wishes for other parts of your life? It has also portrayed several different kinds of loves:- the "I love you but my career is more important" love, the misunderstood love, the abusive love, and friendships that got traded in for wishes, and how the pawnees suffer alone with the memories while the other party and everyone else have forgotten.... and the ultimate, the self-sacrificing love. Drama said the pawnshop flowers choose the next shopkeeper (or shop manager) but the truth is, the next shopkeeper is chosen base on what he/she has pawned and the purpose. Look at Mr Huang's and Lu Xiaofan's stories:- it is only when one person pawned the other person for something that benefits the other person, and the other person comes in to do a similar pawn to save the pawnee, that one of them is chosen as the next shopkeeper.

And that ending. Do stop reading now if you have not watch this drama!!!
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This is my interpretation:- when the pawnshop was burnt down and all the pawned memories are returned to the current pawnees, it is not possible for the timeline to continue as it is. Think about the chaos and confusion this caused. So God or Creator decided to rewind time back to the start of the oldest pawned memories in the shop. Now, when a typical pawnee dies, the pawned memories are permanent and can never be redeemed. So the earliest living pawnee at the time that the pawnshop burned down should not be more than 50 or 60 years. So, the main customers affected by the disaster are the pawns that Mr Huang handled in his time. My guess is time is rewind back, and instead of becoming the pawn shop shopkeeper, upon death, Mr Huang becomes an angel, and his mission is to reconnect back the pawnees with their previous pawned relationships. Because every action has a reaction, in the absence of the pawnshop, some people who were destined to meet would now not have met. Like in the case of Lu Xiaofan and Wu Yang, so Mr Huang is there as an angel to guide them to meet again. This is my interpretation of the ending.... You can also choose to see it as a fiction tale that Mr Huang told the customers at his noodle shop.

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A mystery suspense story that has more twists than an ice cream twist

How good is the script in this drama? It is so good, even though the production quality is poor (and quite cheesy), even though the part-time actors could not hold up the acting (especially towards the end), this drama still gets a 8.1 at China's book and film rating site- Douban. And if I am to rate this drama on the story and script, and just on this aspect, I would rate it 15/10. Unfortunately we have to consider the other aspects of acting and production quality hence this is a 9/10 for me.

Unlike j and kdramas, cdramas seldom have a good and tight script. It does better at slice-of-life than in mystery suspense. Especially when there are battle of wits, it would usually lower the intelligence of the bad guys so it can show off how clever the leads are. And if there are plot twists, it only happens at the end of the drama, and usually just 1 or 2 plot twists. A few examples are Joy of Life, The Bad Kids, The Long Night. And these dramas, we would praise them for the scriptwriting, how well-written, how sincere is the production, etc.

The Record of Strange Things just blew all these out of the water. It show there are scriptwriters who can really put in the efforts to write a coherent, fast pace and intelligent script. A story where the leads and all characters have above average intelligence. No one has their intelligence watered down just so the story can reach a conclusion. And the battle of wits, especially in the 20+ eps are soooo goooood. Plot twists? There are so many in this drama I lost count! I remember at least 5 times that the story has fooled me! There was this ep, after I watched it, I decided to stop for that day, and post a comment online that it is understandable why the gang had made that mistake, that it is within normal human thinking not to check for that item..... Then I watched the next ep on the next day, and realized it was a trap setup by the gang. They haven't made a mistake at all..... Please note that I have said earlier, that the main cast are part-time actors, so it is not their great acting which fooled me, but the way the story was written that made me really believe that was true, I didn't smell a rat at all. And this is how it is, several times throughout, I would be "I think this is sus" but story shows me otherwise, then something else happens and I sus the same character again....

Yet I have been informed, this is still not the production team's best drama. Their best is the 3 seasons of Moral Peanuts, especially the season 3 which has a rating of 9.1 at douban. So yup, I should be starting at Moral Peanuts next.

It is quite sad that such a production team do not get the support it needs from investors. Because towards the end, the drama isn't as exciting, although story is still good and going strong, it felt like something is missing. Partly because of the acting, the actors could not express the urgency and desperation in the last arc. And partly because of poor production, the special efforts and venues that they use are too bare and maybe camera equipment too that made the last part suffered in storytelling. But overall, this would probably be the best drama of the year for me, if not at least 2nd or 3rd best. I highly recommend you check out this, if you don't mind the poorer production quality, the story is really fantastic, especially in the 20+ eps. Such fast pace and clever writing and art direction.

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The ending is not as simple as it seems

When I initially finished this, I have rated it 7. Plot developed too slowly and that weird ending, is so laughable I was thinking there should be a season 2-- Trinity of Shadows: Revenge of the Ghost. And it can be supernatural horror..... ^^"

But now that I realized what the story is actually about, I increased my rating to 8.5

It is still not perfect becos 1) drama is too long, the pacing could have been tighter. 2) for a plot twist, this is so not obvious that about 50% of viewers would have missed it! In this age of instant gratifications and abundant dramas, a script that is too mind boggling.... few would take the time to ponder and understand that ending -_-"

----MAJOR SPOILERS----

Well, that ending stuck in my head... Felt like there were some details that I have missed. Is the ending really so stupid? So I went to Douban (I understand Chinese) to read what others wrote on the drama, and saw a post on the ending, a different point of view that made perfect sense!

I shan't say what it is but let's recap over the story--

At drama start, it had hinted at serial murders, that FL's father was not the actual murderer but covering for someone. And that the murderer was still free, and might be back to killing prostitutes in the same manner. Then as plot develops, we know that is not true....

Then in ep 13, Dong revealed who was the murderer. And becos of his words and the developments we thought, yes, that is the truth!! But think about it, Dong wasn't there when the murder happened, he had only assumed what had happened....

We, the viewers, are led on by Dong's assumption but what if he was wrong?

Think about it, if she was the murderer, there's some details that don't fit logical human behaviour:-

Why did he willingly sacrificed himself to cover up for her? And why did she run away? Since he sacrificed himself, shouldn't she had stayed back to take care of her?

The only rational reasoning is, both of them were not motivated to sacrifice or ran due to guilt, both their actions were in fact motivated out of fear. The shock and fear on what really happened....

Yang realized the truth at the end too. Which is why we saw that last scene, them moving back into the house.....

I thought I was watching an investigative mystery but it is actually a psychological thriller with a creepy, horrifying ending.

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A Masterpiece in Suspense and Fear

MDL should have one more criteria-- cinematography. Because the cinematography (or directing) at this drama is 10/10, and this is where Danger Zone stood out from the typical murder mystery thrillers. It has quite an ordinary and easy to guess plot, nothing that we have not seen in other murder mysteries. What made it so suspenseful, intense and scary is the cinematography, the directors' and art designers' brilliant work.

My rating does not seem to correspond with the headline ^^" It is indeed a masterpiece in building suspense and fear in the viewers, but the script is weak and has quite a lot of plot holes and logic issues. This drama focused the storytelling on the art direction and some shocking images to build-up the tensions and suspenseful atmosphere. It use a no-holds-bar approach to tell the story, which gave a rarely seen realism in such murder mysteries (I mean, in most other dramas, it would not have shown some of these scenes, instead it would make references to those scenes in the dialogues or show us a character's reaction to what was supposedly seen)

Some might ask is it necessary to have so much gore in the storytelling? Well, it seems effective since this drama got me hugging cushions and pillows, something that I've not done watching other horror shows. And it is kinda "refreshing", most dramas don't do this, but it did here!

The cast performances are quite good in this, not the best though. Special mention on Vic Zhou, his eyes are haunted with the pain and feelings of hopelessness as he is stuck behind bars and unable to defend himself. Christopher Lee and the supporting characters are very natural in their scenes, and for the more emotional outbursts scenes, there are some phenomenal performances. Berent Zhu's Ren Fei isn't as good but director has cleverly cast him as a young hot-headed new police detective, and as his character gradually develops throughout the story, I grow to like him a lot. For me, the weakest is probably Teresa Daley's journalist, she didn't quite managed to make the character her own.... they could have put any other actress into this role and it wouldn't have made a difference.

The other thing that I dislike about the drama is the "superhuman" rate of recovery!! Lol.... the way Ren Fei jumped and crushed through that window, didn't even need a day of MC and back at work 🤨 the most unbelievable was how fast that female detective (sorry, forgot character name) recovered from her head injury 😅 and finally the way police looked so stupid at their work.... but I guess this has to happen else there would be no drama (which is why I feel the script is actually quite weak, couldn't it have made police look smart and the murderers are just smarter?). Also, where the heck is Liang Yan Dong getting all the batteries and cigarettes from? I dunno how the prison store works in Taiwan but they would restrict the amount of batteries that a prisoner can purchase.... and there is no way it would be selling cigarettes! Liang Yan Dong don't seem to have family visiting him, so from who and where? Just a few annoying plot holes....

I'm rating this a 7.5 for now, let's see how S2 develop, might come back and re-edit this review.

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Masterpiece on workplace politics

I used to think that China can't portray the workplace realistically in dramas, until I saw Ideal City. Although some of the major events in the story felt unbelievable, the characters' reactions and character developments are quite on-point and very realistic. Finally a workplace drama that really focus on the workplace and tell it like it is.

This is set in the construction industry, our heroine is a cost engineer-- she does the budgeting, costing and oversee construction projects to ensure it does not exceed budget. I think it is brilliant to choose this industry, quite an unknown field and most viewers would not know how accurately the work is portrayed 😅 What makes the work settings believable in this drama is the dressing and make-up. Sun Li had on very light make-up and her clothes are standard office wear. There was this scene of Mark Chao changing footwear when he reached his home, he was wearing sports shoes with suit and tie-- realistic dress code as he had to visit construction site very often. And the office settings are not overly beautified or expensive, look like regular office.

The heroine, Su Xiao, is an independent and smart office worker. We watched how she did her best at work and was sabotaged, how idealistic she continued to be and relentless in keeping to her moral codes and work ethics, yet still managing to make a comeback and climbed up the ranks. She never gave up nor accept the toxic work culture, keep holding onto her own beliefs and refused to become "one of them".

The storytelling is fast-paced and have some really clever plotting and scheming, and plot twists!! It was quite an exhilarating watch for me. Although the romance is very little in this drama, that is alright for me, as the focus is on the work and politics. And wonderful acting by all the actors!! Even Yang Chao Yue whom I was worried for, they gave her a character that has YCY playing herself 😅 Her role was really cute and adorable in drama, brightens up the screen whenever she appears!!

I would have rated this 10/10 except for the last arc. It felt like a rushed ending or maybe that wasn't the original ending....? The events that happened in the last few eps were quite confusing, and overly idealistic. Su Xiao had a very grand, "all-for-one, one-for-all" theory but realistically speaking it is not possible to execute that. Her being able to convince the CEO to accept that proposal was really stretching the reality for me..... I was quite upset with her, wish she would have let Xia Ming did what he had planned, it was going well, and her proposal although is great for everyone, if it failed in the execution, would turn to bad situation for Xia Ming and his uncle. They wanted to have the freedom to run Tian Ke the way they envisioned, separating from HQ is the better alternative. But we'll never know if Su Xiao succeed in eradicating the toxic in the management system, if staying back was good for Xia Ming as drama left it at that.

And I think they cut too much of Hongmei's scenes 🤨 Might as well not even include her scenes in the ending, rather then giving viewers a "why, what happen?" feeling.

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Almost perfection 美中不足

Excuse me having to use Chinese characters in the headline, but that is my first thought when I completed the drama. The correct translation for 美中不足 is "a blemish in an otherwise perfect thing" but that sounds kind of negative 😅 Almost perfection sounds nicer. I have really enjoyed this drama, although I'm rating it 8.5 it would still go on my list of Top 10 dramas for the year. Will come back on what are the 'blemishes' that could have made this a perfect story.

What are great and very well done in Dear Diary:
1) Actual/Real sets and training
Production and cast have travelled to Morocco and Paris for the scenes set in Babylonian times and for the scenes in final ep. Crew had really construct an ancient set for the shooting, the 3 actors that belong to Babylonian times had received training and been educated on how people in those times would behave, walked, fought....
2) The dialogues
There are really good lines in this that are reflective on life and love. It somehow reminded me of Il Mare, Bloody Romance but the dialogues in this are much more superior. I have watched this raw, no idea how the Eng subs would be like? Hopefully it managed to keep the same meanings... A lot of the dialogues could be used in our real life, quite similar to The Alchemist and Little Prince (it even quoted Little Prince in a scene).
3) The story
The premise of a 12 yo's fiction story that came alive, how she had wrote the story with love then hated it due to the public humiliation she suffered when her book was accidentally discovered and read out loud in class, how the experience changed her into an anti-social 24 yo woman with OCD..... her emotions and reactions when she first met the story characters (hilarious yet sad too) and realized her story had came alive..... And the friendships!! Especially between Meiru and Zhen Zhen.
4) The casting and acting
This is one of the best casting choices made in a cdrama! Everyone fits their characters so well ❤ And the actors did their best to understand their assigned characters and portrayed them very convincingly.
5) The cinematography
If you read my comments on this page you'd know how impressed I am with this director. Although the cast are perfection, when we look at these 3 couples, they don't give any CP feels at all, they don't look matching. But this director knows the right kind of scenes, angles, etc to make viewers believe in their love. 3 pairs of people who don't look like couples become believable as lovers with his directing.

The "blemishes":
1) Somewhere around the halfway point, story developments and scenes start to feel disjointed. The scenes are awesome! But when linked together felt like there's missing parts. We see the love, the fears and grief between the 3 couples, but there ain't that many scenes that show how they reached this point, this deep love. It gives me a somewhat empty feeling at times, like there's big gaps in-between-- great scenes and dialogues but it felt over-melodramatic because of the missing interactions and developments in the beginning arc. Cast revealed the whole shooting took about 4 months, yet this is only 24 eps of 30 mins each. Hopefully Youku would release the additional scenes that were not used in drama.
2) What is the story theme? I get the feeling this story has a theme and not just "a drama", that it is trying to make a point about something. But that point that it is trying to tell, did not come across clearly enough, end up with a few points that are conveyed quite weakly. About learning to love and live, letting go of the past, learning to forgive yourself.... etc are not conveyed as strongly as it might have intended.
3) Chen Meiru's uncle.... Who is he exactly? How did he know about their stories? It felt like he had been waiting all his life for it to happen.... If the storytelling was better, didn't have the above 2 issues I wouldn't mind not knowing the truth on Uncle, there have been other fantasy productions that had similar unknown characters who know everything but identity unknown.

If you are just starting on this drama and feel put off by the cringe and slapstick comedy, it is only in the initial eps. Hang on until ep 4 or 5 and you would understand why this drama is worth your time. It isn't the greatest in this genre but the heart and sincerity put into the set design, story and acting, are really quite something. Hopefully its original script can make be published into a novel, would like to see the original story prior to the many edits....

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Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you'd get

Crossroad Bistro is a heartwarming and frustrating, funny and sad, very beautifully shot and somewhat disjointed drama. I get the feeling that this might be semi-autobiographical, like someone has penned down some personalities that he knows in real life, and some true life stories that he have witnessed or maybe even experienced. Some scenes do not really advanced the story or make any impact to the plot, but are in the drama, as if it is an ode to someone or in memory of a better time.... This is especially so with that song that keeps playing in the background. A song that is very wistful, recollecting on the past.

Crossroad Bistro isn't just one story, it is a collection of several stories. There would be a few times when you are watching this drama that you would fuss over the characters' decisions or events that happened, I would say, do not fuss over the details, instead look at the main point and moral of story that the drama is trying to tell you. From these, there is much to know and learn, as every event that happened, the storyteller is actually trying to convey an opinion on Life to us, the viewers. In some sense, this drama is like Chicken Soup for the Soul. Every event in the drama is like a mini story, each with a perspective on Life to share, a topic to let you discuss and think over. Such as are adventure seekers quite selfish? In the pursuit of adventure, the way they put their lives on the edge, is this being responsible to their families? Between personal happiness/success and being responsible to loved ones, which is more important?

I also like that it explored the love between man and woman in several different ways. We have the selfish jerk boyfriends, the devoted and loving boyfriend but the woman could not feel the spark (love) for, the love of a married couple, and a many years friendship that is quite confusing if it is an only friendship love or is there something more?

My only complaint on the drama is:- the friendships between the 5 women are a bit unrealistic? It is possible to develop very close friendship in a short time, but maybe not to the extent that is shown in drama.... To become so close, you should be seeing each other every day or every other day, but one of the FLs is quite separated from the other 4, and when they all came together to support her, that part was a tad unbelievable. Still I love the 5 women friendships, the bond that they shared.

Love the musical performances and that poetry recital (with drinks)! And the peeks into acting and entertainment circle, that was fun! Not essential to plot but gave it so much color and life. An ode to better times and friends!

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Excellent directing work: kept the suspenseful atmosphere throughout 43 eps

As a spy suspense thriller, The Rebel is outstanding in the art direction and cinematography, and the ACTING. This might be the best acted cdrama for the year! I have seen the director's most recent previous work-- Dream Detective. Although he is listed as screenwriter, I read in an article that he had went onsite and participated in the production. The similarity that I see in the art direction in Dream Detective and The Rebel-- very good nuanced shots of the emo scenes. This drama has frequent scenes of one character just sitting there, contemplating on the events and what to do next. And just like in Dream Detective, a lot of the characters' thoughts, love between the main leads were not expressed in words. The Rebel left it up to viewers if Chen Mo Qun ever knew who had instigated his downfall, if Lan Xin Jie ever loved Lin Nan Sheng, etc.. (ps: if you are intrigued and want to check out Dream Detective, please note this is still not subbed).

To be honest, up until the 20+ eps I thought this would be a 9.5 or 10 stars for me. Unfortunately, the script did not manage to hold up the story. The novel that this is adapted from is actually quite a short story, so 7 screenwriters are roped into the production to expand on the storyline and add in more scenes. Maybe they hired such a big team of screenwriters to ensure the details would be accurate per historical places and events but this also created an unevenness in the overall plot-- drama started off quite intelligent, and dipped into stupidity in the middle parts, and the ending..... the built-up to the ending was so strong, so good, but dip into predictability in the last ep -_-" In between, when some good supporting characters were going to die, the script gave special attention to their interactions with ML, but this only give viewers "red flag", as if telling me, yup he's going to die soon (and he did die quickly, in the same ep). Script is too predictable.

Characters are very well-written in this drama, and the developments and changes in their personas. Some of the most brilliant character developments..... The gradual changes in Lin Nan Sheng, Chen Mo Qun, Wang Shi An and Lin Xin Jie, how the events, environment and years slowly changed them are very well depicted. Kudos to the actors!!! Erm, notice how I did not mention on the FL, Zhu Yi Zhen. Although she went through a lot too, the free spirited, idealistic Zhu Yi Zhen at the beginning still look same to the Zhu Yi Zhen at the end, albeit she became more mature. Tong Yao is a very good actress, she had won awards! The problem is in the script, I guess production decided to make the FL role more like a tool to facilitate certain events. Such that the mistake she made at the beginning, she again made a similar mistake at the end (she was very bad at reading people). She was said to have attended military training, etc but we really don't see much development in her at all.

Soundtrack is really good! Do not skip the intro (don't worry, no spoiler in it)! Ending song is awesome too \o/ Overall however, The Rebel was a disappointment for me, had expected more.

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A most unexpected piece of brilliant screenplay

Up until the last episode, I thought I've be rating this drama either 6 or 7, but that last episode turned everything around. In fact, I'm thinking I would have to do a re-watch of the drama.... If you are not a deep thinker and just watch this drama as a rom-com, you would see this as a soap opera story and the ending as silly and nonsensical. If you are a deep thinker like me, you might realize the additional psychological implications that this drama has been hiding until the last scene. I'm seeing so much hints now, even the poster is suspicious.... isn't it weird that Xia Ran Ran is dressed in complete white while the rest of cast are in black? I need to talk to the director or scriptwriter!!

I like the start of the drama-- a spoilt rich girl with a sad past, was alone in England and had been partying wildly, so she ran out of cash and called home to ask for funds. She was denied and did not have money to pay the apartment rent. Then police received a tip and went to her apartment and discovered illegal drugs, so she was arrested. She did not have anyone she knew in England who could help her, except for the stranger whose mobile number she had thought was her mother’s. She called again and begged for his help. He felt sorry for her and went down to the police station and bailed her out. Without money and her identifications (police withheld this due to the investigations), she had no choice but to stay with this strange man. When she reached his home however, she was surprised that he was staying at the same address that her mother had given her. But where was her mother? And why was this stranger holding the mobile number and staying at the place where her mother should have been? The next sequence of events cleverly turned towards rom-com cliches—labour contract, aloof ML and cute-as-button FL, wild girl turned hardworking student in order to plan a revenge when FL returned to China…. Making me completely forgetting that initial mysterious setup.

And this is one aspect of the brilliance in the screenplay, how it set us up with a mysterious beginning then buried the mystery with rom-com and other developments until the last 10 episodes where the mystery was revealed. And the revelation is well done too, giving little stray crumbs to viewers to guess at the truth, yet not giving us enough to know the full story until screenplay was ready to reveal the truth.

The whole cast acted very well, special mention on Liu Xiao Zhen who played Dan Juan, FL’s sissy BFF. Except for Li Yi Tong…. I find her acting to be quite underwhelming and somewhat disconnected from the drama. BUT my opinion on her acting did a 180° change when I saw the ending….

Throughout the drama, Xia Ran Ran (Li Yi Tong) would occasionally talk to herself and have fantastical daydreams. I have thought these are adorable scenes that director puts in to add more cuteness…. BUT my opinion on this did a 180° change when I saw the ending….

It is a happy ending— everything turns up rosy for Xia Ran Ran, and she married Shao Mingzhe in beautiful fairytale-like wedding. BUT in the wedding scene, there is an exact same sequence that had appeared in the initial 10 eps, in one of Xia Ran Ran’s daydreams…. This very weird ending plus the above 2 points that I have mentioned led me to think that the screenwriter wanted to imply that the last episode is a fantasy of Xia Ran Ran, that she had chosen to live in a fantasized perfect world then face the reality…. The reality would be: she lost the tender, bank retracted back the loan support, they had to sell their home and properties to pay back the bank and maybe barely survived until police completed their investigations and returned the embezzled funds to Company.... Xiang An and Su Mo never reconciled and neither did Ran Ran and Su Mo..... As for Shao Mingzhe, Ran Ran could not be with him due to his mother's objection and she didn't want to sour their mother-son relationship....

Which in a way is logical, considering the amount of bullshit that happened to her, a normal woman would have slipped into deep depression. Instead she fantasized the perfect, fairytale ending to run away from her bitter and lonely reality.... Xia Ran Ran have maintained a cheerful optimism throughout the drama, she was so cheerful that she felt disconnected with reality, which bring me back to the point about how underwhelming Li Yi Tong had played Xia Ran Ran. On hindsight, this style of acting is exactly required to portray someone with depression and PTSD. I had a friend who had a bad car accident shortly after she received her driver’s license, and when we met her just after the accident, my first words were “wow, you somehow looked younger by a few years….” That’s what unexpected shock can do to a person, you might be crying and in shock internally but appearance-wise, you look younger and actually happy.

And this is why I am so impressed with the screenplay. You can interpret this drama 2 ways—a light-hearted rom-com with the perfect ending, or the sad story of a depressed woman who chose to live in a made-believe fantasy at the end….

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Victory belongs to the brave and heartless

... and because he was brave but too much heart, he was destined to fail just like his brothers had predicted. Yet those who supported him either refused or couldn't see that he did not have what it takes to accomplish the objective of becoming king. And that is the tragedy in Royal Nirvana Special.

The excellent cinematography and stellar acting continues in this last installment of Royal Nirvana. Zheng Yecheng's surprising turn towards the dark side was an absorbing watch-- not just because he acted well, but I've never him in a negative role before. The greatest character development in the story is Gu Feng'en (Zheng Yecheng's character)-- how he went from a playful and protective man, with dreams of becoming a scholar and serving in court, to a seasoned general, bitter with the sacrifices made by his family and disillusioned with the regime.

The script and dialogues however... Although I am glad for the more factual and less angsty storytelling, the dialogues lack the elegance in Royal Nirvana. The flow is also a bit odd-- for eps 1 to 10 the story develops in a steady and factual manner, then it suddenly went into angst in eps 11 and 12. I appreciate the change in screenwriter, else I wouldn't have been able to finish this 12 eps in 2 days (the original screenwriter would probably have made this very angsty). But at the same time, somehow Royal Nirvana Special is not as gripping as Royal Nirvana. This is just my pov, as I see a lot like this as well as RN, but I prefer RN to the Special. Because the scenes of Zhang Shao Yun and the Emperor, felt unnecessary other then to add more emotional tragedy to the ending. And this is something that did not happen in the script in RN, every scene was just as it was required, nothing extra or unnecessary was added.

I'm left wondering if anything would have made a difference at the end? If the Emperor was less stubborn and could have talked to Xiao Dingquan much earlier, or if Lu Wenxi could have been more persistent to talk him out of suicide? When he removed the hairpiece, she had reacted as if to take it back, and the way she insisted to inform Xiao Dingquan of her pregnancy even when he wasn't interested. But she was aware of his decision, and ultimately chose to support him. I guess the pain and senseless deaths at Changzhou was the last straw for him, at which point he had given up on the throne and on himself.

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The Crown Prince who Cared Too Much

===my review contains spoiler on the ending===

I am reminded of Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame as I was watching this drama. Quite a few parallels-- right from the start, we sense an air of tragedy; both have physical tortures and punishments aplenty; both are melancholically beautiful. I remember having the most difficult time reading Notre-Dame, on one hand I love the prose and writing style, on the other hand, the story was so awfully tragic. That is the same experience with Royal Nirvana.

I'm not sure if the production team was trying to be ironic when they gave the English title "Royal Nirvana", because there is nothing nirvana about the story. Its Chinese title makes more sense-- 鹤唳华亭 is a poetic expression that means recollection of the past, a past that was very unpredictable and treacherous. Yet the treacheries and scheming in this story isn't as good as in Nirvana in Fire, The Rise of Phoenixes, etc. It is however outstanding in its detailed characterizations of the main leads and supporting characters. And watching the characters 'face off' in tensed moments are very well done in Royal Nirvana! The scenes between Crown Prince and Emperor, between Crown Prince and Wenxi, are full of tensions and emotions. Their feelings that were at times suppressed and hidden behind their words and actions, and at times expressed so boldly that left me in shock. The attraction of Royal Nirvana is not in its story, but in the storytelling: the cinematography, the dialogues and the acting.

I love the cinematography, the wide-angled view and 180° camera panning helped to pull me into the story. At times I felt as if I was there, an invisible soul standing at a corner watching the story unfolds. And the dialogues....Royal Nirvana has some of the best lines I've ever heard in a historical cdrama. The writer is very clever (and creative) in the use of simple words, arranging them in such a manner that made some of the lines so meaningful and unforgettable. The acting, hmmm. I know most viewers complain on Luo Jin's portrayal of the Crown Prince. For me however, I think he was right. This Crown Prince cared a lot, he cared too much for those that he loved and even those that he hated. He could never make a strong and firm stand for himself, and in the midst of trying to protect everyone, his path and objectives got very unclear. For such a character, it is not enough to portray him with sad eyes and a frown, he needed to cry. The whole cast put in a phenomenal performance, special mention on the Emperor, it is such a 'joy' when he is on screen. Although he is the most hated character, his acting is so naunced, it is an enjoyment to watch him. Lu Wenxi... oh my, every time her tiny frame showed up, I almost stop breathing because most of the tragedy and tortures were focused on her. When Crown Prince was with Wenxi, the onscreen chemistry was sizzling. I'm not sure if it was the director's artistic direction or the acting (maybe both), when these 2 were on screen together in the later parts, the undercurrent desires and sexual tensions could have melted my screen...

In case you have not watched this drama and is hesitating because the ML sounds like such a kill-joy, FL is very strong. Lu Wenxi-- an innocent lass who had merely wanted to follow her heart and be with the man that she loved, how she had to grow up and be brave in a short period of time. And how she exacted her revenge plan deserved standing ovation. It was such a checkmate move! She had not only thought through how each of the characters would react, she planned and made sure which ever move that they made, they would eventually end up where she wanted them to be. In comparison, ML spent most of the time in a reactive state, only reacting to the events that happened and not taking a pro-active lead. To some extent, his teacher and mentor had to take some responsibility for this. ML had went on the dark side early on in the story, he did an underhanded move to entrap his enemies. However his plan was not fail-safe, and when his teacher was sacrificed to protect him (and lectured him on integrity before he died), he vowed never to resort to underhanded means and never to put others in danger... which was really quite foolish, sigh.

So why am I rating this drama only 9? I am usually very generous and often give 9.5 and 10. That 1 missing point is because I'm really not convinced that this story had to be so tragic (this is also the reason why Hunchback of Notre-Dame is less well-known)... Due to censorship issues, a great chunk of about 10+ episodes were edited off at the end. Since it was edited off, couldn't they have given this a happy ending? Stop the story at the point when Wenxi had completed her revenge and Crown Prince made her his concubine. But it didn't and instead gave us a confusing ending, hinting that "more stuffs happened" but we couldn't show you. Maybe the director had planned for the Special and wanted to give an abstract ending so that viewers would still be interested to continue with the story in the Special. But such an ending was quite anti-climax and shallow, spoiling the emotionally rich and intense drama.

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If you love me, don't think too much

I finished this drama some weeks back, but couldn't quite put into words how I feel about it. Before you proceed on to read, please take note this is totally my POV, my understanding on this drama after I completed it. If you do watch this, you might have a different perspective.

The story premise is really interesting. It attempts to explore the insecurities and doubts of true love from the man's perspective. ML is very rich and desires for true love (he has been hurt many times by women who loved him for his money); 2ML has been hurt in earlier relationships as well, and now wants a clearly defined dating process govern by contractual terms; 3ML is about to be married, but is hesitating because this is his first love and the passion is wearing off....

The characterizations on the female roles in this drama are quite weak. We don't really understand why are they attracted to these 3 men (like, there are better men out there, why these guys?). But the exploration into the love insecurities are quite well-written and fun to watch. I have enjoyed this drama, especially in the 2nd half, where there were no romcom cliches like in the 1st half. I only wish the theme of this drama could have been better explored and more deeply written.

The acting is very commendable-- Chen Jian Bin and Pan Yue Ming are veterans, and Li Yi Tong is very refreshing here.... she has never played such a good-hearted bitchy character before. If you are familiar with Jiang Xin, this role is 100% suitable for Jiang Xin (a role she has done many times). But Li Yi Tong made Xia Ke Ke comes alive-- kind-hearted and sassy, opinionated and understanding. It was a marvel to watch her Xia Ke Ke. Alright, I am a Li Yi Tong fan, so I am a bit biased here. Moving on to the really weird and odd stuffs about this drama.

If you look at the names in the production, the executive producers are the top cream of Chinese dramas-- these producers were involved in Nirvana in Fire, Longest Day in Chang'an, Min Ning Town, Nothing But 30, etc.. This is not base on an IP novel, but is an original screenplay, and the odd pairing of Chen Jian Bin with Li Yi Tong.... It gave me the impression that this would be a thought-provoking and groundbreaking drama. And it is, indeed, quite thought-provoking but didn't manage to reach the heights of its initial intentions (or the depths that the production team might have intended). You can see some good writing in the story, then odd chunks of idol rom-com cliches.

But most of all-- the costume design, set design and the songs. I find it quite unbelievable that this was shot in 2016, '17. The design gives the feeling that this story is set in 2000s.... Other then the title and ending songs, it keeps playing Zhang San's Song throughout the drama. Although this is a good song, choosing this song for a contemporary drama supposedly set in current times is very, very odd. Zhang San's Song is released in 1986, fyi 🤔

In conclusion, the drama left me dissatisfied. It showed some sparks but failed to deliver as a whole.

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My favorite wuxia-fantasy chinese drama

This is a belated review-- I saw Once Upon a Time in Lingjian Mountain back in Dec 2019. Unlike most viewers, I fell in love with the drama within the first 5 mins of ep 1. It was that simple-- a funny conversation between Wang Wu and Feng Yin (Head of the Lingjian Sect) and I was sold. With most dramas I need a few eps, but for Lingjian it took only 5 mins and 我入坑了。 Because of this I have also seen My Unicorn Girl (by the same director), that was not as charming. I guess having 2 experienced actors in the opening scene with really fantastic comedy lines made a difference :) And I was tickled how the very handsome Roger Kwok (Feng Yin) look like an Uncle here.

To be honest, the next few episodes are a bit flat (the back and forth between the Old Man and Zhu Qin in the quest to find Wang Lu was a highlight though). The RPG part of the quest although refreshing, was a bit uninteresting as it drags. But the story picks up again when Wang Lu was accepted into Lingjian Sect and became Wang Wu's disciple. With Wang Wu in the scenes, the drama brightens up a lot!! The S&M part of Wang Lu's training was so hilarious and fun that quite a few period dramas copied this (the recently ended Court Lady is an example, hack it even has the same ML Xu Kai undergoing the same S&M training).

And as Wang Lu goes through various quests in alternate realities, illusions and more RPG situations-- the drama is a fantastic dreamland of wonders and fun! Supported by an amazing cast of actors, Ling Jian should be that comedy drama which you MUST watch.

My utlra favorite parts of the drama are:

1) When Wang Wu was held captive by Hai Tian Kuo. The shenanigans that Wang Wu got into in order to escape was hilarious and showcased her great acting skills ❤

2) The boyband performance of Wang Lu, Hai Yun Fan and Wen Bao. Initially I found this part very cringe and didn't like it. But on subsequent rewatch of the drama, I start to accept the craziness of the boyband and enjoyed it more.

3) When Feng Ling fell in love with Ouyang Shang. It did a parody of rom-coms -- the accidental meet in the rain, the female impersonation as male in order to enroll into a school, the fall into his arms, etc. were very well done and fun

In conclusion, good comedy becomes GREAT when you have a cast of capable actors with great comic timing and willing to sacrifice their image for the story. Sandrine Pinna was not worried that she'd look ugly in the scenes, but just went ahead and act according to script. And Xu Kai made a sacrifice to dress up as female in one scene! Do check for the behind the scenes for that as there are more that was shot but due to censorship, they were eventually axed in the final edit.

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Court Lady -- a historical fiction drama that showed so much promise, but became a messy wrack

I watched Court Lady while it was airing, and initially had such high hopes. Saw the production documentary videos and they have spent 9 MONTHS to construct the palace setting. Probably another 3, 4 months to draw the design. Estimated of 1 year (and several millions cost) spent on architecture design, workmanship and construction, and costume design and tailor work went into the production for this drama..... It has 2 gorgeous and good actors in the leading roles, supported by a strong cast.... so why, why did it shoot itself in the feet with the poor scriptwriting and editing work?

The story showed a lot of promise too, scriptwriting was quite genius at some parts..... but it then 'set fire' to the good stuffs with poorly written character developments, overly-contrived schemes and sub-plots, and one of the WORST editing seen in cdrama history. There is a rumor that the drama was originally 69 episodes but due to China's recent guideline on too lengthy dramas, it was re-edited to 55 episodes. But this is still no excuse for the eventual product -_-" there are surely better ways to edit and compress a long drama into an acceptable length-- they could have taken out the scenes of some unnecessary supporting characters, or cut down on the regretful Emperor monologues, etc. but no, lo and behold, the editing team thinks it is alright to keep these fluff and EDIT OUT key transition scenes that affect the main plot! The ending scene in ep 46 and opening in ep 47 made a lot of viewers thought they are watching the wrong ep.... that edit was like: you were watching someone preparing to do a bungee jump, and the next scene cuts to the person undressing the safety gear. Jump was over and you didn't get to see it.

Should you watch Court Lady? Only if you are a fan of Li Yitong and/or Xu Kai, and/or Tan Jianci, else it is highly likely that you would drop the drama midway through.

There are some really good parts in the first half though. The crown prince friendship with Chen Ji, and that phoenix embroidery mystery..... the script was very well-written in these parts and quite clever, director did a good job maintaining the tempo and tension too (I was literally sitting at the edge of my chair when I was watching the phoenix embroidery part). Unfortunately the clever scriptwriting did not sustain in the 2nd half and the editing got more haphazard...

The only consistent elements in this drama are:- good cinematography, good acting (Xu Kai had some high tension and emo scenes), and the beautiful palace grounds and high quality costumes. If you can close an eye to the poor scriptwriting and editing.

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