lilmeow

FL success story, medical version

I have watched a lot of shows about strong female leads who bulldoze their opposition to achieve resounding success. It’s a premise I like, though I find that my overall enjoyment depends a lot on how nuanced the show is and how relatable the main character is. It’s obviously harder, but not impossible, to achieve such things in a short drama.

Given all that, I find this show to be roughly middle of the pack. The FL, Rong Zelan, is not only a medical genius, but she’s also a smooth talker and really tough- a good portion of the show is her putting bullies in their place. She is on a mission to right a great injustice, get revenge, and break through the not-so-invisible (frosted?) glass ceiling, all things I was happy to root for.

Like most other shows in this genre, the FL is overpowered and confident, and there’s little suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed. This always runs the risk of being boring, but here I’d say it wasn’t too bad (only slightly, maybe). Partly because it's a short show so her endless successes don't drag on too long, and partly because righteous indignation is always on her side, so I mostly just felt satisfied watching her win. Plus, the first episode is really rough on her and I felt so sorry for her, the momentum of that sympathy pretty much carried me through the entire show in wanting her to succeed.

There is also a ML who is her love interest, but the show isn’t that much about him or about their romance. He has his own mission which isn’t even shown. Mostly he just shows up regularly to help her out and/or subtly hit on her. Personally I liked that the romance isn’t too played up and the focus is on her.

The villains are fairly one-dimensional and nothing special, but at least they are easy to hate. The pacing is pretty good in terms of moving from one arc to the next, disposing of villains in good time and bringing in the next. There are almost no side characters of note. However, the emperor is one of the more annoying I’ve seen. He’s on the more extreme end of being a dumb and impulsive royal who faces no consequences- his arbitrary sentences are treated more like a force of nature than somebody’s decision.

It’s not that clear until more than halfway through the show, but gender issues play a big role. The limitations placed on women are tied to several of the conflicts, as well as the FL's grand goal of shattering that frosted glass ceiling. I really liked this and she makes a great speech on it, too.

My biggest complaint might be that the medical stuff is pretty loosey goosey, especially in the second half. Some of it got so nonsensical that I almost wasn’t even offended any more- clearly they weren’t even trying to be medically sound. The teenage FL is also way more skilled than she has any right to be. I get that this is part of the fun, so we can feel good seeing everyone be impressed. But I’m sorry, surgery takes practice and training. And how can she be so confident about conditions and procedures that- setting aside her total lack of experience- have some natural risk to begin with?

For the acting, I thought it’s pretty good. I believed all the characters, and the leads had some good expressions. The child actress at the beginning did great. I like that the FL is not super pretty- she’s not bad looking, she just has more distinct features, which makes her feel more real. I had some confusion, though, with characters of different generations looking approximately the same age.

Costumes, sets, props, are all decent. For the music, I noted some nice background music, especially the piece with the violins/strings.

Overall this is a good show if you like the formula of strong FL kicking ass everywhere. I found it a casual and enjoyable watch but nothing too meaningful, and would probably have given it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) if they hadn’t bungled some of the medical stuff so badly. It’s a show about medicine, they should at least try...

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





Happy ending, and the FL gets everything she wanted. The only slightly upsetting death is her friend partway through, though that’s not really made a big deal of. The show does remember to tie up the story with her family, though I had hoped to see more of it throughout since that was the source of my main emotional connection with the show and the FL.

Read More

Not enough cats

So, I really like cats. I came across this show by accident and just had to watch it for the cats, no matter how bad it is.

And it is pretty bad. The plot and script are terrible, and the delivery doesn’t help either (the ML sounds like a robot, for example). The leads are solving murders but the cases are weirdly twisted to fit the cat theme. The cat stuff is sort of shoved in there in ways that don’t totally make sense, but none of the show makes that much sense to begin with, so you can only vaguely follow what’s going on. I was so confused about which caricature villain is stealing what cat for what.

The relationship between the leads is also weird. They are pretty inimical, then suddenly in an instant they are a couple; like somebody else said, I thought I missed a few episodes. The FL’s relationship with her brother is weird too.

The only reason anyone would watch this show is for the cats. I was pretty happy with the cat situation for awhile. There are quite a few, adults and kittens both, of various colors. They are really cute and even interact, like they are shown playing, cuddling, that sort of thing. I sort of suspected that they’re reusing cats, ie there are more cat characters than cat actors- but it’s kind of hard to tell because the show is nonsensical and I guess it doesn’t really matter anyways.

The first weird thing though, is that sometimes the cats seem in imminent danger of harm or death, and the FL- a professed cat lover- doesn’t seem to care that much or do anything about it. How can a cat lover not save a cat in danger?

And the second thing is, the cats disappear for a long stretch in the middle. Like they are just irrelevant to the story and don’t show up. What now, did the producers think I was watching this for the plot?

The cats do come back in the last few episodes, but sort of out of nowhere, unexplained, and by that point the show doesn’t even bother trying to tie the conflict back to cats. I also never figured out what happened to the potentially endangered kitties.

So is it worth it to sit through this nonsensical, poorly executed, and barely coherent mess of a story just to see cats? Well, no matter what it is nice to see cats featured in a show with an actual (kind of) plot- that's much more fun than random online cat videos. And it’s pretty short with ~7 min episodes, so if it's a waste of time then at least it's not a huge one. The cats are pretty cute so I might have still thought this show is a fine and relaxing way to spend a casual evening... if the cats had not disappeared halfway through. Such bait and switch is just disappointing.

4.0 for this show but +1 because, in the end, it does still have lots of cute cats. I just honestly don’t understand what people are thinking when they make a show like this. You might think, oh just some crazy cat people wanted to play with cats... but honestly, it doesn’t have enough cats or cat love to be the product of crazy cat people. They should have just made a show about a young woman saving cats and it would have been way better.

Oh, and the auto-generated subs are awful. The Mandarin is not very difficult though so if you know some, you could get by with listening.

Read More

The Cdrama version of a Hallmark Christmas movie

This show is pretty much your run-of-the-mill historical romance. The premise, characters, and plot are all very typical. But, nothing across the board is done that well. It’s also not quite the fun and lighthearted romp I thought it would be- there is some comedy, but it’s not really a focus, and I was kind of disappointed it wasn’t more funny.

At the same time, this is a show that won’t hurt you. It won’t make you sad, angry, or stressed. It’s just kind of sweet and feel-good, like fluff fluff fluff. Sometimes it’s nice to just turn off your brain and watch something that follows a tried and true formula- maybe not the best version of that formula, but good enough.

The show has a band of friends solving cases, which is usually fun, and the show does try to give them personalities and roles. But honestly, I was not too attached to any of the characters, good or bad. Their relationships are also all pretty straightforward. There are three romances, and this is the kind of show where nobody gets a moment for growth or reflection. Whenever anyone has an emotional moment, their love interest will just happen to show up.

Actually nothing- relationships, characters, plot- is that deep in this show. My overall emotional engagement was quite low.

The cases themselves are mildly interesting, moving along fast enough that you don’t get too bored. The show covers decent ground in 20 min x 24 episodes by not wasting too much time. It’s actually even shorter than it looks- the grand mystery is pretty much solved by episode 21, with a reveal that makes embarrassingly little sense. After that come 3-4 episodes of cute romcom fluff, with half of each episode devoted to fluffy vignettes that seemed like they chronologically occurred during the body of the show. Kind of an interesting way to structure the show.

For acting, I’ve seen Ding Jiawen in various supporting roles before, mostly playing more young / innocent characters. From this show’s poster, I was excited to see him be silly again (I loved him in Love Beyond the Grave), but it turns out this is a more stern and serious role. Well, I am happy to see him in different kinds of roles, but I think the others suit him better. Across the board I thought the acting was only ok. Maybe something between the production, acting, and script, but sometimes I felt like I was watching a high school play, it just felt very... acted out.

The styling is also really bad. The costumes are actually pretty creative and color coordinated, but they don’t look that good on the actors, and the hair and makeup are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Everybody looks worse than they need to.

For the music, the OST is mostly cheery pop songs, though they don’t play that much. I actually like cheery pop songs and they’re not bad, but it contributed even more to the feeling that there isn’t much to this show except sticky sweetness. For the BGM, I mostly didn’t notice it, except once in awhile I heard really faint piano music that sounded like noise.

Overall, the best analog I can think of for this show is a Hallmark Christmas movie. It’s not that special, engaging, or even well-done, but sometimes this sort of feel-good brainless thing is just what you need. Not bad when you want a show that won’t keep you up binging or thinking about it.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This ending is strange. I do like it when a show gives us special fluff stories after the conflict is concluded, but this many episodes of it is kind of strange. Even more, there is a cliffhanger stuck in the middle of the last episode.

Actually the whole mystery threw me in for a loop. By episode 18 or 19 I thought it was so obvious- they’d given way too many clues. Then it turned out to be some other random guy, though not fully explained. Then in the last episode, they’re like, no no PSYCH it was who you thought it was all along, AND BYE!

Read More

Kind of absurd, full of personality

Every other show: ACTUALLY, it was part of the plan all along! Carefully put in place by the mastermind behind the mastermind behind the mastermind.

This show: No, no, it was all pure coincidence.

Born With Luck is fairly unique for a Cdrama. It’s got a real absurdist flare, or maybe just absurd. It’s pretty funny if you like that sort of thing. Every ironic coincidence that can happen, happens. Meanwhile, all the characters are tripping over themselves reading meaning into things. The success of any plot seems to be 1 part bluffing and 9 parts luck. And we the audience get a bird’s eye omniscient view, so we can see whenever yet another character goes running full speed down the wrong track. It’s like watching a slow motion train wreck from the side- or rather, several train wrecks.

The main character is Zhang Yi’ang, a police detective who previously retired from the frontlines and is not taken too seriously by his colleagues, now pushed back into action. This guy- I could not tell for the longest time if he is actually secretly brilliant, or really the bumbling space cadet he seems to be. As the show goes on he transitions a bit from the latter to the former, but he stays likable and kind of unintentionally funny. Kudos to Lawrence Wang for that perfect blankish expression where you can just see the hamster wheel spinning in his head (while space cadet music plays).

Aside from Zhang Yi’ang, we also get several other colorful figures, from the police who serve with him to several different groups of thugs of varying skill levels. Everyone is a real personality.

To be honest, I didn’t actually particularly care for or relate to any of the characters. The show seems more about being absurd(ist) than emotionally engaging. Though I did sort of feel lowkey sorry for a lot of the thugs. They just had such personalities that I couldn’t help sympathizing. At least the show isn’t too brutal towards them- just a couple smaller deaths throughout that then turn into fodder for dark humor.

For maybe 5-10 episodes I thought this show was absolutely hilarious, but then I slowly started to sag on it. It didn’t get any worse or anything- it’s quite consistent- I think I just got a bit tired of the ongoing ridiculousness. I mean, I do think it’s impressive that the plot is able to weave together everything just so to form this house of cards. But I wasn’t that emotionally engaged and it really is kind of like watching a slow motion train wreck, which can occupy my morbid fascination for awhile, but at some point gets to be too much. Only in the last few episodes do things start to come together, whereupon I breathed a big sigh of relief.

For the acting, I think the actors across the board did a fantastic job. They’re able to capture the idiosyncrasies of their characters without too much exaggeration, so that these whacky personalities come to life. I also love how normal everyone looks, not pale and filtered like in idol shows. The way the characters are styled gives them more... well, character. And for example, the closing credits freeze on the actors’ more ridiculous expressions, rather than trying to make people look cool. Ironically this show does also star Tian Xiwei, who got a huge bump in popularity after Pursuit of Jade, the most idol of idol shows. But she does a good job here in a more muted side role.

The music in this show is also unhinged. But strangely catchy... two days later, still stuck in my head. It also fits the show way too well.

Overall I think this is a fun show to try if you want something that is non-idol but also not too dark, heavy, or serious. In that sense it definitely fills a niche that I would love to see more of. But the distinct style of absurdist, dark humor may not be for everyone, and for me personally it got to be too much. I’d give it a 7 (“entertained but not a masterpiece”) but then extra 0.5 points for being a non-depressing non-idol show.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is ok. The police figure it all out, and the final answer is not surprising by the end but also a pretty good reveal. What left me unsatisfied is that we don’t get to find out what happens to ANY of those sympathetic thugs, like what kind of sentences they each get. Zhang Yi’ang and friends get a pretty good resolution, though.

Read More

Inner palace scheming of just the right amount

Glory Back is an imperial harem story that focuses almost exclusively on struggles in the inner palace. The characters are mostly concubines and those in their orbit. Inner palace intrigues are not something I find particularly interesting; I consider them mostly just variations on a theme. But I thought this show did a pretty good job. The schemes are not groundbreaking but they’re intricate and interesting, and the show manages to build out characters and stories that I care for with just the right amount of runtime.

Feng Qing, the primary main character, is one of those smart and capable FLs who metes out justice while protecting those around her. I liked her. I thought she is written and acted perfectly to show how the attitude and abilities of a capable empress would transfer over to this new context of a maid. She has almost no adjustment period, and I did not miss it. She just slides into her new role and gets to work.

Feng Qing is calm, collected, and confident, and as schemes big and small twirl around her, there isn’t much suspense as to whether or not she’ll succeed. I’ve found other shows with overpowered main characters boring, but here I didn’t. I think this is partly because things still don’t always go her way- she panics, she has to improvise, she uses expediencies, and afterwards she has to scramble to undo the damage. And also partly because her inner thoughts are narrated- which goes a long way in humanizing an OP character, and also helps us feel closer to her as we understand what she’s thinking. In general we get many characters’ inner thoughts in this show, which I think smooths out the story a lot.

Feng Qing is not particularly interested in romance for awhile, and I likewise did not miss it until it showed up. But many people seem disturbed that the emperor, who is a love interest, has a harem and uses it too. Of course this is historically sound, but it can be hard for a modern audience to understand and accept. Unlike most other shows with harems, here the emperor’s relationship with the FL is built up into something you’re supposed to care about, with challenges and development. So you have to believe that somebody who sleeps around his harem is also capable of emotional depth, sincerity, and genuine attachment to our protagonist. His attitude towards his other consorts is rather ambiguous (does he care for them? Enjoy their company? Tolerate them? Treat them as his duty?) so depending on how you fill in that blank, you might find it more or less jarring.

Personally for me, I’d rather a show be more historically accurate than try to twist things to fit modern values (those so-devoted-they're-monogamous emperor MLs in other shows, for example, always felt a little forced to me). I still struggled with this relationship a little- cognitive dissonance and all- but ultimately I fell for it. I really enjoyed their scenes together and watching the rebuilding of their relationship.

But harem aside, I still felt the show could have done better with this aspect. The rear palace was never about love, so the late empress’s alluded-to love for the emperor is a bit out of place, and I never quite understood their former relationship. Also, the emperor is not as eloquent as Feng Qing, and a lot of his lines are wasted on generic vapidities. The show could have done a better job building out their past, twisting the knife of regret, and showing how much this chance for redemption means to him. Their setup has so much promise, and Feng Qing’s lingering resentment but bitter sense of moving on is so well done, that it’s too bad the script doesn’t follow through.

On the villain side, the rear palace is a pit of vipers so mostly Feng Qing gets to clean up shop. The show's setting is a time and place with little mercy, but she still has compassion and a conscience, so she does her best to only hurt those who deserve it. I was pretty happy with the villains and conflicts, although towards the end the final villain gets a bit cartoonish.

As for side characters, there are some that are likeable and/or interesting but nobody I was so attached to that I wish they got more screentime. It’s not a long show so there aren’t too many extra characters to keep track of.

The pacing of this show is quite good. It moves along at a decent clip without feeling disjointed, and is able to tell a complete story with many story arcs- didn’t feel like a short drama at all. Actually it is also slightly longer than the others. But it still doesn't take too long to watch, and is overall a good length. There is a little bit of wasted time here and there but only a minimum. The ending is also fine. I’ve gotten so used to speeding up shows, but I actually did a lot of rewinding in this one, mostly because some of Feng Qing’s lines are so good that I couldn’t resist watching them again.

The acting is quite good, with a solid performance by the lead actress as well as several others. The costumes are nice, the cinematography decent, and I also really liked the music, both OST and BGM. The only thing that feels kind of low budget is some of the SFX, like when they try to show a knife drawing blood.

Overall I quite like this show, with its easy-to-root-for FL, limited stress, and perfect length of runtime. I also do like the relationship- I think it’s unique that this show tries to do a “true love” thing with an emperor but without overturning the system, even though this is what bothered many people. And even though, within those confines, it still could have been done better.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show has a happy ending. Things mostly work out for everyone you’d like. Unless you really had a problem with the emperor and his harem, in which case you might find the romance's resolution frustrating. There are some people throughout the show that I felt sorry for and are killed, but again, it’s a time and place with little mercy. There are also some side characters who seem like they could have been more developed (like that prosecutor who is clearly a female masquerading as a male) but it’s not too big a deal.

Read More

It got better and better for me

Joy of Life is a much beloved older show (as I write this in 2026), but it actually took me quite a while to get through. I guess I just didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else, though it grew on me by the end.

The protagonist, Fan Xian, is cheeky, irreverent, and smart. He’s kind of a transmigrator except he comes in as a baby, so “born with modern memories” is more accurate. It’s actually all explained later- uncovering this mystery is not the only thing the show is about, but this background underpins a lot of the plot, and is interesting when it does come up. I was pleasantly surprised at how the show handles this “transmigration”, including the way it affects Fan Xian’s attitudes and worldviews.

The thing is, the first 10+ episodes are mostly about Fan Xian obsessing over a girl after meeting her once or twice. Fan Xian only wanting to live his own life, with no great aspirations (despite being in position for it), is kind of relatable- for all of us who can’t be heroes. But being so consumed over a girl he barely knows is something I absolutely cannot relate to. I didn’t even see what is so great about her- she might have been impressive if she were 12 years old, but she isn’t- and I didn’t understand why he thinks she can fill all his emotional voids after seeing her act cute a few times.

Well, it's true that infatuated people are generally not great at thinking critically about their infatuation, so maybe this is realistic. But that doesn't make it any less annoying to watch.

Luckily his love life becomes less important as the story progresses. A big part of the plot is about various schemes and counter-schemes, figuring out the political situation as well as who is out to get Fan Xian and why. It’s alright to watch, but didn’t stand out to me from all the other shows about power struggles.

Then, in the last 10 or so episodes, I finally started to like the show. It’s still mostly about watching smart people be smart, but for whatever reason, I found the last Beiqi story arc more interesting as I followed the different entanglements. It also has some really touching moments and fascinating reveals which left a strong impression on me.

On top of that, I think Fan Xian’s character shines through more towards the end. He’s fairly likeable through the whole show, because in addition to being cheeky and smart, he also has decent levels of kindness and compassion. He doesn’t have a spotless record- still lies and tricks people, for instance- but I think it makes him all the more relatable, like he can’t pull off everything while being perfectly moral too.

But towards the end, we see more of his personal and existential struggles. The music is very good at setting a certain mood and highlighting how weighty events pass through our lives. I especially love the existential tinge- separated from his love interest, but surrounded by new and interesting characters, Fan Xian is still struggling to define what he wants out of life. His super smartness is not relatable but a lot of his emotions- shown more than told- are. I liked him by the end, and even forgave him for being so obsessed with a random girl at the beginning.

The side characters are not bad; there’s nobody I really love, but some characters grew on me, especially from the last arc. The characters have some fun quirks and details (like Haitang Duoduo can’t be bothered to wear shoes properly) but overall they feel more like real people than a lot of other shows. This might partly be the way they look, though. I love this show’s lack of idol vibes, both in the overall style (eg not oversaturated colors) but also the people styling. People aren’t ugly, they just aren’t always gorgeous, and they’re not wearing overly heavy makeup. They look more like normal people.

The acting is also very good. The expressions really convey lots of meanings and I thought everyone does a great job, from Zhang Ruoyun to the supporting cast. Did I already say how much I like the non-idol vibes? They just all look so real.

The fighting and choreography is quite good, as is the soundtrack that accompanies the fights. Some of the scenery is very pretty, and looks real. For the music, OST/songs aren’t used much, but I really like the background music. It sets the moods very well.

I’m sure there is tons of discourse around this popular drama, but I haven’t read it, so here’s my unresearched opinion. Many of the things that make idol shows idol shows- the excessive focus on looking good at the expense of logic or realism, the heavy makeup and filters, the overdramatic scenes and developments, the posing- are actually things I don’t like. But when I check up recommendations for non-idol shows, I see a lot of gritty, realistic, depressing-looking stuff, while the idol shows offer imaginative settings and fun plots.

What I like most about Joy of Life is that it still has an imaginative plot but without those idol vibes. Add to that the touching moments, great reveals, and existential musings near the end, and I’m left with an overall positive impression of this show. But it might also be that it took me so long to finish that I’ve forgotten how annoyed I was at watching Fan Xian obsess over a random girl for 10+ episodes, and it is also true that I struggled to stay interested in a lot of the political scheming that forms the meat of the show.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





It ends on a cliffhanger. I don’t think this show is standalone- even setting aside the new conflicts introduced at the end, there are still some parts of his backstory that I feel are unexplained (eg where his mom came from, and what's the deal with Wu Zhu). Season 2 took 5 years but is out now, so I guess I’ll head over there.

At the very end they pull out a layer to frame it all as a book with the ML as the author. I wonder why they did that. Personally for me it just created a little extra confusion and annoyance (on top of the annoyance of the cliffhanger).

Read More

Surprisingly good short drama

This is an enjoyable little show. It doesn’t try to be more than what it can fit in the allotted space, just tells a touching story of old ties lost and reclaimed, competing loyalties, wrongs to be righted, and random dancing.

The ML is very endearing. He just wants his childhood friend back, and he’s on the shameless side. But his open honesty and sincerity towards the FL has a really innocent feel. The FL, on the other hand, is in a tough spot, but she’s also a reasonable person. She generally makes decisions and acts in ways I agree with.

Both leads are both reasonably smart and capable (as far as I can tell), but their abilities aren’t a focus of the show. It seems more about figuring out the situation and deciding where their loyalties lie. I actually cared about and felt invested in their relationship, which is something that many longer shows have been failing to achieve lately. They make reasonable points to each other that I can understand and relate to.

This show also does side characters pretty well, for its length. Naturally they aren’t that developed (just no time for it) but I still liked several of them. There is a second relationship which, like the main one, had me invested and rooting for it. The show is also full of strong female side characters, and- kind of strange but still nice- none of the characters seem to blink an eye at women being generals.

On the villain side, this show has a pretty cohesive narrative without minor villains or side quests, it’s just the one plot and the main villains. I was not totally satisfied by the antagonists though. Their thinking had some logical flaws and they wouldn’t listen to reason. I also felt a bit torn about them, feeling kind of sorry, and hoping throughout the show that it would work out but realizing it probably wouldn't because then there would be no more story to tell.

The plot has a good pace and the right scope for its length. It has some decent spats of good humor, especially in the beginning and middle. Near the end, a jarring time jump seems to skip a lot of important events, but it’s not too bad.

True to its name, this show has a theme of dancing. The dancing is sometimes cute (like when the children do it), sometimes funny, and sometimes a little cringe. I believe the ML actor is a good dancer (look at his resume!), but it’s really hard to pull off a solo dance without music and while standing on a throne. The side male character’s dance is surprisingly good and made me laugh. The final duet dance is quite well done too, good choreography and execution.

For acting, I think in general it’s pretty good. This cast doesn’t seem to have that many titles to their names, so extra kudos if they really are new. The FL talks a bit too haltingly and dramatically, but if this really is her first show, I think she does a good job.

The production seems well-done for what obviously can’t be a huge budget. I could see the tape on the guys’ wigs, but at least the makeup isn’t too heavy. The cinematography is quite good and artistic, and I really like the music! The background music is really pretty.

In the end, this is a short show- it can’t achieve the depth that a longer show does, but it’s still a nice watch with decent emotional engagement. At 10-15 min x 24 episodes, a moderately skilled binger can finish this in one sitting. I didn’t even feel gross after I did it (which I do if the show is too hollow), but I didn’t totally love the ending either.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This is sort of a bittersweet ending. It works out for the ML and FL, ending with a dance and a kiss. The great revenge disaster is also handled with minimal damage.

But I was pretty upset about the second couple. I was really rooting for them. I wouldn’t say his death exactly follows from the plot, but I can see how it makes a better story- the way the FL needs to take some years to emotionally recover and let time heal her wounds (this hits really close to home for me right now and I do appreciate the message). But gosh, I continued to feel sad about that development for probably longer than it took me to watch the show.

Read More

Trauma and healing... but still missing something

This show has a solid premise and blockbuster feel, as well as some thoughtful themes, and I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t enjoy it more.

The two leads are pretty complicated, in a good way. Both FL and ML are smart and capable people with some serious past trauma. Their relationship starts out a bit frosty, but soon develops into a mutually supportive affair. I especially love how the FL, despite her colder personality, comes in like a ray of sunshine to the ML’s life, determined to help- but it is gradually revealed that she struggles with some deep-seated issues of her own. The leads learn to heal and take care of each other, which is heartwarming to see.

On the villain side, things are also pretty interesting and complicated. Some characters do hateful things but I also sympathize with their situation- it’s a blurry spectrum they’re all on. The empress dowager, for example, is some bad and some good. The best context for thinking about her is probably Wu Zetian. She didn’t get to where she is by erring on the side of mercy (or morality), but she is also a good ruler and has a conscience too.

With these more layered antagonists, as long as the show acknowledges their complications (which this one mostly does), I find that they generally add depth and thoughtfulness, but at the same time make it harder on my emotions as I can’t decide who to root against and how I want things to ideally end.

As the plot moves forward with revenge and restitution, it also slowly reveals past events. I think this is done well, with just the right hints so that we know the right amount as the story develops. The gradual unveil also builds up a decent amount of pathos.

As I was watching, my main complaints were that I felt uncomfortably sympathetic to the troubled Prince Li, and somewhere in the 20s of episodes they kill off a character I liked. These are actually fairly minor and I did really enjoy many parts of the show, like watching the leads heal and support each other, and following the story of the FL’s mental and emotional state.

But, less concretely, I also just wasn’t that into the show. Most of the character and relationship development- things I really enjoy- seemed to be in the first third of the show (aside from the Lishan arc much later in, which I did really like). By the middle, I was already losing interest. Actually a lot of the plot is simply about power struggles, none of it that special. It felt like the plot turned very procedural, eg unraveling schemes and executing revenge. There are splashes of meaningfulness and insight, like with the multidimensional antagonists or the healing process the FL needs to go through. But the rest of it just didn’t engage my emotions that much. I found myself taking lots of breaks as well as watching it sped up.

Actually, the show has some pretty great side characters that I did get emotionally attached to. I liked the leads but stopped caring that much about them, so I was excited for these side character developments- only to have them promptly abandoned by the plot. Some of them did not even get a wrap-up by the end.

Also, the final arc is quite weak, just too one-dimensional and boring. I would say that I had already lost a significant amount of interest by then, but at that point it became a true struggle to watch, even at 1.5X speed. I agree with another comment that this screenwriter- whose previous works I’ve enjoyed- is not good at sticking the landing for her shows.

For the acting, I thought it was fine. People did a good job, though I didn’t notice anything particularly impressive. The production is in general good, like top-tier stuff. The fight choreo and execution are quite good, a bit brutal at times. I did think, though, that this is not the best styling or camera angles for either Cheng Lei or Bai Lu. I feel like I’ve seen them both looking better in other shows. But to be fair, I’d rather a show focus on other things than making the actors look good.

For music, I thought the OST is ok- not bad, but probably nothing I’d listen to afterwards. But I really love the BGM, especially but not limited to that contemporary-sounding violin piece. It’s not my usual style, but it just created such delicious tension. There are also other really nice BGMs.

On balance I’m giving this show a 7 (“Entertained but not a masterpiece”), reflecting that I really liked the character and relationship development that we did get, but my enjoyment was significantly muddied by a lot of less riveting plotlines that I didn’t quite care for. And unfortunately most of the good stuff was at the beginning so it is less forefront in my memory. Even the pathos of the late-arriving Lishan arc is nullified by the agony of struggling through the last story arc not too long afterwards. The production (mainly the music) is almost good enough for me to give it a bump... but not really.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show has a happy ending. Some side characters die throughout the second half, which is slightly upsetting, but the major characters make it through. The conflicts are resolved into pretty much the best outcome the leads could hope for, they should be satisfied. We do not get a view of the future, but the show still ties up nicely with a bit of reflection (FL voiceover) and then a bit of hope (Lishan opening again).

MORE MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD





Well. The leads might be satisfied, but *I* wasn’t satisfied. Prince Li is the final boss, but his arc lacks depth. Neither side acknowledges the complications of his situation- just poof, forgotten, so much for multidimensional antagonist- and even Bai Lu’s expression in her final confrontation with him is weirdly neutral.

The show does a better job with the empress dowager, because there is some discussion of the complications of HER situation. But actually, I rather objected to how that all ended up shaking out, with her so heavily and publicly condemned. I think I have more sympathy for her than Ye Li or the other characters, seeing how her evils were partially shaped by institutional sexism and limited opportunities for women, and that she continues to be judged more harshly than all the historical men who also rose to power via bloodbath- both points she made that nobody else in the show seems to acknowledge.

Do her good and bad deeds offset? Ye Li, and the emperor, and the court, all say no. But as a modern person, the institutional sexism probably bothers me more than it would bother the characters in their historical setting. And I kind of don't think it's fair to dismiss all the progressive changes she made as a wise ruler.

Read More

Lighthearted, but also kind of lackluster and sloppy

I almost quit this show after 6 episodes, but some online advice suggested waiting it out past 10. I do think it gets better after episode 10- a new chapter starts for the FL and all the abrupt and emotionally void developments before that can simply be treated as premise- but unfortunately the show itself is still not that good.

My main issue is probably that the main characters are really one-dimensional and uninteresting. The show is very focused on the FL, but she’s as generic as they get, a “good person” in the most direct and bland way possible: she wants to be an official to serve the people.

In principle this concept (career-building power woman) could be done well, it’s just poorly executed here. Her desire to help the common people is way too emphasized and seems to be her only defining feature. She just cheerfully persists in the face of blatant prejudiced mistreatment. She doesn’t have much other personality, nor does she have any particular abilities or good ideas. I didn’t actually dislike her, I just didn’t particularly like or care about her.

And yet two guys are head over heels in love with her. One is very green flag- just wants to help her achieve her dream- and the other is very red flag- keeps trying to help her but can’t seem to understand basic concepts of morality. Both ML and SML, like the FL, felt to me like one-dimensional stereotypes taken to the extreme. Their romantic entanglements are a weak part of the story because they’re not properly built up, nor is Fan Yun extraordinary enough to merit all this- I simply could not understand why they were both so obsessed with her- yet unfortunately this aspect is also quite central to the plot.

By the way, the ML is a “governor”, but he seemed more like an emperor to me (court, eunuchs, palace, deference, etc), which he also was in the source material. I found everything made more sense and also felt more impactful if I just mentally replaced “governor” with “emperor”.

This show does have a lot of side characters I like- fun and interesting, many helping to contribute to an overall lighthearted tone. For example, the ML’s two lovable ministers. The second romance is also not bad, particularly because Wei Ying is chaos. But many of the side characters seem to get dropped and their stories feel incomplete.

Which brings me to my next complaint. I think the plot, in addition to being overall boring, is just sloppy. There are some pacing issues with many things developing too quickly, and then- setting aside meaningfulness, how about just tying up your storylines? The show isn’t completely incoherent, but some story arcs seemed to move on without proper explanation (like the epidemic), and some characters are given two seconds of development and then dropped. The villain situation is also somewhat confusing and muddled, which isn’t helped by Fan Yun being so cheerful about being mistreated.

I do credit this show for having a fun, lighthearted feel, which I thought is integrated and executed well. It made me actually enjoy a lot of the show despite some of my other problems with it. There are also some genuinely heartfelt moments that made me feel moved or touched.

But I don’t think these are enough to offset the sloppy writing or the boring and lackluster plot. I may have surface-level enjoyed the lighthearted tone, but I had to watch the show at accelerated speed, and I couldn’t stand more than maybe 1 episode a day before I got bored. To be fair, it worked out well for a period of my life when I didn’t have much time to watch and being properly addicted to a show would have been inconvenient.

For the acting, I think it’s actually pretty good. Joseph Zeng does comedic expressions really well. Li Yitong is very pretty but I felt her character is too bland for her to do anything with it. The supporting cast also did quite well, but that can’t save a plot.

I don’t think the production is that good. Some of the scene transitions look really funny and a lot of the fight scenes are weird, too. I saw people defend that it’s a bit of an older production, but come on, it’s not like standards were that different a couple of years ago.

The styling and costumes look good- everyone looks good and the makeup is not too heavy. I also like the music. I think the BGM is fine but I really love the OST, several songs made it onto my permanent playlist. But again, can’t save the plot.

By the way, I am not familiar with the source material, though I understand it’s quite popular. In the beginning I read some reddit posts explaining some of the character backgrounds (since it wasn’t properly developed in this drama) and I was surprised at how much more depth and meaning they had in the original. But I stopped looking into that because it was turning the characters into something different. I would guess the source captures the imagination a lot better than this show does.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





This show has a happy ending, unless you count a somewhat sad fate for the SML (but he was pretty unhinged by the end). I don’t think it’s wrapped up that well, though. Like the immediate conflicts are resolved and it ends with reunion and kiss, but there is no view of how things would play out after that. Endings like this aren’t unusual but I still never find them satisfying; in this case, the story wasn’t epic enough for me to want a Happily Ever After and I didn’t care enough about the characters to be upset.

Read More

Extreme love and extreme hate

Feud is a show that you have to bear with a little before you’re rewarded. Ultimately it is on the deeper, angstier side, with some philosophical tones and food for thought- I think that’s in line with this screenwriter (she’s actually the reason I watched it). But it takes some time for the layers to fall into place.

The beginning has a silly tone, complete with sound effects and funny expressions. The FL is total ditz for at least 5-6 episodes, kind of annoying but not the worst I’ve seen. Some great tragedy / misunderstanding in the past is constantly hinted at with little real information, leaving you sitting there with growing impatience wondering where it’s all going.

But it turns out that many of the things I at first thought were poor writing, plot holes, or just general inconsistencies, were actually not. Don’t get me wrong, there are some of those too. But many are actually clues. This show loves grand plot twist reveals; it also loves misdirections and confusing hints. So by halfway through, I’d been whacked so badly by plot twists that I found myself constantly and suspiciously guessing at secrets and hidden plans. It’s that kind of show.

The main plot is about the feud between the ML and FL, both resolving it in the present as well as unveiling its origins in the past. The feud is so intense that at first I thought the backstory couldn't possibly be worthy of it... but in the end, I think it is. It was bad enough to merit a lot of hate- maybe not THAT much, but debatable- and I could also see and understand how it happened. A little communication would have gone a long way, of course, but its lack here was not as outrageous as some other shows. I was satisfied with the uncovered motivation and story.

Even more, I understood both sides of the feud, and my sympathies shifted back and forth from one lead to the other. I tend to think this is a sign of good writing in setting up a meaningful and multi-dimensional conflict, involving relatable characters with sympathetic actions and emotions. And it's nice that the characters in the end are more self-aware than not, and that there are some other characters to speak the audiences’ mind.

In general, there’s a lot to unpack in this show, and some themes are carried well throughout- autonomy, karma, love and hate, etc- I’m tempted to go on about it here, but this is a review and not a critical analysis, so just know that some of the issues can get philosophical if you think about them more deeply.

Of course, a show that’s only about two people tragically broken apart by misunderstandings and unfortunate but unintended developments would probably be somewhat depressing and unsatisfying to watch. So I am glad that they came up with some final villain for them to fight together. Unfortunately, this villain is not that well constructed or explained. Their story and motivation are in line with the themes, but introduced late and kind of glossed over, especially as the show gets pretty rushed towards the end.

In fact, I waited what felt like the entire show for the two leads to make up and work together, but it kept not happening. The feud only seemed to get worse as my frustration grew. This is not the angstiest drama I’ve seen- there are some breathing breaks and even flashes of lightheartedness- but it did start to test my patience. When finally things start looking up, we are only left with a rushed last few episodes.

For better or worse, though, this probably makes the show more bingeable, because you blow through it trying to get to the part where you can finally relax.

Main villain aside, I do think the characters are generally well constructed. Like many shows that want to be deep, there aren’t that many characters to truly hate. I was ok with it here because the show and I tended to agree on how to feel. My favorite character is probably Ling’er, who has her head screwed on remarkably straight.

I also like that this show puts a spotlight on many kinds of love. The core relationship is definitely a romantic love, but many other kinds of love are shown to be just as important. I wish this weren't so uncommon.

On a less flattering note, this xianxia world is one of the more poorly constructed that I’ve seen. Some concepts or aspects of the immortals’ lives seem too lofty, others too mundane. The entire setup and world mechanics are poorly explained (and don’t get me started on that Empyrean)- I think it’s just something you have to overlook.

For the acting, I thought it’s exceptionally good. Both Bai Lu and Zeng Shunxi have some great, nuanced expressions that convey lots of different and complicated emotions. They are just as convincing for the many dramatic, emotional scenes. I also thought the second leads did a good job (Ling’er with her resigned smile!) as well as many of the side characters, like Zhao Yiqin playing three different personalities.

For other production stuff, the costumes and styling are pretty good. Bai Lu looks super pretty in this show. The CGI is sometimes not bad but, erm, mostly not that great. But for the most egregiously bad SFX, I think it was on purpose as a joke, hah. The music is alright but not really my favorite... it set the mood well enough, but I think the emotional scenes helped the music more than the music helped the scenes.

Overall, this is one of those deeper, more philosophical shows that I like. But it is more angsty than my normal preference, and it feels like a lot of the show is spent waiting for things to get better. It also has so many plot twists, clues, and misdirection, that I think by the second half when they’re mostly done with, people were disappointed by the lack of further intrigue. So it isn’t perfect, but I still liked it; it made me think and feel, even if it was somewhat emotionally taxing.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is... happy? The main couple does end up alive and together, but we only get a flash of their reunion. I found it somewhat unsatisfying.

The second leads also survive, though with no romance between them. I was happy with this more realistic development and with Ling’er saving herself rather than some guy doing it for her. However, I did secretly wish she could find the love she wanted.

Many likeable side characters die in the episodes leading up to the end, which is rather sad. There is a time reversal artifact, but luckily they don’t use this cheap trick. The role it actually plays is somewhat confusing and subject to debate.

BTW, not sure if this counts as a spoiler, but I found the ML’s love brain to be super extreme, almost as frustrating as the FL’s hate brain. But somebody on reddit pointed out that she was the first thing he saw and so he imprinted on her; that made it make a lot more sense to me. As for the FL’s hate brain, I was rooting for her to let it go, but I don’t think anyone really has the right to judge. Hatred can really feed on itself. And feelings are feelings; whatever a person feels is valid, as my therapist once said.

Read More

Demons and humans and their complicated interactions

This show features an imaginative world where demons and humans coexist. The people are as skeptical as we’ve always been, so in a fun reversal of normal dynamics, our protagonists sometimes need to deal with the incredulity of a disbelieving public.

The FL, Banxia, is not particularly smart, strong, skilled, anything- she’s often afraid and needs to be saved. She is, however, very reasonable. I often thought her words, actions, even thoughts and feelings, made perfect sense given her position and abilities, and I agreed with her behavior throughout. All these traits make her relatable and likable. I still didn’t love her, but I found no fault with her- she’s got what she’s got. And she does get braver throughout the show.

As for the ML, Xuanye- I really like his vibe. Even despite his tragic past and impressive abilities, he has this casual, down-to-earth style. He’s not trying to act cool, he just talks and acts like a normal person. Most of the time he looks harassed, but sometimes he also looks flabbergasted, incredulous, exasperated, taken aback, etc. And sometimes he looks genuinely happy. He’s low-key, selfless, and very likable.

The romance between them is done well. It grows naturally, and between Banxia with her healthy communication and secure attachment style and Xuanye avoiding awkward conversations like the plague, it’s not too flowered up or overdone. I also don’t like awkwardness so Xuanye really saved me here. There are still awkward scenes, like with side characters, but they are on purpose for humor and actually funny.

Speaking of funny, I wouldn’t call this a comedy, but there are legit lots of hilarious moments. The humor is incorporated well so it doesn’t feel forced, I thought the funny moments were really funny.

As for side characters, this show had quite a few that I really like and who also show up regularly. I think in general the side characters are done well, have personalities and screentime, though I wouldn’t have minded seeing more of them- some of them still get forgotten.

For the plot, some of the story arcs feel a bit drawn out, just going on for too long. I actually watched a lot of the show at 1.25X speed (this also because Banxia talks really slowly). But I think the story arcs get better as the show goes on, and I found the last one very exciting. Some of them made me anxious, but they end up mostly resolving in ways I was satisfied with- the protagonists and I seem to agree on who is good or bad, and who deserves sympathy. The ending got some hate but I don’t think it’s that bad, see below for more details.

A special shoutout to the world building. I wasn’t always too impressed by the CGI of the demons, but I think the dynamics of the world are well-done, showing how demons and humans can be both good and bad, and the way prejudice and power dynamics play into their dynamic. The show even does some explaining about how demonkind works, which is pretty cool.

Acting-wise, I really like this role for Allen. Some of his expressions legit made me laugh, and his smile also made me smile. For Song Zuer, I think she’s a decent actress, and having the patience to speak that slowly is no small feat. I wasn’t a huge fan of the way her mouth seems to be hanging open a lot (just not the most flattering look?), but small quibble.

I didn’t always love the CGI in this show, but I thought the fighting is quite good, top half of what I’ve seen. It’s excessively acrobatic but the hand-to-hand is actually quite solid. The costumes are alright- I really like Allen’s styling (he looks like he came out of an RPG) but this is not my favorite style for the ladies and I didn’t really like Banxia’s hair. For the music, I liked some of it- maybe one or two of the OSTs and a few of the BGMs- most of it was not my favorite, but okay.

Overall I think this is a pretty good show that I enjoyed watching, though not a masterpiece that I love. I did sag on it a few times but I think it was mostly due to anxiety, and then things ended up resolving alright. It ends up being a good mix of warmth and trauma. I would watch a sequel, though I’d be surprised if we actually got one.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





Ah yes, the famous “sad ending” that everyone keeps ranting about in comments. I honestly don't think it's so bad. Everything works out except the main couple are willingly separated at the end. You can see the wheels turning, though (his dad examining the broken travel pass artifact, Banxia asking for directions, etc).

In more detail: excessively tragic events towards the end are undone for the last two episodes by time reversal. Time reversal is one of my least favorite tropes, but this one is actually pretty well done- everyone seems to be roughly the same person, and the same story arcs still happen in some form. This also gives us 2 episodes of closure to see how many (though not all) of the side characters fare in this redo, which is a nice second chance and wrapup for some of the story arcs (...I am still sad about the little black cat, though).

Plus, there are echoes of the original timeline in the new one. Mainly, Xuanye still remembers everything, which puts him in a heartbreakingly bittersweet situation. Luckily, Banxia regains her memory too, so the two of them get maybe ¾ of an episode to catch up and say goodbye. I do think it’s a bit forced melodrama to tug at heartstrings (cmon, how did that artifact break?) but it’s not bad and leaves the story open to a future reunion.

I did google the “original ending” intended by the writer, and agree it’s much better. In this ending, Xuanye forgets everything after the time reversal, but Banxia regains memory and goes to find him, they defeat enemies together and he also remembers everything again. It’s much better all around from character development and closure points of view, and they totally could have fit in another story arc with 4 more episodes... but, whatever, we got what we got. Rate a show for what it is, not what it isn’t.

Read More

A cute and fluffy romance with e-sports background noise

At its core, this show is pretty much just a fluffy romance. The setting chosen for it to play out is a high-performing e-sports team, which recruits apparently the first female player ever in the industry.

Tong Yao, to her credit, takes her job seriously and knows what she represents. I always find it fun to see a strong female character defy stereotypes and take on a male-dominated field. It’s fun to watch her relationship with her team and love interest grow, as they go through victories and setbacks together. It’s not too overdone or sappy either, just cute.

I do feel the show gets a little worse after the two of them get together, a little over halfway in. The ML kind of turns into a total sap for her, and it made me like and respect him less; I feel people should care about things beyond their latest relationship infatuation. I’m also not that interested in seeing various examples of how much he likes her. (Also, who goes straight from sobbing uncontrollably to making out?)

A lot of the conflicts that the characters deal with come from the glow of celebrity, and I enjoyed seeing the “lives of celebrities” from the back like this. We may all know intellectually that being a celebrity is not actually that much fun, but it’s a good reminder to see that fame and glory come with a price.

The show also has some great side characters, such as the other members of the team. I was disappointed by the amount of development they got, though. For example, K gets one story arc devoted to him and it lasts less than an episode. It’s too bad that the side characters are given lovable personalities and just enough development to make you care, then get ignored for long blocks at a time. There are also two very cute cats, and I also wish we saw them more.

My favorite part of this show might be seeing the e-sports in action. I didn’t know much about this field before, so I was really interested to see how the system works. The game they’re playing seems similar to League of Legends. Although the show received criticism from Chinese viewers for inaccurate portrayals of the e-sport world (namely not taking it seriously enough), as somebody who didn’t know anything about it before, I still enjoyed this bit of exposure and getting an idea of what it’s about.

But e-sports and its culture, celebrity life, and lovable side characters aside, for better or worse the main focus of the show seems to be the two leads and their relationship. I’m not a huge romance buff and while I enjoyed watching their push and pull as they get together, I started to get a little sick of their romance after awhile.

The acting is ok. Chen Xiao as Tong Yao doesn’t have many expressions, but it might just be her character. I was legit horrified by her nails, though. She is a professional gamer- sure, she can push keys with such long nails (they even show it!) but I can’t imagine it’s doing her any favors. If you are going to show a profession, you should take it seriously.

As for the other production, this was the first Cdrama I watched as an adult, so I was a bit thrown off by the face filters and the dubbing. Her mom with the smooth face was kind of creepy. I might be less horrified if I watched it again now.

There are also some animated sequences acting out the game they’re playing. I think these serve a purpose in conveying the passage of time spent playing the game, in a way that feels action-packed and exciting. But in and of themselves the scenes are hard to follow and don’t contribute to the story.

Overall, this is a cute little romance with a fun setting. Not everything is perfect, but it’s a light watch that generally leaves you feeling good.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending is alright. They win the championships, and although there isn’t really any view of their lives after this, it’s not hard to imagine that they just keep on doing their thing. I wasn’t exactly satisfied, but it’s not too bad; I feel the show isn’t set up to need a grand tie-up or closure since it’s more slice-of-life.

Read More

Heartwarming as expected, but some stories felt unfinished

Based on the description for this show, you’d already know you’re getting a heartwarming story of an incredible (real) woman who overcame obstacles to give young women a path out of poverty. So there’s really no need for me to go on and on about that. I cried a lot, the good kind of tears.

Clearly the show has a great story to work with, and it generally tells it well. But I still thought they could have done some things better with the narrative focus.

The show follows Zhang Guimei as she struggles to set up the school (funding, recruiting teachers and students, etc), then it follows the first class of students, and then it follows a second class of students some years later. So aside from Zhang Guimei herself, there are other characters whose stories you end up getting emotionally invested in.

I don’t know how much is dramatized and/or fictionalized, ie how many of these other characters are real. But I did end up caring a lot about them. In general this is a good thing, because it’s what makes this an interesting drama and not just a documentary.

I just wished they saw these stories through more and gave us more closure on each of them. It felt like a lot of them were just abruptly dropped and forgotten. I felt this way about the teachers and both batches of students. I wanted to continue their stories and find out what happens to them; but after their story arcs end, we might see them around but we don’t really know how they’re doing.

If the show wanted to tell several sets of stories with different characters, I think it would have been better to just move on fully each time. Seeing familiar faces around makes you want their stories to continue, and that is denied. Would it be that hard to give us a few scenes showing how the teachers have adjusted to their lives after several years? And I was happy to see Gu Yu return for the second set of students, but her story there also feels incomplete and unfinished as we are abruptly pulled away to follow Zhang Guimei’s declining health.

It’s not that Zhang Guimei herself isn’t interesting. She is, and I like that the show presents her not just as some sort of saint. Actually she’s shown to be very stubborn and sometimes difficult. I think some of her actions were actually quite questionable- like leaving a student to live outside in the cold and rain for weeks, thank goodness nothing happened to the girl (somehow it all gets painted as “good” for the girl... hrm). Either way, I sometimes found myself a little frustrated at Zhang Guimei, but I still like this realistic portrayal. You don’t usually get a legend without some difficult traits.

The acting is quite good, too. And the settings are pretty. It was filmed in Yunnan for some beautiful mountain scenery. There is a lot of speech in local dialect, making subtitles especially important.

Overall I’d say it’s a good show, but I came in expecting that based on the description. I think it would have been better if they followed some of the side characters’ stories more completely. Of course we don’t want to take away too much focus from Zhang Guimei, but if you make me invested in a side character’s story then I will be invested, that’s just how that works.

BTW, the CCP are heroes in this show and Zhang Guimei at some point uses CCP propaganda to motivate her students. That really did happen, so regardless of how you feel about the communist party, they are good guys in this show and be prepared for some loud CCP propaganda.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





Zhang Guimei is still alive right now, so although the show’s final arc shows her struggling to continue despite declining health, nothing really big happens. Right before that, the story arc for the second set of students ends rather abruptly and left me wondering what happens to everyone- at least with the first set, we kind of knew- so actually I was a little disappointed with this ending. It felt incomplete. But I suppose the main hero is Zhang Guimei so it makes sense for the show to bring the focus back to her.

Read More

Watchable, but not as good as the donghua

I absolutely adored S1 of this donghua/anime, which is funny and sweet. While waiting for S2, I went ahead and read the novel. I found still funny but somehow a lot less charming, and I actually soured a little on the story after that.

Given this history, it’s difficult for me to rate this drama on its own merits. Not only is it hard to look past differences and comparisons- and I do think it falls significantly short of the donghua- but I also can’t un-know what I know. Maybe I would have liked this show better if I didn’t already know what would happen... or maybe, if the show had been better, I would have still liked it a lot. Who knows.

Since I can’t be objective, I’ll be brief (by my standards, hah). The FL is cute and sensible, and it’s nice that she has “modern” values- this means she dislikes death, innocent people suffering, etc just as much as we audience do. The ML is a little darker, but he’s always on her side even if keeping secrets. Their dynamic is (or is supposed to be) that of playful co-conspirators, which is cute to watch.

There are likeable side characters, and the villains are easy to hate. The humor is pretty good at the beginning but mostly fades away by about halfway. The plot is basically palace politics, but there are some clever elements like the two layers of transmigration, how the protagonist of one story can turn out to be the antagonist of the next, and the way their modern experiences are woven in. I like that the transmigration is addressed directly as being lonely and scary, which also makes you glad they have each other.

All this sounds not too bad, but in the end I couldn’t make myself care about the characters and I wasn’t really rooting for them- either with each other or against their enemies. So it was just not that interesting or captivating.

The acting is alright. I think Wang Churan could work on her expressions a bit. She seems to do a lot of gazing prettily, but I would have preferred a more down-to-earth, spunky Yu Wanyin. Cheng Lei is fine but I didn’t feel much for him or his character. I also had a big problem with the voice acting. Way too many breathy little noises- especially, but not limited to, the FL.

The music is pretty good, both songs and BGM. The costumes also look nice. Overall the show is decent, but as somebody who came in knowing the story, I was pretty bored and watched the whole thing at accelerated speed.

And because I can’t help it, here’s my comparison with the donghua and the novel. I place the drama somewhere in between in terms of enjoyability. It somehow misses a lot of the charm and lightheartedness of the donghua. The drama version FL is a lot less endearing, and the ML (who’s dark side is significantly toned down) is less interesting. I went back to watch the donghua after the drama and immediately felt much more attached to both characters.

The drama of course has a longer runtime. Most of the extra material in the first half, as far as I can tell, is people speaking slowly, and drawn out scenes meant to play up the romance. I thought that was unnecessary and makes their relationship less cute; I prefer its more subtle development in the donghua. As for the novel, it explains things better, but it’s the least warm and fuzzy, and I’m glad they tempered it a bit for the visual versions.

The overall story is the same for all three. In terms of plot, from donghua to drama there are some small changes, which I mostly didn’t like but they were fairly inconsequential. I just don’t think the drama adds substantially to what I got out of the donghua. Even the music- I like the drama’s, but I still like the donghua’s better.

As a note, the donghua S2 is still airing and I do think the story naturally gets darker and less fun in this second half. But from what I’ve seen so far (~9 eps), they’re still doing a good job maintaining the cute, lighthearted tone.

Finally, an explanation of the two layers of transmigration- I didn’t pick this up for half of the donghua S1 and I don’t think the drama did much better, so this might help somebody. Xie Yong’er is a transmigrator with knowledge of one trashy novel, but herself is a character in the trashy novel that our real heroine (Yu Wanyin) has entered. Therefore. Xie Yong’er is trying to change the events that occur in the novel she read, while Yu Wanyin knows what she does and tries to change on top of that.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





The ending within the transmigration world is fine, I'd consider it a happy ending with sacrifices. There are several unfortunate deaths of people you probably like, but at least there is over half an episode of wrap up and people being happy together. It is choppy with no sense of time, and wastes screentime on some drawn out scene with a flamboyant costume, but still ok.

The annoying part is that they completely chop off the reunion in the modern world to a 1-minute sequence on the subway. It has no context and makes no sense. I heard they filmed something else and somehow it got edited to this.

The book version is way better, in which: they get another 10ish years happily together in the transmigration world before he dies; she lives out the rest of her life in that world (decades) and leaves the empire to her child; after dying, she comes back to the modern world, and immediately goes to look for him; in the past 10 years (he transmigrated 10 years before she did), he’s used the knowledge she gave him to build a company and bring the trashy novel back to its popularity, thus allowing her pre-migration self to see it and get the chance to transmigrate. Then they get together and have sexy time.

Read More

Similar but better than the first

There are currently three or four seasons of this show out. I found the first season a decent enough watch, but not fully captivating, and ended up taking a several months break before watching this one. I’m happy to say that I enjoyed this second season a lot more.

The overall approach is similar to the first, with 8 distinct cases (mostly murder) and little filler in between. The cases are fairly elaborate, sometimes with several intersecting schemes that our protagonists need to untangle. Not everything makes sense if you think hard enough, but as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to think that hard.

The biggest reason I like this second season better is that I found the cases a lot more emotionally investable and interesting. More sympathy for some characters and dislike for others, more intrigue to know the truth. The exception is the large-scale but poorly motivated revolution in the middle, which I found pointless and boring.

I also didn’t really like the over-reliance on fantastical CGI creatures, which felt like a cop-out attempt to continue the “strange tales” theme. Whereas the first season properly worked in hints of the supernatural (to be debunked), these cases mostly deal with real things from the beginning. Except the weird animals. But they’re still decent stories even without the spookiness I’d come to expect. And the show is pretty good about punishing bad guys, though it also kills off some good guys, which makes it realistic but not overly stressful.

The overarching story has Lu Lingfeng and company ejected from the capital after one case, just like before. The demotion is a casualty of the intensifying power struggle between the princess and the crown prince. This framework comes into play a few times, but the show is mostly about the cases. The way it’s woven in is well-done.

The characters are very similar to the first season. Lu Lingfeng still has some personal development to do but has come a long way. It’s all fairly consistent; good writing. There is a little friction in the party at times, which adds some interest. The couples are still together but there isn’t much romance, which I was happy with. I still am not too attached to any of these characters and there is a bit too much pride in the nation and pontificating about the good of the people, but I found them all likeable enough and was mostly interested in their work.

The production seems to have gotten a budget bump- at least the fight choreography is quite good, with some very creative sequences. I was impressed. And although this wasn’t shot on location, the scenery is also quite nice. The “West” they are sent to seems to refer to the northwest of China along the Silk Road (the Hanzhou they pass through seems to be Wuwei in Gansu, and they later make it to Dunhuang). Think desert and camels- yes, real camels!- for some unique and pretty settings.

For music, songs are not used much and I only remember two of them. But I think the ending song- though not personally my style in and of itself- really captures the feel of this westward journey very well, and I ended up liking it because it’s so evocative and fits this show so well. What I remember of the BGM is also pretty good, but I didn’t notice it that much.

Overall I enjoyed this show, except for the one story arc, and am looking forward to watching Season 3.

ENDING – READ AHEAD ONLY IF YOU WANT TO KNOW, CONTAINS SPOILERS





There’s actually not much to spoil, but this is a standard section I include with all my reviews. This show ends by setting up for the next season. The final case is just another case and then they are on the road back to Changan, where power struggles and more trouble awaits.

Read More