ShortCircuit

Don't read the spoiler if you haven't read the novels and / or don't want to be spoiled on any details of the story (not sure if it's going to get included in the drama anyway.)

So we all know Yu Hao is devastatingly poor, so much so that he almost committed suicide because he was wrongly accused of theft and he saw no way out. Well, after Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun take him under their wings, so to speak, Chen Yekai finds him a better paying part-time job and he gets to make some money from it.

And the lovable idiot spends most of it on very pricey (particularly for him) gifts for Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun. He gets them both trademark shoes, ZS's are a very limited edition, and he (ZS) doesn't even wear them until a very special day that I WON'T spoil you on, because it's such a great surprise. FLQ wears his pair all the time, and even comments on their value comparing them with gifts he got from his lover, LOL.

I mean, the poor guy works himself to the bone and the very first thing he does with his hard-earned money... is spend it on a b-day gift for his hopeless one-sided love.

I just love Yu Hao. He's precious, and I want to take him home and kiss him and hug him and squeeze him and call him George LOL.

If whoever imagined that poster did it with the intention of subtly implying those ARE the very shoes ZS got for his b-day... That is genius. And if they did it by happenstance, well, people like me will read a hidden meaning into it anyway. I hope it's planned and not a happy accident. I really REALLY want to see the gift-giving, and the special day moment, too.

I'm here after ep9 of FoE, patting myself on the back because I was smart FOR ONCE and waited for it to be loooooong over. So that I can binge-watch it.

And after all that self-inflicted wait, each episode gives me such a high I can't watch more than one or at most two in a day... or I won't be able to go to sleep obssessing over it.

Why does LJG have to be such a great actor? I swear he just keeps improving and getting finer with age, just like a good wine. And yet it seems like "The King and the Clown" was just yesterday... Time flies.

Are we there yet?...

2 more days?! WHAT

Wait... is it my overactive imagination or is WRC/Zhou Sheng wearing the freaking SHOES in the poster?!! (You know which ones). If not, I bet whoever postured that picture knew what they were doing. Dammit. If they're filming it now, we won't see it this year, probably... So much waiting to do yet T_T

Are they (maybe maybe maybe please) going to circumvent at least some censorship?! *keeping fingers crossed*

TY for info on the cast (I've looked through their lists, but I'm a new comer to Chinese dramas, I've a lot to watch yet.) Hopefully they know what they're doing and get a good team. Even if they mellow it down, this should be great, with a little bit of luck. Here's hoping!!

Oh please please please with a cherry on top!!!

"Seizing Dreams" is one of my favourite cBL novels. Haven't seen the leads into anything yet, but I hope they can carry the story. Even if they remove most of the BL content (not that it was that obvious in the first part of the novels), the story is still good. And if they get a good budget, the dream scenes should be amazing.

No casting for Chen Yekai though? Is his storyline completely removed from it all?...

The Jo clan has the ledger, they don't need to kill him. And they have a concubine set in place to take the Queen's throne.

The Kim clan just wants to keep control over the King, as he's basically the only remnant legitimate ruler that fits their purpose. The Kims want to keep him in place... It's just KBI who personally hates him for his "taking" KSH from him, in his mind. And that wasn't an accident.

I hope they find a way to take the king in the present, even as a woman, if only to have the romance happen. Or at least not have them separated forever, as per "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo". That one left scars.

Though.... MacDonaldu. I have no words. ROFL

KBI, you SNAKE!!!!

I bet it was him.

Still, that door handle shaking and the Mayor talking to himself scene was straight out from a horror movie. How his kid didn't run away then and there beats me.

The Mayor doesn't have that intensity that Shin had, the "true" crazy in his eyes. Too bad. Looks like it'll be at least a HFN if not a straight out a HEA and I hope they don't rope in the Mayor's kid as the villain for the next season, just because he's handy. I want something better-plotted than that.

Plus, another Counter?! Just like that, out of the blue, in the final episodes?... SMH...

For some reason, I'm sadly not too hyped over the finale next week.

Okay so they were fighting with fans like they were dancing together and we ALL know what dancing is an euphemism for.

...Be still my fujoshi heart LOL :D

To be clear, I'm still enjoying the drama, but I do feel the tone of it changed in the past few episodes. So don't take this as a comment from someone who's anti anything regarding it. I just want it to be good.

Re: the American plot twists. As I said, I did not read the webtoon. But all the other spirits are unredeemable (remember that guy who got sent to Jung and drowned in the spirit swamp? He wasn't even a second-level. What would justify or make Shin more sympathethic, when his crimes are worse? I don't need to "understand" or "acknowledge" he was in a bad situation before he became a demon. He just was. The rest of the demons didn't get redemptions. Why should he? He is not human any more, hasn't been for a while. Why would I care if he suffered as a human, when he's not human at all? Also, he was at his worse when threatening Moon in the past when Moon WAS a child himself. But now he's more likable because for reasons unknown he wants to protect some orphanage kids? Seriously? That's a 180 turn if there's one.

US series try to make a villain somewhat gray and more "likable" with gradual developments that are visible from the top of Mt. Everest They always telegraph the pathethic-little-killer-plotline from a distance. That's why I stopped watching Western dramas some years ago - they were all pretty predictable in that aspect. Asian dramas either STARTED with a gray villain, or with a black one, and moved on from there (the "gray" ones were usually revealed to be black ones who could hide it better, anyway, in the end). There was no change mid-series that I can remember.

So yeah, mellowing evil is not my cup of tea and I hate to see it start happening in Asian dramas.

Re: the writer leaving. No idea. If she completely left it today, as per the article, then she might have helped with main plot lines until now before deciding to quit altogether. The writing DID take a turn after the second season announcement - less time dedicated to what attracted me - and presumably more people - to the drama, like the bonding between characters, Moon's family matters, his teen friends etc, toward more action and tragedy (particularly in Mo-Tak's story which IMHO was especially badly executed. I mean, how JY is gone, but they can't have the scenes make sense. GMT was in love with her, remembered her, then poof she's gone, with very little re-bonding between them and I'm supposed to care? I wasn't all that into their relationship TBH, because too much of it was supposed to come from their memories, and little of those were shown.)

I'm feeling the drama is trying too hard lately, and veering from supernatural-with-a-personal-touch toward supernatural-and-politics-and-action-and-detective-story.

Oh well, all the balls are still up in the air and it could end up good anyway. Or if not, at least there's the webtoon, which might be picked up by some Western publisher now the drama is successful. One way or the other, we'll get to see what there is to be seen.

My 2 cents - I haven't read the webtoon, mind. Shin doesn't need absolution or to become more sympathethic to the viewer. That's an American kind of plot twist that really doesn't fit the series as it went so far. That's for one.

Depending on WHAT exactly changed in the last eps after the original writer left, it's going to make the drama sink or swim. Given that the high ratings were obtained with the original writer scripting it and it started dragging a bit after the second season was announced (presumably because they were trying to make it so that there are a few threads left hanging in an not-so-obvious manner), the writer leaving isn't such a great sign.

I hope it swims and I hope we get a good ending for the season, even if not all plots are finished. But Netflix REALLY should effing stop doing this - I've grown tired of second seasons for k-dramas that are whole and good in one season, just because international audience is used to multiple seasons. And Netflix doesn't always follow through, either.

Exhibit One: Vagabond (the EFF!!!)
Exhibit Two: Arthdal Chronicles (at least we got a mock-up of what could have happened in a second season.)

I don't want to see this one become another exhibit. Just because things worked out with Kingdom, it doesn't mean each and every drama will become such a hit in the same manner.

Also, please don't start getting lazy, writer. Where the heck did those Gandalf-wands appear from? This is not so good. Keep trying for better plotting the course.

If Moon doesn't get to save his parents' souls, see if I'm watching the second season. I dare you. He doesn't need more tragedy, he's had enough.

I'm going to miss Shin... He has charisma after all. I guess his demon now jumps to the Mayor and maybe, eventually, to the Mayor's son. But what about all those captive souls?!...

Oh, and last but not least, that younger detective is cute. Keep him around, show. I was almost certain he was the one who shot Jung Young... Good thing he wasn't. (Edit: oh, he was in Search too. I don't recognize him, LOL. That drama is full of green lights in my memory, and doggies. And werewolf radioactive zombies too. And stupid villains. But mostly green lights.)

I was going to bet THAT would happen. Dammit. This is why we shouldn't have kids.

I mean, they sometimes film more than one version of a certain scene or sequence of scenes.

For example, there's a scene in the trailer where JC tells Bo Wang, in a deep winter snowy setting, that if they weren't in love with the same woman, they'd have been friends (JC still has his rugged appearence, so it was supposed to come before he's recognized as a prince of Jin). That scene isn't in the drama, I've been (highly) anticipating it. And there's also a scene where they were doing stunts, when someone's horse (it appeared to be JC riding it) was violently struck down, actually its feet were swiped so it fell over heavily. (I saw it posted in someone's Twitter discussing why there was a need for a lot of censoring on the drama - the argument was that it had way too much violence. The result is that scene wasn't in the drama either). Also, the warrior wolves are gone from most scenes - even the one in the opening song, where at the end, the black wolves are in front of the horses, in the trailer, but not there in the last images of the opening. Not to mention any red eyes on Bo Wang's part, as awesome as they looked. Instead of the clearly man-like wolf in the trailer, we got the "fake wolf monster" story from MZX when the hunt was on for Wolfie at the beginning of the drama - and so on.

So I guess they might have had more than one ending possible scene for a lot of the characters, or at least for the most important ones. And that it may have been that JC was meant to die in one scenario (there was a lot of setup of him going alone in that well to the city, and then he magically was rescued by Bao Na's amber stone). The happy ending may have been chosen with Xiao Zhan's newfound fame in mind while The Wolf was going through those painful edits, as his is one of the most sympathethic characters in the drama, and it had turned out a bit too grim for everyone, basically. A HE as a consolation for the viewers too, LOL.

This is all my opinion, obviously. For all I know, this was the original ending for JC, anyway, not depending on who was playing the character.

We'll probably never see what the original story looked like in its completion though, not with the whole supernatural plot cut off and the shortened length of it all...

Bao Na's switch is actually credible, she's shallow in choosing her men. She was all over Bo Wang because of how manly he looked, and then finds out how Ji Chong nobly lets go of his beloved because she loves someone else... In a clueless klutzy princess' eyes, he's just dreamy because of that. (Obviously she forgets all their previous encounters, including her being kidnapped LOL, because of drama reasons).

For JC, they made her his consolation prize. They put in that 6 month time lapse so he had a "proper" time to grieve over MZX, then fixed him with a happy ending because the rest of the endings were a bit too gloom. And I'll bet you he probably would have ended up dead in the first version of the story if TU hadn't propulsed Xiao Zhan into fame before The Wolf aired. But after all, there wasn't much to make him forever in love with MZX either, just that she was the FL and every male around has to fall for her because of reasons. So it didn't feel too forced that she came and went easily from his life, LOL.

But nope, the end part was way too rushed - the Night Fury (why would Bo Wang grieve by himself, where were Hai Die and Xiao Mo at the time?!), Chu Kui's plotline, why would YouZhen suddenly become Jin King's vassal and all that jazz. And even if there are historical reasons for what happened, the drama doesn't show it, and I had to go to wikipedia to learn about it.

The under-50 episodes rule and the supernatural themes censorship ruined this. The Wolf could have been one of the greatest fantasy stories of the year... But as is, well, AT LEAST we got to see some great eye candy and ALL THAT SCENERY. Their cinematographer (or what's it called) should get a 1000% more money than whatever they got. They managed to save this in extremis.

This would have been a great success for Chinese tourism if it wasn't for the pandemic. And I still want to go, sometime if I ever get rich enough. Those places are simply amazing.

The cinematography alone made up for most of its flaws for me. It's just THAT spectacular.

In terms of story, this one is butchered beyond all imagination - the cracks are easily seen, they tried to make up for the missing parts in the edits but some of them are just not working for those lacks. Like - how did MZX get ill in the final eps?! What disease was eating Lord Bo? (I could imagine it was a poison he was being fed by the Emperor when he was first "adopted/tamed", but that part is missing. Also, all the bonding with First Brother and why he was all that important to Bo Wang is also missing... Though you could see he WAS extremely important to the tale.)

In terms of music - well, I liked the intro, hated the ending song, and there were way too many cheesy love songs in the final eps for my taste. BUT. When this show uses silence it does so masterfully. I can't remember many other dramas where just hearing the wind blow, no BGM or supporting song, brings the feels along. Like that scene mid-show when MZX recognizes Wolfie because he's reading the wind - that one still amazes me. And the final eps' separation, when she's meeting him under that beautiful tree, in that beautiful place, also involves wind and no BGM. Amazing.

The characters are ALL - no exception - complete, bungling idiots. No redeeming qualities among the lot of them. Not even for Ji Chong (except he's a decent human with flaws that got his plot line either cut short in order to insert more romance between the leads before the ending, or wasn't supposed to do much more than support MZX and let her go.) The over-important battles were cut short, the extremely important political plots got shortened, the characters were basically wasted. Even Chu Kui was sped off off-screen. I am so mad at the waste, I can't find words.

Still. Among all the stupidity and wastefullness of an interesting setting, that AMAZING cinematography saves the day again and again. I mean, MZX's fight at the end when she became the Terminator for reasons is so out of the blue, BUT so epic at the same time... I can't stay mad at it. I just wish the censors had left it well alone, and hope that the initial plot actually had some kind of sensible tale to tell.

All those considered, this was a 7.5/10 for me, rounded up to 8 because I won't be forgetting that cinematography too soon. It's already become a standard to measure others against, and most come up low.

For the actors - well, Xiao Zhan definitely came up a long way through TU, and I can't wait to see how he does in future dramas. I was surprised to find that Darren Wang grew on me by the end of the series, after an unfortunate start - he definitely fits the part, physically, and can act. Also he, too, has a great smile. I liked Li Qin's acting in the beginning, but by the end I couldn't stand MZX and I'll try not to take it against the actress in the future - she did the best she could in the circumstances. I DID like Guo Shu Yao (still amazed at how petite but also womanly she is, LOL), and I'll probably not dismiss a new drama with Wang Jia Yi (Fourth Prince), because well, he tried :) (Also, the guy who played Ke Lang is taller than Xiao Zhan LOL :D)

Rewatch value: umm. Bits and parts. Mostly the ones with the scenery and no music. Those are definitely keepers. Also, if I ever hit the jackpot, and the pandemic ever ends, and I can manage to go visit China, Shangri-La is the first place I'll go to. Just to see that lake.

Now I only have to buy a lottery ticket...

This was such a hot mess. BUT...