Works of art, by which we mean books, paintings, movies, dramas, are meant to be analysed. Characters like GL are never going to be liked because of their poor character. If hjy ever plays a serial killer are you going to come here begging people to like the poor baby?
If you cannot handle adult talk, step away.
And yes, I would hate GL no matter who played him and I would be knocking on the script writers "door", as I knocked on Wang Juan's door at the beginning of this year and asking wtaf was he thinking.
I think deal was done when platoon leader died and GY said he would keep buying her dresses before leader saved…
The writer can decide to write the Earth is flat and everyone will just laugh at them.
In order to tell a good story a writer needs coherent plot and good characterisations. The writers here may have decided this or that but the audience needs to find it acceptable and believable. And here very obviously, they do not.
I hardly think romance is what the board is interested in, especially for a propaganda piece. Gao Liang represents…
I have no idea where you got the idea that Chinese then were immoral scum but I can absolutely assure you Chinese of today do not find his character acceptable either. And the romance is not the main issue, the rest of it is .
I really want to know how a main character like Gao Liang got past the review board.
Any military drama goes to a special one, that differs from that usual and the requirements are different. One of them is that nothing in it can reflect badly on the army. So who exactly saw GL and thought ah this horrid disaster is so wonderful, yes, this is what we want to represent us. Boggles the mind. Oh and I want to know what the screenwriter was smoking when he wrote GL because this is classic villain behavior.
A little bit about acting, I will put it below spoilers just to be sure.
I have watched Xiao Zhan for a long time and he has always had a very good grip on expressing "big", intense emotions. The breakdown scene was so well acted, with the shift between the emotions being very smooth. The final close ups really show his complete devastation. You believe he is shattered and as numerous people have expressed, they don't actually need any knowledge of the language to get completely sucked in and feel heart broken.
Small digression here but one, the behind the scenes footage of preparing for this scene is immensely interesting and at the same time shows how deep a true actor has to go but also how emotionally taxing it can be. I hope he has enough space to decompress after these moments.
Two, the doctor in this scene was such a good juxtaposition to the emotional state of GYY. He seems almost cold and callous but in fact, it's not only that he has no time in between trying to save and patch up the wounded but how many scenes like this has he already witnessed. It's a person used to tragedy, that is also a tragedy in itself. It's an excellent scene that in its apparent dichotomy actually shows the full tragedy of war, even though that may not be the knee jerk reaction of the viewer. But both, together, are a representation of the price of war.
Back to Xiao Zhan, what I do see as an evolution in his acting is that he handles all the smaller, more reduced emotional moments much more easily. It wasn't always smooth in the past but he is much more in control now. The hand clenching, the small startled jerk, the moments when GYY is trying to suppress emotions, the very obvious guilt and shame on his face. The sense of weariness and loss of boyhood was so easy to see in some of those moments after the return. This in particular left a big impact on me. Big scenes are highlights but without these small, equally important, more difficult to master nuances, it will never be a full character picture. It's an evolution in his acting that happened prior to ADLAD so I have to say I am looking forward to TLP even more now (especially with that promising trailer that had an example of this subtle but impactful acting) and it is very interesting for me to analyse because good acting is what makes me personally a fan of someone.
It's breaking my brain a little. The main point about the wife/not wife is that if she isn't, then she has no rights to what follows after his death.
Another confusing thing is the time line. It seems like it was a six months skip but some are saying it's a year actually. I think it's because of that spoiler about the child because if six months, she couldn't have given birth. More confusion lmao
Don't worry, I understood anyway :) I had to ask around on the Chinese socials about this because some of them weren't sure either, it's not just us. It is a little bit confusing.
And now comes the really difficult part. As much as I could not care less about GL, I find myself deeply involved in GYY story and I don't think I am ready for the tragedy.
I'm not watching this yet until it's certain XZ did get back most of his scenes in it, and that he's not SL-but-posted-as-main-cast-for-PR-purposes…
He got equal billing because he fought for it. It's not for PR purposes. It's because if HJY had been left as the solo lead, any and all success of the show would have been attributed to him. Now at least XZ gets what he worked for, at least partially. All the hype in China is over GYY so he will get credit for his own work instead of it being stolen. It's small consolation but at least it also had consequences, what with the new rules being introduced in China a week or so ago.
As for scenes, it is best to wait for the end but at this moment it looks like the more we move towards the second half, the more he is gone.
GL wasn’t mean to be the lead originally tho. Gu Yiye was. That’s why most of GYY scenes are centered around…
The shared billing is incredibly important. Per unwritten rules in China, the success of Ace would have been attributed to HJY and HJY alone if he had remained the solo lead. It would not have mattered if people talked about GYY, the achievement would have been HJY's and not XZ's. If Ace won any awards, for example, best drama or nominations for best drama? HJY's success. So now with shared billing, at least XZ gets to keep what he worked for, even if the scenes are cut. I cannot be certain of course but if the initial leaks are completely true, then unfortunately we shall see less and less GYY as drama unfolds. I can only hope it's not true but it does seem true that there are episodes with no GYY at all.
As for Xiao Zhan, his situation is very complex for one simple reason. He has no backing. Usually in China top stars have a lot of push from influential agencies and production companies. For example, if you are wondering why Tang San lost so many highlights in Douluo that were then given to Xiao Wu, take a look at what agency represents Wu Xuan Yi. This is how Chinese entertainment works. I hope that as his fame grows and as he gains more experience in navigating this minefield, he will have better options of preventing things like this.
GL wasn’t mean to be the lead originally tho. Gu Yiye was. That’s why most of GYY scenes are centered around…
GYY was the male lead. There are screenshots and even video from when this drama was sold to investors with Xiao Zhan as the lead. Then news leaked about three weeks before the iQiyi conference that it was switched around. GYY scenes were cut and Xiao Zhan was demoted to supporting character. Nobody knew for sure if it was true but it seemed legit. The leak also said that the cuts started from around the fifth episode.
Then iQiyi conference happened and HJY was there, presented as the lead, xiao Zhan did not show up and while all the other actors reblogged the announcement, he didn't. This got the xfx to unlike it too and the drama was frozen. It was a huge scandal.
There was obviously some negotiation later because Xiao Zhan at least recovered the shared billing, which is very significant in China. Unfortunately, the scenes remained cut.
One big consequence of this whole scandal was that China introduced new laws that say that initially signed contract that lists the leads and support cannot be changed. Ace is not the only drama that had this issue but it was the biggest scandal, especially considering it happened to Xiao Zhan. I guess iqiyi counted on XZ not being able to recover after the cyber bullying attacks and they thought they could get away with it.
What GL did was unforgivable, poor Zhang Fei his luck is just bad. Thank God he at least got promotion. I so want…
I don't understand it myself. Pretty much nobody does. At this point I am actually unsure what is the point of this show because we are almost a third way in and the lead is basically a villain. The only person who is actually there for the benefit of the army and the people is GYY but the plot is slowly being taken over by GL.
Even if we go with the idea that at some point, surely, they have to turn GL's character around, for me personally it's too late because he won't ever suffer consequences for his actions. It's a pity, the show was promising but I guess we all know why it is how it is.
3 
If hjy ever plays a serial killer are you going to come here begging people to like the poor baby?
If you cannot handle adult talk, step away.
And yes, I would hate GL no matter who played him and I would be knocking on the script writers "door", as I knocked on Wang Juan's door at the beginning of this year and asking wtaf was he thinking.
In order to tell a good story a writer needs coherent plot and good characterisations. The writers here may have decided this or that but the audience needs to find it acceptable and believable. And here very obviously, they do not.
And the romance is not the main issue, the rest of it is .
Any military drama goes to a special one, that differs from that usual and the requirements are different. One of them is that nothing in it can reflect badly on the army. So who exactly saw GL and thought ah this horrid disaster is so wonderful, yes, this is what we want to represent us. Boggles the mind.
Oh and I want to know what the screenwriter was smoking when he wrote GL because this is classic villain behavior.
Small digression here but one, the behind the scenes footage of preparing for this scene is immensely interesting and at the same time shows how deep a true actor has to go but also how emotionally taxing it can be. I hope he has enough space to decompress after these moments.
Two, the doctor in this scene was such a good juxtaposition to the emotional state of GYY. He seems almost cold and callous but in fact, it's not only that he has no time in between trying to save and patch up the wounded but how many scenes like this has he already witnessed. It's a person used to tragedy, that is also a tragedy in itself. It's an excellent scene that in its apparent dichotomy actually shows the full tragedy of war, even though that may not be the knee jerk reaction of the viewer. But both, together, are a representation of the price of war.
Back to Xiao Zhan, what I do see as an evolution in his acting is that he handles all the smaller, more reduced emotional moments much more easily. It wasn't always smooth in the past but he is much more in control now. The hand clenching, the small startled jerk, the moments when GYY is trying to suppress emotions, the very obvious guilt and shame on his face.
The sense of weariness and loss of boyhood was so easy to see in some of those moments after the return. This in particular left a big impact on me. Big scenes are highlights but without these small, equally important, more difficult to master nuances, it will never be a full character picture. It's an evolution in his acting that happened prior to ADLAD so I have to say I am looking forward to TLP even more now (especially with that promising trailer that had an example of this subtle but impactful acting) and it is very interesting for me to analyse because good acting is what makes me personally a fan of someone.
Another confusing thing is the time line. It seems like it was a six months skip but some are saying it's a year actually. I think it's because of that spoiler about the child because if six months, she couldn't have given birth. More confusion lmao
I had to ask around on the Chinese socials about this because some of them weren't sure either, it's not just us. It is a little bit confusing.
GL married JNZ.
Now at least XZ gets what he worked for, at least partially. All the hype in China is over GYY so he will get credit for his own work instead of it being stolen. It's small consolation but at least it also had consequences, what with the new rules being introduced in China a week or so ago.
As for scenes, it is best to wait for the end but at this moment it looks like the more we move towards the second half, the more he is gone.
I cannot be certain of course but if the initial leaks are completely true, then unfortunately we shall see less and less GYY as drama unfolds. I can only hope it's not true but it does seem true that there are episodes with no GYY at all.
As for Xiao Zhan, his situation is very complex for one simple reason. He has no backing. Usually in China top stars have a lot of push from influential agencies and production companies. For example, if you are wondering why Tang San lost so many highlights in Douluo that were then given to Xiao Wu, take a look at what agency represents Wu Xuan Yi. This is how
Chinese entertainment works. I hope that as his fame grows and as he gains more experience in navigating this minefield, he will have better options of preventing things like this.
Then news leaked about three weeks before the iQiyi conference that it was switched around. GYY scenes were cut and Xiao Zhan was demoted to supporting character. Nobody knew for sure if it was true but it seemed legit. The leak also said that the cuts started from around the fifth episode.
Then iQiyi conference happened and HJY was there, presented as the lead, xiao Zhan did not show up and while all the other actors reblogged the announcement, he didn't. This got the xfx to unlike it too and the drama was frozen. It was a huge scandal.
There was obviously some negotiation later because Xiao Zhan at least recovered the shared billing, which is very significant in China. Unfortunately, the scenes remained cut.
One big consequence of this whole scandal was that China introduced new laws that say that initially signed contract that lists the leads and support cannot be changed. Ace is not the only drama that had this issue but it was the biggest scandal, especially considering it happened to Xiao Zhan. I guess iqiyi counted on XZ not being able to recover after the cyber bullying attacks and they thought they could get away with it.
Even if we go with the idea that at some point, surely, they have to turn GL's character around, for me personally it's too late because he won't ever suffer consequences for his actions. It's a pity, the show was promising but I guess we all know why it is how it is.