I might pick this up again. I dropped on episode 32 because i wasn't convinced of her feelings for him at all.…
Imagine you're taking a music class and the first day in walks your teacher and he's some ultra-hot actual rock star, and he's only teaching your classes as a favor for his music producer friend.
You're not going to actually consider him as a potential relationship partner because he's so far out of your league it's not even a question of "would I or wouldn't I". It would simply never happen.
In this same way, Ning never once thought of Xie Wei in a potentially romantic way because she has low self-esteem, and she is his student, and he is so smart that he's overqualified to be a teacher, and people respect and fear him.
For her, the 2ML is someone she's crushing on partly because she sees him as at least an attainable goal for herself.
But the ML is so rock-star, and she feels that her significance and worth is so small, that he practically has to attack her to get her to understand that he's interested in her. When she keeps kind of brushing off his subtle opening advances on her, it's not because there's no attraction. It's because she's not considering that someone like him would ever bother to view her romantically at all.
There's no buildup of a RELATIONSHIP between them. But there is a build up of ATTRACTION. Her conscious mind isn't involved in that, because it's stuck behind a wall of oblivious and stupid, created by her low self-esteem. But her subconscious self and her body is definitely attracted to him. And he is attracted to her from the outset, and knows it.
Their story is about her REALIZING she's attracted to him, and what he has to do to get her to realize it. I mean she comes to him and cries on HIS shoulder over this other guy she's never come that physically close to. He's standing there, and she comes to him and has her face resting on his shoulder. This is oldschool china, you don't just do shit like that. Her body is attracted to his like a moth to a flame. But the possibility of them together is something that's so far from her conscious mind its like in another stratosphere.
What does Xie Wei have to do to get her to understand that she doesn't actually love 2ML, some second-rate milquetoast, she loves HIM?
In another universe, this would be like the story of the dark prince and the naive farmer's daughter. Or the story of an actual rock star and some rando girl from suburbia whose dad is a refrigerator salesman. There's a fucking ENORMOUS power imbalance there to start with. They get more into it in the novel, but her parents are shit, and they treat her like absolute shit her whole life and make her feel like she's nothing. That's how you want to go into this story, with that as like the basic dynamic.
When she starts craving for power and wanting to be somebody, it's to get revenge on her parents and show them up. She wants to "be somebody" so she can say the biggest fuck you to her mom and dad, like "you thought I was nobody, well look at me now, bitches." That's why her first life went down the way it did. And she learned that her victory was hollow, so now she's trying to find a new way to "be somebody" by making her life have value to others, and not just by clamoring for more power and status.
So Xie Wei sees this gorgeous smart woman, who doesn't realize her real power or value at all... who is flinging herself at this middling government worker who doesn't know shit about shit (from Xie Weis p.o.v anyway), and who doesn't deserve her at all.
***Her entire character arc is about overcoming her low self esteem.***
I'm caught up to ep 27, and I have to say at this point...
...I feel that when they TOTALLY UNNECESSARILY killed off Shrimp, the whole show derailed and did an epic faceplant, and up to now, STILL hasn't recovered. They got me emotionally invested in a supporting cast ensemble, then scrapped all of them and replaced them with a bunch of other characters I don't honestly care about at all.
This turned from a pretty effin good show-up to SOKP... into some Days of Our Lives GoT type shit, complete with long tedious court trial and everything. I'm not down with the direction this show took for the past like 10 or so episodes, and I hope it pulls itself back together.
Shrimp was this freaking amazing breakout performance, cut short for no reason.
that's so interesting about his teeth! I have no idea. he did get his teeth straightened sometime between 2014…
I know there are other kinds of dental work that can have the same effect... but if his teeth have been straightening over time, then my bet is invisalign for sure.
I dont mind it either, its good to care about your teeth! ❤️
Someone was surprised they dont have him take it off to film, but those things are supposed to be taken off for only 2hrs a day, max.
I wonder which part of the scene in AJTL that he's being hammy? He's more charismatic in AJTL, it's still he's…
Juzt compare that AJTL performance to his performance in TLB. If you cant see the differences, idk what to tell ya. Theyre VERY different roles.
If ya wanna nitpick AJTL apart or get into a discussion on semantics, i'm busy. I'm trying to be a wagie and binge this drama at the same time without getting fired.
Are you saying his character in AJTL wasn't bad azz enough?? Lol you saying THE NING YUAN ZHOU (head of a killing…
A "ham" is someone whos stage presence is over the top, who hogs the limelight and overshadows others, kind of a form of overacting, but calling someone a ham just means they will go to lengths to get and keep your attention. Hammy acting is like when youre acting like a charicature of a character. More overacting, and less nuance and subtlety.
I fell in love with him playing Hao Du in TLB, thats the kind of acting I really like for him, personally. Something kind of grittier or more real and quiet/ mysterious.
This is driving me crazy, I have to ask if it's just me or.... Yu Ning is wearing invisalign, right? I was in dental for 10 years, so I tend to notice people's teeth. The way he talks and everything, makes me think he's wearing invisalign on at least his lowers. But it's hard to get a close look, and maybe that's not what I'm seeing? idk.
Also, I am a binge-watcher, and I started this last night thinking that at the rate episodes were coming out, I wouldn't have to wait for any episodes. But I am powering through this drama WAYY too fast because ITS SO GOOD!!!! I watched five episodes in one night, and stayed up way way too late. It's so addictive. Even the intro is just gorgeous.
I loved Yu Ning in TLB. And then when I saw him in AJTL, I hated watching him play some hammy character, I wanted to see him play something with a little more seriousness and gravity, so I freakin LOVE his role here. Lusi's acting is on fire too! I thought I might not like this, but so far I am really impressed.
I agree. I'm at ep 10 and he looks so done with this role lmao
Also agree❤️ Since we KNOW he can turn in outstanding performances, I blame the director. I think this drama was a rush-job, probably a lot of scenes were one-take-and-done, im guessing.
Most people wanted more "spicy". Don't take this the wrong way, but it's interesting to have someone watching…
My grandma watches non-spicy romances. Shes past the time of life where spicy things interest her. But she still likes 'warm fuzzies' and light plots (light compared to other genres like action or murder mystery).
Gawd! This was going so good till that first "kiss scene". The ML is FIRE. The FL is sexy-cute, great actress. They have good chemistry. But if you need kiss scenes, this aint it. Actings awesome, plot is weird and slightly draggy but engaging. Really such a decent short length, but RIP those kiss scenes that got left on the cutting room floor. I just cant care now.
**************** MEGASPOILER WARNING. ***************IF YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED TURN BACK NOW! DO NOT READ!I can't…
Sure. But no ones suggesting it was justified. Some of his actions were indefensible. The question i was posing is who is worse, and did they deserve eachother.
So now youre tone policing the internet just to defend the practice of actors literally starving themselves for approval? There IS such a thing as too thin. Thats not body shaming, thats just a fact. Who is really getting shamed isnt her. Its the people who manage and employ her while either starving her for profit, or allowing her to starve herself for profit. Those execs and professionals are starving actors to create the illusion of an impossible, unhealrhy beauty standard, which in the end is THEM body shaming US.
Spoken like someone who fortunately has never lost a baby of their own, but its more common than you might think. It seems cheap and cruel to me to "punch in the gut" viewers in that way. But then, the whole plot revolves on a misunderstanding, idk what i was expecting i guess. Why not just make a villain drown puppies? Because its upsetting and creatively cheap.
Oh ffs, thats disgusting. These morons forgot theyre supposed to be making a so-called ROMANCE. Idk what is up with some of this chinese stuff lately with all this r*pe and screaming babies and psychological torture and strangling women... news flash, china: none of that shit is romantic AT ALL.
omg seriously? For me, this is his best acting. Maybe generally you dont like Xie Wei as a character, all the…
Yknow what you might be pixking up on, is this drama was his 'big break'.... hed done a few shit dramas and suddenly out of nowhere he was picked to lead a big budget drama with bai lu.... he was probably nervous af.
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You're not going to actually consider him as a potential relationship partner because he's so far out of your league it's not even a question of "would I or wouldn't I". It would simply never happen.
In this same way, Ning never once thought of Xie Wei in a potentially romantic way because she has low self-esteem, and she is his student, and he is so smart that he's overqualified to be a teacher, and people respect and fear him.
For her, the 2ML is someone she's crushing on partly because she sees him as at least an attainable goal for herself.
But the ML is so rock-star, and she feels that her significance and worth is so small, that he practically has to attack her to get her to understand that he's interested in her. When she keeps kind of brushing off his subtle opening advances on her, it's not because there's no attraction. It's because she's not considering that someone like him would ever bother to view her romantically at all.
There's no buildup of a RELATIONSHIP between them. But there is a build up of ATTRACTION. Her conscious mind isn't involved in that, because it's stuck behind a wall of oblivious and stupid, created by her low self-esteem. But her subconscious self and her body is definitely attracted to him. And he is attracted to her from the outset, and knows it.
Their story is about her REALIZING she's attracted to him, and what he has to do to get her to realize it. I mean she comes to him and cries on HIS shoulder over this other guy she's never come that physically close to. He's standing there, and she comes to him and has her face resting on his shoulder. This is oldschool china, you don't just do shit like that. Her body is attracted to his like a moth to a flame. But the possibility of them together is something that's so far from her conscious mind its like in another stratosphere.
What does Xie Wei have to do to get her to understand that she doesn't actually love 2ML, some second-rate milquetoast, she loves HIM?
In another universe, this would be like the story of the dark prince and the naive farmer's daughter. Or the story of an actual rock star and some rando girl from suburbia whose dad is a refrigerator salesman. There's a fucking ENORMOUS power imbalance there to start with. They get more into it in the novel, but her parents are shit, and they treat her like absolute shit her whole life and make her feel like she's nothing. That's how you want to go into this story, with that as like the basic dynamic.
When she starts craving for power and wanting to be somebody, it's to get revenge on her parents and show them up. She wants to "be somebody" so she can say the biggest fuck you to her mom and dad, like "you thought I was nobody, well look at me now, bitches." That's why her first life went down the way it did. And she learned that her victory was hollow, so now she's trying to find a new way to "be somebody" by making her life have value to others, and not just by clamoring for more power and status.
So Xie Wei sees this gorgeous smart woman, who doesn't realize her real power or value at all... who is flinging herself at this middling government worker who doesn't know shit about shit (from Xie Weis p.o.v anyway), and who doesn't deserve her at all.
***Her entire character arc is about overcoming her low self esteem.***
...I feel that when they TOTALLY UNNECESSARILY killed off Shrimp, the whole show derailed and did an epic faceplant, and up to now, STILL hasn't recovered. They got me emotionally invested in a supporting cast ensemble, then scrapped all of them and replaced them with a bunch of other characters I don't honestly care about at all.
This turned from a pretty effin good show-up to SOKP... into some Days of Our Lives GoT type shit, complete with long tedious court trial and everything. I'm not down with the direction this show took for the past like 10 or so episodes, and I hope it pulls itself back together.
Shrimp was this freaking amazing breakout performance, cut short for no reason.
RIP SHRIMP press F to pay respects.
I dont mind it either, its good to care about your teeth! ❤️
Someone was surprised they dont have him take it off to film, but those things are supposed to be taken off for only 2hrs a day, max.
If ya wanna nitpick AJTL apart or get into a discussion on semantics, i'm busy. I'm trying to be a wagie and binge this drama at the same time without getting fired.
I fell in love with him playing Hao Du in TLB, thats the kind of acting I really like for him, personally. Something kind of grittier or more real and quiet/ mysterious.
Also, I am a binge-watcher, and I started this last night thinking that at the rate episodes were coming out, I wouldn't have to wait for any episodes. But I am powering through this drama WAYY too fast because ITS SO GOOD!!!! I watched five episodes in one night, and stayed up way way too late. It's so addictive. Even the intro is just gorgeous.
I loved Yu Ning in TLB. And then when I saw him in AJTL, I hated watching him play some hammy character, I wanted to see him play something with a little more seriousness and gravity, so I freakin LOVE his role here. Lusi's acting is on fire too! I thought I might not like this, but so far I am really impressed.
Good luck with that and peace be with you.