Gone Girl.

This is an incredibly dark suspense thriller about a family with secrets. At surface they seem like an everyday family; one whose struggles make them more devoted. Their son Wenzhou is simple and does not know his own strength when excited. His new nanny Xiao Xiu runs off for greener pastures. Convinced something bad happened to her, Chen Youxi escapes from the orphanage to seek her out. She discovers that twelve years ago, there was another gone girl from the Li household; their daughter Wenwen. She infiltrates the Li household as a miraculously returned Wenwen and pulls at threads that conceal old secrets.

This drama starts strongly and moves at a transfixing pace throughout. The drama's strongest feature is that it keeps you guessing until the penultimate episode even though there are only three knowable suspects. While the story is gripping, the plot could be tighter from the mid-way point where small holes emerge. It suffers most in the whydidit behind Xiao Xiu's disappearance. The motive is not firmly established enough to be convincing. I rewatched the reveal a few times and suspect that something was cut out. I also did not like how Youxi tries to stage a confession trap again after the first one went so terribly and consequentially wrong. It is just lazy plot design although not inconsistent with the character's desperation to get answers. There are other small holes that add up to render this short of the masterpiece it had the potential to be.

What is exceptional is the characterisations and the mind-blowing acting. The entire cast delivers in spades. Mei Ting deserves an award for her ruthless, manipulative and multi-faceted Liao Suifang. The subtext behind her cat and mouse interactions with Youxi where they both knew they were on to each other is breathtaking and worth re-watching. Her conflicted feelings for Li Chengtian and Wang Chongjiang and how Wenzhou's ultimate welfare plays into it resonates. Her Suifang made me feel suspicious, angry, repulsed and curiously sympathetic. Similarly Wang Yanhui's Li Chengtian is also masterful - at face an affable, quiet, beaten man; a love consolation prize and a desperately seeking father... with an aura of hidden menace. The ties that bind this painful triangle together are so messy and yet almost inevitable. They keep secrets; deep dark secrets from one another and themselves. Between the three older characters, we see how relationships fracture over time and even the most normal people have dark sides but with different bottom lines.

Against incredibly layered veteran actors, the young cast can hold their own. I am not a fan of Dai Xu's brand of comedy but I really enjoy him in a serious role as Cheng Xu. After The Heart of Genius I had strong reservations over Zhang Zifeng but she convinces as this lost orphan hell bent on finding her only anchor in this world. But it is Du Yusen's Wenzhou - at times harmless and affectionate, full of simple childlike truths and at times scary as hell that steals the show. Guo Cheng also emerges here as a young actor to watch - his Cheng Wei is very charismatic and the way he lapses seamlessly into Guangzhou dialect adds dimension to his characterisation. The dynamics and chemistry between Youxi, Cheng Wei and Wenzhou is as light as the ones between the three older characters is dark. All the lost children in this story end up found in some way to end this sinister tale on a less dark note.

I have not enjoyed a Chinese suspense thriller this much since The Bad Kids. It is overall not quite at the same level but I can easily rate this a 8.5/10 with the acting worth that rare 10/10.

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The thunder rolls: a work in progress

This is the first of this series that I managed to get this far through. Despite the appeal of supernatural mysteries and tomb raiding adventures, I was never able to get into any of the other ones. That said, while there are flashes of brilliance, the overall effort so far is at best mediocre with much hanging on how the various plot threads end up resolved.

A cryptic message from Wuxie's uncle that sends the Iron Triangle - Wuxie, Pangzi and Zhang Qiling on a quest to decipher the message of the Thunder god and find Wu Sansheng. The story is off to an awesome start with heart stopping action and phenomenal world building. The scenes in the tomb have just the right balance of mystery, suspense, supernatural forces, hordes of foul and undead creatures and death defying moments. My eyes bugged out at Qiling (Huang Jun Jie)'s raw athleticism, fierce speed and fluid grace. Like most viewers, I love the Iron Triangle - their chemistry, hilarious banter and complimentary skills make them seem invincible together. So it is super disappointing to see the three amigos separate and off on their own.

The pacing is jarring - it alternates abruptly between gripping, life threatening action and mind numbingly boring and unnecessary filler episodes and characters. The entire Hei Yanjing/mute girl arc could have been cut by at least 75pct - there is little plot advancement and the romance is pedestrian. It could only have been worse if the girl can actually speak so thank the small mercies. That painful arc ends only to descend further into purgatory with the introduction of (drum roll) Piao Piao. While allegedly due to the heavy hand of censorship, at best she had three brain cells instead of two. Poor Panzi, he deserves so much better. It is offensive to see women written to be so dumb just to facillitate certain plot developments. By comparison, Xiao Bai is an adorable genius; even her lovesick eye batting at Wuxie is totally forgiveable considering how devastating and charismatic Zhu Yilong's Wuxie is. I am sure I will be unable to watch any other actor take on this role after this.

Although I quite like Warehouse 11, the Sea King's tomb is hard to beat and sequencing leaves Season 1 ending with an anti-climatic and unfinished feel to it. The reveals are somewhat predictable and too many plot threads are left open. If too much time passes before Season 2 airs, I will forget many of the important clues and open issues unless I invest in some rewatching. In hindsight, I should have started this after there is an airing date for Season 2 and that would be my advice for those planning to watch this.

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Tangled

Disguised as a classic whodunit, this is really a drama about how the law does not always protect the vulnerable or deliver justice. It also tangles with some pretty heavy social issues that are a bit more than what I signed up for. To me, this is a drama that can't decide what it wants to be so while I still enjoyed it, I don't regard it highly as far as mystery thrillers go.

This drama starts out strong - shockwaves rock the community of the posh Horizon Tower when their lovely cafe owner Zhong Meibao is found dead in her apartment under suspicious circumstances. The cynical and disorganized Zhong Jingguo is assisted by the more methodical Yang Ruisen in investigating this case. They interview everyone on the scene of the crime including a security guard, an architect, a novelist, a real estate agent, a housekeeper and friends and family of the victim. From these varying sometimes contradictory accounts of the events of the day and recollections of their interactions with the victim, outlines of the various possibilities start to emerge. The first 8 episodes or so of this were superb; exactly what I would want to see in this kind of genre. The occasionally shady, hilariously kinky, bittersweet glimpses of what happens behind close doors added just the right dose of dark humor and mundane daily existence.

The issue is at episode 8, the victim's backstory is told in a anime which gives away a big chunk of the plot and took away much of the excitement for me. The storyline dives deeply into the victim's backstory and traumatic past which is connected to a number of suspects. At that point, it is not hard to see where the story is headed. I did not expect to watch a this kind of story it is not what I was in the mood for. I don't mean to diminish the importance of these social issues that are frequent themes in this kind of genre but this drama took me away from the mystery for too long to overly explore these topics. Angelababy is also not best suited to play this kind of role either; a better actress could have done a lot more with it even though they may not manage to look as tragically beautiful. The fact that I felt a lot sadder for her parallel character in the anime version than I did for her Meibao says it all. Similarly I found the antagonist in the anime more complex and had a more convincing purpose for his actions whereas the parallel character is just a violent and not that intelligent pervert. The photographs which he used to exert power over his victims would have indicted him and sent him to jail forever. To me, that is the big logic hole that made me lose respect for the intelligence of characters I am supposed to sympathize with.

The outstanding performances in this drama are by the two detectives; they are the glue that pulls the backstory and all of the plot threads together. The inner conflict Ruisen experiences as she struggles between her empathy for the victims and her duty to enforce the law even if it means justice is not done really is impressively conveyed. This is a drama where there are real consequences for taking the law into our own hands and debates whether the high price of justice is worth it. While these important themes were well articulated, the whodunit never really regains the momentum and mystery of the first half. Although it would have been a darker ending, the entire drama builds predictably towards what plays out in the penultimate episode. And then in typical c-drama fashion, they couldn't resist delivering one final tangled twist that delivers what could have been an alternate ending. Except there wasn't a real proper build up to it, there is no deducing we just see a replay of what went down in an open and shut case. This all takes place in the last episode and left me feeling vaguely cheated. Consider stopping at episode 15.

Although this drama got tangled into too many themes and twists, this is still a good watch and something I am happy to recommend to fans of the genre although for me it didn't live up to the hype.

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How to suffer successfully.

This is a truly epic fantasy xianxia romance spanning three realms that is heavily imbued with characters, cosmic rules and hierarchies, black and white magic and other elements from Chinese mythology and legend. Even though many of the themes are familiar, they are brilliantly woven into a riveting and memorable fantasy fairy-tale of how all beings - deities, demons and humans are capable of good and evil; no one is immune from love and hate and all the emotions in between. We are all different and yet still the same.

After an devastating war, both the demon lord and god of war disappear and peace returns to the realms. A thousand years later, Chu Xuanji is born into the Chaoyang Sect; one of the righteous cultivating sects. At an elite martial arts tournament, she meets Yu Sifeng, the rising star and heir apparent of the mysterious Lize Palace. A strong bond of friendship is formed between the younger generation that leads them on many adventures as they pledge to help Xuanji recover shards of a magical artifact that can restore her six senses. In doing so, they set in motion a chain of events that can lead to the return of both the god of war and the demon lord and once again bring chaos to the realms. They also uncover secrets of their past incarnations and conspiracies that follow them to the present.

Where this xianxia stands out from the other huge xianxia hits of past years is that there is a very well written external plot that is not just there to facilitate the love story. Both the internal and external plot are very well woven together and are mostly evenly paced so that both plot lines converge into a very satisfying and climatic ending. In fact, the external plot is much more intriguing and balanced than the love story so I urge you to resist spoilers and just enjoy the gradual reveal of the backstory and the way it impacts many of the main characters. Although this director still cannot seem to restrain his excessive love of angst, at least in this drama the internal plot did not manage to destroy the external plot as it did in Under the Power. Indeed I personally enjoyed the external plot and colorful surrounding characters much more than the love story notwithstanding the sparkle between the leads.

As for the love story, well it has all the hallmarks of a xianxia hit - it is an extreme and obsessive love story that transcends many lifetimes and thousands of years and is undaunted in the face of challenges by more powerful beings from the three realms. Phew! Exhausting! The chemistry between the OTP is undeniably both sizzling and moving. It does not hurt at all that both actors smooch with an enthusiasm rarely seen in these kinds of shows. But the way the relationship is written is too unbalanced with Sifeng taking way too many hits for Xuanji. Most of the angst takes place in episodes ~40s+ which is late in the game and after the couple already goes through many experiences that should cement their mutual trust. So for Xuanji to be so easily swayed and manipulated makes her character regress and seem just not smart (as opposed to heartless). To deal with her so shabbily just so that Sifeng (who had already gone through so much), can spit blood a few more times is unnecessary and excessive. Within the most angsty arc, the drama indulges in flashbacks and digresses into boring one dimensional characters (e.g. Yanran) with little plot advancement. Everything comes together again in the final 6 episodes that culminates in one of the most engaging and strongest finishes I have seen in a long time. It would have been much better had they explored some of the threads in the last 6 episodes earlier and in greater depth.

As the backstory is revealed, it is evident that Xuanji is an old soul that experienced a lot of trauma that still echoes from her past incarnations and restrains her emotional development. This doesn't really come out until the end because while the main cast is really quite exceptional, Yuan Bingyan is the weak link. She did an amazing job as the young and artless Xuanji and as Xuanji in love with Sifeng but was not able to mature the character or convey some of the rage, torment from her past incarnations that haunts her character nor can she fully convey the inner conflict Xuanji experiences when forced into heart wrenching choices. This becomes most apparent at the end when stacked up against the more nuanced and compelling portrayals by Cheng Yi, Li Xinze and of course Liu Xueyi as the drama draws to an emotionally epic climax at the end.

I know Cheng Yi is by far the fan favorite and is in a completely different league in terms of his acting skills and his unforgettable portrayal of Sifeng's indomitable love and the unthinkable suffering he goes through for Xuanji. This character and this actor is a true example of how to suffer successfully, spitting blood so painfully beautifully time after time that it never fails to fan the flames of rabid fandom to new heights. While he is a truly amazing actor, I think it is actually Liu Xueyi's Haochen that is the anchor of the entire production. I know this is an unpopular and uncommon view but the truth is this drama begins and ends with this character. He must be one of the most manipulative, duplicitous, hypocritical and universally hated villains out there that I still can't help feeling pity for. Liu Xueyi's acting is truly phenomenal from his portrayal of an arrogant high deity who can't even see that he has fallen in love to his conscious acknowledgement that he has strayed from the right path but keeps on going nonetheless. The complexity of his emotions, the suppressed fury when he is thwarted and the inner conflicts he experiences is effortlessly and subtly conveyed with the twitch of a facial muscle, a flicker of an eyelid or a tiny tightening of the lips. In his own way, he suffers as much as Sifeng but obviously not as successfully - probably because he swallows and bottles up all that venom and suffering instead of spitting it right out like our Sifeng. I will leave you with one final thought - love him or hate him, we must thank Haochen. Because if he did the right thing to begin with, there would be no love story.

While for me this falls short of a masterpiece, there is so much more to it than a smoking hot love story and it is so rare to get such a good villain that is complemented by such an outstanding cast. The production value is very high and they did a fabulous job with the CGI. When I finished watching it, I felt like it was a 9.0 but unfortunately a year later, I was never even tempted to re-watch any part of it so I downgraded this to an 8.5/10.0.

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Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight? What was it like? Did you leap into the abyss with wild abandon? Lose your heart, body and soul? Was it worth indulging in every lucious, forbidden moment? Find out all about it in Till the End of the Moon, a heart-stopping account of Li Susu and devil incarnate Tantai Jin's scorching entanglement of love, hate and misunderstanding that spans 500 years and multiple realms.

In a desperate attempt to stave off the resurrection of the the devil god, a bunch of grey haired cultivators send an intrepid young cultivator Li Susu back 500 years in time to stop Tantai Jin from turning into the devil god. Yeah, you really have to hand it to these crusty old cultivators - when all else fails, they sacrifice a virgin and hope for the best! Susu assumes the identity of Ye Xiwu and is tasked to kill Tantai Jin after tempting him out of his... uhm... evil bone! I almost choked with laughter at the sheer audacity of such a naughty plot setup!

This angsty xianxia's unique premise is that the main protagonist Tantai Jin is a fiendishly compelling and tragically misunderstood character; literally a prince of darkness. Luo Yunxi is mesmerising in this role - his diabolical crooked smirk, the maleficent glare, the taunting cock of an eyebrow, the elegant devil-may-care gestures and the imperious snap of a finger. But it is his shatteringly wounded expression and how with a moment of stillness he screams silently with pain oozing from every pore that makes me root for the devil and to hell with the realms. My favorite part of this drama is how kindness and love gradually changes the dark, lonely and twisted Tantai Jin into a best yet still flawed version of himself. Bai Lu on the other hand could have delivered a more nuanced performance as Li Susu. Her Susu is so unwavering in her duty to the realms that I could not tell when she fell in love with Tantai Jin or if she ever really did. That said, there is an exceptional spark between the leads that results in both hilarious and smoking hot moments. I could see sparks fly in every direction during Ye Xiwu's seductive dance that tempts the devil in his liar. This drama's greatest hook is Luo Yunxi's portrayal that dimensions his character beyond the screenplay and his searing onscreen chemistry with Bai Lu.

There are four distinct arcs in this drama, the first of which is the strongest and most enthralling mortal arc. I loved everything about this arc and if this drama had held that level, I could have easily rated this over 9.0. By design, the second visually stunning dream arc also shines in many aspects but sags as a result of lazy writing and overuse of tired xianxia tropes. The third and fourth arcs recover somewhat but never quite hit the addictiveness of the first arc. Part of the problem is the second couple is poorly written, has no chemistry and is not empathetic. Their insipid story is overshadowed by that of foxy Pian Ran and unswerving Ye Qingyu's passionate and addictive love story, which ends way too soon. While all of the arcs have good moments, the plot is moved along almost solely by misunderstandings. This is the hallmark of indifferent screenwriting and it undermines the intelligence and agency of the main characters. With a little bit of effort, they could have gotten to the same place without undermining the characters and disengaging the audience.

In terms of production values, this is a big budget drama and it shows but not in the best ways. The make up was often over the top and not flattering. I am visually scarred by the excessive blood spitting that took it to the next level in terms of bloody teeth and the excessively bright contact lenses absolutely ruined many emotional moments for me. I did not at all enjoy the pantasmagorical CGI orgy game world that hijacked all of the clashes between good or evil including the beginning and ending scenes. The over-lit glare distracted from the emotion and the intensity of Tantai Jin and Li Susu's most pivotal scenes.

The way this drama ends is both fitting and inevitable in that both Tantai Jin and Li Susu fulfill their destiny. My problem is with how they get there. It could have been a lot more palatable if it were better written. But my biggest gripe with it is that the drama never convinces me that humanity or the realms are worth saving. Or that there is cosmic justice. After all, Tantai Jin was just jinxed from birth but he was hardly the worst, most evil character. What I resent most is that the hypocrisy of the moral sects is never exposed and that the truly evil characters get outcomes they don't deserve. The original works this drama was based on may have been very good but the adaptation is not. The screenwriters should all hide in shame and do all they can to try to erase their names from this adaptation. Nonetheless I rate this 8.5 because anything less would be an injustice to Luo Yunxi's devilish, simply irresistible and unforgettable portrayal of Tantai Jin.

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The bugs will inherit the earth.

Three-Body is Tencent's adaptation of the first book of Liu Cixin's award winning sci-fi trilogy Remembrance of Earth's Past. It is an immense, mind-bending and terrifying book that explores the dark corners of humanity and our place in the universe. The narrative is concept-driven and lacking in terms of both characters and plot. This drama adaptation fleshes out the characters and plot while staying largely true to the original works.

An alarming number of leading scientists around the world die mysteriously. One of them, Yang Dong is a friend of nano-scientist Wang Miao. This seems oddly linked to an ominous countdown that only he can see and a virtual reality Three-Body game developed by ETO, a secret organisation. He gets roped into the murder investigation by an irreverent cop Shi Qiang. With the help of Yang Dong's mother Ye Wenjie, they start to pull at the threads that go back to the Cultural Revolution to reveal a conspiracy with existential implications. Rather abruptly, Shi Qiang gloatingly blurts out what is coming before we are are even half-way through the drama! This monumental conclusion is so matter-of-factly accepted without debate that it adds to a sense of anti-climax. Then we get an extended flashback to a brutal, frank and scathing depiction of the Cultural Revolution that unflinchingly exposes the loss of common humanity, the utter despair and loneliness of the period and the rage that must lurk beneath the surface.

The drama does a fantastic job bringing Wang Miao, Shi Qiang and Ye Wenjie to life. They are far better fleshed out in the drama than the book and all three anchor roles are deftly articulated by veteran actors who can convincingly navigate difficult transitions over time periods and into virtual reality. Yu Hewei's sarcastic and badass Shi Qiang is by far the most engaging and hilarious character. I didn't love Zhang Luyi's Wang Miao at first but he grew on me as his rapport with Shi Qiang grew. Unfortunately the other roles are not well written and made worst by vapid (Shen Yufei, Pan Han) or annoying (Mu Xing) performances by mediocre actors whose shortcomings are glaring up against the seasoned main cast. I wouldn't have minded if they got little screen time but unfortunately they featured prominently in extended largely drama-invented sub-plots that were barely touched upon in the book. I had to grit my teeth through the coma inducing preaching with the nationalistic subtext on monotheistic religion and environmental extremism.

High concept hard science fiction stories like this are difficult to adapt because the plot is driven by exposition and there is a lot of that in this drama. These concepts are conveyed creatively in a visually engaging manner to be easily accessible to layman. I enjoyed many of the analogies such as the Turkey/Farmer and the Shooter. However, the production tends to over-explain and tediously repeat the sci-fi aspects. Some judicious editing and higher confidence in audience intelligence would have gone a long way toward making this drama less draggy.

Even though this is shot in movie aspect ratio and a lot of care went into the props and the staging and lighting very artistically captures the bleak and portentous tone of the story, the production values overall are only of average quality. The background music is simply dreadful - jarringly loud and tries too hard to conjure a sense of dread or suspense that is at odds with the dry sci-fi plot points. The use of a difficult to understand and cliched artificial voice over an entire episode made my head throb. But what I was most dismayed by was the virtual world of the Three-Body game. While there is quite a bit of cool stuff like the dehydration and rehydration process, the overall effect is like stepping into a cartoon-like animation. It is just not at all scary. There is no sense of chaos or the searing intensity of the huge atmospheric variations and that gripping fear of what comes next that is described in the book.

The penultimate episode if you can make it that far is the best and only truly thrilling and epic episode in the entire drama. The wrap up is good in the sense that it is faithful to the novel even though the main antagonist is a bit whitewashed and not remorseless enough. This narrative takes over twenty hours to tell you something you already know; that the bugs will inherit the earth! The book covers it in about five hours and there is hope that the movie will be able to do it in under three. This is a good watch if you are in a contemplative mood and wish to indulge in a bit of history, philosophy, math, physics, speculative hard sci-fi and ponder the future of humanity. And if you have time and patience. I only rate this 7.5 because I feel the story could have been much more compellingly told in about half the episodes and not in a way that was a chore to watch.

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An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

This is the empowering, female focused historical drama that I have been waiting for. Finally in Li Changge, we get a strong, smart, independent female lead character who seeks meaning in life beyond being just an extension of the male lead and his dreams. Not that Wu Lei's Ashile Sun is anything to throw popcorn at because this man is a total keeper from his fabulous thunderbolt eyebrows all the way down to his baby toes. No, I haven't actually gotten to his baby toes, my screen appears to be ahem... stuck... in a perpetual loop around about his stunning bare chest but I am sure they past muster. Even disguised as a man, Dilraba is such a peerless goddess no male lead ever seems good enough until Wu Lei rocks up to turbocharge this smoking hot OTP into one of my all time favorite drama couples. Don't be fooled by my shameless, shallow gushing, this is so much more than just another idol drama. All of the main characters in this drama start out as young people who don't know who they want to be when they grow up. They go on an incredible journey of self actualization to discover their true values and best selves.

This story begins with Li Shimin's bloody ascent to the Tang throne over the bodies of his brothers, to be the greatest Tang emperor. Li Changge, a fictional character, is his much adored niece and daughter of the deposed crown prince. Disguised as a man, she flees the capital, vowing to avenge her family and tries to marshal her father's remaining supporters to undermine her uncle. Thus Changge embarks on a long and difficult quest, making many friends including the delicious Ashile Sun along the way. She is young, naive and makes costly mistakes with irreversible consequences along the way. In the process, she discovers that the truth is never simple and there are causes far greater than hers; that an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. Dilraba's performance as Changge is several notches above all her other works; she is not afraid to ugly cry or allow grief and rage to ooze from every pore of her being.

I picked up this drama because Wu Lei's Fei Liu is one of my all time favourite drama characters. Who would have guessed that irascible kid would have grown up to be such a sexy beast of an Ashile Sun! And Wu Lei has not lost any of his agility in delivering thrilling, heavy hitting action scenes, with his kick ass fight with She'er being one of the drama highlights. But what really is on fire is his chemistry with Dilraba; their mutual attraction does not have to be expressed in words. When Sun tells Changge "From now on, you are my slave" his entire being screams "From now on, I am your slave." It is so refreshing to have a couple that understands each other, is honest with each other (even about lying to each other) and shares the same world vision. Ashile Sun's manliness comes from the fact that he is not threatened by Changge's independence and strength, he glories in it. Together they find that forgiveness brings peace and liberation. I am also most pleased that not all the men fall in love with Changge, Mimi is more the femme fatale.

Changge's cousin and closest confidante Leyan is inadvertently thrown on a similar journey. They are polar opposites by nature and deal with challenging situations in completely different ways but both show immense courage and fortitude. Leyan is the character that shows the most growth in this drama and even though usually weepy characters give me rashes, I was not allergic to Zhao Lusi's empathetic portrayal. Fair to say, the princess and the icicle is very cliche but Liu Yuning and Lusi really capture what made it such a popular trope to begin with. Sadly they must have cut those scenes where the uptight Haodu thanks Wei Shuyu for buying him looser underwear with tears in his eyes because poor Wei Shuyu never gets any love despite how he redeems himself later on.

As much as I find this drama's character development addicting, it must be said that the plot is flimsy and requires heavy suspension of disbelief. This is partly because the plot development is constrained by historical facts. While it is very cool to journey with our characters to all the historical hot spots and watch them interact with great historical figures while history plays out, the plot itself doesn't amount to much more than that. Changge's mother's story is tragic but anti-climatic as far as mysteries go and that is the problem, the drama doesn't really have a climax. The entire last arc is not only implausible, the main antagonist was mis-cast and their acting was so appalling I really cringed through many moments of the final few episodes. As for the ending, I found it most fitting. Weddings are not the same without family, permission was asked and received and beautiful vows were exchanged. We don't need more than that.

Broadly speaking, men are followers of women in this drama making it is the ultimate female fantasy fiction that on sheer addictiveness and enjoyment factor alone merits a 10/10. But objectively speaking it also has some flaws that make an overall 8.5/10.0 more fair.

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Shaken and stirred.

Under the Power is the best historical c-drama romantic comedy I have seen recently. The romance centers on how two hilariously different people fall for each other unexpectedly and deal with differences in their backgrounds and obstacles from past wrongs. The internal romance plot plays out within an external investigative storyline around a series of linked investigations by the formidable jinyiwei or imperial brocade-clad spies/secret police aimed at exposing years of corruption perpetrated by the powerful noble Yan family. While the basic premise of the over-arching plot is interesting, the story-writing falls short and loses momentum in the second half. This drama's success is mostly due to sizzling chemistry and side-splitting performances by both main leads.

Lu Yi, a highborn jinyiwei, incenses fiery young constable Yuan Jinxia when he takes over one of her cases from the local yamen. To add insult to injury, he commandeers her trusty pistol and extorts her collaboration in a very high-handed way. I cannot lie - I initially did not like the obnoxious, noisy, and immature Jinxia and dropped this show. But desperation in times of coronavirus made me pick it up again and like Lu Yi, I inexplicably found myself falling like a ton of bricks for Tan Songyun's gauche, money-loving, gluttonous, mischievous, shamelessly obsequious, irrepressible and utterly adorable little minx of a Yuan Jinxia. This is the first time I have watched Tan Songyun and I am floored by how comical she is without at all coming across as slapstick.

Lu Yi is not a colorful character - he is rather aloof and wears a fierce, sour, still-faced expression; has no hobbies or evident vices or quirks... except for his x-rated eyes. Initially, he looks at Jinxia with ill-concealed disdain and annoyance at her crass, venal, and nosy antics. He is quite nasty to her. Ren Jialun's facial expressions were so spot on in terms of conveying how Lu Yi's feelings for Jinxia evolved over time that I was with him the whole way. As he comes to appreciate her intelligence, resourceful and unconventional methods as well as her innate loyalty and honor, there is both horrified revulsion and wry acceptance in his expression as it dawns upon him that he may be falling for her. This progresses into a very amorous, caressing gaze that is accompanied by a slow and sexy crooked smile that shouts out that under the embroidered robe, this imperial spy is both shaken and stirred. This is brilliantly written and portrayed OTP whose interactions move seamlessly between comic relief and searing, heart-stopping intimacy. This had me alternating between laughing so hard I was gasping for breath to fanning myself down frantically. Be warned that such moments can result in paranoid coronavirus self-diagnosis.

This drama is pretty much carried by the OTP -  the rest of it is quite messy. There are just too many flamboyant side characters that make a grand entrance and then just fizzle out or worse, get dumbed down into a tedious unrequited love daisy chain. You would think they could have done so much with a Robin Hood of the high seas, a tough-as-nails female head gangster, a master poisoner, a trickster Taoist priest, a doctor that can almost rise the dead, a brave general's wife etc. Instead, all we got were boring couples trapped in cliche romantic tropes who were so much more interesting when they were still single.

The critical mistake that wrecked the latter half of the drama was the unnecessary angst in the romance -  they threw the very tired "your family wiped out my family" obstacle at the OTP. Without serious suspension of disbelief, this is THE kiss of death - I have never seen any OTP survive this obstacle in a good and convincing way. They only barely made it work here by pretty much sacrificing the entire external plot. This is a pity because the most interesting character in the drama was actually our villain Yan Shifan, who is diabolical, despicable, vicious, humorous, and curiously likable. We know who he is from the beginning and most of the cases that Lu Yi and Jinxia expose are built toward eventually taking him down. He is in a position of strength and can afford to toy with them most wickedly (which he does) but ultimately it is a race to see who can bring the other down first. I was really looking forward to the final showdown. Which never happened. The internal (romantic) plot needed a grand gesture of atonement and reparation so no, none of his victims got the satisfaction of outmaneuvering him and taking him down in a final epic confrontation. His downfall had practically nothing to do with any of the main characters even though a well-loved character dies gratuitously for the cause! Worse, Lu Yi makes a really pointless and out-of-character sacrifice that subjects the final outcome for our lovers to the whim of a capricious emperor. The ending was so lame it should have the position of honor in the Lame Drama Ending Hall of Fame.

So is this worth watching? Absolutely, the OTP is a complete riot and their relationship is perfectly balanced between touching and uproarious moments. As for the rest of it, you just have to suspend disbelief and ignore a few plot holes and annoying characters. No one will judge you for fast-forwarding. To me, this should be an 8.0 but I gave it an 8.5 to recognize the main leads for making me laugh so hard.

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Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.

This highly anticipated movie has all the elements of a huge fantasy, suspense thriller hit: an unlikely bromance between a demon sympathizer and a demon hater; a powerful demon hiding in plain sight; a murder mystery and above all; a desperate conspiracy arising from an intense, obsessive love that risks all for a dream of eternity. It is beyond doubt a visual extravaganza that leaves viewers in no doubt of Guo Jingming's cinematic virtuosity. Unfortunately the production tries too hard to impress with technical pyrotechnics at the expense of good storytelling. As a result, the glowing magic circles and time portals that are allegedly knocked off from Marvel's Doctor Strange are over-used and characters are gratuitously transported to odd places; all unnecessary digressions for a ~2 hour movie.

Despite the lavish images and sensationally choreographed action scenes that culminates in an apocalyptic clash with a demon serpent, the plot is flimsy and the characters are unevenly developed. This is a pity because this is hardly the first adaption of the popular novel Onmyoji; I have to believe the story has more substance and the characters are better fleshed out than what was served up in this version. The evolution of the relationship between Qingming and Boya from distrust, even antagonistic to lasting spiritual bond could have been more convincingly developed with better dialogue. The cursory development of the other main characters, stiff performances and stilted dialogue devoid of clever repartee or banter results in a lack of any tangible rapport and chemistry between the broader cast. This makes it difficult to empathise with most of the characters and what should be a moving, obsessive love story. But it is at least more convincing than the bromance between Boya and Qingming. I believe both Mark Chao and Deng Lun put in a decent effort but the script and storytelling falls too far short, there is only so much the actors can do.

Instead of peeling away the layers of the mystery after an intriguing introduction, most of the plot is just simply and abruptly revealed all at once so that we can get back to more heavy duty action and cinematic fireworks. In the thick of the fray, the story tends to shift to flashbacks, which would be frustrating if I am actually gripped by excitement. But even the climax of the action lacks intensity; there is no impending sense of doom or imminent danger. Boya and Qingming are just standing around chatting casually as if a gigantic demon serpent is not about to end everything. They are so lacking in a sense of urgency they could be discussing the weather forecast - "...cloudy with a chance of meatballs " while sipping beer. I never watched Doctor Strange so I have no view of whether some of it was plagiarised here but I have watched enough Marvel to know that the spirit and ethos of what makes the Marvel fantasy universe so enthralling is markedly not present in this movie. Anything that may or may not have been stolen is definitely in form over substance. All the ingredients for a good story are present but without even knowing the novel, I can already tell that the drama does not capture the essence of the original plot and characters. This sets a low bar for the Chen Kun version that premiers in a few days to beat.

Overall this is a decent watch for the visuals alone. I found many parts of it dull and draggy where it should have and could have really pulled me in. It is best watched in a group, whether virtually or in person. I rate this a 7.0 overall - I actually think its a 6.0 but I threw in 0.5 for the crowd pleaser shots of Deng Lun's cut upper torso (please PM me if you have his personal trainer's number) and another 0.5 points because my kiddie nieces really liked it and they always know better than I.

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Wuxia at its best!!!

This is one I had heard about years ago but somehow never got around to. So thrilled to have changed that. This is what a good, old fashioned Wuxia movie is all about in terms of honest to goodness kick ass action. None of that flying on roof top, slow motion improbable and technology assisted acrobatics that we are routinely served up with these days. Nothing but extremely well choreographed, intensive, nail bitingly lethal swordplay up close and personal. Wow - they really don't make it like this anymore.

The plot isn't complicated - it is about how three highly skilled Imperial Assassins get caught up in a gripping yet relatively straightforward political conspiracy that puts them in mortal danger. They are a bit of a Chinese Three Musketeers with a dark side as they risk their lives for a pittance and are unable to fulfill their deepest personal desires. They are not your traditional virtuous wuxia heroes but they live by their own moral code. Shen Lian (Chang Chen) is the most deadly and most morally ambiguous of the three. Chang Chen pulls off this complex role exceptionally well, subtly conveying deep and varied emotions underneath an intense, brooding and taciturn demeanour. Zhou Yi Wei also brilliantly pulls off another grey character. In fact, many of the cast have delivered wonderful performances in key roles in many recent hit dramas. The only exception is Ethan Li's rather unmemorable performance as the more care free youngest brother Jin Yi Chuan. This actor has since regressed and gone on to weigh down a few otherwise very strong dramas for me. (Why does he still get work?). I also was under impressed by the romance element of the story - this role was not well written and not well acted. That made Shen Lian's infatuation with her not relate-able and one reason I haven't rated this more highly. That said, this is not really a romance and I thoroughly enjoyed this so definitely if like me you never got round to this, now is the time.

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Three birds with one stone.

I am a huge fan of black comedy and throw in some gangsters and I am hooked. Chen Kuilin is an infamous hitman on the run. Diagnosed with terminal illness, he tries to turn himself in only to discover he is merely the third most wanted criminal in Taiwan. Quivering with outrage, he sets out to secure his street creed as the biggest, baddest, bad guy of them all by taking out his competitors.

Ethan Juan floored me with his complex portrayal of this brazen, brutal, narcissistic gangster with crazy but understandable motives and an odd instinct to protect the weak. His close shave with Hongkie had me on the edge of my seat and their killer vs killer fight scenes were raw and savage. His desire for redemption and salvation at the commune surprised me until it didn't. A terrible betrayal culminates in a shocking bloodbath that masterfully builds and releases tension.

This is a well paced, intense and violent action thriller with a number of unanticipated twists. The dialogue is superb and dark humor is deftly used to release tension and infuse a sense of lingering irony. It has all the elements of the good old Hong Kong gangster movies from its distinct cinematic style to the emotional depth of the characters that belies the casual onscreen violence.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie but I must admit that the final ten minutes left a feeling of nagging disappointment. The perfect place to wrap this up would have been at the reveal of the hitman that takes out three birds with one stone. The last ten minutes embraces maudlin tropes that are characteristic of Taiwanese productions. In this case, it completely ruins the no regrets nature of the beast. I have no choice but to knock 0.5 off my rating so this is overall an 8.0/10.0 for me. I strongly recommend skipping the last ten minutes.

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Are there limits to an emperor's power or simply limits to an emperor's love?

A black cat slithers sinisterly through the households of Changán's elite seeking out its favorite meal of fish eyeballs; a series of eerie inexplicable events in its wake. When it dares torment Emperor Xuanzong, palace official and aspiring poet Bai Letian (Bai Juyi) and visiting Japanese monk Kukai pair up to track down and exorcise the demon cat. These two historical figures must uncover the cause of the cat's resentment in this wildly speculative account of the inspiration behind the most renown Tang poem in history 長恨歌/Chang Hen Ge/The Song of Everlasting Regret or Sorrow.

Yang Yuhuan (Yang Guifei or Precious Consort Yang) is a cultural legend that stirred the imaginations of artists, poets and writers for centuries. One of the Four Beauties of Ancient China, she was the femme fatale that distracted a great Tang emperor from affairs of state and sent the empire into decline. In this opulent blockbuster, Chen Kaige conjures the fantastical sensuous decadence of the Tang empire at its zenith and the subtle decay of its decline. While Sandrine Pinna hardly leaps to mind,, she passes muster as this famous, captivating beauty that toppled an empire. I cannot rave enough about how masterfully this production evokes the famous poem, with its vivid, erotic imagery of an incomparable beauty, an intoxicating and toxic love story and the haunting intensity of eternal regret and sorrow. Are there limits to an emperor's power or simply limits to an emperor's love?

Where the movie falters is in the narration. Both the role of Bai Letian and that of Kukai are miscast and not well written. The movie dwells too much on Kukai's backstory, which is not interesting and peripheral to the plot. There is zero chemistry between Huang Xuan and Sometani Shota and neither actor conveys why their character is compelled to solve the mystery of this enigmatic and very spooky cat. In fact it is Liu Haoran and to a lesser extent Ou Hao's White Crane and Red Crane that resonate and absolutely steal the show. Liu Haoran's portrayal of youthful infatuation, betrayal, the terrible burden of holding a lasting grudge and the release of letting go leaves the strongest impression among all the performances. If the two lead roles were better written and articulated, I would easily rate this better than 9,0 instead of 8.5. Nonetheless this is one of the best ancient fantasy thriller mysteries I have watched in a long time.

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Homecoming.

Billed as a suspense drama, 2021's highly anticipated Mist Theatre debut is really a family drama about how guilt and regret fractures a family after their youngest, best loved child Xuan Zhen is murdered nineteen years ago. Xuan Liang, who neglected to pick up his sister that fatal day is a stifling, over protective and paranoid father who is slowly but surely alienating his eighteen year old daughter Nianmei, who bears an uncanny resemblance to her long dead aunt. Another seemingly related murder finally presents a potential break in this cold case for long suffering detective Yuan Fei, whose wife Xuan Min also cannot let go of her sister's murder. The homecoming of Xuan Zhu, Xuan Zhen's fraternal twin sister is the catalyst that finally connects disparate threads between the past and present.

The best part of this drama is the exceptional veteran cast who deliver performances that exceed the quality of the dialogue and the logic of the storytelling. Their compelling acting reinforces how they, the survivors are the true victims of this crime as they are each tormented by the knowledge that Xuan Zhen would still be alive if only they had done something differently. The problem is that amongst such nuanced and immersive portrayals, the young actress playing both Xuan Zhen and Nianmei is completely out-classed and her portrayal by comparison seems a lot less compelling than it really is. It does not help that neither character is written to be that empathetic.

Where this drama fails spectacularly is on the suspense thriller aspects. Despite decent camera work and a very dark and mysterious ambience, there is no sense of imminent danger or looming evil. As always Duan Yihong is so enjoyable to watch and between his Yuan Fei and his rookie sidekick Liu Xinli, the investigative aspects are logical and well presented. However, all of the credible suspects are eliminated very early and by the 6th episode, the who and the why is quite obvious. To meander through another 6 episodes of digressions into family drama to get to the how takes too long; what little suspense is built up fizzles out. The antagonist is also not interesting or sympathetic and their motive is not well fleshed out. It ends on a strong note as we are made to see and feel how important closure is for the Xuan family.

Even though this is a pretty forgettable suspense thriller, it is difficult to rate it too badly considering its strength as a family drama and the strong performances of the all-star cast. I give it a 7.0 overall as a decent watch if you need to pass time.

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The Devil Inside.

This is an excellent psychological thriller that can give any of the recent hits in the crime/thriller genre a run for their money. This drama grippingly explores criminal profilers - those who get into the minds of monsters - those who gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you. It is a dark story about how we all struggle with our inner demons and how the devil inside can be unleashed and insidiously take over. It is another excellent thriller with an unreliable narrator that sneaks up upon you.

Fang Mu is a graduate student in criminal psychology who consults with the local police department to solve difficult and gruesome serial cases. He is considered a gifted profiler who is able to build an identifiable profile of the murderer from seemingly random and opaque clues. I am quite surprised at how some graphic and gruesome details of the rape/murder cases made it through the Chinese censors. That said, the introductory or peripheral cases fail to convincingly establish Fang Mu's credentials as some kind of profiling wunderkind although the shock or gore value is quite high. The two "real" cases however are meticulously mapped out and articulated.

After a traumatic case, Fang Mu struggles to matriculate and his police collaborators exhort his professor, another gifted profiler salvage their protégé by helping him battle his inner demons and complete his thesis. Another series of baffling murders compels Fang Mu to work together with the police department again. This awakens memories of the shattering case from three years ago that destroyed his confidence and left him a shadow of his former self. The story brilliantly weaves the destruction and subsequent salvation of Fang Mu's character into the two defining cases, one in the past and one in the present. Unlike some of the overrated the 2020 vintage that morph into character dramas (Horizon Tower, The Long Night), Fang Mu's character evolution an integral part of the plot and is not a digression from the plot.

There are enough clues throughout that it is possible (but not easy) to partly solve both of the main cases before the big reveals. At the very least, a very shadowy outline of the truth is visible in a way that made me want to keep watching; to find out if my suspicions were correct. This achieves that perfect balance between the element of surprise and anticipation or validation of the viewer's working thesis and I can't be more impressed. The acting and chemistry between the cast is excellent with the villains in particular being very subtle but still planting the smallest seed of suspicion. This really hit my mystery, psychological thriller, dark gore sweet spot. At the same time, in so many ways it is also a very human, very sad story. You will feel a ton of empathy for many characters and how the vagaries of fate and chance conspire to steal their dreams without completely killing them. Chen Xi and Fang Mu's story broke my heart - even though I was on to them from the second episode, I never wanted more badly to be wrong.

While there are some flaws and maybe some holes, this is an excellent watch - I rate it 8.5. It is very under appreciated but dark and complex.

If you are going to watch it on iQiyi be warned that the last two episodes are incomplete. Episode 23 seems edited to end the show with some of the most important threads left open. And Episode 24 is missing. iQiyi has ignored my many messages to complete the season so like me, you will have to watch the last two episodes somewhere else (Dramacool).

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A River Runs Through It

The illusory peace of a sleepy riverside town is shattered by a murder that recalls a twenty year old cold case. Shan Feng, who was just a boy then, partially witnessed the murder of his crush Xiao Baige (little white dove) returns to his hometown to investigate these possibly connected cases. His inquiries reopens old wounds and reveals the festering impact the lack of closure Xiao Baige's senseless murder has on her friends, family and the town.

The premise and darkly intriguing ambience and suspenseful tension of this drama really drew me in at the beginning. And I can't fault the execution from the pacing; to the top notch acting; to how the disparate threads gradually converge into the river that runs through these quietly spooky remote towns. Where the drama falls down is the story is excessively melodramatic and the motivators of many of the key protagonists and antagonists rings hollow. Many characters in this drama are driven towards doing terrible, terrible things but their actions and trauma they suffer seems out of proportion to the events that catalize these extreme reactions. Too many of the characters are deeply dysfunctional and are driven towards tragic outcomes simply for the sake of inflicting pain on the surrounding characters.

The strongest point of the story is how the main villain hides in plain sight and is revealed gradually as everything comes together and how the story illustrates that in these small rural towns there are really only two degrees of separation between people. But just like I felt the first victim was just not interesting enough to have inspired such profound reactions from so many people, the triggers for the villain's derangement are unconvincing. The role however, is brilliantly acted and the character comes across as both lugubrious and menacing.

Bottom line this looks like a crime thriller, it tries very hard to be one and it almost feels like one but at its core, something rings hollow. It is not terrible, a lot of effort obviously went into it and it is a decent quick watch for some cheap thrills. I give it a 6.5.

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