Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

Here’s your bi-weekly drama discussion post for your rants and raves!

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=======> ♦ Dragon TV Quality Drama Festival aired on 3/2. Full Clip below. Sun Li arrived late in her outfit for Nothing Gold Can Stay. She received the Excellence Star of The Year. Also, did you notice the editing error when Mark went up for his award? He went up….then there’s a shot of him sitting in the audience clapping. LOL. Aww Ariel had to hide behind stage for a few while waiting to be Hu Ge’s special guest. Friendship. Then there’s Yuan Hong who pat HG on the shoulder. ❤❤❤

=======> ♦ Liu Shi Shi’s Battle At The Dawn came out yesterday! Yoyo TV on youtube has uploaded it.

Another rendition of the song Lake Baikal. Beautiful.

=======> ♦ Chen Xiao and Yuan Shan Shan’s Above the Clouds also aired last week. The catchy themesong by Zhang Zhe Han and Yisa Yu.

=======> ♦ Sun Yi and Deng Lun’s Because of You aired two days ago. Prettyyyyyyy. I will try to watch!

=======> ♦ Cdrama Ratings this past week: Three Lives Three Worlds broke Chusen records with 30 billion online views at episode 58. It ended at 1.91 for Dragon TV and 1.484 for Zhejiang TV. Glory of the Tang Dynasty wrapped up at 0.75 for Beijing TV and 0.582 for Anhui TV (Ouch). After 3W3L ended, the next rating king is Han Dong’s modern drama, Perfume Woman aka Love, Just Come, clocking at 1.667 this past Thursday, but to be clear, it has been a steady competition for 3L3W as of the later weeks despite being of smaller budget + not the most popular actors. Second place is modern drama Bright Star (星光灿烂) and Because of You premiered at 3rd place with 0.702.

=======> ♦ Last but not least, Hu Ge arrived at San Francisco to begin his directing studies!

  1. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Awwwww watching the speeches and seeing the audience;s reactions, the feels. When they showed Liu ShiShi and Hu Ge… Chinese Paladin memories <3
    So much love to Mark right now. Wishing him future successes ^.^ And everyone else in the 3L3W crew. Well done everyone 😀
    Yay for Hu Ge's directorial studies! Wonder which college he is going to (not trying to be stalkerish lol) He's probably going for film and media studies. The weather is nice in San Fran~ Too bad I don't have time to visit there.
    ——
    Anime: Gintama and ACCA 13-ku Kansatsu-ka

    Kdrama: Chief Kim (Namgoong Min is SO funny. He's a riot! )
    Strong Woman Do Bong Soon: Bong Sooooon aaah~~ I love both guys. What a dilemma.

    Cdrama: It was a nice journey viewing 3L3W 🙂
    Because of You – first episode, pretty okay! Not as cliche as I would have thought. I like the opening song.

    Tdrama:
    The Perfect Match – only saw bits of it! It was pretty okay but my goodness, the food looked good! Don't watch on an empty stomach!

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      Same, yay for Hu Ge! tbh tho if he’s going for film/media studies, I wonder why he didn’t chose USC which is known for their pretty competitive film program. Either way, just a mild sadness he didn’t chose to stay in LA….now he’s a little too far to visit T.T, not that I would, I mean…

      • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

        To be honest, I thought when the news came out he was going to do film and/or media studies, UCLA and USC would be ideal colleges to get into for that major. Or he would go steven spielberg route and enroll in csulb lol.
        But San Francisco is pretty okay.

        • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

          I thought SF was just a layover. Wasn’t he going to NY to study filming or something?
          That would be awesome if he was going to UCLA! hehehehe

      • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

        lol…. juli!! amnesia! twdrama perfect match was just mentioned in the latest news batch. haha

        saw your cbox comment. hahhaha chris looks hot, i might check it out.

        • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

          Amnesia? Coz in d preview they showed that d girl died, at least she flat-lined , it showed that her heart stopped.
          So he always felt guilty. When he sees d heroine, same face and similar mannerisms , he wanted to help her in his cranky way but soft inside as he thinks this way he can somehow compensate to that girl.
          Lol, later d plot may turn into a major conspiracy with d girl actually never dying and she just has amnesia or d classic they are twins who had separated at birth 😀

          Correct me if I am wrong 🙂

  2. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Huge! I’m coming to stalk you in San Fran! Lol

    30 billion views! Woah. Now Hoping Mark signs on another drama first. I know bbq he has 2 movies in works but I want a drama

    Not watching much. Kdrama- Defendant and SWBDS . No Chinese drama. Started PERFECT Match,1st ep was interesting

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      P.S. I’m going to check out Perfume Women. Those ratings have for me curious. Viki has it under it’s other name : Love, just come

  3. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    tfw dramafever not licensing any new cdramas therefore no subs

    -_-

  4. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    the editing error of mark cracks me up. i was like, am i seeing things now?

    dropped yaya and mark’s lakorn….sigh, mainly because i was hoping they wouldn’t do the r scene….. she wanted him to take her, forcing him to take her and….he did. i was happy for a moment when he told her to stop stripping…. alas…lakorn still intertwined with its r scene turned willing turned whatever. this is why ya are not popular with the new, younger crowd!

    might watch the fluffy twdramas perfect match instead. im convinced of chris’ hotness through the posted stills in the news batch. haha

  5. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Im totally full with kdrama. Such as voice, strong woman do bongsoon. Chief kim. And still trying to catch up defendant and tomorrow with you.

    Twdramas i’ve been watching are behind your smile and the king of romance.

    Jdorama, hmm.. Totsuzen aka everybody get married. Not really my cup of tea but most of my friends recommended it to me. Currently on ep 2 or 3. Forget. Hehe

    Cdramas, hmm.. With ten miles finished, still looking for another good drama. Will try perfume woman.

    Thaidrama, still mark and yaya’s drama, kleun chewit.

    Waaaahhh i watched many lols.

  6. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Korean Drama: Strong Woman Do Bong Soon… She is soooooooo cute…. My girl crush any day! Every cast member was cast perfectly.

    Thai Drama: Kleun Cheewit… Yaya looks soooo pretty, I like that she gives back to people.
    Also from today d Cupid series have started. With 8 couples and 8 stories. Today 1st couple’s story has started with d heroine being cute but damn clumsy and d hero being d rich, serious , and who dislikes anything not perfect. Watched d 1st episode. It was cute. Lets see how it pans.

    Chinese Drama: I miss 3L3W, or actually I miss Mark <3 Whatever we say about Yang mi, but she always has awesome chemistry with her male leads.

  7. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Just finished 中國式相親, really enjoyed the show but why do such attractive and young people need help dating? Should focus more on people that actually need help.

    Also watching “who’s the murderer season 2”. Fun watch and detecting along with the cast.

    Anyone have any C-variety shows to recommend?

  8. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Despite Yuan Shan Shan’s absolutely horrid acting and major cliche plot holes, I was really loving Above the Clouds. Except for some reason, they just stopped coming out with episodes after episode 24. I can’t find the rest of them anywhere, does anyone know what’s going on?

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      They split the drama into 2. Part 2 has 25 episodes and will air once the first part hits 1B online views (right now about 200M). No idea why they decide to proceed with this new strategy…. perhaps to push fans to watch and get more ppl to watch…

      • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

        I see, ah that sounds like a terrible strategy lol. The people who don’t want to watch it still won’t watch it, will they really not release it if it doesn’t hit 1B 😮

  9. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    C-dramas: None after GOTD part 1 ended. I am thinking I should probably continuing watching Yang Zi and Qiao Zhenyu’s drama though.

    Still watching this season’s J-dramas like Kimura Takuya’s A Life, Tokyo Tarareba Musume and Everyone’s Getting Married.

  10. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Found time to watch Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, as recommended by fellow fans.

    Have to say Park Hyung-Sik is a great find. I don’t remember seeing him before but he’s downright charming and for once, a chaebol who isn’t a jerk and has humor and common sense! I love the bits where he chided Bong Soon for calling Ji Soo a jerk for not returning her one-sided feelings. But the best part is how he’s so enamored with her and find her BOTH CUTE AND SEXY. 2017 is looking good for male leads. As for Park Bo Young, I have always found her effortlessly adorable but Bong Soon is bothering me a bit with her girly voice and childish characterization. Bong Soon is an adult but somehow they make her out to be like a little kid. Park Bo Young can do more and better, writer, give her something deserving of her talents! I will remain hopeful for better characterization and growth down the line. Maybe it’s what they are aiming for.

    Bong Soon’s father is precious. T_________T

  11. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Just finished with watching 3L3W and it was AWESOME. Mark Chao really did do a good job as Ye Hua and I loved Yang Mi as Bai Qian, too. However, my favorite couple has to be Zi Lan and Yan Zhi (these two were just tooooooo cute!!!). It’s sad that they couldn’t be together…

    Unfortunately, I have nothing to watch now (which may be a good thing in disguise…)… BUT I am just waiting for Legend of Chu Qiao now (ZLY, you need to come quickly!!!)… T_T

  12. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Haha so much love for Strong Woman Do bong soon even here. It’s just a happy and enjoyable dose evy friday and Saturday. It;s also the only drama im watching. Sad other dramas havent really hook me into watching.

  13. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    I’m usually a silent reader here (I love this page! :D), but I’m very curious about something. There seems to be a controversy whether Because of You is the remake of the Korean drama Jang Bo Ri Comes. Does anyone know anything about it?

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      Honestly, while browsing the Chinese websites, I didn’t encounter any words of remakes or adaptations until the similarity in plot was brought up by a fan in the first posting.

  14. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Does anyone know if there are English subs or recaps anywhere for ‘Because of You’? Or where I can even watch unsubbed episodes? The clips are great and I was excited to watch Sun Yi and Deng Lun together again but my Mandarin is non-existent 🙁

    It seems to be doing pretty well in the ratings so far too.

  15. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Haha, as people have pointed out in cbox, here’s my take on Because of You, of which I’m completely up to date and waiting for ep 15 (and the one episode, now two that I haven’t watched yet, released from Perfect Match):

    Because of You is one of the rare few FANTASTIC modern typical-plot dramas in a REALLY long time. Sometimes I enjoy watching these stereotypical modern dramas, aka some sort of birth plot with switching of a rich and poor girl followed by some sort of main-guy-is-the-lost-girl’s-childhood-husband with a unhealthy does of ridiculous plot devices designed to draw out 50+ episodes of unreasonable angst. Usually when I momentarily have amnesia (oftentimes similar to the heroine or hero) I will watch these formulaic “dog-blood” shows and ay even enjoy myself; typically this only happens the the OTP chemistry is at least above passable, and I REALLY like the main girl.

    (may contain some spoilers. be warned. ****)
    Background given, Because of You manages to take a very overly-hashed-out tropey-plotline and make it remarkably original and full of heart. First off, the parents don’t necessarily follow the trend – the birth mom is not the kind one nor the aunt the evil one. In fact, the birth mom’s the manipulative c*nt. Despite this, the mom is definitely not a 2D asshole cuz also unlike usual tropes, the “villain” actually does love her daughter and has regrets, just not enough to overcome her ambitions. Also, the adoptive mom is NOT the reluctantly loving mom with the tough exterior (well kind of is, but I’d like to think with a little more subtleties to the character). She’s obviously blatantly biased towards her own daughter and really is quite the terrible mother to the heroine – yet she has her moments of “love?” towards her daughter and also is completely aware of her own faults and treats heroine pretty terribly anyways (have to applaud her for the self-honesty at least). Sometimes their relationship is almost very playful and believable as a lovable mother-daughter relationship with a mom of “knife-sharp mouth but tofu-heart”, as they say — just as long as her real daughter’s not in the picture.

    On the heroine, MAN is she GREAT. So. As always, said heroine can be quite peppy with a good dose of hard-work and kindness and the can-suffer-for-others type. BUT. Our heroine is no delicately wilting flower. Aside from her mom (which is understand cuz she thinks that’s her mom), Sun Yi take NO shit from ANYONE. She can be as sly and manipulative as the best of them, except with kind intentions at heart. Exhibit A: When she wants to take her mom to get a new (expensive) shirt, her mom protests. Response? Mom, of COURSE it’s a gift from her sister (aka favored real daughter of the poor mother trope). Why it would be such a shame to waste her good intentions. Exhibit B: They (secretly) attend the sister’s graduation and obviously the sister doesn’t want to see them cuz the mom and heroine are such embarassements and she’s already broadcasted herself as the school’s local hard-working-smart-pity-“orphan”-girl-only-able-to-attend-private-college-from-sponsorship. Response? Offer to take pics for the “pretty stranger girl” and exclaim, “OH! I wanna have my own pics with the “pretty girl” ” and drags said girl over to the bushes to take secret graduation pics with happy-neglected-mom and under-appreciated-heroine. She’s brilliantly smart, sassy, resourceful, spunky-without-being-annoyingly-whiny-and-brash, and really what kind-hardworking-heroine trope aspires to be.

    The guy: also unexpected — he doesn’t hate heroine from start. While they start with a bicker-y frenemy relationship without constant attempts to one-up each other through pranks, all were done with no true malicious intents and no real harm done. “pulling pig tails” at its best. And man our heroine can definitely hold her own. He’s sweet, slightly immature but reasonably so for a “teen”, can be manipulative and sharp in his own right to the machinations of others, and definitely a guy I can root for.

    OTP: GREAT chemistry. No second lead pining after either of them main characters (at least so far). Start out on a great foot and no overly ridiculous inner-angst caused from misunderstandings and shit (some minor ones, but not make/break and are very reasonable and mild). …I had more I wanted to say earlier but I got sidetracked.

    All supporting characters are great too. Old-abandoned-no-longer-rich boyfriend of the manipulative sister is not crazy and obsessive (not overly so at least…she does push all the wrong buttons but honestly she can piss anyone off — all his actions can be understood and sympathized with). The new-rich-second-lead-guy-who-also-happens-to-be-the-unfavored-brother-of-the-hero doesn’t fall madly in love with second lead girl (aka manipulative c*nt jr. ; sr. is the unlikable but sometimes understandable birth mom of the heroine) and can total see through her manipulations and “clever tricks” at getting what she wants…just amused by them and decide to play along (I can kind of see him reluctantly falling in love tho).

    All great EXCEPT. That freaking manipulative c**t jr. She’s just such a flat 2D villain in comparison to the carefully crafted layers of all the others. As a young girl, she’s arrogant and self-righteous, and a terrible daughter who looks down on her mom due to lack of money. As she grows older, her unfounded disdain only continues to grow. She’s the kind of girl who gets mad when what’s “hers” is taken from her, quoting how much effort she put in, and by effort she means the time and energy spent using underhanded tricks and manipulations instead of devoting time into developing true skill to rightfully beat opponents. At least even c*nt sr., while ambitious and underhanded, has some measure of skill and does take the time and effort to proving those skills and attempting to have some boundaries and using hard work to shut people up.

    (side track: another plot-trope-overthrow – the rich bio-parents of heroine can totally see thru manipulative c*nt jr’s plots to take over the place of their “missing daughter” and are well aware that she’s not theirs and are totally unwilling to give in and give up on finding their true daughter. Kudos to not following trend and have everyone think manipulative c*nt jr is the true daughter)

    (Also, another great overthrow: the MIA of their daughter aka our heroine is actually totally unintentional and somewhat of a mistake – mistake on the adoptive mom’s part for being to afraid of debt collectors to call in the police and mistake of birth mom for accidentally bringing daughter on car while in process of nefarious deed and losing her in the process (in her defense, she clearly left heroine at home but heroine decided to follow mommy and sneak onto the car anyways)…)

    And here’s on Perfect Match:

    With the one episode I’ve seen that’s out, it seems pretty good and I like it. Nowhere near as much as Because of You, but maybe just not yet? It’s a little more typical and predictable. While Ivy’s hardworking-sassy-heroine ain’t nearly as annoying as she could be, she’s also not very spectacular and is very typical. Maybe it’s the comparison speaking and the fact that the overall characterization just isn’t very good, but while likable and watchable, she does fall somewhat flat. Chris’s character, while suffering from the same flaws in character, manages to pull together with charm and better acting skills to come across VERY likable and very very cool. He’s très cool. Just oozing charisma. He’s also not as immature as the typical enemy-turned-lover-lead and seems to be a bit deeper and contemplative sometimes and has a better head on his shoulders. Like his backstory with his sister a LOT. Chemistry is eh pretty decent (but I’m a bad judge sometimes). Ivy’s at least very cute and adorable, but it’s really Chris I’m staying for…SO HOT. Have to say, I liked him even back in his country-bumpkin-Hua-To-Ye days in Next Stop, Happiness …I just don’t follow enough and somewhat dislike most (recent) tdramas and so sort of forgot about him. It’s hard to stay on top of tw-ent since many of the most popular taiwanese celebs move to taking productions and working in/with mainland china instead because of better prospects and larger audience. I forget that Chris Wu is actually considered more of a “veteran” in tw-ent and is a pretty big hotshot (at least according to the promo interview media-meet the cast did for Perfect Match…and yes I watched it).

    Overall, Perfect Match, while not spectacular or unexpected, is very very entertaining and watchable. Also remember that there’s only 2 eps out, and I haven’t watched the 2nd yet. At least, 2 eps on viki out (sorry, can’t find any faster online raw version anywhere but viki so idk if there’s really only 2 eps out). Will definitely keep watching.

    (I will try to remember to post here instead of cbox, but tbh I tend to post as a reactionary-in-the-heat-of-the-moment while watching an ep so oftentimes it’s just easier to shoot off an impression in the cbox. I understand it can be annoying since cbox is meant for temp use and makes it hard to track convos. Maybe it’s just a personal frame of reference/mindset but for me, actually typing out comments in threads tend to feel more “forma” (in a loose sense of the word) that requires more overall review/reflection and organized-thought versus the no-brain-“mouth”-filter mindset I use for cbox. Will try to change that.)

    Julianne, out.

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      Thanks so much for sharing your opinions, Julianne Lin. 🙂

      I’ve been looking forward to ‘Because of You’ since I heard about it so I’m very happy to see you give it such a positive review. I enjoyed the acting from Sun Yi and Deng Lun in “15 Years of Waiting Migratory Birds” and I thought they were better as a couple than the OTP in that drama even though they were technically step-siblings (if you’ve not seen the drama it’s a long story…). Your review has made me even more excited to watch now and a more in depth knowledge of the plot and characters than I’ve been able to find anywhere else.

      Thanks to Kappy’s detective work in the a few posts up I found out some lovely people at Viki are subbing. Can’t wait to watch! XD

      Thanks to your review I might give “Perfect Match’ a try too when there are a few more episodes to marathon. I just watched a few minutes and the cooking scenes made me hungry! .

    • 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

      lol juli!! its never, ever, never annoying for your thoughts in the cbox!! we just want your thoughts to reach a wider audience and for more people to see it here. 😉

      i love your random spazz in the cbox. ^___^

  16. 35 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (4)

    Recently finished Yang Zi and Qiao Zhenyu’s “The Great Marriage”. I actually skipped a lot after episode 23 and only watched the OTP’s scenes. The side story of Yang Zi’s mother and her neighbor weren’t really my cup of tea although they are strong actors.

    The main pairing took me by complete surprise considering their 14-year age gap, much like Wallace and Yang Zi for Battle of Changsha. I wouldn’t say they have sizzling chemistry but they’re definitely very refreshing to watch.

    Yang Zi did a great job portraying Xia Ran, a wedding planner who was abandoned by her boyfriend when she brought up marriage. She got over that pretty quickly and jumped right onto her feet again. She’s sharp, feisty and witty, very admired by her colleagues and assistants. (I want to give a cookie to the scriptwriter that gave Xia Ran witty lines. She makes me laugh with what she says and how she says them. Kudos!) She loves her job and takes it seriously. Poster child for be the best that you can be, honestly, haha.

    Then we have Qiao Zhenyu’s Jin Zhihao who is a plastic surgeon. Before Xia Ran appeared in his life, he was stoic and had no interest in other people’s lives. Did he care what was going on with his patients’ lives? No. He just got the job done. After being stuck with Xia Ran under the same house, though, he began to change. In his words, before Xia Ran, he was just a walking shell. Her bubbly and confident personality brought him out of the shell and he became more human-like. Sounds very typical, I guess. He is just a nice contrast to the female lead, haha.

    The overall plot is very clichéd so I guess you could say I watched it only for the leads. And out of the leads, mainly for Yang Zi. LOL.

    Now I am moving onto Liu Haoran and Seven Tan’s “With You”. First episode was promising.

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