Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

Guess who’s home and have time to watch dramas! Kappy! Why? She got her four wisdom teeth extracted. Bloody hell, let me tell you. I’ve been high on pain drugs for the past 3 days. I think it makes me nice and tolerant of everything. Lol.

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Our Glamourous Time: Our heroine Lin Qian (Zhao Li Ying) is an aspiring Entrepreneur who gets kidnapped by the drug lord on her vacation. Our hero Li Zhi Cheng (Jin Han) is sent on his last army mission and he saves her heroically. How is any girl gonna forget that soldier man? It definitely opens with a bang and my thought during the entire explosive scene was…..are they gonna run out of budget because of episode 1? Surely they won’t.

Then comes the CGI rooftop scene in episode 3 that had my dying from laughter. REALLY?!

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Hawick Lau cameos as the dead older brother…now our hero has to return to save the dying company. He chooses to oversee the smaller sister company, Aida, where he corners our heroine into an elevator and explains to her why she should be his designer over her senior brother’s company. She finally gives up and agrees.

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Zhou Yi Wei plays Lin Qian’s older brother, awwww. So cute they reunited as siblings. The mysterious business lady, Grace (played by Cao Xi Wen) who was very fond of the dead brother and vows to find out the reason behind his death with our hero.

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This is the house/workplace where Lin Qian resides….is it a wonder she can’t afford the rent?! The sign outside says 1987, a nod to Li Ying’s birth year. Lol.

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Li Zhi Cheng’s trusted sidekick is played by Yu Hao Ming and the two bad boys are Zhang Jun Ning and Meng Rui.

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This part is funny, he makes her exercise and she comes up with different excuses to avoid it. He finally settles on jumping jacks and as he ponders on whether to pick up his sister’s phone call, Lin Qian jumps her way over to sneak a peek. She knows he has a hard time talking to his sister and suggests a few things he should do.

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When they are in close proximity, it’s him who blushes and runs away while she smiles knowingly to herself.

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It’s in episode 8 that he cracks a big smile for the first time and she notes it, so did I. It’s also in this episode that she finalllllly recognizes him as the brave soldier who saved her while he knew all along. HA!

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A side note, did anyone notice Li Ying and that cacophonous wig they keep putting on her?! I swear in one scene they switched her hair back and forth three times and I started to think it’s alive…

The other drama that I started to watch is Ever Night and I’m confused because there are so many characters! Besides Ning Que and Sang Sang…. it’s a blur for the rest. LOL. Maybe it’s the drugs that are hindering my face recognition skills. XD I think the plot will pick up once Ning Que enters the prestigious Tang Academy. Though when he pulls Sang Sang’s hair, that rubs me the wrong way, he makes it up by buying rose toner for her dark skin. That just melts me. haha.

A side note, ancient pizza Sang Sang is eating… Lol.

  1. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Kappa, I think the reason why Zhao Li Ying hair was short and then long and short again was that when she cut her hair very short, they were already filming. So instead of redoing the shots that had her shoulder length hair, they used the excuse of wearing a wig. Plus it would cost more and there wasn’t a lot of time because the story of minglan would be right after she is done filming for glamorous time.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Now that you mentioned it, I do remember the hair-cutting was mentioned on the show’s weibo back when it was still filming. Makes sense that if they wanted to refilm some scenes, she had to wear a wig. Just funny how we all noticed! xD

  2. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Ever Night – It’s good, but i’m not enjoying it as i hoped i would be because of some characters/ parts of the story and since i’m not fully into it, i’m clueless on some things as well

    Our Glamorous Times – Watching without subs, limited understand. I’m enjoying it so far. I also like how the fashion aspect is not just about making pretty garments for the runway. Also Lin Qian’s first kiss we see in the drama was really cute hehehe such a cute friendship. Also looking forward to the romance between Lin Qian’s friend Yayi (Lin Yuan) and Chen Zheng (Meng Rui). I can be such a sucker for bad guys falling for genuine good, cute, fun girls like Yayi and changing haha

    Recently watched 闺蜜的心事 which stars Jia Qing, Elaine Zhong, Hu Bing, etc. It’s a hotel setting drama and i like how it isn’t the usual girl and ceo ups and downs love story with business conflict. Instead the plot mainly focuses on helping hotel guests and employees with their problems. A few episodes are dedicated to each problem with lessons to be learnt, messages shared. Also like the friendships and frenemy relationship. Over 50 eps, but it was an easy watch.

    Also watched Sonia Sui’s parts in 动物系恋人啊 Tree in the River. Really enjoyed her story with 张睿家 Bryant Chang and 睦弈 Mu Yi, especially Sonia’s and Mu Yi’s. Would love to write more but it’ll definitely contain spoilers. The quotes at the end of each episode are also nice. Subs are available on youtube if anyone is interested. Only 20 eps =D https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEXBGg5OB0B-Xll2GSRVfeUwSvxo1kXfE

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Agreed, I feel like the plot is going by ever so slowly. I thought Ning Que getting into the Academy would speed things along. NOPE. LOL.

      When Yayi got close and asked how close? I knew it was in Li Ying’s nature to kiss her!! HAHAHA. I love that she incorporated that side of her into this character. 😉 OGT is nothing extraordinary at the moment but it’s an easy watch. ^^

      Thanks for the recommendations Akie!

  3. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    I popped by to say, I hope you feel better, Kappy. I can’t believe it took that for you to get to watch dramas. sooo extreme. LOL. But I know that pain of getting them teeth removed. I hope you’re eating lots of good soft foods.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Thanks Sista!! I know, took me to the extreme of pain. I watched Ever Night in the middle of the second day so I was under narcotics for sure. LOL.

      Soft foods was a breath of fresh air….until they start to resemble something else. xD

  4. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    At last! I have been waiting for ZLY dramas like forever. I am totally loking it so far. I also like Jin Han. For once, he is not playing baddie. He is goodlooking and looking so fit. Totally enjoying it 🙂

  5. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    When my 4 wisdom teeth removed, I was on local anesthesia. Afterwards, I was on extra strength aspirin. Felt very grumpy even though I was vegging out in front of the TV eating ice cream all day. Definitely wouldn’t have the patience to watch cdramas.

    Decided to drop Ever Night after ep 10. It feels too familiar without enough interesting spins to keep me distracted from uneven acting, flat line deliveries, and actors whose looks sticking out like sore thumbs.

    Voluntarily suffering through The Guardian again. It was taken down 3 weeks after it ended. It returned last week. Back then I got through ep 24 but couldn’t force myself to keep watching. According to other viewers, some modifications were done. I guess better screenplay and acting from the supporting cast are impossible. Just checking to see how different it is from before.

    Audio dramas, animations Fighter of the Destiny and Mo Dao Zu Shi, and documentaries (like 风味人间) keep me entertained.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I was so sad they didn’t knock me out keekeepod!! Because two of my teeth were impacted, at one point, I heard drilling and crunching/cracking of my teeth and I almost passed out. I’m a total chicken when it comes to anything near my teeth. Lol.

      The hair in Ever Night does bother me, but I love them fighting scenes so far. xD

      Guardian is on my to-watch list!

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        All mine were impacted. Oral surgeon and nurse were having an argument at the time too. I was actually glad for being awake because I could “protect” myself if things get worse between them.

  6. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Kappy…I loved your post..it reflected my thoughts..haha…and the comment with the wigs is so true..it is especially noticable after she gets up out of the water after 10 hours..haha…

    Right now I am binge-watching “Ever Night” and “Our Glorious Time”…I watch them raw and rewatch the episodes everytime the percentage of subs gets higher….

    I am also rewatching “Stoy of Yanxi Palace” as someone is slowly subbing it.

    Then there is S.C.I..it is not a brillant drama…but it is a fun watch and I want to see if the BL turned Bromance is as good as in “Guardian” or “Beloved Enemy”.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I reread your comment under the first impression post Khamira and was nodding my head, agreeing! When I saw the wig after 10 hours… I died!! 😛

  7. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Had a really rough week so last weekend completely gave in and binged Guardian (freaking AMAZING — I fell down a deep pit of fandom, love, and fangirling — solid A+ fan of Zhu Yi Long now). I’ve been searching everywhere for a complete audiobook/audiodrama of the novel, but the audiodrama only includes the first “chapter”/section/installment and even that was split into first half and second half, with several years between the 2 uploads, so no hopes for that. And the audiobook has only been uploaded basically up to the same point on like, most sites, so dead end there. I know there’s an english translation, but nowadays I actually prefer audiobooks to reading through the translation bc the translation is rarely consistent and “well written”? Like I totally appreciate translators 100% and I don’t wanna diss any translations, but tbh more often than not, purely because of the insane commitment and difficulty level of translating actual novel style and “essence” from Chinese to English, translations are usually more plot based, where I can even tell the sentence structure is Chinese. So yeah…my efforts of devouring the novel are on hold for now.

    The same weekend, I also heavily fast-forwarded Tribes and Empires….I dropped it the first time around, but this time mainly focused on Muyun Sheng. Am I the only one who actually liked his character best??? A lot of people thought he was boring and “too nice”. But tbh I actually appreciated a lot of the nuances in his character. Bc at the end of the day he still had lots of negative emotions, and it wasn’t like he didn’t understand he was “too nice”. But when you have the burden and literal ability to bring down the world, that’s really heavy stuff. And it’s not fair, but I appreciate the mental and emotional struggle he quietly suffers while maintaining that “nice person smile” on the outside. I loved HanJiang and his family dynamic/story to death (esp towards the “end” — or is it a new beginning lol — when he started understanding and even supporting his fam and his bros got fleshed out) BUT honestly I was very, very, very meh about Su Yu Ning so I skipped their scenes too. ShuoFengHeye everyone loved, but his character kind of rubbed me the wrong way a lot, and I thought a lot of the “Bu Luo” tribal ppl were so… a lot of infighting I feel like (my fav was actually HeYe’s fake-bro’s-wife person — that girl from the very first ep who was part of the rich tribe that got slaughtered by ShuoFeng tribe? LOVED her). Like, the “mainland” ppl were super despicable and two-faced, but also had really good actors who carried a LOT of stories and fleshed out emotions with them (hello loved to hate the queen lol).

    Basically I didn’t sleep much at all that weekend lol?

    Right now been pretty consistently watching Our Glamorous Times (which from cbox ppl will know that I find pretty entertaining and a good adaptation). Actually the plot has been drastically changed, but I feel like it kept a lot of the essence of the novel, and the main leads are very well matched and in character. So basically, MOST things I like from the book, I can find some level of similarity and parallel in the dramas so I’m good with it.

    Also still following Ever Night pretty closely (I wish it updated more quickly tho!). I like NingQue and Sang Sang well enough. Like, they don’t have too much dumb pride, but also have enough pride to be persistent and have bottom-lines. I like his motto that it’s a god-sent miracle they’ve survived and lived to this day, so by gods they’re gonna make sure to stay alive. My FAV group of ppl so far are all 12 disciples of Fu Zi and Fu Zi himself. Really love them and their interactions. The plot is kind of typical, but it’s a decent enough period drama that I’m honestly just eating it up. Actually the “feel” of Ever Night is kind of what made me want to rewatch Tribes and Empire…they’re not really too similar productions, but the vibe they give me is similar enough.

    About to start watching Liu Hao Ran’s mini-drama extended from Great Expectations that came out this year. Mostly cuz I miss him on my screen…

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      The Guardian novel is a bit complex. A lot of Chinese readers were confused by parts of it. I don’t know how ancient mythological elements and creatures could be satisfactorily translated into English. Chinese censors recently started more or less banning myth-religion (or, superstition in their view) based dramas so the story was turned into sci-fi fantasy, a lot was removed and totally new stuff was added. In effect, the story were dumbed down and characters were weakened.

      The author’s two other novels have been very successful paid subscription-based audio dramas. If a good scriptwriter can be found, maybe next up will be The Guardian, paid version.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Lol found out that AvenueX has an ongoing audiobook recording of Guardian on Netease so def in love and incredibly thankful.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Also, I’ve thought about starting Sha Po Lang the radiodrama, and I did, but haven’t really got into it yet…

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Sha Po Lang audio drama gets more interesting about half way into season 1. Season 2 has a lot of action. Season 3, the final season, has all the OTP’s “couple time” in the novel, and more political power struggle.

          The other two ongoing audio dramas by the same author – Silent Reading (默读) and Cán cì pǐn (残次品, or could be Defective Product) – might be hard to follow for those who haven’t read the novels.

  8. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Ah Kappy. I can relate. I have an issue with my foot and had anesthesia etc. Have to stay at home for a while and started watching dramas again a couple of days ago. It’s almost like finally getting a break from a string of hectic months. How come we have so much in common the last few years?

    Wish you a speedy recovery.

    I had been going through Mad House slowly. Finished Season 1. The acting is quite good though I read an AVV comment about not liking the male lead previously. He’s ok. Better than average. This is not a syrupy idol drama. I’ve been slow with it.

    I’ll likely drop the An Yuexi Zhu Yilong drama. The plot is so dated. The actors for AY’s “brother” bothers me. As are 2 other actors. Including a pair of brother and sister. A couple of characters are quite annoying too. The script and direction are both weak. Resulting in gratuitous melo. I don’t get the point.

    I started skimming through Ever Night. I like the coming of age part of it. The 2 leads make for a decent watch. I dislike most of the Xiling portion of the drama. So far EN is a bi-polar drama for me.
    lol at the ancient pizza.

    I’m watching Tribes and Empires for the first time. It’s ok up to about episode 10 though some parts are too gory for my taste.

    Eh Skibbies. Are you reading this? I only noticed your old message from weeks ago. I’ll respond when I get a chance. Sorry about that!

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Lol @ An. A lot of common in the last few years… I’m gonna say we are aging! I can feel the soreness and pain every now and then. Metabolism has definitely slowed down but my persistence with exercise and eating better has paid off a lot too. =)

      I caught up with Ever Night without narcotics and understand it a little better. Faces are coming to forms now. hahha. I still don’t understand what Xiling is? An assassination group supporting Yan royals?

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        That’s true Kappy. Great to hear you’re keeping up with a healthy lifestyle! I thought of you when I was in Boston a few months ago and saw a white van with “Kappy” written on its side.

        I’m enjoying reading everyone’s AVV comments while staying at home today. Thank you for all the work that you put in Kappy.

        I have never read this novel. – I’ve always been afraid to read a novel first. Afraid of loving the novel and the main leads. Then they adapt it into a drama with AB or EN’s 黄一琳, Li Yifeng as leads and I’ll be heartbroken and will need a month to recover from that. I find both ladies’ extraordinary lower lip (and HYL’s protruding mouth) distracting –

        I have to watch EN’s Viki version with Eng sub and hope to get the details. I think their editing is a bit messy? Otherwise, they wouldn’t need a “special ep 12” which seems to be a collection of flashbacks? When I skimmed EN quickly, I was a bit confused at the multiple uses of Hao Tian. Sometimes it’s used as a noun, sometimes a verb. Some Eng synopsis refers to it as a person. Similarly with the propaganda-like sounding GuangMing. Light. It doesn’t help that I get distracted by some actors’ unorthodox acting. Like the actor for Luo Kedi in Xiling scenes starting from ep 1. It gave me flashbacks of bad actors from past dramas. Actor for Prince of Yan who fancies the Tang Princess is not good either.

        I don’t remember how many “evil organizations” there are in EN w villains in black robe. If there are multiple, I may have clumped them w Xiling.

        I had better refrain from typing too much while still under the lingering influence of meds. lol In consideration of those who may read this.

        Happy holidays!

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Who’s Luo Kedi again? I don’t really remember this character and I can’t really find him on the wiki summary pg in eng or chinese.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Hi Juli. This refers to ep1. LKD is one of the men dressed in black w metal accented helmet covering some of his cheeks. There was another guy dressed like him. And they have a higher boss. I think they are members of a sub-division of Xiling? The justice department or something. LKD appears jealous of Long Qing. LKD made some disparaging remark about LQ and got restrained by CGI – light or rope thingy – by his boss. I thought I saw Luo Ke Di on Baidu Baike’s EN page.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Yep. Luo Kedi is the head of the Justice Dept per Viki translation. Slightly before the 25th minute. Ep 1 Viki version. The other actor, Wuming (Nameless) Priest, isn’t so spectacular either. But they are not any worse than some of the Guardian supporting cast.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          扒手我还不觉得是大问题。这是有点不方便。 法国的强盗有时候还会用催泪瓦斯。或用枪。这些概念我比较难接受。( 护照若被偷也很头疼). 我以前有过一 位 挺好的北欧朋友。所以也去过北欧的几个地方。他们人都不错。但当时我没有自己走。 可是听新闻说这两三年来,也有人民对有些少数民主人不满。北欧的人口好像是挺”同质?”的,所以…
          通常如果连游客在短短时间内也遇到几次情况,问题大概也不小。
          我朋友说瑞典人春夏季都很热情。他们不喜欢冬季的黑暗。所以就是不要秋冬季去。北欧经济条件都很稳定。和其他欧地区不太一样。其他国家有些地区经济已经有望下降了。经济头条其实有说十年二十年后,中国的年轻人的薪水一般都会比他们父母的薪水高。但欧美就看起来会相反。所以欧美人都会对华人有些意见。想跟他们抢饭碗似的。通常“民粹主义”概念强的地区,对华人的待遇都不是很好。Brexit. QuItaly (quitaly). There are other places that haven’t made it high enough towards the top of the headlines. 我经验最差的是英德西(班.. 一般都是一个人走的时候。但也都比LSS 举行婚礼哪个国家好。 至少还没有人群去烧十几座寺庙). 意 ..也不是很好但也还算可以。没去过葡。我以前在 西,XBY, 看到有一家美公司的人员们再办入住手续。一百多个人员在我前面排队。很有意思的是皮肤比较深颜色的都住了比较低楼房间。他们有几个刚好跟我同行。有时候吃早餐时我会跟他们聊几句。还真的是这个情况。皮肤比较白的民主住比较高楼的房. 若你遇到了这情况,你会怎么想?我没意思去多想但世界也够大的。也不需要坚持的一定要去xby英德。 除了维也纳,布拉格好像也挺平的。但布拉格比较热闹。会看到很多导游警告说在景点附近常有小偷. 我本来想带我朋友去看日本的。我朋友没去过。结果念了新闻几次,看到了他们还有没穿内裤的镜地板咖啡厅等等,现在也都心寒_ 有点怕了. 我以前没看吴秀波姚晨的离婚律师。虽然有些离婚案看了有点烦但他们剧本写了还不错。我第一次看姚晨剧。我挺喜欢看她。 我打汉字的速度特慢。其他的下次说吧。

          好巧啊。我十一路(号公交车)也有问题。:P

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I dropped AYX and ZYL’s drama as well. Plot was all over the place and it was weak to begin with. Even my love for ZYL could not make me consider finishing it.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Hahahaha!!! The plot is bad but my love for ZYL sustained me throughout the drama, especially since his portrayal is soooo good. If you put the other’s part at 1.5 (ok 2) maybe that will help? Otherwise, you will be like me, laughing at the ridiculous plot/characters and pull my hair/rolling my eyes. However, I do like AYX’s acting and if they just focus on those two without all the shenanigans, it would have been a much better drama. Nothing really hold my interests right now except for ZYL lol So I am planning to rewatch his parts only hehehe

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Lol I’ll have to try that trick because the drama is too painful to watch. Too many side characters.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Nice to read everyone’s feedback. I don’t have the needed perseverance for that drama.
        I think I’m allergic to 方逸伦, 帝娜’s acting. And can only tolerate 朱鉴然’s acting half the time. With the weak plot and direction, the combo became too painful.

        Does Yang Zishan have any good dramas or films? Zheng Kai’s acting is a bit too strong for my taste so I didn’t watch the YZS ZK drama.

        Never Gone sounds promising. I had ep 1 playing when I had lunch. It sounded peaceful. Set in a quaint water village? Hu Xianxu and especially Li Landi are often nice to watch. I do like HDJ but I think his acting was best in Wuxin S1. I feel like he needs a strong director or a director that clicks with him. Was “Speed” any good? Li Landi is very good for her age. Seems to keep improving after Wuxin S2.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          It’d be my first time watching YZS in a drama so I’m curious how it will turn out. The younger actors are all foreign to me.

          I agree about HDJ. Wuxin was enjoyable but his following projects didn’t really draw me in. Siege in Fog had so much potential but it was too long. I dropped it after 20-something episodes.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Thanks! I thought I’m the only one who has never watched YZS in anything.

          HDJ was ok in Chinese Paladin 5 though CP5’s plot isn’t exciting. HDJ’s character was stuck in a repetitive romantic relationship w Guli Nazha. On-off-on-off. Light switch romance. HDJ sometimes seems uneasy in dramas. His directors have scolded him too much on the set? (He looked a tad awkward in CP5 at times too.) Sorry. Bad joke. I had a bad feeling about where SIF’s plot would head to. I didn’t really dare watch. Just had a quick look here and there. I don’t think I can take that kind of female lead character. Too much for my taste. Some male characters incl Alex Fong’s seemed a bit much too. If only they provide a dog-blood score for every drama. Then we can choose dramas with dog-blood score that’s 10% or lower. lol

          Hope Never Gone’s plot will stay reasonable. Good luck and happy watching! Hope you had a great holiday break.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I feel like YZJ is one of those lowkey actresses with not a lot of backing hence she isn’t really included in many grand productions.

          If only such a scale exists. I wouldn’t have to spend so much time watching a drama only to find out how ridiculous it is a third into it and after I’ve grown attached to certain characters.

          Thanks! I’ll let you know if I end up watching it. Have been trying to finish some of the dramas that I’d dropped earlier this year. Hopefully my replies will be quicker now since I finally bought a new laptop. I previously typed out my replies on my phone, which proved to be very inefficient.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Wow. I couldn’t tell you had been replying from mobile phones in the past. I use laptop more, yet I have many more typos than you. Sheepish head turn… My neighborhood is weird. Sometimes we have internet service interruptions that last for ~ a day.

          Oh, the action choreography for Ever Night is quite good. Major fight scenes are also accompanied by beautiful cinematography. The 2 leads are pleasant to root for. But idk how the overall or final assessment will be. Leon Lai looks awkward as emperor sometimes. With S2 planned, S1 ending may be weird.

          You’re right about avoiding Entrepren Age. The director keeps having ABB’s head bobbing whenever she conducts her biz talks since her first appearance. Not sure why they did it that way. I can’t even watch 1 ep. Apparently the Western media outlets refer to AB as the Kim Kardashian of C. I didn’t realize that the T Yan-LJin wedding was completely paid for by sponsors, including the Vienna Tourism Bureau. VTB is trying to court C tourists.

          Hyped actresses can get tangled in incomprehensible c-ent politics. So avoiding them could be a reasonable strategy. Sun Yi’s first major drama, 15 yrs of Migratory Birds, was probably the least melo of her dramas. I like the mostly unknown (at least to me) lead actress’ acting more than Bai Yu’s in Suddenly This Summer. Though BY’s acting there is ok too.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          No worries on the typos. I make them even when I’m on a laptop. My internet service isn’t that great either but we’re switching to a new company soon and they promise to have faster service.

          I tried watching Ever Night based on the reviews here, but I never even finished the first episode. Guess it’s one of those that dramas I have to be in a certain mood to watch. The cinematography is beautiful though. I almost couldn’t recognize Leon Lai. He’s aged so much.

          Seems like not even Huang Xuan could save the drama. Was the script terrible?

          Oh I didn’t know she was referred to as Kim Kardashian lol. That’s not exactly a flattering reference. But I do like ABB in Running Man and I think variety shows are her strong suit.
          Vienna has always been at the top of my travel bucket list and seeing the lovely couple’s wedding photos made me want to visit there even more. Have you been?

          I usually prefer the works of actresses before they have their big break, e.g. Liying. Not sure why but they’re always more appealing to watch and the scripts, while not perfect, aren’t as bad. I mean, actually, it’s the same type of scripts but the cast list is an upgrade.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Hope I clicked the right “reply” button. Hard to be sure when I scroll to read your last post.

          To me Ever Night is an uneven production. The first major fight that looks quite nice is when Chen Feiyu & Andy On Chi Kit are fighting the baddies. Ep 6? 7?

          Can’t be sure about Entr Age script since I saw so little. I didn’t see anything that gripping.

          不好意思啊。旅行的事还是觉得用汉语讲方便些。不喜欢谷歌 (‘非死不可’…)研究我们写的数据. 我比较喜欢低调些. 是去过两次. 是挺好看的。 古斯塔夫克里姆特 的印象派画也很漂亮。也去了’萨尔茨堡’和’哈尔施塔特’. ( 你看懂德文菜单吗? ) 就是食物品种不多。维纳炸肉排 吃了好多次。所有的肉种都吃过了 (for wienerschnitzel)。比较想吃其他的。 我不爱吃炸的。 很干。对我来说还挺难适应的. 华人去欧洲旅行还是要小心的. 像英德法国。西班牙也是。都是要注意安全的。很多人喜爱的巴黎也一样。有些地区骗子特多。有些抢劫案挺离谱的。维也纳就是市里很平。没山坡。所以和有些城市比较有山坡的有点不同。欧航服务有时候也会对华人给些脸色看。如果和欧美人一起旅行,旅行经验会好些. 希望没打错字. Do you prefer hilly places for travel? Or indifferent?

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          It’s quite hard to reply when the threads get longer, haha. I am always forever wondering if I’ve hit the right button.

          There’s a lot about buzz about Ever Night and while I still can’t get into it, I think it’s a good thing that the younger actors are getting the attention. Isn’t the lead actor’s parents quite famous?

          Well there’s nothing new that’s interesting to me so I started watching a really bad one from last year starring Jia Nailiang and Wang Ziwen. I had just finished the book and decided to give the series a try. It’s awful but it’s perfect for background noise when I’m working on something. Is there anything on your radar that you’re interested in? Do you feel that this year, especially this quarter, has been very lacking in the selection of dramas?

          真羡慕你去过两次。感觉你经常去旅游,去过的地方一定很多吧。

          之前听说过维亚纳的炸肉排很有名,我这边也有山寨版的,我觉得还行吧。也听说过他们对华人的态度不是很好,不过我想这可能是因为语言和文化关系吧。我之前一个人去北欧的时候也曾经以为当地人好像不太喜欢华人,结果完全不是我想的那样,他们就是个性比较冷淡的民族,对谁都一样不温不火的。还没有去过英国和法国所以不知道当地的情况。不过欧洲的扒手还真不少,之前就听过很多钱包被偷之类的故事,还挺可怕的。
          我比较喜欢很平的地方,膝盖不好所以没得选择。

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Oops. Wrong click again. It’s up there.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          是巴黎吗?还是法国大部分城市?
          护照被偷确实很头疼,所以我每次出远门都会備一份以防万一,还好没有用过。之前在挪威的时候看过一段新闻说政府希望新移民去先学挪威语,其实我觉得不过分,毕竟要到当地生活还是要学当地语言嘛。
          我是六月的时候去瑞典的,晚上9点还是看到太阳的感觉很奇妙。我想再去一次,去看看其他城市。
          美国人对所谓移民都有不同的看法,有部分人认为他们在抢饭碗,也有些人知道移民们都是在做一些美国人不会做的工作。很极端的反应。
          皮肤色歧视这个现象越来越普遍了, 作为这一代的人,我觉得我们有责任好好教育下一代,让他们学会包容别人的不同.
          你认为欧洲对华人的态度跟美国对华人有差别吗?
          日本的文化确实有些地方很奇怪也让人心寒,但不得不说它在其他方面还是挺好的。
          我有听过离婚律师,但没有看过。最近剧荒,真的没有什么吸引我。

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Do you like slice of life drama in general? I kind of like that genre, but i only come across watchable ones once every few years. If I have the time, I’ll check out 幸福一家人 and Original Sin. I like OS producer’s Burning Ice. Hope OS will not be hard to find. Did you finish Age of Legends (I’m not sure how much I like W Chan) and Let’s Shake It S2? Wish Sandra M’s OM General was produced by a better production company and didn’t have PS as her male lead. I won’t have time to check out these dramas until 2019.
          不是巴黎。意&xby几个城市里的酒店大厅和街上路边都看到别人护照被偷。他们把护照放在包里。I saw them after the victims were frantic looking for their docs. I didn’t see the incidents themselves.我尽量不带包。放在衣服里比较不会被偷。然后经常外面穿件大衣。但见过人坐地铁时遇到有带刀的强盗。 xby有几个‘小偷’一看到你有带包她们就马上把你围起来了。说是要卖地图但当时我手上很明显的有一大张的地图啊。他们越走越近。要学快跑路啊。说要卖地图的几个人其中还有孕妇。巴黎地铁火车公交大巴站都不太方便去。热闹的大车站通常问题也比较多。其他的下个礼拜说吧.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I like slice of life dramas but there aren’t that many that capture my interest these days.

          Let’s Shake It S2 was entertaining and I did manage to finish it, but I have dropped Age of Legends partly due to my short attention span. Hope I can finish it soon as I do quite the story. I tried watching Oh My General couldn’t get past the first ten minutes.

          I’ve recently started watching The Dark Lord (Song Zu’er grew on me after checking out her drama with Xu Zhengxi) and am about to check out Princess at Large per my cousin’s recommendation. These days I feel like web dramas are more appealing than any of the grand productions. Do you find that too?
          听起来好恐怖。
          还是冬天的时候去比较好吧,护照跟钱放在厚厚的衣服里面不会被偷吧

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I’ll check out who are in Princess at Large later. Got curious.
          I started noticing web dramas were getting more interesting after Wuxin. I get that politics, econ – PE – are boring topics yet they have such strong influences of entertainment, leisure, travel, life, and almost everything. TV dramas are somehow getting a bit too uniform while maximizing profits. Go for similarly safe plot and character formulas, using well-known stars & web novels. The product range is too narrow. Sad to see how some stars become tangled in these products for multiple years. Like seeing your favorite unique boutique shop get acquired by Gap, Limited, or Express chains. Some technical aspects like cinematography and editing are improving, so that’s good.

          smithsonianmag website has decent food and other articles for Vienna. At a glance, recent food trend is going Asian. Viet sandwich, ramen. Winter travel has its drawbacks too. Thicker clothes make for heavier luggage. Flight delays are more common w snow. 旅行几次之后也不能否.服务态度和安全和顾客的皮肤颜色有些关系 … 还没严重到一定要冬季出门吧? 但走出门要看看附近情况。如果皮肤颜色和旁边的其他人都不一样的话是要注意一点。 选旅行衣服也有点麻烦。太好看会被人盯 – 讲话小声也比较好。太朴素的话服务可能会比较麻烦。

          欧v美比方还真不好说。英国服务本来就不是很好。我北美几个朋友在那边住过几年。犹太人,德美人都遇到问题。我英朋友也是这么说。有些英民不是特别看上北美人. 连口音都成问题。 伦敦餐馆服务还好。其他地区有时候你在门口站了十分钟,服务员们一直在你面前聊天。结果我和朋友都比较常去亚洲餐馆, 服务好多了。难怪我英朋友都爱吃印度菜。 连牛津门口的售票员的服务都很差。问特详细你从哪儿来的问题。然后给你脸色看. 售票员的回答也非常地大声. 以后我是不会再去了。我不是希望他们服务好。我只不希望他们服务差. 我英朋友说剑桥区更糟糕。有些人会很见外。 我英朋友说我们北美现在住的城市里的英茶楼最正宗的方面就是服务和英国的服务一样差。lol 我朋友对英国的服务也不满意。其实我在英国只去过茶楼一次。那次服务还好。 布拉格的皇家堡是在山坡上。还有一点远。应该可以坐公交吧.
          节日快乐

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Did you get a chance to check out Princess at Large? I will put it on my list to watch after I finish Bloody Romance.
          Web novels make it easier for production companies these days. The bulk of work is already done for them – they just need to pay to acquire the rights then hire writers to format the story. It’s kind of sad what it has come to, but they do have market demands to meet. The thing with China is that the drama typically finishes airing within one to two months unlike other countries where they only air an episode per week and are separated by the seasons. There’s just a constant flow of dramas on the air in China.
          Cinematography has been improving over the years. Of course the sets and costumes in historical dramas too.
          Thanks for the tip. I still haven’t decided where to visit in ’19 so I’m still living vicariously through travel stories and photos from Vienna.
          My city is usually covered with snow several months of the year so I’m familiar with wintry conditions, but it can be quite different in a foreign country. A couple of years ago I went to Hokkaido in the winter time and remember it being much colder than my city even when it was snowing. Although if you ask me, I would do it again. Delays and cancellations are to be expected so I guess it’s wise to not plan anything concrete. “Go with the flow” travel seems to work for winter, don’t you think?
          英国听起来很糟糕。如果真的要去的话我会找住在当地的堂弟聊聊,看看他有什么好介绍。
          如果跟着他去他比较熟的地方会好点吧哈哈
          节日快乐!

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          湖区, 康沃尔郡区, 浴城是还挺好看的。就是餐厅和游客服务没法意好。法意是比较划算。他们俩的艺术也比较美。服务比较好。酒店价格比较实惠。
          上个月我遇到了一个北欧人。她说丹麦国家不大,人口也少。不会听到有犯罪人几十年还抓不到。所以会比较安全。北欧一般都是这样吧。 去年伦敦好像有几百酸袭击事件。今年的数据可能还没算出来. 所以旅行要注意安全啊. 我下个星期比较有空。其他的下星期说吧.

  9. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Get better soon, Kap! Never had dental surgery which makes post-surgery pains, but I can imagine what it’s like.

    These days I’m only following Ever Night and An Oriental Odyssey. The first one is leaps and bounds more sophisticated and overall a better production , and it’s the show with episodes I will rewatch if I feel like I’m missing something. Watching it on Viki is actually testing my patience due to the ad cuts, but I’m not feeling like buying the adfree membership. So I endure them, because I constantly rewind some parts. I love the chemistry between the main leads, and among the cast in general. And the best fighting scenes in Mainland dramas in recent years!!! (SPOILER) Still can’t get over Ning Que and Old Chao’s scenes on epi 6 and the fighting in the teahouse in epi 14 — the latter gives me goosebumps!

    Ever Night also has amazing soundtrack – I’m rating it the best after Bloody Romance. (Granted, I haven’t seen most dramas this year, lol). My current favorite song is “Take Your Life (取你的命)”. I find it so amusing that the lyrics include sentences like “I will take your life”, yet the arrangement make it sound like a lighter song, most like a children’s song, complete with bird chirps and such, LOL.

    AOO is another thing. It’s campy, but I like the cast. Having watched up to epi 30 (subbed), I’m still on Team Zhao Lanzhi. The writing is a mess — it feels like they’re having two different dramas under one title! (BIG SPOILER) The first one ends with the death of Tian Qiao, because… he’s practically the main villain up to that point! The second one will start, I assume, with ZLZ’s wedding and YYA travelling to Mu Le’s country, and whatever story they will build up there. I did read about the production company wanting to promote their own artists, then adding 20 something episodes to the originally 30-episode script. If so, they’ve sucked bigly. I’m not sure if I would want to continue watching after my ship sinks, but perhaps I will skim through episodes just to see Ming Hui getting tortured by being completely ignored by ZLZ *insert evil laughter*.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I don’t know why I’m still watching Oriental Odyssey but I am. This show is not particularly funny, refreshing or witty but at the same time, the pace is just right and the show is a light and easy watch. I like the 3 main leads but I just wish that they were given more to work with. The side characters are as flat as cardboard and their scenes are absolutely inconsequential. Is this a low budget drama? I’m asking because the costume department is seriously lacking. Even the main characters are wearing the same outfits again and again. The only thing that’s holding my interest is the relationship between Lan Zhi and Ming Hui. How the hell is this show going to get us (the clueless audience that we are) to buy the romance between a righteous and dashing hero and a witchy and undeserving of sympathy second lead?

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        I will prolly never be able to buy Lanzhi-Ming Hui romance. Regardless the plot twist with the Empress, she still commits an irredeemable act towards Ye Yuan An & I hope the writers will make her pay for it :D.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I know, right?! That plot twist feels sooooo cheap too.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Yes! Lenje! YES! The fighting sequences in those two episodes amazed me. I was very impressed and excited! LOL. How miserable is that?! We are so used to the powerful *coughcough* colorful puffs of balls that when we see some hand-to-hand combats, we eat it up like cotton candy.

      Old Chao is such a badass, I was like…you hired Ning Que…. *rolled eyes* hehehe I miss him, I hope we see him again soon.

      The soundtrack kills me too! I thought I was hallucinating when I hear such a happy/peaceful sounding tune running alongside the deadly words. xD

  10. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Hope you get better soon. I did that four wisdom teeth action before. Not fun, but I got to eat a lot of pudding which was nice. 🙂

    Right now I’m just watching Eternal Love 2 and Oriental Odyssey and now that I’ve started subbing Let’s Shake It 2 so have avoided adding any other shows on to my plate (except to rewatch episodes of Age of Legends and Mengfei Comes Across on occasion as they get subtitled).

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      If you’re a subber, then you’re my hero! Without you subbers, I’d be so lost. Thanks a million!

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I see pudding and I want to run away so fast Enid! Lol. But it’s a nice vacation for the teeth indeed.

      You girlfriend, I don’t know HOW you do it. Travel, eat, watch, sub! What’s this madness?!

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Wait until you hear my plan for 2019. 🙂

        When you love what you do, it makes it very easy.

  11. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Get well soon, Kap!

    Nothing has caught my interest lately so I’ve been slowly watching the Dali Temple Pet drama. I might start on the Elvis / Yang Zi Shan one soon, been seeing people on weibo praise Elvis’s portrayal.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Thanks Polaris!

      I meant to check out Never Gone too! Love all the actors they chose. 😉

  12. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Ow four wisdom teeth! Hope you feel lot better now and have a good holidays!

    I seem to watch dramas at hilariously slow rate, so most of this are from my last post, it’s just I finished them now:
    Duan Nao/Die Now, the acting is passable but sometimes the dialogue can be little too cringey, best friend, can you stop calling yourself Baobao? The plot itself is mostly fine, well written honestly (thanks original manhua), I love the games and I like the scifi set up, there’s a lull in one of the later arcs where they played up the sentimental angle, but it shows backstory of two minor chars + paired with another arc so it’s alright in the end. The actual ending is little anticlimatic, because it was originally a breather chapter/mini arc for the manhua, it ties up the series okay though IMO.

    Madhouse: s1 is suspense thriller wrapping with human drama at its core, feels like US tv + jdramas. s2 is drastically different focus and slightly slower pace, where it’s more scifi + super powers + human experimentation conspiracy. The second season wasn’t as well received but I liked it fine tbh, I guess it just so happens both season’s focus are right up my alley. Normalisation and generally being informative about mental illness is great, I’m iffy on some of the portrayal (sometimes it’s because the story isn’t just about mental illness) but I wholeheartedly support creating dialogues about it. I really like some of the easter eggs at the end of the episodes, some of them are informative and intriguing, some are straight up hilarious (there’s more in s2). Protag’s tshirts are sometimes relevant to the episode too, that and there’s lots of rock related tshirts. I really like the director’s style and his artistic sense, He definitely have lots to say and sometimes characters are clearly mouthpiece for them which might put off people, but I think it fits the characters and I agree with him most of the time. definitely looking forward to more work from him. Apparently, he had to insert the romance (which was smidge jarring but it’s alright IMO) and the main plot to get funding, which made most fans who didn’t like those more sympathetic. Oh, almost forgot, all the supporting characters are damn amazing! Even if the main characters’ acting were worse (they were passable to me), I’d watch this for their acting alone.

    (this is my ramblings about languages in the drama) Liu Chang’s english accent takes me out sometimes, but he says most of his lines with confidence, especially the shorter ones actually feels pretty natural, which is great and I’m not sure most other actors could do better. Some of the lines can be awkward since they are translated from Chinese but it’s hard for non-native speakers. I think the foreign actors rewrite their own lines? Since it doesn’t match the subs sometimes, I wish they helped to rewrite Liu Chang’s too! Kenneth Chan’s mandarin’s tones are off fair amount of time, but he’s probably one of the most fluent HK actors, thumbs up. His English is of course whole lot better, and I noticed both his English and Cantonese seems to have bit more emotion in it, wish he could do this in Cantonese!!!

    The Rise of Phoenixes: I feel like I’ve exhausted what I have to say about the drama tbh. It’s deeply flawed for some many reasons, pacing, forcible cuts in major arcs, rushed ending arc, but the high points are definitely some of my favourites. Never have I wanted 100 episodes so much, even though 70 seems like insanely long for me in the beginning. It’s one of those dramas that doesn’t seem to work with everyone, but those that do will love it and be pretty obsessed about it. I honestly wished it was created under better circumstances, but regardless, I appreciate the team’s effort in producing such high quality drama. THIS is the drama I’d watch for acting and characterisation alone, because that’s what it excels at. Chen Kun’s acting might not work for everyone though, his initial overacting (it’s his character’s) put off people, and he’s very intense in lot of scenes, I liked it though! Ni ni is amazing all around, looking gorgeous as a man AND a woman, I hope she gets better roles because of this. Anyways I’m going to stop before I make this entire post rambling about it.

    Legend of Fuyao: I finished it while multitasking lol. I really liked how they fused the arcs and characters! Appreciate them diffusing most of Fuyao’s love interest too, even though it seems to end up with lots of love triangles, still better than a harem. I think the general story is fine, but it screws up in details, too much damseling of Fuyao in the beginning, Ya Lanzhu overly self sacrificial nature, Pei Yuan being around for bit too long. The beginning was a slug for me, once they got off Xuan Yuan, it was better I think. I never quite fell in love with the OTP, I think they both have their outstanding scenes individually, though Ethan sometimes take me out of the story, idk is it his face or the story. Zhan Beiye seem kind of flat in acting half the time, and it took a while for me to warm up to Zong Yue. Loved Qi Zhen & Tian Quan Emperor though, could watch veteran actors all day long. Special shoutout to crazy De Wangfei, unhinged Xuan Ji Empress and Fo Lian who’s probably my favourite rival girl.

    Never Gone: Yes! A new drama! The only one! lol. I’m 8 episodes in, it’s pretty good so far and sticks close to the book. It’s just getting into drama original content, filling out Zhang Yue and Shen Ju An’s story, which I like, I like Zhang Yue’s clothes and personality a lot. I don’t really like how Shen Ju An look but I’ll deal. The OTP is fine so far, Su Yun Jin is bit standoffish and don’t show much emotion but I think that’s how her character is. I picked this up mostly because it’s only 36 episodes so they shouldn’t have too much fillers or room to screw it up but we’ll see. Douban already have people complaining it going off in a bad direction with the episodes in 10s, but douban can be harsh. The cinematography of this is lovely, I should check who the director is.

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Skibbies, My memory isn’t good enough to remember all your drama comments contained in just this one post. lol

      I’ll say a few things in our old spot. ; P I feel more comfortable babbling there. Less intrusive to others hopefully.

      My main issue with tRoP is the probably access. I’ve never been compelled to subscribe to Netflix and I don’t feel like starting now just for tRoP. (I’ve never watched a thing at Dramafever. I’m a super lazy consumer. Rarely purchase consumer discretionary items. Shopping just feels laborious to me.) I saw the first 8? eps when it started broadcast. Then I heard increasingly negative comments about the later eps. Then when I skimmed ep ~50 or so that was readily available at a random time point, I was feeling unsure about it. After that, With the access issue, and my uncertain feeling about the drama, my odds watching trop plunged. I do like the acting (less so with some Chen K scenes). But I’m wary of where the plot will go in later eps. I don’t want to criticize, but 1 thing I wish they had done is to hire ppl to comb thru the plot/early script a bit more carefully and nip potential censor problems earlier on before they started filming as much as possible. I know there are a lot of unexpected things that can happen later, but.. it looked to me as if they overlooked some script points a bit much for too long. And then got blindsided when camera is already rolling. The script team is a bit too small perhaps. You know. Trop’s cinematography, props, sets are gorgeous. It seemed as if the attention paid to those may be relatively higher than the script, although the script was good.. (mostly?). Dramas with some messy subplots often bug me like wearing an unfinished knitted sweater. It’ll unravel as you wear it and will leave you feeling awkward.

      Are you more likely to watch new dramas or old well-received classics? I’m more the former. Don’t need to spend as much time to find them.

      I’ve been very slow with Madhouse s2. I agree LC’s verbal Eng isn’t perfect. But tbh, the lines for other Eng speakers aren’t quite right either. The older guy (LC’s “supervisor” in Iceland) talked about how the iffy medical ppl were doing experiments to hasten human “revolution”. I assume they must have meant evolution. Their science realm & relevance seem a bit off. Which is understandable for a drama. But the sentence construction is also awkward at times even for the Iceland character. It’s ok, but I think they could clean up the script better. Harder to do science topics as some scripted items can defy science. It’s easier to do script on human dramas. Characters don’t have to be rational or reasonable.

      I haven’t finished watching anything that’s worth too much of a mention lately. ; )
      Just browsed some recent drama releases that are streaming readily on yt.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Sorry. Tried to put the stuff below in the ancient spot, but the space is now closed for comments.
        So I’m just putting them here:

        I have gotten used to reading your posts for a long time. I missed you the past month. :- )

        Other than just having some neat science, gene therapies have the potential to be life-changing and are very practical too. If all goes well, one treatment can fix the patient up for good. Free from that one disease for life. In places like C where the doctor to patient ratio isn’t high, they can be very useful. The less gene-therapy-patients need to see docs, the more the docs are free to see other patients who have other urgent medical needs.

        Ah.. We life in a world where some ppl are shallow. I can be shallow at times too. Or have some weird hang-ups about some things that don’t matter much. I try not to impose that on others too much. Limit it to just drama-watching or something. And cut down the number of things I feel compelled to get shallow on. But I understand how some ppl feel pressured to put on faux eyelashes etc. I don’t blame them or anything. Some ppl don’t want to get discriminated against by those who care about outer appearance. But I do wish there are fewer very-shallow ppl in the world. So more people can do things that are more meaningful. Instead of having a lot of females in the world primping behind mirrors for long hours. I think of this issue again because of the weibo D&G incident. Do you read a lot of that on weibo?
        I’m just sometimes surprised at the sheer number of ppl who would go very far, get very vocal, to comment on people’s looks, how ppl eat… so adamantly. I couldn’t care less about DG. It’s just the attitude.

        But the DG incident does partly explain why I’m more biased towards facts and science. I don’t react much to beautiful celeb DG or other photo shoots. Pretty as they are, sometimes they end up just getting used (almost) as a tool to discriminate. Though I know other things can be used to discriminate too. But at the end of the day, a pretty appearance is still only skin-deep.
        Smoke from just 1 fire isn’t much for discussion. But when you see smoke this thick and black, it often means that there’s more than just a single DG issue.

        Ah.. Is end of the calendar year a super busy time everywhere in the world?

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          No worries.

          Thanks for the 65 ep trop recommendation!

          I never used VPN on my own. I live under a shell. lol. 2 years ago i was required to use it for work for a few months but I didn’t have the time to watch drama during that period. It didn’t occur to me to vpn to C then either. I have a simple mind. And few ppl are within my laziness-sphere in consumerism.

          Once in a blue moon I visit Tw or C. But maybe you need to do something special to watch cdramas then too? I’m not sure. It’s only a drama. No biggie.

          I’m in a similar situation as you. Fortunate in a way. My family members are actually a lot more concerned about looks than my friends. So I just end up spending more time w friends than family. Simply have more things in common w friends. My friends don’t give me grief over the shade of my tooth enamel etc while my family has all encompassing comments on my clothes, books and everything. Perhaps a lot of (Eastern) look emphasis is related to the Confucian 3cong 4de = 3 ob & 4 virtues. Which is not convenient if women have to work and still observe the 3o4v. I’m the youngest of all family members. So that also triggers another Confucian headache. The special edition of the Eastern seniority issue. Seniors get to dictate and talk as much as they want. But not vice versa. I’m grateful my friends are not shallow. ; ) My family seniors never work overtime like contemporary worker bees I know. Plus 100% housewives in all combined households too. I don’t have the time luxury to lecture my juniors on teeth and the properly-bleached white colors.

          Whatsonweibo com website shows top 30 c/HK dramas “of all time”. I see the older version of Hong Lou Meng, 3 kingdoms, JTtW, Judge Bao. Red, TVB’s The Bund. Plus more recent dramas like In The Name of Ppl.

          Looking forward to hear what you think when the Never Gone drama ends its broadcast.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          HK (with Macau) and Taiwan are separate regions so different companies hold the streaming rights. Like tRoP was streamed on Netflix in HK and I think iQiyi!Taiwan just before netflix started its stream? A lot of people who watch anime on bilibili (it’s a video uploading site but officially simulcast anime and some movies too) will vpn into HK to stream something because they prefer the danmaku (rolling comments?) environment better or something compared to the site that actually have the mainland streaming rights. VPNing back into China is mostly oversea students who are used to consuming media in Chinese (subbed or otherwise). I was told about unblock youku ages ago and used it maybe grand total of once. I didn’t watch cdrama when I wasn’t in China lol.

          Oh! My family comments on my looks too! I get where they are coming from but also leave me alone!! Friends don’t do it probably because it’s rude, and you are (well I am) more likely to ditch them as a friend if they keep doing annoying things like that! Darn, some cultural stuff runs deep. I can speak up and be firm about my opinions against my parents but it’s hard and kind of useless to tell them “pls stop talking about my butt sticking out. MY BUTT IS GREAT SHHH” I thought you weren’t meant to bleach your teeth anyways lol?

          Let’s see, I’ve never seen Journey to the West and Hong Lou Meng LOL. I think I might have seen bits of The Bund, def seen a lot of episodes of RoTK but I remember nothing but the theme song (in Cantonese, no less). I distinctively remember watching Judge Bao and Yongzheng Dynasty (I memorised the previous Qing emperors because of its opening lol). Towards the Republic and Ming Dynasty 1566 and everything after it is on my to watch list. I can’t believe Da Zhai Men wasn’t on there because it’s one of the few cdramas I did watch. Moral peanuts is notable for it being a webdrama when no one was doing them, it has a deeply unfortunate name though (it’s homonym to pr0n). Where’s all the spy/espionage drama! What’s Fu Gui and Crimson Romance, I’ve legit never seen them in any recs, but I guess I don’t care for cultural revolution stories at all so whatever.

          I forgot to ask you what did you think of Madhouse s1!

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Idk why I seem to be only AVV reader who clicks on the wrong Reply button repeatedly.

          I didn’t know that at all about Tw or HK streaming. Interesting. I’m terrified of my HK sibling. So not visiting HK anymore. My friend in Singapore is nicer to visit. lol.

          I did take note of that Ming dynasty drama since it has Eng sub readily available. For Fugui, I only notice Liu Mintao, who is in both NIF & tROP. I considered watching Da Zhai Men. (I thought it was Lao Zhai Men. Oops) But was scared away by the high ep count. Plus I was afraid it may have a lot of melo people yelling. I thought LZM has 2 seasons? I considered watching DZM before I visited BJ last time. There are several names that I don’t know much about. So you think you watched maybe about 20% of their list of 30? I think my percentage is much lower. I think I saw 2 of the TVB ones. Not too sure about that either.

          I like Madhouse S1. Even the young nurse and her pharma factory dad were quite good in acting. As are the villainous docs. The meddlesome female reporter. SPOILER …. I was kind of shocked when they suddenly killed the lead girl at the end. Didn’t you? She’s dead for the entire S2 right?

          .. That’s why I get frustrated at how ppl in my hometown are so old-fashioned. My parent commented on my feet size, weight, freckles a lot. My BMI has always been in the teens all my life. When my BMI was approaching 17 or 18, my dad told every time he saw one of my teen classmates about how fat I had gotten. Commented on my supposedly huge arms. I was even too low in weight to donate blood. In the West, I have problems finding clothes that are not too baggy on the arms etc. Plus all my aunts look like Happy Buddha all my life. Both my parents were chunky themselves during all the years they were criticizing. A bit heavier than chunky even. They had huge appetite and only served oily dishes. After nightly dinner, they liked to go out and have supper at 21:00. Huge portion of oily fried rice noodle with sausage and egg. Then we got home and went to bed an hour after. I didn’t eat supper much. Too exhausted from their criticisms. If my dad wanted me to have a stick figure, why didn’t he help with the odds by marrying a stick figure to start with and had all of us start as vegetarians? lol I was always the 2nd – 4th tallest person for my gender in every class I was in. It’s unreasonable to expect me to have tiny feet. Every time a tiny freckle started to appear on my face, my mom went into screaming fits. But she didn’t buy me sunscreen and I was already banned from going out. The only thing left to do was to ban school.
          I think housewives often live like all women, even those who have to work long hours in the office, should still practice in 18th century detailed-housekeeping. My parents were into having clothes, floor (wipe-)cleaned manually. Human labor. They complained after I left for college that my clothes were not sparkly looking enough. My inner collars, sleeves, everything could be whiter. Who checks people’s inner collars and sleeves? (I didn’t see anything offensive there either.) That’s one of their fav uses of bleach. If you consume coffee/tea, I think bleaching teeth is like fighting gravity. It wasn’t even easy to find time to eat lunch at work. So I was envious at times when I had to interact with Swiss, German colleagues in August only to hear that they had the whole month off.
          So I was disappointed that folks in my town didn’t want to hone their skills in pipa, guzheng, embroidery, cooking, baking etc. And instead they really strife hard for a specific housekeeping or superficial appearance or style. I’ll never understand their priorities. If we have to tick all the boxes that senior housewives are obsessed about, how do we find the time left to sleep. lol

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Hahaha it’s ok I think I’ve done it too, especially when comments gets long.

          Why are you terrified of your HK siblings? lol I’m not huge fan of HK because I’ve been there too many times with no company and little money, so it was really boring. It’s way too close to home for me that it seems like “more expensive ver of stuff I can get at home” (mostly food lol).

          It’s been ages since I’ve watched Da Zhai Men, it’s a big wealthy family during times of turmoil so it was kind of like Battle of Changsha where it was using a family to explore the changes & the tragedy of those times? It can be melodramatic and does involve yelling but I don’t think it was overt? I actually read an article the other day about how difficult it was to get it filmed. The director had script ready for fairly long time, and previous production team took control away from him that the main actor Chen Bao Guo broke contract and walked away from it. It took several more years to gather investment and I think a lot of the cast joined it for below market rates. I think I’ve seen same amount as you tbh.

          The supporting cast for Madhouse were all amazing. I’m stupidly in love with how each arc is framed, various relationship problems (between family, friends and outsider/insider) and ideas behind lot of the arcs. SPOILERS. I actually knew about that because I peeked into douban too early. I’m definitely surprised they went ahead with it, but she WAS kind of annoying (and dumb which caused her death) so I was basically like “oh…..” Their romance happened little too fast for me to be invested, I liked the kiss scene in the lab, it was shot beautifully, and I liked she was hesitant to just drop everything and go to Iceland because hey they met not that long ago. She’s dead for s2 yeah.

          Waaaao, that’s a lot. If your weight was too low to donate blood, you are definitely not fat, geez. and yeah it’d definitely be hard to be skinny with that diet, and just high calorie food that’s omnipresent in US. I machine wash all my clothes and never check the sleeves and collars lol, Senior housewives have lot of time to worry about these things, and that’s kind of the lifestyle? It’s like that in dramas that feature and cater to them too. Some of the ones in China go and dance? 广场舞 is a thing. Honing their skills in cooking and instruments would definitely be much more productive.

          Europeans and their darn paid vacations!

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Interesting. Didn’t know any of that about DZM. DZM was set in BJ? I’ve forgotten the little bit that I read about. Some older C dramas were pretty good. I still like the 胡军 version of 天龙八部. Did you watch the older Han Dynasty C drama 楚漢風流? Did you like it? I started watching 1 of these Han dramas. I’m not sure if it’s the version w Jacklyn Wu as Lv Zhi. My drama buddy found it too boring, so we quit early before Liu Bang got far in his career. I don’t even remember 胡军 was Xiang Yu. I remember the version I saw (5 eps?) of was much earlier than the Chen Daoming & Peter Ho version of Chu-Han.

          C seniors should refrain from commenting on physical attributes so much. Every human has her/his own natural shape. It’s not a thing one can change easily. Like the comment on your bum. geez. We’re not actors. We have other things to do other than shaping our every muscle. To me, look is all about style. There’s no right or wrong. To insist on 1 way is ….

          That is one of the reasons I minimize HK visit. My hk family doesn’t cook. I have to eat really fast whenever we eat Canto. A lot of HK clothing shop sales ladies like to comment on visitors’ weight, shape too in Cantonese. My hk family likes to speak Eng to me, so shop ladies think we don’t know what they are saying. Most of my SILs are housewives (not just the HK ones). The Azn ones have the C penny-wise pound-foolish thing? I take more than 5 min for shower and SIL grills me about it whenever she’s alone w me. Their shower system is the EU style with double control with temperature limit lock. It takes me 1-2 mins just trying to get non-cold water. The north American shower control is v different. Followed by the standard C melo spiel on how she married the wrong guy, and now her poor life is forever ruined. Her youth sacrificed for the young kids. A lot of housewives in C and Tw dramas say this too. Not sure who imitates whom. Then I had to go meet with their elementary school acquaintances (kids’ role models) and help them w their school, music lessons. Give kids lessons while we were riding in the car. When I returned home from the trip, I was sick for a week. Just too tiring. My Azn in laws are really into asking me to do things for them. Bring various kiddie school books… They are always v “pro-active”. I end up just on the reactive side. I don’t have to-do lists for my in laws. And only they get to complain to me. Not vice versa. I’m so happy my non Azn in-laws are a lot more like me.

          I find plaza dance amusing. I almost feel healthier just watching them move around. lol. Of course, I never lived next to such a plaza. I like ppl who try to do things that make them happy. As long as it’s not illegal. I’ve heard EU/US visitors say they get driven crazy by the ubiquitous You are My Little Apple song. They do use that song a lot, no?
          I wish we have more active stuff in public spaces where I live. There are only do a few things here in small groups. Like yoga. And you have to pay for each hour and session. I have to drive for ~3.5 hours (round trip) to join a taichi group. It’s just too far.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Yeah I think DZM was set in Beijing. Never seen 楚汉风流。I think I’ve watched 大汉天子,汉武大帝? but I can’t remember them to discuss them lol, I think those were good?

          Ok hk is really convenient but eating out everyday is bit much. and the shopkeeper thing is so awkward! wooow I definitely wouldn’t want to stay with your sister in law Bringing things for them definitely seem like an expected thing, thankfully I haven’t really run into that.

          omg You are my Little Apple is super earwormy and yeah it was awfully popular for awhile. i don’t go to plaza enough to know what is popular now haha. 3.5hrs is def too far for taichi group >__< I think other social activities would basically be yum cha/dim sum, play cards, play weiqi/xiangqi in the park, mahjong but you need a decent size asian community to do that. Yoga is nice, I get the impression a lot of older asian ladies would find it waste of money though.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I think 大汉天子 had 3 “seasons”. I watched one whole “season” with Ady An, Ning Jing, .. and the actress who was in Chusen. She was a Han princess. I watched it a number of years after it finished broadcast. I’m not sure which season that was that I saw anymore. I found it really tedious. It was partly about how the emperor, HWD, was bumping into many old laws that retrained him from accomplishing his goals. The multi-episode discussions of these restrictions were too detailed and lengthy for my patience.
          I forgot about the rest a lot: Later, per history, he was a stick in the mud. He was getting older, and was obsessed w weirder stuff. Increasingly believing in supernatural elements and superstitions. Then there was a lot of back palace and imperial family bickering. Internal accusations that led to the suicide or … of the crown prince. It’s not badly made, but the story isn’t something I’d like to dwell in.
          Yeah, the thing is the wise housewife-types and my parents rarely interact. The families my parents and siblings interact with are all the very “interesting” housewives with numerous complex ancient household rules. With a lot of attention to shower time, ancient housekeeping style, detailed penny pinching. My parents and relatives (MPR) grossly underestimate how fast times are changing. In this era when AI is quickly changing biz landscapes. Many century old biz are closing down. I often don’t agree w their vision on enforcing the classic Confucian values in today’s fast-paced lives. You want to raise the kid that’s well-suited for today and tomorrow. Not the past. Raising kids the way your great grandparents would raise kids two centuries ago is not reasonable in today’s life circumstances. Especially for those who don’t even live in an Asian language-speaking country. A good job can earn ~60-80 times you save by penny-pinching your daily expenses. While one shouldn’t waste resources, penny-pinching isn’t the most worthy life goal in itself. Being the head housemaid (or equivalent) doesn’t pay as well as a real career. So forcing that lifestyle on someone else is a bit much..

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Looks like Ning Jing is in s2 and Ady An is in s3, lol? I think I watched the first one with Chen Dao Ming so s1. I might have watched Huang Xiao Ming too or was that 少年天子,I can’t remember. Ahh, yeah they aren’t always a fun watch, I have to mentally prep myself for those. At least that’s my excuse for not starting multiple of these kind of dramas lol.

          Yeah penny pinching just have too much cost, time wasted, energy levels and probably arguments about it probably outweigh the amount you save, even if you earn regular amount of money. I appreciate confucian values in a historical and philosophical way? Sort of like, oh that’s useful, I like that bit. Similar way I like most of our culture tbh. Oh yeah housemaid reminds me, everyone should share housework, I mean unless everyone hate it AND is also well paid enough to get someone else to do most of the cleaning.

          I’m almost done with Ashes of Love (ok there’s still 12 more episodes), I’ve seen so many outside drama drama and the sheer episode count made me bit afraid. But I think they paced it really well! I’ve seen people talk about fillers and too much focus on second lead in second half. well, it follows the general structure of the book. at 48 ep, it’s up to 3/4 of the book. It added an entire arc to fill up the romance, and number of side characters got more backstory or scenes + straight up original characters. I’d consider this very good adaptation and decent pacing tbh. although, I still wish….it’s not so long…….. seeing 40 episodes used to make me want to cry. I think this is first Xianxia I’ve watched since Chinese Paladin 1 & 3, and those two is more on the adventure side instead of mythical this one is. Oh AoL involves fair bits of messy love story bits that I don’t care for, but is done well that I buy it? Maybe it’s because it’s spread over longer periods of episodes? I wasn’t sick of it near the end like Chinese Paladin 3, that’s something at least.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I skimmed AoL quickly before deciding to watch it. I’m somewhere near the middle. I paused for 10 days after the ep where Luo Yunxi’s mom was removing his “horns” several times in one ep. That actress looks scary in red lipstick.

          I didn’t like the lead actress in Mad H either. She is kind of an annoying type of goody-two-shoes. But I have nothing against the hesitation to go to Iceland.

          It’s the way ppl abuse Confucian principles over the centuries that bothered me. There’s no standard proper enforcement of it. If certain seniors decide to abuse it, it can be a huge obstacle and pain. Plus some of the stuff aren’t suited for modern days and can be a “drag”. Some groups are consistently disadvantaged by it. Others have systematic advantage. It sometimes defies logic completely when “malpracticed” in certain organizations/families. Like Fan Jie or Jiang Xin’s case below, when seniors are grossly misbehaving, you’re going to be miserable. Tons of your time, energy will be sucked into fighting negative family elements.

          Ppl discussed 欢乐颂. 蒋欣的角色的家人很重男轻女. Progress in gender equality will be even slower in Confucian-influenced area. Housework division is still another drop in the bucket. In school, it’s not uncommon for teachers to favor boys. Preparing them for greatness while some schools sent girls to wash teachers’ glasses. And not boys. My school did that. Girls had to bring teachers flowers for teachers’ desks in my school. In offices, whenever there are potlucks, they ask female employees to bring certain dishes more than others. Some guys can just bring frozen peas and serve the peas in tupperware after microwaving them. I’ve never seen female employees getting away with that. In many families in certain cities, the parents require the girls to take music lessons and not the boys. Music teacher pays are quite low in the west. Typically a lot lower than men who work in auto manufacturing, home constructions. Lots of inlaws typically bother daughter in laws with all kinds of household and social planning/event stuff and rarely do that with their own sons. Males don’t have to apply make up, have elaborate costumes/heels. Some female CEOs said it takes them a couple of weeks time a year to do all the things that the male CEOs didn’t have to do when it comes to primping. That’s why female pay is lower across the board in just about every country. Just tiny exceptions in some super high GDP areas. Males aren’t good with small details. So a lot of women end up doing the small stuff. With all the other stuff above added in, you end up seeing a lot more female nurses vs male doctors. Though the exact ratio vary a bit place to place. A lot more women end up taking care of sick kids or parents. And their career and pay suffer. End up with even lower overall pay. Limited career potential. Then it’s stuck in a cycle. A lot of things are naturally a disadvantage to women already. Typically women and not men plan for weddings, baby or bridal showers. The list is endless. Having Confucian principles on top of it make it even worse, bc it has the same directional bias as the prevailing wind.
          There are reasons why some people find the Robin Hood or superhero story appealing. It tries to correct for the prevailing bias. Giving to the poor.
          Favoring the more powerful or advantaged group doesn’t make a lot of sense.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Oops. I thought I replied but I didn’t. Oooh that’s a rough episode. I think I paused around there too since there a pretty clear arc break? or was that before it?

          Ohhh Jiangxin’s character was painful to watch because it’s so real and hit close to home. It’s terribly sad that even if you don’t experience it or people in your immediate circle does, you still know it’s real, and it’s super blatant that you can’t be sympathetic towards her family. There’s just so much more expectations with women like you said. I know HR in China discriminate against unmarried and women that haven’t had kids because they expect you will be and that’s time off, and having to find your replacement. and the nurse example, oh boi, I saw someone bring it up when people talk about discrimination against women in workplace. “Do you trust male nurse or male teachers in preschool?” in a really “ah ha caught you” tone. It’s true they are discriminated, because toxic masculinity is a thing and is part of what feminism aims to address, but god bring up discrimination against women and they associate it with people wanting a matriarchy or more.

          It’s why I like the wave of adaptations with female lead becoming powerful. It’s too bad their focus tend to be romance (which is fine in a vacuum where there’s other dramas with focus on non romance…but the market wants romance), or damsel a lot because scriptwriters are awful at writing romance that DOESN’T involve damseling. I’m a little tired of people calling them mary sue, when these people clearly don’t know what mary sue means (i’ll admit some of them can have sue’ish elements though, something that’s prevalent in lot of web novels). No one calls 张无忌 Gary Stu even though he has a harem going on, a serious love triangle while he’s being wishy-washy, gets absurdly lucky and goes from nobody to a hero.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          60% of popular C dramas from the last 2 years are so centered around idols that I have a very hard time seeing the FL as realistic strong character. To me, the commercial cdramas have mostly turned into carefully calculated, profitable biz product that used popular WN as its base. After casting a handful of highly popular idols as the main leads, applying a few sure-fire fan-loved subplots, it’s guaranteed to make a decent profit. Every step, starting from the WN choice, involves profit calculations. I saw the Tw ent news vid that showed the profits for YM, FBB drama productions. Quite a staggering amount. Huge salaries for acting already. Plus additional huge salaries for producing the dramas. Daylight Ent is one of the few exceptions. And some productions like trop are also exceptions. They offer more than idols. One of my parents and quite a number of my family seniors are very much like the Jiangxin seniors. Overall, it’s about as bad as the Jiangxin case. So the malpractice of Conf principles caused me a lot of grief for a v long time. I think in Mainland, it seems like a lot of my acquaintances’ moms are not life-long housewives. Whereas I don’t have a single aunt who did anything beyond household chores. Some uncles are like JX’s brother. The group generally likes to get the most out of relatives and never focused on earning a sustainable living. I think the gender burden is much heavier for a C person, compared to the average person living in the West. Then some people can enjoy home court advantage. Like the other side of the coin to the news headlines below.
          I find real life news much more realistic and helpful to real life. Did you see this week’s news on
          孟晚舟被扣留 外交部:美加应立即澄清!立即放人!?
          I’ve noticed similar headlines for a few months. There are more than just these. I read the Eng versions. I didn’t read these C ver but they look similar to the Eng ver. (南京) 5名华人窃取GSK新药机密被起诉 已在南京创建抗体药物研究所_新药… // FBI指控6名中国人偷种子 玉米地上演跟踪窃听戏 .. // 2018年8月5日接待他们的正是今年4月以共谋盗取商业机密罪被判121个月监禁的Ventria公司水稻培养员张维强 // 南旧金山基因公司起诉4前华裔员工 | 为台商窃密_泰克…她被控与其丈夫、林艾伦 //

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Pretty much yeah. I avoid most idol actors for that reason, passable (or just bad) acting coupled with cliche plot with lots of padding for more episode count = nope. Webdramas are nice for shorter episode count and they have to use new talent because of limited budget and they are more likely to actually try to make something interesting or at least give more care to the plot or what not.

          I guess in China, living in urban areas essentially mean you have to work to offset the living cost? It’s more of the norm? Housewives would be more common in rural areas and not as well off cities. It might have to do with trying to survive famine then cultural revolution then economic reform too? Women are still expected to do all the chores I think for my parents’ generation. Not as much now because some of us know how to say “no. we both work, why do I have to do ALL OF IT???” I have relatives who’s mildly misogynistic but thankfully none I had to see all the time.

          I saw the one with huawei’s CFO, but none of the others. C!net is talking about this is a conspiracy relating to the trade war lol.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          You’re very wise in not choosing dramas based on the leads. I started watching several dramas after reading a lot of people writing about how much they enjoy watching ZLY, LSS in past dramas. How do you have such a strong will power? : )
          Half my classmates have moms who worked. But they were in feminine fields. Teaching, owning tailoring or food biz.
          If not for very low profile news coverage, sudden tragic end of the Shanghai-born FBI-investigated Stanford Physics professor that occurred on the same day as the MWZ arrest, the whole thing may have been a very intriguing mystery. It looks like there’s a lot more than meets the eye but no one will ever tell us the answers and we will never know any truth. It doesn’t seem likely that the answer is “A”. But which it is among B through Z, I have no idea.I saw the early part of this /watch?v=5C793eWC1UQ Living in the West doesn’t necessarily lead to a peaceful domestic life. Ppl I met often told me that assumption. Some also say univ life is v pure and innocent. There are so many counterexamples for that too.

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Ahhh! hi!! sorry about my delayed response before.

        Totally fair re: Netflix. It’s nice that it did introduce some people who don’t normally watch cdramas to watch them. You could vpn into China to watch episodes but 70 is a lot of episodes. If you can get use to the pacing,first 55? episodes are rec from me. I can’t defend from 63 episode onwards because there was just too much cut. I think they didn’t realise they would run into such tight constraint while they were filming. It was this year that SARFT had tighter hold on historical ones, especially ones that are less fantasy and more likely to run into problems, and they shot for primetime slot which is extra strict. Though I do think when they realised the long version wasn’t going to get pass them, they definitely should have cut some of the earlier arcs. The problem with this team is they tend to like sprinkling lot of details everywhere and the script can be bit roundabout, so cutting bits can leave you with plot holes. I still wish they cut it differently so the pacing isn’t so terrible. 0.5x at the beginning, 1x once things gets rolling, 80% cut in major arc, 1x, then 1.5x and 3x in last 15 episodes is awful.

        I watch old well recieved ones hahaha. I just use douban’s sorting to get me classics. There’s too many new dramas for me to sift through!

        Oh yeah, Jackson also seem like he’s in a different drama from other people? The younger actors were all casual and chill and he’s very…”it’s time for your diction test”? The science stuff is very technobabble, but sounds better in Chinese than in English.

        About D&G, I know it blew up on weibo because of a terrible ad that doesn’t seem to understand its audience, and terrible racist comments from instagram, oh and because bunch of celebs refused to attend. That’s some terrible terrible marketing and PR team there.

        More generally speaking, I’m not really one for brands, whether for clothes, accessories, make up or whatever, but I’m also fairly privileged in that I don’t have to worry about frizzy hair or oily skin or weight. Girls are taught from a young age to care about their looks, their weight, their skin, it’s kind of terrifying, ahhh. I do like taking time to dress well or be pretty so to speak, but I don’t want that forced on me everyday.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I correlate somewhat with Douban too. But I’m not sure I’ll like some well-rated DB dramas like 白鹿原. I didn’t like 暗黑者. I kept dozing off on 白夜追凶. If I knew the plot outline for NIF2 in more detail from the start, I probably wouldn’t have started NIF2. I mostly liked the LiuHR part only. I was dragging my feet to finish that drama. But I generally agree on most other dramas.

          My ZLY drama misfire started from when I watched ZLY’s drama for the first time, it was quite reasonable. 错点鸳鸯 is 7.9 on Douban. I haven’t liked anything else with ZLY since.
          One has to be careful with idol hype once an actor gets famous.
          That does make me feel undecidedly torn about the upcoming Minglan, as I have never liked any FSF drama, but it’s a Zhengwu production. Do you plan to watch 大江大河? I’m not sure.
          I think you are less allergic to FSF than I am?
          I only became aware of Douban ~3 years ago.
          My TY LSS drama misfires are largely due to TangRen. TR used to be one of the producers of mainstream dramas.
          I may check out Original Sin in 2019. Actually I’m not a big fan of Zhai Tianlin’s acting. I prefer subtler characters. Yin Zheng’s character in OS also comes across a bit too strong to be my cup of tea. 其实我不喜欢讲话很大声很激动的角色。但cdrama好像有好多这种角色。其实我听过欧人抱怨几次。抱怨说很多中国游客讲话很大声。其实北美人讲话也不是很小声。他们也有抱怨北美游客 – – 可能就是北美游客有给些小费的习惯, 所以人家比较不会那么介意?
          Thank you for your final summary of Never Gone. Indeed, it sounds rather iffy overall. I dislike the points you mentioned too. Not a fan of non-communicative -> misunderstanding … subplots to begin with. Light switch (on-off-on-off) romance, esp if combined with flashbacks can get frustrating. It sounds ok for just having it play in the background at least. Cdrama FLs are often less likeable than the male ones.

          郗小星物理系教授-case seemed like quite a pain too. And there were others. But there are many other positive cases. So one has to put it all in perspective.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Douban tends to rate “serious” dramas bit better, or just stuff that don’t have romance, due to oversaturations of them maybe? 白鹿原 does seem pretty depressing, the other two’s genre is right up my alley but I still haven’t seen them so… I liked NiF2’s family scenes and themes in general, eh on the antagonists and pacing, not exactly a fun/light watch, tbf, it’s depressing-y.

          ZLY just seems to keep acting in dramas where she’s a cute innocent girl in some cliche story? Which can work! but it’ll need pretty good scriptwriting + chemistry for it to pop out. None of her well known dramas really interested me lol. Oh wait there was that movie directed Han Han. I’ve only seen FSF in Gong with YM, but I can’t for the life of me remember him so uhh. The drama plot + length of Minglan worry me, I guess I’ll set it to the background and see how that goes. TY gets really bad rep on c!net and I didn’t care about the dub (for Wallace Chung) or the plot for 40 episodes, so I’ve also only seen her in Chinese Paladin 3. (I’m pretty sure I literally watched it because I liked Hu Ge and I wanted to see the current A list idol actors few years back) Tangren did alright with Wu Xin, but nothing else significant comes to mind anymore (anything well regarded I mean). Shame they bombed 秦时明月, that’s a pretty big IP. Oh Secrets of Three Kingdom isn’t TOO bad, 6.5, it’s below my “oh i should check this out” 7, but it’s Three Kingdoms period which means harsher ratings.

          I started 大江大河 today after you mentioning it. It’s not the kind of drama I like tbh, but I’m vaguely curious about the time period. 2 ep in, it’s not grabbing me but it does set up the time period pretty well (post cultural revolution, Gaokao just resumed, fair amount of corruption). I watched half of 温州一家人 which is set in 80s wenzhou + italy, eventually dropped it because the intense focus on money was grating on me. but the setting was kinda interesting.

          Talking loudly thing is definitely a cultural thing, Italians are kind of loud too 😛 I think there’s just been enough Americans over the last 5, 6 decade for the reputation to sink in and people get used to it, and they know it’s culture difference and they’ve had more opportunity to interact with Americans in other situation (through work or whatever). Whereas Chinese tourists is a last two decade thing, and tend to come in massive groups which make it even more troublesome.

          There’s not too much flashback, only the beginning starts in present time then it jumps backwards and back for few ep and proceed from there. I’m not a fan of noncommunicative -> misunderstanding trope either, but I think it could have been done well? Just incompatible world views and not very good at relationship, fairly realistic, though still not necessarily a good watch lol. Male lead have his problems too but he’s much more active in the relationship so even when he does stupid things, it’s far less frustrating watching him. The two female supporting characters are great! Even if they pick shitty men to fall in love with 🙂 can’t have it all.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          I saw a few eps of Wenzhou Family. I was afraid Guo Tao’s character may get annoying. I only watched a handful of eps. I often get that drama confused with the other one with Jin Dong. The other one is also on WZ family I think.

          I have limited tolerance for the White Deer Plain type topic. I’m not sure if there’s light at the end of the tunnel for the struggling characters. Also, by the time WDP aired, I’ve already seen ~5 Shanxi dramas. I wish they make as many dramas for other regions. I’m interested in Anhui and Yangzhou salt merchants, but they don’t make as many dramas for those regions. To add to the challenge, I don’t love Qing-Republican period dramas. I vaguely remember 1 previous Anhui drama had Hawick Lau. It didn’t make me rush to watch it. Zhang Jiayi’s Yangzhou drama looked potentially tedious. I didn’t dare explore. Have you watched any of these? Or the Chen Daoming’s Hu Xueyan Hangzhou merchant drama?

          I generally like crime genre, but I didn’t like Darker’s plot logic.

          ZLY has done too many v cutesy roles. Boss & Me, Mystic 9. OGT may have her cutesy stuff too. JoF was ok at first. Cutely FL roles are better left to younger actresses.
          I may have gotten traumatized by FSF when I skimmed Ice Fantasy. I didn’t even watch one ep, but still suffered mental injury? lol I saw Gong. I disliked Gong and its cast more 2 years after watching it for some reason. I’m not so fond of YM but I can watch some of her stuff.

          Secret of 3k has the uneven Ever Night problem I think. Tse Kwan Ho looked pretty solid in Nothing Gold Can Stay but his Caocao in So3k looks weird. With distracting fake wig and mustache too. I may watch it next year. Depending on how good or bad 2019 dramas will be. HDJ, MTY also looked a bit mixed in So3k. The actresses looked more in character. I’m not sure if Dong Jie and HDJ’s character are supposed to be comparable in age. I’m not going to watch NGCS. I don’t like the anti-harem setup.

          Ni Ni’s acting looked appealing to me in the handful of tRoP episodes I saw.

          I didn’t think I’d like Hu Ge’s older Dandelion and Liao Zhai dramas, but I did like several of his early dramas and some of his more recent ones.

          Among TR’s productions from the last few years, I only enjoyed watching Wuxin. Their recent Vic Zhou dramas scare me. May have the potential to cause me long term emotional scarring. lol.
          I can probably take So3k with some patience. Esp if 2019 dramas suck.
          有些华人是比较会在店里跟店员争吵起来。我去上海时在酒店对面小店里买点水果。三分钟之内都已经看到人家吵起来了。我以前上学时也有听过欧美同学们说中国学生说话都很大声。
          让我想到若嫁错人的话,若爱人不爱你的话,你做什么都会被嫌弃的。看了都不顺眼。其实很多事都和国家和国民经济条件有关系。 欧美的经济都比亚洲一大部分好。所以欧美人也比较不会互相嫌弃。I feel it’s similar w gender imbalance. The first thing to tackle is for the fairer s3 x to take the bull by the horn. Get good education, do well.. eeer, do one’s best… in career, try to get respect. It’ll take time for things to get more balanced. But it should head towards the right direction at least. Being in the more economically impoverished group isn’t going to be an easy way to get respect.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Yeah the Jin Dong one is a psuedo sequel? I was sort of interested in it. I think they are going to make another one.

          For salt merchants, I only remember 大清盐商, there might be other ones but since it’s not in the title, I can’t remember them lol. Republican times is time of turmoil so I don’t like them much either, there’s overabundance of Qing dramas so ehh. I haven’t watched any of these!! I think I’ve watched grand total of maybe 30 cdramas altogether hahaha.

          I avoided Ice Fantasy like a plague because of Guo JIngming lol. He technically have aesthetics I like (since it’s pretty anime-esque), but his story can be overly self-indulgent, whether melodramatic or materialistic or fantasy. Gong was utterly terrible, I still regret watching it because it was light romcom instead of melodramatic BBJX (I dropped BBJX few ep in cos of the tone), but I think I watched at least some 20 ep of it…. also who plagiarise dialogue from Hana Yori Dango, a 90s manga into a Qing period drama? that pulled me out faster than anything else.

          I think people commented he just didn’t look/feel like Caocao? I think Dong Jie and HDJ are meant to be paired together? I don’t know, I haven’t seen the drama, just some comments. I should start Ever Night because the web novel is too long for me to read.

          To be fair, service industry in China tend to vary a lot, so there’s more likely to be issues that cause conflicts?:Although it’s true there’s lot of people who can be rather rude and such, I guess that happens more often when you have big enough population? China is getting there with gaining power internationally, the perception thing is just gonna have to take time. Much like good habits and social progress.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Did your grandpa finish and like Eagles Youngsters? I may watch that next year too. Actually EY’s direction looks stronger than So3k & Ever Night. Their older supporting casts all look good. The young actor for Wen Qi Kathy’s brother’s also looks quite good. He gets a helpless young lad role. It’s nice that they don’t make his character annoying. So many dramas and directors are not good at toning down the less competent characters. I think that’s one of the things that made ZLY famous initially. People find her cutesy stuff very likeable even when her character isn’t super smart.
          Both EN and So3k’s supporting cast could be stronger. I do like parts of EN.
          FSF may have too many fans. I saw some raving comments here and took a quick look. I typically avoid GJM works. I saw 30 mins of Tiny Times and that was enough. Didn’t see any point to it.
          One has to be vigilant not to fall too far behind others. Once others are far ahead of you, it can be v hard to catch up. Well heeled folks have powerful friends and are progressing ahead faster. Qing rule was a bit too hedonistic and clueless about long term macro-economy, defense, management for my taste. QLong spent way too much time on art, pottery, palace construction, harem stuff, Jiangnan trips. He tore down a large pagoda in YiHeYuan bc it didn’t look great to him. While some other rulers in other regions had been successful w military and other wide-ranging economic progress for decades or longer. But there are extra challenges in managing a very large area. QL went to Jiangnan 8-9 times, so at least he didn’t work too hard for too long? They didn’t have car or train. So that probably took a long time. He should have read more about the fall of Egyptian, Roman, Greek… empires. A lot of them of hedonism & internal conflicts in common I think.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          did I download Eagles Youngsters for him? I can’t remember omg. He doesn’t really give feedback on things and have fairly low standards lol. I’ve ran out of dramas to dl for him too!! It doesn’t help I don’t have youku vip which locks me out of some dramas (like Ming Dynasty 1566). iirc the reviews were pretty good, even with one of the biggest idol actor as main.

          Lot of idol actors have too many fans, I super don’t agree with lot of them oops. It’s for the best that you avoid GJM, Tiny Times were one of his worst works? I read Rush to the Dead Summer (skipped out on the drama cos I ain’t watching 50 ep of that) and bits of 悲伤逆流成河. The former is ok read, a little forced in twisting fate and super apparent about really apparent in being indignant about his plagiarism case, the latter I don’t actually remember, but is obviously very melodramatic. Actually now that I think about it, I think one of my uncle really loves Ice Fantasy for some mysterious reason.

          There’s so many dramas in december??! I’m still catching up on Like a Flowing River (i’m still eh about it, this is SO not my genre. but the stuff I learn about the time period is def my thing). Literally just started Ever Night, I’m on ep 1, how is it still airing, I need to dl this for grandpa!! Original Sin is out, 古董局中局 slated for Dec 26, Minglan slated for Dec 25. People have been saying this year is lackluster in dramas but I watch so little, and usually things that’s very specifically catered to me, AND I watched some of last year’s top dramas, that I basically spent most of the year watching dramas, I feel like there’s a lot of decent ones lol.

          Qianlong was too comfortable with what he had. Kangxi set up nice foundation, Yongzheng pulled out the biggest corrupted government individuals, so Qianlong was essentially sitting on fruits of their labour, and bombed it really hard. He’s an interesting/entertaining emperor for us since he has lot of stories, but yeah he definitely should have done more. Qing was closed off though, for pretty important couple hundred of years when industrial revolution happened and a lot of modern society concept was invented. Shucks.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Not sure you dl-ed it for grandpa. I thought you said TV was left on after the previous show on the same night(s). But I don’t remember which drama was the earlier show.

          I read that the Ming emperor in the late Ming period was into classic Confucian values and had a closed door policy. That was around the end of Zheng He’s naval expeditions.

          Suddenly this QL discussion reminds me of QL as a 富三代 lol. He was an early prototype for Fu3Dai? Ah. That’s FSF?!? I saw a wide trail they paved for QL in Jiangnan. I wonder if they had to pave a proper wide trail for him wherever he traveled to. Plus rest pavilions and calligraphy steles for his handwritten comments. There were tons of stories about the dishes he liked too. He sure knew how to enjoy life. He didn’t have parents who told him to be thrifty I guess.

          Happy Holidays!

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Oh! It was Fight Break Sphere, the drama before it was the Rise of Phoenixes haha. and yeah he finished it, he quite liked it iirc. I wanted to dl Martial Universe for him but it might have been vip locked or smth.

          Yeah you are right, what’s up with emperors regressing? Korea’s Joseon also regressed by following confucian value compared to Goryeo. wait is it Ming Dynasty’s fault? wait no, the time doesn’t match up.

          Was Kangxi rich…? I thought a lot of his money went to his corrupted gov officials. I’m sure they had to spend lots of money hosting Qianlong, those poor officials lol. Actually I don’t remember how he end up being the successor? He’s not the oldest, he’s 4th like his dad.

          Happy Holidays to you too 🙂

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Thanks! Just a short comment for now. Will be less busy next week.

          I previously read from wiki that some historians suggested that Kangxi chose Yongzheng partly bc KX liked QL. So if KX didn’t choose YZ as his direct successor, QL won’t qualify as a future emperor (after YZ). But many parts of history aren’t so clear cut. Supposedly QL was a precocious child.

          Are you still watching Ever Night? You like it for yourself or for grandpa? I have been very slow w dramas. I don’t think I’ll comment on the next binge post.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Oh yeah you are right! I forgot about Kangxi liking Qianlong haha.

          Ever Night is finishing next week for even non vip i think? So I started dl’ing it for grandpa yep. I’m still watching it but extremely slowly, on like ep 3. It’s been pretty interesting, it’s cultivation with some other fantasy elements, so it’s neat learning about the world. The amount of characters are wild but I’ll get used to it. I’ve mainly catching up with Like a Flowing River and Minglan. Both are still not my thing but the background and details are enough for me to watch.

          Oh, also slowly making my way through 94 version of RoTK. It’s not very newbie friendly, it doesn’t tell you who everyone is, you are just expected to find out from dialogue and other context, which is super wild since most of them have a beard and I have real hard time recognising people. The dialogue are also rather classical Chinese-ish so I can’t just set it to the background, but sometimes I can’t really focus on it since it would focus on people I don’t know, so I browse weibo while watching it LOL oops. Maybe I should just pick up a non classical ver of the book, but that’s so much effort.

        • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

          Happy New Year!

          Thank you for your drama updates! Sorry for being so late to reply.
          Typically, I try to write a short reply fast while your response still shows in the main page of AVV. Then I just click on “Skibbies on Drama-binging….” Once I miss that time window, I’m a lot slower to reply, bc then I tend to try to pick a time when not a lot of people are going to write comments, so I can get back to my lazy but quick method of replying. Sorry I’m so lazy.

          I’m around ep 30 in EN. You know how in wuxia, the jianghu ppl aren’t into politics? EN has a lot of cultivators that are tangled in politics. Tang academy is pro Tang. Xiling is pro Yan Kingdom. The Xiling and Yan kingdom scenes aren’t done well in the drama. I’m not sure if they were better in the novel. The best part of EN is the action choreography in the major fights. I still like Song Yiren. C Feiyu is ok to good.

          I looked up E & Youngsters on douban last week. It scored ~7.7, higher than EN’s ~7.3.

          I’m still in the middle of e14 for Mad House. I’ve gotten to the part where they mention Yu Zheng the plagiarizer. lol. I had M Lan playing in the background. It’s ok but I do wish they had some non-dysfunctional families to show and elaborate. So many of the characters are like my evil uncles, aunts, cousins and one of my parents. I have some neutral relatives, but they were never a part of my life as they lived far away. I can watch the whole O Sin drama without much drag. The 2 MLs are nice and not back-stabby. ML has quite a number of backstabbers huh? I like Zhai TianLin better in contemporary dramas.
          I wish cdramas can do more dramas w healthy sisterhood in addition to bromance. This year has a lot of backstabbing women dramas. Also quite a number of poor behaving parents like Ming Lan’s father. Acting & direction in ML are quite good. I like their use of trad C music too.

          I’ll watch E & Y later. After OS. I started watching Tw drama, Tree in the river. The first 2 eps are ok. Charming at times. But i’m starting to discover I’m not a fan of Gillian Chung’s acting. Her lips move around a lot like she is dong lip yoga. Dialogs are getting less funny by ep 3. It is starting to drag. Sonia Sui hasn’t done much, but I prob won’t like her acting either based on her short act in ep 1.
          I’m on T & Empires ep 30. It has been playing like it’s in slo-mo for a number of eps now. It’s getting unbearably slow and the plot tends to ramble more too. EN & TE are a bit too similar. That’s why I started watching that 20-ep Tw drama.
          It took me a few mins to remember what RoTK is. lol. Yes, I have the same pbms. Sometimes the sound quality of older dramas are also not as clean. It can be hard to hear. Then add classical C to that. It’s hard. With non-idol actors we haven’t seen much. It can be triply-hard. That’s why I watched the idol-y Lu Yi version. I remember more faces. It’s less confusing to me. If I don’t even understand enough of the drama, watching a fantastic version isn’t going to be too challenging to enjoy.
          I haven’t started watching Like a Flowing R. I’m still about 60% into Ashes of L. Idol dramas shouldn’t be this long, don’t you think? It becomes a chore to finish. lol

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        My taste is far closer to douban’s and I’m put off by long length and have compulsive need to finish dramas so I try not to start them unless they are must watch or something. I have too much backlogs of other things lol. I haven’t seen any ZLY drama, and only seen LSS in Chinese Paladin 3. YM is the only popular female idol actor I’ve watched more than one dramas of, but that’s largely coincidence I just picked up dramas with her in it. I’ll be on look out for Ni Ni after tRoP though! but she doesn’t seem to have good resources, she needs good roles/production team. shucks.

        OH! I think I know the physicist you are talking about, he made some recent breakthrough or whatnot and apparently met with MWZ before his suicide? (yeah I saw another conspiracy theory about that lol. there’s also a european factory that made huawei ordered some special machine from caught on fire?) wasn’t there a CNN headline about trump stating potentially using it as bargaining chip? wow dude. Oh hey the video you linked mentions some of this too. mhmmm. idk how to feel about any of this, since there’s obviously various party power struggling through this.

        Living in the west, esp in US these days, you can run into lots of problems. Outsiders tend to have misconception about it. Sort of like people have misconception about living in China.

        I finished Never Gone. It’s an decent drama but i don’t really want to rec it, 7/10 for me I guess. The beginning stuck close to book and it’s cute, then they switch to the adult cast and not long after, it deviates and I do like lot of the added supporting cast scene, but it changes fundamental focus of series. The book is about a couple that didn’t know how to express themselves and communicate properly in a relationship growing, and they break up then get back together. A large part of the drama end up focusing on how they got together, they spent 1.5ep? on the time skip+getting back together? and they never really tell you how much these two grew outside of the relationship. also it tries to do this pair everyone together thing??? why is that necessary? most of them have build up, but I really rather some of them just go their separate ways. It’s okay to have loved and let go, that’s a reality for lots of people. I might have been more okay with the drama if it was 10 ep shorter lol. I was pretty bored from ep 15 till 22, where there’s progress for the romance, but still spend far too much time on unrealistic office shenanigans. Speaking of which, I do like that it tries to show you growth of protag through working, BUT they shorten the time this happened, it spanned like less than a year (maybe even half a year) and it’s just really ???? It’s hard to warm up to protag too because they didn’t give share her thoughts and views on lot of things, so she comes off cold, standoffish and even kind of rude sometimes for fair number of episodes. I like the supporting cast quite a bit. All in all, decent watch but disappointing for me. There’s a spinoff with the child actors that had some deleted scenes from their portions. they were super cute 🙂

  13. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Started watching 千門江湖之詭面疑雲 The Unknown, a period drama where the 4 main leads solve cases and beat the fraudsters at their own game. Not familiar with the main cast of newbies but they’ve been pretty good in their roles so far. The characters are distinct in their personalities and really likeable. There’s the street smart and cheeky self-proclaimed best detective Su Ziquan, the flirtatious and tough boss lady Lu Zixiao, the cute and innocent but not dumb rich girl Tang Daiyun and the loyal, aloof housekeeper with a secret fraudster past Chen Yiming.

    The first case was good for introducing the characters and setting up an overall storyline that should link all the cases. In the midst of the 2nd case now (up to ep 9) and am keen to keep watching.

  14. 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

    Watching (or watched): Oriental Odyssey, Eternal Love, The Dark Lord, Detective Samoyeds

    An Oriental Odyssey (at episode 35):
    + It’s still entertaining because the pace has not slowed down.
    + Ye Yuan An is not your typical Mary-Sue-type of heroine. I just hope they won’t change that in the last Mu-Le-centric arc.
    + quirky side characters: Even though I was put off by the actor playing Tianshu as a Jack Sparrow copycat in the beginning, I think he is having a blast playing the character.
    – I am not buying the Mu-Le-Yuan-An pairing. Force-kissing and unreasonable demands – big no in my book. I pity Zheng Ye Feng for having to play this underdeveloped character – and it does not help that Lan Zhi and Yuan An (or rather, their actors) have more chemistry – and a healthy relationship
    – Ming Hui. I do not want to see a love story between her and Lan Zhi and would have preferred a divorce, that would be much more logical after everything that has happened – but it seems the show is pushing a redemption arc which I am not buying.
    – writing issues: It feels like the drama was planned as two separate parts – one being the case-based investigation of the state preceptor, one the “Mu Le as a prince” part. The stories do not really merge that well. And the “moping and heartbreak” stage in between was annoying – where is the energy of the first 5 episodes?

    Eternal Love (stuck at episode 22).
    Why did I even watch this?? I do not get why people think this is good… Maybe because I do not like pure romance dramas? => Relegated to being the background drama for cooking and cleaning the kitchen. Though I have to say, I liked Sun Yi Ning in this.

    The Dark Lord (up to episode 18 and waiting for more releases on Youtube):
    The best of the bunch!
    Interesting non-stereotypical characters (wimpy-weak but smart and heroic main character, strong female characters, morally grey opponents like the military spies, the officials or Xu Bo Yi…), follow-through (Ye Xiao Tian is limping around for five episodes after being beaten up), unpredictable storyline.

    Detective Samoyeds
    episodic, case-file format, can be watched one at a time but not as gripping as An Oriental Odyssey or The Dark Lord

    On Hold: Ashes of Love (will watch if I have time, but my interest waned after the human trial)
    Dropped: Fights breaks sphere, Martial Universe.
    Would like to watch: I am a pet at Dali temple (I am sucker for cat content, but sadly no subs except for the first two episodes)

    Do you think Ever Night is worth watching? To give you an idea of my taste here are some dramas I liked: Nirvana in Fire 1+2, Tientsin Mystic, Wuxin, Foxes in the screen, Let’s shake it 1, When a snail falls in love

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I’m with you on everything you said regarding Oriental Odyssey … though I find Yuan An’s character a bit more annoying cause she is so wishy washy … not that many eps left so how are they are going to develop that love for Mu Le and Yuan An … Mu Le was a very underdeveloped character … there is a fan who is subbing all of I am a Pet at Dali Temple … but you would need to have a My Drama List or Twitter or Facebook or IG account … let me know and I can send you the link …

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      I quite enjoy Ever Night…not fantastic, but especially decent. BUT idk for you, cuz in ur tastes you don’t have any similar fantasy/historical/epics? This is much more fantasy style hero-arc than NiF1 or 2, but also a little more serious/vast/epic-style/more grounded-but-mixed-with-fantasy and a better production overall than Foxes. It’s also less original and niche than Tientsin Mystic (aside form the fact that they’re very very diff genres as is…). So idk if you’ll like it based on ur offered tastes???

      Personally I think Ever Night is way better than AOO and …Ashes in Love… But based on my tastes I also thought Ashes of Love, while draggy in the second half, was overall pretty decent, and I couldn’t actually persist with AOO after like, ep 10 or 11…so we seem to have varying tastes. I also didn’t like Eternal Love (either of them), and I definitely watched Dark Lord and found it exceeded expectation and was quite quirky and endearing. I honestly didn’t even try Fight Breaks Sphere and Martial Universe and have no desire to.

      So idk, make of it what you will I guess…

      • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

        Hmm, out tastes seem to overlap, Julianne. I have a soft spot for fantasy or wuxia dramas (which is why I suffered through LOCH 2008, Xuan Yuan Sword, The Myth and the subbed episodes of Bordertown Prodigal). And as a non-BL person I watched Guardian (selectively) for ZYL even though it was – objectively speaking – not a good drama.
        Will try Ever Night, if it is on par or better than AOO!

    • 88 thoughts on “Drama-Binging: What Are You Watching? (19)

      Came back to this thread to say that I am glad I started watching Ever Night. I love, love, love the sets and the fighting scenes.
      Just don’t go all Tribes and Empires on me, drama… I am a bit scared that this season won’t have a satisfactory arc and ending – seeing as there is a second season without the male lead.

What do you think?