As I noted in my First Impression post about this series, it’s been a while since I’d found a drama I was interested in watching. But given how much of a fan I am of both Bai Lu and Lai Yi, I had to watch Jiu Liu Overlord (九流霸主). The series packs in a lot, with the first half being a clash of upper class versus lower class with some political intrigue and the second half a murder mystery and palace intrigue. With a mix of drama and comedy, this series kind of has a little of everything.
It’s been a while since there was a C-drama airing that piqued my interest. But I’ve been impatiently waiting for this particular drama to start airing and it was the best birthday present ever when it started last week. I became a fan of Bai Lu after I saw her in King Is Not Easy. And I think by now everyone knows I’ve had a bit of a crush on Lai Yi since his turn as the hotty doctor on Legend of Fuyao. So I was definitely eager to see him finally take the lead again in a drama. So far Jiu Liu Overlord has not disappointed.
I’ve seen some people asking where to watch Chinese dramas so I thought I’d compile a list of my favorite sites to watch them on. These are all sites where content is being legally posted by the content owners and include subtitles to help non-Mandarin speaking fans.
Fortunately a lot of the production companies have started to include English subtitles for content more quickly for content so, despite the death of Dramafever, there are actually a lot more online options than there were two years ago. Some of these sites even have apps for your Roku, Apple TV, iPad or phone so you can watch from your TV or while traveling. And many of these are free as well. Check out the list below for the sites and examples of some of the titles they offer.
I love listening to music from around the world, especially music in a language I’m trying to learn. In the past couple years that I’ve been studying Mandarin and watching Chinese dramas, I’ve been slowly building a list of various Mandarin language songs and artists I enjoy. Since I haven’t had too many shows to write about lately, I thought I’d share some of my faves on my playlist. And to make it extra challenging, I picked songs that were not from dramas I’d watched.
It’s been harder for me to find Chinese dramas that can sustain my interest for more than a few episodes. Most of the time I tend to prefer the 40+ episode wuxia series with lots of action and drama. But recently it ended up being Well-Intended Love 2 (奈何BOSS要娶我 2) that managed to keep me engaged. It’s cheesy, sweet, silly and just 16 episodes long, but it was fun to watch and kept me entertained these last couple weeks.
Roy Chiu (“Office Girls”, Dear Ex) is the reason why I started watching Asian dramas. I saw him in Easy Fortune Happy Life as the loan shark with a heart of gold, loved his character and started watching as many of his shows and movies as I could find. So it was nice to start 2020 by watching his new web drama, Detective Chinatown (唐人街探案) and finally be inspired to write a new review after such a long time.
I recently moved back to my hometown to be near my family and am fortunate enough to be able to have lunch with my mom and my 98-year-old grandmother every Thursday. My grandmother has been my biggest fan and supporter my entire life and it’s been great for me to be able to spend more time with her after living far from home for so long.
The Farewell (the Chinese title, 别告诉她, translates to “Don’t tell her”), stars comedienne and rapper, Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Oceans 8), in a drama about a Chinese family trying to spend what time they have left with their dying matriarch without letting her know she is dying. I knew I had to see it, partly because of my own relationship with my grandmother which made the topic even more relatable to me, but also because I was eager to see a Chinese movie that takes place in everyday life as most of the ones I’ve been able to see so far have been much more centered in fantasy (see all my previous movie reviews).
A dying army commander, an indolent emperor, a man trapped in servitude and a plot to take back a kingdom’s lost territory. This is the core of the move Shadow, which sees director, Zhang Yimou, reuniting with his House of Flying Daggers cinematographer, Zhao Xiaoding, for another visually enticing, as well as intriguing, film. I’d read a lot of great things about this movie and when I saw that it was posted to LeTV’s official YouTube page, I had to watch it.