#cdrama rants

[silviakundera]

Watching ML get repeatedly dissed & ditched in the latest episodes The Last Immortal and it's not enough gimme moooorreeee 👏👏👏

MDL crowd has predictably come around on Jin but not me SUFFERRRRRRRRRR 😈😈

no but fr Yin/Fengyin deserves her grudge. This isn't just a misunderstanding! oh poor True God, what was he to do??? 🤔 hmm idk how about NOT hide things from Yin, cause you think her emotional torment is an ok price to pay if it's "for the best"? How about NOT just cave to the crowd? if everyone starts a moral panic & begins to lynch someone then you can...not join in...? and if you are a person with power, you can use that position and privilege to refuse to co-sign punishing or convicting anyone until a full investigation is done properly, when emotions aren't running high. so that real justice is served.

yes blah blah he is young and weak and so made mistakes. Ok sure. I'm not saying to try him for murder! But as those lapses in judgment and backbone lead to FL being gaslighted about him ever caring about her (being repeatedly told she is a lesser being!), then her horrifying torture, extreme emotional trauma that made her no longer care to live.... like, I think she has a justified reason to be a hater. Is the flop king in Nirvana in Fire just misunderstood because he was pressured by the court when jumping to conclusions & allowing The Good Prince and Mei Changsu's family and army to get scapegoated? Is the cowardly Wu emperor in AJTL just misunderstood? It's like shitty leader 101 in palace dramas - allowing yourself to be impulsive & reactionary and steered by how loud the officials are and what they think they're owed, instead of standing your ground & taking time to find the best answer to a dilemma.

Extenuating circumstances, He Tried���. Dude, I know I know I know. He's not evil. Maybe the answer is he realizes he's really crap at being a leader and not cut out for it, so he leaves that to Fengyin and other more qualified parties. I'm just saying - at several places in the Yin storyline, Jin did have multiple options and he made choices that hurt Yin terribly. Including that nonsense with the affection bond, which he didn't have to resolve via borderline emotional abuse. And after her death, he still didn't take any action against Peacock and HongCho who are living just fine & happy for a 1,000 years. He knew very well how little power and privilege she had in that environment, how vulnerable she was to be victimized and he knew some parties had an agenda/bias against her. And he let her down.

So on a personal level, I don't see it as being unfair for her to judge him and avoid his presence. She can decide to forgive him, that's fine. But she's not obligated to and there is no escape clause imo where he suddenly is discovered to blameless all along. He wasn't. She can simply decide to forgive him anyway. (We all know she will.)(And I even want her to! I want my happy ending. Just not by completely absolving Jin, so Fengyin is the unfair party and Jin is the victim.)

[zishuge]

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023) | Ep. 11

[maysoming]

Imagine writing this amazingness, and then taking it all away. UGH.

I'm guessing because I truly don't know, but it does feel like they had a censorship issue but wanted to squeeze in how the ending would have been with all its angsty glory in any way they could. But the thing is, that doesn't make your audience appreciate your original vision, it just makes them feel like they have been tricked. You spent a whole show building up to this moment with these characters, only to write the big culmination of that build up as a "what if" that vanishes into air. You can't do that!!!! It's like Titanic ending with, "Actually that was all a dream, the ship didn't really sink, we just wanted you to see what it would be like if it did."

If they knew they couldn't do this ending, they should have changed the story accordingly from the beginning. Instead, they stay on one track the whole time, then instead of getting to the expected destination they throw the train off into a ditch.

These two actors gave the most amazing performances in these great scenes and you can't even appreciate it because none of it is real. I have been so excited waiting for these moments and all I feel is frustration.

[wuxia-hero]

HELLO coming out of my cave to yell about how much I LOVE The Double (墨雨云间) bc I have no irl friends that love historical c-dramas :’) I’ve been hung up on this show for a few days after finishing it.

Overall 10/10 with a subjectively happy ending (I choose to believe the ending is happy) with really good acting. Wu Jinyan could never disappoint. The frontal camera angles threw me off quite a bit at first but I slowly started to appreciate this artistic choice.

Some spoilers ahead as usual!

Let’s dive into - the Plot. I read some of the original novel in the past but dropped it after a while. There are some differences - such as the novel using transmigration (Xue Fangfei entering Jiang Li’s body) as the main plot point, while the drama explicitly shows how Xue Fangfei’s journey with Jiang Li and how she eventually took over JL’s identity after her passing. Personally I prefer what the drama did as everything felt much more real and believable. This added a depth to the story that transmigration was unable to showcase. Plus, Wu Jinyan’s ability to showcase XFF’s pain and growth as she vows to exonerate JL (played by Yang Chaoyue) and herself was extremely captivating and I constantly wanted to root for her.

All the flashbacks with JL thanking XFF throughout the show had me sobbing in bed at 3am while watching.

Special mention to the king (played by Zeng Ke Liang) as well for not being a total fool - as seen in SO MANY other historical dramas. His friendship with Xiao Heng is rock solid, and seeing the ministers and other antagonists constantly underestimate it was sooo satisfying to watch. So if you hate cdramas with stupid monarchs, you'll be pleased to hear that there won't be any of that here.

Scenes of their friendship were really cute to watch too.

The romantic development between XFF and Xiao Heng (played by Wang Xingyue) was delightful to watch. I love couples that just understand each other. Without explicitly saying anything, without any grand confessions of love, both parties mutually knew each other’s feelings and constantly looked out for each other. The slow and gradual process of them falling for each other was paced out beautifully - XH’s gaze changes as he looks at her throughout the episodes, and XFF gets more and more playful around him. The script and their bantering ticks all the right boxes fkr me. He’s the only person that knows her real identity, she doesn’t need to hide in front of him. And this makes their relationship so much more special.

And I love that there was nothing like making stupid decisions in the name of love and protection while jeopardising the bigger picture. (eg. XH giving up the entire secret army the emperor trusted him with for XFF - turning out to be a hidden ploy) Both XFF and XH were on a quest for revenge and they are determined to get what they want without making any compromise. If at any point of the plot - they deviate from this and decide to do something foolish in order to protect the other, I would have seen it as out of character.

Bonus points for including an archery scene :D It’s one of my favourite overused tropes.

The overall camera work and style of The Double was shot so beautifully and in a rather interesting theatrical style. From JL’s death where she falls among the pear blossoms to Princess Wanning (played by Li Meng) ’s dancing and even the scenes where characters stare directly into the camera. The opening scenes were super dramatic and really set a heavy tone for the rest of the story.

While the staring into the camera took some getting used to, there are certain portions where Wanning’s expressions gave me goose bumps. Li Meng’s performance took me out - her Wanning was repulsive in the way she treated others, yet so broken from her past that I felt so much pain for her towards the end of the story. It was amazing.

There were even comedic elements that made some parts feel like a stage play. Like her cousin and his lackeys’ coordinated walk as they try to help her out from her room. And one of the minister’s love for theatre which was super on the nose I laughed out loud while watching it all play out. The style in which important plot points are presented is so unique and really sets this show apart from other cdramas I’ve watched.

Everyone in the cast was amazing in their roles. While Wang Xingyue is one of the younger cast members, the emotional depth in his performance as Xiao Heng gave off maturity and a temperament beyond his years. Seeing him goof around behind the scenes, and then watching him as Xiao Heng gave me whiplash - but in the best way possible.

Liang Yongqi was a truly despicable Shen Yurong - it got to a point where seeing him on screen made my skin crawl. Liu Xiening as Jiang Ruoyan was perfectly annoying - and I can't wait to see more from her as I've really liked her since she was in Gugudan.

I could probably go on and on about how much I love Wu Jinyan as Xue Fangfei and I’m so happy that they casted her because she was perfect. (Admittedly, I’m biased). But I think you can watch the show to experience everyone's brilliance for yourself. The casting and script pacing was great and all the different pieces fit together into this story perfectly.

Now let's talk about the somewhat controversial ending of The Double. Did our beloved Duke Su die in battle? Did they ever reunite? I choose to believe that he came back to her in the end and they got their happy ending. But Wang Xingyue's performance in that last battle - with the iconic scene of XFF's pendant in his mouth was breathtaking. Regardless, I do think the show could have done without causing the audience pain with this added arc of him going back to his duties - but I felt that it made sense.

Xiao Heng is someone who is deadly loyal to his country and to his king. He and XFF are not the kind to simply escape from the capital and its intrigues to live a happy life on their own. Both value their family and their country, they would never leave the capital to pursue their own happiness.

Also something I noticed - that made this scene so much more painful. At the start after XFF retrieves the pendant, Tong'er (her servant) tells her not to pawn off this pendant anymore. She replies with "there's no one worth trading this pendant for". And then she gives this pendant to XH before he goes off to battle at the end. Cries.

Abrupt end but I think this is most of the feels I have to get out already - I took a lot of screenshots and recordings while watching The Double (haven't felt the urge to do so in such a long time tbh) so there may be more posts from me while I continue yapping about how much I love this show and story adaptation.

smol life update: I’ve been working FT after graduation two years ago - but I was in a pretty bad environment and have decided to resign this year. So now I’m funemployed and trying to work through some health issues. Hope everyone has been well and thank you for reading this! ❤️❤️

[capricores]

pisces/virgo placements... it's about time you took care of yourself, too, ok?

you burn yourselves out allowing yourself to be pulled by so many people in all different directions. you exhaust all your resources and empty your cup - no, your entire well - to help those around you, even people you don't know. it's such a beautiful thing, and i know you genuinely love helping others, supporting people, seeing them thrive. it's such a beautiful trait! but you constantly end up neglecting yourself, right? you don't realize that you have permission to set aside time to care for you, to cater to your needs for once. you often feel like no one puts a drop in your cup, the favor is never returned - it's exhausting; you might think if you just keep giving your all it will come back; i understand. you will find the people that give the same energy back to you one day, but regardless of whether you've found those people yet, you need to learn to step aside and fill your own cup!

setting boundaries and saying no is the most important thing you will learn to do in this lifetime. it will not be easy for you, sometimes it will feel painful. but you cannot help the world if you're constantly drained and tired! you deserve to take care of yourself in the same way you do for others. be gentle to your kind soul, nourish yourself; do the things you love to do. learn to worry about others less, as hard as it is, and focus on yourself more.

[mejomonster]

I am going to again mention that Hikaru No Go cdrama adaptation Qi Hun is on youtube for free (iqiyi), really really good, and if you ever shipped the two rivals to partners then the cdrama decides well They Do Too and cranks it to Bad Buddy childhood rivals to desperately longing for each other to domestic and professional partners levels. (I'm not kidding, to spoil the ending out of context: they move in together with one bed, play partner go for future career, and end the show together happy). And yes, our ghost friend still absolutely decimated me emotionally. <3 ;-;

Anyway I just. While it's absolutely amazing as a show on simply the merit of quality, pacing, good storyline, solid story it's based on And solid adaptation that kept things true while putting it's own touches? It's also really really heartfelt if you like childhood enemies/friends to partners stories. And it feels as bl as Guardian or Word of Honor did, easily (so clearly shippers helped make the show lol).

Here's where to watch!

[tls123]

THE UNTAMED  —  episode fifteen

[pi-ying-xi]

I think both Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan are trying their best with a script with so many holes it's practically a colander, but it's not of much use.

Rubbish pacing, setting something up hastily & delivering something else, and at a snail's pace - as if the delivery guy knew he was bringing the wrong order, didn't want to get yelled at so hooked off to sneak a few drinks on the way.

I'm so unconvinced by what this bucolic interlude tells me I should be feeling about these two. It's there purely to serve as a happy memory when, per the trailers, the angst hits.

The angst itself promises to be driven by Yue Qin, now Xiyan's heir, manipulating his father king into believing one particular woman will be the yin to his yang, and thus make the king live longer. 🤷🏾‍♀️ This while also getting what (safe to say 'what' and not 'whom') he wants.

Guess they couldn't make Murong Jinghe the prince who's incapable of seeing a person's individual humanity because he's used to treating them as possessions to be acquired, deployed and discarded as necessary, and so they transferred those 'flaws' to the other guy, thus combining a bad character trait with an essentialising one (Xiyan being coded as barbarian) in one person.

Anyway. Long rant summarised: I'm still watching only for Liu Xueyi and Wu Jinyan but most of this meh drama is very skippable.

[electricsoul-rpg]

Watching cdramas and donghuas can be so frustrating. To be honest, my Mandarin is not good enough for me to do completely without English subtitles. I could deal with Chinese subtitles only but it would be difficult and would probably give me a headache. But my Mandarin is good enough that I can tell how bad it all is. And sometimes, they're not even using Chinese subtitles as a base, but probably AI and speech recognition? On a tonal language? Which is so very complex and depends heavily on context? I've seen 8 different translations for one word, in half as many episodes, in a "fansub" that is probably just AI. This is ridiculous.

And one thing that I absolutely hate: all the pronouns, honorifics, titles and forms of address that are just...completely erased. Everything is replaced by first names (!!!) or "Mr." or "Mrs.". It is so frustrating. It looks so so so so so wrong. These pronouns, honorifics, titles and forms of address are important. They give so much context and information about characters and their relationships! One little word, and it tells you a whole story. And I know, it can't translate well in English, because there is no equivalent, the Chinese system and culture are too complex and the English language is too poor. But damn, foreigners have no problem adapting to Japanese terms! Why is it so impossible to think they can learn Chinese ones?

Why can't we have good subtitles, good translations, that respect the Chinese spirit and meaning? Done by proper translators and not just machine translation? I know foreigners probably don't matter to Chinese companies and so they don't bother at all with quality subtitles but. Still. It is depressing. Frankly, sometimes, it feels like, if you don't know Mandarin, you are not going to properly understand 1/3 of a story, with the subtitles missing the complexity of the characters, relationships, power dynamics, cultural references. It is that bad.

*Sigh* Good luck to all the people who watch cdramas and donghuas without understanding Mandarin and who rely completely on the quality of subtitles. Good luck.

[niteshade925]

Can these production studios/companies hire me to be their translator or proofreader. Please. Going through these shitty subtitles is just torture at this point. The original lines were so well written, but none of that could get across to an audience that doesn't understand Chinese because of these absolutely horrendous translations. I'm getting the impression that the translator they hired might not have a good grasp of either language...there were many mistakes just in the grammar alone, some because they failed to understand the sentence structure in the original line in Chinese, and some because they couldn't use the proper English grammar in their translation for some reason...and it's very possible that the company didn't hire a proofreader at all, because you don't even need expertise in this area to notice these errors, they are just that obvious.

[dadvil]

This might be the first cdrama where I think damn they need a couple more episodes

[namtanlovesfilm]

may I feel you linger in the air encourage more historical thai dramas to be produced bc I'M EATING THIS SHIT UP!!!

[dangermousie]

My god, Furong's sister makes me actually like Furong in comparison.

UGH go away and get eaten!!! Or marry seven hot guys and live in bliss. I don't care, just get off my screen.

I have never liked this actress in anything because she always plays this broad comedy that drives me up the wall and this role is no exception.

She is honestly the fucking worst and the thought that she apparently doesn't die annoys the fuck out of me. By now every time I see her, I get another ulcer.

But they are ALL annoying in that realm. It should be renamed The Realm of Fuckwits.

UGHHHHHHH

[ithinkhobiknows]

SLOWBURN BESTFRIENDS TO LOVERS TROPE BOY FALLS FIRST TROPE OLD MARRIED COUPLE TROPE??????

[heymeowmao]

安乐传 | The Legend of Anle (2023) ° Episode 38

[mejomonster]

Guardian really set my expectations of "censored bl cdramas" and man that was a high bar and probably not fair of me to expect.

Guardian really opens with Zhao Yunlan asking Shen Wei "are you married? You're such a catch. Can I take you out to eat? Here's my number A-Lan call me" which like even on face value id say thats called flirting (unless I guess ur so straight Straight blinders on that 2 men have to physically fuck in front of u to consider something gay)

Then of course there's shen weis pining shit but like, that's not Hammer down obvious to I guess the most oblivious person in denial

But Zhu Hong saying she likes Zhao Yunlan, Zhao Yunlan repeatedly refusing her and feeling bad about it, Zhu Hong repeatedly acknowledging he picked SHEN WEI over her (making it fairly clear it was a romantic pick and she Lost it to a guy) and shen Wei, brick that he can be at times, tells her it will only take a few years for the feelings to fade when she'll get over Zhao yunlan. The guy in love with him, instead of her. Yeah shen wei, she's definitely not wishing she could stab you for that insensitive remark. But she's too good of a person to.

Which. I'd say the above two points establish fairly overtly that: Zhao Yunlan is into men, that his colleagues assume he's also into women (if Zhu Hong thinks she has a chance), and that Shen Wei is Zhao Yunlans romantic pick. So Shen Weis sexuality? Well he doesn't dispute being Zhao Yunlans romantic pick, and Lin Jing assumes they're lovers with dialogue (yes he's saying opposite day stuff but his opposite day is just not being a liar and spy). So Shen Weis sexuality includes Zhao Yunlan.

And so like that's just. Fairly overt explicit stuff about their relationship. There's also the "a very oblivious person could argue its only implied" flirting. (And everything going on with Lao Chu and Xiao Guo, the side couple... oh my heart ;-; when they almost froze... the family dinner at Xiao guos... Lao chu admiring how kind Xiao Guo is, scaring him trying to say he's a cannibal and Xiao Guo not running away)

There's the coat sharing macho trying to be the man helping the damsel both of those fuckers do galore, shen wei moving in across the hall (which is either stalker or deeply in love or - as is true, both), shen wei implicitly moving in (this one's vague ill admit to be fair), the fucking "You're good with your hands" line from Zhao yunlan which is absolutely a porn line, every villain in the show viscerally aware Zhao Yunlan is who Shen Wei wants to protect, Ye Zun pretending to be Shen Wei by calling Zhao Yunlan cute names and asking if his outfit looks nice (and all of That), Zhao yunlans romantic ass hit me through the heart line of "if you're trouble I want a lifetime of you" at the wedding (not ever over it), the fucking lollipop scene in ye old haixing. Just a bunch of flirty type scenes, romantic tropes galore. And that's not even covering the actual genuine subtext of ALL the cases paralleling how shen wei and/or how Zhao yunlan feel implicitly (which are just subtext to be fair... how shen wei thinks he lost kunlun, how Zhao yunlan ISNT him so it hurts he's a stranger or he IS in which case he's a liar and shen weis grieving, the case where a dixingren and human love each other and Zhao yunlan notices he wants to be close to shen wei even though shen weis lying etc).

Like. They felt as canon as Tara X Willow in Buffy. Or at least as much as Xena x Gabrielle, the center relationship of the show where all stories of the episodes are always at least in some way about them.