#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

[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.

[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.

[yoondepity]

I'm at that part where li lun and zhuo yichen are having a chat and this brings up a good point about being the bigger person. like part of that is moving on and putting your peace first, but what tf happens when u can't e.g someone doesnt allow u to do that? this also brings me to my 2nd point of contingency like does it really pay to be the bigger person? cuz I personally sometimes think it doesn't, like sometimes u just gotta mfers in their place 🤷‍♂️ but then again waisting your energy on ppl who do not bring good things into your life...ugh idkidk

[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.

[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??????

[akotafi]

CDrama Rant

i am watching <<Love Game in Eastern Fantasy>> and in episode 11 theres a guy who was lazy, had no self awareness and had as a result of this got his sect killed and is still hanging around the area to keep up a ruse that his sect unknowingly died protecting.

I'm not all the way through with the episode so theres still potential for him to grow and change after this but I find it so frustrating how he's just blathering on about how lazy, coniving and idiotic he's been in his pursuit of greatness and the person he's talking to not once calls him an idiot, nor has he by himself learnt anything from the decades(!!) he's spent in this rural village.

He's still scamming people for fuck's sake, but he's acting like hes doing this ultimate good and that out main cast is over-estimaiting themselves just like he did and they're going to cause trouble.

NEWSFLASH

You stupid bitch, no one else on earht could fuck up as badly as you've done.

HE'S SO FUCKING FRUSTRATING OMG

[heymeowmao]

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

[misz-masz]

The ending of The Story of Pearl Girl honestly wrecked me.

I am so used to the deus ex machina of rom-com dramas, that I didn't even consider the option until very end.

And really what kept me watching (because fr plot kind of got lost) was the unsaid promise of a happy ending.

I just desperately kept watching to see someone, (please someone) happy.

And the ring? Oh- At first I missed it. Only after reading some discussion (because i really needed to put somewhere my feeling) did I find out. T.T

I watched in on the wave from Zhao Lu Si's former project Love Like the Galaxy, which I truly liked, and was not ready.

I read a comment that said, it should've ended with Duan having a son and taking him to meet with her lady friend merchant (yk). That it would hold up the Yan legacy and complemented the story well.

And if I could not get them leading a guild together, then yeah! It would've been real nice to have that.

The ending wasn't very fun at all! Sure ig I'm happy she became what she wanted, but was she happy?

[fateandloveentwined]

Anle and Nirvana in Fire: what's so mesmerising about NIF's worldview

Edit, a bit of context: @llonkrebboj did this really eloquent "eulogy" on the gripping nature of NIF, so I guess here's my take on it.

I was watching some episodes from The Legend of Anle, and again the striking similarities between NIF and Legend of Anle surface. Especially with Ren Anle pulling an identity porn game of chess and plotting against the political arena to overturn the unjust ruling of the throne from a decade ago.

And then there's 江山为聘, and, well, Royal Nirvana, The Legend of Haolan, many other kingdom/royalty cdramas and web novels, all about the protag and the heir incumbent working hand in hand to rid the kingdom of injustice and corruption and debauchery of the elite, start anew an epoch of prosperity. It's as if (as if not) every story is hardwired to eulogise a tale of valiance and honour.

So the quality of drama production aside, how does NIF stand apart from all this in my heart, after all this time? Genuinely sometimes I wonder, but the protag Mei Changsu has taken shape and left a unique impression in my mind ever since I've learned of the series, became one of my favourite fictional characters -- while you might as well say that every other cdrama protag is almost exactly like him. What makes him different?

There is no one who is completely free in this world to begin with. So long as one has feelings, has desires, he could never be absolved of all responsibility.

The Legend of Anle reads like NIF. They have the similar motives, they've gone through the same hardships, and in a similar manner have found a way through the pugilistic jianghu back into the undercurrents of the court. Yet the former shapes itself to be a tale of seeking justice, while the latter reads like something of a far greater scale. The bulk of NIF is incoherent handwavy political intrigue, and yet in a very idealised, glamorised interpretation of Mei Changsu, the crux of the story uncovers itself to be not one of retribution and waging a war against bygone injustices, but of an idealistic visionary future for the peace and prosperity of the kingdom that one so loved. And I have never seen something like that.

I've got to go back! I've got to go back to where I truly belong!

Most protags in cdramas are noble. They are people of integrity and righteousness, and they struggle, they sacrifice their lives to fulfil the moral code they live by. 以身殉道、以死证道 as they say in the book of Mencius (Mengzi): to make apparent the righteousness through bodily flesh and blood, to do what is right in life and death. [1]

Yet humans are fickle, and bodily flesh and blood cannot serve that long a fuel for the flame betwixt the wretched of the earth before fading into glowing embers. There are times of humanity, and there are times in which we yield, just a little, to our own lives and passions and aspirations. We live for ourselves, which is not at all wrong. Most protags are like that. Yet there's this NIF protag who sheds his light for 13 long years and keeps the new flame alight as the past dies into cinders and ashes. It's idealistic, it's surreal, but that's what humans gravitate to: it's not the relatability of it all, it's the beauty of the insurmountable that we aspire to, the deified transcendent that gives us hope, brings one joy, takes us with them one step closer to the utopian ideal that we all once dreamt of as kids.

And this is what my heart longs for and treasures: though I die nine thousand times, I do not regret it. [2]

---

[1] 以身殉道，以死证道。(yǐ shēn xùn dào, yǐ sǐ zhèng dào) Former is taken from Mencius and often used to mean one sacrificing for the fulfilment of righteousness. Latter should be more commonly said as 以身证道, I just replaced the "body/life" in the second character with "death" so not to use the same character in the parallel phrase. This is from Tao Te Ching but is nowadays often adapted for use in xianxia settings where the person sacrifices themselves or goes through some great traumatic events to achieve ascension.

[2] 亦余心之所善兮，雖九死其猶未悔。(yì yú xīn zhī suǒ shàn xī, suī jiǔ sǐ qí yóu wèi huǐ) From Qu Yuan's poem Li Sao.

[pi-ying-xi]

Someone take Yu Zheng away to a distant land far from where he can no longer raise our blood pressure or ruin a good thing.

This mini rant brought to you by his saying he's bringing together Wu Jinyan and Wang Xingyue again for a modern drama set in the entertainment biz.

I love a 姐弟 romance like anyone else, and it's all good until you read the synopsis or highlights of the story. The older FL gets passed around like a cushion from one possessive male to another? And this is what's called love?

C-ent needs more women writing scripts and directing if this is the kind of trash that's being passed off as 'love'.