Les Interprètes (2016)

I was really hoping to have a nice review to write for this title, but alas, it's just not going to happen...

Story (6.5/10):
Once the reviews start coming in I'm sure one thing that they'll mostly have in common is how well this drama started. It may not have necessarily been reinventing the drama wheel, but it did stand out. The latter half of the show was when everything went downhill...which is punny and makes me giggle thinking of a particularly awfully choreographed fight scene during the last 10 minutes of the show #spoilernotspoilerIregretNothing!

I thought it was interesting that both of our mains were interpreters which isn't something I've seen in a series before. They also went on location which was refreshing. I also liked this dramas take on the "other guy" (second male lead). In most dramas he seems almost perfect in comparison to the male lead, everything the male lead isn't in the most positive way. The other guy in this story was far from perfect and kind of a d-bag, but I feel it's mainly due to how annoying the "other chick" (second female lead) was. I think it was definitely interesting seeing how the main leads lives were entwined all of their chance encounters. It really felt so sophisticated and well written in the beginning, but then all of the ad naseum of standard dramas began and that made me sad. It makes me wonder if there was a writer change. Things just stopped making sense character wise, especially for such intelligent people.

I also was very dissatisfied with the ending for many reasons though I can unfortunately not share without spoilers. I think some people will disagree with me, but it felt rushed and disingenuous to be honest.


Acting/Cast (6.5/10):
The acting was pretty hit or miss for me. Huang Xuan and Cheng Jia Yang was the best actor by far and probably the only actor who I felt didn't have one bad moment of acting. I haven't seen him in anything else, but I'm certainly looking forward to those dramas now.

Yang Mi as Qiao Fei... This one is a toughy, I don't think she's bad, but I think my dislike was more so for her character which made me a bit biased. It's a bit disappointing since I first saw her in the historical drama "Palace", though I guess that's considered more of a contemporary historical as her characters travels back in time, so it's a great sort of fish out of water story. At any rate, I enjoyed her acting in that, just not so much in this.

Li Xi Rui as Wu Jia Yi - My favorite female character from beginning to end. I loved her expressions and I think her sassy attitude endeared her to me. I'd really love to see Xi Rui in another drama and hopefully as the female lead, so I'll have to check out her details page. Anyhow, she was perfect opposite Zhang Leon! Speaking of which...

Zhang Leon as Wong Xu Dong - He is so friggin' adorable! His character and of course that boyish grin of his, make me fall in love why don't you?! This is my first time see Zhang Leon in a drama, and while I don't think his character allowed for too much in the way of deep acting, I still felt like he added a nice light touch especially for the latter half of the show. I found myself skipping scenes, but not his.

The rest of the cast was just ok for me and I feel like they could've really been filled by just about any decent actor. Not that any I didn't list were terrible by any means, but just didn't stand out to me. Though I may be booed for saying this, but the actor that plays He Zhe totally looks like Asian Butthead, I just can't unsee it...

Music (7.0/10):
I really like the "Mon Cheri" opening song and the soundtrack was really nice and fitting for the show. I think it was probably the nicest and most consistent part of this drama to be honest.

Rewatch Value (1.0/10):
This is not a terrible drama and I don't regret watching it, but I skipped through it too much and there really wasn't anything about it I'd care to see again. Maybe some of the cute scenes between Jia Yi and Xu Dong, but honestly not much else. I would definitely tell others to give it a watch, I just don't think I could sit through it again.

Overall (6.0/10):
Even though I feel this drama started out really strong, it just fell apart halfway through and lost me. While it started off really good, it just wasn't good enough for me to feel it was much more than an average drama which again isn't bad, but I just don't think overall it was great. While it doesn't ruin the entire series, there was some seriously bad acting at times and some things that I felt they were trying to convey seriously and I either rolled my eyes or laughed out loud. It's a real shame that the ending especially felt so rushed and anti-climatic considering how well it started out the gate.

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