Bloody Romance (2018)

A good drama with great characters. Be aware of story bug.

I have mixed emotions for this drama that it is challenging for me to summarize all the feelings in one review.

I would want to focus my review on the actors and characters, esp. for the leading roles. For me, Bloody Romance has one of the most profound characters I have ever seen in Chinese dramas. The other one I can think of is Untamed.

♡ Character Design: Good character design is what makes half of a good plot. Creating personalities that the audience can identify themselves to, feel attracted to, or despise is an art. Their emotional reactions and actions need to be consistent with their personalities and logical to their experiences. Only then can the audience empathize and move along. I think this was very well done with all the characters in this drama, even with the supporting characters: Liu Gang, Xing Feng, Yue Ying, the antagonists Cha Luo and Wan Xiang, and countless "targets" and "their relatives". None of the characters felt as they were merely a tool to progress the story but alive and breathing. A few words to the character design of the main characters:

❤︎ Wan Mei: her character design might feel indeed naive and stupid at the start. Like many others, I was also rolling my eyes at her second mission, cursing the scriptwriter why they made such a weak character an assassin. It did not fit the badass female character image that you would expect this drama to have. When you progress with the show, you will notice that there was a clear purpose to the start. Despite many netizens believing that Wan Mei will become malicious and despiteful after the series of misfortune that has happened to her, she stayed true to her kindness at heart, while at the same time become wiser and stronger. There was no sudden awakening or turning to evil. Throughout the show, you saw her wanting to give up her life or become indecisive; for me, these are prooves of being human and natural.

❤︎ Chang An: "I am missing a Chang An in my life," say many netizens. I understand them. Chang An can fight, cook, and clean; on top, he is kind, loyal, and treasures his master as he cherishes his own life. Chang An loves Wang Mei selflessly and does not expect her love in return. He wants her to be happy even if it means he cannot be with her. And which woman does not wish there is such a man in her life? I have read criticisms of Chang An's big decision to leave his army to save Wang Mei at the end of the show, saying that it's irresponsible and foolish. I have a different view. Chang An was brought up thinking that he is only a stableman. Even after his adoptive family's death, he has only been living for himself and his idea of revenge. Wang Mei became the first person in his life who he loves more than his own life. He cannot repeat the same mistake and hurt her again. At the end of the day, he is Chang An, not Gong Zi. Looking from this perspective, do you still question his decision?

❤︎ Gong Zi: For me, Gong Zi was the most mysterious and tragic character in the whole drama. Until the last episode, I have never really understood him. Gong Zi loved Wang Mei sincerely, helped her multiple times along the way, and was also willing to sacrifice his life for her. Despite all that, Wang Mei kept refusing Gong Zi and accusing him of treating her only as a tool. This has brought a lot of criticism from Gong Zi's fans. My explanation is the following. Gong Zi experienced the trauma of being blinded by his own mother and the tragedy of her death. Because of this, he was shouldering the responsibility of being the owner of Gui Hua City and carrying out her death wishes before he is "allowed" to die. One of them was killing his own father. Death was always around the corner. Not one day has he lived for himself until he the day he met Wang Mei, who became his only light in his life. However, due to some reasons, may that be their master-assassin relationship, his unfamiliarity about love, and his duty... his actions seemed to be conflicting and not truly for the best of Wan Mei. I would say that Gong Zi loved Wang Mei in his own way, but it was not understood. Even Yue Ying, who knew him the best, was confused by his action. Whatever Gong Zi intended to do, I guess we will never really know the truth.

♡ Acting skills: Another reason why Bloody Romance which contributed to the high score. Don't get me wrong; I have fallen in love with countable talented actors and actresses in many previous dramas. What stood out for me that, in Bloody Romance, across the board, all main and supporting actors did a marvelous job depicting all the deep personalities. Perhaps because the drama has a very abusive nature, there are many extreme emotional scenes that characters have to act out. And they have done a marvelous job. My heart was aching so much while watching these scenes.
A few words to the main lead actors and actress:

❤︎ Li Yi Tong (starring Wan Mei): hats down to her! She literately "killed it". She convincingly portraited every trait of the weak and innocent junior assassin, who experienced periods of suffering and challenges later developed into determined and skillful Magnate of Gui Hua City. The scene at which she met Chang An again in episode 16 had almost no lines. But the acting told the whole story and evoked so much heartbreak. No wonder that after this drama, she got so much more popular with three successful shows airing in 2019, and seven in 2020.

❤︎ Shaw Qu (starring Chang An): We all love good looking male leads. In the case of Shaw Qu, I would say his face is less than ordinary. Many netizens have even called him ugly early during the show. Soon enough, however, most of us became captivated by Shaw Qu's outstanding performance as Chang An. We all fall in love with Chang An's forthright character, his unbroken love for Wan Mei, and his mesmerizing low sexy voice. In Chinese drama land, where looks define the fate as an actor, this is a marvelous achievement. This man was only 22 when he starred in Bloody Romance, and I foresee an unlimited future for him as an actor.

❤︎ Wang Duo (starring Gong Zi): Another young and unknown actor, who seduced many female netizens in this show. Very different in terms of status and personality as compared to Chang An, Gong Zi is a complex and strong character full of ambiguities. He loved and sacrificed for Wan Mei his own way but had his objectives and ambition that he could not forego. Despite being the second main lead, I felt Gong Zi had more airtime than Chang An. Using his opportunity, Wang Duo perfectly demonstrated all the complicated feelings. Though I was not a big fan of his character, I cannot imagine Gong Zi being played by anyone else than Wang Duo.

♡ Other admirable aspects of this drama are its interesting world design (beautiful cinematography despite the low budget, the beautifully choreographed fighting scenes, the gorgeous costumes, and one of the most beautiful but emotional title songs of all time.

So why is this drama not a 10 for me?
First of all, the overall plot has quite a few plot holes. Of course, you can say that which drama has not? But these are bugs that just cannot be ignored this easily. The reason why the writer has designed the story this way is probably to create more misery for the lead characters and to dramatize the plot so the audience can shed more tears. Some honorable mentions are below:

★ What purpose did the ending have? If we read the signs correctly, Chang An is still alive - but why, in the first place, did he have to fake his death to Wang Mei? If he wants her to believe he is dead, why did he leave the signs for her to find him? I would have also been thrilled with a happy ending to see both of them united. I would have also been ok with a sad ending that Chang An is dead. But what I don't like is an indecisive writer who thinks that a standard happy ending does not fit the mood of this drama, but a sad closure will leave the fans outraged. Instead, we get this in-between open ending... and from what I have heard, there is no rumor for a second season. I also don't foresee that there are any proper materials for a second season now that Wan Mei has become the Magnate of Chang An.

★ What I and many others have struggled is how Wan Mei fits into the story of a city full of female assassins with her kind personality. She might have had no choice at the start; however, later on, she had so many chances to leave Gui Hua City but chose not to. The reason that she gave is because of Chang An, then because Gui Hua was the only place she could return to, and finally because she cannot leave the other assassin sisters behind. All reasons are problematic to believe, given the hardships she has gone through, that she just isn't made for killing good people and that Chang An himself managed to leave later. And still, the makers made her "trying her best" to mislead her targets, eventually did not bear to kill them, but was luckily saved because the targets killed themselves or someone helped her to kill them. This weird plot just openly invites criticisms. Sadly a lot criticism went to the female lead herself.

★ Finally, this leads to the last big gap: Wang Mei broke so many rules but was always saved by someone not because she is competent but because she has the main character's aura. On top of that, despite hating Wan Mei so much, Hua Luo even promoted her, so Wan Mei got the chance to challenge her position. Don't give me the excuse that this is because Hua Luo respects the rules.... she is the freaking Magnate!

So overall, this drama definitely has big weak spots. But I would still recommend this drama to those who love good character designs (including a male lead who will live in my heart for a long-time), heart-wrenching romances, and marvelous acting.

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