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Unique Story , Beautiful Cinematography and Amazing Costumes
7/21/2021The reason for me picking this drama is mainly because of Zhang Bin Bin (ML). I first saw him in "Ten Miles Peach Blossoms" and had a minor crush on him. I've been trying to look for another drama of his with good reviews and a happy ending. This led me to Rattan.
Plot/Pacing: This is a unique and weird story, that is quite different from other C-Dramas. It's a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, and romance. I find that you either really like the story or you hate it because it could be confusing. I liked it but I do find certain areas a little confusing without enough explanation. All that happens is probably due to love + obsession + stubbornness + revenge. I found the twists and turns quite un-predictable esp. the revelation of who Bai Ying is. I enjoyed the first half of the drama, when Si Teng (FL) is trying to piece together what happened to her and what happened after her death. The pacing was done well. I got a little bored towards the early 20s episodes but the pace picked up again towards the mid-20s episode. There are some plot holes and illogical parts of the drama. Did ML ever find out the real identity of his best friend? If FL told him about her fight with his best friend, did he not care at all? Never confront him? On another note, he's a successful architect but he never really went to work? Even if he was there, he wasn't really working. When he's hurt and almost dead, did they really transfer him out of the hospital to his home without any lifesaving medical equipment? I know this is not a medical show, but you gotta at least do the bare minimum and give him some IV and an oxygen tank!
Romance: There are several romances in this show and that's where all the hate and revenge started all the drama. First we have Qiu Shan betrayed by his Tribe Yi lover, thus started his hate for all Tribe Yi and Si Teng. We also have the unfortunate romance of Bai Ying and Shao Yan Kuan which ended with the death of Si Teng. But of course, we have the main romance of the leads. I would say FL and ML have decent chemistry. I wouldn't say it was off-the-charts. I personally enjoyed a slow burn romance, and theirs is slow burn. But I feel that it's lacking something to make me believe that they are so in love that they would die fo each other and go through what they did in the last couple episodes. I feel that I need to see a little more passion in that slow-burn romance to believe in it more. I also feel that ML is too perfect of a character. He's good-looking, rich, sweet, caring, attentive and rarely shows his temper. Is he a perfect guy? Probably. But not as multi-layered as I want a male lead to be. FL, on the other hand, is a much better written character with development throughout the show.
Acting: The overall acting is not bad. I enjoyed FL's sassiness and ML's sweetness (gosh, he is such a joy to look at..LOL). The supporting cast's acting is not bad either. I particularly enjoy the two child actors. They are so cute and adorable. Young Si Teng did a great job in showing her sassiness and facial expressions at such a young age.
Cinematography/Setting/Music/CGI: What a beautiful show! I love all the sceneries, the village, the forest and the architecture and set designs. It's refreshing to watch a modern show not set in the glitzy city setting. The majority of the show takes place in the rural part of the country. All the accommodations at the rural areas have their own distinct architecture and design. The sweeping views of mountains, lakes, grasslands and forests are beautiful. I also enjoyed all the songs in this drama. There seems to be quite a number of songs and you don't get that same annoying song played over and over again. However, one BIG negative for is that the music is just way too loud. I watched the show on Viki and also on YouTube, and I found the volume of the actor's voices are drowned by the background music. When music or songs are played, I have to turn down my volume, and then turn it back up when actors start to talk again. I am not sure if it's because of the version that I was watching, of just a problem with editing. I also quite enjoy the special effects of rattan whipping and fighting. It was especially beautiful when FL builds this canopy/umbrella for ML when he was crying. What a beautiful use of her talent in this touching scene.
Costumes: Si Teng's wardrobe deserves its own category. I read that this is not a big budget drama and I think most of the budget is spent on costumes. FL looks amazing in her collection of qi paos, and also her more modern looks. However, towards the second half of the show, I find myself missing seeing her in qi paos. Not that she's not pretty in her other looks, but there's just something special when a gorgeous Chinese lady wears this traditional dress. I even find the cross-dressing June Wu looks great in qi pao. ML's costume changes when he's in the rural area vs when he's in the city. He dresses so young and casual when he's in the village. But when the setting changes to the city, he looks so handsome and dapper in those long coats and dress shirts. Oh, one more thing, why is there so much makeup on ML's face? He look so white and it's not attractive. He looks SO much better with a more natural tan look.
Ending: I have mixed feelings about the ending of this drama. I felt that the show could have ended at Ep. 27 when FL disappears and the show ends on a sad note. Yes, it's sad but I think it's more fitting and more beautiful this way. But then, there are a few more episodes with rebirth and a young Si Teng. In a way, it's also fitting that FL and ML ended up somewhat together and went back to nature. I guess fans were not happy with that ending and we got Ep 31 with a happier ending. As much as I love seeing ML with a happy ending (since that's my main reason of watching the show), I felt that the Ep 31 ending is my least favorite one.
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Different in a good way
Wow this drama was really amazing, I am a huge fan of the ML and this series really made him shine, and we got to see a totally different side to him, and the role he played.The scenic shots were amazing and the different places that they travelled around, but this drama has exceeded expectations, introducing us to the leads in a dramatic opening-- ML almost died in a car accident but his blood revived the FL, and in turn she brought him back to life. The struggles due to personality differences between FL and ML, and FL's struggle to comprehend the new world while the story brings in a host of supporting characters. FL’s arrogant and domineering manner contrast with ML’s soft and submissive attitude was a refreshing watch!
Each episode was thrilling and filled with romance and comedy, completely gave me an emotional ride. There were a few scenes that left me doubtful and confused but I later on understood them so I can't say this is one perfect piece and is completely flawless.
in short, she is a joy to watch. Together with Qin Fang (Vin Zhang) and Yan Furui (Zhang Yichi), this trio is the heart of soul of this c-drama.
A big thumbs up to the ML for having done some so different and carried out so well, definitely well worth watch.
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Unimaginable twist and turns
This was the best chinese drama which i had watched recently.The music ,storyline everything was perfect and heartwrenching . I literally liked the ost . And the graphics was also really awesome. The best thing which i had liked about this drama is the way that female lead gives order and bosses around the male lead ???? . Chemistry between the leads was very warming.????❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ In this drama the main part which really had attracted me was the female lead character which was very story as in most of the chinese drama the female leads were very childish and immature they always used to clinge me .Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
An amazing new storyline. A must see for all. Top 10 of 2021
If you read the details it's wrong, some part are ok but with different characters. I binged watch this drama in 3.5days.and I'm sorry to see it end. For me this is definitely a different type of storyline that has so many type of mixed views and emotions. The cast lineup is Amazing and they are doing a great job also the crew in clothing styles were 10+, the set and locations 10+, special effects 10+++, and music 10+. Overall this is a 10+++++.It start as a girl born as a 5yo mutated rattan(branches of tree) named Si feng she was part of the alien group Yifan who have powers of nature, but was raised and torture by a Qiu shan who later will kill her. This story begins back in the 1900 when Shao Yan Kuan falls in love sifeng, but she doesn't like him back and has an internal fight with herself and splits into two with bai ling the other half who in love with Shao yan Kuan. While bai Ling suffer at him calling her sifeng she decides to murder her sister and then tells Qin laifu to bury her sister in Dana and relocate and watch over the body for next 8 decades. What happens next is over a 9yr span. Bai Ling marry him and tells him to call her bai Ling and he says OK and he agrees to marry her only. A few years later he takes in another wife and he tell her that she not the same sifeng he loved and so she snaps and murders his wife on the wedding day and he call her a monster and locks her up. During a stressful time gets pregnant and he starts to act funny so she follows him and finds out that he is working with Qiu shan and making a plan to kill her and baby. So she starts to lose it and makes plan/map for her sister and herself where the body/bones are. Just after she gives birth they are burning her and she tells them they'll be back for revenge. So many other are happening I can't write them all(lol). Now 2020 and some are alive and some dead the Qin family followed and now it's Qin Fang's turn to go to Dana. He goes there with a friend and starts to look for this person, but at the same time the girl with him Anman is a fraud she with him for money and looking for the 8 corner blue ball or something when he ex Qui shen shows up she drugs Qin fang and goes to see ex who attacks her for spending his money then she accidentally stabs him. She runs and gets Qin fang into truck and is now chased by the 2goons of her ex. They cause an accident and take her hostage and sends truck down the mountain where he gets impaled on the tree trunk and his blood mixing with a green substance going into the ground. Then all of a sudden the tree vines are spinning and a beautiful girl starts to appears and he get tossed off and healed and she appears as Sifeng and trys to make him her servent. Now we get into all the good and bad struggles for right and wrong, love, jeousley or hate and great adventure. There are 2 different endings both are good in there own way.
Enjoy
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A doting Gentleman and a Domineering Lady
Shoot. I didn't expect to like it that much. I was initially drawn by ZBB because I've like him since Eternal Love, i just love looking at his face. Then I found the plot somewhat interesting, I was like a lady from the past to the modern times? Why not? This is one of the first few budding somewhat time travel in C dramas so i wanted to watch it. I entered with head empty and left with bubbles.I absolutely love the interactions between our main CP. It was my first time to watch a domineering lady and a golden retriever ML in modern drama. God, i love how doting ML is, he's always at our MC's beck and call. Whatever she says, he follows. This is my main favorite part in the drama. They're just so cute!! It was a refreshing watch. The plot is somewhat all over the place but still better than most, considering the censorship and all but the interactions between the two of them completely saved it for me.
Can I just say that Jin Tian's dresses are such a hit!! She's always so pretty and a pretty lady takes the cake. It makes it much more enjoying to watch. Really so cute to watch !
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It's good but after rewatching...
I want to start of with that I would have originally given it a 9 as there are some awkward moments in the show but overall a very good show, however I rewatched part of it with my mom and things just started to not make sense.1. Si Teng and Qin Fang went back to visit An Man before she died, they spend 1 day traveling there, 1 day there, and another day to travel back to the village, for a total of 3 days. That means for the 1 day they spent there, An Man died, got a grave stone and held a "funeral" for her all in 1 day.
2. Si Teng absorbed Chisan's power and not once besides healing Qin Fang did she use Chisan's power or anyones' power she absorbed besides her own.
3. Throughout the show they tried to hint that Bai Jin is smarter and stronger than the rest of the Xuan sect, but nothing was known about him besides us knowing that he is slightly stronger, his part in the show is so awkward that I wonder what was the point to his character, only to find out he's also the director, ahh so he just wanted himself in the show...
4. I watched the ending with the 30 episodes, cause I don't like sad endings, we were introduced to 2 new characters that we're suppose to just know, perhaps I would have known more if I watched the other ending. Si Teng is the foster/adopted daughter of one of the new character and she came back early (to human form) to tell Qin Fang that she loves him, but because she came early she's dying soon because she can't fully heal, so Qin Fang gives her his power that he got from Bai Ying, umm Si Teng maybe don't come back cause one you would have to die.
5. The happy ending made absolutely no sense, from the 4th, Qin Fang gives Si Teng his power, so he is suppose to die except he didn't cause main character plot armor nothing else, sure it took ~20 years but Si Teng is almost immortal and Qin Fang didn't age a day, so they could still spend time together.
6. The weirdest thing is when Qin Fang was hanging out with the kid Si Teng, who is now named Xi Xi. We were given the imagery of him hanging out/flirting with the adult Si Teng but the entire time Si Teng was still in the kid form, her being an adult is an imagery of what would have happen if Si Teng was an adult but she wasn't. So the entire time, he was creeping on a kid, Really gross, just because she's like an immortal doesn't make it any less weird. and why couldn't Si Teng come back as an adult version to tell Qin Fang that she loves him?
7. Qin Fang really falls in love fast huh? First Chen Wan, then An Man, but still having Chen Wan's photo, and then Si Teng while knowing something bad might have happen to An Man, this guy, I swear if he didn't have main character plot armor, he would been scammed out of all his money and belonging, falls in love fast and fast to hand out money. Really wished there was someone like Qin Fang near me, I would have live as a gold digger and not even because I wanted to but because her would have just offered.
The music is disturbingly bad, you know when somethings about to happen cause they played the same song every time, and anything slightly lovey-dovey coming cause it's another same song throughout the entirety of the show.
The wardrobes were amazing, especially Si Teng. Most of scenes were gorgeous and few were obviously CGI. DON'T rewatch. I did and now hate the show, 7 might be too high in my mind after writing this review.
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Entertaining drama but do not expect much to make sense
An entertaining enough drama. If nothing else , it provides breathtaking scenery. Beautiful cinematography, but hole filled plot. Expect to leave this drama with more questions than are answered. It lacks cohesiveness, direction and oftentimes logic.To get through this drama, I came to the realization that I had to abandon all efforts of trying to follow the plot because it became clear that there was no true plot, and too many story lines which do not fully conclude or resolve in a clear or satisfactory manner.
Nonetheless, the actors portrayed their parts convincingly, especially the child actors. Top notch acting.
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good drama but wants alot patience
__*Rattan (2021)*__ - 8/10 cdramavery nice and good drama, but with :very steep learning curve:[probably used it wrong way].
I mean whole drama got 30 eps and for me first 20 eps was like hell of boredom, aside of few nice scenes I was totally uninterested in that bring out mystery thing.
At other hand last 10-11 eps made up for it, but cant score it higher cause 2/3 of whole drama was hell.
__*plot*__ - FL is some kind of mutant between aliens DNA and rattan. She managed to look and live as human.At other hand between humans existed clans hunting these aliens. In 1939 she was killed and buried in woods. One day ML now in year 2020 ended up in car accident and made bloody mess on her grave. His blood managed to revive FL and :connect: FL and ML into kinda symbiotic relationship. FL wants find out how she died and what happened to her killer. Meanwhile ML becomes kinda buttler for Fl since he can leave far from her.
__*genre*__ - fantasy, romance, mystery
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Story about the the plant-alien hybrid (Yi Clan) named Si Teng (ST) , whose been slept for 80 years. Qin Fang accidentally wake her up & their journey begins...
What journey...? Unfortunately that's when i decided to stop care & watch, so i don't really know what their journey about. According to MDL summary it's about unrevealed ST memory. But the moment where I stop watch also talk about ST's taking her revenge.
Unfortunately for me the whole story over time not increasing my curiosity about Yi clan or ST herself. Instead they make me more and more careless about what happen in my screen. Although I quite like the chemistry between Zhang Binbin & Jing Tian, it still not enough to save the whole drama for me.
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A drama "light"
The premise seemed pretty good, the trailer as well so I started watching on the YoYo channel on YouTube. The first episode was really good, 2nd one as well. Gorgeous scenery, looks like Yunnan or Tibet but then it went down. There is really no one to root for, no cliff hanger at the end of the episodes, nothing that would make you wonder what is going to happen to this or that person. Nothing. There is really no tension, nothing that did prevent me to get sleepy when I watched the 6th episode. Almost insipid. I guess I will go back to the historical fantasy dramas, at least there is some action, twists and a good portion backstabbing. What drama should be.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
All talk, no substance
Plot: has potential; it's a letdownProduction: kinda meh and the reason why soundtrack/scenes were mediocre
Soundtrack: none in the first 8 episodes. It's done the usual way of chinese productions: recording every sound after the filming is done and has no notable music or anything yet and probably won't.
Intro: Great visuals. Might be the best thing of the whole show
Acting: can't tell because the plot and production are subpar in this form. The actors are decent, but most of the scenes feel mediocre at best and this is because of production/script
Overall: You can find much better shows. It isn't worth the time even if they have a banger for the finale(which I can say from what I've surveyed, it's not)
The story has a nice start with a big potential to be development in many ways from rom-com, melodrama to about anything.
After watching 8 episodes(almost a third of the entire series), it's all just talk about roundabout ways, plot has no substance, nothing exciting, no action scenes, no notable comedy/romance or plot twist scenes(the ones done are subpar and feels like a highschooler written and produced this as his first piece without any experience).
After the starting 2 episodes you get 6 episodes of talks and nothing done. Characters just sitting there and doing nothing.
To sum it up: it's a show that should have maybe 8-12 episodes instead of 30, but they dragged it along the way for the money. I know better indian shows where they dramatized a scene with 1 minute of eerie soundtrack and face closeup that are better than the scenes where the characters do absolutely nothing. Even the talks are so boring and with no substance/plot setting intention. They are there just to be there like a guy that when he wants to tell a story about how he got his first pension, he starts with the moment he is born even though he has to leave in 5 minutes. Good luck listening 30 hours of a story from which maybe...MAYBE...2 are worth it.
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