The Lighter and the Princess' Gown (2022)

The SHOW that DAMAGES you for a LONG TIME and traps you in a REWATCH cycle for its beauty

I HAVE been SMITTEN with the BRILIANCE of L&P, it's made everything else look uninteresting and pale in comparison.
I echo many of the L&P fans addiction to the show when I say "L&P has damaged me for dramas"

I have been puzzling over why for many it did not click.
- those who have dropped it inspite of being initially interested
- or those just didn't get the point of it
- couldn't tune into the 'sizzle' in the convos between the lead characters
- a reason for the many who did not enjoy and got tired, bored, dropped

It did require knowledge in Computerese (software AND hardware / Coding / Apps / Internet / Hacking / IT industry / future Tech, which played a BIG role in the "juice" and "thrill" of the show.
The entire dramatic suspense pivoted on 'understanding' even if just at basic general knowledge and current affairs level the world of computing / IT / computer hardware / game design / App and Website design / hacking / programming / viruses
There is so much 'technicalese' in the long convos amongst the characters, that would require unpacking :

- when and why Li Xun wins the Blue Crown Deal (the entire presentation for bidding)
- why it was a Herculean feat by Li Xun to have "rewritten" the bid AS WELL as the coding for the final website design
- how Zhu Yun was discovered and what was she up to at the Xiaobei computer lab
- how Xiaobei's understanding of the website design was so shallow
- why it was a genius leap to have come up with the App for Blue Crown over Website of Blue crown (Li Xun's vision for future of Smart Phone use when 4G is moving into 5G soon)
- Li Xun's ability to see the future of how Apps / Internet use can be harnessed for GREATER GOOD of humanity
- the brilliance of dreaming of a future for medical Science and reducing the rate of cancer deaths by 1% (propelled by the all consuming grief at the death of his mother) and HOW were they going to go about it; why it needed deep pockets and backers; to see in it the immensity of the idea's scope
- when and how Li Xun exposes the weakness of Fang Zhijing's Star Award winning product
- how the Invincible General Game was turned around from being a laissez faire product to a product for nerds / geeks and found its niche following
- why it was a HUGE touching moment when ZY purchases (with her own money) the HOST component and is trying to assemble (Titan) while we see LX has gone "shopping" for the same after taking the day off and not even intimating what he is up to.
- what was the Blind Box Game's allure (why it bothered ZY but all the males were cool with it, including her 'green flag' artist beau Xiu Jhu Tian) and why it would take 6 months even for any COPY to be made, unlike how easy it was for Old Gao to have copied Invincible General
- the significance of LX financing the Blind Box Game and becoming a majority shareholder at Flying Heart.

And last but not least amongst this listing is WHY it was clear that Old Gao was bright BUT mediocre, his goals materialistic ... while Li Xun was a visionary, an institution builder (are there shadows of Ayn Rand's FOUNTAINHEAD in his and Zhu Yun's character portrayal) ??)
OKAY I thought I could write several reviews the show .. But MDL does not allow that .. therefore today I posting additonal material :-D
And I can't stop sharing how the show looked from my LENS (I've been on the Discussion Thread also)

Here I copy-paste my comment, with the main intention of just freely expressing WHY L&P works for me, in an attempt to offer a 'different lens' to Li Xun's character and rescue it from the one dimensional view of him as :
- toxic
- red flag
- contemptible
- devoid of ANY redeeming features

I was JUST about to chip in with that. Li Xun can't be described as MORALLY GREY without some elaboration and examination of his behaviour and actions.
Right from the beginning we see proof that he does not choose to INTENTIONALLY betray, take advantage of, back-stab, take people for a ride - he knows what is right and what is wrong, knows what is evil and what is good. MOST IMPORTANTLY he know what it means "to break the law"(I'll get back to this with a few examples from the show).
Yes.
He definitely has a rude, impatient nature, a cut and cold way of speaking; is strongly opinionated in his own field of interest and pursuits; is single minded to a fault when it comes to chasing his ambition and dreams; is intolerant of mediocrity and isn't 'polite' about telling it as it is.

In short, he's NOT a touchy-feely guy - it very quickly becomes evident (and the evidence keeps piling up as we watch the episodes, getting to learn his backstory, watch his actions.
He was probably born with a strongly introverted personality, so when tragedy struck (father passing away when he was very young) his life script switched on a style of defence mechanism not uncommon in such personalities. And he's GIFTED, a GENIUS. He has learnt to shroud his 'sentimentality, and softer emotions' from the world.

ONLY those most intimate to him, know this side of him.
ONLY those he feels understood by, those who manage to get close enough to seep into him with their genuineness and warmth; those who can rattle him, make fun of him, (Zhu Yun / Old Gao), challenge him, question his way of thinking, threaten him, press triggers in him that elicit reactions. He's been used to for too long of being feted, due to his REMARKABLE BRILLIANCE. He is an outlier one can easily gather from how his abilities are portrayed in the show.

The most intimate to him include his sister Li Lan, his mother. Li Lan is the one we get to hear from the MOST about LX childhood, what it was like for him growing up. He without wallowing in self pity stepped up to wear the mantle of guardian to his mom and sister, selflessly working to 'make money for the family' and be as little of a burden to them as possible. He is a self-made human from a young age since his father passed away.
We see such warm touching, affectionate moments with his mother, the softness in his gaze when he looks at her, tends to her. We hear Li Lan telling ZY how deeply he cared for his mom, so much so that it led to a falling out with her also. In his teen mind drunk with grief he told her off : "if you gave up on mom, leave me alone now" - meaning "stop fussing about my health now" when she was worried and insisting on him getting a surgery.

He sank even deeper into a pit and hid after his mother's death, unable to even keep in touch with his sister over the years. Probably grew a few more prickly thorns and a harder shield.

One can only imagine what transpired for him from the moment he became an orphan, was kicked out of school, lost a school year, survived on his own, and YET came out on top as HIGHEST scorer of the batch - retaining his reputation as a GENIUS.
When Li Lan resigned to her "destiny" : "All in all this our destiny. We have to admit it."
LX was ALL determination steaming from his red eyes, swollen with grief, his face plastered with tears, he countered with: "I won't admit it" meaning he'll never allow that to become his mantra.
In an act of rebellion he declares to himself and to the world (dying his hair blond after his mom's death, knowing very well that his "uncommon look" will draw attention and might even affect his school admission: "Even if everyone in the world admits the fact, I want to be different from them. Nothing can beat me down. I won't give in. I can only depend on myself."
Pu Shu's song playing in the background - at the concert that LX has bought ticks for Li Lan and ZY - how much more of hidden knight in shining armour can you get - BEAUTIFULLY highlights the moments of this back story scene.
"Just so Young ,
Just so Crazy.."
His dorm buddy Fu Zhio instinctively knows this aspect of him, and 'likes LX' A LOT and sees through all his tough and rough and gruff, and thus is one of the RARE folks in the show that LX goes over to off load his inner disquiet (Ren Di is like his alter ego, the ONLY other person we see him seek out when his mind and emotions are in a muddle).

And then of course there is Zhu Yun.
After a bout of Zhu Yun's initial negative impression of him (which incidentally is Zhu Yun's trigger to squash him and show him his place by ridiculing him at the Fresher's Night StandUp Cross Talk; and then teaming up with Old Gao, to challenge his academic superiority during the fight for LX's Programming Base vs Old Gao's Interest Group Computer Club) she slowly starts to see that hidden side of him too.
Of course his STUNNING HANDSOME LOOKS, good enough to be a model, ;-p also plays a role (a well established TROPE in Dramaverse *chuckle*)

The side of him that is :
- humorous, (he makes that silly pig virus, alluding again to the Little Piggy joke ZY cracked on stage, as the HW she was sent to collect by Fang ShuMiao, for her to download and submit. he calls her Princess and jokingly introduces the princess he has 'especially invited' to the Base - Old Lin had a role to play in coaxing ZY to join the base ..and one suspects Old Lin might have also exchanged words on that with LX .. since he was waiting just outside his class when ZY emerges after Lin's "talk" to her )
- playful (how he teases ZY .. when she persists on getting him to do HW / attend morning study class etc; connects with her by lobbing / flicking things at her - paper pellet, keys of the roof, bread packet he's bought her as lunch that boinks her head. ..
Close friends do that .. joking and kidding around ..
- jealous, (of Volleyball School Champ - Jiang Xing Chi whose making moves on the girl who he by now clearly fancies; of artist friend of ZY - Tian Xiu Jhu when he sees him drop ZY off in a fancy car and she seems very close and friendly to him
- warm, kind, loyal, upright
- capable of self reflection (when Zhu Yun explains to LX why Gao is upset and that he should make amends .. LX meets him on the roof and tells him that he wants Gao in his team and together work on the goals)

Examples of which start to build up as the drama progresses :
~ LX even as a down and under kiddo, never takes a penny more than he needs - 1000 from his game buddy in middle school when he's trying to make extra cash for his hospitalised mom, even though he offers a LOT more;
~ 140300 from Fu Zhio for breaking into the school grades system even though he says he could get him millions for sure;
~ refuses to take Fu Zhio's money and ZY seems to KNOW there is NO WAY LX will accept Fu Zhio's hard earned savings;
~ does not throw his buddy Fu Zhio under the truck when they are found out for cheating, IN FACT it's Li Xun who GOES to the Director Liu (in the Rain dripping like a wet crow) and BEGS her to let Fu Zhio off and asks to take the full blame for it; (which self serving person would risk doing something like that!!);
~ refuses to accept Xu Lina's funding even when she is throwing herself at him, and then failing that, she disguises it under "you don't need to marry me .. just take my money as an investment" .. in his upright heart he knows it would be wrong to use XuLina's money when she is so clearly in LOVE with him .. He won't "use" her, not for this.

He steers clear of people and things he thinks is a 'waste of time" - in his opinionated world - he's a man in a hurry to get things done ..
Things IMPORTANT in his world view : building institutions and a future where tech serves the greater good .. an App that reduces the "cancer detection and cure rate by 1%" ..
That long haul project becomes his mantra! The main product of the business set up he has been planning for - probably EVER SINCE his mom died. They were not aware of this drug Levartini because of lack of info and shared knowledge in the medical world.

In its scope he has taken on a gargantuan project that will need to align with hospitals across the nation and collate millions of data points from medical diagnoses (that is what we see him preoccupied with in the second half of the back story of college .. he has even dropped out of college to fast track this business plan - it seems like he wants to prevent deaths due to lack of info as soon as he can launch this App.

He is a visionary and he's written into the character as a person whose goals are lofty .. and because his eyes look so far into the future of the IT industry and he has a sharp searing intelligence that cuts through low quality b.s. ideas (in his qualified, fine critical judgment ability), he seems unable to or even interested in slowing down.

(You know this is the reason 'gifted' children are put into separate programs to cater to their super speeds of absorption and cognitive abilities - they are often loners because they cannot understand their peers, vice versa. While emotionally these gifted kids are often lagging behind a lot .. and thus special teachers are assigned to them who understand their minds.)

Winning the Blue Crown website Bid, making the Blue Crown App for sale, is all in alignment with how step by step he is planning for the start-up venture ..
He is not one to back down even if it means killing his body and health speed coding - writing revised bid documents that run into hundreds of pages .. all the while reading up and staying abreast of current advances and needs of the industry (ZY is amazed at when did he even gets the time to find out SO MUCH about Blue Crown .. including personal info of their owner's wife ? or was it mom? being an expert in Chinese Medicine).

Using up hours and hours arguing and explaining his strategy, his design ideas (especially when he senses a 'denseness' in the questions asked) dearly tests his 'energy level'.
He is probably anyways always functioning at the edge of his exhaustion limit, with the amount of sleepless nights he spends on the roof on that rickety back ache-y seat, and at the base slouched over his laptop, setting deadlines for himself AND delegating work for the large team he is already leading.

The fact that he loses patience; and often allows his team members to learn from their mistakes, rather than stopping them; asks them directly to decide if they can take the "pressure of the work"; asks them to trust his leadership skills is quite understandable and worthy of consideration in assessing his reactions, actions, behaviour.

NO ONE understands or condones his attitude and behaviour at college (not Old Gao, not Fang Shumiao, the other kids are too in awe of his 'mind' to even consider approaching him ... NOT EVEN Old Lin .. who is a a SENIOR professor and although he holds Li Xun's abilities with tremendous respect he also chastises him for his 'arrogance' and sometimes, bullies him into participating in 'competitions' that to Li Xun is again a TOTAL waste of time, FAR BELOW his capabilities.

Li Xun already belongs in the big bad adult world of professionals and entrepreneurs competing for a foothold when his peers are simply 'students studying from books'.

The Base is his idea .. and his pitch must have been SO FANTASTIC (given he's a noob freshie at college) to the College board that they immediately constituted a "profit aspect" AND "credit aspect" to the work done there in lieu of STUDY periods .. which according to him was wasted on books .. when all the learning in Programming HAD to COME from "breaking a few keyboards" and working within the real world industry.

I am NOT sure if my long long piece explains anything about the DRAMA's build up, action and character and themes.
Whether it adds .. clears up anything about it's MUCH reviled ML - Li Xun.

Bottomline : not everyone is going to be interested in watching a SLICE OF LIFE kind of show -
~ about a character like Li Xun and Zhu Yun,
~ or a show that has Computer and IT jargon as BED ROCK of its action and dramatic tension;
~ has ML descend into the darkest pit possible in "dramaverse" (short of murder - as in Cruel City);
~ with character arc of the lead being a slow burn evolution;
~ where even in the end you JUST ABOUT BARELY start to see the flecks of sunlight flickering in his eyes .. and his body get more easygoing, his persona open up allowing the entry of many more humans (flawed and pock marked).

I could keep writing .. endless are my observations as I keep rewatching the drama for the beauty of its script, construction, cinematography, mise en scene, music which is a potent punch to the scenes unfolding); the audio track that goes pin drop silent, or listens in on the ambient sounds, or cues up music; the direction; the the acting; casting choices; set design; production quality.
The symbols that appear .. Lighter / the usage of Princess as it appears in its many connotations / ZY's many different reactions to being called by that name.
Character analysis of the MAINs other than ML and FL .. Gao / Xu Lina / Fang Zi Jing / Fang Shumiao / Ren Di / Father Zhu / Mama Liu The nature of their inter-relationships amongst each other.
Anyway I'll stop now ROFL ..

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