Zhu Lian Yu Mu (2024)

It's A Long, Long Journey, So Stay By My Side

The Story of Pearl Girl is exactly that--the journey of a young girl, Duan Wu, from slave girl at a pearl farm to a renowned jeweler and businesswoman. It is a remarkable journey, full of all the spice of life--pain, joy, greed, revenge, tragedy--and in the center of it was Duan Wu, who later reshaped herself into Su Ma Zhe.

The first half of the drama moved at a good click. Our heroine suffered horribly as a slave and managed to escape. Her dream, as she told Zhang JinRan, the 2ML, was freedom and we see this theme throughout the entire drama.

Duan Wu's quest for freedom landed her on a ship, first as an indentured servant of sorts to the male lead, Yan ZiJing, and later as his friend, partner and lover. But that was only the first half of the journey. She had much to learn about life and freedom.

Yan ZiJing was a hard taskmaster because of his background. He, too, had been an imprisoned child and knew how difficult it was to survive alone. Thus, his treatment of Duan Wu was very harsh in the beginning but we, the audience, see and understand the reason behind this in later episodes. YZJ wanted to teach Duan Wu how to survive and not fall prey to all the evil schemes in the world.

On the other hand, the 2ML, Zhang JinRan was the total opposite--a by-the-book official, one who saw life in black and white, who was intelligent but somewhat naive, calculating enough to see through people, yet was also unwilling to bend the law a little, even to achieve justice.

Both these men loved Duan Wu in their own capacity and supported her as much as they could. Of the two, YZJ understood Duan Wu's yearning for freedom far better than JinRan precisely because he had lived at the edge of danger and death most of his life while the latter was a young rich nobleman who had been insulated from the harsh reality of how slaves actually lived. However, Duan Wu would learn much from both these men as she slowly become the new her.

Right in the middle of the drama, the Big Change happened. Like the proverbial tale of a phoenix rising from the ashes, so too must Duan Wu face the flames of transformation. A huge, devastating tragedy happened and her entire new life she thought she had gained disappeared overnight.

The second half of the story started with Duan Wu going at it alone, making her way from desert to snow to city, transforming into Su Mu Zhe. The journey was a tough one but the price of freedom for her here was
1) independence (and so she must do this alone)
2) individualism (and so she must be more proactive to assert how she wanted her life)
3) innovation (and so she must always strive to be better than her competitor)

What made Duan Wu such a great character to watch was her resilience and ability to move on in the face of suffering. She did not dwell on bitterness or self-pity (not for long, anyway). She climbed every mountain in her way like they were mole hills, learning to adapt to be a smooth and knowledgeable city woman.

Standing in contrast was Cui SiJiu, the antagonist of the drama. Cui SiJiu was perhaps the most interesting character of this story--a tomboy turned concubine, a woman who wanted to run a business like a man, trying to please her father over and over even though he just saw her as a useless daughter. SiJiu was hateful, seeing those below her family's status as ants to be trampled on. We were never meant to like her but her journey was nonetheless an interesting one.

CSJ yearned for freedom too. But her choices toward her goal were rash and cruel. Over and over she was given the opportunity to change and over and over she made the same mistake, blindly blaming everyone but her actions for her losses. The price of freedom, when she finally gained it, was very high too. I myself didn't pity her lot at the end (although many other viewers bawled their eyes out). She had so many opportunities to be redeemed and yet, all she showed was spite and cruelty.

If we looked at CSJ as the other side of the coin to Duan Wu, we see how both women, alone and clever, dealt with what life gave them in entirely different ways. Both yearned to be "free" and their opposing paths (and choices) gave insight on how one could miss out on many positive things of life just because of hate and revenge.

Speaking of revenge, YZJ lived for revenge. And through revenge would he, too, find his freedom.

The journey of our main character, as I said in the beginning, was a long one. Duan Wu fought her way through it. The first half was her fight for basic survival and the second half was her fight for societal survival. Because once you crawl out of the shell in the ocean of misery, you must polish yourself to shine in the river of life. And shine she did.

Cinematography -- The underwater scene in Episode One was worth watching on a big TV screen.

Acting -- Zhao LuSi proved here she could handle any role. She had always excelled in comedy. In Pearl Girl, she also tackled a serious role who went through multiple tragedies. She was mesmerizing with her fleeting changes of expression. Liu Yu Ning gave a strong performance as YZJ, although now the joke among his fans is that LYN's main roles have only 80 percent chance of survival LOL. Special praise also goes to Chloe Xie as Cui SiJiu--she made a hateful character somewhat relatable and in the end, gained redemption. And who could forget the great Wing Man of the drama, Kang Ju?!

Editing -- There were some choppy scenes, especially in the last two episodes. This 40-episode rule in C-Drama really hurts story lines that need a little bit more expansion. The ending could have been smoother with an extra one or two episodes, maybe covering the poison, the two love birds' final days, even the ending where it was just a summary. It would have been nice to see Zhang JinRan, the 2ML be by her side. The current edit resulted in no emotional payoff for the invested viewer at all. It was just lazy storytelling.

There were also parts in the middle that could have been shortened. I heard many of 2ML's scenes were cut. That was unfortunate because it would have made for a smoother finale. As for the foreshadowing--there was plenty of it, so I was NOT surprised at the ending at all. A little bit underwhelming, actually, because why must ALL feminist-focused stories have to have the FL end up alone? That's not the end-game of female empowerment, folks. It's stupid, writers. Feminists need lovers, friends and family too, you know. And if you wanted to foreshadow that heavily, WHERE WAS THE FREAKING PAYOFF? Be brave. Give us the payoff since you dared to crush our hearts.

I rate this drama a strong 8,8

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