Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Yue Hong (2024)

Not The Best

I guess the disappointment is equal to the hype..

I usually love Yang Mi, I find her face and expressions interesting but not in this drama. In this drama there are only visuals and better side stories. For the people who say she was limited by the character she was portraying which is meant to be stoic and solemn, I think in addition she was limited by her skills/commitment to the character, and most of all limited by the overambitious and overpopulated story. I’m going to focus my ire on Yang Mi’s acting choices, the editing and the storytelling. Actually some of the greatest acting opportunities come out of still/silent/handicapped/emotionless or apathetic roles, the actor is given the challenge to connect to her audience through unconventional use of skill which has sometimes birthed brilliant performances but perhaps Yang Mi was disinterested or uninspired in this particular role because it was giving stolid and impassive throughout. Perhaps the directing also has something to do with this. The backbone of every stoic main character is the storytelling, for every nonplussed reaction of the actor the audience must draw empathy from believing the backstory or inner angst of the character! Flat acting will not lead to this. Overexplaining and underexplaining plot points will not lead to this.

Lucid storytelling that is balanced plus nuanced acting work hand in hand to deliver dramas worthy of applause or plausible enjoyment.

The visuals are beautiful, Yang Mi took my breath away in the promotional artworks every. single. time.
However when I would go to watch, the same YM wasn’t believable enough to draw me into the story, causing the expectation generally to be left cold. The writing is not worthy of the investment, it is just there I guess they needed a script, and a shaman. The editing is also choppy, disorienting and perhaps doesn’t showcase the acting or story to its full merits.

As for the coupling of YM GJ: Yang Mi does her best with her stoic ‘I’m sitting on an iceberg with fire burning inside me’ routines, while GJ is always more lively and expressive but somehow never feels sincere. I’m vaguely curious of the behind the scenes whether any genuine connection or chemistry was captured? Does Yang Mi like Gong Jun? These are my petty questions but I can’t care enough to search.

Is Gong Jun a good leading man in any romance drama with a strong woman lead? I’m doubting this more and more with each drama. Last time I saw chemistry from GJ was WoH (which I dropped because I found the story unoriginal) and Advance Bravely (which I enjoyed him in). He seems to naturally play a naughty boyish character that is the same in every drama I’ve seen him in, but more subtle in Begin Again which I wandered away from by episode 15 and just started watching other things. I think the twinkling boyish vibe in him can mainly suit comedic dramas with bright and breezy storylines and witty heroines which may cover for any lag with chemistry. As for this Fox Spirit drama… not a good pairing IMO. Cheeky characters have always been paired with phlegmatic beings to create magic from contrast, in this case it just seemed bizarre, and that’s coming from someone who enjoys noona, shifu and age gap dramas. I even found GJ’s bickering relationship with Tushan RongRong more interesting to look at in the first few episodes, than his potential passion for the love of his life.

This drama exhausted my tolerance for mismatched couples. I could not wait for Zhang Linghe and Chen Duling to come up, I ended up watching their story on iQIYI YouTube, it just got uploaded and I enjoyed all 26 minutes of it.

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