the aggravated ayi
Vancouver, Canada
Park's Contract Marriage Story
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entertaining, but confusing ending
Park Yeon Woo is a Joseon woman who finds herself suddenly in modern day Seoul after a botched murder attempt sends her through a time portal. The first person she meets is Kang Tae Ha, a young executive of a large retail corporation. Tae Ha not only looks exactly like the husband she had just married in Joseon & who passed away on their wedding night, he also carries the same name but doesn't recognize Yeon Woo. Gradually, she meets others in Tae Ha's circle who also look exactly like those who were around her in Joseon, including the vengeful mother-in-law.The story then falls, as the title suggests, into the contract marriage trope in a tale of repeating fates as Yeon Woo's "new Joseon" adventure parallels her previous Joseon life, including finding a profitable high end market for her embroidery & dressmaking skills. Past secrets gradually get revealed in a sordid tale of family betrayal all in the name of social status & greed.
In spite of the dark undertones the show was light & funny with a few LOL moments, but as the ending approached it got rather confusing . Yeon Woo is given a chance to change the course of her family history but her behavior didn't seem consistent with what I thought her character might do with a 2nd chance with her past love. The last episode also felt very glossed over, after a dragging previous episode which was basically an hour long good-bye scene, & a longer epilogue would've been nice. One important character, the mysterious spirit who catalyses Yeon Woo's time travel, is never really fully explained.
Finally, Lee Se Young as Yeon Woo showed more spunk & comic flare than she did in the early eps of Red Sleeve & remained strong throughout. Bae In Hyuk as Kang Tae Ha, is obviously more inexperienced with his performance. Veteran Jin Kyung as the mother-in-law deserves special mention with her portrayal of one of the more complex characters in the show.
Overall, an entertaining watch but too bad the ending fizzled out.
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when a bright sun becomes a black hole; Yang Zi's most challenging role yet
This is a story of 6 childhood friends, growing up together until university & career scatters them all for the next decade. An impending marriage prompts a reunion, setting the stage for the rest of the drama. The story centres around Huang YingZi, played by Yang Zi, who is tasked with finding and bringing everyone back to their home town for the wedding of one who is marrying outside of the group. Frequent flashbacks gradually tie past & present together as each member of the group tries to come to terms with the problems in their lives, where they've been & where they need to go. Which is putting it lightly. The themes of domestic/sexual violence & familial neglect eventually bring the story down to the darkest depths of depression, culminating in an horrific trauma rocking the entire group at a time when most teens experience their highest hopes. The primary arc involves YingZi & her relationship with her closest friend & unrealized long love JiangYi. A significant secondary arc is the friendship between adult YingZi & her literary idol, Ding Ye, a once famous but now struggling author who shares a similar past trauma.Somewhere between Ashes of Love and Immortal Samsara, YZ's acting matured very impressively and I was looking forward to seeing her in this drama. In a recent news article YZ is said to have had reservations about playing an 18 yr old & didn't want to be seen as "overacting" the part. Unfortunately, "overacting" is exactly the first word that jumped into my mind early on. Teenage YingZi is not only the centre of the story, she acts like the centre of the group: loud, in-your-face, commanding all the attention & telling everyone what to do. When switching to 30 y/o YingZi, YZ plays her much more subdued even though the character maintains the central status, & YZ appears more comfortable in the older role.
I didn't realize Yang Zi is already 31 years old. And I don't know why, but age & representation are becoming a big issue with me these days. Because the story jumps back & forth between past & present so frequently, & due to the large cast, using the same actors for both time periods makes sense. But the problem here is there's a 10 year age span between the oldest & youngest actor portraying this cohort. YZ is finally in an age appropriate role, but has to act opposite people who weren't even born yet when this fictional group first formed at age 6, & there's an 8 yr gap between her & her ML. Lack of maturity results in lack of depth. With the exception of YingZi, the group all experience severe abandonment & emotional abuse throughout their lives & portraying how that affects someone at age 30 is not something actors in their early 20's can pull off. Adult YingZi has matured to being better able to understand the issues her friends struggle with, & works to bring her friends together to help each other resolve them. However, some of the younger cast succeed only at giving downcast looks & being helpless. This just sets up YingZi to the rescue because, of course, she's the centre.
While the drama starts with the awkward overacting, it then follows a conventional line with the main leads dancing around each other, dodging possible love triangles along the way. YingZi became more sympathetic as YZ's handling of the transition of the leads' relationship was funny & spot on. And her character's in-your-face-edness is actually brought back to her as a criticism. The rest of the group go through workplace & marital/relationship problems of their own. The strength of the writing came through as I became more interested in the outcomes of all of the group member's challenges by the 2/3 mark of the show.
Unfortunately, not until the final 1/4 of the show comes a shocking twist, catalyzed by the character of Ding Ye. Instead of being the bright sun which all around her orbited, it becomes clear YingZi had actually been a black hole for 10 yrs, sucking up all of her friends' & family's energies into her own problem. I then realized the drama all along has been as focused on YingZi as she is on herself. Only her birthday is shown being celebrated with a big show of her receiving gifts from the others. They all bend to her whims. She's the only one with 2 stable & caring parents. She's done very little for her friends in comparison to what her friends have been doing to preserve her fragile psyche in her own fantasy world, in the aftermath of the severe trauma that affected them all. It's narcissism in the extreme. However, YingZi does come to realize her behavior with the help of ever patient & all forgiving JiangYi, & all her self-centredness comes crashing down on her. Nevermind whether this situation is even realistic or not, I'm not qualified to say, but this rollercoaster was exhausting to watch.
So... not knowing anything about the story beforehand, I found this drama very compelling & surprising that it tackled such heavy themes. What I found wanting was a deeper exploration of each member of the group, more of their own perspective & individual response. Whether the narcissistic focus on YingZi was intentional or not, it's too much to have viewers also get sucked into that black hole. The character of JiangYi could've served as an anchor & should've been given much more weight. Finally, I wonder about the overly aggressive product placement of Stefanie Sun at the end. This caters to a specific audience & only serves as a time waster. At any rate, it was nice to see YZ playing her age. This role is very challenging & I give her credit for being brave enough to try. I hope she continues to challenge herself in this way & I'll continue to watch her shows with interest.
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light & entertaining but lacklustre finish
Song Kang, the "Netflix King" for having so many shows exclusively on this network, shows his comic talents in this story of a demon, Jeoung GuWon, who takes advantage of despair & suffering to make deals with humans willing to trade their souls for relief. A master in the human world who is used to having absolute power, he meets by chance Do Do Hee, a workaholic CEO who proves to be his nemesis. DDH is played by Kim Yoo Jung (a veteran at age 24) who gives her character a refreshing hard nosed edge, with enough depth to reveal a lost & vulnerable soul within without turning her into a caricature.This show is infused with funny moments in spite of its very dark undertones. And although all the usual romance tropes are in play, somehow they're not annoying when you have SK to look at, & whose dramatic acting is actually decent. The storyline follows a largely predictable path but with smaller twists that aren't so obvious & keep things interesting. There's also the past lifetimes theme which is very popular in fantasy genres, showing how demons are born from pain & resentment, & tying the lead characters together over centuries. And, of course, no demon is complete without a demon hunter, but the character who I thought would be that, didn't become that. Questions of who or what constitutes evilness, whether the devil is in humanity or exists separately, are ever present. And, God is a woman, also of course, & one whom this demon serves.
In spite of the questions, Demon is not a deeply philosophical journey, but is entertaining and very binge-able until the rather lacklustre final episodes where innocents are redeemed & bad guys get their due.
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very lightly entertaining
I've followed Zhao LuSi for some time and she is on a lightning streak in her career. I never considered her particularly strong as a dramatic actress, but what she is good at are light comic roles, and the early part of this show suits her very well. Wang An Yu stands up well alongside ZLS's star power.Like other epics, this story spans vast stages of time but this show deals with much narrower issues. It begins with the imminent awakening a Fire Phoenix god, whose birth event is disrupted by GuJin, a true god who has yet to arise to his own destiny in the divine realm. He comes across a lowly spirit beast & together they start a journey to revitalize the Fire Phoenix.
I've read that The Last Immortal is a sequel to Ancient Love Poetry, a show I enjoyed very much, but there's not a lot of reference to it. TLI takes a long time to even start approaching the intensity of ALP. The tone changes from light comedy to serious half way through & here's where the leads' lack of depth in their performances become apparent. The story & action also drags noticeably before picking up once more as we enter the second act. However, rather than develop the characters' relationships more deeply, the show deals with all the villians rather early or too quickly, as with the long suppressed demon god. Too much time is spent with everyone firing their energy beams at each other while crying in angst in between. The ending felt somewhat unsatisfactory.
I don't have a lot to say about this show. It's lightly entertaining but the storyline doesn't hold any surprises, the CGI is bad, the costuming so-so, and no deep philosophical questions. It's good that ZLS could have a career in singing (she sings the opening theme song) if her acting doesn't carry her much farther, but this show won't stop her current streak.
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fantastic ensemble cast
Best show I saw in 2022, & not just because the main character has the same last name as me. "A crime doesn't turn into a local custom just because everyone does it" (Ep13). In 2004 a wealthy village chief's son sexually assaults a bridesmaid at a villager's wedding, setting off a chain of events over the next 13 years, unravelling layers of misogyny, corruption, & oppression within not only the judicial system but among family members. The struggles between the individual & the collective is exacerbated in the migration from the village to the city & the march toward modernization. The story follows the bride in her relentless fight for justice for her family & their very own livelihoods. The ensemble cast is fantastic, portraying very complex & intersectional characters with sensitivity & grace.Vond je deze recentie nuttig?
Eye-opening but shot too dark to see
Is a teacher's purpose only for helping students pass exams? Not knowing what a hagwon is when I started this drama, I had homework to do. Why are school kids learning in an office building? isn't that setting usually for adult night classes? It took a few episodes just to get a sense of the role of hagwons, or private prep schools, within the public educational system. Teachers compete against each other for students while pandering to the parents, measuring success by how many get accepted to prestigious universities. It's a complex world of ultra-privilege & free market dynamics, intertwined with regular schooling like a cancer, choking out academic freedom & feuling incredible pressures for all involved.Speaking of night classes, this drama made me claustrophobic. Most of the scenes are visually dark: offices & rooms appear windowless, what windows were visible had their blinds drawn during the day, many outdoor scenes were nighttime, & classrooms & offices are so small all the occupants looked like they were virtually shoulder to shoulder. It made for a very oppressive setting. In fact, the overall look was so dark I actually had to adjust the brightness of my tv just to see what was going on (it's a cheap tv).
In spite of the show being uncomfortable to look at, the story itself was fascinating as it introduced an aspect of S Korean society I hadn't seen before, nor have I experienced anything close to that where I live. The story follows Seo Hye Jin (played by Jung Ryeo Won) a top performing teacher at a Daechi-dong academy. Her life is turned upside down when her former star student, Lee Jun Ho (played by Wi Ha Joon) quits a comfortable, nepotically achieved corporate job & is hired as a new teacher into her own team.
When you've been teaching for while, you discover it takes a student to challenge you to your roots. HyeJin unknowingly instilled in JunHo genuine wonder & curiosity in literature which was the spark to the improvement in his grades. But having been in the business for so long, HyeJin seems to have forgotten that focus, locked into her memorization techniques & dependency on her ability to predict exam questions that brought her to the top of her game. In stark contrast is JunHo's approach in encouraging exploration & appreciation. Catalyzing their explosive clash is a brilliant 10th grade student Lee Si Wu, who is in the top tier of smart: i.e. he actually knows what he doesn't know. Si Wu fully understands his perfect scores are like walking blindfolded on a tightrope, totally dependent on knowing which questions to study for, rather than being able to handle any question that could come his way. He knows how to memorize, but doesn't know how to read. JunHo wants to teach students to read, a skill for a lifetime, which would bring a seismic shift to the role of the academy as an economic machine, catering only to parents' wishes.
The influence of hagwons is so deep they affect real estate, & this is reflected in Jun Ho's pursuit of becoming successful enough to buy his own home. In spite of growing up privileged in Gangnam, he's determined to achieve his own living & stay in Gangnam. Stronger than his own economic ambition, however, is his pursuit of the true purpose of education & his own role as a teacher.
At the center of it all is JunHo & HyeJin's noona relationship, one in which HyeJin has a very hard time overcoming the teacher/student mindset. And, given her own hesitancy & inexperience, she's paradoxically mature & immature at the same time. JunHo challenges her on different levels &, in this respect, I felt this was one of the more realistically presented age gap romances I've seen. Things get ugly when ambitious executives at the school seek to use this relationship to destroy HyeJin's career. This somehow made me lose interest in the show in it's final episodes as it plunged downward into viscious office politicking.
The subject of hagwons has been eye-opening & for that reason I enjoyed the story which is the show's greatest strength, along with good performances from the cast. Unfortunately, the show was also visually suffocating with all the poorly lit interior & night time settings, & with a lower res tv I sometimes couldn't even see the actors' faces clearly. If you can get beyond that, this drama was well worth the watch for an honest examination of the purpose of education itself.
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Strong performance from Crystal Liu in a richly nuanced study of love & relationships
The Tale of Rose is a show that grabs you visually, immediately. Crystal Liu is Huang YiMei, & her story starts when she's a 22 year old art graduate in Beijing, catapulting in the art industry to the position of exhibition curator through sheer spunk. A walking work of art herself, she's stunningly beautiful & she knows it. She also knows her beauty makes her a target for others to blame for their own misfortunes, but she refuses to accept that responsibiity. Liu bursts through every scene like a tornado, sweeping up everything around her, and I don't know why but I can't stop staring at the clothes, the hair & makeup, the bouncy non-chalance. But it's an immature soul inside that huge cloud of powder, and tornados are destructive.The story follows YiMei and her older brother ZhenHua as they both pursue love in whatever form it may present to them. ZhenHua's gentle nature is in stark contrast to YiMei's firey liveliness. In fact, YiMei's initial relationship with a work colleague was such a rollercoaster I wasn't sure I could stomach it for an entire show as I realize I'm only on Ep12 at this point. But those clothes, that hair. I think this is the 1st show where it's not just an actor simply wearing a designer outfit; Liu lives & breathes that fashion, completely embodying a character who wears a ball gown as easily as pyjamas.
Live & learn, as they say, & as time goes on, YiMei decides to go back to school in a much subdued state, leaving her family in Beijing to go to Shanghai where she meets her 2nd love. At this stage she has changed so drastically that the question is can she find true happiness if she is not her true self? And are men really different from one another? Whether they are lone wolves or mama's boys, they all seek to control when they are unable to grow. Empowering oneself without disempowering the other takes a lot of maturing.
And fact check needed: can a husband resign his wife from her workplace without her consent, or her employer even confirming with her since the spouse is basically an unvetted stranger? This can't be legal, even in China, so this is quite a stretch in the story. If YiMei has the guts to sue for a divorce, why wouldn't she also sue for her job? This question is more or less answered at the end when she realizes she'd rather let go than fight to keep things, including love.
Legalities aside, this show becomes a fascinating look at the push & pull, the hanging on & letting go, overcoming & being overwhelmed at any & all stages of relationships, spanning almost 20 years of the lives of YiMei & those around her. Not to mention differing attitudes toward success & family, particularly from money grubbing mothers-in-law. The story even includes a character who becomes a single parent by choice, further commentary on the role of men as partners in modern women's lives. YiMei never loses herself no matter what she goes through and her fearlessness in pursuing the paths she chooses never wanes, especially when she finally meets her true soulmate, another free-spirited artist. She's like an immortal who's banished to the human realm to endure all aspects of human suffering. The 3rd relationship felt underdeveloped & overdrawn within the story as it passes very quickly, & was harder to sympathize with. However, the show draws to an end with YiMei coming to a reconciliation with all the people in her past, while recognizing that she can never be settled with anyone other than herself. This might make her selfish, but at least she's honest & unapologetic about it.
Another detail that was too distracting: if you're caught in a rain storm on a mountain hike & you are wearing an appropriate outdoor jacket that comes standard with a rain hood, why wouldn't you put that hood on? Yes, it's more visually dramatic to to be soaking wet with water running down your face, but if you don't want to die of hypothermia you need to Put. That. Freaking. Hood. On.
Anyway, aside from a few annoying details, I think this is the strongest performance from Crystal Liu I have seen. She doesn't overact the character at 22 years of age, unlike other celebrities (I'm thinking Yang Zi). Tong Da Wei as ZhenHua gives a steady performance & makes his character an anchor against YiMei's tumultuous life. Overall, I found this show very richly nuanced & quite enjoyable.
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Tone & pace maintained from S1, engaging story & well acted
It's nice to see the tone & pace are largely the same as from S1, same superb performances from the veteran actors. Love the patient, close examination of finer details in both scene & conversation. I've read that there are many jokes which don't translate well. Although my Chinese is limited, I can tell that the dialogue is sharp & fast and, even from what is translated, some scenes can still be very funny to a Western trained eye simply because the acting is that good. The CGI is not up to Western standard, but the natural sets were stunning.Once again, Fan Xian schemes & this time makes a choice of who to align with, and characters continue to surprise, making the viewer guess what their next move might be. The crown prince became more cunning & surprisingly likeable. In fact, many characters now show a lighter, more casual side to themselves than in S1. Even Shadow is given not only a personality, but also aspirations, & presents more as a human being. Wu Zhu experiences self-doubt since he's been freed & on his own, & my suspicions of his identity from S1 were confirmed. Many characters returned from S1, although some were given very little screen time in S2.
S2, however, is less broad in scope as the story mainly centers on Fan Xian consolidating his influence within the capital, under his declared goal of weeding out government corruption. The romance takes a back seat to the political intrigue. Lin Wan'Er, who should be the most important person to Fan Xian, isn't even mentioned until Ep5. However, the development of their relationship was gripping as they reach new levels of understanding with each other. Wu Zhu doesn't show up until past the half-way mark at Ep26, but is involved in a drastic new development as he continues to be an important key to the mystery of FanXian'smother. FanXian's mission takes the story through the conventional settings of the imperial examinations, and the highly anticipated wedding with Wan'Er.
The season ends with Fan Xian one step further into taking control of his mother's assets, & without an agonizing cliff hanger as in S1. However, hopefully the wait won't be long for S3. The story remains highly engaging & I'm ready for S3.
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Outlandish family antics makes a cringeworthy watch
I felt that by watching this show I would give Xu Kai & Yang Zi one more chance before I give up on using them as the primary reason to watch any of their shows. And how lucky that I can watch them both in one show before making my decision. I have enjoyed past shows starring each of them, but the enjoyment was due more to the power of the story & production, rather than their performances.Best Choice Ever is another rich/poor CEO/employee set up in Shanghai. Yang Zi plays 29 year old Mai Chenghuan, a senior employee in the sales department of a luxury hotel. Xu Kai plays Yao Zhiming, the newly arrived, foreign educated, CEO of said hotel, of course. MCH is already in a tenuous 3 yr relationship with the son of a large design company, & of course gets off to a bad start with her new boss.
MCH's engagement to the future successor to a large business partner of the hotel she works at poses the ultimate conflict of interest as both businesses seek to use the upcoming marriage as leverage for their financial deals. The conflicts of interest don't just stop there. The drama presents a lawyer representing his girlfriend, & using work resources for personal issues while proclaiming not to be doing that, as being ok when it involves the main characters.
There's an interesting contrast between modern & traditional Shanghai. Rich families embody the modern, spacious lifestyle, while MCH lives with her 4-member family in a tiny, old apartment so cramped her younger brother has to sleep on a cot in the living/dining room. This living condition is what they can afford & allows them proximity to the business district, where the children can pursue career opportunities & still come home to a cooked meal. This is the commitment of MCH's working class parents.
Trope after trope follows, but the emerging themes are what role should marriage play in a woman's life, & how do you maintain professional integrity when personal conflicts of interest are constantly thrust upon you. It's a dismal world of pure transaction, where someone's interest in you is only as far as what they can get from you. That transaction can often apply to your own family, which drives children to spend their lives slavishly trying to appease their parents' regrets. And, as usual, success only comes with luck & circumstance, rather than how hard you actually work.
Unfortunately, as the drama progresses, the events that unfold become more & more bizarre. It also becomes apparent the story isn't really about MCH & YZM, but rather MCH & her mother. The dialogue is contrived & stiff. Lines are delivered in long, preachy sentences which is very unnatural. Plus, the lengths that the mother goes to in order to force what she wants from MCH was so outlandishly immoral & embarrassing it was painful to watch. Like throwing a surprise lavish engagement party just to publicly force MCH into marriage, or loudly barging in on MCH while she's literally heading a staff meeting just to order her to go eat lunch, would make you cover your eyes faster than the scariest horror movie. Such fodder would've been much better presented as comedy; instead, MCH's mother has to be the most irritating character I've seen in any drama. Does the screenwriter (or author) have an unresolved issue with their own mother to create such a distorted character? Towards the end of the show, the mother is firmly planted in the viewers' faces (as if you didn't have enough yet) by becoming the focus of the final 4 episodes, spiraling downward & taking everyone with her. Was she supposed to be the main character after all? And what is the "choice" referred to in the show's title? Is MCH choosing her mother? She has no choice but to deal with her.
Yao Zhiming turns out to be MCH's step-cousin by marriage, & they connect through their (step)grandmother, but their relationship is hugely overshadowed by the theatrical hysteria of all the other arcs in the show. YZM's character basically stands on the sidelines & clearly takes a back seat to MCH who puts in a gargantuan focus on her mother. He supports her just so she can support her mother, with the consequence being that they still remain unmarried at the end.
YZ seems to be caught in a loop of goody two shoes roles while XK has not changed from the muted, boyish & cocky rascal. This show has simply mixed the two together but nothing new has come out. All in all, Best Choice Ever is over the top & confuses who the viewer is supposed to sympathize with. Mother/daughter relationships are always hard but this show is next level cringe when you see how a mother can ruin a daughter's life.
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If There is Still Time Left
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Deze recentie kan spoilers bevatten
How to live in the face of death
It's been a while since I last saw Lin Yi (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) but he seems to have been quietly building an interesting portfolio of dramas with real stories. Angels Fall Sometimes looked like another interesting show. Lin Yi plays Lin Tuo, a talented young person with a promising career as a designer, suddenly facing an early death sentence with a diagnosis of ALS.The last show with a similar theme that I watched was Love is Panacea (2023). Angels achieves what Panacea does not: it addresses the question of how to live in the face of death. In these types of dramas involving terminal illness, I tend to look for messages of hope or possibilities on an individual level. Panacea failed on several levels & for a while I thought Angels would fall short as well. Angels explored so many negative reactions, the what-not-to-do, surrounding the main characters for most of its duration. Its tone didn't change until the final episodes when all the questions that built up were finally addressed.
It's a cultural thing to cover up serious illnesses, but trying to maintain an alternate reality by lying is toxic & unsustainable. The level of denial & inability to cope is far worse than trying to face the truth in the first place. It was rather rediculous to watch, but sure enough, the friends who try to support Tuo break under the strain & his secret isn't kept for very long.
Toxic parents add to the mess, because why not? They suddenly become concerned & compassionate at the flip of a switch. If the workaholic father was essentially estranged from his sons for most of their lives, to the point of being oblivious to the younger son's near suicidal depression, why would he rush to Tuo's side at the drop of a hat & apologise for being a shit parent at first word of Tuo's illness? That didn't make much sense but at any rate they become an important part of Tuo's support network.
Keeping the illness secret from his grandfather by lying about why he's in a wheelchair is another level of incredible. Will the grandfather find out only when it's too late? The cruelest thing to the people around Tuo is to not allow for a proper good-bye.
Tuo retains intellectual capacity & the desire to work throughout his disease progression. His workplace supports his being there and eventually installs a wheelchair ramp at the front entrance. But instead of assigning an assistant to help him draw, his employment is initially maintained by making him use his wheelchair as a delivery cart to bring coffee & supplies to his office mates. From being a highly marketable designer, he becomes someone simply to be taken care of & every ounce of autonomy is taken away from the get go. Does he really accept this patronizing loss of dignity?
The acting overall was not bad. From the beginning the leads were so relaxed & easy with each other, it seemed natural & was nice to watch. But the 2nd FL character was annoyingly antagonistic & shouted most of her lines at the top of her lungs. Honestly, what is the purpose of such a character? Lin Yi did fairly well in portraying the very difficult role of Tuo, but Landy Li showed the strongest performance of all the cast as An ZhiQue, the steadfast girlfriend who takes matters into her own hands to pull Tuo through his ordeal. The actor playing Tuo's neurologist was so natural in fact, I wondered if he was an actual doctor. The show thankfully doesn't delve into romance tropes as the story is not a fairytale romance but a tale of endurance, purpose, & meaning.
I knew this drama was described as a "tear-jerker" going in, but what I was looking for was a message of hope and a show of possibilities. I'm a doer, not a cryer. Up to 20 episodes are spent highlighting the emotional impact on the people around Tuo, who behave quite badly. There's a lot of hysterical crying, shouting, & getting smashed drunk without realistic solutions to enhancing Tuo's quality of life. The despair & helplessness is somewhat unsympathetically portrayed. Then come moments of clarity, like ZhiQue's father telling Tuo to put as much effort into himself as his friends were putting into helping him (although an actual psychologist might've been more beneficial). However, by the final 5 episodes we then get Tuo finally not only facing his reality but also finding a new purpose to his remaining life. He revives his role as a designer and continues to work as I felt the character should've been supported to do so from the start of his illness. The show further explores the stories of other ALS sufferers & the various effects on them & their families, & ends with the decisions Tuo is able to make for his life as a result of the full support of all those around him. So the hope, possibilities, freedom of choice, & having a meaningul life are there & I'm glad this show was able to reach this conclusion.
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Perfect kitsch, well worth a re-watch
I very rarely rewatch shows as I'd much rather spend my time exploring new ones, but this show happens to hold a special place in my heart. I grew up in North America & first got into watching Asian dramas only in 2021, thanks to Netflix. The first shows I started on were Taiwanese ones from 2011-2013. There's something unique about this time period & I was so fascinated by the level of the storytelling in the dramas & the pure fun of the comedies. And the music - the soundtrack songs became my introduction to the modern Asian music scene which I now listen to almost exclusively after listening to 1990's British/American alternative in my formative years.I've since moved onto Mainland China & Korean dramas, but I was brought back to this one for a re-watch. It's very representative of the kitsch of this era: cringeworthy over-the-top-acting, annoyingly immature characters, & eye-rollingly implausible situations. But what caught my attention was the scenery, the bright colour palette, the house the characters lived in & how they lived in it, all to the tune of a very catchy theme song which still brings a warm feeling when I hear it. And prior to the spectacular downfall of his own making, Aaron Yan was king in 2013. The light hearted, playful tone & pure irreverence of this show, & some others of that time/place, is largely unmatched in anything I've seen since (over 150 shows in the last 3 years). And 2nd time around, I'm realizing how hilarious Dean Fujioka was as the love rival. This show can be reviewed critically as lousy, but what it achieved sentimentally is something that can't be rated, so I give it my mid-range 7.5.
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entertaining story, appreciate the art
Ma Wang, a god of death, trades his murderous power to would be kings who end up in bloodthirsty reigns, until one dying king decides to seal Ma Wang forever into his official portrait to end the blood shed. However, a shaman's errant rain ritual ends up releasing Ma Wang, only to have him sealed up once more in the body of the gifted rain diviner & astronomy advisor to the subsequent king, Ha Ran (Ahn Hyo Seop). Who then can save Ha Ran but Hong Cheong Ki, a divine painter who holds the key to containing the evil threatening his life.In spite of it's simple premise, so complicated is the story that this drama starts with a preview filled 1st episode, solely dedicated to explaning all the characters & their relationships in this show. And even then it was dizzying, especially when you have to read subtitles & can't keep an eye on every face flashing on the screen.
I was impressed by Kim You Jung's no-nonsense portrayal of her character in My Demon & I can see the same spunk in her personality here in Red Sky. That energy is good in playing forward thinking characters. I also previously saw AHS in A Business Proposal, & here he delivers much the same muted performance. While the acting overall isn't stellar, at least it doesn't detract from the story which is imaginative & actually sparked my interest in Han Dynasty painting & portraiture. The show delves into the art of painting to the point of exploring the concepts of line & form, & the inference of a subject without actually showing it. Surprisingly, this held my attention as much as waiting to see how the lead characters will achieve their ends. Oddly though, the drama purports to tie up "loose ends" & yet it leaves the arc of the royal princes battling each other hanging, with a 3rd prince frequently mentioned but never shown.
As a fan of the gods & demons genre, however, I found this drama overall very entertaining.
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Comic relationship adventure with odd editing, conflicting themes
Shim Jung Woo was the highest & youngest scorer civil service exam, highly reluctant prince consort, and naive straight shooter. "Those who marry matchmakers are destined to live short lives" is a saying taken to extremes as SJW's princess bride to be drops dead during the wedding ceremony, foretelling his own unrealized true destiny. Rowoon is very good at comic roles & hilariously portrays SJW as haplessly innocent in spite of his high intelligence & strong sense of justice.Cho Yi Hyun plays Jung Soon Deok, a widowed noblewoman who moonlights as matchmaker under the pseudonym of Yeo Joo Daek, unafraid of any challenge, & is as free spirited as Jung Woo is rigid. Her talents are so natural it leads SJW to believe she is the incarnation of a matchmaking god.
No period drama is complete without palace intrigue as the Joseon king fights resistance from his own court to appointing the sickly 14 yr old crown prince's marriage and thus, by inference, his ascension. To lift a rumoured curse on the prince's future marriage (and political) prospects, the king orders SJW to marry off 3 "old maidens" whose unmarried status threatens the prosperity of the kingdom. SJW teams up with JSD in a funny and raucous ride to find the perfect bachelors for the maiden sisters. However, the journey gets rather dizzying with sudden flashbacks for mutliple characters, new characters introduced at different times, and complicated backstories with hidden identities. And there's one significant character, the king's second grandson & chief political threat to the crown prince, who's mentioned frequently but never shown during the entire show which is very odd.
Therefore it took me almost a 1/3 of the show to get into the story because of the mish-mash of flashbacks & jumping storyline, but eventually as the matchmaking for the maidens gets going I could just enjoy the comic moments & follow the development of the relationship between the leads. Then their matchmaking efforts fall apart as the politics heat up and past crimes come to light, turning the leads into detectives. There is also the prospect of a child marriage with a 10 yr age gap, presented as a fated true love match, which cannot be portrayed positively or realistically even if it was acceptable centuries ago. It's uncomfortable, actually, to see this in the storyline as no big deal & it conflicted with my enjoyment of the show. Finally comes the age old question of do you follow your heart or your fate? In the end, the good people are happy & the bad people get their due. The romance is light & funny, the politics heavy & perhaps unnecessarily tragic, but an entertaining watch overall.
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formula romance with good performance from Elaine Zhong
I get very skeptical watching C-dramas involving hospitals. It's rather jarring to see rich patients pay for what amounts to hotel service, in a hospital. Or getting an IV drip for a cold. Or getting an invasive diagnostic procedure just because. Or blatant violations of informed consent. Anyway, I now try to put all these things aside and try to enjoy the show.Qin YunSheng, a young but soon to be widowed cardiothoracic surgeon, commisions a glass house on the beach from up-and-coming designer, Su Ying. The house is an oceanside refuge for YunSheng and his terminally ill fiancee to spend her last days. However, the controversial glass design proves unstable in build and, 6 years after his fiancee's passing, YunSheng and Ying are re-united in a bid to fix the deteriorating structure.
The show then follows the developing relationship between the grieving doctor and the designer who helps him fulfill his deceased fiancee's final bucket list wish, and move onto a new start for himself. The story progresses rather smoothly (and blandly) without any serious challenge until Ep16 when personal and professional issues come to a nasty mix. Then we get trope stew with sabatoging ex's (including an ex you didn't know you had), backstabbing colleagues, and misunderstandings piled on so thick you're actually glad to see the formulaic break up scene. Never was a ML given a more satisfying lambasting.
By the usual separation scene, however, I found myself more sympathetic to the characters and I realized this was due to the subtle and consistent performance of Elaine Zhong as Su Ying. Writing-wise, it was nice to have female characters that don't speak with high pitched baby voices, are assertive at work, and who get food delivered to their office desk by the boyfriend instead of the other way around. Ying is also surrounded by her competent staff working perfectly in sync. Even though the show barely passes the Bechdel test with some of the office scenes, Ying pulls through that final crushing mess with a quiet strength that doesn't waver.
A major attraction of the show for me was the tropical paradise backdrop of Haikou City on Hainan Island. Bright sandy beaches, winding seaside highways, beautiful modern view apartments and all the ammenities of a modern city, all to the tune of a catchy cha-cha-cha theme song. I kept watching just for the scenery and lifestyle. Although the actual location of the story was kept fictional, there were frequent shots of the landmark Haikou Century Bridge. I just Google image searched; please correct me in the comments if I'm wrong.
This show is otherwise a mildly dramatic romance with gorgeous scenic views, ending with the signature house that started it all. A nice fluff piece if you don't get too annoyed with the tropes.
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light and entertaining
Past and present collide in this rom-com about a city lawyer with a mysterious ancient curse and a civil servant with whom he shares an "unseverable destiny". If you are undecided on whether to watch a modern or costume drama, this show will deliver both.While there are all the usual ingredients of a rom-com, this show is more entertaining than average. There wasn't the usual shy, denial of feelings, but rather a full on "Sorry - Not Sorry!" head first dive into love. Shin Yu believes he is under a love spell cast by Hong Jo and struggles to fight it. "You're not pretty, but you are to me!" It's a funny internal battle between a newly awakened heart and a seasoned analytical brain. A few scenes were too slow but, before you get too bored, the story manages to move along with hints into previous lives, dark magic, murder and suspense. However, the draggy scenes were during the modern portion of the show and I felt more time could've been spent on the historical back story. Rowoon and Jo Bo Ah change pace smoothly and maintain their chemistry between the two settings.
The overall cast is very funny and work well with each other. However, it was almost uncomfortable seeing Park Kyung Hye being very over the top; she has had better roles. The comic timing between the 2 ML's as they compete against each other in 1 of 2 intersected triangles is spot on. It's also nice to see two decidedly unglamorous people in their own romantic story arc; it counters the expectation that only young and beautiful people can fall in love. Rowoon, noticeably freakishly tall (his height is mentioned several times), is good at comic scenes and his fans won't be disappointed. He is maturing into a decent dramatic actor as well.
If you're not looking for anything too profound, this show is light and entertaining to watch.
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