The Cdrama was your idea, @Fern, so thank YOU. π
Iβm craving for Persian koobideh (grilled ground beef) with rice, and tabbouleh (parsley, tomato and cucumber minced) for dinner tonight. Springtime for me means al fresco dinners with dishes that I can just pick up on the way home. What are you having for dinner tonight, @Fern?
Fern
My husband made moussaka tonight because we love aubergine/eggplant but our daughters don’t. They are both away traveling right now, so we are eating all of the things they dislike. It’s only starting to be warm here; spring is late.
It sounds like you are craving hot weather food. Oh, I do love tabbouleh and I grow mint just to be able to chop it and add it in with the other spices. The Koobideh sounds good too. There is only one authentic Persian place near us. I haven’t tried it yet. But there is a Kurdish restaurant in town that has lamb kofta. Is that similar?
grace
@Fern, you had me on eating the food our kids dislike…when they are not with us. I was so happy to eat all the things my kids won’t eat when I went on a holiday with my girlfriends sans kids.
Anyway dropping here to say I finished this drama!!!!
I don’t think I have time to go back and rewatch some scenes but just saying that they sure got us hooked on the last episode.
I cannot imagine, but do couples not talk about their big life decisions with one another? Seems like it is so with ZJ. All CMD wants is for them to do life together and she is living it like she is single with a fling on the side (kinda exaggerating their situation but it is somewhat to that note). She doesn’t share with him her worries, her concerns and I understand that it is a difficult thing to talk about but it is not like he didn’t know she will still be going back to Shanghai.
In episode 20, he was so upset with her when she going to take the train to Shanghai. Was she going to leave without telling him?? I get why he was so angry with her. She does feel frivolous, because from his view, she seem to come as she like and go as she like. No consultation like couples do.
Still enjoyed the show, the lessons about separation and death, living and love.
Lixian and Zhou YuTong delivered their characters well, loved FL’s sprightly portrayal of ZJ. I somehow like her voice and her style. She was great in a noona drama, Nothing For You, a tennis show with WuLei. A friend said these two actor/ress are underrated. Is it?
GrowingBeautifully (GB)
@grace, @Fern
Oh dear, same here! I’m always longing to have my favourite vege dishes but can’t. My family has a rather limited range of veges that they will eat. πππ
I felt that ZJ’s brush with death during the accident that killed her father, and the loss of her leg, have made her decide to be aggressively alive and successful. Shanghai was the symbol of her success, and I recall her friend Wang Xi Xia saying that it’s not so much that they like the city itself, but that they like who they are when they are in it. ZJ mentioned that when she walks in Shanghai, no one knows about her father or her leg.
I guess she has become so caught up in being independent and able to get on that she forgets that an engagement/relationship with a significant other means one has to include the other party in decision making. CMD knew she felt threatened by the risk that she’d lose her independence. He gave her lots of lee way so that she would not feel she was giving up what mattered to her, but she didn’t understand that for the big decisions, she could not just decide on her own.
CMD on the other hand is settled because he has Granny to take care of, and a job at which he excels in Nanping. However, his way of regarding people began with the expectation that they would walk out of his life. He had been affected not only by his parents’ divorce, but also when ZJ left when they were still teens. I’m not sure if his relationship with Song Yi meant all that much to him … I feel that when that he mentioned his first break-up, he might have meant more the separation from ZJ than the break-up with Song Yi.
In any case I felt that CMD’s attitude was fatalistic, and it was a defensive stance, ie he didn’t want to connect with people because it would hurt when they left him. It took a long time (turning point was Ep 5 and again in a later episode 6 or 7?) for him to decide to give ZJ a chance to prove that she would not leave him.
He did say he was okay with her working in Shanghai but not for years on end without a plan for their future together.
I find that even I, as an onlooker, might think she was frivolous or maybe someone with her own agenda. The quite aggressive way she approached him repeatedly, the fact that she was gone from Nanping for so long and suddenly came back like a long-lost friend to all kinds of acquaintances: it looked like she was putting on all that bon homie as a good salesperson out to get leads. Then there was the way she just kissed him in public. She was serious about him but her actions said something else.
I liked that both had their growth arc of sorts… at least CMD became less fatalistic, was able to let go more without being angry and looked forward to every second of living instead of thinking that death should be expected. ZJ was shaken out of her complacency, and I saw the beginnings of her being more considerate of CMD.
Yes, I like both actors. I enjoyed Nothing But You. Wu Lei did a great job convincing me that he was a pro sportsman.
I don’t think any of these main actors are under-rated. From the number of shows they do and from the many of them in which they have the leading roles, production houses know that these actors can deliver and they have their fans, hence they bring in the money.
It was a good watch, but no time to really rewatch unless I just want to re-visit certain scenes. π
grace
This drama will be a realistic drama with nuggets of life advice peppered in.
Beyond that, it makes us look closely at the actions and the starting point behind they way they do what they do.
I also liked their growth arc, not the most obvious changes but gradual ones. It is realistic because it takes time to let these ideas sink in.
I agree with you that her ability to be such a good salesperson means she has a way with words to get what she wants. Though, like what CMD says about her, she doesn’t think before she speaks…talking too fast is not always an advantage.
I liked how the difference scenes in this show is well intentioned to bring out different change in scenes. I’m not one to understand productions and scene changes but I really enjoyed the way the scenes are purposed and brought out.
A few favourites scenes
– the tunnel walkway on the way to the trains..where CMD and ZJ kissed, fought, reconciled and separated.
– their first kiss on the train and the aftermath
– the death of ZJ step father (not that I liked it but that it was such a heart wrenching and sad scene, yet it was a time CMD shone with his words of wisdom amd encouragement)
– Xixia’s reprimanding ZJ for the way she treated CMD in her attempted “first night”.
– the small things CMD does in the background to help ZJ in her work…like the medical tourism industry opportunity.
Of course the many sweet friendships and family moments.
Fern
@grace and @Growing Beautifully, I agree with all that you have said above. I found that it’s not so much that ZJ was frivolous as she was perhaps a bit too used to being the only person making decisions in her life – self-centred in a natural sort of sense. She really did like CMD since they were young – she wasn’t a player.
In rl I think that conflict between careers is a huge source of stress in relationships, if the careers are important to a person’s identity and self-esteem. If one person has to give up or significantly alter their career to stay with the other person it can lead to problems later. Also, often it’s the woman who is asked to give it all up because women are often underpaid compared to men, so their career is less ‘valuable’. I don’t think that was the case in this drama, though. Both were well paid if we can judge by their properties.
I was really disappointed in ZJ for not telling CMD sooner about her plans – it was really a breach of trust. Not that he wasn’t expecting it, but that she went until the last minute and the scope of her time away was much more than he was expecting. I’m glad that CMD worked to get the medical tourism industry started in their area and I liked how Cui helped pass that information on to ZJ. In the end, they were together and hopefully would communicate better.
Did all of you watch the epilogue after the credits on the last episode? @Kate has been watching, although she isn’t on the blog atm. She messaged me because I had skipped it once the credits were rolling. π₯°
GrowingBeautifully (GB)
@Fern, thanks for the alert! I just watched the epilogue … it was so sweet. Surprisingly it brought tears to my eyes!!! I’ve not heard of homing geese. LOL.
Fern
@Growing Beautifully, it also showed that the mother had a part in it. She said she left the gate open, but I think it was also possible that she contacted the goose farmer and possibly already paid for the gander, given that little glance she exchanged with ZJ.
grace
Thanks @Fern!!! Gosh I would have missed all of that if not for your heads up!! It was such a sweet scene!!
I’m so glad the director doesn’t waste the scenes, I kinda found the scene of Jisan goose following the gaggle of geese in the tunnel a little out of place…I get the advice part from the old man, but with that scene coupled with this the last scene, it has a bigger purpose.
The other change I liked is the change in the mum, she has grown to accept their relationship, accept ZY’s art interest, and also Jisan goose, enough to let it come back. Yes, she wasn’t surprised at all, and even had a huge cushion for them. BUT she was surprised by the second goose π She complained that it is another mouth to feed. hahaha!
Rereading my above comment and I apologise for the many grammar mistakes..I cringe when I read it now. Sorry!
GrowingBeautifully (GB)
My dear @Fern and @grace, that Epilogue which I believe many of us missed, actually is a beautiful, lyrical resolution. The whole series feels more complete now, because of that epilogue. They really should have put it in as part of the main ending and not after the credits!!!
Yes @grace, there seems to have been a bigger purpose… a comment is being made about being family, about acceptance even when people aren’t making big decisions as desired, about accepting differences, accepting without understanding everything first, accepting even the odd goose LOL.
@Fern, I am a bit uncertain about that gander … perhaps Jisan Goose had been brought back upon request, but the gander was an unexpected extra! The huge pillow for Jisan shows that Mother knew that at least Jisan was coming home.
In any case, I really liked the big family hug, the great embrace of love.
(This, you see, was what was missing in the finale of Queen of Tears. As simple scene like this would have made all the difference in giving greater resolution.)
Yes, the important thing for me in every character centred drama, is that enough characters grow, and grow sufficiently. I feel Mother grew far more than our leads or rather, their growth is too subtle to be very obvious, but I know they have changed too. So did ZJ’s brother and sister. It was very satisfying. π
Fern
@Growing Beautifully, I was just making guesses about the gander. In any case, he will stay.
I liked how this was also a follow-on from Yan’s recent discussion with Chen Mai Dong (I can’t just call him Dong, either! π when he said something about talking with his mother about ‘girl-friend trouble’ which could be code for his sexuality? CMD said you have to approach these topics carefully with the older generation. There wasn’t any further development of that topic.
In the epilogue, the mother teases Yan saying that she will turn his loud jacket into another goose bed. Yes, the mother has definitely grown.
grace
I suspected his “girl-friend trouble” woes has got to do with his sexuality. Interesting..this managed to pass censorship..or did it slip them!! But of course if you take it at face level, it isn’t. And if you try to read between the lines…
That’s sneaky smart scriptwriter….
Thank you for this thread, @packmule3. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks also to @kate who found the hidden epilogue that drew the drama together.
OH BUT I SWEAR if you dug out my “LOST POSTs” (3 of them) you’d see that I introduced WLIS in the end of April WWAW Thread
Not that it matters .. Was so happy that it was started .. BUT YOU know .. we become CRY BABY grumpy when you’ve lost your candy and aren’t given one because they think “but you just had yours”.
WAH WAH WAH .. that feeling of silly frustration.
NOW ..
@pm3 HAVE A LOOK at “BRANDING IN SEONGSU”
I’d seriously recommended a thread to open on that one ;-p
(folded hand and pliss pliss pliss)
Fern
@Bosuji, where can I find Branding in Seongsu? That is to say, is it Netflix, Viki or ???
π¦π¨π§. Thanks again, @packmule3.
The Cdrama was your idea, @Fern, so thank YOU. π
Iβm craving for Persian koobideh (grilled ground beef) with rice, and tabbouleh (parsley, tomato and cucumber minced) for dinner tonight. Springtime for me means al fresco dinners with dishes that I can just pick up on the way home. What are you having for dinner tonight, @Fern?
My husband made moussaka tonight because we love aubergine/eggplant but our daughters don’t. They are both away traveling right now, so we are eating all of the things they dislike. It’s only starting to be warm here; spring is late.
It sounds like you are craving hot weather food. Oh, I do love tabbouleh and I grow mint just to be able to chop it and add it in with the other spices. The Koobideh sounds good too. There is only one authentic Persian place near us. I haven’t tried it yet. But there is a Kurdish restaurant in town that has lamb kofta. Is that similar?
@Fern, you had me on eating the food our kids dislike…when they are not with us. I was so happy to eat all the things my kids won’t eat when I went on a holiday with my girlfriends sans kids.
Anyway dropping here to say I finished this drama!!!!
I don’t think I have time to go back and rewatch some scenes but just saying that they sure got us hooked on the last episode.
I cannot imagine, but do couples not talk about their big life decisions with one another? Seems like it is so with ZJ. All CMD wants is for them to do life together and she is living it like she is single with a fling on the side (kinda exaggerating their situation but it is somewhat to that note). She doesn’t share with him her worries, her concerns and I understand that it is a difficult thing to talk about but it is not like he didn’t know she will still be going back to Shanghai.
In episode 20, he was so upset with her when she going to take the train to Shanghai. Was she going to leave without telling him?? I get why he was so angry with her. She does feel frivolous, because from his view, she seem to come as she like and go as she like. No consultation like couples do.
Still enjoyed the show, the lessons about separation and death, living and love.
Lixian and Zhou YuTong delivered their characters well, loved FL’s sprightly portrayal of ZJ. I somehow like her voice and her style. She was great in a noona drama, Nothing For You, a tennis show with WuLei. A friend said these two actor/ress are underrated. Is it?
@grace, @Fern
Oh dear, same here! I’m always longing to have my favourite vege dishes but can’t. My family has a rather limited range of veges that they will eat. πππ
I felt that ZJ’s brush with death during the accident that killed her father, and the loss of her leg, have made her decide to be aggressively alive and successful. Shanghai was the symbol of her success, and I recall her friend Wang Xi Xia saying that it’s not so much that they like the city itself, but that they like who they are when they are in it. ZJ mentioned that when she walks in Shanghai, no one knows about her father or her leg.
I guess she has become so caught up in being independent and able to get on that she forgets that an engagement/relationship with a significant other means one has to include the other party in decision making. CMD knew she felt threatened by the risk that she’d lose her independence. He gave her lots of lee way so that she would not feel she was giving up what mattered to her, but she didn’t understand that for the big decisions, she could not just decide on her own.
CMD on the other hand is settled because he has Granny to take care of, and a job at which he excels in Nanping. However, his way of regarding people began with the expectation that they would walk out of his life. He had been affected not only by his parents’ divorce, but also when ZJ left when they were still teens. I’m not sure if his relationship with Song Yi meant all that much to him … I feel that when that he mentioned his first break-up, he might have meant more the separation from ZJ than the break-up with Song Yi.
In any case I felt that CMD’s attitude was fatalistic, and it was a defensive stance, ie he didn’t want to connect with people because it would hurt when they left him. It took a long time (turning point was Ep 5 and again in a later episode 6 or 7?) for him to decide to give ZJ a chance to prove that she would not leave him.
He did say he was okay with her working in Shanghai but not for years on end without a plan for their future together.
I find that even I, as an onlooker, might think she was frivolous or maybe someone with her own agenda. The quite aggressive way she approached him repeatedly, the fact that she was gone from Nanping for so long and suddenly came back like a long-lost friend to all kinds of acquaintances: it looked like she was putting on all that bon homie as a good salesperson out to get leads. Then there was the way she just kissed him in public. She was serious about him but her actions said something else.
I liked that both had their growth arc of sorts… at least CMD became less fatalistic, was able to let go more without being angry and looked forward to every second of living instead of thinking that death should be expected. ZJ was shaken out of her complacency, and I saw the beginnings of her being more considerate of CMD.
Yes, I like both actors. I enjoyed Nothing But You. Wu Lei did a great job convincing me that he was a pro sportsman.
I don’t think any of these main actors are under-rated. From the number of shows they do and from the many of them in which they have the leading roles, production houses know that these actors can deliver and they have their fans, hence they bring in the money.
It was a good watch, but no time to really rewatch unless I just want to re-visit certain scenes. π
This drama will be a realistic drama with nuggets of life advice peppered in.
Beyond that, it makes us look closely at the actions and the starting point behind they way they do what they do.
I also liked their growth arc, not the most obvious changes but gradual ones. It is realistic because it takes time to let these ideas sink in.
I agree with you that her ability to be such a good salesperson means she has a way with words to get what she wants. Though, like what CMD says about her, she doesn’t think before she speaks…talking too fast is not always an advantage.
I liked how the difference scenes in this show is well intentioned to bring out different change in scenes. I’m not one to understand productions and scene changes but I really enjoyed the way the scenes are purposed and brought out.
A few favourites scenes
– the tunnel walkway on the way to the trains..where CMD and ZJ kissed, fought, reconciled and separated.
– their first kiss on the train and the aftermath
– the death of ZJ step father (not that I liked it but that it was such a heart wrenching and sad scene, yet it was a time CMD shone with his words of wisdom amd encouragement)
– Xixia’s reprimanding ZJ for the way she treated CMD in her attempted “first night”.
– the small things CMD does in the background to help ZJ in her work…like the medical tourism industry opportunity.
Of course the many sweet friendships and family moments.
@grace and @Growing Beautifully, I agree with all that you have said above. I found that it’s not so much that ZJ was frivolous as she was perhaps a bit too used to being the only person making decisions in her life – self-centred in a natural sort of sense. She really did like CMD since they were young – she wasn’t a player.
In rl I think that conflict between careers is a huge source of stress in relationships, if the careers are important to a person’s identity and self-esteem. If one person has to give up or significantly alter their career to stay with the other person it can lead to problems later. Also, often it’s the woman who is asked to give it all up because women are often underpaid compared to men, so their career is less ‘valuable’. I don’t think that was the case in this drama, though. Both were well paid if we can judge by their properties.
I was really disappointed in ZJ for not telling CMD sooner about her plans – it was really a breach of trust. Not that he wasn’t expecting it, but that she went until the last minute and the scope of her time away was much more than he was expecting. I’m glad that CMD worked to get the medical tourism industry started in their area and I liked how Cui helped pass that information on to ZJ. In the end, they were together and hopefully would communicate better.
Did all of you watch the epilogue after the credits on the last episode? @Kate has been watching, although she isn’t on the blog atm. She messaged me because I had skipped it once the credits were rolling. π₯°
@Fern, thanks for the alert! I just watched the epilogue … it was so sweet. Surprisingly it brought tears to my eyes!!! I’ve not heard of homing geese. LOL.
@Growing Beautifully, it also showed that the mother had a part in it. She said she left the gate open, but I think it was also possible that she contacted the goose farmer and possibly already paid for the gander, given that little glance she exchanged with ZJ.
Thanks @Fern!!! Gosh I would have missed all of that if not for your heads up!! It was such a sweet scene!!
I’m so glad the director doesn’t waste the scenes, I kinda found the scene of Jisan goose following the gaggle of geese in the tunnel a little out of place…I get the advice part from the old man, but with that scene coupled with this the last scene, it has a bigger purpose.
The other change I liked is the change in the mum, she has grown to accept their relationship, accept ZY’s art interest, and also Jisan goose, enough to let it come back. Yes, she wasn’t surprised at all, and even had a huge cushion for them. BUT she was surprised by the second goose π She complained that it is another mouth to feed. hahaha!
Rereading my above comment and I apologise for the many grammar mistakes..I cringe when I read it now. Sorry!
My dear @Fern and @grace, that Epilogue which I believe many of us missed, actually is a beautiful, lyrical resolution. The whole series feels more complete now, because of that epilogue. They really should have put it in as part of the main ending and not after the credits!!!
Yes @grace, there seems to have been a bigger purpose… a comment is being made about being family, about acceptance even when people aren’t making big decisions as desired, about accepting differences, accepting without understanding everything first, accepting even the odd goose LOL.
@Fern, I am a bit uncertain about that gander … perhaps Jisan Goose had been brought back upon request, but the gander was an unexpected extra! The huge pillow for Jisan shows that Mother knew that at least Jisan was coming home.
In any case, I really liked the big family hug, the great embrace of love.
(This, you see, was what was missing in the finale of Queen of Tears. As simple scene like this would have made all the difference in giving greater resolution.)
Yes, the important thing for me in every character centred drama, is that enough characters grow, and grow sufficiently. I feel Mother grew far more than our leads or rather, their growth is too subtle to be very obvious, but I know they have changed too. So did ZJ’s brother and sister. It was very satisfying. π
@Growing Beautifully, I was just making guesses about the gander. In any case, he will stay.
I liked how this was also a follow-on from Yan’s recent discussion with Chen Mai Dong (I can’t just call him Dong, either! π when he said something about talking with his mother about ‘girl-friend trouble’ which could be code for his sexuality? CMD said you have to approach these topics carefully with the older generation. There wasn’t any further development of that topic.
In the epilogue, the mother teases Yan saying that she will turn his loud jacket into another goose bed. Yes, the mother has definitely grown.
I suspected his “girl-friend trouble” woes has got to do with his sexuality. Interesting..this managed to pass censorship..or did it slip them!! But of course if you take it at face level, it isn’t. And if you try to read between the lines…
That’s sneaky smart scriptwriter….
CMD’s advice for Yan is wise.
πͺπ¨πͺπ§πͺπ₯€πͺπ¨πͺπ§πͺπ₯€πͺπ¨πͺπ§πͺπ₯€
Thank you for this thread, @packmule3. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks also to @kate who found the hidden epilogue that drew the drama together.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GMtJlkUaMAAXXUK.jpg
Youβre welcome, Fern.
@Fern
@pm3
@GB
(making sad face)
OH BUT I SWEAR if you dug out my “LOST POSTs” (3 of them) you’d see that I introduced WLIS in the end of April WWAW Thread
Not that it matters .. Was so happy that it was started .. BUT YOU know .. we become CRY BABY grumpy when you’ve lost your candy and aren’t given one because they think “but you just had yours”.
WAH WAH WAH .. that feeling of silly frustration.
NOW ..
@pm3 HAVE A LOOK at “BRANDING IN SEONGSU”
I’d seriously recommended a thread to open on that one ;-p
(folded hand and pliss pliss pliss)
@Bosuji, where can I find Branding in Seongsu? That is to say, is it Netflix, Viki or ???
Many thanks. I will look for a trailer.
What is it that you like about it so much?