The thread is open.
If you have time this week to begin this series, join me.
Cast: Lu Yu Ziao and Chen Xing Xu
Episodes: 28
12 episodes are out already on both Viki and Iqiyi.
Start Date: January 9
Airs everyday
Where to Watch it: Viki and Iqiyi
Network: Dragon TV
A note on the cast: This actor, Chen Xing Xu, is new to me. He’s 29 years old and not bad looking at all. I would like him more if he used his given English name, Oliver. Lol. All these x’s, y’s, and z’s in Chinese names trip me up as these are the letters least used in English names, and I’m used to speed-reading through x, y, and z words.
As for the female actress, Lu Yu Ziao, she’s one of my favorites. I said so here: My Favorite Chinese Actresses
She still possesses this charming, bright-eyed innocence, which reminds me of Zhao Lusi during her younger years, before her face went wrong and she broke up with her agency. It’s hard to believe that Zhao Lusi (DOB: Nov 9, 1998) is only a year older than Lu Yu Ziao (DOB: Sept 27, 1999).
I like Lu Yu Ziao in “Perfect Match” (2025) IIRC, she played the third sister – or the sister whose story was told first. I watched the “extra” featured film when the cast members went on a mini-vacation together. She looked like the eager-beaver but clumsy girl-next-door that her partner/costar had to keep an eye on her that she didn’t get into accidents. In real life, her costar Wang Xing Xue is only about three years younger than her.
I also like her in “Love in the Clouds” (2025) with Hou Ming Hao. (Hmmm… did I finish watching this?) Until the hero came along and she was given lethal poison, she had been the winning-est fighter in all five kingdoms with unrivalled skills in creating attack and defensive weapons. I think her weapon-smithing is a shout-out or tie-in to her artistic bent in real life. I read that she studied fashion in the UK. (For how long and from which university, I don’t know.)
One thing more I like about Lu Yu Xiao is that she looks understatedly refined. Unlike that actress from “Love Between Fairy and Devil” — what’s her name again? Esther Yu? Ethel Yao? Tsk tsk tsk. Money really can’t buy class.
So when @GB mentioned that she was in “Love Between Lines,” I looked it up straight away. Thanks, @GB!
While this cdrama is tagged as thriller on mydramalist, and the opening scene showed Lu Yu Ziao’s character, Hu Xiu, getting shot, I think these are deceiving. As of Episode 9, the thrilling aspect is seen just in the budding romance of the two main characters.
Hu Xiu is a single young woman: overworked, doted on by her parents, and cheated by her ex-fiancée. With her broken engagement leaving her super-depressed (ha! she doesn’t know yet that she dodged a bullet), her best friend invited her to attend this murder mystery game. It’s an immersive, virtual-reality experience. They don virtual-reality goggles, and they’re transported back in time to the Republican era. She and her best friend get to play fictional characters with assigned tasks in a fictional plot in a fictional setting.
As a participant in the murder mystery game, she meets the hero. (Oh goodness! He has lots of names in the story, so let me just call him Oliver for now). Oliver is a non-playing character or NPC. Meaning, he isn’t one of the game participants like Hu Xiu is. He “belongs” to the game itself and provides the hidden clues and information to move the story along.
To keep this story short, Oliver does something to Hu Xiu that riles her up. Intent on getting even, she returns to play the virtual reality game again and again and again. Each time she does, she gets to know him more and, predictably, falls in love with him.
Now, that’s the fictional world where they meet. In a way, the set-up of this cdrama reminds me of “Love O2O.”
In “Love O2O,” Xiao Nai and Weiwei met in the fictional world of an internet game. They played as a duo, squashing monsters and gaining superpowers online. Then, from that online relationship, they formed an off-line relationship in campus. They began dating in real life. Hence, the title “Love O2O.” Lol, I wonder how many viewers get that O2O is short for “Online to Offline” and refers to how the romantic relationship of the leads evolved.
Meanwhile, in “Love Between Lines,” Hu Xiu and this Oliver meet each other as enemy combatants in the fictional world of a murder mystery game. Their virtual reality face-off develops into a close working relationship. She doesn’t yet know that, in real life, they’re connected by lines, space, and design. (Hmmm…I wonder what profession involves lines, space, and design?)
Anyway, when you’re posting your comments here, please remember to preface it with the Episode Title so other readers can opt to skip over your comment if they want to avoid spoilers. I may open another thread if needed.
Let’s enjoy the show.
Hi @pkml3! How wonderful to find a thread for this show! Thanks a bunch and you’re welcome. 💐😁😘😇
I’m enjoying this Show both the ‘online’ immersive virtual version and the ‘offline’ reality and everything in between!
I watched ‘Love in the Clouds.’ That was a great pairing between Lu Yu Xiao and Hou Ming Hao. This show’s pairing is great as well. I thought that with 28 episodes the romance would take place a little earlier but it’s also a slowburn.
I believe that it’s only in Ep 13 that our protagonists are more aware of each other. That’s halfway through the series!!!
I really like our FL’s fresh faced, open smile and how that gets the serious ML smiling too.
This show got me wondering about architecture. It does not seem to be a profession that is popular. It seems that it takes too long to be well paying and only a few big firms and top architects get recognition.
Besides this show, I’ve also picked up Idol I. An interesting premise and a murder to solve. I like how Soo Young is fleshing out her role as lawyer and idol fan.
Thank you @Packmule3!
Like @GB, I’m enjoying this show. It’s a really artful blend of an immersive, semi-virtual murder-mystery game (in a vivid setting – ignore technological impossibilities) and a real-life story that has some significant echoes with the game.
Because the show moves so quickly into the immersive mystery episodes, the two strands start to intertwine in my mind quite early on — and the “real life” plot almost takes on a slightly ephemeral/fantasy quality (not sure how to describe this effect). Good use is made of the architectural theme. The FL living in that older part of the city adds to it, and the immersion game keeps pulling us into another era too.
I’ve seen the lead actor in a number of shows, and he often gets cast in Chinese Republican-era dramas where he does lots of swashbuckling. This show allows him to play to that character again in the scripted murder mystery game.
There are some similarities here in the real life sections with My Boss… but I far prefer the FL’s character in this one, and the actress playing her.
Romance is slow burn but not slow burn in a wooden way – I am liking the way the lead couple soften towards one another episode by episode.
It is a visually pretty show too.
Anyway, I’m enjoying it.
I have just checked and I may have overstated the ML’s tendency to get cast in Republican Era dramas – I can only find one! Perhaps someone else has seen another in this genre… But he has also been in some recent modern historical dramas which seem to suit his look more than traditional costume drama.
Fall in love was republican era. Is that the one you noted. I got sidelined by evan lin when I watched this drama.
@Monmor,
Yes! That’s the one. It was a fun romp. It was the first Republican Era drama I saw after Arsenal Military Academy with Xia Ku and Bai Lu (also great fun). I vaguely remember Evan Lin and I can imagine being sidelined by him (just checked cast list).
He is beautiful. He is a taiwanese singer rapper. He has only done two dramas- This one and crush where he stars as a blind composer singer.
You’re welcome, @GB.
Yes, it should be interesting to reflect on architecture as a theme in a cdrama.
On that note, did you see the entrance to the Dynamics building? Check out Ep 5, timestamp: 12:38.
The front of the building has no plants/greenery, and is “paved” with glass. Directly in front of the doors is a path that resembles a two-lane road with a white line in the middle. I don’t like that design, to be honest. If I were that building owner or property manager, I’d have it replaced.
Why?
A solid white line means that changing lane (or crossing the white line) isn’t allowed. You STAY in your lane. Lol. That isn’t very “dynamic” thinking, is it? 🙂
@pkml3, I checked out the ‘lane marking’ in Ep 5. Heh! It was an intentionally drawn line down the middle. I thought if there were side lines as well then it would be the path to tread for ‘love between the lines’ … ‘walk this way and find lurve’ LOLOL.
I guess we can take the imagery one step further and see that walkway as a challenge: will those who tread that path be willing to take bold risks and overtake using the other lane or make a U-turn!!
That building struck me as being raw an unfinished, giving an air of being still in process, I guess. So more dynamic ideas should be percolating within??? However it was rather too cold and clinical for my taste. I far prefer ‘Shine on Me’s’ concept of the PV garden with waves and flows in paths and greenery.
Hi @MM and @Kate! Like the impressive and immersive virtual steam engine train, this show is a fun ride.
I like the contradiction where the role playing hides truths while in reality a role is being played. If you’ve watched at least 14 episodes you’ll know what I’m referring to.
The concept of ‘lines’ interests me. The Chinese title, according to AI,
In this drama, it’s not so much that our protagonists are caught in two identities but rather that they choose to take on an extra identity to get away from reality for 4 hours at a time. In the process they create a new reality and relationship that might never have taken off, if not for the game.
There was another drama in 2022 with a similar title, ‘Love Between Lines/Be My Princess’. In this other drama the ‘戏 (xì)’ character is the same, but the meaning was different.
This part may have some bearing to what happens in our 2025/2026 drama.
In their role-playing, they definitely have opportunities to grow closer, to betray and to trust each other. In fact ironically it’s through the game and the betrayals that they seem to gain trust in each other. The game gave the ML more opportunities to show his care and concern for the FL. In RL the FL assures the ML that she will never reveal his ‘part-time job and alter-ego’
The meaning of lines in the 2022 drama also includes:
But this is where our 2025/2026 drama is different. In the game, there is no script. All the lines are made up on the go by the actors based on their ‘mission.’ Our protagonists constantly move between performance and reality in the game, hence the lines they speak, the roles they play and the emotions are intertwined.
😂 Do solid white lines mean differently in Singapore and China? Here in the US, a solid white line means no overtaking, no lane changing, no u-turns. It’s strictly stay in your lane. For safety reasons.
Broken white lines means go ahead and change lanes, overtake, cut, weave, whatever, as long as you don’t endanger anyone.
Yes. I didn’t like his building, either.
It’s what I would call “Brutalist” style: minimalist, full of geometric shapes, with exposed building foundations, unpainted concrete walls and hard cement floors. It was a style popular in the 50s.
Wait…
To be brutally honest, I hate the Brutalist style because it leaves me cold. I know that the brutalist architect I.M. Pei was much admired but I absolutes hated his three famous creations:
the East Building of the National Gallery of Arts here in Washington DC — which is an eyesore every time I pass by
the glass pyramids in front of the Louvre
— okay, it’s so out of place. That structure cemented my opinion of I.M. Pei as an attention-seeking hack.
And the Dallas City Hall
— my kid can build that in Lego 😂😂
In all seriousness though, my primary complaint with I.M. Pei is that none of his works ages well. They aren’t even a century old and they already look tired, passé, and UGLY (there! I said it) and ready to be bulldozed and replaced.
Unlike the cathedrals and castles in Europe that still can take our collective breath away 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 years after their construction.
See that? One of my tests for architectural greatness is irreplaceability. I ask these questions: If this building or this structure gets burned down today, would we want to rebuild it or replace it? Is there a better alternative? What’s the point of rebuilding it? Is it worth it? Why do we value it so much? Has its function changed over time? And so on.
@Kate, @MM, @pkml3
Speaking of the handsome actors…
There are the sweet/pretty ones and the more masculine ones.
I prefer the latter overall while I don’t mind the eye-candy of the former. These are the actors I’ve noticed recently who (for me) fall into the ‘masculine’ looking list.
Chen Xing Xu
Song Wei Long
Liu Yu Ning
Wallace Huo
I find that the list is short, meaning that I’m either not watching much or that more pretty or ‘idol’ actors are being cast! 🧐😎☺️
@pkml3
You’re right, the solid white line down the road means no overtaking.
“Solid Single White Line: You must not cross or straddle this line unless:
You need to avoid an obstruction (e.g., a broken-down vehicle).
You are directed to do so by a police officer or a traffic sign.
It is necessary to enter adjacent land or premises.
Overtaking is not a valid reason to cross a solid single white line.” It is a traffic offence…. which brings me to the point that in creativity, rule-breaking is allowed. Whether it means the creator is being dynamic is moot. However, our ML as boss does say to his team to be bold, which I interpret to mean, to dare to take risks and even break the rules of conservatism, expectation and tradition.
They were certainly dynamic in their approach to the Lyman Hotel project when forced to come up with something totally innovative, in order to beat the under-handed competition. 🙂
@GB —
Thank you — good reflections, and nicely crystallising the themes! Interesting angle on the title and what “between the lines” might mean here.
It fits with what I was saying earlier in this thread about how seamless (and slightly disorientating) the two strands feel as they blur together 😊. And then things tip into that dream-like fantasy state in Episode 14 — almost a third space in the story (albeit toxic-mushroom-induced!).
Layers within layers, with truths emerging in the overlap.
@Kate, ah that dreamlike fantasy state … I’d like to know how much of it was fantasy and how much was real! If she acted out her fantasy, then she would have given away to Zhi Yu, how attractive she finds him. He will then be very considerate if he never brings it up or takes her up, in an unfair way, on this ‘confession’.
I also feel that there is a third space between the lines, and I mean, not only the toxic mushroom induced state, but how our characters straddle both lines at the same time. We know that Zhi Yu is hiding his real name in his reality, and yet he is authentically himself. At the same time, Hu Xiu treats him in about the same way regardless of whether he is Qi Xiao Yi or Zhi Yu. She treads the lines (seamlessly as you say) with him, whether he is her tenant, her boss, or the NPC without any hesitation or mistake.
SPOILER
@Kate @MM,
You may have noticed that in the last 2 Episodes (13 and 14) Zhi Yu appears to be touched each time Hu Xiu mentions to him that they should ‘go home’.
His childhood home after his father died (by suicide) was probably fraught. His years overseas were lonely except for his friend, Mr Gong, and his current apartment somewhere in the city is cold and empty. Going home with Hu Xiu, to a lane bustling with life and stories, he gets to live in community with a roommate who looks out for him. He even has the advantage of having a colleague at home who can do his work for him. It looks like his temporary tenancy has warmed his heart.
I like the cohabitation trope and want to see just how long more he will stay with Hu Xiu.
SPOILER
@GB, @MM
Most of what she said and did felt real, and so did his response. His facial expressions in the moment, and what he says later, both suggest we’re meant to read it as real, but set against the fantasy/hallucinatory framing of the staging and his outfit — the snow, the blossom trees, and his Republican-era costume. Yes, the “third space” you mention is what I was trying to convey as well.
I also noticed the repeated “going home” line, and the expression on the ML’s face is genuinely heart-warming. It really heightens our sense of how little he has in the way of a true “home” (emotionally as well as physically), and what our girl-next-door heroine offers instead — along with the values and social narratives embedded in the older part of Shanghai she inhabits.
And yes — I’m always a sucker for the cohabitation trope too. It’s one of those plot devices I’m always quietly waiting for a drama to engineer 😄 (It also made me think of My Boss, with the same actor — though this one is much more my kind of watch so far.)
@GB — I won’t be able to discuss regularly as life is about to get hectic, but I’ll keep watching, and if I get time I’ll pop back in to comment. Enjoy!
Thanks @Kate for letting me know. My schedule is tightening as well, but sometimes I still watch and have to let my thoughts out. Will read you as and when! 🙂
Hi @pkml3, this is actually in response to your Episode 1: My Notes thread.
I decided that since you mentioned for us to post on this Open Thread and since I was going to include spoilers, I might as well post here instead of on the My Notes thread.
SPOILERS Ep 1-12 or thereabouts
SPOILERS
About the hawthorn candies (called ‘san cha’- I have them at home) they come into play again in another episode. In fact I believe the first 2-3 times she’s in the game, those candies seem her staple and identified her when it mattered.
As you noted, they were a means to show us that General Qi Xiao Yi was attentive and gracious, since he pushed the bowl closer to her.
Somewhere in a later game, they led to her ‘rescue’ and hence to General Qi’s winning the leadership.
Random thoughts about the Double Cross in the My Notes thread. While in the game they played by double crossing each other, in Real Life (RL) they helped to balance out/support each other in situations they each faced.
I like how they double-cross and then double-double-cross each other in the game. It was tit-for-tat without rancour, and in the process they grow to trust each other. It was pretty ironic.
The game enabled our FL to showcase her smarts, and impress General Qi even though she made the mistake (at least 3 times) in trusting him, because he helped her out in the game. He also broke character with her more than once.
In RL, Zhi Yu deceived HX by letting Mr Gong pretend to be her tenant when in fact, he was the one who was renting her home. So even in real life there was role-playing of sorts or rather reverse role-playing because he was pretending to not be her tenant. But at least he didn’t double-cross her.
However HX discovered the truth soon enough and played a few tricks of her own to discombobulate him and make him own up. He thankfully decided to come clean in Ep 5, although he didn’t get a chance to tell her, because in RL in Ep 6, she came to ‘rescue’ him from her aggravating neighbour. So he rescued her in the game but she helped him out in RL.
Far from double-crossing each other in real life, they become acquaintances and friends of sorts. ZY even found himself having to help HX deceive her own parents who did not know she had quit her job and was renting out her home.
Discovering her talent in architecture, ZY gets his Design firm to give her a job interview, and of course for our story, hires her.
When he finds out how her ex-fiance had treated her, he gives her a chance to give the ex-fiance his comepppance, in public at his wedding. It was sweet revenge since she had been jilted, (inadvertently in public) on her engagement day.
Later in the game and in RL the roles reverse. He saves her in the game (from a sleazy ‘husband’) only to be injured, so that in RL she starts to take care of him (like a concerned wife!) and the cohabitation fun begins. I feel however that she desperately wanted to get away from living in her friend’s shop because the sleazy guy was seeking her out there. So it was not specifically to care for ZY that HX moved back home, but it was expedient.
The next bit of acting was ZY pretending to still need HX to do all the drawing for him because of his injury, when in fact he had fully recovered. I feel it was to give HX more opportunity to get in practice (she’d been away from practical designing for 3 years) and because he saw how much passion she had in her work.
On the whole, they make for a fun couple with dove-tailed interests and intrinsic compatibility. What a delicious pairing!
@Packmule3 and @GrowingBeautifully,
I’m not really able to take part in the discussion properly at the moment, but I couldn’t resist seconding your interest in the second male lead @Packmule3 – thank you for highlighting this so well. And I agree with you too, @GB.
I really liked that he met the FL before there was any strategic reason to do so. He was intrigued in the lift and we left it at that. It makes the possibility of genuine interest in her feel much stronger. Despite the complex façade and ruthless professional strategizing, I find myself rooting for him at times with her… oh the tangled skein 😄
Looking forward to reading further on this…
@Kate and @pkml3,
I really like it when 2nd Leads/side-characters get a chance to have more than a 1-note personality, especially when their flaws and foibles not (just) annoy us, but can be relatable and realistic catalysts for change in the Main Leads’ relationship.
SPOILERS
So far Pei Zhen is not really all that annoying. He’s ‘normal.’ His obsession is not the female lead, but perhaps to get recognition for himself as himself, and not as the elder step-brother who is competing with the younger step-brother.
I like that by Ep 17 Hu Xiu points out what he’s doing where she’s concerned and he admits to using Hu Xiu to get at his brother. He’s self-aware, just as artful as his brother, more underhanded (we recall that Zhi Yu also is not above playing tricks eg. he released his own voice recording to change the direction of popular opinion from ‘against’ to ‘for’ him. He engineered a meeting with Mr Xie.)
It’s interesting that he has a fraught relationship with his dad. While ZY is distant with his mum, PZ prefers his dad to stay away. Now that dad is back in Shanghai, PZ feels obliged to report his business dealings to him. Dad is also monitoring his meetings that are streamed to him!!! When ZY’s mum won’t even visit her first husband’s grave, PZ is sent as the ‘representative’ (like a lackey) to deliver flowers to the grave on her behalf.
I kind of feel sorry for PZ, which is more than I can say for the other 2MLs that @pkml3 mentioned on the In Search of a Good Second Male Lead Thread.
When I read that Thread Title… I’m thinking that we are referring to 2 kinds of ‘GOOD’ for a descriptor of 2ML.
1) As a character, he is a good person.
2) His character is allowed to develop and be nuanced.
At the moment, I’m not sure about 1)…because although he does all those nice things that @pkml3 pointed out, some of them might have been for less noble reasons (yes, ulterior motives).
However I’m hoping and thinking that it looks like we have 2). For a change, I want a 2ML like PZ to have some nice arc. I’m not interested in him falling for HX so much, as I am in his finding his niche without regard for what anyone thinks or how he is judged.
@GB,
I need to catch up with you on episodes, but I read @PM3’s title as “good” in the sense of worthy of interest — not “a sap”! 😄 And just by the thoughts and questions he inspires, he’s definitely achieving that.
I’m not really seeing him as “good” so much as distorted by that twisted family context — and potentially capable of a redemptive arc. He’s quite menacing at times, with that metaphorical curl of the lip — makes me think of some of Georgette Heyer’s saturnine heroes.
Honestly, I’d be happy with him as a complex ML… if the show could really pull that off. Of course that won’t happen.
Please do continue to explore!
You got it, @GB.
Thanks for posting here instead of the Original Thread. I wanted that spoiler-free for now. (Have guests this weekend so don’t know when I can pick up where I left off)
Re. the definition of “good”
1. He’s definitely not an angelic person. But it seems like:
a) he has a soft spot for women by the way he quickly stopped his minion from hitting a woman (he didn’t even know it was HX) and he was attentive to Zhiyu’s mom’s diabetic needs. I mentioned his chivalry a couple of times.
b) he practices safety on the job (or was he just doing lip service bec HX was there?). I assume that he and his father don’t see eye to eye on some business transactions his father did (probably the old man compromised safety to cut costs/pocket funds and now his father has their accountants hiding the paper trail even from him).
So, that tells me that while he isn’t a choir boy, he does have some admirable moral/social/personal and ethical traits.
2. By good, I mean “worthy” challenger to the hero. One who can give the hero a run for his money.
The 2MLs I’ve been seeing lately are questionable. 🤨 Seriously? That’s the best the screenwriter can come up with?
I don’t want a super-villain for a 2ML for the sake of providing a foil or contrast to the hero. I want a plausible alternative, a serious contender, relatable guy, a McSteamy to McDreamy (or vice versa).
And you’re right. You mentioned in the Original Thread that PZ was getting the typical rescue-the-girl tropes that are reserved for the heroes (complete with slow motion and soft background music lol). I think that trick helps greatly in fostering his image as a romantic. It’s ingrained in female viewers to see the hero doing heroic deeds, obviously, and coming through for the lady. 😂😂
Yes, l’m interested in exploring what makes a “worthy” 2ML. For one, he definitely must have enough green flags like the hero. For another, he must have be written with tropes typically allocated for the hero to ensure that he too has “main character” vibes.
Re. the song sung by The Landlord’s Cat
I guess it isn’t an OST because it wasn’t originally composed recorded for the drama.
I like that scene when PZ listened to it because she had posted it on her social media. Apparently, he had his aide/driver do research (“opposition research” is what we call it here in DC) on the Dynamism team members so HIS STAFF could order appropriate gifts for them.
But in the case of HX, his aide couldn’t get intel her so his chocolate gift to her was his personal choice. HE thought of it himself because he observed that she was gobbling up the cake at the reception.
Also, I like that he ordered his aide NOT to gather information on HX. Instead, he did it himself.
For instance, when he went to her bestie’s cafe and asked about her. Her chatty friend divulged that a) HX was single, and b) HX lived at 27 Lane 9 Yanhua Road. 🤦🏼♀️
And when he listened to her favorite music. I guess, that’s how he figured that she and ZhiYu had fallen out of sorts. Her sad music + the distance between HX and ZhiYu at the coffee station that morning
He connected the dots well.
@pkml3
SPOILERS
Yes indeed,… PZ is a good 2ML in that he’s a worthy opponent/rival to the ML. I was amused that instead of pairing Hu Xiu with the ML, the Dynamism team hooted and cheered for HX to be with PZ because they looked good dancing together!!!
I also laughed heartily when PZ spat out his drink in the car when HX mentioned how she didn’t want to be the subject of gossip for eg. being touted as the girl whom PZ liked.
Perhaps for the heck of it, PZ will still try to give ZY a run for his money by being the most attentive of rivals towards HX. It will be a blast to watch ZY’s discomfiture.
= = =
That’s an interesting take on how PZ listened to the music and guessed not only that HX was blue, but the reason, because he had seen ZY and HX standing so far apart at the coffee bar. I did guess that he could see that things were distant between them.
This is the first show that whenever the damsel is in distress, I start to wonder which guy is going to show up in time.
= = =
I’m now interested in watching our married couple, Xiao Rou and Guang Ming. GM might have some ‘good’ reasons for being close to the other woman (Chi Xin??) and I want to hear them!!!
I hope this part does not get dragged out too long with XR being in anguish.
This is a very interesting thread. I feel as if I will come back to refer to it. Of course these are some of my favorite topics — architectural and visual/verbal puns.
I havent been thrilled by role-playing as a frame for college stories for more than an episode or so, so I am hesitating about LBtL.
But yet.
A romance in a mask. A romance onstage covering another romance.
In a more general vein I wondering what to call the genre of the Hong Sisters’ latest, because they used to feed off of the popular trends but twist them and bring it up a notch.
Maybe I should be looking at story architecture, plot but in a bigger way. These story-within-a-storys tructures, like the midsummer dream, allow for a moment of ‘madness’, with the audience’s express permission.
@ibisfeather
Re. Role-playing as framework for romance
I get you. That’s how I felt with Love O2O too in the beginning. I was worried that the couple would be stuck in the unreal world of computer games and confuse fantasy for reality.
Here, I think the virtual reality world the couple first met is only supposed to be an outlet… some sort of escape/hideaway when the real world becomes too much. It’s a place where they can imagine and learn solutions for their real-world problems.
And I can’t really be critical about fictional characters’ “outlets” when I have a kdrama/cdrama obsession, and Viki, IQiyi, Netflix, (and possibly) Kocowa subscriptions — and this blog — to boot. 😂
At any rate, the story is aware that these virtual reality encounters have to be replaced with absolute reality. In the opening (or title sequence), the cartoon depiction of the plot slowly converts to a mixed cartoon-and-real-photo collage which then gives way to mostly real photographs of the couple by the end of the opening credits.
To me, it’s a telltale sign that the romantic storyline will evolve from the storyboard to daily life in real world.
@GB
SPOILERS (From Ep 17? 16? Ugh! I just finished it and I can’t remember the episode number already!)
The elevator scene with HX, PZ, ZY and the team member Sun —
That was such a delicious moment when PZ leaned over to press the elevator button for HX. (I knew it! I just knew that elevator thing had to be part of his “love language.”) He revealed then that they met a long time ago, even before she went to Dynamism.
Mr Sun then chimed in saying something like all was great because they’re collaborating now, and it showed that PZ and HX had a connection from the start.
ZY gave Sun the death look and Sun instantly stopped talking.
ZY then said that too bad that Forma failed to recognize talent and so they couldn’t keep her.
PZ managed to get the last word in though. He could say that she was very capable indeed and that was how she ultimately became a partner of Forma. 😂😂 The way he said! It was like Dynamism was just a stepping stone and Forma was her end goal.
@pkml3 I loved that elevator scene too! I was just rewatching it and giggling at Sun’s sudden crestfallen expression and horror at his faux pas. Again ZY was the brusque one and PZ was the gentleman who let the lady leave before him.
@GB,
PZ had way too much fun teasing his “little” step-brother. Probably for once in his life, he had an upper hand in a competition that didn’t involve business or money.
Yes, PZ was always the gentleman with her. At their second meeting, he waited at the elevator and let her go in first with a hand flourish. Now, he did it again. 😂😂 He looked like the maitre d’ at this restaurant my husband and I go to.
@pkml3, I kind of liked PZ in Ep 19.
This was the other scene that I wanted to see. So he is not given much choice by his dad… but can he choose differently?
@pkml3, @IB,
SPOILERS
SPOILER while watching Ep 19, it strikes me that PZ is better at knowing what is currently needed by his step mum, and he offers her gifts for her now and her future, but ZY is stuck on the past, stuck on wanting his mother to acknowledge her good times with her first husband/his dad … he does not contribute to her enjoyment of her present time.
He’s so full of hurt and resentment still … and I guess he suspects that the Pei step dad has some involvement behind his dad’s suicide.
@pkml3 About a Worthy 2ML…
SPOILERS
And so by Ep 22 we see a bit more about PZ and actually my heart goes out to him that he’s stuck with a horrible father/Dad Pei.
He’s also in a predicament over shady dealings and cooked accounts which inflate or give false info on profits that did not exist. As GM he will end up shouldering all the responsibility and blame for his father’s fraud.
I liked that he quickly noted what HX needed when her clothes got splattered, and had a scarf sent over to give to her. She was wise to decline his gift. (And to tease her bf into thinking that the napkin she had on was PZ’s gift).
Now he cannot even meet up with Hu Xiu anymore since his father is on his case and running surveillance on her. I like that once he found out what his father was doing where HX was concerned, he confronted Dad Pei.
SPOILERS
About the Relationships…
It strikes me that if he and Zhi Yu had not had a falling out from way back when, that they could have been allies against the rotten dad. ZY’s mother is so innocent/naive all the years with Dad Pei. It looks like Dad Pei had something to do with what happened to ZY’s father, and in the process was able to marry ZY’s mother.
If Show goes according to more usual tropes, I expect that when Hu Xiu and ZY discover the connection of their fathers, and that ZY’s real name is Qin Xiao Yi (like in the game): ie that he is the son of the man who was forced to take responsibility for the stadium collapse that made HX’s father lame… that there will be difficult times in their budding romance. Up to Ep 22 we’re in the honeymoon phase, which means trials are around the corner.
HX’s dad had been good friends with Dad Qin, but after the building collapse, Dad Qin had committed suicide. I’m interested to see what will play out from this. Would HX’s dad think that Dad Qin had been irresponsible to bring him into the project only to have it ruin him.
I do however look forward to Dad Qin’s designs being inspiration for new designs by HX and ZY.
@GB,
😂😂 I stayed up an extra half hour just to watch PZ’s scenes in Eps 21 and 22 bec of your write-up, @GB.
Yes, I’m with you. I was aghast when the father stood right behind him with a golf club. Did I get that right? His father clubbed him on his back so no signs of physical abuse would show? He looked like he could barely walk when he entered his room.
Oh poor dear!
If HX couldn’t take him (bec obviously she must end up with ZY), I wouldn’t mind getting sucked into cdrama-land and sue that despicable Mr Pei’s ass off in PZ’s name. Oh wait! Lawsuits wouldn’t be enough. A better payback would be to turn his wife — ZY’s mom — against him. I wouldn’t put it past him to have designs on her even way back when, and the financial ruin of ZY’s father was instigated to take her away from her husband. (Isn’t that how it usually runs in these dramas?)
Then, now I get why PZ’s good with choosing gifts. He’s buying affection. Double awww. I see it as his way of begging people to take a good look at him if and when they buy him a gift. (But nobody ever does, right?) Just like he carefully studies the people and chooses the right gift to give according to their needs, he wants somebody to know him and to give him exactly what he needs.
When I see it that way, it’s no wonder he treasured the bandage from HX. When he didn’t trash it and instead placed it in a gift box, I thought he was just a sentimental weirdo like most 2MLs. But in this context of long-term physical abuse, I get it.
Also, the way he told his father to back off from HX… that was good acting. If that had been anybody else, he would have shown his fearsome self like he did with that stalker driver. But since it was his father, he sounded like he was trying to be assertive but ingrained fear of his father muted his anger.
THANK YOU @GB, @pckmule, @Kate, for recommending this.
I started yesterday and in consequence went to bed late. But happily.
Post away, @ibisfeather!
@pkml3, oh dear… that’s so sad and strikes true … he’s trying to buy affection!!! Yes, that band aid was so precious to him. I found him so pathetic, so real somehow.
For the first time in drama watching, the OTP romance claims 2nd place in my interest. I’m more invested in knowing how PZ will end up and in wanting him to find a good place to be. He has his flaws, but he’s redeemable. I want him to be able to defy his father to the end and to do what’s right.
I want to believe that when he’s forced to make a choice between good and evil, and finds himself on the fence, it will be thoughts of HX or something she does that will tip him to fall onto the good side.
Ditto, @GB.
The storing-the-bandage-away moment looked so cheesy to me. But when seen in context of the abuse, then yes, it made sense that he’d keep it. I guess, that’s the first “gift” he ever received in the story and it moved him because no one but HX did something about his (invisible, emotional) wounds.
No wonder he also looked odd when XZ’s mom told him to be understanding of his dad because parents all just want to best for their children. He knew then the mom was wayyyyyy off base. How could she be so blind, so airy-fairy, so clueless about the true nature of her 2nd husband and the goings-on in her household? I guess as long as she’s cosseted, spoiled, and given a luxurious life, she’ll keep her head in the clouds and not suspect anything bad about her “provider.”
Ooh @pkml3, all the episodes have dropped but I stopped at Ep 24.
In terms of the most important bit of info that makes or break trust – the truth was unveiled. The air is clearer but there are of course ‘things’ to resolve.
I really liked that HX could separate the objective reasons for stepping away from the emotional ones.
SPOILER
I’m sad but not surprised that our PZ was behind the lid getting blown off. It was a desperate attempt that unfortunately didn’t just get blown around and affect our OTP but blew up in PZ’s own face.
Love that mum now knows.
The conflict is great! I was getting a bit bored without it.
@pkml3,
And so I’ve come to the end of the series. Our PZ’s wrap up was understandably quick but at least it wasn’t glossed over.
A Note to @agdr03 – the kiss scenes were many and quite thorough.
ep26, slowly working my way to the end.
*The FL weeps heart-brokenly in front of her dad, apologizing for still loving the ML. Very, very well-done weep. Another thing to like about Lu Yu Xiao.
scriptwise an indirect plea but sincere behavior?
*taking refuge in the VR game after hours under a permanent full moon. Even at this point, the image is still beautiful and resonant
A new one for me — FL leaps/launches herself into the ML’s arms after a separation: several ways to go with this..she might knocks him back on his heels, or he might stand firm while she keeps her feet on the ground, but this time, he catches her firmly and her feet like little compass points remain in the air.
ep.28, opening salvo.
Oh my. Cdrama is taking lessons from kdtrama finally. The movements of the two lovers in the hospital bed, the movements of the camera and edits are choreographed to the beats of the song on the OST.
my, my.
I did wonder why visit her in the hospital room without the family all around. Such an annoyingly slow approach. A set-up.
Good job, pat on the heads all around.
oops that was 27.
I hadnt felt such sympathy for PZ before this episode as you all. He was a decent SML, ‘stepbrother or sim’ version.
But my heart ached for him in the empty house, in that long walk home along the drive with the evenly spaced trees.
Dai Xu. The actor. I see he was also in the Unclouded Soul.
I was sentimentally hoping for a good on-screen romance in his future — but forgot that the actor is one thing the man another. And he is therefore a good actor. And in RL, married with a little son.
RE Pei Zhen/ Dai Xu,
Honestly, there is nothing like Chinese classical acting technique to bring out real tragic characters.
But then, I watch too much kdrama romcom to know if that is a fair comparison.
I only know that when I had just begun watching Asian drama a few years ago, Mao Zi Jun’s roles in Marvelous Women and Melody of a Golden Age just blew me away, especially in Marvelous women where he dies! I havent felt that way about very many kdrama performances since (NM of course in My Dearest).
Final thoughts
obvious: Great show, I recommend it to lovers of love.
Because.. very good romance, green flag ML, not preachy in the business area at all. Architecture, FL takes the lead, ML is tsundere to begin with.
Now that we are getting a whole spate of these positive cdrama romances, I would rather say what makes this one different and worth watching —
The VR scripted murder game is visually entrancing. Totally worth watching the show even if you dont feel like another romance.
The actual lovers as written in the script have a grown-up romance, they cohabit and are intimate, but instead of being written as’mature’ characters therefore, they are youthful and fresh.
The two actors really did a great job of showing physical attraction and interaction while the script is still decorous and discreet. The boundaries of rom-com are getting stretched with a healthy dose of cdrama realistic acting.
The music scoring and the OST are really good. That, coupled with a script full of a solidly corrupt set of family members (yay!) feels as if an Asian drama synthesis is taking place…
Minor Items:
Although its about architecture, a lot of time is spent outside, so for now in the grip of winter its nice.