I am excited about Still Shining, for among other things, a look at a promising young actress, Kim Min Ju, who played the daughter of the crazy headmistress in Undercover High School.

I will at least take a look at The Practical Guide To Love coming this saturday on Viki — The third member of the love triangle is a 31 year old actor named Lee Ki Taek who seems interesting, the Fl is Han Ji Min who must choose between stability and passion.

Cdramas sometimes seem to drop suddenly from the skies without warning…the ones coming up dont attract me, many on Viki now are short-form…..and kind of icky.

@pkml3 , @IB, I will take a look at The Practical Guide to Love as it has a premise I like. Also it’s just going to start airing tomorrow (for me) so I will not be binge-ing it.

I’m just back from Friday Stations of the Cross and Reconciliation. Feeling edified! Mustn’t rush back into too much time-wasting drama watching. 😇😅😆

@GB and @pkml3
RED CDRAMA Alert!

I looked every day this week to see if that March 6th premiere of Pursuit of jade might possibly issue forth from its iQiyi nest,

And yes it did.

On Netflix next Friday.

Zhang LingHe, hurray. Tian XiWei not so much, but she is a butcher’s daughter who apparently fights battles wielding a cleaver, so she wont be too sugary sweet.
Hopefully.

He is a fallen noble.

Happily waiting.

Hi @IB about “Pursuit of Jade”… the Writer is Zou Yue.

While this show also has one of my fave premises (marriage first, fall in love later) I do not ‘dare’ to start watching because I’ve got too much to do. Dramas just suck away most of my attention and brain power LOL.

I’ll be ‘a good gal’ with just the Rewatch Shows and maybe the Practical Guide show.

OK @IB. I don’t mind spoilers so post whatever or if you prefer to not post spoilers here, then message me on MDL and post there.

BTW Please see R:WotS Ep 16 thread to start on voting for the show after Imaginary Cat. 🙂

Love Story in the 1970s

I’ve decided to start 1 cdrama, “Love Story in the 1970s”. I hope to take it slow instead of binge-ing it, even though 27 out of its 29 episodes are already out. I like the premise of a couple faking a marriage, only to fall in love later. I know the ending, but the process is what interests me.

The first episode was quite riveting. This isn’t one of those glossy, polished productions; it feels raw and stripped down and looks very realistic. Life is difficult but not entirely depressing. People are hard-pressed but still willing to help each other. The poverty and harsh realities of the era are portrayed vividly and without being romanticised: we feel the weight of the times without being crushed by them.

The characters of Fei Ni and Fang Mu Yang were clearly drawn, in a way, similar to how Mu Yang was able to sketch strangers on the train. Sun Qian and Arthur Chen Fei Yu do a solid job establishing their characters from the outset. Even in a single episode, I felt drawn into their tentative, lightly outlined beginnings.

I didn’t intend to watch this at first, because I did not care for Arthur Chen’s character or acting in ‘Lighter and Princess’. He has either improved or this role simply suits him better. Mu Yang is far more endearing, and Arthur portrays being likable well. As for Sun Qian, I did not remember having seen her before in “Way Back Into Love” Her performance left little impression on me then, but she’s making one here.

I found it cute the Fei Ni was so single-minded about getting a chance to enter college that she appeared to pursue the winning basketball player, but was really in pursuit of his mother, who could recommend her for college. It’s ambitious, calculating, and completely understandable given how she’s thwarted repeatedly in her attempts to get her factory to recommend her.

The ‘meet-cute’ of Fei Ni and Mu Yang as high-schoolers was not cute at all! Their beginning did not seem to auger well since the times they were together were the times that something unfortunate happened to Fei Ni due to Mu Yang. Remembering those times led Fei Ni to almost regret taking on the care of Mu Yang, however her desire to get into college won out. Despite an inauspicious start, they did get on well enough and became friends.

I’ll be rooting for Fei Ni to get into college one day or at least to find out that she’s doing well even without it. I wonder if Mu Yang will be able to survive creatively in those days of the Cultural Revolution. He would have to be careful about what he draws. I liked his sketches and the promise he made to sketch what he sees when he leaves town, so he can one day show his work to Fei Ni.

We very quickly end the first episode with Fei Ni already starting her long haul commitment to care for an unconscious Mu Yang. She did so with hardly an altruistic thought but only a self-serving hope to ‘use’ him so that she’d have a chance at college. It’s not romantic, but it’s compelling, and I’m curious to see how something so pragmatic transforms into love.

@pkml3, I’ve watched 3 episodes of “Practical Guide” and will continue. It’s different, at the moment quite sweet… I expect more drama later. I like it well enough and am happy (read: ‘more impressed by’ rather than ‘not annoyed by’) with the 2 main actors.

@IB hasn’t been back to comment on it.

I’m pacing myself…. maybe 2 episodes a night. So I’ll be slow to comment. 🙂

Well, well, ‘Love Story in the 1970s’ has taken an organic twist. I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry that despite losing his memories of the past, Mu Yang is still super intelligent and now between him and Fei Ni there’s a relationship of bribery and/or threats so that he can get his way (and she too wrt university!). And what Mu Yang seems to want a lot of is different kinds of food! LOL

He forgot everyone but he remembers the restaurants, their location and the pretty high class food that he used to eat.

It might be a bit of a red flag that he’s like this ie using bribes or threats, but at the same time, we see how he looks at Fei Ni, and it’s not likely that he’d ever make good on his threats.

I’ve watched up to Episode 4, and Fei Ni will be disappointed in Ep 5. It’s a good time to pause so that I won’t be too upset for her, although I have to admit that she’s also to blame. 🙂

@IB, I, too found Practical Guide to be not as fetching or dynamic in it’s first episode. I’ve decided to wait until after it has aired 2 more episodes to watch the first 3 of them in 1 fell swoop to see how I feel.

I’d even prefer to rewatch something I know I enjoyed to an extent, if I’m not too sure about a new show that’s not that compelling.

I will need to continue to rewatch Imaginary Cat too, to gear up for our next party!

@GB (hopefully snoozing away)

Pursuit of Jade: after the 1st 15 minutes I know it will be good. Why?

Characters
— the butcher’s daughter/ChangYu/actress Tian XiWei looks sturdy as she throws some pig blood over the awful village crones, who in the way of all great dramas are giving us all the info on her life in the guise of spiteful Gossip. (I did see a little more of TXW last week in ‘Fated Boy’ in a solid comic supporting role too)
— in a sillier way, Zhang LingHe comes to light under some fallen snow/a fallin’ noble, and after he gets dragged home, physicked and washed, ChangYu assures her little (cute!) sister that she didnt just pick him up because he was handsome. Then side by side they both peer down at them and in perfect unison their mouths fall open just a tiny. For, in fact, Xie Zheng/the actor ZL, looks toothsome a little bruised abed.

Themes and visuals
— the credits are interlaced with spreading frost and snow crystals, and lushly packed with interesting images.
— We start with a winter village pig-butchering. Setting off home after being tagged as a lone star of calamity, ChangYu assures her employer that the ‘almanac’ says today is her lucky day. On the road home the ML is found wounded in the snow but the blood doesnt bother the butcher’s girl. She does, however, nearly kill him by unwisely using medecine.

I am planning to have a very good time.

..righteous in that..

Re Pursuit of Jade
eps8-9

Virtues of the show so far:
— the FL character avoids all the more annoying recent tropes, no bubbly-girl, no trauma queen — She is sincere, honest, direct, surviving a ‘bitter fate’ with elan and eclat. TXW now has my heart for the best woebegone eyes in the business. So pretty.
— the ML starts off really terribly wounded. The show doesnt have him suddenly burst into action without physical consequences. Gaunt, ill, often without/w/minimal eye make-up, ZLH is terribly attractive. He might have been the king of tsundere MLs but when being bandaged and unbandaged day in and out it is hard to be haughty and distant. So far, as a lame, often mocked, live-in husband, ZLH holds onto his precarious dignity beautifully.

In this show the distinction between fighters, scholars and working people as types is much clearer than usual. ZLH is in hiding and conceals his education, but his nature is similiar to the FL’s. They are both people of action, military types; he is a reknowned general and she is the skilled daughter of a skilled fighter who hid his family away in a little village for reasons unknown. They fall in love by looks and gazes; they do not pretend otherwise and they do not discuss their feelings in endless misunderstandings. It is wonderful cinema.

The candied tangerine kiss from ep.9 will go down in history. Firstly because it is a small tentative wonder and secondly because the lovers are then interrupted by yet another horde of black-clad assassins.

As one or more commentator has said, the blood looks real, the fighting is natural and brilliantly choreographed, the story is a standard heroic fantasy made fresh again by intelligent charming, humorous writing, really sharply defined acting and inspired camerawork.

The best thing may be that it is a slow-burn show in more than one sense. Not too many new characters all at once. The politics while interwoven with the village action is only now beginning to pick up steam. And it is one of my favorite plots too — marriage first, love later. To do this properly in a hero-story, both persons needs must be sincere and have innate dignity (no squirming around, please). And they do.

After 3 days PoJ is already becoming a hit show. Lots of complaints by people who prefer bingeing that they got hooked and cannot wriggle out of watching day by day.

short note re Pursuit Of Jade, eps 10-17 and beyond

The village arc is about to wrap up, having received lots of love from viewers. Especially the puppet pig and falcon. And the cute children.
Now we face the future of the rest of the novel with trepidation. There will be internecine politics and lots of battles.

I present, for @pcml3’s delectation, a poem.

The Seven-Step Poem

Pods burned to cook peas,
Peas weep in the pot,
Both born from the same root,
Why torment each other?

Presented as an emergency measure if all else failed,taught by the ML to the FL, in desperation at her lack of focus on memorizing his excellent legal arguments for her court case; the case involved her uncle’s attempt to seize her deceased parents’ house in order to pay gambling debts. He says it is about a lifelong struggle between two brothers.

“Uh-Oh”, in the immortal words of an American teen trapped in a grown Korean man’s body, uttered by Gong Yoo in Big.

@IB, Just thought I’d mention that in the Opening Credits, one stroke of the Chinese characters for Pursuing Jade are written to look like a Pig. So cute!

There is of course a play on words or an ironic homophone in the title.

逐玉 (zhú yù) does mean “Pursuing Jade”, where jade is something precious/pure… however “zhū” also means ‘pig’

猪玉 (zhū yù) can mean “Pig and Jade.” There is contrast and irony in the concept of “A pig chasing jade.” The pig is often a symbol of the crude, unrefined or ordinary.

And so the title means both pursuing something precious and that our unrefined FL (the pig!) is pursuing someone beautiful/handsome and precious.

@GB, my memory of episodes is not very good after a few days, maybe you could help me?
In which episode do we first see General He planning a campaign in the map room at the Lin’an yamen? I am rerunning the shows from the beginning but it is tedious.

I am puttering around trying to understand physical locations for the military campaigns and I remember a discussion of 4 northwestern prefectures — Yanzhou, a garrison province, Jizhou, and 2 others. Plus maybe some talk about the 16 prefectures.

@GB, , I found the scenes in eps 9, 12 and 14. I was wrong, they were set in Jizhou prefecture office, not Linan.

Also “the capital and 17 prefectures”, so not the Lost Sixteen. But the idea turned out to shed light on the imaginary geography.

Dayin is an imaginary country, so the political plot is not historical. Its cities do generally belong to the sixteen prefectures era and area– the cities at the west and south of the Bohai Sea, at a time when that area was the northern border of China, not the capital, as it is now, Beijing and environs.

It turns out the imaginary geography is probably tied to the real through the fictions of a game, Where Winds Meet. A battle game set in the forests and mountains of the 16 prefectures area.

The Sixteen were lost in the godawful mess of the Later Tang and although the Song, the Liao and the Jin fought over them for 300 years, they were never returned until the Yuan swept in. There are, I think, echoes of that time in POJ, melancholy reflections.

Those ancient forests and mountains do have a kind of useful Water Margins aura for a show that has a wuxia heart. The Northern Mount Heng (HengShan) of the Five Great Mountains is as good a place as any to park our imagination. Apparently its a good place for a nice day-hike.

@pcml3
Re POJ 21 going forward..
I havent begged you to watch POJ because it is not Austen-y; the action is all in visuals and movement. The ML is not a big talker, and the FL is a free soul without much education.

Also I imagine that like @GB you may give it a whirl in April when POJ will have finished airing. (The whole thing is amazing and the side characters bring in the literacy angle prettily)

However, I didnt really expect that the war section would be such a swooping rom-com arc — ridiculous coincidences, butterflies, sneezes, imperials running rampant in the woods, think of any fun cliche, the director happily tossed it up in the air together, and THEN SOME.

Today, Ep24: Candied tangerine peels and shadow puppetry will never be the same; the shadows of the lovers fall under a double full moon? (or two alternating klieg lights) in the middle of a Henry-the-V walk through the military camp at night.

I think you would like this section very much, although you might not be able to get through some truly evil villains just before….

I went ahead and read the English translation for the novel. So far, I prefer the drama and the changes the screenwriters made. The novel felt much heavier and more violent with the ML being much colder. I’m glad to know the true identities of her parents and how it all ends, but today’s episode with the princess showing up as a medic is a major change from the novel so I am still anticipating each episode and excited to see how the battle scenes look on screen.

The novel provides a clearer picture of the horrific things SQM endured that caused/contributed to his insanity. YQQ is described as plain and doesn’t show as much personality unlike the drama version. Add in the fact that the actors are extremely good looking and have ch*m*st*y, it’s easy to see how many viewers have ignored all the blazing red flags and are shipping the “toxic couple”.

Li Q not only has great lines but he does well at physical comedy. His little trip down the stairs today made me LOL.

PoJ – While the dark does get a little too dark, I have been really enjoying the story telling. As of ep. 24, the only moment that really disappointed me was their parting scene and because of that their reunion. It feels like the argument they had was trivialized by her reaction to him actually leaving and then her determination to find him again (without acknowledging her part in sending him away).

Did anyone make sense of that argument and her subsequent reaction?

I also really enjoyed watching Boyfriend on Demand. I almost could not take how cheesy it was, but I also felt like any less and it wouldn’t have been as effective in making the real romance in the end that much more worthwhile–like the difference between having candy and having a proper baked dessert.

@sorbetdream

https://www.readthedrama.com/novels/chasing-jade-zhu-yu

This is the link to the novel. Chapters 52 and 53 include the farewell argument. Although the drama is different, this still may lend some insight

Annd..its April!

Maybe @pcml3 will be home soon and start a new WAWW thread.

Until then, what are we watching?

I am watching…
1. Some funny chinese folktale shorts on viki — why its called YAO I dont know.
2. Starting to feel anime coming on –looking ahead to Dandelion.
3. Enjoying Rebirth, a cdrama sequel to Princess agents which is nothing like that show at all, as far as I can see. The actual author of Princess Agents did this script and its is a lot of young things fighting very well and riding horses a lot. I can tell the characters apart easily which is not always the case in these young cdramas.
4. Watching or rewatching earlier shows directed by Zeng Qing Jie, all good in their way: Destined to Meet You, Fall in Love (22), and A Familiar Stranger (22). Blossom and Butterflied Lover I had seen recently. Slowly working my way through a rewatch of POJ
5. I also have a current spy show attraction — like a moth circling around the light. Some not so suitable for this group (Humint!) but there is an animated Spy x Family which looks cute, and I have never gotten around to Mission Cross, so thats the plan.

Hi @IB
I watched the first episode of cdrama ‘Rebirth’ mostly because my husband had been waiting for the sequel to Princess Agents for years. I never watched ‘PA’ but jumped into 1 episode of ‘R’ to see if I could make head or tail of it.

I felt that it was full of ‘showiness/pizazz’ with battles and dramatic deaths, however it did slot in ‘flashbacks’ and backstory. For someone like myself who’s watching this cold, without knowing any background, it looks like what appears true is false and that there’s gaslighting going on.

I should also watch the remaining episodes of ‘Imaginary Cat’. 🙂