Century of Love - Finale - verdict and judgement
"Pride goeth before a fall"
Verdict first:
Production - 2/2
Writing - 1.5/2
Acting - 1.5/2
Intimacy - 2/2
Music - 1/1
Special 10 scene - 0/1
Total Rating score = 8/10
Judgement:
I am a little shocked at the rating to be honest. I thought for sure it would be between 8.5 - 9 but mathematics has spoken.
Now you may be wondering why started off with that quote above. It is directed at San but we will get to his paragraph shortly.
One of the things I absolutely love about this series is the Chinese instrumental music used throughout. I found the Chinese elements to be intricately woven into the story while still retaining the Thai identity. The martial arts fight scenes I found to be very well done and realistic. The story surrounding the curse was well written and easy to follow making a complex scenario seem simple to the audience.
The family dynamic is beautiful to watch. Their care, love and support of each other is another thing that I love about this series. Chu is definitely my favourite character. She gave me some laughs for sure and when everyone was being less than smart she was always on top of things.
The romance between the leads was well developed and their love scenes did not seem hot instead they were loving and heartwarming to watch and that can be sexy too. The symbolism of San's love represented in the ring he gave Wee is just so beautiful to me. I really love how the actors portrayed the characters' love for each other; well done Daou and Offroad. It was a lovely performance as a couple.
I have a feeling the goddess is a BL fan lol. I think the mystery being left to us as to whether Wee or Wat is the real incarnation of San's lover is thought provoking and keeps fans guessing. I also think the goddess was trying to teach San a lesson that love comes and goes and it does not matter who we loved in the past but who we love in the present into the future.
One thing I did not like is the writing behind the split between San and Wee; I felt it was a little shallow and stupid on Wee's part because he constructed his own conclusions despite the actions of San who never stopped loving him. This part irritated me. I would have preferred if he was caught stealing the stone and then San got angry, but that is just me. I also hated how gullible they made everyone when the Ms Wad look alike appeared it seemed like the writers were taking the easy way out.
Now for San; "Pride goeth before a fall". Between the penultimate episode and the finale it was revealed that San is a flat character. In Literature there are flat characters and round characters; flat characters do not experience growth throughout the story while round characters do experience growth. In the beginning of the series San did a very selfish thing in the name of love. He binds his soul to Ms. Wad so that he could hold on to his love disregarding the laws of life and death. Being selfish to himself he suffered for a century yet still in that time his tendency has not changed. We see it in how he put his pride and fears over Wee's and his family's feelings by wanting to isolate himself from them during his final days. I hate when characters lie for the sake of not hurting their loved ones because in the end their loved ones will hurt even more when the lie is discovered and ultimately they are not lying for the sake of their loved ones but for themselves as they are trying to avoid the pain the situation will cause them. It is selfish. Furthermore by making his family lie on his behalf San was now hurting the relationship between his family and Wee; the trust between them. Oftentimes couples ignore the fact that a relationship is not just between them; sure the romantic aspect is but the love and trust is not. Family on both sides would have interacted with both halves of the couple and formed bonds and the couple has to be aware of such bonds. I would have preferred if San's character experienced some growth.
I have to talk about Wee's grandmother. I love the story between Wee and her. I felt it on a personal level. To watch her dying was hard. It is truly a blessing to have a grandmother with whom you have a loving relationship. To see Wee's grandmother struggle with him but doing her best while not taking out life's frustrations on him and supporting him until the very end was just wow. If I was a little bit more emotional I would have shed at least a single tear.
I do not think there is anything else I want to say that I have not already over the course of the time this series aired so I will stop here. Hey! this is actually shorter than I imagined it would be lol.