JJJ

Noooo, why would they do that. 😭

Haha sometimes it happens. 😭 When the acting is good, and cast is doing their part, but the scriptwriter/director is the one fumbling. Good acting can rarely save a bad script.

Yeah, people only tuned in "Never Gone" for the younger versions of the leads (where the younger!FL is also played by LLD). 😂 So many people back then said they dropped the drama once they started focusing on the adult versions of the main couple because the storyline is eh and their acting is not as good as their younger counterparts.

And yes, "Winter Begonia" is great, and I checked out "Go East" before too and I saw a lot of complaints about the actress for the FL and just the FL's characterization in general.

Douban group users for Filter are reading the novel and making comparisons:

Links for chapter 1 & 2 comparisons so far:
https://www.douban.com/group/topic/321881162/?_spm_id=MTk5MDcyNjYy&_i=2733131wJb4v-r,2753364E0Yryo3
https://www.douban.com/group/topic/321898309/?_spm_id=MTk5MDcyNjYy&_i=2753251E0Yryo3

I saw people on C-platforms asking what other dramas they should check out with TJC in it and his fans are saying UTS and just Xiang Liu clips (not even the drama). 😂

Yes, I think the most positive thing about this drama is that it isn't preachy. It offers different POVs of beauty and it is uplifting at the end of the day. So many people sometimes exit the end of a drama full of anger and frustration, but this is one of those dramas where people actually felt happy and hopeful.

Lmao, I never got into LYF fully for a variety of reasons. I did follow along with it on the C-side, so I know what happened, but it seems like S2 angered a lot of people and Xiao Yao's character became so centered only around herself + going from one man to another that it ruined her S1 character where she seemed to have hopes/dreams beyond love. Everyone in that drama was dragged hardcore by S2 but Xiang Liu completed his arc and wasn't the main male lead so in a way, his ending was perfect for a drama like that.

Yes, some people on C-platforms are saying it is Tong Hua's way to remove the final "filter" and that was the audience's filter. Because from the beginning, LY's/GY's relationship set up with the turtles/bad luck/good luck wasn't just for comedy.

However, people are hopeful about it because LY/GY is more open-ended, and LY has the resources. She is rich, has her own career, knows a divorce lawyer (QSL), and has SCC + her family. Marrying GY is not necessary as she can take care of the child on her own. LY got a child out of this relationship which will be her blood-related family who she will love a lot. GY is more of a side note. And like LY said, GY thinks she is super naive, but she is not (during the QST arc). Therefore, LY in the drama at least will be okay. People are saying it is the women outside of the drama /without/ these resources that need to be careful.

There are also people who see this pairing in a more positive light (LY overcoming her trauma, attempting to try to build her own family, etc.), so it really is up to interpretation at the end of the day.

No problem and not really, it is hard to explain if you didn't watch this drama for context since this drama doesn't follow the typical trope but yeah, if it is not your type of genre, then it is better to skip it. This drama is also not a competition about who "suffers" more either.

There is a dubbed version?? In English or?

Saw a post from a TJC fan that this drama has over 130+ behind the scenes clips/livestreams/Douyin clips (there are also paid BTS) already so they are trying to compile everything. I will link it if they manage to do it and post it, but it might take awhile. 😂

I saw this! People are saying they are glad the drama didn't follow this scene because waking up together from a drunken night is already so cliche let alone waking up naked together (even if they didn't do anything). But there are also people giggling and saying they should have film it that way LOL.

But it explains even more why TQ wants to take responsibility but also how hilarious that SCC's reaction to this is "it is like eating at the same table" (but people are also saying it shows how much she does like TQ because if it was another man, she did have beaten him up).

Also, there is another event they did during the wedding (first event was the wrestling) but I didn't see the full thing so not sure what the event is.

Yeah, not with her filters. Their first cheek kiss is in episode 17. Their first actual kiss is in episode 25. They got together by like episode 24-25 LOL.

They didn't get together officially until then but if you look back to the previous episodes, you will see the signs of them falling in love even from before so you can treat the previous episodes as "chasing" episodes and TQ trying to find SCC all along.

Tong Hua is really good at writing characters that is not just superficial. People tend to go in depth trying to explain her characters and it makes for great discussion material. Some people might hate it because they can't just get the character in one sentence but many love it because it drives them nuts LOL.

The pregnancy arc was definitely her way to shake things up for sure. She really didn't have to add that in and could have just ended everything in a perfect fashion. But she threw that in there to "wake up" the audience in a way. TQ is a great drama ML, but he doesn't exist in real life. It is someone like GY who is actually closer to how men irl are. That there is love but there is also a lot of self-centeredness. It is a reminder to women like LY that a man like that will slowly try to change you and you can accept someone like that (because you do love him), but you would have to be careful and know whether you are someone that can be able to fend that off (do you have the resources, do you have a good support system, etc.).

TJC is first billing in this drama anyway, so his character is meant to be the most /interesting/ one just by setting alone with having all these interactions and wacky experiences. Plus, Tong Hua pretty much wrote this drama as a love letter to Xiang Liu so there is no way she did make his character "bad". This is a great role for TJC and showed his range.

SCC and LY were relief because at that point, it was part of the thrill and thinking they got away with it again (and QSL did address that with them). And both would not think it did have a serious impact on TQ.

QST wasn't SM or FJ who TQ actually fell for. Instead, TQ disliked him (due to jealousy) and met him like 3 times in total. So, for the women, they think why /would/ TQ care? TQ might be shocked, but it won't have made sense for him to feel guilt or sadness. From their POVs, they didn't realize TQ has started associating QST with SM and FJ too, so it won't just be some random "death" for him.

Again, everything in this drama is about perspectives. That's why Tong Hua also added in scenes of SCC questioning herself if she should go through with it but then she sees TQ being persistent (not answering whether he did stop liking SM and showing up at her house/blackmailing QSL/SCC with their parents before the QST plan).

Edit: And had TQ "seek" revenge in the typical macho way and prolonged his anger, the audience would have turned on him. Because we have enough POV on SCC's side that the audience would eventually be annoyed and start saying SCC doesn't own him anything and he couldn't let things go in the first place. Tong Hua kept it "balance" enough not to have the audience turn on either character fully.

MLs "suffering" in drama tends to work in their favor (like how there are always those FMVs of MLs in historical drama throwing up blood due to the shock of FLs stabbing them or saving FLs because it is "beauty tragic suffering").

The more ML "suffers" especially if it is due to love, the more viewers fall for them because they end up wanting to protect them/want to replace the FL because they think they can treat them better. etc. MLs "suffering" due to being "love-brained" won't be dragged, but FL "suffering" due to being "love-brained" will absolutely be dragged because they are seen as hanging onto men who don't care for them.

It is rare to ever get those "romantic" FMVs of FLs coughing up blood because MLs tend to go through those "suffering" out of love but with FLs, it is usually because they are straight up being tortured/abused to be coughing up blood (Xiao Yao from LYF, Jiang Ci in LoN, etc.). People don't make FMVs of those moments as "beautiful suffering" moments because it is just FLs being physically tortured.

But back to Filter, TQ is a very idealized version of a ML and Tong Hua set him up exactly like that for the climax of this drama. Through his convo with GY (who is the "normal man"), TQ's behavior actually doesn't make sense logically.

He is someone who did risk his job/bonuses just to have SM as the model. He is someone who wants to marry someone just over a "one-night stand". He is someone who has no problem falling for a married woman (even though she was in the process of a divorce). He is someone who finds falling for a dual personality normal. He is someone who can jump into river to chase after someone and track down their addresses to find them. There are many more examples but GY's reactions to TQ's actions demonstrated that TQ's behaviors are "not normal". As GY said, if it was him, he did have let things go. There is no need to be persistent with things and keep on questioning things.

But TQ is this idealized version of a ML where he /doesn't/ let things go, he is persistent, frank, and sincere. It is also why he recognized he had a hand in all the transformations being forced to end. It is also why although he was angry (as he should), he also realized this anger can't really go anywhere. Because he is smart enough to understand that SCC's intent from the very beginning was to just get away from him (not to make him fall for her and then take that love away from him). His anger would be justified with being prolonged /if/ SCC went out of her way to do this to him on purpose.

But Tong Hua didn't set it up that way because her intention was to make this balance and "make sense". It did be so easy for Tong Hua to have SCC doing this all on purpose to TQ and for the viewers to turn on SCC for hurting TQ and probably be super mad that they end up together. But she didn't do that because these characters are working adults in a modern setting that have other things they care about (like their work) and because this plot is supposed to be character-driven aka we are supposed to care about all the characters (or at least understand them) and not just say the FL (and hate everyone else) or just the ML (and hate everyone else).

Because TQ is the way he is, aka he confesses right away once he falls. Once he is able to see oh, all along, it was all SCC and SCC herself did many things to protect him, nothing else mattered to him. As long as it wasn't because SCC /disliked/ him, then he has a chance and he will take that chance because as GY said, isn't being alive the most important thing? Why waste your days away prolonging your own suffering when it is not needed at all.

It is funny because someone asked this question on the XHS and all the comments are like yeah, no one wants to see another FL being "tortured" again (especially because in the beginning, SCC already went through things). They actually enjoyed that it was the ML "suffering" and said if this drama has gone with that trope of dragging that out, it would have become a typical idol drama and people would have dropped it then. From their POV, women already suffer enough irl and they don't really care to see it in a drama either unless it is FL getting revenge. The selling point of this drama is that it /doesn't/ follow the typical trope, and it won't even fit TQ's character. At the end of the day, it is just the viewers' projecting on what they want these characters to do without even understanding the characters.

Yup! And during the broom scene, the sneakers he got for SCC actually matched with his tie. TQ seems to be very detail orientated and likes to have matching patterns/colors with SCC.

Right! 😂

His glasses match with his mood and they color match with SCC's outfits when they start dating LOL.

Round glasses? He is feeling neutral/positive.
Angular glasses? Shit is about to go down.

He also has so many outfits. 😂 TJC's official account (or the drama official I forgot) posted his outfits for this drama before and it was a lot (they are similar in colors, but all the pieces are different). TQ is lowkey a fashionista!

Yeah, she is not a "sexy mature beauty" especially when she is still so young. She is someone the C-side can see becoming a 大花 in the way she carries herself. A lot of the popular current actresses are too "influencer-like" due to their make-up/way they dress/way they bring that into their own acting, so it makes them seem like online celebrities than the actresses from decades ago where there is almost this gracefulness and mystique appeal to them.

Her role as Li Mujia in "All the Way to the Sun" where she played the character from their early 20s to their 30s really showcased the way she can "mature" herself with just acting alone (and I think the way that drama filmed her really brought out her beauty and the power of acting which can make an actor/actress so much more attractive). It is also why people have high hopes for her in terms of being a "proper actress".

Tbh at long as the current Weibo exists, the current fandom state probably won't change. Though it was said they would lay down rules to change fandom culture, it really didn't happen since they still want fans fighting since it generates money. 🥲 And lol, not surprised, those fans are always fighting.