Everlasting Angst
Saw the plot and was intrigued, especially with the cast that it had. Couple of recognizable names and a decent sounding plot should make it a good production, right? Perhaps not.
The plot kinda killed it for me. I should be more specific, it was how the characters were written. Everyone is so freaking obsessive and yandere. My guy. Every character (ML, FL, the Princess) was walking around like they're in control of everything. It got kinda repetitive, especially how the pairings interacted. Two thirds of the drama is literally ML holding FL hostage and FL having no inclination of leaving. When she does decide to leave, she's almost unable to every time. Where did your famous brains go? Just the way that this drama was built and formulated, it was very 2010-2015 C-drama angst. Think 'Lin Lang Wang' and 'General and I'.
Angelababy and Song Wei Long were the bigger names in this drama. I'll admit that I don't follow either actor too extensively. The last dramas I've watched starring these two were 'General and I' and 'Untouchable Lovers'. Regarding Angelababy's acting, I'm not sure I saw much improvement since 'General and I'. There definitely was more expression and less of the 'eye acting'/staring doe-eyed, but I still found her to be less flexible than her co-star Chen Chen. It was just a lack of fluidity between different emotions and lack of complexity that made it seem like she was forcing/acting rather than embodying the role. It's most noticeable when she's in the same frame as her 'sisters' and they're doing the reunion scene or when she's crying/grief stricken. Song Wei Long is one of those actors where I don't actively avoid but somehow I don't see any of their works. I know that his drama 'Go Ahead' was quite good, but haven't really watched it yet, so I am more lenient on him in this drama. My first impression of him from 'Untouchable Lovers' wasn't good, because that drama was a mess in of itself. While I can't say much about how he is in 'Go Ahead', I found that there was improvement, similar to Angelababy. One of the hardest things Chinese male actors have to figure out how to do is be the 'cold faced' ML while being expressive. It's a bigger task than most give credit for because if you're too flat faced, it just looks like you don't know how to be expressive. I found that Song Wei Long hit the balance between cold/ruthless and expressive in this drama. He was adequately expressive and portrayed the role quite well. I will say that one of the ways he manages to stay expressive/human while acting as a 'cold' ML was his use of interactions with others. While interacting with ML's subordinates, Song Wei Long smiles more and acts like they are more like friends. This does come back to bite him, I would say, when Song Wei Long's ML is trying to be more controlling and forceful. It feels less forceful and more like he's micromanaging. He doesn't have Angelababy's issue of fluidity in transitioning between expressions, but I've noticed that he has an issue of keeping a single expression for a tad bit too long. Anyone who has RBF, understands the pain.
Definitely the plot above all else was what made me feel like this drama was a waste of time. The questionable consent at times made me flashback to 2010-2015. The MOST annoying part was definitely the princess x guard love line. It was definitely a dated way to write that trope. I have never seen a more useless love line in my many years of watching dramas. You could potentially take out the role of the princess and not much would change. Just the sheer amount of time spent on the princess stalking and controlling the guard was crazy.
TLDR: Not a bad drama if you liked 'General and I'. Personally, I dislike plots written in this way and found the angst to be a little heavy and unnecessary.
The plot kinda killed it for me. I should be more specific, it was how the characters were written. Everyone is so freaking obsessive and yandere. My guy. Every character (ML, FL, the Princess) was walking around like they're in control of everything. It got kinda repetitive, especially how the pairings interacted. Two thirds of the drama is literally ML holding FL hostage and FL having no inclination of leaving. When she does decide to leave, she's almost unable to every time. Where did your famous brains go? Just the way that this drama was built and formulated, it was very 2010-2015 C-drama angst. Think 'Lin Lang Wang' and 'General and I'.
Angelababy and Song Wei Long were the bigger names in this drama. I'll admit that I don't follow either actor too extensively. The last dramas I've watched starring these two were 'General and I' and 'Untouchable Lovers'. Regarding Angelababy's acting, I'm not sure I saw much improvement since 'General and I'. There definitely was more expression and less of the 'eye acting'/staring doe-eyed, but I still found her to be less flexible than her co-star Chen Chen. It was just a lack of fluidity between different emotions and lack of complexity that made it seem like she was forcing/acting rather than embodying the role. It's most noticeable when she's in the same frame as her 'sisters' and they're doing the reunion scene or when she's crying/grief stricken. Song Wei Long is one of those actors where I don't actively avoid but somehow I don't see any of their works. I know that his drama 'Go Ahead' was quite good, but haven't really watched it yet, so I am more lenient on him in this drama. My first impression of him from 'Untouchable Lovers' wasn't good, because that drama was a mess in of itself. While I can't say much about how he is in 'Go Ahead', I found that there was improvement, similar to Angelababy. One of the hardest things Chinese male actors have to figure out how to do is be the 'cold faced' ML while being expressive. It's a bigger task than most give credit for because if you're too flat faced, it just looks like you don't know how to be expressive. I found that Song Wei Long hit the balance between cold/ruthless and expressive in this drama. He was adequately expressive and portrayed the role quite well. I will say that one of the ways he manages to stay expressive/human while acting as a 'cold' ML was his use of interactions with others. While interacting with ML's subordinates, Song Wei Long smiles more and acts like they are more like friends. This does come back to bite him, I would say, when Song Wei Long's ML is trying to be more controlling and forceful. It feels less forceful and more like he's micromanaging. He doesn't have Angelababy's issue of fluidity in transitioning between expressions, but I've noticed that he has an issue of keeping a single expression for a tad bit too long. Anyone who has RBF, understands the pain.
Definitely the plot above all else was what made me feel like this drama was a waste of time. The questionable consent at times made me flashback to 2010-2015. The MOST annoying part was definitely the princess x guard love line. It was definitely a dated way to write that trope. I have never seen a more useless love line in my many years of watching dramas. You could potentially take out the role of the princess and not much would change. Just the sheer amount of time spent on the princess stalking and controlling the guard was crazy.
TLDR: Not a bad drama if you liked 'General and I'. Personally, I dislike plots written in this way and found the angst to be a little heavy and unnecessary.
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