BearFightingFanBackAgain

Ah, this rating🙂‍↕️…
Can’t even defend the show. The plot really killed what should have been a decent work. The moral of the story is don’t switch the script on the cast. And don’t adapt bad IPs either🙏

Only saving grace for me was seeing Cangcang brought to life. I really love imperfect heroines and bad girls of all types (although Cangcang isn’t bad at all). So even though I knew Cangcang would probably get scolded after reading the book, I liked her anyway. And all things considered, Xiao Ran did an excellent job. I read she wrote three notebooks worth of analysis on Cangcang and I can see the effort in her performance. Heroic heroine, cute heroine, tragic heroine-she played several types of heroines in this drama and nailed it. Although there are regrets about the plot, for me, she’s all the best parts of Cangcang from the book because I never really liked how book Cangcang made her whole world Xiao Huan to the point she couldn’t live without him. It felt too limiting for such a colourful, stubborn, and vivacious woman. Sorry to the author, but a heroine’s core should not be a man nor should all her growth and development be centred around a man either.

Anyway, I hope that all future adaptations of female centric/female oriented works get the love they deserve. The trend of turning female centric narratives to male centric ones doesn’t seem to be working so maybe it’s time to give up the practice. I also hope producers who adapt these stories understand that the core of them is the heroine. Treat her well.

I’m not sure. I think IQIYI generally demands higher quality but I don’t know if they step in to ensure it. But I also think it’s not so much a quality issue with the production company but an ethical issue. They switched the scripts on the cast after they signed on. I think if Xiao Ran knew the full script of FHTS, she might not have taken it.
My chief worry is how they edit and market FMJ and her pairing and what makes it to the final cut. I’m particularly worried because FMJ isn’t a character obedient to men and she is a character who starts out weak and gradually levels up. I’m worried they will pull a FHTS and not let her level up either. Plus, it looks like her relationship with Yunya is complicated but many MDL viewers will hate on the FL alone.

I heard Zhao Xia was responsible for the emotional scenes but I don’t think she filmed all of them. She took quite a few nice shots of Xiao Ran in Love and Crown though. She filmed the slap scene and the arrow injury scene. Both seemed to be quite popular.
To be honest I don’t think the directors of Love and Crown and TBBM are the biggest problem. The biggest issue is the production company because they set the tone for everything and they’re responsible for the end product.
Looking at the entire process from beginning to end of Love and Crown, the producers never intended to promote Xiao Ran. She was supposed to be a stepping stone to bring people into the drama so I don’t think it’s a stain on Xiao Ran but it’s definitely a stain on the production company and screenwriters . Xiao Ran did her best but I think the aggressive marketing against her and Cangcang, and nonsense behind the scenes made it unsalvageable.
It seems she signed on to TBBM at the same time as Love & Crown so unless Love Crown was to get the better resource of TBBM, then I’d very cautiously optimistic about TBBM now that things have been laid out in the open about the Love and Crown situation. Fans even had to urge the show to post a birthday photo🙂‍↕️.

No, not really. They’re both bad in their own ways. The characterisation in the drama is more logical but the romantic relationship is less satisfying. And even though the plot goes off the rails in the drama, it’s still more linear and logical than the first edition of the book. There’s also this weird tone of taming women through love.
Part of the reason the drama’s script struggled so much is probably because the source wasn’t that great. The book is more romantically satisfying though and it technically has HE (which some think constitutes a good work) but the characters don’t make as much sense and neither does the overall plot.
And the controversy over the author and the drama version of the FL is that Cangcang’s story and world don’t revolve around Xiao Huan like it does in the book. She seems to feel that core of Cangcang’s journey is not Cangcang herself but should be Xiao Huan. But the book version of Cangcang got criticised too and if they kept her storyline the same as the book, she would probably still get criticised. So regardless of the drama or novel, people are not fond of the character.

Tldr: They are both a mess. The drama is partly a mess because the book was a mess.

I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree. My point on trauma bonds is that they can be incredibly strong and incredibly fierce. People in them often think they’re in love so it’s not about being dismissive but about acknowledging the complexity of relationships, especially ones that don’t seem healthy. A lot of Cangcang’s seemingly confusing behaviour makes sense from the standpoint of realising a relationship is not right but everyone is pushing you into a corner. And tbh, there is some legitimately rank stuff going on in the relationship. Xiao Huan lies to her. He won’t tell her the truth or communicate properly; Cangcang has to rely on others leaving her open to manipulation and misunderstandings. He uses her as a pawn. He infantilises her. It’s a big red flag that in the drama, Cangcang refers to herself as a caged bird, has to tell Xiao Huan to stop making decisions for her, laments the freedom she once had, and actually has to ask Xiao Huan not to restrict her freedom too much. All of this sounds like the perfect ingredients for a trauma bond to me.

Sorry but these are just my feelings. Everyone is different and has different interpretations. Mine is that what may have started out as the beginnings of love eventually became a trauma bond. I just can’t see a healthy relationship developing with the drama version. The power imbalance is too heavy, Xiao Huan never really seems to learn to communicate, and too many people are pressuring Cangcang with tales of Xiao Huan’s great deeds for her as if he isn’t an adult with his own free will while rarely acknowledging Cangcang’s own painful experiences with him or gaslighting her. Tbh, I don’t think it’s much of a love story. My feelings are that Cangcang trades one liar (her father) for another (Xiao Huan).

A crush can be intense and used it because a year doesn’t quite seem that long to me but maybe it does to others. I also said first love. I didn’t say hate. I said I felt it was a trauma bond relationship which can involve a strong emotional attachment and often mimics love. PXR’s depiction of the complexity of Cangcang’s emotions is flawless. There is no question of if Cangcang has strong emotions.
for XH. Cangcang probably believes it’s love too. I just don’t think those strong feelings are love after the first arc but something that mimics love when I look at the whole picture.

She only has these two. She’s associated with tragedy mainly because GBMP is considered one of the best tragic idol dramas in recent years and few later tragic dramas have had its lasting power or pop culture reach. And, Xiao Feng is considered a classic role but is a tragic heroine.

As for whether Cangcang loves Xiao Huan… in the book I could say yes but in the drama I’d say it’s more of a trauma bond than love. The Jianghu arc was probably at the level of a crush and a young girl swept up by first love. But then Xiao Huan betrayed Cangcang. She still liked him but I think the romantic feelings were overshadowed by the sense of betrayal, lack of communication, and the things he did that were hurtful in her eyes. While she’s dealing with this, she has everyone telling her, in one way or another, to be with Xiao Huan. Jiangzhou offers her a chance to clear her head and there’s still feelings but she’s then told about all the stuff Xiao Huan has done for and dealing with seeing him severely poisoned for the first time. I think she feels indebted and guilty rather than love which why she’s so conflicted when XH is better and she can think. If her heart wasn’t in conflict, I don’t think she would have tried to run. Then XH follows her to bring her back and reminds her she made a promise to him and I think that’s when she begins to accept him and her fate with him because although she goes back, she doesn’t look very happy. But once at the palace, since she decided to return, I think she also decided to build a life with XH. I think the reconciliation scene that everyone seems to want is her agreeing to go back while at the post station and her writing that message on her return to Linghe Palace. Affection builds once she makes this decision and maybe it’s love but Cangcang’s personality is also fiercely loyal once she decides to let you into her inner circle. In the later episodes, I noticed XH still lies to her just like her dad but the reaction isn’t negative like it was before. It’s the same type of reaction as with her dad and foster brother, she tries to go back to him.

The only saving grace of this script is its keen sense of irony:

The screenwriter knows that the audience will judge the FL because she doesn’t seem to love the ML enough and she prioritises her friends and family and uses this negative opinion to create twists in the plot.

There is a lot of focus on the FL’s side ruining things but it’s actually the ML’s side that puts the country in serious danger. And his final actions are dealing with his own people to protect the FL while the FL’s family, who have also been evil the whole show, end up dying to protect her.

The FL gets criticised for going back to evil dad but the ML is actually related to the two biggest baddies of the show and both get to live (as in he kills neither of them).

The FL tells ML to stop making decisions for her but he keeps making decisions for her until he can’t make them no more.💀

Du Tingxin starts out as the ideal woman for the ML-obedient and affectionate to the ML, criticising the FL alongside the audience for 2/3 of the show. Then, when it’s certain she can’t separate the main couple, she goes off the rails with rage to a point it affects the future of Da Qi.

Probably has nothing much to do with the director. It’s more a problem of the screenwriter, editor, and producers. The screenwriter built a bad foundation. The editor didn’t fix enough of the cracks. And, production allowed it to go up for sale knowing the foundation was crumbling.

They changed the scripts on the cast but I agree that Youku should have some sort of vetting process for scripts, editors and directors(although I think the directors are fine).

You can pick it up for the happy moments. The ghost story scene is really cute.

I think it’s because she always seems to get better with every drama and there’s always a moment when her acting makes you sit up. It’s a unique style in that it is natural with a bit of theatrical charm. She’s also very beautiful in a way reminiscent of classic Hollywood with her big eyes that can speak and delicate features.

Happy Birthday, Ranzi🎉🎉🎉

Nah, the actual script. Everyone was saying it was majorly cringeworthy. I kinda don’t understand why they didn’t ad-lib.
And you’re right about the twists. I have some thoughts after a second rewatch but my brain is too broken.

Yeah, everyone who read the script was like it’s wild and trashy but it’s gonna bring people in. I’m thinking the editing did something to the final result cause I was this is tedious at some points but the end was like👀👀. And this is the censored version too…

I’m so sad. She’s such a good actress tho. My soul was rocked yet again🙂‍↕️

I can’t remember why it couldn’t pass the 2nd review but I remember it did get sent back and recut or something.

I came for Peng Xiao Ran and I basically never drop her dramas due to playback volume but this drama challenged my mortal soul as a fan. 🙂‍↕️I was actually excited for it to be a messy and toxic relationship/watch but this defeated me💀

Apparently the dialogue in the original script is pretty bad.