This review may contain spoilers
A Beautiful Sledgehammer to the Heart
This drama was an unexpected gem. I was not expecting the level of quality-- wonderful acting from all actors, beautiful cinematography, exemplary direction and truly lovely score. I was locked in from episode 1 and remained fully engaged up to the final seconds of the series.
Every episode was a taut tapestry of emotions-- some almost choked me with their emotional intensity. I could feel my heart thumping and growing heavier as the episodes progressed.
Pond's portrayal of Wang was eye-opening. The man can ACT! I felt every single one of his emotions as they either simmered beneath his seemingly placid surface or exploded out when he couldn't contain them any longer. His relationship with his mother was loving yet fraught (for good reasons), and I could always glimpse his longing for his father and attraction to In. Pond needs to be given more serious dramas, as some of the BL scripts he's had to work with just aren't up to his talents.
I read a lot of reviews of those who detested the mother character, but I really appreciated her, because I could see that she was modeled after Elizabeth Taylor's character in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and the actress, Mam Kathaleeya McIntosh, did a stellar job of bringing the emotional roller-coaster of an alcoholic and narcissistic artist to life. Her acting almost had my jaw on the floor many times. It was out of this world. She understood the character's selfish motivations so deeply, that I couldn't hate her for her behavior, even though in many ways I wanted to shake her.
Life can sometimes be one big tangled web of complexities and this drama plowed right into the heart of some of those tangles. I appreciated that they didn't try to wrangle a contrived ending out of what were intensely complex relationships. Life doesn't always work out the way we desire. There are some who are deeply selfish, some who are brave of heart and those who are cowardly and when they all meet on the battlefield of love, rarely do we end up with a warm and cushy resolution.
In the end, the series was a beautiful sledgehammer to my heart.
BRAVO!! 👏👏👏
Every episode was a taut tapestry of emotions-- some almost choked me with their emotional intensity. I could feel my heart thumping and growing heavier as the episodes progressed.
Pond's portrayal of Wang was eye-opening. The man can ACT! I felt every single one of his emotions as they either simmered beneath his seemingly placid surface or exploded out when he couldn't contain them any longer. His relationship with his mother was loving yet fraught (for good reasons), and I could always glimpse his longing for his father and attraction to In. Pond needs to be given more serious dramas, as some of the BL scripts he's had to work with just aren't up to his talents.
I read a lot of reviews of those who detested the mother character, but I really appreciated her, because I could see that she was modeled after Elizabeth Taylor's character in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF and the actress, Mam Kathaleeya McIntosh, did a stellar job of bringing the emotional roller-coaster of an alcoholic and narcissistic artist to life. Her acting almost had my jaw on the floor many times. It was out of this world. She understood the character's selfish motivations so deeply, that I couldn't hate her for her behavior, even though in many ways I wanted to shake her.
Life can sometimes be one big tangled web of complexities and this drama plowed right into the heart of some of those tangles. I appreciated that they didn't try to wrangle a contrived ending out of what were intensely complex relationships. Life doesn't always work out the way we desire. There are some who are deeply selfish, some who are brave of heart and those who are cowardly and when they all meet on the battlefield of love, rarely do we end up with a warm and cushy resolution.
In the end, the series was a beautiful sledgehammer to my heart.
BRAVO!! 👏👏👏
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