Frost_edelweiss

Very nice lyrics indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Basically you say you knew it all without watching it. That's an astounding admission of bias. And you say you liked all the actors. Are you sure you saw them all, skipping from 1 to 38? But at least you were honest enough not to log the drama in and rate it.

Commenter Marlo is right : maybe you figured it out by now that you presumably have watched more of the story progressing? If you have not progressed up to Zhuang's reappearance in Shanghai, wait until you have to read my perception of the reasons you are inquiring about. The perceptions from different people may vary, though. That's also the beauty of this drama that it can be interpreted differently, like a work of art where some see structure, others colors, others again a vision tying in with personal resonances.

So, are you ready ? Here goes :


1. He sprung it on her without preparation as if it was like going on tour for a weekend when his expatriation project was for ..... years.
2. She was not prepared mentally or linguistically to expatriate. She did not speak French and phrase books are okay for a short visit, but it's not the same for going through long term visa applications, where a reasonable command of the language is required. He had never included her in his plan and was all talks, no substance. He did not communicate really.
3. She understood he did not care about her family, did not care about ever meeting her parents, and she was not prepared to leave that way, after having announced to her parents that she would bring him to have them meet. He looked down on her and her family as if he was a prince who could sever her ties to family and country. He was treating her as furniture that has no sentiment for other than the glorified behind that flops into the chair that can be pushed in a corner when the king has other business to attend.
4. She resented that he prioritized his career over her budding one, his aspirations over her own. She wanted respect and equality, and all he offered was lip service and physically subduing her at his whims. He did not offer respect.
5. She had no plans to study abroad, had left the Arts studies without a graduate diploma and therefore could not enter the Beaux Arts in France, because her qualifications were too low. She had bet on the emerging arts scene in Beijing and Shanghai to learn with the experts there the business of arts curation which looked challenging and glamorous. She was not going to start from scratch abroad in a foreign country, with no prospects of income for herself and depend on someone who had proven to be less than dependable. He did not offer a future, other than perhaps clandestine house maid at lowest level.
6. He had told her he was going through learning himself. He had no time and no real means or will to support her ; anyway she did not want to give up her independence yet, not in that perverted way he proposed. He did not offer security.
7. His mother did not accept her and she saw that Zhuang would be pushed into someone else's arms. She was not ready to even witness the maneuvers without getting out of that trap. He did not even propose faithfulness.
8. He did not understand her own visions of art and freedom. He was thoroughly selfish.

He was all wrong for her, just a pretty face, and the clashes they had gone through and which she had forgiven for passion all came back with a vengeance. She had contributed her large painting of roses, and he did not care for it, contrary to what he had said. So, she whitewashed it to disappear and erase the memories turned painful. Breaking off like that was painful but the only solution so as not to totally lose herself. She was pulling at straws next, to recover the passion for art that Zhuang had destroyed with his selfish only love. He did not even respect her need to be free of him, calm and secure, and never see him again after a clean break-up. He kept popping up at the worst moments, shamelessly and selfishly, over the years, "when he had time", claiming possession of her after the thread was broken, like pulling open a scar. He said he wanted her happy but destroyed all she built and left her in a wasteland of painful memories that turned to obsession and made her sick. Repeatedly.

None of the protagonists are perfect, they all have flaws, some obvious some less. Why was Meigui also at fault, can you see? Why was Zhuang a nemesis for Fang and her ? Most will complacently stop at Fang's faults - he clearly has many. But why was he acceptable at first and why did things turn sour ? SuSu had answers and Fang and Meigui always listened to her counsel, even though they did not always heed them. She had faults as well... Huang Zhenhua often meddled and was full of biases. The Beijing parents were too centered on their own sweet comfort. And still we get to love some characters, almost hate other ones, forgive when maybe we shouldn't.

To celebrate the third week of The Tale of Roe staying #1 among the top 10 TV dramas of the week, I have added some more data to the "companion piece" in Discussion section, and am considering adding, as an appendix, a mini portrait of Lin Gengxing.

I have enough data to do it, I think, although would welcome the views of members of the Kids tribe, if any are here, and/or them explaining how and when that tribe originated or elaborate on his brands endorsements and events, and whatever anecdote they see fit to be remembered. I am presently collecting the pictures (all linked to sources) that will illustrate that mini profile.

The Discussions being open to collaborations, if someone wants to tackle Liu Yifei too, or one or other of the actors or actresses, and are not afraid to throw pictures in, in addition to text, they can add there too, under their handle. In case someone wants to try it, and is not familiar with the tools, just DM me and I will explain how to do it and how to link to the Table of Contents in the beginning of the thread.

https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-story-of-rose/126207-the-story-of-the-rose-miscellaneous-details (I regret that I did not title the link directly as Companion Piece : at the time, I thought I'd just lazily pick up some miscellaneous details and describe them, but it ended up as quite more comprehensive than I initially envisaged, and MDL does not allow changes in title link...)

Anyway, I would be happy to read your thoughts about the suggested Mini Profile appendix or annex addition(s). There is no time limit to do it, anyway and it is only as labor of love. Well, perhaps it would be better to add new section(s) before the drama falls out of top ten most watched ? As a matter of comparison, The Legend of Shen Li has now been in the charts for 15 weeks running. I can't bet on how long The Tale of Rose will last, except I believe it will not disappear too quickly either.

Yes, the drama hardly leaves indifferent those who really watch it without a finger on ff button.

I think it is better than the original novel which was published in 2007 but subsequently dealt with characters of the end 1980s to early 2000s. There is a difference in era between the 20th and 21st century. Revisiting the story, making it more relevant to our times was not easy for scriptwriter, but a festival for us audience, especially the older who remember those quaint machines, phones, cars, and even banknotes that evolved at breakneck speed until our days.

The drama ends before the next great epoch change of covid. But the fashion is present-day, and in my opinion, it was a good move, both marketing wise for sponsors, but also to bridge subliminally the 4 dark years to pave the way to that glorious ride between golden leafed trees, to the next horizon, and make the whole story relevant to our days. Liu Yifen was wonderful to look at in her different "incarnations" as carefree skater, passionate lover awfully hurt by her partner, depressed student finding a fairy-tale shelter : the facade of the Shanghai building evoked images of Rapunzel combing her tresses to invite a lover in from the wild city, or Juliet at the balcony wondering at her fate with an adoring Romeo battling the odds of corporate corruption, but morphing like a cute dinosaur baby into full T Rex. The third period was like a change of colors and a reaching to summits with a sense of inexorability from time accelerating to another stop, and finally, picking up her courage, the mature woman facing soon menopause, remained young at heart, counting her chances : "I am 40, and if I live to 90, I still have 50 years left. I have time. I am still a child". Having been burnt enough by the realities of her different incarnations and dependence on men, she was like a phoenix rising again, but not wanting to repeat the mistakes of too deep entanglements : flying was a symbol of the lightness she now intended to stay with, not giving up on loving, but resolutely and healthily going for freedom.

It is a feat from this great cast and crew to have delivered such a mature and thought provoking drama. Some nitpickers will stop at trifles, but most of those are among the hasty ones who never watched it from end to end to really appreciate it, but quickly superimposed what they believe from a quick glimpse and reading of reviews. Better take time to watch it and even re-watch it. It is not a coincidence that it tops charts for third week running, with very little hype, compared to the hammering around the costume drama competition.

I am also very happy in particular for Lin Gengxin that this year 2024 allowed him both to play the easier, but endearing, wistful and sweet role of "last God" , and now the challenging, but very nuanced and human role of Fang Xiaowen, husband and dad ushering in the new generation of mischievous and strong women!

The end monologue while Meigui drives away is also very meaningful...

To celebrate the third week of The Tale of The Rose standing #1 among the the ten most watched TV dramas in China, I have added some stuff, and am considering to add a "mini profile" for Lin Gengxin who is an interesting fellow.
What's your opinion ?

And yes, impressive acting in The Tale of Rose. Not an easy role. He's once again earned respect from his peers. And I was glued to screen for that one, even went back and re watched , for many details and meaningful tidbits of dialogue by Liu Yifei but also Lin Gengxin and some others ! ❤️❤️❤️
I wrote an illustrated companion piece for it too, housed in the Discussions section of the drama under the (at first "working title") https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-story-of-rose/126207-the-story-of-the-rose-miscellaneous-details
It's fairly complete now, although I might add an appendix which was still "in the works" by end of June.

Actually that "guest" role is very misleading since LGX appeared in about 18+ episodes of the 38. There was an agreement that only the actors for FL, FL's brother and FL's once boss and future sister in law be termed "leads", all four "men in Rose's life" being termed guests. Perhaps it solved somewhat the position of billing. Lin Gengxin's role is more in line with a proper ML in that drama.
About his apparent sabbatical from cameras, since November 15, 2023 (wrap of the shooting for The Tale of Rose that took part of his time from June 2023), he's been taking part in a couple and more TV shows, and his thesis + promotional duties for Shen Li and Rose probably took some of his time, too. ☺️
Let's expect good news about finding him again in the cast of c-dramas or movies!

He earned his PhD from Beijing Film Academy already in May, with next to top score :)
EDIT : no, i was dreaming lol
It was Shanghai Theater Academy, and his admission was on June 12.

Of course not native since ZGD is not supposed to be French, only to have stayed long enough in France to master it better than adequately (the old guy in ep3 and 4 must be French though, or dubbed by real native speaker). But ZGD's French is really impressive for a non native. It was a nice touch of realism to get the slight accent and hesitations in ZGD's dialogues.

Of course I don't believe Peng Guanying is that skilled in French that this was him speaking. It was for sure a dubber, well chosen.

😊

I'm getting curious about that one. Have you dived into it, Cho Na ? Ah yes, I see you are devouring episodes like crazy, 11 dramas simultaneously, do you ever eat and sleep ??
(actually I should refrain myself. I'm just out of The Tale of Rose obsessions.... to which I added a lot of virtual ink + The Double, no that one does not need more ink and hype, just a printout of Wang Xingyue's attractive mugshot, for praying to c-drama gods that the season will be fruitful 😂
And now, I've already started on the LYX one and The Princess Royal, that should be enough for a while, not sure I can continue with Jade's Fateful Love - just have too much on my plate so have put it on hold for the moment).
Will start a couple episodes of that 72 hours to see if I am hooked enough to add it to my list... Start looks very juvenile. Don't know any in that cast. Although I must have glimpsed one in Provoke, but can't remember her from there.

I was wavering between the two denominations, since I had looked up Baidu first. So when, a week ago, I answered a question by someone who wondered why LGX etc were not ML, I wrote that they had accepted supporting status. But I was rebuked that it was guest roles, since that's what MDL got in cast : my non committal answer was that it felt appropriate to call them guests since these characters were passersby in Meigui's life.

It's less important than their remuneration, perhaps? If you are curious about how much they were paid, have a look at my companion piece where I included the data into the compilation of info found in various places :
https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-story-of-rose/126207-the-story-of-the-rose-miscellaneous-details

Something like that, but these are not included in the Code of Criminal Justice of China, after death by a thousand cuts was abolished with the Empire. 😉

It used to be that rape of very young minors incurred the full force of the law : death penalty in China. Kris Wu was "lucky" to be sentenced only to some decades fed and housed by the State.

Jiaming had a quirky humor too, giving her a "secret recipe" to his noodle dish in lieu of farewell letter. I noticed that it caused her to dance, which Meigui only did when she felt particularly bereaved. Dancing to cope with grief could be an interesting therapy ?

I have it on my personal best of too, and liked it better than the costume one (The Double) where I only stayed awake for the impressive "Duke Su". No lukewarm 9 from me this time, it got a 10. + a very detailed "companion piece" in Discussion section. You can take a peek if you like, or sample it by sections:
https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-story-of-rose/126207-the-story-of-the-rose-miscellaneous-details

I think this bird has flown too. Yimei was old enough to be his mom and not really leaning towards giving in to MILF behavior. She rode her Triumph motorcycle into the sunset, open to new adventures, instead ?

In fact, the He Xi part was a sort of bonus to make the story soar despite the implausibility of a MILF relationship at the end... 🤣
It reminded me of a couple old songs : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuEjGK7Eu8
(I Believe I can Fly) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4n6x24RRM4 (Aller plus haut / "Get higher")
Forgive me for the French song by an Australian singer with a stronger accent than Zhuang Guodong in the drama (his French was perfect).