I barely lasted 10 episodes. It's a really boring series.
As a screenwriter type I can share that the structure of this story is a mess. It makes it seem boring. It takes half of this series to get the story moving. I nearly dropped it myself but when I get halfway thru one of these things I try to finish it, and in this case there's an actress I really want to see in the 2nd half.
The single worst aspect of this tale is its hero, Fan Xian, who is so damn smug yet worry free it destroys badly needed tension. He's like, "This doesn't bother me!" and so why should we be bothered by all the nastiness surrounding him? A hero like this should never be 'safe' from the story. It's the stuff of Disney.
In the 2nd half Fan Xian begins to be in actual peril, and it's at that point I began to give a damn about him and enjoy many of the interesting characters around him, including that Uncle with no eyes.
If this half of the story is fantastic, I'll consider the 2nd Season when completed. But if it simply stays improved instead of reaching a WOW status I'll ditch like you. RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE and REBEL PRINCESS and MAKE A WISH and THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN are WAY better than this series (so far).
why? why she doesn't have another show? she acted very well in her role...
I was wondering why too. She was INCREDIBLE. (I wonder if she's like a model type and they dubbed her acting voice? If that true that might explain it.)
I must share I watching THE SANDMAN on Netflix. The show took liberties when casting some of the characters. When they recast 'Death' as a young African American woman -- I felt -- they could have chosen someone better.
Gia Ge. The show was so busy putting black actors in roles it kinda forget about Asian. I would even have 'Death' speak in Chinese with English subtitles. Would have been super cool.
I must say that this series is insanely good, if you can manage to find a version complete with all the music and proper subtitles. At the time I watched this that wasn't a reality, but if and when it does, this blows JOY OF LIFE out of the water. (I'm watching that now and finding it more average than amazing.)
I'm now at the halfway point. There's an actress I adore coming in the 2nd half, Xin Zhi Lei. If this series weren't a 'family reunions' of many actors I've already seen in other dramas, I'd have dumped it already. Wildly over-rated in these parts.
I'm still on quest for finding better drama than this one.
I haven't seen it through yet but I know of 3 dramas I can simply recommend.
1. If you're okay with tragedy and concubines abusing each other, RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE is amazing balls. And it features a handful of this cast in stellar roles. Not to mention the additional actors within.
2. If you hate that kinda thing, lol, try MAKE A WISH. The story is great until it trips over itself towards the end, but you're watching for the amazing leads. It's bubblegum but sweet as hell.
3. REBEL PRINCESS is convoluted and takes a while to get rolling, but the cast is great. The production values makes JOY look like a home movie.
So I've been saving this well-rated drama because once you've watched 'the best' the rest might suck in comparison. I've seen RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE which shares three supporting actresses (great choices too). I just completed LUOYANG which shares a lead actress. And a male supporting actor from REBEL PRINCESS is here too.
So for me, this is like a family reunion.
I'm 14 Episodes in and feel, well, this series is over-rated. It's better than LUOYANG, yes, but RUYI and REBEL (so far) eat this for breakfast. I'm not saying it's junk but a firm 8.2 at the moment. Absolutely worth trying (and likely finishing) but nowhere near a 9.
I find many of the C-Drama fans are young and they adore lighthearted. JOY OF LIFE, to me, is like a normal Imperial C-Drama with a tiny touch of Disney spice.
Consider the distracting incidental music in so many scenes. Sometimes it's Spanish guitar. Sometimes it is salsa. Sometimes it's modern rock-ish. The main character is a little too smug and so confident he can't fail, which decreases tension and increases... well... 'Disney'.
My opinion may improve as I proceed but I'm just leaving this note here to anyone over 35 years who is wondering what all the fuss is here. I can promise you it has a FUN cast and is so far telling a decent story well, although it took about 4 extra episodes to get to Ep 13, which is to say it's a little slow at first. So it's definitely worth a look but I'm not gushing yet.
This is a challenging film because I suspect there's a few missing scenes that would make things clearer. Does anyone know who the boy on the ice was at the end?
Many thanks!! I am a fan of Zhou Xun and looking for her new work! :-)
I know people think I'm crazy when I say this, but honestly, she is the Bette Davis of China. This means no matter what she touches it becomes more interesting. And it applies to all stages of her career. Strong, smart, beauty -- only one actress in America had it all like Zhou Xun.
On Epi 5. Loved it from the beginning , but now I’m finding Chen Jialan quite annoying. She’s too righteous…
The actress was miscast. I've heard they didn't even user her vocal performance and dubbed someone else over her, in Chinese mind you. But in the last quarter of the series she begins to shine because they finally show her as human and vulnerable.
This is one of the films where a filmmaker discovers a dish and wants to show her off within a cool street film. The story doesn't matter and typically doesn't exist. As this type of film -- pretty good.
Sometimes movie producers re-title a project to make it more appealing. This was originally eentitled HER STORY. I haven't seen this yet but I believe it's actually 3 stories, and so right there it should have been title HER STORIES.
But apparently this film didn't want to draw attention to the female focus, which is unfortunate if that is one strength of this piece. And so it got renamed HERO, frankly another bad idea -- considering the legendary use of that title elsewhere.
What this movie is trying to hide is the depressing subject matter: the Chinese Covid Lockdown. It's actually rather annoying to trick people into trying something they wouldn't otherwise watch.
To me a simple title seems rather obvious: WOMEN OF THE LOCKDOWN.
That 8.2 rating simply doesn't accurately reflect this series. There are too many characters and the pace is crazy uneven. There are like 4 episodes in the middle of this story where you swear the actors are all standing around waiting for new pages. It's not awful, but it's not 8.2. And it's really a waste of such talented actors and brilliant production otherwise. :(
Watching LUOYANG and Yong Mei's EMPRESS is gold every time she appears. It makes you want to find a film like this and devour it. Unfortunately there isn't an English translation anywhere and this is so sad.
1 
The single worst aspect of this tale is its hero, Fan Xian, who is so damn smug yet worry free it destroys badly needed tension. He's like, "This doesn't bother me!" and so why should we be bothered by all the nastiness surrounding him? A hero like this should never be 'safe' from the story. It's the stuff of Disney.
In the 2nd half Fan Xian begins to be in actual peril, and it's at that point I began to give a damn about him and enjoy many of the interesting characters around him, including that Uncle with no eyes.
If this half of the story is fantastic, I'll consider the 2nd Season when completed. But if it simply stays improved instead of reaching a WOW status I'll ditch like you. RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE and REBEL PRINCESS and MAKE A WISH and THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN are WAY better than this series (so far).
I must share I watching THE SANDMAN on Netflix. The show took liberties when casting some of the characters. When they recast 'Death' as a young African American woman -- I felt -- they could have chosen someone better.
Gia Ge. The show was so busy putting black actors in roles it kinda forget about Asian. I would even have 'Death' speak in Chinese with English subtitles. Would have been super cool.
Xin Zhi Lei. If this series weren't a 'family reunions' of many actors I've already seen in other dramas, I'd have dumped it already. Wildly over-rated in these parts.
1. If you're okay with tragedy and concubines abusing each other, RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE is amazing balls. And it features a handful of this cast in stellar roles. Not to mention the additional actors within.
2. If you hate that kinda thing, lol, try MAKE A WISH. The story is great until it trips over itself towards the end, but you're watching for the amazing leads. It's bubblegum but sweet as hell.
3. REBEL PRINCESS is convoluted and takes a while to get rolling, but the cast is great. The production values makes JOY look like a home movie.
So for me, this is like a family reunion.
I'm 14 Episodes in and feel, well, this series is over-rated. It's better than LUOYANG, yes, but RUYI and REBEL (so far) eat this for breakfast. I'm not saying it's junk but a firm 8.2 at the moment. Absolutely worth trying (and likely finishing) but nowhere near a 9.
I find many of the C-Drama fans are young and they adore lighthearted. JOY OF LIFE, to me, is like a normal Imperial C-Drama with a tiny touch of Disney spice.
Consider the distracting incidental music in so many scenes. Sometimes it's Spanish guitar. Sometimes it is salsa. Sometimes it's modern rock-ish. The main character is a little too smug and so confident he can't fail, which decreases tension and increases... well... 'Disney'.
My opinion may improve as I proceed but I'm just leaving this note here to anyone over 35 years who is wondering what all the fuss is here. I can promise you it has a FUN cast and is so far telling a decent story well, although it took about 4 extra episodes to get to Ep 13, which is to say it's a little slow at first. So it's definitely worth a look but I'm not gushing yet.
But apparently this film didn't want to draw attention to the female focus, which is unfortunate if that is one strength of this piece. And so it got renamed HERO, frankly another bad idea -- considering the legendary use of that title elsewhere.
What this movie is trying to hide is the depressing subject matter: the Chinese Covid Lockdown. It's actually rather annoying to trick people into trying something they wouldn't otherwise watch.
To me a simple title seems rather obvious: WOMEN OF THE LOCKDOWN.