I've completed the series and would like to say I'd have given it a 10 were it not for the final episode, which I believe FUMBLES badly enough to damage the series.
1. Li Dong accomplishes his goal and decides to -- vaporize? Wait -- what? We can't finally have the family together? The frickin' POINT of the show?!? Secondly --
2. -- am I crazy or was the show implying that Li Dong was gay? He never once looked at one woman, which is weird because he was surrounded by beauties. His biggest smile was seeing Dandy Du happy. And the way he ran off to the Revolutionary Army with his cohort? I don't care if he was gay but I had this feeling they were saying, "The only way Li Dong can have a happy ending is with a boyfriend... which he'd have to hide form his Lucy and Daniel. Even stranger --
3. -- was how their youngest brother emerged so nonchalantly. In a photo. As if we didn't want to see this moment. Or frankly a way better version of this moment. And Li Dong sure was lucky his youngest brother was carrying around a diaper with a special emblem on it. (WTflyingF was that?!?)
Any writer would have said, nope, youngest brother has to be seen and heard so that the family could have a group hug. I believe the easiest way to have accomplished this was to make the courtroom scene a REALLY BIG DEAL. That the press found it FASCINATING that three of four orphans had managed to drag a frickin' MINISTER before a judge. There would be a seen of people all over the nation reading this story -- 3 of 4 Accuse Du of Murder!
The youngest brother would wonder if he was #4. We wouldn't see that. We'd only see someone in the court room listening to the proceedings, being specifically shown when locations were mentioned. At the end, when our siblings were jubilant, he'd suggest he was their brother.
Predictable? Yes, a little. But this is what's known as an obligatory scene and something like it should have shown up. It's closure for us.
4. The worst botch, though, was Qi Nan's decision to finally commit to her. When he walked in on Hanjun in the hospital, Han's Mother (who I call 'Boop' because she looked like an elder Betty Boop) left the room. If I were her Mom I wouldn't have moved a damn inch. I'd point a finger at Qi Nan and say "Sh!t or get off the pot!" as we say in America. Meaning either accept my daughter's love or hit the road, Jack. At that moment Qi had the GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to say he loved Hanjun from the very first moment he met her and always will. THAT is when and why he should have been crying. Then Mom and Qi Nan sit by her side.
The way it was written you might as well have called Qi Nan "Dandy Shen". Did he actually say he did her makeup for her?!? (It reminds of a scene in RUYI where was as emotionally disconnected.) What we were given seemed to be that he had no character arc, that he was still the silly hurt street boy. It also implies that if Hanjun had not fallen ill he would have been done with her. VERY UNSATISFACTORY resolution for these two.
Even if the other one is not an adult, it still feels so wrong for a 14 year old to have a romance drama 😵😵
I can see you haven't seen THE GREAT CRAFTSMAN. She stars in the first episodes -- where a stranger becomes a friend, her servant, and the love of her life. As the Witched Witch of The West once said, "These things have to be handled very delicately."
This story seems long (at first) because it does something stories are not supposed to do. It includes 6 episodes of backstory. Backstory is when people refer to story before the series starts, which usually need not be staged. "I went to Babson college" is a reference to backstory that need not be shown.
But it turns out (this time) the story works better for us if we know precisely what the characters have lost. And the young actors playing the main characters are TERRIFIC.
But one thing that makes the first half of the series feel long is any discussion regarding their business. It could use a little more editing.
If you need an English version of this terrific series it ESSENTIALLY doesn't exist, which is terribly frustrating. YES there is a free copy on YouTube but it cuts out all the songs. I can live with a C-drama that mutes such sequences but MangoTV actually REMOVES said sequences, which are almost once an episode and always showcase a critical emotional/story moment.
Wanna know how bad it is? There's a scene where two siblings unite after many years -- and it's completely gone from YouTube because a song plays in the background. I'd gladly pay to see this on Mango but it appears there they have no English subtitles. ARRGGGGH!
(If you're wondering how I know something is there that isn't, each time a song plays I have to go to a site that streams some crappy quality versions of these episodes. But at least I get to see what we're missing. A serious annoyance I'd gladly resolve with a paywall.)
They removed her voice?!? That's a non-starter. Please tell me her real voice is in RUYI?
I just saw THE RESCUE and yes they use her real voice in both pieces. RUYI is a long miserable sad melodrama but totally worth it for Zhou Xun and Xin Zhi Lei. (Not to mention about 10 other amazing actors/actresses.)
I can't believe there is so few responses and topics about this drama. It's really great from the first episode!…
What blows my mind is I'm reading people saying it starts slow. I watched Episode 1 a few months ago and admit it left me 'interested' but not 'hooked'. Last night I rewatched it and also Episode 2 -- and it HOOKED.
I peeked ahead a few episodes and confirmed my theory of who Wallace plays in this series. Unfortunatly there's a thing in writing called 'backstory', which isn't supposed to be included in the story. When you do -- when you literally stage it -- the pace feels slow because you haven't caught up to your protagonist inside the proper story.
However, in this case, I don't mind the backstory at all. Because it set the 'world' for me and ws terribly interesting, especially in Episode 2.
I've got 3 episodes left and the twist in Episode 20 was a WOW. Listen people, I know this looks like a Chinese CW show but you REALLY have to give this one a try. The charm is THRU THE ROOF.
I enjoyed this show but got a little lost at the end. Can someone who's seen this answer a question please?
(If you haven't completed the series, stop here because spoiler below.)
Okay, at the end, Lin hands herself over to the authorities for (her illegal activity), but I wasn't quite sure what the judgment/punishment was? My wife believes that instead of prison she was sent to a psychological hospital and was also (essentially) put on probation for some years. Was that it or was it something else? Thanks to the person who answers this for us.
I liked the first half more than the second one. By the end I felt dizzy. Too fast, did not feel attached to the…
Nailed it Laura. When the characters planted a sword and transported up and away, at first I thought Star Trek. The next morning I was like, no, that's a video game thing. And then I was like, wait, this entire film feels like an adapted video game... to please gamers. It 'explained' the pace to me, but like you -- way WAY too much 'shiny keys' action.
lol I'm not going to rewatch anytime soon because I'm catching up on all things Zhou Xun. Just saw LAST LETTER and it was pretty good... but it kinda started her storyline but then moved onto others... bait and switch... in that ultimately she was a supporting character in an ensemble. More coherent than MING, though.
This is one of those rare stories that both has one... and yet doesn't. I'd describe this a surreal noir in color. Worth seeing if a Zhou Xun fan but only for the curiosity of it.
Having seen my first Ann Hui film (Our Time Will Come) I eager awaited this film. I dove on it when it appeared on YouTube. In general I was disappointed.
It was like all sorts of interesting characters were in place and yet the director seemed too timid and disorganized to do much of anything with them.
It felt like a first draft of an Art House picture. Art House movies often 'explore' things. And think that's okay. It isn't. Exploring means you never wrote a proper script and so you're just wandering around shooting pretty people in pretty places. Hoping something of value comes of it.
The premise was really simple. A girl desperate to complete her education moves in her with 'Madam' Aunt who connects her to an old nice enough Sugar Daddy. Meanwhile she falls for a Playboy who warns her not to get to attached to him. Oh and the Madam has an interest in the Playboy and resents the girl for stealing his attention.
To me that's the first act. A first act must end a quarter into the story. It takes 56 minutes to get this all set up, which explains why the movie is 2.5 hours long. It takes this long because there are extra characters this story doesn't need.
The student the Madam takes an interest in? Goes nowhere. And what IN THE WORLD was the amazing Janine Chang doing in this story, playing an unflattering and worse unnecessary character? These two characters ate up screen time that should have been given to the Sugar Daddy's relationship with the girl -- that almost kept entirely off screen.
This mess of a first act lead the story nowhere. The girl is outright warned by Eddie not to get too attached to him, she does it anyway -- and her heart gets broken away. A braver screenplay would have revealed that the Madam was sleeping with him all along.
This could have been a story about pimp and ho. Meaning the Madam informs the girl to abandon her studies and be the 'ho' to Sugar Daddy. That THIS is how life works and you can't romanticize your way out of it with Eddie because the, the Playboy, is really the owned Plaything of the Madam.
I mean that's what this story ultimately was about, right? As Tina Turner said, "What's love got to do with it?" And that, by the by, is one depressing message to sell... but LOVE AFTER LOVE fails to sell it properly.
1 
1. Li Dong accomplishes his goal and decides to -- vaporize? Wait -- what? We can't finally have the family together? The frickin' POINT of the show?!? Secondly --
2. -- am I crazy or was the show implying that Li Dong was gay? He never once looked at one woman, which is weird because he was surrounded by beauties. His biggest smile was seeing Dandy Du happy. And the way he ran off to the Revolutionary Army with his cohort? I don't care if he was gay but I had this feeling they were saying, "The only way Li Dong can have a happy ending is with a boyfriend... which he'd have to hide form his Lucy and Daniel. Even stranger --
3. -- was how their youngest brother emerged so nonchalantly. In a photo. As if we didn't want to see this moment. Or frankly a way better version of this moment. And Li Dong sure was lucky his youngest brother was carrying around a diaper with a special emblem on it. (WTflyingF was that?!?)
Any writer would have said, nope, youngest brother has to be seen and heard so that the family could have a group hug. I believe the easiest way to have accomplished this was to make the courtroom scene a REALLY BIG DEAL. That the press found it FASCINATING that three of four orphans had managed to drag a frickin' MINISTER before a judge. There would be a seen of people all over the nation reading this story -- 3 of 4 Accuse Du of Murder!
The youngest brother would wonder if he was #4. We wouldn't see that. We'd only see someone in the court room listening to the proceedings, being specifically shown when locations were mentioned. At the end, when our siblings were jubilant, he'd suggest he was their brother.
Predictable? Yes, a little. But this is what's known as an obligatory scene and something like it should have shown up. It's closure for us.
4. The worst botch, though, was Qi Nan's decision to finally commit to her. When he walked in on Hanjun in the hospital, Han's Mother (who I call 'Boop' because she looked like an elder Betty Boop) left the room. If I were her Mom I wouldn't have moved a damn inch. I'd point a finger at Qi Nan and say "Sh!t or get off the pot!" as we say in America. Meaning either accept my daughter's love or hit the road, Jack. At that moment Qi had the GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY to say he loved Hanjun from the very first moment he met her and always will. THAT is when and why he should have been crying. Then Mom and Qi Nan sit by her side.
The way it was written you might as well have called Qi Nan "Dandy Shen". Did he actually say he did her makeup for her?!? (It reminds of a scene in RUYI where was as emotionally disconnected.) What we were given seemed to be that he had no character arc, that he was still the silly hurt street boy. It also implies that if Hanjun had not fallen ill he would have been done with her. VERY UNSATISFACTORY resolution for these two.
But it turns out (this time) the story works better for us if we know precisely what the characters have lost. And the young actors playing the main characters are TERRIFIC.
But one thing that makes the first half of the series feel long is any discussion regarding their business. It could use a little more editing.
Wanna know how bad it is? There's a scene where two siblings unite after many years -- and it's completely gone from YouTube because a song plays in the background. I'd gladly pay to see this on Mango but it appears there they have no English subtitles. ARRGGGGH!
(If you're wondering how I know something is there that isn't, each time a song plays I have to go to a site that streams some crappy quality versions of these episodes. But at least I get to see what we're missing. A serious annoyance I'd gladly resolve with a paywall.)
I peeked ahead a few episodes and confirmed my theory of who Wallace plays in this series. Unfortunatly there's a thing in writing called 'backstory', which isn't supposed to be included in the story. When you do -- when you literally stage it -- the pace feels slow because you haven't caught up to your protagonist inside the proper story.
However, in this case, I don't mind the backstory at all. Because it set the 'world' for me and ws terribly interesting, especially in Episode 2.
(If you haven't completed the series, stop here because spoiler below.)
Okay, at the end, Lin hands herself over to the authorities for (her illegal activity), but I wasn't quite sure what the judgment/punishment was? My wife believes that instead of prison she was sent to a psychological hospital and was also (essentially) put on probation for some years. Was that it or was it something else? Thanks to the person who answers this for us.
It was like all sorts of interesting characters were in place and yet the director seemed too timid and disorganized to do much of anything with them.
It felt like a first draft of an Art House picture. Art House movies often 'explore' things. And think that's okay. It isn't. Exploring means you never wrote a proper script and so you're just wandering around shooting pretty people in pretty places. Hoping something of value comes of it.
The premise was really simple. A girl desperate to complete her education moves in her with 'Madam' Aunt who connects her to an old nice enough Sugar Daddy. Meanwhile she falls for a Playboy who warns her not to get to attached to him. Oh and the Madam has an interest in the Playboy and resents the girl for stealing his attention.
To me that's the first act. A first act must end a quarter into the story. It takes 56 minutes to get this all set up, which explains why the movie is 2.5 hours long. It takes this long because there are extra characters this story doesn't need.
The student the Madam takes an interest in? Goes nowhere. And what IN THE WORLD was the amazing Janine Chang doing in this story, playing an unflattering and worse unnecessary character? These two characters ate up screen time that should have been given to the Sugar Daddy's relationship with the girl -- that almost kept entirely off screen.
This mess of a first act lead the story nowhere. The girl is outright warned by Eddie not to get too attached to him, she does it anyway -- and her heart gets broken away. A braver screenplay would have revealed that the Madam was sleeping with him all along.
This could have been a story about pimp and ho. Meaning the Madam informs the girl to abandon her studies and be the 'ho' to Sugar Daddy. That THIS is how life works and you can't romanticize your way out of it with Eddie because the, the Playboy, is really the owned Plaything of the Madam.
I mean that's what this story ultimately was about, right? As Tina Turner said, "What's love got to do with it?" And that, by the by, is one depressing message to sell... but LOVE AFTER LOVE fails to sell it properly.