Flawed but Interesting May-to- December Trip thru Female Fantasyland!
I have to thank someone somewhere (here? Reddit?) for referring this show to me. It's a completely new experience for C-Drama fans. This isn't a show about a smirky guy who falls for a dish of a beautiful girl. It's the complete opposite.
Imprisoned by her helicopter Mom and fears of a sickness relapse, He Ran (Xu Ruo Han) breaks out of captivity and loses it for a super-himbo who washes her hair with the grace of Adonis. Sir Hunkalot's job is to stand around, look pretty, show muscle -- and keep his mouth shut. So that love/lust at crazed He Ran can pursue him without hesitancy or apology.
(No, I'm not spoiling. This is all minutes within Episode 1!!!)
This young actress is an inspiration to all young women who find their first beau. Don't wait for him to discover you. Grab him by the ear and drag him where you like. It's like this series has never heard of patriarchy.
I skip the summaries of shows these days because they're less accurate and more marketing. That was a mistake for this series because there's one thing you have to know for the show to make sense: the hunk and beau and fantasy inspired Xiao Han (Jerry Yan) is significantly older than He Ran. (I wish she was called She Ran, but because did she ever run towards Xiao Han.)
This is not only a May to December Love Story, but it's a theme that gets repeated in the secondary couple. My problem is the second plot line is rather sloppy and bumpy. It's not clear what the man in the second couple sees in the woman, who comes off as too much of mess to be attractive. At one point the woman asks what the boy sees in her, and the show never answers.
I attribute the unconvincing second couple to hurried poor writing. They didn't have to make her such a mess (the fried chicken and cognac scenes). That was quick and lazy. She could have simply played a sad song on that piano and wiped away tears, revealing to her subordinate his boss's hidden pain.
Also disappointing with the secondary couple was that they completely abandoned the show's delightful coastal palette. We went directly into the ordinary office romance aesthetic, which dumped a bucket of ordinary visual on top of extraordinary vistas.
The more I think about it, this writer struggled with supporting characters. Fattie came off as too generic a character, there was the little daughter who we loved but then vaporized and was replaced by an older daughter. The sister/thief who came and went like filler, and the worst of the worst was the persistent like a summer cold Han Yu (Kido Ma) whose relentless pursuit of our female lead was as repetitive as it was obnoxious as it was boring.
Frankly, and this a shame here, the writing was as inspired as it was insipid. It would alternate. Typically the dialog was fine if not great, but the plot choices and twists -- especially towards the end -- were both pointless and maddening. Like how a main character simply vanishes, which is impossible in the days of cellphones and texts. If you want to find someone, find them. And there was also the annoying secrets which were kept absurdly long.
If you love someone, you tell them your secrets -- unless you are a four year old child. With sincere apologies I fear the writer is as immature as her characters. This show at times felt like a brilliant series... written by a twelve year old girl.
The main couple are really the only reason to watch this show, and they are extraordinary because as the lyrics keep whispering -- is this love a reality or a fantasy. Everyone's first real love floods our brains with dopamine and other chemicals and FORBIDDEN FLOWER is literally the staging of such feelings.
This isn't the reality of a girl falling in love with a man. It's the rainbow underwater mermaid sunset fantasy of idealistic love.
There's a hospital situation regarding He Ran, but to me it only adds to the fantasy level of first love. "Why I'll just die if I don't get my man!" is what I really hear. In fact the entire series reminds me of poignant lyric from 'London' by the Pet Shop Boys, "I want to live... before I die."
The music is really solid. A lot of songs, none repeated to often or used as blatant filler. (I'm talking to you, MEET YOURSELF.)
Oh, and speaking of that series, fans of that show rave about the cinematography. They shouldn't. There's a difference between filming extraordinary outdoor shots in an average way VS. filming average things in an extraordinary way. This show is REAL photography at its finest.
One odd note here is that the two lead women are not as attractive as the two lead men. This further supports the notion of pure female fantasy, because it implies you don't need to be a knockout to land a knockout.
(Please ladies, both of these women are beautiful, I know. What I'm saying is that on impossible Chinese standards, they're not the prettiest Chinese actresses out there.)
So do I recommend this series? Kind of. The writing is so uneven it's hard to say yes, but there are elements of this show so unique I didn't hate watching it. Luckily the series is over in 24 instead of 40 episodes like most shows, and so the main love story gets you to the finale.
Imprisoned by her helicopter Mom and fears of a sickness relapse, He Ran (Xu Ruo Han) breaks out of captivity and loses it for a super-himbo who washes her hair with the grace of Adonis. Sir Hunkalot's job is to stand around, look pretty, show muscle -- and keep his mouth shut. So that love/lust at crazed He Ran can pursue him without hesitancy or apology.
(No, I'm not spoiling. This is all minutes within Episode 1!!!)
This young actress is an inspiration to all young women who find their first beau. Don't wait for him to discover you. Grab him by the ear and drag him where you like. It's like this series has never heard of patriarchy.
I skip the summaries of shows these days because they're less accurate and more marketing. That was a mistake for this series because there's one thing you have to know for the show to make sense: the hunk and beau and fantasy inspired Xiao Han (Jerry Yan) is significantly older than He Ran. (I wish she was called She Ran, but because did she ever run towards Xiao Han.)
This is not only a May to December Love Story, but it's a theme that gets repeated in the secondary couple. My problem is the second plot line is rather sloppy and bumpy. It's not clear what the man in the second couple sees in the woman, who comes off as too much of mess to be attractive. At one point the woman asks what the boy sees in her, and the show never answers.
I attribute the unconvincing second couple to hurried poor writing. They didn't have to make her such a mess (the fried chicken and cognac scenes). That was quick and lazy. She could have simply played a sad song on that piano and wiped away tears, revealing to her subordinate his boss's hidden pain.
Also disappointing with the secondary couple was that they completely abandoned the show's delightful coastal palette. We went directly into the ordinary office romance aesthetic, which dumped a bucket of ordinary visual on top of extraordinary vistas.
The more I think about it, this writer struggled with supporting characters. Fattie came off as too generic a character, there was the little daughter who we loved but then vaporized and was replaced by an older daughter. The sister/thief who came and went like filler, and the worst of the worst was the persistent like a summer cold Han Yu (Kido Ma) whose relentless pursuit of our female lead was as repetitive as it was obnoxious as it was boring.
Frankly, and this a shame here, the writing was as inspired as it was insipid. It would alternate. Typically the dialog was fine if not great, but the plot choices and twists -- especially towards the end -- were both pointless and maddening. Like how a main character simply vanishes, which is impossible in the days of cellphones and texts. If you want to find someone, find them. And there was also the annoying secrets which were kept absurdly long.
If you love someone, you tell them your secrets -- unless you are a four year old child. With sincere apologies I fear the writer is as immature as her characters. This show at times felt like a brilliant series... written by a twelve year old girl.
The main couple are really the only reason to watch this show, and they are extraordinary because as the lyrics keep whispering -- is this love a reality or a fantasy. Everyone's first real love floods our brains with dopamine and other chemicals and FORBIDDEN FLOWER is literally the staging of such feelings.
This isn't the reality of a girl falling in love with a man. It's the rainbow underwater mermaid sunset fantasy of idealistic love.
There's a hospital situation regarding He Ran, but to me it only adds to the fantasy level of first love. "Why I'll just die if I don't get my man!" is what I really hear. In fact the entire series reminds me of poignant lyric from 'London' by the Pet Shop Boys, "I want to live... before I die."
The music is really solid. A lot of songs, none repeated to often or used as blatant filler. (I'm talking to you, MEET YOURSELF.)
Oh, and speaking of that series, fans of that show rave about the cinematography. They shouldn't. There's a difference between filming extraordinary outdoor shots in an average way VS. filming average things in an extraordinary way. This show is REAL photography at its finest.
One odd note here is that the two lead women are not as attractive as the two lead men. This further supports the notion of pure female fantasy, because it implies you don't need to be a knockout to land a knockout.
(Please ladies, both of these women are beautiful, I know. What I'm saying is that on impossible Chinese standards, they're not the prettiest Chinese actresses out there.)
So do I recommend this series? Kind of. The writing is so uneven it's hard to say yes, but there are elements of this show so unique I didn't hate watching it. Luckily the series is over in 24 instead of 40 episodes like most shows, and so the main love story gets you to the finale.
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