1
THREE ERAS, ONE ERROR
Since this journey travels across time and is divided into three books, I'm going to review each 'book' as a I go.
REPUBLICAN ERA
I've seen a handful of these types of stories, and I can report with relief this isn't a bloody massacre of slayings and endless torture porn. Yes, there are some violent moments, but they're not exploited for cheap sensationalism.
This is really one of the best love stories I've seen in over 25 C-Dramas. I believe it's not as good as Crystal Liu and Wallace Huo in THE TALE OF ROSE, but it may be better than the leads of REBEL PRINCESS, and that was a killer love story.
The thing is the chemistry felt so real here between Jelly Lin and Ryan Cheng I wonder if... maybe... it was real for a reason. In fact it was so good I now understand why so many viewers were displeased by BOOKS 2 & 3 of this series. When you have this good a romance, you can't believe it ended in 11 episodes!
By the way, Jelly Lin is WHY I'm watching this series. Her roles in A DREAM OF SPLENDOR and IMPERFECT VICTIM made trying this show mandatory. She is TERRIFIC and has a very long long career in front of her, and I'm convinced she will be the heiress to Li Qin's roles when the time comes.
Liu Yijun turned in a quality performance as mob boss Zang. Instead of being a mean ruthless bastard (stereotype), he's actually remarkably understated and human. Sure, when push comes to shove, he erupts == but ironically he seems to be a man of peace.
I've seen the transition from this story the next now. I really wasn't ready to leave this story, but the times -- they are a changin'.
COMMUNISM ERA
In one sense I understand why viewer were disappointed with this era. Communism just ain't as sexy and stylish as the Republican era. But the real appeal of part one is the same appeal here: a truly great romance.
So anyone who trashes this segment still has a crush on the prior couple and neglected to move on AND/OR they have a bias against older actors and communism.
I'm here to assure you Segment Two is NOT a reason to drop this series.
The male lead Liu Yi Jun is as amazing as he is unrecognizable from his role in IMPERFECT VICTIM. People may have hated him so much in that role he begged for this one.
Tong Yao was hard to recognize from her role in RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, because that series was a showcase of China's best female talent at that point. She's no mean girl here, and along with Liu Yi -- delivers a graceful understated performance. Their littlest looks will send romantic chills up and down your spine.
Great supporting actors here as well. Yang Yu Ting as the old bitch party leader, Zhang Ye Zi as our female lead's sister in law and childish watchdog, Zhang Rui Han as an apparently bi-polar troublemaker, and Hou Yan Song as the best friend who struggles to change with the communist times. His last moments on screen were a masterclass in nuance.
I must say there's some SERIOUS social commentary about how cruel and judgmental the Communist party can be. It's presented as a cult where party members can harshly judge you for even the mildest semblance of individuality. What really sucks is that young party types can tear into older citizens like they're filth, profoundly disrespecting their elders.
The series implies that when the working class was given the keys to rule the rich and educated, they lacked the proper skills to do so. Like making a 3rd grade student 'educate' their teacher.
I found it confusing how this series got by the censors, but have since learned as bad as they're showing things -- it's only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, despite this series appearing to be objective, it's sugarcoating the real history and therefore is propaganda. It's like showing Nazis arguing with themselves in pubs but never mentioning the Death Camps.
I bluntly disagree with any reviewer that this segment is in any way a let down. The show clearly warns you it's about 3 different eras, not one, and this second story -- as different as it is from the first -- deserves just as much praise.
ROARING 90s
Of the three era's depicted, this was the error. Despite good intentions, I believe it was poorly conceived.
Like the last two segments, we have a romantic couple, which helps tie these three stories together. That and the fact FL Wang He Run is a relation to the families in these three stories. This is my first exposure to this actress, even though MDL claims I already know her from RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, but it pains me to recall which character she played.
Anyway, she's quite good, and she reminds me of Crystal Lui but 8 years younger. I recently saw the ML Eric Le Yang in IN SPITE OF THE STRONG WIND, where he was rather quirky but entertaining. Here he's more geeky but just as much fun.
Both do a great job and offer a new coupling twist. Where the prior couples had cultural barriers preventing them from them from quickly becoming couples, here the problem is the couple themselves. They're not an obvious match of chemistry. These two strain the expression of opposites attracting.
But there's a message here about capitalism, one that resonated the same in THE YOUTH MEMORIES: big money makes good people do evil things. I know Westerners might scream 'Commie Propaganda!' but just one glance at America's President.
What goes wrong here is hard to pinpoint. My gut tells me that the fashion industry was the wrong industry choice. Or that using a tiny little company instead of a big one wasn't wise.
My other complaint is what I like to call WRITERS WRITING ABOUT WRITING. I've been a creative writer my entire life and observed other creative writers. The insecure writers insert a character into the story who is, themselves, a writer. They do this so that at the end of the story the struggling writer becomes famous and beloved. Like I said: INSECURE.
Our male lead is a teacher struggling with romance and career. That's fine. But towards the end of this segment it's revealed he's a writer, and not just a writer but a 'great' writer -- and the cemented this segment as a misfire and disappointment. Dear Wang Wan Ping -- the writing in your first two segments was extraordinary, never make this mistake again!!!
Apart from the actors and writing, this segment was clearly rushed and rather sloppy.
-- In Episode 25 at the 4:25 mark, PUSH PLAY and you'll see a woman in glasses leave the scene and TOTALLY bump into something offscreen and then stumble back into view. This was a flubbed take. Did they run out of time and money to re-shoot? It would be sad if that's a yup.
-- In Episode 26, around the 8:40 mark -- a fly circles the dinner table and our female lead swats at it from offscreen, another failed take. She wasn't supposed to do that because she wasn't on camera.
-- There was a moment where our ML lead leaves something by a door on the floor, he knocks on that door, and runs off. Our FL opens the door and is already looking down instead of out. Normal people first look out at who might have knocked, not down at what possible package was left. My name for this is a CHARACTER READ THE SCRIPT violation. A failed take.
The series ending was rushed as well. We needed the Aunt from the previous story to ties things together better. To speak to our FL and share the perspective of generations. Although a family heirloom re-appears again, it failed at tying everything together in a powerful way. This writer needs to see THE LAST EMPEROR and learn how to plant and pay off a prop more dramatically at story's end. This story had that chance and completely blew it.
Also, I think it would have been very cool if some of the dialog in this home was echoed over the three different generations. Suppose each female lead asked each male lead, "What do you think of this dress?" and she spun around -- IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT as all the other female leads? What if each male lead walked up to the same window and made the exact same statement like, "There must be a better way."
Such moments would have tied these stories tightly together and whispered to us, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." I think THAT message is what this series meant to say, but if it did -- it was barely a whisper.
REPUBLICAN ERA
I've seen a handful of these types of stories, and I can report with relief this isn't a bloody massacre of slayings and endless torture porn. Yes, there are some violent moments, but they're not exploited for cheap sensationalism.
This is really one of the best love stories I've seen in over 25 C-Dramas. I believe it's not as good as Crystal Liu and Wallace Huo in THE TALE OF ROSE, but it may be better than the leads of REBEL PRINCESS, and that was a killer love story.
The thing is the chemistry felt so real here between Jelly Lin and Ryan Cheng I wonder if... maybe... it was real for a reason. In fact it was so good I now understand why so many viewers were displeased by BOOKS 2 & 3 of this series. When you have this good a romance, you can't believe it ended in 11 episodes!
By the way, Jelly Lin is WHY I'm watching this series. Her roles in A DREAM OF SPLENDOR and IMPERFECT VICTIM made trying this show mandatory. She is TERRIFIC and has a very long long career in front of her, and I'm convinced she will be the heiress to Li Qin's roles when the time comes.
Liu Yijun turned in a quality performance as mob boss Zang. Instead of being a mean ruthless bastard (stereotype), he's actually remarkably understated and human. Sure, when push comes to shove, he erupts == but ironically he seems to be a man of peace.
I've seen the transition from this story the next now. I really wasn't ready to leave this story, but the times -- they are a changin'.
COMMUNISM ERA
In one sense I understand why viewer were disappointed with this era. Communism just ain't as sexy and stylish as the Republican era. But the real appeal of part one is the same appeal here: a truly great romance.
So anyone who trashes this segment still has a crush on the prior couple and neglected to move on AND/OR they have a bias against older actors and communism.
I'm here to assure you Segment Two is NOT a reason to drop this series.
The male lead Liu Yi Jun is as amazing as he is unrecognizable from his role in IMPERFECT VICTIM. People may have hated him so much in that role he begged for this one.
Tong Yao was hard to recognize from her role in RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, because that series was a showcase of China's best female talent at that point. She's no mean girl here, and along with Liu Yi -- delivers a graceful understated performance. Their littlest looks will send romantic chills up and down your spine.
Great supporting actors here as well. Yang Yu Ting as the old bitch party leader, Zhang Ye Zi as our female lead's sister in law and childish watchdog, Zhang Rui Han as an apparently bi-polar troublemaker, and Hou Yan Song as the best friend who struggles to change with the communist times. His last moments on screen were a masterclass in nuance.
I must say there's some SERIOUS social commentary about how cruel and judgmental the Communist party can be. It's presented as a cult where party members can harshly judge you for even the mildest semblance of individuality. What really sucks is that young party types can tear into older citizens like they're filth, profoundly disrespecting their elders.
The series implies that when the working class was given the keys to rule the rich and educated, they lacked the proper skills to do so. Like making a 3rd grade student 'educate' their teacher.
I found it confusing how this series got by the censors, but have since learned as bad as they're showing things -- it's only the tip of the iceberg. Therefore, despite this series appearing to be objective, it's sugarcoating the real history and therefore is propaganda. It's like showing Nazis arguing with themselves in pubs but never mentioning the Death Camps.
I bluntly disagree with any reviewer that this segment is in any way a let down. The show clearly warns you it's about 3 different eras, not one, and this second story -- as different as it is from the first -- deserves just as much praise.
ROARING 90s
Of the three era's depicted, this was the error. Despite good intentions, I believe it was poorly conceived.
Like the last two segments, we have a romantic couple, which helps tie these three stories together. That and the fact FL Wang He Run is a relation to the families in these three stories. This is my first exposure to this actress, even though MDL claims I already know her from RUYI'S ROYAL LOVE IN THE PALACE, but it pains me to recall which character she played.
Anyway, she's quite good, and she reminds me of Crystal Lui but 8 years younger. I recently saw the ML Eric Le Yang in IN SPITE OF THE STRONG WIND, where he was rather quirky but entertaining. Here he's more geeky but just as much fun.
Both do a great job and offer a new coupling twist. Where the prior couples had cultural barriers preventing them from them from quickly becoming couples, here the problem is the couple themselves. They're not an obvious match of chemistry. These two strain the expression of opposites attracting.
But there's a message here about capitalism, one that resonated the same in THE YOUTH MEMORIES: big money makes good people do evil things. I know Westerners might scream 'Commie Propaganda!' but just one glance at America's President.
What goes wrong here is hard to pinpoint. My gut tells me that the fashion industry was the wrong industry choice. Or that using a tiny little company instead of a big one wasn't wise.
My other complaint is what I like to call WRITERS WRITING ABOUT WRITING. I've been a creative writer my entire life and observed other creative writers. The insecure writers insert a character into the story who is, themselves, a writer. They do this so that at the end of the story the struggling writer becomes famous and beloved. Like I said: INSECURE.
Our male lead is a teacher struggling with romance and career. That's fine. But towards the end of this segment it's revealed he's a writer, and not just a writer but a 'great' writer -- and the cemented this segment as a misfire and disappointment. Dear Wang Wan Ping -- the writing in your first two segments was extraordinary, never make this mistake again!!!
Apart from the actors and writing, this segment was clearly rushed and rather sloppy.
-- In Episode 25 at the 4:25 mark, PUSH PLAY and you'll see a woman in glasses leave the scene and TOTALLY bump into something offscreen and then stumble back into view. This was a flubbed take. Did they run out of time and money to re-shoot? It would be sad if that's a yup.
-- In Episode 26, around the 8:40 mark -- a fly circles the dinner table and our female lead swats at it from offscreen, another failed take. She wasn't supposed to do that because she wasn't on camera.
-- There was a moment where our ML lead leaves something by a door on the floor, he knocks on that door, and runs off. Our FL opens the door and is already looking down instead of out. Normal people first look out at who might have knocked, not down at what possible package was left. My name for this is a CHARACTER READ THE SCRIPT violation. A failed take.
The series ending was rushed as well. We needed the Aunt from the previous story to ties things together better. To speak to our FL and share the perspective of generations. Although a family heirloom re-appears again, it failed at tying everything together in a powerful way. This writer needs to see THE LAST EMPEROR and learn how to plant and pay off a prop more dramatically at story's end. This story had that chance and completely blew it.
Also, I think it would have been very cool if some of the dialog in this home was echoed over the three different generations. Suppose each female lead asked each male lead, "What do you think of this dress?" and she spun around -- IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT as all the other female leads? What if each male lead walked up to the same window and made the exact same statement like, "There must be a better way."
Such moments would have tied these stories tightly together and whispered to us, "The more things change, the more they remain the same." I think THAT message is what this series meant to say, but if it did -- it was barely a whisper.
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