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Not Epic or Important. Just ENTERTAINING, GENTLE & FLAWLESS
Boy meets girl. Another boy meets another girl. And a girl has a boy she wants to marry. And a girl meets a boy. Four different couples, but many connections between them. Difficulties arising from social status, lack of education, too much education, lack of housing, and parents with their own issues. In 1970s China.
The above paragraph sounds generic. In a way this series is. At times you wonder if AI created the series and the plot twists. What I mean to say is the story isn't really original at all, but --
-- the execution is flawless. Nothing in this series is exemplary, but everything within is simply damn good.
Our lead actors were unknown to my wife and I but instantly engaging. As each episode passes, you'll like them more. This is the same for all the supporting characters. Nobody is an amazing actor here AS MUCH AS each actor delivers a flawless performance.
Arthur Chen's Fang Mu Yang and Sun Qian's Fei Ni do a great job with their roles and deserve all sorts of respect, but I'm not left thinking I m-u-s-t see them in anything soon. If they pop up in other shows, I'll be happy though. (I heard gossip that they may have become an actual couple in real life, which is likely studio propaganda... but would be delightful if true!)
The supporting actors are all quiet good, but two stood out to me --
In a world of tiny Chinese actresses, Cristy Guo who is super tiny. In more than one shot she and her husband will down some stairs and then stop. Why? If he's two steps below her -- they're still eye to eye. Once he picked her up and she looked like he was holding a child. Honest. That said, she's like a beautiful porcelain doll. Every emotion that strikes her face and big eyes is riveting. She is a less is more actress like Sun Qian/Fei Ni and is just plain good.
The other supporting actor that stood out is Wu Yue, the Dad who always brings the comic relief when needed. He's the actor you'd meet at a bar somewhere for drinks. That statement will only make sense if you see this series.
There was a story moment in Ep 25 where someone hides money in a disastrous place. For the first time in this series, I'm like... uhoh... that's a flaw! No moron would hide the money in that location when you could keep it on you or hide it in that retail store. It made ZERO sense. But thankfully -- within seconds -- the story dealt with the dumb move and the problem went away. So the FLAWLESS rating remains.
The music is lovely, fits the period, and is unobtrusive, but I must say the opening credits song gently borrows from the Muppet's 'Rainbow Connection' and there's a sad instrumental piece that comes and goes and it borrows pieces of Elton John's 'The One'.
So many C-Dramas bite off more than they can chew. LOVE STORY takes little bites and never misses.
*******************************************************
If you're a young viewer and/or someone not familiar with Western Pop music from this era, I grew up in the 70's. And so I wanted to offer you a Western Soundtrack for this show from this era. The show travels from 1976 thru 1978. If Chinese people had and were addicted to American TOP 40, here are the corny love songs this show could have featured --
1976
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER -- https://youtu.be/ivJq9lmCWkc
DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0qW9P-uYfM
1977
I JUST WANNA BE YOUR EVERYTHING -- https://youtu.be/VkNeoTcGwrc
BEST OF MY LOVE -- https://youtu.be/62jZldkMC_o
1978
WITH A LITTLE LUCK -- https://youtu.be/2k_4qvMU6kQ
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE -- https://youtu.be/GkuJJsApACc
The above paragraph sounds generic. In a way this series is. At times you wonder if AI created the series and the plot twists. What I mean to say is the story isn't really original at all, but --
-- the execution is flawless. Nothing in this series is exemplary, but everything within is simply damn good.
Our lead actors were unknown to my wife and I but instantly engaging. As each episode passes, you'll like them more. This is the same for all the supporting characters. Nobody is an amazing actor here AS MUCH AS each actor delivers a flawless performance.
Arthur Chen's Fang Mu Yang and Sun Qian's Fei Ni do a great job with their roles and deserve all sorts of respect, but I'm not left thinking I m-u-s-t see them in anything soon. If they pop up in other shows, I'll be happy though. (I heard gossip that they may have become an actual couple in real life, which is likely studio propaganda... but would be delightful if true!)
The supporting actors are all quiet good, but two stood out to me --
In a world of tiny Chinese actresses, Cristy Guo who is super tiny. In more than one shot she and her husband will down some stairs and then stop. Why? If he's two steps below her -- they're still eye to eye. Once he picked her up and she looked like he was holding a child. Honest. That said, she's like a beautiful porcelain doll. Every emotion that strikes her face and big eyes is riveting. She is a less is more actress like Sun Qian/Fei Ni and is just plain good.
The other supporting actor that stood out is Wu Yue, the Dad who always brings the comic relief when needed. He's the actor you'd meet at a bar somewhere for drinks. That statement will only make sense if you see this series.
There was a story moment in Ep 25 where someone hides money in a disastrous place. For the first time in this series, I'm like... uhoh... that's a flaw! No moron would hide the money in that location when you could keep it on you or hide it in that retail store. It made ZERO sense. But thankfully -- within seconds -- the story dealt with the dumb move and the problem went away. So the FLAWLESS rating remains.
The music is lovely, fits the period, and is unobtrusive, but I must say the opening credits song gently borrows from the Muppet's 'Rainbow Connection' and there's a sad instrumental piece that comes and goes and it borrows pieces of Elton John's 'The One'.
So many C-Dramas bite off more than they can chew. LOVE STORY takes little bites and never misses.
*******************************************************
If you're a young viewer and/or someone not familiar with Western Pop music from this era, I grew up in the 70's. And so I wanted to offer you a Western Soundtrack for this show from this era. The show travels from 1976 thru 1978. If Chinese people had and were addicted to American TOP 40, here are the corny love songs this show could have featured --
1976
LOVE WILL KEEP US TOGETHER -- https://youtu.be/ivJq9lmCWkc
DON'T GO BREAKING MY HEART -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0qW9P-uYfM
1977
I JUST WANNA BE YOUR EVERYTHING -- https://youtu.be/VkNeoTcGwrc
BEST OF MY LOVE -- https://youtu.be/62jZldkMC_o
1978
WITH A LITTLE LUCK -- https://youtu.be/2k_4qvMU6kQ
JUST THE WAY YOU ARE -- https://youtu.be/GkuJJsApACc
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