This review may contain spoilers
It had the potential to be perfect...
I'm a huge fan of Zhang Jing Yi and I'll admit that this was probably the first time I have ever seen her playing a character who was so plain and dowdy, but having the ever adorable Zhou Yi Ran sharing the screen with her made it a lot easier to watch.
The beauty of both of these actors is that they have such versatility and seem to really throw themselves into their roles which helps their fans appreciate each distinct character they portray.
This drama was heavy, but it reminded me of why I switched to C-dramas from K-dramas. The conversations that these types of C-dramas are bringing forward are the conversations that I wish more dramas would be willing to have. The drama grappled with gender roles and abuse, but as daring as it was to bring that to the forefront, it didn't have the courage to fully push it to the type of resolution that many women need to see today.
Qingyu's journey from misunderstanding her older sister's existence before choosing to correct the injustice she faced was remarkable, yet the fact that it fell onto her young shoulders to do it was unacceptable. As a Southeast Asian woman, I know all too well the weight that daughters carry in our families, yet the level of failure by Qingyu and Beiyu' parents was outrageous to me.
There is no redemption for parents like this. The father was a complete coward who could not protect his wife or daughters from the misery of his own family. His inability to utter the word no was not only shocking, but repulsive. His choice then to just go along with what his family decided and even celebrate the impending wedding of the man who ruined his oldest daughter was beyond disgusting. This man never once did anything right. As bad as he was, the person who is even more unforgivable to me is their mother. Some people may have sympathized with this woman, but I could not. You married into this horrid family and knew what they were like, yet you did not do enough to protect your daughters from them. I blame her for Beiyu's fate. At any point in time you could have saved her, but you turned your back on her again and again. Choosing death after Beiyu's suicide was a completely selfish act. She could not bear the guilt of her failure as a mother and wanted to follow Beiyu into the afterlife, but all I kept thinking was wow you have two other kids but I guess you could care less right? It was infuriating to watch this woman fail repeatedly. She was not supportive of Qingyu's quest of justice for Beiyu and more than once told her to let it go. I agreed, you should be the one fighting this battle, not your teenage daughter!
When Qingyu gets dragged back to the patriarch home and is forced to apologize, her mother comes barreling in to "protect" her daughter, yet once they return to their home Qingyu is turned into a prisoner with her mother basically smothering Qingyu's spirit to death. This girl was broken because of her own parents, yet this continued to the end until the mother's depression played such a pivotal role in causing Qingyu to return to her obedient ways. To me this was just pure classic manipulation and control. The mother was a mess, but Qingyu had to be the one to bend. Explain to me why her mother in the deepest throes of depression could still tell Qingyu that she was too young to be with Ming Sheng, even after Qingyu explained that he was the only one who was consistently there for her? I guess she was still lucid enough to control her daughter's life.
Qingyu's decision to follow the path they laid out for her was incredibly disappointing to me, but I was really happy with the final episode where she chose to study psychology for grad school. I was also thrilled when she and Ming Sheng found each other again. They truly were the champions of this drama, overcoming their own trauma by helping each other and reminding us that they might have been young when they met, but their love is probably purer than what most people would ever experience.
Reborn is a good watch, but it could have been better. This drama had the ability to really address parental failure, yet that conversation dis not develop fully enough to leave an impact that most daughters need to see represented. Our parents aren't always correct and they don't always know what's best for us. That's a conversation that needs to happen more.
The beauty of both of these actors is that they have such versatility and seem to really throw themselves into their roles which helps their fans appreciate each distinct character they portray.
This drama was heavy, but it reminded me of why I switched to C-dramas from K-dramas. The conversations that these types of C-dramas are bringing forward are the conversations that I wish more dramas would be willing to have. The drama grappled with gender roles and abuse, but as daring as it was to bring that to the forefront, it didn't have the courage to fully push it to the type of resolution that many women need to see today.
Qingyu's journey from misunderstanding her older sister's existence before choosing to correct the injustice she faced was remarkable, yet the fact that it fell onto her young shoulders to do it was unacceptable. As a Southeast Asian woman, I know all too well the weight that daughters carry in our families, yet the level of failure by Qingyu and Beiyu' parents was outrageous to me.
There is no redemption for parents like this. The father was a complete coward who could not protect his wife or daughters from the misery of his own family. His inability to utter the word no was not only shocking, but repulsive. His choice then to just go along with what his family decided and even celebrate the impending wedding of the man who ruined his oldest daughter was beyond disgusting. This man never once did anything right. As bad as he was, the person who is even more unforgivable to me is their mother. Some people may have sympathized with this woman, but I could not. You married into this horrid family and knew what they were like, yet you did not do enough to protect your daughters from them. I blame her for Beiyu's fate. At any point in time you could have saved her, but you turned your back on her again and again. Choosing death after Beiyu's suicide was a completely selfish act. She could not bear the guilt of her failure as a mother and wanted to follow Beiyu into the afterlife, but all I kept thinking was wow you have two other kids but I guess you could care less right? It was infuriating to watch this woman fail repeatedly. She was not supportive of Qingyu's quest of justice for Beiyu and more than once told her to let it go. I agreed, you should be the one fighting this battle, not your teenage daughter!
When Qingyu gets dragged back to the patriarch home and is forced to apologize, her mother comes barreling in to "protect" her daughter, yet once they return to their home Qingyu is turned into a prisoner with her mother basically smothering Qingyu's spirit to death. This girl was broken because of her own parents, yet this continued to the end until the mother's depression played such a pivotal role in causing Qingyu to return to her obedient ways. To me this was just pure classic manipulation and control. The mother was a mess, but Qingyu had to be the one to bend. Explain to me why her mother in the deepest throes of depression could still tell Qingyu that she was too young to be with Ming Sheng, even after Qingyu explained that he was the only one who was consistently there for her? I guess she was still lucid enough to control her daughter's life.
Qingyu's decision to follow the path they laid out for her was incredibly disappointing to me, but I was really happy with the final episode where she chose to study psychology for grad school. I was also thrilled when she and Ming Sheng found each other again. They truly were the champions of this drama, overcoming their own trauma by helping each other and reminding us that they might have been young when they met, but their love is probably purer than what most people would ever experience.
Reborn is a good watch, but it could have been better. This drama had the ability to really address parental failure, yet that conversation dis not develop fully enough to leave an impact that most daughters need to see represented. Our parents aren't always correct and they don't always know what's best for us. That's a conversation that needs to happen more.
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