MyLangyaList

A Violent Delinquent Repeating a Grade

--Review--

Like the main character, season 1 was like a promising student that had abruptly suspended his studies. There was obvious potential‒high production value, slick action choreography, and excellent acting‒but the student had to drop out before completing the year (or story). So I gave it a high score. But in reality, it was an incomplete grade with the hope that there was a good reason S1 ended without a proper resolution and that S2 would complete the story.

But noooo, it turns out that the student simply abandoned his studies and is now at a new school. And he's now doing the exact same shit as the previous year and reusing the same essays and slick-looking incomplete assignments. Except this year, he's not even putting as much effort into the 'promising student schtick'‒with worse plot logic and character development. As it turns out, there wasn't even a legit reason for him to drop out last year‒he bullied and beat up some kid.

Because boys and girls, that's where we are. Your taciturn hero who confronts bullies is actually a violent bully asshole himself, and one who is scamming you for sympathy. I gave it 3 episodes before this became painfully evident. First we fuckall'ed the characters and unfinished story from S1. Then we get the same nasty bullies, the braindead miscommunication leading to the fight between ML and the basketball guy, and then another superfighter-protector-cooldude creating another wholesome friend group, and my gosh a new Big Bad from outside the school. Even the Taekwando guy from S1 can tell you he's seen this movie before, and he's in a coma.

Beneath the slick production and acting, the story is just a psychotic mess to provide repeated excuse for brutal fight scenes, which the show does very well. And in between those head crackers are flimsy ploys and backstories to scam you for sympathy‒you know, the same pity-me story used last year with a few names changed here and there. But in the end, it's just a shallow disguise on top of the same story, same fights, same character dynamics, and I suspect, yet another excuse to repeat the scam another year.

So really, this show is just the personification of a violent delinquent thug repeating a grade. Oh, he's also running around with sob stories scamming people for money. Because he's just another derivative henchman working for the newest TV crime syndicate called Netflix that's plundered its way into hundred billion dollar valuation while sucking dry what little creativity remains in TV and film. I look forward to this being renewed for 5 more seasons.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 5.5 (6 - 0.5 for insulting the viewer with these lazy Netflix money grabs)
- Plot - 5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 6
- Acting - 8.5
- Audio/Music - 8.5
- Visuals - 9
- Rewatch - 5
- Topic Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8

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Prisoner of Idol

--Review--

Prisoner of Beauty lands as one of the biggest idol dramas of 2025, and for good reason. The show boasts vibrant visuals, popular tropes, swoony scenes, funny and endearing support characters, and leads that hold up their roles. So if you like romance, enemies to lovers, and mostly happy ending, this one is for you.

As for what I liked. First and foremost, it's the return of Lareina Song Zu'er from her tax-sabbatical (it's a shame tax controversies largely happens to good actors). After Demon Hunter's Romance (a less-popular but better show btw), this is her second drama to drop. She nails her role as the young daughter of the Qiao Kingdom who--using her beauty, intellect, and character--steadfastly captures the heart of Wei Shao, a general with a reputation for ruthlessness. Unlike many idol actresses that turn looks and acting into a pick-1 crapshoot, SZE delivers both.

You can see this from the very beginning, when Wei Shao was harboring some mega-grudge against his mail-order-arranged-wife. He was like

>Why you gotta order a wife from Qiao... MOMM!
>Either I'll kill her, or send her back within the 14-day return period
>Because I have a ruthless heart of cold cold steel, and the Qiaos must bleeeed... Mommmm!!!

But then as he lifts the curtain to see what girl he will be sending back. A twinkle appeared in his eyes, and the lightbulb went off. His new wife... is... kinda hot.

>Yes you are kinda right Mom, let's not be so reckless... I can fix her
>And I will sacrifice myself to marry her...for the country and the people, yes for the people...
>And violence against women is just wrong, that includes all women, even wives #believewomen

This scene works because SZE looks and acts the part. You can say she's breathtaking without embarrassing yourself. And her expression was that of aristocratic composure; not frightful overreaction, not dead-eyed immobility, and most of all not plain-looking anything. Because then the bullet comments from idol viewers would have tormented her with the charge of 普女 (plain), even if Wei Shao leaves her alone.

And LYN also did well in this scene. He was looking kinda angry, kinda fierce, and then the expression subtly changed. And it had to be subtle, because too much and he looks like a Level 23 Gooner, which is a no-no for MLs. Remember kids, gooning=baaad, rooning=gooood, Idol dramas are for Rooners. LYN did about as well as he could for that scene, which means he will not get criticized for his acting and only get massacred by internet comments for his looks . But YN-gege is used to it and has other qualities like singing, cooking, and funny. Plus, it's the internet massacres that forges the man. LYN plays a more convincing general because he has mastered the CDrama-method-acting technique of reading Chinese social media. Whenever he wants to feel hurt, he reads some mean comments; wronged...mean comments; hopeless...mean comments; overcoming it all... mean comments but suck it up.

So the FL-ML interaction occupies much of the initial 3rd of show. On the one hand, Xiao Qiao is doing her best to demonstrate her virtues and wiles, and trying to figure out whether Wei Shao cares more about saving the people or killing her and her family. On the other hand, Wei Shao still harbors suspicion and anger towards her family. But the anger is reined in when he remembers his wife is kinda hot, and then ... #Icanfixher. In addition, throw in some tepid and unrequited distant-cousin incest, arguably-foreplay domestic violence, chubby-funny side character love story, and you've got a pretty entertaining start.

But just as I was getting cautiously optimistic, the show princess-trampled all over my heart and brain. You see, it was a cold rainy day, and Wei Shao's distantly-incestuous cousin was looking to inflict pain on the FL. So she barricaded Xiao Qiao outside of city gates for 3 days during monsoon season. Meanwhile, the ML forgot about his hot wife, his concerned friends made weak attempts to alert the ML, the city guards were sorry-maam-just-following-orders, and nobody had the idea to bring some umbrellas, dry clothing, or meds. So when the ML finally remembered, our FL was at the risk of being rained to death.

In that life-and-death moment, he knew, there was only one way to save her ... the PRINCESS-CARRY. So he pulled her out of the wet leaking carriage, into the open pouring rain. No horse, no carriage, no umbrella, no Patagonia. Because she's in a fragile state godDAMMIT, and her body can't handle the slightest perturbance, except for the princess-carry. And off we go, heroically, majestically, through the longest street in the city, in a downpour, avoiding all overhead cover nearby. Some people may question the method, but the madam did not protest. Perhaps gurgling a mouthful of water muffled her speech, perhaps she was unconscious from all the mid-air waterboarding, perhaps she admired the sophisticated legal justifications for Guantanamo Bay.

I, however, felt that waterboarding--deeply‒in my brain and soul. In my dying moments, I remembered the FL's often repeated mantra, "my heart is like water, water can pierce through stone." Normally, I have no issue with a story about wetness overcoming hardness. But even I was not prepared for hardcore waterboarding that pierces through the skull. And in the end, Xiao Qiao survived the ordeal... but I didn't.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 6
- Plot - 6
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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Chef Son-in-Law's Harem

For those that enjoyed Miss Mystery, the FL returns in a modern drama alongside Chang Long. Fans of Chang Long may be delighted that he's finally getting ML role after quickly establishing himself as a popular supporting actor. In fact, he seems to have scored a 3 for 1 deal. In addition, this also checks off the box for ML role for a mini-drama, as well as starring in a BMW commercial.

Yes, there is an abundance of BMW product placement in this show as our ML Chang Long breezes through the plot in this pseudo-haremish male fantasy joyride 爽剧. And while the Chinese title has specific connotations of a man marrying into a rich woman's family, I felt more embarrassment for BMW marrying into a mini-drama production. If anyone's wondering whether Chinese EVs are really leaving foreign luxury automakers in an utter bloodbath, you don't have to look further for evidence of BMW's shrinking marketing budget.

While this clearly screams low budget and throws in a laundry list of tropes, don't let my low score dissuade you from giving it a try, it might be enough of a straightforward joyride to make for a casual, fast watch. If you enjoy micro/mini-dramas every so often, this may just hit the spot.

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Frivolities at Qingming Festival

--Summary--
If you like costume CDramas, this may be a unique gem worth checking out, especially since it will deliver much better production and acting compared to idol costume dramas. If you are pretty frustrated with costume dramas already, this may not be the canary in the coalmine, but still worth checking out for at least a few episodes to make your mind.

‒Review‒
After so many highly anticipated costume drama disappointments and derivative offerings, I was really looking forward to this one to save the costume dramas in 2024. Alas, it's not the case. Maybe with the exception of Strange Tales 2, which I'm not that confident about since Strange Tales 1 was a drudgery, 2024 costume drama lineup may end up suffering total annihilation, 全军覆没. The Great Nobody is great, but that's really a modern workplace comedy. Heroes would be the other one, but that's late Qing, I mean, they have guns.

To be fair, this show is serviceable, hence the 7.0 rating. The sets, costumes, and production is gorgeous and meticulously shot. The veteran cast are so much better than the typical idols you see, even if some of the dialogs and lines can feel a little too modern. I'm liking it a bit more than Strange Tales, which produced more frustrations. Maybe I would have watched this to the end at the beginning of the year, when other terrific shows are not beckoning. But after 9 episodes, it's giving a clear signal on what level it's aiming for, and its target is just not ambitious, original, or engaging enough. There's no clearer indication than sprinkling some frivolities into the show for cheap laughs and entertainment. I'm sure quite a lot of people enjoy this, and that's why the writers keep doing it. But so much of the chore-like 家长里短 humor deliver neither insightful observations nor laughs. Had the setting been changed to modern day, I'm sure such boring and antiquated plots would be fervently lambasted. This is the Chinese version of Marvel movies humor / heart, that after seeing a few, you've basically seen it all. No matter what kind of new coloring, flavoring, or molding they use to sell it to you, it's still the same regurgitation that's been puked out many times over.

There's been too many dramas this year taking this route (furiously glaring at you Joy of Life 2) and this hasn't been a recent phenomenon (Advisors Alliance and GTRD). This race to the common denominator may get viewership, but is never going to produce outstanding, memorable works. Who knew CDramas would get me quoting Coco Chanel: elegance is refusal. Unless you refuse to serve slop, you are just telling me your max target is just above average quality, regardless of how good the production looks and how strong the cast lineup is. And as bad as I feel about giving it a 7 despite the expensive production, I'm still left wondering if 7 is too generous.

Most people should still check this out though, as a lot of the criticisms will not be relevant for international audiences. And I'm quite a harsh rater by MDL standards.

‒Category Ratings‒

- Overall - 7
- Plot - 7
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7
- Acting - 8.5
- Visuals - 8.8
- Audio / Music - 8
- Rewatch - 6
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8

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Too Buggy to Swallow

‒Overview‒

Lost in the Shadows is a crime/suspense drama featuring quality production and acting that one has come to love about the iQiyi's 'Light On' series and similar lineups of crime thrillers from Youku and Tencent. However, despite featuring one of the best actors in Zhang Songwen and an interesting setup about missing children, the buggy script became increasingly untenable, just like the lies told by criminals.

On the positive side, the aforementioned production, acting, and pacing from short episode count is a major upgrade from idol dramas. The show also features a reunion of The Bad Kids stars in Zhang Songwen and Rong Zishan. There's also enough twists and turns to create interest, so long as it's not examined closely. And unfortunately for Zhang Songwen, this is probably his best drama since his career-defining performance in The Knockout, besting other mediocrities like 'A Lonely Hero's Journey' and 'The Hunter'. Let's stop wasting this man's career.

‒Critical Review (spoilers)‒

LITS became increasingly frustrating because of the increasing amount of bugs and lack of nourishment to sustain interest. Bugs is a popular and catchy Chinglish term commonly used in China to refer to plot holes. The expression was likely born out of wordplay related to software programmers, as they often have to wrangle with buggy scripts. LITS suffered from bugs ranging from small to huge, and most critically, it didn't deliver enough sustenance to make the bugs more palatable. It's like walking into a restaurant where each dish contains increasingly bigger bugs, then some artificial tasting dish that you suspect is just to cover up the bug flavor, but never the delicious course that will mollify your insect encounters (yes if the food is delicious enough, Chinese people will delulu themselves over the questionable sanitation, and even not fret too much about a bug or two).

For appetizers, let's start with the small bugs, which are more prevalent than usual. These consist of convenient occurrences and puzzling oversight that nonetheless are not the core of the story. Most shows have some of those, and I can easily overlook them if the story is engaging and the major plot lines does not revolve around it. Some examples include: people bumping into people or overhearing conversation at the most opportune time, people out and about doing things undetected especially if they are under surveillance, people divulging way too much info at convenient times, and the good guys showing up just in time to save people. There are too many to list the specific examples. *No problem, all restaurants have some bugs, some just hide it better than others.

Now for the main course‒big glaring bugs that really arouses your gag reflex, the types of bugs that significantly degrade the viewing experience. First are the big bugs of characterization. Bian Jie (Xiao Qi) is the most important character in the story, yet often times he's as hollow as a plot tool (工具人). Other than a few flashbacks, XQ's first 18 years is essentially empty. And it's difficult to construct a coherent character for XQ that satisfies his life experiences and his actions and emotions as the fake son of the Bian family. If he's so sweet and innocent as portrayed, how does he survive all those years under human trafficker Uncle Qing. Moreover, he should have exhibited much greater and different emotional reaction once taken in. Other characters, including other members of the Bian family, exhibit similar incongruencies.

The second major bug is the bug of nonsensical decision making on key plot points. It makes no sense for XQ to stay to protect his fake Mom from JMF, when he already thinks JMF might try to kill him, when he should go to the police. Neither is making it a priority to take down Uncle Qing, when he just escaped as a fugitive, and only for it to go nowhere. Or the numerous other similar plot sins committed by him and other characters. The police not directly tracking down Uncle Qing's gang to prove XQ's innocence, but having it occur incidentally. Yanzi thinking her younger bro could be alive even though he 'ran away' from Dad despite collapsing in a pool of blood of a hole to the back of his head, and returning without remembering any details. The boys going murderous over shower pics. The ridiculous ways Jin Manfu went about the murder, coverups, kidnapping, blackmail, and trying to rescue Yanzi. The story was already a hazmat level roach infestation even before the bug-out finale that was a fetid corpse of cop-out, fake-out, and proper-ganda. *Seems like you vomited quite a bit, did you at least have something nutritious to puke out?

Unfortunately no. While the acting, production, and faint hint of something promising kept me engaged for half of the show, the later episodes became an increasingly frustrating 3X watch as it became apparent the script was beyond saving. But even before the show turned rancid, I was experiencing a glaring disconnect with the characters. The problem was the show didn't give you anyone fully fleshed out, didn't show you why their relationships were so important, and didn't give you anyone to fully care about. All the main characters were hollow shells barely held together by scarce flashbacks, and summarizing instead of showing. At the same time, you are fed plenty of clues to potentially doubt the story and sincerity of all the characters, ensuring full-on social distancing. When some more flashbacks are shown in the later parts of the story, it was way too little, and way too late. The way you are supposed to do it is to build up the characters first, make the protagonists/villains sympathetic, and then create compelling twists by subverting or overturning expectations. 'Interlaced Scenes' and 'The First Shot' are dramas where it's much better executed Since LITS never established the characters before playing around with them, all their motivations felt hollow and perfunctory, making all the aforementioned bugs even more intolerable.

So the good parts amounted to a cryptic restaurant advertisement for alternative organic delicacies, that turned out to be plates of bugs. At least it was a quick meal 🙂. Overall I rate it a 6, because at least it has good acting and production unlike idol drama triple threats. It started out an 8 before I figured out the mystery dish had bugs, then held at 7 for about half the show. Then the later episodes were a 6. That's not taking into account the ending, as I was already fully passed out from all the puking.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 6
- Plot - 5.5
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7.5
- Acting - 8.5
- Visuals - 8
- Audio / Music - 7.5 (mostly live recording)
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 7.5
- Subtitle quality - 8.5

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Never Give Laugh

‒Exec Summary‒
Couldn't muster more than 3 seconds of cumulative laughter for the 6 episodes I tried. But the episodes are short, and you don't need to pay attention to plot for sitcom, so if you find the humor, more power to you.

--Short Review--
This is an office sitcom modeled after the hit kdrama Gauss Electronics. The story revolves around the various employees at a Chinese conglomerate Gaofa and reflects some of common complaints and peculiarities of the urban Chinese office. I haven't watched the kdrama so I couldn't make a comparison between the two. Unfortunately, by failing to deliver even a charitable chuckle, I suspect that this drama failed the only comparison that matters.

Other than the comedy part of the sitcom, the drama provided your standard idol web drama quality in cinematography and production value. The acting was adequate, with Dylan Wang and Yukee Chen as the main leads. Perhaps I'm being too harsh or too divorced from the Chinese workplace culture since the drama did receive an perplexingly high 8.1 score on Douban. But it's not like the show was layering the dialog with frequent word plays or internet memes. Rather, it was just an endless assembly line of haphazard setups, milquetoast punchlines, and tepid characters. While the show misfires with its jokes about workplace drudgery, it nevertheless achieves mastery for atmospheric immersion‒by creating a viewing experience that feels like a marathon day of pointless meetings. Perhaps the experience is especially underwhelming for me as sitcoms are what American TV excels at and for whatever reasons, China produces very few. But my goodness, this show feels like a hatchet script from the dysfunctional Planning Department of Gaofa.

‒Why Watch‒
1) You want to cure your unhealthy obsession with Dylan Wang and Yukee Chen (assuming she has fans)‒this show might just do the trick.
2) You want something quick and easy. Only 25m episodes of concentrated boredom in sitcom format.
3) You need some guinea pigs to hone your review writing, so you end up writing a mediocre review for a mediocre show.

--Rating Subscores--
- Overall - 5
- Plot - 5
- Theme / Message / Impact - 5
- Acting - 6
- Visual & Production - 6.5
- Audio - 6
- Rewatch - 5
- Accessibility - 8 (yay at least crappy shows generally are more accessible)
- Subtitle quality - 7

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Three Female Generals walk into a bar

--Review--

I sampled this drama for 2 episodes because it's Chinese Zodiac Year of the Female Generals, and I had to honor the tradition. While I won't be continuing--ancestors only deserve so much respect/disgrace--I'm happy to acknowledge there are quite a few positives about the beginning episodes.

For one, Li Qin was stellar here, slicing her way through the battlefield with an icy blade and colder glare. While CDrama will never make the FL not look pretty, and she looks great here, I'm impressed by her willingness to do the physical scenes, suffering scenes, and get some actual makeup wounds applied. While I had only really seen her in JoL, I'm not surprised that she had the demeanor and screen presence to do well in this role. But still, I was surprised by how much ass she kicked and how much assassin energy she mustered.

I'm also happy to commend Chen Zheyuan for turning in supposedly his best performance to date. He has successfully graduated from playing a heartthrob groomer of underage girls to smacking around a wounded female general, without getting emasculated in the process. Let's be clear, as this is no small feat. Li Qin is still the better warrior and out-generals him. But he did better than expected given his previous resume, and was only a few steps behind.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the cinematography was so normal, so normal that I couldn't even tell Zhu Rui Bin Laden was the director. This was the least radicalizing use of camera from him to date. Perhaps he's moved onto more profitable things like plagiarism. Perhaps looking like 65 yro post-menopausal lesbian grannie has finally mellowed him out. Or perhaps he's laying low like it's Tora Bora because viewers are ready to drone strike his ass. Whatever the reason, this show survived the CDrama Bin Laden far better than Building 7's concrete-steel structure to an office fire. And that's commendable.

It's enough to make the Highlander showdown of female generals a no contest. I don't need to watch the other 2 to know Li Qin wins this in her sleep. Put Zhou Ye and Song Yi on a team and Li Qin solos them using only her right clavicle. The next time the Year of Female Generals rolls around, there better first be a gladiator selection match, and only the winner get to play the role.

So the first 2 eps are around a 7, the whole drama is probably in the 5.5 to 6 range. It's not that bad, but with so many other dramas more aligned with my taste, I won't be continuing.

--Category Ratings--

- Overall - 7 (first 2)
- Plot - 6
- Theme / Concept / Impact - 7.5
- Acting - 7.5
- Visuals - 7.5
- Audio / Music - 7.5
- Rewatch - 5
- Cultural/Topical Accessibility - 8
- Subtitle quality - 8

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