This review may contain spoilers
Acting Masterclass Marred by Story, Script
Chen Zhe Yuan was the reason I waited for and then watched this drama as it came out. While he and the FL Liang Jie delivered believable performances of multi-layered nuanced characters, the whole show fell flat because of the story and stilted English dialogue.
Eastern Country was some kind of random, scrambled ethnic mess with no cultural identity or language. It wasn’t until deep into the second half that we learned a little about why the war was being fought. Because this very important piece of the story was ill-defined, it was hard to fathom why all of these characters that we loved would give their lives to try and fight for it.
Ran was a reporter that went into a war-torn country alone??? Big grown men who are current war correspondents have a team with them, but this small Chinese woman can go at it all by herself? Plus, they didn’t show her actually taking pictures much.
After the first deployment and return to China, I felt like the drama really hit its stride. The best part was Zan dealing with PTSD and Ran with depression in the midst of the bullying mix-up. The conversations were filled with pain as a result of being unable and/or unwilling to rely on each other with their weaknesses. I loved this depiction of depression and how these real issues hinder relationships. I didn’t want them to go back, but I was surprised that I didn’t mind it so much when they did, and I liked the resolution.
Everything past episode 35 was absolutely ridiculous. One dude made it so the two leads killed themselves. I wish the leads would’ve both died from their wounds in eastern country. How she survived a cut to her jugular, and he with multiple stab wounds and torture is unbelievable. This was so unnecessary and totally predictable when they kept showing the guy hunting down Zan. What was the point of having them survive the attack just to kill themselves?
I also knew Benjamin wasn’t going to make it from how they did his story. They gave us nothing with the Doctor, and his relationship with Sasin which was my favorite felt unsatisfactory as well.
My only takeaway from this drama is that the two leads could convincingly cry and make you feel something, but I wouldn’t recommend this drama. I’m sure my dissatisfaction stems from my unfamiliarity with the source material, but this kind of drama definitely isn’t for me.
Eastern Country was some kind of random, scrambled ethnic mess with no cultural identity or language. It wasn’t until deep into the second half that we learned a little about why the war was being fought. Because this very important piece of the story was ill-defined, it was hard to fathom why all of these characters that we loved would give their lives to try and fight for it.
Ran was a reporter that went into a war-torn country alone??? Big grown men who are current war correspondents have a team with them, but this small Chinese woman can go at it all by herself? Plus, they didn’t show her actually taking pictures much.
After the first deployment and return to China, I felt like the drama really hit its stride. The best part was Zan dealing with PTSD and Ran with depression in the midst of the bullying mix-up. The conversations were filled with pain as a result of being unable and/or unwilling to rely on each other with their weaknesses. I loved this depiction of depression and how these real issues hinder relationships. I didn’t want them to go back, but I was surprised that I didn’t mind it so much when they did, and I liked the resolution.
Everything past episode 35 was absolutely ridiculous. One dude made it so the two leads killed themselves. I wish the leads would’ve both died from their wounds in eastern country. How she survived a cut to her jugular, and he with multiple stab wounds and torture is unbelievable. This was so unnecessary and totally predictable when they kept showing the guy hunting down Zan. What was the point of having them survive the attack just to kill themselves?
I also knew Benjamin wasn’t going to make it from how they did his story. They gave us nothing with the Doctor, and his relationship with Sasin which was my favorite felt unsatisfactory as well.
My only takeaway from this drama is that the two leads could convincingly cry and make you feel something, but I wouldn’t recommend this drama. I’m sure my dissatisfaction stems from my unfamiliarity with the source material, but this kind of drama definitely isn’t for me.
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