PeachBlossomGoddess

False face must hide what false heart doth know.

The biggest draw of the Disguiser is its best loved Nirvana in Fire cast. Paradoxically, this spy thriller could not be more unlike Nirvana in Fire yet at the same time, it cannot be more like it. Boiled down, it is another memorable bromance built around a family that sacrifices for a worthy cause; in this case the kind of country they want for their future generations.

Set in 1940s Shanghai during the time of the Japanese puppet government, the prominent Ming family is caught up in the struggle between Japanese, KMT and CCP forces. Ming Jing, the matriarch is formidable in terms of how fiercely she both disciplines and loves her three brothers, whom she raised. She is the family peacemaker and the one the brothers deceive to protect. The Ming family hierarchy is hilarious - both Ming Tai and Ming Cheng fear oldest brother Ming Lou, who is in turn terrified of Ming Jing.  Since the youngest Ming Tai is Ming Jing's favorite, he is actually the most powerful brother! Although both Ming Cheng and Ming Tai are adopted, their bond exceeds that of most blood siblings and the individual relationships between the four siblings are well dimensioned and developed. The remarkable chemistry between this veteran cast effortlessly draws us into feeling a part of this amazing and perfectly imperfect family.

As far as spy thrillers go, this is suspenseful, fast paced and action packed. While the action shots are visually thrilling and artistic, it is quite incredible that protagonists seem to be completely bullet proof and villains take way too many fatal shots to die. The overall plot errs on the side of being overly intricate and fails to convince that so many pawns have to be sacrificed so callously to ensnare the enemy. That said, some of the most powerful, shattering scenes are at the moment of truth when it dawns on the players they are pawns and when the villains realize they have been played. All the villains are introduced early on and are layered characters with their own individual strengths and weaknesses that make them very, very dangerous; especially Wang Ou's gorgeously unstable, oddly naive and sadistic Wang Manchun. This casts an shadow of imminent peril around our beloved Ming family's idyllic private moments.

The way Jin Dong portrays Ming Lou, a double agent whose "false face must hide what false heart doth know" stands out among superb performances all around from this exceptional cast. He wears many hats - traitor, patriot, mastermind, mentor, disciplinarian, manipulator, liar, brother and family man. His true feelings and loyalties are revealed only in almost imperceptible changes in expression or gestures as he fluidly manipulates his chess pieces into doing as he wishes. He is the picture of sincerity and devotion as he turns the deadly Wang Manchun into a giddy, lovesick fool with his sweet loving lies. Alas, she misses that flicker in his eye that says he actually loathes and pities her. He keeps Ming Jing in the dark to protect her and only lets Ah Cheng get the closest look at his game plan and true intentions. I don't know why Wang Kai always gets saddled with the role of the most loyal but most obtuse one but I get Jing wang vibes every time is onscreen. I am glad this time he is teamed up with Jin Dong and not Hu Ge. I love their relationship - Ming Lou is at surface a tough mentor but by communicating outcomes, he actually gives Ah Cheng agency to execute his missions as he sees fit. His approach with Ming Tai is completely different - he keeps him at a strictly need to know level and at arm's length but gives him the most difficult tasks with much more limited degrees of freedom to make decisions. Ming Lou is an incredibly complex, smart character but not unrealistically so that things always go as planned. In this high stakes game, the enemy is not stupid and is capable of learning from mistakes. Some of the most riveting moments are when the brothers are cornered and forced to choose between family and their mission, their ideals, their country.

Hu Ge as the sophisticated, dashing and deadly assassin Ming Tai aka the Scorpion takes the meaning of eye candy to a whole new level. Paired up with his life and death partner, the vivid and lethal Yu Manli, they cut a flamboyant and bloodthirsty trail through the highest echelons of their enemy. Hu Ge delivers some extraordinary and memorable moments as Ming Tai, notably his love hate relationship with his lunatic, radical mentor Wang Tianfeng and his complex bond with Yu Manli. However overall, I did not love some aspects of his portrayal and how this character was written. Although I don't mind Hu Ge playing the 20 something Ming Tai initially, this character must be able to grow up and mature, which he does masterfully to become the leader of his espionage unit. It pains me to complain about Hu Ge and to be fair, he was short-changed by the scriptwriting and casting. But the frequent regression into his younger self; a spoilt, pampered and immature youth doesn't sit well with me, especially towards the end and after everything he went through. It does not help that his arguably unnecessary love interest Cheng Jinyun is portrayed by a complete plank of an actress. They did not connect and the romance was so irritating I kept hoping she would tragically run into one of the many stray bullets flying around. Casting a mannequin would have been better than this boring and totally expressionless actress. This is made more stark by the fiery, intense and palpable connection between Ming Tai and Yu Manli. Song Yi absolutely stole the show with her insane, bad-ass articulation of this psychotic, relentless assassin And her chemistry with Hu Ge is off the charts. She is the character I cared the most about in the drama, the one that scared me and broke my heart at the same time.

While hardly the masterpiece that was NIF, this is still an excellent drama and a wonderful way to reconnect with a fantastic cast. Not to mention... ahem... Hu Ge in black tie... I rate this a solid 8.5.

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Monster's Ball

Demon Hunter's Romance or Wuyou Crossing(无忧渡) is a thrilling and chilling monster's ball where demons and humans collide, love defies fate, and morality blurs like ink in water. With its exquisite aesthetics, meticulous world-building, and haunting narrative, this drama revives the eerie charm of classical supernatural tales, blending Buddhist/Taoist philosophy with visceral emotion.

Since she was a child, Banxia had yin-yang eyes that gave her a weird ability to see yāo (妖)—demons hiding among humans. Her family dismisses these "delusions" and medicate her. When she confronts and enrages a demon who seduced her cousin, she is rescued by Xuanye, a demon hunter. After this encounter, she begins to accept that demons really exist. When her father disappears, she is convinced he is kidnapped by a demon and travels to Guangping City to enlist Xuanye's assistance in retrieving him. Together, they investigate six strange cases that explore complex entanglements between humans and demons. The cases dive into how humans and demons experience love, greed, anger, ignorance, emptiness, and transformation. The drama's core message is that both humans and demons can be monsters and they often feed upon each other's best and worst instincts. As for whether humans and demons can co-exist, viewers must decide for themselves.

The cases are engaging, thought provoking and leave a lingering impact as they escalate brilliantly into a devastating and poignant finale. The narrative respects the audience's intelligence and is replete with enough clues and foreshadowing that the how-did-it at the end of each case is succinct as the mysteries largely reveal themselves. The first three cases are spooky in a Chinese horror kind of way, which is subtly hair raising rather than jump scares. The mirror demon case was the scariest and it ruined pears for me. I also enjoyed the creepy Reunion Inn aka Hotel California unit but the best case for me was the City of Illusions. It had the most cohesive sub-plot with multiple clues in plain sight and the humor and ironic role reversals were a welcome shift from the earlier spooky toned arcs. The narrative focus turns to the reveal of Xuanye's back story in the final two cases, which tie everything together into the final reveal and plot climax.

I picked this up mainly for the strange stories and was surprised by how much I enjoyed the romance. Ren Jialun and Song Zu'er look very cute and like they belong together. While the sparks didn't fly right away, the slow build in the romance better establishes a deep and abiding bond between Banxia and Xuanye. Song Zu’er shines brightest as the fierce He Quelian, overshadowing her initial portrayal of the timid Banxia. As for Ren Jialun, this is his career best to date. Though his early line readings falter, he improves markedly in the latter half with a moving delivery of the emotional moments. The cast delivered strong performances all around, with the demons outshining their human counterparts, as they should.

This drama is adapted from "Ban Xia" (半夏) by Ban Ming Ban Mei (半明半寐), which is a popular, unfinished supernatural romance. While the visual storytelling is captivating and immersive, the dialogue often drowns in verbose monologues. The biggest monsters in this story are human and they tend get off too lightly. Meanwhile good souls sacrifice and suffer unjust outcomes. While the intent may be to highlight the randomness of fate, the lack cosmic justice leaves a dissatisfying aftertaste.

There are many good villains in this drama but the final mastermind is too obvious early on and is the least interesting one with shallow and pedestrian motives. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the final two arcs as Zikong's (Cao Jun) adds layers of intrigue to Xuanye's origin story. There were moments the magnetic Cao Jun stole the limelight with his good looks and breathtaking fight scenes. The ending is profound and it makes sense in a way that respects the genre. The Changle (常乐) Sword or Sword of Lasting Wellbeing fulfils its legacy but extracts a high price. Something was lost but everything was gained and there remains a sliver of hope.This is a magical and poignant story about a demon who loved a human enough to set them free to be the person they were always meant to be. Flaws and all, Wuyou Crossing is a rare gem that will surely linger like a half-remembered dream. My rating 8.5/10.0.






SPOILER WARNING!







ENDING SPOILER COMMENTS

I know I belong to the minority, but I loved the ending tears and all. The production rightly overruled the screenwriter’s original plan—a hackneyed “half-demon compromise”—would have betrayed the story’s core: a taboo love between a human and a demon that defies fate.

The key to understanding the ending is that the Changle Sword can only be drawn to reverse cause and effect when there is a deviation from fate. Xuanye understood that when the sword beckoned him to use it and the way those fat silent tears rolled down his face is the drama's saddest moment. As it turns out, Banxia was never meant to wander into the Wuyou Realm or to meet Manying or to bring him into the human realm. The end effect of their ill-fated meeting was tragic for everyone from Xuanye's entire family to Chixue, Chu Youhuang, Sima Lingying and Banxia herself. The Changle Sword's intervention set everyone back on their rightful path but erases Xuanye's existence. Banxia should have forgotten Xuanye and gone on to live her best life as the brave and indomitable He Quelian. But the grateful butterfly demon stored Banxia's memories in the conch. And the universe threw them a lifeline by returning the conch to Banxia.

Thankfully the Changle Sword must have also muted the wordy screenwriter as the finale left so much unspoken because it did not need to be said. It trusts the audience to understand what is implied. Banxia and Manying don't belong to each other's world and Xuanye doesn't even exist anymore to anyone besides the two of them. In their new reality, they both have responsibilities and ties that bind in their own world. The Wuyou Realm is a magical and dangerous place for humans; even Shen Tunan dared not venture there without powering up. So I don't think it is realistic to expect Banxia to leave with Manying. The snow was Manying's promise to Banxia that they would grow old together. And by introducing him to all their old friends, Banxia is laying a path for Manying to find his way back into her world. So to me, this ending is a not yet happy ending; there are many challenges ahead but I daresay that it will be.

The only thing I truly hate about the ending is that the bigot Shen Tunan and that utterly selfish and whiny Xingxian get a do-over. That's just not right.



Footnote: Interestingly Li Xian doesn't pop up again in their new reality. Maybe he really is the runaway puppet Qingshan.









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Win Win vs Win All.

Legend of Magnate stands out as one of the better written historical business dramas. It is set in late Qing dynasty, a time of great turmoil in modern Chinese history. The story opens to the vast and icily inhospitable landscape of an exile colony in Ningguta. The real-location filming delivers an authentic and immersive sense of the desolation and at the very ends-of-the-earth feeling of this frigid winterland. Yet somehow, convict Gu Pingyuan, a falsely excused scholar from Anhui, was almost thriving as a fixer and general dogsbody for the incompetent military command of the Ningguta garrison. He smooths the way for the business dealings of Li Qin, the young scion of the Li family as well as that of itinerant merchant Fourth Master Chang and his daughter Yu'er. Thus begins a lifelong entanglement as they face headwinds on multiple fronts of an empire on its last legs.

After he escapes from Ningguta, Gu Pingyuan reinvents himself as a pawnbroker, banker, tea merchant and even dabbles in a salt monopoly. His exploits are legendary as he navigates savagely unethical business rivalries amid civil war and foreign interference. The business plots are tightly written and explain intricate business schemes and late-Qing era commerce and finance in a logical and engaging manner. The narrative is interwoven with civil war, political intrigue, betrayal, revenge, romance, family drama, diplomatic affairs and patriotism. With canny commercial instincts, sound judgement and a strong business ethics, Pingyuan fosters important alliances with other merchants, government officials and even rebels who pop up just in time to throw him a lifeline when needed. Undeniably his meteoric rise is is partly due to heavy plot armour aka sheer luck but the fast-paced, storytelling with high dramatic tension leaves little time to dwell on the convenient coincidences.

The massive social and economic upheaval wrought by the Taiping Rebellion occupies central stage in the first major arc of the drama. The complex motivations for this civil unrest that cost 20-30mm lives is sympathetically conveyed. It is surprising to see a rebel leader such as Li Cheng stop short of being glorified - or maybe Zhu Yawen's portrayal is simply too evocative. What is not needed is the romance - both female leads fall in love way too quickly and Bai Yimei's feelings in particular are not convincingly developed. Besides an uncanny ability to GPS hone in on her man across thousands of miles of desolate frigid wasteland, Chang Yuér also adds nothing to the plot. The character is quite well written but Sun Qian's childish line delivery and unnecessarily weepy interpretation failed to resonate with me. Li Chun's radical and dangerous Su Zixuan ended up being the most interesting and best acted female role in the show.

Cheng Xiao delivers a mature, down-to-earth portrayal of this humble scholar turned business prodigy; making his stellar feats somehow seem reasonable and hard won. He is surrounded by a talented and versatile cast that vividly brings the zeitgeist of difficult period of history to life. All the subplots build anticipation towards an epic day of reckoning between Gu Pingyuan and his arch-rival Li Wantang; they are parallel characters with opposite business philosophies - win win vs win all. Unfortunately their arc ends abruptly in a completely out of character and anti-climatic plot twist that is a nothing burger of a melodramatic cop out. This is deeply disappointing as I was looking forward to what could have been a riveting denouement between Cheng Xiao and Huang Zhi Zhong, one of the most versatile and compelling character actors in the industry. Even though Luo Yizhou's Li Qin surprised and impressed me in the final arc, it was a boring arc. The finale introduces new characters too late in the game and gets mired down in minutiae of government concessions, contract terms, trade treaties and law of the sea.

Overall this was one of the better period dramas of 2025. It is worth watching just for the on-location filming if nothing else. While the final two arcs were not good enough for this to merit an 8.5, it is definitely an 8.0+/10.0.

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Cinderella and an unlikely fairy godfather

This is not my usual type of movie, I picked it up out of curiousity on a plane and was pleasantly surprised. The plot is simple - it is about the relationship that develops between a disabled middle aged divorcee Leung (Anthony Wong) and his caregiver Evelyn (Crisel Consunji), a Filipino domesetic helper. Leung is initally harsh to Evelyn; he is embittered by the random accident that led to the loss of his wife and son to another marriage that took them far away to the US. But her kindness and dedication eventually moves him to empathize with her plight, which is sadly all to common to the large Fillipino domestic helper community in Hong Kong. They come to care deeply for each other and find joy in each other's company in an otherwise bleak existence. Although they are so very different in terms of culture and background they even had to learn each others' language to communicate, what they both have in common is a kind and generous spirit. As a person who no longer has dreams, Leung rediscovers joy and meaning in life in making Evelyn's dreams come true even at great cost to himself. This is a very simple and humble production but the acting by both lead actors as well as the small supporting cast was really strong. And the script was well done, with a lot of humor that brightened up the mood along the way. It is both a sad and happy movie although the plot was somewhat fairy tale like or improbable but that is all I would say to avoid giving it away.

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The pen is mightier than the sword.

This is a very entertaining action fantasy movie with absolutely stunning world building and production design. Unlike this year's more pretentious Dream of Eternity, this is much more than a showy demonstration of cinematic pyrotechnics. This production truly breathes life into the absolutely amazing animations and convincingly fuses them with live actors who are actually in the moment and evoke a sense of imminent peril. This drama spent two years in post production and it is clear that a lot of care went into the visual effects that sweeps one into an addictive, thrilling virtual reality fantasy game world.

There are two main plot lines to this action loaded story within a story, the first takes place in the real world and the second in a fantasy world. The spectacular Lei Jiayin plays Guan Ning, a distraught father who is searching desperately for his daughter who went missing six years ago. He is tasked to assassinate an online novelist Kongwen who is writing a fantasy novel about a young warrior's quest to bring down an evil overlord Redmane. At the sweep of a pen that is mightier than the sword, the two plot threads fuse into an epic, action packed showdown. What stands out is the crazy, creative energy in the action sequences and how they snuck in some really wild, ingenious and unconventional moves that wowed me. I absolutely loved Guan Ning's almost superhuman ability to throw rocks, that was incredibly entertaining to watch.

Despite the intense action orientation, the narrative is not secondary to the action and the humanity at its core shines through as a result of superb acting by Lei Jiayin, Dong Zijian (who plays Kongwen) and the very talented Yu Hewei. This is a cast you can't go wrong with... except for the insipid Yang Mi, whose character was not necessary to the plot and her wimpy voice yet again had me wishing they dubbed her. I don't know why Lu Yang always makes such terrible casting choices for his female characters.

While it doesn't dot every i or cross every t; the backstories of some characters could be tighter, there are minor plot holes and logic flaws in the real world antagonists, overall it is a very cool story that broadly hangs together. This movie takes a bold swipe at both China's communist past and capitalist present - it is very obvious the major corporation with the Aladdin's lamp logo in the present plot is Alibaba and Redmane's red army represents the Red Guards in the fantasy plot.

This is a great way to indulge in two hours of pure escapism. I give it 8.5.

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How to make a quick buck off of a super successful TV drama...

I watched this out of mild curiosity when I was in China on business and could only get into iQiyi. It was barely entertaining and nowhere compares to the TV drama Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms. The storytelling was chaotic and difficult to follow because they pretty much just cut and pasted together all of the best moments and lines between Bai Qian and Ye Hua from the TV drama and then re-shot it with different actors. Everything else was hurriedly compressed into what time was left so it will be incomprehensible to anyone who doesn't know the story line.

The actors who play the two leads, they are both beautiful people and had pretty good chemistry but still fell short of Yang Mi/Mark Chao. Liu Yifei's Bai Qian was way too young and sweet-natured to pull off the role of feisty goddess queen of the fox tribe. And Yang Yang's Ye Hua was very handsome in a very, very pretty way but as an actor he has nowhere near the emotional range and intensity of Mark Chao. They made for an adorable pair of young lovebirds but their relationship didn't build any substance before they were pretty much hooking up. In fairness to the actors, its difficult to impress when the no story-line jumps around and there isn't any real character development. One change to the story I did approve of is that four beasts become one beast and they kill it off together. That was kind of cool.

Alibaba had money to throw at this so the sets were visually stunning as were the costumes (and also more revealing). But the whole thing didn't come together in a good way. Had I watched it first I would have avoided the drama. I wouldn't say the movie is yuck but it is a rather obvious attempt to make a quick buck on the back of the success of a mega hit TV romance.

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Spy candy

Let me cut to the chase - Autumn Cicada is a complete train wreck. But aspiring screenwriters should be inspired by this - if this script managed to be produced with a cast of decent actors and even aired, there is hope for anything!

I watched this because I like spy thrillers and it is set in my city, Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation. Ren Jialun as the male lead Ye Chong is admittedly an added bonus. It does start with a bang as Ye Chong, a major in the Japanese military is almost exposed as a Chinese spy code-name Autumn Cicada the day he is posted to Hong Kong. I suspended disbelief at the wildly improbable backstory as to how a Chinese patriot managed to advance to the highest ranks of the Japanese military but as the plot unfolds I quickly realize that that is on a relative basis, not that ridiculous. Isolated and cut off from all known contacts, he gropes around trying to figure out who is friend and foe and who betrayed his codename. We see him pondering a lot with suspenseful music in the background- every grumpy angle of Ren Jialun's thinking face is vigorously and closely explored so if you are a fan, this is spy candy galore!

Evidently the original female lead dropped out due to a convenient pregnancy that saved her from playing He Ying (Li Man), the most useless character in the show. This boring whiny wallflower was so incompetent she couldn't even successfully get herself killed. Her greatest accomplishment is saving one person at the cost of eleven others. I told myself that if this inept and reckless character survives, it would qualify the drama for a fantasy tag. Needless to say there is zero chemistry between her and Ren Jialun. The drama's only saving grace is the sparkling chemistry between Liu Huan's Chi Cheng and his infuriating and flamboyant wife Jin Xiang (He Dujuan). I really love this couple, they are the only reason I continued to watch the show. Indeed Liu Huan stole the show - his ability to convey crippling fear of discovery behind a facade of a suave businessman sharply contrasted with Ren Jialun's (too) cool as a cucumber Ye Chong. As much as I like him, this is not one of Ren Jialun's better works.

The main antagonist in this show Miyamoto, Ye Chong's arch enemy, is the smartest and only quasi intelligent character in the show. He figured out right away that Ye Chong is Autumn Cicada and was also onto Chi Cheng and the other spies very early in the game but everyone else was too dumb to believe hm. And yeah, even though this should have been obvious to both of them, our two heroes spend most of the drama circling each other warily but the lightbulb just doesn't go on. I was really unimpressed and frustrated with their spycraft and general lack of common sense and intuition. And despite the repeated attempted brainwashing from the suspenseful background music, there is nothing thrilling or suspenseful about watching such bungling spies. Even the ending was predictible and not remotely moving. If anyone is concerned that this may be a propaganda drama, don't be. It is actually a scathing almost insulting depiction of the Chinese spies during this period.

I actually suspect this must be a spoof. It is such a bad drama it is actually quite funny. And yes, there are many, many good looking eye candy actors in this show in dashing costumes. This is one that can be played in the background on mute during those interminable conference calls we endure while working from home.

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Fifty shades of grey.

I expected this to be just another undercover narcotics cop drama. Which it is -  but still it hooked me from the very first episode. A sudden explosion sends Gan Tianlei (Ou Hao) into an 8 year coma in the middle of a decade long deep undercover mission to infiltrate the Ceasar drug organization. When he wakes up, he has no memory of his teenage daughter and her mother and only retains shadowy images of the events leading up to his accident. As his memory returns in snatches, he grapples with where his true loyalties lie and whether he had crossed over to the dark side. Ou Hao really shines in this role - he is heartbroken, moved, bewildered,  cunning, disingenuous, inscrutable, conflicted and enraged at all the right moments. His fight scenes were also really gripping and jam packed with raw, powerful fist-slugging and high impact kick action.

The main characters in this drama are extremely well written - they are multi-faceted, imperfect and complex such that the lines between protagonist and antagonist are frequently blurry. In particular the reluctant chemistry between Gan Tianlei and Che Lizi  as they encircle each other warily at times as allies and at times in combat is the best, most fascinating portrayal of the conflict between black and white and the fifty shades of grey in between. The drama throws them into moments where they are stressed into revealing themselves and their true priorities in the split second choices that they make. Both actors Ou Hao and Xu Hongjie are nuanced and compelling in the way they articulate themselves; theirs is the best frenemy bromance I watched in 2020. The entire ensemble cast delivers a very strong performance in terms of the rapport of the anti-narcotics force and the depth, length and endurance of their relationships and loyalties to one another. The collegial humour and comradeship pulls you in with sketches that are equal parts funny, cynical, nostalgic, light and dark and makes vivid what anchors Gan Tianlei as he walks the line between dark and light.

For about three quarters of the drama, the pacing is excellent and transitions seamlessly between suspense, action, comedy, tragedy with a few good twists and reveals mixed in at all the right moments. Then the drama peaks in an epic showdown between the remnants of the Ceasar group and the Tan family that had succeeded them as drug kingpins. And that is where the drama could have and should have ended on a high note. Up until then, my rating was an 8.0 with an eye towards 8.5. But in the final arc, it seems another writer took over. The mad scientist Lu Mingxiong is another decently written grey character but falls far short in comparison to Gan Tianlei and Che Lizi and the dynamic becomes more like two's company, three's a crowd. His relationship with Gan Xiaoyuan was so oily even the drama admits as much. It is clearly intended to set the stage for another season that sees Gan Tianlei, the ultimate undercover cop go after an international drug ring. I really didn't enjoy the final short arc that felt long, which is why this ends up an 7.5 for me. That said, Ou Hao has really impresses with his acting in this and in The Eight. I believe he is the best up and coming actor I came across in 2020.

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Mission Impossible

I picked this one up because I quite like Vin Zhang as an actor - he has a certain intensity that in the right role could be quite powerful. I was quite excited to see he him cast as the male lead and as the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang no less! I also (rightly) suspected that Dilraba Dilmurat would pair up quite nicely with him as the female lead Gong Sun Li.

After getting about halfway through this, I realized that the good chemistry between the leads just really wasn't good enough to hold up the challenging story-line that doomed this drama from the start. The lovely Dilraba/Sun Li had the misfortune to catch the eye of the tyrannical Qin emperor. Being all powerful, he tears her from the arms of her childhood love Jing Ke and makes her his concubine. He keeps her by his side by adopting their child and holding him hostage. Despite all of this, we are supposed to be moved by his persistent and not always tender efforts to win her heart. As the Qin emperor, Zhang was mercurial, suspicious, petty and jealous - often coming across like a petulant rejected teenage suitor. Despite his personal intensity, Zhang was not able to round out these lesser qualities with the requisite gravitas of such a powerful emperor. Don't get me wrong, I still think Zhang is a promising actor but the character that he plays is not an innately likable one.

Switching to Dilraba, she also had her work cut out for her - how to betray her love and eventually succumb to such a petty tyrant and not alienate the audience? To make it more palatable, they cast some completely vapid, limp noodle of an actor to play Jing Ke, supposedly the love of Sun Li's life and the father of her child. Needless to say, there was even less chemistry between Jing Ke and Sun Li so we didn't even get a good and convincing triangle. A jealous misunderstanding set him down the path of falling for someone else with the heartbroken encouragement of Sun Li. All I could think was wow, this girl has bad taste in men and they (Sun Li and Jing Ke) were really not that into each other. The rest of the cast was rather insipid and didn't really resonate. There was some silly assassination sub plot that Jing Ke is likely in on (yes kill the tyrant that stole your wife and child) but I didn't get far enough to see it play out. Don't think I am missing anything.

And finally of course there was the requisite palace harem cliche of beautiful women doing their absolute worst to each other - oh yes of course they picked on Sun Li. I can usually tolerate some of it but in this case it was just the last straw. In hindsight, I should have known better than to spend time on this and I have much sympathy for the leads. To begin with, the plot is a super challenging one in which none of the lead characters can possibly come off in a good way. It didn't help that the script writing and character development was shallow and completely not up to the formidable task of making wife snatching romantic. In this regard however, my irritation is squarely aimed at the scriptwriters and not the actors. Their job was literally mission impossible. Instead of self destructing, hopefully they both (and I) make better script choices going forward.

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Pretty Boaring

Once upon a time in snowy Linan County, expert butcher Fan Changyu stumbles over a suspicious lump of snow on her way home from work. To her shock and delight, she discovers a gravely injured man whose deathly pale face card screams "too handsome to perish." No self-respecting, recently jilted gal leaves a man who looks like that to freeze to death. So with preternatural strength that belies her dainty stature, she hefts this gorgeously useless sack of frozen flesh over her shoulders and piggybacks him home to Xigu Lane.

This drama is a feast for the eyes. The camera pans leisurely over one fairytale-like idyllic countryside scene after another. It is a fan service extravaganza of stunning face shots of Xie Zheng and Fan Changyu eyeing each other thirstily as they casually beat off petty village villains. Their expressions hint at a complexity that never materializes. Nothing really happens for about seventeen gorgeous episodes loaded with the promise of betrayal and intrigue. The long-winded Linan plot arcs and bucolic themes remind me of The Lady in Butcher's House (2022), which is nowhere near as beautifully shot but is a hell of a lot funnier.

When the plot finally moves, it is like watching a pig run amok in a china shop—I mean, military camp. But the fight scenes are great: fantastic action choreography and thrilling camera angles that will convince you that a short gal viciously wielding a short-range butcher's cleaver can defy physics and defeat an entire invading army of tall men with long-reaching spears and swords. And there is nothing more hilarious than watching a handsome decorated general and his army gallop heroically to the rescue after all the fighting is done by a butcher and her pig squad. For her efforts, she is promoted to the point of inefficiency and made a general and war heroine - yups another dynasty that bites the dust! As for the redoubtable Marquis Wu'an, his formidable military reputation is only told, never earned. The man's greatest accomplishment is hiding his identity from his beloved beyond reason and at the risk of king and country. After the military misadventures cum absurd hidden identity arc, the long-awaited conspiracy finally reveals itself to be overly convoluted and anticlimactic. It is a stretch to call the final antagonist a villain. The drama ends unsatisfyingly, without closure and with a poor semblance of justice.

The main focus of this story is Fan Changyu, who is the Mary Sue of butchers. She is a souped-up martial arts version of Cinderella who traded her glass slippers for a wicked butcher's cleaver. I have always found Tian Xiwei obnoxious, so the fact that I never felt the impulse to sock her in the face is a true testament to Director Zeng Qingjie's ability to make her look a lot lovelier and more likeable than I thought possible. She put a lot of work into her fight scenes, and it showed. I was not impressed by her military antics, but that is on the writing, not the acting. As a CP, her chemistry with Zhang Linghe was good but paled in comparison to Deng Kai and Kong Xue'er's dark passion. While I have never seen Zhang Linghe look so hot in a drama, he is sidelined and reduced to little more than a decorative vase by the narrative. He drew the short straw on action scenes, and Xie Zheng's complex, painful relationship with Wei Yan is not fully explored. It is a pity that this director conjures up such sensational visual impressions that are not fleshed out by the screenwriting.

There are too many mouthwateringly hot clickbait characters in this story, but they all turn into two-dimensional cartoons as the plot unfolds. I stuck around because of how compellingly Deng Kai breathed life into the dark, sadistic, and tortured Qi Min. His intense, obsessive chemistry with the audacious and malicious defiance of Kong Xue'er's Qian Qian lights up the screen with a forbidden sensuality. Both Qi Min and Marquis Wu'an should be fascinating, complex parallel characters with pasts and a real grudge, but lazy writing reduces them both into love brains with questionable motives.

Overall, a pretty boaring romantic fairytale that is bound to check all the boxes for lovers of the genre. Fans of plot- or character-driven stories may find it lacking on many fronts. This might have worked better as a parody or a dark comedy, or if the humor landed better. Yet the visuals are so outstanding that I find it impossible to rate below 8.0 so let's call it 8.0/10.

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A Way Back Into Love

Twelve Letters is a masterclass in evocative visual storytelling. My heart already began to ache in the opening scenes. In 1991, an exhausted girl staggers through the dark alleys of Meiwan Town to a bright red mailbox, sending a letter to herself. In 2026 Beixing City, Yu Nian’s confused father waits obstinately in the bitter cold beside an identical red mailbox. The image of this helpless old man clinging to fading memories, awaiting a letter from the past, imprinted itself on my heart. When he goes missing, Yu Nian discovers a mysterious letter and joins forces with Shen Cheng to find their parents. With the help of a ginger cat, a bright red postbox, and twelve letters, they race against time to connect the past with the future and help two people who belong together find their way back to into love.

This immersive twelve-episode modern fantasy is drenched in a nostalgic, bittersweet palette that captures Meiwan Town’s yearning poverty, a constant sense of foreboding, and the faint, deceptive allure of better times ahead.

Tang Yixun is a young man with limitless potential—as a debt collector. This aspiring thug possesses the rare ability to beat the daylights out of a debtor without impairing their ability to pay. On a job, he encounters Ye Haitang, a young girl with a deadbeat dad who dares to stand up to him. He is unaccountably moved by her magnificent fury and her lonely, futile bravado. They meet again in a different setting and become entangled in a misunderstanding involving a mysterious letter—the first of twelve that will weave a magical bond through time and space between two people destined for each other.

The most outstanding aspect of this drama is the acting. I already held Wang Yinglu and Zhou Yiran in high regard, but they astounded me here. Their casting is impeccable—both actors are age-appropriate and look so convincingly the part that they seem to have simply stepped into their roles. Haitang’s pain, rage, and vulnerability leaps off the screen in a raw, visceral way. I was shaken by the authenticity of Wang Yinglu’s portrayal, how she spat the bone-deep hatred and trauma of someone pushed beyond their limits. Zhou Yiran’s smoldering depiction of Yixun’s steadfastness and his quiet joy in her company is no less intense than her fiery outbursts. Together, they were radiant, complete, invincible; their future felt limitless—until the beautiful but cruel world they inhabited intruded and conspired against them.

Twelve Letters is a stirring, emotional journey about a bond that endures through time and long separation. It is, at its heart, Yixun and Haitang’s story; Yu Nian and Shen Cheng serve more as narrative guides. I must have teared up during nearly every scene of this heart-wrenching tale. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more sickening character than Ye Yibo. The main narrative aspect that didn’t quite sit well with me was Yixun’s “noble idiocy,” especially when it was so clear Haitang was not better off without him.

As for the ending itself, I am in the minority that thinks it is just right. I can’t help but feel the writer crafted a story that was simply too sad to be told the way it was written. So I personally don’t fully buy into the fairytale. I will remember this story for a long time.

I rate it 8.5/10.

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There really is no need to go to the end of the world.

Despite the two big name stars, this movie about a survival romance in the Antartica is just not bad - it is not especially enjoyable or memorable. It was definitely visually stunning but that is not in and of itself enough - after all, it is a movie not a documentary on Antartica. I tried to like this but while there were some good moments, my overwhelming reaction was that it was boring and forgettable. The love story around an unlikely couple stranded together unexpectedly is not unique but it is a simple formula that often works. The basic problem is that aside from the extremely challenging environment, it must also be super boring to be stranded in Antartica. That is why I have great sympathy for what the two leads were up against. I truly don't think there are that many actors out there that could have been able to pull off this kind of role without ultimately boring the audience. I mean watching someone talk to penguins and seals is only entertaining (to kids) in cartoons. Mark Chao and Yang Zishan did have good chemistry and some of the scenes between them were quite moving. But overall their chemistry was not breathtaking the way it would need to be for this kind of performance that really revolves solely around two characters. Mark Chao's excessive face fur also may have hurt his performance. He is an actor with fantastic facial expressions but in some of the moments that truly mattered the fur really got in the way and his expressions were largely obscured. I suspect this is why he wasn't always convincing in conveying Fuchon's (Chao) love for and dedication to Ruyi (Yang). Indeed, while we can debate over whether he looks better with some face fur, this actor's most successful roles to date have been ones in which he has exposed more face.

It was a also likely a critical mistake to have Ruyi (Yang) break her leg from the very beginning , rendering her pretty much immobile throughout. That left Fuchun a one man show for large chunks of the movie and also limits the scope of the interactions between the couple. While that may well be true to the book, in the movie they could have exercised some artistic license and had her break it later on. After all, Antartica is a very dangerous place with all that slippery ice... it could have ideally occured in the latter half of the movie without much changing the storyline or ending. There was a bit of a Chinese twist to the story at the end that helped at the margin but by then I was falling asleep. While I did like and empathize with the couple, this firmly sticks into the only if you are really bored (for example: stuck in Antartica) and need to pass some time category.

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What If and What Is.

August 17, 2012, was the worst day in Zhou Jin's life. It was the day Zhou Chuan, the older brother she adored, was brutally killed in a SWAT operation gone wrong. Her life continues to unravel as her childhood sweetheart, Jiang Cheng, betrays her. Five years later, she is numb and still seeking answers as she advances in the police force. A close call convinces her it is time to get on with her life. She decides to marry longtime admirer Jiang Hansheng, an acclaimed criminal profiler. Together, they unravel the truth behind her brother's death and race to track down Hansheng's nemesis: the Red Dress Killer.

There are two main plot arcs in this story. The first is the tangled triangle between Zhou Jin, Jiang Hansheng, and Jiang Cheng. It is one of the few well-written and complicated triangles where no one is truly to blame, and everyone's point of view is understandable and empathetic. All is fair in love and war, so I appreciate that everyone is slightly selfish and fights for what they want. After all, in matters of the heart, it is best to try and fail rather than give way and live in regret. In the end, there is no real winner or right choice—it all comes down to timing. The narrative skilfully explores Zhou Jin's heart wrenching conflict between what if and what is.

This is an excellent cast all around. As a huge fan of both Jing Boran and Qin Junjie, I was genuinely torn between Jiang Hansheng and Jiang Cheng. But in the end, Jiang Cheng won me over. I found Jiang Hansheng's obsessiveness and subtle manipulation too suffocating, although Jing Boran was masterful at highlighting his stoic loneliness and vulnerability. Qin Junjie floored me with how well he played the bad cop—I never thought he had it in him to pull off such an excellent gangster. Although Cai Wenjing always delivers a credible performance, I didn't like Zhou Jin, and I feel this was not her best role.

The crime plot is well-paced, suspenseful, and fairly well written, but there are enough holes to stop me short of calling it tight. What I really didn't like is how Zhou Jin was allowed to participate in what was clearly a personal investigation. She also recklessly charges into too many situations, and even though she can hold her own, I found her obstinacy and recklessness annoying. She was my least favorite of the three main characters, and she failed to convince me she was worthy of such devotion from the two men.

For me, the romance and character dynamics are worthy of an 8.5, but the crime story is a 7.0/7.5. This works out to be slightly short of an 8.0 from me—but Jing Boran is a sexy beast, so I can round it up to 8/10.

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Nincompoop warning: may cause indigestion.

I am posting this as a warning not to unwittingly get sucked into watching this show. I picked it up after the almost overwhelming number of (misleading) rave reviews about it. This is not another Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, it is in no way comparable on every possible level and it is not enjoyable to watch at all. The plot may well be somewhat interesting and my overall impression of the story line is that it is decent. I am willing to give all Chinese drama 10-12 episodes to engage me. With this one, sadly I could barely even bring myself to watch no 10. The main problem is the lead actress alienated me from the get go with her portrayal of Jinmi as a silly, naive, mischievous, noisy and thoroughly obnoxious young girl. It was not at all adorable or charming, just dumb and annoying. I could have ignored it if it was just one or two episodes but it went on endlessly and there was so, so much of it and none of it added to the storyline. It was quite obvious from the beginning that there is a love triangle in the plot. But she made the character so not lovable that it was just not credible that the two rather superb male leads would fall for such a complete and utter nincompoop. It made the unfolding story-line of two half-brothers who were very close but starting to fall out over their rivalry for this silly, shallow and irritating girl just seem not at all believable. I would however, have readily bought into the two of them fighting each other not to have to marry her she was so obnoxious!

It is my pet peeve that Chinese drama likes to portray female characters in this most unflattering light. But one has to believe that the actress has some artistic input and this one really completely got it wrong by over-acting. Maybe it would have been ok if she "grew up" after one or two episodes and became actually likable. Very quickly,, I lost patience and had to fast forward or mute her every time she opened her mouth. In fact I put this actress whom I have never watched before on my NO list- I will not watch this super low talent actress again. I decided to abandon it after I started to hope she would quickly come to a tragic end and both princes would find happiness with someone (anyone) else.

Dramas nowadays avoid portraying these terrible female stereotypes. I guess if you don't understand the language and are just reading subtitles it could be less obnoxious. Thankfully MANY other hit C-dramas have started to significantly dial down these outdated female stereotypes or have eliminated them altogether. It is why shows like Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, Nirvana in Fire and Princess Weiyoung are in a different class altogether from Ashes of Love. However, the reviews I have seen are not pointing out how difficult this one is to get into and is unfairly putting this show in the same league of many much superior dramas. The story line itself sounds promising but exectution was terrible. Probably best to just read the book and pass on the show.

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How to make sows ears out of silk purses.

This drama has been adapted beyond recognition from a well loved hit novel to the rage and dismay of its many fans. Nothing makes my drama bestie more livid than how this favorite novel of hers has been ruined. This drama's only dubious glory is achieving the hitherto impossible - making sows ears out of silk purses! It is shocking how something so exceptionally good could have been so completely and utterly desecrated.

This production is lead actor Zhang Zhixi's vanity project. Frustrated at being relegated to secondary roles, she secured the lead role by acquiring the script and proceeded to show the world why she does not deserve lead roles. Her portrayal of Yun Qianyue was so bizarrely schizophrenic annoying beyond words and just simply exhausting that I wished I would get amnesia to wipe her appalling performance from memory. If she were portraying a murder victim, I am quite sure the jury would return a verdict of justifiable homocide. The big missing scene was one where Rong Jing and the 4th Prince were fighting to see who could be the first to shove her off a cliff. Because unless their mothers dropped them on their heads when they were babies, no way are these two men falling for this bat-shit crazy imbecile.

This is actually a rather expensive production with a good director, nice sets and beautifully shot scenes. If only the silly harebrained actress had submitted to some direction and not insisted on her unfathomable interpretation of the story, this drama could have been as big of a hit as the novel was.

This drama must be the absolute worst of 2021 - it is so bad it is offensive. Don't waste your time on it. 1.0/10.

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