Thank you for writing this review and sharing your thoughts and feelings on this drama. I feel like you're one of the few reviewers who's given proper consideration to the multifaceted toxicity demonstrated by the male characters in Imperial Doctress.
While I'm not 100% on the same page as you with the analysis of the characters' responses and relationships – e.g. I don't think the relationship between Yunxian and Qiyu post-rape is depicted as happy at all – I totally get where you're coming from with all of this. I am honestly surprised none of the other reviews seem to have picked up on the complexities of just how awful the male characters are (beyond just labelling them as 'bad' guys).
I agree that it doesn't seem to make sense "to leave viewers with some kind of a message to not give up no matter how hard it gets" as you say. It's really hard to tell what the writers'/creators' intentions were, which leaves me with mixed feelings.
guys i finished the first episode and there's already a hectic amount of intrigue and characters already (...and mostly men too??) ... am i going to be able to keep up with what's happening? or do i need to do background reading first?
As I always say, even big Hollywood productions aren't to everyone's liking! But something about your profile…
OHhh that dude. Thanks for rescuing me! (pun intended) Zhu Yi Long is solid i guess, but i felt Ni Ni was the real star of Dongji Rescue. i still struggle to picture ZYL as anything other than the annoying simp from Story of Minglan lol
As I always say, even big Hollywood productions aren't to everyone's liking! But something about your profile…
(@anyone – can someone plz help a guy out here and tell me who ZYL is in reference to? just out of curiousity cos i'm out of the loop on the 227 stuff)
also i'm still keen to hear people's thoughts on the silent film segments...if anyone's interested...idk why this thread got so out of whack hahaha....
As I always say, even big Hollywood productions aren't to everyone's liking! But something about your profile…
I've read about Unit 731 and I'm not sure I could stomach a film about it tbh. Have you read The Poppy War series by R.F. Kuang by any chance? It's a fiction series, but heavily based on historical events, including Unit 731.
As I always say, even big Hollywood productions aren't to everyone's liking! But something about your profile…
hi there! looks like i’ve accidentally stumbled into serious fandom territory, which wasn’t rly my intent, but here we are :)
tbh if you like the film, that’s a good thing! not sure where ur based, but good Chinese productions don’t get aired often where i am, so i’ve been enjoying this 80th anniversary production line of war films coming to my local cinemas.
i liked Gezhi Town – and actually the dark humour was my favourite part – i just didn’t *love* the movie. 6.5 is still a decent rating by my own somewhat arbitrary standards. i found the film had more nuance than Dead to Rights, but didn’t quite pack the emotional punch of Dongji Rescue (two other Chinese WWII films released this year, with similarly stellar casts).
that’s just my view – and as u pointed out – there’s obvs a diversity of responses out there. and that’s good – it means the film provokes thought :)
btw i’m not a fan of Xiao Zhan, but rather the untamed story itself, tho that’s neither here nor there hey
Read the whole review and I'm confused why you rated it 6.5? Was there something you strongly disliked?
I was also pretty unimpressed that they killed off the non-verbal character by having him self-sacrifice for the protagonist. It left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth. But didn't mention that in the review because I was trying to avoid spoilers.
While I'm not 100% on the same page as you with the analysis of the characters' responses and relationships – e.g. I don't think the relationship between Yunxian and Qiyu post-rape is depicted as happy at all – I totally get where you're coming from with all of this. I am honestly surprised none of the other reviews seem to have picked up on the complexities of just how awful the male characters are (beyond just labelling them as 'bad' guys).
I agree that it doesn't seem to make sense "to leave viewers with some kind of a message to not give up no matter how hard it gets" as you say. It's really hard to tell what the writers'/creators' intentions were, which leaves me with mixed feelings.
tbh i dont rly understand the energy dedicated to fandom beefs when there's enough real-world fights to be had yknow
i don't suppose u had thoughts on the silent film segments in Gezhi Town?
Zhu Yi Long is solid i guess, but i felt Ni Ni was the real star of Dongji Rescue. i still struggle to picture ZYL as anything other than the annoying simp from Story of Minglan lol
also i'm still keen to hear people's thoughts on the silent film segments...if anyone's interested...idk why this thread got so out of whack hahaha....
tbh if you like the film, that’s a good thing! not sure where ur based, but good Chinese productions don’t get aired often where i am, so i’ve been enjoying this 80th anniversary production line of war films coming to my local cinemas.
i liked Gezhi Town – and actually the dark humour was my favourite part – i just didn’t *love* the movie. 6.5 is still a decent rating by my own somewhat arbitrary standards. i found the film had more nuance than Dead to Rights, but didn’t quite pack the emotional punch of Dongji Rescue (two other Chinese WWII films released this year, with similarly stellar casts).
that’s just my view – and as u pointed out – there’s obvs a diversity of responses out there. and that’s good – it means the film provokes thought :)
btw i’m not a fan of Xiao Zhan, but rather the untamed story itself, tho that’s neither here nor there hey