This drama is brilliant! also terribly slow and repetitive, and I dropped it twice but then started it again, because it's funny, ultra-creative and depicts a beautiful friendship and father-daughter bond.
The main character Li Shande is the innocent archetype - seeing no evil, hearing no lies and oozing naivete. This makes him a perfect hero for the comedy of errors that opens the drama, resulting in saddling him with the impossible task of transporting fresh litchis over the distance of 2,500km. His earnestness is both touching and hilarious, it’s both his armour and ultimate weapon against the sea of schemers surrounding him. But the problem with archetypes is that they can’t learn and change their behaviour, because then they stop being who they are and the story stops being an allegory. In keeping with satire, most of the characters in this drama are larger than life, purposefully written to highlight certain traits, so even though I got frustrated by the lack of character development, I did understand they were the victims of the plot. Still, watching Li Shande get into the same kind of trouble again and again (with the same result) made me feel like the plot was spinning in circles and wore my patience thin. It’s hard to keep rooting for someone like that over the course of so many episodes. Frankly, I would’ve cut the entire reenactment of the Asterix vs. ancient Rome bureaucracy in Changan. That arc brought nothing new to the story and didn’t have a single memorable character. What I did like was that the opening of every episode featured a short story from the life of Li Shande or another character, showing us how life events shaped them into who they are in the present.
The whole drama is structured like a morality tale with elements of magical realism that may not be to everyone’s taste. It relies heavily on exaggeration. I absolutely loved the gallows humour in the early episodes (*knock, knock* I’m dead!:D). I loved the vibrancy of Lingnan with its lush nature, a crowd of wacky personas and cockfights performed by live actors;), juxtaposed with the lifenessness of Changan and its uniform, petty officials. The visual layer highlights this beautifully with the rich, hyper-saturated colors (going beyond realism) in the South vs. muted hues in the North. I do think they went too far in some scenes bringing in modern elements that broke my immersion, e.g., actors giving each other thumbs up, barely keeping a straight face or outright laughing. Also, the music at times was as subtle as a gong to the head, forcing emotional reactions.
To sum up, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there can be too much of a good thing. As much as I loved all the touching human stories, political satire and wacky humour, it made the plot feel directionless for long episodes and tired me out to the point I needed a four month break before finishing the drama.
The main character Li Shande is the innocent archetype - seeing no evil, hearing no lies and oozing naivete. This makes him a perfect hero for the comedy of errors that opens the drama, resulting in saddling him with the impossible task of transporting fresh litchis over the distance of 2,500km. His earnestness is both touching and hilarious, it’s both his armour and ultimate weapon against the sea of schemers surrounding him. But the problem with archetypes is that they can’t learn and change their behaviour, because then they stop being who they are and the story stops being an allegory. In keeping with satire, most of the characters in this drama are larger than life, purposefully written to highlight certain traits, so even though I got frustrated by the lack of character development, I did understand they were the victims of the plot. Still, watching Li Shande get into the same kind of trouble again and again (with the same result) made me feel like the plot was spinning in circles and wore my patience thin. It’s hard to keep rooting for someone like that over the course of so many episodes. Frankly, I would’ve cut the entire reenactment of the Asterix vs. ancient Rome bureaucracy in Changan. That arc brought nothing new to the story and didn’t have a single memorable character. What I did like was that the opening of every episode featured a short story from the life of Li Shande or another character, showing us how life events shaped them into who they are in the present.
The whole drama is structured like a morality tale with elements of magical realism that may not be to everyone’s taste. It relies heavily on exaggeration. I absolutely loved the gallows humour in the early episodes (*knock, knock* I’m dead!:D). I loved the vibrancy of Lingnan with its lush nature, a crowd of wacky personas and cockfights performed by live actors;), juxtaposed with the lifenessness of Changan and its uniform, petty officials. The visual layer highlights this beautifully with the rich, hyper-saturated colors (going beyond realism) in the South vs. muted hues in the North. I do think they went too far in some scenes bringing in modern elements that broke my immersion, e.g., actors giving each other thumbs up, barely keeping a straight face or outright laughing. Also, the music at times was as subtle as a gong to the head, forcing emotional reactions.
To sum up, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there can be too much of a good thing. As much as I loved all the touching human stories, political satire and wacky humour, it made the plot feel directionless for long episodes and tired me out to the point I needed a four month break before finishing the drama.
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