This drama is brilliant! also frustratingly 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. The sincere earnestness with which he approaches the task is both deeply touching and hilarious. It becomes his armour and ultimate weapon against the sea of schemers surrounding him. He shares a close bond with his daughter, Xiuer. Their warm and playful moments were the highlight of the story for me.
The drama combines the structure of a morality tale with sharp satire and magical realism that may not be to everyone's taste. It relies heavily on exaggeration. In keeping with satire, a lot of the characters in this drama are larger than life, purposefully written to highlight certain traits. Similarly with places. The vibrancy of southern coastal Lingnan with its lush nature, a crowd of wacky personas and cockfights performed by live actors;) is juxtaposed with the lifelessness 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. What I didn't like as much was bringing in modern elements that broke my immersion, e.g. actors giving each other thumbs up or visibly trying to suppress laughter. Also, the music at times was as subtle as a gong to the head, forcing emotional reactions. On the other hand, I adored the gallows humour in the early episodes (*knock, knock* I’m dead!). I also loved how every episode started with a short story from the life of Li Shande or another character, showing us how life events shaped them into becoming who they were in the present.
My main problem with this drama is that the satire went on for way too long preventing character growth and stagnating the plot. Watching Li Shande get into the same kind of trouble again and again (and getting the same result) with no development made me feel like the story was spinning in circles and wore my patience thin. It’s hard to keep rooting for someone who doesn't learn and repeatedly makes the same mistakes over the course of so many episodes. IMO the entire reenactment of Asterix vs. Ancient Rome bureaucracy battle in Changan was unnecessary. It brought nothing new to the story and didn’t have a single memorable character. In other words, there can be too much of a good thing. As much as I loved the political satire, petty scheming 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. The sincere earnestness with which he approaches the task is both deeply touching and hilarious. It becomes his armour and ultimate weapon against the sea of schemers surrounding him. He shares a close bond with his daughter, Xiuer. Their warm and playful moments were the highlight of the story for me.
The drama combines the structure of a morality tale with sharp satire and magical realism that may not be to everyone's taste. It relies heavily on exaggeration. In keeping with satire, a lot of the characters in this drama are larger than life, purposefully written to highlight certain traits. Similarly with places. The vibrancy of southern coastal Lingnan with its lush nature, a crowd of wacky personas and cockfights performed by live actors;) is juxtaposed with the lifelessness 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. What I didn't like as much was bringing in modern elements that broke my immersion, e.g. actors giving each other thumbs up or visibly trying to suppress laughter. Also, the music at times was as subtle as a gong to the head, forcing emotional reactions. On the other hand, I adored the gallows humour in the early episodes (*knock, knock* I’m dead!). I also loved how every episode started with a short story from the life of Li Shande or another character, showing us how life events shaped them into becoming who they were in the present.
My main problem with this drama is that the satire went on for way too long preventing character growth and stagnating the plot. Watching Li Shande get into the same kind of trouble again and again (and getting the same result) with no development made me feel like the story was spinning in circles and wore my patience thin. It’s hard to keep rooting for someone who doesn't learn and repeatedly makes the same mistakes over the course of so many episodes. IMO the entire reenactment of Asterix vs. Ancient Rome bureaucracy battle in Changan was unnecessary. It brought nothing new to the story and didn’t have a single memorable character. In other words, there can be too much of a good thing. As much as I loved the political satire, petty scheming 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.
Was this review helpful to you?
