Ahhhh the suspense! I want to find out what will happen in ep 23!! I was shocked in the dungeon scene and I can feel the confusion in GQF. Poor guy. I want to know more about his family history.
This is definitely more romance and friendship-focused, and humans overcoming human problems. It's a calming,…
Oh yea, no worries, you have been respectful in sharing your opinion! We all have different taste in dramas and certain genres we like. Personally I don't like crime thrillers, or dramas with too much fighting and politics, and I can't get into bromance stories either - so I totally understand that everyone has their preferences
When I started watching this, I didn't realize this would be so heavily focused on romance. And I'm a little disappointed.…
This is definitely more romance and friendship-focused, and humans overcoming human problems. It's a calming, comfortable, dreamy type of drama that you would enjoy while sipping some nice tea or coffee, being carried away into dramaland. There are no deities, main characters are not royalty, not any heavy politics so far (though it is intertwined into the plot), and not much fighting (though there are a few fight scenes, but not so much fighting like you would find in wuxia).
The director shared on her weibo: "I want to shoot #menghualu# with a unique charm, so I think of "water". Women are as deep as water, as deep as the ocean, and as omnipresent as air. The light refracted by water is extremely beautiful, with love and kindness. Drops of water pierced through the stone, overwhelming. Water nourishes all things without fighting. Being as good as water, it is both a big love." (google translated) - https://weibo.com/2020237375/LxYqf7fFY
The actor Dai Xu who played Chi Lian, the palace guard, responded to the director's post with:
"Yang director usually doesn't say much, but she is very quiet and decisive. She gave us actors a great sense of security and space for creation. When I was confused when I was creating, your words were like a reassurance, and I missed the time we worked together last year. You said that the story of Meng Hualu started at the water's edge, and Meng Hualu's play will be like water, soft and tough." (google translate) https://weibo.com/1827491003/Ly0j56vUK
Is it just me but I feel like the quality of historical drama fell off after 2018-2019 like the classic feels…
It's not just you, that seems to be the overall feeling I've seen online as well. And so when ADOS came out, many Cnetz rated this drama high on douban (8.8 score, rated by more than 300,000 voters in its premiere episodes, which is the highest rating for a 2022 Cdrama) - probably because there has been a drought of quality dramas that portray their main leads, especially the female lead, with actual intelligence and believable actions. I guess this drama came out at an opportune time. Some may say the rating for ADOS may be inflated due to that.
But overall, there is consensus that ADOS is a quality drama and that people want more quality productions that portray natural characters with natural interactions. That's not too much to ask for, and hopefully producers and directors can produce better and better dramas! 🙏
One of the top comments for ADOS on douban, a popular drama rating site in China, is: “first of all, it respected my eyes, secondly, it respected my intelligence.”
Is Yinzhang paired with anyone? Does she have a side ship or?
There is a guy who is interested in her despite her past, but she appears to be traumatized by the bad experience she had from an abusive man, so she is afraid to get close to another man. We'll see in the future episodes whether anything happens with this new guy!
The actor Dai Xu who played Chi Lian, the palace guard, responded to the director's post with:
"Yang director usually doesn't say much, but she is very quiet and decisive. She gave us actors a great sense of security and space for creation. When I was confused when I was creating, your words were like a reassurance, and I missed the time we worked together last year. You said that the story of Meng Hualu started at the water's edge, and Meng Hualu's play will be like water, soft and tough." (google translate)
https://weibo.com/1827491003/Ly0j56vUK
But overall, there is consensus that ADOS is a quality drama and that people want more quality productions that portray natural characters with natural interactions. That's not too much to ask for, and hopefully producers and directors can produce better and better dramas! 🙏
One of the top comments for ADOS on douban, a popular drama rating site in China, is:
“first of all, it respected my eyes, secondly, it respected my intelligence.”