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Long may I stay by your side, where jade steps bloom with springtide
(This review is coming from someone who hasn't read the original novel)I very rarely look at the name of the director when I'm watching a drama. I'm usually more interested in the actors, or the overall plot. But if I ever see Zeng Qing Jie as the director, I don't need to care about the actors or the plot at all. I'd simply watch the drama with zero hesitation.
Zeng Qing Jie is a magician with his directing. He has a knack for creating high production shots even on a tight budget. He relies on the resources he already has to make his dramas look good. The use of natural lighting is very prominent through out the entire drama and he uses it as a tool for the actual storytelling as well. Zeng really just knows how to make everything look pretty. And as shallow as this might sound, I really do like looking at pretty people. But it's not just the actors that look good, every shot and scenery is just so pretty that you're left in awe. There have been so many instances where I've had to rewatch certain scenes because I was too busy appreciating the beauty of the shot rather than paying attention to what the characters were saying. And there are so many more scenes that I keep coming back to because of how beautiful it was shot.
You can tell that as a director he has properly studied his actors. He knows what works well for them and uses that to his advantage. I dare to say that this is probably the best that these actors have ever looked in the drama and they have no one but Zeng to thank. Someone pointed out that when Linghe has to show extreme expressions on his face such as anger or disgust, it often clashes with his natural features and becomes more of a distraction. As the director, Zeng has understood this and found a way to work in Linghe's favor instead. It doesn't mean that Yan Zheng as a character is completely emotionless, they just found a more effective way for Linghe to display the same emotion without reducing his natural charm.
It doesn't matter if you have the most expensive and high quality paint, if you're not a good artist, your painting will never good. And I think the same applies here. I know I sound like a fanclub for Zeng Qing Jie, but I truly believe that you need a great director to deliver a great drama.
I really admire the amount of detail that has been put into Pursuit of Jade. I'm the type of person who enjoys analyzing things as I'm watching a drama. I can never stay quiet and I'm always pointing out small little things as I watch. So I absolutely love the fact that there are so many small details, references, parallels and easter eggs sprinkled across the entire drama.
Even something as small as the display of the episode numbers was put care into. Most drama just display the episode number in a generic font across a black background. And there's nothing wrong with that, since it neither adds or draws anything away from the drama itself. But I do have the appreciate the fact that they put time into designing it and making it look pretty. It just makes everything look so much more cohesive and I'm an absolute sucker for that.
I also absolutely loved that Changyu was just regular commoner. When it comes to period dramas, we're so used to both of the leads being noble and rich. So it was definitely refreshing to see our female lead living a normal, somewhat mundane life. Also just have to mention the winter setting throughout the first chunk of the drama. It just looks so ethereal and cozy, and the snow definitely looked realistic for once (we've been traumatized way too much with the fake snow).
I loved Changyu from the very beginning, she showed that you can still be feminine despite being strong and perceived as 'masculine'. She has never felt the need to fit into one box and shows that you can be both. Tian Xiwei herself is also naturally strong, but she also has that happy, girly charm which perfectly matches Changyu's personality.
I also really can't stop myself from mentioning the kid that plays Yu Bao'er. I usually don't care much about the acting of children in dramas, because they are just kids and you can't be expecting perfect acting from them at all times. But oh my god the kid who plays Yu Bao'er was absolute phenomenal.
Pursuit of Jade also makes you realize the true charm of a 40 episode drama. When you have so many episodes to build the plot, you can take your time to introduce and explore the characters. The first 15 something episodes are solely dedicated to Changyu, Yang Zheng and the main side characters. And since you've had the time to learn about them, you feel more attached to them as the drama goes on. You feel happy when they are happy, and you feel sad when they are sad.
Pursuit of Jade as a drama is an entire experience, I genuinely haven't this excited or engaged over a drama in ages. And I truly think that there are very few dramas that have release this year that could ever reach the level of this drama.
To everyone who actually read this entire review, thank you for taking the time to read all of my thoughts. And hopefully I've managed to convince you to give this drama a try.
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May everyone find their own Fang Muyang
To be honest I had no intention of watching this drama when it was first announced. So I had zero expectations when I decided to randomly pick it up since I had nothing else to watch. I didn't even read the synopsis and the only thing I knew was that it was a love story set in the 1970s. But then I got unexpectedly hooked and I couldn't stop myself from waiting everyday for the episodes to release.I think what appealed to me the most was how realistic the story felt. You have regular people living simple lives. They don't have big, dramatic aspirations. They just want to live a happy life with their families and that convinces you to believe that this is real. Each character has dept, the side characters don't just exist for names sake. They have their own hurdles, their actions have reasons behind them and this applies to the antagonists as well. They aren't just plain evil without any motivations, and no matter how much you hate them you can still see where they might be coming from.
Now I'm not Chinese, and neither am I old enough to have known what China in the 1970s must have been like. But I think that they did a really good job at educating us about this era, while still making it entertaining and interesting for us to watch. The color grading and everything makes drama appear nostalgic and I think that helps so much with making us connect with the drama.
Chen Feiyu's performance in this was also just top-notch. I've only ever seen him in Lighter and Princess, which I unfortunately didn't like a lot, but he really made up for it in this. Fang Muyang's personality suits him so well and Feiyu just looks like he's in his element in this drama. Fang Muyang and Fei Ni are also asbolute adorable. They are the perfect example of pure love and just watching them makes you happy. Overall it's a drama that doesn't disappoint is definitely worth checking out.
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