Very satisfying revenge fantasy. Thank you to the drama gods for allowing teachers to imagine for a few hours being free of paralyzing demands by all the stakeholders all at once, all the time.
Ep10 Now that, dear friends, is what a great commander does! none of this farting around with armor and horses, just tell everyone what to do crisply and swiftly once all the relevant information and personnel are in place.
Supreme generals usually command from the rear. So do general's daughters.
Xie Yan Lai and Chu Zhao running to fall into each others' arms, how could this not be the romance era! So surprising. So good. A bit hokey but originality is not mandatory.
The music is making all these surprising choices work beautifully! Simplified furniture, architecture and food; costumes are not neglected but neither are they overpowering. Color is handled well, but the scenery is bare minimum, even the cgi. The script is very good, great plot, decent dialogue. The actors are very pretty, the leads are very good. Why does it work? Beats me! But when the music plays it is thrilling.
Ep19 at the very beginning Qing Ye really goes all' good girl' (as in the marriage interview!) and harasses her someday boyfriend about getting good grades. Indirect in words, but, seizing the opportunity to describe her ideal boyfriend, she looks poor Xing Wu straight in the eyes and pins him down. And he of course, ideal husband material, looks completely unfazed, even a little happy about it.
I assume they will date much later, but this is like a much younger pair treating each other with the familiarity of a marriage. Cart before the horse!
ep9 The actual dramatic tension is only being upheld right now by Choi Mun Do -- how far will he go, how evil is he, can he be reached in time.... The lovers appear to be reaching an agreement on being reborn (him) and transmigrated (her) together, which is nice and sensible. But yet, the big romantic kiss is another one of those kisses where the man holds the woman's head immobile and she just dangles her arms to the side. Too weird.
Example: ep18, Our couple, leaning on a railing looking out to sea, notice their hands are touching at the same time, hesitate at the same time, move their hands a little apart and then each one smiles to him/herself, looking away. They know they liked the idea of holding hands but also the distance of not holding hands today, yet.
Its so annoying this voice dubbing cdramas do and very unnecessary too! Makes the characters sound so fake. I…
It is practical. Once you understand that many actors dub their own voices afterwards, then a lot of retakes are avoidable.
I hate it as an insult to the actors' art. Voice is so important. How can two people act the same part? Do they disagree at times? Who decides?
I wonder if thats why so often some actors seem not to be moving their lips when they should, bec the dub doesnt match or bec they are trying to make it easier on themselves later when it has to..
They really churn out these series. Casting becomes easier if you can avoid some obvious non-fits by dubbing later.
Sometimes the voice actors are really wonderful; for ex the famous one who dubbed Dylan Wang in LBFAD.. The studios where they do all this work must be incredibly big and busy.
ATC still holding its place on the Worldwide totalized Netflix, topten ranking on Flixpatrol, where chinese series do not usually make it.
ATC is way high on the asia list which is great.
But the reason it is making a move on the worldwide listing is that it is being watched in a number of kdrama strongholds outside of asia -- Brazil esp (tons of subscribers), but basically Latin America and the Gulf States. ATC is at lower positions on these lists, which creates a low placement on the worldwide list, but also makes the move possible.
While I am really enjoying ATC for its own trueblood cdrama sake, I think its popularity is built on top of the other blockbusters recently, which are creating a shift in taste in crucial streaming markets.
In the middle of ep* but just want to pin down a random thought before it gets buried by the night in the bandit fortress.
Comparing the FL role here to other FL roles in general.
I usually prefer thoughtful calculating heroines who can stay out of danger. The impulsive and thoughtless ones who have to constantly be rescued from their own ill-considered actions are an affront to strong women everywhere, imo. So obviously I was happy with Prisoner of Beauty, Splendid Match and Pursuit of Jade to varying degrees.
I actually have some of the same feelings as others here about Chu Zhao. She was bratty and thoughtless as a maiden, and she rightly is consumed with properly filial guilt over her dad. But does she have to be so sure she is right when she constantly is not? Still bratty?
Well, now I think only Chen Du Ling could get away with this role as we move along into new permutations of the female-centric historicals. Doing the thought experiment, what sort of generic male hero is she meant to be like? The bold, somewhat careless risk-taking kind. The one who knows a lot of technical and strategic stuff about war. A gambler. Somewhat dangerous to be around, but in an action story I never mind it so much.
Why CDL? Because the woman can do cold to hot and obsessed. Not nice at all. Can you think of another actress who could compare?
This, at least they could have etended the length to 60mins if the episodes will be just 24. It's just youku's…
Oh! So interesting. The CCP put funding into microdramas, no idea why. But I have been wondering how other nation's industries also will react to a very popular and radically different format. Formats. There are so many different episode lengths and numbers of episodes. Its exciting.
AtC has actually made it onto NetFlilx' worldwide Top Ten, and no one is shrieking on this list? It is #10 on the totalized Netflix listing on Flixpatrol.
During Pursuit of Jade's first run, it was so annoying that patriots were crowing over the show making it onto the non-english list, tantamount to saying 'we beat you' to other Asian countries. So where are you guys today?
This is pretty darn good for a rating outside of the mainland!
Guan Xiao Tong and Li Yun Rui. These two are slowly becoming really awesome -- I dont know if it is their acting skills or the writer (probably both plus the director!) but several of the small scenes between them seem so finely judged -- the timing of the lines, the direc tion of their gazes, all of it paints a picture of two relatively calm, careful souls who are treading carefully around each other without saying aloud what is happening. Just like kids do. So REAL.
1 
1 
Now that, dear friends, is what a great commander does! none of this farting around with armor and horses, just tell everyone what to do crisply and swiftly once all the relevant information and personnel are in place.
Supreme generals usually command from the rear. So do general's daughters.
Xie Yan Lai and Chu Zhao running to fall into each others' arms, how could this not be the romance era!
So surprising. So good. A bit hokey but originality is not mandatory.
The music is making all these surprising choices work beautifully! Simplified furniture, architecture and food; costumes are not neglected but neither are they overpowering. Color is handled well, but the scenery is bare minimum, even the cgi. The script is very good, great plot, decent dialogue. The actors are very pretty, the leads are very good. Why does it work? Beats me! But when the music plays it is thrilling.
ouch. Good cliffhanger.
Some people just cant take responsibility for their misfortunes and move on.
at the very beginning Qing Ye really goes all' good girl' (as in the marriage interview!) and harasses her someday boyfriend about getting good grades. Indirect in words, but, seizing the opportunity to describe her ideal boyfriend, she looks poor Xing Wu straight in the eyes and pins him down. And he of course, ideal husband material, looks completely unfazed, even a little happy about it.
I assume they will date much later, but this is like a much younger pair treating each other with the familiarity of a marriage. Cart before the horse!
The actual dramatic tension is only being upheld right now by Choi Mun Do -- how far will he go, how evil is he, can he be reached in time....
The lovers appear to be reaching an agreement on being reborn (him) and transmigrated (her) together, which is nice and sensible.
But yet, the big romantic kiss is another one of those kisses where the man holds the woman's head immobile and she just dangles her arms to the side. Too weird.
Example: ep18, Our couple, leaning on a railing looking out to sea, notice their hands are touching at the same time, hesitate at the same time, move their hands a little apart and then each one smiles to him/herself, looking away. They know they liked the idea of holding hands but also the distance of not holding hands today, yet.
I hate it as an insult to the actors' art. Voice is so important. How can two people act the same part? Do they disagree at times? Who decides?
I wonder if thats why so often some actors seem not to be moving their lips when they should, bec the dub doesnt match or bec they are trying to make it easier on themselves later when it has to..
They really churn out these series. Casting becomes easier if you can avoid some obvious non-fits by dubbing later.
Sometimes the voice actors are really wonderful; for ex the famous one who dubbed Dylan Wang in LBFAD..
The studios where they do all this work must be incredibly big and busy.
ATC is way high on the asia list which is great.
But the reason it is making a move on the worldwide listing is that it is being watched in a number of kdrama strongholds outside of asia -- Brazil esp (tons of subscribers), but basically Latin America and the Gulf States. ATC is at lower positions on these lists, which creates a low placement on the worldwide list, but also makes the move possible.
While I am really enjoying ATC for its own trueblood cdrama sake, I think its popularity is built on top of the other blockbusters recently, which are creating a shift in taste in crucial streaming markets.
but just want to pin down a random thought before it gets buried by the night in the bandit fortress.
Comparing the FL role here to other FL roles in general.
I usually prefer thoughtful calculating heroines who can stay out of danger. The impulsive and thoughtless ones who have to constantly be rescued from their own ill-considered actions are an affront to strong women everywhere, imo. So obviously I was happy with Prisoner of Beauty, Splendid Match and Pursuit of Jade to varying degrees.
I actually have some of the same feelings as others here about Chu Zhao. She was bratty and thoughtless as a maiden, and she rightly is consumed with properly filial guilt over her dad. But does she have to be so sure she is right when she constantly is not? Still bratty?
Well, now I think only Chen Du Ling could get away with this role as we move along into new permutations of the female-centric historicals. Doing the thought experiment, what sort of generic male hero is she meant to be like? The bold, somewhat careless risk-taking kind. The one who knows a lot of technical and strategic stuff about war. A gambler. Somewhat dangerous to be around, but in an action story I never mind it so much.
Why CDL? Because the woman can do cold to hot and obsessed. Not nice at all. Can you think of another actress who could compare?
Skillful use of a shower scene!
Its exciting.
During Pursuit of Jade's first run, it was so annoying that patriots were crowing over the show making it onto the non-english list, tantamount to saying 'we beat you' to other Asian countries. So where are you guys today?
This is pretty darn good for a rating outside of the mainland!
These two are slowly becoming really awesome -- I dont know if it is their acting skills or the writer (probably both plus the director!) but several of the small scenes between them seem so finely judged -- the timing of the lines, the direc tion of their gazes, all of it paints a picture of two relatively calm, careful souls who are treading carefully around each other without saying aloud what is happening.
Just like kids do.
So REAL.