Finally watching this series (it's been on my list for a long time). I've got to say that I'm really, really impressed by Zhou Lusi's rendering of the Sun Tou Tou character. Yes, she seems superficially feisty and silly and difficult. And obviously good for a laugh or too. But Tou Tou is actually so clearly very, very complex. There is a deep sadness and tragedy behind the silliness and it surfaces as a sincere practical wisdom at times. Her words of absolution and encouragement to the boys who were so depressed about mis-diagnosing Meng were pretty touching. And her legit talent as a cook surprises all her higher-status peers. And then the episode closes with her honest bewilderment at not understanding the point of bowing in memory of the TCM predecessors, speaking the words: "I don't know them. And they are not your relatives. ... This is so strange." Many would find her behavior disrespectful but she is speaking with sincere bewilderment. Lusi's well-known talent for connecting the emotions of the audience with those of her character is on full display here as, even with an unconventional character like Tou Tou, she still draws us in so she becomes our surrogate in each scene.The layered, complex nature of Tou Tou seems apropos for the show itself. On the surface, this drama seems fairly light weight, cute, funny and not heavy on drama. But it keeps dipping it's toes into some pretty heavy topics such as Meng nearly dying due to an ectopic pregnancy, the risks of mis-diagnosis and social class-distinctions (Tou Tou's poverty up-bringing as an orphan compared to the others - and how that affects one's view of things like ritual and what is/isn't practical). I suspect the show will be bringing most of these topics back up in more depth as the series progresses.
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I'm having a hard time warming up to the ML, Gu Chan Seong. He has several traits that just annoy the heck out of me. First off, his first instinct is always to argue against whatever the FL intends, even if he has no clue about all the concerns and consequences involved. I guess he has some sort of oppositional defiance disorder? And then he has two very irritating tendencies. First off, he only asks questions that he knows the answers to - which the FL points out and gets extremely irritated by. Second, he doesn't ask the actual questions he needs to ask to fill in the giant gaps in his understanding of what's going on. He is arrogant in assuming he knows best again and again, when repeatedly it is clear he does NOT know best. He's like the stubborn husband driver who gets lost but refuses to ask directions. Finally, his worst trait is he keeps trying, more and more, to control Jang Man Wol. He keeps insisting on what she can and can't do.But that's not a good way to help someone. Despite dreaming glimpses of her past life, he seems to make no attempt to really understand why she is the way she is. What traumas led her to become the owner of Hotel Del Luna. He just arrogantly criticizes her constantly. She even tried to work with him to understand his dreams but he insisted on just snarking back at her to trigger her temper and that fell apart.Basically, he is kind of a jerk and not someone I would like in real life. I hope that the story gives him some character growth that will make him more likable.
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It is hard for me to decide which episode is worse: The 28th or this one. This one continues the same absurd "Shi Yi lying in a coma" storyline and it is just so, so dumb. Again, the behavior of multiple characters is just weird and bizarre in order to stretch out this plot gimmick. The episode just drags things out with a combination of unreasonably stupid behavior on the part of some characters filled in with lots of flashbacks. We get no Shi Yi time on screen except in memories. And the Zhou Sheng Chen we get in this episode is a regressive throwback to the emotionally stifled, hyper-reticent, absurdly deferential-to-a-fault Chen that the was at the start of the series. We lost so much character growth that he had shown through 27 episodes. Without the main leads (especially without Bai Lu's character) on screen the show really suffers. The whole episode just drags slowly and is filled with flashbacks to stretch out screen time.
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Ugh. After a mostly well written show, this episode is giant hot mess. The contrivances in the plot to create the 'drama' event are just so bad and cringe. So much stupidity required by too many characters. And then we get the aftermath of everything that happens starting in the hospital. My god it is so bad. The behavior by so many characters is just plain bizarre . The actors are trying their best through this but the script is just so absurd and silly.
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This episode was full of all kinds of sad. But it was beautifully rendered and one of the better recent episodes by far. One thing this episode clarified for me was it reinforced the reincarnation premise of the series because it becomes clear that this modern life is not just a chance for Shi Yi and Zhou Sheng Chen to find love & happiness together that was denied them in the past life. It is also a life of atonement, obligation and penance for Mei Xing, who was the prince, Liu Zi Xing in the past life. His loyalty and sense of obligation to Chen is his soul's obligation to pay back the debt he owes Chen from the prior life. This includes coming to terms with and dismissing his former obsession over Shi Yi. The pain he is suffering now at the loss of Zhou Wen Xing is his penance. But it is also his chance for his soul's atonement as he finally comes to realize the love he had overlooked - not just in this life with Wen Xing, but also in the past life with Qi Xing Hua (who was probably Wen Xing's past life). Mei Xing's story clearly has been to atone in this life for the sins of the past life, with the hope that he and Wen Xing will finally find happiness in the next life.
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Whomever wrote this episode has zero idea what acute appendicitis is about. It extremely rare that it is not treated with an appendectomy and that needs to be done promptly. You need to go immediately to the hospital and they perform the surgery. There is no leisurely waiting around to have the surgery at some convenient time. You are in pain until it is treated. Now, if it has not burst, modern laparoscopic surgery means you can usually go home within a day or two, unlike with open surgery which typically means 3-5 days. But it is very serious and definitely life-threatening if not treated promptly. This show put out all kinds of absurd misinformation about appendicitis and the writers should be chastised for that. This show is mostly well written and very enjoyable but every now and then it dips into weirdly extreme stupidity. Aside from this appendicitis silliness, an earlier example were when Lin Fei stopped the car and GOT OUT OF THE CAR when the road was blocked by the 'bandits'. That was insanely stupid behavior on the part of Lin Fei. And then later, when Shi Yi and Wenxing stood up in the boat. THAT was stupid enough but the scene was compounded further by the sheer insane stupidity of a boatman not knowing how to swim! All of these scenes could have easily been written to have the same plot impact without being so obviously stupid. These are the big, obvious script failings. There are also little fumbles. Chen tells Shi Yi he is taking the day off from work ... but later, he is working in the study - a plot point solely for the purpose that Shi Yi, Xiao Yu and Du Fang can talk without him for a moment - until he dutifully emerges to check on Shi Yi's needs, just for a little mild humor. These problems with the script lower the whole experience for the show.
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Haven't dropped a review in a while but need to put down some thoughts at this point in the story. First off, overall, this is a very good show and it's interesting to watch the growth of a relationship between someone who is clearly neuro-divergent (prob autistic) and someone who prob has non-hyperactive ADD. But on the other hand, it's getting annoying just how the plot keeps 'coincidentally' contriving reasons to separate the ML & FL. Dropping the fact that ML has to stay in Bremen another 30 days at the end of this episode feels silly and contrived. It' obviously a cheap plot mechanic to put FL into vulnerable position during that time. I really hope that the writers won't stoop to such stupid lazy gimmicks very often.
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This episode was a huge improvement over the last 4 episodes. Plotwise, it's still a sad episode, given what his going on. But the events in this episode don't feel as silly and contrived and the dialog is much better. There are some legitimate funny scenes and also some heartfelt moments.
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The writing has really dropped in quality over episodes 21-24. I get it that the writers wanted to contrive a breakup in order to fill out some episodes. And there were definitely plenty of grounds for creating a breakup. But the implementation of that was done so poorly with so many really stupid plot contrivances that it was embarrassing to watch at times these last few episodes. So many contrived 'conisncidences' and then supposedly smart characters behaving incredibly stupidly. Also, the whole Zheng Qi + Yuan Lishu romance sub-drama is just awful because both characters are awful. Both are pathetic characters in different ways but it's just hard to feel any sympathy for either of them. So much screen time has been devoted to them these last several episodes and it has just been annoying. Plus both those characters were involved its that disgusting embarrassingly racist 'thug' scene in 'England' that should never have made it past the editing room. I really hope the writing / directing quality improves going forward.
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This was a "meh" episode. Mostly , it was a torture session for the FL, as she kept having to endure more gossip and rumors and, well, bullying from various directions. Also, in large part, she got a big fat FAIL from her boyfriend, Feng Teng, for not properly guiding her about the anniversary event even though she point-blank asked him about it. His failure to just simply talk to her is getting old. His inability to just tell her things keeps causing her problems and it's not really funny anymore. It's getting old and it would be nice if the show started to show some character growth on his part to start to address this.
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This episode finally got most of the main characters to clarity on who loves who. Only Lishu remains still a little uncertain of where she should be going romantically now, though the episode closed with a pretty direct sign post for her.
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I think the problem with this show is that while the story wants to portray the ML, Feng Teng, as emotionally reserved and aloof, possibly somewhat due to his parent's death, they have gone overboard. It's one thing to make him difficult to read by the FL, Shanshan. But he is near impossible to read even by the viewing audience. Which makes him very, very hard to empathize with. Especially since many of his decisions do not make sense from a normal healthy male romantic sense. His inability to communicate is not a new disability for C-Drama ML's, but he's taking it to an extreme that just isn't healthy and certainly doesn't make him attractive as a romantic partner. Communication is a hugely important part of any healthy relationship so who would want to be in a relationship with someone who can't seem to communicate? He keeps leaving her hanging out to dry, gaslit with no information about what he's doing or thinking and making her vulnerable to gossip and rumors again and again. Oh, and my goodness, could Shanshan's two besties be any worse at relationship advice? They are both so negative and always talking her down and predicting the worst for her relationship! Thank goodness Manager Yan (Feng Yue's husband) stepped in at one point with some really encouraging words and advice to her!
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It's a slow, awkward process but between her very moving and heartfelt confession and his sincere kisses, the two finally clarify that they are both in love with the other to each other and become a couple. Now to see how well they can BE a couple moving forward.
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Why did he force her to get so drunk?Why did he kiss her but then accuse her of pursuing him? What was the meaning of his accusation of her being a traitor?Is all this some problem with the translation? Or is the intention of the script writers that Feng Teng is just that confusing of a character? Because I sure as heck can't figure him out and I don't blame the FL for being totally confused. I can't blame her for wanting to back away from someone who is so confusing to her.
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Another episode with real forward progress in terms of character growth for the FL. A little annoying that they've introduced some cliche' drama tropes (the classic childhood friend who secretly is in unrequited love with ML). But that's understandable in order to provide some jealousy drama from the FL side. Hopefully they won't go overboard with psychopath characters or anything crazy like that.
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