naemryi

Eloquently Written Original Storyline with Reversed Roles

Before you feel this story is so groundbreaking, know that is it believed by the Chinese that a woman who is six years older than the guy is a perfect pairing. They are quite equal and open-minded in their thinking.

I really appreciated the original story between an older girl and younger guy. A prominent theme throughout the series was gender equality and it was interesting to watch the female lead be the breadmaker and fighter, while the guy supported the female lead's wishes and directions. It was genius and trending to make Yang Hua a stocktrader, which gave his character respect and intelligence, able to make money and have the education degree, work connections, yet stay at home. The main story was interesting to watch and had substance to it, filling about the first couple episodes, sporadically to around episode 10, then picking up again at the series halfway point at around episode 26. The side stories did not take up a major part of the episodes and were easy to watch and skip if wanted.

Another thing to draw attention to is that the female lead and casts are constantly changing outfits. We can learn fashion trends from the show and see each character's personality through their outfits.

The writers were genius in writing Li Da, by balancing her ambition while not presenting her as the stereotypically depicted antagonistic woman who is shallow and mean, without their own career and methods at life, even though they are at an even level to compete with the main characters.

In regards to pacing, I feel some cases were given too many episodes, such as the first cases, and others were blown through too quickly. The ending was very well-rounded and finished off, however it felt sudden compared to how the filler episodes spaced out progression of the plot until that point.

Qin Shi's brother and sister-in-law's romance was confusing logically and I skimmed through most of it after the initial episodes.

The exes of both leads were written beautifully in that they were moderate and not too-extreme in their pursuit of love or creating tension between the main leads. I love that Yang Hua's ex-girlfriend, Yao Yao, had her own life and maturity to realize they don't belong together anymore and not drop everything in her life to pursue him. However I feel the show writers wrote her out too quickly afterwards when that was established. How can a case go to court when the paintiff drops out?? It doesn't quite make sense, again, creating the rushed ending.

This show is a real testament to the female narrative and girl power, giving many eloquent and beautiful arguments of independence and equality from Qin Shi. The show writers did a wonderful job of writing original dialogue, paired with creating authentic characters by the commendable choice in using the actor's real voices. As a result, each character's little twitches and reactions that is natural to the actor's themselves was incorporated into their characters, separating them from the normal Chinese tv series of flat voices and robotic expressions. In this way, despite my initial hesitation of a show between Yang Mi and Xu Kai, they have grown on me and irreplaceably made the show's character's their own. (It also helps that Xu Kai doesn't act in many modern shows so his acting of this role gave a fresh impression to male leads). I immensely support the series for using all the actor's real voices, using the character's wardrobe to emulate their stories, and the original storyline with impeccable balance of a hard topic and eloquent messages written for the characters.

This show is in many ways all about balance, and the show writers exemplified it in all aspects.

Other comments:
- The depiction of a law firm is not accurate LOL (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, but all that drama about money investments was really hilarious because this is not a business corporation despite what the writers are writing it to be)
- Lawyers can't just switch the topic of law they practice so easily (I think?)
- They barely have any court scenes LOL. Also much of a corporate lawyer's job is writing reports

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Xianxia show that tried to be Wuxia and Historical Drama and was not anything

Story---terrible. The story plays out to taking forty episodes to stall around and up to one scene. The first episode was the context establishment and the last episode was the plot point---which is a situation that needs to be solved and not the ending but it's the last episode. Basically the writers told themselves, "we know we want to have a powerful prince and another powerful princess who disguises themselves to go out into the world. Then after years of bonding, their identities are eventually revealed and they lead their respective kingdoms to ally and fight another power." Sounds intriguing.

Now ideally, the reputation of the established characters would be introduced in the beginning, check. And they would show their journey and how they walked to this day, sorta-not-really check in that they've known each other for years as they walked Jianghu (which is just told to the audience and never really shown or seen through their character development as the throughout the show they're bonding so basically they never bonded before). The rising action and climax is they need to use their real identities to solve problems while maintaining their aliases to deal with each other. The fight between kingdoms would take place before the climax, after which the third power is revealed, and the falling action would be an acceptance of each other, and the end would be dealing with combining and bringing peace to their kingdoms and their two identities.

Then how they executed this is they introduced the characters in episode one and the fight doesn't take place till the last episode. The in-between was I-don't-know an investigation show? A historical political show? A wuxia show? All of those. Oh and a 'tianmi' romance. No. It was not.

This leads me to discuss production.
Production---TERRIBLE. They took a scriptwriter for a Xianxia show, and placed the characters from those shows into a Wuxia show, except the execution of the long fighting scenes and rival clans was non-existent. They tried to have a historical political setting, except none of the characters carried the attitudes of royals. What kind of prince (first prince) is not interested in the throne? What kind of prince (third prince) is so ineffective and shallow? He would have died long ago by the schemes of the court members and not even needing the main character to take him down. As for the main character, what kind of prince can extract themselves from the fight for the throne so cleanly? The only way you are not part of the game is if you die. What kind of king doesn't care about his sons? He needs a successor! What is the point of being king if your kingdom cannot last past you? But he is somehow against the main character because...why? The scriptwriter could not come up with a reason! And the main character had some existential crisis that his father the king hated him or something. Have some respect for the authority of a king and the law. It IS a crime to lie to the king, and you lied about being sick and you feel like he doesn't care about you when he wants to find out the truth?? As a person with a right to the throne, the scheming WILL risk your life AND the lives of your supporters. Why are you so people ARE against you?? In conclusion, the writer tried to be deep and combine aspects of wuxia and period dramas into what is really a xianxia drama and did not achieve the authenticity of either, making it a disgrace to both genres.

Acting---I had a good impression of Yang Yang after watching him in the Once Upon A Time movie with Liu Yifei (the movie version of Ten Miles Peach Blossom) which gave me the impression he was a top-rated actor because of his looks, his casting partner, as well as being chosen for the role however this show has completely reversed that perspective. His acting in the show is terrible because he doesn't hold the gravity of a prince, nor the gentleness of a love interest and he gives the impression he's constantly mocking, which lessens the dimension of his character---because that's just himself and not the character written in the script. Zhao Lusi created some character development in the first episode with her attitude, but that was quickly doused away after episodes of intensive dialogue lines where she quickly fell into a role of recitation.

Music---All the music in the show sounds copyrighted, namely the ost from Ten Miles Peach Blossom and Pirates of the Caribbean for the adventure and sea scenes.

The only thing watchable about this show is from the visual effects. This is due to the well-known actors of Zhao Lusi and Yang Yang being the face of the show, and the editing which makes appealing effects that don't appear too fake.

Out of the 34/40 episodes I watched, the best scene was in episode 34 (?) when the third prince failed at executing a coup and grab for power. Just before he was brought away, when he confronted his father about the way he treats his sons, those were the most logical lines ever said in the whole show. Except, funnily, it comes out as ironic---because it's so logical it seems out of character. It makes him seems omnipotent and not present in his character and the situation. (You'd have to be a god to say facts so true in this cringe of a situation the writer forced the characters into).

Truthfully, in the beginning I thought the third prince would become king because he was being manipulated by his mother and his advisors but he had good character. I stand by this statement by the fact he spoke such truth (as I mentioned above), but sadly he was written into insanity by the writers. RIP

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Nostalgic, lowkey, and enjoyable

[UNEDITED] Review 3.5/5
Liu Yifei is love!

Somewhat different from your normal drama. This show takes an introspective look into the lives of common people in ancient times trying to make it in the world. The story scope of this drama doesn't follow the love story of gods through several lifetimes or take place over the span of thousands of years, or even the royalty of courtly politics, but of three humble female commoners and young men who want to make a name for themselves and gain titles.

The show is enjoyable because it has nostalgia of a young person's show in themes of friendship, adventure, and "leveling-up", while also having a mysterious element of every person's fantasy of coming from a special background and being someone special, and a dabble of the intensity of fighting scenes, schemes, and a little dose of politics. It has something for everyone.

Refreshingly different, while quality in its focus and small scope, the show follows the journey and growth of Zhao Pan'er as she struggles against social status and societal standards to make a place for herself in the world. She leads her two sister-best friends to the capital where they are aided by Gu Qianfan to open their own business and succeed in a man's world. It's a quaint story about about women independence, friendship, and the makings of a good relationship.

Another way it can be taken is---there is no story. It's a nice show that has many elements told through three different perspectives with three different women's situations (every trope and element is thrown in there), while having nice friendship bonds (enjoy the good-old nostalgic adventure build-yourself-from-scratch vibe). The story is lowkey and laid-back while somewhat interesting so it's nice to pass the time.

Sidenote: The producers bragged about being the show with the most outfits which is funny because the outfits are barely different that I didn't notice they were changing. Good effort though. I support the motive if this will start a trend among shows of creating more looks for their characters albeit without much characterization.

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Misfortune bonds two people in an old small town

Such a pointless show. This is different from another show with the similar theme of communicating across time, Crossfire, which I thought had better execution.
This show depicts miserable people, who don’t develop, and end up nowhere. Not to mention that the modern storyline was also pointless. There was no plot dedicated to the young characters except the bonding they got from passing time together and putting up with each other. If the modern storyline was removed, this show wouldn’t be all that different. In fact it might seem more artistic because we’d get the firsthand perspective of the air of mystery and suspicion from only reading the letters and not the intention of the characters behind writing them. Not to mention our main characters in the past are too old to even be alive, there is no reason for them to be communicating since their communication has very little impact on their lives. It doesn’t lead to the modern young people finding their parents, and it doesn’t lead the characters in the past out of their unfortunate lives.
I was shocked by what a scoundrel Shen Chen was in the beginning. Like it’s the misfortune of Yu Nian to be next to him to be implicated in every suspicion he can have about someone. And he’s carrying legal weight behind his suspicions. Who would put up with someone like that after a couple interactions. It would solidly fall into the category of harassment in real life when you meet and interact with someone like this, want to leave the situation, and then be unable to shake them off. The only time he compromised was to get her cooperation which she already gave, and then when he got any leads he would keep it to himself. That has zero integrity or loyalty. Outside of the character being not well-rounded, I don’t see the merit behind a depiction of such a character. There is no moral to the story here.
I also don’t see why Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang’s romance is one of epic proportions. The themes of this show remind me of the anime Your Name. That movie was a real tearjerker in terms of people bonding across supernatural connection set in a backwater small town. Returning to the relationship between Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang, the only time I felt they were bonding was when Yixun protected her from her dad. After she moved out, I really don’t see why they felt any attraction to each other. Sure not everyone ends up the best of the best in life, but people sure get damn close if they try and there’s no point to a story that shows people getting nowhere. And that is what’s depicted in this show. Yixun ends up in the same place he started in the beginning of the show thirty-five years later. That’s one way to nail home if you don’t work hard in life you’ll end up on the bottom of society. Which is what he did, which is where he ended up, wow what an amazing journey. I really could’ve done without the modern timeline of how pathetic the characters ended up.
Despite being twelve episodes, it’s surprising that there could still be filler content. I think Chinese show writers really need to take a class on story telling and plot progression and delivering a meaningful message through story. A show is not about its length, but it still needs to be purposeful with each second and minute of its runtime whether that be sixty episodes or twelve episodes.
In my opinion, this show was missing two fundamental elements. One was the growth of the characters in their own timeline. It makes sense that discovering a way to communicate with the future could be insignificant if it doesn’t really impact your life so its novelty fades into the background at times, however, if this secret discovery isn’t going to drive the character’s actions, then they themselves need to have a driven direction, because, story. The counterexample show, Crossfire, achieves this. On one hand Crossfire shows that communicating with the past isn’t all that life changing because it’s not human to be able to capitalize on every little moment and detail to change your own reality in society. It shows this by depicting the casual friendship between Xiao Fan and Wu Lei’s character. They’re not winning any lotteries or founding any industries, but they just enjoy each other’s company and advice as two humans who have have something in common even across time. Imagine talking with a buddy living in the Grecian time period and you could still bond over your love of mathematics together. In their own timelines, however, they are both advancing in their fields, with or without the meaningful mentorship of the other. On the other hand, Crossfire still shows that having this extra power and access to knowledge is very powerful as Wu Lei’s character tries to save his brother from dying in a car accident because that was the central tragedy of his life. The important point is this is being built up to throughout the story and happens from the beginning to the halfway mark. Thus, this discovery drives the story. On the hand, in Twelve Letters, this communication with the future is largely ignored throughout most of the show. Part of the way through the show, I thought we were just watching the progression of sad people heading toward their sad ends. It was made even worse because they spoiled how they ended up in the modern timeline and they were doing largely nothing to change it for eleven out of the twelve episodes. Not only was the supernatural mailbox not that impactful on the character’s lives, the characters themselves were not progressing in their own lives without the mailbox.
The other thing this show is missing is the change and impact discovering a way to communicate with the future and change the past brings. Another thing that the counterexample Crossfire did well is after the characters try to change the past and don’t totally succeed, they unravel the mystery of where their timelines intersect. If they were such influential figures on each other’s lives in the past, where are they now? How do they not know each other? How have they not sought each other out? Then when their timelines meet up, they change their present together and head toward a different ending that could’ve never came about if they didn’t meet across times and develop a friendship. Not only does Crossfire address changing the past, how that intersects with the future reality, it also rounds out a third perspective of when the realities are aligned, how they can go forward and grow together. All these nuances are painfully missing from Twelve Letters.
Besides the story not being much food for thought, what this show does well is vibes. In Chinese media I’m seeing more “vibes shows”, shows that are a collection of scenes that have no purpose but are aesthetically pleasing to look at strung together. That is what this show is. It’s decent cinematography and production of some good looking actors that are caricatures of something, interacting in a shallow surface level way that realizes old cliche ideas and sayings, progressing in sequence until its end. It was nice to see some themes of a cute bad boy depicted by Zhou Yiran, having a die hard love for Haitang, because, no reason. But he can kick ass in a fight so he checks the bad boy box. Haitang is a pitiful girl with an abusive father who tries to study her way out, so she oscillates between getting beaten up by her dad and being happy with the male lead. What a tragic girl, now we can kind of skim the surface of misogynist attitudes and family dynamics? Then there’s the typical rich kid who doesn’t know how good he has it in comparison to those around him so he picks on others. There’s also the cliche of once you join a gang, you’re in for life and the only way you’re leaving is as a dead body. There’s also the cliche that a gambler will sell anything and anyone around them to feed their addiction. These people are all just vibes and walking cliches that are tacked on in sequence that don’t really develop anywhere. Their small interactions don’t bring about anything meaningful change in each other. This is especially proven when Haitang dies because she met up with her father in her old age. The man is one step away from the grave and you still allowed him to harm you. I thought you learned the lesson that nothing good comes from interacting with him when you cut him off? Nope, you managed to still die from him in the ripe and wise old age of fifty, thirty five something years later. Talk about no character growth. What was the moral of the book “It Ends With Us”?
While the show doesn’t have any groundbreaking messaging, this show is worth a watch if one is bored without anything else to watch. This show is good for passing the time. Its acting, visuals, and story elements are executed well enough that there aren’t any hiccups to the viewing experience. This show doesn’t insult the viewers in any way in terms of plot holes or acting and visual disbelief. There is enough plot and mystery hanging over the entirety of the show to fuel a binging experience.

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