Fixed the title: "This Thriving Land is a major success in China."
This Thriving Land is a fantastic drama.
Otherwise, I hope we get more of this kind of articles. This was immensely useful information. Most of us were in danger of missing out on TTL, bc the starting data was not listed in MDL and IQIYI does zero promotion for it.
I have a damn IQIYI subscription and they're putting this under "Copyright issues" aka not showing this. All they're pushing is BL and the most popular. Nothing against BL but this is not as should be.
I like the parts of Yeo Reum travelling the most. The people at the destinations and the sceneries are enjoyable and heartwarming. The scenes at the office are kind of clumsy. They don't flow well and this would be better without them. O Sang Sik's backstory coming next, with the dead kid. Might throw me off from watching this. But this is much much better than the other recent "zero club" dramas (under 1% domestic viewership).
Disclaimer: Nobody forced me to write my opinion and nobody forced you to read it!
An ambitious large scale production. The story moves across 4 different locations and sums up to be quite a journey. It tells the real life story of drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The drama follows the real events, his life and personality fairly closely. (e.g., the real Zhuo Hua did have 3 wives).
The sheer amount of cast made me confused at times, especially as regards the villains. But this is something not to miss, as the artistic level is quite high. The story becomes more solid and exciting as it progresses. Overall the director had free hands in making this and many scenes are just irrationally and unexplicably good. Like the one in which Lin Qiang Feng free style raps with his musician female friend, or when the normally restrained drug police Li An and Lin Qiang Feng sit down together for a beer in their trip to Myanmar. I wish I had written down the lines, they were so good. And the heads of the drug police force decide on their their two teams' next moves and strategies whilst playing ping pong.
The acting is remarkably good. Duan Yi Hong portrays a very unusual hero as the senior police officer tracing Zhuo Hua for 5 years, many times almost catching him but not quite. Our hero is a very quirky character, who almost never seems to take anything seriously but laughs his a**s off when there is nothing to laugh about. And who likes to sing a lot. But deep down he's very shrewd and above all persistent.
Qin Hao does yet another fantastic role as Liu Shao Hua. Shao Hua turns out to be a chameleon who sheds his skin and becomes a new person blending in and upgrading himself and his operation in every new environment. When we are shown glimpses of Shao Hua as he was in the beginning of his journey in the first episodes, in the final episode, when his brother watches him in TV from jail, the difference is so big it made me dizzy.
For avoiding the confusions I had, it's best to first read about the real life story of the drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The essence of the drama is in highlighting the difficulty of fighting drug crimes. The manufacturing mostly takes place in the Golden Triangle, where lawlessness and local armed gangs rule and Chinese police do not have full jurisdiction to operate. The police teams in Narcotic Operation sacrifice quite a lot in going full in the chase of Liu Zhao Hua. The ending shows glimpses of what appears to be real life film shots of police doing drug raids.
Not bad and not very good either, 7/10. More mainstream and less original/creative than the crime dramas I watched simultaneously (Beneath the Undertow 9/10, Narcotic Operation 8/10.
Some people here keep saying the lead actress is overrated, and I'm beginning to get why. First off, I don’t…
the childishness and baby voice were wrong for this role as she was supposed to be a very serious adult woman. On the whole, I agree with you. The case with her father revealed her shortcomings rather mercilessly. The mannerisms didn't bother me in My Dearest Nemesis, because that was fluff and she's at her best in fluff.
I think the Hong Kong flashbacks were giving us false expectations, that this would focus on the romance between Lee Jong Suk and Mun Ka Young. But it turns out we have 5 main characters and that the main plot concerns how they perhaps make new choices in their lives as lawyers. And on law cases that are challenging to them and require them take moral stands, that are not "business-as-usual" cases.
In hindsight, the Hong Kong scenes were unnecessary. I'm perfectly okay with there being 5 main characters, all sympathetic. Ha Sang Gi became my favorite character.
As regards the eating scenes, I think they could have been longer and have more extended discussions and dialogues. Now they show us them giving just one sentence descriptions of their cases, mostly. When they could have had more sessions like the one in which Chang Won and Sang Gi opened up to each other about their situations.
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This Thriving Land is a fantastic drama.
Otherwise, I hope we get more of this kind of articles. This was immensely useful information. Most of us were in danger of missing out on TTL, bc the starting data was not listed in MDL and IQIYI does zero promotion for it.
Disclaimer: Nobody forced me to write my opinion and nobody forced you to read it!
The sheer amount of cast made me confused at times, especially as regards the villains. But this is something not to miss, as the artistic level is quite high. The story becomes more solid and exciting as it progresses. Overall the director had free hands in making this and many scenes are just irrationally and unexplicably good. Like the one in which Lin Qiang Feng free style raps with his musician female friend, or when the normally restrained drug police Li An and Lin Qiang Feng sit down together for a beer in their trip to Myanmar. I wish I had written down the lines, they were so good. And the heads of the drug police force decide on their their two teams' next moves and strategies whilst playing ping pong.
The acting is remarkably good. Duan Yi Hong portrays a very unusual hero as the senior police officer tracing Zhuo Hua for 5 years, many times almost catching him but not quite. Our hero is a very quirky character, who almost never seems to take anything seriously but laughs his a**s off when there is nothing to laugh about. And who likes to sing a lot. But deep down he's very shrewd and above all persistent.
Qin Hao does yet another fantastic role as Liu Shao Hua. Shao Hua turns out to be a chameleon who sheds his skin and becomes a new person blending in and upgrading himself and his operation in every new environment. When we are shown glimpses of Shao Hua as he was in the beginning of his journey in the first episodes, in the final episode, when his brother watches him in TV from jail, the difference is so big it made me dizzy.
For avoiding the confusions I had, it's best to first read about the real life story of the drug lord Liu Zhuo Hua. The essence of the drama is in highlighting the difficulty of fighting drug crimes. The manufacturing mostly takes place in the Golden Triangle, where lawlessness and local armed gangs rule and Chinese police do not have full jurisdiction to operate. The police teams in Narcotic Operation sacrifice quite a lot in going full in the chase of Liu Zhao Hua. The ending shows glimpses of what appears to be real life film shots of police doing drug raids.
In hindsight, the Hong Kong scenes were unnecessary. I'm perfectly okay with there being 5 main characters, all sympathetic. Ha Sang Gi became my favorite character.
As regards the eating scenes, I think they could have been longer and have more extended discussions and dialogues. Now they show us them giving just one sentence descriptions of their cases, mostly. When they could have had more sessions like the one in which Chang Won and Sang Gi opened up to each other about their situations.
I loved Lee Jong Suk's acting in this.