throughthenight11

No, it isn't a BL drama lol. Putting romance-centric dramas on pause allows him to explore challenging characters and unique scripts which will help him grow as an actor. He has MLC and TVOA under his belt because of this, and both dramas have helped him gain respect and recognition as an actor. If he stays in the romance genre, he will not grow as an actor (and he truly is one of the better actors out there) and he runs the risk of getting typecast. That is an actor's worst nightmare. Offered scripts will end up being limited and he would only be able to make do with whatever he has in front of him. Romance can only bring you so far and for so long especially in their domestic industry. Unique and truly good scripts are scarce and competition is fierce. Everyone wants a piece of that pie. If he keeps focusing on romance, who knows what the future, 5 or 10 years from now will bring.

I believe it's a matter of taste. Personally, I became his fan because I had seen his performance in a non-romance-centric drama (MLC) lol. If he decided to take on a romance-centric script again in the future, I wouldn't mind, but for a young actor like him who is on the rise especially domestically, I would prefer if he would continue his current career direction.

Also a lot of people still do decide on whether they want to watch a drama or not based on douban scores, and for some people their lasting impressions on a drama are their sscores. So reputation is important. Just curious about what licensing deals you were referring to when you mentioned good ratings. Would it be IP development or broadcasting deals or both?

The negativity will only "end" once CY manages to completely break through and transform into a serious actor lol and until that happens this negativity is something that his fans will have to deal with. And even if he manages to break through, he will still have that negativity.

The road is long for traffic actors, especially for those whose goal is to transform. His path wasn't easy before he blew up with MLC either (from Love And Redemption to Draw The Line) and it will only get harder as he tries to break through. He's already the only traffic actor with a drama having a score as high as 8.5 on douban especially in recent years. MLC gave him a kind of national recognition that brought him closer to a transformation even though the drama is considered an idol drama. Passersby mostly recognize him now as Li Lianhua and Li Lianhua touched the hearts of a lot of people and the character gave them a lasting positive impression of Cheng Yi. Imagine if he had another character like that in his belt lol. Haters can't afford that happening. Also every actor will have their fair share of highs and lows. Truly good drama resources aren't exactly abundant and so many actors want a piece of that pie. Competition is very fierce over there lmao. That's how ruthless their industry is, and we can only walk this road with him as fans by continuing to promote and recommend his works so that more people will discover him and hopefully start liking him. His next project is a sign of improving resources, and given the current rumors about his contract with his agency, decisions are going to be made this year. And only by protecting his current works can he continue to get even better projects in the future, which will help him break through. We are proud of TVOA and we have to keep recommending it to other people so that more people will want to check out his next airing work!

Wouldnt the licensing agreement have been settled before Netflix aired TVOA? I'm just wondering how the Netflix deal would affect when youku decides the douban will open the score considering how Netflix is an international platform and douban is more for the domestic market?

MLC indeed raised CY's national recognition and his iconic portrayal of Li Lianhua has boosted his reputation as an actor. Looking at its legs and long-tail performance, MLC has a serious potential to become a classic drama, and I feel like part of it is its high douban score. That's why I want The Vendetta Of An to have at least a decent score so that fans can have bolstered confidence in recommending it to other people the same way we do with MLC. But I'm not holding my breath since douban hasn't opened the splits yet and it has already been days since the last episode aired to VIP members and over a week since the express package. We will have to wait and see, but regardless, TVOA is a good addition to CY's filmography.

I wonder too, especially considering how dramas by traffic actors are treated there lol. I'm still in disbelief at how MLC managed to open at an 8.0 score

Probably gonna check back in here once in a while trying to get over this drama, but it has been quite the ride. The Vendetta Of An and its cast have transcended the revenge theme by weaving together a tapestry of humanity and the complexities of human nature - the kindness of regular people, the effects of power struggles, the fates of the victors and losers of war, the benevolence of commoners, loyalty to their nation and their land, the emotional struggles of the characters and how their own pasts have shaped the way the characters view their world. Beautiful cinematic composition, beautiful dialogue, beautiful OST and musical score, beautiful visual language and beautiful acting.

Thank you to the entire crew for their passion in putting together this production, and thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts about so many things in this drama, regardless of whether they're praises or critiques.

Xie Huai An, in my mind, you're simply basking under the sun, taking a well-deserved nap, with a cat for a pet, and waiting for your friends to visit you. May we meet again soon!

What's impressive is YFS's first death is more or less a karmic death since he was ultimately killed through psychological warfare in the same way he wanted to psychologically torture XHA. Simply poetic.

The writer needs to be praised for the prose in this drama. Even though I only watched with the English subtitles, I could feel that the dialogue was beautiful and the lines added depth, maturity and profoundness to the characters themselves. The conversations almost feel poetic sometimes. And there are lots of beautiful sounding lines that can be quoted, like for example Han Ziling's 100 steps. That really left a deep impression on me.

I actually kinda looked forward to Hero Legends more than I did FSH 🥲 I believe its combat style is different from MLC and FSH and that's what gets me excited. Not sure what its progress is or if it will even be aired, but it's good to have TVOA to cap off Cheng Yi's year.

So platforms get to decide when the Douban scores open? Not only Youku? I see. Because some shows have gotten their scores even before they're done airing so I was kinda confused there for a bit

I thought the issue wasn't exclusive to TVOA (I thought it's been happening to other dramas for quite a while) but let's hope it gets the score that it deserves at least!

That's weird then. It has been around 3 days since the express package was released. I wonder what they're waiting for since it wasn't like they cared about the low scores for FSH and SAB or the number or people who rated them. They just straight up released them lol

Not sure how long it took douban to release the scores for FSH and SAB but I do know that douban scores for CY's dramas always take time to be released lol

My personal favorite is the one where Xie Huai An woke up in his sister's residence which had been occupied by Yan Fengshan and he takes it all in. There's no dialogue at all for like maybe a good minute. In that 1 minute we felt Xie Huai An's pain as he reminisced memories of his sister. It was all good camerawork, musical score, and Cheng Yi's tears doing the work lol

Lots of exceptional visual language too! Sometimes you just need a good visual language to elevate a scene without dialogue and this drama had plenty of it!

Wow.....watching the last 4 episodes was an....experience to say the least, and it will take some time to digest all of them. But for the mean time, I will listen to the OSTs. Reading the lyrics whenever they get played at the end of an episode just gives me the feels lol. Some of them feel like a love letter to Chang'An itself. I especially love 长安月.....the song that was played during the memorable Han Ziling and Xie Huai An moment. Please take the time to listen to it (and the other songs too!).

I think my issue with his stabbing of his brother is that I feel like with how his character is shaping up to grow, I would have expected him to have at least a stronger resolve by now. Like...no, you "didn't have a choice". Yes, he did it for Chang'An but I couldn't feel him owning that decision, which isn't a good attribute of a supposed leader. Not sure if it's the portrayal that is the issue, but I can accept his reasons for doing it if I can feel his conviction as a monarch who cares for his nation, in keeping with Xie Huai An's previous advice to him about having to do things he doesn't want to do. So far, I couldn't, and that is where my conflict comes from. Everyone in this drama stands by their convictions. Even the Tiemo king and the rest of the Tiemo folks who don't care about the people whose land they are invading shamelessly stand by that conviction and I need Xiao Wenjing to show his to me too.

I find him to be a fascinating character. Not that good fascination, but intrigued fascination, and the show has 4 more episodes to prove my fascination correct, and I will hold out until then.

His character here does give off that extremely confident king vibe, but not really villain vibe in general, I have to agree. I think it's because I always see him slightly smiling which makes his face more mild-looking when it should be somewhat menacing as a villain? We'll see in the next few episodes how his arc unfolds but yeah.

I believe so too. In an ideal world no one should have been coming down on his dramas that heavily, or any actor's dramas for that matter, but TVOA has been getting more positive reviews compared to his first two releases this year, so it won't leave a bitter taste as we come to a longer stretch where we won't see him in a while until the one he's currently filming is released. Fans can use this drama too to turn people's impressions on him especially passersby who were affected by his first 2 dramas this year. AND this is a serious drama where Cheng Yi wasn't swallowed down by the veteran actors, so it's looking like a positive move for him.