#roles) but i think she was particularly strong in this ep even given the wild insensitivity/racism that shows up

[leonardcohenofficial]

"the yukon affair" (2x14) is a mixed bag of an episode—mildly interesting plot meets period typical racism/cultural insensitivity, which happens a lot on tmfu—but i love the character of murphy so much; she's shown to be super smart (she's a mcgill grad!) and self-reliant, she's super proud of her people, her character is given a fair amount of nuance in regard to how she talks about navigating both the western and indigenous worlds and the struggles therein ("it's not easy to be part one thing and part another. no one treats you as if you're real"), her chemistry with illya is spot on (their flirting featuring the line "i've always adored blonde men" is so fun), and it's cute to see her give him and napoleon a kunik at the end of the episode before she heads back to school to get her master's (back at mcgill!). of the innocents we see throughout the series (especially when episodes are otherwise mid to bad) i think she's one of the stronger ones overall!

[shenmeizhuang-blog]

legend of the dragon pearl: the indistinguishable road – midway musings

(This is a 90-episode drama, so at this point, I’m really up to Ep 45. Exactly, right smack in the middle of this show.)

Yes, that’s right – in order to retain the greatest accuracy and objectivity, I resisted temptation with three released episodes left unwatched – all for the sake of this post and you, the readers.

JUST KIDDING! It turns out that in the case of Longzhu (the pinyin of this show’s [shortened] native name, as the full title, 龙珠传奇之无间道, is a bit too cumbersome), wherever I stop to provide “commentary” really doesn’t matter. In fact, in trying (admittedly not very hard) to write this post, it became apparent that the best meta viewers can create for this is either live-blogging or the snarkiest recaps ever. Because let’s be real – there’s really nothing to analyze or synthesize at all (yet? Eh, I highly doubt so.)

So, of course, I’m doing neither. Let’s start from the basics. From what I’ve gathered, the “plot” is something like this (maybe?):

SYNOPSIS: Lots of weird mix-ups happen, resulting in a Ming Dynasty princess with a terminal illness (supposedly curable by the emperor’s tears) with no idea of her real identity and betrothed to a fake Crown Prince entering the Forbidden City to help this secret organization overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, she and the young Emperor Kangxi fall in love, but, 45 episodes into the show, apparently not yet, because everyone is stuck dealing with corrupt officials both in the palace and in the countryside.

Comments and comparisons on the web have revealed this as essentially really this weird mash-up of Princess Huai Yu (identity and love-line with Kangxi), Mischievous Princess (fallen princess + wild personality & young emperor + attempting to overthrow the new dynasty), and The Duke of Mountain Deer or The Deer and the Cauldron (anti-Qing organization, (b)romance with Kangxi, finding some key treasure, helping Kangxi defeat Oboi). But since I’m a relatively newer drama watcher who hasn’t seen these shows at all, I’ll give the scriptwriter the benefit of the doubt and accredit these plot points and bits of humor to the writer herself (spoilers and lots of roasting below the cut):

To be brutally straightforward: Longzhu is really a visceral mess. If I really bothered to pick out all the show’s flaws and plot holes, I would have more than enough material to write my own 90-episode drama. But from basic things from the questionable costuming (see: our protagonist Li Yihuan’s fugly “prostitute” outfit, the concubines’ hairstyles, or really overall a clear low budget) and shaky execution to ridiculous mistakes such as thinking Oboi’s (鳌拜) last name is “鳌” or “O” (lmao…), even when he’s clearly part of a prominent Manchurian clan under the Eight Banners (I’m especially sensitive about historical accuracy when it comes to the Qing Dynasty), or just the very many plot holes riddled everywhere, I must say I’ve dropped better shows.

(There’s also the matter of watching The Firmament of the Pleiades alongside this, which definitely highlights a lot more flaws than usual. For one, both shows deal with a young emperor trying to assume full power, but the way either show deals with such really speaks measures of the genre differences.)

Another thing that’s been nagging me for the longest time is: why go with this plan – training these kids lots of weird stuff like espionage – at all, instead of mobilizing the masses? Why endanger important people like the Crown Prince in this “dangerpous plan”? If Zhu Cixuan is so smart, why would he so easily display his amazing medicinal abilities, rather than display himself as “good enough to become an imperial doctor, but not the best” to avoid suspicion? Why hasn’t there been suspicion?

So what’s the saving grace? Throughout the sometimes decently interesting “missions” our leads, or the recruits of the secret anti-Qing organization 明珠谷, accept, there are indeed moments of hilarity.

There’s no denying it; it’s a nice show to get a good laugh out of, be it from sheer stupidity or mostly Yihuan’s quirky and adorable persona.

The plot goes by both quickly and frankly nowhere, making each episode easy to breeze past without much thought; given the amount that I fast-forward through, I tend to watch it 5 or 6 episodes at a time. Frankly, the show should be grateful that my Chinese is decent enough/the language is simple enough that I can watch this at 1.5x and 2x speed, because otherwise I’d definitely be dropping this. I think. I guess the producers and promoters really didn’t have high expectations for this, either – they’re actually dropping 12 episodes at once for Premium Youku and Tencent Video users every Sunday, which I find a strange format.

Even so, I’m still not quite sure how this is supposed to be 90 episodes. Although, since Princess Huai Yu was apparently 105 episodes long, maybe, just maybe, it’ll all work out.

Yet already Longzhu is showing signs of some dragginess – I guess out of ideas after the whole initial set-up and Oboi arc, the writer decided to pull a In The Name of the People and have our characters leave the palace in disguise and deal with corrupt officials in the countryside … for the freaking past 20 episodes, and judging from the YouTube thumbnails, it’s not going for a while. (I know the show is trying to depict Kangxi as this super awesome emperor who really cares for the well-being of the common people, and does crazy things like copy Buddhist scriptures with his own blood to end a drought, and honestly this was never going to be a good palace drama, so it’s not too bad, I guess.)

Of course, throughout all this, we have this complex love heptagon thing with multiple “enemies-to-lovers” relationships, as typical when dealing with people from two different dynasties. There’s been lots of tension and character interactions presented throughout the stupid plot, but weirdly it feels that everyone is pretty much still at square one, with honestly little meaningful development. (When was this show ever about meaningful development?)

(Oh wait, I think I was supposed to talk about this show’s strengths and ended up roasting it again.)

Easily the best thing about Longzhu is the cast’s solid acting and wonderful chemistry – given the mostly flatly written characters, actors for the corrupt officials such as Oboi, Liu Dezhao, and Qiu Gui have managed to give memorable, even adorable, performances. Even very minor roles, such as the suffering peasants, are portrayed with admirable nuance, despite some of their really stupidly made-up names.

Of course, I am largely fond of the leads. From real-life couple Yang Zi (portraying protagonist Li Yihuan) and Qin Jun Jie (Emperor Kangxi)’s sizzling chemistry, as well as Qin Jun Jie’s hilarious and intense expressions, to **Mao Zi Jun **(fake Crown Prince Zhu Cixuan)’s charisma (is that him looking ridiculously hot in the Qing hairstyle? I think I under-appreciated his beautiful face in The Glory of Tang Dynasty, but here I’m half-drooling) and Shu Chang’s phenomenal acting in differentiating (probably long-lost twins) Shu Wanxin and Xue Qincheng, this drama easily fits into the “great cast and acting but trash plot” category. (Also kudos to He Zhonghua for masterfully portraying long-lost twins Li Dingguo and Li De Fu (Eunuch Li), characters who frankly couldn’t be more different.)

(And, yeah, Allen Ren cameos in this…for like ten minutes…)

Combined with my fondness for the actors, the characterization is overall likable (Kangxi might be a bit too pushy and clearly doesn’t really get boundaries – typical of royalty – but I like how he’s motivated, though at times (like most characters in this show) prone to bouts of stupidity), with characters from both the Qing and anti-Qing largely rootable. I also adore certain side characters such as 索额图 and his nephew, so I actually haven’t resorted to looking for an OTP cut.

However, as likable as Yihuan is – I like the whole “jack of all trades, master of none” idea – I can’t help but complain about how Yang Zi seems to almost always be typecast into these sort of roles. Lu Xueqi in Noble Aspirations (Chusen) the notable exception, it seems that most of her roles – even Xiang Xiang from the critically acclaimed Battle of Changsha – are largely “quirky, immature, and adorable foodie with exaggerated expressions”. No one is involved in this production is particularly concerned by this, either – the official promotions actually call Yihuan the “ancient version of Qiu Yingying” (Yang Zi’s character in Ode To Joy).

Another problem is: given that the main appeal is Qin Jun Jie and Yang Zi’s relationship and strong chemistry, the show should know to service us with OTP moments, but apparently they’d rather show the characters dealing with corruption and a revenge plot-line that, frankly speaking, no cares about.

Then when I consider dropping this, they serve up fanservice of all kinds on a platter. The experience is something like:

Me: cringes at the off-putting execution

Longzhu: Look! An Allen Ren***** cameo!

Me: Yeah, I’m not relating with this who anti-Qing revenge plan. Maybe it would be better if I skipped these parts

Longzhu: But look at how likable these leads are!

Me: Okay, this is getting draggy

Longzhu: Hey, it’s a flashback featuring 李嗣兴 (re: RJL cameo)!

Me: They’ve been at this stupid corruption arc for so long; maybe I should drop this

Longzhu: K even though the OTP won’t be mutually admitting of their feelings for a while, it’s fine because we’ll drug them with an aphrodisiac! Then they can have an intense make-out scene!

(& etc.)

Despite being a very flawed show, I think I might actually watch all 90 episodes, and not just for the cast – it’s stupid and cliche (remember: based on the premise that the emperor’s tears can cure our heroine’s terminal illness), but somehow inherently likable and decently addictive. I guess…I’m looking forward to the angst and falling-out?

*****Allen Ren is this bundle of talent, cuteness, and extra-ness with super nice micro-expressions who also is probably the closest person to my bias.