I Will Never Let You Go (Chinese Drama)
I am about caught up on this one (I am on ep.40). Episode 20 to 34 was fairly draggy since our two leads were apart and we had to watch them waste time on annoying second leads. I really wish the writers would’ve chosen to develop another romance line for a second couple instead having us watch 10+ episodes of our two leads’ trying to shake off their respective unwanted admirer. In most cases I most likely would’ve given up on this one a long time ago, however, the interaction between our two leads is so sweet and hilarious that I am resigned to just keep a finger on the fast forward button.
The Legends (Chinese Drama)
This one just reached about half way (total 55 episodes) and I am happy to report that I am still enjoying it quite a bit. The book was fairly short so the drama really had to fill in lots of missing pieces. Luckily, with the author being the show’s consultant, I felt all the extra stuff fit quite well with the original story. The only sad thing is that due to broadcasting regulations the show had to change a few details that while were minor but I thought really added to the story. For example, the mysterious village the heroine keeps going to is actually supposed to be a “spirit village” for the dead who is not ready to go into reincarnation. (The longer they stay in the village the more they will forget until they eventually will forget even their own name and disappears.) In the drama, our heroine had to go around to do good deeds, but in the novel, she actually just had to go around asking people to burn paper money (traditional, Chinese people would burn paper money/hell money for their ancestors) for her. Since our heroine was really naughty in life, her paper money was only worth like 10%. Moreover, people were still frightened at the mere mention of her name so our heroine had to resort to some creative means to get people to burn money for her. Oh, there was also a daily limit of how much paper money a single person can burn for the deceased which meant our heroine had to get various people to burn the paper money for her.
One other small detail the show had to leave out is the fact Si Ma Rong’s (heroine’s right-hand man who ended up in a wheelchair and blames himself for her death) dead girlfriend’s ghost is still hanging out in his house. Unfortunately, the dead girlfriend has pretty much forgotten most things except the one single thought that she has to protect Si Ma Rong. When Si Ma Rong was kidnapped, it was the dead girlfriend’s ghost who told our heroine where to look for him, not the wooden girl. Our heroine could see the dead girl girlfriend but she couldn’t tell Si Ma Rong the truth so in the end she could only tell Si Ma Rong to not move from the house.
3/5
Without Her, Even Hero Is Zero (Taiwanese Drama, New)
Despite being fierce rivals at work, our two leads are actually lovers who have been dating for the last three months. Certain that our heroine is the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with, our hero is ready to pop the big question but that’s when obstacles begin to show up one after another. Can our ordinary hardworking hero overcome the endless hurdles that come from their families, love rivals and work?
I went into this one with pretty low expectations since I wasn’t too impressed with the synopsis but the first episode was surprisingly charming and sweet. The thought of watching a couple having to jump through endless hoops before they can get married seemed rather…boring to be honest. However, I was so charmed by both leads’ personalities and their sincerity towards their budding relationship that I actually think the story shows real promise. One thing I especially liked about the show is that all the characters feel very real. These characters feel like real people I could meet in life so their joy and challenges are also ones that I could also imagine encountering.
Green Door (Taiwanese Drama, New)
As a therapist who keeps offending his clients, our hero’s new practice seems to be destined for failure until our hero begins to explore a new field of being a ghost therapist. The case that starts our hero on this rather bizarre path is one involving a woman who has been possessed by a gangster ghost…or perhaps she just suffers from split personality?
This is one of those shows that will have lots of local Taiwanese flavor so unfortunately, that means there will be quite a bit of Taiwanese spoken mixed in with Mandarin…which makes subs highly unlikely.
3/7
Big Issue (Korean Drama, New)
This one has a cool spy thriller vibe but it is actually about the frantic cutthroat world of paparazzi. Joo Jin Mo plays a homeless man who used to be a successful photographer but loses everything because of one single picture he took. Han Ye Seul (Birth of a Beauty) plays the tough chief editor of a paparazzi magazine who will hire our hero.
I was interested in this show because of the great looking cast but the first two episodes felt a bit slow for some strange reason. Plenty of things happened and the backgrounds were set quite quickly but somehow it still felt a tad slow. The pacing is not enough for me to write off this one yet though. I am going to give it a few more episode before I make a call on it.
Possessed (Korean Drama, New)
Underneath the rough gangster like appearance, Detective Kang has a soft heart and sharp instincts. Afraid of nothing except for fuzzy bugs and ghosts, our hero would eventually team up with our heroine, a woman with psychic abilities to stop a dead serial killer from bringing havoc to the world.
OCN is sure quite skilled at making these spooking, disturbing yet intriguing shows. As you would expect from the name of the show, the story is both gruesome and scary. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the humor and warmth the show has been able to inject into the story whenever possible. I love the two leads’ chemistry right off the bat, so I would definitely follow this one…if I wasn’t such a chicken.
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i love the legends <3
and Xu Kai (Mo Qing)
Speaking of burning paper, I noted that Wuji and his mother both did this after a loved one died in Legend of Fuyao. (Saw the last episode yesterday and that ambiguous ending set me in my butt.). Does burning paper have a special meaning in Chinese culture?
Yes, the paper represents money for the dead. If you go to Chinese temples, they sell stacks of paper that looks like money. By burning the paper money (aka Hell Money), you are sending them to your love ones on the other side so they could spend them on…um… things dead people buy.
Now, it didn’t look like paper money. It was just yellow paper. But I assume this means the same thing?
Yes, they are yellow but they usually have prints on them to resemble old Chinese currencies. They could’ve been just plain yellow paper in the drama though since I am not sure the C-government would’ve allowed the money to be shown (they dislike stuff that they consider to be old traditions that has a religious origin.)
Green Door is on Netflix, subbed, in Canada.