Under The Power (Chinese Drama)
A female constable, our heroine is especially talented when it comes to solving cases. After a rather unpleasant run-in with our hero, an elite member of the Emperor’s secret police (Also known as Embroidered Uniform Guard, established in 1368 by Emperor Hongwu during Ming Dynasty to serve as his personal guard. They were much feared by all because they report directly to the Emperor and has the authority to investigate all officials) our heroine vows to stay far far away from him…that is until they are both sent on a trip to investigate a case. Our two leads will of course eventually fall in love with each other but things get messy once our heroine finds out that the Emperor’s secret police might be involved in killing all her family and making her an orphan.
I like this one. I sat down to check out the first two episodes but ended up watching seven episodes in one shot. There are plenty of spunky and smart heroines in C-drama but I was still charmed by this particular heroine. Ren Jialun (The Destiny of White Snake) plays our hero and as always, he is great at playing the austere yet sexy type.
Rebirth of a Shopping Addict (Chinese Drama)
The only daughter of a rich dad, our heroine’s biggest hobby in life is shopping…that is until her father suddenly goes bankrupted and has to leave the country in a hurry. Left completely alone to fend for herself, our heroine ends up showing up at her “cousin’s” (that’s our hero, so no blood relation at all) house to beg for a place to stay while she figures out what she is good for without her father’s money.
Hmm…not bad but not great either. Pretty predictable plot but watchable if you go in with low expectations.
Touch (Korean Drama)
After 10 years of being an idol trainee, our heroine’s dream (or more accurately her mother’s dream) of becoming a singer comes to an abrupt end just when she is about to debut officially. Having always loved putting makeup on herself and her friends, our heroine applies for a job at our hero’s company as his makeup assistant. A perfectionist makeup artist, our hero had a rather bad first impression of our heroine back when she was still an idol trainee but of course that will soon change as our two leads begin to work together.
I was pretty excited about this one when I saw Joo Sang Wook playing our hero since he always seem to do quite well with roles such as this one here. Unfortunately, I found the first three episodes kinda bland BUT I am not quite giving up on this one yet. As expected, Joo Sang Wook brought plenty of charm to his role and the chemistry between the two leads was descent so I am hoping things would get better once the story gets going in earnest.
Fairyland Lovers (Chinese Drama)
A long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away there was a Jedi…oh, wait, not writing a movie roundup here. Back to our a long long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was a mysterious planet called Fairyland where the inhabitants can control energy to renew their bodies making them immortal. A ship from Fairyland crashed on Earth sending broken pieces of energy particles all over Earth. When a human being with an obsession over a certain thought comes into contact with these energy pieces then it changes the human into a “spirit being”. Those from Fairyland that came to Earth on the ship that had crashed are called “spirit hunters” because they see it as their duty to kill the spirit beings and take back the energy from Fairyland.
Our hero (played by Bai Yu) is a spirit being who can no longer remember anything about the woman he loves (who is actually a spirit hunter) since she disappeared from his life over a thousand year ago but he does remember her plea for him to save other spirit beings so that is what he has been doing all this time- working as a spirit being doctor. Resigned to live the rest of eternity unable to remember the woman he loves or why she disappeared, our hero’s quiet life is suddenly turned upsidedown when a human girl barges into his life and strange unexplainable things begins to happen.
This one looks pretty good. The chemistry between our two leads is both cute and sizzling. I was a bit worried that this one might be too scary with all the talks of spirits but thanks to the alien premise, we are not dealing with ghosts here so no gory scary scenes but still plenty of fantasy elements to make it intriguing.
Ever Night 2 (Chinese Drama)
Season 2 is here! Unfortunately, season 2 came with lots of changes in the cast with the most obvious being our hero. I checked out the first two episodes and while the show seems just as solid as the first season… I REALLY miss the original cast!!! I not only miss the actor who played the original hero (the new actor is actually doing a fine job but he is missing Arthur Chen’s playful naughty smile I loved so much) but I really missed the secondary characters from season1 as well. It’s not that the second season’s cast is not good but the fact that season one did such a good job in making all the characters so memorable that I am having a difficult time. Anyhow, if you have yet seen the first season then I would suggest you to just start from season 2 since the very first episode gives the viewer a quick summary of what happened in the first season anyway. This way, unlike me, you would actually be able to give Ever Night 2 a fair chance.
Ever Night 2 is on Viki.com
Three Lives, Three Worlds: The Pillow Book (Chinese Drama)
It’s FINALLY out!!! I literally squealed for joy! For those who are fans of Eternal Love (2017), aka Three Lives, Three Worlds: Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms, it has taken a long time to see Vengo Gao and Dilraba Dilmurat reunited in Pillow Book.
So after bingeing five episodes in one day, I finally realized Pillow Book is kinda in a league of its own. Pillow Book is really not season two of Eternal Love since it wasn’t a continuation of Dong Hua and Fengiu’s love story. However, Pillow Book is not a remake either because not only are Vengo Gao and Dilraba Dilmurat reprising their roles, quite a few secondary characters from Eternal Love are as well. Hmm…I guess maybe it’s a “remake” with a few foundations already set in the previous show?
One thing I am especially glad is that it looks Pillow Book has chosen to make Dong Hua’s character more true to his real personality in the novel. In Eternal Love, Dong Hua seems really mindful of what he can’t do and what can’t happen between himself and Fengiu but in the novel, Dong Hua is actually more the “I want so who is going to stop me” sort of person. I don’t remember Dong Hua being so mischievous in the novel though but I really like that particular change in the show. To be perfectly honest, The Pillow Book as a novel was kinda a mess to read. The story was all over the place and sometimes downright confusing, however, the author obviously did a great job creating two very lovable characters so I am hoping the drama could bring out the potential the novel never managed to realize.
As far as my first impression of Pillow Book…it actually felt a bit slow. I think the issue is that Dong Hua and Fenjiu’s romance was a secondary love line in Eternal Love so of course their relationship progressed at a fairly fast clip but they are the main characters here which means the show has plenty of time to take it nice and slow. If I have not watched Eternal Love then I think the pacing would’ve been just fine but after waiting so long for our two leads to be reunited I was very impatient for the necessary backstory set up. To be fair, it is obvious the show is aware that their faithful fans might get impatient and tries hard to put in some cute scenes (using our heroine’s fantasies ) to appease us.
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I’m enjoying Under the Power a great deal. Having seen the alternate titles of the drama, the multiple meanings of the title makes for a more pleasant viewing. Unexpected side effect, I’ve unexpectedly also started humming ”Underneath Your Clothes” by Shakira, more often!
I’m enjoying watching the ML altering between being ‘under thumb’, ‘assuming the mantle’, and finding nuggets of his ‘true self’ on screen.
Having read that you previously finished the Ever Night novel, do you have any insight on what Li Manman’s powers actually are?
I am currently tuned into the second season, even though I thought at first I wouldn’t follow it, once you get over some changes, it’s actually enjoyable in parts.
So, First brother’s powers, are rooted in altering/manipulating reality?
I read the first half of the Ever Night but didn’t finish the whole thing. As far as I understand, Li Manman is the first disciple because he is the first in EVERYTHING= he is good at everything so he really should be able to use any power. He will eventually get a special speech power though.
Yippee for Pillow Book!! 😍