Hello Lily and AbsoluteM! I had a chance to listen to just a segment of this only because the only drama I am familiar with from your conversations is ARE YOU THE ONE? Though I really wished they kept the first English title I heard of at first: HIDDEN CHARM. This show has actually been a breath of fresh air for me despite its amnesia trope and hidden identity. I am surprised you've not started watching it yet, Lily! :) It has actually been quite some time for me since I have felt my heart all excited for an OTP. The last time I felt this way in a historical drama for me was LOVE LIKE THE GALAXY because of Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi. And I definitely feel the chemistry here with Zhang Wan Yi (ZWY) and Wang Chu Ran. Depending on how the drama ends, this might go up there in my list of favorites. Between the two actors in the drama, I do feel that ZWY seems to hold a higher calibre in acting compared to WCR, but maybe it might be because of the way the character is written in the later parts of the drama. However, I still appreciate the actress. I have only ever heard of her in FIREWORKS OF MY HEART and saw snippets of clips of that drama so IO don't know how she is. It does feel that she is handling the role in ARE YOU THE ONE? quite well. I also saw snippets of ZWY in LOST YOU FOREVER, and like you, Lily! I think he was great compared to ...you know who Jing. hehehe
When I first started ARE YOU THE ONE, I thought ZWY is doing quite well, like his expressions are good. He does have incredible comedic timing in this role. Then as we delved deeper into the drama, I have come to really love his character and the actor. It's such a pleasure watching his eyes and micro-expressions. He does deliver emotions on a quiet level for me, but it still packs a punch. Basically, I feel he nails his scenes like rent is due and debt collectors are at his door. LOL.
I loved listening to you and AbsoluteM discuss this drama, since the forums I was haunting to read the discussions (Reddit and My Drama List) has such polar feelings regarding the show. One crowd seems to really enjoy it, and the other internet discussion crowd seems to pick it apart. For me, I like that the male lead: Cui Xingzhou's (CXZ) motive for the lie was known from the get-go, as you both mentioned. He does not make it a disguise, and we understand why his character would do what he does. At the same time, we know the more the lies he keeps packing on, the higher the fall will also be. Yet I loved what they did for the story despite the trope. Which is interesting, because I have read discussions on the source material from the novel enough to know how the drama has deviated. And I actually really appreciate the change. I will come back and discuss more on that when you delve into the drama, Lily. Basically in the novel, the female lead has double amnesia and some other things that I find questionable and am glad and hope they do away with in the drama.
Anyway, so going back to the polar opposites of the discussions I read, the hilarious one to me is that people are all mad CXZ is lying to Liu Miantang (LMT) and hopes that CXZ will "grovel" to LMT once she regains her memory. Then when we see this playout on the drama, the audiences gets mad that LMT is giving CXZ the cold-shoulder and treating him "terribly" for too long. Just cannot win...hahaha. But I personally have enjoyed watching this character who is a general, a strategist and wins battles, act completely out of character, at wit's end shamelessly, to win back the love of the woman he never thought he could possibly love. It's been very lovely to me watching their chemistry, and I hope the drama will end on a strong note. Track record wise, the episodes do seem to get better and better for me as well, which is interesting since so many people also complained and felt the drama was slow and draggy. None of that was true for me. I have absolutely loved the drama so far, though I am not caught up yet.
(I also kind of want to go off topic a bit and say, I actually did not feel the chemistry at all between the leads in THE DOUBLE. Individually, I felt they were good and interesting characters, but together, I just didn't feel the romance between them. And the ending of that drama...I just cannot believe what was going on. It felt like A JOURNEY TO LOVE in some ways. I am in the minority and didn't like THE DOUBLE ultimately. It started out well for me with potential but then just kind of took a bit of a nose dive. But then again, I am not fan either of STORY OF KUNNING PALACE, so there's that. HAHAHA)
I hope you and your family are well, as best you can, and that you're finding comfort in any small way. Sending a hug!
That's an amazing comment. Because you talk about Are You the One in such glowing terms, I will get on to it ASAP. I will pass this message on to absoluteM.
Oh yay...I am glad you love this drama as much as I do. :D I saw the comments in the early days on MDL & even on Weibo, and the comments weren't the most encouraging. I think part of the problem is that people wanted a ML who is a straight-up good guy. CXZ doesn't fit that mold. CXZ was projected as cold & calculated, where the ends justify the means. People were upset that he duped a sweet innocent lady where he set up this entire "Truman Show" and spun lies after lies. However I feel that critics failed to see his perspective - he suspected she was from the enemy's camp. For all he knows she could be acting too. In the art of war, I can understand why he would seize the opportunity to use her.
Of course a lot of things happened along the way which I won't talk about till Lily watches this. But I also laughed when some viewers got mad at LMT for being so hard on him. I am actually glad the drama made him work hard for her forgiveness - he needed to given what he put her through later. What the drama has done very well is flesh out their romance. Despite the angst during the separation, the relationship was growing; they were now getting to see each other without all the deception. That's why this is one of the rare few cdramas that got even more interesting in the middle and has been able to sustain my interest 100% throughout.
Hello Absolute M! I love seeing you here commenting! Thank you to Lily for passing my message along.
Yes, the comments on MDL were really shocking to me, because…how else would the audience want this drama to be written. There was no scheming us on what CXZ’s motive was from the start. And I agree, he’s a friggin’ general, so of course he’s going to take a thousand and 1 percent precaution with all the lives at stake.
I hope we’ll get more of yours and Lily’s discussions when she starts this drama too. Actually, I can’t wait. I am trying to jot down bullet points as I watch since I don’t want to forget the things I want to discuss too.
Same camp as you on being really happy how hard CXZ had to work. For all the complaints about MLT being cold towards him, I feel the internet really missed the little nuanced gazes and hurt conveyed in her eyes despite her focus on her mission and her business. And for me, the male lead’s proposal and confession has been the sweetest speech I’ve seen in a historical drama.
Hello Lily and AbsoluteM! I had a chance to listen to just a segment of this only because the only drama I am familiar with from your conversations is ARE YOU THE ONE? Though I really wished they kept the first English title I heard of at first: HIDDEN CHARM. This show has actually been a breath of fresh air for me despite its amnesia trope and hidden identity. I am surprised you've not started watching it yet, Lily! :) It has actually been quite some time for me since I have felt my heart all excited for an OTP. The last time I felt this way in a historical drama for me was LOVE LIKE THE GALAXY because of Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi. And I definitely feel the chemistry here with Zhang Wan Yi (ZWY) and Wang Chu Ran. Depending on how the drama ends, this might go up there in my list of favorites. Between the two actors in the drama, I do feel that ZWY seems to hold a higher calibre in acting compared to WCR, but maybe it might be because of the way the character is written in the later parts of the drama. However, I still appreciate the actress. I have only ever heard of her in FIREWORKS OF MY HEART and saw snippets of clips of that drama so IO don't know how she is. It does feel that she is handling the role in ARE YOU THE ONE? quite well. I also saw snippets of ZWY in LOST YOU FOREVER, and like you, Lily! I think he was great compared to ...you know who Jing. hehehe
When I first started ARE YOU THE ONE, I thought ZWY is doing quite well, like his expressions are good. He does have incredible comedic timing in this role. Then as we delved deeper into the drama, I have come to really love his character and the actor. It's such a pleasure watching his eyes and micro-expressions. He does deliver emotions on a quiet level for me, but it still packs a punch. Basically, I feel he nails his scenes like rent is due and debt collectors are at his door. LOL.
I loved listening to you and AbsoluteM discuss this drama, since the forums I was haunting to read the discussions (Reddit and My Drama List) has such polar feelings regarding the show. One crowd seems to really enjoy it, and the other internet discussion crowd seems to pick it apart. For me, I like that the male lead: Cui Xingzhou's (CXZ) motive for the lie was known from the get-go, as you both mentioned. He does not make it a disguise, and we understand why his character would do what he does. At the same time, we know the more the lies he keeps packing on, the higher the fall will also be. Yet I loved what they did for the story despite the trope. Which is interesting, because I have read discussions on the source material from the novel enough to know how the drama has deviated. And I actually really appreciate the change. I will come back and discuss more on that when you delve into the drama, Lily. Basically in the novel, the female lead has double amnesia and some other things that I find questionable and am glad and hope they do away with in the drama.
Anyway, so going back to the polar opposites of the discussions I read, the hilarious one to me is that people are all mad CXZ is lying to Liu Miantang (LMT) and hopes that CXZ will "grovel" to LMT once she regains her memory. Then when we see this playout on the drama, the audiences gets mad that LMT is giving CXZ the cold-shoulder and treating him "terribly" for too long. Just cannot win...hahaha. But I personally have enjoyed watching this character who is a general, a strategist and wins battles, act completely out of character, at wit's end shamelessly, to win back the love of the woman he never thought he could possibly love. It's been very lovely to me watching their chemistry, and I hope the drama will end on a strong note. Track record wise, the episodes do seem to get better and better for me as well, which is interesting since so many people also complained and felt the drama was slow and draggy. None of that was true for me. I have absolutely loved the drama so far, though I am not caught up yet.
(I also kind of want to go off topic a bit and say, I actually did not feel the chemistry at all between the leads in THE DOUBLE. Individually, I felt they were good and interesting characters, but together, I just didn't feel the romance between them. And the ending of that drama...I just cannot believe what was going on. It felt like A JOURNEY TO LOVE in some ways. I am in the minority and didn't like THE DOUBLE ultimately. It started out well for me with potential but then just kind of took a bit of a nose dive. But then again, I am not fan either of STORY OF KUNNING PALACE, so there's that. HAHAHA)
I hope you and your family are well, as best you can, and that you're finding comfort in any small way. Sending a hug!
That's an amazing comment. Because you talk about Are You the One in such glowing terms, I will get on to it ASAP. I will pass this message on to absoluteM.
This will be a perfect time for you to start, since the drama is wrapping up soon. :)
Oh yay...I am glad you love this drama as much as I do. :D I saw the comments in the early days on MDL & even on Weibo, and the comments weren't the most encouraging. I think part of the problem is that people wanted a ML who is a straight-up good guy. CXZ doesn't fit that mold. CXZ was projected as cold & calculated, where the ends justify the means. People were upset that he duped a sweet innocent lady where he set up this entire "Truman Show" and spun lies after lies. However I feel that critics failed to see his perspective - he suspected she was from the enemy's camp. For all he knows she could be acting too. In the art of war, I can understand why he would seize the opportunity to use her.
Of course a lot of things happened along the way which I won't talk about till Lily watches this. But I also laughed when some viewers got mad at LMT for being so hard on him. I am actually glad the drama made him work hard for her forgiveness - he needed to given what he put her through later. What the drama has done very well is flesh out their romance. Despite the angst during the separation, the relationship was growing; they were now getting to see each other without all the deception. That's why this is one of the rare few cdramas that got even more interesting in the middle and has been able to sustain my interest 100% throughout.
Hello Absolute M! I love seeing you here commenting! Thank you to Lily for passing my message along.
Yes, the comments on MDL were really shocking to me, because…how else would the audience want this drama to be written. There was no scheming us on what CXZ’s motive was from the start. And I agree, he’s a friggin’ general, so of course he’s going to take a thousand and 1 percent precaution with all the lives at stake.
I hope we’ll get more of yours and Lily’s discussions when she starts this drama too. Actually, I can’t wait. I am trying to jot down bullet points as I watch since I don’t want to forget the things I want to discuss too.
Same camp as you on being really happy how hard CXZ had to work. For all the complaints about MLT being cold towards him, I feel the internet really missed the little nuanced gazes and hurt conveyed in her eyes despite her focus on her mission and her business. And for me, the male lead’s proposal and confession has been the sweetest speech I’ve seen in a historical drama.