Good morning, Readers!
Well, part of being unwell, is that there is little I find myself capable of other than watching nonsense and sleeping. For some reason, my comfort watches for when I'm ill happens to be really bad action movies (Doom is one of my favourites when I'm sick), and apparently also Chinese costume dramas. I do love them, rather shamelessly.
I know most of the folks who know me know how much I adore The Untamed. While some of the CGI and the physics were... uh... weird... in that show, the story itself was absolutely beautiful. I was absolutely taken with it. Since then I've been on the hunt for other shows that delivered the same sort of enthralling fascination and emotional punch as The Untamed.
I've not been very successful (nothing beats a first love, I guess), but every Chinese costume drama I've watched since has not been something I regretted. They've all been enjoyable; a fun and sometimes heartbreaking escape from my ordinary woes.
While I was very unwell last weekend, I started one, after seeing a short clip of it on YouTube. It had been a very long time since I've watched a Chinese drama, so I figured I'd give it a go.
Verdict: It's not The Untamed, but it is a great show. Like most of these stories, it is a story about love, but set into an epic backdrop of civil unrest. This time, in a newly formed empire. It is very Pride & Prejudice, if it that story was written for a mythic Chinese past with Confucian sensibilities and a healthy does of revenge. It's good. And I loved it.
It does, I'll admit, feel very silly at the beginning. The main female character, Cheng Shaoshang, is introduced as a willful, mischievous child who feels abandoned by her parents, who were compelled by duty to got to war and leave her behind in the care of her extremely vapid grandmother (who reminds me so much of Mrs. Bennet in the BBC miniseries adaptation of Pride & Prejudice) and scheming aunt shortly after her birth.
Her studies have been neglected by her caretakers, and so she is functionally illiterate, but she is extremely clever, bright and lively, and up for all kinds of shenanigans. She meets her parents and her two brothers for the first time at fifteen years old.
Shaoshang also happens to be an uncommon beauty, and becomes the focus of the affections of a number of young men, including Lou Yao, who is the sweetest, most earnest, adorable character you could possibly hope to adore (honestly, he's so damned cute in this), and Yuan Shen, who has the same kind of child-wound as Shaoshang and is her match in cleverness. He comes across as haughty in the beginning, in the way that very clever young men can be, but we learn that much of that was simply him trying to protect his heart. He is, in truth, as earnest as Yao.
Her introduction is light and silly. The silliness here is all in good fun and really fits. Despite this, the show does a great job of showing all the subtle ways Shaoshang is made to feel outside of her own family unit; an ostracisation that plays a key role as the story develops. It hit pretty hard in some scenes, and I found myself sobbing pretty hard sometimes.
The introduction to our male main character, General Ling Buyi (who has several names, including Zisheng), is also very silly... but I don't think it's meant to be, exactly.
There is a lot of slow motion, a lot of swirling capes, a lot of capes swirling in slow motion. It made me giggle hysterically, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to come across as silly as it did. But, it did leave the impression that it was meant to - Ling Buyi is a determined, heroic young man. We don't get as much about who he is early on in the series as we do with Shaoshang, but over the course of the series you come to understand that he is determined, cold and unrelenting, and extremely talented swordsman and respected General (though twenty seems too young to be a general). He has the favour of the imperial family (or at least the emperor, his wife, and his concubine).
He is also a complete psychopath.
Ah... the age old trope of the monster who falls for the pretty girl and reserves his only moments of gentleness to her...
Almost all the women in the world want him, and most of the men are terrified of him.
For Buyi, it's love at first sight when he sees Shaoshang. But because there would be no story without conflict, Ling Buyi is harbouring a secret, and is working in secret, using everything at his disposal to find and execute (extrajudicially) those responsible for the betrayal that lead to the destruction of Gu City and everyone in it. I am dancing so carefully around this plot point, let me tell you.
For Shaoshang, it's a disdain that is quickly confused by Buyi's consideration for her... and several acts of heroism that save her life.
Buyi declares that he will marry no one if not Shaoshang (and to that he holds the entire series). Shaoshang couldn't care less... in the beginning.
What follows are 56 episodes of betrothals, broken betrothals, political machinations, mean-girl interpersonal politicking, broken hearts, revenge attempts flying back and forth, learning to compromise, learning what it is to love an be loved, and unforgiveable mistakes that are, in the end, forgiven.
However silly the series begins, it is not at all in the end. It's a pleasing progression. Of course, the costumes are stunning, and literally everyone is beautiful. I think part of the reason I'm so easily drawn into the world of these dramas is the interesting and novel philosophies that make these worlds so different than the stories I'm used it. There's nothing in there, really, can I find jarring enough that it pushes me out of the story. Except, perhaps, slow motion swirling capes.
One way in which this series excels above and beyond The Untamed, is the fight choreography. Sure, there are superior fights in other movies (still blown away by that one sword fight in Dungeons & Dragons), but the sword fighting in this series looked good. The swords didn't wobble weirdly, so that was nice. There were some nice moves that didn't look entirely implausible, and less wirework than other series I've seen.
I really did enjoy this series. If I could develop a shelf for the Chinese costume dramas that I would like to own in hardcopy, instead of just streaming the things, I would definitely be happy to have this on that shelf.
If you're curious about Chinese costume dramas, and can handle a little bit of silly, I think this one might be a good place to start.
Right, I'm off. I have tonnes of stuff to do today.
Slán go foill!
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Glad to hear that "Love Like the Galaxy" held up until the end, for you. And there's no reason not to laugh about slow-motion swirling capes-- as a cape-swirler myself, I give you leave to make fun, since most of us don't swirl in seriousness, anyway. XP
If you like good stage-fight choreography, do you happen to keep up with Jill Bearup, who reviews, rates, and explains them?
It was very silly.
I have heard of but do not keep up with Jill Bearup. I do need to get on that, though, as you're not the first person to recommend them, and that's right up my alley!