SAVE THE PLANET (RNST on Greta Thunberg in Paris)

https://streetartutopia.com/2024/02/10/save-the-planet-rnst-on-greta-thunberg-in-paris/

Spill the DramaTea #3: Pursuit of Jade, Swords into Plowshares, How Dare You?! and more!

February brought Chinese New Year, which always means chaos for me, so I wasn’t able to write last month’s newsletter. But I’m back, and in March I find myself inundated with so many good Chinese dramas that I’m having decision paralysis deciding what drama to watch first.

If you have a wide range of tastes like I do, watching everything from idol dramas to super serious ones, you face a difficult time deciding what to watch. And that is my situation right now.

What I’m watching

“Pursuit of Jade” is definitely the hit drama of the season, and probably the most controversial.

Starring Zhang Linghe and Tian Xiwei, it’s about Changyu, a village woman who finds a badly injured man in the snow one day; she brings him back home, and one thing leads to another—they end up married. However, she doesn’t know that Xie Zheng actually a powerful, controversial general and nobleman.

A very typical idol drama, to be honest. But what’s winning about this drama is the director, Zeng Qing Jie. He was the director of “Blossom” and came out of short dramas. Qing Jie’s short dramas were the ones that made everybody suddenly interested in Chinese short dramas, but unlike those who came after him, he knows how to tell a story well.

His work never feels choppy or badly edited; it’s always beautifully filmed and complex. He is a master at using a limited budget to weave a beautiful story. Now that he’s been given more resources and two major idol stars, this drama is simply beautiful and very well told. He doesn’t just film things well; he knows how to light scenes, compose shots like paintings, and make the actors look extra gorgeous.

But what I appreciate most is that he knows how to bring out the best in actors—directing them so their characters feel authentic and move like their roles. So this drama is definitely a win for me, and I honestly think I’ll enjoy it to the end.

Unfortunately, this drama has also attracted controversy. Zhang Linghe apparently said something racist about Southeast Asians. Chinese humor isn’t always politically correct, and casual racism is, unfortunately, a thing.

This took many Western audiences by surprise, although we Southeast Asians are like, “Yeah, we know.”

And if that isn’t bad enough, the drama is also caught in a ratings controversy—people are questioning its high ratings. To be honest, I think it deserves high ratings, but maybe not that high, since the numbers put it on par with dramas that sparked national conversation.

Data manipulation is a persistent issue in Chinese fandom; it’s annoying, used as bragging rights by fandoms and to show investors their money paid off. Still, I feel it’s unfortunate because Pursuit of Jade is honestly a very good drama, and these controversies shouldn’t diminish the director’s skill or the actors’ abilities. So I say: go for this drama. It’s really worth it.

“Sword into Plowshares” is a rare historical drama—the kind that comes once in a few years.

Many idol dramas are set in fictional historical times and aren’t faithful to the period, but this one is really faithful, with Merchant Ivory–level quality.

It’s about the little-known Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period—a tumultuous time lasting about 70 to 80 years after the fall of the Tang Dynasty.

Imagine: the Tang Dynasty was probably China’s most prosperous, cosmopolitan, culturally rich era, but when it fell, it fell apart hard, fracturing into vassal kingdoms with one dynasty after another rising and falling in quick succession in decades.

It was a chaotic period and a rarely explored part of Chinese history, so I’m learning so much through this drama.

The story centers on Qian Hongchu, a prince from the more prosperous, relatively peaceful Wuyue kingdom. In a sea of chaos, Wuyue was a rare oasis of peace and prosperity, but up north, war is brewing, and eventually Hongchu has to leave his sheltered life to step into the battleground.

If you have time, try to watch it. These historical dramas don’t come often. It’s worth watching, even though the subject is heavy.

I do find it difficult to watch after work when I’m tired; the last thing I want is death and despair, and there’s a lot of it here. (But I promise, it’s absolutely worth it and I intend to complete it even if it takes me a year.)

To balance things out, I tried something fluffy: “Seeds of Scarlet Longing.” It’s a fun, trashy short drama; every episode is about 20 minutes. Short dramas are very profitable these days, so I’m not surprised the actor took the role. It was fun to watch, with lots of steamy scenes, but stitching those together doesn’t create genuine chemistry between the couple, which I felt was missing.

The worst part? Our female lead is one of those pixie-happy types, feeling very one-dimensional. I never fully bought into their romance; the enemies-to-lovers transition felt sudden and underdeveloped.

The premise: our male lead is a prince hunting jade demons; the female lead is a demon who needs to have sex with a man to survive every full moon (they call it “dual cultivation” hehe). With a premise like that, you’d think you’d feel invested but honestly, it was disappointing. I had some fun, but didn’t enjoy it towards the end because I just didn’t buy their romance.

“How Dare You” really caught me. I don’t usually like transmigration dramas, but I gave this a chance because I like the actor, Cheng Lei. What surprised me: this drama had surprising depth. The plot was coherent and tightly told—no fluff or filler dragging the story. Every episode was thrilling, character writing was super good, and the story wrapped up neatly (no big question mark, like most transmigration dramas).

Yu Wanyin travels into a novel where she’s the villain—but here’s the twist: the villain of the novel, Xiahou Dan, is also a transmigrator!

They find each other and try to survive the bloody twist and turns of the plot together. It’s a pretty good drama with surprising depth and I thirsted for new episodes daily.

“Generation to Generation” is a rare wuxia tale—though wuxia-lite, not quite Jin Yong–level yet.

Cai Zhao, who just want a happy life free of the jianghu, is forced to join the revered Qingque Sect, where she meets the withdrawn Chang Ning, a survivor of a family massacre. One thing leads to another and Cai Zhao and Chang Ning gets dragged into the affairs of the previous generation of heroes, left unresolved for decades.

The only thing that may deter people about this drama: if you dislike repetitive cycles or misunderstandings between the couple, you may not enjoy it as much. But if you’re okay with that, it can be quite fulfilling.

I haven’t finished yet, but I plan to take my time because I like the two main actors—they’re very good, and I’m enjoying their performances.

The dramas that I hope to watch

Ah, Ingenious One, a true blue wuxia that I’ve told myself multiple times to watch but never seem to be able to. I kept putting it off, hoping to watch it right before season 2 of the drama airs, but the next thing I knew, season 2 is here, and I’ve still not watched it! Ack.

I’m sad I can’t catch it live, but I’m also happy to watch both seasons back to back, slowly savouring it.

I’m behind reviews, but they’re coming!

Loving Strangers, Glory and more. (I’m super behind my reviews. There’s just been so many CDramas and I’ve been so super busy!)

So there you have it: what I’ve been watching the last two months. See you next month!

Oigan, so this week I watched #HowDareYou like there was no tomorrow... you know, despite having other dramas I'm currently watching. 32 episodes in a week, lol. But hey, at least I did my best to only watch during lunch or after work. Yay me! So responsible.

I got curious because when I was on iQIYI trying to watch some other series, a pop-up window showed it as a recommendation. But it was for the Spanish dubbed version. It sounded fun, so I gave it a try. Of course, I didn't end up watching the dubbed version because nope.

But I had so much fun (I cried at some point, but the pain is also part if the fun, so, yeah). It was easy to watch, and I suppose that's what I needed, because lately I've been in this weird mood where I get distracted easily whenever I try to watch something.

Anyway, I don't know if it's considered good or not. But sometimes, watching something that makes you want to keep watching (just to see how it ends, even if you kinda already know) is fun.

#cdrama