Other Chinese dramas

[maggie33]

Memory Lost

I watched all of it and enjoyed it a lot. Bai Yu as Han Chen is very talented and charismatic, but I also really liked the main female character Bai Jingxi and the rest of Black Shield Team.

More behind the cut with spoilers

Cold Face and his nurse girlfriend are super adorable and Zhou Xiaozhuan is a sweetheart. I love that first Bai Jingxi and later Prate keep teasing him about his crush on Han Chen. Especially that scene in season 2, in episode, I think, 8? When Zhou Xiaozhuan is pontificating about Bai Jingxi’s many different qualities and Prate says “I thought God Han was your true love”. Zhou Xiaozhuan answers unperturbed something like “Can’t I love both of them?”. Yes, my mind immediately went to “threesome!”. :)

Also I find it amusing that here Bai Jingxi is sort of the same type of character Zhao Yunlan is in Guardian. She’s a talented, intuitive cop with the lollipop addiction (I’ve read lollipops are here for the same reason as in Guardian – to replace smoking in the book). And both her love interests like to give her food (one even cooks her a lot of carefully prepared meals) and to cover her with their jackets when she falls asleep at work.

Other amusing thing for me was the constant extolling the virtues of the police force. You know, I lived in Poland under the communist regime and read a lot contemporary crime novels then, and in every one of them every policeman was such an upstanding citizen who only lived to serve and protect and who could do no wrong. Forget about any, even lightest, critique. It’s exactly the same here.

Han Chen is a very cool character, if a bit too perfect at times – he’s great at everything he touches at such a young age (if I remember correctly he’s 27 in the present time) and everyone admires him. But, man, his jealousy and possessiveness in season 2 when they got together, was sometimes too much for me. And my id likes possessive jealousy in fiction very much. All that talking about Bai Jingxi belonging to him now, and him acting like a jerk every time she was interacting with Xu Sibai, belittling her for flirting with him, when I saw nothing indicating that she ever thought of Xu Sibai as someone other than a very good friend. But Bai Yu’s incredible charisma saved it for me. So it was more like I did mind it and enjoyed it at the same time. :)

Also rape, so much rape. It took me a while to get through the first 6 episodes, because of that super creepy rape case. When it was finished I thought, ok the worst is behind me now. Boy, was I wrong about that. Because the rape case in season 2 was so much worse. I fast-forwarded a lot. At least the guy in season 1 didn’t torture and kill his victims.

But all in all I liked it and I downloaded it from Dailymotion for an easy re-watch one day.

The whole drama is on Dailymotion with English subtitles. Here's the link.


Granting You a Dreamlike Life

That one I decided to watch for Zhu Yilong. I managed 6 episodes for now and I started a month ago. Zhu Yilong of course is wonderful and beautiful and a joy to watch, but the rest is so, so boring.

But I would give everything for a crack fic when Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei meet Luo Fusheng and Han Chen. Like Zhao Yunlan and Luo Fusheng could have a contest of who’s better at sprawling at the nearest available surface. And I think Shen Wei would empathize with Han Chen’s intense personality and possessiveness.

The drama is on Viki with English subtitles. Link's here.


SCI

Dramas above I watched to see Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong in something other than Guardian, but SCI I started watching because I heard about it in passing and saw a few gifts on Tumblr and it looked enjoyable. I watched the 1st episode for now and eh… I guess it is quite enjoyable. Although the leads aren’t as good and charismatic as Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong, and the rest of the cast isn’t as pretty as in Guardian. :) So I was ready to watch a few more episodes. But I won’t, because unfortunately the episodes on youtube that were said to have English subtitles, don’t have them.

I wish Netfix in Poland had more Chinese TV dramas. They have only 5 or 6 of them, and not one that I would like to watch.

Comments

[extrapenguin]

I know at least 情定三生 has a Zhu Yilong-only cut available on bilibili, though IDK about the show you mentioned. No subtitles, but it's short enough you could technically just scribble into Pleco.

[maggie33]

Oh, cool, thanks for the link. I can look adoringly at Zhu Yilong's beautiful face even without understanding what he says. :)

[trobadora]

I actually liked a lot about Granting You a Dreamlike Life, not just Zhu Yilong. But alas, not the female lead, who was incredibly boring.

And yes - Luo Fusheng was absolutely, unquestionably, by a huge margin, the best thing about it. More like this, please!

But I would give everything for a crack fic when Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei meet Luo Fusheng and Han Chen. Like Zhao Yunlan and Luo Fusheng could have a contest of who’s better at sprawling at the nearest available surface. And I think Shen Wei would empathize with Han Chen’s intense personality and possessiveness.

That would be a delight! I've really been enjoying the constructed reality crossover vids for Luo Fusheng/Han Chen, and I wish someone would write a fic for them (in ENGLISH, I mean!), but damn, your crackfic idea sounds delightful. :D

(I haven't seen Memory Lost because it's not really my genre, and also, clean-shaven Bai Yu is a tragedy. Seriously, I don't like beards in general, but he's one of those rare people where I feel like they seriously need at least some facial hair.)

[maggie33]

I actually liked a lot about Granting You a Dreamlike Life, not just Zhu Yilong.

Ah, that gives me the incentive to start watching again. I mean 6 episodes is not that much to judge it properly. :)

As for Memory Lost - yes, it took me a few episodes to get used to clean-shaven Bai Yu. And I definitely prefer him with some facial hair. Talking of which - have you seen the new 10 seconds from Detective L?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=DfjPm8jMuxA

He looks so, so good. :DDDDD

[trobadora]

AAAAAAAAH!!!!

Thank you for the link, I hadn't seen that!

[china_shop]

Hi! You should link this on sid_guardian! :-)

[maggie33]

I haven't thought about that. :) I will, tomorrow.

[china_shop]

*\o/*

[tinny]

I love Memory Lost! (I came here through sid_guardian)

It is well done and the characters are interesting, and the lack of special effects makes it less cringy than Guardian. ;)

I agree with you on all the rape aspects. I am not quite sure about Han Chen's possessiveness. He does show it, but he also respects her when she tells him there is nothing. (Except for that ridiculously unneccessary fight O_o But I think that was before he talked about it with her.)


I am also watching Dreamlike Life, and I thought it was terribly boring at first, too. Especially since I think that Zhu Yilong does not a very convincing mafia hitman make. *sigh*

But that stupid playboy/hitman persona slowly gets eclipsed by his love for Tian Ying, and by episode 15, I loved it. Eps 15 to 19 are amazing!

I haven't watched the whole thing yet, so I can't say if they fck it up again later or not (same with Memory Lost, btw, I am terribly slow, watching everything at the same time).

[maggie33]

I am not quite sure about Han Chen's possessiveness. He does show it, but he also respects her when she tells him there is nothing. (Except for that ridiculously unneccessary fight O_o But I think that was before he talked about it with her.)

Ha, and I didn't mind the fight that much, because that was just both guys being stupid and at least they didn't involve Bai Jingxi in it. :) As for Han Chen respecting her when she tells him there is nothing - yes, he does and then he gets all jealous and possessive again and again. But like I've said it doesn't ruin the show or the character for me. I love Han Chen and I love the show and I want to re-watch and quite soon.

Have you seen season 3 yet? Season 3 was great, I think I like it the most.

Eps 15 to 19 are amazing!

That's good to know. Trobadora's comment and yours convinced me to pick it up again. I'll watch episode 7 tonight.

[tinny]

Have you seen season 3 yet? Season 3 was great, I think I like it the most.

I'm not sure how they're split. I just watched all the episodes in a row and am now up to 29. Is that season 3? (Chinese tv show numbering eludes me.)

That's good to know. Trobadora's comment and yours convinced me to pick it up again. I'll watch episode 7 tonight.

Let me know how it goes! I didn't get very far all week and watched pretty much nothing.

[maggie33]

I'm not sure how they're split. I just watched all the episodes in a row and am now up to 29. Is that season 3? (Chinese tv show numbering eludes me.)

Yes, episode 29 is in season 3 (ohhh, you're close to ep 31 - I love that one so much). There are 36 episodes - each season has 12 episodes.

[mekare]

I can finally commentbecause I started watching BOTH memory Lost and Dreamlike life. :-)))

Also I find it amusing that here Bai Jingxi is sort of the same type of character Zhao Yunlan is in Guardian.

SO MUCH!!!! That was my immediate thought about her. I lvoe her to bits.

that super creepy rape case

UGh yes. That was hard to watch.

But I would give everything for a crack fic when Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei meet Luo Fusheng and Han Chen. Like Zhao Yunlan and Luo Fusheng could have a contest of who’s better at sprawling at the nearest available surface. And I think Shen Wei would empathize with Han Chen’s intense personality and possessiveness.

Someone needs to write this. maybe you could post it over at naye's plotbunny farm?

[maggie33]

How far are you with Granting You a Dreamlike Life? Last episode I watched was 10th. Then I started watching SCI and I kind lost interest in watching more of Dreamlike Life. But I will finish it one day, just for Zhu Yilong. :)

And yes, Bai Jingxi is great, I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked her.

[mekare]

I am not that invested in Dreamlike Life, I think I've only watched 3 episodes? Then I started Memory Lost which I found much more compelling. :-)

Dreamlike life has a lot of useful Zhu Yilong references for me (as an artist) though so I'll probably watch some more for caps.

[maggie33]

I'm really curious what will be your opinion about Memory Lost after you'll finish it. I think I like the 3rd season the most - it has my favorite episode in the whole show.

[mekare]

I didn't even know tehre were three season? How many episodes are there per season?

[maggie33]

The whole drama is 36 episodes long. I don't know how it aired in China - during one year or more. But when I was watching it on Dailymotion last year it was divided into 3 seasons - 12 episodes each and that's why I use seasons when I talk about it.

[mekare]

Ah I see. Thank you! I am also watching on daily motions but didn't really pay attention to number of episodes etc. Wow, I have some stuff to look forward to then!

[mekare]

So I am at episode 14 now and never noticed when the finale of season 1 was? I kept thinking 36 divided by 3 must be 12 episodes per season but nothing was concluded! So I‘m still waiting for the resolution of the T plotline.

I still like it a lot, but boy it‘s a rape case AGAIN! It‘s like even the sniper case is just a quick breather (and even that one had rape elements to it). It‘s really getting on my nerves how hard they are flinging the men-are-evil-beware cases around. (Not that American series are any better with that....)

I adore Han Chen being ill and getting covered with blankets! (Also that scene in the office where he‘s dreaming about his mystery woman and grabs Bai Jingxi....). I really thought there would be at least some hints to the amnesia plotline, but apparently they are saving it for season 2?

[maggie33]

So I am at episode 14 now and never noticed when the finale of season 1 was?

Yes, I noticed that, too. It looks as if the drama was arbitrarily divided into 3 parts without the clear season finales and season premieres. And I see they also aired all 36 episodes in the second half of 2016. So I don’t know why every website has it listed as 3 seasons. It really seems as it is just one long drama.

I still like it a lot, but boy it‘s a rape case AGAIN!

Ah, yes, my thoughts exactly. And that case was so much worse, I had to take long breaks between episodes.

I really thought there would be at least some hints to the amnesia plotline, but apparently they are saving it for season 2?

Yes, they explain a lot about their memory loss in season 2, although not all of course. The best part IMO comes in season 3.

[mekare]

Good to know the best bits are still coming!

And yes, that case was seriously messed up and hard to watch for me too. Will the cases get any better during season 2 and 3?

[maggie33]

I admit I don't really remember particular cases that much. I wasn't really paying attention to them. I was concentrating on interactions between main characters and the rest of the Black Shield Team. And I was spoiled so I was impatiently waiting for the big reveal in season 3. But no more rape cases - that I remember. :)

[mekare]

Okay thank you. I am forntuantely not spoiled, though I have a suspicion at this point.