If a Tree Falls in the Forest

Pursuit of Jade ⭐⭐⭐⭐: Full disclosure, this is how I got into c-dramas. I have seen people have criticisms of the writing and characterization, but I didn't really have an issue with any of that. The comedic elements were a really powerful counter-balance to the tragedy of war and the corruption of power that the drama does a superb job of depicting. I will say I went into this with no expectations other than beautiful cinematography, which did not disappointed. That probably helped a lot, but ladies and gents I watched it on Netflix and the English subs were ABYSMAL. I feel like that counteracts any positive from the no expectations.

The Princess Royal ⭐⭐⭐: Watched this one because it was on Netflix, and someone on Reddit said it had palace intrigue. (Bonus points, it had Zhang Linghe in it. I follow actors I like, sue me. Man's soft-for-her-face got me). The palace intrigue was at the level of 3D chess, let me tell you, but Zhang Linghe did AMAZING being the comedic relief so it didn't make my head hurt. I was going to say that the storyline seemed a bit convoluted at times with the whole reborn thing but that seems to be par for the course with c-dramas AND it wasn't too difficult to follow once you had a little runway. Also the Netflix English subs for this drama were a LOT better than POJ.

Melody of a Golden Age ⭐⭐.5: So...I watched this one because I really wanted to watch Archives: The Nanyang Mystery (really didnt want ANOTHER subscription tho) and Ding Yuxi was a main in both. Also it was free on Youtube and it was billed as a mystery-of-the-week type show. It was okay? I mean Ding Yuxi and Deng Enxi were great in it (honestly they carried the show as far as they could) but the cinematography wasn't there for me and the plot was solid but not great. I liked that it had a little bit of a buddy-cop feeling with solving the mysteries, but for the life of me I could not stop staring Ding Yuxi's wig/hair piece. Something was off and I still couldn't figure it out after 30+ episodes.

Archives: The Nanyang Mystery ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5: I went into this as an innocent child who was just like 1920/30's time period? Yes please! I came out of this emotionally damaged in the best way. I cried, literally cried, during multiple episodes. The gifs Tumblr had about the relationship between the two main leads? Did not do it justice. Platonic, familial, or romantic pick your poison it was fucking beautiful all the same. Yes the CGI was not great, and the white people were obviously supposed to be Americans from their lexicon while their accents were...decidedly not but damn did Ding Yuxi and Zhang Xincheng make me forget all of that. I'm still not over it. Oscars all around. (Bonus points, it was free when I watched it!)

Justice In The Dark ⭐⭐⭐: I watched this because it has Zhang Xincheng (remember I follow actors) and @welcometothejianghu had a convincing argument on why I should. Please go read it because it basically says everything I want to say. In other news, Zhang Xincheng is a damn chameleon. George Clooney could never. 10/10 no notes. I will warn you tho that the core mystery takes a little bit to get its feet, more so than I would say the average c-drama, but the pay off is worth. it. Also, this was the MOST convoluted plot that I've seen so far but I just went with the flow and I didn't really end up confused at the major points. The minor points tho, no idea. (This only gets 3 stars because the editing killed me. Reducing the use of the fade-to-black by 90% would have added a star).

The First Frost ⭐⭐⭐: This drama is very British. What I mean by that is it will linger on scenes. It is slow, subsumed in the everyday. I had a HARD time getting into this one, but my sister-in-law recommended it and was excited for my opinion, so I kept going. It starts getting "faster paced" around the halfway mark but it never really stops lingering on certain scenes. Is this a romance based drama? Yes BUT it is also a bit of a character study of...well everyone so it gets a pass. Does the ML have some stalker-ish tendencies that would be concerning outside the cdrama realm? 100% but... they make it more sweet feeling than not so we'll let it slide in this fantasy world. The cinematography tho is pretty interesting and the slowness of this drama will let you linger on it, so that's a nice bonus.

I've got The Road to Splendor, Cases Between Us, Blossoms of Power, Love Game in Eastern Fantasy, The Double and The Road to Glory on my To Watch list. (Yes Ding Yuxi is in 2 of these but he. was. that. good. in. Archives.)

Don't get me wrong, he's absolutely psychotic but like, in the best way. This man is the definition of a honey badger. He is the definition of Chaotic Evil. He is the feral cat leaving dead carcasses on the door step or in your shoe because he likes you more than anyone else.

Man is dangerous af and should be avoided at all costs, but respect for his exquisite competency and intellectual pursuit of his goals.

1) Matt Damon is not a believable Odysseus. Odysseus is supposed to be wily af and you think Matt Damon fits that bill? No thank you. I'd take a young Sean Bean instead.

2) the teaser was SO DARK and gritty feeling. It felt like he was trying to recreate his Batman movies which, if that's your style cool, but it doesn't work for ancient Greek epics imho.

and

3) I'm tired as shit of seeing ensemble casts. I want new faces in Hollywood, give some other people a shot at becoming a headliner.

Now apparently it has some of the highest Critic and Audience review scores, even with the complaints I've seen. Hot take, I think it's because its *Christopher Nolan* the man who made Memento, Batman Begins, Oppenheimer and Interstellar. Of course he can do no wrong (heavy sarcasm).

Look, Nolan is a skilled director. Adaptations are inherently subjective, and he's allowed to make his version, but to receive a 90+% I think your adaptation should be fairly true to the original source material as a base. Case and point. I LOVE me the LOTR trilogy. Like extended editions, comfort rewatch, mouthing along with dialogue love. Even I will hesitate to give it a 90% because of what they did to Faramir. That was a character ASSASSINATION and unnecessary in the worst way.

Y’all, your gifs did not prepare me enough. I just finished episode 10 and stick my heart in a blender why don’t you? It’d be less painful.

aka welcome to east coast USA summer

hope every visitor for the World Cup has a gallon of water (that's about 4 liters for you metric folks) today AT LEAST. I promise you'll sweat it all out.

And I KNOW some people have issues with iQiyi’s translation but it is really soooooooo much better. Some of the sentences are the same, but a) they translate everything. I’m talking song lyrics, every written thing on screen, etc and it adds so many layers. Literally the first song you hear when Changyu is slaughtering that pig in the opening is about a female general going to war and not being held back by men. FORESHADOWING. And Netflix just was like ‘nope not important.’

B) The flow of the English is 10000 times more comprehensible. They feel like normal fucking sentences instead of someone’s broken pottery puzzle badly pieced back together sentence that is Netflix.

And c) I picked up SO MUCH MORE CONTEXT CLUES because the word choice was better. Like I generally got that the Fans were poor af from Netflix (money stress is sort of universally recognizable) but iQiyi’s translation literally was like ‘girl is poor and has to spend a coffins worth of money on medicine for this dude when she is ALREADY spending a shit ton on her sisters meds, how is she gonna do this’.

TLDR my brain had to work less and got more out of it. They still translate the familial relationship words weird though like people have been saying.

I can only watch cdramas on Netflix so I can’t watch IRL with y’all but from what I gather on here one of the ML is dead?! But it sounds like it’s in the middle of the drama? And there is razor blades?

The Vampire Lestat is the perfect example. My mom read the books back in the 90s because she saw the movie and LOVED Brad Pitt as Louis. She has had a hard time watching AMC’s IWTV because Jacob Anderson is not Brad Pitt and she also thinks changing the race of a character destroys the book (note here for internet judgey people, my mother is not racist but is very things are a set way and that’s what you should work with. She can change her opinion but it takes a LOT of discussion and reference points).

I asked her to watch the first episode of The Vampire Lestat with me anyway because she was never happy with Tom Cruise as Lestat and I was hoping she’d enjoy it without the hurdle of a movie comparison. Good News, she said Sam Reid is Lestat. Full Stop. Bad News, she missed like everything else. She didn’t understand the plot structure, telling a story after events have happened. She didn’t understand that TVL is Lestats perspective and story. She didn’t remember the details of the books that Rolin has set as his foundations. She only made it halfway through before she was like eh. There is more but I am still reeling. I am not optimistic.

I do however, now understand how people can make some of the crazy ass takes I have seen floating around on the internet. Of this show and others.

Someone said The Princess Royal was excellent if you like palace intrigue. VERY CORRECT.

Did Zhang Linghe win me over in both shows? Yes (btw he's really good at disappearing into a character) but I didn't watch either just for him or romance. If I had, I would definitely have been disappointed in both.

Normally I don’t care but this time I’m really pissed. This show has historically had a lot of layers that can be missed or misconstrued and I don’t want any influence on my first watch. Which means I’m gonna have to avoid the fun side of the internet for the entire season.